Neev - Twin Rains - Photo Ops - Breandán Fitzpatrick

Neev - Will I Change You.

Ahead of the release of her debut album Katherine this Friday, Glaswegian artist Neev has released new single ‘Will I Change You’ via Trapped Animal. The single, a rousing indie-folk anthem, is an ode to the contemporary Scottish artists that inspire Neev. Of her new single, she says:

"I hope 'Will I Change You' functions as a little injection of energy and a jolt for the listener when hearing the record in its entirety. I had so much fun putting this together with the band, it happened really quickly but it  was a really memorable experience. I loved arranging it and letting it burst from the seams at points. It brings together the loud and quiet moments of contemporary Scottish artists I really adore like Frightened Rabbit, Fatherson, Paolo Nutini & Rachel Sermanni.'

Since the release of her debut single in 2019, Neev has built a reputation for discovering beauty in the small details. Katherine, a collection of intricate indie-folk songs that pack a lyrical punch. The album carries all of the trademark sounds of Neev’s previous releases; acoustic guitars, soaring string arrangements and layered backing vocals can be found throughout, but this time they’re bigger.

Buoyed by the experience of engineering, mixing and producing her 2021 EP Currants almost entirely alone whilst the country was in lockdown, much of Katherine was recorded at Neev’s home studio and the homes of a host of talented musician friends. “It was really important to me that the album wasn’t only a group of songs but that it would also be a learning curve for me, and it was! I learnt so much about arrangement, frequency, the range of my voice and the way I like to construct songs and write,” she says.

Every song on Katherine is tied to the idea of identity. “Each song explores the different facets of an individual,” explains Neev. “Them as someone’s child, someone’s sibling, someone’s partner. Someone as the gender (in my case, female) they identify as, someone as the job they do,” she continues.

The album’s title encapsulates the record’s essence. “Katherine is a common name in my family and it’s also my middle name,”  says Neev. “So whilst it has a personal meaning, it also exists in a few different ways. I named the album ‘Katherine’ because it  touches on the themes of family, identity and the different identities one person can hold within themselves.”

 

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Twin Rains - You're The Only One.

Love is apocalyptic, according to Twin Rains. Love demands courage, the sort that has us looking into the darkest shadows of our hearts. Our pain is a weapon, our unchecked darkness the ammunition. Blame is easy, but it solves nothing. When we live without the courage to examine our own motivations, we are bound to hurt ourselves and others. We are bound to do it either way.

Toronto act Twin Rains is set to release their new single, an apocalyptic love song called ‘You’re the Only One’, today April 25. The song, a sonic offspring of the band’s 2020 offering, ‘Strawberry Moon,’ in its heavy, dreamlike qualities, is the first new material from the band since the release of their second full-length, ‘Unreal City,’ in 2021.

Twin Rains is Jay Merrow and Christine Stoesser. The two write, record and mix most of their music that blends dream pop and psych rock and electro. Twin Rains perform regularly in Toronto's music scene with live drummer Greg Smith. Signed to Rough Trade Publishing, they have had their music streamed around the world and licensed on TV shows and movies.

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Photo Ops - Stand In the Shadows.

“The song tries to walk the line and showcase the contrast of cathartic, trance-like meditation with honest, dark and uncomfortable feelings. Showcasing the gulf between the idyllic and the real, and the beauty and irony and how they rarely meet. I feel the necessity of standing both in the shadows and in the light.” -Terry Price / Photo Ops

The autumn blaze maple tree, famous as music in Nashville, is a fast grower. Imagine its teeming majesty of red leaves from above one house in the city’s Inglewood neighborhood. You see it ensconced like a controlled flame by rolling hills and winding roads. A familiar pattern lulls you from days into nights in this dreamy park town. You never realized from the ground, under the shade of that tree, how all these beautiful designs in any city keep you sane.

The sweeping vantage points of Photo Ops’ Burns Bright belong first to the quiet of Nashville’s first modern suburb after World War II. Terry Price lived there while perfecting the melodic soft-rock modes that pleased audiences on tour with Camera Obscura and Fences.

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Breandán Fitzpatrick -Sweet Return.

Breandán Fitzpatrick is an artist from Ireland. He is one half the acclaimed band Omonoko who are mostly know for electronic dance music, however over the last 10 years Breandán has also been working steadily in the background of the band on his own acoustic singer-songwriter tracks, which are about to take the forefront of his musical ambitions with debut solo single ‘Sweet Return’, out now.

The years in which Breandán has spent perfecting his solo material in the background of Omonoko has truly paid off. ‘Sweet Return’ is a perfectly produced and instantly striking gorgeous indie-acoustic affair, that would sound at home on national radio as well as major Spotify playlists alike.

Lyrically, the song centres around an individual who no longer is in the world of the protagonist, as Breandán reflects on a difficult relationship, wishing for a ‘Sweet Return’. Combining true feelings and a relatable modesty, the song’s simplicity allows it to scale high mountains of depth.

“You’re here in my heart, you’re here in my head”, he sings as subtle piano picks out emotions and creates poignant atmospheres behind the song’s Ben Howard and Jose Gonzalez-esque acoustic rhythms.

Omonoko have been highly revered across Ireland by the likes of RTE, Hot Press & Nialler 9 and more, but with ‘Sweet Return’ it is an exciting time for Breandán who is coming out of the shadows to showcase a long secret side to his creativity. ‘Sweet Return’ looks set to put Breandán firmly on the map this year as a singer-songwriter of very high calibre.

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Zoe & Cloyd - Victoria Staff - Burr Island - Anya Baghina

Zoe & Cloyd - We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart.

In May, Asheville, North Carolina duo Zoe & Cloyd will release their album, Songs of Our Grandfathers, which weaves together the musical legacies of Natalya Zoe Weinstein and John Cloyd Miller’s families. Both of their grandfathers were hard-working practitioners of musical styles — klezmer and bluegrass — birthed in two different cultures and originally separated by thousands of miles, yet Weinstein and Miller artfully blend them in exciting and innovative ways. 

