Vök - Carley Arrowood - Spud Cannon - Zoe & Cloyd

Vök - Lost in the Weekend.

Icelandic trio Vök have shared the bold and cinematic video for their dynamic new single Lost in the Weekend, which is out now through Nettwerk Records.

Following the release of their acclaimed 2019 album In the Dark, which was written and recorded by the band in collaboration with producer James Earp (Bipolar Sunshine, Fickle Friends, Lewis Capaldi), Vök have been nestled away in their Reykjavík studios working on new material. The result is some of their most atmospheric work yet and Lost in the Weekend is an early taste of their progressive alt-pop sound.

Based around a semi-autobiographical character, Lost in the Weekend focuses on the ease of over-indulgence when you’re living in the moment and the purposeful loss of a sense of self. Mixed by David Wrench (Frank Ocean, Goldfrapp, The xx), it builds playfully, launching into a bold chorus, which musically echoes the meaning behind the song. The video, directed by Einar Egils, portrays the story of a man who loses himself in the weekend to celebrate who he is and conveys an overall message of everyone accepting who they are and being who they want to be.

Lead singer Margrét says; “With the video for ‘Lost in the Weekend’ we wanted to focus on the importance of showing your true self and letting one’s inner personality come out. Whatever you are on the inside, don’t be afraid to show it. Let’s celebrate our diversities.”

Through their unique and lushly layered sound that blends electro and indie with forward-thinking pop and a self-assured aesthetic, that is just as striking as their sound, Vök continue to cement their position as one of the most exciting alternative bands right now. Following two critically acclaimed albums, Lost in the Weekend is just the first musical moment in an exciting year for Vök, with further new music announced soon. Vök are Margrét Rán (vocals), Einar Stef (bass/guitar) and Bergur (drums).

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Carley Arrowood - My Kind of Nightlife.

Following the demonstration of her fiddle virtuosity on the instrumental “Ducks On The Millpond,” Mountain Home Music Company’s Carley Arrowood returns to form with a strong vocal performance that builds on the success of last year’s “Goin’ Home Comin’ On” by offering a different angle on a similar theme.

Written by producer-bassist Jon Weisberger and Music Row hitmaker Jenn Schott, “My Kind Of Nightlife” gently contrasts crowded downtown streets and “cafes and honky tonks full of sound and light” with the glow of lightning bugs “dancing in the air” and “the call of the nightbirds.” “That’s my kind of nightlife,” Arrowood sings with a self-assurance born of her own experience and preferences, while the song’s relaxed tempo, lush harmonies and subtle instrumental backing all combine to transport the listener to the chorus’s front porch swing and an idyllic night in the country.

"It was a fun day getting to write this with Jon,” recalls Schott, whose long list of credits includes cuts by Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Mickey Guyton, Pam Tillis and the Eli Young Band. “I’m so thrilled Carley recorded it — and her singing and playing are both fantastic!”

Backed by the same crew that recorded “Goin’ Home Comin’ On” with her, including Steve Martin Banjo Prize and five-time IBMA Banjo Player of the Year recipient Kristin Scott Benson, Wayne Benson on mandolin, Daniel Thrailkill (guitar, harmony vocals) and her sister, Autumn (harmony vocals), Arrowood sings and plays not just skilfully, but with an interpretive sensitivity that belies her youth and suggests that she’s already a fully mature artist.

“‘My Kind of Night Life’ paints such a beautiful picture of simplicity,” she enthuses. “It captures the very essence of nostalgia and, for me, reminds me of my childhood with every line. I grew up on a dirt road in western North Carolina, and my summer evenings were spent barefoot in the backyard, playing endless pretend and catching lightning bugs with my sister and brother with nowhere in particular we had to be.”

“During the pandemic, and especially now that I’m planning my wedding,” she notes of her recently-announced engagement to Thrailkill, “I’ve come to cherish the nights when my whole family is home together, and I look forward, Lord willing, to the days when I can raise a family in the same way: running barefoot in the yard, catching lightning bugs, and just simply loving the life that God gives us.”

Syntax Creative · Carley Arrowood - "My Kind of Nightlife"

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Spud Cannon - Juno.

Today, Poughkeepsie rockers Spud Cannon are sharing "Juno," the first single off of their forthcoming LP, Good Kids Make Bad Apples, out June 25th via Good Eye Records.

