Amanda Tenfjord - Mel Parsons - Silent Forum - Tellico - Deanna Petcoff

Amanda Tenfjord - First Impression EP.

Norwegian 21-year-old Amanda Tenfjord releases her debut EP ‘First Impression’, unveiling brand new track ‘Pick a Card’.

After phenomenally received first three singles, ‘First Impression’, ‘No Thanks’, and ‘Let Me Think’, Amanda has gained a reputation for herself as a bit of a sass-pot. From calling out shallow personalities on ‘First Impression’, (with lines such as) “I like you better out of site ‘cos you’re a social parasite”, to saying ‘No Thanks’ to time-wasters, Amanda’s not afraid of making a statement. Her third single ‘Let Me Think’, about taking a minute to stop and evaluate how happy you are with a situation, continues to exhibit her playful nature and her ability to create pop bangers. Her final track from the EP, ‘Pick a Card’ rounds off the EP with a slower melody showcasing Amanda’s outstanding vocals, while covering the deeper subject of making choices.

First Impression EP is “a very special ride” Amanda says. “I have gotten to know myself in a different way musically - more playful and fun than in my previous work - which has been really interesting”.  Regarding the final unreleased track, ‘Pick A Card’ was another song co-written with Askjell, one of Norway’s hottest writers. 

“It's been great working with Askjell. ‘Pick a Card’ is a very personal song, about making choices in life - something I'm very bad at, and it felt really good to put that into words. It's been exciting to work on this EP, but I can't wait to start working on the next one.” TWITTER.

The 'First Impression' E.P. comprises of four tracks. It's gorgeous uncomplicated pop that's crammed full of hooks. Add in the intelligent lyrics and an individual style that sets Amanda Tenfjord so apart from, the artificial sounding production line chart music of today, and you have a really impressive collection of material.


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Mel Parsons - Just 'Cause You Don't Want Me.

Mel Parsons has been at the forefront of the indie-folk movement in New Zealand, forging her own path as an independent, self-managed artist. Coming off the new album Glass Heart, "Just ‘Cause You Don’t Want Me" is a break-up song that cuts through with hard-hitting lyrics but deceptive sonic simplicity, reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac. Alternating between both heartbreaking and triumphant, "Just ‘Cause You Don’t Want Me" sees Parsons opening up about the end of a relationship through sweeping big drums and upbeat, catchy melodies.

With a stunningly simplistic and crisp video to match, Mel Parsons is entering the competitive realm of indie-twinged folk with guns blazing, establishing herself not only as an expert songwriter and performer, but as a person with a genuine story to share.

Mel Parsons, on her upcoming album Glass Heart: "It was a particularly fertile writing period... songs were falling out all over the place, and I have learnt over the years that when that feeling of inspiration comes knocking you really have to drop everything and get that shit down.”

Glass Heart is an extension of Parsons’ previous work, while still retaining her trademark poignant storytelling. Parsons takes on a with bigger and fuller sound with a darker vibe under the guidance of legendary American producer Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Suzanne Vega, Elvis Costello, Missy Higgins, Randy Newman, Lindsay Buckingham/Christine McVie) and a talented cast of musicians. They include bass player Kaveh Rastegar (John Legend, Sia), guitarist Adam Levy (Norah Jones), drummer Ted Poor (Andrew Bird) along-side Froom on keyboards. WEBSITE.

The video is clever, that said, the song 'Just 'Cause You Don't Want Me' is fabulous. Indie folk meets indie rock on this extremely catchy track, where Mel Parson's vocals are perfect for the style.


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Silent Forum - Robot

'Robot' is the second single to be taken from the eagerly anticipated debut album by Cardiff's Post-Punk / New Wave trailblazers Silent Forum.

Robot is a jittering, adrenaline fuelled shot of energy. The song speaks from the perspective of a jaded and stressed office employee against an unlikely dance punk backdrop. "I feel a shortage of high pressure in my life/ I need the office chair/ I need spreadsheets I hold dear/ I love coffee, I hate beer".

“Robot is a fun character piece. The world already has enough breakup songs, or songs about partying - I thought it'd be funny to write something about a disgruntled office worker. Its not a song about me - I have a far more positive outlook than whoever  this song is about.” Richard, singer of Silent Forum. BANDCAMP.

