Showing posts with label SHEAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SHEAL. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 August 2026

SHEAL - Tilia - ILA - T.R. Burge & The Temple - Alyssa Gallarneau

SHEAL - Press Rewind. 

SHEAL is the stage name of Nova Scotia-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Sheilagh McNab, who returns with her newest single, “Press Rewind,” an intimate, nostalgic reflection on childhood, home, family, and the places that continue to shape who we become. Written by SHEAL and produced, mixed, and mastered by Eric Vanier, the track pairs her emotive vocals and piano with Vanier’s drums, percussion, bass, and electric guitar, creating a warm, cinematic folk-pop sound that feels both reflective and deeply personal. Following a string of releases that have earned airplay on CBC Radio and SiriusXM, SHEAL turns inward on “Press Rewind,” revisiting memories of growing up in Nova Scotia through the perspective of an adult and parent.

At the heart of “Press Rewind” is the feeling of coming home and seeing the past through new eyes. The song was inspired by SHEAL’s childhood memories, her experiences of returning to Nova Scotia, and the perspective that comes with raising children of her own. As she explains, “Press Rewind” is about “looking back on my childhood and, now that I'm a parent, returning to those memories with new perspective — thinking about how I was raised and what I appreciate about that experience.” The ocean imagery woven throughout the song is particularly intentional, reflecting her deep connection to the East Coast and the pull of home. 

That connection comes alive in the song’s imagery of salty air, wind-swept trees, familiar roads, and the feeling of finally being almost home. The line, “We’ll drive to places that I used to know, and stay all day until the sun goes down,” comes directly from SHEAL’s own life. Each summer, she returns to Nova Scotia with her daughters, reconnecting with a longtime friend for an August day at the beach filled with conversation, laughter, food, swimming, and the kind of timelessness that makes everyone forget to check the clock. Those experiences have become some of her favourite memories — and now, she gets to create them with her own children.


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Tilia - Cocoon.

With her album Daybound Drift, which has now reached more than 500,000 streams, Zurich-based musician Tilia has established herself as one of the most exciting voices in Swiss dream pop. 

With her new single 'Cocoon', she now ventures into quieter, darker soundscapes. The idea for the song came to Tilia during a cocooning yoga workshop. 

The notion of withdrawing—not to hide, but to quietly transform—stayed with her. 'Cocoon' captures precisely that moment. Sonically, the song remains introspective and melancholic before opening up at exactly the right moment.


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Photo - Taike De Wilde
ILA - Sorry.

Antwerp based ILA returns with 'Sorry', the latest single from her forthcoming album Motherland, due for release on 9th October 2026. The new single arrives following recent European tour dates supporting The Streets, with ILA now preparing for an extensive EU run this autumn, including four UK shows in November.

Produced by Mikko Gordon (The Smile, Idles, Arcade Fire, Beck), ‘Sorry’ sees ILA turning heartbreak into resilience, finding strength where there was once only pain. Visceral, gritty and yet carrying an infectious and accessible core, the track balances its driving backdrop of biting guitars, tight drums and meaty bass with vexing, yet melodic vocals to create an evocative blend of alternative-rock, grunge, indie and post-punk elements. ILA describes the track as: “Turning heartbreak into resilience, finding strength where there was once only pain.”

‘Sorry’ arrives as the band prepare to enter a new chapter following the success of their 2024 debut album Ayna, with Motherland making ILA sound bigger, more ambitious and more emotionally expansive than ever. The upcoming album Motherland comes two years after the acclaimed debut Ayna and is the first ILA record written as a four-piece - Frontwoman Ilayda Cicek, the line-up features Sam Smeets on bass, Cas Kinnaer on drums and Stynen on guitar.

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T.R. Burge & The Temple - This Bird Is Flown.

T.R. Burge & The Temple return with "This Bird Is Flown," alongside the announcement of their debut album Godache which is set to release November 6th.  The song was born close to home, inside Burge's own flat in “Little Ireland”, a corner of central Manchester steeped in a strange, layered history, one that even brushes up against the early stirrings of the Russian Revolution. Its lyrics trace back to a single dream image, later filtered through a period of heavy reading into esoteric ideas, which crept into the finished imagery almost without invitation.

