Still Corners - Elf Power - Clea Anaïs’ - Diandian

Photo - Bernard Bur

Still Corners - Far Rider.

Ahead of a massive tour throughout Europe and the US this Spring, Still Corners have released their seven-minute desert-noir odyssey, ‘Far Rider’.

With the sun at its peak a weary desert traveller picks their way across the soft sandy floor trying to forget a lost love or maybe a past best forgotten. Crystal clear guitar lines drift in and out as the bass weaves and snakes over a tight drum beat. Tessa Murray croons steady as a pulse, as the song winds like a caravan toward the orange horizon.

Tessa explains, “This song is about leaving, lost love and finding yourself somewhere on the journey, really it’s about redemption. I recently drove 6000 miles across the southwest to feel the sun on my face and think.  We used the dreamlike nature of the song to capture the landscape and a hypnotic feel to conjure up the long and lonely travel days.”

‘Far Rider’ follows on from the release of their recent single ‘Heavy Days’, and highly-praised 2021 studio album ‘The Last Exit’, which received standout reviews in NME, DIY, Uncut, The Quietus, Mojo and many more Still Corners will be heading off on tour in 2022 throughout the US and Europe to support their recent releases.

stillcorners · Far Rider

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Photo - Jason Thrasher

Elf Power - The Gas Inside The Tank.

Yesterday, the Athens, GA-based psychedelic folk band Elf Power announced they have signed with Yep Roc Records. To celebrate the partnership, the band released “The Gas Inside The Tank,” their first single release since 2017’s full length album Twitching in Time.

“‘The Gas Inside the Tank’ lyrically touches on seemingly separate but interrelated themes such as reincarnation, evolution, digital information overload, and an imagined post-apocalyptic future world of deserted cities in which inhabitants resort to siphoning gas from abandoned vehicles,” explains Andrew Rieger. “This was the first song written for an album we’ll be releasing later this year. It mixes organic and artificial elements together, with drums and drum machine mixed together, and slide guitar and organ alongside gurgling moog keyboards and synth bass.”

"We are very excited to be working with Yep Roc! So many of our friends and collaborators like Robyn Hitchcock, The Apples in Stereo, The Minus 5, and the No Ones have worked with the label, so we're looking forward to joining the Yep Roc roster,” said Elf Power.

“We are thrilled to welcome Elf Power to the Yep Roc Records roster,” said Yep Roc’s Co-General Manager Mariah Czap. “For the past 28 years, they've been such an important influence in the indie music community. Our team has known Andrew and the band since around 2004, as they've collaborated with a number of Yep Roc artists past and present over the years. We're excited to officially add them to our label family!”

Elf Power formed in Athens, GA in 1994 and have released 13 albums, two EPs, and a handful of singles, while touring North America, Europe, and Japan many times playing alongside acts like R.E.M., Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr., Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided by Voices, Arcade fire and many more. Albums such as 1998's Dave Fridmann-produced A Dream In Sound and 2008's collaboration with the late folk rock icon Vic Chesnutt, Dark Developments, have cemented the band’s reputation as the finest purveyors of modern melodic psychedelic folk rock around. The band became known as a member of the much heralded Elephant 6 Collective.

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Clea Anaïs’ - Stars Still Dying.

Clea Anaïs’ compositions centre on two things: their multifaceted artistic sensibility, and an emotional intelligence as sharp as a shard of bright-coloured crystal. Clea is a multiethnic artist, raised in Canada by a Mauritian dancer and a British painter.

Clea works with all kinds of interesting contemporaries in interesting places, undertaking a cross border commission in 2021 by the Canadian Consulate as part of the “Connecting Perspectives” initiative. Clea has toured in Canada, Japan, Europe, the UK, the USA, and New Zealand. Their session work spans many genres, having worked with Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) on his project Music for Heart and Breath, attending residencies at the Banff Centre, and recording with bands like Woodpigeon, 100 Mile House, Reuben and the Dark, and Astral Swans. Clea has shared the stage with groups including members of Broken Social Scene, Dan Mangan, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Cold Specks, City and Colour, and Of Montreal, to name a few. Much of this has happened with Clea’s collaborative band RALEIGH, who Alternative Album of the Year in the 2018 YYC Music Awards.

Now undertaking new music on her own, her debut solo album, Circle Zero, recalls the genre defying production and inimitable vocals of Lana del Rey, grounded in the nostalgic groove and lush pop stylings of Beach House and Japanese Breakfast. Clea’s first two self-released singles garnered 7k views each on YouTube, with “Hazy Days” spending multiple weeks on CBC Radio 3’s Top 10 playlist. Clea creates art that moves in interesting ways; throughout there are moments that are vulnerable and these moments move you because they are some special combo of being listenable, evoking memory, and feeling new.

