These Fresh Faves were picked by our readers over the weekend – and reviewed by Fresh On The Net’s Del Osei-Owusu this week. You can hear all these tracks in a single Soundcloud playlist here.

First of all, I’d like to say thank you everyone for submitting your tracks this week. Music to me is always good for the soul, and I’ve needed this in the last couple of weeks. Never take for granted what we do as artists, it goes a long way to making someone feel better.

Grab your drink of choice, I have my hot chocolate…

Let’s go.

AMELIA COBURN – Please Go Gently

This song is acoustic guitar led, very much a lullaby, but written in a letter form… Amelia Coburn’s vocals are very soft and breathy, and that’s what catches my ear straight away. I closed my eyes and just listened, and she’s got a voice that could calm a soul.

I’m no ukulele aficionado by any means, but I can appreciate the finger picking going on here, it’s percussive and the piano part that wanders in and out keeps it steady…

What a gorgeous song.

Amelia is no stranger to FOTN having appeared on the Fresh Faves 403, with The Cheese Song, and has been nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards in the past. From Middlesborough, Amelia has been traveling the world as part of her language studies, and gathering experiences that she threads through her highly lyrical and evocative original songs. Amelia has performed at Cambridge Folk festival, Czech Ukulele Festival, GNUF and in support and on stage with Steve Harley, Vin Garbutt and the Wedding Present as well as her own sell-out solo shows.

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AUTOSUGGESTION – Deadpan

The way this song starts interested me, the arpeggiated guitars in triplets following the drums. It’s a rich track and got me head nodding, it’s moody as the title suggests but don’t be fooled, because Jacob’s vocals are so strong, nothing deadpan about it, and made me want to listen to him again, with that rich sound in his voice. Love it.

Autosuggestion are from Hull, a quartet who started out in 2019. I listened to a podcast recently with a producer from Hull who said not much has come from there as it’s not known to have much going on musically up there. Then again, it gave birth to him and Rod Temperton, plus these guys. So, there’s talent there!

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BARBARA – A Perishing Of Cherished Things

This song whisks me back in time with the use of kitsch organ noises especially, with the radio tuning noise at the beginning, and there’s a violin being played. I like storytelling songs in the lyrics, and a good example of this is the fact that this song is about Wendy, who was a writer with talent married to Alan. Hey I like the way that rhymed and there’s a friend called Sharon.

The strings, vocal harmonies, use of trumpets and percussion really caught my ear, and it was lovely to listen to. Kind of Beatlesesque, I don’t know why, it just gives me that idea…

Great harmonies on this – best part of the song for me. The rehearsals must be fun to sit in on! Oh and the big timpani outro – not used in pop music much nowadays, I think we need to bring them back.

What would happen if The Happy Somethings met these guys in a bar with Nick from The Jojo Man Nand noodling with a guitar in the corner?

Something to ponder.

Barbara are brothers Henry and John Tydeman from Hove, and they list 70s US AM radio, English music hall, the effortless catchiness of a Broadway musical, a sprinkling of sequinned power pop, luscious Disney strings, and glorious golden harmonies as part of their DNA.

What’s not to love?

Indeed.

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BLACK LILYS – Invisible Strings

What I like about this song is how it runs at a fair pace; the drums are cinematic, the kick is an 808, but the rest are percussive. The vocals are well produced, the harmonies are bang on. The vocals remind me of someone, but I just can’t quite place my finger on it — I’ve got hints of Bjork and Patty Crash… I like it. All in all a very well produced song.

Black Lilys are French brother and sister duo Camille and Robin Faures, they formed a band after the loss of their mother, and grief has played an important part in their collaboration. They describe their sound as atmospheric, organic, sensitive with a bit of anger. They’ve also been featured on Netflix’s Elite soundtrack, and their track Nightfall hit 1 million streams.

Nice.

Black Lilys are my one to watch.

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CEITIDH MAC – Goldfinches

This is a cool acoustic number with synths getting all atmospheric for the background, what caught my ear was the bass sound… Having reviewed a band recently that showed me the versatility of the cello, I’m getting the feeling that’s not a bass….

Why do I think this?

Well, Ceiltidh Mac is a cello player, and this has a slight warmth to it…

Hold on, let me go have a look at her YouTube channel….

YES! It’s her playing the cello like a bass!

Ahhh Del… your ears work.

Killed it.

Anyway, back to the song.

Ceitidh’s vocals are husky and I like that, there are no tricks to her voice, she’s singing with honesty… I like the chord progression in this song, as it’s got some interesting choices especially around where she sings “What have we done? What have we done?” That whole section there is sweet.

Ceitidh’s voice is so calming and I needed this.

Thank you.

Ceitidh is a Welsh singer songwriter now based in Newcastle, she combines traditional folk with alt folk and with some electronica too.

She has also supported Rachael Dadd, and progressive jazzers Get The Blessing in the past, and from the look of her site has some live shows coming up.

I’m really loving the idea of using the cello as a bass, that’s really got me.

