Leanne Gallati - Selve - Oslo Twins - Us and Them

Leanne Gallati - Villain 2.0.

Leanne Gallati proves that she can belt her heart out on new single “Villain 2.0”. If you’re a fan of Lake Street Dive or Sammy Rae & the Friends, then the powerhouse vocals of Leanne Gallati will surely catch your attention. The synopsis of the new track is about looking within and recognizing that you can be the bad guy in a relationship sometimes, making it an introspective and relatable number.

The new video for “Villain 2.0.”  is a playful, old-fashioned perception of a “damsel in distress” gone wrong. Filmed with a camcorder and a green screen, the video leans into the old time-y vibes and whimsicality of the overall story the video portrays. Halfway through the video, the script is flipped with Gallati’s lover acting as the damsel, and Leanne turning into the perpetrator. Throughout the video and track, the duality of humankind unfolds, as we see an imperfect version of the narrator owning up to her flaws while simultaneously embracing the positive parts of herself. 
 
Leanne Gallati shares a few words about the inspiration behind the new track: “Villain 2.0” came out of an instance, where I realized that I was actually the bad guy in a relationship, not the man. This songwriting process was very cathartic for me, because it is essentially about me accepting the ugly parts of my personality, and how I became self aware of my actions and how they affect others.”

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Photo - Joshua Tate

Selve - Friday Night. 

Australian band Selve share the final teaser of forthcoming album 'Breaking Into Heaven' before its release on the 12 September, the new single 'Friday Night' lands ahead of Selve's album tour spanning dates in so-called QLD, NSW & VIC across Sep-Nov, set to bring their (and we sort of quote) "lively" (Rolling Stone) singular blend of "mystery, intrigue and damn good rock & roll" (Scenestr) with "levels of throwaway fun right on the money" (Paul McBride); and to a New Year's appearance at Lost Paradise alongside names like Underworld, Channel Tres, Confidence Man, Dameeela, Marc Rebillet and more and a support for Winston Surfshirt.

A deeply earnest love song evoking a drive-in-cinema romance with sweeping string sections, lofty duet vocals via Liddle and Creation Saffigna, 'Friday Night' was written during the band's time in France, with Liddle going through a difficult time that "warranted the melancholic nostalgia" of the track's irrepressible pop hooks - with the song's creation taking on a journey reflective of its joyous post-nihilism. 

Loki Liddle explains: "'Friday Night' is song coming from a sad time that transformed into something beautiful and redemptive - a Cadillac by the river, Bonnie and Clyde romance. It was the hardest song to get across the line. We couldn't find a chorus and were in the studio for 2-3 hours ad-libbing shit, we were about to give up hope - then I found it: 'If nothing matters / then why do you matter to me' - and we knew that was it, a skin of our teeth kind of moment! We hope you feel washed by its gentle waves of healing, redemption and real love."

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Photo - Veronica Maier

Oslo Twins -All In Your Mind. 

London-based indie-dance outfit Oslo Twins return today to announce a new A/B side, led by electrifying new track ‘All In Your Mind’, out digitally today via Half-Normal Records. Following the semi-viral success of their 'Tresor' EP earlier this year, with lead track 'I Wake Up Slowly' now approaching a million streams and gaining extensive radio airplay across Europe, 'All In Your Mind' builds on that breakthrough moment, and will be released on limited 7" vinyl with its B-side 'Sirens' on 15th October.

New single 'All In Your Mind' cements Oslo Twins' evolution from their Bristolian indie roots and plants them firmly in London’s after-dark orbit. Their hypnotic, industrial-tinged electronica feels more alluring than ever - led by Claudia Vulliamy’s conversational vocals, and the kind of nocturnal melancholy that belongs to rainy streets, flickering night-bus lights and post-club detours.

Recorded and produced by band member Eric C. Davies at his east London studio, the track rides on kinetic beats and gleaming synths, its intimacy heightened by Vulliamy’s vocals, recorded on her phone in a park, giving them a grainy, half-remembered texture. 

