Tag Archives: Canada

BAD HOO: What Is When.

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Aside from The Coathangers putting out an incredible record on Friday, Bad Hoo also put out something truly remarkable.

If you’re looking for a record to get drunk to, break stuff to, have a good time to or just do a whole load of nothing to- then you’re going to love What Is When. It’s a proper smack in the kisser kind of record. It’s just a brilliant noisy record, and it’s fuelling my obsession for them.

The lyrics and music on this record are hard-hitting. It’s a take on what’s going on, and what is messed up in the world. But you can’t help but be comforted by the music. You kind of feel at ease with all that’s fucked up in the world, and you just throw your cares away to the music. Bad Hoo are definitely a band that are here to be seen live, listening to this record you truly hear how brilliant they are and how their music is meant to be witnessed live. Shit kicking songs like Confuse Bouche and Rootbeer, NZ are the ones you know will set off any crowd. The songs on this record are beautifully wild, and these two are definitely a prime example of this. The songs are made for a good time, all the time. The record will get you to loosen up, and it’ll also charge your mind up when needed.

I love how they make this record a collection of songs that show us all that they are so sure of their sound. When you listen to this record, you feel at times you’ve stepped into a Spaghetti Western or into a dive bar. They give you these brilliant images and situations, and for a band to do this so early in their career is nothing short of genius. I’m in awe of them. I just love Bad Hoo a hell of a lot, and I love how they just have this unfiltered approach to their sound. Nothing is overproduced, no one outshines the other. It’s just a bunch of pals making music for us to believe in.

The best thing to do with this record is this: on your first listen, be alone. Do it through headphones. Second listen: play really loudly and do whatever the hell you want to do as you listen to it. Third listen onwards: play it so your neighbours hear, play loud and just go nuts to it. Oh, and make sure you really let go to Banana Splat- especially the instrumental break. It’s insane. It’s such a great moment on the record, and it’s definitely one of the liveliest songs on the record.

Whatever you’re into, you’ll get into this. It’s such a great record, and the more you listen to it the more you hear how great the band are. Songs like Blind Dolphin just leave me in awe every time. I just really love this band, and I cannot help but praise this record. Everything about this record is all I want from music. It’s rowdy, it’s loud and it’s unlike anything else I’ve heard before. What Is When is such an exciting record to listen to, over and over again. I’ve played it a lot the past few days, and I keep finding different parts to love. The record has this wonderful ability to make you see with every listen, just how brilliant they are as musicians. There is so much going on but by no means is it overbearing. It’s just an absolute pleasure to listen to. Most certainly one of the year’s finest records for sure!

Please go out and buy this record so they can afford to come do a UK tour.

BAD HOO.

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Tomorrow, Bad Hoo are putting out a new record. I can’t wait until then to write about them. I can write about the record separately anyway.

Bad Hoo are a completely off the wall, in your face band from Victoria. They deserve to be your favourite band. The kind of band you play to unwind to, except their songs are so hectic and loud it’d do the opposite. It’ll get you pumped, and ready to go to a show and have the best time. Bad Hoo have a brilliant sound that makes you feel carefree and oblivious to all that’s going on. Sometimes, we need that kind of escapism and they deliver it so well.

They’ve only been around a couple of years (I think) but ignore time on this one, they’re just a really great band. And you know, if I didn’t have a torn tendon in my shoulder I’d probably be throwing my limbs around to their music. I’ll just do it mentally for now. Something I really dig about them is that they sound like a band that you’ve just got to see live. (Hey, Bad Hoo- if you see this, can you come to the UK? Specifically Manchester, please?!) They have this really cool sound that makes you feel like you’re at their show, you don’t feel like you’re listening to a recorded version of them. They’ve got this effortlessly cool sound, and this is the kind of sound that just rules you. When you find bands that give you this feeling, it becomes something that you seek in everything else. I just love this raw and brutal sound they have – it’s a real rugged Punk sound. They are fearless with their music, and I have nothing but respect for that.

I’ve only listened to one or two songs from the new record, but I am super excited to hear it and write about it. The energy that Bad Hoo have is just ridiculous. They sound like a bunch of hyped up kids who have drank too many energy drinks and refuse to sleep. Their hyperactive sound is an absolute joy to listen to, and you can’t help but want to be part of it. I just adore this wild and weird sound- it’s great. I honestly cannot praise them enough, but obviously will try to!

