Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio Archives | Right Chord Music Blog

Rakovicky Soldier On Through Their ‘Ghost Town’

rightchord — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:55:36 +0000

The new single by Slovak band Rakovicky, ‘Ghost Town’ tells a tale of heartbreak and newfound hope.

Rakovicky – Ghost Town

Killer guitars start laying the ground, stirring a lingering melancholic tone with their bittersweet strumming. And yet, it’s the war drums that drive the sound forward with a sense of resilience. This is a man setting off on a quest for meaning right when all hope seems lost. That’s the story being told in Slovak band Rakovicky’s properly titled new single “Ghost Town”.

Lead singer Marek, who lends the band his surname, wields his hurtful and understated singing to lay out the dark turns his life has taken in the verses. He does, however, always make it a point to end every stanza on a hopeful note. “Ghosts are playing/Minds are praying/Count on me and I will do the same”, he goes, always inviting his loved one to hold his hand so they can soldier on together.

He musters a bit more momentum in the chorus, though, stopping just short of wailing, as simple piano chords join the soundscape. “Hold on to who we are/Maybe we could stop”, he belts accompanied by a solemn choir. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel. And, even though they cannot see it just yet, they’re much more likely to find by sticking together.

Hailing from Bratislava, Marek Rakovicky has been turning to singing and songwriting as an outlet for his deepest emotions ever since his childhood. He is also a producer and sound engineer, lending his behind-the-scenes talent to a number of other artists in his LVGNC studios.

“The killer melancholic guitar strumming combines with the resilient war drums to create an effect of soldiering on through tough times.”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Tracy Cloud’s New Album Leaves Us ‘Spellbound’

rightchord — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 04:14:36 +0000

From earth mother to angry rock mistress and pop diva, Tracy Cloud’ “Spellbound” flashes the many cards in the singer’s deck.

Introducing Tracy Cloud

Born in Tenessee, Tracy Cloud is the owner of a unique and expressive voice. Her new release Spellbound is an impressive trip around multiple subgenres of rock and occasionally pop music exploring love and magic. Its romantic incursions revolve mostly around ill-fated affairs plagued by abandonment and deceit, but we do get a few happy endings here and there. Themes of mysticism are sprinkled all through, sometimes as metaphors for infatuation, but they can be often quite literal. And Cloud’s voice manages to marry each different soundscape, with their respective idiosyncrasies, always remaining credible.

Tracy Cloud – Spellbound

The album opener “Cannot Help Myself” sports an aggressive rock chick vibe. At its tinniest, her delivery recalls the wild screechiness of early Alanis Morissette, while the lower notes ooze a throaty Shakira-esque vibe. Her rage stems from being insanely besotted with someone who, sadly, only seems to need her every now and then to handle some… ahem… extra-official business, keeping her in the shadows. Then comes the second track “Good Enough” and ups the dramatic vibe a notch. It’s a piano-driven piece and already showcases her versatility, as she sings in an almost classical style. At the right moments, she does, however, retain a coarseness that scratches your ears just enough to give you a small taste of her suffering as she processes her earth-shattering emotional trauma.

The next track “Walk on by” takes a more radio-friendly pop-rock approach with its sweeter, albeit still guitar-heavy, melody. Like a teenage girl, she shouts out her disappointment at being solemnly ignored by her crush. The theme of forsakenness also drives “Forevermore”, the following song. Now veering more towards 80s pop rock, her voice takes on a post-disco diva swagger as the icy, reverb-rich production recalls oldies like Sandra’s “Maria Magdalena”. The aethereal choir keeps her company as she mourns over an “eternal” love story that ends up lasting but one night.

This is where the album first takes a more mystical turn after conquering more mundane territories. On “Wizardess” she breathes life into a folk-rock tune featuring a solo that could have been lifted from a Rhapsody of Fire or Shaman oeuvre. Flutes and acoustic guitars pepper the song all through as she speaks of a mysterious sorceress hidden in the woods and feared by all. She has done Alanis and Shakira… well, now her voice is echoing the magic of late Liechtenstein gothic metal fairy Sabine Dünser.