On the release of 'All In Your Mind', Claudia Vulliamy said: "I approached the song with ideas of nostalgia and our blurred images of the past. This got me looking at a corner of the internet where people curate photos that are eerily reminiscent of a childhood memory, often low-res photos of empty spaces from the 2000s, as well as the similar ‘liminal’ aesthetic. I was interested in how we construct vague fantasies from incomplete memories or narratives. Vocally, I wanted it to feel like a conversation caught on record and turned into a song."

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Us and Them - Get in the swing.

The Swedish-based duo Us and Them have a penchant for vocal harmonies and strong melodies in combination with elements of folk, psychedelia and baroque pop. The songs can be introspective and based on personal experiences, but also expressing timeless and universal stories. They first recorded for Fruits de Mer Records back in 2009 and have been regular visitors to the label since then, most recently with the first CD in our retrospective series ‘An Introduction to’ – it was a sell-out release. But now it’s time for a new album released on FdM’s ‘Friends of the Fish’ label.

In the autumn of 2022, Us and Them's third album. “…and I observed the blue sky” was released, an album that broadened Us and Them musical styles and was born from the isolation that the covid pandemic enforced, as well as the focus that arose from this time. Since then, the duo has released a covers EP, a few singles and collaborated with other artists.

The duo's fourth album scheduled for release on September 15 is “The Lights and the Shadow”, Britt and Anders explain... "While working on it, the songs were pulling in two directions, partly towards the pastoral and idyllic - a kind of escape from reality and a denial of the world that is going on outside of us - and partly towards a darker, more atmospheric sound; it was as if the album as a whole described the different sides of life - the light that is at best the starting point but with the shadow that is always there and risks falling over our lives at any time, hence the album's title."

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Chad Price Peace Coalition - Oslo Twins - Lunar Vacation

Photo - Lindsey Lu McGuire

Chad Price Peace Coalition - "A.M."

Chad Price Peace Coalition shares their new video for "A.M." from the forthcoming debut, A Perfect Pearl, due out on Double Helix and SofaBurn Records. An artist entering his staggering fourth decade writing and performing music that weaves in and out of seminal pop-punk, alt-country, metal, and a fascinating indie folk-prog hybrid, Chad Price has made the most of his time.

All those miles and artistic transformations have now led to the welcome arrival of a new project: Chad Price Peace Coalition and the album A Perfect Pearl. Price unpacks the group’s origin story: “A year or so ago I did a show singing with an ALL cover band. I really liked the guys and we bonded over our love of prog-rock. The idea of expanding the sound started influencing my writing.” Cory West (drums, lead guitar, and keys) and Anthony Medici (bass, lead guitar, and vocals) were the perfect partners in fleshing out Price’s latest ten songs. While A Perfect Pearl certainly delivers Price’s signature rough-hewn vulnerability, the limber trio format kicks up some sublime musical moments that feel distinctly inspired by prog giants like Jethro Tull and Yes.

Deep on side two, “A.M.” nudges up the tempo a bit, but instead of retreating into basic rock and roll, it coils into a menacing circular repeating pattern, threes over fours–or maybe vice versa.

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Photo - Freya Davies

Oslo Twins - Tresor (E.P).

Bristol-formed, London-based outfit Oslo Twins just released their new EP 'Tresor' via Half-Normal Records. Produced by band members Eric C. Davies and Claudia Vulliamy in their east London studio, new EP 'Tresor' follows keen airplay from BBC 6 Music (Nick Grimshaw) and glowing press support from tastemakers including NME Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, Far Out Magazine, 1883 Magazine, Under The Radar Magazine and more.

The new EP highlights a rejuvenated sonic depth for Oslo Twins - drawing influence from Nation Of Language, Angel Olsen, This Mortal Coil, Everything But The Girl, Lamb, Chromatics, Grace Ives and Ladytron. Exploring new territories both in their recorded sound and live performances, new EP 'Tresor' introduces electronic drums and clean synths to the forefront, venturing into more expansive territory.

From the thudding and transportive 'I Wake Up Slowly', to the chilling synth-pop of 'Sally' and the towering electronics of 'I See Mountains', singer Claudia expands on the EP's lyrical themes: "I think there’s a running theme of subconscious places in this EP. I was inspired by things seen and felt in dreams and daydreams, images that come to mind for a moment and are just out of reach".

