Showing posts with label Dahlia Sleeps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dahlia Sleeps. Show all posts

Sunday, 10 April 2022

Dahlia Sleeps - Chris Tavener - J Nicolás

Dahlia Sleeps - Overflow (Album).

Two years in the making and almost 6 years since their debut single, producer/writer Luke Hester and singer/writer Lucy Hill bring a new weight sonically with their debut album Overflow, depicting a new kind of freedom for the duo – from managing and coming to terms with mental health problems to experiencing love in all its forms despite them.

With eclectic influences ranging from electronic acts including MOVEMENT, Autechre and Burial to the lyrically poetic works of Florence + the Machine, Radiohead and The National, Dahlia Sleeps shift seamlessly between genres; from dance to electronic to pop.

Across the album's track listing, Dahlia Sleeps have collaborated with Jacob Oak Welsh (drummer/producer from The Hics), cellist/bassist/guitarist/pianist Mat Roberts, and pianist Edward Cross.

Speaking more on the upcoming album, the band said: "The title Overflow was chosen because this is a record that features a lot of struggle, fight, bravery, will, hope, and ultimately, triumph." Early on in the writing process for the album Lucy battled a severe episode of mental ill-health, which strongly influenced the direction of the record. “What we have now is an album about entering the very depths of despair, those who hold us when we’re there, and climbing back out again”, Lucy said of the record.


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Chris Tavener - Right Back Again.

 'Right Back Again' is a heartfelt ballad that refuses to sit quietly: with its piano-rock style, raw, impassioned vocals and a compelling chorus that swells with emotional poignancy. The lyrics grapple with love and loss; as mind over matter proves to be a futile exercise... The sincere emotion is perhaps the most surprising facet of this song from a singer-songwriter that is mostly known for satirical social commentary.

Tavener states that this song in fact came from personal experience: “This song came very naturally to me. I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling of losing someone, and trying to rush your recovery when your heart and mind are continually being taken back to memories shared with them”.

The minimal production by Aron Bicskey really allows the song and Tavener's vocals room to breath. The driving drums and upright piano make the track seem determined to move forward, while there's an emotional fragility put forward by the ethereal sounds and an almost Americana-feel to the sparingly-placed electric guitar.

The single is the second from Tavener's upcoming EP 'Easy Ways To Be Happy'. The ironic title seemingly commenting on society's increasing fixation towards a quest for happiness. The new pop-rock, five-song EP will be released in the middle of this year. Jangly-guitar rock and a biting sense of humour meet in the satirical stylings of Chris Tavener. A deft lyricist with an acerbic wit, Tavener writes his storytelling songs from the perspective of flawed characters that he draws from 21st century life.

His cynical social commentary, dressed in punchy, uplifting pop-rock and acoustic ballads has won him acclaim from BBC 6 Music and multiple BBC Introducing stations. He's popular for his unique and theatrical live performance that has seen him sharing the stage with Super Hans, Emily Capell, Tony Hadley, and Peter Hook of Joy Division, whilst also writing songs for the likes of Sir Ian McKellen

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J Nicolás - Lost + Found.

Folk singer-songwriter J. Nicolás has released his latest single, "Lost + Found." The new track reflects on a love he feels is being lost and ponders the possibilities for revival. “Lost + Found” is being released alongside a studio performance music video, which can be viewed on YouTube. The single is available to be streamed on digital music platforms worldwide.

With a combination of picturesque lyricism, layered guitars, and raspy, inviting vocals, J Nicolás skillfully tells the story of losing a love and longing to rediscover it. Nicolás took inspiration from his life, past dreams, and memories to create a compelling song about finding something to hold on to in trying times. "’Lost + Found' was inspired by a couple of things: I've had this recurring dream since childhood, where I fall into a dark hole and encounter a witch," Nicolás explains. "It's a tribute to someone who has helped me find myself & encouraged me to be vulnerable as a means of finding my way out of that hole — often just by merely being in their presence." The accompanying music video displays Nicolás performing his newest track live in an intimate and warm setting. Nicolás produced and mixed the track at The Hallowed Halls & Mission Mountain Recording Co. with Allen Hunter on bass, and Joe Mengis on drums. “Lost + Found” was mastered by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering.

