Showing posts with label POSTDATA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label POSTDATA. Show all posts

Sunday, 28 February 2021

Heavy Feather - Yndling - Postdata - Ontarians - The Sarandons

Heavy Feather - Sometimes I Feel.

Heavy Feather release "Sometimes I Feel", the fourth and final single leading up to the Swedish root rock band's upcoming sophomore album "Mountain of Sugar". "Sometimes I Feel" stands out from the rest of the album as guitarist Matte Gustafsson takes on the role as lead singer. Delivering a psychedelic, organic tune that brings the true sound and feel of the late 60's to the modern world. "Sometimes I Feel" is released on The Sign Records February 26.

When Heavy Feather's first album "Débris & Rubble" (2019) was released, it became praised by both press and audience; taking the band out to tour Europe. Now it ́s time for their second album, "Mountain of sugar"; an even rawer, heavier, and harder release than the previous one, still with the root rock and psychedelic touch at the very core.

“Mountain of Sugar” consists of 11 roots-rock tracks oozing with a 70‘s sound and feel, filled with attitude and raw vocals from blues singer Lisa Lystam. Catchy hooks and roaring guitar riffs are based on influences from the greats of the 60s and 70s, drawing inspiration from bands such as Free, Cream, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band then adds their own unique touch to the tracks, creating a unique and intricate sound that few can deny.


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Yndling - Childish Fear.

Yndling is the dream pop project of Norwegian artist Silje Espevik. This musical endeavour is the result of wanting to take complete creative control over her music. Through delicate soundscapes and oscillating synths, Yndling invites listeners into her own world, offering a place of escapism and resonance through her lyricism.

Her debut single “Childish Fear” is composed of a hushed, muffled bassline, beatific drums, flows of shimmering synths and hypnotic, celestial clouds of production, creating an engrossing paradise of sound and a melancholy atmosphere. Produced by Adrian Einestor Sandberg, the track drips in intimacy creating a stunning contrast to the story behind the tune which entails her fear of intimacy. Yndling divulges, “The song is about that stage in a relationship where there isn’t really that much new and exciting to discover about each other, and capture the fear that I might not be enough once the shimmering glow of first expressions fade.”

The dream-pop artist has an ability to create magical, dreamy soundscapes that are haunting and emotive, originating a fresh new sound and giving insight to an array of mixed emotions allowing listeners to have a raw view of her heart. “Childish Fear” gradually develops a thicker texture resulting in a full bloom of sound. The vocals are tender and ethereal, the backing vocals are almost unrecognisable as a voice floating throughout the track creating a wash of a dazy utopia to indulge in. Yndling shares, “I wanted to communicate a mood or a feeling with the song that evolves and becomes more consuming as the track unfolds.”

Yndling takes influences from artists and bands such as Beach House, Tops, Crumb, Hatchie and Mazzy Star. When it comes to songwriting, the Norweigan artist often allows her feelings or experiences to engross her for a while in order to fully submerge herself in the reality of the emotions. She explains, “I think there is so much power in letting a feeling or experience be all-consuming, just for a little while, and I really need that to write music.” Along with always trying to be as honest and vulnerable as possible, Yndling has an understanding that when writing, it is important to “throw away the fear of being too honest or maybe telling a truth that’s not recognized by everyone else and that may feel a little too close for comfort.” Yndling offers a kaleidoscope of imagination and feeling throughout her music and ensures her lyrics are just as positively affecting.

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Postdata - Inside Out.

POSTDATA, the solo music project of Wintersleep frontman/songwriter, Paul Murphy, is to return on March 5, 2021, with his third record, Twin Flames (out via Paper Bag Records) tipped so far by MOJO, The Guardian, Secret Meeting, Brooklyn Vegan and more. He's today sharing his new single, "Inside Out", which features Murphy's friend, Andy Monaghan of Frightened Rabbit, on synthesiser/keys.

A breathtaking and introspective new album, brimming with deep wonderings and intricately excavated soundscapes, Twin Flames – which comes co-produced by Bristol-based Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Portishead) – borrows its namesake from the centerpiece song on the album. Twin Flames is about a storm, but perhaps more importantly, it’s also about a fire burning through it. Paul says that being in a storm can be a freeing and powerful experience. “You’re navigating this place…you can’t really see super far in front of you,” he says. “I kinda like that place.”

