McDermott & North - Rachael Dadd - Lost In Japan

McDermott & North - Elope.

Beloved indie folk songwriters McDermott & North are back with their heartfelt sounds, this time with a sweet and sophisticated plea to marry a lover in their new single 'Elope'.

The talented songwriting duo have been winning hearts around the East Coast with their busking performances and beautiful songs since 2016, from which time their dedicated fanbase has amassed and only continues to grow. Their charismatic music making has likewise caught the attention of artists Ben Lee and Alex Lloyd, and consequently invited them to support on their separate tours. Stages at Bluesfest, TEDX Talks Brisbane and Bigsound have also showcased the pair in 2019, and they've two sold-out headline shows in their hometown - just to name a few.

The innocently earnest 'Elope' is sure to once again melt hearts, as Patrick McDermott and Rhys North do so well, with this release being their second for the year after the swaying 60s-inspired tune, 'All Things Come And Go'.

This considered and carefully-crafted song is set to evoke nostalgic memories of that sweet, innocent feeling of being so hopelessly in love that you're ready to abandon everything and tie the knot. Weaving through romantic invitations to escape into the sunset, declarations of love and heading down the aisle, 'Elope' charms all the way through with beautiful harmonies that glide effortlessly to a climactic final chorus, pirouettes through waves of strings before landing gracefully on an impressive baritone outro.

"Elope" was written during Patrick McDermott's first real relationship. It's about vulnerability and innocence of the heart when you're caught in the throes of love.

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Rachael Dadd - Children of the Galaxy.

The wildly creative free-form songwriter Rachael Dadd is sharing her new single, "Children of The Galaxy." ’Taken from her forthcoming 14 October album Kaleidoscope, the single was written on electric guitar with the hot spring sunshine beaming down from a deep blue sky.

Says Rachael: "We were locked down, I was living with my two children, solo parenting. Life needed a certain amount of escapism, and music and songwriting were providing this. A combination of listening to Sun Ra at the time, the hot sleepy sunshine, and finding this particular pattern of notes meant I could feel as if I were on the other side of the earth's atmosphere, and imagine other civilizations and a different way of life compared to our own. "We are stardust, we are golden" from Joni Mitchell's Woodstock, was probably a subconscious influence. From up in space, we might look down and understand how precious life is, all of it born of and connected to the universe."

Co-produced by Rachael and Rob Pemberton (The Staves, Emily Barker, Maja Lena), Kaleidoscope includes musical collaborators such as Maja Lena (Low Chimes), long-time collaborator Emma Gatrill (Willy Mason) and Flux producer Marcus Hamblett (Villagers, James Holden, The Staves), and is Rachael’s second album for Memphis Industries following 2019’s Flux which Rachael was touring when the pandemic struck. "If I had to pick a favourite album it would be this one because of the magical rekindling of human connection when me and my band got back in a room together again”, she adds, "All that magic went into these songs."

Over the years Rachael has toured across Europe and Asia including appearances at Greenman, Cambridge Folk and Glastonbury Festivals. Having performed alongside Rozi Plain, This is The Kit, Alabaster DePlume, Francois and the Atlas Mountains and Michael Kiwanuka, she will be playing some intimate instore shows in October to celebrate the album’s release before heading out on a UK Tour in November and December.

"Many of my musical heroes are my best pals. I feel so lucky to have so many inspiring people close by and even luckier to be able to share music and stages together, particularly with all my band members and with Kate and Rozi of This Is The Kit, and Maja Lena who I am excited to be touring with this year”.

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Lost In Japan - On My Way.

After a year of preparing and releasing “Before The Blink”, “Red Line” & “ Congrats” London, Ontario’s Lost In Japan releases the first part of their sophomore LP “Night Talks Pt. 1”.

Lost In Japan saw great success with the releases of “Red Line” (#18 on Billboard) and “Lonely” (2021 Winner of Corus Entertainment’s Summer Song Contest). They’re now following up that success with new tracks “Before The Blink” & “Congrats”, developing the next chapter in the blossoming career of one of London, Ontario’s premiere up-and-coming bands.