Back in July we featured 'How I Faked The Moon Landing' from Silent Forum (it didn't seem that long ago) and the new song 'Robot' is another fine song, in fact last time around we said that the band has "one engaging and resplendent sound", I think this new piece pretty much proves we were not exaggerating.

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Tellico -  Woven Waters (album).

With honest, heartfelt songwriting and an unmistakable sound, Asheville-based Tellico has crafted Woven Waters, an album that blends the group’s bluegrass sensibilities with British Isles influences, creating an eclectic collection of poignant folk songs. The album is available now from Organic Records.

The group worked with noted Irish musician and producer John Doyle and Grammy-nominated engineer David Arnold, to record Woven Waters in Johnson City, Tennessee. With Doyle’s guidance, Tellico created and recorded arrangements in the studio. The practice brought the group to open, uncharted territory in their musical landscape. There, they built on their distinctive core sound and found a new level of awareness to texture and melody. Augmented by Doyle’s contribution on bouzouki, the chord choices and rhythmic dynamics intertwine to create a sense of weaving the natural flow of each song’s intent, inspiring the album’s title. 

Tellico’s members Anya Hinkle on vocals, guitar and fiddle; Greg “Stig” Stiglets on vocals, upright bass and harmonica; Aaron Ballance on dobro and lap steel guitar; and Jed Willis on mandolin and telecaster, were also joined by drummer David Brewer. The effect of this studio line up offers a sound that is Appalachian Americana.

At Tellico’s core is the voice and guitar of Anya Hinkle, evoking tones of Gillian Welch. Her sound is rooted in the mountains of her native southwestern Virginia, but seasoned by travels across the world. With arresting honesty, her singing and songwriting comes from the heart. The foil to Hinkle can be found in fellow songwriter, vocalist, bass and harmonica player, Greg “Stig” Stiglets. Inspired from the stories and events of daily life, his attention to melody and groove help to further showcase the instrumental prowess of the band. WEBSITE.

The new 'Woven Waters' album is worthy of a listen by anyone who has a liking for modern bluegrass, British or Irish folk music and all stops in between. Excellently crafted music and enticing vocals, are just a part of Tellico's beauty, the lyrics are thoughtful and the bands natural sound transcends genres, pulling the varying styles together, in a talented and desirable manner.

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Deanna Petcoff - Stress.

Deanna Petcoff tells us - My new single “Stress” is about frustration, loss of hope and acceptance of a situation that will never be fixed. 

The unbearable weight of not feeling good enough for the person you want; thinking they might want you back but can’t follow through with their flirtatious actions is a common feeling. I wanted to encapsulate the frustration that accompanies this.

Way too often, I find that feeling is described by leaning heavily on the sadness that it comes with, ignoring all of the anger in it, as well. I wanted to show the range of emotions women feel with the loss of love that aren’t just the sadness of heartbreak.

Ultimately, in the end of “Stress,” she’s done playing with this person and wants the situation to be over so they can both get on with their lives. Making the decision to be done with that kind of situation is difficult but often necessary. I decided it was worthy of a song. TWITTER. 

It's apparently part of modern life to experience 'Stress' and although I am told that positive stress is good for us, I still can't help feeling that none at all would be just fine. Anyhow I guess this song is dealing with emotional stress and all that goes with it, particularly from a female perspective. From a male perspective I will just say it's one very fine song, that will be getting a good few more listens on my part.

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Molly Hanmer & The Midnight Tokers - Micra

Molly Hanmer & The Midnight Tokers - Fool's Run (Different Song).

Stuck in a Daydream, the debut album from Los Angeles based quartet Molly Hanmer & The Midnight Tokers, might be labeled Americana, and accurately so, but throughout are hints of blues, rock and roll, folk, psychedelia, even Bossa-Nova that makes it a unique sound in its own right.

Unlike albums where every track sounds the same, Stuck In A Daydream switches it up, making you stamp your boots on the floorboards and clap along on one track; and weep, pull out your journal and express bottled up feelings on the next.