In Burge's own words: "The lyrics relate to a dream I had in which a woman was standing on the edge of a promenade of some kind, looking out at the ocean. She looked as if she was mourning the loss of something. Someone who had left. It was a very vivid and emotionally charged image. The rest of the imagery in the song then built around this. When recording this song at Klangbild studios in Berlin, Pete, our drummer, Liam, our mate/technician, and I had the best day ever, drinking some beers and listening to Martin J. Fiedler and Aninka create, play and overlay the violin parts. It was heaven. I'll never forget hearing that in the moment come to life."

The song doesn't sit still. That restlessness was deliberate: violinist Aninka Rosa had been pushing for more contrast in the band's writing, and Burge built the track around that idea directly, letting tension rise and drain away across a series of distinct movements rather than holding one mood throughout. Recording, Mixing and Production took place, as much of the band's work does, at Klangbild Studios in Berlin, under longtime collaborator Martin J. Fiedler.

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Photo - Iam Gum
Alyssa Gallarneau - For The Record (Album).

Alyssa Gallarneau is a singer-songwriter currently splitting her time between Chicago, Illinois, and Bloomington, Indiana. Creating a distinctive blend of pop, singer-songwriter and folk influences, Alyssa pairs evocative storytelling with modern production and emotionally rich songwriting. Known for her vivid lyricism and thoughtful use of symbolism, she has developed a style that is both intimate and immersive.

For The Record, Alyssa's debut album, explores themes of love, faith, longing and self-discovery through a collection of songs rooted in lived experience. Written across several months and three countries, the record took shape in locations that naturally inspired its stories. From the mountains of Mexico during a mission trip to the familiarity of home, Alyssa embedded visual motifs and metaphors that point to deeper meanings in her songs. "I approached many songs as if they were a scene in a film," Alyssa explains. "I wanted the album to reward repeated listens, and hopefully reveal new details each time through."

The album began in 2025 after acclaimed artist Mark Morrison introduced Alyssa to renowned UK producer Ian Barter, whose credits include Amy Winehouse, Paloma Faith, Dermot Kennedy and Rhys Lewis. Following an immediate creative connection, Alyssa travelled to London twice to record For The Record in Barter's personal garden studio, with the pair bonding over their shared faith throughout the process. Alyssa then signed a deal with Mark Morrison's MackLife Records, to distribute the album via Stem, a division of Concord, the world's leading independent music company.

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Saturday, 13 November 2021

Cousin Kula - Ovlov - SHEAL - Courtney Cotter King

Photo - Alfred Thirolle
Cousin Kula - Something So Sweet.

Bristol's Cousin Kula today release their new single "Something So Sweet", the final taster of their debut album Double Dinners, out November 26th via Rhythm Section.

With co-signs from the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD, Cousin Kula's forthcoming debut album Double Dinners follows their 2017 EP 'OODLES', 2019's 'STROODLES' EP, along with their 2020 'Casa Kula Cassette', which caught the attention of beloved tastemaker and DJ Bradley Zero who swiftly signed them to his Rhythm Section label.

New single "Something So Sweet" is a prime example of the band's undeniable ability to blur the lines between sweeping psychedelia and blissful jazz. Arguably the best showcase of Joe Milkinson's jazz drumming prowess, the track is wonderfully interspersed with stunning saxophone turns, intricate guitar passages and electrifying synths.

Speaking on the new single release the band said: "The production really stands out on this one and is testament to Doug’s hard work engineering and mixing the whole record from home. Most of the tunes on the album are live takes - Doug built his own ribbon mics, dozens of acoustic panels, and engineered the whole thing so that we could record everyone together from separate rooms in the house - all to get a live feel that lends itself so well to these tunes."

Cousin Kula have created their own musical universe of otherworldly pop serenity with vastly distinct, but complementary elements: “the possibilities of jazz, the emphatic energy of club culture, and the sonic tapestries of psychedelia” CLASH Magazine remark.

