Showing posts with label Speaker Face. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Speaker Face. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 October 2020

Lauren Hulbert - Speaker Face

Lauren Hulbert returns to Beehive Candy just a month after we were first introduced to her. The new single 'Honeydew' is another beautiful, arresting and melodic song.

Speaker Face have released their album 'Crescent' this week. We have already shared two songs from the collection and are really impressed with the remaining tracks including the new single 'Call Me Out' which once again emphasizes the bands genre defying yet gorgeous music. 

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Lauren Hulbert - Honeydew.

Lauren Hulbert has just released “Honeydew”. The light-hearted, sweet melodic journey expresses the joy and magic of opening up to pure love. Twinkling synths draw the imagination into full bloom while jingle bells shower the listener into euphoria. The single is off her upcoming EP, Superbloom, due out October 30.

Hulbert wrote the song while living with her ex-boyfriend in Ecuador. They had rented an apartment in Quito with an incredible view down a mountain valley. After traveling together for months, she says, “I think I was happy to be in one place, making a temporary home, in our own space, with a nice, friendly neighbor and a little bodega at the end of our alleyway. It was a really cute spot. We got to make a little life for ourselves. We had a lot of hope for our future together and I remember that feeling really good.” The song reflects that feeling of hope and starting each day fresh: “Honeydew first light of dawn. Start anew. A day is born. Honey, do you love me? Like the dew wash over me and I will bloom for you.”

Superbloom was inspired not only by the sound of the EP itself but also by Hulbert blooming back to life; following a dangerous foot injury while on a surf trip in Indonesia, she was practically immobile for six months and it was unclear if she’d ever be able to walk again. While the music for this EP didn’t come from the injury, it was a very dark time for her – life, as she knew it, had ended, and her artistic momentum was devastatingly quelled. Fortunately, over a year later, she has healed and credits the experience as terrifying but ultimately beneficial – one that allowed her to reassess her life, align with what’s important and has made her all the more grateful for health and opportunity – and to be performing and sharing her music again.

The Oakland, California singer-songwriter has lived worldwide- from East Coast to West Coast, and Thailand to Ecuador. Her dreamy vocals have been leaving audiences breathless for years, enchanting listeners with her warm, winsome, highly personal combination of folk, alternative country-rock, and atmospheric semi-acoustic pop. The singer has a diversified palate: while she is currently a folk-pop artist, she began competing in Bach and classical festivals as a kid. She can switch back and forth between her classically trained piano skills or self-taught guitar expertise easily. Her favorite lyrical subject is the human condition; she finds inspiration in every feeling, emotion, and situation to create lyrically dense and bona fide tracks. It’s important for Lauren to vocalize and visualize her experiences and hardships into muses to build connections and heal others.



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Speaker Face - Crescent (Album).

The self-produced, genre-less album Crescent is out this week and Speaker Face have this to say about the album and the latest single. "We believe that electronic music can meld with folk and singer/songwriter music to enhance and transform it".

They continue - The record's newest single, "Call Me Out," is about patience and providing space for someone while they work through their feelings. Listen, learn, and give someone as much support as you are able. The jagged beats and nostalgic chord progression further the feel of disjointedness, while maintaining a touching and mesmerizing groove.

Lose yourself in the trancy loop of "Call Me Out" while meditating on the intimate feeling of caring for someone so deeply that you are willing to walk alongside them through their dark times. Celebrate the strength of compassion and understanding.

Our last album was an exploration of electronic music, and with Crescent, we maintained the idea of no rules while stripping away any nonsense and focusing on simplicity. There's space for the instruments to exhale, space for the beat to permeate, space for the voice to feel free.

For you to be transported and muse about a past love, a failed relationship, a joyful moment, jumping into the water from a cliff, or sitting by a campfire… that is all we could hope for.