Ahead of the album release, Zoe & Cloyd have released four singles from the album, and now they share a music video for one, “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart,” from the rich bluegrass heritage of John Cloyd Miller’s grandfather.

Says Miller, “This classic bluegrass number was one of four sides my grandfather Jim Shumate recorded with Flatt & Scruggs for the Mercury label in 1948. That early lineup of the Foggy Mountain Boys — featuring Jim, Mac Wiseman, Cedric Rainwater and, of course, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs — was a force of nature and set the standard for bluegrass moving forward. We were excited to revisit the energy and tastefulness of that iconic recording." It’s a track that will bring a smile to those who know every note of the vintage recording even as it reflects Zoe & Cloyd’s unique creative touches.

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Victoria Staff - Olive and Ruby.

This is a thoughtful and beautiful song that is delivered with vocals that are full of touching emotion and combine wonderfully with a perfectly matched musical backdrop.

Victoria Staff has the following to tell us: "Is it a cliche to say I don't remember not writing music? You can blame my parents for putting me in piano lessons at five, they say it "developed character." But from day one, I was more interested in playing the pieces I made up than the music I was assigned.

I write music for the same reasons I run and bake and hang out with friends and family – it makes me feel better, and I'll continue to write music as long as it makes me happy. And that's what I want you to hear in my music, holding on to the memories I want and finding a way to process the memories I need to let go of.

There was a coffee shop in Vancouver that I spent a lot of time in while I lived there. It shut down during the pandemic and I was devastated. First and foremost – they had INCREDIBLE banana bread and chai lattes, but also this shop was a keystone in my Vancouver life and it was gone forever.

I wrote "Olive and Ruby" so I could try to hold onto the way I remembered the cafe. I didn't want it to be one of those memories that just turns lackluster with time and fades. I wanted to make sure I held onto all the little bits that made that place familiar."

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Burr Island - Distant Stars.

From the UK’s West Country, duo and best friends, Tom England and Oskar Porter, are to release their stunning debut single ‘Distant Stars.’ Recorded at Kundalini Studios in Devon and produced by Steve Cradock (Ocean Colour Scene/Paul Weller/The Specials/P.P. Arnold), the song explores themes like the expansiveness of the cosmos and how selflessness can allow us to open up to the boundless beauty of the universe.

Burr Island say, “It's about trying to discover a greater truth in life through someone we love.” With its raw instrumentation, tight harmonies, and bursting positivity, ‘Distant Stars’ will leave you feeling uplifted and full of life. Having harnessed a core following round the Glastonbury type fields of yore, Burr Island are an Alternative Indie Folk duo, whose close harmonies have brought comparison to the iconic Simon & Garfunkel, however, their originals and equally introspective lyrics bring new meaning to that golden era of San Francisco ‘happening’ hippie spirit, as channelled through their beloved West Country, as they take you on their own Burr Island; an intimate, melodic journey and state, in search of meaning and humane value.

The duo, born in 2022 after a decade of friendship, explore themes of growth, beauty, and truth in their music. The West Country pair grew from strength to strength in 2022 with several headline shows, plus recording at Kundalini Studios in Devon with Steve Cradock (OCS). In September, they supported Steve Pilgrim & Paul Weller at Union Chapel in London, before embarking on their biggest venture yet, a UK December Tour supporting Ocean Colour Scene, playing at multiple O2 Academy venues and music halls. They’ve since landed a live agent, PR and a very passionate team who intend to see Burr Island break through to a mainstream audience as only the very best do.

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Anya Baghina - For Now.

Indie pop artist Anya Baghina is proud to release “For Now”, the lead single from her upcoming self-titled album. due for release this summer. Anya Baghina spends "For Now" self-analyzing and talking to herself, trying to understand why she makes certain life choices and how to follow her own intuition rather than others'. It's about accepting insecurity and doubt, realizing you don't have to follow another's path or follow someone's footsteps.

Anya Baghina releases her debut self-titled LP on June 23rd, 2023. It was mixed by Lucas Knapp (Dear Life Records, Double Double Whammy), mastered by Elaine Rasnake at Daughterboard Audio, and produced by Jonathan Franco. Accessible melodies are balanced with sometimes nonlinear song structures and progressive arrangements, ranging from shoegazey dream pop to slide guitar-fuelled jangly indie folk to synth-driven ambient soundscapes to distorted indie rock. Its lyrics oscillate from resigned to hopeful, biting to patiently observant, and grief-stricken to something approaching peace.

In "For Now", Anya Baghina says she is talking to herself, trying to figure out why she's made certain decisions in life and how to follow her own guidance. "When I mention 'her' in the song, it’s a personal reference to my mother, who passed away in 2017. It’s about coming to terms with insecurity and doubt, and realizing you don’t have to follow a path that is laid out for you. As a result of my efforts to become the person she wanted me to be, I lost myself. During that time, I created an artist residency as a safe place for grief and re-discovery. It was my opportunity to 'take a seat and listen carefully' and find my own voice" says Baghina.

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Immaterial Possession - Gillie - Junior Bill - Miss Velvet - Sock - Josienne Clarke

Immaterial Possession - Medieval Jig.

Mercy Of The Crane Folk is the beautifully accomplished second album from Athens GA’s Immaterial Possession. A theatrical soundscape littered with subconscious flashbacks, retro keyboard flurries, wandering Morricone-esque guitar and dreamy Sumac-like harmonies.

Featuring the ethereal eerie dream pop of former artist commune residents Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, with drummer John Spiegel and Elephant 6 descendant Kiran Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes). Additional contributions come from drummer Jon Vogt who can be heard on "Mercy Of The Crane Folk" and "Birth Of Queen Croaker."

It’s a haunting and immersive trip into the inner psyche of these nomadic soothsayers; a psychedelic dance party from a half-lit underground world; breathlessly eerie and all consuming; a salubrious sojourn that sounds like nothing else. Filled with a kind of peculiar optimistic uncertainty that any quest to make sense of a drowsy recollection of simpler and far better times would have; Mercy Of The Crane Folk is soft and serene summoning up a fanciful folkloric place where, undoubtedly, the mysterious crane flock prosper.

