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.

Libertino · KIM HON - Bach o Flodyn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phantom Handshakes - Marcelo Deiss - Russian Baths

Phantom Handshakes - No Better Plan.

Today, NYC-based dream-pop duo Phantom Handshakes are sharing "No Better Plan," the first single off of their new album, No More Summer Songs, coming on April 30th via Z Tapes.

The band adds that it's, "about the consequences of pleasing someone else’s wishes at the expense of following your own dreams."

Born out of quarantine, Phantom Handshakes is a collaboration between Matt Sklar (Exiles) and Federica Tassano (Sooner, Mônetre). Their first album, Be Estranged, was released last year on Z Tapes.

No More Summer Songs was written, recorded and mixed entirely by Phantom Handshakes at their respective homes in New York City and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marcelo Deiss - One.

Marcelo Deiss is a Brazilian born, London based artist whose music dances between indie, blues, folk and rock. His music approaches subjects that we face everyday. Constantly bombarded with advertising, fake news and social media, we become numb to the real world and lose touch with ourselves, while simultaneously the planet is dividing itself. Marcelo’s music is a reflection of this and how we can so easily lose track of what’s real and what’s not. He opens up discussions about these subjects and stands up to them, fighting for change.

His upcoming EP Hurl features six tracks, all delving into the world’s issues and how we can truly make a difference if we put our minds to it. Leading single “ONE” is a song about finding the strengths to fight back and standing together before it is too late. The organ-filled song is packed with emotion and feeling, lifting spirits up and showing others that we’re capable of great things.

Then there is “On the Way Out!” - born during the American elections and tackles political issues. It’s satirical nature and quirky instrumentation adds a sense of comic relief to a sober situation. “JuVenTuDe” is about the youth living in these troubled times. Minimalist guitar arrangements and mellow vocals provide comfort, reminding listeners that better days are ahead. “Fragments (Tell Me About It)” is about falling through the rabbit hole and being down and lost, overcoming those feelings and coming out alive on the other side. Raucous guitars and roaring organs make you feel as if you’re being born again. “Chiba City Scene” like the name suggests, was inspired by the book Neuromancer and is about the greedy higher power in charge. The track features sweeping strings, raindrop sounding piano and a singing guitar, all of which tell a story without any words being needed.

Title-track “Hurl” was written two years ago and talks about the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and standing up to the men. Bringing the EP to a close, it’s high energy and clashing instruments make it impossible to ignore what Marcelo has to say.

Spending time in both London and Sao Paulo, the musician is able to explore new sounds as well as new topics. The commute between these two cities influenced Marcelo immensely, he shares, “To immerse yourself in a new culture can 100% change the way you think. That really shaped the pursuit of subjects I was interested in whilst writing the EP. Just by observing people we can learn a lot about ourselves.” Interestingly enough we tend to behave the same across the world. We are different yet have so many things in common. The idea of writing about society came from his experiences of being immersed in these two cultures. Through the rawness of his music and the sheer gravity of his lyrics, the Brazilian artist is creating music to stimulate emotions. Hurl is currently available worldwide.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russian Baths - Responder (Night).

Russian Baths have unveiled a re-imagining of their single "Responder," titled "Responder (Night)." The new version strips the original's waves-crashing noise-rock to its melodic, atmospheric core leaving flittering keys and percussion and Luke Koz and Jess Rees' vocals laid bare.

The band details; "Striving to control others (emotions, desire, behaviors) corrupts. This seems like a chronic symptom of the worst in masculinity.

A responder talks back, but does it listen? Not equipped with the tools to be vulnerable, one voice denies reality, refuses to connect, exerts more control, idolizing restraint ("the way I held every face card") and admonishing its counterpart ("you way you scolded me"). With denial (to self and other), all's bound to collapse. Both know it will happen. Neither wants it.

I guess it's also an exploration of the big 80s breakup love ballads of the Patty Smyth featuring Don Henley variation, but the dark sexual politics of the heartbreak are more explicit. This is the night version.

I was listening to a lot of the xx and Sinead O'Connor when we wrote it and when re-recording it, I was listening to PJ Harvey almost exclusively. I wonder if this bleeds into the atmosphere."

Good Eye Records · Russian Baths - "Responder (Night)"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shane Pendergast - Piers Faccini

Shane Pendergast - It Slips Away.

Shane Pendergast is a folksinger from Tracadie Cross, Prince Edward Island. He learned to play by ear at an early age, immersed in a culture of family kitchen parties; by age 13 he was performing professionally on stage. 

Shane’s connection to Maritime folk music dates back to the efforts of his great-grandparents, preservers of folklore in P.E.I. Shane is carrying the torch forward with his own songs, inspired by rural life and Maritime history. At age 22, Shane is known as an “old-school troubadour,” performing upwards of 200 gigs a year. In 2020 he released his debut album, “Place to the Name.”

“Shortly after the track was recorded, I received the word that a close friend of mine passed away. The song is about loss, so it took on an added meaning. The music video footage is from a show I played at Toronto’s TRANZAC Main Hall. That was the last night that I saw my friend Alex. 

I find it surreal to look back at the footage of him, not to mention the big crowd that was gathered. Nobody knew that the world would slip away a few weeks later with the COVID-19 lockdown.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piers Faccini - The Real Way Out.

British-Italian artist Piers Faccini today announces his new album ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ for release on April 2, 2021 through Nø Førmat! (Oumou Sangaré, Blick Bassy & Mélissa Laveaux) / Beating Drum. Featuring collaborations with Ben Harper and Abdelkebir Merchane, ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ is Faccini’s seventh album in a career spanning over twenty years and collaborations with the likes of Rokia Traoré, Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal. The announcement arrives alongside the first track lifted from the album, ‘The Real Way Out’.

In the Gabriel Garcia Marquez story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, the author reflects on the opposing facets of human nature, like the two sides of a spinning coin landing randomly either on cruelty or compassion. Faccini’s new album ‘Shapes Of The Fall’, speaks of something similar - asking, which part of our nature will prevail in the modern world; will we, as the very old man with broken wings, learn to fly again or are we destined to fall? It’s an unsettling question which permeates tender new single ‘The Real Way Out’ - a consideration of regret and sorrow that is nonetheless leavened with a real sense of hope. Speaking about the new track, Faccini says; ‘The Real Way Out’ is a love song to life itself in the shape of an enigma, the unsolved mystery being, the impossibility of reconciling a perfect love with our imperfect identities.