The album is the product of Hanmer teaming with two industry pros who share her musical views, producer Marvin Etzioni (co-founder of Lone Justice) and engineer Sheldon Gomberg, a two-time Grammy winner, along with her talented band, The Midnight Tokers. BANDCAMP.

The first track I listened to on the new 'Stuck In A Daydream' album was 'Fool's Run (Different Song)'. It's the third of twelve songs in this collection (the rest should also play thereafter, if not the link above will do the trick).

Anyhow, it's a fine song to say the least, and one that provides a fairly representative feel for the album (in terms of quality and imagination), that said expect variety as the band comfortably settle into different genres, doing so with an eclectic mixture of emotions and styles.

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Micra - Child Grows Old.

The Triple J-tipped, Sydney-based atmospheric-pop duo, Micra, just shared their soaring new single, ‘Child Grows Old’. Following support in their home country based upon debut performances and early demos, the band, comprised of Bulgarian born and raised singer-guitarist, Ivana Kay and Australian multi-instrumentalist, Robbie Cain will support the string of single releases with debut performances in the UK and US in 2019.

Co-produced by the band alongside emerging Sydney producer/mixer, James Christowski, the reflective ‘Child Grows Old’ draws on influences ranging from Ariel Pink through to Beach House and Zero 7, working with glittering soundscapes and rich atmospherics. Speaking about the new single, Cain says: “The song explores a time in life which felt like nothing had changed for too long. Waiting around for something to happen without knowing where to begin. It's an internal conversation about forcing yourself to jump into the next phase of life and facing the obstacles that come out of that.”

The pair initially met - as if by serendipitous fortune - when were coincidentally sat beside each other at an Unknown Mortal Orchestra show after both arriving alone. That chance encounter would blossom into a musical alliance that culminated in the formation of Micra in early 2018. FACEBOOK.

Last month we featured 'Plastic' from Micra describing that track as "a dream pop song which occasionally moves towards shoegaze." They have quickly followed up with 'Child Grows Old' and it's another imaginative song. There's less shoegaze and a more feisty rhythm resulting in a catchy, electro rocker, with the vocals adding melody, clearly Micra are capable of differing styles and plenty of gorgeous hooks.

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Evi Vine - Sparkling - Hayes & Y - Saint Clair

Evi Vine - Sabbath (single edit) - Featuring Simon Gallup.

Ethereal alt-rock outfit Evi Vine presents 'Sabbath', a sweet and heavy preview of their long-awaited long-play 'Black Light White Dark', due out in early 2019 on vinyl and CD, as well as digitally. This powerhouse track features Evi Vine's gossamer vocals and precise orchestration, cleverly woven together with bass guitar by Simon Gallup of The Cure and guitar by Peter Yates of Fields of the Nephilim.

Produced by Dave Izumi (Nordic Giants, Ed Harcourt, Magic Numbers) and mixed by Phill Brown (Talk Talk, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, John Martyn, Robert Palmer), this album also features contributions from several other celebrated artists. Apart from Simon Gallup (The Cure), this album also involves Martyn Barker (Shriekback, Billy Bragg, Marianne Faithfull, Goldfrapp), Peter Yates (Fields of the Nephilim), and Geraldine Swayne (Faust).

As a group, Evi Vine is joined by Steven Hill, Matt Tye and David 'GB' Smith. Their music explores the dark elemental nature of the human heart, as well as environmental and post-apocalyptic themes. Evi Vine’s sound is both sublime and haunting. Creating a unique and uncompromising atmosphere, the effect is reverential, physical music, evoking a rare experience that is beautiful, sparse and deeply intimate.

“I know a lot of people are being shaped by experiences in our lives, ghosts of childhood, self-destructive pain and sorrow, all our personal struggles, doubt, and change. I can feel the earth dying and it makes me so sad. We write reflective songs about the circular patterns of man, and reflecting beauty and violence in the world,” says Evi Vine.

“We recorded live for the first time, which meant we were perhaps able to express the energy in the room together, vibing off one another and experimenting with new sounds, in a new space. Writing in the room was a new experience for us. Its the first time we’ve gone in with no finished songs. We had a few ideas and riffs but took the time to let them breath and worked on them until we felt we had captured a special moment. After producing two albums essentially at home, this feels like a re-birth for the band.” WEBSITE.

