Song 2: Michelle - CIEL (S.3 Ep.14), 29/03/2024

On today’s show we will be looking at one of the most exciting talents in the UK right now… …the one and only Little Simz and her inspiring song “Woman” off the album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. She described it on her Tiny Desk performance as one of the best songs she has ever written. SO without further ado let’s take a look at what makes her and that song so special!

“The story I want to tell on an album is more about the overall adventure” We are a couple of days behind, but Poppy is a great guest on the Song 2 problem. Having worked with Bad Omens and Knocked Loose of late, the diverse star is adding more and more strings to their bow.

You are tuned in to Song 2, the podcast where we go by the doctrine that the second song is either the most important or the best on an LP. People are philistines and don’t listen to full albums as much anymore but we say long live the purists that know the importance of bands creating their own identities through storytelling and track listings. On today’s show we will be looking at one of the albums of 2023, namely Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers and their song “I Saw".

"Curating the journey of an album is everything to me. EVERYTHING" We interviewed Des Rocs earlier this year, being that we were super dialed into the raw riffs and the general appeal of this honest to goodness rock n roll. Check out the chat on RTL Play, here we ask the Song 2 q and we find that we are bang on the money… even if Des Rocs is not going to outstay his welcome, check it out.

On today’s episode we will look at the fantastic Kasabian, once described as The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis... ..but they very much have their own style - which is exemplified in their fourth studio album Velociraptor!, released in 2011 and the second track on it is the lead single Days Are Forgotten.

Ahead of debut album Teething's release, I catch up with Nathan and Egg and see what they think about Second Songs Hey there and welcome to this week’s edition of Song 2… it’s the one you click on, and are immediately saying that this cannot be correct. You’ll have examples to hand and, just like Cliff becomes Cave, becomes Arch, becomes Stump, you realize that there is a wee bit of truth to it. Here, Nathan and Egg from the really rather good Porij do exactly this… Check out what they have to say, and while I have your attention, go ahead and pre-order Teething…it’s gonna be MEGA.

This week’s episode is all about Feeder… my favourite band ever. So, this one could get a little gushy... Oddly, though, we are covering one of my least favourite Feeder tracks, even though it is almost universally loved. It is the song you know by Feeder, even if you don’t know that you know Feeder, you know? And it has had millions of people screaming about drinking cider through a ruddy lemon for nearly 30 years. And to think, it was almost a song given to another band altogether.

“If the song 2 doesn’t grab you, you’re sunk BABY” This week’s guest Song 2-er (sic) is the always good value Keith Murray, of the prolifically great We Are Scientists… and while this intro may be longer than Keith’s response, it does not contain a now immortal phrase, that, if we could get the rights sorted, we would have on a limited run of Song 2 tees.

For this week’s episode of Song 2, we are looking at a 90’s staple, Sex & Candy from Marcy Playground. Even in this office, we have a 50/50 split of those that love the oddly louche lyrics, and those that hate it with a passion akin to the fires of hell. For me, this one was as ubiquitous as anything from Beck, Dando, Alexakis, Dulli et al.

In this week’s Friday episode we are taking Michelle of the Netherlands by the way of Brighton band CIEL over the SONG 2 coals. Needless to say, she’s one foot in, one foot out, but places a lot of importance on the influence of a producer. Check it out.