The Rishis - Graham And The Band Upstairs - Kepi Ghoulie - Alpha Cat - Jupiters Dream - Crowes Pasture

The Rishis - Wake Up.

The Rishis duo of Ranjan Avasthi and Sofie Lute hail from Athens/Atlanta, and Tacoma. They are set to release their new album, August Moon, on April 20th, 2023, via Cloud Recordings. Though the duo has been together for nearly a decade, August Moon is their long-awaited debut.

The rishis are also the newest band to proudly bear the Elephant 6 logo, with many active members of the E6 collective rotating through the band's roster.

Musically speaking, August Moon is an album of gentle, lush, psychedelic songs with a hint of hazy, folk-rock. It isn't hard to imagine the rishis wandering around the subcontinent playing their songs with their friends, and everyone having a grand old time high on some lovely tea. It's hard to avoid singing along to songs like "Holiday" and "Jetstream", thanks to their catchy melodies. But August Moon isn't all folk-rock; "Holi" and "Just Between You and Me" are moody rockers that give Avasthi's songwriting muscle and make for delightful listening. Also worth noting is the Lute-sung "Make Me Love You", a country-rock ballad that will make your eyes shine. And let's not forget the closing song, "Uttar Pradesh", a tribute to Avasthi's Indian ancestral roots.

But August Moon is also an album of collaboration, as their pals also helped out with painting this sound collage. E6 alumni friends helping in it's creation include Scott Spillane (Neutral Milk Hotel), John Kiran Fernades (Olivia Tremor Control), Andrew Rieger (Elf Power), James Huggins III (Of Montreal), Andy Gonzalez (Marshmallow Coast), Peter Alvanos (Sunshine Fix and also Elf Power), Lucy Calhoun (Black Swan Network), Todd Kelly (Phosphorescent and also Great Lakes), Wild Rumpus founder Timi Conley, and co-producer Chris Byron.

August Moon is a poetic, intricate folk-pop record, that wins your heart with thoughtful lyricism, gentle melodies, and lush arrangements. It's the perfect record for the springtime, when life is blooming again and the heart is open to the simple charms of love and life.

Crashingthrough · The Rishis - Wake Up (August Moon)

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Graham And The Band Upstairs - Home To You.

Atlanta Folk Band Graham And The Band Upstairs bring on the authentic on heartfelt new single "Home to You", out today February 3rd on streaming platforms. This is a band comfortable in their own skin enough to pay tribute to the classics, taking influence from Bob Dylan and Neil Young for their brand of folk songwriting. Bittersweet and written with incredible depth, "Home to You" is worthy of repeat listens.

"I’ve always liked songs that feature juxtaposition. Girl by The Beatles is one of the finest examples of this where the melody and Lennon’s vocals creates this sweet bed of breathing grass that you want to just wrap yourself up in. But when you actually listen to the lyrics you realize that the song is anything but sweet. There’s a bitterness behind the lyricism that creates this incredible contrast with the music.

That’s what we tried to do with Home To You. We tell a story about someone navigating a complex relationship while Jeff (Jeff Dei Dolori, our lead guitarist) hooks the audience in with these fantastic, ethereal guitar licks and Veronica (Veronica Roman, our backing vocalist) and I try to evoke a similar sweetness with our vocals.

It’s a song I hope has a lot of replay value where someone could hear it one way, listen to it again, and then come away with a completely different perspective on the narrative of the song."

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Kepi Ghoulie - She's A Sensation.

Punk troubadour Kepi Ghoulie, in keeping with his yearly tradition, has released a surprise album of Ramones covers for this Valentine's season! The first single is "She's A Sensation."

"Ramones In Love" take those classic Ramones love ballads with their unforgettable melodies and reimagines them with a new shine by adding features like keyboards, horns, and more! This album is available on 12" neon pink vinyl, CD, and cassette.

For those not familiar with Kepi's annual tradition, he has been known to release a song or two ahead of Valentine's Day. However, with "Ramones In Love," Kepi delivers an entire album of love songs for us to enjoy! The track choices are something Kepi has been contemplating tracing back to his teenage years when he even made a tape of all Ramones love ballads in chronological order.

Kepi Ghoulie · She's A Sensation

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Alpha Cat - Wichita.

Alt-rock, alt-pop Americana songstress Elizabeth McCullough, aka Alpha Cat, crafts powerful, lyric driven songs in the vein of The Pixies and The Del Fuegos. She has mainly performed in the metropolitan cities of NY, LA and London but lives in the quiet and calming woods of upstate New York.

She’s been a critic’s darling from the go, with outlets like Spin.com and Buzzfeed showering her albums with glowing praise. Her debut EP, Real Boy, beat out Beck and Metallica for two weeks in a row on the CMJ National Add Charts. Her LP, Pearl Harbor, landed on several best of year lists while it’s follow up, Thatched Roof Glass House, received major global airplay, charting #1 on the NACC Add Chart.

Staying true to the ethos of her name, Alpha Cat’s newest album, Venus Smile ….retrograde, explores the dichotomy of intuition and power. “This record addresses the divisions in society and asks for them to be healed by addressing our commonalities,” McCullough asserts. “It’s a hopeful resolution and reconnection to a world that has become too divided, too extreme.”

On the animator: Michael Shapiro spent his childhood in the Bronx doodling, watching cartoons and learning classic art techniques from his mother. After high school, he started taking his art to the streets of New York, where without warning, New York City residents were confronted with the pervasive drawings that comprise Shapiro’s canon. Plastered on buildings, hanging in gallery windows and printed in magazines, his comics were picked up in national glossies and alternative weeklies across the country. Shapiro eventually moved to Austin, teaching himself to animate and eventually working with Johnny Depp, Michael Rapaport, Joe Ely, Russell Peters, Lily Tomlin. He now resides in his hometown of New York City, and has had his animation on Netflix, Discovery and PBS.

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Jupiters Dream - Good Lovin'.

Renee Lester's performance and songwriting vehicle Jupiters Dream, is the latest addition to the Nick Goovnia Music family.

Her velvety vocals and acoustic pop songs are the perfect combination for indie audiophiles and music for placement in film.

Fresh familiarity at it's finest, her music provides the groove to transport you to the the world of acoustic Pop.

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Crowes Pasture - Agree On.