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Gillie - Llawn.

After the success of her single ‘i ti’, a song that announced a new beginning and a new creative chapter for Gillie we are excited to unveil its follow up the mesmerising yet quietly brooding ‘Llawn’.

With this new single, Gillie who also produces and records her own music wanted to “Sonically explore something that felt both rhythmically uncertain, and free, with builds and small releases of tension throughout”

Thematically Gillie explains the background to the song: “‘Llawn’ centres around the feeling of your life changing due to external factors/other people’s control over decisions, and finding a safe place for yourself within this. The idea that someone has power over you whilst you’re in a vulnerable state is interesting to me, and when I was writing this song, I had an image of someone force feeding me these ‘changes’, hence the opening lyrics. It’s also about finding freedom in uncertainty and practicing resilience, trying to find warmth in the present and embrace ambiguity.”

Blending gold-flecked guitar loops into an ambient haze on top of relentless driving rhythms, Gillie harnesses the anxieties, stress and struggles of modern life, weaving them into something unapologetic and inherently intimate.

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Junior Bill - Teeth.

Described as 'a 21st Century Joe Strummer' by BBC 6Music's Tom Robinson, Junior Bill is the project of Welsh songwriter Robert Nichols. 'Teeth' is the third single from upcoming debut album 'Youth Club!' and documents the ailing health of an elderly sugar addict, spending her last days in a 'tiny cul-de-sac' that represents the claustrophobic society of present day Great Britain.

With buzzing lead single 'Boys From Jungle', Junior Bill found international praise for a powerfully charged attack on the mistreatment of asylum seekers in the UK. 'Flag of St George' followed, honing in on the dour mood of the country with an equally bleak black & white music video. 'Teeth' is another political missive, this time wrapped up in a bouncing dub reggae outfit and swaying with glittering production and charming depth.

The band, led by Nichols, are set to travel the UK this year in support of the album. A well-honed live show has been seen supporting Supergrass, at Glastonbury Festival and most recently at a packed out hometown show.

Junior Bill · Teeth

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Miss Velvet - Born To Be Your Own Wild (Lullaby Version).

Channeling the legends of classic rock with powerhouse vocals, impeccable leather style and an elusive sense of danger that takes you by surprise, Miss Velvet has taken the rock n roll world by storm. No stranger to the stage, Miss Velvet has dominated over 100 cities and 127 shows opening a world tour for the iconic George Clinton - who calls her voice “the definition of rock n roll.” George Clinton isn’t the only one singing Miss Velvet’s praises either, with numerous music critics comparing her bold and electrifying performances to the likes of Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin and Robert Plant.

Additionally, her previous releases (with her band, Miss Velvet & The Blue Wolf) have garnered two top 20 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator Chart. Entering a new era of self, Miss Velvet’s forthcoming solo album Traveler blurs the lines between the roles of being a rock star, an artistic explorer, and a young mother – resulting in a potent rock escapade that’s both raw and multifaceted. After moving from her native New York City to sunny Los Angeles, Miss Velvet connected with acclaimed rock producer Esjay Jones.

"'Born to be your own wild' is the very first song that my producer Esjay and I wrote together, on the day we met" says Miss Velvet "I had my little girl who was 10 months old at the time sitting in the room with us as we wrote this song to her, and at the same time, I didn’t even know I was pregnant again! I wanted to sing about the hope we have as mothers, about the beautiful dreams we have for our children and the fears we hold deep inside about the hardest journey we embark on".

The original version of the song was a Miss Velvet classic- a rock power ballad. But right as she was meant to submit the song to her team, her and Esjay decided that they should make the song more intimate- it was written for her baby, after all. And so, the "lullaby version" of the track was born. "We created this 'lullaby' version to honor that delicate sentiment where parents dream of the best, yet at the same time, lament the inevitable letting a child go from their loving arms to go 'be their own wild.' Unconditional love".

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Sock - Accidentally High.

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self-titled follow up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion.

Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound. Accidentally High is the third track released from their self-titled second album, which is out on the 28th April through Bubblewrap Collective.

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Josienne Clarke - Done.

Last Friday, Josienne Clarke released her new album Onliness (songs of solitude and singularity) via Corduroy Punk Records. Onliness is both a wholesome project and a spellbinding work in its own right. Opening with one of her earliest compositions – ‘The Tangled Tree’ – and closed by a brand-new song, it presents a career retrospective viewed through a new lens. The album is comprised of reworked versions of fan favourites and hidden gems from a back catalogue that always glimmered, but this time they’re entirely hers, carrying everything from booming drums to intimate acoustic guitars, with Josienne's powerful yet, at times, fragile voice whispering and screaming straight into the listeners ear.

In her own words, Josienne Clarke viewed her 2021 album – A Small Unknowable Thing – as a leap into the abyss. Finally free from the industry structure that had been built around her over the preceding decade and more, she released the album via her own label, Corduroy Punk Records, and handled every aspect of the album’s writing, recording, and release herself, on her own terms.

From her home on Scotland’s Isle of Bute, Josienne began thinking about the idea of reclamation. Cutting her teeth in an industry that so often works against the artist it's supposed to support – and with a lingering idea in the wake of Taylor Swift’s ‘Taylor’s Version’ project – Josienne began revisiting the songs in her back catalogue that felt buried somehow; that had never had the spotlight she felt they deserved, for myriad reasons.

Of her new single, Clarke says: "'Done' is a resigned break-up ballad that, when writing it, I had intended to be a sort of melancholic ode to “My Way” — which is kind of a ridiculous premise. But the whole song is harmonically structured to sound like an ending, descending inevitably towards its close. When I wrote it, it was originally based on a descending finger-picked guitar pattern which gave it a rhythmic meter so you could feel its last moments tick away. In my reworking, I decided that it could definitely take the “last orders at the bar” piano torch song treatment. My references were Tom Waits’ 'Closing Time' and Randy Newman’s 'I Think It’s Going To Rain Today'. This arrangement places the words centrally and leaves plenty of space for contemplation. It was one of those songs that never quite found its spotlight, but I always believed it was one of my best — one of those rare times when you manage to say exactly what you mean, just how you feel, no more, no less, in three-and-a-half minutes. Making this retrospective album gives it another chance to shine...'