“Congrats” tells a story of acceptance regardless of how difficult the situation may be. The single was produced by Grammy Award winner Matt Snell at Noble Street Studios in Toronto.

Lost In Japan Music · On My Way

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Shelf Lives - Chris Pellnat - Eliza Edens

Photo - Derek Bremner

Shelf Lives - Skirts & Salads.

South London duo Shelf Lives return this week with new single and video "Skirts & Salads", marking a year since the release of their self-titled debut single "Shelf Life". The new single is released today alongside a typically idiosyncratic video created by Ben Pollard. "Skirts & Salads" is the first new music to be heard following their widely praised debut mini-album 'Yes, offence' - released on the band's own Not Sorry Mom Records imprint in April earlier this year.

Originating from Toronto, Canada and Northampton in the UK respectively, Shelf Lives consists of vocalist Sabrina Di Giulio and guitarist/producer Jonny Hillyard – who now both reside in South London. New single "Skirts & Salads" was co-produced by the band's frequent collaborator SPACE (IDLES, Do Nothing) and was written shortly after the recording of 'Yes, offence' was wrapped, at a time when the pair had the likes of Vegyn, Deftones, Aphex Twin and Turnstile on heavy rotation.

That diverse sounding board helps to assimilate Shelf Lives' own unique sound. An unholy melting pot of explosive electronic percussion, searing guitar work and irrepressible vocal turns, "Skirts & Salads" lyrically finds Sabrina taking aim at societal female stereotypes.

Speaking on the lyrical inspiration behind the new song, Sabrina said: "Skirts & Salads is inspired by general female stereotypes, we've kept it pretty obvious with the lyrics. It's written and delivered in a tongue in cheek manner and we thought it would be interesting incorporating chauvinistic language but using it to our advantage in a way; referring specifically to the line "I like/want my girls like that".  Without really realising it we are highlighting how annoying it is, as well as how deeply rooted these ideas and language are in our society and....sub-consciousness."

A high-octane trashy pop banger based on a porn sample that spawned a shopping list of female stereotypes; rather than mount a soapbox, however, Sabrina absorbs those stereotypes and spits them back out in the chauvinistic hook “I want my girls like that” – delivered in an ironic drawl. The title itself mocks the reductive way society still thinks of women, with Sabrina contemplating the first things that generally come to mind. “I was like… I love a salad? That’s one,” she laughs. “And that’s the whole point. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s about the annoyance of that being the whole definition. What are women? Skirts and salads.”

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Chris Pellnat - Go (Album).

Recorded as the pandemic was ebbing and recently released (Sept. 16), "Go" is a rather positive statement overall, but is colored by darkness as well. 

It brings together unusual instrumental juxtapositions (vibraphone, dulcimer, guitar, clarinet, guitars...) and direct lyrics that build a distinctive message and vision.

Chris Pellnat is a songwriter from Hudson, NY, USA. In addition to solo work, he also plays electric guitar in the band, The Warp/The Weft and is 1/2 of the duo, Teeniest.

Having been featured as a solo artist and with his other musical ventures here on Beehive Candy on a number of occasions, Chris continues to impress both creatively and with some beautifully crafted songs.

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Photo - Anthony Mulcahy

Eliza Edens - Tom and Jerry.

Eliza Edens final single off her beautiful new LP We'll Become the Flowers. Tom and Jerry is a beautiful country-pop tune, buoyant and classic, a nod to childhood cartoons and that deeply relatable running on a treadmill feeling.

Here's Eliza on the song: I watched hours and hours of Tom and Jerry on Saturday mornings when I was a kid. The story is the same every time and yet it’s always so satisfying. Somehow it resurfaced in my mind as a way of explaining how hard we try to accomplish things that are forever out of reach—such as fighting for a dying relationship—even though Tom will just never catch Jerry! It’s an apt metaphor for the tension of always wanting or yearning for something and for two characters always going after each other. I wrote this song to try and find some levity during a difficult breakup.