After a series of world-class rock tunes, the album does hit a bit of a hiccup. “Invisible Man” is a more standard pop-rock tune about the pain of being forsaken by a lover. The lyrics are well crafted, though, and she makes for a pretty convincing defenceless girl devoid of all edge and/or supernatural power she was wielding before. It’s hard not to feel moved by the vulnerability with which she sings words like “I know it’s out of my hands, but could you miss me now and then?”. Not bad by any means, but it pales slightly in comparison to its predecessors.

She regains momentum, nonetheless, on the next track “True”, a late 90s pop-rock jam. The warmth of the acoustic guitars is phenomenally seductive and her high-pitched vocals manage a softness absent up to this point. Who’d have known? After so much heartbreak, she is finally indulging herself in some sweet sweet requited love. We can’t help but plunge into the lighter-than-air melody, just as she dives into the blue sea of her lover’s eyes. Well, it just has to work eventually if you give it enough tries, right? Simply an enchanting tune! However, just as you thought happiness would last forever, here comes “I’ll never get over you”. It seems like this girl can’t take a break! A simple soft rock tune, it’s a bit of a second hiccup admittedly, as it merely revisits the themes of heartbreak present in the first half with little new to offer.

At this point “Fairy Queen” comes along to effortlessly resuscitate all magic. An extraordinary country pop piece, it has her voice gliding through the notes like the wind through the fields. Mentions of honey wine, sage, thyme and glimmering jewellery, all left as offerings to the wee folk, revive the mystical tone that suits her so well. This sweet incantation gives way to perhaps the set’s biggest surprise: a funky groove! “When I hear you say it” is so contagious it’s guaranteed to make you jump from your chair immediately. Her vocals are at their smoothest, melting like hot butter as she transpires with bliss every time she hears her lover say “I love you”. Superb!

Then, we get the album-closing title-track, an eerie synthpop tune that has her awe-struck, expressing how she is the victim of some sweeping love spell. Once again, her voice takes a sharp turn towards a higher, almost shrill, zone, helping to concretise her pain.

The set’s main charm lies in Cloud’s strikingly versatile voice and its ability to journey through an array of different genres. Also, kudos to the production, which brings so many different styles to life in one single album and does it with an excellence that matches the stellar performance of our vocalist.

“The album surprises with its deft handling of genres from gothic metal through synthpop to funk-pop. Both the production and Cloud’s fantastic vocals remain convincing through out”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Digsby Get Inside Our Head With ‘Buzzing Fly’

rightchord — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 10:13:58 +0000

The third single off Digsby’s upcoming EP takes us on an eerie mind trip.

Digsby – ‘Buzzing Fly’

Mustering all that irresistible sleaziness of old-school blues rock, a simple bass riff, paired up with a guitar, sets us off on this mental trip. “Bad to the bone”? Well, more like stoned to the bone this time. Though initially, the soundscape sends a few nods to bad boy biker rock, lead vocalist Joe Webb doesn’t sound so keen on looking for trouble and getting into brawls for the sake of it. He’s way too engaged in his own mind trip on his journey back home.

He actually sounds playful as he utters such paranoid words as “Now I turn my face to see/Invisible people are talking to me” to the rippling sound of distorted guitars and keyboards. “Nobody said we had to suffeeeeer”, he wails in his surprise. To then winkingly add “Not if we beat them to it”. The playfulness gets upped a notch as his “dadada”s glide along the solo near the song’s last third.

Every second of this track is designed to draw you into this world of spooky supernatural images and unspeakable sounds and sensations our lad is experiencing. And it’s so flawlessly crafted it kind of hurts… Even the way they quietly reprise the chorus a cappella right after the solo to suddenly kick off the instrumentation full-throttle in the second verse is a blast!

This is alternative British rock at its best, combining all obligatory ingredients: killer guitar and bass work, a mix of vintage and psychedelic sound fabrics, a self-deprecating devil-may-care demeanour and, most important of all, tonnes of highly contagious uncompromised fun!

Digsby hails from Bristol and this is the third single off their upcoming EP “Invisible People”, due in December. Next single “The River” is due in October.

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Jiré Saffron Welcomes You To ‘Hotel Casa Amor’

rightchord — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 09:15:00 +0000

A sultry RnB jam, ‘Hotel Casa Amor’ displays Jiré Saffron’s power of seduction.