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CHARLOTTE HARDING – III

An Ivor Novello winner?

Interesting. Very interesting.

This track is an instrumental, and… wow. Lots of things here, there are two violins, a viola, bass and drums, and the strings are pizzicato’d (is that a word? Have I spelled it wrong? Forgive me…), it’s all very cleverly done, the beat isn’t on time and just stops and starts, making you feel dizzy with it all – in a good way. In a Listening Post that was incredibly strong this weekend to my ears I am glad to see this one made the cut, I had a feeling it would. The track fuses the bridge between traditional instruments and electronica and sampling, and does it beautifully.

This is my track of the week.

The video is stunning too, exploring the concept of three: three lines beating in time to the rhythm, and other things, but I won’t spoil it for you.

Like I mentioned, Charlotte Harding is an award-winning composer, orchestrator and saxophonist. Her works include the Ivors composer award-winning ‘convo’ for massed ensemble (Royal Albert Hall) and the Ivors composer award-nominated Them for Contemporary Dance Company Balletboyz (Sadler’s Wells/Edinburgh Festival/Vaudeville Theatre, West End).

Featured musicians on this are Marie Schreer and John Garner on Violin, Ruth Gibson on Viola, Gabriella Swallow on Cello (HEY GABI!!! Lovely surprise to see her on the credits)
Laurence Ungless on Bass, and Alex Lupo on Drums.

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FRÄULEIN – Drag Behind

I’m listening to this on headphones, and I like the way this is mixed.

The drums sit right in the middle, and as the drummer’s playing, you can hear the stereo image of what’s going on.

It’s pretty neat really.

For me a mix can make or break a song! But I digress!

This song comes with attitude the baselines nice and crunchy in the chorus along with the guitars, and the vocals sit nicely on top, it’s two progressions, but it works really well.

Joni’s vocals stand out on this, she’s not overpowering and doesn’t need to be, she keeps it calm and just… sings.

Karsten, the other half of this band, is the drummer and boy does he know his stuff, ride cymbal action on point as well as playing the hell out of those toms…

I’m impressed.

Fräulein are from Bristol, and initially made their mark by playing at a weekly open mic night at the local pub. Because of lockdown they honed their sound. Moving to London in 2021, the duo joined forces with tastemaker label Practise Music. They’ve been championed on Radio 1 amongst others, and are going to be heading back to the studio this month as well as out on the road supporting The Mysterines in the UK and Ireland. The Mysterines are no slouches either, so that will make for a great show.

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HOME COUNTIES – Back To The 70s

“Like Shaft but without social significance credits and sand theme song, I command the eyes of a high street of a happier time.”

This is the opening line, and makes me think immediately of Blur’s Parklife, because of the way the words are just spoken and is a commentary on…

Well… life today.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Blur are an influence here, because the sounds are trippy, nice use of synths to keep the whole soundscape going, and I like the congas being used…

This is a fun song to listen to, both lyrically and musically.

Home Counties formed in January 2020, and have received love from our Tom, Steve Lamacq, and Matt Wilkinson from Beats 1. They played gigs in 2021 and have had gigs last month. It only lists that they’re from a Middle English town…

Midlands?

Maybe.

I was never good at geography.

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JOHNNO CASSON AKA SNIPPET – Today I’m Gonna Be Happy

This is a jaunty song, puts a bounce in your step. It’s got a whistle part that gets stuck in your head. Nice work for Monday morning. It’s all about starting your day right, and not letting things get you down.

This is what everyone needs on a Monday morning. The message is that simple.

Johnno Casson is no stranger to the Fresh On The Net team, having been a mod in the past, he is a respected Colchester-based music artist who creates delightfully wonky pop songs for your ears and hearts. He also runs a community arts music and history project called The Warm and Toasty Club holding weekly Memory Afternoons at retirement venues to make older folk feel cherished.

A noble work.

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NOODLE BEARD FT. HANNAH REEM – Deception

This song is soulful and has so much power… I love the vocal delivery over a strong atmospheric beat, as well wandering Spanish guitar… there’s a bit of spoken word here, and then the deep vocals.

Don’t get comfortable, because that’s where Hannah opens fire with her higher range and takes the song to the next level. It’s gorgeous.

The harmonies are delivered powerfully, and just makes me feel warm inside.

What a tune.

Noodle Beard is from Portsmouth and his Soundcloud asks… have you ever had noodles stuck in your beard? Dark, atmospheric and ambient.

Hannah Reem is from Hampshire, and has been featured on BBC Radio 2, and and BBC introducing record of the week.

Fab.

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PS from TR: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t been picked for the Listening Post, our team has definitely listened to it and there’s no need to send it again: feel free to send us an even stronger track another week. The same goes if you were picked for the Listening Post but didn’t feature in our Fresh Faves.

But if we’ve recently featured you in our Fresh Faves – or on my BBC Introducing Mixtape – please wait three months before sending us another track, so we have space to help other deserving artists… For more info see Robinson Has A Good Old Moan.

Fräulein photo by Emma Swann