"Inside Out", which comes off the back of the Guardian, FLOOD and Under The Radar-tipped single, "Nobody Knows", is one of the new album's crucial cornerstones, welding together crystalline indie-pop sensibilities with a swooning melody and an infectious singalong chorus. It arrives as something that is unashamedly optimistic with Murphy keen to create something which acts as a guiding light through the pandemic, something which celebrates rather than dwells. Speaking about the track, Murphy says: "I didn’t really know what to do with this song at first. It has this open-hearted feeling to it and I usually try and mess with a song lyrically or darken it up when there’s something musically so light and warm. I don’t know why that’s always the inclination. For this though, and maybe it was because I completed it during the first lockdown period, I wanted to really celebrate that warmness or joyous quality, to lift it up. I hope that it lifts you up a little bit too."

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Ontarians - No Regrets.

Canada's new alt-country heroes ONTARIANS release "No Regrets," the second single from their debut album The Greatest Short Story Never Told, due out March 12. Like its preceding single "Time," "No Regrets" -- available on all digital platforms and Bandcamp -- evokes the spirit of the alt-country insurgency's heyday of the 1990s, with its simple video offering a glimpse of the freedom we've all been missing over the past year and hope to get back to soon. 

ONTARIANS singer/guitarist Frank Deresti describes the band's approach in broad terms by saying, “Between glasses of Pernod, car troubles and lots of laughter we wrote songs about various stages of life we found ourselves in—past, present, and a hypothetical future. Once we had a clear goal in mind, it was like a reservoir of creativity was released that had been building up for a long time.”

The band's other co-founder, multi-instrumentalist Craig Smith adds, "“The general guiding rule has been ‘anything goes.' Frank and I pursued any idea either of us came up with, as long as it felt good. And even though the album took two years to finish, when we were together in the studio there was a real sense of urgency to be productive. We didn’t have the luxury of living in the same city, so I think all of that concentrated effort really comes across on the album.”

The members of the band ONTARIANS don’t live in Toronto, although their sound isn't far removed from the distinctive brand of country rock that ruled Toronto’s Queen Street West during the glory days of the Horseshoe Tavern, the Cameron House and the Rivoli.

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The Sarandons - Caught In A Dream.

This past year has been the ultimate test of whether familiarity breeds contempt. When you're marooned at sea together, all sorts of things start to creep in. More insidious than contempt, the people we're locked in with start to become a piece of furniture in our lives.

Days on repeat. Love ignored.

Our producer Dan Hosh (City & Colour, Arkells) asked us if we had anything slower and more melancholic to round out the upcoming EP. "Caught in a Dream" is it. Lightning struck and within a few days all the pieces, including the dreamy intro/outro, fell together. 

Lyrics were drawn from the zeitgeist (pre-capital raid, so talk of enemies at the gates and insurrection must have been in the ether) to describe those mundane struggles of a relationship.

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Wednesday, 10 February 2021

KIM HON - The Sea The Sea - Katy Kirby - Postdata

KIM HON - Bach o Flodyn.

KIM HON explain the origin of ‘Bach o Flodyn’: “The riff and song were formed as a result of watching a documentary about Robert Johnson, and then we tried to emulate his acoustic guitar skills. Of course, we didn’t get to play anything like Johnson played but this song was born as result anyway”

As with every KIM HON release you don’t know what to expect and are always taken on an unexpected journey towards the uncharted horizon. 

‘Bach o Flodyn’ is the sun setting on a joyous imaginary festival field, bathing the audience in a golden warm rays. The stars come out one by one to the hypnotic bluesy groves of KIM HON at their most magical.


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The Sea The Sea - Stumbling Home: Oil on Paper.

Innovative indie-folk duo The Sea The Sea – frequently lauded for their immaculate vocal harmonies and unusual arrangements – has had a particularly fruitful 2020. Comprised of Chuck and Mira Costa, the duo released four highly acclaimed singles before dropping their damn-near-flawless full album, Stumbling Home, during the dwindling days of summer.

Now, The Sea The Sea is starting out the new year by releasing “Stumbling Home: Oil on Paper,” the official video for Stumbling Home’s title track.  And the video is something to be admired.

Directed and painted – yes, painted – by Zachary Johnson of The Made Shop, the video uses the rotoscope technique and brings a series of stunning oil paintings to life. “The technical feat of this film is less the massive number of oil paintings but in the incredible meticulous way they’ve all been conceptualized and arranged musically with the song,” describes Chuck.