'Sabbath' opens with a wall of sound as fuzzy guitars and a powerful rhythm compete with each other. The music drops the energy and some atmospheric vocals enter the piece, but not for long as the music powers up again on this epic roller-coaster of an alt rock ride.

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Sparkling - Say Goodbye to the Ragged Tiger.

From the opening electronic bass hook, moving on to the epic chorus, and ending with the mesmerizing new wave ending, Sparkling emphasize their ability to write catchy and mature pop tunes set in a cool and powerful production.

The single is from their forthcoming album Felonious (coming in 2019). It’s a song about letting go of old demons - and most of all a song about the knots and beauty of life.

While working on the album the last couple of years, Sparkling have teamed up with renowned film festival CPH:PIX who has used excerpts from the duo’s cinematic pop music in the festival trailers screening in movie theaters all over Copenhagen.

They have toured intensively in Denmark incl. SPOT and Skanderborg Festivals, been artist of the week on Hitquarters.com, and collaborated with producer/remixer Dave ‘Rave’ Ogilvie (Bowie, N:I:N...). 

On the forthcoming album, Sparkling have made new allied from the sparkling (pun intended) Copenhagen music scene. Besides Oliver Hoiness and Peter Buch, there are musical contributions from jazz saxophonist Jesper Løvdal, guitarist Anders Mathiasen (Murder, Vessel, etc.), guitarist David Rosenkilde, pianist Steen Rasmussen, and Benjamin Vinding on berimbau. FACEBOOK.

The vocals are distinctive and engaging on 'Say Goodbye to the Ragged Tiger' and when the chorus kicks in they are gorgeous. A refined electro pop song that is beautifully layered, this is extremely catchy.

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Hayes & Y - Blue.

Hayes & Y have returned with a brand new single, 'Blue'. It follows recent track 'Always So Simple, Always So Cold' which was featured on Spotify's UK Viral Top 50 chart. Already picking up plays at BBC Introducing and BBC 6 Music, the group adds a little more insight into their latest creation;

"Blue is the first in a series of songs we've named after colours. It is about loneliness, insanity and imaginary friends. "Blue" is a song about longing, masquerading as a dance track. The most ambitious work we've done so far, challenging ourselves and hopefully, our audience."

With band members that hail from as far afield as Bulgaria and Finland before settling in Manchester, Hayes & Y collect their influences to create their very own sound. Their strong chemistry and rich musicality are manifest in their effortlessly sleek, immediate and addictive brand of pop - which has been compared to the likes of Jungle and Nile Rogers - with CLASH going on to comment on their "infectious funky yacht pop, their bleached out sound recalls everyone from Jungle to Kool & The Gang. 'Blue' will only serve to increase the hype around the quartet, an irresistible new single from the group." TWITTER.

Exuding style and sophistication 'Blue' refuses to sit in any one genre, as moments of funk, hints of stylish pop and a slick dance groove, come together and deliver a fresh, hook laden song.

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Saint Clair - I'll Stay (Live).

Saint Clair is today sharing the live video for recent single ‘I’ll Stay’, directed by her sister, Tamsin Topolski. The new live clip trails the five-track EP, ‘D2’ - out now via her own Dearly Beloved imprint which takes its logo from a drawing sketched by her grandfather, the artist Feliks Topolski.

“‘I’ll Stay’ is a particularly dark, emotional song that I was keen to reimagine with my live band, especially with the addition of string players,” explains Saint Clair, “I enlisted the help of my sister Tam as director who has an amazing eye and knew exactly how to encapsulate the epic yet intimate nature of the song.” Speaking about the live video, director Tamsin says: “We wanted to expose and highlight the raw emotion at the core of this live version of the song. We wanted the music and the visual movements to build cohesively to a climax, moving out of darkness into hope and finally relief.”

Saint Clair - named after her mother’s Scottish ancestry - is the alias of French-speaking North Londoner Emma Topolski. The first in a family of painters, actors and journalists to pursue music, her professional trajectory began as a gigging jazz singer, as she puts it, “Playing three or four times a week, getting ignored in the corner of a five-star hotel”. A testing stint, it now more than repays itself in Saint Clair’s easy integration of a love for old standards, soul (Stevie Wonder) and classic rock (The Beatles), with her affinity for the electronica-rooted modern soul of the likes of Son Lux and James Blake.