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Diandian - I'm Still Mi.

We are pleased to include Diandian today with the beautiful new song 'I'm Still Mi', we will let her tell us all about herself - Diandian is an Asian American cellist, singer, and engineer. As a Stanford University graduate of engineering and music programs, she uses her unique skills in the sciences and arts to create innovative pieces with the cello.

Formerly a classical cellist; she has previously won international competitions and performed at venues such as at the Bing Concert Hall at Stanford, The Grammy Museum, Tsuen Wen Town Hall in Hong Kong, Shanghai Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for SoCal Sunday Night on Classical KUSC. Her upcoming tour venues for 2022 include the Grammy Museum, LAX, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and Stanford Concert Hall.

Along with producer Taylor Franklyn, diandian creates her first independent release, "Planet Pink" featuring her singing debut, cello, and original songwriting. Diandian's first independent release. Bittersweet melancholy with soft vocals, cello, and dreamy beats.

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Buffalo Rose - Lost Tuesday Society - Primer

Photo - Zian Meng

Buffalo Rose - I Give You The Morning.

"I Give You The Morning," is a gorgeous selection from Pittsburgh Americana sextet Buffalo Rose, who partnered with GRAMMY-winning folk legend Tom Paxton for a gorgeous EP called Rabbit released today via Misra Records.

"I Give You The Morning" is a classic love song written by Tom Paxton, who also lends his vocals to the track. With goosebump-inducing harmonies and delicate instrumentation, "I Give You The Morning" radiates sunshine and warmth from every note.

If you think you know what acoustic music is all about - just wait. Buffalo Rose takes the folk styles of the past and gleefully blends them with modern, contemporary flair. If a smile was a band, it would be Buffalo Rose.

Rabbit is a perfect release for the last gasp of winter; as we pin our hopes on spring, eagerly awaiting the days of more and more sunshine, this new EP will warm up any who listen. Combining Paxton’s honed writing skills with the instrumental prowess of Buffalo Rose, the album’s themes are derived from the hope of doing all we can do to find what we’re looking for. In this EP, these seven musicians explore answers to many questions, and they have a blast doing it.

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Lost Tuesday Society - Spinning Wheels.

'Spinning Wheels' is the latest offering by Swansea based 6-piece Alternative Folk band 'Lost Tuesday Society'. Taken from their successful latest album 'Bee Skin Rug' the band explore a darker sound and show a diverse dynamic following the bright and airy 'Lights' which was playlisted on the BBC Radio Wales 'Welsh A-List'.

Swansea Alt-Folk band ‘Lost Tuesday Society’ have announced a brand new single entitled ‘Spinning Wheels’ which has just been released independently.

Lost Tuesday Society are Jay Browning (bass) Alfie Scheinman (guitar, flute, vocals) Sarah Birch (guitar, vocals) Darran Browning (guitar, vocals) Simon Jones (drums) Kate Ronconi (violin, vocals) Lost Tuesday Society are a 6 piece band who have collectively come from a variety of differing musical backgrounds and therefore bring with them a range of personal influences; from traditional and alternative folk, grunge and shoe-gaze, funk, psychedelia and rock.

The result is a unique blend of music with intricate compositions, strong hooks and melody lines combining in a huge dynamic sound that has people up on their feet.

With four vocalists (Sarah, Kate, Darran and Alfie) in the band the harmonies are interesting, beautiful and an important element to the Lost Tuesday Society sound. With a heavier back line and driving rhythm section ( Jay and Simon) and two accomplished guitarists (in Alfie and Darran) the new material presented today has a maturity and edge which is beautifully enhanced by weaving strings (Kate),flute(Alfie) and melodica (Sarah).

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Photo - Carrie Pitzer

Primer - Warning.

We have the new single + video from Alyssa Midcalf's Primer project - directed in the Mojave desert by Jax Anderson. It's called "Warning." Here's what Alyssa has to say about it:

Warning is a celebration of the end of a toxic relationship. It’s a grand finale to the record and to a years long cycle of pain and anguish. I wrote the song during a hard turn in my life. I spent so much of my life with someone who siphoned my energy and depleted my whole world of color and light. I had to come to terms with knowing I will never be able to change the past or get that time back but I could meditate on the fact that I am no longer in that place.

And about the video location: I chose to shoot the video in the Mojave desert because it’s where I grew up. I spent all my teen years trying to reject the desert; feeling stifled and isolated there and wanting so badly to move as far away as possible. And now that I have moved away to many different places, I’ve been able to accept that it will always be my home regardless of where I go.