J Nicolás has been involved in the indie rock scene for over 20 years, and only recently began his solo career in the folk area, gaining a fanbase in both genres. He has toured all over the U.S. and has played internationally with a copious amount of musicians. Nicolás' first album Wild Oak was released at the end of 2021; with 10-tracks, he dives into his journey of self-discovery and uses poetic lyricism to make a mark on the folk genre. His upcoming sophomore album, A Rosary of Bone, will further tell his story of introspection and focuses more on his darker times, leading to his ability to overcome hardship. "Lost + Found" is a message about finding hope even when there is none to be found.

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Wednesday, 19 January 2022

Dahlia Sleeps - Renata Zeiguer - Kindsight - Josienne Clarke

Dahlia Sleeps - The Calm You Keep.

London based duo Dahlia Sleeps release new track "The Calm You Keep", the latest cut to be heard from the band's debut album Overflow, out 8th April.

A pensive, indie-rock track "The Calm You Keep" is the album's closing song and completes the record in cathartic fashion. A stunning examination into motherhood; vocalist Lucy Hill captures the poise of a mother supporting her child through mental ill-health, with the lines "I climbed into your bed, just like a child I laid and wept / You did not show your fear, you knew the sun was somewhere near".

Filled with nostalgic electric guitar and live drums it paints images of a dreamlike world - "It's a portrait of a parent providing the calm within the storm; half a Dalí-esque soundscape from within an unwell mind, half a paradise of safety”, Lucy says of the track.

Two years in the making and almost 6 years since their debut single, producer/writer Luke Hester and singer/writer Lucy Hill bring a new weight sonically to their debut album Overflow, depicting a new kind of freedom for the duo – from managing and coming to terms with mental health problems to experiencing love in all its forms despite them.

With eclectic influences ranging from electronic acts including MOVEMENT, Autechre and Burial to the lyrically poetic works of Florence + the Machine, Radiohead and The National, Dahlia Sleeps shift seamlessly between genres; from dance to electronic to pop.

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Photo - Josh Goleman

Renata Zeiguer - Sunset Boulevard.

Renata Zeiguer—the Filipino/Argentinian, Brooklyn-based artist who has recorded on albums by Cassandra Jenkins, Landlady, Quilt, Ava Luna, Mr Twin Sister, among others—today announced Picnic In The Dark, her second full-length album for Northern Spy, will release April 8, 2022.

Zeiguer takes us by the hand and leads us into her surreal storybook realm by way of lead single “Sunset Boulevard”, which arrives alongside a music video by OTIUM (Hand Habits, Widowspeak, Ana Fox Rochinski). We are guided through the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, a kaleidoscopic metaphor for the process of letting go of the seemingly safe and familiar in order to evolve and thrive.

Picnic in the Dark follows Zeiguer through a dreamworld of magical realism as she navigates her memories and seeks to confront inherited dysfunctional patterns head-on. As Zeiguer reconciles her childhood and her adult lives with careful compassion, Picnic in the Dark reveals itself as an album not only of transformation, but of healing and self-actualization.

In collaboration with co-producer and old friend Sam Griffin Owens (Sam Evian), Zeiguer sonically invokes the meeting point of memories and dreams, calling to mind Broadcast, Cindy Lee, or David Lynch’s multidisciplinary ventures. With generous splashes of spring reverb, ghostly vocal harmonies, antique drum machines, cinematic strings, and the comforting warbles of synthesized organ, all bolstered by a tight indie rock sensibility, the sonic palette of Picnic in the Dark is magically anachronistic.

 

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Kindsight - Sun Is Always in My Eyes.

Danish four-piece Kindsight make music that draws from 80’s and 90’s alternative rock and combines it with the shimmering Scandinavian pop that the region has become so renowned for, resulting in a sound that is both fuzzy and melodic in equal measure. Releasing their first material in 2020, the up and coming Danish four-piece have been quick on the rise, picking up steam with a series of new singles over the last 18 months. Now, they are announcing their debut album, Swedish Punk, will be released on March 25th, 2022.  New single Sun Is Always in My Eyes is out now alongside a DIY video made by the band.

