Three awesome things visited my ears this week. Def take a minute with these if you are craving new songs of distinction…

Ed Dowie – The Obvious (Needle Mythology)

I have not heard this upcoming record, but 2017’s The Uncle Sold LP has achieved cult classic status for me. Ed is drawing heavily on Robert Wyatt (drinking game: quaff every time I mention Wyatt in this column), but I’d also mention Peter Gabriel, Magnetic Fields and Richard Youngs’ masterful Beyond The Valley of Ultrahits. Gorgeous, innovative and touching songs therein. This new album seems promising. The teaser below has a melody to die to.

Snails – Hard-Wired (Glass Modern)

Snails hail from Bristol but this band couldn’t be any more Glasgow if it tried. It’s so Glasgow, it’s almost like a Portlandia-style skit poking fun at Glasgow, and I would watch that show. Pastels/Belle & Sebastian are the launching pad. Add Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, Donovan and Richard Thompson style early ’70s folk-rock. Accomplished playing and songwriting on this 2020 LP, awesome vocal harmonies, this band should be bigger. The live in the studio clip below is fantastic.

Yuko Kono – Fragment (Self-released)

Here’s another one from 2020 that is way too under the radar. Bizarrely, it’s not on vinyl yet, just digital. Trust me it deserves a wide release. This is a songwriter from Tokyo with an Australian (?) ensemble backing her up. Francis Plagne shows up here on bass (see column #29). Think the mellower elements of Slapp Happy, Fairport Convention and Nagisa Ni Te: slow, elegant folk-rock, art-rock, and even lite prog at times. Can’t stop hitting play on this one. Thanks to Tough Love Records for sending this my way.