Recorded as a part of an all-nighter, one-take, not-campus-approved sessions on a squash court at the band's now alma mater, Vassar College, "Juno" captures the undeniable energy of a night out on the rails with your friends.

"It was the spring of 2019: we were on the verge of breaking up," the band's Jackson Walker Lewis detailed to Consequence of Sound. "I was on the verge of graduating, and we had no budget for a third album. After every legitimate venue on campus was booked up, we opted instead to throw a secret show in the squash courts at the suggestion of Lucy, who thought the court’s location would make it easier to evade security.

The show sounded terrible, but during our ‘soundcheck’, I thought the court sounded magnificent. I’ve always adored the Beach Boys wall-of-sound style, and suddenly the mere thought of recording an entire record in the squash courts consumed our imaginations.

That summer, we’d hang out at Meg’s house in Poughkeepsie, write, party, and on the final day of each ‘mini-vacation’, head to the courts. We’d wedge a door, wait till after closing time, and then sneak in with all of our gear and record from 12am-6am before they opened in the morning. We wanted to capture our live sound, so we recorded together, sans metronome, and decided we’d need to get pure takes of each song.

While some came easy, 'Juno' was arguably the hardest. It took two separate nights, and I think in the end we did something like 70 takes overall to get one we were happy with."

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Zoe & Cloyd - Chestnut Mountain.

Despite its distinctive flavor, the appeal of bluegrass music is broad enough to have gained fans literally the world over. Still, direct, personal ties to the music and the communities in which it originated can lend an extra dimension to a performance, and just such a connection underpins the latest single from Organic Records’ Zoe & Cloyd.

With its themes of memory and the losses created by suburbanization and rural dislocation, “Chestnut Mountain” is a moving tale that’s all the more compelling for being based on John Cloyd Miller’s family history — one that not only embodies the lyric’s themes, but connects to bluegrass’s earliest days through his grandfather. Jim Shumate was not only the inheritor of the family’s Chestnut Mountain homeplace, but also a one-time fiddler for iconic bluegrass artists Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs — in fact, it was he who brought Monroe and banjo legend Scruggs together in late 1945, paving the way for the explosive musical combination that created bluegrass itself.

"‘Chestnut Mountain’ is a song I wrote about our family homeplace in Wilkes County, NC,” says Miller, who sings lead on the song. “My late grandfather, bluegrass fiddler Jim Shumate, was born there in 1921. There is so much history on that mountain. When I was young, the whole area was relatively remote and undeveloped aside from a few almost impassable roads. Later, a developer came in and tried to get my grandparents to sell their part, but to no avail. To my grandparents, that land was priceless. I'm so thankful that they held out and that my cousins and I have this place to share with the next generation.”

“I remember Grandpa saying he used to hear his Uncle Erbie playing fiddle from across the holler when he was a boy,” he continues. “When I'm up there, I always try to imagine what it was like for him growing up there. I picture the cabin, the farm animals and the garden, and I always listen for the sound of the fiddle wafting on the breeze."

Deeply nostalgic, yet precise in its sentimentality, “Chestnut Mountain” matches the elegant minimalism of its words with a sensitive ebb and flow in the harmonies and instrumental backing from Miller (guitar), Natalya Zoe Weinstein (fiddle, vocals), banjoist Bennett Sullivan and bassist Kevin Kehrberg. With its empathetic solos, delicate touches of dialogue between vocals and instruments, and a finely tuned build-up that culminates in an emotional, alternating repetition of the narrator’s basic wish — “I want to go back in time” — that’s echoed by the rise and fall of unison lines from banjo and fiddle before the final, restrained closing, this is a performance that exemplifies the authenticity that lies at the heart of Zoe & Cloyd’s music.

Syntax Creative · Zoe & Cloyd - "Chestnut Mountain"

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Andrea Nixon - August Green - The Gama Sennin

Andrea Nixon - Outskirts.

Since releasing her debut album in 2017, Edmonton, Alberta singer/songwriter Andrea Nixon has grown into a powerful voice within the Canadian country music scene, mainly by sticking to her roots while expanding her craft. Her new single “Outskirts'' -- available today on Apple Music and Spotify -- might just be her most accessible work yet without compromising her artistic identity. “Outskirts” follows Andrea’s 2020 single “Blind Spot” as the second preview of her forthcoming full-length album, the provocatively titled Barbed Wire Dreams.