Recorded live in a farmhouse studio in the French countryside, co-produced by Fred Soulard - ‘Shapes of the Fall’ draws heavily on Faccini’s own ancestry, on southern Italian, Arab-Andalusian and Sephardic modes and rhythms, bridging southern Europe with the Near East and Africa. Beginning with his fascination with Tarantismo from Puglia and the last known example of trance ritual and music in Europe, the album crosses the narrow straits of the Mediterranean, accompanied by two Algerian brothers and master instrumentalists, Malik and Karim Ziad, to interplay with trance traditions in the Maghreb and in Berber and Gnawa culture.

The songs on ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ - with string quartet arrangements provided by Spanish composer Luca Suarez - are steeped in rhythm, blending Faccini’s custom-made hybrid fretless instrument, the guitar-oud, bender & tamburello frame drums, karkabous castanets and handclaps to compelling effect.

As a whole, ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ is characterised by an elegiac quality - a thoughtful collection of songs with parallels not only to humans’ destructive effect on the ecosystems of the natural world around us, but also to the internal monologues of our own lives, our own reflections. How have we strung the beads of our lives together? What choices, what actions will determine our rise or fall?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miesha and the Spanks - Jaelee Roberts - The Neighbourhood Watch - Hadda Be

Miesha and the Spanks - I Want Fire.

Miesha & The Spanks offer a dynamic mixture of punk, garage and hard rock embellished with straightforward lyrics, gritty production and hard hitting performances. Inspired by proto punk classics like The Runaways, MC5 and The Stooges, and 90s riot grrrl/grunge like L7 and The Gits, M&TS conjure an energy that hits you in the face, throwing you into a world of killer riffs and sweaty gig venues.

Originally a punk rock kid from the East Kootenays, front-woman Miesha Louie started this project a decade ago after moving to big city Calgary, AB. She toured and released like crazy, building momentum and a reputation for her DIY approach, with any drummer up for the challenge. Joined by Sean Hamilton five years ago, he brought big Bonham style that’s intuitive like John Freese, always creating the right feel for the song.

Recorded in Brighton UK, their 2018 release Girls Girls Girls was produced by Danny Farrant of punk legends The Buzzcocks. The album reached #1 on Earshot!’s National Loud charts, and had singles hit #7 on CBC 3’s R3-30, and #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown. It received multiple adds on SiriusXM Canada, and was even given attention from Rodney Bingenheimer’s Sirius XM show in the US. At the YYC Music Awards, Girls Girls Girls brought home Rock Recording Of The Year and Single Of The Year (“Summer Love”), as well as securing Miesha as Female Artist Of The Year.

Taking a brief hiatus while Miesha birthed twins, M&TS are back with their next release, Singles EP. While the Covid-19 pandemic did slow down production, the duo have put their full weight behind first singles “Unstoppable” and “Wanna Feel Good” – a juggernaut garage rock banger and a gritty fuzzed out anthem, respectively – reminding us that sometimes head first, full throttle, is the only way to get it done. Both songs received adds to SiriusXM Canada’s CBC Radio 3 and Indigenous Peoples’ Radio, with features on The Verge and Rodney Bingenheimer Show. Wanna Feel Good charted Top 10 on the Indigenous Music Countdown.

What was meant to be a mixed tape of self-serving, standalone tracks for radio and licensing, Singles EP instead became a collection of songs influenced by the immediate life-changing effects of life during lockdown. Working with Western Canadian Music Award winning artist/producer Leeroy Stagger was meant to reign in Miesha & The Spanks, to clean up the noise for crisp, polished songs – but visited from the ghost of punk rock past, Stagger instead turned it up (way up) and imbued their crunchy mono-guitar sound with extra doses of fuzz and feedback, guaranteed to get the blood pumping.

“I Want Fire” is the third single coming in hot ahead of Singles EP, boasting a catchy as hell chorus, and conjuring the urge to explode we’re all feeling after nearly a year of restrictions and lockdowns. For those who want to burn it all down or light it up, I Want Fire is open to interpretation. This song rocks hard, and serves as a strong representation of what’s to come.

Miesha and the Spanks · I Want Fire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaelee Roberts - Something You Didn't Count On.

Hearing a new talent finding her voice is always an exciting musical moment, and though “Something You Didn’t Count On” might not be Jaelee Roberts’ literal debut, it marks her arrival on the scene in a way that almost demands recognition. With support from award-winning bassist/producer Tim Surrett (Balsam Range) and a group of supremely skilled and empathetic musicians, Roberts’ first single for Mountain Home Music Company more than fulfills every expectation for the young singer-songwriter.

“Jaelee’s is a name you should remember. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing it a lot in the future,” says hit country singer/songwriter and 2-time IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Shawn Camp, and he’s right. “Something You Didn’t Count On” underlines the point, offering both the song itself — co-written with another grass-inflected singer-songwriter, Theo MacMillan — and a confident performance that stands out boldly from the music supplied by an all-star crew that includes Surrett; 2-time Mandolin Player of the Year, Alan Bibey; 5-time Banjo Player of the Year, Kristin Scott Benson; guitarist Tony Wray (Blue Mafia, John Cowan Band) and fiddler Jimmy Mattingly (Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, The Grascals).

“‘Something You Didn’t Count On’ is about anything that happens in life unexpectedly,” says Roberts. “The main theme is about love coming out of nowhere, but it really has so many underlying meanings, and that’s why I love the song so much. The melody and lyrics came to Theo and I pretty quickly and, interestingly, the storyline comes from either the male or female perspective. I think my favorite line in the song is ‘you don’t always look for what you find’ which is the focus of what the song is all about!”

Indeed, while the group turns in typically burnished backing, energetic solos and razor-sharp harmonies from Flatt Lonesome’s Paul and Kelsi Harrigill, Roberts is in full command as she delivers the song’s well-crafted story of an unexpected love capable of sweeping past every doubt and obstacle. And though it’s more providential than deliberate, “Something You Didn’t Count On” may serve, too, as a metaphor for the jump start the single should give to her career.