"On Eliza Edens’ sophomore album We’ll Become the Flowers, she seeks to understand what happens after the end. Whether grappling with heartache or a loved one's mortality, the Brooklyn-based songwriter reimagines endings not as finite events but as devotional experiences that give way to new beginnings. Edens takes inspiration from folk luminaries such as Nick Drake, Karen Dalton and Elizabeth Cotten, sowing her compositions with introspection born from her own grief. What emerges is a glowing collection of songs that serve as a map through tumult, toward hope.

Edens sings and writes with an equally tender reverie as in her 2020 debut album Time Away From Time. But where We’ll Become the Flowers diverges, is in its narrative vulnerability. Each song is bursting: with sorrow, with anger, with the miracle of existence. “I wrote this album out of emotional necessity,” Edens says. ""I had just gone through a breakup. And around the same time, my mother was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease. I was spending a lot of my time trying to understand what it means to watch the hopeful person who raised me seem to slowly fade away before my eyes.” As the pandemic loomed, Edens turned to music: ""This project was a rope I used to pull myself out of misery, to view the despair I was feeling from a different angle. It was also my escape.”

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Flight Attendant - Sohodolls - Blue Violet - Ella Tiritiello - Kalila Badali

Flight Attendant - Honeysweet.

Flight Attendant recently announced their upcoming debut full length will be out on September 30th and they are heading out for tour dates in the US and Europe. "The debut album by Flight Attendant stands as a fine testament to the development of a exciting new band who have adopted such an eclectic mix of sounds and styles from their home in Nashville." say Louder Than War of the upcoming LP.

Flight Attendant belongs to that breed of rock bands made in Nashville, where their sound is nothing less than a sonic unicorn. Blending sounds of grunge with power-pop hooks, viola and light synth textures, they have begun to create a hypnotic sound and energy all of their own.

Flight Attendant belongs to that breed of rock bands made in Nashville, where their sound is nothing less than a sonic unicorn. Blending sounds of grunge with power-pop hooks, viola and light synth textures, they have begun to create a hypnotic sound and energy all of their own.

The group met through many shared interests, friend circles and glasses of wine. Karalyne (Lead Vocals, Keys, certified Sommelier, originally from Kansas City, Kansas) met Vinny Maniscalco (Vocals, Guitar, award-winning bartender, originally from Boston, Massachusetts) while bartending together at Nashville restaurant 5th & Taylor where Nikki Christie (Vocals, Viola, great at drinking wine, originally from Los Angeles, California) joined in too. It didn’t take many nights of cocktail making and wine tasting before the band formed. With the addition of drummer, and long time drinking buddy Derek Sprague (drums, lager lover and also from Boston, Massachusetts) the lineup was complete. Together the group has released a collection of singles including pulsating grooves like “Man of Chaos,” which was described by numerous media outlets as one of the best singles of 2020.

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Sohodolls - Letter To My Ex (Thank You, Goodbye).

London's influential electro-rockers Sohodolls are back! After being out of the limelight for more than a decade, a globally enforced lockdown revived one of their classics ‘Bang Bang Bang Bang’ into an unexpected viral TikTok hit among the Gen Z glitterati, which has inspired the band to reform and release some stunning new music.

Musically, ‘Letter To My Ex (Thank You, Goodbye)’ may take its cues from ‘Bang Bang Bang Bang’, however, Maya von Doll’s return can only be described as a perfect pop anthem for any break up. Blending old school beats and new wave synths with that sauciest of Britpop wit, alongside hook laden singalong parts, it is a poignant single to capture her, and some of her band members’ actual real life present divorce situations as only they can.

Maya von Doll never holds back with her favoured kinky BDSM language to express her breaking free from an unhappy situation, “'So, if I could press rewind, untie the ribbons from my eyes, unkiss the kiss that led to this, no swallowing of the lies you spit'.

No stranger to cult following and success, Sohodolls debut album in the naughties ‘Ribbed Music for the Numb Generation’ has always gone down well with a young crowd, having been the sound of one of ‘Gossip Girl’s’ most famous striptease scenes from Leighton Meester to writing pop bangers with the likes of Charli XCX and then this unexpected viral revival in 2021, Maya von Doll recalls,

“One morning I received a flurry of frantic texts from friends, saying Madonna has just shared and tagged your song, I was in the middle of a house move, no internet so I had no idea, but it was crazy.”

