Typical Light - Laura Marie - Tilia - TANDM

Typical Light - Imaginary Ride.

Boston MA USA: record label H1 Massive will release the first full length album from Typical Light. Hailing from Paris FRANCE, the duo creates dreamlike, cinematic synthpop. In 2020, Hélène (vocals, synthesizer) and Hakim (vocals, guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer) joined forces over their mutual love of indie pop, rock, and shoegaze.

Hakim began his musical journey, playing the piano and guitar at 10 years old. “My parents exposed me to a lot of music when I was young, and I wanted to be like the artists they listened to.” Hélène states, “Music has always been a passion for me. I worked as a cultural journalist for several years and putting out this album fulfills a long time dream.” Their first EP SWEET was noticed immediately by French magazine KR Home Studio, because of their catchy melodies and the way Hakim and Hélène weave their silky vocals together.

Typical Light have picked up the baton from French synth pop compatriots M83, and taken it in their own direction. Imaginary Ride is one of those albums where love and disenchantment intertwine, while lyrical imagery and instrumentation playfully interact. Between immersion and introspection, the songs lead us on a wistful guided tour of romance and longing.

“We created Imaginary Ride as a timeless journey, the soundtrack of a slice of life, where joy, sadness and nostalgia mix together. Simultaneously raw and sensual, organic and synthetic sounds interlace to offer multiple dimensions and directions. Images and sounds respond to each other in a dreamlike way.” says Hélène and Hakim.

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Laura Marie - Too Sweet: Songs For Setting Boundaries.

Laura Marie's latest project, Too Sweet: Songs for Setting Boundaries, is a chronicle of pivotal points in one trauma survivor's lifelong struggle to navigate life, love, and relationships. Each song is an intimate conversation in singer-songwriter style that follows Laura Marie's path from self-betrayal to self-empowerment through fierce acts of self-love. This five song EP, accompanied by a book of the same name, is a deeper dive into the "one lesson learned on repeat" referenced in her earlier work ("Honest" Stars Apart , 2016) that further explores the frontiers of self-awareness. From the playful sensuality of the title track to the heart wrenching depiction of loss from drug addiction in "Painkiller" to the joyfully combative "Shadows," Too Sweet is a genuine, wholehearted, and unrestrained confessional that lays bare the inner workings of a sexual assault and suicide attempt survivor through relationships.

The idea of a project centered around creating healthy boundaries came to Laura Marie after several years of working to extract herself from several unhealthy relationships that temporarily derailed her career as a songwriter and just a few months before the pandemic that made healthy boundaries a survival necessity. The instrumentation was recorded remotely at SuperLegal Studios in Brooklyn by Laura Marie's longtime friend and collaborator, producer/arranger Jake Owen for DO Sounds. Owen then flew to San Antonio to record Laura Marie's vocals in a homemade PVC and acoustic blanket vocal booth built by the artist and her husband for her home studio. The EP features Owen (Augustana, BoDeans, Goldspot) on guitar/keyboard/programming, Mauro Refosco (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Atoms for Peace, David Byrne) on drums, and a string quartet arranged and conducted by Owen for the song "Why."

Too Sweet: Songs for Setting Boundaries is set for release in May 2023 as a standalone EP, followed by a book and EP set. The book is a memoir and account of events that inspired the songs on the EP. Laura Marie maintains that her songwriting has always been an effort to heal and an essential element for her survival. She wrote the book in the same spirit and to empower survivors in and out of the music industry to overcome the often debilitating consequences of trauma and sexual abuse.

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Tilia - Ever Ever.

Dream Pop artist Tilia returns with the new single Ever Ever. With her first two albums Focus (2014) and Patterns (2017), the Zurich-based artist received numerous airplays in Switzerland, Germany and Austria and is still present in some playlists.

After two tours in Germany and Switzerland, she took some time off and now returns with a suitcase full of new songs that hold some influences from jangle pop as well as dream pop. A first new EP will be released in the fall.

With her new songs Tilia builds on her proven strengths, but knows even more how to pack timeless melodies into catchy songs and sound independent at the same time. Ever Ever is a wonderful example of this. The song was created together with the Basel producer Philippe Laffer.

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TANDM - The Man in the Sea.