Syntax Creative · Jaelee Roberts - "Something You Didn't Count On"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Neighbourhood Watch - Lost In Bloom (Album).

Our brand new album, Lost in Bloom, is about three things: abandoning arrogance, resenting the people we loved, and being scared of growing up. A collection of profound changes and adjustments have happened over the past two years, in all of our lives. Whether it was deep self-reflection on how we treated our friends, relationships ending, or the anxiety of a global pandemic – the years between 19 and 21 were eventful.

The song, "20 Year Dream," is about being happy for the people you used to love. Accepting that you were standing in the way of their growth—and that they’re better off without you. My favourite lyric is you've got your own sense of loving, and it let me down. I wrote this track sitting in a garden in Johannesburg, tipsy from an evening at a rooftop bar in Maboneng. I had just cried after a hard call, recognizing that I was letting so many of the people I love down.

Let's reflect on how our energy has the power to make others either feel warm and loved, or cold and rejected. Whether it's actual adolescence or arrested development, a lot of us aren't conscious enough of our impact and responsibility in the world. It's such simple things. How you share good news. How you argue with your significant other. Make space for the people you love to say what they need to say, and be who they need to be.

Lost in Bloom is about a few young men learning that growing up isn't about ambition, but rather kindness. - The Neighbourhood Watch.

The Neighbourhood Watch · Lost In Bloom

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hadda Be - Another Life.

Hadda Be (formerly Foundlings) walks the line of early 90's fuzzy indiepop, reaching for the stars britpop, and somehow still finding ways to keep it all danceable and sharp. 

The band was formed under the name Foundlings in 2018, spread across joint hometowns of South London and Brighton. Their first two singles, ‘Misery’ and ‘Horizon’, received generous airplay on BBC 6 Music and Radio X, as well as Melita Dennett’s BBC Introducing the South. The following year saw the release of the band’s debut, eponymously-titled EP via their new record label, Last Night From Glasgow. In support of the release, the band took to the road, performing at festivals across the UK and selling out their two release shows at the Sebright Arms (London) and Stereo (Glasgow).

In 2020, with the departure of the band’s original bass player, a new member, a recent introduction to parenthood, a debut album in the works, brexit-induced political turmoil, coronavirus and a US trademark dispute to boot, the newly replenished four-piece made the change to Hadda Be. Taken from Allen Ginsberg’s poem Hadda Be Playing on the Radio , the new name reflects a fresh outlook for the band, a keener understanding of its sound and a heightened sense of purpose.

The aptly titled Another Life , the band’s forthcoming debut album, was recorded in five days at Brighton Road Studios in between the two national lockdowns. The intention of the album was to create a body of work that captures the energy and spirit of the band, something that sets them apart: “There’s a vibrancy and an energy to our live shows, a distinct personality that we wanted to immortalise in our debut album. The songs were mostly recorded live, with some overdubs here and there. Due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the recording of the album was delayed twice. By the time we finally managed to get into the studio, we had the songs down to an extent that we recorded most of them in only a few takes.” That immediacy is palpable throughout the album, the band achieving what they set out to do, capturing their spirit over the course of five intense and unforgettable days.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roseanne Reid - Raquel Kiaraa - Departure Lounge - Partner

Roseanne Reid - Tentsmuir Sky.

Scottish singer and songwriter Roseanne Reid unveils ‘Tentsmuir Sky’, the second offering from her upcoming EP ‘Horticulture’, set for release on April 10th, via Last Man. Inspired by Tentsmuir Forest in Fife, Scotland, the track in Rosanne’s own words “tries to capture the magic of a place which has offered me both escape from and reconnection with the world. The Redshank and Roe deer referenced in the opening lines highlight just a fraction of the amazing variety of wildlife that inhabit the forest, at the edge of which the sea meets the sky”.

Entirely written and home-recorded during lockdown by Roseanne herself and mixed by The Who and Manic Street Preacher’s producer Dave Eringa, ‘Tentsmuir Sky’ is the follow up to ‘You Underestimate Me’, which premiered on BBC Scotland’s Another Country with Ricky Ross last December.

Lockdown and cancelled tours in 2020, saw Roseanne perform series of popular live streams from her garden. Inspired by her interest in horticulture, she enrolled in a degree course whilst also learning music production and recording techniques. These two new skills created the basis for the forthcoming EP ‘Horticulture’, a four-track collection of new songs due for release as a special edition vinyl in April 2021. Last year Roseanne was nominated for Song Of The Year at the UK Americana Awards for ‘Amy’, this year Roseanne played an exclusive live streamed show during the AmericanaFest UK.

Opening for Teddy Thompson in 2022, Roseanne will support his 12 dates tour starting at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on 21st January 2022, touching London’s Earth Theatre on 28th January, before ending at Manchester’s Band On The Wall on 3rd February.

Roseanne Reid’s critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Trails’ announced the official arrival of a singular voice in folk-roots and americana music. Produced by Teddy Thompson and featuring Americana legend Steve Earle - has seen the talented troubadour and eldest daughter of The Proclaimers' Craig Reid - been praised for her “authentic country-tinged folk” by The Sun (****), with approval from Uncut (8/10) and Sunday Times Culture, the latter also including the album among its “100 best records of the year”. While support at radio from Jools Holland’s on Radio 2, and live sessions with BBC London’s Robert Elms and Another Country with Ricky Ross at BBC Scotland further enhanced her reputation.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raquel Kiaraa - Official Love to the Moon 

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to grasp the tail of a kite?  Imagine no more; Raquel Kiaraa is prepared to take you with her on a trajectory to the "moon."

Raquel Kiaraa is a  modern-day chanteuse who defies genre with musical dexterity. She gave wings to her music in 2018, having never sung or played an instrument prior. “At 32 I learned how to sing and play the piano so I could transform my poetry into music, the same age as my muse/role model, Leonard Cohen when he began making music,” she shares. Love, loss, hopelessness, and redemption weave seamlessly throughout her deceptively simple yet soulful lyrics.

Raquel’s voice has been compared to Amy Winehouse, Florence and the Machine, Alannah Myles, Joan Jett, and Carly Simon. Her energy, showmanship and performance presence have been inspired by the talented Lady Gaga and Cher, curating her own unique stage costumes that command her presence to be felt and known.

