Bessie Turner ’22:22′

Aaaaand the weather is crappy again. Still, we had a few days of summer to enjoy, but I can’t help but feel somewhat cheated. I started using gradual self tanner again for god’s sake, and now I’m supposed to cover up my newly bronzed limbs like some kind of pleb? There’s recently been a trend for transparent raincoats, which seems to me to be the perfect solution to my problem – let’s take it further in fact; could transparency be the solution to all the world’s problems? Politicians, no longer able to plead ignorance for their crimes, could be held to account over scandals like Grenfell and the treatment of the Windrush generation and their descendants – they would literally be forced to hold up their hands and say ‘I’m a massive racist and I don’t care about the treatment of human beings in my street/constituency/the world.’ Vast, plexiglass houses would mean that people would stop watching TV without a license, picking their nose, and kicking the dog when no one’s looking. The rapidly rising birthrate would stabilise as people’s, ahem, nocturnal activities would literally be put in the spotlight, solving the overpopulation crisis. Petty crime would plummet as people can no longer stuff stolen goods or weapons into their pockets. Airbrushing, photoshop, and makeup would be banned, meaning that self esteem levels amongst teenagers would soar, leading to a generation of super well adjusted workers contributing to the economy. Total transparency would mean that Donald Trump would be forced to reveal the exact steps he takes to craft his perfectly coiffed barnet (or even better, let it fall about his shoulders, revealing the alarming bald patch at the back of his head mere mortals like us only see when he gets onto planes). It may sound a little Orwellian, but I genuinely believe that I may have just solved the world’s problems just by sitting here and lamenting my hidden tan. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, which leads me on to today’s Track of The Day (actually an EP, but what are you gonna do about it?), the new EP from emerging star Bessie Turner. ’22:22′ is her first real body of work, and it’s dedicated to her sister Ruby (who was born at 22:22  is two years and two weeks younger than her). A deeply personal record, Turner’s debut EP fluctuates between soft melancholic acoustic guitar, off kilter rock n roll inspired rhythms, and folky harmonised vocals as she sings about everything from her own mortality to fledgling love. Particularly good is ‘Words You Say’, which sees the singer-songwriter flit between bedroom pop, surfy indie rock, and jazz melody in the space of three minutes. Enjoy.