Talking Flowers - David Kitt - Jodie Langford

Talking Flowers – Storytelling.

Rama Lama Records proudly welcomes Talking Flowers to the label family. The moniker of Malmö musician Astrid Lagerstedt has been on our radar since 2021’s debut single and we’re happy to announce that her next release, the double single ‘Storytelling’ is released through us today on March 21st.

Playful and multilayered psychedelic synthesisers meets Astrid’s dreamy and mesmerising voice and creates an equally haunting and captivating soundscape that gives the listener a feeling of entering a Twin Peaks-esque world that is both frightening and alluring at the same time.  The world of Talking Flowers is a world one often wishes that the real one would be a bit more like, a world of mystery and excitement and a lot less grey and beige colours.

Astrid “draws inspiration from the 60s, both when it comes to songwriting and recording techniques”, something that is obvious both on the debut release and the new Storytelling double single. She describes the new release this way:

“When we recorded Storytelling and Bedroom Wall I was listening a lot to Margo Guryan, and we were aiming for that kind of sound in the production. Although as usual I couldn’t keep away from the synths, so it might have ended up in a more futuristic version of the 1960’s.”

Storytelling and Bedroom Wall are recorded in the legendary Tambourine Studios in Malmö (bob hund, The Cardigans etc.) and produced by Joar Sylvan. The double single is out March 21st on all digital platforms via Rama Lama Records (Melby, Steve Buscemi’s Dreamy Eyes, Wy, Guds Pengar, Chez Ali, Kluster B etc.).

 
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David Kitt - Wave Of Peace.

A breezy blend of plodding, percussive drums and swirling vocal harmonies, “Wave of Peace” sees David Kitt joined by three special guests: Dylan Lynch of Dublin alt-pop band Soda Blonde on drums, and Katie Kim and Margie Jean Lewis on vocals.

Following the release of earlier singles “Wishing Well”, "Till The End” and “Balances”, the new track is taken from the artist’s forthcoming album ‘Idiot Check’ — set to land on 31 March via RE:WARM.

Kitt’s ninth studio album to-date, ‘Idiot Check’ sees the artist tap into a diverse range of influences once more, emerging as an ambient and atmospheric record that puts an eclectic experimental spin on traditional folk music.

A unique and sincere songwriter with an expert ability to meld inspirations, eras, and sounds, Kitt’s music glimmers with a sense of timelessness well-earned after over 20 years immersed in music.

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Jodie Langford - Chaos Of Time (EP).

Having built on the success of her debut ‘lockdown’ release I Miss It, with singles TV Or Not TV, How It Is & Disturbed, Northern wordsmith Jodie Langford kicks off 2023 with her debut EP Chaos Of Time – 6 tracks that explore the complexities of human feelings like obsession, heartbreak, fear, anger, despair & nostalgia, but still have the ability to ignite a dancefloor with instantly catchy hooks. The EP was produced by Hull’s “King of Electro” Endoflevelbaddie – a creative relationship that Jodie describes as an ‘absolute dream’, citing the producer’s ability to transform a simple piece of lyricism into an evocative & theatrical piece of music, as one of their many talents.

Title track Chaos Of Time with its infectious electro-club beat, lyrically encapsulates the state of worry & overthinking we can all trap ourselves in sometimes. “Its incessant nature is inspired by Underworld’s Born Slippy” says Jodie “& like the 90s banger, I wanted it to feel like a stream of consciousness with an unsettling undertone to it”.

Describing herself as unapologetically Northern, passionate wordsmith Jodie Langford began writing & performing at The Warren Youth Centre when she was 16 – but it was after a chance remix by Endoflevelbaddie of her track Wet Newspaper Wishes for the 3 Minute Heroes project, that the 2 began working closely together. Now writing & performing as a team for the past 2 years, Jodie’s presence on stage is totally electric, performing with a furious purpose & always getting the crowd to sing along to her trademark hooks.

Citing Loyle Carner, Keaton Henson, Mac DeMarco, Fontaines DC & Slow Thai as recent points of inspiration, Jodie feels the EP has given her the opportunity to release tracks that come from a much more personal place than her previous output. “They might not be anthems” she says “but they are close to my heart & very special to me. Being released as a collection of songs, I’d like to think they may end up being special to someone else too”.

Warren Records · Jodie Langford - Chaos Of Time EP

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Clifton 2.5 - Carolina Story - Velvet Beach

Clifton 2.5 - Outskirts of Nowhere.

A lush slice of opulent and airy alt-pop, “Outskirts of Nowhere” sees Clifton 2.5 find a shimmering synergy between gentle acoustic melodies and fluttering electronics, served with a side of crystal-clear vocals and an ethereal sense of optimism.