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Sunday, 23 August 2020

Speaker Face - Anna Krantz - Carley Arrowood - Rachel Angel - 88/89

Speaker Face just released 'Work Friends' and it's a glorious concoction of instruments, electronics and musical styles . === Anna Krantz shares 'We Could Be High' where refined music, deep digging hooks and timeless ballad vibes naturally come together. === From Carley Arrowood we have some imaginative Americana, superb vocals and refined musicianship in the form of 'Goin' Home Comin' On'. === Rachel Angel has just released her new E.P titled 'Highway Songs'. It's a collection of five tracks, broadly described as country folk, the depth and beauty of this E.P cannot be over stated. === From London we have the duo 88/89 with 'Hit Me' a song that mixes classic synth pop and psychedelic trappings together, along with a mass of catchy moments.
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Speaker Face - Work Friends.

Speaker Face is an award winning earthy electronic band that melds the sounds of nature and machines. Combining acoustic instruments, voice and wilderness sounds with computers and synths, Speaker Face creates beats and sonic landscapes that immerse the listener in melody, groove and mood.

The palette of sound created by Trent Freeman’s layers of rhodes and violin, and Eric Wright’s atmospheric production and beats, are topped with the hauntingly honest voice of Ruby Randall.

Whether it’s a star-lit forest dance stage, an acoustically perfect soft seat theatre or the immersion of your headphones, the musical experience of Speaker Face is transportative and fully consuming.

Their latest album, Crescent, is reshaping the notion of genre, and captures the future of indie music within the building blocks of ancient sounds.


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Anna Krantz - We Could Be High.

“Listen to your heart this time, come tomorrow we could be high” Anna Krantz. ‘We Could Be High’ was written on a Zoom call during the recent global lockdown. Anna Krantz, like many writers, had her reservations about collaborating over the internet for the first time, yet when all other options become suddenly stripped away, creatives get creative.

She explains, “I couldn’t write about the experience of being separated from my family and friends, in a city I had only recently moved to and had barely begun to call home when the world shut down. I wasn’t ready to tap into those layered and conflicting emotions. I wanted… no, I needed to write a song which gave me hope. A song which lifted my spirits when I sang it.”

Simon Johnson, who also co-produced the song, was the perfect choice to collaborate with on this rootsy foot tapper. He recorded his guitar parts at his home studio in The New Forest, England. Heavily influenced by her years spent in Nashville, Krantz was keen to capture elements of Americana. Though London born and bred she has a penchant for timeless American melodies and has been compared by old friends like Ed Sheeran as sounding as resplendent on record and live, as artists such as Sheryl Crow, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King and Sara Bareilles.

Now based in Dublin, the gift of modern technology once again presented itself. Krantz contacted Nashville based drummer, Adam Box (Brothers Osborne) and Nashville based keys player, Dave Cohen (Carrie Underwood, Steven Tyler, Reba McEntire) knowing they both had their own private setups to record in. Keeping everything at an acceptable social distance!

She confides, “It felt fun to set ourselves the challenge of making this recording a global effort during a time when no one could be in the same room.”

Krantz recorded her vocals at her new home studio in Southern Ireland. She painted the artwork on a canvas delivered by Amazon and an easel hand crafted by her boyfriend out of scrap wood from the shed because, there was, of course, no way of going out for art supplies.

Mixed by one of Krantz’s go to sound wizards, Richie Biggs (The Civil Wars, The Lone Bellow) at his studio in LA, ‘We Could Be High’ is a song about taking a leap of faith in the hopes of finding the ultimate high. Be it love for another, love for oneself or simply inner calm and connection. Life favours the brave and this song is a reminder to be the bravest version of ourselves, no matter how high the risk.

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Carley Arrowood - Goin' Home Comin' On.

Carley Arrowood is on a journey. Already, it’s taken her onto the stage of the Grand Ole Opry with an acclaimed touring act and into a new role as a singer, songwriter and fiddler recording for the Mountain Home label. Now, following the release of her self-penned ballad, “Dear Juliana” and a celtic-flavored gospel original, “Ballad of Calvary,” she’s taking a quick side trip for a little reunion and renewal in her third single, “Goin’ Home Comin’ On.”

Penned by a trio of writers that includes Jenee Fleenor — the reigning Country Music Association Musician of the Year (and the first woman to win the award) — alongside veteran songwriter Charley Stefl (“The Fool,” “All Aboard”) and producer-bassist (and award-winning songwriter) Jon Weisberger, the song is a lively portrait of a young woman homeward bound for a weekend visit.  As Carley explains, she connected immediately with its theme when she heard it.

