In this autumn edition of LeftLion's Latest Listen, our music team reviews new releases from Vona Vella, Cara Flynn and Dekker...
Single: Vona Vella - Bear Trap
Vona Vella made a huge impression when they appeared at Pete Doherty’s Strap Originals Showcase at Brighton earlier in the year. This Nottingham-based five piece have impressed other big names in the industry too, supporting the likes of The Libertines, Morcheeba and Tim Burgess at sell-out gigs as well as Pete Doherty on his recent European tour.
Bear Trap’s official video was filmed live at The Grove in Nottingham and was inspired by a true life experience of Dan Cunningham, one of the band’s founding members, about being trapped in the everyday routines of working just to be able to survive, and looking for a chance to break free.
The song has a certain poppy indie vibe to it, which nods to Belle and Sebastian and The Coral, with the song being driven along by jangly guitar chords which are interspersed with some innovative instrumental breaks. What really makes it special is the wonderful harmonious chemistry of the vocals of Dan Cunningham and Izzy Davis, which blend together perfectly complimenting the melodies and rhythms provided by the rest of the band. @vonavella (Claire Spencer)
Single: Cara Flynn - you're the pinnacle
It's an understated start to this song: a strummed guitar, hazy with folk patterns, but growing in confidence. But the sound is deceptively simple - the chords ringing out are beautifully structured and provide just the right level of support for Cara's thoughtful vocal when it arrives.
"Oh could I ever let go when you're in my soul... like this". It's a love song, unpicking the complexities of flooding emotion to great effect, but through only a handful of cleverly selected words. That takes real, rare, skill.
Cara is playing at The Bodega tonight (3rd October) in support of Ellur and Fright Years. @caraaamusic (Phil Taylor)
Album: Dekker - Neither Up Nor Down
You can read our interview with Brookln here.
Born in the US, but now living in our fair Nottingham, Brookln Dekker (note, not a typo!) brings into being his fourth LP. Let’s cut to the chase: a remarkable record of great depth and feeling, Neither Up Nor Down is one of the albums of the year and utterly unmissable.
Ostensibly occupying the same wheelhouse as Bon Iver, Jose Gonzalez et al, the slightly jaunty, upbeat acoustic-led music and the frequently downbeat, introspective lyrics found within this record are of such quality to ensure Dekker is worthy of being seen as proud of his peers. Those constituent parts coalesce so elegantly here, creating a holistic, beautifully complete overview of lived experience.
Your focus can be drawn to any of the individual moods presented by Dekker here and an appropriate reaction will be elicited. If you want to hear a bright, indie-pop leaning set of songs and enjoy them while they soundtrack sunny life moments, you absolutely can. If you want to dive into the lyrics and engage with them on their more introspective terms, you will find much to interrogate. This flexibility in and of itself is an achievement in production and composition. The real beauty is in the alchemy of how they’ve been fused.
Just like life the disparate, often conflicting feelings expressed by the music and words should be acknowledged as vital parts of the wider whole. This isn’t a happy album that just happens to have deep lyrics; it’s a rich, dense LP where the happiness of the music is integral to the themes explored, acting as a joyful counter-balance to the weighty subjects confronted in the writing.
The lyrics are presented with great sensitivity and frankness, describing everyday hurt without obfuscation. This direct honesty only enhances that core tension between music and words, cementing the thematic coherence. Dekker’s words are forensic in their appraisal of emotion, unsparing in their incisiveness and relentlessly, ruthlessly honest. However, the way in which he stitches such vulnerability into his songs – painting scenes that will be familiar to many – anchors the work in a deeply relatable reality.
Familiar Beat seemingly centres around an in-car fracas – "You said you really need silence / so I’m silent for about a mile" – wherein Dekker’s restlessness to resist said silence results in that jittery, impatient feeling of emotions frustrated, reflected here in the boom-ba beat of the propulsive music. It’s economical in it’s description, but all the more effective for it.
There’s more than a hint of Sufjan Stevens' Carrie & Lowell in this album, both sonically and in how Dekker uses the format itself to meticulously lay out each thought process and rumination, mulling over emotions from a multitude of slightly different angles – as is the way of the overthinker. You can feel him reaching out for understanding with each word, straining to make sense of so many swirling thoughts, to create order from chaos.
It’s here that the name of the LP comes into focus. Neither Up Nor Down may evoke prevarication and uncertainty, but in this context the overriding presumption is of an acceptance. Acceptance of the myriad facets of the fundamentally messy human experience, of the value of the middle ground and carving a protective niche for yourself amid such buffeting winds as the world and your own mind can conjure.
Change the Chord, like the album’s closer Let’s Turn Over the Leaf, focuses more on possibility. It demonstrates a potential naivety in the desire for change; that feeling that if only the emotional baggage weighing you down could be cast away and forgotten, everything might be different. Dekker creates a parallel universe to tempt his partner: "Maybe if I change the chord it will change our minds / Take us to another space, another time / A better place to be, somewhere we can both fly / Unfettered fantasy, big enough for both sides". It’s such a sweetly straightforward resolution, and one that only gives more power to the realisation that life is so rarely this easy.
"I’m not feeling up now / so can we get down?" from the infinitely friendly and coastal-sounding Not Feeling Up reiterates the desire to continue, however, to keep experiencing despite the adversity. The music here – gentle and bright – is weaponised; whether it’s in denial or in defiance you can’t be sure, but the need expressed is universal: we all want to dance away our issues at some point.
That I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface of this record after multiple listens is both a reviewer’s dream and emblematic of how deep the seams run into the foundational bedrock of this album. Eminently listenable yet irresistibly inviting of deeper examination, Neither Up Nor Down is a wonderful, important achievement by this Notts-based artist.
@dekker.brookn (Kieran Lister)
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
