The Bonus Track: Rachel Fannan, Melanie de Biasio, Michael Chapman, Jose Gonzalez

Rachel Fannan is a mesmerising performer with a Grace Slick-like pair of lungs

Rachel Fannan Twitter photo (Twitter)

Slow Burner

Back in 2010 I reviewed on these pages an album by Sleepy Sun, a rock band from San Francisco, called Fever. It was great, did nothing and, later that year, what I loved most about it vanished when the vocalist Rachel Williams – a mesmerising performer with a Grace Slick-like pair of lungs – left the band. Five years later and now known as Rachel Fannan, she is still, inexplicably, struggling to make that voice heard. Fannan’s new band is called Only You and their single “The Pressure”/”Let Me Burn” is currently available as a free for download at hitcityusa.com.

I Put a Mel on You

Jacques Brel, Django Reinhardt, Plastic Bertrand and, er, that’s pretty much your lot when it comes to all-conquering musical acts from Belgium. But now (and you knew there’d be a “but now”, right?) you can add Melanie de Biasio to that list. Who? Well, De Biasio has been called the “Belgian Billie Holiday” and her 2013 album No Deal has now been remixed by the likes of the Cinematic Orchestra, Gilles Peterson and Mark Oliver Everett of the Eels. Listen to “The Flow”, reworked by the Japanese electro-jazz outfit Hex.

Window Dressing

Fed up of hype? Hats off, then, to Michael Chapman, whose 1971 album for the Harvest label, Window, gets its first release on CD in May. “It’s a piece of history for those interested in that,” the still-active singer-songwriter says, “even though I think it sounds like a piece of crap.” See if you agree with him by watching “Among the Trees” below.

Next Week's Biggie

The Swedish indie-folkie (Wikipedia’s description, not mine) José González releases his third solo album, Vestiges & Claws. Kevin Harley digs in. Listen to Gonzáles perform “Leaf Off/The Cave” below.