Monique Byrne and Andy Rogovin perform moving and inspirational songs that are sometimes joyful, sometimes wistful, and oftentimes poignant. These songs reflect a mutual passion for life, family, and humanity. Their intimately blended vocal harmonies are mixed with an expressive and unique instrumental style that is best described as a “banjo-guitar romance.” Crowes Pasture’s style of intimate and soulful folk transports and connects listeners through universal experiences in their “skillfully crafted, emotional songwriting” (Chris Eastburn, award-winning composer).

Crowes Pasture has made waves with two EPs and three full-length albums in just six years’ time.  Their album,  Slow It Down, was released in June 2019 at the legendary Club Passim. Since its release, the title track earned Crowes Pasture a #1 song and the album debuted at #5 on the Folk Alliance International Charts. Since the release of their first album, Edge of America, the duo has had eight Top 10 songs on the folk charts, including “Take Back the Red White and Blue” (January 2022), their cover of Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now” (June 2019), and the timely and topical song, “Quarantine” (January 2021).

Over the past few years, Crowes Pasture has performed at a number of renowned east coast music venues, including Club Passim, Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockwood Music Hall, The Bull Run, and Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, as well as performing as a supporting act for The Small Glories and The Kennedys. The duo has been twice honored with nominations as “Roots Act of the Year” by the New England Music Awards (2019 and 2022) and as “Americana Artist of the Year” by the Boston Music Awards (2019). They were named finalists for Best Group/Duo in the 2020 International Acoustic Music Awards, and for Best Group/Duo in the 2021 IAMAs for their song, “A Virtue and a Call.” The duo has toured up and down the East Coast and throughout Southern Ontario and Quebec, and is currently recording their third full-length album with award-winning producer Eric Lichter of Dirt Floor Studios.

The duo takes its name from the salt marsh/tidal flats known as Crowes Pasture, hidden away on the north side of Cape Cod, where the ocean tides recede twice a day to reveal intricate patterns on the shifting sands. This recurring cycle of creation and discovery evokes their own musical journey.

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Güero - Sivu - Mighty Poplar

Güero - Streams of Light.

Sacramento quartet Güero have returned a new single "Streams Of Light" this week, to announce their sophomore full-length album, Wednesdays, for an April 7 release via Dutch Records. Discussing “Streams of Light”, bassist Russell Volksen noted, "This song really has that doo-wop vibe, like Sam Cooke, The Ronnettes, etc. Russell always loved those songs, so he wrote the chord progression after listening to a lot of Black Marble and envisioned it as more of a dreamy pop song with an eight-note style bassline.

Rik came up with a vocal melody and the guitar riff. The catchiness of the ‘Streams of Light’ lyric gave Shea the idea to put together a three-part harmony to sit underneath Rik's vocals on the chorus and outro. Rik's vocal melody and lyrics give you subtle references to the era while allowing it to remain modern and original. It conjures different images in your mind but isn’t specific to one thing.

Through the course of playing this song as a band, it really morphed into the doo-wop style that it is now. Mike immediately gave it a signature feel with the boom-chick-chick, boom-chick rhythm on the drums, which after hearing it, we wanted that rhythm to start and the song. As the song began to take its final shape, Russell drew inspiration from 'Stand By Me' when finalizing his bassline. 

Shea came up with the rhythmic chords on the keys to cement the swing and dance feel to it. He also added a pulsing vibrato, short delay and a ton of reverb to help give the keys a traditional tone to the genre.  We really wanted to pay homage to something we love while keeping our individuality. It’s fun to have different styles of songs to play and this one feels like a real pop song."

 


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Sivu - Wild Horse Running.

Sivu (aka British songwriter James Page) returns with a new single "Wild Horse Running" - the first new music to heard from him in five years, following his widely acclaimed albums Sweet Sweet Silent (2017) and Something On High (2014).

Produced by long time collaborator Charlie Andrew - the Brit-winning, Grammy-nominated producer responsible for the tender, soaring styles of Alt-J, London Grammar and Marika Hackman - "Wild Horse Running" provides a glimpse into Page's renewed and galvanised sense of purpose and resilience, both as a songwriter and as a human. The song's release arrives alongside the announcement of an intimate headline show at Blue Moon in Cambridge on 25th February.

Borne from a need to escape - "Wild Horse Running" merges warbling electronic bass lines with delicate stabs of piano, as Page's unmistakeable falsetto glistens, shining through the compelling arrangements. "I’m a man / Still with something to prove", he offers in the track's opening verse - by his own admittance, a mockery of his own ego - which he quickly resolves - "I’m a man / I know it all means nothing in truth".

Delving more into the track's lyrical themes, Page said: ''Wild Horse Running' grew from this yearning to escape, whether mentally or physically I’m still unsure - but to me the image of a wild horse running is the epitome of freedom and conjures so many feelings of strength, resilience and really a triumph in physical evolution. From there the song just grew in my mind, with an almost cinematic view in my head.

I played on that imagery also, within the song mocking myself and my own male ego having this constant need to improve and selfishly fulfil my own desires over anyone else’s needs in the pre chorus, “I’m A man, I’m a man, still with something to prove, I’m a man, still I know it all means nothing in truth”. I think ultimately the song is just me trying to convince myself I’m not done yet and still have something to contribute. It’s incredibly self indulgent but a general battle I face within my core as a musician and now father."

 


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Mighty Poplar - Up on the Divide.

Free Dirt Records is proud to announce the self-titled debut album from new roots music supergroup Mighty Poplar. Bringing together Andrew Marlin from Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge from Punch Brothers, Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon), and Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings), Mighty Poplar was formed as a vehicle for these artists to explore their love of improvisation through straight ahead bluegrass.

Mighty Poplar’s first single, “Up on the Divide,” was released today. It’s a beautiful song from the pen of cowboy poet and songwriter Martha Scanlan. At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh, and the fun of crafting ideas on the fly keeps the musicians on their toes. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses the self-titled record from Mighty Poplar, coming March 31, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Regarded as some of the finest players of their generation, the playing is never showy and always in service of the song.

Though Pikelny, Eldridge, Garrison all knew each other from their early work with Punch Brothers, impromptu backstage jams with Marlin at festivals across the country were the key that unlocked the project. A lifelong song collector, Marlin selected and sang lead on most of the songs here, bringing classics as well as deep cuts from greats like Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, John Hartford, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Norman Blake. Throughout, the songs and tunes are as immediate and emotionally impactful as the playing is tasteful. Gathered knee-to-knee in a rural studio outside Nashville, the collaborative 10-track album emerged organically over a few days.

