2001 has already seen releases from the likes of Indigo Fury, Solarise, Zerotonin and Throat, but it seems that Spring is going to bring a good deal more Northern musicians out of hibernation. Over the course of the next few months, many of the local scene's most interesting protagonists and some warmly regarded émigrés will be putting out new material. Here is a brief guide of what to look out for.
It's only polite to start with the new kids.
Fileundereasylistening (nee FUEL) release their single 'Closure' this month on Bright Star Recordings. Hailing very much from the big chords, hard riffing tribe of Northern guitar worriers, the East Belfast four piece display a knack for escalator melodicism on their debut that bodes well for the future. It also contains the lyric "Get your tongue/Out of my mouth/Girl I'm kissing you good-bye" - which is just the kind of excellent line you could only get away with on your first single.
Ninebar International, former Joyrider Phil Woolsey's new band, have a song on their fresher EP called 'Bill Hick's Song'. The tune itself is a swoonsome mid-tempo pearl that suggests that Phil's best days lie very much ahead of him. The Queen's Lounge EP takes its name from a bar in Phil's hometown of Portadown, but the music, with its slide guitars and woozy keyboards, looks defiantly towards the fertile terrain of contemporary Americana.
If moody noise-scapes are your bag, then keep an eye out for the upcoming release from instrumental three-piece Tracer AMC. They intend to follow up 'Amber/A Satellite Wish' and the John O'Neill produced 'Carin', with a three-track EP due sometime in late April/ early May on Errol Records. Songs included are 'Sirius', 'Elmwood Avenue' and 'Pelican', and they promise a 7" on heavy black vinyl with "pretty special artwork." They do, remember, love records, after all. As do Foam.
"All we do is release two albums a year," says Geoff Topley, "just like the Beatles and the Stones." Soundtrack For A Daydream their newie arrives at the end of March on Foetal Pop and showcases "a more mellow side" to the duo.
You may or may not have a copy of When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up, Snow Patrol's dark and tender latest, but if you do, and if you don't fancy having to wait another year for new material, then rest assured because Gary and Johnny from the band have been beavering away on a very promising side-project. Reindeer Section looks like a fantasy indie five-a-side squad. Although, given that fag-swallowing Aiden Moffat from Arab Strap is involved, you wouldn't expect to see them win many matches. Also included on the team sheet is John Cummings from Mogwai, and Richard Colbourn and Mick Cooke from Belle and Sebastian. The album, which promises to show-off Gary's country leanings, carries the Oldham-esque title Y'All Get Scared Now Ya Hear and is heading for a June release. Top marks for imagination must go to the people at Belfast's Bright Star Recordings who are putting it out in conjunction with Play It Again Sam.
Also in the studio are the very wonderful Desert Hearts - recording their debut album at Chem 19 for Tugboat, while the Olympic Lifts, after signing to City Slang offshoot Bungalow, plan to start work on their first LP as soon as they can.
And isn't it good to know that Andy White has a new record coming out? Okay, so these days he lives in Switzerland, but is it too much to hope that the current wave of aspiring musos lurking around town might see him as a cool older uncle and take him to their collective heart. His last Belfast show was a wonderfully uplifting and affirmative occasion when all those sad old tunes about bad times back home took on a resonance and poignancy that made everyone want to hug him. John Leckie has produced Andy's eponymous new record, an album, we're told, that muses on "love, grief, celebration, Kathy Freeman, Tony Blair, the search for freedom and going to bed." That's called setting an example. Rave on.