Toronto duo TANDM's songs seem to transcend time, place, and even stylistic categorization. The core duo of vocalist/guitarist Maxine Beck-Sinderby and drummer Thomas Franklin first met in their mid-teens and quickly united over a unique creative chemistry. Their influences are as subtle as they are diverse, weaving tinges of genre-bending modern innovators from Alvvays to Regina Spector to even Vampire Weekend into their work.

New track, "The Man in the Sea," was originally written by Maxine as a poem for an assignment in high school. The poem was inspired by a story told to her as a child by her grandmother; the tale was whimsical about how a giant man in the sea would stir a giant spoon and make the waves. "My inspiration was to convey the sensation of a childhood belief/fantasy, that then shattered from discovering the realities of the world."

The video made by continuing collaborators with TANDM, Akash Jones & Bronte Brazier, uses dreamlike stop motion visuals to accompany the haunting tune. The single is a highlight off the group's dynamic upcoming EP Sirens.

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Bar Pandora - Clementine Valentine - Toria Richings

Bar Pandora - Ultramess.

Bar Pandora is the stage name of UK alt-pop artist Charlie Tophill. The project was named after a literary cafe in La Latina, Madrid, where in 2017 Tophill used to hang out with her friends talking literature, life and feminism over red wine and fizzy sweets. Retrospectively inspired by the empowerment these friendships engendered, she created Bar Pandora in 2021 as a musical project seeking to redress the balance of a life shadowed by self-imposed limitation and baseless inhibition.

Bar Pandora’s melodious alt-pop is playfully sewn together from the offcuts of personal experience. Field recordings, journal entries and improvised fragments bop bewitchingly along to a rich undercurrent of harmonic synths, guitars and dynamic beats. Her eponymous debut EP, released in 2022, was the result of an experimental collaboration with jungle producer Simply Dread and earned Bar Pandora early support and radio play from BBC Radio 6’s Amy Lamé and Tom Robinson as well as praise from The Times newspaper and many more.

Tophill has continued to work with Simply Dread for her upcoming single, ‘Ultramess’, a “collaboration of artistic-differences” resulting in shimmery electro-pop which ripples with restless energy. ‘Ultramess’ is an alluring snapshot of a cynical romance. “It’s not quite a love song,” Tophill says. “It’s more an ode to the wilful ignorance that leads us to love, and the chaos that follows.”

Tophill’s writing is candid, confessional and refreshingly light, and there’s a mischievous streak that peppers her songs and tempers her occasional intensity. “I’m processing a lot of past mistakes through my music,” she says. “While anticipating future f ups which I’m sure will be just as fun to make.”

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Clementine Valentine - Endless Night.

Clementine Valentine, the Aotearoa/New Zealand art-pop duo formerly known as Purple Pilgrims, unveil their shimmering new single 'Endless Night' out via Flying Nun Records. With the embrace of their birth names, sisters Clementine and Valentine Nixon mark a significant turning point as they delve into a refined and sophisticated new sound.

'Endless Night' captures the essence of a heroic romance, offering a blend of wide-eyed fantasy and tongue-in-cheek realism. The song comes alive through its intricate layers of instrumentation, entwined vocals, and soaring chorus, expertly produced by New York City's Randall Dunn (Oneohtrix Point Never, Danny Elfman, Jim Jarmusch) and featuring the legendary drummer Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple). Mastered by the skilled hands of Heba Kadry (Björk, Beach House, Slowdive), the track shines with its transcendent soundscapes.

The accompanying visualiser, crafted by Motion Graphics Artist Silas McClintock from FUTURA Studio, showcases the painting 'Clementine & Valentine' by acclaimed Aotearoa artist Liz Maw. Merging religious iconography with contemporary themes, Maw's oil-on-board artworks draw inspiration from European old masters while incorporating celebrities and modern figures. Her imaginative depictions often center around women and delve into the concept of the femme fatale.

Reflecting on 'Endless Night', Clementine Valentine shares, “All songs are moments in time trapped in amber, this one feels particularly so. A relic of a past joy, crystallised behind dusty glass. Part self-fulfilling prophecy, part heartfelt sarcasm ”.

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Toria Richings - Fire.

Originally from the UK, singer-songwriter Toria Richings has landed with both her feet firmly planted in all things Americana. With a style of her own Toria’s music has often been described as songs that feed your soul. Toria is a great storyteller and has a huge imagination when it comes to penning songs, she writes with a depth of emotion that will leave your heart feeling every word she sings.