On “Outskirts,” Andrea continues to make significant creative strides with a song that’s at once thoroughly modern, yet based in classic country themes accentuated by Andrea’s pure, soaring vocal performance. Produced by Russell Broom (Jann Arden), who also contributes on guitar, the band on “Outskirts” includes drummer Lyle Mozan (Kathleen Edwards, Dean Brodie), bassist Chris Byrne (The Road Hammers), keyboardist Brendan Waters (Brett Kissel, The Washboard Union) and pedal steel legend Smokey Fennel.

When asked to describe the message behind “Outskirts,” Andrea says, “This song explores the distance between two people, set against the backdrop of broken down love and the chill left behind.” Indeed, this is a timely topic in our socially distanced reality as our connections have been all challenged by our extended absence from those we love.

When it comes to songwriting, Andrea has never been one to fall back on clichés. Instead, she weaves stories with universal themes into the music, leaving the listener feeling both understood and represented. Andrea captures this brilliantly on “Outskirts,” aided by award-winning tunesmith Robyn Dell’Unto (The Good Lovelies’ “I See Gold”) as part of Canada’s Music Incubator (CMI)’s Artist Entrepreneurship program at the National Music Centre.

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August Green - Early Morning.

Stockholm native and indie folk singer/songwriter, August Green, had a clear vision of himself as a songwriter for other artists until he, in the middle of what he describes as ”a typical early 20s life crisis”, asked himself the question: ”What do I actually want to do?”. 

The answer was to pursue a career as a solo artist and led to him rekindling a spark in his lifelong friendship with music and the joy of making it. He began crafting his sound taking inspiration from his musical background, but also from other artists he admires, such as Bon Iver, Simon & Garfunkel, and Joni Mitchell.

He released several singles in 2016 and his efforts began paying off when his song, “Pictures”, amassed over 200k streams on Spotify after being featured in popular YouTuber AlexRainbird's Indie/Pop/Folk compilation, which has over 1.7 million views on YouTube. 

August Green is now living in the Netherlands and has spent two years writing, producing, and exploring the acoustics of his church studio, figuring out how to incorporate even more of himself and his background of singing and studying choir music into his own work. Vignettes is deeply influenced by his recording space and life experiences, featuring atmospheric instrumentals, light, airy vocals, and gentle acoustic guitar.

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The Gama Sennin - I Kill You.

Presented in three movements inspired in part by Brian DePalma’s 1974 classic Phantom of the Paradise and Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, The Gama Sennin offers an elaborate 10-song suite of exceptional psychedelic adventurism. 

The brainchild of frontman Kevin McGuire, the California-based band fuses alternative energy, psychedelia, expansive desert grooves, and spaced-out prog into a pulse-pounding, mind-bending original sound. 

The Gama Sennin is abetted by John Avila (Oingo Boingo/Mariachi el Bronx) on bass, Adam Maples (Earthlings?/Sea Hags) on drums, Dimitri Coats (OFF!/Burning Brides/Ten Commandos) on guitar, Chris Caswell (Daft Punk/The Muppets) on keyboard, Art Pacheco (Jamaica) as a percussionist and very special guest Dave Catching (Rancho de la Luna/Earthlings?/Queens of the Stone Age). The album was co-produced by Peter Franco (Daft Punk) and mixed by Dan Lerner (Daft Punk). Their self-titled debut album is out now.

The Gama Sennin · I Kill You

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Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters - Render Sisters - Violent Vickie - the Slowinks -

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters - New York / Open Up Your Door.

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has challenged every artist to think differently about their work, but Amanda Anne Platt and her band, The Honeycutters, are probably one of the few inspired to work on an innovative project at once more sweeping and yet more intimate than anything they’d previously done — a concept suite built from songs recorded under the straitened circumstances of quarantine and envisioned as a “deconstructed album,” released, not as a package, but in a monthly series of paired singles.

For the first Organic Records release, Platt has chosen two numbers — "New York” and “Open Up The Door” — that exemplify the project’s essential concept of duality and its ultimate title: The Devil / The Deep Blue Sea. As she explains, “I’ve always liked that saying. For me, the two groupings of songs represent different sides of the creative process, with The Devil including the more manic, upbeat, outgoing — maybe even grotesque at times — and The Deep Blue Sea being more reclusive, contemplative, understated. As an artist I’ve spent a long time judging myself when I’m at either extreme, so it’s nice to have an opportunity to celebrate the balance they provide one another. As a good friend of mine put it, ‘Sometimes you’re drowning in The Deep Blue Sea and you need The Devil to pull you out.’”