The previously unheard 'Be Free' is another song inspired by Claudia's literal dreams. "There's also inspiration drawn from a strangely romantic fantasy of having to drive off somewhere after committing a crime, leaving everything behind. To get a sense of this narrative I wanted a quiet sense of drama in the sound, with a slightly funereal tone that I think we managed to get with the timpani and synths."

OSLO TWINS · Tresor

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Photo - Brandon McClain

Lunar Vacation - Lights Off.

Atlanta indie-rock powerhouse Lunar Vacation release a new single today "Lights Off."

The self-produced track follows their sophomore album Everything Matters, Everything's Fire, released in September, which was produced by Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, Toro Y Moi) and introduced by a music video directed by Finn Wolfhard (of Stranger Things).

Singer/guitarist Gep Repasky says, “This song feels like an open letter. Naturally, I have my own meaning tied into it but whether or not it's a letter of adoration or the final farewell, it's not for me to say. Whether it's about something physical or intangible, it's also not for me to say. It could be about both or neither. It is up to the listener to create their own meaning, take what resonates with them, and use it to be the kindling wood in the growing fire of feeling, creativity, thinking and understanding."

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Berries - Aistis - Will Johnson - Oslo Twins

Photo Derek Bremner

Berries - Narrow tracks.

In their new video for “Narrow Tracks”, Berries splice fuzzy live footage together with shots of lead vocalist Holly Carter ripping up jigsaws, devouring books backwards, and walking the pavement like a tightrope in her crimson Converse. Each shot reflects the indecision and doubt that runs throughout the song’s lyrics, with many playing in reverse or at an unnatural speed.

“Doubts tingle with the facts, like passing trains on narrow tracks,” the band sing as the video cuts to live shots of the band performing at their BBC Introducing session earlier this year. The new release also acts as a lyric video, layering handwriting-style text over each shot.

The band explain the themes of the song: “'Narrow Tracks' is a song for anyone who struggles with OCD. It speaks of those tingling doubts, the constant stream of dark thoughts and the longing to be able to do the simplest of tasks, but ultimately it’s an optimistic track. It’s about fighting back and finding strength to keep those thoughts at bay.”

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Photo - Sophia Perras

Aistis - Nothing Here Ever Changes.

Art-folk songwriter Aistis delves deeper into theatrical arrangements and introspective lyricism in his most ambitious work yet. Using wit and candour as mortar and pestle to grind the ego into finer granules of inner truth, Lithuanian-Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Aistis returns with his third full-length album, Caviar For Seagulls.

With “Caviar For Seagulls” Aistis has conjured up a sweeping odyssey that delves deep into the complexities of the human experience. His latest compilation is a poignant testament to the power of storytelling, evoking the lyrical mastery of Leonard Cohen and David Berman. As Aistis weaves together folk traditions and theatrical flourishes, he creates an immersive world where vulnerability and theatricality entwine, giving birth to a deeply personal yet universally resonant collection of tracks.

From the whimsical "Nothing Here Ever Changes" to the soul-stirring "Rejoice", and the poignant ode to Leonard Cohen in "86/Dove", Aistis takes listeners on a sonic journey that is both deeply introspective and cinematically grand. Even in the midst of exploring the darker corners of human struggle, the artist finds solace in the words "A part of me believes the best is yet to come". This album is a masterclass in blending melancholy and resilience, crafting a sonic tapestry that is both sorrowful and hopeful. Aistis cements his status as a singular voice in alternative folk, leaving an indelible mark on the genre, with “Caviar For Seagulls”.

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Photo - Jackie Lee Young

Will Johnson - Floodway Fall.

Prolific Texas songwriter Will Johnson announces his 10th solo album, Diamond City, today, sharing the lead single “Floodway Fall.” The Centro-matic frontman and current member of Jason Isbell’s band The 400 Unit, writes: “The idea for ‘Floodway Fall’ cropped up before a summer 2022 rehearsal with Scott Danbom. We were still setting up, getting sounds and levels. I remember him looking out the window, loosely playing along on his fiddle, likely unaware that I was recording it. I quickly forgot about it, then stumbled across it a few months later and decided to see the song through. For the most part, it's a small town document of tension, travel, and ultimately undying love.”
 