“There were experiences that hit me hard emotionally, moments in my life that hit me in a weird way,” Alyssa Midcalf shares when asked about the inspiration behind her latest album, Incubator. “I felt like the only way to process them was to write about them.” In 2019, under the performance moniker Primer, Midcalf released her first solo album Novelty. The vocalist and electronic producer has put the full wealth of her experience into her sophomore album, Incubator, sharing honest, and sometimes harrowing, stories from her own life through a pop-tinted lens.

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Basement Revolver - Hate Moss - Hailey Whitters - Carleton Stone

Basement Revolver - Dissolve.

Basement Revolver has always centered around the friendship of bassist/keyboardist Nim Agalawatte and guitarist/vocalist Chrisy Hurn. Lead guitarist Jonathan Malström and drummer Levi Kertesz round out the band’s larger-than-life sound.

The band’s catalogue spans back to their breakout single, 2016’s “Johnny.” That single, and their self-titled EP from the same year, led to their signing with Fear of Missing Out in the UK, and later, Canada’s Sonic Unyon Records.

Heavy Eyes, their debut LP, built on their aesthetic which merges hardcore-inspired indie and ambient dream pop. In support of that they toured throughout the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany. With tour plans on hold through 2020, Basement Revolver found time to wrestle with questions about identity, faith, mental illness, and sexuality.

Their sophomore LP, Embody, is explicit about these new ideas and new thoughts, addressing them with a deeper sound and crisper production to adroitly express the complexity of the world. It is an album of friendship, of working out identity together, and making deeply personal art.

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Photo Ruggero Lupo Mengoni

Hate Moss - Eremita.

Bringing to mind the broodingly intense works of Dead Can Dance or Liars, crossed with the philosophical songwriting of De André and Tom Zé, it’s a twitchingly paranoid and quietly exhilarating hint of what to expect on new album ‘NaN’.

Directed by Ian Carvalho, the single is accompanied by a misleadingly lo-fi video, which reveals hidden depths with repeated views. Shot by the band in a single-take using the Datamosh technique, it follows the band as they traverse through the scenic town of Monopoli in Puglia, Italy. The Mediaeval setting of warm-colored palaces on a summer evening soon begin to glitch chaotically with pixelated footage; and hint that all may not be as it seems… Speaking about the video Tina adds:

“The idea of contrasting the beauty of that historic city centre with the digital “dirt”, created by Data Mosh, fascinated us because it represents the message that the music expresses very well: The conflict. This is solved by the protagonist "abandoning the field" and crossing a counter-current path that leads from Aesthetic Beauty, represented in the video by the Madia Cathedral square, to Ethical Beauty, represented by the church of Purgatory, important for its representations of the various "Memento Mori.”

Produced and Mixed by In A Sleeping Mood with Hate Moss, the “Eremita” also features guest appearances from Donato Panaccio (Bass and Arp Guitars) and Mauro Polito (percussion). It was mastered at Loud Mastering studios by Jason Mitchell.

Hate Moss is an Italo-Brazilian duo formed by Tina and Ian in 2018. Formed in London and currently living a nomadic existence, the duo have performed on numerous stages across South America, Europe and the Middle East, while drawing crowds at international festivals like the Venice Biennale (IT), Locomotiva Festival (BR) and Goiania Noise (BR), earning a cult following in the process.

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Photo - Harper Smith

Hailey Whitters - The Neon.

The Iowa-born, Nashville-based rising Country star Hailey Whitters has released her new single “The Neon” from her highly anticipated third album RAISED that will be released on March 18 via Pigasus Records/Songs & Daughters/Big Loud Records. The single arrives with a Harper Smith-directed lyric video shot at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Nashville, TN. RAISED is now available for preorder.

“I wrote ‘The Neon’ with Lori McKenna and Rodney Clawson about a broken-hearted bender on the town,” Whitters explains. “It was our first time writing together and Lori brought in the title. I think the next line that came out of the room that day was ‘here comes the sad part’ and we instantly knew it was this ‘tear in my beer’ type lyric. I love getting to tap into this song emotionally every time I sing it. Whenever I'm feelin' blue, there's no broken heart a barstool and a cold beer (or shot of tequila) can't fix.”

Last month, Whitters released the album’s debut single “Everything She Ain’t,” which was praised by American Songwriter, BrooklynVegan, Rolling Stone and Billboard who said, "Whitters has proven herself a stellar songwriter and artist in equal measure… handclaps and sweet fiddle lines boost Whitters’ charming vocal and razor-sharp wordplay.”

The 17-song album was co-produced by Whitters alongside producer Jake Gear, who produced Whitters’ 2020 release THE DREAM and the subsequent deluxe album LIVING THE DREAM, and was engineered by Logan Matheny. The album also finds Whitters reconnecting with co-writers Brandy Clark, Nicolle Galyon, Hillary Lindsey, and Lori McKenna.