With Evan Martin’s nervously insistent cymbal taps, rolling keyboard and steady drums underpinning a pared-down, two-chord progression, “New York” offers listeners their first glimpse of The Devil — and a bit more of a pop sensibility than is usual for Platt. It’s a note of departure, a message of admiration, and an image-laden, poetic love letter to her home state that carries plenty of punch in Matt Smith’s electric guitar and bassist Rick Cooper’s simmering bass lines.

“‘New York’ is a song I wrote when my parents were selling the house that I grew up in,” the singer recalls. “I hadn’t lived there for a long time at that point, but it came at a time when I was saying goodbye to a lot of people and places that had meant home and comfort to me, and it just felt like kind of a final break from something I had been. This makes sense to me as the first ‘A side’ for just that reason- goodbyes sometimes make the best beginnings. We’re not in Kansas anymore… or New York.”

The first “B side,” on the other hand, serves up a more melancholy meditation on creativity, artistic ambition and, perhaps, the enforced idleness of quarantine. In "Open Up Your Door" the mournful sobs of the steel guitar (Smith), and the warm, R&B flavor of Martin’s electric piano echo Platt’s wistful tones, as she looks back at “all the miles I tried to fly on broken wings” to recall “those hungry days we had, And dreams that kept us up ‘cause we wanted them so bad.” And while the narrator offers that “tonight I think I’d trade every memory I made to get that back,” she still offers a wistful toast to hope as the song subsides into an instrumental coda that is somehow sparse and lush at the same time.

Still, Platt’s wit emerges when she notes, “‘Open Up Your Door’ in title alone would have been a good kicker for the B sides. It’s a call to the muse — don’t forsake me, I’m still here and I have all this shit to make sense of.” And irreverent though it may be, that’s a sentiment that augurs well for the entire series to come, The Devil / The Deep Blue Sea.

Amanda Anne Platt · New York / Open Up Your Door

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Render Sisters - Black Roses.

Pop-country duo Render Sisters from Pine Bluff, Arkansas continues to grow as up-and-coming singer-songwriters with their harmonious new upbeat single “Black Roses,” available across all major digital music platforms (linktr.ee/rendersisters) on Friday, April 2. However, fans can listen to the new tune now on their SoundCloud. Stella and Mary-Keaton Render co-wrote the song with hit-making Nashville songwriter Britton Cameron (Don Williams, Jon Pardi, Dillon Carmichael), who's been writing with and developing the sister duo since their emergence in 2020.

“Black Roses was such a fun and unique song to write with Britton,” said Mary-Keaton. “We laughed and joked around about roses not always symbolizing true love, and how black roses demonstrate the reality of what relationships can become.”

The Renders Sisters also have a brand new video for “Black Roses” which they’ll premiere in the coming weeks. Shot in and around Nashville, the video was Directed by country music icon Pam Tillis, who has been mentoring and working with the girls on the artistic direction of their music videos since last year.

“We had such a blast working with Pam while she directed our fun-filled video,” Stella laughed. “She always has a great perspective on how to best visually portray the song’s message. The energy we felt with her while filming was simply amazing. My favorite part was getting to eat the yummy donuts during the video!”

Render Sisters · Black Roses

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Violent Vickie - Circle Square.

Los Angeles-based Dark Synth-Riot artist Violent Vickie's  "Circle Square" Video is out now. The music video for Violent Vickie's "Circle Square" is a layered, rhythmic collage directed by AJ Strout of Ex Corpse Art Collective.

The video was shot on Vickie's Photobooth computer app in her apartment during the pandemic when in-person creativity was not a possibility. Much like Violent Vickie's epic Serotonin project, the black and white video features the counterculture design and aesthetics that visual artist AJ Strout has presented at goth clubs throughout Los Angeles. 

"Circle Square" is a gloomy, noisy electronic track with forlorn and haughty vocals that, conceptually, is an exploration of the illusion of not belonging. Released on Violent Vickie's Division LP in September 2020, "Circle Square" is a mix of techno/electro beats and noisy synth texture reminiscent of the dark techno tunes that Vickie once partied to in Oakland warehouses.