There is something quite rebellious about their sound. I don’t really know much about music from Victoria, but let’s just call Bad Hoo as the best band from there. If everything sounds like this, then we need more and more bands to com forward and hit us with this rambunctious sound. I can’t get enough of it. Irrespective of if I play it sky high or through headphones, the same feelings are there. Bad Hoo are just a great band who make you forget about the world and all it’s shittyness.

Bad Hoo take elements of Surfer Rock, the eeriness of The Cramps and The Mummies and give you something that’s destined to blow your mind, melt your face and destroy your hearing in the most pleasurable way possible. I desperately hope they come to the UK because I reckon their shows will just be utterly wild. You can picture it now- drinks flying, sweat hitting everyone, the heat getting too much but none of it matters because the music is just every form of perfection.

Alright, that’s enough for now. Their new record, What Is When is out tomorrow. I’ll save some more words of praise for that!

FLESH RAG: Inside Your Mind.

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About a year and a bit ago, I was in All Ages record store in Camden, and this song was blasting out of the speakers. I already had a record in my hands that I was going to buy, but after hearing this song (and limited money) I put the record down, and bought the first Flesh Rag record. Since then, I’ve been hooked. More than hooked. You can call it obsessed.

Writing about Inside Your Mind is going to be an enjoyable experience. Flesh Rag are essentially, a Punk band but there’s way more to them than being a genre. They have that raw, snarly feel that the Dead Boys had. When their songs are really obnoxious, that’s when you play them a bit louder – In Another Dimension is a prime example of that. Flesh Rag are a band that can only be played loud. If you even try to listen to them quietly, the dial magically turns itself up.

I love how Matt’s vocals remind me of Stiv Bators and Captain Beefheart. He’s got a real distinctive sound, and on this record you notice it more. Just One Kiss is definitely peak Dead Boys reference, and as someone who is a huge fan of Dead Boys- I feel Flesh Rag pick up where Punk left off. This is their first full length record, and if you’ve listened to their previous hits- you’ll hear a band that are stoic in their sound, and most certainly are our saviours. It even says so on the press release; “Flesh Rag is Rock and Roll salvation, and only believers are gonna be saved.” Embrace your sins, and forget holy water saving you- Flesh Rag are where it is at.

Sunday Morning is one of my favourites on the record. You’d like to think that a song with this title may be gentle or easy on the ears. Fortunately, Flesh Rag do not do what is expect. This is a loud number, and it makes you think a little of any song off Raw Power by The Stooges. Sometimes when you pick up influences easily in a band, it takes away the excitement and originality of the music. However, with Flesh Rag I can hear all these influences and it is just amazing. It is almost as if I don’t need to listen to all the records I love on a loop- I can just listen to this record, and it takes me where the likes of Safe As Milk and Young, Loud And Snotty do.

Inside Your Mind is made up of 13 instant Punk classics. I love that Flesh Rag again, do not make you feel like you are listening to a band from 2018. I feel like I’m experiencing Punk in the 70s and living through it. For me that is such a powerful trait to possess, and I can’t praise these Kings of Canada enough.

Flesh Rag are evidently a band that properly come alive at their shows. They probably throw things around, have stage invasions and have the crowd leaving covered in beer, and bruises. All the things any good show should do. Inside Your Mind is such an exciting record, and is easily one of the best (current) Punk records I’ve heard. But like I’ve mentioned, they go beyond being a Punk band. Love Dump is one of my favourites, and that one really messes with whatever you expect from the band, and music in general.

You can stream the record here: https://fleshrag.bandcamp.com/  and you can get yourself a physical copy now too. Inside Your Mind is released via Schizophrenic Records.

Play this record loud, because any other setting just won’t do!

J’AI PEUR DES CRABES.