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Annie Taylor - Echo Ladies - Avis

Annie Taylor - Love Is Blind.

‘Love Is Blind’ by Annie Taylor, is the new debut single from their forthcoming new album ‘Inner Smiler’ which is set for release in July via Taxi Gauche Records. Described as Europe’s answer to Wolf Alice, Annie Taylor recorded the new eagerly-anticipated second album in Bristol, UK with producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Katy J. Pearson, Aldous Harding, Sorry).

England's music luminaries Gigwise describes Annie Taylor as "Mellow, cool guitar romp through desert rock, shoegaze, indie and pop influences. Lush." - and not without reason! The four friends Gini Jungi, Tobias Arn, Michael Mutter and Daniel Bachmann joined the Taxi Gauche Records family when they collectively decided to jump on a train for the most exhilarating adventure of their lives.

From playing at barely equipped shacks to supporting Skunk Anansie on their 2022 tour, the band has been highly active since their debut release Sweet Mortality in 2020. It's a record as seeped in pop as it is in psychedelia and grunge which ends up at a beautiful mid-point (Taxi Gauche Records). With that said, its not surprising that Annie Taylor were inundated with requests to perform at numerous festivals including MTV Music Week, Reeperbahn, Zurich Openair, Waves Vienna and Montreux Jazz Festival, before heading out on tour in the UK, Germany and Switzerland.

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Echo Ladies – Dirty Dancing.

Rama Lama Records proudly welcomes Malmö trio Echo Ladies to the label family. Echo Ladies are Matilda Botwid, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén, three school-friends who, after playing in various different bands, realised that they worked best together. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented their sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from a shared favourite band, Echo & the Bunnymen.

After a string of singles and an EP, the band released their debut album 'Pink Noise' in 2018 to acclaim both in Sweden and internationally, including UK tours and praise from Drowned in Sound, Bandcamp, MOJO and more. The band are now back with new material and a new full-length is to be expected later this year through Rama Lama Records and Republic of Music. 'Dirty Dancing' is the first taste of what is to come.

The band on Dirty Dancing: "The title ”Dirty Dancing” was set in the draft-stage, and we liked that title so much so we wrote the lyrics around it. It’s actually about a dear friend of ours, who was to become a parent, and how excited she was to meet her child. It’s also the song that changed the most during the recording session at Studio Sickan. The verse became the chorus, the bridge became the verse and so on."

The band started working on the forthcoming album straight after releasing 'Pink Noise' and it's now finally ready to be released. Their new sound is built on the same foundation that Echo Ladies curated during their past releases, but with a more unyielding presence. Echo Ladies have always tried to balance two emotions at the same time throughout their songs. While their past songs tried to convey the feeling of nostalgia and hope for the future, mixed with worries and anxieties about defining who you are and what you will become, this album instead tries to balance the emotions of sorrow and loneliness, with anger, frustration, and the determination to make a change for the better. The forthcoming album really carries the Echo Ladies mantra that "Nothing Ever Lasts". Good things can come to an end, but bad things will also pass.

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Avis - Sunrise (E.P).

New four-piece band Avis are the latest outfit to emerge from the burgeoning creative scene in and around the Hull and East Yorkshire area. Their nascent ideas and talents have been nurtured over time by the ever-supportive Warren Youth Project and now culminate in the release of Sunrise – a 3 track EP that perfectly epitomises where the indie / bedroom pop genre is headed in 2023.

Produced by local indie sound maestro Adam Pattrick, the release’s title track Sunrise, with its upbeat jangle-pop guitars, keeps the mood bright and optimistic while lyrically touching on subjects of anxiety and working out how to deal with life as it comes at you! Throughout the track lead vocalist Sev has a conversation with their sub-conscious, asking many rhetorical questions that lean into themes of mental health and neurodivergence.

Next up is Copy Paste Street – a lyrical metaphor about the repetitive, architecture of many residential areas around the UK, how it exacerbates a bland, monotonous lifestyle and a sense of being forgotten – “Grey skies, cracked concrete, faceless people and nameless streets. I think time forgot the copy-pasted streets”. To close is the emotionally touching Echo Chamber - with its melancholic groove, the song’s a story of ex-friends and how one of them bullied the other. Feeling outcast by the intimidation, there’s an internal conversation going on in the head of the persecuted one that personifies the alienation and how it eats at the soul!

Warren Records · Avis - Sunrise

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Dunlap & Mabe - Rychey

Dunlap & Mabe - Running.

Running is a song I wrote about my tendencies to procrastinate and leave things until the last minute. It works along with someone who travels for work like a musician or a truck driver and the life of constantly going and working towards the next destination.

The video was filmed by Jack Dunlap, Robert Mabe, Mason Wright, Elizabeth Baker, and Scott Davis. It was filmed at a live show at Bluegrass in the Barn at Capon Crossing Farm in Hampshire County, WV. Jack Dunlap, Robert Mabe, Alex Kimble, Mason Wright, Danny Knicely, and the crowd attending the show appear in the video.

Jack Dunlap & Robert Mabe have been touring the country together since 2019; though collectively have performed and recorded with the likes of Larry Keel, Gina Furtado, Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, Scythian, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, Bud's Collective, The Fly Birds, Dry Mill Road, Old Town Flood, Shannon Bielski & Moonlight Drive, Tim, and Savannah Finch and The Eastman Stringband, Lonesome Highway, Circa Blue, and Jakobs Ferry Stragglers, to name a few.

The band currently features Jack on guitar, Robert on banjo, Alex Kimble on bass, Mason Wright on fiddle, and Danny Knicely on mandolin. All masters of their instruments play a mix of original tunes, classic bluegrass numbers, jazz favorites, and covers anyone would recognize. With roots planted firmly in bluegrass, they stretch their sound in ways that all audiences will enjoy and leave the performance wanting more.

