Thursday, May 21Thursday, May 21The audiobook adaptation of *Kingfisher* by Rozie Kelly, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, has been reviewed for its heartfelt exploration of love, desire, and power. The novel follows an unnamed male academic who becomes infatuated with a celebrated Irish female writer, referred to as "the poet," who is 17 years his senior. Their relationship unfolds through meetings by a river, where they discuss literature and observe wildlife, with the protagonist fixating on her earthy, jasmine-like scent. Despite being in a long-term relationship with a gym owner, he pursues the poet, driven by admiration for her success and a desire to emulate her achievements. The audiobook is narrated by Dan Bottomley, whose sensitive reading enhances the novel’s introspective and emotional tone .
Passenger review – generic jumpscare horror offers bumpy journey to nowhere A demonic entity attaches itself to travellers on the road in this competently directed but hopelessly indistinctive scare-free misfireAs Obsession, a micro-budget horror made by a YouTuber, continues to overperform with critics and audiences, and as another twentysomething content creator prepares to break a potential record with the release of Backrooms, here comes a stodgy by-the-book Paramount horror that feels like someones embarrassing dad just gatecrashed a college party. While others might be trying to innovate, those involved with Paramounts generic schedule-filler Passenger are perfectly content to keep things lazily trucking along as they always have. Even if it wasnt stuck in an unfortunate gen Z genre sandwich, itd still be a struggle to see why anyone would want to hitch a ride with this one.Like Februarys cursed misfire Psycho Killer, another junky on-the-road studio horror, Passenger plays like something that would have gone straight to unrated DVD back in the 2000s. Its marginally better but similarly baffling that with all of the unproduced horror scripts stacking up on desks in Hollywood, this would not only make it to production but be warranted a wide release on a prime May weekend. I kept waiting to understand what might have nudged this one to the top of the pile, but left without clarity. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 6 hours ago
Big science and uncanny prescience: Laurie Andersons greatest songs – ranked! Forty years since her pioneering concert film Home of the Brave, and ahead of a European tour, we count down the best of a surprisingly poppy avant garde catalogueFrom a compilation released by William Burroughs associate John Giorno – fellow contributors included Patti Smith, Philip Glass and the Fugs – comes the fledgling sound of Laurie Andersons breakthrough Big Science: spoken word, electronically manipulated voices, violin. It doesnt quite work, but its worth hearing, not least for the distinctly country-ish slant to her violin playing. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 7 hours ago
Irish musician was booked to play background music for Kylie - and they ended up duetting She was the biggest hype-woman. It felt like she was my number one fan in the room.
thejournal · about 8 hours ago
Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly audiobook review – smart reflections on love, desire and power This heartfelt story of attraction and friendship, shortlisted for the Womens prize for fiction, is sensitively read by Dan BottomleyThe debut novel from Rozie Kelly – shortlisted for this years Womens prize for fiction – charts an unusual relationship between two writers. The story is told through the eyes of an unnamed man who works as a creative writing academic. He becomes infatuated with an Irish woman, whom he calls the poet, 17 years older than him and a celebrated author. The pair begin meeting for lunch on a bench by a river where they talk and watch the wildlife (she specialises in stories about birds). He observes how this woman smells like jasmine. No, not exactly. She smelled like the earth beneath a jasmine pot on a hot day.Our protagonist pursues her – his early thoughts about her are wilfully crude – despite being in a long-term relationship with Michael, a gym owner with whom he has little in common. He longs to achieve the success that the poet has attained, observing: She was in high demand. I was a beggar. I knew she had a purse full of gold, if only I could get close enough to cut the strings. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 8 hours ago
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen album review – Luisi has a keen sense of the operatic architecture Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Luisi/Lindstrom/Delavan /Johansson(Delos)Captured live in concert performances, Fabio Luisis clear-sighted command and strong orchestral playing make this Wagner set frequently impressive, with Mark Delavan an authorative Wotan Concert performances of opera can provide ideal conditions for live recordings. This ambitious release of Wagners Ring Cycle on 13 CDs, captured in 2024 with the Dallas Symphony under music director Fabio Luisi, is a fine example.The Italian maestro has a strong record, having stepped in at the Metropolitan Opera in 2011 when James Levine had to withdraw from Siegfried due to illness. With his clearheaded approach, a keen sense of Wagners operatic architecture, and a supple way with phrasing, he is perhaps the most compelling reason for acquiring this frequently impressive set. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 8 hours ago