Jiré Saffron ‘Hotel Casa Amor’

A sultry RnB jam, “Hotel Casa Amor” displays Jiré Saffron’s power of seduction

Let the rose petals rain from the ceiling along the hallway. Jiré Saffron is patiently waiting for you with a bottle of Champagne in his hands. His new single “Hotel Casa Amor” is on, filling up the room dripping with passion. Our songster will be your all-purpose servant (at some point he even suggests he might literally be a professional, make of it what you will…) and he is intent on making this a night you’ll never forget…

The classy lounge RnB beat rides a piano melody, creating a beguiling sophisti-pop-esque soundscape, in a “Neyo meets Lady Sade” style. His smooth, breathy vocals are pretty convincing in making you believe they are coming from a hotel room, sultrily wooing you. True to its title (Portuguese or Spanish for “Love House Hotel), this song leads you into a new haven, where “anything goes”… “You can spend the night if you can last till morning”, he tease-dares you.

However, where our Nigerian Commander of the British Empire might have opted for subtler, more vaguely suggestive words, Saffron makes good on the spicy promise carried by his surname. Lines like “We screaming” and “F*ck me like u hate me” shamelessly spell out some more explicit descriptions of his plans for the night. “You on me, and me on my best”, he coos exhaling his cheeky chutzpah. He’s good and he knows it…

Saffron self-describes as based in “New York via Dallas” and this is the third release off his EP “NoiRnB, Vol. 1: Condo on a Cloud”, already available on Spotify. Next single “Twin Flame”, is out on 20 October, introducing the project’s forthcoming second volume.

“This classy sophisti-pop tinged RnB tune is the perfect vehicle for Saffron’s seductive breathy vocals”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Tamara Qaddoumi Crosses A Sea Of Hurt In ‘Under the Knife’

rightchord — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 07:23:19 +0000

Lebanese-Kuwaiti singer-songwriter Tamara Qaddoumi’s “Under the Knife” fuses a soothing sound and dark lyrics.

Tamara Qaddoumi – Under The Knife

The lead single from Tamara Qaddoumi’s upcoming EP “Sorry Signal”, due on 8 December, “Under the Knife” is an aethereal wave jam with an ever-soaring synth melody. Her vocals seem to have taken a few cues from fellow Beiruti semi-mystical cerebral songstress Yasmine Hamdan but with a more velvety quality and a bit more fullness. Aided by some welcome reverb effects, Qaddoumi’s voice plays like the warm embrace of some Galadriel-like entity hovering in the aether. This all combines into a breath-takingly sultry atmosphere, almost like a more New Wave-leaning recreation of Enya’s “Shepherd Moons” era.

The words she is whisper-singing are definitely not comforting, though. Her metaphor-laden lyrics are almost cryptic and ditch objective clarity for rich visual symbolism. “Sadness which follows the sails”, “Swimming under the knife”, “With the crooked hand of death /I fall behind”, “I swim but I can’t reach the water”… Whichever specific story inspired this oeuvre clearly revolves around an internal journey of self-healing or at least learning to come to terms with pain. Still the unwavering serenity of her voice plays like a sign of strength and self-assurance, as if she is certain that a bright sun is due to appear after this storm.

The accompanying music video goes for quite a literal illustration of the words and has Qaddoumi swimming in the deep sea. The silken veils wrapped around her garment light the way through dim, uninviting waters. She does, however, stop to frolic around some colourful seaweeds every now and then, like an innocent water nymph.

Tamara Qaddoumi takes inspiration from her native Kuwait and her current home Lebanon as well as her Palestinian and Scottish heritage in her work, which reflects her constant inner search for identity. She describes making and listening to her own music as her way of “staying sane”. With her previous two albums, she has been featured by the likes of Marie Claire, Vogue, and Bazaar. Her second single “Over Fire” is due on 10 November.

“With dark cryptic lyrics and a soaring aethereal synth melody, the song plays like a synthed up version of Enya’s Shepherd Moons era”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Nefeli On Clouds Dives Into The ‘Blue Lagoon’

rightchord — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 07:18:17 +0000

The new single by Nefeli On Clouds, ‘Blue Lagoon’ explores memories of a love story.