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Rychey - Wagon Train (Elopin' and Hopin').

Rychey is a songwriter, producer, keyboard player, drummer and vocalist based in UK. He describes the new song as follows ‘Tis a tale of a Wagon train protector (who has his own issues) looking after the safety of the travellers and pilgrims heading out West in the US, back in the day.

Rychey continues "To give you an idea, the chorus goes something (well completely) like this…

Different folks got their reasons for travelin' out west,
Some reasons, better than others.
Some men running away from their wives and their lives,
Some women runnin' off with their lovers
Then there's the cardsharp who owns Wagon 3,
That useta belong to me…"

This is a beautiful song that quickly draws the listener into both the story line and the gentle musical undercurrent. Describing the song as Country-ish “Wagon Train (Elopin’ and hopin’)” is all of that, but with a tenderness that feels genuine as the singer lives the part.

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Parliamo - Freya Beer - YOVA - La Faute

Parliamo - You’re An Animal.

A funk-laden guitar pop anthem filled with hazy melodies that flutter and float like the last rays of sun dipping behind the horizon on a languid summer day, “You’re An Animal” arrives as the first new music from Parliamo this year.

Taking primary inspiration from the laid-back electronica-infused indie pioneered by the likes of Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals or Blur, with a healthy dose of the dazed guitar-pop rhythms reminiscent of Swim Deep or Peace also detectable amidst its sunny substance matter; “You’re An Animal” finds the band facing up to our fear of failure with a fizzing new release.

As vocalist Jack Dailly explains of the track: “The lyrics [of “You’re An Animal”] centre on projecting your own failures and insecurities onto someone else in an argument: when you really should be having a go at yourself, you deflect the blame and double down. It quickly became an effective live number, with loads of people who had seen us live asking us when it would be released.”

Initially written over two years ago, “You’re An Animal” has been finessed to perfection at live shows and their home studio ever since. The final version was recorded, mixed and produced by Jamie Holmes at Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow in 2023.

Parliamo · You're An Animal

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Freya Beer - Fantasy / Galore.

Her first new music of 2023, the “Fantasy” // “Galore” AA-side single arrives as Freya begins to etch out the successor to her acclaimed debut album ‘Beast’. Toying with that which tempts us in both lucid fantasies and shadowy realities, these two bold, dark and exhilarating new tracks find Freya Beer delving into what drives our deepest desires and showcasing two very different sides of her artistic abilities.

“You stretched your pegs out wide, slightly confused my appetite” teases Freya on “Fantasy” as she opens up the floor to a track of rapacious sexually-charged spills and raw garage rock thrills. Told through tactile, tantalising prose and prowling proto-punk riffs, this latest cut finds Freya celebrating the uncensored version of ourselves we become in our wildest daydreams. As Freya elaborates:

“Fantasy is an unfiltered exploration of self-discovery and expressing your thoughts in a fictional world. I wanted to write a song that emotes raw emotion and tells the listener to embrace their feelings in a positive way.”

On the flipside, “Galore” is an altogether more salacious affair that explores what can happen when those fictional pursuits and carnal desires boil over into real world infatuations with uncertain consequences. As Freya explains: “Galore is about people who are infatuated with something, almost bordering on ‘obsession’. The line “I’m your galore, you don’t want anyone else babe” depicts how this obsession is becoming a feeling of escapism and creating a fictional storyline for themselves.”

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YOVA - Feel Your Fear.

Letting loose a runaway freight train of jumpy guitar rhythms and primal percussive rumblings, the new single from the duo of Jova Radevska and Mark Vernon is one intended to heighten the senses and toy with what drives our fears and failings. As Jova explains:

“”Feel Your Fear” is about the human’s fallible nature to form addictions in order to alleviate pain. We can do this with a person too: we can believe that their company will save us from the challenges we are facing and we cling to that, when in fact we haven’t addressed the real cause of those feelings. It is often our insecurity and un-dealt trauma that makes us cling to people/substances, addictions in general.”

Citing ESG, Gang of Four, King Sunny Adé, and early Talking Heads as being amongst the subliminal influences that played into the track, “Feel Your Fear” sees YOVA deftly update their dynamic brand of alternative pop music with hints of garage rock, Afropop and funk to gripping effect.

Produced by Mark Vernon and arranged by Rob Ellis, the track was recorded between Dorset and London and also features Daniel O’Sullivan of Grumbling Fur on bass and features the legendary Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey) on saxophone. Intending to create an unshakeable feeling of restlessness, Jova Radevska’s airy vocals toe a fine line between playful and impending, while its haunting baritone sax, sinuous bass, and meticulously timed blasts of trumpet and organ all play their part in the unsettling fabric of “Feel Your Fear”. As Vernon adds: “The sonic tapestry and rapid tempo of this track is written to convey a sense of heightened urgency: the impending sense of emotional claustrophobia and resulting fear is echoed in the narrative of Jova’s lyrics. A sense of one last rushed midnight dance before emotions inexorably spiral out of control and time literally gets swallowed up before our eyes.”

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La Faute - The Crown.

A hidden gem from the frozen heart of Toronto, Canada, art school dropout and Sony Music Publishing artist La Faute (aka Peggy Messing) is releasing her third single “The Crown” from her upcoming debut Album, “Blue Girl Nice Day”.

La Faute is Messing’s dark, dreamy solo project. A visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she explores themes of surface vs. depth, longing, betrayal, mourning and desire. Using tenor electric guitar and obsolete hardware samplers, she created her captivating live show and released her debut EP just before the pandemic. She chose to pause performing live due to her health, and returned to focusing on creation, finding workarounds to the problem of isolation. She connected with fellow artists and producers in France, the UK, Canada and the US to create music during this time, most recently with LA-based Topher Mohr who produced her upcoming album.