The lead track on the album unfolds with Johnson’s distinct cinematic sound, bolstered by longtime collaborator Britton Beisenherz’s production contributions. In the past year Will Johnson has shared stages with Guided By Voices, Alejandro Escovedo, Little Mazarn, and Renée Reed. Next month his full band Will Johnson & Wire Mountain will play SoCo Stomp at C-Boy’s in Austin, TX on Wednesday, March 12th.

Diamond City, out April 4th on Keeled Scales, surveys mythical places whose spirit dwells among barren Midwestern landscapes and stark Southern outlands, reflecting the hollows of Johnson’s childhood in southern Missouri and the spartan Texas expanse where he now lives. Like many towns that line America’s midsection, Diamond City’s fancy name belies its reality. As  with albums such as John Prine’s “John Prine” or Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska,” Diamond City’s vast fortune is found in its gritty folk tales — of hovering ghosts, open wounds, tender hearts, little jokes, and the everyday people and scenery that compose a cracked iconography. Like Muhlenberg County, Kentucky or Mahwah, New Jersey, Diamond City is a place that people may leave but never truly escape.

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Photo - Freya Davies

Oslo Twins - I Wake Up Slowly.

Bristol-formed, London-based outfit Oslo Twins today release new single 'I Wake Up Slowly' a riveting, pulsating new taste of forthcoming EP 'Tresor', out 14th March via Half-Normal Records.

Produced by band members Eric C. Davies and Claudia Vulliamy in their east London studio, new EP 'Tresor' highlights a rejuvenated sonic depth for the London outfit - drawing influence from Nation Of Language, Angel Olsen, This Mortal Coil, Everything But The Girl, Lamb, Chromatics, Grace Ives and Ladytron.

New single 'I Wake Up Slowly' is thudding and transportive - "Plunging in plum coloured sleep / Bruises from another dream" sings Claudia Vulliamy, drifting between the spiralling, minimalist synth-pop arrangements.

Speaking on the song's lyrical inspiration, Claudia Vulliamy said: "In a sense it’s about beginning to move after being stuck inside your head, going from something statuesque to something dynamic. That’s why the upbeat rhythm and pace of it, the syncopation and the repetition, felt essential. But it’s also about literally waking up and trying to remember something that felt significant to your sleeping self. For me, the deepest sleep produces dreams that feel deep purple, a colour that matches the sound of a deep, rumbling bass and sometimes feels like a bruise upon waking."

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Oslo Twins - Jill Andrews - Charlie Kaplan - Blanco White

Oslo Twins - Back To Nothing.

Bristol born dream-pop outfit Oslo Twins have released the title track from their upcoming debut EP 'Back To Nothing'. The new EP will be released on 12" vinyl and digitally on 28th July via Fascination Street Records, a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.

The band's upcoming debut EP 'Back To Nothing' is subtly influenced by dance, industrial and lo-fi music of the 80s and 90s, adorned with distinctive, hooky pop melodies, all connected by a sense of distance and the tension between unity and isolation.

New single and EP title track “Back To Nothing” is lyrically suggestive of romantic loss, yet its steady rhythm and bright legato synths evoke a sense of calm acceptance. The violin courtesy of Tom Connolly (Quade) adds a melancholic folk depth, before the song arrives as its rich, euphoric climax. “I wouldn’t say it was about longing, but the stage after,” says Eric. “I wrote the lyrics by the River Avon in Bristol on a warm evening. It’s a melancholic, reflective song.”

Speaking more on its inspiration, vocalist Claudia said: "Sometimes you know that something is coming to an end, but you’re not quite there yet - you’re in the mournful, wistful transition period. There’s a sense of steady movement in both the lyrics and the music, but it’s ambiguous whether it represents progress or surrender."

Led by songwriters Claudia Vulliamy and Eric Davies, completed by Ed Lyness (keys), Will Snelling (bass/guitar) and Luke Brown (drums), over the past 18 months Oslo Twins have taken the London and Bristol live music scenes by storm, supporting acts such as Blondshell, The Comet Is Coming, The Last Dinner Party, Folly Group, English Teacher, Do Nothing and Honeyglaze.

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Jill Andrews - Better Life.

