Brittany and the Blisstones - Mermaid. Whenever Brittany is near the ocean, a feeling of calm and stillness comes over her that provides enough space to allow awaiting wisdom to blossom. A great deal of personal growth has happened for Brittany when she is close to the waves.
“Mermaid” is about connecting with nature, and finding the wisdom that awaits us. It’s also about the importance and responsibility of continuing to nurture one’s own growth. It’s not just given although the Universe will never stop providing inspiration for growth.
Brittany Bliss and Reid Givens make up the twosome, and their journey is a touching story of reinvention, reclamation, and second chances on love. In addition to warming hearts, the couple are opening minds to female artists and helping shift the narrative of women in creative fields through support and exposure. Today, Brittany and the Blisstones announce their recording debut EP, La La Love.
The five-song EP bursts open with “Mermaid,” the first song Brittany ever wrote. It is a song about reconnecting with nature, but it also seems to be about reconnecting with Brittany’s own human nature. The lyrics brim with breathtaking imagery and awe-inspiring reflective moments. She sings: By the sea/A mermaid rewrote the pages of all my dreams, so I found fear and faith in the waves. The music is as majestic as its impressionistic lyrical passages. The song lilts on a vaguely Jamaican pulse and brims with jeweled trumpet melodies, vocals that are sultry and sensitive, lush layers of harmony vocals, and moody chord changes that have a sweet sadness.
No Hope For Love is the 5th single from Emma and the Fragments and completes the the EP ‘Smile ‘Til It Hurts’ The song delivers a driving back beat complete with rhythmic indie guitars and catchy melodies. Working perfectly with Emma’s soaring and uplifting crystal clear vocals, their innocence and purity allows the listener to hang on to her every word.
The song describes a failing relationship using the dark imagery of a bird dying, which is brought to life in the official lyric video. The juxtaposition of the song’s meaning with the memorable and upbeat feel of the track draws the listener much closer to her story.
No Hope For Love is the final single release from the EP Smile ‘Til It Hurts. The EP takes you through a roller coaster of emotions from anxiety, despair, jealousy, joy and loss and the title reflects how a smile can reveal happiness or hide pain.
Emma and the Fragments are an energetic female-fronted indie rock band based in East London. Formed in 2012 by founding member Emma, she leads the band on vocals with Donn on guitar, Jon on drums and latest addition Jonny on bass. Emma and the Fragments have made a name for themselves with their hard-edged indie rock and released 4 singles across 2021 to critical acclaim – Circle of Concern, Part of the Wildlife, Back to Blue and Proper Everything from the forthcoming EP ‘Smile ‘Til It Hurts’
Inspired by 90s indie rock the band take their influences one step further, exploring a multitude of styles from pop to metal, and display a sound that at times is both dark and brooding or light and fun, complete with catchy melodies and driving guitars. Their music would be equally at home in the playlists of both the most ardent The Cure fan, or a serious lover of Circa Waves, Foals or The Mysterines. ==========================================================================
Scattering a melange of bouncing robotic beats, raygun guitar splatters, and alien doo-wop choruses in its technicolour vapour trail, “Psilocyberman” leads a sonic invasion of the seriously addictive kind. Coupled with a jubilantly malfunctioning break-down, listen out for a cameo from South London music scene legend Patrick Lyons too.
“Psilocyberman” arrives as the first official glimpse of Heavy Salad’s upcoming second album ‘Long Wave’, which is confirmed for release later in 2022. The follow-up to the band’s warmly received debut ‘Cult Casual’, it was recorded at Damon Albarn’s Studio 13 in West London and at their current base in Manchester. Striking up a creative partnership with esteemed producer Stephen Street, he is confirmed to have produced and mixed a number of tracks across their forthcoming record, alongside Christophe Bride (A Certain Ratio). Speaking about working with Street, Lee Mann adds:
“Working with Stephen Street was a dream come true for Heavy Salad, he instantly recognised the band’s knack for a killer hook and a guitar player who does things differently! Having worked with some of the most distinctive guitarists in British rock, Stephen can now add Rob Glennie to his illustrious list of collaborators. Stephen is well known for delivering experimental guitar pop and “Psilocyberman” is no exception.”
The “Psilocyberman” release also finds Heavy Salad collaborating with another of their favourite creatives, acclaimed illustrator: Stan Chow. Having drawn Northern icons from Andy Burnham to Maxine Peake, Chow now inducts Heavy Salad into his Mancunian hall of fame with the specially commissioned artwork for their current single “Psilocyberman”, and the promise of more to come “When it came to bringing “Psilocyberman” to life there was only one artist on the band’s wish list and the single features amazing, bespoke artwork” says Lee.
Golden Guitar-winning duo The Weeping Willows have long burned brightest in the shadows. True to form, with the earthy new single and cautionary tale, “House of Sin”, the pair considers the irresistible flame of temptation and the wages of iniquity that follow in its train.With its sinuous fingerpicking and ominous note of warning, “House of Sin” finds The Weeping Willows at the peak of their songwriting and vocal powers.
The Weeping Willows have performed everywhere from AmericanaFest (USA) to Folk Alliance International (USA) and have supported the likes of Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (USA) and Iris DeMent (USA).
Recorded, engineered and mixed by Ryan Freeland (Ramblin' Jack Elliott, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ray LaMontagne, Bonnie Raitt, Aimee Mann) at Los Angeles’ world-beating Stampede Origin Studio and drawing from the same shadowy thematic wellspring as the duo’s critically-acclaimed sophomore studio album Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’ (2016), “House of Sin” is a thrilling meditation on the darker underbelly of a fallen world and offers a glimpse into The Weeping Willows’ much anticipated third studio album, “You Reap What You Sow”.