The Sea The Sea previously collaborated with Johnson to create the video for the song “Waiting,” which appeared on the band’s 2014 debut album, Love We Are We Love. “We’d been waiting for the right moment to collaborate with Zachary and the Made Shop again since making video for ‘Waiting,’” explains Mira.  “And there was something about ‘Stumbling Home’ that kept eliciting images in the style of his paintings, so we immediately reached out.”

Rather than using the continuous motion that characterized the video for “Waiting,” Johnson wanted the video for “Stumbling Home” to focus more on fleeting moments, lit up and frozen in fading vignettes, while still maintaining the sense of a roving camera eye.

“We eventually came up with idea of painting various people, unmoored from their surroundings, each passerby an individual moving against an inky emptiness of black,” explains Zachary.  “We couldn’t be more thrilled with the way this turned out,” says Mira.


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Katy Kirby - Portals.

Katy Kirby has released the fourth and final single from her highly anticipated debut album Cool Dry Place out February 19 on Keeled Scales (via Secretly Distribution), the critically acclaimed indie label home to the likes of Tenci, Buck Meek, Sun June, Twain and more.

“Portals” is Kirby’s gentlest offering to date, an off-kilter introspection at a relationship’s end: if we peel apart / will we be stronger than we were before / we had formed ourselves together / in a temporary whole / and if we reunite, will we still know / the things that we had learned before? / we’re not boxes, doors, or borders / we were portals.

Kirby’s ability to blend wit with heart over inventive, affecting melodies has positioned her on shortlists for the most anticipated albums in 2021 by Vulture, Vice, Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, and Paste Magazine. Just last week, Kirby was spotlighted in an extensive profile by VICE’s Noisey Next, who hailed her upcoming album as “the best debut album of 2021 so far.” Bob Boilen of NPR All Songs Considered has praised Katy for ”putting her own twist on pop” and tastemakers at Consequence of Sound, Under The Radar, Earmilk, Austin Town Hall and more have echoed enthusiasm.

Says Katy: I’ve always been uneasy with the idea of alternate universes, or realities. Even choose-your-own-adventure books used to stress me out. I wondered if it might be equally interesting and more helpful to consider “alternate universes” something as simple as other people. Around the time I wrote this song, I had been considering what I’d retain from a relationship if or when it ended—what I might be left with in the long run, after it didn’t hurt anymore. I realized that it’d be an alternate version of myself. Hell, how many parts of whatever I call a self aren’t even accessible without a particular interaction? “Portals” is me thinking about the alternate, purely interior worlds that slide open with each person/universe we intersect with, and if what we think of as “closeness” to that person has anything to do with what gets opened.

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Postdata - Nobody Knows.

POSTDATA, the solo music project of Wintersleep frontman/songwriter, Paul Murphy, is to return on March 5, 2021, with his third record, Twin Flames (out via Paper Bag Records). Murphy is today sharing the visual accompaniment for the recent single, "Nobody Knows."

A breathtaking and introspective new album, brimming with deep wonderings and intricately excavated soundscapes, Twin Flames – which comes co-produced by Bristol-based Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Portishead) – borrows its namesake from the centerpiece song on the album. Twin Flames is about a storm, but perhaps more importantly, it’s also about a fire burning through it. Paul says that being in a storm can be a freeing and powerful experience. “You’re navigating this place…you can’t really see super far in front of you,” he says. “I kinda like that place.”

Described by The Guardian as "a song that sounds as if it’s surfing an avalanche on a copy of Rumours," "Nobody Knows" is an infectious late night kitchen-party acoustic number that finds Murphy rhyming off a laundry list of his faults and failings: “I’m not good when the party’s packed/I’m not good when there’s nobody left/I’m not good when I’m all by myself, I fear for my health.” The accompanying video, directed by Chris Mills, comes part-inspired by the general weirdness surrounding performance videos and the act of trying to capture that live energy in an often empty room. Murphy and Mills here have taken the idea and twisted it into a dystopian, pandemic world where performances take place in hazmat suits and at obscure, outdoor locations.

Speaking about the video, Murphy says: "During the first lockdown, when I was gearing up for planning the video, my brother Michael and I were talking about performance videos and the general weirdness of them, but then about how it’d be kind of interesting to try one with all the COVID protocols in place. So, I think it started as a dystopic idea for how shows in the future would be or something to that effect. Chris loved the idea and thought he could expand on it with different visual techniques. We made some dialogue for it. Planned out scenes. The only issue is that we couldn’t travel to actually be in the same room to do it."