By 2019, Raquel was motivated and determined enough to finally turn her goals into reality. By simply believing in the power of her music, she assembled a band of accomplished musicians and, after only two rehearsals, some vocal lessons and music sheets for 13 original songs, Raquel produced two sold-out 250+-seater performances, selling her own tickets and running her own publicity single-handedly.

But nothing has come without a cost for Raquel; there were many lows in her life, in particular an athletic career thwarted by an injury. But as a young, tall, awkward teen, she emerged into adulthood with startling poise and glamour, believing that fear would never be her leader.   On the way to becoming, Raquel wrote her feelings into her journal. Words, stories, and observations in life were etched into the pages of what would one day be released to the world as lyrics to her hauntingly beautiful songs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Departure Lounge - Australia.

From Athens, Georgia to Australia in one bound, the sound of legendary R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck’s twelve strings jangle their inimitable way through the latest single from Departure Lounge, reunited Bella Union-alumni ‘critics choice’ band, now signed to reputed UK indie Violette Records, who announced their first album for two decades at the end of 2020. The band's singer and songwriter Tim Keegan sought out his friend of thirty years after noticing a distinct ‘Rickenbacker-shaped hole’ in the track during their brief, yet fruitful album sessions.

Of all the eventful incidents of a life in music well-lived, Keegan counts his longstanding friendship with Buck, initially via their mutual musical acquaintance, Robyn Hitchcock and more recently via a tiny festival in Arctic Norway with John Paul Jones, amongst the most enduring and valuable of happy accidents. As an R.E.M. devotee from the early-80s, Keegan subconsciously wrote the perfect foundation for Buck to layer streams of his distinctive fretwork over in Australia, a studio-crafted slice of urgent alt-rock with the pan-American flavour of both Illinois’ Wilco and California’s Grandaddy. However, it was Buck’s contribution, according to Keegan, that brought the whole thing right back to Georgia.

"Listening to the playback of 'Australia' in the studio, I remember saying to the rest of the band: ‘what this song needs is Peter Buck’ (like the bicycle in the Quentin Blake book, ‘Mrs. Armitage on Wheels’). I sent him the rough mix, he said he dug the song and went and played the perfect part on it. I am not ashamed to say that when I opened that email and first listened to his divine soloed track on headphones, I shed some tears of joy. Now it sounds like a great lost REM single from 1989 (with a different singer, sure) and it's probably the best thing we've ever done.” - Tim Keegan, Departure Lounge.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Partner - Good Place To Hide (At The Time).

Partner are back with a new video for their RUSH-inspired single "Good Place To Hide (At The Time)." It is the final single, from Partner's Never Give Up (You've Changed Records) the follow up to their break out debut album, In Search of Lost Time. There is a content warning, however, the video does include mimes/clowns. It also features Partner doing choreographed synchronized dance moves, under the direction of Karissa Laroque.

A Message from Partner: "Please take note of the content warning, this video includes mimes (clowns). This video is the result of a collaboration between ourselves and our friend Mylou Sauvage. We were so excited when Mylou offered to direct our next music video. We knew she was a film industry professional with a lot of experience, and that she would be the perfect person to interpret our queer, melancholy prog rock song.

We had quite an adventure making this video. The journey to the set was dramatic, featuring an unexpected snow storm. Despite wretched weather we had a wonderful day and we were extremely inspired by Mylou's one-of-a-kind leadership qualities and artistic eye. She brought together an amazing crew of friends, family and co-workers to help on the set, and we had so much fun working together and celebrating over pizza at Tartinizza later that night.

We are so happy with how the video turned out, but the greatest gift was the day we all spend together. We are so grateful to have this memento of that wonderful day with our friend Mylou. Never Give Up is dedicated to her memory. Thanks for watching! " - Partner

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Caoilfhionn Rose - Paging Doctor Moon - Lord and the Woolf - Elijah Wolf

Photo - Emily Dennison

Caoilfhionn Rose — Flourish.

Truly, the luscious, soulful new album from Manchester singer-songwriter Caoilfhionn Rose (pronounced Keelin) moves through a tapestry of curious musical inflections; nods towards folk, jazz, ambient, electronica and even a subtle influence of psychedelia, it never stands still to take a breath, despite its ethereal and delicate core. Out April 9th on Gondwana Records (Mammal Hands, Portico Quartet, Matthew Halsall, Hania Rani), in Truly, the young singer-songwriter has accomplished a body of work that is both sonically and lyrically wise beyond her years. Rose today shares a first single from the album – ‘Flourish’, an intoxicating song that meditates on being present in the moment, allowing peace to come to you.

“The song ‘Flourish’ is about looking forwards with hope and possibility, ‘let it flow away, let it turn around and flourish’. It’s about finding peace and feeling wonder again” says Rose about the track. “’Flourish’ hints at the ideas of what could be, how things can unfold if you let go ‘and just be here’.”

Co-produced by Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column following Rose’s collaborative endeavours with them on their album Chronicle LX:XL, the musician’s song writing draws from a diverse palette of influences, including Building Instrument, Rachel Sermanni, Alabaster dePlume and Broadcast. Rose also professes to a love for beautiful, stripped back, piano based music, such as Dustin O’Halloran and label mate Hania Rani.

Truly came to exist due to a deep-routed need to create – even though its conception was interrupted as Caoilfhionn Rose recovered in hospital from an illness, she found strength within writing music. “In Spring 2019 I took part in a gig swap with my good friend and fellow musician Kristian Harting who is from Denmark. We played several gigs in the UK but unfortunately the Denmark part of the tour was cut short as I was taken ill. I was hospitalised for several weeks and have taken the last year out to recover” says Rose. “I gradually returned to finishing my second album” she continues. “Coming back to creating after being unwell was challenging but also therapeutic. This record marks a difficult time of my life and writing it helped get me through that. I am really grateful to have music as an outlet.” It may be this tremendously challenging period that has abetted its characterising qualities.