She received unanimous praise for the first single from the album, ‘Blue Girl Nice Day’, in February 2023, an unsettling, haunting song inspired by the Milgram experiments of the 1960s. The song was accompanied by an eerie video that showed the artist making a bed in a windswept field with looming power lines in the background. Her second Single, “Watercolours” was equally highly praised, and featured a video of Messing night driving in the rain and getting drenched in a cold downpour. She has become increasingly interested in filmmaking, art-directing and shooting music videos for each song herself, inspired by French new wave and film noir aesthetics.

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Hourglvss - Jill Andrews - Tom Emlyn - Sarah Segal-Lazar

Hourglvss - Calling

North Wales alt-pop quartet Hourglvss, made up of best friends Katie Benbow (vocals / keyboard), Sophie May Williams (vocals / keyboard), Rosie Hamilton (guitar) and Lauren James (drums) are the newest infectious girl gang you will want to be a part of.  This week they share their infectious new single 'Calling'. Operating out of Benbow’s ‘Vintage Hearts’ clothing warehouse; complete with pink floors, a giant lipstick, alien mannequins, and heaps of vintage garments, these four women have created a safe space for their own unique Hourglvss universe.

Hourglvss was first formed back when Sophie became a customer of Katie’s vintage clothing website. The pair instantly hit it off and found they had almost everything in common. After attending a Tame Impala gig, the pair began playing music together, covering songs at Katie’s house. It was there that they discovered they had something special.

Soon after, Rosie and Lauren joined the band, and the sisterhood was locked in. “It’s a girl gang, people come up to us after our gigs and want to be our friends, we are building a community for everyone.”

 

Hourglvss · Calling

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Jill Andrews - High Fives.

Nashville singer-songwriter Jill Andrews just released a brand new single called "High Fives" along with an official music video. Co-written with her Hush Kids bandmate and frequent collaborator Peter Groenwald, "High Fives" is a nostalgic song inspired by childhood friends and finding immense joy in the simplest of things. The video was directed and edited by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard.

“I’ve always been a big fan of elaborate handshakes,” stated Andrews. “I once created a routine with a friend of mine that lasted upwards of five minutes and involved a whole lot of synchronized dancing. Near the four and a half minute mark, we would find ourselves in a crab-walking position preparing for our final move. It was a grand high five followed by a nonchalantly spoken ‘see ya’ as we crab-walked out of each other’s view. This move proved to be tricky for us bipeds so we kept missing contact on the high five. In my opinion, there is nothing more unsettling than this. So we had to start the whole routine over again until we finally got it right. This could take all day.

But when you’re young, what else do you have to do? My favorite kinds of friends know how to dive deep into the fun-loving sides of themselves. They may have learned and performed all of Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’ dance routine with me at one point or another. They may have helped me develop a couple’s inline skating routine in a freshly paved parking lot somewhere in East Tennessee. It seems like these types of friends are harder to find as an adult. Everyone gets so tangled up in bills, kids, and home repairs. I’m lucky to still have a treasured few in my life. And for those who really know me, I hope they still see that silly girl, whose favorite thing to do is laugh so hard that she loses control of her limbs.”

"High Fives" follows the release of "Dark Days," Andrews first new studio release in over two years. A sprawling reflection on the complexities of simultaneously looking back and moving forward, "Dark Days" was featured by The Bluegrass Situation and Ghettoblaster among others.

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Tom Emlyn - Broken Mirror.

Tom Emlyn released his new single 'Broken Mirror' a few days back. The follow-up to 'Like a Cigarette' it's the second of three singles leading up to the album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’ released on the 5th of May 2023. Mastered by Charlie Francis (R.E.M., Pixies) 'Broken Mirror' is a semi-fictional ballad of lost love set against the backdrop of the Welsh landscape with a heavy dose of irony and imagism.

"And beauty is a curse/ But ugliness is worse/And loneliness is always" Sighs Emlyn bittersweetly on this wistful poetic song rich with detail, as spindly guitars, waltzing fiddles and harps, orbit around his tender vocals. Beguiling and anthemic, introspective yet universal 'Broken Mirror' speaks to the human experience of lost love.

Emlyn says: "This was a song I wrote after I came back from traveling in about 2015. It was a bit of a prototype for some of my other songs like Empire or Under the Weather, which try to use the Welsh landscape as a metaphor for a breakup. It's not really as biographical as it sounds, there's a lot of fiction in there too. It also deals with the choices you make in life and realising that there are many ways to look at a situation. It's quite conversational and imagistic."

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Sarah Segal-Lazar - Even Miami Is Cold.

Folk femme fatale singer and theatre actress Sarah Segal-Lazar has been making music since before she could talk. Folks say she took her first steps in ¾ time.

She wrote “Even Miami Is Cold”  after a trip to spend time with her long-distance boyfriend, but within two days she realised it was like a romcom gone wrong.

The line that started it all – “Baby when I’m with you even Miami is cold” – feels like something Katharine Hepburn would fire back at Cary Grant. It’s a good reminder that even the most specific and personal stories can still live in poetry.

“I was so stressed that I spent a good chunk of the trip shivering, even though it was 30 degrees out,” Sarah explains. “Needless to say, by the last night, we had called it quits. I flew back to Montreal, half heartbroken and half bewildered.”

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Josienne Clarke - Everything By Electricity - Brenda - Marlody - Sock

Josienne Clarke - Anyone But Me.

Josienne Clarke has released “Anyone But Me,” the final single from her new album Onliness (songs of solitude and singularity), out today Friday, April 14th via Corduroy Punk Records. Darkly urgent, with distorted guitars reframing its folk origins to create a whole new sound for Clarke, “Anyone But Me” is a study in possessiveness. The song’s grim and ominous music video directed by Alec Bowman_Clarke is a fitting visual companion as it follows the end of a marriage. “Maybe I just watched too many Hitchcock films in lockdown, but when I was commissioned to make a video for this song, I knew exactly what I had to do” explains Bowman_Clarke. “Bob Gallagher, the maker of Josienne's wonderful 'Chicago' video, was kind enough to grant me permission to use his character, and Chris Newman jumped at the chance to reprise his role. I'm very grateful to them both for helping bring this vision to life.”