Standing as the first song she ever recorded, it is also one influenced by the evocative settings depicted in Delia Owens’ celebrated coming-of-age novel ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’. As Clifton 2.5 explains: “”Outskirts of Nowhere” was written after I finished reading the book ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ as I was inspired by the landscapes painted in the book, especially the marshes and the imagery of a lonely, heartbroken girl who had been left behind. The song just landed in my head in about 20 minutes and I knew it would be the first song I recorded.”

“Outskirts of Nowhere” follows Clifton 2.5’s glimmering recent release “Under Attack” and arrives as the title-track of her forthcoming debut EP.

Spanning a wide range of both genre and influence, the ‘Outskirts of Nowhere’ EP includes Clifton 2.5’s two recent singles alongside  “Crossed Lines”, a song about “how it feels to let love go” that was recorded using a half-broken electric organ found in the studio, and “Are you singing to me?”, a retro-tinted cut about “standing in the audience watching someone sing and believ[ing] that their message is meant for you alone”.

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Carolina Story - Let Go.

Carolina Story shares their new single “Let Go” from the duo’s forthcoming album Colors of My Mind, which releases April 7 via Soundly Music. Written by Ben Roberts and five-time Grammy Award-nominated producer/songwriter Paul Moak (John Paul White, Caitlyn Smith, Madi Diaz), the track finds our main character on the precipice of rock bottom, realizing the only way to make it through is to surrender control and trust the process. The band has also announced a special Nashville album release show on April 6 at The Basement. 

"This song is about that foreboding feeling that comes before the storm. Before a momentous period of change in someone’s life,” the duo explains. “If you look back in retrospect, all the signs were there. The universe was giving fair warning before it put its plans in motion. It’s difficult to sit in that place of waiting, before the other shoe drops. More often than not, you don’t see it coming despite passing the ominous mile markers into the eye of it all. This needed transformation can only take place if there is total devastation and a leveling of things all the way down to the bedrock. Rock bottom is the firm foundation upon which something new can be created. It’s coming and there’s nothing you can do about it and nowhere left to hide. You can’t resist it. Once you reach that low and finally just let go and let it take you, then and only then can you pick up the pieces and begin to build again."

Colors of My Mind emerged from a period of tremendous pain and metamorphosis for husband-and-wife duo Ben and Emily Roberts (aka Carolina Story). After parting ways with their former label, the pair headed into the studio to sate their creative impulses, but quickly found themselves with an entire album’s worth of material. The resulting collection of songs contains essential truths about transformation, surrender, and the inevitability of impermanence – altogether forming a narrative of transcendence that soon had a life-altering impact on the band itself. The brooding debut single “Animal” showcases an edgier side to their sound, while the follow-up single “Magic” invites us to see the world in awe.

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Velvet Beach - The Dream (Album).

Velvet Beach are an independent band from Toronto. Originally formed by members of Newcomer, Matias Gutierrez and Martin Camara were then joined by Sean Stover (Silus, The Honeycomb Flyers), Suhail Othman (Per Su) and Meagan Aversa. Fusing a wide range of sonic elements with emotive lyrics, the band arrives at a unique sound through each member.

Velvet Beach have been on an upward trajectory since their debut single release this past September. They were honored to be a part of Exclaim’s Class of 2023 show in January and are excited to finally release their debut album “The Dream”. 

A culmination of nearly 3 years of work, “The Dream” showcases the eclectic mix of dream pop and shoe gaze that has come to define Velvet Beach’s live sound so far. Of particular note is Uncertainty, a driving yet ethereal ballad that pushes the bounds of Velvet Beach’s songwriting so far.

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Harry Foxton - Arborist - Soft Loft

Harry Foxton - One More Night.

Boorloo/Perth rocker Harry Foxton is delivering passion and soul in his latest single ‘One More Night’ out yesterday. Not a stranger to the stage, Joel Stevens who goes by the moniker Harry Foxton founded established rock outfit Foxton Kings. Branching out into his own solo project, Foxton found a new passion for music playing his own originals.

Infused in indie, rock and country, ‘One More Night’ is a reflection piece. Exploring themes of love, hurt and the possibilities of these, Foxton sings with hopeful tenderness. His lyricism in ‘One More Night’ tells a warmingly honest story.

‘One More Night’ is a modern heartland rock classic. The track boasts bright upbeat choruses, sleek vocals and flourishes Bruce Springsteen-inspired guitars. Capturing the excitement of a summer love, the song musically expresses the highs and lows of the unknowing possibilities of where love will take you.

Recently visiting Nashville to showcase his work at Americanafest and Tamworth Country Music Festival, Foxton has supported artists Boo Ray, James Carothers and Mike Miz. To add to the list, the country rock singer has supported world class acts including Lillie Mae, Golden Guitar nominees The Banks Brothers, and Portland’s Jenny Don’t and The Spurs on the NSW leg of their Australian Tour.

