Sofie Winterson - Pitou - Georgia Mooney - Stephen Wilson Jr

Sofie Winterson - Jump.

Amsterdam-based musician Sofie Winterson announces details of her forthcoming album Southern Skies produced by Benny Sings via Excelsior Recordings in June. The project is a continuation and expansion of their 2019 collaborative EP Moral and new single "Jump" offers up more of the accidental magic which is at the core of their partnership.

"Jump" chronicles uncertainty yet offers soothing reassurance with its lilting, warm indie-pop sound. A nod to the rest of the album which saw Sofie embrace simplicity and foster a new perspective. Of the new single Sofie says: "Jump is about wanting to make a big change in life, but not knowing where that change will take you. It’s meant to comfort you in this state of insecurity. It can encourage you not to overthink where that change will lead you, since you will be a different person by the time you’ll get there."

Created in primarily Benny Sings' canal-hugging studio in Amsterdam, Southern Skies was formed as an act of stripping-back and growing as a songwriter. Sofie’s last full-length album Sophia Electric instead acted as a way to expand her work as a producer. Her varied influences, from the soul and folk she grew up on to the dream-pop of her university years can all be heard as part of the album’s eclectic palette which leans in a more minimal direction than before.

Putting the lyrics and storytelling front and centre, Sofie’s love of reading has never been more evident than in the way she approached writing for this record. “What I try to do in my lyrics [is] to find the best way to describe a thought,” she says, “the thought could be anything, it’s always my challenge to try and find exactly the right words.” Noting that her favourite part of reading is not so much following the narrative, but revelling in the descriptions of situations.

Featuring original vocal takes and lyrics that were written in the room, it marked a new way of working for Sofie, with Benny encouraging her to approach writing in a different way, a more technical way. Pulling inspiration from both Adrienne Lenker and Rachel Cusk’s ‘Transit’ in tandem, what’s clear is Sofie Winterson’s never-failing ability to tell a story with grace, immense consideration and the freedom to be projected upon and moulded as her listener’s see fit.

 

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Pitou - Knife.

Dutch artist Pitou’s musical awakening came from an unlikely source. From a very young age, she developed an unexplainable interest in classical music – her father would often find her crouched down by the radio, in search of the sound of orchestras and choirs. From the age of 9, Pitou started singing in a children’s choir, and she soon found herself performing at the baptism of Catharina Amalia, the Princess of the Netherlands, and in renowned music halls throughout Europe. “Singing together with other singers, making harmonies together, made me feel like nothing had ever done before,” she says of that moment.

It's a memory that continues to inspire. Big Tear, her long-awaited debut album, is a rich, fearlessly creative collection of alternative pop that draws from her classical background; unexpected harmonies and song structures, vocal layering, loops, wistful melodies, and classical instruments all swirled together in stylish, clever ways.

The record also marks her own development, both as a performer and a songwriter. “I knew I wanted to move away from the guitar being self-evidently always there,” she says. “I also wanted to find out what it felt like to tell the stories of my songs on stage with just my body and voice, without the physical restriction of the guitar.” Eager to move into other sonic worlds, she embraced the creative possibilities of different instruments – piano, harp, synths – and using computer programs to build and refine her music; some tracks were written entirely on piano or using software.

To celebrate the release of her new album, today Pitou has shared a new music video, 'Knife'. Of the video, she says: "'Knife' is the emotional axis of this record, very raw in its sentiment, which is always a challenge to translate into visuals. The song is about a person deciding to break away from a bond, for their own sake. I visualised a couple living in a small, quiet home. One half of the couple would be a human, the other a faceless but ever-present being.

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Georgia Mooney - I Am Not In A Hurry.

Eora/Sydney based musician Georgia Mooney (All Our Exes Live In Texas), shares her empowering new single ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’. Celebrating freedom and all the adventures born along the way, the track comes as a glacial moment of escapism. Following her cinematic debut solo single ‘War Romance’, ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’ is the second single taken from Mooney’s to-be-announced debut solo album, and is out now globally through Nettwerk.

