New Music -Help Me - Danielle Lewis

Spectral folk/pop with a tender Welsh soul, “Help Me” is the stunning new single by DANIELLE LEWIS.

Drifting on misty melodies that recall the atmospheric works of Julia Holter, The Weather Station or Weyes Blood, Lewis’ beacon-bright vocal shoots through the soundscape with illuminating character.

Written on a chilly afternoon in Cardiff in 2019 after Lewis had just returned from a UK tour, gazing out at the January gloom beyond her window she was gripped by what she describes as a “sudden and cathartic moment of journaling”. Falling as naturally into place as the frost that clung to the frozen ground below, the words and music of “Help Me” came from within to capture a mood and moment in intimate detail. As Lewis says of “Help Me”:

“On reflection of 'Help Me', the lyrics shed a light on my inner dialogue at that moment in time, perhaps even another aspect of myself. It's a reminder of the importance of self love that ultimately starts from within.”

Channelling these humbling spiritual observations through Lewis’ own unearthly vocal, “Help Me”’s startling potential was immediate. Reaching out to TJ Roberts, frontman of the eponymously titled Welsh indie/americana quartet, he added the brittle starkness of his acoustic guitar to crystallize a track of haunting, breathtaking beauty.

“There's an underlying sense of power and drive from TJ Roberts’ beautiful guitar playing” says Danielle. “I felt the track warranted an acoustic and stripped back feel, almost as if it could be recreated time and time again. 'Help Me' ended up feeling despairing and enlightening all at the same time.”

Written by Danielle Lewis and produced by Secondson (who also contributes acoustic guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer here), “Help Me” was recorded at Sail Loft Studios (Cardiff). Mixing & Mastering was contributed by Leon West at After Life Studios (Cardiff), with additional engineering by Thomas V Westgård .

Originally hailing from the West coast of Wales, Danielle Lewis crafts ethereal folk with saintly vocals from another world. Her writing is raw yet unfiltered, with a voice that has a haunting grace and momentous power.

Breaking-out with her 'Live Forever' EP in 2018, its bold authenticity began to attract attention on a wider scale, including that of Super Furry Animal Cian Ciaran, who even offered to remix its title track. Returning in 2019, the singer grew her reputation with the acclaimed single ‘A Woman Like You‘, an empowering track that expanded into the realms of dream pop and drew warm comparisons to Karen Carpenter. With her live plans shelved in 2020, Lewis took the opportunity to release two further tracks: “Life of Worth” and “Flower”, each of which find the singer delving into new sonic territory.

Planning her debut album for release later this year, expect much more to come from this promising talent, with art direction by the esteemed Mark James Works (Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys, Gilles Peterson, Abbey Road Studios).

Cardiff City V Real Madrid Fifty Years On.... I was There

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When Cardiff City played Real Madrid 50 years ago today I was 10.

Pocket money permitting I was already a Cardiff City regular though mainly restricted to Saturday afternoons rather than gloomy dark midweek fixtures.

My memories of this rather historic encounter are sketchy at best. I remember the vastness of the crowd, the excitement was tangible, ticket gripped in my hand and the constant checking on the bus trip to Canton, to ensure it was firmly in my pocket.

My brother, 3 years older than me had been pressed into making sure I got to the ground and returned home safely and wasn't best pleased to have me tagging along, but it was part of the deal when my Mum got the tickets.

Once in the ground, Enclosure ticket, I was free to roam and found myself pressed up against the Enclosure wall on tip-toe most of the game, barely seeing much action and wishing I'd brought a ladder !

I can recall the goal quite well, Nigel Rees bombing down the wing and crossing for Clarkie to score and bedlam ensued, the surge of the crowd jumping and back-slapping still brings a grin to my face, especially at the dire times over the years that our faith in the club dipped like a wonky rollacoaster.

A few years later found me playing as a teenager for Cardiff City Supporters in the Cardiff Sunday League. The shirts, well-worn were donated by the club and incredibly were from that 1970-71 season.

Not quite appreciating the significance the shirts were replaced by another donated set this time from the 1975/76 season with the classic blue and white stripe.

