In which my post-sleep brain comes to life in the company of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's genius; we consider the internal monologue of St Cecilia; and my new music project is announced.
Things of Feather, Flight and Bone
Author: Michael Dornan
Musician / Writer / Amateur Devonian / Maker of decent lasagnes
Call Upon Some Saints’ Assistance
When I last launched a recording project, Prince and Bowie were alive, and the 90s weren't back in fashion yet. Times's changed, my friends.
Worth of a Nation: Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, the Oscars and Capra
Here’s why I’m going to bat for BlacKkKlansman. I don’t have to ask my partner about her best moviegoing experience of 2018, because I remember the visceral responses that came from the seat directly to my left – expressions of every feeling art can produce, a pile-up of emotions at the picture’s several denouements, and… Continue reading Worth of a Nation: Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, the Oscars and Capra
A Last, Very Locked Box: The Cinema and the Heart
It’s contained, like a lamp-bound genie, sought-after like hidden treasure and as glowing and inaccessible as the realm of the Wizard of Oz. The Room may know you better than you know yourself, so be ready for a stark discovery.
“Start in the Middle of a Sentence and Move in Both Directions at Once” – New Facets to Coltrane’s Genius
"Like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid", says Sonny Rollins. Maybe so, but for John Coltrane this recording was just another tape reel and another day in a brief, wondrous life.
Did You Say that Life Could be Better? Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs
It’s a kaleidoscope of widescreen keyboards, arpeggiators and drums, into which axewoman Jenn Wasner injects high-voltage bliss at perfectly judged moments. Several points on the album made me inwardly conclude 'ah, this is what music should be'.
How to Lose Friends and Influence People – on how Middle Kids are secretly exceptional
As fuzz, distortion and stacked harmonies recur, you can tell Middle Kids are throwing everything into their debut.
Culture Me Up 