A beautifully matter-of-fact bucking of pressures to stay in one place or settle down, ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’ was written in Florence, Italy just after a spontaneous three-day holiday marriage to a painter in Skopelos, Greece. Its sonic warmth comes via a dulcimer that Mooney won in a raffle in Canberra - a suitably whimsical fit for a song that celebrates the impulsive, unexpected moments in life; the impossibility of settling down when something new and exciting could be around the corner.

The track is accompanied by a diaristic music video bursting with nostalgia and a lust for life. Georgia Mooney shares on the video, “The video for ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’ is comprised entirely of little snapshots of moments from the last fifteen years of my life. Some of them are small and gentle like a cat on a fence, some of them are more momentous, love affairs, big concerts, cross-continental adventures. The video is personal, nostalgic and whimsical. It is no more extraordinary a life than any other, it is just a little open window into one.”

I Am Not In A Hurry was Co-produced with Noah Georgeson (Cate Le Bon, Devendra Banhart, Marlon Williams, Joanna Newsom), the release itself is a tribute to Joni Mitchell, one of Mooney’s musical and personal idols - and her song Cactus Tree, in both spirit and sound. “Mitchell (a painter, poet, songwriter, traveller) is herself hard to pin down”, says Mooney.

On ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’, Georgia Mooney shares, “I was in Florence for almost a month writing songs… It is no wonder that this song emerged there. In those weeks, travelling alone and caught up in the romance of it all, I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to stay in one place again. How could you when there is so much to explore and there are so many people to meet? This song is about internal restlessness too and the desire to throw off the expectation society imposes on us to settle down, find a partner, have a baby. Why the hurry?”

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Stephen Wilson Jr - American Gothic (feat. Hailey Whitters).

Southern Indiana-born, Nashville-based artist Stephen Wilson Jr. announced he has signed to Big Loud Records, and released his debut EP bon aqua. The seven-song collection compiles 6 previously released songs and the brand new single “American Gothic” (feat. Hailey Whitters) that was co-written with Whitters. Wilson is currently on the road supporting Whitters and will hit the road with The Lone Bellow next month before performing at Bourbon and Beyond Festival and CMA Fest later this year.

“Fellow cornfield kid, Hailey Whitters and I met some years ago writing songs and she had this beautiful idea inspired by her favorite Grant Wood painting to showcase parts of the American cultural fabric using nostalgia and the same duality that the painting seems to represent. We ran with it and sang it from the top of our lungs,” Wilson explains about the song.

“The first time I heard Stephen Wilson Jr. was at The Basement a few years back and he absolutely blew me away.... his writing, his songs and his live show is next level. He’s one of a kind and this genre is so much for the better with him in it,” Hailey Whitters proclaimed.

About his debut EP, Wilson adds: “Bon Aqua: Good water. Everything starts with good water. We are made of mostly water. The world is mostly water. As a microbiologist, I used to test water for pharmaceutical companies and everything from shampoo to aspirin to pet food to anything you can think of requires water.  Not just any water… good water. I was in charge of making sure the water was good. In and around Bon Aqua, Tennessee is coincidentally where I wrote and conceived most of this EP and filmed most of the videos and visual aspects. Hence the name, it is known for its good water and it only made sense for it to all start there."

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Alison Sudol - Brian Dunne - Ryan Daykin - Darling West

Alison Sudol - Come On Baby.

London-based American singer-songwriter and actress Alison Sudol has followed up on the release of her autobiographical and intimate new album, Still Come The Night, with the moving visuals for her poignant single “Come On Baby.” The song and video powerfully capture the shared journey of grief Alison and her partner, Welsh actor and director Tom Cullen, experienced following the miscarriage of their first baby during lockdown. This new visual arrives ahead of tomorrow’s reading of the U.K.’s Miscarriage Leave Bill in the House of Commons, which if passed would ensure three days of paid bereavement leave for people who have experienced miscarriage.