Kindsight formed when front-woman Nina Hyldgaard Rasmussen and guitarist Søren Svensson bonded over a shared love of The Sugarcubes. They went on to recruit bass player Anders Prip and drummer Johannes Jacobsen and over the past few years have earned a reputation within Copenhagen’s thriving indie scene for their exciting live shows.

On the album’s title, Rasmussen says “Swedish Punk’ was an off the cuff term our producer, Adam, came up with when we needed a working title for a new song we wrote during the recording sessions. Our bass player, Anders, then wrote some lyrics based on the working title and we ended up liking the whole ‘Swedish Punk’-thing so much it became the name of the album”.

There’s a real coming of age charm to Swedish Punk. ‘Don’t You Grow Up’ was the first song the band ever wrote together. Written in “a time when we thought to be a sunny teenage rock band, you had to write songs about teenagers in the sun,” they say. Atop jangling guitars, Rasmussen’s distinctive voice dances somewhere between that of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, leaving the listener drenched in the nostalgic optimism of summers gone by. Lead single ‘Sun Is Always In My Eyes’, an unrelenting indie-pop earworm, continues in that same vein. Recalling a time when life was carefree, the band say the track is about ‘stealing money from your mother and feigning to run away from home. Being blessed and unable to see because you've got too much sun in your eyes’.

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Josienne Clarke - Workhorse.

Today, award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Josienne Clarke has shared 'Workhorse', the second cut to be taken from her forthcoming EP I Promised You Light. ‘Workhorse’ is one of the most experimental tracks of Clarke’s career to date, with Sharon Van Etten and Sylvan Esso being the song’s musical touchstones. “This is the most joyous one on [the new EP], to me,” Clarke says of the song which she describes as a “weird dance acoustic mashup.” The song’s video, by Alec Bowman_Clarke, sees the artist roller-skating at a silent disco to emphasise the sheer joy of the track. “It’s just me in a massive room with loads of disco lights with silent disco headphones on just messing about to my own positivity anthem,” she smiles.

Of the track’s experimentation, Clarke says she has been “slightly flirting with synths and electronic sounds more” and using “less acoustic music” in an about turn from her usual style. “I don’t intend to  renounce my acoustic roots at all, but I feel like the old set-up in the industry was quite keen to tell me what type of music I could and couldn’t make,” Clarke explains. “I feel like ‘Workhorse’ is like: ‘What if I could do whatever I wanted? What would that sound like? That sound is this track,” Clarke says assuredly, mirroring the confidence of a track that is sure to become a standout of her career.

I Promised You Light follows on from Clarke’s critically acclaimed 2021 LP, A Small Unknowable Thing, an emotionally charged album bubbling with courage and defiance. If A Small Unknowable Thing were a sentence, I Promised You Light is the full stop at the end, or “the light at the end of that particular tunnel,” as she puts it. “People over the years have often tended to be a little intense at my merch stand, it sort of comes with the territory when you write the kind of music I do. But none more so than a lady who stood there and pleaded for me to ‘write a more positive song, one with a happy ending’” she explains. It was a request that stuck with Clarke over the years. “That’s basically what this EP is,” she says. “It’s all the positive lessons I’ve learned over the past few years and presented in my own, somewhat melancholic, way.”

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Tuesday, 7 September 2021

Dahlia Sleeps - Guyville

Dahlia Sleeps - Too Good To Hide.

London based duo Dahlia Sleeps today announce their long-awaited debut album, Overflow. Two years in the making and almost 6 years since their debut single, producer/writer Luke Hester and singer/writer Lucy Hill will release Overflow in two parts – the first of which will be out on October 19th, with the B-side to follow early in 2022.

Accompanying the album announcement is new single "Too Good To Hide". The track unfurls beautifully; partnering smoky atmospherics and soaring guitars with rich live percussion and a haunting string section, "Too Good To Hide" dissects how mental ill-health can hold us back and keep us repeating the same painful patterns, as the song builds elegantly towards its stunning crescendo.

Of the new single, singer Lucy Hill said: “Too Good To Hide is a song about running towards turmoil instead of towards the light. So often it is a battle to build the life we want because trauma or mental health issues keep us where we are. This is the first song on the record that touches on mental health, a theme that features heavily in forthcoming songs. And as with all these songs, this one ends with hope, something that exists for all of us as we learn to love ourselves and overcome our pasts.”