The song is also the first release under The Weeping Willows’ new distribution deal with Compass Bros for the forthcoming album. “I’ve long admired Andy and Laura’s musical sensibility and work ethic and am delighted to be working with them on the release of their extraordinary new album, You Reap What You Sow”, said Compass Bros’ Graham Thompson.
From Laura Coates of The Weeping Willows: “We’ve had great respect for Graham’s work ethic and integrity since meeting him when we were the support act on Shane Nicholson’s Hell Breaks Loose album tour back in 2015. Compass Bros has long been an important name in Australian Country and Roots music so we’re truly honoured to be joining such an amazing team and music family”.
With seductive vocals, dreamy atmospheres, and explosive energy, Anna Sun explores the world through a haze of mystery and romance. Their debut EP, Extended Play, just released in January 2022, manages to capture the triumphs and anxieties of being alive in such a strange time. “What a Shame,” was written as a catharsis for lead singer Samantha Aneson as she was forced to accept the reality of losing her mother to dementia. It captures the trauma through a filter of enthralling vocals and explosive energy.
“I’ve grown to love the dichotomy of pain and lightness in art. How one can make the other so much more pronounced,” Aneson says. “I was in a place (am forever in a place) of begrudgingly agreeing to this reality that’s been forced upon me. Having to move forward without railing against existence for doing something that once seemed so unimaginable. Having to find light in my nightmare.”
The core of Anna Sun’s appeal lies in the diary-like songwriting of Aneson (pronounced just like the band name). Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes heartbreaking, the songs always seem to find an underlying sense of optimism, a reflection of their writer’s personality. They dig deep into the often tricky dynamics of relationships while managing to remain exceptionally catchy.
Aneson credits her desire to weave a story bigger than herself to her background in theatre. The Southern California native studied acting at the University of California, Irvine, before relocating to NYC and co-founding the folk-rock band Satin Nickel, which Balać and Shewaga eventually joined. When that group disbanded in 2020, Aneson began adding original indie-pop-rock songs to her repertoire and recruited her former bandmates to bring them to life, and Anna Sun was born. Making music that is meaningful and accessible is a rare thing these days, but Anna Sun seems to have achieved a perfect formula for their unique brand of expression.
Four years in making, Voyeurs In the Dark is Toronto artist Barzin’s fifth studio album. That the album is more cinematic in its scope and conceptual in feel than his previous studio albums can be attributed to the time he spent over the past several years composing the soundtrack for the independent film, Viewfinder.
Voyeurs In the Dark retains that cinematic quality, and at the same time infuses the music with elements taken from Jazz, electronica, rock and pop. Having primarily explored the quiet side pop and folk in his previous four albums, Barzin has expanded his musical palate, broadening his sound towards a more an experimental direction, while still retaining his preoccupation with exploring the internal landscape. The uniformity of sound that characterized the previous albums has been abandoned for the expression of differing aspects of the self that at times hold opposing views and desires. This is best represented in the image chosen for the cover of the album, which depicts three figures in one body. The album seems to be the expression of not one unified self, but the various aspects of the self.
Voyeurs In the Dark sees the artist plot a seductive, contemplative route through city haze, shuttling between graceful glimmering interludes, with wonderfully atmospheric songs at every stop. From opener Voyeurs In the Dark’s first guitar strums and the fizz of its drum machine, the record envelopes itself in a glorious shadow, as shown in the slow waltz of I Don’t Want To Sober Up, dancing around its own swirling guitar chords. On Watching, Barzin plunges himself deeper into a wash of cyclic bass, guitar and synth riffs, as the gloom grooves into light. It’s Never Too Late To Lose Your Life has a much more affirming and urgent tone, shade turning into shapes and motion, while To Be Missed In the End builds its own smoke in a cloud of saxophone and sparse guitar notes, closing out a record full to the brim with scatterbrain beauty and eclectic dusk.
The video for Voyeurs in the Dark, takes you on a sensual journey through a nocturnal cityscape. “I remember, years ago, coming across a passage written by the writer and psychologist, James Hillman”, explains Barzin. It said: "The only solution to the longing for union is union with longing." This has stayed with me ever since, and I think it has informed this song.””
Voyeurs In the Dark will be released worldwide on Monotreme Records on April 22nd 2022 digitally, followed by physical releases on CD and 180 g black vinyl on May 6th. Pre-orders of vinyl LPs or CDs from the Monotreme Records web shop will also include a free limited edition 27-page booklet of poems by Barzin, Playboys in the Holyland.
The Hamilton, Ontario-based trio, Ellevator are today sharing their new single, "Slip" which arrives with another stunning visual piece directed by Cam Veitch and featuring Hawksley Workman. Alongside the new single, the band is announcing details of their debut album, The Words You Spoke Still Move Me – out May 6 via Arts & Crafts – which comes produced by Chris Walla (formerly of Death Cab For Cutie), who has previously helmed production duties for the likes of Foxing and Tegan & Sara. The new single arrives following earlier tips from NPR, The Needle Drop, Exclaim, FLOOD, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, CBC and more for "Easy" and "Charlie IO."
The band, which is comprised of Nabi Sue Bersche, guitarist, Tyler Bersche and bassist/synth player, Elliott Gwynne, will deliver on the promise of their self-titled 2018 EP with their long-awaited debut album. The record was pieced together across numerous locations but primarily while living together at The Bathouse (a Kingston-area facility owned by Canadian alt-rock legends The Tragically Hip) and comes off the back of earlier dates with Amber Run, BANNERS, Cold War Kids, Arkells and Dear Rouge. Across 12 tracks, it inhabits an emotional landscape that is both breathtakingly intimate and impossibly vast, documenting various experiences to turn universal (existential longing, romantic power struggles, the neverending work of true self-discovery) and highly specific (e.g., one band member’s journey in extracting herself from a cult) storytelling into a truly hypnotic body of work, giving rise to the kind of radiant open-heartedness that radically transforms our own perspective.
