Mamalarky - Tall Heights

Mamalarky - Meadow / Moss.

Last November the Atlanta (by-way-of-LA-by-way-of- Austin) band Mamalarky released their self-titled debut full length on the buzzing Brooklyn label Fire Talk (Dehd, Pure X, PACKS). The LP was one of the most critically-acclaimed debuts of the pandemic year, seeing praise from outlets like NPR, VICE, Billboard, among many others. Now Mamalarky are returning with their first new music since their LP, a pair of singles entitled "Meadow" and "Moss" that are being released to mark the announce of the band's first touring in support of their debut, a run of dates that includes shows with Slow Pulp as well as an East Coast headline and a New York showcase with their labelmates PACKS & Wombo.

Accompanied by a pair of videos directed by the band (who have worked on several of their own videos and recently began directing videos for other artists as well), the tracks both concern different experiences of nature and were appropriately, according to singer and guitarist Livvy Bennett, both written outdoors.

"Monotony is an illusion, or at least it’s a very tired way to look at things." says Bennett. "Nature always has something new to offer when we slow down enough to absorb it - isolation made me appreciate and deepen this relationship significantly. I realized I’m never actually alone when I’m out under some trees. Moss offers more of a coming to terms that the surrounding landscape could be my anchor and company for the time whereas Meadow is a spark of excitement at finding a less traveled path on my daily route that opened out onto a beautiful stream with singing frogs. I wrote both these songs outdoors which I had never tried before. I still go to these spots often and they hold me up!"

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Tall Heights - Hear It Again.

Tall Heights have relentlessly built a career from the ground up. Starting as buskers on the streets of Boston and now performing in packed venues across North America, Europe, and beyond, the duo has distilled their sound in an organic and unself conscious way. The unmistakable DNA of their music draws on many elements, but the blend of their two distinct voices, in both harmony and unison, is what elevates it and separates it from the pack.

Hailing from the Boston area, Paul Wright and Tim Harrington met each other in their hometown of Sturbridge through Tim’s older brother. The friendship blossomed in high school when they both took up the guitar and began working on music together. It didn’t take long for them to see the potential hidden in these casual jam sessions. As Paul recalls, “Tim transformed from kid brother to musical collaborator over the course of a summer.”

Combining Paul’s lifetime of classical training, Harrington’s spontaneous artistic instincts, and the prismatic union of their unique voices, Tall Heights’ sonic imprint is in a category all its own.

Tall Heights · Hear It Again

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Third Lung - Gabe Watkins

Third Lung - What is a Life?

Third Lung, an Indie/Alt-Rock four-piece comprised of Tom Farrelly (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Cams Jurasek (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Rob Jacques (Bass) & Sam Waugh (Drums), released their new track, What Is A Life?, on the 30th of July 2021. 

The band, with their third single of the year, ask us the deep philosophical question: What is a life on your own? Indeed, who are we when not guided and supported by the people around us we cherish and love?

Third Lung will continue the year as they started it. Full of drive and purpose. Following their latest single, What Is life?, the fourth and final single of the year, Climb, will be released on the 24th September. They will then unleash their 6 Track EP Dialogues Of The Fatal Few on the 26th November.

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Gabe Watkins - One Summer.

Gabe Watkins is an Australian-Thai indie-pop solo artist with a distinctive voice. The inspired young man has been brought up having an admiration for pop rock and alternative music. After finishing high school, taking a gap year at 19, he decided to fully immerse himself into the music world and started to intensely produce music pieces, and finally released his first official track ‘One Summer’. 

For this piece of his career launching moment, he has Toon’ Iamjamrat from the band Three Man Down (one of the most famous bands in Thailand at the moment) served as a producer, refining every detail to accentuate Gabe’s talent as an artist.

One Summer, an easy listening indie-pop song, is the first single of Gabe that reflects on the memory of the past summer about that intimate someone during the good time spent together.

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Martha Wainwright - Single Girl, Married Girl - Nelson Sobral

Photo - Gaelle Leroyer

Martha Wainwright - Hole In My Heart.

Martha Wainwright is beginning again. The beguiling performer and songwriter returns with Love Will Be Reborn, out in August. Not since 2012’s Come Home to Mama has a Martha Wainwright record been so full of original written material. Wainwright’s fifth studio album follows recent years of loneliness and clarity in search of optimism and joy.

