Allie Crow Buckley - Anya Baghina - Clare Siobhan - The Wedding Present
Los Angeles & London-based atmospheric folk-pop artist, Allie Crow Buckley, unveils her otherworldly sophomore album, Utopian Fantasy. Embarking on a transcendent sonic voyage, this lush record takes the listener on a psychedelic journey into the depths of Buckley's psyche, intertwining Greek Mythology, the mysterious realm of the faerie, and influences of fashion, dance, and poetry. With sonic shades and influences of Joni Mitchell and Black Sabbath, the record was recorded at the 4AD Studio in London, mastered at Abbey Road, and was written, recorded, and produced by Allie Crow Buckley and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes) everywhere from a small cottage in the lush English countryside to the sunny mountains of Ojai, California, and several hotels in between.
Utopian Fantasy taps into Buckley's love and deep knowledge of mythology. She explains, “It is the sort of feeling of leaving your body - as one does during times of immense stress or when chaos ensues. Escapism of sorts. These themes occur throughout the record - from references to Dionysus (god of wine and chaos) to the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Resigning yourself to whatever is - a sort of submission to chaos. Like in the myth of Apollo and Dionysus. Being naked at the feast, the idea of that vulnerability of just awaiting your fate. How we all long to be carried by Zephyr, the wind, from our fate into a bed of flowers. Just as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. But what comes next? Coming to terms with your new reality. Like being lost in the realm of the faery, and reemerging years later. Feeling as if it were all one day or one dream."
Allie Crow Buckley is excited to announce a run of headline dates to support the new record that includes stops at Schubas in Chicago, Zebulon in Los Angeles, Baby’s All Right in New York, and Songbyrd in Washington, D.C. Next week marks the start of her tour supporting Lord Huron which includes two sold-out nights at Red Rocks later this month and she will also support Declan Mckenna on his North American fall tour.
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When discussing the video for "It's Clear To Me", Anya Baghina writes: "We see a romanticized version of someone falling for us, represented by a heart-shaped balloon. Ultimately, the balloon pops just as it is caught, like the idea of someone that was largely made up. Three animators worked on the video, Alesya Pavlova, Natasha Bobryakova, and Janovich, and the video was edited by Anton Imbro. The idea and direction were conceived by Aleksei Salomatin. Along the way, I was involved in editing the video as well."
"It's Clear To Me" blends contemporary indie synth-pop with grunge and garage-rock sounds seamlessly. Incorporating honest and heartfelt lyrics and raw vocals, it's a single that cuts across genre lines.
Anya Baghina recounts the inspiration behind her latest single: "In my childhood, I didn't grow up around healthy relationships, and I had to overcome a lot of baggage to get to a healthy place. Having lost my mother, I felt so alone and desperately looked for someone to lean on. When you’re excited about someone, and you really want it to work, you forget about the red flags. It shows the mindlessness of this experience while subconsciously understanding that "it's killing me".
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Clare Siobhan is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Truro, Nova Scotia who is making a home for herself in that cozy little intersection of folk, pop, and soul. Her layered harmonies paired with bright piano and ukulele lay the foundation for warm vocals that touch on connection, relationships, worry, and that age-old search for meaning and belonging that we feel as we grow.
After receiving some unexpected and scary news, Siobhan wrote most of the lyrics for the song “Flare” on the drive home, taking voice memos in between tears. It was a few weeks later when she finally wrote the last part of the song, the U-turn where she was able to find joy when there’s big changes happening in life.
“[When I was writing this song,] I looked out my window at the tree in my backyard and thought about the changing of the seasons… life goes on,” Siobhan explains. “There’s this inevitability to change, and such stability in its repetition, and that was a comfort to me at the time. After that, finishing the song was easy – and to be honest, so was adjusting to the new change in my own life.”
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The Wedding Present are releasing 24 Songs. A triple LP w/ DVD (featuring a live show and documentary) available now in the UK (Clue Records), but due to pressing plant delays out in the USA (HHBTM Records) on June 23rd. 24 Songs covers all twelve of the Wedding Present's 7" singles club series from 2022 in one packaged triple LP release. The album actually contains 29 songs as the band added A remix by Utah Saints and four bonus tracks that didn't make the original club. You can check out the single "We Belong Together" featuring Louise Wener of Sleeper, and the bonus track and Clash cover of "White Riot" which debuted at Slicing Up Eyeballs earlier this week.
Throughout 2022, The Wedding Present's '24 Songs' series saw the legendary indie band release two new tracks a month as double A sided 7"s, ultimately creating a much-sought-after box set. David Gedge has now re-curated full-length versions of all twenty-four tracks for a new compilation album that will also comprise five bonus recordings including one featuring The Wedding Present's first guitarist, Peter Solowka.
'24 Songs' was a doff of the cap to The Wedding Present's 'Hit Parade' project of 30 years previous. That series proved to be a real milestone for the band with them becoming only the second-ever artist to achieve twelve Official UK Top 40 hits in a calendar year – at the time something that only Elvis had achieved!
David Gedge says: "When it came to compiling the '24 Songs' album, I decided not to sequence the tracks in chronological order. With six sides of vinyl, you have six 'beginnings' and six 'ends' to play with, and I felt that the opportunity to build some kind of a musical journey was too good to miss! Listening back to this collection, I have to say that I genuinely believe that, for this project, The Wedding Present have recorded some of the best tracks in our history. I loved releasing the singles, but it's satisfying to have them all rounded up together."
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