“It felt so special and effortless; it didn’t take work,” says Eldridge, “other than the work and effort we’ve put in the rest of our lives.” With their debut album, Mighty Poplar has captured the fierce and playful energy of an all-night jam between old friends who just happen to be grandmasters of the music.

Frankie Rose - L.T.Leif - Annie Stokes

Frankie Rose - Sixteen Ways.

"Counting the ways that things can unexpectedly fall apart on you before anything has even happened yet! The song 'Sixteen Ways' is about anticipation and getting your hopes up while simultaneously making lists in your head about how it can’t possibly work in out in your favor” -Frankie Rose

"Sixteen Ways" (out today) is the second single from Frankie Rose's new LP Love as Projection, her fifth overall, due March 10.

After spending nearly two decades establishing herself across New York and Los Angeles independent music circles, Frankie Rose returns after six years with a fresh form, aesthetic, and ethos embodied in her new full-length album Love As Projection, out March 10 on Slumberland. Celebrated by countless critical and cultural outlets over the years for her expansive approach to songwriting, lush atmospherics, and transcendent vocal melodies and harmonies, Love As Projection is a reintroduction of her established style through the new lens of contemporary electronic pop.

Painstakingly written, recorded, and engineered through some of the most tumultuous times in history, this new collection of songs harnesses the power and propulsion of Frankie’s early DIY-centric punk days without losing sight of the immersive, dreamlike world-building she’s been known for in recent years. Her love of new wave hooks and post-punk drive remain omnipresent, elevated by her utilization of modern production and an improved, polished palate of state-of-the-art instrumentation.

It’s more than a rebirth, a refinement, a resurgence – it’s a culmination of influence, a newly-defined scope using the tools at her disposal, a long-form project that was heavily considered for half of a decade – resulting in the most personal and accessible collection of art-pop that Frankie has delivered yet, propelling her signature melodies and dense, ethereal harmonies into the future.

 

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L.T.Leif - Gentle Moon.

Musician and artist L.T.Leif has shared "Gentle Moon" the opening track to the new LP, Come Back to Me, but Lightly, out now on Lost Map Records and OK Pal.

"Gentle Moon" is a long-distance love song, sung across lockdown and two seas. There is both an acceptance of distance, and a deep, unspoken longing for something different. It speaks to the push and pull of relationship, the elliptical and powerful movements of coming together and moving away again.

Ultimately, it's about getting thrown off of your own orbit by the needs or ideas of others, and that hard work of finding yourself again through your own body. Long treasured collaborator, Dallin Ursenbach, recorded this duet onto his cell phone while in isolation. I love how it touches on the spookiness of digital interactions, especially with someone known deeply, tangibly, and through your real life lived.

Come Back to Me, but Lightly is in large part inspired by the Northern sun, with references to celestial objects and the distances therein contained, from the perspective of a human here standing and thinking on the earth. I was drawn to these as both symbols of longing and warmth, and of shared experience or connection across the abstraction of distance.

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Annie Stokes - Goldenrod.

Over the course of the pandemic, during Annie’s first pregnancy, she took an online course on medicinal herbalism and learned that the vast majority of what Western gardeners consider "weeds" are actually medicinal plants with physical and spiritual attributes. “At the time, my community was struggling with political and cultural differences that seemed destined to tear us apart,” shares Annie. “I started to think about what it would look and feel like to love the weeds in your yard, and the people in your life, without trying to curate or change them.”

“Goldenrod” comes from Annie’s upcoming EP, Wild Rose, out March 2023. Annie Stokes is a dark Americana songstress and folk lyricist from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia. Raised on musical theater and her mom's oldies, she began writing poetry and short stories at a young age. When she picked up a guitar at age 20, everything clicked and she fulfilled her destiny of becoming an emotional millennial troubadour.

"I like a hook, and I like a song that dredges up specific memories and feelings, rather than generic rushes of serotonin," she says of her songwriting style. "From the beginning, I would get inspired by snippets of conversations I would hear, or certain smells, or little moments."

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Logan Springer & the Wonderfully Wild - Kassi Valazza - H.C McEntire

Logan Springer & the Wonderfully Wild - Greenbacks and Gold.

Logan Springer & the Wonderfully Wild released their Americana Rock single, “Greenbacks and Gold” a couple of days ago. It’s off the album “Crow” due out March 3. A take on the anti-work movement, the song revolves around the idea of no longer dedicating your life to working for “the man” without being able to get ahead or partaking in the fruits of one’s labor.

“Greenbacks and Gold” tells the story of a blue-collar strip mine/gravel pit worker who is fed up with breaking his back for the profits of “The Man” who only takes from his town and keeps the workers on the verge of destitution. Romanticizing stickin’ it to the man, the narrator plans to rob the bank the strip mine uses to hold their profits. Springer says, “Growing up, I heard a lot of conversations like this; a lot of laborers are disillusioned by working their lives away for a big corporation but realized they have no other options.”

“Greenbacks and Gold” centers itself amongst the seasonal imagery and rural Midwest landscapes that can be found on the album. “Crow” navigates life in an uncertain world, telling the untold stories of rural, blue-collar life – the real problems Springer, his family, and neighbors have had.

Crow extends the theme of misunderstood animals that first occurred on Springer’s solo album, “Coyote – ‘kī-yōte.” Crows are thought to be dirty, trash birds when, in reality, they are incredibly intelligent and capable of learning. Springer says, “Your typical country song is like the social media of music; it only shows the good parts. I want to show what life out in the middle is really like, without all of the polish.”

The band recorded the album at Flat Black, a studio built in a 100-year-old barn on a farmstead in rural Iowa, as an homage to Springer’s home growing up. 

Logan Springer & The Wonderfully Wild · Greenbacks and Gold

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Kassi Valazza - Watching Planes Go By.

Portland, Oregon-based artist Kassi Valazza has signed with Loose (Margo Cilker, Jim White) for her forthcoming new album Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing set to release on May 26. Now she is sharing the first single from the 10-song set, “Watching Planes Go By,” which UNCUT calls a “slow-burning mix of Americana and Paisley Underground psych” as the opening track on their Sounds of the New West Vol 6 disc.

There has been a cult-like fascination growing around Valazza since the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days, which she followed with a surprise digital EP called Highway Sounds last year. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country and western, both bearing the torch and bending the arc of roots music.

On Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, the singer-songwriter uses the physical world around her to paint metaphors from the soul, carrying us through her mind and heart as an effortless narrator. Her gutsy and graceful vocal poetry is backed by swirling Western psychedelia created by multi-instrumentalists from Portland band TK & the Holy Know-Nothings. Though the music plays country cousin to British folk, calling to mind greats like Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention) and Karen Dalton, a Southwestern American streak carves its way through these solemn, sweetly sung melodies like a canyon.

"Watching Planes Go By” spins a cautionary tale about the dangers of standing still in life and accepting one's own fate. The song sets a curious and cosmic atmosphere of psychedelic folk-rock as Valazza reflects on the struggles of moving on, "Autumn leaves turn to yellow / and green turns to jealousy / Watching days go by." Valazza captures the romanticism of country crooners with the intuition of a realist poet, exploring themes of love and longing through metaphors from the natural world.

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H.C McEntire - Shadows.

H.C. McEntire releases her celebrated new album Every Acre via Merge Records. Along with the release, she shares a music video for “Shadows” feat. S.G. Goodman, a quiet rumination on surrender and loss, reminiscing and moving on.

“Like several of the songs on Every Acre, ‘Shadows’ is a result of a steady and balanced assembling of instincts between me and Luke,” explains McEntire. “We slowly and remotely wove together loose threads until we had something that resembled squares of cloth, eventually collecting enough of them to start stitching a quilt. He would send me instrumental voice memo recordings of chord progressions or guitar riffs—giving them funny titles we could remember, like ‘Boy Orbison’ and ‘Swamp Creature’—and I would take those and start building a world around them, adding vocal melodies and establishing some structure and eventually lyrics. ‘Shadows’ was the first of these collaborations, and it’s a great example of how Luke and I worked together on this album.”

Co-produced by McEntire, Missy Thangs and Luke Norton, Every Acre explores the acres of our physical and emotional homes, as she grapples with existential themes of grief, loss, and links to land and loved ones with an unwavering honesty. The album has received widespread acclaim from press including Rolling Stone, Guitar World, Under The Radar, BrooklynVegan, Our Culture, The Boot, No Depression and more. Pitchfork named it one of their “Most Anticipated Albums of 2023,” and Stereogum called “Rows of Clover” “a hell of a song, a soulful folk-rock outpouring.” McEntire is currently featured on the cover of INDY Week, and her single “New View” was recently hailed by NPR Music as “a song that evokes the winsome austerity of autumn via understated instrumentation reverberating with a warmth and sonic expansiveness reminiscent of Daniel Lanois' Acadie.”

Raised in the Blue Ridge foothills of rural Appalachia before earning her B.F.A. in Creative Writing, H.C. McEntire first established a reputation for her raw, soulful voice as frontwoman of Mount Moriah and later as a backup singer in Angel Olsen’s band. Her third solo effort, Every Acre is the follow-up to McEntire’s 2020 release Eno Axis and 2018 solo debut LIONHEART.

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Megan Brickwood - Holly Henderson - Michael J. Benjamin

Megan Brickwood - Trinity River Blues.

The rising musician, singer, and songstress Megan Brickwood is excited to announce that her upcoming EP Fifth Mile will be released on February 24, 2023. To mark the occasion, the artist has shared the first single from the EP "Trinity River Blues."

"'Trinity River Blues' is the first song I wrote in an open tuning," Brickwood explains. "I became interested in open tunings studying Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake. This DADGAD tuning was the first I tried, and it completely caught my imagination.

The idea for writing a song called 'Trinity River Blues' popped into my head one day while I wandered around by the Trinity River, feeling lonely and melancholy. Some weeks later when I was back in Los Angeles, working out of my little home studio, I started writing this DADGAD song that I initially conceived of as 'Colors in the Stream.' After I’d written the whole thing, I looked over the lyrics and realized that the song I’d written was 'Trinity River Blues.'"

“The creation of the videos was an adventure,” Brickwood exclaims. “I met Hannah, the co-creator and director for the ‘Trinity River Blues’ video through mutual friends in Redding, CA and we spent a lot of time scouting locations in the areas I’d spent exploring in my youth. ‘Trinity River Blues’ was filmed in McCloud, downtown Weaverville, and at Lewiston Lake. Since both of those songs draw heavily on my experiences in this part of the world, I wanted the videos to reflect that.”

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Holly Henderson - Wendy.

With her new single “Wendy”, Holly Henderson is further teasing her second album, “The Walls”, following the release of last year’s acclaimed single “The Planes”, which Clash Magazine described thus: “bejewelled psych-pop with folk qualities, her work has a haunting after-effect that can’t be shrugged off.”

The long-awaited sophomore release from the UK alternative singer-songwriter brings a very different side to Holly’s musicality and depth. While her debut album, “Monday Green” featured Holly’s impressive rock guitar work and alternative pop anthem prowess, her new work shows a more introspective, and slightly more delicate side to her songcraft.

“Wendy” is a uniquely fresh, yet retro infused ballad, told from the story of a person leaving their dog “Wendy” at home and promising her that she hasn’t been abandoned. It begins with the familiar whimsy and folk sentiments of Holly’s arrangements, and her dreamy, ethereal storyteller vocals. But as the band creep in, and Wendy’s world grows darker and colder, the warmth of the band, as more drums, percussion, guitars, mandolins and harmonies sweep in to remind Wendy, and anyone else listening, that they are never alone.

Recorded in a farmhouse in the English countryside, Holly’s new album “The Walls” brings Holly full circle from her previous Los Angeles recorded album. Finely crafted arrangements, sonic musings, and playful themes take us on a journey with Holly as she deconstructs her Brit Pop and classic influences and reassembles them into progressive-folk wonderment.

On “The Walls”, Holly said, “This album sits within a sense of place. As a songwriter, I can only speak of my own thoughts of home and belonging. I suppose this record is a wandering eye over the fleeting moments from the last few years, of when I felt at home, and when I didn’t. When I felt like the walls were tumbling, when they kept me safe, and when they became my prison. I learned the only way of breaking these patterns, was to let people step over the threshold.

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Michael J. Benjamin - The Deal Has Long Gone Down.