RAISED finds Whitters reconnecting with her Midwestern roots and hometown of Shueyville, IA, reflecting on family, first kisses, and life amid sprawling cornfields. “This record is where I'm from, this is me. It feels like the prequel to THE DREAM,” explains Whitters. “These are the people and this is the place that made that 17 year old girl leave everything she'd ever known to pursue a career in country music and not give up over the last 14 years.”

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Carleton Stone - Ice Age.

Carleton Stone, an award-winning artist, a songwriter with a growing list of credits, and a founding member of Port Cities, has recently added producer to his list of accomplishments.

Carleton has three solo records to his credit, multiple awards, and has toured internationally. An outstanding writer, Carleton has written songs for and with such diverse artists as Donovan Woods, Classified, Bobby Bazini, and Neon Dreams. 

Carleton’s producer debut was Willie Stratton’s “The Way She Holds Me,” and his fall will be jam packed with producing Willie’s new record, songs by Chudi Harris, and his own new solo release in June 2022.

 

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Colatura - Abigail Lapell - Ruby Tingle - Little Wretches - Stella Diana

Photo Credit: Justin Buschardt

Colatura - Scars.

New York City trio Colatura released their latest single, “Scars,” this week, sharing a video homage to the earliest days of television musical performances. Colatura’s debut album, And Then I’ll Be Happy, will arrive April 22, with a hometown performance set for that night in Brooklyn, at The Sultan Room [tickets here]. Prior, they will head to Austin, Texas for this year’s SXSW Music Conference.

Discussing the single, the band noted, "‘Scars' explores the dark fantasies of revenge you might indulge in, about someone who has caused you pain. It’s wanting to hurt someone who has hurt you and thinking that doing so will heal your own pain, but also knowing deep down that it won’t actually make the pain go away. But you indulge the fantasy regardless.

The chorus is rooted in doo wop, but in a dark way (doo wop noir, if you will), so in the video we wanted to reference that by doing a recreation of a '50s girl group soundstage performance, but to make the movements more robotic and unnerving, and also have it feel like a kind of strange afterlife limbo.

The emotionlessness of the singing and the movements seem on the surface like the pain is gone, but we wanted to use the juxtaposition of dark and light imagery to make it clear that even when you try to bury it, the pain will still live beneath the surface and be a part of who you are regardless. Not to be completely bleak, the flowers growing from our bodies show that there can be some regrowth and beauty even in the damage."

Featuring the triple songwriting attack of Jennica (bass/vocals), Digo (guitar/vocals) and Meredith (guitar/vocals), Colatura been called, "Fleetwood Mac with shoegaze guitars," by Fadeaway Radiate, and described by Popmatters as, “Drawing on a range of influences from '50s female-fronted outfits to Manchester post-punk and all manner of noisy things, Colatura sounds both of and out of its time, delivering music that seems to have always been.” Sonically, their foot is in a number of genres, writing music that is sometimes dreamy, sometimes heavy, with pop-leaning melodies and post-punk atmospherics.

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Abigail Lapell - Ships.

With a cyclical, hypnotizing guitar part and foggy, maritime imagery, Toronto songwriter Abigail Lapell’s new song “Ships” crashes on top of itself again and again until its subtle power tops the seawall and floods the landscape. Sounding like a mellower Sleater-Kinney or Laura Veirs with a horn section, “Ships” explores the insatiable, contradictory impulses that drive doomed love and other addictions, or as Lapell puts it, “Leaving versus staying, quitting versus relapsing—familiar shores and uncharted waters.” 

The idea of opposites attracting—or repelling—shows up in the song’s arrangement, too. What begins as a soft indie rock head-nodder—with drums (Dani Nash), bass (Dan Fortin), and guitars (Christine Bougie)—starts to sneak in a horn or two, a step on the overdrive pedal, and layers of vocal harmonies before climaxing with a wild sax solo only met in energy by Lapell’s reactive vocals. Fortunately, cameras caught the whole recording process at Montreal’s hotel2tango recording studio, and today, Under The Radar premiered that footage in the music video for “Ships” who stated, “Lapell’s latest single sees her follow further in a folk rock direction, taking full advantage of her band’s explosive live chemistry.”