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Blue Violet - Favourite Jeans.

Blue Violet are back with news of a new EP, single and a spread of Scottish tour dates this Autumn.

Directly following their debut album ‘Late Night Calls’ (released in the Spring of 2022), the band have been busily working towards its successor in the shape of a new EP entitled: 'Love, Hate & Forgiveness’. Confirmed for release on 21st October, the four track release will feature two acoustic reworkings of ‘Late Night Calls’ classics, plus two brand new offerings including the new single “Favourite Jeans.”

While described by Blue Violet as “a continuation of themes, both sonically and lyrically, that we explored on our debut album”, the songs of the ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP mark a distinctly different writing chapter for the duo. Whereas the songs heard on their debut album ‘Late Night Calls’ date back to a prolific month-long session in 2019 with producer Rob Ellis (Anna Calvi, Marianne Faithful, PJ Harvey) at Devon’s Middle Farm Studios; their upcoming material is a glimpse of how the pair spent the inescapable lockdown of the following year.

“For all of the chaos and hardships that Covid brought to the world it also provide ample time for people to be creative” reflects singer Sarah Gotley of the ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP. “So although we only released our debut album in April this year we wanted to bring out some of the music that we'd been working on in that time”.

Songs of social distancing and hand-sanitising, these are thankfully not. Instead the duo used the time as an opportunity to step away from the humdrum of the everyday and into the imaginative, character-driven worlds Blue Violet so capably envision. The material of ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP is the first to emerge from these sessions and finds them expanding their universe.

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Photo - Ebba Lange

Ella Tiritiello - Take it Personal.

After impressing with her debut single ‘Say Something’ earlier this year, 16-year-old Ella Tiritiello has returned with her gorgeous follow up single, ‘Take it Personal’.

Take it Personal comes as a reminder that honesty is always the best policy. Sharing more Ella explained:‘The inspiration came from how you often say to people to not take it personal and “it’s not you, it’s me”, but maybe sometimes it’s better to just keep it straight.’

Despite only just turning 16, Ella Tiritiello has already put herself firmly on the map. With her debut single ‘Say Something’ already at over a quarter of a million streams and a knock-out live performance at the prestigious ‘Brilliant Minds’, this year has already been a big one for the rising teenager.

Born in Kristianstad, a small town in the south of Sweden, Ella Tiritiello was raised by music lovers on a potent diet of powerhouses including the likes of Diana Ross, Adele and Sia “I loved to sing their songs in my room, but I never wanted anyone to hear, mostly because of my stage fright. I couldn’t see myself stand in front of people and sing.”

Now Ella stands as a young artist who’s already overcome her biggest fear. In 2021 Ella was selected by the Tim Bergling Foundation (Avicii’s father) to sing, perform and release Avicii’s ‘For A Better Day’ alongside the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, she rose to the challenge and performed to 16,000 people. A huge undertaking for any artist, let alone a 14 year old with stage fright.

Her effortless vocal talents and authentic stage presence instantly won over the crowd as her confidence blossomed before their eyes.

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Kalila Badali - No Eye Contact.

Kalila Badali is a singer, songwriter, and psychotherapist based in Toronto. Aside from her solo project, Kalila is a lead vocalist and songwriter of the indie band, Shy By Shy. As an individual with a learning disability, writing music became an important source of self-efficacy and self-expression for Kalila. By teaching herself guitar and songwriting, she was able to express her understanding of the world from the perspective of a neurodivergent, learning-disabled person.

The song “No Eye Contact” and the Panacea EP is meant to be an expression of the sense of helplessness, hope, and longing for deep understanding that can come from having mental illness and disability while servicing this same population’s mental health needs. Kalila’s hope is to promote acceptance for the diversity of brains that have always been present and often misunderstood through her music and her practice as a therapist.

“No Eye Contact” is written about one of Kalila’s online dating experiences, and the absurdity of thinking you have a connection with someone and then finding that the so-called connection just exists in this weird online world of text and not so much in real life. As a therapist, Kalila also hears this same kind of story over and over again with her clients; it really is a universal experience!