It's hard to think that, probably on some tip somewhere is buried a set of shirts worn by those giants ! If only I had kept a few !

Tony Woolway

My First Music Memory

At home, we’d always have music on, and my taste now has greatly been influenced by my dad’s music, which is a mix of 80s with elements of pop-punk and all-around upbeat songs.

However, my earliest memories around music are definitely to do with musicals, especially the Disney Channel Originals.

My dad being the person to introduce my younger sister and me to these.

My memory isn’t the best and is foggy so I will be looking back on a couple of small memories I have from around this time.

One of the first memories was of a High School Musical 2 toy, It was a small, grey, plastic phone filled with a selection of the songs from the film.

The songs themselves were separate from the ‘phone’, each song was on a clear piece of plastic that had the character who sang the song on, the easiest way to remember what song each piece of plastic played.

As this was only a kid’s toy, it wasn’t full tracks only snippets of certain songs.

I vividly remember traveling down to Newport on the bus and sticking in my earphones and listening to ‘Bet on it’ on repeat for the 30-minute journey.

Unfortunately, little me was heartbroken when I dropped it in the bathtub and it broke, to this day I miss that little piece of plastic.

The second memory is a short one however I doubt I’ll ever be able to forget this one as it was recorded on my mum’s phone.

My younger sister and I shared a room which meant that I had access to her cd player and cd collection.

One of my personal favourites to borrow was the Camp Rock 2 soundtrack.

Facing the window, I would perform the song, with the correct choreography, to the ‘audience’, the teddies that were on the window sill and outside.

I can see the one specific time vividly, I was dancing and singing along to ‘Brand new day’ from the soundtrack and my entire room was a mess.

As I was facing the window,my back was to the door and I didn’t realize my mum had come in and recorded the whole thing.

I was so embarrassed but to this day I dance around my university room and dance and sing to musicals.

Since then my love for musicals has grown and even sparked my interest in Drama, later taking it for GCSEs.

These kid movies hold a special place in my heart and whenever I go back to re-watch them or listen to the soundtracks, I’m left with a feeling of nostalgia and they always manage to brighten my day.

Katherine Witts

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Keep Calm and Read the Keep Cardiff Live blog

Hello and welcome to our new Keep Cardiff Live blog! 

This will be our new regular feature, helping you to start your week every Monday with a range of different topics. From music, to motivational tips, drink and food to fitness and wellbeing, mental health to opinion pieces and music memories. Post-pandemic this will hopefully expand to events around Cardiff and what’s going on in the city- we can only reminisce and dream for now…

These times have tested us- those breathing a sigh of relief for the end of home-schooling will know. But it has also unlocked passions for others. Kick starting a workout routine with Joe Wicks or mastering the perfect Sourdough, it’s given us time to lend a hand to things we may not normally have the chance to do. 

As we emerge from the longsome lockdown, there are some lessons that we may have learnt. Maybe learning the art of patience after having countless minutes lost to Zoom buffering, or the fact that we used to take seeing family and friends for granted and will now cherish those moments. The simplest of things such as coffee with a friend will turn into treasured moments with loved ones.

We know that life can be tough at the moment, with ever changing restrictions and rules guiding our lives every day, but there is hope and ways to help how we’re feeling. Whether you lose yourself playing an instrument or find whipping up yet another loaf of banana bread your perfect way to unwind, there is no right or wrong way. Hopefully you’ll find a bit of inspiration within this blog, as well as finding some escapism from the chaos.

So, keep your eyes peeled and join us every Monday for the new Keep Cardiff Live Blog!

Don’t forget to let us know if there are any topics or areas you’d like to see in the posts, as we’ll keep it varied weekly. 

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Retro Album Review - 10cc The Original Soundtrack

Released 11 March 1975, “The Original Soundtrack,” the band’s third album showed a band at their very peak as musicians, showcasing their amazing creativity.

Since the self-titled debut 10cc and its follow up, the brilliant Sheet Music the band, benefiting from their own Strawberry Studios, meant the band could indulge themselves without the worry of clock-watching and bean counting record company execs.

The album was the first to be released by Mercury Records after signing the band for $1 million in February 1975, on the strength of hearing the band’s “I’m Not In Love,“ splitting from Jonathan King’s UK record label in a contract buy out.

