Lucy Lorenne & The Early Birds - Laura Groves - Ora Cogan - Echo Ladies

Photo - Mediaroid

Lucy Lorenne & The Early Birds - Tamagotchi Nights.

Melbourne's dynamic six-piece indie pop rock outfit, Lucy Lorenne & The Early Birds, are dropping a vibrant and nostalgia-driven pop anthem, 'Tamagotchi Nights', accompanied by an equally charming music video today Friday, August 11.

With her debut EP, 'Summers Gone', already under her belt, the charismatic Lucy Lorenne and her band continue to grow their endearing sound as they explore new depths of sonic and lyrical maturity with this power pop anthem that takes a colourful trip down memory lane.

'Tamagotchi Nights' – co-written by Lucy Lorenne, Matt Hargreaves and Flagrant Artists producer Ben Oldland (Ūla, Ashwarya, Alley Eley, Genes, Sian Fuller) –  is a vibrant boppy number that pays homage to childhood innocence and fantasy. With an air of melancholy for the more innocent times gone by, the song captures the essence of post-millennial nostalgia.

Lucy Lorenne & The Early Birds create a captivating soundscape that goes on a joyful trip down memory lane. Opening with an 8-bit synth riff, the track bursts with a delightful blend of upbeat guitars and charming video game-like synth lines, infusing the song with a playful atmosphere. The driving drums keep the energy soaring, while Lucy Lorenne's absolutely adorable vocals and heartfelt lyricism add a touch of innocence and sincerity to the mix. Effortlessly weaving together the catchy 8-bit elements with infectious indie-pop hooks, the track is a mixed bag of emotions that builds to an exhilarating and euphoric chorus.

 

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Laura Groves – Radio Red (Album).

Much of Radio Red, the first full length album Laura Groves has released under her own name, was written, produced and recorded by Groves in her studio, watched over by two radio transmitting towers. “I became very drawn to them and they became like symbols to me; they were always awake, sending their messages, the red lights always came on at night and watched over whatever was going on in my life.” The album deals with themes of communication - missed and intercepted signals, chance meetings, synchronicities, the channels through which we try to express our true feelings, the outside interference that can get in the way and the joy of letting go and allowing the messages to flow freely.

Working its way through years of Laura’s life as an artist - early experiences of releasing music, live performance, touring, build up and breakdown, the record was a way to tune in to the many, often conflicting signals of fragmented memories. “I’ve always been very sensitive and open to what’s happening around me, and also struggle with the sheer amount of noise sometimes. There was a radio tower on the hill opposite the house where I grew up - I would look out at the network of streetlights winding up towards it and it all had a sort of mystery to me. It was a kind of escapism and a comfort, with an undertone of melancholy that was hard to put into words. I think that glow, that strange feeling, is what I’m always searching for and exploring through making music and artwork.”

This is the wavelength Laura is tuning into and trying to pin down in “Sky at Night” and the “faraway feeling” that she talks about being consumed by in the hymn to miscommunication and determination “Any Day Now”. This faraway feeling makes itself known as the need to open up and show emotion in the chord voicing of “Synchronicity”, true friendship, togetherness and isolation in our online world in “Sarah” and the heartbreak that can come with the breakdown of communication in electric piano love song “I’m Not Crying”. The “Silver Lining” of the final track, which returns to Laura’s early love for fingerpicked guitar, leads us back to the power of the redemptive love that always seems to show up just when everything seems lost.

Self-recording and production is a core part of Laura’s songwriting process. “I remember years ago getting hold of some basic recording software and being instantly drawn in. The idea of being able to layer up my voice was a dream, like building an orchestra out of what I had at home.” The passion for home-recording, using the resources available at the time, working through limitations and capturing textures through layering, forms the foundation of Groves’ experimental and off-centre pop music and electrified folk music. The sound world of Radio Red is made up of echoes and snapshots of half-remembered pop songs, piano ballads, chopped up TV theme tunes, ambient synthesized sounds and electronic music; tuning in between channels without fully belonging to any one of them, with the comfort, familiarity and strangeness that can come with hearing voices on the radio.

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Photo - Stasia Garraway

Ora Cogan - Katie Cruel.

Experimental singer-songwriter Ora Cogan will release her new album Formless on Aug 25, an LP that finds beauty, absurdity, humor, and unlikely joy in the bleakest of times. Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country and hazy folk merges with post-punk, groove, psych rock, and traditional balladry.

This week Cogan releases "Katie Cruel,” a tragic ballad about a sex worker traveling with light infantry soldiers. ‘Once they called me the roving jewel, now they call me Katie Cruel.’ The haunting track is a defiant, vindicating, feminist proclamation that flips the script on the way women are vilified.