 
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Arborist - Alabaster Skin.

Alabaster Skin is the third and final single to be taken from Belfast artist ARBORIST’s forthcoming album An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros released 21 April, Kirkinriola Records, which melds ARBORIST’s classic musicality with the more experimental hallmarks of producer Matthew E. White and the house band of Spacebomb Studio, Richmond, Virginia, where the album was recorded.

An intriguing and boundary pushing sound to file under John Cale, Bill Fay, Howe Gelb, Lee Hazelwood, Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born and The Go-Betweens.

The meditative and utterly mesmerising piano ballad Alabaster Skin was written during recent riots in Belfast, and at what ARBORIST calls “The older, bitter generation stroking hatred in the young, only to realise that they are not of the same mentality, their minds not as poisoned.” Its closing line “Honey, I’ve been dreaming of an awful rage. In another body, in another language” hints at the album’s dream state feel both sonically speaking and in its esoteric lyrics, with much of it written in the surrealist fugue of the last five years.

Alabaster Skin’s dreamy musicality comes curtesy of the lush strings of Trey Pollard (Faye Webster, The Waterboys, Nadia Reid) of the Spacebomb house band and Matthew E. White’s unique production. As ARBORIST expands on the song’s creation “I didn’t want any guitar on the track, however, after a few run-throughs it all felt a little naked and the piano a little exposed, so Matthew came-up with the idea of passing my piano signal to guitarist, Alan Parker’s, Microcosm Hologram pedal and allow Alan to tinker with it in real-time during the take.”

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Soft Loft - Is It Me (Including Live at Hotel Winkelried).

Jorina on their Debut-EP “The title of the EP comes from a song that we saved for the album. There’s a line on there that says, ‘and you give me Joni in case I still get lonely.’ Joni Mitchell’s music helped me through all sorts of stuff over the years, and I hope that this EP will do that for others. That’s why it was so important for us to be this candid while addressing these topics: heartbreak, dealing with anxiety, self-worth, loss of identity, depression, etc.”

The material was produced by grammy-nominated Gianluca Buccellati (Arlo Parks, Biig Piig, easy life, Lana Del Rey) and cut in a snowed-in studio in Engelberg. It was written in all sorts of "safe spaces" created by the band, one of which happens to be a cozy little house in Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Cut off from the outside world, often for days at a time, they would get lost in music and the bottomless well of late night conversations, and the magic would just happen.

Soft Loft is a safe haven, an attitude, a way of life. It’s where the broken and the imperfect are embraced and celebrated. Soft Loft is non-hierarchical. Soft Loft is where reality is transmuted into dreams and dreams back into reality. Judgement is suspended here. Because vulnerability is the gateway to connection. Anything goes, as long as it’s heartfelt and it flows. Soft Loft is a collective of musicians dedicated to creating safe spaces using sound. Soft Loft are: Jorina Stamm, Sarina Schmid, Lukas Kuprecht, Simon Boss and Marius Meier.

Soft Loft · Is It Me

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Laurence-Anne - NIIKA - Casual Worker - Holly Henderson

Laurence-Anne - Polymorphe.

Montreal based artist Laurence-Anne returns with her new single 'Polymorphe' via Bonsound and announces a UK tour. Laurence-Anne is an architect of the intangible; she sculpts musical landscapes composed of haunting melodies, lush synthesizers, synthetic rhythms and hazy textures, all coated with her voice, singing in both English, French and Spanish, capable of instilling both comfort and anxiety. All of these elements come together to create a blend of dream pop, coldwave and synthpop inspired by her imagination, intimately connected to her experiences, and deeply infused with her unique perspective.

Shortly after entering the Montreal music scene, Laurence-Anne made a big splash in 2019 with her critically acclaimed debut album Première apparition, making the Polaris Prize long list, which was followed by an EP showcasing her expanded musical horizons. Thus, the groundwork was laid for the release of her second album Musivision, co-produced by Félix Petit (Les Louanges, Safia Nolin, Hubert Lenoir) on which her creative identity was crystallized. 

Following its release, Musivision received high acclaim across Canada, such as being rewarded with an Artist of the Year award at the GAMIQ, a nomination for Album of the Year - Alternative at the ADISQ gala and the album also reached number one on CISM's year-end Francophone charts and was named one of the 15 best Quebecois albums of the year by Le Devoir.

Laurence-Anne’s newest single 'Polymorphe' is a track that affirms her mastery of dream pop. Carried by lush synth arrangements and a heart-warming chorus, 'Polymorphe' is about the ever-changing nature of dreams and the desire to connect with them, as if they were entities in their own right.

 
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NIIKA - Sever Ties.

