Tag Archives: Bohemian

Robinson – ‘You’ll Never Be Her’

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Robinson is pretty much the epitome of the idea of a ‘tortured artist’. Recently he has received rave reviews from music insiders like Will.I.AM, who has described him as being ‘An awesome talent’. His single ‘You’ll Never Be Her’ has a sort of Baltic, bohemian feel to it and is pretty depressing. The beat is kept by a tambourine, which gives it a rustic feel. The song is about a young couple who were meant to be married, but the night before their wedding the girl is killed, which then pushes the man into a deep depression. Imagine the story line of Moulin Rouge, but without the happy start.

The lyrics are put together in an impressive way and are pretty beautiful. The melody is pretty similar the whole way through, but there is a slightly happier section nearing the end when Robinson is explaining why he has become a bit of a man whore! Robinson is obviously a very talented singer and artist and you can really hear the pain in his voice and wonder if the story he is telling actually happened to him.

Even though most of the song is similar, it is still very compelling and it is easy to listen to (unless you are in a weepy mood) over and over again to try and get a better picture of what the song is about.

I would suggest Robinson to anyone who likes depressing songs and being able to say that they have found a new band with little following. I like this single, however it feels a little pretentious, but then again most music is, and this is the sort of  music that you could imagine in a ‘hip’ tent in a festival. The singing is fantastic and the lyrics are beautiful. Its interesting and different from the other music you would generally find out there at the moment, sadly while writing this review I have been pretty rushed, so I don’t feel that I have really done Robinson justice. I would say just listen to it. It won’t be every one’s cup of tea, but if it is you may have just found yourself a new favourite artist.

Lucie Douglas

Gentle Mystics- ‘Gentle Mystics’

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Gentle Mystics are a band who are mainly based in London and are signed to the record label ‘Emerging Species’, but that is pretty much all the concrete information that I can find out about them. Listening to their music it feels like they are a travelling troupe of musicians (most likely travelling with a circus of sorts). To me they seem very folky and remind me of the bohemian times in Paris (thing Moulin Rouge, but with the occasional rap verse). As a band they are strangely compelling and very unusual, however I think its on the border of pretentious, although I can’t really explain why I get this feeling: I am probably just jealous!

 

The first song on Gentle Mystics self-titled album is named ‘Sit with me’ and is incredibly creepy. It feels like a mix between a witch casting a spell, Kate Bush and a prostitute driven crazy by syphilis singing in the streets in 18th century Paris. It’s an interesting song and the singer is very talented, even if it does feel that I am listening to it from a haunted house. The next song is called ‘Vagney Massive’ and it isn’t really a song, it just sounds like one and a half minutes in a French pub a long time ago. I guess that they as a band are trying to set the scene for their album, but this is why it feels a bit pretentious to me. They seem to feel that they are so fabulous that the band sitting chatting creates a song!

 

The third song is called ‘Spiralling Breeze’, and it gives the album a theme and variation feel to the album. It starts up in much the same way as the first song, but then a slightly techno feel is added to it and then rapping comes in. It is interesting as it takes what is normally found in this type of music and changes it. And the rapping doesn’t actually sound too out of place! ‘Midnight 3 Days Ago’ is an instrumental song that is pretty chilled and laid back with a swing/jazz feel to it. It again feels like it wouldn’t be out of place in an underground Parisian pub while the people drink away their sorrows.

 

There are fourteen songs on the album and they are all slightly different, however they all mainly follow the same creepy theme of the Parisian underground. It would be repetitive to go into detail about them all, so I won’t. They all use the same sort of musical concepts, but they are all pretty different. I can imagine them playing in a club in the underground scene in London, and it being an amazing night. The music is all very well put together, so if you like music that is pretty unusual and probably the majority of people that are fans are so because that makes them ‘alternative’, then great. I like their music as it is interesting and doesn’t go with the majority of modern music, but it’s just all a bit ‘cool’ for me.