‘D2 follows Saint Clair’s 2017 debut EP ‘D1’, and arrives alongside wilder collaborative projects which have taken her on the road as a backing vocalist for long-time friend Laura Marling (in whose Reversal Of The Muse project she also participated, alongside HAIM, Dolly Parton and Marika Hackman), and seen her sing BVs for Ghostpoet and Dua Lipa. Emma is also bassist and singer for infectious London 4-piece Childcare. FACEBOOK.

The new live version of 'I'll Stay' is beautifully performed. With a sparsely furnished room and light flooding into through the windows, the video puts the focus on the performers who are engrossed in this tender and passionate song, where quality and atmosphere smoothly rub shoulders.


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Hero Fisher - Farewood - The Camino Side Project - Moscow Apartment - Malhini - Gabriella Rose

Hero Fisher - Life Through Closed Eyes.

Hero Fisher's new album has finally dropped and to accompany this excellent and long-awaited release Hero has made a video for one of the lead tracks called 'Life Through Closed Eyes'.

‘Glue Moon’, Hero says of her new album, (in part inspired by Marilynne Robinson’s 1980 novel Housekeeping,) ‘is the place in my mind I’d go to when I was writing a lot of the tracks on the album. For Hero, Glue Moon is an idyllic sense of mental calm, the image of a pale moon above a still lake at dawn. After a year of triumphant singles, including ‘I Let Love’, ‘If I Die And Nothing Happens’ and ‘Lonely’, she is now releasing her long-anticipated second album, and while she’s kept much of what worked about her debut album Delivery, including her collaboration with guitarist and musical director ‘Saul Wodak’, Glue Moon finds Hero wading into deeper creative waters. 

The addition of rising Italian co-producer Marta Salogni (Sampha, The XX, and MIA) adds vibrant new sonic avenues to her expansive sound. From the spectral majesty of opener ‘Bird of Prey’ and the propulsive bass honking crawl of ‘Binder’ Glue Moon is a serious sonic and lyrical display of an artist arriving at the peak of her powers. With its expert production and wide emotional palette, on Glue Moon Hero Fisher channels the spontaneity and deep poeticism of narrative songwriters like PJ Harvey and Nick Cave while offering something new and vital. Glue Moon arrives with the video for her brilliantly atmospheric and ambient ‘Life Through Closed Eyes’.

British-born, French-raised and London-based, Hero Fisher (yes, that’s her real name) has had a career that has so far seen her collaborate with Alison Mosshart and Boy George in the Mark Ronson-scored ballet Carbon Life, open for The Rolling Stones and Neil Young at Hyde Park, and get shortlisted for the 2014 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Prize. In 2015 she released her debut album, the critically-appraised Delivery which won her fans in The Horrors and Blur. By turns a blistering rock and roller in the vein of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, and an experimental folk storyteller à la Jeff Buckley, Hero Fisher resists easy generic categorisation with her protean and cinematic musical storytelling. 

Able to expertly strike a variety of different narrative poses, she is at once the spurned lover and the fired-up rabble rouser, predator and prey. With Glue Moon previous singles ‘Sylvie’, ‘Push The Boat Out’, ‘I Let Love’ ‘If I Die And Nothing Happens’ and ‘Lonely’ Hero’s lyrical imagination proved unique and bountiful. Glue Moon adds to her magical body of work and takes her sound into uncharted territory. It’s a testament to her limitless artistic range as one of the most magnetising rising stars around. WEBSITE.

Over the last year and a half we have been mightily impressed by everything that's come our way from Hero Fisher. I have to say her brand new album entitled 'Glue Moon' is as spectacular as I had hoped for, the creativity, performance and production being top notch.

Having already featured the singles 'Sylvie', 'I Let Love', 'Lonely' and 'If I Die and Nothing Happens' we now have a new music video for 'Life Through Closed Eyes' that's five of the thirteen tracks on the album (yep, I know it only took one hand to work that out). So what of the rest? Well you can expect even more musical explorations, each song has impact and the variations in style or direction are given some consistency through Hero Fishers vocals and personal feelings that are there in abundance.

