Richard Murray - 'Fire Sale' Album Review

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Richard Murray - 'Fire Sale' Album Review

With lush, full arrangements, creative use of instrumentation and authoritative vocal performances, Richard Murray’s newest album, ‘Fire Sale’ might just be his most impactful to date since his debut in 2007.

Richard Murray is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter who specialises in expanding the pre-conceived ideas people have about country music. Richard pushes the country and western envelope by introducing alternative instruments, song writing approaches and mindsets. This record showcases all of these abilities to a tee and has really coloured-in Jeeni’s country channel.

A favourite of mine on this record is the fourth track, ‘Devils 2’. This a more contemplative and gentler moment in the album where Richard is putting his charismatic and gravelly voice to good use as he communicates an intense emotional yearning. Richard uses bongos as a part of the minimal, yet compelling percussion section along with a steady kick drum. The guitar parts here twinkle and shimmer alongside Richard’s crooning vocals as the two sections enhance each other.

‘Hard Love’, while still acoustic, really harnesses a moody rock ballad tone with a forceful beat, and almost mumbling vocals from Richard. An impressive direction to take; ‘Hard Love’ does a great job in creating a deeper and richer overall flavour to ‘Fire Sale’.

Towards the end of the album, Richard slightly showcases his Celtic heritage with ‘Sea Glass’. A fiddle doubles a jaunty guitar part in between the verses which creates a warm image of a rowdy and patriotic gathering. This track provides a last push in energy for this perfect campfire album, as its last moments wind the project down in an introspective and reflective fashion.

The last track on ‘Fire Sale’, 'You Get Wise' acts as a sort of summary and reflection on the stellar tracks that have come before it. A Jeeni and Bandcamp exclusive, the closing track holds some of Richard’s most thoughtful and tender songwriting and performances, making it a perfect choice to sum up this exciting and heart-warming album.

‘Fire Sale’ is a sentimentally tender project. At times, Richard is longing for home, where other times, he’s just walked through the door and celebrations have begun. The album has a real range in emotions, moods and sentiments and is a must listen for all country fans.

How can Jeeni support artists like Richard Murray

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.

Check out Richard’s Jeeni showcase here: https://jeeni.com/showcase/richardmurraymusic/

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04
Jul

Alice Milburn - ‘Not Yours’ Single Review

Alice Milburn continues to perfect her innovative blend of glossy jazz chords with empowering upbeat pop with the new and improved version of 2019’s ‘Not Yours’. Alice has only just begun to expand on a variety of Jeeni’s channels, including but not limited to: jazz, pop, indie and lounge. Fresh, new talent is what powers Jeeni and with artists such as Alice, Jeeni couldn’t wish for much better fuel for our mission of uplifting and supporting unrepresented artists. Check out Alice’s young and expanding showcase on Jeeni here. On this redesign of ‘Not Yours’, Alice displays her flexible and adaptable comprehension of musicality clearer than ever. The willingness to broaden both the understanding of jazz and pop whilst also incorporating rock elements without resulting in a confusing mess of a composition is an absolute feat. Alice’s attitude to music is totally refreshing and it’s more often the attitude and approach to creation that separates the greats from the rest, not just superb musicianship. Immediately, this re-telling of Alice’s popular 2019 single holds more atmosphere and impact than its predecessor. The guitar cuts through so much cleaner thanks to less muddy settings on both the amp and after effects during the mixing process. And this fresher, more attentive approach isn’t limited to just the guitar parts; the bass guides the harmony much more seamlessly, the drums snap harder and as a result of these perfected parts, Alice’s soulful, impassioned vocals sit in this new arrangement so much nicer. Her voice is never drowned out, overshadowed or squashed, although the guitar solo certainly takes its fair portion of the limelight, and rightly so. Another key improvement can be found in the addition of the horn parts. Tasteful trumpets can be heard reinforcing the chords in the choruses and do so well to glimmer and shine up the composition’s instrumentation. The key difference between the 2019 version and the new 2022 version is the brightness and rejuvenation in the tone of the track and not much brightens up a mix as well as horns. A live performance where the horn parts get their own moment to solo and shine would surely be breathtaking. It could possibly be argued that a song about a romantic betrayal shouldn’t be so bright and that maybe the first, slightly darker version is more apt for heartbreak, however this song is more empowering than it is hopeless. The title itself, ‘Not Yours’ is a triumphant announcement that Alice can’t be owned or manipulated, especially not anymore. It’s not always easy to perhaps acknowledge that a previously released track could be realised and finished in a more polished way, however Alice is the type of artist to take that brave step in improving her sound and raising the standard of her craft up another notch. Check out more of Alice Milburn’s fantastic work here.

