From Sydney, Australia
Recommended if you like Shirley and Dolly Collins; Efficient Space\u2019s Sky Girl compilation
Up next Fire of God\u2019s Love reissued by Freedom to Spend on 14 November<\/p>\n
As any nun worth her salt might tell you, revelation can come from the most unlikely places. Such is the case with Fire of God\u2019s Love, a 1973 album by the Australian nun Sister Irene O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n
Simple and spectral, it is a marvel of analogue pop music \u2013 a collection of airy folk songs, played largely on drum machine, acoustic guitar and synth organ, which sometimes feels more spiritually aligned with cult singer-songwriters like Princess Demeny and Mary Margaret O\u2019Hara than most other non-secular records. Set for reissue next month by Freedom to Spend \u2013 an arm of the cult electronic label Rvng dedicated to high-quality reissues of 70s and 80s amateur synth records \u2013 Fire of God\u2019s Love is also a quintessential winter record, perfect for the cooler months ahead.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor first started making music in the 50s while living in a convent in Singapore, and released music in the 60s under the pseudonym Myriam Frances, as to avoid ruffling any feathers in her community. In Singapore, O\u2019Connor met another nun, Sister Marimil Lobregat, who had experience working in audio technology; back in Sydney, the pair would meet at the city\u2019s Catholic Radio and Television Centre to work on music together, recording on a four-track tape recorder. The resulting songs are devoutly religious but skirt lines between devotional music and contemporary pop; some tracks, such as album opener Fire (Luke 12:49) contain elements of dub, while others, such as Teenager\u2019s Chorus, feel of a piece with pastoral British folk music. The whole thing feels a little like a miracle: a sweet, compelling pop record from a hugely unlikely source. Shaad D\u2019Souza<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s best new tracksRosal\u00eda.<\/p>\n
Rosal\u00eda \u2013 Berghain
German operatics, lyrics comparing diminishing yourself for love to transubstantiation, glass-shattering falsetto, \u201cdivine intervention\u201d courtesy of Bj\u00f6rk, and Yves Tumor reprising Mike Tyson\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll fuck you \u2019til you love me\u201d \u2013 who else has the vision? LS<\/p>\n
Lankum \u2013 Ghost Town
The only act capable of making the Specials\u2019 1981 hit even more haunting, Lankum swap dub for rumbling drone and the \u201cya ya ya!\u201d for fathoms-deep chorals. Happy Halloween! LS<\/p>\n
Navy Blue \u2013 Orchards
The US rapper\u200b and producer (who appeared on Loyle Carner\u2019s latest LP) spills his heart in a deeply affecting single verse\u200b. As he navigates grief and growth, he learns \u201cit\u2019s hard to fill the shoes of who you never been\u200b\u201d. BBT<\/p>\n
Magdalena Bay \u2013 Unoriginal
\u201cSomeone\u2019s gotta care \/ Put things in their place \/ While the world keeps burning,\u201d Mica Tenenbaum sings, playing a depressed shopkeeper maintaining order as the song\u2019s breezy strum clenches and distorts. LS<\/p>\n
Bog Band \u2013 Mocashno Days
Trace notes of R&B flicker through the sweet stream of tinkling synths and loose, scratchy guitar that leads the Irish duo\u2019s new EP, which gradually bumps its way to a loose rhythm. LS<\/p>\n
TeeZandos x Cristale \u2013 No, Yes!
\u201cBeen aggy before it was trendy!\u201d Proving there\u2019s life in the classic UK drill sound yet, the two MCs seemingly try to outdo each other for lyrical dexterity and chest-prodding provocation. BBT<\/p>\n
Betty Hammerschlag \u2013 Deep Subscribe to the Guardian\u2019s rolling Add to Playlist selections on Spotify \u2013 or use the playlist URL to transfer it to Apple<\/a>, Tidal<\/a> or other services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Sydney, AustraliaRecommended if you like Shirley and Dolly Collins; Efficient Space\u2019s Sky Girl compilationUp next Fire of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-110930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
This chiming, softly fidgeting track leads off Fake Girl, the beautiful new album by this bedroom dream-popper, one for any Grouper fans or those beguiled by Joanne Robertson\u2019s recent LP<\/a>. BBT<\/p>\n