'Exit Light' by Raveloe - Album Journey #1

Raveloe - Exit Light

Raveloe Bandcamp                Olive Grove Bandcamp

I am not a critic, reviewer or,  a music influencer. I am someone who is really keen to share the music I enjoy (remember - positivity, not complaining or moaning) and thus I might be too much of an ‘enthusiastic fan’ for some. That said I will base my writing on how the music makes me feel, what I notice about it, and how it turns over in my brain. 

If you’re looking for cutting commentary, I’m not your man. I share the music that I truly love. I hope that comes across in the writing. 

Album Journey #1

So to start the Album Journeys blog proper, I’ve decided to listen to an album which is one of my favourites of 2023. 

Raveloe is the alias of Glasgow artist Kim Grant, who is signed to the always excellent Olive Grove Records. OG have released some tremendous LP’s and their artists consistently feature in my end of year lists. 

When I first heard Kim’s music I instantly connected with it, and knew I wanted to hear more. Her debut EP Notes and Dreams (and the later expanded re-release) was a fantastic way to announce the Raveloe project to the world, and since then has evolved into something bolder, more confident.

On the first listen there are three themes that seemed prominent across the record. The first was nature. Kim often references nature (plants, sky, moon, waves, water, vapour… much like Rachel Sermanni often does) in her writing and it’s clearly a source of inspiration and solace. 

The second was human experience. I am firmly applying my own experiences of my mental health here. There are so many lines that made me feel seen and understood, and in music, art, poetry, that's a powerful thing. 

The third was duality. We all have light and dark within us and there's a lot of it to be found in the lyrics and the production. The sweetness of instruments and voice are heavily contrasted against other distorted sounds. The field recordings contrast against the magic of the violin, harmonium and deep bassy synths.  

The lyrics have always been a focus for me in music, and Kim has a fantastic ability to craft a stunning line, perceptive turn of phrase, or relatable observation or statement (in the way that Phoebe Bridgers or Lucy Dacus might). I'd say if you like any of the artists above or Adrienne Lenker, Jillorean, Annie Booth, then get Exit Light and give it a few listens. It is an album that will lift you.

Countertop 

The LP starts with a gentle guitar and Kim’s vocals enter with a clarity that draws you in. The lyrics are incredibly evocative “The bus pulls out of the station, the air was thick over the motorway, suspended in a murky grave…” When the second vocal creates a subtle lift, and then… it really takes off. The guitar line is held aloft by the fantastic rhythm section, all the while that guitar is pulled along by Kim's voice and the lyrics… “When I walk into the unknown, I find it reassuring, I survived sometime ago, gathered my strength made it home” 

There's a fortitude in that line that is reflected through the whole record. It’s just the start, but I already feel lifted by this song. 

The Chair Is Nowhere 

Starting with a dark gritty sound, introducing a gorgeous guitar underplayed with a very subtle pad, Kim’s voice painting a picture of a deep night through the eyes of a child…. There’s a building sense of the supernatural, of something other, something unsettling, with a whispery male vocal applying a textural contrast to Kim’s beautiful lead melody.

“What’s done departs like dust, scatters into matter… taking you further, from what was truly there… ”

Jill O’Sullivan’s violin on this whole album is incredible. Her ability to pull at the edges of this track creating a level of unease, and then take the attention of your ears with scrapes and squeals, to further create an eerie tension. By the end of this song Jill is casting ancient witchcraft with her violin. 

This reminds me of late nights sneaking about as a child, of unexplained happenings (ghosts or nightmares - 30 odd years later I'm still not sure), and of late night early morning walks with friends talking about music and everything we would fix in the world.

Rustle In The Leaves

Mood setting steady bass and a shuffle of shaker begins with evocative lyrics painting reassurance of fear being essential to existence. 

Harmonic guitar pinches, crisp picking and a bassy synth (Susan Bear doing exemplary work as usual) sets a slight feeling of unease, contrasted by the lovely run of notes adding a surface for Kim's voice to float across. 