“Something I keep returning to about the title is how it plays into neurodivergence and how significant eye contact is a tough subject for many neurodivergent people,” says Kalila. “Whether it’s giving too much or not enough, people are often making commentary about what eye contact communicates. In this song, I was also trying to reconcile with my own panicked response to having no eye contact while being present in person, but also in how much more projection and fantasy could take place when there was no eye contact at all during the online interactions.”

Kalila Badali · No Eye Contact

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Joan & The Giants - Alice SK - Ella Therese - Lindsay Munroe - The Clockworks

Joan & The Giants - Hardest Part.

Beloved alt-pop indie band Joan & The Giants from Boorloo/Perth have finally releasing their debut EP 'Me & You' via Tomboi Records and it is one that fans old and new will embrace and hold dear for a long time to come.

Following a handful of stellar single releases, Joan & The Giants' long-awaited debut EP sees musical and romantic partners Grace Newton-Wordsworth and Aaron Birch with band mates Riley Sutton and Liam Olsen hone their craft with a stronger pop-production sensibility, that collides beautifully with their folk-informed anthemic-indie roots, heartfelt lyricism and that hint of magic that can't quite be put into words - but is captured perfectly with music.

Grace speaks more on the inspiration and themes explored: “The 'Me & You' EP is a collection of deeply personal songs that capture moments shared by two people. Stories centered around love, rebellion and definitely a touch of heartbreak. To me they are all songs that share vulnerable moments that we’ve personally gone through in the last few years, and we hope they connect with those who listen."

Opening with strong emotive indie-pop is ‘The Weekend’, a rebellion against modern grind culture and the mentality of 'living for the weekend'. The song reflects the band's new mantra to live every day with the same enthusiasm: live like you're 17, fall in love but never fall in line, and spend time with someone whenever it feels right - because why should we only reserve our joy for days that the capitalist calendar dictates? With a melody that seeps in and sticks, earnest drums and cherry-sweet vocals, this is a memorable tune dripping in honeyed rhythms.

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Alice SK - Daisy Jane.

Alice SK has been raising eyebrows with a series of vintage-noir style singles recently that combine her haunting soulful voice and fresh sounds of the London scene that express authentic stories and work their way into the soul of the listener.

Next, Alice SK presents, ‘Daisy Jane’ where she proves her ability to work across different styles as she changes up her sound to a more washed-out, stripped back, acoustic palette. With gorgeous harmonies, a sparkling 10-string guitar and warm bass, the combination of Alice's lyrics and unique stylised melodies captivate the listener as the song escalates.

Written as a love song to all the amazing women in her life, ‘Daisy Jane’ is a very beautiful anthem for sisterhood, expressed with a great maturity and poise. Sounding like a jangly 60’s-esque Joni Mitchell psych-folk classic, with ‘Daisy Jane’, Alice SK has once again delivered a single that is both intriguingly unique, yet engaging and memorable all at the same time.

On the song’s new sound and lyrical themes, Alice explains, “Muca played me the music of the Brazilian Viola and it was such a beautiful pure sound that the lyrics had to reflect the music in the sense that I wanted the lyrics to be 'true'. So, I thought of what the purest form of love that I've experienced is and it lies with the female presences that I've been lucky enough to have been surrounded by from- my mum, my sisters and my friends.”

Alice SK · Daisy Jane

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Ella Therese - THIRTYFOUR.

Calling out the emphasis on youth and the perpetuating ideal that there is a 'limited time' to achieve success, new song 'THIRTYFOUR' (Out Now) by WA artist Ella Therese serves as an unapologetic celebration of breaking down barriers to fulfil your dreams, and one that she hopes will encourage conversation about shared experiences.

Making her dazzling debut in 2020 with 'Feelings', Ella has already played WAMFest 2021, Fremantle Arts Centre alongside Banjo Lucia, and had Siobhan Cotchin and Indoor Fins play her last single launch. Following the 2021 release of her intoxicating second single 'Confusion', comes new alt-rock track 'THIRTYFOUR'. In an empowering move to maintain ownership and artistry, Ella will also be releasing the song as an NFT.