Ellevator poses a fantastic ability to sculpt these mammoth, melodramatic post-rock and indie-rock soundscapes, somewhat inspired by the late-aughts sounds of Spoon, Metric, Interpol and Arcade Fire, as well as the stadium-ready sounds of U2, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. "Slip" acts as another wonderful installment of this dynamic with the trio turning the dial on the prog-rock influences incorporating chugging guitars with tightly-bound vocals. With the new single, the band turn to explore the folklore surrounding the Selkie, a theme mirrored in Veitch's accompanying visual.
Laying their foundations in Sheffield and Coventry, The Last Broadcast is a coming of age project made up of frontman Kyle McGurk and drummer Paolo Lombardo. TLB presented the pair with a vehicle to navigate and make sense of the confusing and complicated transitional period from youth to adulthood.
The project encompasses a range of emotions and life experiences. Melodic and fuzzy tracks bursting with sunny indie nostalgia and swoon pop are contrasted with deeply introspective lyrics that wrestle with the dark side of human condition. 90’s and 00’s influences are heard throughout the pair's arrangements, with nods to the likes of John Mayer and New Radicals as well as contemporaries such as Wolf Alice, Penelope Isles and Hatchie.
Debut single ‘Daisy’, produced by Ryan Pinson (The Assist, Riscas, Violet, SUGARTHIEF), features Birmingham vocalist and alt-pop band DAME’s frontwoman Shannon Farmer. The track's lush, piano arrangements and sunny melodies are contrasted with lyrics that wrestle with grief, trauma, love and validation.
“Daisy is a song about forgiveness, it is asking for forgiveness” says frontman McGurk. The track explores the aftermath of a traumatic event of a loved one that occurred at a young age. ’Daisy’ looks back to this period of time in hindsight, as the bystander to the individual. It navigates through the questions and emotions experienced from this situation, feelings of regret for not understanding the situation due to childish naivety, the need to have been there for them, and the acceptance of being wrong. Emphasising the lyrics “I’m sorry for naivety It’s our fault not yourself”, ‘Daisy’ strives for forgiveness but above all seeks for hope, happiness and closure.
“I wrote the album in a tiny apartment, at a time when everything felt big and overwhelming,” says poet and songwriter Jenny Berkel about her new album, These Are the Sounds Left from Leaving, out May 13 on Outside Music. She was living in a brownstone walk-up full of radiant light and the ever-present soundscape of a leaky bath faucet. It was a sudden move at the time—a spontaneous departure from touring, bustling city life, being many things to many people—that landed Jenny in a space of self-imposed stillness.
“The songs themselves are a study of proximity, bringing big fears into small spaces,” says Jenny, reflecting on the album. “They’re intimate examinations of a world that often overwhelms.” Each song is set in the micro-world of a keen feeling observer, trying to parse a mindful moment in a setting where it feels impossible to drop a truth anchor—a post-Trump, heavily gaslit world where perceptions of reality remain distorted. “Kaleidoscope,” the first single from the album, is a dissonant and poetic consideration of the importance of care and precision in language, both in the broader political landscape and in intimate emotional ways. From the heart-wrenching confusion of interpersonal manipulation, it extrapolates a collectively felt disorientation at the kaleidoscopic swirling of disinformation and misinformation. “Lavender City” is a more intimate look at lies. A breakup song with crescendoing strings, insistent percussion and hopeful harmonies, it’s about gaining the capacity to see clearly again – but with the painful entailment of anatomizing the lies that drew you in. Looking beneath them to see what’s inside.
Songs like “July” and “Just like a River” embody a similar dichotomy, but feel more like mellow meditations; they are recreations of moments where small, specific reveries gave way to more sprawling contemplation–but in an appreciably peaceful and illuminative way. “July started as a tiny chorus written for somebody I thought I could maybe love someday,” Jenny says with a smile, in a conversation about the seeds of the album’s singles. “It was a hot summer, one that reminded me of being a small child in the middle of July in southwestern Ontario. It’s a love song, but it’s also a nostalgic song that expresses how memory shifts and shapes you, and how the stories we tell become who we are.”
Adelaide singer-songwriter, Anya Anastasia, made her debut with her fusion of experimental folk and West-African inspired desert rock in the form of her single 'Losing Wild' on January 28. She is now letting her heart go wild with the stunning visuals in the accompanying music video.
Filmed, directed and edited by Aaron Austin-Glen, the clip is a surreal performance in the picturesque plains of Lake George in NSW, that has Anastasia reconnecting with the earth that she walks on. Taking years of experience in theatre and contemporary performances, Anastasia choreographed the piece with help from Elizabeth Cameron Dalman.
Like channelling a wild beast, her movements are with ferocity and untamed freedom. When artistically paired with the perspective from above with the help of the drone, we see her movements take a whole new shape in the form of her silhouette on the earth canvas.
Moving through wide-spanning shots of the ominous landscape to Anastasia's captivating performance, the music video innately feeds into the earthy arrangements and gravitating feeling of the track that questions the destructive path that society is on - laying waste to the natural world and our creative, playful minds.
Roni Bar Hadas is a singer-songwriter based in Tel Aviv. After years of playing with various bands, she burst onto the scene with her debut album Calm the Beast last November, winning acclaim across the globe.
Roni Bar Hadas’ new piece “Fear,” explores themes of self-love and healing, blends pop, soul and alternative R&B music, and is produced by her partner Maor Alush.
Roni started her musical journey as a classical musician. Yet she felt the need to create her own original work and began to pursue the freedom and courage missing in her experience as a classical singer, in her writing. Over the last couple of years, Roni has been gaining listeners all over the world, touring with her band and playing in major festivals.
Last month Dublin's Pillow Queens announced their sophomore album Leave The Light On, their first release on Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Alvvays, US Girls), which is due out on April 1st. The band have been quietly building momentum on their side of the Atlantic since the release of their 2017 debut EP Calm Girls, selling out shows in their native Ireland, supporting artists like IDLES, Pussy Riot and Future Islands, and earning enthusiastic support in the UK before they independently released their 2020 LP In Waiting.