I really notice when that synth drops out and then back in again. I really found a lot of comfort in this song. Dealing with my own anxiety and depression over the past decade, I was drawn to the ideas in the song around anxiety being normal, but needing to be tempered by the realities of modern life, versus our nature ”.. the rustle never leaves” the song is peppered with some beautifully evocative lyrics, and superb production - again the violin doing a star turn supported by that synth and rhythm section.

Jeans Hill

A change of pace with a lovely song, starts with a really sprightly guitar line and features clever changes in rhythm which trick you into feeling something has been opened up in the song, helped by harmonies. There’s a glorious rising and gliding to this song, it moves like air flows on a warm day, and it’s captivating. 

The drums and bass are like a living breathing creature here; ebbing and flowing together and between each other. The harmony lines Kim sings are striking in their beauty, with an almost childlike joy, a gratefulness, and it really made me smile to hear it in this form after hearing it live. 

The hook line of "you know it's time to let it fly..." creates an irresistible release in the song. 

Old Lessons

There's a tender sadness in Old Lessons, my immediate thoughts were of my late mum, thinking of the things she’d taught me, the kind of person she was, her smile, her laugh. It’s reflective, but forwards looking at the same time. 

A very clever piece of writing, with a strong melody. “I see your blue silk scarf on the chair, I go outside and feel you everywhere…” 

After this intro it blows up with that rising dynamic which can’t help but make you smile. The time changes work their magic. again… those wee changes of pace really are a secret weapon in the writing. Not easy to do, brilliantly effective the way they are deployed here. 

“Though I’m met from familiar scenes, it feels like fragments of forgotten dreams….”. 

These lyrics are hitting me square in the heart, and I'm loving every second.

Ghost Beach

Simon Liddell (of Poster Paints, whom Kim played guitar with in their live shows) sprinkles more magic with a harmonium steadily droning to create a feeling of gentle breezes and warm skin, while a guitar steadily puts wind in the sails of the song. Again the male vocal lends a texture to complement Kim’s voice, and a piano sprinkling touches of beauty. The heartbeat like drums are such a clever choice…

Lyrically this feels like a wondering about where we belong, perhaps in a relationship, a city or even the wider universe… a contemplative tune that feels much shorter than it is.  I want to emphasise how much I love the tone on the guitar solo here… its like a bit-crushed distortion pedal, but it helps to create that sense of duality that is in every fibre of this album.

Clouds Are Release

Clouds is a real folky indie masterpiece. It would fit into a movie or TV show, and could be utilised in so many ways. It’s another blinding melody that uses time signatures and dynamics to build and release the feelings of catharsis that come from understanding your place in the world.

 “Oh the clouds are coming in, so learn to read them, the clouds are coming in so learn to greet them, stop and take stock”. 

Again from my own experiences this feel like acknowledging that you can’t control everything that comes at you, so you have to just do your best to accept that fact, and figure out how to use that knowledge to stay afloat or lift yourself up. 

The drums and bass pound, while the guitar soars alongside Kim’s voice. We fade with another field recording, glad to have seen this moment. Extraordinary stuff. 

In The Crescent 

Footsteps in the snow bring us a change of pace, another song with links to nature, and an ethereal supernatural feel. The shuffling, snare and delicate bass dance around each other as Kim sings about “spiralling constellations on land”… “ laughed… ring out into the night, and it echoed off the starlight”.

This chorus makes me want to raise my hands to the sky and touch the moon - it's glorious stuff. Perfect dong for walking along the coast, waves lapping at the shore, then dancing around a fire on the beach with friends. 

A guitar is always sneakily hiding in the mix… just waiting to reveal itself when the chorus crashes like a wave… "The crescent moon's an opening, all things come around again..." there's definitely a wonderful air of otherworldliness about this song.… we finish as we began.

Purple Loose Strife

I had no idea what this meant and it turns out its a flower… in Kim's own words “I was looking to shift the space I was in and I saw this beautiful light move over a plant, like a conveyor of light.” The purple loosestrife of the title. 

The feeling of this song felt reconciliatory to me; a coming to terms with something in your life, it’s full of wonderful lyrics, “..won’t try to shake it off like a wet dog… I’m staying in”.