This is a soulful and arresting mantra that gets straight to the core of its message with plenty of heart and a catchy hook. 'THIRTYFOUR' sees Ella embracing her power, and demonstrating that we can resist and liberate ourselves from the shackles of expectation by calling out the bullsh*t, and doing what we want with confidence. The song also universally speaks to demanding more, maintaining high standards, and chasing your ambitions - regardless of the limitations society may try to place on us. Driven by a strong beat and an understated soft alt-rock sound, Ella's voice and the message it delivers are given full reign to be heard loud and clear - as they deserve to be.

Written in response to the initial feeling of being 'too old' to start her music career, particularly as a female artist, 'THIRTYFOUR' is poised to spark conversations with its audience.

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Lindsay Munroe - Wild Me.

We last heard from Manchester based artist Lindsay Munroe when she released her 2021 EP, Softest Edge, a record written on a week-long perspective-shifting solo trip to the Lake District. In the time since that first trip, Munroe has developed a writing practice built around isolating herself in nature. Today, she is sharing her new single, ‘Wild Me’, the product of another week spent alone in the Lake District.

Since Munroe’s departure from an oppressive church and the end of a long-term relationship, she’s been on a journey of learning exactly who she is when she’s totally free. “A lot of my music over the past 3 years has been about difficult things that I have been through - leaving the evangelical church, dysfunctional relationships, big breakups - and all of those are encapsulated in 'Wild Me'” she says. “But ultimately the song is me realising that the core things never changed; when I was a child I was a 'tomboy', I was obsessed with being outside, I was stubborn and sensitive and smart and quite weird,” she continues.

Lots of us experiment with trying on different personas in our teenage years, most ultimately stumbling across the right fit somewhere down the line. However, in her adolescence, Lindsay found herself shying away from her true, more ‘wild’ self. “I  was singing backing vocals in folk bands, wearing floral dresses, shrinking myself to fit into a conservative church environment, desperately trying to find that sense of self and freedom I had as a child,” she explains. “And when that whole tumultuous time was over, I looked around and realised that the same things were true about me now as when I was young. I dress androgynously, I feel most at home outdoors, I'm stubborn, sensitive, smart and still pretty weird.”

It took Munroe years to make the difficult decision to break from the church she had been involved with since her mid-teens. When she finally did, and at the same time went through a breakup, her identity was shaken to its core. On her debut EP, 2020’s Our Heaviness, she explored the pain and turbulence that came with the departure. The EP garnered praise from BBC Introducing, DIY and The Line of Best Fit, and even an Instagram shoutout from one of Munroe’s heroes Sharon Van Etten. In 2021, on her second EP, Softest Edge, we found Munroe embracing the opportunity for growth, both personally and professionally. Instead of writing with the pure catharsis of Our Heaviness, Munroe applied her new sense of endless possibilities to her songwriting, exploring the depths of genre and production while lyrically drawing from a wider pool of experiences. Her single ‘Parallel’ even made it onto the soundtrack of hit BBC show Conversations With Friends.

LindsayMunroe · Wild Me

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The Clockworks - Advertise Me.

Galway four-piece - THE CLOCKWORKS - return with their rousing new single: “Advertise Me”. Arriving ahead of an extensive run of UK + European shows throughout the Autumn, the track is also the first new music from the band since the release of their essential debut EP ‘Endgame’ earlier this year.

“Advertise Me” is a scintillating, scathing new track that sees The Clockworks confront the hypocrisy of a sanctimonious society that moans more than it does take action. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios and produced by the band in collaboration with Michael Rendall (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Shed Seven, Black Grape), The Clockworks explain of the caustic new cut: “The idea for this song started with the line: ‘complain about consumers from the comfort of my Mac’. It got me thinking about contemporary culture and that feeling of dissonance that comes from criticising society while continuing to conform to it. The song is partly a satire in answer to this feeling.”

Simmering with spiky rock energy and once more boasting The Clockworks’ knack for scorching lyrics that hold a mirror up to society, the track plucks influence from a range of decades and genres. The band add:

“Todd Rundgren was a musical and production influence for this one. David Bowie. The Last Shadow Puppets. Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Interpol. The Cure. Pixies are usually brought up at some point in writing a new song.”

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