Griff says; Stephen Harrison - true yesterday, true today, true tomorrow

Those of you with very good memories may recall that I first wrote about Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Stephen Harrison (pictured) way back in November 2010 (see 'here' if you need to catch up on the biographical details). At that time I was so enamoured of his song 'The Colour of Black is Black' that it went on to feature in our 2010 Streetlamp Festive Thirty. What really attracted me to Stephen's music was undoubtedly the timbre of his voice; pitched somewhere between Richard Hawley and David Bowie (not a bad place to be) it has a rich but weary quality that provides an authentic tang of melancholia to his lyrics. Stephen's musical history stretches back to the punk days of yore and it would be fair to say that, despite shifting somewhat across the guitar-based rock spectrum over the years, his music has remained fixed within that milieu. That is why I was surprised recently when Stephen got in touch to announce the release of his latest recording, 'Today Tomorrow' and provided the additional information that he had eschewed the electric guitar to record a 10-song album of acoustic-based, contemporary folk songs.



Having now had a week or so to fully acquaint myself with his new style I can genuinely report that the change has proved to be an unqualified success. Those of you who read these 'Griff says' pieces to keep up-to-date with the best in broken-hearted, reflective, confidential song-writing performed in a spare, intimate and unembelished acoustic style are going to lap this up. Here are Stephen's own videos of two of my favourite songs from the album to whet your appetite. First up is the magnificent and moody 'Sphinx City', which, with its sombre lyric, wistful minor key and unexpected chord changes gives it an air of a French chanson or even (praise of praise) a lost Leonard Cohen classic;




Next up is the equally dignified and accomplished 'And If';




I hope you enjoyed those. There are eight more tracks on the album and I suggest that you take your time to sit down, turn out the lights, and really listen to it from start to finish to get the best from the hushed and almost private nature of the songs.
As usual, Stephen is making the CD available from his own Close Up Records site. The album can be downloaded for free in digital form from his bandcamp site and from his last.fm page. The latter also has much of his earlier work available if this latest album piques your interest. Stephen also has his own fine little website 'here', which is well worth a look.


Griff
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Griff says; From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs.

St. Andrew's Day today and a good excuse to take some Scottish connected musicians I was going to write about anyway, and lazily throw them together in the style much loved by journalists and bloggers the world over. The first artist I want to introduce is Stephen Harrison (pictured), a singer/songwriter born in London, but for some time now based in Scotland. I think Stephen is exactly the sort of under-rated but highly talented artist that The Streetlamp exists to bring to your attention. Moving to Edinburgh and The College Of Art in 1977, he was a founder member of the post-punk group Metropak. In 1984, Stephen formed Heyday. When that band broke up in 1985, Stephen embarked on solo musical projects that are still evolving and through which he continues to create engaging music. These songs are released through Close Up Records UK. Very kindly, he also allows several of his songs to be freely downloaded on his last.fm page. I'm going to feature one of those tracks here; The Colour of Black Is Black, as I really think it's a wonderful song and I like the compelling yet simple video that Stephen has made to accompany it. This song is a great showcase for Stephen's pleasing baritone and is reminiscent of such Streetlamp favourites as Richard Hawley, Tindersticks and The Divine Comedy. Have a listen to Stephen's other tracks on last.fm and you'll hear a bit of Scott Walker and Bowie in there too, so whatever else you can say about him he certainly has impeccable musical taste.



Our next act is indie-pop trio The Social Services who are two thirds Glaswegian and one third Swedish (I suspect that's probably the perfect indie-pop mix). Anyway, they're playing at Glasgow Popfest this December, so if you can get along to see them then I suggest that you do so. In the meantime, they've made their fantastic song The Baltic Sea available as a free download on their last.fm page, so if you don't already have it now's your chance. I warn you though, once you've heard it you'll want to buy It's Nothing Personal, It's National Security, and no bad thing either. Here's the video:



Last, but not least, I want to draw your attention to the second hand marching band who, for the uninitiated, are a sort of Scottish, lo-fi, post-rock, indie-folk super-group. Featuring 20-plus members from multiple other bands, including The Just Joans, Eagleowl, The Lula Maes and The Belle Hops among others (some of whom have featured on The Streetlamp and some of whom certainly will in the future). The band have been together since the end of 2007 and play guitars, ukeleles, mandolins, triangles, accordians, trumpets, tenor horns, saxophones, trombones, glockenspiel, castanets, marching drums, melodicas, woodblocks, tamborines, bells, violins, flutes, clarinets and anything else available. They describe their music as untraditional folk music and I think that that is as good a description as any. The second hand marching band have lots of free songs available to download on last.fm and kindly invite you to help yourselves. I'm featuring two videos here (both songs available at last.fm); the first is the amazing A Dance to Half Death and the second is a rather fun, live, marching version of Don't!, which as it takes place through the streets of St. Andrews, rather nicely bring us back to where we came in. Enjoy!





Griff
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