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the Slowinks - Stay With Me Awhile.

Get ready to kick up your heels, because today Montreal's The Slowinks release their debut album Stay With Me Awhile on (weewerk) and all digital platforms.
With a sound that combines Classic Country, Jazz and Western Swing, Montreal’s The Slowinks have successfully charmed their hometown and are now poised to do the same to the wider world. Stay With Me Awhile was recorded in February 2020 by acclaimed Quebec singer/songwriter Fred Fortin at his home studio in the wilds near Lac Saint-Jean, with its eight tracks capturing The Slowinks in their purest form yet.

Fronted by powerhouse vocalist Felicity Hamer—formerly of United Steel Workers of Montreal—the drummer-less combo also features lead guitarist Martin Tremblay, rhythm guitarist Olivier Pépin and double bassist Mathieu Deschenaux who together infuse their original songs (plus covers of the Tin Pan Alley standard “Ain’t Got Nobody” and the soul classic "Let Them Talk") with an undeniably modern energy, while adhering to tradition.

Listeners got a taste of The Slowinks' at their rowdiest on the album's first single “One Shoe,” on which Felicity cuts loose in full Rose Maddox-meets-Neko Case fashion. However, Stay With Me Awhile also delivers its fair share of  heartache on songs such as “Nobody But You,” while the band proves to be just as potent en français with “Solange.” In fact, Stay With Me Awhile’s haunting title track began life as one of Martin’s demos with French lyrics. Felicity chose to write new lyrics in English to reflect her own experience of trying to hold onto someone she lost, and in the process gave the song an entirely different power.

Felicity says, “Just weeks after our return from recording, the pandemic hit Montreal and the song has since taken on even more meaning. This is just one of those songs that feels like a memory—‘These streets are filled with ghosts, hard to crack a smile. I miss you the most, stay with me awhile.’”

Indeed, one of the great joys in listening to Stay With Me Awhile is in knowing it was recorded just before the pandemic, when there was still fun to be had. Those days will come again, hopefully sooner than later, and The Slowinks are ready to provide the soundtrack.

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Scenes - Lady Dan - Wyndow - Seafoam Green - Sterre Weldring - Hunter Moreau - Shadow Monster

Scenes - Henhouse feat. Ainslie Wills.

Brisbane songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Scenes made his debut last month with his dynamic new single 'Henhouse' featuring Ainslie Wills. Today he shares his moody video clip alongside the announcement of his debut EP releasing later this year.

Scenes is the solo project of Graham Ritchie, self-produced and recorded, Scenes’ debut single flourishes with drum loops and reverberant analogue synths that swell around the distinct vocals of Melbourne artist Ainslie Wills. The track also features Ryan Strathie on drums (Holy Holy, Andy Bull, Olympia) and was mixed by Jake Miller (Bjork, Aurora).

"In the verses, Ainslie’s lower register captures and draws you in, and then soars over the driving chorus instrumentation. Layers of saturated vocal delays colour the chant-like phrases which contain fragments of self-talk," explains Graham.

The video shot and produced in his hometown of Brisbane by director Matthew Howard sees two young adults walking home and in their bedrooms, both experiencing moments of introspection and catharsis. "'Don’t let the fox guard the Henhouse’… it’s about our minds. Our fragility and limitations. But there’s also a commitment to hope and progress," Graham continues.

Since the song released it has already received high praise from triple j as well as additions to popular Spotify playlists 'Indie Arrivals' and 'Broad Chords' as well as placement on international Apple Music playlists' 'New In Indie'. Over his career, Graham has collaborated and toured with artists including Big Scary, Japanese Wallpaper, Emma Louise, Airling, Thelma Plum and Gretta Ray.

Already preparing more singles and a debut EP, don't wait any longer as his music engulfs you and takes you on a musical journey.

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Lady Dan - Misandrist To Most.

Lady Dan has shared her new track "Misandrist to Most" – it's the final piece to be released ahead of her debut album, I Am the Prophet which is out via Earth Libraries on April 23.