The “Anyone But Me” video has earned early support from film festivals across the world–it’s currently a semifinalist in the London Indie Short Festival and the San Jose Independent Film Festival, and has been selected by the Tokyo International Short Film Festival and the Roma Short Film Festival. “Anyone But Me” follows previous album singles “The Birds,” “The Tangled Tree,” and “Words Were Never The Answer”.

Written, arranged, and produced entirely by Clarke, Onliness is the follow-up to 2021's A Small Unknowable Thing–her first LP released via her own label–and presents a career retrospective viewed through new eyes and ears. The LP arrives about five years after she left her contract with Rough Trade Records and is ultimately a striking overview of an artist who has beautifully traversed their own path, no matter how rocky it became. Throughout the process, Josienne was clear that she wanted the album to work on its own terms, that it could stand tall as a brand new chapter even to those unfamiliar with the initial recordings. She also wanted to approach each new song as a singular exercise, to follow the instincts that she’s honed over the past few years.

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Everything By Electricity - Goodbye.

"Goodbye"  first came to fruition when singer-songwriter Yulia Bizyukova decided to do some spring cleaning in her flat. From the ashes appeared an external hard drive with various unfinished tracks - one of which recovered a skeletonized version of "Goodbye".

At the time, the track contained only a few lines of a verse and chorus. After tweaking "Goodbye" for a couple weeks, Yulia sent it to Andy Baldwin, for mastering at Metropolis Studios. The end result is a captivating display of shoegaze layered underneath lush vocals that gently embrace the listener's ears.

Yulia Bizyukova was born and raised in the barren landscape of Barnaul, Siberia, where it snows for a third of the year and freezing cold winters can last up to five months. At age 10, Yulia taught herself guitar and began writing songs that drew inspiration from the melancholy she witnessed.

Everything by Electricity accredits Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, and Joni Mitchell, as some of their biggest influences. Prior to the pandemic, Everything By Electricity's rich sound enabled them to support Helen Marnie of Ladytron on tour.

Everything by Electricity · Goodbye

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Brenda - Microscopic Babe.

Glasgow trio Brenda release Microscopic Babe, the second single from their upcoming self-titled debut album. Microscopic Babe is out 14th April, following recent single Cease and Desist.

Brenda are Litty on guitar, Apsi on drums and Flore on synths. They’ve created a buzz by gigging across Glasgow with their post-punk, dream-pop. Their energetic sets described as the type that “end up seared onto your brain after a single viewing” (The Scotsman). The combination of their dreamy synths, witty lyrics and unapologetic energy is truly infectious.

The album is released 28th July and will be launched with a gig at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow with support from label-mates Casual Worker. The Brenda album is available on blue vinyl and digital by Last Night From Glasgow.

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Marlody - Runaway.

‘Everything was gone: I was on my own…’ ‘Runaway’ by Marlody is a melancholy pop song about being on the brink of oblivion: contemplating the beauty of nothingness but stepping back just in time.

As with many of Marlody’s songs, if you concentrate to her mesmerising keyboard and her exquisite melodies you’ll be okay: they will keep you safe from the sheer drops either side of you.

‘Runaway’ is the third single from Marlody’s acclaimed debut album ‘I’m Not Sure At All’.

Marlody is from Ashford, Kent, UK.  Her next live performance are:
23 April 2023: London (Camden), The Green Note.
20 May 2023: London, Bush Hall: Le Salon de Heavenly, afternoon show.
27 May 2023: London (Forest Gate), Tracks E7.
1 June 2023: Folkestone (Kent), Folklore.
17 June 2023: Rolvenden Layne (Kent), The Skep: Words and Music Festival.

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Sock - Change Your Mind.

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self- titled follow up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion.

Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound.

Change Your Mind is the second track released from their self-titled second album, which is out on the 28th April through Bubblewrap Collective.

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Tom Jenkins - NUTANA

Tom Jenkins - Products of the Western World.

Welsh singer-songwriter Tom Jenkins has unveiled a new video for “Products of the Western World”, ahead of a string of UK live dates this Spring/Summer. A hazy, languid track that swings from discordant to dreamy in a beat, “Products of the Western World” also features legendary guitarist Marc Ford of The Black Crowes on slide guitar.

Of the new track, Tom explains: “”Products of the Western World” is like my theme tune to the end of the world or the closing credits. It’s a song of depressing, serious subject matter played out in a joyous, almost bluesy, Gospel, Ben-Folds inspired manner, that it throws you from the idea of how messed up our world really is.”

“Products of the Western World” is taken from Tom Jenkins’ expansive and exploratory recent studio album, out now, via Xtra Mile Recordings. ‘‘It Comes In The Morning, It Hangs In The Evening Sky’ is the singer-songwriter’s follow-up to 2019 solo debut ‘Misery In Comfort’.

Recorded in the depths of lockdown, Tom started tracking the album in a disused barn on an old laptop with just one microphone and a 2010 version of GarageBand. Realising he was completely out of his depth, he turned to lifelong friend and producer Todd Campbell and the pair began to turn the collection of songs into a full-length album at his studio in South Wales.

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NUTANA - Nutana (Album).

Sam Corbett tells us the following about his superb new album released under the monika NUTANA. "You may know me as the drummer from The Sheepdogs, and you may or may not know that I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018. My treatment left me too tired to drum, so I had to bow out of a couple tours with The Sheepdogs. At home and unsure of what to do, I started playing the piano and writing the songs that became my debut album, released last Friday April 7th under the name NUTANA."

Sam continues "My songwriting was an attempt to cheer myself up and maintain a connection to music during a time when I felt untethered. "Ave H Blue" is about that period of time in my life. Given the subject matter, I went for a calm and reflective vibe, and musically it lands somewhere between Fleetwood Mac and Gordon Lightfoot.

When I was first diagnosed, I understood that testicular cancer had a high survival rate, but I didn't know yet if it had spread throughout my body. So it was still weighing heavily on my mind, and that's why my diagnosis and treatment play such a large role in the songs on this album.