Ethereal vocals and a shuffling brush snare lay over a sitar-like guitar pattern to underscore the strength of the lyrical message. "You can demean a woman and call her 'Katie Cruel’," said Cogan. “So what… F if I care!”

Formless, finds beauty, absurdity, humor, and unlikely joy in the bleakest of times. Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country and hazy folk merges with post-punk, groove, psych rock, and traditional balladry. "Katie Cruel" follows the VHS/Super 8 video for the first single “Cowgirl” and the haunting "Dyed."

Recorded in mostly off-the-floor takes with rhythm section David Proctor and Finn Smith on analog tape at Vancouver Island’s Risque Disque studio and co-produced by Cogan and Loving’s David Parry, the album features international guest stars including Cormac Mac Diarmada from LANKUM, who plays strings on “Feel Life,” and a duet with Y La Bamba on “Ways of Losing.”

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Echo Ladies - Coming Home.

Last month, Malmö, Sweden shoegaze/dreampop trio Echo Ladies announced that they have signed to Rama Lama Records/Gazehop Records and will release their second album Lillies on 8th September 2023.

Commenting on the track, the band say: “‘This song is heavily inspired by two of our favourite bands, A Place To Bury Strangers and The Jesus & Mary Chain. Our aim was to make the song feel like a big wave of noise, feedback and guitars that hits you in the face. Can’t remember how many layers of fuzzed and distorted guitars are on this track, but it’s maaany.”

Echo Ladies are Matilda Bogren, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén—three school-friends who, after playing together in a few different bands, realised that they worked best on their own. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented our sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from another of their favourite bands, Echo & The Bunnymen (though their own drum machine, for now, remains nameless).

Following a quiet spell for the band while the rest of the world turned upside down, Echo Ladies are now proudly returning with their second album Lillies, recorded and mastered by Joakim Lindberg at Studio Sickan in Malmö, and following on from their acclaimed 2018 debut Pink Noise on Sonic Cathedral, which was one of Rough Trade’s albums of the year.

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Echo Ladies - Charlotte Carpenter

Echo Ladies – Fabrik.

Last month, Malmö, Sweden shoegaze/dreampop trio Echo Ladies announced that they have signed to Rama Lama Records/Gazehop Records and will release their second album Lillies on 8th September 2023.

Commenting on the track, the band say: “‘This is a song about the fear of getting stuck in life, doing repetitive things, please others and putting yourself second all the time. The song's name, Fabrik, actually means Factory in swedish. We wanted the sound of the synths and the drums to remind of some sort of big factory, a repetitive loop of big sounds that shaped a rhythm.”

Echo Ladies are Matilda Bogren, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén—three school-friends who, after playing together in a few different bands, realised that they worked best on their own. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented our sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from another of their favourite bands, Echo & The Bunnymen (though their own drum machine, for now, remains nameless).

Following a quiet spell for the band while the rest of the world turned upside down, Echo Ladies are now proudly returning with their second album Lillies, recorded and mastered by Joakim Lindberg at Studio Sickan in Malmö, and following on from their acclaimed 2018 debut Pink Noise on Sonic Cathedral, which was one of Rough Trade’s albums of the year.

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Charlotte Carpenter - Not Good Enough.

East Midland’s singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter announces details of her long-awaited debut album A Modern Rage on 6th October 2023, and drops the album’s second teaser ‘Not Good Enough.’

‘Not Good Enough’ is a heart-wrenching song about the effects of toxic people on our own self-worth. It explores a real-life working relationship Charlotte had whilst in her early 20’s with an older, more experienced producer.

“It was my first experience of the industry, and I was made to feel it was an opportunity of a lifetime” explains Charlotte. “I was also made to feel I was being protected from the industry too, but as the years went on, I realised this wasn’t the case at all. I was playing to somebody’s else’s rules and expectations of what I should be; I didn’t know who I was. There is so much sadness in this song, and a yearning to find myself again.”

This experience was a catalyst for Charlotte’s deeply personal, at times raw, and cathartic debut album A Modern Rage, which touches upon power structures in the music industry, and society in general, which are detrimental to women, and also explores how life’s profound experiences are navigated – in Charlotte’s case, loss, love, addiction, mental health, and more recently the pandemic - within the often claustrophobic and pressurised confines of womanhood.

Musically A Modern Rage pays homage to Charlotte’s favourite artists from the 70’s through to the 00’s, from Elvis to Avril Lavigne, The Killers to Sheryl Crow, with the accomplished album spanning rock, pop, blues, with subtle country twangs and moments of old soul.

Charlotte Carpenter · Not Good Enough

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Echo Ladies - Nadine Khouri - Ashley Elle - Sunny Luwe

Echo Ladies - Awake.