Nashville singer-songwriter Jill Andrews just unveiled her new single “Better Life” off her forthcoming album Modern Age (out August 18th on Vulture Vulture/Tone Tree). The nucleus to Modern Age and the song that inspired the record, “Better Life” finds Andrews grieving the loss of a “golden-haired beauty queen” to addiction, wishing there had been another path. The track also features guest vocals from fellow Nashville favorite Becca Mancari. Holler debuted the track and called it “a delicious slice of soft 70s country pop that brings to mind the sadder moments of Golden Hour or the luscious introspective dream pop of Weyes Blood.”

"I traveled back to my hometown in East Tennessee after hearing the news of a childhood friend who had passed away after a long battle with addiction,” stated Andrews. “While I was there, I swung by our old neighborhood. I drove by her house and walked to the bus stop where we used to stand on all of those cold, dark mornings together. I had known her since second grade. She was with me at the AMC Theater when I saw Titanic for the first time, crying into the same box of popcorn. She was with me when I smoked my first cigarette (one of her Grandmother’s Benson and Hedge’s 100’s that she had sneakily lifted from some mystery drawer). 

She was with me the day that I decided to see if the fire extinguisher worked on the school bus and promptly sprayed white foam all over my friend’s and new found enemies’ heads. It turns out it worked very well. Standing there as an adult, at the bus stop, I was struck by how close we had lived to each other. If I turned left, I could see my house, and if I turned right, I could see hers. It was startling how different our lives were, even back then. And how our paths grew further and further apart as we got older. So far apart that we really didn’t recognize each other anymore.”

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Charlie Kaplan - Talkin' French.

This week we're announcing the new Charlie Kaplan LP due on September 15 and follow up to 2020's excellent Sunday, and we're presentling "Talkin' French," a jangly, blissful ode to his wife, with a brief instrumental detour through outer space.

My wife’s first language was French, and I’ve always felt a little like the Gomez to her Morticia. When this song came together, I was incredulous it was about her: I’d never written a love song before for fear it’d fall short of my feelings. But with her as the slender verse, me as the smitten chorus, and the bridge as the life we escape to together, I finally feel like I got it. Of particular note is Winston Cook-Wilson’s gorgeous, out-of-time passage, recorded at the piano in my childhood home, where he is momentarily relieved of the song’s jangling gravity before falling back to earth and into form.

Singer-songwriter Charlie Kaplan’s releases play like tours through a musical memory palace. The Office Culture bassist’s guitar-based songs are overrun with ear-catching gestures redolent of classic rock radio hits, Americana standards, baroque pop micro-symphonies, and more-music that shaped him personally and artistically at a formative age. Ten years ago-during a time when the logistics of making an album seemed impossible-Kaplan began to catalog his acoustic phone demos around themes, feels, and personal associations. Eventually, he created a roadmap for an entire imagined discography. His new LP, Country Life in America, contains the earliest entries into this canon, painting a picture of a young man bursting with ideas, not certain where to channel his energy and not overly worried about it.

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Blanco White - Tarifa.

Blanco White has announced his new album Tarifa will be released 29th September via Nettwerk (Miya Folick, Matt Maltese), and has shared the lead single and title track. The new album release will coincide with a headline run across the US, Canada and Europe this autumn, culminating in a momentous homecoming at the Barbican in London on 21st November.

Tarifa is the second full length album from the project of Londoner Josh Edwards following his 2020 debut On the Other Side which has since seen over 130 million streams and led to tours with Jose Gonzalez and Gregory Alan Isakov as well as hugely popular world tours of his own, including a sold out night at London's famous Union Chapel. New album Tarifa was written predominantly in the town of the same name in southern Spain; the southernmost tip of Western Europe just 5 miles from Morocco. Self-producing, Josh also collaborated extensively with afro-jazz collective Nubiyan Twist’s percussionist Pilo Adami (from Cascavel a town in the southeast of Paraná a southern Brazil state below São Paulo) who co-produced most of the record.

Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion (Westerman, Nilüfer Yanya) also contributed back in London with additional production in the final stages. It was recorded between Tarifa and Blanco White's home studio in London, almost entirely on a mobile recording rig.