“In the days following my pregnancy loss, I was physically and emotionally crushed,” shares Alison. I was meant to be on tour when it happened, but due to the pandemic, the dates were canceled and I was lucky enough to have time to recover at home. Most women aren’t so fortunate, and have to go into work despite their tremendous emotional and physical grief. This bill would at least provide a small buffer in a difficult time, as well as an acknowledgment of the gravity of the loss. I deeply hope the UK government will recognize this need and act accordingly.”

Written and directed by Tom, the visuals are permeated by the disarming honesty and integrity both Alison and her partner share as artists. Transforming their own pain into beauty, Alison and Tom created a piece of art that transmutes their trauma into a healing experience.

“It was deeply meaningful when she asked me to write and direct the video for ‘Come On Baby’,” says Tom. “It’s a searing, raw and deeply moving song.” “The song addresses the night the miscarriage happened as directly as I could,” explains Alison. “I needed to face it head on. It’s what the whole album is centered around.”

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Brian Dunne - Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors.

Brian Dunne shares his new single “Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors,” off his upcoming album Loser On The Ropes, which releases April 14 via Kill Rock Stars.

“Any New Yorker knows the phrase ‘Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors’ because it’s what comes over the loudspeaker on the subway at every stop,” states Dunne. “I hadn’t ridden the train in a while because of the thing (trying not to mention the pandemic for the entirety of this album campaign) so when I hopped back on in mid-summer 2020, I really ‘heard’ it for the first time. Get in or get out, but get out of the way. And that’s really how I was feeling. So I wrote this narrative about a character who’s spent a lot of time ‘living, laughing, loving’ her way through the modern world, only to be jolted by a revolutionary awakening. And she has to make a choice, whether to embrace it, or run from it. It’s really an indictment of my younger self, if I’m being honest.”

Dunne signed with Kill Rock Stars on the strength of his demos for Loser On The Ropes, which he’d whittled down from nearly 200 tunes penned over several years of incessant writing. Working with producer Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, Of Montreal) in Athens, he fleshed the tracks out with analog synthesizers and reverb-drenched guitars, taking cues from Jonathan Richman, The Pretenders, Dire Straits, and Tunnel of Love-era Springsteen to cast a warm, cinematic haze over the whole thing that helped blur the already fuzzy lines between fantasy and reality for the characters who populate the collection.

Loser On The Ropes explores defeat and denial, fortune and faith, shame and redemption, all set against the backdrop of a world run by blowhards and bullshitters who manage to perpetually skate by without cost or consequence. The songs are lean and gritty, cutting straight to the heart of things with Dunne’s raw, understated poeticism, but rather than getting lost in the darkness of it all, Loser On The Ropes emerges as something much more resilient and exhilarating.

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Ryan Daykin - Tears Of Sin.

Ryan Daykin Victorian based Singer/Songwriter is back, leaning into his authentic approach to crafting REAL songs, with the Alt. Country tinged “Tears Of Sin”.

His impressive body of work, including his 2019 EP “Keeping Secrets” and previous single penned with Felicity Urquhart “Broken Feathers” has racked up accolades, but more than that, it has cemented Ryan’s place as an artist with a mission to create music that rises above the ordinary, that captures emotion and tells stories that draw a listener in.

Tears of Sin shows us a darker side of the previously more pop country leaning stylings of Ryan Daykin a “It’s a provocative story that talks to our internal struggle of who we are versus who we think we should be”

To compliment the edgy concept of the song, Ryan entrusted iconic producer Matt Fell to produce the track, allowing a more alternative country instrumentation and production, showing us a matured and versatile side to Ryan Daykin. ‘I was trying to move away from the pop/country based vibe of my previous releases, but not stray away completely because it would be inauthentic, I think we came up with a solid compromise”

Tears Of Sin is a personal story of an internal battle, and one that Ryan knows too well, having struggled with his self identity for many years, Ryan drew on support from Mary Harrison to express his feelings and at the revered DAG songwriting retreat, Tears Of Sin, which had been a work in progress for Ryan for years, became a co-write between the two artists.