Living and recording together, nestled in the sun-drenched hills on the outskirts of Bristol, Cousin Kula are masters of their craft, and also of restraint; widely regarded by their fans for their superior live show. Having performed live in various bands for the past 10 years since their early teens, not being able to hit the stage during lockdown took its toll on these musicians. Ever resourceful, however, Cousin Kula began a series of their own home-made live sessions, which lead in turn to a Boiler Room Session and further a request from XL signees BADBADNOTGOOD to record a live adaptation of their new single.

Now, Cousin Kula flutter into the collective consciousness with a timeless slice of psychedelic soul on debut album Double Dinners. The latest band to emerge out of the buoyant Bristol music scene, they have stripped back all excess baggage for their most accomplished recordings to date.


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Ovlov - Eat More.

We're a little over a week away from the release of Ovlov's third full length Buds, which will be out next Friday on Exploding In Sound. Their first new music following a long layoff after the release of their beloved 2018 LP TRU, the album has been one of the more heavily anticipated of the fall, earning praise from outlets like Pitchfork, NPR, FADER, Uproxx, Paste, MTV, BrooklynVegan, and Stereogum who ran a feature that dives into the band's history and influence last month. Today the band are sharing a final single from the record, a track entitled "Eat More."

"'Eat more' is about that last person I fell in love with, and I wrote it once I realized I had fallen in love," explains Ovlov singer and lead songwriter Steve Hartlett. "They did not feel the same at the time, however. Thus it being so needy, lyrically. One of my favorite guitar parts I’ve ever written, though!"

Formed in 2009, Ovlov are the kind of cult phenomenon that seems to never stop growing despite the stop-start pattern of the band's existence. Led by songwriter and guitarist Steve Harlett, the Connecticut four-piece has released two LPs and a handful of EPs over the last decade and have broken up more times than they have made albums in that span, and yet their reputation (and with it their audience) has steadily expanded, largely as a result of a kind of grassroots, word-of-mouth excitement that feels of a piece with the band's DIY origins. Fixtures at now legendary Brooklyn venues like Shea Stadium, the band's two LPs (2013's AM and 2018's Tru which both saw release on the Brooklyn label Exploding In Sound) have seen them praised for picking up the torch of '90s indie rock groups like Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, making what NPR described as "big, fuzzy rock n roll that you can drown in," while carving out a unique sound that has had a surprisingly persistent influence on the indie rock bands that came after them.

Recorded with the same producer and engineer who has handled every Ovlov album, Michael John Thomas III at his Black Lodge Studio in Brooklyn, Buds is the latest document of Ovlov’s slow and sturdy evolution. But this time, the band’s become even more of a family affair. Though Steve’s long been riffing alongside guitarist Morgan Luzzi, the band was started with Steve’s younger brother Theo on drums. This time around, their older brother Jon joined them on bass—and their dad, Ted, even stops in to rip a sax solo on “Cheer Up, Chihiro!” Considering the Hartlett brothers learned how to play music together, it’s a full circle moment as they all come together in service of making Ovlov’s most fully realized statement yet.

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SHEAL - Gravity.

Following her recent single, “Dark,” SHEAL is revealing a new, melodic piano-led ballad.

“‘Gravity’ is about what it’s like when you choose to love someone in spite of hurt and difference,” the artist explains. “Rather than running away from tenuous relationships, holding space for the other person to be themselves with all their flaws and beauty.”

While her previous single explores the experience of fear shrinking one’s inner world, “Gravity” charts its expansion through love.

Lilting clarinet and strings elevate the grace of this song’s gentle beauty, which is one of SHEAL’s most ambitious pieces, both lyrically and production-wise. It conveys the feeling of weightlessness at the centre of “Gravity.”

“I think a lot of my writing is me finding my voice. I’ve always been inspired by beauty and beauty in music, and that’s inspired me to create. My challenge was always finding my voice and feeling like I had something worthwhile to say.” explains SHEAL, Toronto-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

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Courtney Cotter King - Electric Feet.

Courtney Cotter King has just released her newest song "Electric Feet," a 50's and contemporary style jazz pop song about the happiness her children spread, especially when they dance.