The album’s opening track, "Une Nuit a Paris" is a real tour de force, a nine minute epic in three parts that tells the story of a Parisian prostitute and people frequenting her part of the red-light-district. Typical of band members Lol Creme and Kevin Godley’s cinematic approach to their music.

If that start didn’t grab you by the collar, up next is the album’s blockbuster of a tune “I’m Not In Love” a collaboration between the band’s two other members, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman.

With its distinctive backing of multi- tracked vocals, it quickly became a classic and the group’s second number One in the UK and a breakthrough single worldwide for the band.

Third track is “Blackmail,” another Stewart and Gouldman composition. a sordid tabloid tale with the table’s eventually turned on the dirt-digging newspaper.

Side two opens with one of the album’s stand out tracks, the slightly controversial “Second Sitting For The Last Supper”, written by all four band members.

At this time in the Seventies anything remotely blasphemous would still incur the wrath of the Mary Whitehouse brigade and the song’s content certainly raised eyebrows and not just for being a stellar rock tune.

“Brand New Day” features the silky vocals of Kevin Godley. Written in partnership with Creme, the vocal soars whilst the backing features the pair’s Gizmo, their homemade guitar effect, that complements the song perfectly.

Another Stewart/Gouldman tune follows with “Flying Junk” a medium paced song with a strong anti-drug theme “He’s a devil, and the devil’s gonna bring you down” sings Stewart and you can’t argue with his sentiments.

“Life is a Minestrone” is the album’s other single. Written by Creme and Stewart in a day after mishearing a radio presenter say something which Creme thought was too good a song title to ignore. It reached no 7 in the UK charts and referred to by a critic as “truly joyous slice of pop nonsense”.

Godley and Creme bring the album to a cheerful end with another of their film inspired tunes, “The Film of My Love”.

Gouldman takes the lead vocal in the rather show tune like finale and brings to an end one of the truly great albums of the Seventies.

If you have to recommend one album that best describes this talented bunch, then “The Original Soundtrack” is it.

A classic from a quite unique band.

TW

My First Music Memory

The music that my parents used to listen to on the radio is still played at home.

It is music from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Besides that, they also loved listening to the traditional Fado music, music from Portugal and Lisbon, my home city. 

Famous music like “Dancing Queen” by Abba (one of my mother’s favourite), “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and the legendary “Baker Street” by Gerry Raferty has been present through my life growing up.

Fado was listened mainly on the weekends especially at my grandparent’s house as they lived in a typical Lisbon bairro (Portuguese name for a small neighbourhood). 

I always heard my grandparents old neighbour singing through the window while I was playing outside. 

He was a retired mechanic and was always playing Fado music especially those from the bogged legends of Fado, Amalia Rodrigues and Carlos do Carmo.

My first memory of someone singing to me was my mother, before putting me in to bed she always sang the music "Na Cabana Junto a Praia" sung by José Cid, it is a lyric that I personally love, not only because it touches on a memory when I was a child, but it is a lyric of love and has a melody that is very romantic and moving.

I remember my mother after having had an operation on her vocal cords a few years ago, trying to sing this song and feeling disappointed and sad with herself because singing was something she had always loved and after the operation it was no longer the same voice, but as I always told her and I always say, her voice marked my childhood, and influenced me a lot in my life, because without music I can't work, and that's thanks to my mum and dad that every time we cooked we had music playing and every time we sang and danced.

These are memories that during this pandemic we will not be able to repeat again, but it is moments like these that make us who we are daily, and that offer us a better way of living.

The pandemic brought a lot of bad things to our mental health but personally made me reflect with life, moments that we always took for granted and now we can't have them, the pandemic made me realize that we have to live every moment as if it was the last, whether it is music, family or school.

Life during this last year has turned around, Everything that we programmed and dreamed of was destroyed or postponed, teaching us to accept a “No” and to understand that we have to be stronger and improve our lives.

We Have learned to remember things that we miss and dreams that were not realized.

I can say that this pandemic made me stronger, and taught me not to give up.

The music was a help and inspiration to me during the Lockdown.

Francisco Diońisio