“Ships” is the second single from Lapell’s upcoming album Stolen Time—out April 22nd on Outside Music. Fans can hear the previously-released “Pines” at this link and pre-order or pre-save Stolen Time right here. Abigail will also appear at this year’s SXSW on March 16 at Stephen F’s Bar

The upcoming Stolen Time strikes a balance between Lapell’s acoustic debut, Great Survivor, and her two rockier Chris Stringer-produced records, Hide Nor Hair and Getaway, while bringing a live-off-the-floor 70s folk-rock vibe and more structural experimentation to the table on songs that feel expansive in their scope—unhurried, psychedelic, and other-worldly. Lapell’s band underscores and meets the power of her vocals on songs like “Ships,” a wild sax solo seemingly enticing her higher and louder to meet the crashing waves. But many of Stolen Time’s standout tracks are solo acoustic guitar songs, backed by little more than Lapell’s harmonica, pump organ, or accordion. “Old Flames,” with Lapell’s melodic fingerstyle guitar mimicking flickering embers, is a bit of an answer song to Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” and the swirling and woozy “Scarlet Fever” was inspired by an elderly relative’s tales of being quarantined as a child. “Land Of Plenty” was influenced by Lapell’s family history of escaping the Holocaust by immigrating from Eastern Europe to North America, as well as more recent immigration stories.



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Ruby Tingle - Flood.

Audio visual artist and performer Ruby Tingle is set to release her first solo EP ‘Lagoons’, on No Such Thing Records, in conjunction with her public gallery exhibition at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery. ‘Flood’ is the first single to be released from 5 track EP, exploring the romance of dancing alone at night in an imagined wetlands, whilst desiring connection with someone else.

The remaining 4 EP tracks are based around Warrington Museum’s collection of amphibians and reptiles, and the artist’s lifelong connection with these animals throughout her own emotional experiences. Ruby’s music mixes natural sound processes and high range celestial vocals to compose original and dreamy, experimental “music from the swamp”.

She is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist working with progressive electronica in Manchester, represented by No Such Thing Records and PAPER Gallery Manchester. She exhibits and performs regularly across the UK and Europe, including Saatchi Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, 48 Hours Neukolln, Axel Orbinger Berlin, Art Basel, HOME, sluice___ and Chethams Library. She is also one half of cinematic bass act Dirty Freud with whom she performed and headlined stages at Glastonbury 2019, and recently released EP ‘Love in the Backwater’ with Modern Sky.

Recent commissions include new compositional work for Lancashire Encounter and upcoming collaborative performances for British Art Show 2022. She has been awarded 2022’s Manchester Jazz Festival Originals Commission and will also exhibit at the Whitaker Gallery in 2023.

 

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Little Wretches - Running  (Was the Only Thing to Do).

With the 2020 release of their album, "Undesirables And Anarchists," indie folk rock pioneers Little Wretches hit the ground "running." The album received national college radio airplay on over 115 AM/FM stations in North America. Propelled by international iTunes chart hits like "Ballad of Johnny Blowtorch" and "All Of My Friends," Robert Andrew Wagner and company have amassed more than 130K Spotify streams. Their Youtube videos are quickly approaching 70K views. Now, the Pittsburgh-based band has released their most poignant video yet.

The music video for "Running (Was The Only Thing To Do)" was released on February 15th, 2022. Taken from "Undesirables And Anarchists," the Wagner-written song was inspired by Cecil B. DeMille's movie, "The Ten Commandments" and band member/spotlight vocalist, Rosa Colucci's life story.

Wagner tells the story behind the song: "Prior to joining The Little Wretches, Rosa Colucci had never sung in a band. She'd been the only white soloist in a predominantly African-American Gospel choir, and she'd sung some karaoke, but that was the extent of it. Shortly after Rosa joined the band, Scott Mervis of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, 'Rosa Colucci is the best thing that ever happened to The Little Wretches.' Given Rosa's vocal power, audiences came to expect her to have a 'spotlight' number in band's live shows, so she asked me to write something for her."

"Rosa is an April baby, the season of Easter and Passover, and I wanted to have a song ready for her birthday. Watching Cecil B. DeMille's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS on television while strumming my guitar, I paused to marvel at the big scene when Charlton Heston as Moses raises his staff and God parts The Red Sea. Bondage and hopelessness behind them and the impossible before them, what would the average Israelite do? What else could they do? RUN! Believers and non-believers alike. Oh, well... Here goes nothing. Or everything. I recalled Rosa having told me that she'd been on her own since the age of fifteen. The details are for Rosa to tell, but I saw the parallels. EXODUS. Let My People Go! In her own way, Rosa had fled a kind of bondage and leapt into an uncertain future with only faith to guide her."


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Photo - Oriana Spadaro

Stella Diana - Sleepless Girl.

"Sleepless Girl" is the first single off Stella Diana's awaited new album "Nothing To Expect", set for release on 22-2-22 via Vipchoyo / A State of Flux Records. Well established as one of the most appreciated acts in the international underground scene, the Neapolitan band pushes even further the boundaries of their sonic venture.

Like the praised previous album '57', 'Nothing to Expect' masterfully interwines new wave, dark post-punk textures and spirals of shoegaze light, this time highlighting a more brazen opening towards the melody.