Wainwright wrote the first song—and what would become the title track— of the record a few years ago. It was a very dark time, she says, but the positivity and luminosity of “Love Will Be Reborn” signalled what was to come. Wainwright was at a friend’s home in London to collaborate on something else entirely when she was struck by the need to write the song. Wainwright demures when songwriting – her process is undisciplined and she prefers to be alone. That day, soon left to that solitude, “Love Will Be Reborn” poured out of her.

“I wrote the song in its entirety within ten or fifteen minutes. I was bawling.” The track feels very English to Wainwright with a soft melody and thrumming guitar, evoking pastoral scenes. Wainwright croons, “There is love in every part of me, I know / But the key has fallen deep into the snow / When the spring comes I will find it, and unlock my heart to unwind it.” It’s poetic and mysterious, yet still there is a yearning for joy and renewal. Wainwright sang the as-yet recorded “Love Will Be Reborn” on tour, serving as an anthem, giving her hope in a time when it was hard to have some.

Much of Wainwright’s songwriting since 2016’s Goodnight City felt too raw. “There were several years where I picked up the guitar, and I was so, so sad and depressed. I would just put it down because It was terrible.” Before writing it out, or writing through it for catharsis, Wainwright had to live it. Album opener “Middle of the Lake” reinforces Wainwright’s path forward as she sings over voltaic chords and percussion, “I sing my songs of love and pain / Winds of change or simply singing, I’m singing in the rain.” Her work never shies away from an existential throbbing wound. “There are a couple major subjects on the record. From what I can tell, there’s really dark and then light,” she says. “It really is reflective of a very difficult period of divorce. Then, after that, it’s meeting somebody new and amazing. And so you hear certain songs about this new love.”

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Photo - Anna Azarov

Single Girl, Married Girl - Hurt Her So.

Steeped in a folk songwriting tradition that harkens back to Pete Seeger and Joan Baez mixed with modern songwriting elements in the style of Jenny Lewis and Brandi Carlile, Single Girl, Married Girl, fearlessly tackles issues ranging from loss and drug addiction to insecurity and depression.

The LA-based pop/folk/Americana group fronted by singer/songwriter and banjo player, Chelsey Coy, have released “Hurt Her So,” their first offering since 2017’s album, Spark. The haunting, harmony-rich track offers a taste of what’s to come from the band, filled with poignant lyrics, lush instrumentation, catchy melodies and sweeping musical arrangements.

Coy co-wrote this song, along with many others to be released soon, with her husband, Gary Knight, drawing on personal struggles including the death of close family members, health challenges, and battles with depression that paralleled the Coronavirus pandemic. "Art happens on a subconscious level and sometimes it's only after you've written the songs that you look back on them and realize what you’re processing," Knight says.

Single Girl, Married Girl · Hurt Her So

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Nelson Sobral - In The Middle Of The Night.

Following in the footsteps of “Pendulum,” the acclaimed spring 2021 single from Toronto-based songwriter Nelson Sobral, comes “In The Middle Of The Night,” a song which marks a further venture into Sobral’s eclectic and trademark mix of soul, country and rock and roll. While equally reminiscent of ’70s Rolling Stones, the most stomping numbers by Johnny Cash, and the most celebrated tracks from the extensive Stax Records catalogue, “In The Middle Of The Night” was written as an ode to those fleeting moments shared only by lovers bound for the deepest of deepest bonds. “It’s about the early days of when you first start seeing each other,” Sobral describes. “Where you’re just sort of sharing little secrets, and starting to build that private, intimate thing.”

Composed after a trip to Nashville, Sobral recalls how overwhelmingly inspired he was by the rhythm and texture of the bustling, musically vibrant city. “If you walk away from that place without coming away with that energy, you’re sort of missing the point,” Sobral explains. Visiting all the iconic landmarks that adorn Broadway or Music Row, Sobral was deep within the grips of Nashville’s bustling and contagious buzz. Of the teary pedal steels, shimmering acoustic guitars, pounding kick drums, and glowing horns constantly emanating from the fronts of open bars, Sobral remarks: “You should always walk away from an experience like that feeling inspired.”

With its bombastic horn sections provided by Selcuk Suna and featuring Sobral’s virtuosic and guitar playing, “In The Middle Of The Night.” exemplifies the songwriter’s effortless amalgamation of the touchstone styles of Americana, of which Nashville is a welcoming, beckoning light. The single further explores Sobral’s passion for mixing soul, country, and rock and roll into one celebratory style. “This is like Otis Redding wrote a song with Willie Nelson,” Sobral reveals. “My two main roads are old country and old soul, driven down the rock and roll path.”