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Recently I’ve found it pretty difficult to sit down and write something about music I’ve been listening to. I’ve either convinced myself the words I write are pointless, or I just do something else instead. There’s probably a bunch of reasons why I’ve been doing this, and probably a main one is me after years of putting it off, finally committing to watching American Horror Story. This is what having too much spare time has done, and I’m fine with it. But anyway, more importantly I’ve accidentally found a band that I am sure to become obsessed with, and that band is J’ai Peur Des Crabes (I think it translates as ‘I am scared of crabs’ which is a fully justifiable fear.)

Hailing from Montreal, well…that’s all I can tell you. There’s virtually nothing about them online aside from their Bandcamp and Facebook page. There’s not much for me to go on, but that’s alright. I’ll make it work. The music speaks for itself anyway. I have no idea if it is one person or a bunch of musicians, but what I do know is that this is some of the finest Garage Rock I’ve heard of late. There is something really exceptional about them, and with two records into their career-it pretty safe to say that they are the best band you’ve not really heard of. In an ideal world, they’d be huge and everyone would know them. That’s not the case right now, but there’s time.

J’ai Peur Des Crabes are like The Doors running head first into Jack White’s guitar with The Pretty Things and The Vagrants waiting for them with open arms. But there’s more to it, there’s a lot more bite to their sound. They are unapologetically loud and they fully show this on the song Pierre-François which isn’t even 2 minutes long. There’s this brilliant kick to it, and so far I’m calling it as my favourite song by them. I just want to listen to it on repeat for hours. It’s the last song on their first release, MAAAAD which came out in November last year.

Last week, they released Cocobongo which consists of five songs that step away from MAAAAD. There’s a wilder sound to this record. It’s like The Cramps and The Mummies got together and created this beautiful monster. If you’ve heard of London based Night Shades then you’ll love J’ai Peur De Crabes. There’s this excellent Psychobilly sound that has a strong Garage Rock backbone, and it’s addictive. They’re the kind of band I could happily play over and over, and not get bored. City Walls is a song that reminds me slightly of Dream Baby Dream by one of my all time favourites, Suicide. There’s something haunting but beautiful about the song. I think it’s the intro and the way the song is sung more than anything. It’s a beautiful song, and it is most definitely one of the highlights of the record, especially when the guitar kicks in during the last minute and this wealth of urgency and fury takes the band over, especially the vocals. For me, it’s probably my favourite on this record but of course with more listens I’ll change my mind.

Writing about a band I know nothing about is sometimes tough, but in this instance it didn’t feel so bad. The fact that there’s virtually nothing about them on the internet adds to the mystery. I don’t know if it’s because they are still pretty new or they just don’t need to be everywhere in order to be heard. Well, whatever their reasons are is none of my business anyway. I love the music, and I can’t wait to hopefully hear more from them.

There’s something really interesting about their sound, and they just make you feel as if you’ve been listening to them for years and years. Partially familiar but also a world away from what you know. If a band can make you feel like that so early on, then you’ve found one of the great ones.

DEAD GHOSTS.

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When you adapt the stance of trying to not give a shit, you need to find some music that fits with this. Music that just helps you stop caring. To stop caring about what doesn’t matter. Easier said than done, and that’s why words can be useless. Enough with the heavy, enough with not taking our own advice. Do whatever you want. Just be kind. Anyway.

Dead Ghosts are pretty damn cool. They have this relaxed sound that makes everything that’s crashing in your head seem trivial. Maybe it will end up being trivial anyway, if you don’t lose your mind in the process. I’ve probably lost mine- so much for trying to fix it. What good comes from that? Probably some. I stared at a blank screen for too long before typing any of this. It shows. Maybe I should have gone to the gym instead. It’s warmer there. Are my bones cold? My nose is. Dead Ghosts make you feel warm and as if you are in the presence of your best friend. They feel safe but still have a sound that is teetering on the edge of something unknown.

They remind me slightly of The Doors (early, early version mind) mixed with Punk. Obviously I love them, then. They are the kind of band that you probably need to see live in order to really “get it.” And if you can’t make it to a show, then you can create the scene in your mind. You can picture it, you can almost smell the stale beer being thrown around and people bashing into you in a friendly way as they let the music take them over. The fuzzy vocals echo in your ears. You’re sure of the set list so you learn the words by heart. You scream along. Sweat falls on you. It’s yours. It’s someone else’s. It doesn’t even matter.

