Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Daisy Chute, ‘Cradle Songs’, EP review

/ By Doug Phillips
Daisy Chute, ‘Cradle Songs’, EP review

Daisy Chute’s newest EP consists of three sonic fairytales, crafted with swelling strings, twinkling percussion and her bewitching vocals.  

Daisy has been an important and keen part of Jeeni by creating and uploading her incredible tracks to Jeeni's folk channel. She was also a key part of Jeeni's artist partnership programme alongside Arianna May. Check out Daisy's showcase here: https://jeeni.com/showcase/daisy-chute/

The opening track, ‘Cradle Song’ is a theatrical piece which expresses an implacable feeling of uneasiness. This tempting and crafty opener is intentionally overcompensated with syrupy amounts of serenity and reassurance as an attempt to calm and lull the listener, “Now, hush”.  

The near-sinister nature of this track is thanks to the dark guitar notes, rumbling bass and sultry vocals from Daisy that coaxes you further into something that you just might not be able to back out of.  Daisy’s voice here utilises the non-sensical melodies heard in the oldest of lullabies and folktales in a hypnotic repetition, which further pushes the feeling of being enticed and convinced. This track creeps along slowly and regularly, like a rocking cot and totally succeeds in lulling the listener to concede to a peaceful, warm state, despite its dark character. 

Contrary to its name, ‘Melancholy Air’ feels much more sincere and warm than the first track, due to the flittering strings, traditional folk percussion and uplifting plucked string instruments. The piece is medieval and traditional, but brought together and realised in a way that could only be done now. The atmosphere and space given to each instrument is reminiscent of the delicate and sparkly quality that Thomas Newman gives to his motion picture scores such as ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Finding Nemo’. This cinematic essence could be what inspired Daisy to include an instrumental version of the track, focused purely on the orchestral impact and story-telling. 

The final track, ‘Mary’s Song’ has all of the charm and sentiment of a typical dedicated piece. This is because the arrangement is formed around a specific person and the emotions that that person evokes. As a result, the piece is interwoven with feeling in each instrument and note. Daisy’s capabilities for writing sweet, gliding melodies are utterly enchanting and are showcased quintessentially throughout this dream-like project.

Check out Daisy Chute's Jeeni showcase here: https://jeeni.com/showcase/daisy-chute/

Follow Daisy on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daisychuteofficial

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daisychuteofficial/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/daisychute

How can Jeeni support artists like Daisy Chute?  

JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience.  

• We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make.  
• We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.  
• We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect.  
• Access to artist liaison and a supportive marketing team. 

12
Mar

Kings of Leon Post Teasers of New Material

It's been 4 years since the Nashville rock legends have released any official new material, but this week sees them releasing snippets of new singles. The Kings of Leon have so far posted three teasers of new material over the holidays, which have fans eagerly awaiting their arrival on 7 January 2021. 'Walls' was their last album, which sold over 77,000 units in it's first week. In March 2020, the band shared a live recording of a new song, 'Going Nowhere'  The performance was recorded in their hometown of Nashville and featured only frontman Caleb Followill, on acoustic guitar. It's been a long wait for their fans. The first post was a snippet of the new single, 'Must Catch the Bandit' on 25 December with all the signature sounds of previous Kings mega-hits. “Blame it on the holiday ‘cheer’, but I just feel like sharing,” bassist Jared Followill tweeted on Christmas Day (December 25). @kingsofleon then tweeted ‘the w8 is nearly over’ TEN MONTHS ago. Enough.” https://www.instagram.com/kingsofleon/ On New Year's Day, the second teaser was released, 'Feel The Way You Do' and today, third track 'Dancing in Your Head' has just dropped. These two tracks have a mellow sound with some thoughtful melodies and riffs. The video clips are all be black and white so far, sitting within simple frames and bold graphic type. 'Must catch The Bandit' has already clocked up over 145k views. In June 2020, the Kings of Leon were due to headline the Finsbury Park Festival, their first London performance since 2017, but as with all the summer festivals, the pandemic cause another postponement. Announcing the cancellation in May, promoter Festival Republic said they were 'working hard' with Kings Of Leon to arrange a new show. There are five more days to the official release date of this highly anticipated eighth album, so can we expect a new track each day - let's hope so?! www.jeeni.com

05
Jun

How to grow your Facebook group.

Times are moving fast when it comes to social media, in particular the use of community groups to target your audiences with event, streaming and watch-parties going live every second of the day all around the globe. All of a sudden it feels like everyone except me is an expert at creating successful Facebook groups, so I decided I would take some time to try and unpick why are Facebook groups so successful. Had the groups been going for years and grown their members organically? Did they have large budgets and were they spending loads of money on Ads? Were they all marketing experts? Did they engage large teams of enthusiastic influencers?  To my surprise I found that in most instances these assumptions were just not the case. Rock The Lock Down, founded by Lucy Pardoe & Ollie Hughes, is a great example, with over 887,000 members in less than 6 weeks. I finally had to admit I was missing the critical ingredients for a successful campaign.  I only watched a selection of YouTube Videos, so not exhaustive, and I will watch some more tomorrow, but in the meantime to save you time, these were my key take-aways. 1. Make sure you take extra time to set up the group correctly, with an accurate, yet brief description. Check to make sure you have completed all sections, not just the about, which is the mistake I made. 2. Get as many people as possible to like your landing page, so that you can invite all of those people to your community group. Really simple and easy to use, but Facebook only allow you invite 50-100 in one day to stop you spamming. Which is what I also did!! 3. Make the group public, as you want as many members as possible to grow and contribute to organic growth.  4. Create as many discussions and engage with all your members as often as you can, be as helpful as possible, share and like and answer their questions. Be a guru, be supportive, open, honest and kind.   5. Use a bot to run competitions, contests, have freebies and giveaways , looping the bot back to join the group. 6. Join other relevant groups, share those groups and contribute as much knowledge and wisdom as you can helping members in those groups. It’s all about genuine and engaging conversation. Write guest posts and contribute wherever you can. Share and reuse your work on different sites, saving time and money. Keep the content helpful and meaningful. Cross-promote as often as you can and contact group's admin to share your group. 7. Test, test and trial Facebook ads that are targeted and specific, making sure you have set up demographics and location settings.  8. Create an exciting and interesting email campaign to support engagement from existing and new customer databases. 9. Interlink and entwine your groups posts and comments on You Tube and use back-links to improve your SEO. 10. Remember groups are for genuine enthusiasts who love music, or food, travel etc, and members do not want to see any information that is not relevant to what they love. At the end of the day this is all about them after all! In the meantime, please feel free to invite friends to our Independent Musicians and Performers Group and we will soon be at 2,000 members.

04
Jun

JEENI WELCOMES JOHN ALTMAN

We are proud and privileged to announce that the legendary John Altman is backing Jeeni as Ambassador and Mentor.  John is the musician's musician, composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, instrumental hit-maker for superstars like Bjork, George Michael, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, Muddy Waters, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Little Richard, Van Morrison - in fact, everyone who's anyone!   Check out John's latest video here HERE John Altman