Her latest single release, ‘Fire’, showcases a fusion of Celtic-inspired melodies and poignant lyrics that explore the intricate layers of love. Toria's ballad captures the essence of two people's intense feelings for each other, while one person struggles to fully grasp the depth of the other's love.

In her own words about the track, Toria shared, “Fire is a love song, it is a ballad steeped full of all the emotions you can feel when you find someone you never want to lose. I am really proud of this song. I put so much into creating the right feels, working closely with my producer to make sure we got the right sounds that I had imagined for it from the beginning.”

The song is a testament to the enduring power of belief in love and the willingness to invest in one more night with the person who holds the key to one's heart. Adorned with a sublime lead guitar and pedal steel, ‘Fire’ is a heartfelt masterpiece that will stir your soul.

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Allie Crow Buckley - Anya Baghina - Clare Siobhan - The Wedding Present

Allie Crow Buckley - Utopian Fantasy (Album).

Los Angeles & London-based atmospheric folk-pop artist, Allie Crow Buckley, unveils her otherworldly sophomore album, Utopian Fantasy. Embarking on a transcendent sonic voyage, this lush record takes the listener on a psychedelic journey into the depths of Buckley's psyche, intertwining Greek Mythology, the mysterious realm of the faerie, and influences of fashion, dance, and poetry. With sonic shades and influences of Joni Mitchell and Black Sabbath, the record was recorded at the 4AD Studio in London, mastered at Abbey Road, and was written, recorded, and produced by Allie Crow Buckley and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes) everywhere from a small cottage in the lush English countryside to the sunny mountains of Ojai, California, and several hotels in between.

Utopian Fantasy taps into Buckley's love and deep knowledge of mythology. She explains, “It is the sort of feeling of leaving your body - as one does during times of immense stress or when chaos ensues. Escapism of sorts. These themes occur throughout the record - from references to Dionysus (god of wine and chaos) to the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Resigning yourself to whatever is - a sort of submission to chaos. Like in the myth of Apollo and Dionysus. Being naked at the feast, the idea of that vulnerability of just awaiting your fate. How we all long to be carried by Zephyr, the wind, from our fate into a bed of flowers. Just as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. But what comes next? Coming to terms with your new reality. Like being lost in the realm of the faery, and reemerging years later. Feeling as if it were all one day or one dream."

Allie Crow Buckley is excited to announce a run of headline dates to support the new record that includes stops at Schubas in Chicago, Zebulon in Los Angeles, Baby’s All Right in New York, and Songbyrd in Washington, D.C. Next week marks the start of her tour supporting Lord Huron which includes two sold-out nights at Red Rocks later this month and she will also support Declan Mckenna on his North American fall tour.

Allie Crow Buckley · Utopian Fantasy

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Anya Baghina - It's Clear To Me.

When discussing the video for "It's Clear To Me", Anya Baghina writes: "We see a romanticized version of someone falling for us, represented by a heart-shaped balloon. Ultimately, the balloon pops just as it is caught, like the idea of someone that was largely made up. Three animators worked on the video, Alesya Pavlova, Natasha Bobryakova, and Janovich, and the video was edited by Anton Imbro. The idea and direction were conceived by Aleksei Salomatin. Along the way, I was involved in editing the video as well."

"It's Clear To Me" blends contemporary indie synth-pop with grunge and garage-rock sounds seamlessly. Incorporating honest and heartfelt lyrics and raw vocals, it's a single that cuts across genre lines.

Anya Baghina recounts the inspiration behind her latest single: "In my childhood, I didn't grow up around healthy relationships, and I had to overcome a lot of baggage to get to a healthy place. Having lost my mother, I felt so alone and desperately looked for someone to lean on. When you’re excited about someone, and you really want it to work, you forget about the red flags. It shows the mindlessness of this experience while subconsciously understanding that "it's killing me".

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Clare Siobhan - Flare.

Clare Siobhan is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Truro, Nova Scotia who is making a home for herself in that cozy little intersection of folk, pop, and soul. Her layered harmonies paired with bright piano and ukulele lay the foundation for warm vocals that touch on connection, relationships, worry, and that age-old search for meaning and belonging that we feel as we grow.

After receiving some unexpected and scary news, Siobhan wrote most of the lyrics for the song “Flare” on the drive home, taking voice memos in between tears. It was a few weeks later when she finally wrote the last part of the song, the U-turn where she was able to find joy when there’s big changes happening in life.