Dead Ghosts are a band so easy to fall in love with. Well, for me they are because they’ve got everything I love about music wrapped up in their sound. There’s that slight Punk sound, some kind of lo-fi kick going on. It’s a mash up of everything I love, and the outcome is their glorious sound. A sound that makes you want to do a whole load of nothing. A sound that makes you want to make your own noise. What’s stopping you? Who is stopping you? Or you can just live vicariously through your band of choice. We’ve all done it. We all do it.

The more I listen to Dead Ghosts the more I feel like they aren’t a band from our time. They easily could have been around when the likes of Shocking Blue and The Pretty Things came out. A sound that a lot do try to emulate now, but not many have a grasp on it. Some take it too far and end up being a copy. Dead Ghosts don’t do that, not even slightly. If a band can take you from where you are, spin you around a couple of times and cast you off into another world- you’ve found a band to treasure for a long, long time. That’s exactly what Dead Ghosts will do to you.

They’ve been around for quite some time, but every listen feels like something new. Like something otherworldly grabbing your soul and pulverising you for your undivided attention as you listen to them. Let them grab you and take them where they want you to be taken with their music. Play it as loud as you can stand and drift off into another world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlQvB4-6d6E

FLESH RAG-S/T 7″

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Canada as I’ve mentioned before is the home to some great music, but for me there is one band that have massively blown me away with their appealing rage and passion. I discovered Flesh Rag a few months ago whilst in All Ages Records. A brilliant record store in Camden that stocks some of the best music around. It’s ran by guys who know their stuff and are just a pleasure to talk to. I’ve spent many lunch breaks in there forgoing buying something to eat because I’d rather my ears fed than my belly full. I was immediately hooked by Flesh Rag because they reminded me so much of Dead Boys, who I highly regard as one of the greatest bands ever.

Their new 3 track EP consists of songs that do not reach the 3 minute mark but that does not matter. The fury and urgency are put across in a way that doesn’t require any more time. The songs are for the hopeless, helpless and those who are fed up. To feel these emotions all you need to do is put the news on and see how the government are bending us all over and having their way with us, without any say so. I mean Flesh Rag aren’t really political, but it’s easy to apply songs that stir something in you like this and apply it to what you see on the TV etc. If you’re not fed up and you’re all okay with it all, then you’re just part of the problem.

I got home when I bought it this week and played it pretty loud. Nobody was home and I doubt the neighbours were home. I played it and off I went to Punk paradise. I was front row at their show in my mind. Bodies covered in sweat moving around in timely and untimely fashion. What I get from the music of Flesh Rag is that it is made for a live show. The day they come to England will be a bloody great day, but until then I live with the images in my mind that I have created. The power of music greater than we know, and that’s one of the many reasons as to why I adore the music that Flesh Rag make.

I wasn’t born when Punk first came around, but it’s always been the one style of music that owned my heart more than anything or anyone else could. I remember falling in love with the Ramones for the first time, I remember hearing Horses for the first time, I remember hearing the Sex Pistols and knowing that this was IT. Flesh Rag have brought up these feelings that I got the first time with those I’ve mentioned, and more. I feel like I’ve gone back to the 70s and been thrown into a world of chaos and fury. As someone who cannot settle into a daily routine, Flesh Rag are the perfect band to help me adjust. I’d take better care if I knew how. Panic attacks bring on migraines and migraines bring on panic attacks- music is the thing that eases it all out. Unless it’s a really bad migraine and all I can do is just sleep. You sometimes find yourself delving into thoughts and feelings when a band hits you in the gut for the first time, and with Flesh Rag I know that feeling is going to happen each time I listen to them. I’m pretty sure I got the last copy of the 7″ from AAR, so I’m sorry if you were looking for it- but to know that there’s a place for these guys makes it all worth it. Their music is the opposite of how I am, and I think that again, is part of my attraction to their music.