It's a real highlight for me on the album, following in the wake of NPR, Stereogum, GoldFlakePaint, FLOOD and Line of Best Fit-tipped tracks, this time addressing the patriarchal systems that dictated Tyler Dozier's (real name behind the Lady Dan moniker) life previously. There are some glorious examples of slide guitar here as well as off-kilter percussion and Tyler's mesmerising voice which has found comparisons so far to Sharon Van Etten and Julia Jacklin.

As a full piece, I Am the Prophet dives into some deeply personal content for Dozier, in a sense tackling lots of the pressure and symbols of authority that she has come up against in her life. Initially hailing from Dothan, Alabama, Tyler grew up in a strictly religious environment, moving to Birmingham, Alabama in her teens to attend a ministry school which was when she began to question the role of the Church in her life. 

It was an amalgamation of the Church and a controlling relationship that birthed the crux of I Am the Prophet – a celebration of sorts about ridding the patriarchal restraints that refused her growth, as well as being a frustrated kick at those who've always said she couldn't in life. Each track poses a new narrative, arriving as multilayered existential quandaries of empowerment and restriction, of life and death, or of faith and its absence.

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Wyndow - Two Strong Legs.

Wyndow is the psychedelic-pop project of revered singer-songwriters Lavinia Blackwall and Laura J Martin. The duo recently announced their collaboration via the sharing of their debut single ‘Take My Picture’ which has already earned support from the likes of The Quietus, For The Rabbits, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio Scotland & BBC Radio Wales. The pair first met whilst playing on the same bill at Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham and hit it off instantly over a shared love of the music of Robert Wyatt. Over the years that followed, their paths crossed several more times and eventually the pair began working on a new set of songs together during the first UK lockdown, beginning with a cover of Robert Wyatt’s ‘Free Will and Testament’.

New single, ‘Two Strong Legs’, reflects on those days when nothing quite sits right. When the outside world feels a step too far and thoughts strain to make sense. "If the dog looks like a rabbit and the front door's a step beyond, this is your song” explains Laura. “It's a tune for whacked out worriers lifting weights in the worry gym. Feeling uneasy never felt so easy". Mining the textures of chamber pop string arrangements, topped with arresting multi part vocal performances and with Neuköln synth atmospheres creeping at the edges, Wyndow bring a lysergic dimension to every day internal mind games.

The accompanying video was directed by Jess Swainson. The video plays with the natural elements of snow, wind and water and the malleable fibres of flesh filtered through influences from early eastern european cinema. Innervisions of the natural turned into the unreal abound, mirroring the muddled thoughts referenced in the lyrics and the shifting textures of the sonics.

Wyndow’s new sound is an exciting next step for the duo, both of whom have enjoyed abundant success in their careers to date. Laura J Martin has so far released three critically acclaimed albums. A mercurial and bewitching live performer who interweaves layers of vocals, flute, mandolin and electronics; Laura and her band have toured regularly across the UK and Europe and supported acts such as PJ Harvey, Teenage Fanclub, Cate Le Bon and performed and collaborated extensively with Euros Childs. Lavinia Blackwall’s work with prolific Glaswegian psych-folk outfit Trembling Bells has earnt her a reputation as one of the best voices in the scene, many critics having likened her singing prowess to that of Sandy Denny. Along with Trembling Bells she has released seven full-length albums and performed as the backing band to folk legends Bonnie Prince Billy and The Incredible String Band’s Mike Herron. Her 2020 debut solo album ‘Muggington Lane End’ was extremely well received by critics and fans alike.

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Seafoam Green - House on The Hill.

‘House on The Hill’ is the first single from Seafoam Green’s forthcoming album ‘Martins Garden’. This hard-hitting, good-times rock’n’roll song is an arresting statement on where the band are going, ahead of their eagerly anticipated album, due for release later this year.

Seafoam Green’s upcoming long player - ‘Martin’s Garden’ - is the band's second studio record.  Their debut was a collaboration with Rich Robinson, of the Black Crowes.  Once again, Seafoam Green are collaborating with the artists residing in their own record collections - inspirations steeped in the culture of the Southern States. How do two Irish rock n’ rollers go from talking about the music they love, to playing with the musicians who made it?  It all comes down to the songs they are writing.