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Farewood - Under Burning Sun - Full Album.

Hailing from the "Silver City" of Meriden CT,  the band Farewood has been cultivating their style of ethereal rock for almost two decades. 

Led by the husband and wife songrwriting team of Lou (vocals, guitar) and Leah Lorenzo (vocals, bass), and bolstered by the propulsive rhythms of long time drummer Kyle McCarthy and guitarist Eric Ieraci.

Farewood have emerged again with a new album of dream weaving, ethereal rock. Compelling from start to end, 'Under Burning Sun', the  group's latest offering is their boldest yet, and perhaps the high water mark of their career. WEBSITE.

If you like your rock music to have plenty of melodic hooks, intriguing lyrics and a distinctive musical arrangement that gives clarity to each musician, then 'Under Burning Sun' consistently delivers along those lines.

Described as ethereal rock, that's better than any overarching categorisation that I could come up with. The quality is constantly good, whilst there's enough feeling and passion to give the album a personal and emotional vibe.

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The Camino Side Project - Wheels.

To recap - Multi-instrumentalist Paul Farran originally hails from Montreal, Canada, and proficiently practices the poetic baritone of the city's patron saint, Leonard Cohen. But Farran’s influences extend far beyond his roots, having lived internationally and travelled extensively, including his work for the United Nations in Rwanda, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Viet Nam.

Paul began his music career in the alternative rock band Pacer which released two albums between 1998 and 2003, chalking up hundreds of shows each year. But balancing globe-trotting work and new family obligations made it hard to keep his role in the band rolling, and he reluctantly shelved his music ambitions to make room for new dreams. In 2008, Paul and his wife walked 400 miles of the “Camino de Santiago,” an ancient route that crosses Northern Spain, and tied the knot at the end of the journey. In 2016, they undertook another life-changing trip, both quitting their UN jobs to backpack with their young kids on a half year trip from Africa to South East Asia and back, then onwards to Europe.

It was during this journey that Paul revived his musical aspirations and conceived The Camino Side Project, with the Spanish word “Camino” meaning path or way.  He put his master’s degree in international relations to good use, enlisting the musicians he met along the way and reviving musical links from his past to join him in documenting his travels, inspirations and introspections. This musical journal turned into 11 songs about 11 countries, each entry reflecting on the genuine experiences in life that impact one’s own perspectives and decisions. Often Paul’s guests provided an additional instrumental texture and on other tracks it led to full blown collaboration, like with Vietnamese hip hop artist Radical on “Highbeam”. WEBSITE.

We featured 'Vilma's Soundtrack' just a few days back and now we have another track to share called 'Wheels'. Then we said "The production is superb and refinement and quality are key elements, along with the heart and feeling that is always there", I reckon this adds weight to that summary of the album, if these couple of tracks have impressed you, check out 'of movement & music', it's got plenty more songs of this quality.

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Moscow Apartment - Orange.

“Orange” is about the weird twilight-zone feeling that happens sometimes at sunset – when things suddenly don’t feel real, like everything around you is a movie.

We originally submitted the demo for “Orange” (produced by Samantha Martin) to the Canadian Songwriting Competition and wound up winning in the Under 18 category.  Joel Plaskett was one of the judges and we got to spend an afternoon with him in Halifax picking his brain about music, songwriting, and production. It was amazing.

We then went back into the studio and co-produced the final version with Guillermo Subauste who engineered two of the songs on our last EP and our last single, “Be You”. The recording experience was fun because we had really strong ideas of what we wanted “Orange” to sound like and we were able to manifest those ideas with Guillermo’s help.

We’re currently hard at work on our second EP which will be released in the future through Hidden Pony Records and are super lucky to be a part of the Slaight Music family after winning their It’s Your Shot competition. Thanks to that, Kevin Drew heard our music and really liked it – we were so excited when he came to one of our shows in Collingwood! TWITTER.

'Orange' is a superbly arranged song, where musical hooks (and there are a ton of those) compete with the gorgeous vocals and harmonies. It's my introduction to Moscow Apartment, and I am totally impressed by this piece, it's vibrant, catchy and reading the background from the duo above, gives some folk in the music industry a very positive thumbs up.