“The feeling of a ‘Goin’ Home Comin’ On’ is one in a million,” she notes. “You start that long drive, with your suitcase in the back seat (and maybe your fiddle too) and you start thinking about everybody you’re gonna see and all the things you’re gonna do. That’s the story this song tells with its rootsy, cheerful, nostalgic vibe. The first time I heard it there were vivid memories that came to mind.”

Arrowood is joined by a stellar band that includes bluegrass power couple Kristin Scott Benson (banjo) and Wayne Benson (mandolin), guitarist and harmony singer Daniel Thrailkill — and, fittingly, her sister Autumn. “When we were little girls,” Carley recalls, “my sister Autumn and I would run to our dad when he got home from work — racing to see who would get the first hug. So when I heard the line about running to daddy, I immediately knew Autumn had to sing harmony with me on it!”

Yet while she’s surrounded by a strong group of players, Arrowood’s confident performance keeps her expressive, empathetic voice and commanding fiddle work at center stage from the song’s explosive start through its energetic closing refrain. And though it’s filled with the virtuosity and down-home sentiments of bluegrass, “Goin’ Home Comin’ On” has a distinct country flavor in its varied rhythms and unfolding arrangement.

In fact, when you get down to it, to say Arrowood is on a journey may actually be a bit of a misdirection — for judging by the mature, fully-realized quality of her music, Carley Arrowood has already arrived at a place that makes her one of the fastest rising and meaningful female roots music artists today.


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Rachel Angel - Highway Songs (E.P).

When Rachel Angel sings “I wanna be a renegade,” she is speaking to the experience of personal transformation and resilience, like putting on a protective coat of armor to meet the world with grace and courage. While the songs on the EP were inspired by the spirit of outlaw country, her sense of the outlaw is metaphorical rather than literal. These songs are about taking the unconventional artists' path and staring in the face of danger, fear, and pain.

On her latest EP Highway Songs, the country-folk troubadour takes the listener on a wild journey—physical, emotional, spiritual, and everywhere in between. These songs were written in the midst of a harrowing time for Angel— she was physically sick with an auto-immune disease, self-quarantined in her Brooklyn apartment, writing at a feverish pace. At the time, She was experiencing a lot of catastrophic anxiety and chronic health problems, feeling both mentally and physically all out of sorts. As she began writing the songs that would become Highway Songs, she embarked on a family trip to Mexico, with the disquieting notion that something bad was going to happen, but couldn’t determine if it was anxiety or a premonition. Within the first week of being there, they experienced a 7.1 earthquake in Mexico City—buildings around them fell, power lines went down, and everything closed. But despite feeling frightened and immediately wanting to leave, Angel decided that pushing through the discomfort would ultimately build strength.

After her harrowing experience in Mexico, Angel spent the remainder of the year touring different cities on the east coast, in the UK, and traveling around for various events and building a new sense of resilience. She was listening to a lot of outlaw country, the spirit of which filled her with a feeling of vibrancy and bravery. She finished writing and recording the content of “Highway Songs” during a breaking point and crisis period in her life, right before making her way to the other side. Angel ultimately left New York City for her hometown of Miami in need of great healing and has since been on a spiritual journey, grounding herself and writing more music to heal and nourish herself and her listeners.


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88/89 - Hit Me.

Hailing from London, Jack (born in 88) and Michael (born in 89) began carving out a space between synth-pop and psychedelic rock creating a sonic landscape with no boundaries.

The duo deliver a nostalgic and psychedelic single capturing the high points of being in love. Vocally the track is evocative of bands like The Temper Trap, while the soundscape of synths and guitars are resonant with 80s neo-psychedelia and modern synth-pop bands like MGMT.

88/89 is a hybrid of synths, guitar riffs and sentimentalism. Formed in London, Jack and Michael are carving out a space between synth-pop and psychedelic rock creating a sonic landscape with no boundaries.

Jack and Michael met when both of them were trying to start again creatively - Jack after leaving Sissy and the Blisters and Michael after putting his acting career behind. Jack played some of his music to Michael in a car and then they only grew from there. They quickly realised that they are like Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire, yin and yang.