Evoking the likes of Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen, “The Deal Has Long Gone Down” is a masterclass in mature and measured music-making. With gallant vocals that weave themselves niftily amongst genial plucking guitars, the poignant new track serves as both an introduction to the artist and a testament to his mastered craft. A song stricken with a paranoia for a world spinning ever more rapidly out of control, Benjamin says of the new release:

“The Deal Has Long Gone Down is difficult to pin down. I guess it expresses my fears for the modern climate we all live in, a changing world in danger of moving towards something dark and despairing. When the fortune-teller at the crossroads loses belief, you know it’s tough times ahead.”

Staking his place as a young musician set to shake things up, Michael’s soulful songs express a hard-won sense of authority: embracing the world with an engrossing, truth-seeking style of writing which belies his still-tender years.

Like most other millennials, Michael J Benjamin grew up with the entire history of music readily available at the click of a mouse. He embraced himself in the heroes of old, immersing himself in the works of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney, before finding more modern realms of influence in the songbooks of Lana Del Rey, Weyes Blood and Jack Antonoff.

And while many of his musical favourites are American, Michael’s literary influences have a distinctly European flavour with Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud and Hugo all seeping into the way he looks at his art. His songs flourish in a self-made world of creeping dusk, ever-aware of the foreboding, Lynchian darkness which will inevitably follow.

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Alexa Dark - Julien Delaye - Ryan Hicks - Parks N' Recs - Alice Howe - Miesha and The Spanks - Sumaroo

Alexa Dark - Villain.

Fresh off of the back of her latest single ‘Cool For You’, Spanish/American multi-instrumentalist singer songwriter Alexa Dark has returned with brand-new track ‘Villain’, out yesterday, via AWAL. Dark’s debut EP will follow, expected for release on 24th February 2023.

‘Villain’ sounds like a classic 60s-inspired track, honing in on Dark’s influences which range from Nancy Sinatra to Portishead. A stripped back tune that would be at home on a James Bond soundtrack, Dark’s ethereal vocals and buttery lyricism envelope you, depicting a story of feeling as though she isn’t the hero in her own story, but rather watching herself self-sabotage. The track represents Dark’s desire to be good, but feeling lured in the direction of being ‘bad’ – and kind of liking it.

Dark said of the track: “‘Villain’” is realising you might be the villain of your own story. It’s accepting the shadowy parts of who you are, while hinting towards a darker, painful underlying origin story which makes the villain, the villain.”

The accompanying music video, directed by Mateo Marquez (Verité, Maude Latour), sees Dark at her most alluring in a twisted, murderous fantasy. Taking inspiration from retro Bond movies, the video aims to convey the concept of becoming the ‘villain’ that is reflected in the three-minute-long track. In an eerie dive bar, Dark (the protagonist) plays the character of an elegant femme fatale spy whose mission is to seduce and kill her lover via poison. The music video plays with the concept of time, portraying a dance of seduction throughout, while also illustrating Dark’s struggle with what she came to do and the villain she ultimately has become.

“In my song ‘Villain’, I wanted to explore the multifaceted nature of the ‘villain’ in me, and how my past obstacles, my fears of love and heartbreak, play in shaping this version of myself. I wanted this to be the lead song to my EP, as I think it captures the arc of the story I’m trying to tell throughout the seven songs - the darker side of femininity, how heartbreak and loss might shape us into being something other than ‘the hero’ in our story, and how most often times the battle between the good guy and the bad guy takes place inside of us, facing off ourselves.”

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Julien Delaye - Ancient Monster.

“At the beginning it was a solo acoustic project with only voice and guitar…then it’s gone wild !”

Julien Delaye is a  singer-songwriter from Marseilles, France.

Former frontman of the metal band Caedes, rock band The Coyotes Dessert then Canis Majoris. The pandemic having passed by, he finds himself alone with his snippets of compositions and a new acoustic guitar which will make him return to his first inspirations. Mixing Dark Folk with gritty rock, he delivers strong melodies, sometimes tinged with a dark romanticism.

A solitary and hypnotic project, freeing itself from codes and trends, that could be described as Art Rock.

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Ryan Hicks - Kaleidoscope.

I love music from the 60's and 70's and the psychedelic culture of that time period. I think a kaleidoscope best represents that era. What's more, I see beauty in a kaleidoscope with all its colours, shapes and patterns that come together to create something beautiful. Nothing dominates, but each part all works together to create something new and wonderful.

This song and upcoming album are written and inspired by the pandemic. I had time to look at myself and my place in the world. It is important for me to spread love in all I do and especially with my music. Like the colours of the kaleidoscope, all people, all ages and all cultures are beautiful. My dream is that like the kaleidoscope, all people can come together and see how beautiful the world is with all of our differences together. My new album is out on March 24th.

All the world waking up to a kaleidoscope
All the world comes together sharing love
Not losing hope

While I wanted to capture the spirit of the peace and love of the 60's/70's, musically I wanted this to sound fresh, contemporary and have a distinctive melody. The drum pattern of the verses sets-up up a satisfying and powerful chorus as musically all instruments build.

I love the idea of knowing exactly what the song is in seconds in the way Ringo Starr created drum parts that were compositions as much as the melodies and lyrics. Just as the lyric speaks of the world coming together, by the time we get to the outro we have all of the elements coming together in a beautiful wall of sound of choral voices, slide guitar and the lead vocal.

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Parks N' Recs - Peace Of Mind.

Marco DiFelice is a Canadian singer, songwriter, music supervisor, and producer. In the 90's, Marco was the lead singer of the pop-punk band, Supergarage. After the band dispersed, he found his way into the world of music supervision, where he selected music for films, adverts, and television shows including Orphan Black and Lost Girl. 

Now Marco is writing songs against the backdrop of his life as Parks N' Rec. This project — a collaboration between Marco and several producers back at his own Self Titled Studios — deals with lost love, polarizing societies, and self-renewal.

Brand new track, "Peace of Mind," offers up Parks N' Rec's spin on the original by classic rockers Boston and will be included on a full-length covers set to be released this coming spring. A well-written song with a simple melody and lyrics, it reminded Marco that good music comes out of a few basic ingredients.

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Alice Howe - What About You.

Los Angeles-based, Boston-bred, artist Alice Howe has unveiled "What About You," the playful lead single and accompanying video from her forthcoming LP Circumstance, due out April 21st.

"What About You" is a wishful thinkin' kind of song about that elusive, "perfect" relationship, one that's a deep soul connection what goes way beyond the superficial. It's about the hope of that person being out there, and honestly, do we really deserve anything less?

