Sadness is only one side of a well-worn coin and heart-melting, colossal chorus-conjuring indie newcomer, Felix Hill flips to the side of intense hope, singing along the tight rope of deluded romantic misadventure for his latest release – the stormy, emotive swirl of live-favourite single, Swim Deep – OUT NOW on Everybody’s Records.
Churning up front rows of young audiences in his Manchester back yard and on a recent spate of London live outings, the track’s room-filling opening hooks, heartbeat-thump percussion and grab-a-mate peaks of churning, sing-a-long melody firmly cements the foundation 20-year-old singer-songwriter’s ascending reputation. Quietly confident, softly-spoken and effortlessly stage-commanding, Hill’s latest, perhaps greatest, release follows the studied gentility of last month’s ode to loss, Safe and Sound with an energetic blast of the full band dynamic that brings more fans to his door, gig-by-gig.
Flicking at speed through a rotating cast of influences, the carousel stops most obviously at Hill’s deep admiration of Jeff Buckley for listeners grasping to find the roots of his blossomed songwriting. At the same time, and most potently on Swim Deep, Hill lines up the field-filling, everyperson-pleasing, mega-indie-disco-dancefloor-filling charms of the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Sam Fender to move bodies and stir souls.
While firmly rooted in the England’s talent hotbed of the North West, studying in Liverpool while handpicking full band shows between major cities, Hill’s songs, rooted in his imagination and desire for escape into lives he can conjure up beyond his own, have drawn significant audiences to The Windmill in Brixton and the East End’s The Old Blue Last in recent months. More shows for 2023 going into 2024 to build on the momentum that new music has generated are to be announced soon
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