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Sunday, 26 July 2020

The Gina Furtado Project - Nicky William - Juanita Stein - Speaker Face

The Gina Furtado Project latest single 'The Things I Saw' has a new video, the song is described as a "unique blend of driving contemporary bluegrass and acoustic pop influences" which is spot on for this fabulous track. === Nicky William just released 'I Fell In Love With Her' along with a video that adds to the story, it's a superb song and what can I say, the vocals are simply stunning. === It's been a while since we last featured Juanita Stein so we welcome her back with the new song and title track from her next album 'Snapshot' a reminder of why we got more than a little excited about her music in 2018. === Speaker Face have just shared 'Phosphorescence' and it's a beautiful electronic song with notable vocals and a refined musical arrangement.
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The Gina Furtado Project - The Things I Saw.

The Gina Furtado Project has released a video for "The Things I Saw" the group's latest single. “The Things I Saw” — produced by Thomm Jutz is a unique blend of driving contemporary bluegrass and acoustic pop influences, and of personal memories with a universal spirit, exemplifying the evolution of today’s acoustic music scene through Furtado’s fresh, distinctive approach.

The song describes a personal, literal journey to a sacred and well-loved place in order to seek — and find — solace and redemption from a hectic world. "'The Things I Saw’ was inspired by my experiences growing up on the Shenandoah River,” Furtado says. “All throughout my childhood, I went to the river when I needed comfort of any kind. No matter what happened in my life, good or bad, the river was always the same. The plants and critters and smells and sounds became like old friends; always welcoming and beautiful in every way, and always more powerful than whatever it was that could possibly bring me down.”

“I imagined a secret society whose mission was to fight Hatred with Love,” she continues. “I've taken that little vision into my adult life, and enjoy trying to spot members of this secret society (and trying to be one myself!)....they can be flowers, animals, sunsets, people you pass on the street...anyone or thing who refuses to let darkness and negativity take over and instead chooses to exude pure and unstoppable love.”

Formed by innovative artist Gina Furtado, The Gina Furtado Project brings unique musicianship and songwriting that breaks free from the assumed constructs of traditional music modalities and makes a new musical statement influenced by emotion, played with the highest skill, and expressing an enormous verve and vitality.

Furtado, known for her work as the banjo player for Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, she has a long history with her banjo. Born and raised in Front Royal, Virginia, Gina began touring up and down the east coast in her tween years with her siblings, earning countless ribbons from fiddlers conventions, a strong reputation in the regional bluegrass scene, and a stamp from Bluegrass Today as “absurdly talented.” She later played in a number of regional acts before making her international touring debut with Chris Jones and the Night Drivers soon after joining the group in 2016. While touring, she is joined by Drew Matulich on guitar and Malia Furtado, her sister, on violin, who each bring experience and energy to the band.

Now based in Asheville, NC, Matulich grew up in Georgia and began playing guitar at 8.  While studying music in college he performed with several bands of various styles in and around Georgia and Florida before immersing himself in the Bluegrass scene of Western North Carolina. He has toured and recorded with Billy Strings, made a guest appearance on Roland White's album and shared the stage with the likes of David Grisman, Bryan Sutton, Sam Bush, Cody Kilby, and Sierra Hull.

Malia’s musical journey began at the age of 3 with classical violin lessons and took a turn, when she attended her first festival, Galax Old Fiddlers Convention, a few years later. Since then, she has performed with a number of different groups, taken home a range of prizes, graced the stage of numerous venues up and down the East Coast and given private lessons in both bluegrass and classical playing. Malia is the Director of Education at the Front Porch Music School in Charlottesville, VA, and currently teaches adult continued education courses in bluegrass fiddle at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, VA.

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Nicky William - I Fell In Love With Her.

Raised in a musical household, singer-songwriter Nicky William took inspiration from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith and Nick Cave. Usingold Americana, to the itchy and edgy outsiders to mould his alternative-folk sound, the Swedish artist is set to drop his new offering ‘I Fell in Love with Her’ via Icons Creating Evil Art.