“[When I was writing this song,] I looked out my window at the tree in my backyard and thought about the changing of the seasons… life goes on,” Siobhan explains. “There’s this inevitability to change, and such stability in its repetition, and that was a comfort to me at the time. After that, finishing the song was easy – and to be honest, so was adjusting to the new change in my own life.”

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The Wedding Present - 24 Songs (Album).

The Wedding Present are releasing 24 Songs. A triple LP w/ DVD (featuring a live show and documentary) available now in the UK (Clue Records), but due to pressing plant delays out in the USA (HHBTM Records) on June 23rd. 24 Songs covers all twelve of the Wedding Present's 7" singles club series from 2022 in one packaged triple LP release. The album actually contains 29 songs as the band added A remix by Utah Saints and four bonus tracks that didn't make the original club. You can check out the single "We Belong Together" featuring Louise Wener of Sleeper, and the bonus track and Clash cover of "White Riot" which debuted at Slicing Up Eyeballs earlier this week.

Throughout 2022, The Wedding Present's '24 Songs' series saw the legendary indie band release two new tracks a month as double A sided 7"s, ultimately creating a much-sought-after box set. David Gedge has now re-curated full-length versions of all twenty-four tracks for a new compilation album that will also comprise five bonus recordings including one featuring The Wedding Present's first guitarist, Peter Solowka.

'24 Songs' was a doff of the cap to The Wedding Present's 'Hit Parade' project of 30 years previous. That series proved to be a real milestone for the band with them becoming only the second-ever artist to achieve twelve Official UK Top 40 hits in a calendar year – at the time something that only Elvis had achieved!

David Gedge says: "When it came to compiling the '24 Songs' album, I decided not to sequence the tracks in chronological order. With six sides of vinyl, you have six 'beginnings' and six 'ends' to play with, and I felt that the opportunity to build some kind of a musical journey was too good to miss! Listening back to this collection, I have to say that I genuinely believe that, for this project, The Wedding Present have recorded some of the best tracks in our history. I loved releasing the singles, but it's satisfying to have them all rounded up together."

HHBTM Records · The Wedding Present - We Should Be Together (featuring Louise Wener of Sleeper)

HHBTM Records · The Wedding Present - White Riot (Clash Cover)

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Eleni Drake - Oslo Twins - Parliamo - Michael J. Benjamin

Photo - Georgia Walters.

Eleni Drake - Surf The Sun (Album).

British singer-songwriter Eleni Drake releases her phenomenal new album Surf the Sun via her own Vanilla Sky Recordings. Eleni Drake will celebrate the release of her new album with a headline show at Amazing Grace in London on 18th July.

Throughout the self-produced Surf the Sun, Drake deals in distinctly summery melancholy - hazy, shimmering, golden; reverb guitar murmurs and glints, tightly wound amidst lovely, enticing harmonies - eloquently tracking notions of freedom, healing, painful goodbyes and a future of possibilities. At the core of Surf the Sun is the ultimate discovery of freedom and empowerment. Balancing the curiosity and creativity of Adrianne Lenker, Faye Webster and Julien Baker, with the emotion and grandeur of Lana Del Rey - Drake's songwriting is dream-like and bluesy, precise and propellant.

Originally from London, in 2022 Eleni Drake decided to leave her life in the UK behind and move to Melbourne almost on a whim. She knew only a handful of people on that side of the world, but she was longing for a fresh start in an environment where she could feel more like herself; where she could break bad habits and explore life outside of her comfort zone. But first, there were emotional loose ends to tie up back home. This is the driving force of Surf the Sun; the carousel of emotions as Drake prepared for this giant leap.

Over the past 18 months Eleni Drake has cultivated a dedicated legion of fans, for her velvety, striking voice and her understated yet atmospheric orchestration. Surf the Sun is the sound of the sun’s glow on your face, feeling your spirit reach back for it, breaking through the dirt and sprouting into something better. It’s the sound of riding a wave, euphoric, terrified, spat out somewhere new with a sense of purpose. It’s about needing to be somewhere warmer. “I’m a Leo, the sun rules me, and I’ve always had a deep connection with it,” explains Drake, who references the sun on almost all of the album’s 11 tracks. “[The album] is an ode to the sun.”