The album was a major breakthrough for the band, earning them praise from outlets like The Guardian, who called them "2020's most exciting indie rockers," NPR, NME, DIY, and The Line of Best Fit, a Band To Watch feature from Stereogum, an Irish Album of The Year nomination, and most remarkably of all a US national television appearance on the Late Late Show w/ James Corden.
Now the band are sharing the second single from the new record, a track called "Hearts & Minds" that singer/guitarist Pamela Connolly describes as capturing the reoccurrence of teenage insecurities occasioned by the band's rise to prominence and the imposter syndrome she experienced as a result.
"'Hearts & Minds' is about experiencing the feeling of being a teenager again," explains Connolly. "The insecurities about body image and ability when it comes to being a musician that’s seeing themselves recorded and pictured, as well as commented on. It deals with the idea of imposter syndrome when it comes to an industry that favours the male form and the insecurity of not being able to be effortless with your movements."
L.A.-based pop/folk/Americana outfit Single, Girl, Married Girl writes simultaneously beautiful and devastating songs with poetic, perceptive lyrics that astutely capture what it means to be human. Steeped in a folk songwriting tradition that harkens back to Pete Seeger and Joan Baez mixed with modern songwriting elements in the style of Jenny Lewis and Brandi Carlile, the band fearlessly tackles issues ranging from loss and drug addiction to insecurity and depression. Since its release in November 2021, the album, Three Generations of Leaving, which chronicles the trials and traumas of three generations of women from the same family, has been praised by fans and critics alike, including No Depression, American Songwriter, The Bluegrass Situation, and more.
Jon Pareles of The New York Times highlighted “Scared To Move,” which features harpist Mary Lattimore, in The Playlist, stating, “With patient arpeggios and soothing bass notes, [Lattimore] builds a grandly meditative edifice behind Chelsey Coy, the songwriter and singer at the core of Single Girl, Married Girl… Coy’s multitracked harmonies promise, ‘In a strange new half-light, I will be your guide’ as Lattimore’s harp patterns construct a glimmering path forward.”
The band worked with the artist Ryan D. Anderson to create a striking visual accompaniment for the song. PopMatters exclusively premiered the video, and said “Anderson’s rich, ethereal coloring makes his atmospheres pop—his cinematic shots providing a fitting backdrop to this dreamy, meditative song.”
The collaboration came about after Coy discovered Anderson’s work and reached out to him via Instagram. “We felt his style and sensibilities were a perfect match for our song, which is on the lush and atmospheric side,” she says. “The piece he created is everything we hoped for: visually arresting, transportive, meditative, hypnotic. It’s gorgeous. The different scenarios depicted are both quirky and alluring, almost lonesome. We could not have envisioned a better backdrop to this heavy emotional journey and physical connection we’re attempting to convey in the song’s lyrics.”
Bell Jar is Angela Sclafani’s forthcoming single that blends her pop sensibility with compelling flares of folk and Americana. Inspired by Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel, the song uses literary imagery to encourage the listener to “shatter” the conventions that hold them down- be it family, lover, or state of mind. The single features production and instrumentation by producer/songwriter Katie Buchanan.
Sclafani is a New York City-based songwriter, performer, and theater-maker. She has independently released three original EP’s, History, Your Ghost and Blossom, as well as Edge Of Seventeen, an EP of re-imagined Stevie Nicks hits. Angela's music combines confessional lyrics with catchy melodies and dynamic vocals, often echoing the work of multi-genre singer-songwriters like Regina Spektor, Sara Bareilles, and Norah Jones.
A two-time first-place winner of the Great American Song Contest's Adult Contemporary category, her music has been praised for its “engagingly original lyrical story, inventively appealing imagery and smartly crafted melodic design.” Angela’s music earned her a finalist spot in both the 2021 Unsigned Only Competition and the 2020 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. She was a 2020 semifinalist in the acclaimed International Songwriting Competition.
Following the success of her first three releases, I Didn’t Realise, I Heard Somebody Talking and Anxiety, Karen Harding is releasing catchy indie pop track, ‘Something Special’ on Friday 11th February 2022.
‘Something Special’ is a song written as a conversation to an individual who cannot see how special and valuable they are. They are riddled with self-doubt and low self-esteem. From the outside, the writer wants to tell them how much they are truly appreciated and how special they are.
“Christmas Day 2021, I was unwell and missed all the festivities.. Instead, I was able to spend the day creating the 16-layer song ‘Something Special’. I wanted to portray a sense of freedom and gratitude within the song and felt that nothing felt more like freedom than the sound of the ocean waves rolling in.. If you listen carefully, youcan hear this subtly throughout the song.”
Mastered by Pivotal Music’s Joshua Hennessy, ‘Something Special’ is Karen Harding’s first fully self-recorded and produced release. With music ranging from the singer/songwriter genre to indie pop, Karen Harding’s alluring vocals can be likened to the emotive sounds of Sarah McLaughlin, Sara Bareilles or Eva Cassidy or the more pop based feel of Gabrielle Aplin, Adele and Ella Henderson.
Music has always been a part of Karen’s life, beginning piano lessons at the age of 6 and singing lessons at 14. She has played at many cafes and bars around the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in a combination of solo, duo and band performances, that have contributed to the sound that you hear today.
When we ask Katie about the song she says: “I wrote SSBH during lockdown by myself. The song follows the story of a group of girls on a night out – getting ready to go, at the bar, in the bathroom, at the kebab shop and waiting at the taxi rank for a ride home. For me this song perfectly captures how I've felt about a particular friend who I had fallen out with.”