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Darling West - Still Here.

The music on the new album 'Cosmos' searches outward, while the lyrics look inward. The resulting record includes elements of pop, while it pushes the envelope for what Norwegian americana can sound like. Cosmos is also about loving yourself, and there are of course a handful of love songs about shaky relationships – as we’ve come to expect from Darling West. The band continues to develop their unique musicianship and Cosmos is indeed another masterstroke from the band.

We are told the following about 'Still Her. Being in a long-term relationship is not always easy, as you can tell from a lot of songs in any genre. This one explores a moment when you realize that you have to deal with something and not put it on hold any longer. Most of us have been in these situations. It can fall both ways, but you have to choose. Work on it or let it go. When Thomas hit us with this drum groove in the chorus we almost fell off our chairs. So surprising and fun to play along with.

When Mari and Tor Egil Kreken started Darling West back in 2013, the project was intended as a way to give the married couple an opportunity to spend more time together. Tor Egil was one of Norway’s most critically acclaimed studio/live musicians, and he frequently toured the world with some of Norway’s biggest artists.

Mari was hardly idle at home, and although she didn’t play any instruments at the time, her beautiful voice landed her gigs as a backup singer for artists such as Marit Larsen, Stein Torleif Bjella and Maria Solheim. After a few years of practicing the guitar, harmonica and other instruments behind closed doors, Mari was ready to enter the stage as the frontwoman of Darling West. In creating Darling West, Mari and Tor Egil combined their fascination for American songwriting traditions and their ability to write catchy and memorable melodies.

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Anna Elyse - Lilac Haze - Tipps and Obermiller - Alice Howe - Mary Lee Kortes - Foyer Red

Anna Elyse - Faster Than We ran.

A poet at heart, Anna Elyse is a singer, songwriter and producer who draws inspiration from prolific songwriter like Neil Young and looks to modernize her sound with influences from  producers like No ID, Mike Dean and Illangelo."I always found solace in music, especially when I connected to the stories. And I hope to provide that for someone else."

After graduating from UCLA, with a concentration in Creative Writing (Poetry), she went on to Audio Engineering School and found that one of her very favorite places to be was in the studio. She was used to spending many hours in the dance studio growing up, and stepping into the recording studio was like slipping into an immersive world she knew she fit.

She worked behind the scenes in recording studios and serendipitously ended up on a few prominent hip-hop albums (Logic's albums: Under Pressure, The Incredible True Story, and No Pressure). But, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that she decided to let go of her reservations and release her own music. Her self-produced and mixed debut single, "Trading Glances" landed her on several upcoming folk-pop playlists (Greywood Records, Dave Powers, HQIndie).

Anna Elyse is excited to share her newest track, "Faster Than We Ran" with the world on March 23rd. Here's what she had to say about it: "This song came to me one foggy morning at the beach while staring out at the water and the thick mist hanging over everything. It felt like I was about to watch a portal open up into a different world. 'Faster Than We Ran' is about looking back on something that was magic and feeling immense gratitude for it. It may have been short-lived and incongruent or wrong in some ways, but it still lit you up and that's what life is about. It's looking back and saying, 'That was so awesome, the human experience is such a magical thing.' even when it's imperfect".

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Lilac Haze - The Ghost That I Once Knew / Lilac Haze.

Bath-based dream pop artist Lilac Haze is pleased to announce the release of her debut double singles ‘The Ghost That I Once Knew // Lilac Haze’ today March 24th 2023. Lilac Haze is the project name for Bath-based songwriter Katrina Swift. Greatly influenced by bands of the ‘80s/’90s, Swift draws inspiration from The Cure, All About Eve, Eva Cassidy and Fleetwood Mac, combining atmospheric and ethereal textures with a sense of nostalgic romance.