With eclectic influences ranging from electronic acts including MOVEMENT, Autechre and Burial to the lyrically poetic works of Florence + the Machine, Radiohead and The National, Dahlia Sleeps shift seamlessly between genres; from dance to electronic to pop.

Dahlia Sleeps' new material and forthcoming full length brings a new weight sonically, depicting a new kind of freedom for the duo – from managing and coming to terms with mental health problems to experiencing love in all its forms despite them.

 

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Guyville - Nothing.

Guyville is a Los Angeles based duo comprised of its founding members, Kat Hamilton and Emily Hulslander. The pair craft songs that combine elements of 90s rock, pop and country. As their name suggests, the legacy of Liz Phair brought these two powerful women together in songwriting bliss. The duo strikes the perfect chord with Hulslander's intelligent pop approach and Hamilton’s confessional lyricism.

Guyville was formed during your usual Los Angeles writing session in the Valley. What was unusual, was the easy flow and chemistry between the two prolific writers. Within a few hours, the duo had written their first song “Should’ve Never Dated”. Emily Hulslander had already made a strong name for herself in LA songwriting circles, but was struggling to find another writer who she could relax into the process with. Kat Hamilton was newer to LA, but felt unfulfilled as a writer. On that pivotal day, Emily and Kat found common ground in their failed relationships, artistic journeys and the women of the 90s.

This connection is highlighted in their debut Guyville single, “Nothing”. The end of summer jam combines elements of indie rock and 90s girl anthems with a sprinkle of Shania Twain. “Nothing” celebrates the wonderful post- breakup feeling of absolutely nothing for your ex. In the music video, Hamilton and Hulslander frolic in rose gardens and dance along sandy beaches. The result is a bubbly, tongue in cheek ode to getting over it and moving on.

 

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Friday, 21 September 2018

Dahlia Sleeps - Foxhole - Sarah Nixey

Dahlia Sleeps - Storm.

Background - Dahlia Sleeps return with the news of new EP ‘Love, Lost’ - set for release December 3rd via Beatnik Creative. Recorded and produced in the band’s own basement studio in South London, the EP news arrives today alongside the release of its stunning lead single, ‘Storm’.

Written about the blurred boundaries that we so often encounter when two hearts or two bodies meet, it’s a song that was formed initially on the piano in singer Lucy Hill’s living room. Luke Hester, the bands producer then built the beautiful instrumental piece around it the very next day. Hester's haunting, skeletal electronic production, paired with Hill’s delicate, soulful vocal make for a stunning partnership - and signifies a new dawn for the band.

“It’s a song that feels truly us - I feel this comfort in it that I don’t think I’ve felt before”, says Lucy. “I’ve been reading a tonne of poetry in the last year or so and that's massively inspired me to step up in my writing. When you’re telling a story thats important to you, each word has to count for something. I think that philosophy runs through everything we’ve created on this upcoming EP.”

Speaking on Storm's video accompaniment singer Lucy Hill said: "The directors Ruby and Leo did such a beautiful job exploring the emotions that 'Storm' brings up. We wanted to keep the video super simple when translating those emotions onto screen - they are such a universal struggle but they play out differently in each of us. I hope the video captures that for people."

Already drawing comparisons with London Grammar, The XX, Daughter and Cat Power from the blogosphere, on the forthcoming new EP 'Love, Lost' - Dahlia Sleeps zero in on painful human emotion, combining intimacy and defiance. TWITTER.


Soulful, passionate and beautifully arranged and produced, 'Storm' is a moving and enticing song, where the heartfelt vocals and sensitive musical backdrop work so well together. The video adds more, matching the mood of the song, whilst providing an additional dimension to the track.


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Foxhole - Count Basie and His Daughter's Shoes.