With her spry pop framework, Katie Kittermaster articulates the melancholy of young adulthood with wit, warmth and clarity. She possesses an ability to express some of the more difficult, confusing aspects of human relationships in a lucid, plain-spoken way. That makes her songs, even in their most downcast moments, a study of resolve, strength and triumph. Katie's latest single 'Good Liars' is a song like this and was played on 120 regional radio stations in the UK, including 'Amazing Radio' and 'BBC'.
With her spry pop framework, Katie Kittermaster articulates the melancholy of young adulthood with wit, warmth and clarity. She possesses an ability to express some of the more difficult, confusing aspects of human relationships in a lucid, plain-spoken way. That makes her songs, even in their most downcast moments, a study of resolve, strength and triumph.
Kittermaster was well aware of this power from the starting gun, leaning mostly on guitar and voice on her 2019 EP ‘Coming Home At Dawn’. Hitting the road with the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Scouting For Girls, Ronan Keating and Lucy Spraggan in her career’s formative stages made it abundantly clear that crowds really homed in on her honest, conversational songs, which have gathered millions of plays worldwide.
On Friday February 18, Timo de Jong will release his new single 'Light At The End'. This is the second single from his upcoming EP 'Dawdle'. An atmospheric song in which the question is asked where we are going.
“For me, 'Light At The End' is an expression of thoughts that I have been walking with for a long time. I think that we are now at a tipping point and that we have to be careful about which direction we choose for the future,” said Timo.
For this single, the Leeuwarden musician works together with a producer, Thomas Olivier, who contributes ideas about the process and makes Timo aware of his 'blind spots'. During the past six months they have worked on the music together, from demo to the final product. A conscious choice was made for a characteristic sound with a warm and natural-sounding production. For example, all of Timo's vocals were recorded with a microphone from the 1950s.
Timo de Jong is no rock singer. With a deep, warm singing voice he is more reminiscent of crooners like Chris Isaak, Marty Robbins and Perry Como. Although clear influences can be found from the 1950s to the 1970s, Timo's music can still be described as timeless due to the tasteful productions. He is an old school musician who lives for (and from) his live performances, of which he has done more than 600 to date. This includes three successful UK tours and performances in Germany and Belgium. Whether it's an intimate living room concert or a band performance in a pop venue, Timo does his thing and that thing is: making good music.
"Thursday" is the lead single from Sooner's debut album, Days and Nights.
On the track, the band shares "Like a lot of themes in our music around contrast (i.e. Days and Nights), the lyrics are pretty different from the feel of the song – centered on a complicated and abusive relationship."
Formed in 2016, Sooner blends alternative rock, dream pop, and shoegaze in a style that is both lush and energetic – with Federica Tassano’s ethereal yet powerful vocals haunting every song.
After fits and starts and pandemic delays, Sooner are now finally able to bring their grand, whirring dream-pop to the fore. Meditations on a deep longing for an impossible love, dreams of being inextricably connected and nurtured by nature and heavier subjects in depression and addiction come together to rise up beyond the darkness and celebrate the depths of emotions.
Following her 2018 album Follow, which received critical acclaim from both the UK & Swedish press, Scandinavian singer-songwriter Malin Andersson returns with Reef – the first single from her upcoming album Space To Feel.
Recorded between London & Grästorp, Sweden with co-producer Anders Rane & mastering engineer Moritz Hausler (Bat For Lashes, Marina And The Diamonds, HONNE), Reef’s lush arrangement of ethereal guitars & textured strings is the perfect accompaniment for Malin’s mellifluous vocal style & intense sensitivity.
The idea behind Reef grew from concerns around the world’s environmental crisis & humanity’s elemental connection to nature. The song likens humanity’s direction of travel to a ship that’s sailed into a reef and now stuck, is trying to figure out how to re-establish some sort of balance, both collectively & individually. Malin says of the release: “Reef is the first in a collection of songs I’m writing about ‘high sensitivity’, deciding to no longer apologise for my own vulnerability whilst encouraging others to do the same. It’s a gift to be sensitive, use it & don’t hide it!”
The video was shot by London based film director Alex Simpson. Known for her work with Apple, Channel 4, Guardian & The BFI, Alex collaborated with Malin in pulling together imagery inspired by the lyrics & shot it on both digital & super-8 formats, creating a perfect amalgam of sound and vision.
Originally from the Swedish village Tibro, Malin grew up in a multi-generational musical household & at the age of eight she started writing her own songs. Citing musicians Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez & Anna Ternheim plus author Virginia Woolf & Swedish poets Edith Södergran & Karin Boye as inspiration, Malin’s gentle finger-picking guitar, along with her contemplative lyrics & evocative melodies soon caught the attention of SKAP (the Swedish Society of Songwriters, Composers & Authors), who presented her with the prestigious SKAP Award for Emerging Artists & Songwriters. Later, Malin moved to London where she collaborated with various songwriters & producers developing her sound. Also, since living in the capital, she’s played over a hundred shows at many venues including the legendary Union Chapel & The Lexington to name a few.
Fast rising newcomer Sophia Alexa continues to build the rising momentum around her name with Hit and Run, the follow up to well received debut single, House Of Cards. Having gained acclaim from areas such as Wonderland and Fashionably Early, Alexa beguiles again with her dreamy brand of indie -pop. Speaking on the release, she states:
I wrote ‘Hit and Run’ after I noticed myself feeling the need to escape every time I got too close to someone. I was afraid of feeling trapped or attached even if the relationship was positive. The escape felt like a defense mechanism and writing this song was a way to summarize that feeling. In the process of writing it I wasn’t sure if the title was too dark so contrasting it with more uptempo drums was a great way to hide the reality of the lyrics.
Sophia Alexa is a singer-songwriter with an intriguing background; born to German and American parents in California, she was raised in Amsterdam and has been based in London for over 10 years. Moving schools and cities a number of times, she often found herself feeling like an outsider and music was the one constant she could cling to. Growing up, Sophia developed an enduring love for classic singers like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young who have all influenced her style, mixing folk-inspired pop music with an electronic edge and her soulful voice as the focus.
