Last Year's Girl - Lisa-Marie Ferla

09/01/2022

My review of Bush Tetras' career-spanning Rhythm and Paranoia boxset from December's Uncut Magazine is now on the website.

Timely post-punk from New York’s underground

15/11/2021

My review of the sobering Sky documentary Look Away is now on the Uncut Magazine website.

A sobering look at an industry overdue its reckoning.

02/09/2021

Started a new job this week, but before I did I managed to pen some thoughts on the thunderously phenomenal new Halsey album for theartsdesk.com

In an interview with Zane Lowe about her new album, Halsey said that the producers wanted to “make some really weird choices”. This was, you suspect, the intention: you don’t bring Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails onboard to produce the follow-up to your mainstream pop breakthr...

18/07/2021

Fun fact: the first thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up* was a football commentator (preferrably matchday, at Celtic Park). Of course, I quickly realised I could not talk sh*te for 90 minutes straight and became a writer instead. So, in some ways, guesting on the latest episode of Old Firm Facts was a dream come true.

(*sure, I SAID it was a pony, school bullies never forget these things.)

Roberto Mancini and Gianluigi Donnarumma were otherwise engaged, but Adam did manage to track down a Scotsman living in England and a Scotswoman with an Italian surname. Stand-up comedian Jim Burke and music journalist Lisa-Marie Ferla relive one of the greatest international tournaments of modern t...

28/06/2021

A wise woman sang "you can't feel it for the first time a second time", but I picked up my Lucy Dacus record over the weekend and goddamnit I am going to try. Anyway my Uncut Magazine review is now online if you fancy a swatch.

Virginian songwriter finds universal truths in autobiographical memories.

31/05/2021

"I’ll hit the last year of my 30s next week, with the number one spot in the country held by a woman who has her driving licence but isn’t old enough to drink. Cannot relate. In either respect. Thank god, then, for the return of Liz Phair."

Brad Wood just retweeted my theartsdesk.com review, damn right I'm taking it as endorsement.

Pop music, like Hollywood, is a dream factory: a place where you can be anything you like, as long as that’s not a middle-aged woman. I’ll hit the last year of my 30s next week, with the number one spot in the country held by a woman who has her driving licence but isn’t old enough to drink. C...

23/05/2021

It feels like both yesterday and about a decade ago that Carla J. Easton and I sat in a room together talking about Scotland's rich female-fronted musical herstory BUT! The documentary Since Yesterday Unsung Pioneers of Scottish Pop is on its way and there are loads of cool rewards if you're able to back this brilliant project. Pop over to the Kickstarter, find out more and see if you can spot a familiar face in the trailer...

Feature-length documentary celebrating the songs, stories and journey of Scotland's all girl-bands from 1960 to 2010.

14/05/2021

Wilfully misinterpreting the new St. Vincent album (out today!) this week on The Arts Desk.

From her indie roots to the Grammy-winning angular art-rock of her self-titled 2014 album and the new wave glam of MASSEDUCTION, St Vincent has refused to allow her work to be pigeonholed.

12/04/2021

LadyDan breaks free of oppresive patriarchal structures on her magnificent debut album. Review by me for The Arts Desk.

There’s a line in “No Home”, the staggering centrepiece of Lady Dan’s debut album, that perhaps sums up the project. “Wolves will never be my masters again,” the artist, real name Tyler Dozier, sings as the strings swell, in a voice like the wilderness. “Men will never be my owners aga...

03/04/2021

The dreamy second album by Manchester's Caoilfhionn Rose is the perfect balm for strange times. Review by me for The Arts Desk.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t spent more time alone with their thoughts than they otherwise would have liked over the past 12 months. Manchester musician Caoilfhionn Rose has been confined a little longer: forced to take a year off from music after she became ill on tour in Den...

28/03/2021

Reviewed the new Suzi Quatro album for The Arts Desk this week.

Over 50 years into her career, Suzi Quatro could be forgiven for taking a break. And yet, last spring, staring down almost one hundred cancelled shows, her first instinct was not to put her feet up but to team up with her son Richard Tuckey on a new collection of songs as a follow-up to their recent...

06/03/2021

S*x, death, hedonism and humanity - the new Arab Strap album is a comeback worth signing up to. ***** review by me for The Arts Desk.

Shortly after Arab Strap split up in 2006, Malcolm Middleton was quoted saying “I don’t think we should ever get back together”. That’s the sort of fighting talk that’s just begging to be cast up by tired old hack music writers tasked with reviewing the inevitable comeback – but the tric...

28/02/2021

Julien Baker goes full band, but loses none of her power on the magnificent Little Oblivions: review by me for Uncut Magazine.

Memphis songwriter’s third adds layers, loses none of its power

15/02/2021

Not a soundtrack, apart from when it is, Sia's Music - the album - falls flat. Review by me for The Arts Desk.

https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/album-sia-music

It’s difficult to know where to start with Sia’s Music. The album is billed as a collection of songs “from and inspired by” the film of the same name – so not a soundtrack, except for when it is.