Malmö, Sweden shoegaze/dreampop trio Echo Ladies are pleased to announce they have signed to Rama Lama Records/Gazehop Records and will release their second album Lillies on 8th September 2023. To celebrate the news, the band are streaming new single ‘Awake’ which was released on 1st June 2023.

Commenting on the track, the band say: “‘Awake’ is a song about the feeling of drifting apart from each other in a relationship. The feeling of being left behind and forgotten and how small of a person that makes you feel, hoping it’s all a bad dream and wishing to wake up again.”

Echo Ladies are Matilda Bogren, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén—three school-friends who, after playing together in a few different bands, realised that they worked best on their own. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented our sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from another of their favourite bands, Echo & The Bunnymen (though their own drum machine, for now, remains nameless).

Following a quiet spell for the band while the rest of the world turned upside down, Echo Ladies are now proudly returning with their second album Lillies, recorded and mastered by Joakim Lindberg at Studio Sickan in Malmö, and following on from their acclaimed 2018 debut Pink Noise on Sonic Cathedral, which was one of Rough Trade’s albums of the year.

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Nadine Khouri - Song of a Caged Bird.

Originally penned as a lament on surveillance capitalism, “Song of a Caged Bird” took on new meaning for Khouri during the pandemic when the world outside fell away, replaced by a miasma of ceaseless 1s and 0s. 

Over walking-pace percussion and spaciously layered Mellotron and guitar, Khouri dreams beyond the digital walls, into an exploration of true freedom; the song becomes a conversation with a universe of possibilities – all the lives we could live, the songs we could sing, if we knew no one was watching.

Currently based between London and Marseille, Nadine Khouri is influenced by dream-pop, film soundtracks and poetry with a sound that has been described as “music born of perennial outsider-status.” Discovered by legendary producer John Parish (PJ Harvey) thanks to her singular voice, Khouri was invited to sing on his track “Baby’s Coming” and subsequently recorded her debut album with the producer in his hometown of Bristol.

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Ashley Elle - Heavy, Heavy, Heavy.

Emerging indie-pop artist Ashley Elle has released her latest single, “Heavy, Heavy, Heavy.” Mastering a level of connection that is seldom achieved through lyricism alone, “Heavy, Heavy, Heavy” is a melodically beautiful quest to find some relief from the overwhelming experience of anxiety and depression while navigating through life. Near and dear to her heart, Ashley Elle wrote “Heavy, Heavy, Heavy” when she “felt so much pressure and responsibility trying to deal with growing up and the challenges we face.” “Heavy, Heavy, Heavy” is now available to stream on digital music platforms worldwide.

“Heavy, Heavy, Heavy” was penned when Ashley Elle was moving back from living abroad in London and feeling overwhelmed by “struggling with the complexities of life.” Unguarded, comforting, and slightly haunting, the track urgently seeks relief from the overpowering experience of navigating life as a lost young adult.  With a catchy structure and repetition paired with a composition strongly reliant on guitar and piano, “Heavy, Heavy, Heavy” feels reliable, reflecting the stability that Ashley Elle yearns for. Perfecting a sound as alluring and authentic as the lyrics, Ashley Elle has an ornate ability to connect with her fans in an intimate way, asking them, “Do you know this feeling?” 

Expressing desperation for connection, she enables her audience to feel seen as well. With a sense of familiarity and intimacy, listeners cannot help but feel as though Ashley Elle is a close friend, inviting them to seek solace and confide in one another. The song goes beyond emotional expression and allows the listener to feel as though they are trying to navigate through these feelings alongside Ashley. “Heavy, Heavy, Heavy” was co-written and produced by Cazz Brindis and is the follow-up to her single “How Do You Stop Loving Someone?”

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Sunny Luwe - Summer Kisses.

Gold Coast-based (Kombumerri Country) First Nations artist Sunny Luwe, formerly known as Dani Teveluwe, returns to captivate listeners with her latest release, 'Summer Kisses.' Following the success of her synth-y summer dream 'Fly Like A Bird', Sunny Luwe embraces her authentic musical journey with this blissful indie-folk gem.

As a natural-born storyteller and Weilwan woman, Sunny Luwe effortlessly warms our winter with the sweetness of 'Summer Kisses'. The track showcases her remarkable vocal ability, blending lush vocal layers, sweet subtle harmonies, and an effortless delivery that dances between near spoken word and a heartwarming vocal style. Recorded in a home studio, this labor of love underwent a transformative process to capture the essence of the song's true sweetness.

Collaborating with Matt Collins of WHARVES, Sunny Luwe found the perfect musical partnership to bring 'Summer Kisses' to life. Their creative synergy is evident in the dreamy instrumentation and uplifting melodies that instantly transport listeners to sunny, blue-sky days. This upbeat and pleasant track invites you to stroll barefoot, bask in its warm and relaxing atmosphere, and immerse yourself in its lulling indie-folk charm.