Tyler Greenwell - founding member of Grammy Award winning Tedeschi Trucks Band - got wind of Seafoam Green preparing to make their next record, and made it known that he wanted to be involved. It wasn’t long before Seafoam Green were out recording with some of the gnarliest players in the world during a symbiotic week in Atlanta, USA. Dave O’ Grady and Muireann McDermott Long specialise in what we have come to know as Americana. If you want earthy, rootsy, blues, gospel, country, folk, they have it, but what it amalgamates to at this level which has been perfected across two albums and countless live shows is the sound of a glorious rock n’ soul revival.

‘House on the Hill’ is a howitzer of a song and offers early indication of what can be expected from a seminal record with the thumbprints of Tedeschi Trucks Band’s influence on the producer’s console and wider reaching fusion metastasized as two richly embedded cultures collide, namely Irish folk and Southern rock, with TTB’s Greenwell on drums, Seafoam’s O’Grady playing slide for the first time on a record, and topped by the inimitable trademark vocal intercourse between O’Grady and McDermott Long. This is future soul rebel music and bodes well for the full experience of ‘Martin’s Garden’, an album that’s not to be missed.

Seafoam Green’s inimitable collision of Irish Roots and Southern American rock and soul is a unique take on a classic sound. As our two heroes implore on this track, “You don’t need keys for the house on the hill”. Come on in, and make yourselves at home.

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Sterre Weldring - Not With Me.

The video clip of Sterre Weldring's latest single ‘Not With Me’ has just been released. ‘Not With Me’ was already well received and made it to Spotify's New Music Friday. For the video clip Sterre set out on the Amsterdam canals.

Sterre Weldring explains: “The video clip of ‘Not With Me’ is the representation of a situation in which there is no real communication between Sterre and her counterpart, who is never in focus. They go past each other and the result is the realization that he was never really there, ‘not with me’. "

The search for answers, some of which will never be found, plays an important role in Sterre Weldring's lyrics. By describing love and relationships in her songs, she hopes to be able to offer comfort to others who embark on a similar quest. Her previous singles had the same goal and it was recognized by streaming platforms around the world. With major playlists in Mexico and Spain on Spotify, she reached a new fan base.

At the age of 16, Sterre Weldring was still a bit young for the conservatory, but she made a very mature decision: she started studying songwriting at BIMM (Brighton Institute of Modern Music). In between studies, she completely immersed herself in Brighton's rich music scene. While jamming, and playing live, she quickly developed her own sound, which she describes as folk-pop. In concrete terms, this means that her songs have a pop structure, on which she puts a folk stamp on with her characteristic voice. Amy Macdonald is a common comparison.

After a successful 2019, including a place in the final of the 'Grote Prijs van Nederland' and a tour through the country during 'Popronde', the Amsterdam-based singer-songwriter is now releasing her new single. This song is part of her new EP, which will be released later this year.

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Hunter Moreau - Hazy.

Through her music, rising pop songstress Hunter Moreau frequently steps outside of her comfort zone to express the most vulnerable parts of herself, captivating listeners along the way. Her latest single, "Hazy," is no exception.

Produced by Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Ashe, SHAED), "Hazy" officially dropped on March 12. Now Moreau is releasing the official music video for “Hazy.”

“I wanted the video to feel like a warm, breezy, summer's day that causes all of your worries to subside for even just a moment,” shares Moreau.

“I wanted to capture the soft light of summer afternoons, and the hazy hue that comes along with it. We shot the video at Betty's Neck in Lakeville, Massachusetts, which is this enormous, beautiful park near where I live.”

Directed by Mac Lynch, a Rhode Island based photographer, videographer and mixed media artist, the video for “Hazy” is out now.

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Shadow Monster - Kill Me Sweetie.

Shadow Monster is an angsty and loud two-piece from Bushwick, Brooklyn. Gillian Visco’s gritty, dissonant and desperate guitar riffs meet with John Swanson’s epic and explosive drumming style to form a raw and moody version of grunge rock. 

Lyrically, Shadow Monster explores themes of loss, depression and isolation. If you're into Elliott Smith, Weakened Friends, Helium, and Kills Birds, your ears are going to love Shadow Monster. Their new video "Kill Me Sweetie," is the final release from their LP "Punching Bag," which is an artful masterpiece from start to finish. 

Shadow Monsters sound is vibrant, captivating and bold as they bring a vision to the table that is truly their own. It's hypnotic and smooth, yet raw, vibrant and dark. They bring the best of all worlds. The video perfectly encapsulates the essence of the duo, and goes above and beyond to impress your ears.

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