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Malhini - Hopefully, Again.

Lo-fi pop duo Malihini will release their debut album 'Hopefully, Again' through Memphis Industries on 8th March 2019. Produced by Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Ghostpoet, Darkstar), 'Hopefully, Again' was written in Sicily and recorded at the remote Giant Wafer Studios in Wales. Malihini, aka Rome-based couple Giampaolo Speziale and Federica Caiozzo, have unveiled the first single to be taken from the album, the soulful, superficially pretty ‘Hopefully Again’: its languid drums and woozy electric guitar hook-line usher in a sort of conversation between circling lovers – Caiozzo taking the first verse, Speziale the second, the two combining for the redemptive and addictive “Love is coming back” chorus line. “It’s about when you’re first really into one another”, explains Speziale. “When you try to be someone, as seen through the eyes of the other. It's about flirting, and the moment when you come back from the slowness of depression, you dress up and you’re ready to confront with the fastness of love/life again".

'Hopefully, Again' is accompanied by a video filmed and spliced together by the band themselves from footage of their travels to Rome, Portugal, Sicily, Iceland and London.

Their name may mean ‘newcomers’ in Hawaiian, but Malihini deal exclusively in the music of lived experience and time-honed emotional intelligence, their disarming musical universe never less than distinctive, yet resonating with a confessional, modern European pop sophistication of a kind elsewhere purveyed by the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jose Gonzalez and Our Broken Garden. Listening to the ten co-written songs that grace Malihini’s exquisite debut long-player, 'Hopefully, Again', can sometimes feel like eavesdropping on a couple’s intimate emotional dialogues, such is the ingenuous honesty of the duo’s writing. Yet combined with their minimal, yet opulently textured arrangements (“classic songwriting matched with pared-down electronics”, according to Clash), crammed with subtle melodic hooks and an embarrassment of earworm choruses, they transform the personal into the universal with a delightfully unforced eloquence. FACEBOOK.

Warm and sensitive 'Hopefully, Again' has tender duel vocals that work beautifully together. The video makes everything personal to Malhini, adding a level of intimacy, whilst the song charms and works it's way into your own world.


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Gabriella Rose - Lost In Translation.

Gabriella Rose is based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (outside of Spokane), and her forthcoming Lost In Translation EP was produced by Chris Molitor. The songs on the EP wander through the secluded halls of her mind, as she glides through memories of her late grandmother whose life came to an abruptly devastating end, her own journey into adulthood, and much larger social issues facing the world. Molded in the raw poeticism of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, Rose’s stories come from a deeply broken place. Her grandmother’s appetite for literature clearly rubbed off on Rose, whose own rich storytelling is plentiful across her new EP. In Gabriella’s words regarding her debut single, “The song is a wistful melody about how I wish I could reach people around me,” framing imagery of the Greek myth Icarus as an impetus for the story’s revelations. “I see others sometimes like that: the ideal of what I would like to be. But then I see them fly too close to the sun and melt their wings. So I don’t know if I want to be like them completely, it's a dilemma.”

Rose was homeschooled until sixth grade, and coming from an early dysfunctional family life resulting from her parents divorce, she became hyper-aware of relationships and her place within them. Rose is quick to acknowledge that despite the familial turmoil of the past, her entire family has banded together around her music. Over the years, when visiting her rather eccentric father in North Hollywood, she recalls late night recording sessions just for fun then diving into such popular films as Clockwork Orange, Pulp Fiction and Blue Velvet with a cup of coffee at midnight.

Of course, things weren’t always so rose-colored, and she remains tight-lipped on those not-so-perfect circumstances. Her roots inject even more piercing context to her forthcoming Lost in Translation EP. Her voice houses her turbulent past, the loneliness, the uncertainty, and the gloom. But in analyzing her truth, she comes to shine a light for those who continue to fight for their lives in the shroud of darkness. When left to such devices, Rose is a vision and an artist ready to turn pop music on its head. FACEBOOK.

'Lost In Translation' is fabulous, maybe that's all that needs to be said. It's atmospheric, catchy, there is a level of emotion that courses throughout and like I said, it's just fabulous...


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