As the band says: “In this new album we tried to create the soundtrack of something that ends, something that can never be again. The air you breathe is something ultimate, something that puts an end to everything. The sound is dark, sinister, evocative and compressed, very compressed. The first single, Sleepless girl, absolutely represents this atmosphere. The mood is rarefied and full of reverb.”

Named after the ancient name of planet Venus (Morning Star), Stella Diana were formed in 1998 in Southern Italy’s city of Naples by Dario Torre (vocals and guitar) and Giacomo Salzano (bass guitar), joined by Giulio Grasso on drums.


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All Things Blue - VanWyck - Jesse D'Kora - Nice Vice - Oceanator

All Things Blue - Grog Log.

LA dream-punk duo All Things Blue return with new single "Grog Log". The new single teases the release of a new EP from the band, and follows the pair's widely acclaimed debut album Get Bit, released in 2020. Led by singer and guitarist India Coombs and accompanied by longtime songwriting partner Jon Joseph, All Things Blue together create "dream-punk" soundscapes in their most tender form; celebrating life's experiences and wrapping them in the soft tones of 60s analog.

New single "Grog Log" is an escapist, psych-imbued slice of indie-rock, combining the classic teachings of the golden age of pop including The Ronettes and The Beach Boys, with the lucid psych-pop of Melody's Echo Chamber and La Luz.

Speaking on the release of the new single, India Coombs said: "Musically, Grog Log is inspired by Tiki Drinks. Lyrically, it’s inspired by real life, while a beautiful thing, is also filled with let downs and situations that don’t live up to expectations we come up with in our minds.  As a human who likes solutions, I can get a bit addicted to daydreaming. When I can’t figure out people’s nuanced and often nonsensical emotions, I can escape into my mind to live out scenarios the way I wish they really would turn out. May not be real but, I have to say I am a dreamland advocate."

Coombs' composition is impactful; power presented in sound, and the natural depth in her lyrics and melody will have you dancing and thinking of love/life/minds lost (or found). Joseph is the perfect wing-man to Coombs; decorating each story with musical quirks, foxy boxy beats and sun-worn shine to extend their mystical ambience. Dirty riffs, choruses that hook on your brain for days, and stories of lives lived to the fullest remind us all of good times, angst, and of being a little turned on.

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VanWyck - Maybe, Maybe Not.

Amsterdam singer-songwriter, VanWyck, announces the release of her single, “Maybe, Maybe Not,” on February 18. The single is off her fourth album, The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man, due out on April 8 through Excelsior Recordings. ”Maybe, Maybe Not” is an anthem for the indecisive, the loiterers, the unsure, the ones that can’t seem to make up their minds: the one step forward, two-step back people; the maybe, maybe not kind.

The song’s mood is deceptively lighter. It’s a tug of war between a persistent jogging beat and skipping interludes, with VanWyck’s vocals pulling the listener back into a state of suspended indecision. The protagonist’s answer is to keep walking, even if he doesn’t know where to go.

VanWyck says, “I’ve always had this sort of feeling that if all fails, I can just start walking. As a last resort, I could gather my stuff in a backpack and move on, keep walking. In the pandemic, when it looked like all shows would be canceled for a long time, I decided that if that happened I would just start walking and have an adventure. An escapist longing I guess, but maybe also a sincere desire to be some kind of pilgrim, to be truly free. But I stayed put – hence the song.”

Enchanting, moody, and rich, the album vividly reflects these confusing modern times through whispered tones and cavernous themes. It’s a timeless album portraying the different ways in which modern man is lost, scared, stuck in his ways, and searching for a way out of his predicament.  Twelve songs that intertwine both lyrically and harmonically. Together they tell a story about a man who washes up on a wondrous island and doesn’t remember where he came from. Is he a victim or a perpetrator? Has he escaped, or is he imprisoned? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Luckily a woman enters the stage. Will she be able to save him?

The album also speaks of these times in a broader sense: we are living on the brink of epic transitions. We know that the old ways will lead to our destruction but can’t decide on the path forward. VanWyck says, “Sometimes it feels like we are trapped in our own prisons, in our inability to take good care of each other and this wonderful planet, like we are failing in our most epic of struggles, the survival of our humanity.”

VanWyck · Maybe, Maybe Not

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Jesse D'Kora - Cricket.

Background from Jesse - My name is Jesse D’Kora and I write indie / dream pop music with some beachy vibes, with a style that is inherently lofi as I write, record, mix and master all of the music in my spare bedroom in Salford (UK). I have embarked on a musical journey this year whereby I am going to release a single every month, ‘cricket’ is the 2nd instalment and chosen song for February 2022.

Sometimes, you just have to write a song about your favourite sport, don't you? I mean with the world in such a rough place it's the little distractions that can bring you that joy and an escape. Which is essentially a deeper way of saying, I like cricket so I wrote a song about it. Inspired partly by memories of going to see England play and partly by the family impact it has had - my grandad loved it, my dad loves it, me and my brother love it.