The Portland, Oregon based country-soul group The Delines have shared the final music video from their upcoming album, The Sea Drift, which will be released on this Friday February 11, 2022 via their new American label home Jealous Butcher Records. The song, a focus track for the album titled “Drowning In Plain Sight”, is a perfect example of songwriter and author Willy Vlautin’s knack for giving you a look into the interior lives of the characters who populate these songs with just a few well-chosen little details.
As lead singer Amy Boone croons lines like “The kid’s ice cream is melting, my husband’s beer is getting warm / The phone starts ringing an hour after I should have been home”, her soulful and smoky voice gives these storytelling vignettes instant emotional heft, communicating years of struggle in the lives of these characters with just a few words, as lush and cinematic country-soul arrangements gently swell around her. Simply put, the music of The Delines not only makes you feel like these characters are real people you could meet in any of the small towns and cities along the gulf coast of Texas where The Sea Drift is set, but that their lives will continue on long after these songs end.
The music video for “Drowning In Plain Sight” combines footage of The Delines performing the song in their home studio in Portland with scenery from those beach towns along the Texas gulf coast that serve as the setting of The Sea Drift. If you’ve never been to a town like Galveston where this video was shot, the visuals will instantly give you a sense of the way the natural beauty of the ocean is juxtaposed with the desperation, regret and wistful longing of the people who inhabit this world. The houses are all on stilts, the sun sets over abandoned train yards and industrial plants, and lights from carnival rides on the boardwalk glisten across the ocean waves at night.
Brooklyn, NY based singer-songwriter Allegra Krieger today shared two new songs from her forthcoming album Precious Thing, releasing March 4th, 2022 via Northern Spy Records. On the two tracks that open up the album—“Wake Me If I’m Asleep” & “Isolation”—Krieger sings about the fear of loss and her hope to live more presently. Inspired by a pang of fear that struck her after seeing the paramedics leave a neighbor’s house, Krieger’s anxiety is palpable, yet her resolve remains strong. Listen to the songs here.
In October 2020, Allegra drove across the country to record Precious Thing in Marin, CA with producer Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic, Art Feynman) and musicians Jeremy Harris, Kalia Vandever, Rob Taylor and Jacob Matheus who contributed organs, synths, bass and lap steel. Delightfully mellow but never bleak, Precious Thing is a soundtrack for the daily motions of our lives.
On Precious Thing, Allegra Kreiger tries to capture fleeting moments in a world that is sick from itself. With a voice that rings like a windchime signaling a storm coming, Allegra masterfully weaves together ephemeral moments as life barrels by her unforgivingly. From singing about sharing a gaze with a man on the train to Coney Island as the clock strikes 12 on New Years, to saying goodbye to a loved one, to processing the religious trauma of wine, Krieger portrays the particular pang of being a woman alive in a modern world.
At the heart of this album is a young, working woman asking “Do you see this right now? I can’t be the only one.” This is an album about looking, and Krieger fills up each lonely space she enters with her gaze. Krieger asks you to look, to really, really look, so that you can remember something, however small it is, when it’s all gone.
Background from The Royal Foundry - You are made to be that which you dream to be. No matter how you get there, who you meet along the way, or how many detours it takes – it will always be waiting for you, so try and try and try and try.
This is the ethos behind our new single, "Hello Dreamer Baby," written after we took a spontaneous road trip and discussed our dreams, goals, and our desire to accomplish them in the now.
The music video, featuring a sunrise that reveals amazing red rock canyons with each passing second. . It's so easy to quit and just live with mediocrity, but this life is short so why would you not want to be the best you can be? We wrote "Hello Dreamer Baby" for us, but we hope it resonates with you too.
The internationally acclaimed Irish performer, Pierce Turner, releases a new single titled “Love Of Angels.” Set over a rocking guitar arrangement, the philosophical track combines the teachings of acclaimed The Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle and the idea of the psychological “ego.” This is the fourth track off Pierce Turner’s forthcoming album, Terrible Good, which was created with legendary guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Suzanne Vega, Rufus Wainwright). The album is set for release on February 25 via StorySound Records.
“For me, lyrics always have to have a message,” explains Turner. “On ‘Love Of Angels’ I take the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ and expand upon it to a further truth. We are everything that comes in-what we think, read, see, breathe, smell, hear, and believe as well as eat. If it’s good stuff, you will be good, guaranteed. How we move affects us too, I swear!!!!! You can dance to this. It’s The Rolling Stones meets Eckhart Tolle.”
An Irish-American musician in the truest, and most literal, sense, Pierce Turner lives half the year in his hometown of Wexford, Ireland, and the other half in his longtime adopted hometown of New York City. Both places are reflected in his songs, which frequently move between these two different worlds. Since he began his solo career in the 80’s, he’s worked on a broad range of projects including writing for opera, scoring movies, and composing a contemporary Mass. His genre-bending songwriting has led Turner to collaborate with legendary producer John Simon (The Band, Leonard Cohen, Cass Elliot) on 1991’s Now Is Heaven and composer Philip Glass on projects such as 1986’s It’s Only a Long Way Across and “Yogi with a Broken Heart.”
Minneapolis-based quartet, Palm Friends are sharing their new single, "Hidden Perks" which comes as the first preview of their new EP, The Delivery out via Forged Artifacts on March 24. A stunning intro to the new release, outlined with warm, fuzzy guitars and quietly confident vocals, it follows the band's 2019 debut EP, Nice Weather coming mixed and mastered by Ben Etter (Deerhunter, Cate Le Bon).