In alignment with her commitment to the environment, Sunny Luwe has made her musical project carbon neutral through carbon offsetting. With a deep sense of gratitude, she calculated the carbon footprint generated by the entire single release and offset it by donating funds to Rainforest 4, a North Queensland Conservation project focused on protecting the Daintree Rainforest from deforestation and preserving our old-growth rainforests.

Annie Taylor - Echo Ladies - Avis

Annie Taylor - Love Is Blind.

‘Love Is Blind’ by Annie Taylor, is the new debut single from their forthcoming new album ‘Inner Smiler’ which is set for release in July via Taxi Gauche Records. Described as Europe’s answer to Wolf Alice, Annie Taylor recorded the new eagerly-anticipated second album in Bristol, UK with producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Katy J. Pearson, Aldous Harding, Sorry).

England's music luminaries Gigwise describes Annie Taylor as "Mellow, cool guitar romp through desert rock, shoegaze, indie and pop influences. Lush." - and not without reason! The four friends Gini Jungi, Tobias Arn, Michael Mutter and Daniel Bachmann joined the Taxi Gauche Records family when they collectively decided to jump on a train for the most exhilarating adventure of their lives.

From playing at barely equipped shacks to supporting Skunk Anansie on their 2022 tour, the band has been highly active since their debut release Sweet Mortality in 2020. It's a record as seeped in pop as it is in psychedelia and grunge which ends up at a beautiful mid-point (Taxi Gauche Records). With that said, its not surprising that Annie Taylor were inundated with requests to perform at numerous festivals including MTV Music Week, Reeperbahn, Zurich Openair, Waves Vienna and Montreux Jazz Festival, before heading out on tour in the UK, Germany and Switzerland.

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Echo Ladies – Dirty Dancing.

Rama Lama Records proudly welcomes Malmö trio Echo Ladies to the label family. Echo Ladies are Matilda Botwid, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén, three school-friends who, after playing in various different bands, realised that they worked best together. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented their sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from a shared favourite band, Echo & the Bunnymen.

After a string of singles and an EP, the band released their debut album 'Pink Noise' in 2018 to acclaim both in Sweden and internationally, including UK tours and praise from Drowned in Sound, Bandcamp, MOJO and more. The band are now back with new material and a new full-length is to be expected later this year through Rama Lama Records and Republic of Music. 'Dirty Dancing' is the first taste of what is to come.

The band on Dirty Dancing: "The title ”Dirty Dancing” was set in the draft-stage, and we liked that title so much so we wrote the lyrics around it. It’s actually about a dear friend of ours, who was to become a parent, and how excited she was to meet her child. It’s also the song that changed the most during the recording session at Studio Sickan. The verse became the chorus, the bridge became the verse and so on."

The band started working on the forthcoming album straight after releasing 'Pink Noise' and it's now finally ready to be released. Their new sound is built on the same foundation that Echo Ladies curated during their past releases, but with a more unyielding presence. Echo Ladies have always tried to balance two emotions at the same time throughout their songs. While their past songs tried to convey the feeling of nostalgia and hope for the future, mixed with worries and anxieties about defining who you are and what you will become, this album instead tries to balance the emotions of sorrow and loneliness, with anger, frustration, and the determination to make a change for the better. The forthcoming album really carries the Echo Ladies mantra that "Nothing Ever Lasts". Good things can come to an end, but bad things will also pass.

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Avis - Sunrise (E.P).

New four-piece band Avis are the latest outfit to emerge from the burgeoning creative scene in and around the Hull and East Yorkshire area. Their nascent ideas and talents have been nurtured over time by the ever-supportive Warren Youth Project and now culminate in the release of Sunrise – a 3 track EP that perfectly epitomises where the indie / bedroom pop genre is headed in 2023.

Produced by local indie sound maestro Adam Pattrick, the release’s title track Sunrise, with its upbeat jangle-pop guitars, keeps the mood bright and optimistic while lyrically touching on subjects of anxiety and working out how to deal with life as it comes at you! Throughout the track lead vocalist Sev has a conversation with their sub-conscious, asking many rhetorical questions that lean into themes of mental health and neurodivergence.

Next up is Copy Paste Street – a lyrical metaphor about the repetitive, architecture of many residential areas around the UK, how it exacerbates a bland, monotonous lifestyle and a sense of being forgotten – “Grey skies, cracked concrete, faceless people and nameless streets. I think time forgot the copy-pasted streets”. To close is the emotionally touching Echo Chamber - with its melancholic groove, the song’s a story of ex-friends and how one of them bullied the other. Feeling outcast by the intimidation, there’s an internal conversation going on in the head of the persecuted one that personifies the alienation and how it eats at the soul!

Warren Records · Avis - Sunrise

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