If It's Too Loud...

"Fractures," the latest single from Katie Malco, is one of the most lovely songs you'll hear all year. It's not reinventing any genre of music. You've heard songs like "Fractures" before, but none have been done this well. It's a modern day neo-folk/indie rock masterpiece, staying at mid-tempo throughout but somehow feeling more intense as it goes on. Despite not having the cheeriest subject matter, the song comes across as uplifting and as a quiet anthem. Malco says of the song:  "Fractures is about coming face to face with a version of yourself you don’t even recognise, and growing into and understanding your true self and figuring out your own needs in life. My ex partner's girlfriend before me was an extremely beautiful, intelligent and, by all accounts, incredibly nice person. She was from the coast and she surfed, skated, hiked, climbed and she was a scientist. I grew up in a rough midlands industrial town and didn't do that ...

Photo by Sam Manville The latest single from Katie Malco's upcoming album may be a mellow ballad, but it hides an intensity. "Brooklyn" could have just been your standard, generic singer/songwriter type of song. But it's far from that. The clang in the guitar is your first hint that this song is different, as it ratchets up the tension. Malco's voice ever so slowly gets more desperate as the song goes on, until the song eventually explodes into a glorious alt-rocker. Katie Malco says of the song:   "' Brooklyn' is about a friend of mine that moved to start a new life in New York. We've been friends for years and I've always felt protective of her. I went to New York for the first time to see her, having hardly even left the UK before, so it felt like a massive significant trip for me. It was her birthday and we had a big night to celebrate. On the last night we had a heart to heart where I tried to persuade her to come home - at this poi...

Photo by Sam Manville When you first start listening to "Animal," the new single from Katie Malco, you'd be forgiven to expect a mellow, plaintive singer/songwriter track. And then the guitars kick in, and you're being brought on this unexpected ride of alt-rock bliss. "Animal" just straight up rocks, but it's still a deeply personal song for Malco. The song documents her experience in a small industrial town and using substances to escape. As she explains:  " I couldn’t go home, but being out every night meant drinking or doing drugs every night. Sometimes it was genuinely fun and sometimes I became acutely aware that I was desperately grabbing at something I couldn’t find in my sober life – happiness, stability and a feeling of general ease. There was one night that always sticks out to me in my mind as a real low point because I was being a really bad drunk – embarrassing myself and feeling really unwell – and that’s what Animal is about....