Nefeli On Clouds – Blue Lagoon

A music box melody accompanied by her nostalgia-laden vocals drives Nefeli’s third single, as she sings her nostalgic tale. She has a high-pitched delicate tone that amplifies the aching expressed in the lyrics.

The innocent happiness of basking in the sun in idyllic landscapes explored in some other similarly titled film is present here in a way, but this song is actually drenched in melancholic tears. Her loving relationship kissed and embraced by breath-taking natural beauties now lies in a distant past.

The blue lagoon referred to might be connected to some real place our mournful singer has visited at some point, but right now it is more symbolic of a pool of tears of distant memories she and her lover of yore dive into every once in a while. “The moments are gone and I can’t get back now/No mountain view, the steam has cleared”, she weeps.

The whole number plays like a sweet nursery rhyme that brings both pain and comfort to a heart trapped in time and yearning to relive past joys.

Nefeli On Clouds are a duo comprising singer Nefeli from Athens, Greece, and collaborator Alessandro, who helps her craft ethereal tunes to complement her emotional lyrics. The song is inspired by the first summer the duo spent in Italy as their romance was still in its infancy. Along with debut single One and second single Clouds, Blue Lagoon will be featured in their upcoming EP Depths of You, due early next year.

“The song wields a music box melody and Nefeli’s sweet, delicate tone to express the longing for a past she can’t relive”

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Nefeli On Clouds Float Above The Clouds

Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Elliot Porter Wades Back ‘Into The Light’

rightchord — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 05:30:38 +0000

Elliot Porter’s new single ‘Into The Light’ is a delightful Americana number celebrating true and lasting love.

Elliot Porter – Into The Light

Remember that time, in the early 2000s, when Madonna delved into a mock-country aesthetic, fiercely belting that “music makes the people come together” mantra? Well, that album also contained a less remembered acoustic guitar-driven ballad named I deserve it, which had her whisper-singing and celebrating the solace she had just found in the arms of then-husband Guy Ritchie. It may seem odd to begin a review of an Americana number with a reference to the Queen of Pop, but Cambridge-based songster Elliot Porter’s new single Into The Light may well be described as the dude-bro version of Madge’s romantic country-pop gem.

Opting for a sober, understated take on love, Porter manages to craft an atmosphere that perfectly recalls a calm romantic stroll on a farm. The acoustic guitar-driven melody gently dawns like a sunrise, shedding light on our lovers, who are probably sat by a stream, serenely savouring God’s blessing un-to their lives.

The stoic, almost broody tone fits the main theme well, given that this churl is singing about how this new love has basically rescued him from his old wild bad boy days “I was getting lost in the nights and the fantasy/Going to places I regret”, he calmly relays, to then continue: “You changed my heart (…) You saw all there was inside/When you let in the light”. “Some might even add: “I made it through the wilderness… but you made me feel like a virgin”, but I digress.

A classic country guitar riff deftly sews the stanzas together, deepening the sense of lingering satisfaction of having found one’s final true love. This fire certainly burns less intensely (or at least less profusely) than some sweeping infatuations we hear about in other love songs. And yet never at any second does his voice sound less than staunchly sure that this is the flame he wants to bask in until his very last breath.

After receiving constant airplay and praise from the BBC for his first two albums, Elliot Porter is admittedly embarking on a new phase of his career, which he describes as “more atmospheric”. According to him, the change in sound reflects new turns his own life has taken recently. He plans to release an EP next year.

“The broody guitar-driven melody and Porter’s understated vocals underline the artist’s serene and stoic take on love.”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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def.fo wants to Play It Cool

rightchord — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 06:24:55 +0000

In Play it Cool, def.fo urges you to let go of society’s phoniness and just enjoy life.

def.fo – Play It Cool

“Wanted for the theft of Hollywood costumes and props”, says the sign right at the beginning of the video, right before the smoothest rock tune kicks off. So begins Play It Cool, the latest single off Liverpool-based singer-songwriter def.fo’s debut album “Eternity” and we set off on a visual journey through our Bonnie and Clyde-esque antiheroes world.