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Saturday, 9 January 2021

The Neighbourhood Watch - POSTDATA - Revelry

The Neighbourhood Watch - Focus Up.

"Focus Up," the first single to be shared from their forthcoming new record, Lost in Bloom, is about how it can be hard to keep friendships intact as you grow up and need to make selfish decisions more often.

Based in Toronto, The Neighbourhood Watch have spent the last three years riding on beginner’s luck. Whether it was learning to play their instruments while writing their first album Community Protected, or stumbling through the production of their second record Goodbye Childhood, the Neighbourhood Watch love to grow alongside their music. 

In their latest record, Lost in Bloom, the band pairs melody-driven songwriting with ambitious arrangements to tell a story about abandoning arrogance, resenting the people we loved, and being scared of growing up.


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POSTDATA - Nobody Knows.

POSTDATA, the solo music project of Wintersleep frontman/songwriter, Paul Murphy, is to return on March 5, 2021, with his third record, Twin Flames (out via Paper Bag Records). Following in the wake of the Brooklyn Vegan-tipped album-titled single, Paul is today sharing the new track "Nobody Knows" which was recently described by The Guardian as "a song that sounds as if it’s surfing an avalanche on a copy of Rumours" – listen to "Nobody Knows" here.

A breathtaking and introspective new album, brimming with deep wonderings and intricately excavated soundscapes, Twin Flames – which comes co-produced by Bristol-based Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Portishead) – borrows its namesake from the centerpiece song on the album. Twin Flames is about a storm, but perhaps more importantly, it’s also about a fire burning through it. Paul says that being in a storm can be a freeing and powerful experience. “You’re navigating this place…you can’t really see super far in front of you,” he says. “I kinda like that place.”

"Nobody Knows", which premiered at Under The Radar Magazine, is an infectious late night kitchen-party acoustic bop that finds Murphy rhyming off a laundry list of his faults and failings: “I’m not good when the party’s packed/I’m not good when there’s nobody left/I’m not good when I’m all by myself, I fear for my health.” Murphy is joined on the second verse by affirmations of “Not good!” Hollered by a backing chorus line of friends and family.

"I wrote "Nobody Knows" on a sunny afternoon – one of those songs that just comes easy, all the lyrics and melodies done in a few hours," explains Murphy. "I think lyrically I was making light of the fact that I often don’t feel comfortable and content in situations... looking at the negative side of things when there are so many positive ways to look at life. I think in this era of social media where people feel the pressure to present their lives in the most perfect light, it felt like a really appropriate sentiment, a little bit of a bite back. You can present yourself in a certain way, but it doesn’t mean that’s the reality of the situation, or who you are or what you’re feeling.”


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Revelry - Dirty (live).

Revelry have made quite the first impression with their sultry new single “Dirty”  the Murfreesboro-based southern rockers' debut track. It’s now available on all digital and download streaming platforms.

From the moment you hear that wailing slide guitar riff, you know that Zack Montgomery, Redd Byrd, Jordan Whorley, Dane Lovvorn, and Lucas Vincent mean what they say when they tell you they’re "down to get dirty". The combination of Montgomery’s gritty southern rock vocals and Byrd and Whorley’s overdriven guitars makes for a raw, high-energy debut that’ll keep listeners on their toes. The band’s enthusiasm about bursting onto the scene comes through loud and clear.

"When we first started playing dive bars in town, it was always late nights, drunk fights, and beautiful women. Some would say we are nasty, we say, "we're down to get dirty". -Revelry

With its distinctive retro flair, “Dirty” harkens back to the days of Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s sure to satisfy anyone with an appetite for unabashed rock ‘n' roll. Though the members of Revelry primarily aim to revive the ‘70s southern rock they were raised on, they can’t help but indulge their country leanings from time to time.

“With most of us hailing from around Nashville, you can also find some country influences in there. The line ‘My boots will look good under your bed’ was inspired by the Shania Twain song ‘Whose bed have your boots been under?’” - Zack Montgomery (Lead Singer, Revelry)

Despite only being together for a year, these five self-taught musicians have already proved that they have a handle on what it takes to create a memorable, hard-hitting track.