At the same time, I wanted the lyrics on NUTANA to be a little more subtle, and to speak to more than just other cancer survivors. A lot of the songwriting I like is open to interpretation and I wanted to allow my songs to have that space. Sometimes the most personal stuff can also be the most universal. This album has also allowed me to grow a lot as an overall musician, which is something I’ve been able to take back to my role in The Sheepdogs."

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Girl Ray - Drive-By Truckers - Poi Dog Pondering

Girl Ray - Hold Tight.

London's Girl Ray are no strangers to re-invention. The three-piece comprising Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss, made an immediate impact with the release of their 2017 debut Earl Grey on the influential indie Moshi Moshi (Anna Meredith, Florence & The Machine, Kate Nash), which channeled the baroque 70s soft pop of Todd Rundgren through the scrappy aesthetics of 80s UK indie and earned high praise from outlets like Pitchfork, The Guardian, Stereogum and FADER among many others. Their second LP, 2019’s Girl, saw the band change direction dramatically, taking on a kind of indie-fied R&B that The Guardian described as "the great sound of a band getting pop wrong," and in 2021 the band returned in yet another new guise, releasing the one off, house-adjacent single "Give Me Your Love" that was produced with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Al Doyle.

Today, Girl Ray have returned to announce their third LP Prestige, an album they made with the revered producer Ben H Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, MIA, Belle & Sebastian), that will be released on August 4th on Moshi Moshi. To mark the announce the band have shared the lead single "Hold Tight", alongside an extremely endearing video directed by long time collaborator Alex Catouris.

The band hinted at their new direction with the one off single "Everybody's Saying That", which was released in February and received best of the month honors from FADER, who described it as "the kind of song Dua Lipa would make if she was more used to playing pubs than arenas." "Hold Tight" sees the band continue in that direction, maintaining the bookish introspection, and open-hearted songwriting that have long been the core of the band's sound with a bright new sonic pallet.

“Lyrically this songs is about how appreciative I am to have found my partner, and how my mental load feels so much lighter and easier to bear now that I'm with her," Hankin explains. "The production on this takes some inspiration from Haim's incredible record ‘Women in Music Pt. III’, and features a subby drum loop inspired by Atlanta’s hip hop scene.”

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Drive-By Truckers - Puttin’ People on the Moon (Vocal Recut, Remixed, Remastered).

The Drive-By Truckers will release The Complete Dirty South on June 16, 2023, via New West Records. Originally released in 2004 to wide acclaim, The Dirty South explores the mean highways and dark hollers of what the band called the “Mythological South,” a tornado-ravaged landscape populated by bootleggers and small-time criminals, everyday folks just scraping to get by and looming icons like Sam Phillips, John Henry, and Sheriff Buford Pusser. The album is a reckoning with the place they call home.

The ground-breaking album has been re-sequenced and expanded to the band’s initially proposed 17-song track listing. It includes 3 bonus tracks that were left off the original album, 4 remixed songs, and 2 featuring newly updated vocals. Also included is a 32-page book featuring original and new liner notes written by the Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, track-by-track descriptions written by Hood, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell, never-before-seen photos, and updated artwork by the late Wes Freed. The Complete Dirty South was remastered by the legendary Greg Calbi. This definitive version of the album will finally be available as the band intended.

Today, the Drive-By Truckers shared the remixed & remastered “Puttin’ People on the Moon,” which features new vocals. Patterson Hood says, “I wrote ‘Puttin’ People on the Moon’ in the passenger seat of our van driving through western Tennessee and northern Georgia in late 2003. At the time I was angry about the recently started war in Iraq and the polarization President Bush and his cronies were unleashing on our country, but also drawing a parallel to the policies of President Reagan, who at the time many still viewed as a grandfatherly presence despite his enacting so many policies that had major negative ramifications on our future, a future we’re still living through now. The song was probably the best political song I had ever written at that time and unfortunately is more timely today than it was in 2003.” Hood adds, “We recorded it in Muscle Shoals (in one take) in January 2004, but by the time the record came out, I had already begun to regret the vocal take, which attempted some things I hadn’t yet really learned how to do at that time.

As the years have passed, it is one of two on that album that has always really bothered me when I hear it played, while live it has morphed into a truly powerful song for me to sing. When we were given the opportunity to do a ‘Directors Cut’ version of what many consider to be our masterpiece, I wanted to take another stab at that vocal and nailed what I believe to be a definitive version of it in one take. One that truly captures the inherent anger and despair of the song as written and played by the band. The scream at the end might be the most primal recording of my voice anywhere in our catalog and I’m very proud to have this version out there after all these years. The Complete Dirty South might indeed be DBT’s masterpiece.”

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Poi Dog Pondering - Keep On Loving Each Other (Album).

Poi Dog Pondering's newest album (released in January) Keep On Loving Each Other, a song cycle that reverberates with the determination to follow one's heart while living within an extended arm's embrace of empathy, is the band's 10th full-length album.

The Poi line-up for this album is: Frank Orrall, Ted Cho, Susan Voelz, Max Crawford, Paul Von Mertens, John Nelson, Ron Hall, Rick Gehrenbeck, Dag Juhlin, Ryan Murphy, Julio Davis, Bruce Hughes, Matt Davis, Kelly Hogan, Nora O'Connor, Abra Moore, Kornell Hargrove, Sophia De Leon Sanchez, Robert Cornelius, Carla Prather, and Ali Weiss Mann.

Keep On Loving Each Other was produced by Frank Orrall and Ted Cho, recorded in Chicago and Sonoma, and mixed by Ted Cho with additional recording and mix assist by Frank Orrall.

Formed in Hawaii, coming to national attention after moving to Austin, TX in 1987, and headquartered in Chicago since 1992, Poi Dog Pondering was born out of the mid-80s post-punk indie acoustic scene (the Pogues, Mano Negra, Camper Van Beethoven). They have released albums on the labels Texas Hotel, Sony/Columbia, and Platetectonic Music, occasionally licensing music to Tommy Boy, Premonition, and Bar None Records.

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