“What I hope people understand is that an element of liberation and feeling free runs through the album. Despite some sombre undertones, it was made to inspire,” says Drake. What she’s created is a glorious wave to ride; a sun-drenched reminder that the gloom gives way to summer.

                                                                    

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Oslo Twins - Miss Yesterday.

Bristol born dream-pop outfit Oslo Twins have announced their debut EP 'Back To Nothing' will be released 28th July via Fascination Street Records - a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.

The new EP announcement coincides with the release of its second single, the anthemic "Miss Yesterday", following previous EP taster "Breath" which caught the attention of the likes of So Young Magazine, The Independent, DIY Magazine, Rough Trade and The Line Of Best Fit, and was played on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour on BBC 6 Music.

A summery ode to optimism after difficult times, "Miss Yesterday" evokes anticipation and warmth with its bright, rich instrumentals, trance-like beat and laid-back, vernacular vocal and lyrical tone. “It’s a song of joyful nostalgia, filled with hope and affection,” says vocalist Claudia Vulliamy, “and perhaps a darker hint of ‘Let’s just run away from everything, there’s nothing but us.”

The single is accompanied by a joyfully surreal animated music video by artist Noriko Okaku, in which Claudia, Eric Davies and drummer Luke Brown take us through Okaku’s fantasy world made up of natural images that move in a Monty-Python-esque flip-book style.

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Parliamo - Matters Like.

Arriving as the band’s grittiest, stickiest offering to-date, it sees Parliamo’s usual bright rhythms and funky basslines, traded-in for howling Suede-esque electric guitars, low-slung hooks and unconventional choruses.

Like a migraine growing under the noon-day sun, “Matters Like” has a burbling, off-kilter intensity quite at odds with the brilliant sunshine that baked the Summer of 2022 in which it was written. Finding nuanced inspiration during those mind-melting times in the Fontaines D.C. track “Roman Holiday” and the spring reverb bass of The Last Shadow Puppets’ second record, the band’s Jack Dailly and Finn Freeburn Morrison began assimilating both into a new track that would mark a moody left-turn for the band.

A song about finding confidence in a new relationship and the overcast feelings that can come hand-in-hand with it, vocalist Jack Dailly explains: “”Matters Like” has a moodier sound than most of our previous output, with its screaming guitars and echoing hi-hats. This mood fits well with the lyrics, as the song touches on feelings of uncertainty and internal conflict. It’s a song about insecurity in a fledgling relationship and the plethora of emotions which come with getting to know more about someone than you might have bargained for.”

Weaving their straight-up songwriting and babbling instrumentals niftily through a heatwave-warped collision of influences, “Matters Like” finds a band pushing the Parliamo sound and enjoying getting a little experimental.

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Michael J. Benjamin - The Same Again.

Rising Dutch singer-songwriter Michael J. Benjamin  has unveiled his latest offering “The Same Again”, taken from a debut EP due this Autumn. A radiant, reflective ballad that sees the young musician pair distinctive Cash-meets-Cohen vocals with his knack for heart-rending storytelling, the new track was produced by Jon McMullen (Wet Leg, Michael Kiwanuka) in London. A song that finds the singer-songwriter rewinding sepia-tinted memories of his past, and pausing for thought on what could have been, Michael J. Benjamin explains of “The Same Again”:

“A girl and I used to walk along these farms on the edge of town, then I left for London and when I came back we broke up. After that I used to come back to these seemingly holy farms to find inspiration and tranquillity; to catch a glimpse of light of the moon and relive old memories. Looking back now, it’s the act of not letting go of the past that drove me to write this song. The farms were like a sanctuary, or a relic of better times. Even today it remains a magical place to me.”

With its trickling acoustic guitars and a pared-back approach to instrumentation, “The Same Again” makes for a wistful country-blues record that feels simultaneously nostalgic and refreshing; true to a style that Benjamin is quickly making his own. Staking his place as an auspicious new artist to watch, Michael J. Benjamin’s soul searching songs express a hard-won sense of authority: embracing the world with an engrossing, truth-seeking style of writing which belies his still-tender years.

Like most other millennials, he grew up with the entire history of music readily available at the click of a mouse. Growing up Michael embraced the heroes of old, immersing himself in the works of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney, before finding more modern realms of influence in the songbooks of Lana Del Rey, Weyes Blood and Jack Antonoff.

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