Matt’s gritty snarl on It Ain’t Enough is one of my favourite music based moments of the year. You can keep what the mainstream radio shoves down your neck and shove it up your you know where- I’d take a band like Flesh Rag over them any day. The sheer grittiness in the vocals and the angst in the drums, bass and guitar makes you want to start your own kind of noise. Some are adamant that Punk is dead. But for me, Punk is an attitude, a way of being not just the music. Bands like Flesh Rag are keeping it alive. Ignore all that “Pop-Punk” shit, that’s nothing. You need bands like Flesh Rag. Let them help you get through daily life by creating music for you to lob your limbs about to, sweat it out and throw your body into a wall as if your possessed. I’m fairly sure anyone who has seen their live shows are super lucky, so I’ll wait my turn. Live in my mind until it happens.

There have been many great records released this year, but as far as 7″ EPs go- Flesh Rag undoubtedly are the winners this year for the best release.

The self titled 7″ is out now on It’s Trash Records, and details for picking up a copy/streaming the release are here:

https://fleshrag.bandcamp.com/

FLESH RAG.

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I got paid on Monday, so I decided to treat myself to a new record. I didn’t know what I wanted to buy, but I was going to buy something anyway. I went to All Ages Records in Camden. It’s my new favourite place in London. The bus from work stops right by it, so obviously it was fate. Sometimes in record stores the staff can be proper grumpy and a bit pretentious. This isn’t the case with All Ages. The guy who works there was one of the loveliest chaps I’ve ever met. Totally nuts about music and played a record at the wrong speed. My kind of person. Ever played Sex Pistols slowed down? I have. Sometimes by accident, other times because I’m easily amused. Another customer comes in, and by this stage I have a record in my hand. Suddenly, he plays something. I’ve convinced myself it’s Dead Boys. It isn’t. I’m told the other guy is after the record and there’s only one in the shop. A lunchtime brawl in Camden? I’ve not eaten so I’m unsure of the challenge. I’m a friendly Northerner, so I accept defeat without saying anything. Turns out, the guy was after something else and I end up with the record (a badge and a zine. I know how to live!)

Flesh Rag are brilliantly named and are as mental as they sound. They’re on the same level as Dead Boys. For snotty, obnoxious brats who don’t give a toss what you think. They’re loud and they are coming to deafen you. The louder you play them, the better. And if you can crank it up louder, then make sure you do it. You want this shaking the walls and scaring your neighbours. Again I reckon these guys are a band that you need to see live to really appreciate the music. They’ve got a proper Punk feel to them. It doesn’t feel forced or anything like that. It’s a genuine sound that needs to be heard. They aren’t for everyone. I’m pretty sure if I played them to certain people they’d think I was a bit mental, but I live in hope that there’s someone out there who digs this. I’m 100% sure my uncle would love this band. He got me into Punk, he’s to blame for my many music based obsessions.

Flesh Rage are the band that Lester Bangs would piss himself with excitement over. The kind of band The Stooges would have taken on tour and left a trail of destruction and mayhem. It’s chaotic bliss that leaves you feeling bruised all over. I feel like that anyway because I’ve got some cold/flu thing going on. Night Nurse is a lifesaver. I’ve had excellent sleep by taking this recently due to feeling ill. When I wake up I have no idea where I am (no more than usual.)

Each song feels like a glorious punch to the face. You feel as if someone is launching punches at you, and you just take it because, what else is there to do? These three guys are ferocious beats and are out for blood and guts. They’ll make you squirm- as if you can’t take the thrashing, but the thing is, these guys are making some of the rawest music around. You’ve heard Flowers Of Evil, right? You’ve heard Young Boys, right? On that level but a little more aggressive. Loud, powerful and a brutal attack on your general being.

The growling in the vocals, the rage in the drums, the electric shock in the guitar and the boldness of the bass are incredible, and they leave you wishing you could make noise like this. There’s nothing stopping you,

The songs don’t really last longer than 3 and a half minutes, so all you can do is keep it on repeat. Take what you can from the music. Invest in this band. They’re bloody great and someone needs to bring them to the UK. Urgently. Many great things have come from Canada, but Flesh Rag are probably the best band to come from there in a long, long time. They don’t hold back and they gnaw at your skin like a rabid dog.

TERRA.

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Over a year ago I wrote about a band called Daydream Johnny, and from the ashes of that band a new one has risen. Terra are a three-piece (with an added member called Brayden for tours.) This band are pretty damn good and would put any Pitchfork hyped band to shame.

