FEATURES

Essays, opinions & rankings

HOW THEY WROTE THE SONG

‘I've come up for air after years underground’: Emma Swift tells the story behind No Happy Endings

Involving a therapy session, an LA hotel room and a Greek myth, Emma Swift tells State of Sound the moving story behind her gorgeously cinematic ‘No Happy Endings’. ‘Are you finishing the song,’ she wonders, ‘or is the song finishing you?’

Photo: Nicola Harger

23 May 2026

RANKING

The 10 greatest alt-country albums, reviewed and ranked!

Alt-country has always given the polished twang of mainstream country a roughened edge, drawing from the countercultural snarl of punk, the kooky charms of indie pop, rockabilly, bluegrass or Southern rock. Here is State of Sound’s ranking of the greatest alt-country albums, from No. 10 to No. 1.

16 May 2026

MAKING A MASTERPIECE

‘Like a long dead ghost trying to make contact’: how Wilco made Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Involving Cold War spy recordings, drug addiction and music industry landmarks, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has been called a fable and a masterpiece. David Rea does a deep dive into the plots and subplots which created the band’s greatest album.

16 May 2026

FEATURE

The alternative pop anthem that defined the 1960s: The Kinks’ Shangri-La

From the Beatles’ All You Need Is Love to Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin', the era-defining songs of the 1960s tended to focus on the counterculture. But the Kinks’ miniature pop symphony Shangri-La did so much more. David Rea celebrates one of Ray Davies’ masterpieces..

17 April 2026

7 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

7 albums that changed my life with Balloon

Balloon’s Ian Bickerton on being compared to Kate Bush, how Iggy Pop and James Williamson soundtracked his youth and Van Morrison scored his life.

11 April 2026

FEATURE

John and Yoko’s bed-in: The forgotten song they recorded after the cameras left

by David Rea

11 April 2026

HOW THEY WROTE THE SONG

‘I’m going to kill you tonight’: how they wrote Candi Staton’s ‘Young Hearts Run Free’

It began when Candi Staton’s partner threatened to shoot her and ended with a rallying cry for women everywhere.

3 April 2026

RANKING

Paul Simon's 10 greatest solo albums, reviewed and ranked!

In the 14 studio albums Paul Simon has released since the end of Simon & Garfunkel, the singer-songwriter has been on an extraordinary creative journey.

by David Rea

3 April 2026

7 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

7 albums that changed my life with The Bookshop Band

The Bookshop Band’s Ben Please on listening to Bob Marley at his father's farm, searching for baroque metal albums as a teenager and being stopped in his tracks by Sufjan Stevens.

Photo courtesy of Elly Lucas

28 March 2026

WATCH STATE OF SOUND TV

The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The La’s: 7 guitar riffs that changed my life with Shapes Like People

Watch Shapes Like People’s Carl Mann play the riffs that changed his life. Inspired by everybody from John Squire to Johnny Marr, Carl explains the secret behind a classic riff and why simplicity is always best.

14 March 2026

ESSAY

‘Outside is America’: Was U2’s biggest failure one of music’s great Icarus moments, or the sound of a band blazing their own trail?

U2’s Rattle and Hum was one of the most savagely mauled albums of the 1980s. But for David Rea, aged fifteen in the year of its release, it was an exhilarating widescreen road movie through America.

7 March 2026

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