Rose’s beautifully restrained vocal is all at once soothing yet mesmerising. She demands and holds attention through her evident talent yet hypnotises the listener into a trance with her experimental tendencies. “After being unwell, getting back to recording helped me recover my voice after not singing for so long. Finishing bits of songs, writing lyrics and recording vocals helped me get back on my feet and get better.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paging Doctor Moon - Haunted.

Rising alt indie band Paging Doctor Moon has released their second single, Haunted, available on all streaming services today February 5.

Written and performed by founding member Kirsten Heibert with production, mixing, and mastering by Julian Giaimo and features from Morgan Karabel, the track explores why we hold on to relationships that are toxic.

“Haunted is about a bad relationship that feels like Groundhog Day,” says Kirsten Heibert, founder of Paging Doctor Moon. “We wrote it on the porch while we were recording the rest of the album.”

Paging Doctor Moon’s second single is an emotional symphony paired with soulful lead vocals as the primary instrument. The track begins with a stripped and raw exploration with just vocals and guitar and builds to a fuller alternative indie soundscape flushed out with a soft electric guitar and light percussion.

Known for their deep lyricism and vocals and evocative arrangements, Paging Doctor Moon will continue to release singles this year leading up to a Spring 2021 debut album release.

Paging Doctor Moon is an alt indie band with soulful & jazzy vocals from singer/songwriter Kirsten Heibert She founded Paging Doctor Moon in Brooklyn in 2018 under a different band name They gigged in NYC for two years, regularly hitting NYC indie-staples Rockwood Music Hall and Arlene’s Grocery. RIYL: Crumb, Lianne La Havas, Sister Sparrow, Fiona Apple, Mazzy Starr, Kat Wright.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lord and the Woolf - Young

Lord and the Woolf is made up of a pair of rascals from the North West of England - Joe Woolf and Sam Lord.

After previously touring with bands ‘Chappaqua Wrestling, ‘Aquilo’, ’LOWES’, and ‘Shy Luv’, Sam and Joe decided to start their own project. With Joe conveniently being a producer they took to his studio to hone and create their own unique style and sound. 

Their studio writing process and attention to detail spawned a dense and interesting production aesthetic, resembling the likes of ‘Alt-J’, ‘Bombay Bicycle club’ and ‘Tame Impala.’

Following two previous singles including the euphoric ‘Etta’s Game’, this month will mark the release of their 3rd single ‘Young’ alongside a music video.

‘Young’ carries a narrative which highlights youthful lust and love, and how it can harness the power to distort our moral compass. At a point in everyone’s life, they must make a choice to either leave or stay in a life defining moment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo - Eric Michael Pearson

Elijah Wolf - Brighter Lighting.

Brooklyn-based artist Elijah Wolf has released the title track from his upcoming album Brighter Lighting due out February 26 via Trash Casual Records. The track features contributions from Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Josh Jaeger (drummer for Angel Olsen & Fleet Foxes) and Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Sharon Van Etten), who also produced the album. Also today, Forbes interviewed Elijah about the new single release, stating "Rolling guitar melodies create forward motion, synths and lap steels mirror the motion of the natural world."

"This song came so naturally and I had felt like it summed up the record nicely as a whole," says Wolf. "I had spent quite some time reflecting on the experience writing my first record before this one, which was a deeply lonely and personal one. This song is about looking back on those days and how life has moved far past them. It’s about taking those experiences and moving forward."

Speaking about the video, Elijah explains: "I grew up in Phoenicia, New York, nestled up in the Catskill Mountains. Throughout my life, the geography and botanical offerings have provided great comfort for me. It is here that I gained my great wonder and curiosity for the world, as well as the place I continuously return to when things get dark and uncertain. 

Brighter Lighting is about understanding the past, so that one may look forward with wide eyes. I asked one of my closest friends, Dylan Kaplowitz, a filmmaker (also from the Catskill Mountains), to document a full day with me, revisiting these sacred places; each one with great significance to my life. I shared stories with him at each spot and he filmed it all on a Super 8 camera."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moontype - Doohickey Cubicle

Moontype - About You.

Moontype have announced their debut LP Bodies of Water, which will be released on up and coming Chicago imprint Born Yesterday Records. The announcement arrives on the heels of the release of the band's debut single "Ferry" in December which received an overwhelming response, earning comparisons to Galaxie 500 and Beach House in The New York Times and earning praise and even some "most anticipated LPs of 2021" nods from outlets like FADER, MTV, Stereogum, NPR, Paste and Bandcamp. To mark the announce of the LP the band are sharing a second single "About You."

"When I wrote ‘About You’ I was sitting in my apartment missing my friend who had gone abroad for the semester and thinking about all the moments that made our friendship so special," explains singer/bassist Margaret McCarthy. "The glue between us started to form while on tour, walking through Richmond VA for hours one night past confederate monuments and art on building walls. The friendship began as a crush but it slowly melted into something more lasting - we made a synth together, we wrote songs together - and I really just wanted to be around them most of the time! There was this feeling of being two magnets, pulling towards each other, but the pull doesn’t stay that strong forever and I wanted to remember what it felt like at the start. I’m grateful I wrote it down in that way because now me and my friend fall in and out of touch but every time we play that song I remember how special they are and how important they are to me."

The three players in Chicago’s Moontype orbited each other for years before they came in phase. Bodies of Water, their debut album for local label Born Yesterday, documents travel, insecurity, friendship, and the titular element—all of which are representative of the band members’ strong connection to place and to one another. “Being rooted in the landscape became important to me while studying geology, which completely changed how I think about the world,” offers songwriter, vocalist and bassist Margaret McCarthy of the album’s central themes. The arrangements themselves feel like open-hearted negotiations; sparse fingerpicking gives way to saturated tube-screaming as naturally as the changing of tides. Over twelve tracks, Moontype revels in the woozy concoction of its many influences, but always lands on punchy hooks, shifting between arrangements both spacious and mystifying without abandoning their conversational warmth.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doohickey Cubicle - Sign Here.

Doohickey Cubicle (formerly Booty EP) are a dream-inducing synth-pop duo that ooze with creativity. Whether it’s their energetic and visually stunning live shows, their self-produced singles or their wealth of DIY music videos, they’re always up to something, and it’s always interesting.