Nelson Sobral · In The Middle Of The Night

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Karen Jonas - Said The Whale - Seafoam Green

Karen Jonas - Summer's Hard for Love.

On August 20, 2021, Karen Jonas will release Summer Songs, a four-song EP, along with “Gumballs,” a collection of poems. Known for her stellar songwriting, sultry vocals, and compelling stage presence, Jonas hearkens back to her song crafting heroes Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, with a sonic nod to modern greats like Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell.

Karen is a two-time Wammie Award winner for Best Country Artist, a Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest Winner, and Dale Watson’s Ameripolitan award nominee. Her long-time collaboration with dazzling guitarist Tim Bray, joined by bassist/vocalist Seth Morrissey and drummer Seth Brown, has produced five full-length records, beginning with 2014’s internationally-acclaimed Oklahoma Lottery. Her much-lauded 2020 LP The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams is a gutting but “warmly nostalgic” (American Songwriter) masterpiece - proof of her ability to weave creative depth into everyday stories. Covered by everyone from Rolling Stone Germany to Country Music People UK to American Songwriter, Jonas’ investment in artistic excellence continues to pay off with her upcoming release Summer Songs.

The EP is a collection of three Jonas-penned songs and a show-stopping update of Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer.” “Thunder on the Battery” paints a picture of a fierce thunderstorm with swooping pedal steel and bluesy guitar, while “Summer’s Hard for Love” sounds like sipping a glass of bourbon and watching the fireflies with gentle cross-stick and lush harmonies. “Summer Moon” is a sweet acoustic love song, tracked live in the studio.

Jonas reflects on how writing her vastly personal autobiographical collection of poems, “Gumballs” allowed her to find a more vulnerable place to embrace these gems from her old songwriting notebooks. “I began to hear flashes of these songs as I was writing my poetry collection, songs I started writing years ago. I reconnected with them and spent a lot of time reprocessing and editing,” she explains. “I was able to update them to my current songwriting sensibilities while maintaining the sweet vulnerability of the inspiration for these summer-themed tunes.”

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Said The Whale - 99 to the Moon.

Following on the heels of successful singles "Honey Lungs," "Everything She Touches is Gold to Me" and "Show Me Everything," Vancouver indie act Said The Whale are now sharing "99 to the Moon" with listeners. The band have also announced that their seventh full-length album, Dandelion, will be released on October 22nd.

Said The Whale have earned their place in the Canadian music pantheon. They’ve won a JUNO Award, topped the alternative radio chart, and amassed a devoted base of fans who affectionately describe themselves as “SaidHeads” — all the while maintaining their resolute independent spirit. Now, more than a decade into their career, the Vancouver group are opening their most ambitious chapter yet.

Throughout 2020, lockdowns meant that the band members were at home, away from the relentless touring cycle that had defined most of their 14-year career. Singer-songwriters Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester, plus keyboardist Jaycelyn Brown and bassist Lincoln Hotchen, threw themselves fully into working on new material with producer Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat) at his Tugboat Place Studio, resulting in the most towering, maximalist music of their careers.

“Steve is an incredibly detail-oriented producer,” says Tyler. “We would work until four or five in the morning. Then sleep at his house and work the next day until late into the night. It was exhausting, but each song came to life in such an amazing way with so many layers.”

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Seafoam Green - Swimming In The Paint.

Seafoam Green’s sophomore album ‘Martin’s Garden’ was released in June to huge critical acclaim including 8/10 from Classic Rock Magazine and a glowing 4-star review from MOJO who described it as ‘a near faultless album’.

Produced by Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Tyler Greenwell, the album is a colourful melting pot of Americana, rock, folk and psychedelia with Seafoam Green’s and own musical identity, by way of their Irish & Liverpool roots, fully stamped over it. The album is available to now on CD, vinyl or download.

Seafoam Green’s next single from the album, is perhaps the most eclectic and exciting yet. ‘Swimming In The Paint’ is an instantly loveable quirky slice of psychedelic pop driven by a groovy organ with the distinctive swirling fun machine keyboard/clav sounds of Spencer Pope colliding beautifully with the band’s vocal harmonies. It’s a pure retro throwback that never sounded so fresh.

On the new single the band said, “’Swimming in the Paint’ narrates the daily ups and downs of our human experience through a kaleidoscope of colour. We all have different associations towards certain shades and this is an attempt at articulating some of our own. We ponder the strive towards ‘uniqueness’ and the ’perfect’ scenario."

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