The golden-voiced singer-songwriter recorded “What About You” and other 10 gems on Circumstance in the hallowed halls of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where she felt the spirits of those icons whose voices once shook those walls - Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and more. The album is a gorgeous testament to the power of an artist's creative evolution, when she finds the place where she's always meant to be.

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Miesha and The Spanks - It's My Year.

Miesha & the Spanks have returned with their first single of the year ‘It’s My Year’ via Mint Records. The new release is fresh off the back of their recent singles, ‘Dig Me Out’ and ‘I Can’t Wait’, and is taken from their upcoming full-length album, ‘Unconditional Love In Hi-Fi’ slated for release 14th April 2023.

Doin’ it all for the glam, and their new home label Mint Records, the Calgary-based duet smashes through the subterfuge of self-doubt like a house of mirrors. A John Hughes movie come to life, Miesha’s siren to banshee self-actualisation manifests in an array of fervent guitar riffs and the rhythmic method of Sean Hamilton’s cardiac-arrest-reversing percussion.

Recorded at the world-renowned National Music Centre (Calgary AB) under the capable ears of producers Daniel Farrant (The Buzzcocks) and Paul Rawson, this new single and its accompanying video cast a golden glow of optimism over the future.

Flourishing alongside alt-rock show ponies Wet Leg, Alvvays, Fleshwater, Black Mountain and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Miesha & The Spanks are set to shatter expectations in 2023. It’s a new era, and Joan Jett and Cyndi Lauper are the preeminent deities of divadom. Get primed to unpack your hot pants and freestyle your way through the roaring twenties. The sparkling single, ‘It’s My Year’, pops the cork on endless possibilities with sassy, coquettish vocals and a decadent carpe diem vibe.

Speaking of the new single, Louie said: “I started this song as sort of an ode to my niece who was having a hard time with some friends in her small town, and I wanted to pump her up a little. But it also brought me back to when I was a pre-teen and having my own trouble with friends in my small town, and at first you always feel like you’re the problem, the weird one, but ultimately you’ve just got imagination and big ideas and you want more out of life. So this song’s really for all the weirdos who want more.”

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Sumaroo - No One Likes The Kid.

"No One Likes The Kid'' is the first single from Sumaroo's upcoming Piggyback EP (out March 17th).

A Canadian indie-folk artist of Mauritius descent, Sumaroo previously released 2017’s Do You Notice EP, a set of five songs that included double-tracked vocals from Sumaroo warmly tucked in with other instruments.

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Mary Middlefield - The National Honor Society - Dubmatrix - MARBLES

Mary Middlefield - This One's for You.

The Switzerland-based singer, songwriter, and composer Mary Middlefield is thrilled to share her new single "This Ones For You" and announce her forthcoming debut album Thank You, Alexander, due out on March 3, 2023.

"This One’s For You" was co-produced by Mary Middlefield alongside frequent collaborator Gwen Buord. The track demonstrates a more upbeat side to Mary Middlefield. Continuously pushing her songwriting abilities to the limit, Mary reflects on meeting her soul mate in the song with lines such as “Laying under blue skies talking to you, I haven’t met you yet, someday I’ll get to.” capturing the essence of a budding romance. As Mary continues to add personal touches to her growing artistry, the video, directed by Imogen Harrison (Peaky Blinders, Luz), reflects the story of a failed romance told through a fun-filled lens.

“It was a pleasure working with the same crew of musicians throughout the project, and we had a lot of fun improvising throughout the process of making the track," Middlefield explains. "As a child, we feel like we have to subscribe to certain stories we might come across in books or films and I wanted the track to mark a sarcastic tone to the traditional fairy tale, princess storylines we are fed.”

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The National Honor Society - In Your Eyes.

Like the rest of the world, Seattle indiepop band The National Honor Society found themselves facing the problem of isolation. Pre-pandemic, they recorded their debut album, 2020s To All The Glory We Never Had, which was well-received. So what to do for the follow-up, when the world is forced into isolation?

"This was a new process for everyone in the band as it was the first time any of us had recorded an album remotely," says frontman Coulter Leslie. "Having always historically gone to studios, there was the fear that maybe that unique studio magic or energy wouldn't be there, but what we found was that the unlimited time we had to record our parts really allowed us to explore ideas and to go in different directions that we might have, had the clock had been ticking. So I think that's why you'll hear a little more adventure in this record as compared to our first."

Thus was born To All The Distance Between Us, which is due for release April 10th via Shelflife/Discos de Kirlian/Subjangle Records, an album that carries on the band’s formula of dreamy pop and rock. Fans who fell in love with their gentle, Ocean Blue-style melodies will be happy to hear songs such as "As She Slips Away" and "Remember The Good Times," both gentle numbers that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on their debut album.

But the real reward comes from the results of the aforementioned experimenting. "Control" is a frenetic rocker with an XTC-minded urgency that wouldn’t sound out of place on current modern rock radio. "It’s Killing Me" gives Franz Ferdinand a run for their money, while "The Trigger" is a driving shoegaze inspired rocker that is relentless in its beat. Then there’s lead single "In Your Eyes," which is supple and lush in its harmonies and its gentle melody, a fine love song perfectly fit for the spring crush mixtape you know you want to make.

To All The Distance Between Us offers up nine gorgeously produced and lushly arranged indie-pop that will draw you in with its sunny disposition and will warm you with its windy, sunny melodies.

 

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Dubmatrix - Rewired (Album).

IRIE Magazine recently asked, “Is there a special meaning behind the title of your album, ReWired?” There are two meanings that tie in with one another, the first - A ritual I do with each new album project - I rewire my studio. Sometimes it’s a total rewire from top to bottom and others it’s swapping out gear, plugins, DAWs and working with new vocalists. All of these little changes can help rewire the brain and approach to creating music so the title has a double meaning.

ReWired continues the experimentation and musical development that is part of the natural progression but it also remains firmly rooted in the foundation of what has become the “Dubmatix” sound, horns, harmonies, heavy basslines, and fusion of genres - from dub to steppers,trip-hop to funk and beyond. When you look at the last several Dubmatix albums, Renegade Rocker, System Shakedown & Rebel Massive, ReWired continues the tradition of fusing, mashing, and blending styles into something uniquely Dubmatix.

GUEST VOCALISTS - Lone Ranger, Sr Wilson, Lasai, Duane Stephenson, Ras Kayleb, Jman, Hempolics, Joe Publik, Kazam Davis and Exile Di Brave, Rootwords & Barry Ashworth

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MARBLES - Cold Water.