Since 2017, Doohickey Cubicle – made up of Alli Deleo on keys/vocals and Francis Hooper on guitar/synth – have been creating art in multiple mediums, and always from the ground up. Beginning as a small project that mostly focused on self-recorded off-the-cuff late-night jams with humorous vocal improvisations, the group didn’t take themselves too seriously (hence the original, or current name). That being said, after a handful of shows, the duo began to realize that the audience felt differently, as they were visibly taken back not only by their ethereal musical presence, but by their captivating projection visuals, which have since then become a staple for the band’s live show. It wasn’t long after that they released their first EP What What and the Who Now? followed by the single Mascarpone in 2018, showing a new focus towards their work, and no lack of inspiration or momentum after being discovered as an up-and-coming power duo in Vancouver’s indie-pop scene. Since then the group has played festivals like Reeperbahn (Hamburg), Linecheck Festival (Milan), POP Montreal (Montreal), Music Waste (Vancouver), Rifflandia (Victoria, BC), Fringe Festival (Vancouver), and Westward Festival (Vancouver). They’ve toured in Italy the last two years in November, along with shows in Berlin and London, a Pacific Northwest tour, and shows in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and NYC.

More recently, the duo released their new single Airbag with an accompanying music video on April 17th, which will be on their self-released debut LP Don’t Fix Anything 😉, due out in March 2021. Recorded between Montreal and their home studio The Juniper Room, and self-produced as always, Don’t Fix Anything 😉 is without a doubt their most ambitious musical venture to date, with countless collaborations with notable artists, multiple single releases, remixes, and numerous additions to their already towering arsenal of music videos.

Doohickey Cubicle · Sign Here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Besnard Lakes - POOLS

The Besnard Lakes - Our Heads, Our Hearts on Fire.

Nearly five years after their last lightning-tinted volley, magisterial Montreal psych-rock band, The Besnard Lakes, have sworn off compromise, split with their long-standing label, and completed The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings (out now!) – a searing, 72-minute suite about the darkness of dying and the light on the other side.

The album’s newest single, “Our Heads, Our Hearts On Fire Again,” has that 3/4 waltz The Besnard Lakes love so much – the same 3/4 waltz that their song, “Disaster,” rested upon. It’s also a bit of a lament about how sad the band was when they parted ways with Jagjaguwar

They have passed through death and they’re here to tell the tale. Nearly five years after their last lightning-tinted volley, the magisterial Montreal psych-rock band have sworn off compromise, split with their long-standing label, and completed a searing, 72-minute suite about the darkness of dying and the light on the other side.

The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings is the group’s sixth album and the first in more than 15 years to be released away from a certain midwestern American indie record company. After 2016’s A Coliseum Complex Museum – which saw Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas attempting shorter, less sprawling songs – the Besnards and their label decided it was time to go their separate ways; with that decision came a question of whether to even continue the project at all. What use is a band with an instinct for long, tectonic tunes – rock songs with chthonic heft and ethereal grace, five or 10 or 18 minutes long? How do you sell that in an age of bite-sized streaming? How do you make it relevant?

“Who gives a s..t!” the Besnard Lakes realized. Ignited by their love for each other, for playing music together, the sextet found themselves unspooling the most uncompromising recording of their career. Despite all its grandeur, …The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings honours the very essence of punk rock: the notion that a band need only be relevant to itself. At last the Besnard Lakes have crafted a continuous long-form suite: nine tracks that could be listened together as one, like Spiritualized’s Lazer Guided Melodies or even Dark Side of the Moon, overflowing with melody and harmony, drone and dazzle, the group’s own unique weather.

Here now, the Besnard Lakes finally dispensed with the two/three-year album cycle, taking all the time they needed to conceive, compose, record and mix their opus. Some of its songs were old, resurrected from demos cast aside years ago. Others were literally woodshedded in the cabanon behind Lasek and Goreas’s “Rigaud Ranch” – invented and reinvented, relishing this rougher sound. Some of that distortion makes its way into the final mix: an incandescent crackle that had receded from the Besnards’ more recent output.

Rightly – nay, definitively! – The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings is a double LP. “Near Death” is the title of the first side. “Death,” “After Death,” and “Life” follow next. It’s literally a journey into (and back from) the brink: the story of the Besnard Lakes’ own odyssey but also a remembrance of others’, especially the death of Lasek’s father in 2019. Being on your deathbed is perhaps the most psychedelic trip you can go on: in Lasek’s father’s case, he surfaced from a morphine dream to talk about “a window” on his blanket, with “a carpenter inside, making intricate objects.” That experience pervades the album, catching fire on the song “Christmas Can Wait”; elsewhere the band pays tribute to the late Mark Hollis and, on “The Father of Time Wakes Up,” they mourn the death of Prince.

In these scorched and pitted times, as the world smoulders, there might be nothing less trendy than an hour-long psych-rock epic by a band of Canadian grandmasters. Then again, there might be nothing we need more. …The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings is a bright-blazing requiem: nine tunes that are one tune and six musicians who make one band – unleashed and unconstrained, piercing and technicolour. At the end of the golden day, the Besnard Lakes are right where they should be.

Flemish Eye Records · The Besnard Lakes: Our Heads, Our Hearts on Fire Again (EDIT)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

POOLS - Looking for Trouble.

The latest addition to the Swedish musical pipeline is the charming americana duo, POOLS.

The two-piece outfit is the collective vision of multi-instrumentalist Fredrik Forell and lead vocalist Arvid Hällagård. Reminiscent of bands such as The National and The Tallest Man On Earth, POOLS combine americana, folk and gospel to create something quite remarkable.

POOLS marks the end of a journey for the pair, who used to function as the electro-pop group WYRES in addition to Arvid’s place within stoner rock band Greenleaf. However, it is also symbolic of their new beginning; the arrangements might be delicate, but their artistic intensity remains the same.

Their forthcoming album You & Us is a collection of poignant and haunting lullabies that landscape themes of loss and rumination, inspired by the divorce Arvid was going through as the album was taking shape. With the release of their debut record on the horizon, POOLS share their latest track ‘Looking For Trouble’ following the tender outpour of their last single ‘Walk’.

Pondering the future, ‘Looking For Trouble’ is a soft ballad, crafted by gentle piano, brushed snares and hearty vocals, detailing the prospects that could lie ahead for Arvid’s daughter. He says the track is about “…how when she gets older will go out to some bar and dance her way through the night, looking for trouble, which is actually the love that we all need and crave.”