Musically, it is as bitesize as the come, it's over 200bpm, less than 3 minutes, and it's a good old pow pow pow and finish. It’s got the jangly guitars and pushing drums that are synonymous with my sound. It’s totally uncomplicated - perhaps in juxtaposition with the game of cricket - but it's the way I like it.

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Nice Vice - Bloom.

Nice Vice just released his debut single, “Bloom.” The single draws inspiration from 90s rock and features melodic guitars, heavy undertones, and honest lyricism. The single is released ahead of a music video that guides audiences through the storytelling and range of emotions that influence the track. “Bloom” is now available to download and stream across all platforms.

Seth Horst, who performs under the alias Nice Vice, spent the better part of two years writing and recording a slew of new songs for his forthcoming EP, First Dose. “‘Bloom’ was the first song written in a large batch of songs over the last year and a half. It was never supposed to be on the EP,” explains Horst. “I had honestly forgotten about it. Sometimes you miss the beauty and potential in something at first; fast forward, and it’s the debut single.” The indie-rock single will be accompanied by a music video shot by Dirty Shot Clean, set for release on February 17th. The visual showcases four friends as they embark on a road trip in an RV and the adventures that ensue along the way. Horst played and recorded every instrument on the single. “It took me a long time to teach myself how to record all of the instruments and really get the sounds that I was looking for.” He recruited Zak Van Zeumeren to mix “Bloom” and Theodore Papadopoulos to master it.

Nice Vice got started in his hometown of Toronto and is currently located in Los Angeles. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Counting Crows, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Jack White, Nice Vice has been able to capture and reinvent the sound of 90s rock and melodic acoustics, exemplified in the new single “Bloom.” Horst’s songwriting style is a culmination of these artists, along with his own honest and unique flair. Blending sounds of the new and the old, this first release gives the listener a broad range of what he is capable of. With smooth and surprising transitions from soft to heavy, the powerful voice and captivating lyrics touch on themes of new love, lost love, and introspection.

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Oceanator - Bad Brain Daze.

Brooklyn artist Oceanator announces her sophomore album Nothing's Ever Fine, co-produced by Bartees Strange, due out April 8th via Big Scary Monsters / Polyvinyl. Today, she shares new video for the leading single 'Bad Brain Daze', directed by Chris Farren, featuring special appearance by Jeff Rosenstock as 'Saxophone Man'.

Director Chris Farren says about the video: "When Elise asked me to direct a music video for her, I thought “I don’t know how to do that!”, but I said “Yes! I know how to do that!” and quietly panicked for the next 3 weeks. Luckily “how make music video” yields tons of YouTube results. The video we came up with is a fantastical little day-in-the-life tale about anxiety, productivity, dread, and being horrifically ripped in half by cartoon animals."

"The cars break. Everything goes slow motion. There’s disaster and fire,” foretells Elise Okusami, describing her cinematic vision of the end of the world. Apocalypse is a subject she mined in acute detail and to critical acclaim on 2020’s Things I Never Said, her debut full-length as Oceanator. But in her most recent cataclysmic telling, she keeps the camera focused on the people who survive and need to keep on living. A couple escapes the wreckage in a classic pickup truck, their dog riding in the back. They find a new home in the woods and consider how to start over. “It could either be hopeful or negative,” Okusami explains of the tale’s ambiguous ending. “You’re either walking off into a nice sunset or going off into a black hole. For me, it depends on the mood; it can be both ways.

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Erika Lewis - Shayla McDaniel - Alas The Sun - Renata Zeiguer

Photo - Sarrah Danziger

Erika Lewis - Loser.

Erika Lewis, of beloved New Orleans trad jazz band Tuba Skinny (but currently based in Asheville, NC), has released her fantastic new single "Loser." The track is from her phenomenal forthcoming LP A Walk Around The Sun, out on April 29th.

Erika says the upbeat "Loser" is "loosely based on my own experience in romantic relationships and the push and pull that comes with it. The push of dedication and loyalty and the pull of betrayal and broken promises. Feeling like you would do anything in order to make it work yet not really knowing what to do." She brilliantly distills the sound of heart wrenching, classic country into each of the album's poignant tracks. She has the voice of an angel, I think I could listen to her read Wikipedia entries and be happy forever.

When this album was made, a crisis had struck - she was given a health diagnosis that required surgery that could permanently damage her vocal nerves and end her career. Her friend Lani Tourville, wife of The Delondes' John James Tourville (who also produced the record), told her she had to make one last record before the surgery. She made the album, and the surgery was a success!

Erika Lewis · Loser

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Shayla McDaniel - Depend On.