The album's title track and newly released single "Tarifa” was the first to surface from the album's writing sessions in Spain, following a debilitative chronic pain diagnosis. Imbued with the sunshine and restless energy of Tarifa’s famously windy climate, the song is adorned with swirling electronics and punctuated by more organic percussion elements, all tied together by Edwards' inviting vocal and his intricate, finger-picked work on the charango - a Bolivian instrument in the guitar family - made by luthier Juan Achá Campos.

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Eleni Drake - Oslo Twins - Parliamo - Michael J. Benjamin

Photo - Georgia Walters.

Eleni Drake - Surf The Sun (Album).

British singer-songwriter Eleni Drake releases her phenomenal new album Surf the Sun via her own Vanilla Sky Recordings. Eleni Drake will celebrate the release of her new album with a headline show at Amazing Grace in London on 18th July.

Throughout the self-produced Surf the Sun, Drake deals in distinctly summery melancholy - hazy, shimmering, golden; reverb guitar murmurs and glints, tightly wound amidst lovely, enticing harmonies - eloquently tracking notions of freedom, healing, painful goodbyes and a future of possibilities. At the core of Surf the Sun is the ultimate discovery of freedom and empowerment. Balancing the curiosity and creativity of Adrianne Lenker, Faye Webster and Julien Baker, with the emotion and grandeur of Lana Del Rey - Drake's songwriting is dream-like and bluesy, precise and propellant.

Originally from London, in 2022 Eleni Drake decided to leave her life in the UK behind and move to Melbourne almost on a whim. She knew only a handful of people on that side of the world, but she was longing for a fresh start in an environment where she could feel more like herself; where she could break bad habits and explore life outside of her comfort zone. But first, there were emotional loose ends to tie up back home. This is the driving force of Surf the Sun; the carousel of emotions as Drake prepared for this giant leap.

Over the past 18 months Eleni Drake has cultivated a dedicated legion of fans, for her velvety, striking voice and her understated yet atmospheric orchestration. Surf the Sun is the sound of the sun’s glow on your face, feeling your spirit reach back for it, breaking through the dirt and sprouting into something better. It’s the sound of riding a wave, euphoric, terrified, spat out somewhere new with a sense of purpose. It’s about needing to be somewhere warmer. “I’m a Leo, the sun rules me, and I’ve always had a deep connection with it,” explains Drake, who references the sun on almost all of the album’s 11 tracks. “[The album] is an ode to the sun.”

“What I hope people understand is that an element of liberation and feeling free runs through the album. Despite some sombre undertones, it was made to inspire,” says Drake. What she’s created is a glorious wave to ride; a sun-drenched reminder that the gloom gives way to summer.

                                                                    

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Oslo Twins - Miss Yesterday.

Bristol born dream-pop outfit Oslo Twins have announced their debut EP 'Back To Nothing' will be released 28th July via Fascination Street Records - a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.

The new EP announcement coincides with the release of its second single, the anthemic "Miss Yesterday", following previous EP taster "Breath" which caught the attention of the likes of So Young Magazine, The Independent, DIY Magazine, Rough Trade and The Line Of Best Fit, and was played on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour on BBC 6 Music.

A summery ode to optimism after difficult times, "Miss Yesterday" evokes anticipation and warmth with its bright, rich instrumentals, trance-like beat and laid-back, vernacular vocal and lyrical tone. “It’s a song of joyful nostalgia, filled with hope and affection,” says vocalist Claudia Vulliamy, “and perhaps a darker hint of ‘Let’s just run away from everything, there’s nothing but us.”

The single is accompanied by a joyfully surreal animated music video by artist Noriko Okaku, in which Claudia, Eric Davies and drummer Luke Brown take us through Okaku’s fantasy world made up of natural images that move in a Monty-Python-esque flip-book style.

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Parliamo - Matters Like.

Arriving as the band’s grittiest, stickiest offering to-date, it sees Parliamo’s usual bright rhythms and funky basslines, traded-in for howling Suede-esque electric guitars, low-slung hooks and unconventional choruses.