Palm Friends first came together as a means of healing. After his brother passed away, guitarist and singer Jesse Pedersen moved from New York back home to Minnesota to be with his family. As part of the grieving process, he called up some of his high school friends and asked if they wanted to start a band. With Jon Lindquist on drums, Will Bunton on bass and Jesse on guitar and vocals, the band quickly recorded their debut EP. The result was an ebullient indie rock six-song burst, the sound of a band in its early stages having a blast together. Soon after, Shawnna Stennes joined, and the final Palm Friends lineup was solidified.
The band wrote most of The Delivery together over quarantine before recording in three ten-hour sessions at The Terrarium in Minnesota. The result is a truly collaborative effort, on a songwriting level but then also on a deeper, emotional level. As a songwriting duo, Jesse and Shawnna play off of each other’s strengths, from Jesse’s indie rock songcraft to Shawnna’s warm yet melancholic lyrics but as a full group, this is really a collaboration centered around healing and friendship.
Album opener “Hidden Perks” is an older track, originally written by Jesse while he was still living in New York. Jesse gave the song to Shawnna, who rewrote the lyrics and melody, changing the nature and feel, balancing joy with a tinge of sadness and an understanding of the difficulties of the world but a determination to find happiness wherever it’s available. Over a mid-tempo indie-rock beat, Shawnna sings, “I fight time in the back of my head/ Trying to make me boring.”
“‘Hidden Perks’ is about how I figured that as I got older I would become a better and better version of myself because I would learn more and learn more lessons,” says Shawnna. “And I came to realize I was really admiring my former self and striving to be someone I was before.”
With its first release in 2022, Certain Animals cheerfully opens its eyes and takes a look at the past. Driven by the Hammond organ, the band recalls its childhood memories.
Uninhibited, with an open mind and framed by pointed guitar riffs and a finely funky Wurlitzer, Certain Animals tells a three-part story as if it came from one mouth. Simple but effective: from sweet-voiced solitude to guitar harmonies that would not have been unworthy of the Allman brothers, and from pinprick to exploding reverb tank. Angels In Disguise strikes a balance between vintage and modern.
From the past to the present, the song takes the listener through a musical whirlwind and the accompanying unexpected beauty that man can encounter.
Hold On, Sun King, Younger Than Now and Midnight TV, the first four singles from Certain Animals' upcoming second album have been very well received by the media in their home country of the Netherlands and abroad. The singles have been added to playlists and have been played very regularly on national radio stations. The singles were all in the Top 3 of the alternative charts on Dutch national radio. Sun King was also heard in the Dutch edition of the very popular TV program The Bachelor. In Belgium previous single Younger Than Now is currently on the playlist of national radio VRT 2 and can be heard on Studio Brussel the national pop station.
Atop Jo Schornikow’s piano is an altar filled with pieces from the Nashville-based, Melbourne by way of NYC-bred artist’s life: a life that led her from jazz bars to church organs, performing on tour around the world with her partner Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent, and home to their two children - pieces that were once housed in dusty boxes when she lost her sense of self.
Today, Jo announces her new album ALTAR, out May 20 via Keeled Scales, named as a tribute to the thread that ties together and celebrates all her various selves. The title also nods to its homophone’s definition of 'change' and the German translation of its truncate meaning ‘elder.’ It’s a joyously vulnerable pronouncement of her purposeful presence, a protean spirit transmitted. The seeds of this album were tended to by Jo throughout loud, intense years of heavy touring, and quiet, intense years of early motherhood, growing through whatever cracks were found in those dual foundations.
To celebrate the announcement, Jo releases “Visions,” a rousing song in the tradition of Tom Petty-inspired by an ominous cosmic confluence of events that makes peace with impermanence as the only constant. It’s paired with a video shot under a surprise severe weather warning at a small-town Tennessee fair, directed by Noah Hanson.
About God's Country, Thomas says simply: "This song's about driving around rural Florida"
Thomas Dollbaum was born and grew up in Tampa, Florida. In 2015, Thomas moved to New Orleans to study at University of New Orleans for his masters in poetry.
While in New Orleans, Thomas worked as a carpenter and began writing the songs that eventually became Wellswood. The album was recorded over many sessions during the pandemic in New Orleans in an old hotel suite turned recording studio by friend and fellow musician Matthew Seferian.
Thomas still resides In New Orleans, running his own carpentry business.
Superstar, the debut record from Norwegian art-pop outfit Mall Girl, represents an exciting new chapter for the buzzed-about band. The release follows a string of successful singles, including album tracks ‘Bachtap’ & ‘Bubbly Cool Drink’, which introduced them as an act to watch in the alt-pop arena. Their debut album is scheduled for release on April 29th via independent label Jansen Records.
Recorded at Studio Paradiso in Oslo with long-time collaborator Marcus Forsgren, Superstar runs the gamut of emotions and moments of reflection on our fleeting experiences. On their new single, 'For Hannah', the band say:
"All the feelings and thoughts you hide from the other person in a relationship, where do they end up and what will they lead to? As life keeps on moving forward towards an uncertain future, you sit and wonder what your desires are in the midst of all the uncertainty. These questions are the story told in this song: “Who will catch me if I fall? Will you run if things get too tough? What are your true, inner desires?” And until you get your answers you’ll sit down, observe the world around you and try to find as much comfort in the future unfolding before your eyes."
Members Iver Armand Tandsether, Hannah Veslemøy Narvesen, Eskild Myrvoll and Bethany Forseth-Reichberg were forced to get creative when the pandemic hit, sidelining best-laid plans to flesh out some songs before heading into the studio together.
"Because of COVID regulations and the four of us living in two different cities, we changed the way we worked with the songs quite radically in the months leading up to the studio recording,” Narvesen says. "We’ve always been very oriented towards the live performance of the songs, including when we compose them together in our rehearsal space. That way of working has led to some challenges when recording, as you end up listening to the songs in a different manner and might figure out you should have done everything differently."