Quartet in Autumn — first stage adaptation of Barbara Pym is all about the details Based on the authors comeback novel, the play follows four office workers whose lives have stiffened into loneliness, at Londons Arcola Theatre
financial times · about 10 hours ago
Finding Emily review – warm-hearted gen Z campus romcom is impossible to hate A Mancunian singer-songwriter becomes a viral divisive figure while trying to track down a girl called EmilyLast week came the news that gen Z are big fans of going to the cinema. Now heres a gen Z romcom from Working Title, the company behind Bridget Joness Diary and Notting Hill. Directed by Alicia MacDonald from a script by Rachel Hirons, Finding Emily shares DNA with Richard Curtiss comedies – the same warm heart and charm, plus levels of cheesiness that some may find cringe. In the end I found it impossible to hate, though one or two performances felt a bit lacking in comic flair.Its set in Manchester, where indie singer-songwriter Owen (Spike Fearn) meets undergraduate Emily (Sadie Soverall) at the student union. They click, but when Emily taps her number into his phone, she misses out a digit. Is it a drunken error, or has she wrong-numbered him? Owen is convinced its a mistake and sticks up posters around campus to find her. After a tipoff, he waits outside a lecture hall for psychology student Emily (Angourie Rice). Shes American, and not his Emily, but she offers to help, suggesting Owen emails every Emily enrolled at the university – all 318 of them. Owen accidentally sends the email to all rather than BCCing, creating an email group of Emilies who are divided in their reactions. Is he some kind of creepy virgin incel? Or a diehard romantic? Owen becomes a meme: email guy. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 10 hours ago
Im a music fan first before Im a musician: Up-and-coming UK soul star Nectar Woode An up-and-coming soul star has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her love for music, and her new collaboration with the megastar Elton John. Nectar Woode was raised in the UK by British Ghanaian parents, and is already becoming a huge star with a series of releases, her latest called Naturally. She also gave us the exclusive news that her next track due out in June has Elton John playing keyboards. She spoke to us in Perspective.
france24 · about 10 hours ago
Kurt Vile: Philadelphias Been Good to Me review – indie-rocks most easygoing dude gets existential (Verve)Sounding characteristically virtuosic but unbothered, Vile is more forward-thinking than ever on a record that surveys the bliss and bumps of life in his mid-40sThese days, Kurt Vile songs begin in the middle of the story. In the third decade of his career, the journeyman musician seems even more content than ever to ride his own wave, to let his laid-back koans sit in the air without explanation or context, waiting for a listener to find the right frequency to understand or absorb them in their own time. The Philadelphia guitarist and songwriter opens his 10th record – an auspicious number for any musician – in the least auspicious, most Vile of ways, mumbling his way through the moment: Smoke on my lip / I wrote a song / Some people said / I was doin it wrong, he sings, his plainspoken warble as familiar, at this point, as the taste of Coca-Cola, or the smell of a summer thunderstorm.Philadelphias Been Good to Me relies on the fact that Vile, 46, is an elder statesman of indie rock at this point, and that it would be downright strange for him to put on any airs, or even for him to sound as if he was performing for any kind of audience. The album never labours its points or trades in anything so tacky as radical departures in sound or style. It is, emphatically, a Kurt Vile record – loose, lush, ambling, aimless, and totally, deeply poetic, bruh. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 11 hours ago
Whistler — Ann Patchetts story of family coming to terms with the past The American authors 10th novel is a compassionate saga of modern blended families with stepchildren and divorced parents
financial times · about 11 hours ago
Christo: Air review – surprisingly profound manifestation of the wrappers impossible dream Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, LondonNot only does this giant plastic bag make the intangible physical, it gains a bodily sense of weight and an unexpected emotional resonanceWhen he wasnt busy wrapping buildings and bridges in vast reams of fabric, Christo was wrapping absolutely nothing. The Bulgarian artist made his name – alongside his partner Jeanne-Claude – with a wrapped Reichstag, a swaddled Arc de Triomphe and an enveloped Pont Neuf. They found a way of containing, embracing, protecting and smothering the whole world. But in the 1960s, he was trying to wrap air. Nothing more.Christo (Jeanne-Claude hadnt been given full joint credit at this point) wanted to contain the air within a room, but the original idea was limited by technical constraints. Now, 50 years after it was first proposed for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and six years after Christos death in 2020, hes finally pulled it off. The opening room at Gagosian has been bisected horizontally, a huge polyethylene sack splitting the room in two, held to the ceiling by white ropes. It droops low, sinking into the middle of the space, forcing you to crouch to get under it. Youre forced into a physical relationship with the work, bullied into changing how you interact with the environment.Christo: Air is at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, until 21 August Continue reading...
theguardian · about 11 hours ago