Chicago-based NIIKA (the project of musician Nika Nemirovsky) is soon to be back with an exciting new release, Still a Soft One. Ahead of that today we have the first single 'Sever Ties' a beautiful and touching song which exudes a dreamy characterful vibe. Her third release is a notable departure from her other works. It’s a solo record with focus on the singer's lucious voice and dynamic guitar arrangements. Easy to listen to, but never lacking in complexities and nuance, lyrically or musically.

Born in Uzbekistan (former USSR), her music draws on a multitude of styles from many disparate parts of the world, ranging from Russian folk and rock, to American indie, soul, jazz, and rock, to bossa nova, to classical, to folk music from India, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe (to name a few). The eclectic array of makes for a spell-binding experience that feels somehow simple and elusive at the same time.

Nika has been making music that dances at the intersections of art-pop, indie rock and neo-soul for nearly 10 years. Still a Soft One seems to mark a really lovely juncture in this artist’s career. She’s been primarily performing solo for the last several years, and her sound has adapted to this new dynamic. The album gives me the same feeling of self-reflection and audio-intimacy as Nai Palm’s 2017 solo release, Needle Paw. NIIKA peels away the bigger sound and more complex instrumentation of her past records to reveal five songs that are sweet and cathartic, but still so powerful. Her lyrics are utterly relatable, often somber, but never lacking in a good bit of fire and a healthy dose of cheekiness.

The recording process for Still a Soft One saw Nemirovsky collaborating with Chicago’s Vivian McConnell (who plays under V.V. Lightbody and acted as producer and “album doula” on this record), Dave Miller as recording engineer for the guitar and some vocals,  her partner and former producer Matty Witney (Dried Spider) as co-producer and arranger, and a few other artists and engineers in Chicago and Brooklyn.

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Casual Worker - Flooding.

Newly signed Glasgow duo Casual Worker release Model Number on 28th April. The three track EP explores our relationship with the digital world - examining themes of misogyny, data and virtual spaces.

Casual Worker are Eve King (vocals) and Hamish Wickham (instrumentation). Inspired by 80’s cold wave and gothic electro-pop, their sound has been described as “dark retro electronica” (The Roddy Hart Show). Lead single Flooding is released today 17th March - the track layers infectious electronics alongside hazy guitar and King's enchanting vocals.

Since releasing their debut EP Mousetrap in September 2022, they have received praise from The Skinny, BBC Introducing and more. The upcoming Model Number EP will be released by Last Night From Glasgow.

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Holly Henderson - Back After Sunrise.

London based Holly Henderson is back with a reflective new single “Back After Sunrise” from her critically acclaimed sophomore album “The Walls”. Glowing with gorgeous harmonies against a retro psych-pop backdrop, “Back After Sunrise” is a song about the end of a chapter and how we look idealistically at the time spent, when it’s all nearly over.

“It’s specifically about when I was ready to leave my home, to start a new life in America, before the lockdown”, says Henderson. “But it was so obviously the wrong choice. But not every decision to walk away from something is rooted in hating someone or something, sometimes it’s just not right, and that’s almost worse. But we soothe ourselves ‘I do my little dance, where we all pretend, we’ll be back after sunrise’, until we’re ready to move on.”, she explains.

The track, which escalates from soft glimmering melancholia into a fuzzy epic, comes from Henderson’s long-awaited sophomore album, “The Walls”, where the singer-songwriter shows a very different side to her musicality and depth. While her debut album, “Monday Green” featured Henderson’s impressive rock guitar work and alternative pop anthem prowess, her new work shows a more introspective, and slightly more delicate side to her songcraft.Recorded in a farmhouse in the English countryside, Henderson’s new album brings her full circle from her previous Los Angeles recorded album. Finely crafted arrangements, sonic musings, and playful themes take us on a journey with Henderson as she deconstructs her Brit Pop and classic influences and reassembles them into progressive-folk wonderment.

On “The Walls”, Holly said, “This album sits within a sense of place. As a songwriter, I can only speak of my own thoughts of home and belonging. I suppose this record is a wandering eye over the fleeting moments from the last few years, of when I felt at home, and when I didn’t. When I felt like the walls were tumbling, when they kept me safe, and when they became my prison. I learned the only way of breaking these patterns, was to let people step over the threshold. 

Due to the intimacy of the songs, I wanted to preserve the organic nature of the words and the arrangements. The heart of every song was recorded live, from the front room of a farmhouse in Sevenoaks - everyone facing each other, hearing each other, and working together. The sounds you hear are preserved in the moment that they happened. Tentative and selective moments were never changed in post. The other-worldly elements, synths, sounds, etc, were still captured live. 3 to 4 of us, tinkering with analogue synths, percussion, voices, iPads, etc, while the songs played. Rowan’s sensitivity as an engineer and producer, preserved every magical moment in his safe hands, while every person in the band shines throughout, regardless of trying to make this happen during the times of Covid, nothing was missing.”

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