There are lovely pinched harmonics, and again the rhythm section put wind in the sails of the song, elevating the vocal which cuts through beautifully… “Think of motion when I wanted to be still, but the current runs, the current runs, keeps everything alive”…. The way the music creates that motion through the song again reveals the beauty in the production choices.  We need to hear another field recording of the wind blowing, this takes us out of the track and lets us recover.

Passing Place

The shortest song, with probably the simplest arrangement (Kim playing an arpeggio on guitar and sings at the same time while recording) with a singular drum threading its way through the song. creates a gorgeous intimacy.

 “Gorse and brooding sky, body of water breaking at low tide, it’s the sound of an opening heart, enfolds and leads you right back, softly pierces, lets light through the crack, while it still devastates, it’s a passing place…” 

Kim's voice is so close, with a contrast in how delicate it can be while also conveying strength.

Mazzy Star would have been over the moon to have had this song on one of their albums. This one took my breath away with how stunning it is.

Keep Count

I thought Countertop would have been the closing track as the way it builds would lend the need to flip the disc, but the sequencing is spot on because Keep Count sums up the album brilliantly... “Sun has risen it’s a vision, finding the last place you would look in” is as clever as it is poetic. 

The song is pushed initially by the rhythm section again (the Kelly brothers doing absolutely stellar work throughout) holding Kim's dual vocals aloft, then the time change slips in, slips back and Jill O’Sullivan’s exquisite violin creeps in (the stereo field is chefs finger kiss!) guitars screech in with a gorgeous dissonance to them, everything builds to that huge ending as we join in with “let it go, let it go, let it go again” and the album fades with a final grinding guitar…

Summary

This is the perfect LP to start Album Journeys proper. You could walk or drive, hike or run with 'Exit Light' in your ears and your day would be lifted. It rewards you by revealing more of itself with each further listen, there will be little moments, you'll hear some other nuance that will catch your ear, and you wonder how you missed it before... 

I'd be an idiot not only to highlight the importance & intuitive poetry of Kim's writing, but I also need to praise the fantastic team she assembled for the recording. Many of the team worked in the live band for Poster Paints (one of my favourite bands, whose debut will definitely be a part of this blog soon) 

Paul Gallagher has done a stellar job pulling this together. The space in each track, the weaving of the instruments, the vocal nuances, the tiny momentary instrumental sounds, the field recordings (some of which were recorded a long time before an album was even dreamt of) which could go unnoticed on a casual listen, all matter, adding the charming depth & texture; it is masterfully done. 

Paul Kelly (BMX Bandits & the hugely underrated The Primary 5) adds bass & Peter Kelly (Union Of Knives) the drums, which sets such a brilliant foundation for the whole record, darting between each other and then pushing forward together, allowing the rest of the band to add their own magic to the tracks. 

Susan Bear adds the synths that can (check out her solo LP Alter), Simon Liddell (Poster Paints, Frightened Rabbit) some grit with his gorgeous guitar lines, and wonderful Harmonium on Ghost Light, while Jason Liddell's vocals and piano are vital to the atmosphere & contrast of both Ghost Light and The Chair Is Nowhere.

I'm convinced Jill O'Sullivan (Jillorean) is performing actual ancient witchcraft on this record. I've seen her playing live (an awesome experience), but I'd have paid good money to be in the studio to watch her cast the spell she does with the violin here. Truly extraordinary. 

Exit Light is a stunning record. It is a tonic for the soul, a place of contemplation, happiness and gratitude. It’s a remarkable debut, and one that everyone involved with its creation should be immensely proud of, especially Kim.

This is one of my records of the year (too much pressure to actually rank LP's in top 10's, which feels like unnecessary competition). and in a year of so many brilliant records it more than holds its own... it absolutely soars.

  What type of Album Journey?                                                       

  Whole album; Afternoon, forest or coastal walk. Late night drive.                     

  Late night in a forest: The Chair Is Nowhere / In The Crescent   

  Walking along the coast: Ghost Beach   

  In darkness to stargaze or watch the Aurora Borealis; Passing Place