Like a migraine growing under the noon-day sun, “Matters Like” has a burbling, off-kilter intensity quite at odds with the brilliant sunshine that baked the Summer of 2022 in which it was written. Finding nuanced inspiration during those mind-melting times in the Fontaines D.C. track “Roman Holiday” and the spring reverb bass of The Last Shadow Puppets’ second record, the band’s Jack Dailly and Finn Freeburn Morrison began assimilating both into a new track that would mark a moody left-turn for the band.

A song about finding confidence in a new relationship and the overcast feelings that can come hand-in-hand with it, vocalist Jack Dailly explains: “”Matters Like” has a moodier sound than most of our previous output, with its screaming guitars and echoing hi-hats. This mood fits well with the lyrics, as the song touches on feelings of uncertainty and internal conflict. It’s a song about insecurity in a fledgling relationship and the plethora of emotions which come with getting to know more about someone than you might have bargained for.”

Weaving their straight-up songwriting and babbling instrumentals niftily through a heatwave-warped collision of influences, “Matters Like” finds a band pushing the Parliamo sound and enjoying getting a little experimental.

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Michael J. Benjamin - The Same Again.

Rising Dutch singer-songwriter Michael J. Benjamin  has unveiled his latest offering “The Same Again”, taken from a debut EP due this Autumn. A radiant, reflective ballad that sees the young musician pair distinctive Cash-meets-Cohen vocals with his knack for heart-rending storytelling, the new track was produced by Jon McMullen (Wet Leg, Michael Kiwanuka) in London. A song that finds the singer-songwriter rewinding sepia-tinted memories of his past, and pausing for thought on what could have been, Michael J. Benjamin explains of “The Same Again”:

“A girl and I used to walk along these farms on the edge of town, then I left for London and when I came back we broke up. After that I used to come back to these seemingly holy farms to find inspiration and tranquillity; to catch a glimpse of light of the moon and relive old memories. Looking back now, it’s the act of not letting go of the past that drove me to write this song. The farms were like a sanctuary, or a relic of better times. Even today it remains a magical place to me.”

With its trickling acoustic guitars and a pared-back approach to instrumentation, “The Same Again” makes for a wistful country-blues record that feels simultaneously nostalgic and refreshing; true to a style that Benjamin is quickly making his own. Staking his place as an auspicious new artist to watch, Michael J. Benjamin’s soul searching songs express a hard-won sense of authority: embracing the world with an engrossing, truth-seeking style of writing which belies his still-tender years.

Like most other millennials, he grew up with the entire history of music readily available at the click of a mouse. Growing up Michael embraced the heroes of old, immersing himself in the works of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney, before finding more modern realms of influence in the songbooks of Lana Del Rey, Weyes Blood and Jack Antonoff.

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Oslo Twins - Mazey Haze - Esther Rose - Allie Crow Buckley

Oslo Twins - Breath.

Bristol born outfit Oslo Twins release their new single "Breath" and announce their signing to Fascination Street Records - a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.

With lo-fi, dream-pop and trip-hop influences, Oslo Twins' new single "Breath" is teeming with quiet passion. Produced, mixed and engineered by Ali Chant, the track signals the release of the band's debut EP, due for release on Fascination Street Records later this year.

Held together by a sharp, addictive electronic drum beat, "Breath" hints toward insomnia and dread, but with a sense of acceptance coming from the gentle and complex rhythms of the track and the softness of the wistful call and response vocals. The track features Harry Furniss from Bingo Fury (cornet) and Tom Connolly from rising Bristol group Quade (violin), whose instruments bring the track into its progression from its intimate verses to its shimmering, heady ending.

“For us, Breath is a very nocturnal song about feeling cut off from the world,” says vocalist and songwriter Claudia Vulliamy. Speaking more on the track's lyrical inspiration, guitarist, keys player, vocalist and songwriter Eric Davies said: “Breath is an attempt to embody how unrequited love feels. I wrote it after having a panic attack, so it’s about that as well - an expression of panic in the style of a love song. There’s a sort of dry irony about it.”

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Mazey Haze - Back to the Start.

Indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze (aka Amsterdam based musician Nadine Appeldoorn) releases her new EP 'Back to the Start' and shares the video for its title track. The EP's titular, opening track perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the project. Announcing itself like a Californian daydream, awash with synths, heavenly vocal harmonies and jangling guitars, the song's accompanying video was directed by Pasqual Amade.