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Tuesday, 24 November 2020

Hot Summer - POSTDATA

Hot Summer recently shared 'Fire And Ice' along with a video for the track, musically the song opens with a soothing and melodic flow, the vocals perfectly match the mood and flourishes of additional synths and drums gently up the power. ===== From POSTDATA we have the new song 'Twin Flames' also with a video. Paul Murphy's distinct and emotion filled vocals are central to the song however there are some gorgeous soundscapes simmering beneath, there are moments when the structure brings Leonard Cohen to mind, see that as the complement it is intended to be.  

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Hot Summer - Fire And Ice.

The Shins’ Jon Sortland joins EV Kain’s Brian Belier to form the band, Hot Summer. Fresh off The Shins release of “The Great Divide”, co-written by Sortland, Hot Summer are set to release their debut single and video, “Fire And Ice” is out now on Dowd Records.

The track “Fire And Ice” is indirectly related to the collision of fire and ice.  The era in which Hot Summer emerges is one of great disparities between ideals socially and politically.  We are also a byproduct of shut-in pandemic isolation and a desperation to generate sparks to light the gloom from solitude and gold coast fire haze. Through futuristic electronic interludes and Belier’s soothing vocals, “Fire And Ice” provides the sonically infused anecdote to the collective malaise.

The song was created during the Covid-19 quarantine where the two musicians were separated by 470 miles.  Sortland came up with a short musical loop that all the vocals were sung to, while the remainder of the music was developed to suit the vocals.  The main vocals on the track are the actual voice memos Belier sang into his iPhone and texted to Sortland. Later when the two were able to get together in person they shot the impromptu iPhone video that features Belier’s neighbor, John Tait, a former NFL veteran that also happens to be Sortland’s doppelgänger.

Hot Summer is a journey of musical freedom between longtime friends and creative collaborators. Jon Sortland is the co-songwriter and performer on The Shins’ recently released track, “The Great Divide”. Sortland was also the creative director of the video for “The Great Divide”. Brian Belier is a creative tour de force and brings unexpected melodies and a unique vocal approach to Hot Summer. Belier is also the frontman of the much loved psych-rock band EV Kain and has been a figure in the San Francisco music scene for years.


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POSTDATA - Twin Flames.

POSTDATA is the solo music project helmed by Paul Murphy – beloved as much for his two prior solo album releases: Postdata (2010) and Let's Be Wilderness (2018) as for his work within his Juno award-winning and multi-nominated band, Wintersleep. 

POSTDATA returns with Twin Flames, a breathtaking and introspective new album, brimming with deep wonderings and intricately excavated soundscapes, for release on March 5, 2021 via Paper Bag Records. In-line with announcing the new record, he's today sharing the album-titled single – watch the video, directed by Canadian director/animator, Christopher Mills, here.

Twin Flames – which comes co-produced by Bristol-based Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Portishead) and finds longtime friend Andy Monaghan of Frightened Rabbit and Wintersleep’s Tim D’Eon contributing borrows its namesake from the centerpiece song on the album. “Twin Flames,” revealed today as an eye into the album's center, is about a storm, but perhaps more importantly, it’s also about a fire burning through it. Paul says that being in a storm can be a freeing and powerful experience. “You’re navigating this place…you can’t really see super far in front of you,” he says. “I kinda like that place.”

"This was initially an instrumental track," notes Paul of the subtle and powerful lead single. "I think that’s all I was going for at first. Ali suggested slowing it down and maybe trying to do some spoken word over top. I worked on it that night and made some headway. I took a couple days to really work out the melody and structure of the lyric/song within it. It’s a love song but also felt really poignant personally during full pandemic lockdown this idea of weathering storms. Enduring them. Inhabiting them. Becoming them."

As a full album, Twin Flames brims with intricate sounds, soft things ruffling on the edges, emerging in the choruses, rising in the quiet and the subdued spaces. Murphy has with this third LP, crafted the most intimate and timeless POSTDATA record yet; a bright, compassionate text of major-key romanticism. Murphy says the record is inward-looking and “focused on creating or surrounding itself in hope and warmth.”  This tone is realized thanks in part to both process and content. Twin Flames was recorded and co-produced in isolation by Murphy in Halifax/K’jipuktuk and with Chant in Bristol, UK.

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The Hengles - Books of Moods

The Hengles - Cover Up (Album). Experience a trip down memory lane with The Hengles' latest album, Cover Up. This Dutch indie band revi...