14/02/2021

Finally got around to posting my 2020 music favourites, if you're into that sort of thing.

Back in October, Fiona Apple – whose Fetch the Bolt Cutters, released in April, captured a particular early pandemic mood – was interviewed by Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker Festival. “I think we women should be marrying our friends,” she told the journalist. “We have sexual freedom! We...

23/01/2021

My favourite books of 2020.

Glasgow-based writer Last Year's Girl shares her favourite fiction and non-fiction books of 2020.

02/01/2021

Making space in quarantine times for the things we don't talk about: on Fiona Apple, Nadine Shah and representation for my The Arts Desk Album of the Year 2020.

Back in October, Fiona Apple – whose Fetch the Bolt Cutters, released in April, captured a particular early pandemic mood – was interviewed by Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker Festival. “I think we women should be marrying our friends,” she told the journalist. “We have sexual freedom! We...

21/12/2020

"As unexpected as it is to find Luluc closing out 2020 sharing a producer with pop behemoth Taylor Swift, it seems like a fitting end to this liminal, otherworldly year." My review of Luluc's Dreamboat for Uncut Magazine is now available online.

Australian duo go their own way into a dreamlike world

08/12/2020

They say don't make friends with the rock stars, but Chris Kamara followed me on Twitter off the back of my review of his second Christmas album for The Arts Desk so I don't know what to tell you.

Now this is exactly what I want for Christmas: a beloved fixture of Saturday afternoon TV putting a lounge jazz on some festive classics, backed by an 18-piece swing band.

11/11/2020

I don't really have the time or energy to blog at the moment, but I really wanted to share some of the creative, socially distanced music videos I've been enjoying lately.

Glasgow-based culture and lifestyle blogger Last Year's Girl shares her favourite lockdown music videos and distanced live performances.

06/11/2020

Out today, Kylie Minogue's DISCO is the perfect antidote to... *gestures wildly at everything*. **** review by me for The Arts Desk.

https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/album-kylie-disco

10/10/2020

"Good time management has never been my forte, but I’ve generally been able to keep more plates in the air than this, you know?"

This post contains PR samples, but all views are my own and unbiased. I always assumed it was better to be spontaneous and carefree. You know? Like those girls in the movies, big-hatted and long-eyelashed, ready to whisk our (floppy-haired, male) protagonist away on the sort of adventure that would....

30/09/2020

So what did you get into during lockdown that you weren't expecting? For me, it's been Scentsy and CBD.

This post contains PR samples but all views are my own and unbiased. I’m sure all of us have gotten into things we never expected to during lockdown. Me, for example, I practically have shares in my sister’s BFF’s Scentsy business (in my defence, this is now a three litter box household, what ...

30/08/2020

A ray of sunshine in the garbage fire that is 2020: the return of Kathleen Edwards, with her first album since 2012's Voyageur. And on a personal note: getting to chat to one of my all-time favourites over Zoom for my Uncut Magazine review.

In 2014, Canadian songwriter Kathleen Edwards surprised everyone when she announced she was stepping back from music, moving back to her hometown and opening a coffee shop called Quitters. The name was tongue-in-cheek, in line with the self-deprecating humour found in Edwards’ music whenever thing...

21/08/2020

Agora is Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto's lush and loose first album in six years. Review by me on The Arts Desk (and in The i Paper today).

The title, translated from the Portuguese, is “now” – an immediacy that, on first listen, seems apt for Bebel Gilberto’s lush and loose Agora.

14/08/2020

Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield teams up with Welsh poet Patrick Jones for an evocative concept album based on the life and legacy of Victor Jara. Out today, reviewed by me for The Arts Desk.

Manic Street Preacher finds moments of beauty in life of Chilean revolutionary. Album review by Lisa-Marie Ferla

12/08/2020

When lockdown started, I wanted to write about my transition to full-time working from home... but then I got a kitten.

Glasgow-based culture and lifestyle blogger Last Year's Girl shares her home office essentials.

26/07/2020

Because writing about the new Taylor Swift for The Arts Desk has been my thing since 2014.

When she announced her “surprise” 8th album on social media this week, Taylor Swift described its subject matter as a combination of “fantasy, history and memory” told with “love, wonder and whimsy”. For the listener, this hits home around track three. “The Last Great American Dynasty....

17/07/2020

Did you start buying vegetable boxes in lockdown? Do you also have no idea what to do with a turnip in the middle of July? This post is for you...

This post contains PR samples, but all views are my own and unbiased. If you’re anything like me, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way you think about food and the complex web of supply chains needed to get our favourite ingredients into our shops and restaurants and ultimately our bellies...

01/07/2020

My first virtual blog event involved cocktails, flowers and Moonpig.

Glasgow-based culture and lifestyle blogger Last Year's Girl on how Moonpig are keeping friends and family connected during lockdown.