Lilac Haze’s stunning debut double singles The Ghost That I Once Knew // Lilac Haze were produced by Calum Wotherspoon (Nightswimming) and mastered by Adam Ayan (Paul McCartney, Lana Del Ray, Carrie Underwood), with guitarist Sam Allan (Nightswimming) and drummer Torin Moore (Nightswimming) collaborating on the tracks to create the backdrop for Swift’s hypnotic vocals.

With a background performing across the U.S and Europe fronting ensembles and orchestras and classically trained with a high, gentle voice, Swift’s angelic, haunting vocals gently soar upon soft guitars, delicate strings and dramatic synths.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the singles, Swift explains, “In December 2021, I wrote Ghost after a period of self-reflection during a time when I felt unsure and lost in my new surroundings. It’s a reflection of the loss of innocence as we mature… a farewell to your old self. Lilac Haze however is a song written for anyone who has been affected by loved ones lost to Alzheimer’s and Dementia.”

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Tipps and Obermiller - Thick As Theives.

It took no time at all for songwriters Hilary Tipps and Steve Obermiller to fall in love and start their lives together. But it was a decade of trying to create life, deal with death and build careers before they wrote their first songs together.

“Love (and Other Mysteries”) is a debut album that bursts open a dream deferred: tunes written long ago, newly developed duets, and their first three co - writes that promise great things for their future. It is a collection of songs with equal parts contemplation (Willow Tree, Heart, Rewind Repeat), wisdom (Mrs. Montgomery, These Hands, Jack), and simple fun (Thick as Thieves, Ferris Wheel, My Love Will). The album ends with a raucous version of Trouble in Mind, recorded in 2017 and added as a tribute to late friend and guitarist Joe Ward.

This is a songwriter’s record that defies genre: folky in its roots, dabbling in country, jazz and rock. Yet, it avoids being too many things. Trey Ware (drums), Aden Bubeck (bass), and Matt Tedder (guitar) give this album a distinct continuity. Their personalities can be felt weaving through Hilary and Steve’s well - crafted songs and offer a through line to the whole of the album.

Though you might call them Folk or Americana, Hilary Tipps and Steve Obermiller are not genre - specific songwriters. Just as they write about every aspect of life and living, they use every style of music to suit the song at hand.

Tipps and Obermiller · Thick As Theives

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Alice Howe - Love Has No Rules.

LA-based, Boston-bred, singer-songwriter Alice Howe new single "Love Has No Rules," is out today March 24th. The song is about those unexpected things that happen when it comes to matters of the heart - you can't help who you fall for, and love definitely has no rules. "Love Has No Rules" is from Alice's forthcoming LP, Circumstance, out April 21st.

Recorded in two sessions at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Circumstance chronicles Alice's personal and musical evolution. The songs evoke both the classic singer-songwriters and the seminal music that once filled airwaves, roadhouses, and juke joints.

It’s a deep, personal journey across a soundscape dotted with blues, folk, country, soul, and rock, a personal, soulful nod to her influences and the music she loves. In spirit, it draws from admired singers – Alison Krauss or the 1970s Laurel Canyon circle — but its soul is pure Alice Howe.

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Mary Lee Kortes - Green Sand.

Singer, songwriter and author Mary Lee Kortes has shared a video for her new song “Green Sand” which features Joe Jackson on backing vocals. “Green Sand is partly inspired by the story of Bonnie and Clyde,” writes Kortes, “by the envy and coveting of the riches and plenty of others so prominent in the Depression era—Beulah's era—but also by the more universal desire for what seems forever out of reach. Joe Jackson offered to guest on the record and this song gave the perfect opportunity for the brilliance of both his voice and piano playing.”