Background -  This is Foxhole’s third and final new single “Count Basie and His Daughter’s Shoes”, taken from Well Kept Thing, the bands’ first new album since 2006. The rhythmic seed for “Count Basie and His Daughter’s Shoes” — a sampling of ’30s era big bands, cut, shifted and reversed beyond recognition — was born in the same small coffee shop in Bowling Green, KY where Foxhole cut their teeth; nearly two decades later, it’s now owned by a band member and serves as the de facto HQ for the group. The three-act structure of the song takes listeners from a post-apocalyptic speed-racer vibe to a melodic interlude with soaring trumpets recorded in a pond-side cabin in rural Massachusetts, bridging the dissonance of the intro with the quiet, resolved meditation of the end. As far as what Count Basie himself had to do with any of it, that particular motivation has long receded from memory. Hope you can give it a spin and keep the band in mind for Beehive Candy, would love to figure something out since they’ve been on hiatus for so long… until now!

Continuing in the vein of the videos set to vintage film for their previous singles “Noble Scales” and “After the Walk”, the band is also sharing a music video for “Count Basie and His Daughter’s Shoes”. Utilizing footage pulled from the eponymous 1926 German silent film, the video for Foxhole’s latest single accompanies Faust as he strikes a deal with Mephisto in a blood contract, exchanging his soul for power and glory. It’s a tempting offer, especially as the people around him are taken to the grave by the plague... and Faust is well-meaning, but like any good person, he infamously finds out best intentions have opened the door to his own greed, lust, and ambition - a timeless tale!

Written across 12 years, five states and three countries, Well Kept Thing is a sonic autobiography, telling the story of a band growing up and journeying apart, while fighting against distance and the demands of adulthood to preserve their friendship. It's the culmination of more than a decade of writing, recording, revising and waiting. As members started new careers (as a coffee shop owner, a farmer and commercial fisherman, a creative director, an admission to MIT’s Media Lab), married, had children and continued their nomadic tendencies, with members living around the globe, each change brought a new perspective on a growing repository of ideas. Slowly, a new writing process emerged, and with it, a new aesthetic. WEBSITE.


'Count Basie and His Daughter's Shoes' is our second song feature for Foxhole following on from 'After The Walk' back in late July. As mentioned previously their material is predominately instrumental, however as the latest song demonstrates, there is nothing lacking as a result, in fact it enables our imagination to thrive, particularly when accompanied by a video like this!


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Sarah Nixey - The Zeppelin.

Background - "The Zeppelin" is the new single by Sarah Nixey (Black Box Recorder), taken from her forthcoming album Night Walks, which is out on 5 October via Black Lead Records. Against the backdrop of wartime England, "The Zeppelin" tells the story of a woman battling with the end of a love affair. Nixey is releasing it as a four track EP comprising the single, two definitive remixes and a live studio version.

Night Walks is a glittering, nocturnal album, written whilst struggling with insomnia, the songs are set in a metropolitan sub-world where everyone dodges the dangers of reality. The lyrics describe episodes that take place over one night, spanning several decades, in a tiny enclave, at the heart of London's bohemia. Night Walks is a modern, sophisticated album, rooted in classic record making.

Nixey won over audiences as the singer of darkly glamorous pop group Black Box Recorder at the turn of the 21st Century, along with fellow band members Luke Haines (The Auteurs) and John Moore (The Jesus and Mary Chain). The band just released a box set of all three albums called Life Is Unfair via One Little Indian.

Since then, Nixey has honed her own musical voice with an eclectic solo career. Night Walks arrives seven years since her second solo album Brave Tin Soldiers, which was described by The Independent as “a thing of subtle gorgeousness,” and Uncut called it an “understated triumph.” Her debut solo album Sing, Memory, from 2007, was praised by CD UK who said; “In a time before Alison Goldfrapp and perhaps Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sarah Nixey was the closest thing you’d get to royalty in the charts.” WEBSITE.


Back in July we featured 'Coming Up For Air' and commented that it was "a song that has timeless pop sensibilities, an imaginative arrangement and vocals that are enticing and just cannot be resisted". Now we have 'The Zeppelin' a moving, atmospheric and fascinating piece, where the lyrics are as important as the gorgeous vocals and creative musical backdrop, as they combine and sink there musical hooks in very deep. 

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Dumpstaphunk - Kacimi & Mécréance - Ellen & Simona - Steven Troch Band - Bandits on the Run

Dumpstaphunk - Let's Do It. New Orleans’ modern torchbearers of funk, Dumpstaphunk returns to the fray with their new single “Let’s Do ...