Terra are a solid Garage Rock kind of band with more weird and wonderful things thrown in. Their EP came out last month, and because I’m really useless at the moment- I’m going to write about it now.

The 4 track EP is probably about 10 minutes long. It consists of tunes to accompany a road trip (whether on your lonesome or with someone you can actually stand.) Their songs are like glorious punches to the face and belly. They smack you in the gut and cause this destructive urge to make you want to smash things, or the safer option- throw your body about. On record they sound perfect, and I reckon their live shows really prove what they can do and allow them to show off just how bloody great they are.

Terra have a comforting and dark sound. It’s in the vocals, the lyrics, the hypnotic guitars and brutal drums. It all comes together so well, and you can’t help but think you’ve just stumbled upon one of the best bands around. Like all great bands Terra make you want to find some like-minded people and make your own noise.

Later on this year Terra will be recording their debut full length record, and going by what they’ve created with their EP they will more than likely create nothing short of a strange masterpiece that you won’t be able to stop listening to.

For me, I think Forest Lawn is their best song on the EP. It’s the loudest and most ferocious on the EP. I love songs that are unapologetically brutal and would probably make others turn their noses up at. Who needs conventional and comfortable when you can have bands who actually something of worth to offer. This is the kind of music kids should be playing loud in their bedrooms wishing they could take over the world with their music. That’s a dream to cling to and pursue. Any other seems far too much like settling. Never settle and never assume you’re worth just a routine. Bands like Terra have something essentially Punk about them. They’ve got something, and I hope it sticks in their music because they’re a band we cannot lose or ignore. I have no idea if they’ll ever get to this side of the pond but they’ve just finished some shows in Canada, and hopefully made the right kind of noise.

You can listen to and buy the EP here: http://terramusic.bandcamp.com/ and it’s out now on Shake! Records.

CLARA ENGEL- Looking-Glass Fire.

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Some of the greatest singers/bands go unheard for years before someone is turned onto them. Time is just a thing, a measurement for those who need everything to be validated when really time is one of the least important things in existence. But time is something we all run out of. Like hope, love and faith. It is something that can be strengthened and lost. It is something you cannot control.

Singers like Imogen Heap and Brandy St John have this ability to get right to the core of what you are feeling, in a way that makes you curl up because you dislike the fact someone else posses the ugly feelings you try to hide. But the fact that they aren’t afraid to let it out makes you feel less alone and horrific for carrying it around with you. There is a singer who I believe fully is as great as Imogen and Brandy St John. I’ve written about Clara a few times, and her voice is like the ocean- crystal clear and beautifully therapeutic.

Her new record, Looking-Glass Fire is out 16th June and going by hearing only two songs from it I can honestly say it is my favourite record by Clara. Lesser Known God has a beautifully gnarly tone to it. It makes you think of Patti Smith belting out her call to the outcasts at CBGBs with such force and purpose. Like Patti, Clara can sing in an aggressive tone then flip to having this gorgeous angelic sound. She sings with utter passion that can make non-singers like myself envious of her voice.

Her words are poems for the soul; in the hopes of clinging onto something, anything just to get through the day. Take baby-steps whilst listening to her music and you’ll get there. I can imagine people leaving Clara’s live shows in tears after experiencing a voice so pure and a talent so rare. She is bold, honest and just a beautiful soul. Her songs are humble life lessons for anyone- regardless of who you are, what you do, just anything. Her music and her voices sets part of you free that nothing else really can. I adore the line “If I’m no good, well you’re no better” from her song Be Good. She writes lyrics that you can study or quite simply, see yourself in.

Clara’s voice has this way of soothing the soul whilst making you truly aware of all that you are feeling, and more importantly WHY you are feeling what you are feeling. It’s alright to have ugly feelings, it’s totally normal. Music is an outlet for so many people and is something to believe in. Clara’s lyrics, her songs…they are believable. If you can share your vulnerabilities in such a way, then people will believe. She’s just brilliant, I really cannot praise her enough. Her music could be played in the background of Poe or Ted Hughes poem. She’s a real inspiration.

You can pre-order her record, Looking-Glass Fire here:  http://claraengel.bandcamp.com/album/looking-glass-fire