22
Apr

INVITATION TO INVEST IN JEENI.COM

The online platform where creatives keep 100% of what they earn, and audiences are rewarded every step of the way. The Jeeni Additional Investment Period is now open to raise a further £100,000 via Instant Investment using the Seed Legals platform, with full EIS benefits. We have allocated this funding to extend our services in response to new market opportunities and conditions created by the pandemic. There has been an unprecedented demand from Jeeni members to provide bespoke user channels and direct marketing for online performances, goods and services. In addition, we are supporting our independent artists by matching them with music investors to finance studio time, video production, marketing and distribution of their original work, all as part of our Jeeni Pro service and social media systems. Due to the increased traffic, this is generating, we are migrating to the world-class AWS cloud platform. This £100,000 investment target is for 2.1% equity at the current pre-market valuation of £4.5million with a share price of £1.13p. Major strategic partnerships have been consolidated by our US Managing Director, Kelli Richards. Former A&R Executive at EMI Music, she was mentored by Steve Jobs at Apple, where she launched and managed their music and entertainment division, resulting in the birth of global music online now known as Apple Music. Kelli is VP of Business Development with our US partnersAmplifyX.com, where investors back music they believe in, and she is a consultant to our streaming service partnersMultiViewMedia.co.uk, where viewers take control of their own entertainment experience. Both companies have joined Jeeni to produce J.A.M. (Jeeni, AmplifyX, MultiView), our series of online festivals where Grammy Award-Winners share the stage with our own brand-new talent. Our most recent festival was live-streamed on April 10th, and brought in over 10,000 new fans for our artists. Catch up with the event at jeeni.com/jam-festival. We have three further announcements to make in this Investor Update. Firstly, in partnership with the Wings Tour Bus, artists voted most popular on Jeeni will appear on the Paul McCartney Stage when the most famous bus in the world goes on tour to mark the 50th anniversary of the original route. It has just been announced that the tour will follow a major publicity launch at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham UK this November. Secondly, we are pleased to announce that we have bypassed the global shortage of PC and laptop components, and the first range of Jeeni own-brand computers is on sale at jeeni.com/shop. And thirdly, we are proud to make this advance announcement that Jeeni has been selected for the world première of a major new opera set in contemporary New York. The subject matter is unique and the production is world-class. We will stream the event in partnership with MultiViewMedia and this marks a major milestone for our brand recognition. Investors will be given the opportunity to secure Virtual Green Room tickets and VIP access to the composer, the performers and the major celebrities behind the event, when the programme is officially announced next month. We are opening Jeeni to investors worldwide for the first time, and are happy to declare our track record and current status to anyone who cares to visit jeeni.com/invest-in-jeeni. Your investment can be processed in as little as 30 minutes in the following simple steps. 1. You tell us how much you want to invest. 2. We add your details to the Seed Legals system, which calculates the shares to be issued. 3. We email you the Investment Proposal, Instant Investment Agreement and bank details. 4. You sign and witness the Agreement and your investment is transferred. 5. We agree to a Board Resolution and Shareholders Resolution and send form SH01 to Companies House for the issue of your shares. 6. That’s it. If you are still interested in investing in Jeeni please let us know so that we can send you the appropriate investment documents.

09
Feb

Nnaomi - ‘Hate Me’ Single Review

Nnaomi evokes even more emotion and sentiment with her swirling, impactful and atmospheric new single, ‘Hate Me’. This new single from Nnaomi should certainly be praised for its daring and experimental nature. Currently, RnB and neo-soul are genres that are often at risk of being represented in incredibly dull and uninspired forms. Dragging structures, tired performances and bland instrumentation plagues the style, especially in the mainstream. Which is why a progressive, texturally interesting and innovative RnB single like ‘Hate Me’ is so important for that corner of contemporary music; it displays that even a genre that has travelled as far as RnB still has room to change, adapt and evolve. The track begins with a lo-fi aesthetic due to the old home video tape that crackles over the opening piano. This nostalgic tone is then instantly contexualised with the opening lyrics, “Reminiscing on old days.” I think this clear emotive intention and focus from Nnaomi powers this single and is the main reason why the alternative creative choices work so well. The filtering bass synth introduced near the middle is used as an early hint that these retrospective thoughts could be too much to deal with and are at risk of overwhelming her. This is then interrupted by Nnaomi trying to explain herself. The moment she sings “explain”, the intense bass is silenced, as is the emotional use of reverb and echo on her voice. This is a fantastic example of a production technique being repurposed as a narrative device. At just over 2 minutes long, this track still manages to progress so organically and timely; it takes its time to set the pace and tone of the story told in the lyrics. At the climax of the track, it feels like Nnaomi’s painful memories begin to swirl more unstably around her head as samples and synths begin to distort, warp and spin around the stereo space. These flittering pieces of audio eventually start to drown out Nnaomi’s voice which paints a tragic image of her thoughts and guilt becoming overpowering and too much to process. The production prowess needed to craft such a powerful, yet carefully crafted wall of noise is impressive and brave, considering that Nnaomi’s voice is so delicate and vulnerable on this track. The dissonant and wild synths heard towards the end are kept in a cage just big enough to have a volatile effect but small enough as to not overpower too much in the mix. The direction Nnaomi decided to go with this track is obviously genius however, the only way I could imagine it becoming more impactful is if the crescendo of noise grew even more and briefly took over completely before clearing out and finally letting her breathe. Nnaomi has now contributed two tracks to Jeeni’s RnB channel and we look forward to expanding the channel with similarly brilliant tracks in the future. Nnaomi has been a keen member of Jeeni’s mission for several months now. She sat down for an ‘Inside Story’ interview last summer at Victorious Festival in which she mentions her influences and favourite artists which ranges from Tyler, The Creator to Whitney Houston. Jeeni would love to flood our RnB channel with more acts just like Nnaomi, so reach out to us on social media if you'd like to contribute your work to Jeeni's library of talent: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeenimusic/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeenimusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeenimusic Check out Nnaomi's showcase on Jeeni: https://jeeni.com/showcase/nnaomi/ How can Jeeni support artists like Nnaomi? 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.

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