Since the release of his debut album ‘Set You Loved Ones Free, We Have You Surrounded’ in 2017, Nicky has perfected his craft by maturing his sound capabilities. As a result of experimenting with idiosyncratic alternative-folk and complex song-writing, the artist has since secured a signing with Stockholm-based label Icons Creating Evil Art.

Layered with a sensational blend of deep mellifluous strings and Nicky’s husky vocals, upcoming single ‘I Fell in Love With Her’ dwells deep into a love interest who not only captivates the singer-songwriters heart, but everybody else’s too. With others fascinated by her, the song highlights the feeling of self-doubt and not being good enough for that person.

Talking to us about the inspiration behind the track, Nicky tells us: “Fell in love is a song where the idea behind it is quite childish and naive, the feeling of not being desirable is probably pretty universal but this idea of a romantic interest that everyone is condemned to pine for in hopelessness may not be so realistic, but I still felt that it was the feeling I had felt many times and I wanted to convey that feeling in the song.”

Accompanying the new track is a sombre music video featuring Nicky and his desired flame. Directed by Claudio Marino, the visuals portray a rollercoaster of empty emotions and longingness. In the visuals, viewers see Nicky who metaphorically appears to be a ghostlike figure, who fails to be recognised by his love interest. No matter how close he tries to get to her, nothing is ever good enough as her attention is diverted elsewhere.

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Juanita Stein - Snapshot.

Juanita Stein has announced her third album 'Snapshot' will be released via Nude Records on 2nd October in all formats. Juanita has now shared the album's title track, a wonderful introduction to the themes and the sounds of the record. According to Mojo the song " whoops and devastates about how grief unhinges memories like the harshest magic".

“It feels fundamental to understanding the devastation and eerie silence thrust upon us after his sudden death,” begins the Brighton-based, Australian songwriter Juanita Stein, discussing the moment of great sadness that inspired her new record. “It was a daunting task to sum up the life of one man such as my father. He was endlessly inspiring, charming, deeply talented and passionately spiritual. He admirably, and at times frustratingly, carried the torch for his own musical career until the very end.”

It’s within this processing of a life well-lived and attempting to wrestle with the tides of her own grief, that what would become the album began to ebb and flow out of Stein, who first became known for her work as singer and guitarist in Howling Bells. “After I felt I had enough songs,” Juanita explains, “I was moved to reach out to producer Ben Hillier, who I’d been a fan of since hearing records he made with Clinic, Elbow ad Doves to see if he might be interested in making this album with me.”

Unlike her first two solo albums, “America” (2017) and “Until The Lights Fade” (2018), which were made in just a few weeks and both at studios in the US, ‘Snapshot’ was recorded over the course of eight months at Agricultural Audio, not far from Juanita’s home. As she says, “This allowed me the time and distance I so craved. Ben was deeply concerned with allowing the songs to breathe and to take the right shape. We laid down all the defining guitar parts and vocals which were then beds for the band to come in and lay their parts on.”

As the record began to take shape, Juanita “called on my brother, Joel Stein, (guitarist in Howling Bells) to play lead guitar, I knew only he could harness the exact frenzied energy needed for the songs. Both he and I were both going through something pretty momentous and I wanted to shift that energy into the music. Evan Jenkins on drums alternated between freeform and thunderous on some tracks, light and barely-there on others. Jimi Wheelwright on bass held it all together beautifully.”

The result is a record that feels crafted from a life lived as much as it was clearly excavated from loss. It’s a record that strives to capture more than a passing moment and succeeds in laying its hands on something bigger than most of us will ever fully understand.


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Speaker Face - Phosphorescence.

"Phosphorescence" is a complicated love song for the west coast of Canada: British Columbia.

We feel so welcomed by the land and connected to the nature where Trent grew up, but recognize that many people were displaced to allow our presence.

"Phosphorescence" is a thank you letter to those who were here long before us, specifically the Coast Salish, and the early 1900s Japanese settlers, who were interned during WWII. We hope to see this beautiful place through their eyes.

We love the tactile hammer sounds of the rhodes, and the fingers plucking the violin, like a cascade of drips to help paint the west coast landscape. Ruby's voice was recorded three different times in unison and mixed all around your head, so it feels like you’re swimming in the ocean of her voice.


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

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