As the music video unveils, they shimmy in a garage, pet their presumably stolen dough and just fool around in their lair, having the time of their lives, all while proudly sporting their tacky vintage outfits. The slick guitar melody perfectly embodies the message. “Your head’s too big today (…) Your ego’s running wild”, he goes in his breathy, whispery delivery, almost as if he is just too cool to belt… “No need to fake it”, he adds. In the end, they get in their 50s Cadillac and leave to ravage the city.

Son of a cult record producer (which definitely shows in his sound), Tom Powell has been writing songs since the age of three and has served as a bass-player to Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band. Now, under the alias of def.fo (a Scouse slang term for “definitely”, plus a full stop in the middle for style) has just begun what he calls his journey through “personal lines of enquiry and wide-open discussion”.

He is a self-proclaimed lover of 60s and 90s Anglo-American fare. He wrote the song as a light-hearted yet deep and sincere comment on the emptiness of our hyper capitalist world, where everything is manufactured and satisfaction is derived from chasing status and compromising one’s true self.

“This stylish retro-psychedelic jam has every inch of your body grooving”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Pusha Preme Ponders ‘What Your Love Really Cost’

rightchord — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 05:16:46 +0000

Pusha Preme chews on the bitterness of lost love on EDM banger ‘What Your Love Really Cost’.

Pusha Preme – What Your Love Really Cost

As Pusha Preme dwells on his past relationship and sorts out its impacts, we can simply get lost in the groove. His new single “What your love really cost” embodies that classic mixture of hurtful lyrics telling of love gone wrong and an infectious electronic beat.

This banger is led by a basic piano chord progression vamped up by an exciting dance beat. These combine with Preme’s wailing vocals, as he chews on the bitterness left over from this love story. His voice is slightly amplified by an echo effect, conveying a sense of loneliness, as well as a subtle electronic distortion, which helps it blend with the upbeat soundscape. “Guess the feelings really bend/Now I’m handling loss”, he laments. The vague-ish and insistent utterances of feelings of loss and sorrow accentuate the escapist atmosphere, as is the case with much of the best dance music. Just ask Haddaway “what is love”. As the song nears its end, all effects and beats vanish and leave the basic piano, weaving its sound alone in the dark.

Pusha Preme is a promising artist from Tampa, Florida. He has been receiving airplay both in his native USA and in countries such as the United Kingdom, France and South Korea. He has charted on iTunes and Apple Music in multiple countries, his song Heaven at Night reached #18 on The Billboards and his latest single Adam and Eve topped the iTunes Reggae Chart in the UK and South Africa. His album Heroes Eventually Die is due on 18 August.

“The marriage of insistent utterances of feelings of loss and sorrow and an unyielding dance beat accentuate the escapist atmosphere that characterises much of the best dance music”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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Turncoat Billy Accept “Hand Me Downs”

rightchord — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 06:32:00 +0000

Turncoat Billy’s debut single ‘Hand Me Downs’ tells of a man’s busy love life.

Turncoat Billy – Hand Me Downs

As love triangles go, this one does sound like a lot more fun than it… probably should. In their new single “Hand Me Downs”, Turncoat Billy unveil the details of this little delightful triple affair between a man, his significant other… and his lovely comfortable sofa, which accompanied his adventures all along, witnessing every push, twist and wiggle… “I can make it fit”, goes lead singer Jonny Pickles, presumably describing the moment the furniture piece entered his life and he was trying to find the perfect corner of the room to fit it into(?) There was room for someone else in his enormous heart, after all.

Of course, the “twist and shout” 60s rock groove does help convey the easy-going enjoyment, complete with a delightful bassline paving the way for Pickles’s laidback homey and joyful tone. And yet, deep though his love for his babe of the moment may be, as soon as the current arrangement starts showing signs it might not work any more, he has his heart set on who he’s picking. “If we can’t make it work together well/You best stop coming and hanging around”, so goes his ultimatum. The sofa is staying! Come and think of it, he never even made it clear he was singing about one single person…

Pickles and guitarist Luke Jacob have been friends since their teenage years but only started writing music together in 2022. They claim to have enough material for a full-length album but plan to release more singles before putting it out.

“The ‘twist and shout’ 60s rock groove paves the way for Pickles’s laidback homey vocals”

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Words Fernando de Oliveira Lúcio

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