While others put their creative endeavours on hold, Mall Girl opted to try something different. Many of the songs on Superstar were tracks that the band regularly performed, but they wanted to seize the opportunity to evolve their sound even more.
Singer, songwriter, and actress Neska Rose has released a brand new single called “Pick Me”, an upbeat, guitar-driven pop song that shows off both her natural charisma as a performer and her knack for catchy and relatable songwriting. The song is accompanied by a music video starring Neska and her twin sister Libi Rose, who frequently collaborates with her sister on music and whose voice can be heard harmonizing with Neska on the song.
This new song follows her debut single “Done” from 2020 and an EP in 2021 titled The Repel Of A Young Girl, both of which Neska wrote and produced herself. In addition to her music, Neska is making waves as a comedic actress, featured as the recurring character Gertie on the Nickelodeon high school mockumentary Drama Club and will soon be appearing in a climate change anthology series “Extrapolations” from Apple TV alongside a star studded series cast that includes Meryl Streep, Matthew Rhys, Marion Cotillard, Eiza Gonzalez, Tobey Maguire, and more.
The song and music video are both centered around, as Neska puts it, the “need to feel like you’re being heard, that you want to be picked”, with the video literally taking place at a theatre audition as Libi plays three different characters who are all trying out for a part. As each one of these distinct characters played by Libi dances across the stage with Neska, you get a real sense of not only the strong performing chops these young women have already developed, but also the natural chemistry they have with each other as siblings.
Dot Allison - Love Died in Our Arms (Lee Scratch Perry Remix).
Dot Allison follows the critically acclaimed Heart-Shaped Scars - her first solo album in a decade -with a remix of "Love Died in Our Arms" by the late Lee 'Scratch' Perry, the final project of the legendary producer's career. Perry’s remix serves as the first single for the upcoming Entangled Remix EP, a collection of reworkings of favorite tracks from the critically acclaimed album.
Along with Lee "Scratch" Perry's mix the EP features contributions from Saint Etienne, Anton Newcombe, Lomond Campbell and The Anchoress. Saint Etienne have always had close ties to Dot, thanks to their mutual ties to Heavenly and Andrew Weatherall. Anton Newcombe is a fellow singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist and has collaborated with her recently on their work for the soundtrack to the TV series “Annika.” Lomond Campbell, a BAFTA-winning songwriter and shortlister for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, combines his ambitious creative spirit with Dot’s poignant lyricism. And The Anchoress, who has performed and collaborated in the past with renowned acts such as Simple Minds and Manic Street Preachers, brings her wide range of experiences to reimagining a never-before-released song from Dot.
Dot says, “I titled this ‘Entangled Remix EP’ to tie with “Heart-Shaped Scars” but also in a way the slightly disparate influences on the EP spanning decades from when I was first influenced by dub music & did a remix for St. Etienne to Anton in Berlin & the Anchoress now.
Of all the tracks on the Entangled Remix EP, none hold a greater importance than Lee “Scratch” Perry’s remix of “Love Died In Our Arms,” the final work of his long and storied career. Perry works brilliantly as he always has within the framework of Dot’s original song, weaving his signature dub beats into the music without distracting from Dot’s moving singing and songwriting.
Themes of dissociation are some of the major conduits running through Owen FitzGerald’s work. Somewhere in the narratives and world-building vignettes the characters that inhabit the universe of A deep clean you can count on! start with or wander deliriously into a state of bewilderment with the relationship to their own bodies, the utterly de-centering experience of being head-over-heels in love, the secret language of animals and plants and the atomization that the grist-mill of modern life inflicts.
Blundering through existential crisis after crisis, FitzGerald’s gives us a few anchors that tie us back to the physical space: feeding the dog, the biomechanical synchronization of a lover’s breath, the office politics of forest animals and core memories of singing out loud with friends. Musically, FitzGerald invites us to follow the breadcrumbs in the labyrinth of his knotty, surrealistic and, often, very funny and very dismal brand of Country music.
Based out of Durham, North Carolina FitzGerald’s shift away from his moniker Jokes&Jokes&Jokes towards his Government name in 2020 feels more like a person getting to know themselves rather than a magician revealing the false bottom or other pair of legs. Musically FitzGerald shares a similar bent trajectory of expressing the existential and the ineffable through the hard-scrabble and unlucky characters that populate these nine songs. Glenn Campbell, Bill Callahan and the spectre of John Prine figure heavily. The trinity here seem to guide the album’s neat strummers into the Chamber-Folk and further into Free-Jazz inflected. Meanwhile FitzGerald’s incredibly strong songwriting cuts a broad swath of rich purple velvet connecting him to contemporary outsider-Country artists like Cass McCombs and Simon Joyner in their surrealistic poetry and punch-in-the-gut one-liners.
Of these songs, FitzGerald writes, “These nine songs are like school pictures. They are wallet-sized portraits taken between 2006 and 2016. The songs on “A deep clean you can count on!” are frightened, sad, confused, bewildered, dislocated, hopeful, and hopeless. They’re emotional snapshots. Sometimes I can’t recognize myself in the songs. Other times I’m so swept up that I’m carried back in time by strong, old feelings. I’m hungover and doomed. I’m an unfixable thing that hurts other people. Whenever you find an old picture of yourself in a yearbook or a sock drawer I hope you feel happy to be where you are. More than anything else, that’s how this record makes me feel.”
What was it about the past not being done with us or time being a flat circle? By opening up every drawer and dawning the elbow length rubber gloves and grabbing the Ajax, FitzGerald leaves no stone unturned in his psyche and no dark corner unexplored. Yet, everyday our dog tracks mud on our freshly cleaned floors and our dead skin cells sluff off on our sheets when we sleep. FitzGerald seems to be saying that maintenance, routine and the courage to stare yourself deep into the eyes and cry and laugh at all the dumb shit we did, is the deep clean we can count on.