‘Looking For Trouble’ will be available to stream on 28th January 2021 with debut album You & Us coming April 30th 2021 via Something Beautiful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gracie Nash - Timid, the Brave - Kill The Giants

Gracie Nash - Sippy Cup.

Gracie Nash is too young to remember the halcyon eras of classic pop songcraft, but she does remember what these songs meant to her growing up during the early 2000s era of fizzy divas and boy bands. Songs from the 1950s through the 1970s were an escape from painfully complex school dynamics. These songs gave Gracie hope, comfort, and courage. Today, the New York-based artist gives back with well-crafted and lushly orchestrated modern vintage pop songs.

Her songs perfectly encapsulate her eccentricities, tying together her playfulness and poetic sensibility as a lyricist, her theatrical musicality, and her love of influences such as Billy Joel, the Beatles, Motown, disco, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, and ELO. Her talents came full bloom while in college, and she graduated from NYU Steinhardt with a Master's Degree in Songwriting. Since then, Gracie has been a featured singer with the string group Little Kruta, and a featured artist with the New York Nashville Connection. Today, outside of her artist’s career, Gracie is a private guitar/voice/ukulele/songwriting teacher, and a Teaching Artist with the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

Gracie shares: I wrote “Sippy Cup” about 3 years ago when I was in the midst of the NYC dating scene.  I had met a few nice guys, however the same issue kept creeping up: transparency. If you know me, you know that I’m the epitome of an open book. I treasure honesty & transparency so much in all my relationships... and yet I found myself swept up in these unfulfilling flings with mysterious & aloof men. One of the most notable romances was with a smooth-talking banjo player who constantly kept me on my toes. Inevitably, the affair fizzled out. At first I wondered what was wrong with me, why didn’t he want to open up to me? But upon reflection...I realized it wasn’t me at all. 

I was catching up with my cousin & he asked me what had ever happened with the banjo player. Without skipping a beat I said “You know, it was like, I was a glass of water...and he was just a sippy cup.” And as the words came out of my mouth I knew that line had to go into a song. I imagine most people have dated a Sippy Cup at some point or another. While we’re trying to start clear & healthy relationships (a la a glass of water) we end up paired with a small & opaque person (a la a sippy cup). It happens to the best of us! I hope that my song “Sippy Cup” helps those who are looking for love have a good laugh at the ones who got away. PS. Just in case said banjo player is reading this...it’s water under the bridge and I truly wish him the best! If anything I’m grateful for the song inspiration."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Timid, the Brave - St. Maria.

Timid, the Brave is the solo moniker for Canadian songwriter Tim Selles. His 2011 self-titled debut EP, recorded with Scott Orr of Other Songs, was named one of iTunes Canada’s “Best Of” that year. 

After growing somewhat tired of the grind of solo performances and simple recordings, Selles recruited a handful of other Hamilton musicians to lend their talents to 2017’s LP, Firesale. 

The forthcoming record, Vuja De, builds on that communal transition, featuring Nate Wall (King Park) on drums and percussion, Ethan Rooney (The Good Hunters) on bass, and Gareth Inkster on pretty much everything else. 

Set for a Spring 2021 release, the upcoming record chronicles the cyclical nature of life, exploring the possibility of finding new meaning in familiar experiences.

Other Songs · Timid, the Brave - St. Maria

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kill The Giants - Like The Sun.

Like The Sun is the first single from the new album Arcadia  by St Albans' collective Kill The Giants. The tracks is a retor slice of 80's electro funk.

Arcadia is their 4th album and is inspired by their love of the 1980's, amusement arcades and video games.

The band have received rave reviews from the likes of Hotpress, Steve Lamacq from BBC 6 Music & John Kennedy from Radio X.

Kill The Giants have mixed up genres at will on their previous albums but have gone back to the electronica of the 1980's for Arcadia. The album is influence by 80's pop, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and New Order.

The first single from the album is When i Feel Alone which is dedicated to all those who suffer from depression.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aistè - Strictly Elizabeth - Kue Varo - Cousin Mouth - Heavy Feather - Belle Tower

Aistè - Where You're Going Today.

Rising independent pop powerhouse and 2021 One To Watch Aistè has released new single ‘Where You're Going Today,’ premiered on Hayes FM, and the accompanying official music video, premiered on A1234. Completed during lockdown, both the track and the video are entirely written and produced by Aistè herself.

The gorgeous visuals for ‘Where You're Going Today’ see Aistè reconnect with the pure and uncontaminated freedom, both physical and creative, that she found herself drawn to during the pandemic.

While waiting out the stay-at-home orders in her hometown in Lithuania, she started exploring her connection with the innocent child that she once was, free from the routines and chaotic energy of her daily life back in London. She found inspiration in the introspective and nostalgic feelings that surfaced, and this, combined with the creativity and restlessness that burst at her seams while in lockdown, produced a powerful moment of soul-searching and contemplation that she artfully translated into music.

‘Where You're Going Today’ is born out of the persistent feeling that there must be something larger, something almost holier than the capitalistic games we are trapped in, and that reconnecting with the child that lives within and guides each one of us is the best way to awaken ourselves from the stupor we've been living under.

"Change is inevitable, this much we've learned in 2020," says Aistè about her journey with new music. "We’ll change homes, countries, partners, ourselves in the pursuit to achieve our dreams and thus fulfilment. When all is said and done, after all these transformations, do we still remember the person who dreamed those very dreams? Is he, is she still around?"

'Where You're Going Today’ follows the release of latest singles, magnetic and futuristic ‘Mojo' and anti-capitalist anthem 'Money Is Life,' the official video for which was nominated in the Best Director category at the 2020 KlipVid Awards. After testing the waters with previous tracks ‘My Only Friend’, ‘Say When’, and 'This Will Happen’, as well as the bewitching ‘Blue Dawn’, Aistè breathes a new creative fire.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strictly Elizabeth - These Little Things (I Get From You).

Strictly Elizabeth, announced today the launch of her second track from her monthly Full Moon Series, with the release of “These Little Things (I Get From You)” available now via all digital platforms. This is the second installment of new music to be released on the full moon since it launched last month.