The Norwegian band MARBLES have released “Cold Water”, the final pre-release single and closing track from their forthcoming sophomore album Humour, which will be released on February 10th, 2023. Leading with a jangly strummed acoustic guitar and sparkling synth lines, this breezy tune shows some range compared to previous Humour singles while still fitting neatly into the sound of the record overall. 

Hailing from Kolbotn, the black metal capital of Norway, the music of MARBLES sounds about as dramatically different from the stereotypical idea you might have of the music this nordic country tends to produce, with this new song being yet another example of the immaculate sonic soundscapes and good vibes they specialize in.

This new single, “Cold Water” shows Marbles building on the strengths of previous Humour singles “Heading Out”, “World Inside Me” and “One of A Kind”, continuing to bridge the bridges the gap between washed out guitar-driven dream pop ala Wild Nothing and Jay Som blended with the more upbeat and synth-y psychedelic pop of acts like Toro Y Moi and MGMT. Check out the album cover and tracklist for Humour before it is released in full on Friday, February 10th, 2023.

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Dearly Beloved - Red Telephone - Kristina Dervaitis - Surf Friends

Dearly Beloved - Trees Dream Of You.

Toronto barrage rock sextet Dearly Beloved have released their latest single, “Trees Dream Of You,” from their upcoming new album, Walker Park, due out this Friday via Sonic Unyon Records. Discussing “Trees Dream Of You,” songwriter/producer/bassist Rob Higgins called it a battle of ego vs. nature… “the majesty of forests, and their righteousness, to me, is inspiring. If only humanity could be more like a forest.”

The follow up to 2019’s Time Square Discount, which was written entirely while on the road and recorded in a two-week blitz with Daniel Rey at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606, Walker Park took shape while Higgins was writing and recording at home, in his Phoebe Street studio, to cope with the pandemic. While brutal for all, the lockdown provided a never before experienced freedom to work patiently and use the studio as an instrument itself, eventually mixing the album with bandmate and Slow Pineapple production partner Tyler Beans.

The sessions delivered thematic ambition, sonic verve, and evocative playing in spades, while never skimping on the scorched-earth riffs Dearly Beloved have become known for. The work and craft that went into the album conveys the deeply weird world in which it was spawned - “Listening back now, the record appears to reflect the absurdity of those times,” notes Higgins.

For the past 16 years, the Beloved’s collision and fusion of pop and hardcore sensibilities, melody and menace, has offered up unabashed stoner rock coiled like smoke around a magma core of psychedelic post-grunge. Walker Park anchors itself in the lessons learned and launches the band on an exciting new trajectory. “The songs started as super long bass and drum jams I built myself at home,” explains Higgins. “I’d play for like 15 minutes and record it all. Then I’d go looking for good bits. Once whittled into a form I’d send the song to the band to freak out on.” Of the 16 finished tracks arising from those sessions, 10 eventually coalesced as Walker Park, with songs selected to reflect the zeitgeist in a cohesive way while also communicating a narrative arc.

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Red Telephone - Waiting For Your Good Days.

Cardiff post-punk outfit 'Red Telephone' are set to release their highly anticipated debut album 'Hollowing Out' on the 31st March 2023. The only single taken from it 'Waiting For Your Good Days' is out now.

Hailing from Cardiff, Red Telephone’s richly layered alt-rock could have emanated from a club in Blade Runner's dystopian LA - combining angular guitars, Krautrock-inspired rhythms and New Wave-tinged synths with infectious pop sensibilities. Drawing on post punk and synth pop influences, the band has been catching the attention of DJs across BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, Absolute Radio and Radio X; with comparisons to the likes of MGMT, Super Furry Animals, Mitski and Berlin-era Bowie being drawn.

The band have recently appeared at BBC 6 Music Fringe Festival, Focus Wales, Swn Festival, Other Voices and Llangollen Fringe, supporting Warmduscher. With previous single releases on Welsh-based labels Libertino Records and the Popty-Ping Recording Company, the band's highly anticipated debut album is set to be released in March 2023.

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Kristina Dervaitis - Everything & Nothing.

When I released my first album, I was still in a bit of denial about my future as a musician. It still didn't seem real. I was a midlife Obstetrician/Gynecologist who had only just started songwriting and performing, and suddenly I found myself releasing music for the first time.

This time around for my sophomore album, Quickening (April 2023), things are starting to feel more real! The album was produced by Canadian singer/songwriter Matthew Barber who has worked with the likes of Noah Reid.

My new single, "Everything & Nothing," is about denial. More specifically, climate change denial. I over think, over read, over want, over need everything and nothing…

Sometimes a sign is right in front of our face, but we're too close to it to fully grasp the meaning – we look past it and tell ourselves an alternate story that's more palatable. But this can be dangerous – some signs just can't be ignored without grave consequences. Though this song may seem like an ominous warning, I hope you're able to enjoy the music and focus on the positive side of life too - Kristina Dervaitis.


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Surf Friends - Something Real.

Indie two-piece Surf Friends make their welcome return with the announcement of their first full-length project in almost four years - Sonic Waves - out digitally and on CD March 17 2023 via Flying Nun Records. Sonic Waves sees the duo of Brad Coley and Peter Westmoreland joining forces with long-time producer, Mark Howden, to take on new musical directions, whilst retaining their dreamy psych-surf energy that put them on the musical map all the way back in 2009, when they debuted their self-titled EP.

The album was mostly written and recorded between 2019-2021, and is their first full length release since their hypnotic 2019 offering, Doing Your Thing.

Surf Friends say of Sonic Waves that “the focus of the record was to keep it raw and more distorted than previous releases. Most of the tracks’ guitars had separate channels recorded via a Peavey Rage 108 distortion amp - as a side note, Jeremy Toy (She’s So Rad, Leonard Charles, Sommerset) put this together like 25 years ago for Brad when he was his guitar teacher! Mark Howden also pushed us a bit in production, which was cool.”

To celebrate the announcement of Sonic Waves, Surf Friends have revealed the album’s first sun-drenched single, ‘Something Real’. From the sound of the song’s first strums, the dynamic duo take their listeners on a visceral sonic ride that embodies the weightless, euphoric feeling of hot summer days. The song is accompanied by a self-directed music video which perfectly captures the organic, carefree sentiment that the song emits, featuring Brad’s camping adventures with his kids and a few other bits of surfing footage.

