Ian Roland – Lodestone (2024)
Celebrating life through music, singer-songwriter Ian Roland captures the core of existence from the optimistic to the gritty despair; each element is connected through music and needs to be loved. A couple of months ago, the UK-based artist enchanted us with his single ‘Living In Sound’. The moving indie-folk sound traipsed across folk, rock, and indie-rock holding our hearts in an insatiable four minutes of music. Join us as we delve into his latest release, ‘Lodestone’.
Composed as a tribute to Gavin Macleod, founder of the Greyhound Acoustic Gathering at the Greyhound Pub in Keymer, ‘Lodestone’ shifts from the indie-folk sound of ‘Living In Sound’ to a vintage folk tone in ‘Lodestone’. Recorded and produced with Jake Skinner and Bob Macciochi, the new single is a warm rush of refreshing air whipping across your face.
Intricately exploring the essence of human connection, a song with such gravity is light-hearted and laidback. A concoction of Ian Roland’s guitar, Dave Coomber’s bass, James Chapman’s drums, Simon Yapp’s viola, and Mishkin Fitzgerald’s piano, ‘Lodestone’ has a kaleidoscopic sound; however, despite the various instruments, there is a tender simplicity lingering through the melody.
One element I love about ‘Lodestone’ is the ebb and flow from wistful airiness to a forceful crush of sound. It is as if we breeze in with a laidback whisper before the full profoundness of the single crashes through, then an ending of tender hope. The melody is moving in itself, but it is the lyricism that captures its significance. Roland explains:
“Inspired by the sound of local church bells heard echoing across a Sussex village, this song points to the enduring purity of music as a uniting force that rings true in all of us. Music helps grow and sustain us. It helps grow and sustain communities. Music helps form shared identities and helps us appreciate difference… The sound of church bells rolling across the South Downs on a Sunday morning transcends the restrictive, the prescriptive, the contained, and allows our hearts to beat free for a moment.”
In addition to the single, Ian Roland released an official music video for ‘Lodestone’. You can view the video below and on his YouTube channel.
Find out more about Ian Roland on his official website, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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