The EP's title track captures a certain struggle Appeldoorn has untethering herself from the umpteenth setback. “I’m just being very honest and very real, being like, ‘I went through all this shit for a reason, but now I’m clueless again,’” she explains. “But I think that’s basically what life is: you constantly get over these really hard, big things.”

Following a string of European tour dates supporting acts Spacey Jane, Paolo Nutini and Feng Suave alongside widely praised performances at this year's edition of Eurosonic Festival ("a set of swooning dream-pop. Singing over a tapestry of guitar and synth, the songs were encapsulating, swaying in sentiment and washing through the dark room" - The Line Of Best Fit) - Mazey Haze will embark on a brief stint of European tour dates in support of the EP this month, with stops in London, Paris, Amsterdam and more.

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Esther Rose - Spider.

Esther Rose will release Safe to Run April 21, 2023 via New West Records. The 11-track set was produced by Ross Farbe in New Orleans, LA and Placitas, NM and is the follow up to 2021’s acclaimed How Many Times. Alongside longtime collaborators Farbe and Lyle Werner, Safe to Run also features the New Orleans based band Silver Synthetic, Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes, as well as Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff on the title track.

The video for the album highlight “Spider,” which was directed by Anthony Simpkins has just been shared. Of the song, Rose says, “As I was writing this, I remember thinking ‘This. Is. My. Final. Word!!!’ My drummer Lonnie calls this one an ‘emotional dump truck.’ We tracked vocals live and tried to redo them later, but they didn’t hit as hard as the original take. There’s something kind of deranged happening in the third verse, the situational complexities, you can feel it. It’s our favorite to play live.” Anthony Simpkins said,  "When Esther approached me to make this video, she had an idea to involve a boxing match. I thought, why not film it at a real MMA event? I love the stark contrast in the on-screen action and Esther's song. It is somehow both the polar opposite and perfectly matching the journey each person is going through from the beginning of the night to the end of the fight. Love, anxiety, pain, triumph, anger, defeat... you feel everything at a fight. Esther captures the same emotions in her songs."

Safe to Run is the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry, and presents Rose’s always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. Her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a newfound pop element that attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey. The album’s production takes a giant step forward. Across all of the tracks, the open-air, live-in-the-room sound she tended towards in the past was exchanged for an exploration of multitracking and overdubs.

Rose previously shared the video for the album’s title track, “Safe to Run,” which features Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff. The song is a gorgeous duet that directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief.  She also previously shared the video for the album’s first single, “Chet Baker.” Of the song, she says, “Someone sent me a DM, asking ‘do you remember me.’

I was transported into a decade-old memory; a weird weekend with a crew of dangerous college preps, a car crash. What came out is this short study of my townie life in Ann Arbor. As I was writing this song, it occurred to me how lucky I was to have survived that time of willful recklessness. I wanted to empathize with my younger self, like, ‘it’s alright, you were 23. You were out of control. I got you now. You’re okay.’”

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Allie Crow Buckley - Cowboy In London.

Los Angeles & London-based indie artist Allie Crow Buckley has shared her final single, “Cowboy In London,” from her forthcoming LP, Utopian Fantasy, out May 19th. To go with the driving and playful track, Allie directed a mesmerizing video that showcases her in one of her trademark ethereal dresses, frolicking around London.

Buckley explains, “The song is a reflection on my years as a teen and being on my own in London for the first time. It was wonderful and terrifying, and I was totally enthralled. I had terrible jet lag, so I would wake up and sort of stalk the streets at five in the morning. So, I tried to set the sonic scene with this in mind.” Adding, “The video was shot traipsing around London - I wanted to capture some of the naivety, and sort of carefree sass that I feel the song evokes.”

Utopian Fantasy is the follow-up to her 2021 debut, Moonlit and Devious, and takes the listener on a psychedelic journey through the mythical world inside Buckley’s head. The album 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) between a lush cottage in the English Countryside, the sunny mountains of Ojai, California, and the hotels in-between. The album will also feature her recent singles “Dreamboat Soulmate,” “Greatest Hits,”  “Naked At The Feast,”  “Utopian Fantasy” and “Angel.”

When asked about the record, Allie 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."

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