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Sabrina Sekuloski - Arborist - Erny Belle - The Minks - YOVA

Sabrina Sekuloski - Red Convertible.

Rising Sydney, Australia-based singer-songwriter Sabrina Sekuloski just shared her new track “Red Convertible.” “Red Convertible” was co-written with her father Sasha Sekuloski, a singer, songwriter, and guitarist himself, and produced by renowned producers Ken Caillat (Fleetwood Mac) and Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat, Jason Reeves, Jason Mraz, Five For Fighting and OneRepublic).

“The songwriting process for this single started back in 2018 so it’s really nice to see this song come to life,” Sabrina Sekuloski explains. “I still remember writing the chorus, it happened really naturally and quickly. The lyrics and melody came out together and the vibe was so infectious that I started dancing in my room. I wrote the Billy Joel reference in the chorus first and just kept adding them in when we started working on the song in 2022. When there’s mention of ‘the piano man’ in the bridge, you can hear a piano being introduced which I thought was a nice touch. When I brought the song to my dad in 2022, he found an old guitar riff he’d written in 2019 that we thought suited the song - which is what you hear in the verse, it formed a cool groove for the song.”

“‘Red Convertible’ came about from a longing to escape from the mundane day-to-day activities that leave one feeling uninspired and burnt out,” Sabrina Sekuloski continues. “The title of the track was taken from the last line in the chorus which is a daydream of doing things you’ve never done that make you feel alive.”

Sekuloski sketched out the original idea for “Red Convertible” on her iPhone’s Voice Memos app back in 2018. Then in 2022, during a songwriting binge that yielded over 150 songs, she rediscovered the melody for “Red Convertible” and finished writing the tune with her father, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sasha Sekuloski. “2022 was a crazy year for songwriting, I went through some old voice memos and just felt very inspired,” Sekuloski adds.

Bri · Red Convertible

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Arborist - Dreaming in Another Language.

Arborist, aka Belfast native Mark McCambridge, announces details of his third album An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros released 21 April 2023. Produced by Matthew E White at his Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia and bearing all the hallmarks of his sound and that of the Spacebomb Houseband, it sees Arborist merge a driven experimentation with a classicist approach to song structure and melody, with esoteric lyrical themes born out of the fugue of the last few years and evoking a dream-state. File under John Cale, with his skill of framing a beautiful melody in a song which pushes the limits of what a song can be. Other touchstones for the album include Bill Fay, Howe Gelb, Lee Hazelwood, Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born and The Go-Betweens.

First single ‘Dreaming In Another Language’ is a spiralling, looping slice of kaleidoscopic psychedelic Americana which mediates on dreams and our submission to a dreamlike state, touching on many of the album’s themes: religion, family, death, artistic life. The hypnotic nature of ‘Dreaming In Another Language,’ is perfectly accompanied by the video from director Sam O’Mahony, featuring Arborist playing a protagonist in a looping dream. “The visual reflects the song’s lyrics without representing them literally.” explains O’Mahony, “It invites the listener to disappear into their imagination and crosses the boundary between fantasy and reality”.

Arborist expands ““It taps int the song’s continuous guitar loop, there are three different versions of myself seemingly condemned to repeat the same actions over and over; from birth to death to rebirth, colliding with each other along the way.”

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Erny Belle - Island Time.

Erny Belle has shared another insight into her cinematic universe, this time with a video for fan favourite, 'Island Time' - from her debut album, Venus Is Home. The video, directed and produced by the artist herself — and made with the support of NZ on Air — was shot by prolific film-maker Ezra Simons, and showcases some of his signature photography eccentricities on a warm bed of analogue film stock.

Of the song, Erny Belle has said, "'Island Time' is an ode to the Pacific. I picture myself and the times I spent looking out at the view from Te Arai beach, from the waters edge and my sister's porch. I spent a lot of time contemplating my creative visions and the loss and prospects of love on the horizon. The chorus is a mantra on perseverance and self belief".

"Though there's a lot behind the love story, I think really it's a love song to pacific culture and beautiful brown people, maybe I needed to give myself that back".

"My good friend Navakatoa plays The Man From The Islands. He is also the bassist for the Erny Belle band, It's special that we've been able to capture ourselves at this time, I think it's really sweet we'll be able to look back at it in years to come and be reminded of everything we were doing musically at this time. It was shot at Te Arai, which is a special place to me." - Erny Belle

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The Minks - Creatures Of Culture.

The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-blues” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of groove. In 2015, on a search for creative community, Nikki Barber started the band based on the idea that "if you don't create, you'll combust".

Just like a rock and roll circus, you never know what you're going to get, but you know it’ll be good. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank - but blends them into something totally original and current.

Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s as much a throwback as it is an answer to the often overlooked underbelly of Nashville’s rock and roll scene. Look for them, on tour forever, spreading the gospel of letting your hair down and having a good time. The Minks are here. Let's boogie.

 

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YOVA -  Hurt Like No Hurt.

This January, experimental pop duo YOVA have returned with the compelling new track “Hurt Like No Hurt” and a digital bundle of new tracks - out now. Described by the duo as “departing from a place where Giorgio Morodor meets John Barry, to a destination where The Stooges meet The Supremes”, the track was arranged by legendary Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi).

A cathartic listen carved from visceral lyrics and pulsing electronics that build to a transcendental climax, vocalist Jova Radevska says of “Hurt Like No Hurt”:

“”Hurt Like No Hurt” is a song about relationship ghosting, the merry-go-round of breaking up and making up, and the inevitable finality of it all. An ultimate realisation that there comes a point where no matter what, there’s just no going back; when the only choice is the inevitable grief and acceptance of loss in order to emerge as a stronger person. Sometimes no further words need to be spoken, the sound of silence is enough.”

Arriving as the first glimpse of new music from YOVA since the release of their debut album ‘Nine Lives’ last year, “Hurt Like No Hurt” is filled with YOVA’s trademark experimental magnetism while utilising oscillating electronics, cinematic mandolin strums, and clarion call-like trumpets to create something otherworldly.

Featured as part of a ‘Hurt Like No Hurt’ digital bundle which is released this January, the full track-listing also includes a stripped-back rendition of the duo’s track “Rain” (previously remixed by Erasure’s Vince Clarke), alongside an instrumental version of “Hurt Like No Hurt”.

YOVA · Hurt Like No Hurt

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