The song is the second single from her recently announced album Will Anybody Know That I Was Here: The Songs of Beulah Rowley. Recorded with the Grammy-winning producer Hal Willner, the project presents the story of the fictional dustbowl-era songwriter Beulah Rowley. The record will be released on April 22nd as a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive.

Kortes previously shared the track “Born A Happy Girl,” which premiered with American Blues Scene who writes that Kortes “...has brought her considerable talents to craft songs that sound like they came right out of the Depression Era.” “As a writer, you get in a zone. You get possessed by something. If you're lucky,” says Mary Lee Kortes.

Will Anybody Know That I Was Here: The Songs of Beulah Rowley, Kortes’s new stunning and immersive album, was born from one of those all-encompassing possessions, from a feeling she couldn’t shake, one she had to write through to fully understand. She knew she wanted to expand upon a typical album format to create a more cohesive work with a sense of character that could incorporate her love for writing fiction. “I went to sleep with all of this on my mind,” she says, “and I woke up in the morning with this woman in my head named Beulah Rowley, a depression-era singer-songwriter, from the Midwest like me, and I immediately started writing the song ‘Born a Happy Girl.’” Kortes would go on to create the biography of Beulah Rowley—and her complete songbook.

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Foyer Red - Gorgeous.

Following their more anarchic first single, the new single "Gorgeous" offers a compelling new wrinkle in Foyer Red's sound. Though composed of characteristically eccentric parts, it contains some the prettiest moments in the band's catalog to date, with an arrangement delicately balances the warmth of singer Elana Riordan's voice with the more discordant elements that bubble over wonderfully in the final third of the song. 

The confidence and creativity with which the band explore an unfamiliar sonic landscape provides another engaging example of what makes Foyer Red so exciting.

Riordan expands on the track's background: "We wrote this song organically in the studio together one day. It was one of those songwriting experiences that blows your mind over and over and makes you feel incredibly lucky to have such well-matched collaborators. I recorded a voice memo of us playing (later renamed it “wow gorgeous jam”) and listened to this low quality voice memo on repeat for days, literally bubbling up in bliss. I wrote the lyrics about my partner and bandmate Marco, for whom I keep a list of 'Marco-isms', his ever endearing botched colloquialisms that I hope he will never correct." Yarn The Hours Away will be released on Carpark Records on May 19th.

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headboy - Tapeworms - PACKS - Black Nail Cabaret

headboy - Cement.

Fast-rising London trio headboy reveal details of their debut EP and release its lead single "Cement". The band's upcoming debut EP 'Was It What You Thought' will be released on the 9th June via Blitzcat Records and follows a flurry of exhilarating sold-out headline shows in the capital, support slots with Porridge Radio, Goat Girl, DEADLETTER, Heartworms and THUS LOVE, along with their three 2022 standalone singles "Televised", "Toothrot" and "Alligator".

Consisting of guitarist/bassist and vocalist Mars West (they/them), bassist/guitarist vocalist Jess Collins (she/they) and drummer Oli Birbeck (they/them), headboy have already established themselves as a beguiling force to be reckoned with on the live stage, cultivating a devoted following in London and further afield.

The trio's much-anticipated debut EP 'Was It What You Thought' tracks a period of political turbulence; rediscovering and reflecting on the importance of friendship and loyalty, ending with a heartfelt treatise on loss and vulnerability. Ultimately a study into the often cyclical, yet always unpredictable nature of life itself, newly released single "Cement" specifically zeros in on that significance of friendship, amidst a backdrop of bright, intricate indie-rock.

Speaking more on the lyrical inspiration behind new single "Cement", the band said: "In the heat of a turbulent summer, misrule reigned. Cement is about taking stock and refuge in the comfort of your friends and the people around you; and the rediscovery of friendship. It includes advice from Mars’ grandfather ‘don’t count the days it slows them down’ - a warning against wishing away life."

