Although she is American-born (she grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia in a house where George Washington once slept), Catherine Feeny began garnering popular and critical acclaim in the UK early in her career with the 2003 release of her eponymous full-length debut. In 2006, as Feeny split her time between the UK and Los Angeles and was signed to EMI, her stateside following continued to grow. There LA-based tastemaker Nic Harcourt played her on Morning Becomes Eclectic, his KCRW radio show, and her song Mr. Blue off that year’s Hurricane Glass LP was featured in the film, Running With Scissors. That same track reached the A-list at Britain’s most listened-to radio station, BBC Radio 2, and Feeny toured the British Isles extensively both headlining and in support of artists such as Martha Wainwright, Kelly Jones, Suzanne Vega and The Indigo Girls.
Gillian Welch / Everything Is Free A thousand years of weariness are in this song. And David Rawlings’ easy virtuosity. It just takes my breath away.
Founded by French musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, Nouvelle Vague have used a variety of female singers including Alexandra Pavlou, Mélanie Pain, Marina Celeste and Phoebe Killdeer for their unique acoustic covers of classic New Wave 80s tunes.
The Beach Boys / God Only Knows One of the most beautiful pop songs a human being can hear. The chord sequence was, is, and will always be, stunning.
Most people got their first taste of Australian singer-songwriter Josh Pyke’s music with the release of his exceptional ARIA Award winning debut album, Memories and Dust. But we knew of him way back in the day when he was the frontman for the sadly before-its-time Sydney rock band, An Empty Flight. His latest solo album, Chimney’s Afire, is another collection of fluid, sanguine, and deeply personal music from one of Australia’s finest young songwriters.
Arcade Fire / Antichrist Television Blues I love all the songs from Neon Bible, but the frenetic nature of this song gets my blood pumping. I saw these guys at Glastonbury last year, as well as on the Big Day Out tour of Australia, and I came to realise they are probably the best band in the world right now.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