"Depend On" is a retro soul song with a modern twist that elicits a cool head nod with a groovy vibe that's perfect for cooking dinner, cleaning the house, or just hanging out. It's about longing for someone to depend on in a relationship, romantically, in business, or a friendship, after being hurt by someone you trust.

“I was in a jam when someone bailed on me. I was thinking in the shower and trying to figure out what to do,” McDaniel said. “I said to myself, ‘I want someone I can depend on, like the kick on the one’s and three’s.’ Then I was like, ‘Dang! This needs to be a song.’ I just sang the lines to see what melody came out, and it stuck.”

Shayla’s honeyed vocals, her pop-rock songwriting, and her instrumental instincts invite comparisons to John Legend fronting an indie rock band, The Roots affiliate Cody Chestnut (“The Seed 2.0”), and a silken Gary Clark Jr. But the truth is, there aren’t many talents who sound like Shayla. Her smoothly emotional vocals, self-contained artistry, and indie rock outlook is singular. Shayla counts as influences artists as diverse as the band Joseph, Lianne La Havas, Andraé Crouch, and Deep Sea Diver, among others. She released her debut single in 2016; her debut EP in 2017; and a follow-up EP in 2019.

It took a little prodding to get lifelong musician, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Shayla McDaniel onstage. A friend of hers had never heard the Knoxville-based singer-songwriter’s musical gifts, but was well-versed in her steely determination and Type A personality. He suggested she take her music out of the basement, and Shayla took his sage advice and emerged an award-winning prolific artist with a soulful, guitar-driven alt-rock sensibility.

 

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Alas The Sun - Out For Something.

Swiss indie pop duo Alas The Sun are back with their infectious new single 'Out For Something'! The female/male vocals and dreamy guitar melodies make for a sparkling Indie gem, taking you on a roadtrip through sunny climes!

Following on from critically-acclaimed debut album "You And Your Love" (2019), new single "Out For Something" opens up a new chapter. Nuria Thie is now the group’s front woman, completing the line-up alongside founding member, Sandro Raschle. She has been a permanent fixture since February 2021, and this first single since her arrival offers a luscious appetiser of Alas The Sun’s sophomore record “Wild Honey Inn”, out May 6th via Taxi Gauche Records.

A glimmering infectious indie pop gem that makes you want to move your hips and hum along simultaneously, ”Out For Something" was co-produced by Tim Frey at firstdoorleft in Aarau together with the band. Frey and Raschle were responsible for recording almost all instruments, given helping hands by Simon Truog (bass) and Yvan Brunner (guitar), both of whom form part of the live line-up. Raschle: ‘I wrote "Out For Something" a few weeks before the release of our debut album. Unfortunately, the song didn't make it onto the record, but the band liked it so much that we included it in our live set. It made sense to have Truog and Brunner in for the studio sessions as they had helped shape the song while playing it live.’

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Photo - Josh Goleman

Renata Zeiguer - Evergreen.

Brooklyn-based Filipino/Argentinian artist Renata Zeiguer today is sharing her new single “Evergreen” from her upcoming album, Picnic In The Dark, releasing April 8th, 2022 via Northern Spy. In the meditative and driving "Evergreen," Renata Zeiguer sings of a transformative migration from her lifelong NYC hometown to the Catskills of upstate New York. “The move was a pivotal rite of passage, where leaving every familiar thing behind in exchange for exploring a completely new environment in solace allowed me to see a new world of perspective,” says Zeiguer. “Rewiring the brain through meditation in nature and constantly feeding it with new environmental signals helped me uproot the hold of past life-experiences.”

The song was the last to be recorded for Picnic in the Dark, symbolizing the trajectory of the album's journey, as well as the idea of leaving one concept of home behind in order to find home within oneself. Like a prayer honoring the forest, the lyrics are a reverent homage to the evergreen trees as the song flows in and out of expansive choruses that conjure big sky horizons and feel ethereal and grounded all at once.

Picnic in the Dark follows Zeiguer through a dreamworld of magical realism as she navigates her memories and seeks to confront inherited dysfunctional patterns head-on. As Zeiguer reconciles her childhood and her adult lives with careful compassion, Picnic in the Dark reveals itself as an album not only of transformation, but of healing and self-actualization.

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Brittany and the Blisstones - Emma and the Fragments

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.

Brittany and the Blisstones · Mermaid

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Emma and the Fragments - No Hope For Love.

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.

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Heavy Salad - The Weeping Willows - Anna Sun - Barzin - Ellevator

Heavy Salad - Psilocyberman.

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.

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The Weeping Willows - House Of Sin.

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”.

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Photo - Dylan Thomas

Anna Sun - What A Shame.

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.

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Barzin - Voyeurs In The Dark.

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.

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Ellevator - Slip.

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.

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