"Cement" lyricist Mars West went on to say: "When things are difficult I often find myself thinking 'how long before this will end?' Then I think about my grandfather's warning - 'don't count the days it slows them down'. Sometimes you have to absorb yourself in whatever chapter of life you are in, instead of spending all your time wishing for the next one. Cement is very much about that."

 
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Tapeworms - IRL.

Arriving right in time for Spring, known as the season of rebirth, “IRL” is a melting pot of sparkling sounds that blend digital string sections with warped sample solos.

Following on from their debut album ‘Funtastic’, released in 2020, the new track sees Tapeworms build their own innovative bridge between sugary synth-pop and contorted indie. Pushing their sound in new and exciting directions, “IRL” brings a steady tempo and lush production that connotes images of surrealistic dreamlands.

The acronym for ‘In Real LIfe’, a phrase born on social media to distinguish ‘virtual life’ from ‘real life’, ‘IRL’ was heavily inspired by Japanese light novel ‘Haruhi Suzumiya’. Blending ethereal vocals with wonky pop beats, the track explores the relationship between dreams and real life and phantasm and reality.

Accompanied by an official video and dazzling new imagery inspired by livecam websites and early lifecasting macro-stars such as Jennicam, “IRL”’s accompanying visuals play with a variety of narratives and captures the band living out their day-to-day lives. A promising new addition to the Tapeworms catalogue, “IRL” is set to open a new chapter for the band — one full of never-ending pop exploration.

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PACKS - EC.

In a little under two weeks, PACKS will be releasing their sophomore LP Crispy Crunchy Nothing on Fire Talk Records. The follow up to their acclaimed 2021 debut Take The Cake, which earned accolades from outlets like The FADER, Stereogum, NYLON, Paste, BrooklynVegan, NME, Gorilla vs Bear and Bandcamp, who called the LP "the sound of classic indie rock as delivered by a promising new voice," the album has seen the release of two singles "Brown Eyes" and "4th of July", earning best of the week nods from outlets like Uproxx, Consequence and Alt Press who called it "a delight".

PACKS' new LP sharpens the laid back appeal of the band's debut, displaying a newfound flair in its arrangement and production that heightens the subtle strangeness of leader Madeline Link's songwriting. A collection of bright, imaginative vignettes of loneliness, yearning and confusion, under-pinned by Link’s distinct sense of humour, and her writing has found a new emotional register, which is exemplified by the album's final single "EC", which is out now.

The writing of the album was tied up in Link processing the death of her aunt, who was killed in a hit and run incident in Seattle near the start of the pandemic. While "EC" was not written directly about that loss, it addresses the way that grief can strike in unexpected ways and with surprising weight, and has an emotional rawness that's only been hinted at in Link's songwriting to this prior to this album.

"The unexpected death of a coworker I had never met struck me like a brick wall," Link explains. "I had been in charge of packing up all of his electronic hardware and shipping it to him just months before. As I found myself preparing shipping labels for his mother to place on the boxes to send back, a lasting sadness set in."

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Black Nail Cabaret - Sister Sister.

Black Nail Cabaret unveil the lyric video 'Sister Sister' as the first single taken from the forthcoming experimental album "Woodlands Memoirs". Under the banner Black Nail Cabaret and Friends, the Hungarian duo and three closely befriended musicians have created a one-off rather analogue and organic project that is different from their usual avant-garde synth pop style by transforming their own songs into thrilling cover versions. Please see below for more information on this album. 

The release date has been scheduled to May 26, 2023. Black Nail Cabaret comment: "For us, 'Sister Sister' has long been a favourite from the 'Dichromat' album", singer Emèse Árvai-Illes remarks.

"The original track has a cold wave vibe that we now somewhat unintentionally turned into a sonic entity that rather resembles a 'Twin Peaks' score. It is a beautiful representation of what we have aimed to accomplish by covering our own songs."

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