Courtney dedicates “Electric Feet” to moms everywhere and the creative chaos that ensues with their children. Inspired by the “booty-slide-slide” (her oldest’s first signature dance move), it’s all about dancing along with kids’ endless energy, rather than trying to dim it down. From the same planet as Pharrell William’s “Happy” and Ray Lamontagne’s “You Are The Best Thing”, it’s one to lift the spirits with it’s upbeat fun from start to finish.

Courtney Cotter King was born with a piano as an appendage and is inevitably attached to the keys. A raw talent, with smooth vocals and lyrics beyond her years, Courtney commands a room with merit for listening. Courtney’s artistry at the piano drives her blue-eyed soul, singer-songwriter genre. Of her unique sound, Marmoset Music Publishing said, “Piano-driven arrangements informed by classical and jazz come off effortlessly, evoking both early 70s Stevie Wonder and 90s Tori Amos. Smart, soulful, and surprising, Courtney's tunes easily marry sound with story.” She has performed with a long list of artists including, Meghan Trainor, Melanie Safka, and Courtney Marie Andrews.

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Wednesday, 13 October 2021

SHEAL - Sophia Alexa

SHEAL - Dark.

“I think a lot of my writing is me finding my voice. I’ve always been inspired by beauty and beauty in music, and that’s inspired me to create. My challenge was always finding my voice and feeling like I had something worthwhile to say.” explains SHEAL, Toronto-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

No doubt has SHEAL found something worth saying with her sophomore LP, Courage Again. Writing the album over the span of several years with the constraints of being a mother and teacher, and recording most of it at eight-and-a-half months pregnant with her second child, Courage Again is deeply reflective of love, fear, and motherhood.

Introduced with an aching arrangement of strings and piano on “Gravity,” the LP’s opening line, “We are the same, and we come from the same place, baby,” is a call of gentle empathy and strength; a thread found throughout the album. “Courage Again is about how love makes your inner and outer world expand and how fear makes your inner and outer world contract,” says SHEAL. “It’s about my experience and learnings around pushing through fear rather than running away from it, hence the title of the album.”

Organic, expansive, and at times weightless in sound, SHEAL teamed up with producer Matthew Johnston in his London, Ontario studio to record the album. Capturing a lot of first takes and scratch vocals with SHEAL playing most of the instruments throughout, Courage Again carries an inimitable experience of authenticity and intimacy both sonically and lyrically.

With roots in a musical household in Halifax, Nova Scotia, SHEAL picked up piano, guitar, and violin as a child, and found her call to songwriting at age seventeen. She started committing more to her craft throughout her twenties, writing alongside friends and musicians on the East Coast. After moving to Toronto, she finally debuted with her 2016 EP, Courage, under her full name, Sheilagh McNab. The aptly-titled debut was a brave entrance into the local scene, performing her own material for the first time after joining talented friends for years as an accompanying musician and singer. SHEAL looks forward to the release of her sophomore album, Courage Again, in January 2022.


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Sophia Alexa - House of Cards.

A new artist to watch arrives in stunning fashion today as Sophia Alexa reveals her spellbinding debut single, House Of Cards. A beautifully crafted indie pop song showcasing Sophia Alexa’s dreamy vocals and searingly personal songwriting, the track serves as an exciting introduction to an artist set for big things. Speaking on the track, Sophia states:

House of Cards was written from the realisation that my old self beliefs were built on a foundation that required external validation. It’s a moment in time where I blindly followed the beliefs of others rather than my own. The chorus is the moment when the glass shatters and what you thought to be true falls apart. I remember going into the studio that day with no concept in mind just an overwhelming feeling of emotions that I could only translate into a metaphor as fragile as a house of cards. 

Sophia Alexa is a singer-songwriter with an intriguing background; born to German and American parents in California, she was raised in Amsterdam and has been based in London for over 10 years. Moving schools and cities a number of times, she often found herself feeling like an outsider and music was the one constant she could cling to. Growing up, Sophia developed an enduring love for classic singers like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young who have all influenced her style, mixing folk-inspired pop music with an electronic edge and her soulful voice as the focus.


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Agnes Obel - Rachel Bochner - Willem James Cowan - Oh Louise

Photo - Alex Brüel Flagstad Agnes Obel - Laymelli. Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Agnes Obel announces her new studi...