Produced and Mixed by musician Ira Ingber, “These Little Things (I Get From You)” is a previously unreleased song of her own composition released via her own Data Water Records with virtual distribution by Dash/Go. 

“We launched the Full Moon Series in the spirit of releasing what is complete to make room for new creative action and collaboration,” said Jessica of Strictly Elizabeth. “This month’s track, “These Little Things (I Get From You)” is about the person you become through habit and patterns of behavior.”

This is a deeply personal track for Jessica, who started to see that she was imitating the men she was in love with and wrote this song about that piece of self-discovery. She found that although she is much more aware of it now, it’s still a deeply ingrained pattern from childhood. The video for this song explores this theme.

The Full Moon Series next installment will be released on the next full moon, February 27, 2021 and subsequent full moons throughout the year. This series is a platform to release what’s complete and make room for new creative audio and visual pursuits coming from Strictly Elizabeth this year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kue Varo - No.

"As the only female-presenting member in a lot of past projects, I was often designated the 'mom role,'" said Kue Varo songwriter, Katrina Spreen (they/them). "As much as this identity was imposed, I enabled it, and had to come to terms with my inability to say 'no.' Sometimes when you mean to do right by someone, it can be misplaced, and you have to learn to do right by yourself first."

"No" hails from Kue Varo's debut LP, Daffodil-11, which Spreen recorded at Montreal's St Zo Studio. The album features Matthew Spreen on rhythm guitar, Chris Dadge (Alvvays) on percussion, Scott Munro (Preoccupations) on synth, and Rena Kozak (Child Actress) on bass and production duties.

"Daffodil-11 is a reference to Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick, which is my absolute favourite book of all time," said Spreen. "It’s roughly about human decency for human decencies sake, without attachment to outcome. This album starts with an angry introduction to the planet, and ends with me trying not to bury her. It’s a very vulnerable and sometimes uncomfortable undressing."

The seven songs on Daffodil-11 each have one of two personalities attributed to them.

"Although I believe strongly that traits assigned a gender are silly, I enjoy exploring duality in the form of gender to help come to terms with what was imposed onto me," Spreen said. "Gender presenting is a fun visual way for me to do so through my art. Each song on this album has one of two personalities attributed to it: the mod princess light and magnificent of the 1960’s and the grungy 1970’s/90’s beatnik poet/failed artist who is bitter and feels entitled to be. These traits simultaneously exist within me and it’s incredibly liberating to lean into them as a form of expression and creativity."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cousin Mouth - New Memories.

Detroit’s psychedelic R&B outfit, Cousin Mouth, has released a new music video for their single, “New Memories,” an introspective story of facing your past, present, and future. The track is about learning to overcome past experiences and use them to find inner peace. “New Memories” is the first single off their upcoming album, MayflowerPeacemakerHolyredeemer, which is available for digital and vinyl pre-order now. “New Memories'' is available for viewing on YouTube and for streaming on Spotify.

Directed by Zach Hagy, the video starts with a groovy, persuasive guitar intro that shows Cousin Mouth’s lead singer Alex Burns, entering an old Cadillac. He takes a compelling drive through different parts of town, curiously passing by different versions of himself. The past experiences, selves, and relationships we all live with weigh on the present versions of ourselves. “This song is some of my reflections on how we confront and coexist with the past and how it affects our present and future,” says Burns. He eventually is face to face with himself and “The Muses,” who are played by background vocalists Supercoolwicked (Morgan Hutson) and Salakastar (Aja Dier). Burns is forced to battle the reality of what is in front of him and reflect on the life he wants to lead. The ability to overcome and live peacefully with this conflict is the central message Cousin Mouth wants to portray.

Cousin Mouth is the brainchild of songwriter and producer Alex Burns. Their sound is inspired by artists like James Blake, D'Angelo, and Todd Rundgren; moody and sultry R&B with some pop influence. The tone of their recently completed upcoming album, MayflowerPeacemakerHolyredeemer, reflects their signature groove, beat-based style mixed with a psychedelic-dreamy sound. When naming the band, "Mouth" came from Burns being a singer foremost, and "Cousin'' comes from the familial connection they access through music and the community that it builds. This is their second studio album following their 2018 debut album, Medusa released by Detroit record shop and label Paramita Sound.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heavy Feather - Love Will Come Easy.

Root rockers Heavy Feather are back with new music. Their upcoming sophomore album "Mountain of Sugar" is to be released by The Sign Records in spring 2021. The third single leading up to the album is entitled "Love Will Come Easy" and is out now on all streaming platforms.

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.

2020 started off with the band going into the No Regrets Fonogram Studio in Stockholm to record an album filled with soul and creativity. Still with musical roots in the '60s, the result was a rock album with a modern twist that undoubtedly fills a void on the rock scene today. Just like their first album, this one was also recorded together with the producer Erik "Errka" Petersson. With some help from Pink Floyd's former mixer table, he gave the songs completely new dimensions. In addition, the band had the honor to work with Magnus Lindberg, who has previously mastered bands such as Lucifer and Imperial State Electric.

Heavy Feather's single "Love Will Come Easy" is out now on all digital platforms. Their album "Mountain of Sugar" will be released by The Sign Records on April 9, 2021 on vinyl, CD and digital format.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Belle Tower - Small.

Belle Tower is the lo-fi indie folk rock project of Tiohtià:ke/Montreal + Xwilkway/Halfmoon Bay based artist, Isabella Harned. Belle Tower is the genesis of Harned’s solo writing endeavours, after being an original member of the Montreal indie folk band, Saint Lo.

Isolation, solitude, pain, love and healing are key themes at the heart of Belle Tower’s collection; songs that explore heavy and vulnerable subject matter such as childhood trauma, resisting the male gaze, and embracing one’s identity.

With contributions from main collaborators Ben Robertson (Winona Forever, Schwey), Scott Boudreau (Mauno), and strings from Audreanne Fillion (Lovelet, Feelings Meetings, Crusssh), Belle Tower showcases ethereal vocals, dreamy guitar lines, and varied layered instrumentation resounding a sonic lightness in the upcoming EP ‘tend to’, out April 27th, 2021.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------