Pollyanna Blue - Ariana Delawari - Ora Cogan - Bandits on the Run

Pollyanna Blue - Sapphire Lake.

Bristol-based alt-rock two-piece Pollyanna Blue are pleased to announce the release of their upcoming debut studio EP ‘Trials and Tribulations’ on June 23rd 2023.

Formed in the summer of 2019, Pollyanna Blue is led by Zoe Collins (guitar and vocals) and Rich Earle (Bass and vocals). Although based in different cities, the pandemic forced the band to really utilise the digital age, writing tracks back and forth online before travelling to Bristol to complete them in person.

Their name was inspired by a self help book ‘Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway’, which talks about a nickname ‘Pollyanna’, typically given to a person who is deemed overly optimistic. That ethos, blended with the waves of difficult emotions life throws at you, creates a concept of musical  juxtaposition within a 90s/00s alt rock atmosphere which sees the duo wield their self discovery, vulnerability and love of music to create something authentic and raw to connect with anyone experiencing some type of hardship.

Following up on the April release of their latest celebrated single Stray, comes their debut studio EP Trials & Tribulations, recorded with Ash Scott (Memorist, Harper, Aniimalia). The title of the EP was inspired by personal and abstract experiences, from the trials of being in a band that started right before a pandemic, to the personal tribulations of battling with your own mental health.

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Ariana Delawari - Cloak Of Lies.

Ariana Delawari is an Afghan-American musician, activist and filmmaker. Her film We Came Home (2013) documents her family, her travels to and from Afghanistan over a ten year period, in which Delawari recorded her first album. That album, Lion of Panjshir, was released on David Lynch’s record label to great acclaim.

The events that transpired during the recording of her new album, I Will Remember, were even more personally significant and traumatic, as Delawari’s mother and brother-in-law both passed away and she saw her home country fall to the Taliban. Delawari explains:

“I started to write about my mother, about living and dying, Earth and Heaven, Afghanistan and my life growing up in America, refugees, love of different forms, and about the social justice and environmental justice themes that my mom taught me about which shaped my own activism as well. I never could have imagined that COVID-19 would hit a few months before she died, and that I would lose her during quarantine. I’ll never forget the day I wheeled her up to a nurse in a hazmat suit at a sidewalk and couldn’t even kiss her goodbye.”

“I never could have imagined that just as I was finishing the album, a little over a year later, we Afghans would lose Afghanistan to the Taliban. Afghanistan is my whole heart, it is the cause of my entire lifetime and all of my activism. I am a very loud anti-Taliban Peace Activist, so the fall of the country was my biggest nightmare coming true.”

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Ora Cogan - Cowgirl.

Ora Cogan has announced the August 25 release of her new album Formless via Prism Tongue Records. Along with the announcement the cinematic singer-songwriter shares the VHS/Super 8 video for the first single “Cowgirl”,  a haunted acid trip of intense sorrow, deep solitude, and dark nights of the soul.

“Cowgirl” is a psychedelic, country slow jam reckoning with social isolation in grief. The ghostly guitar lines blanket ethereal vocals to create a twilight landscape of deep solitude, setting the stage for show work or a saloon brawl.

Formless, finds beauty, absurdity, humor, and unlikely joy in the bleakest of times. Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country and hazy folk merges with post-punk, groove, psych rock, and traditional balladry. With a singular voice as much sensation as sound, Ora Cogan seeks out new realities within the smoke-and-mirrors labyrinth of our cruel society.

“Writing this album was a very much a lifeline… transformative and healing,” Cogan recalled. “Re-calibrating an internal compass constantly thrown off by the magnetism of a deranged world.”

Raised by a photographer and a singer-songwriter on the islands of Canada’s Pacific coast, where she once again resides, Cogan shaped her approach to music far from big-city scenes. Her childhood home played host to a constant stream of artists as it served as a professional recording studio. Cogan absorbed a myriad of influences from Édith Piaf, Ladino and Rumbetico to Karen Dalton, and American country blues, all feeding into her glacial and cinematic yet tinglingly intimate sound.

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Bandits on the Run - Radio.

Known for their vivacious performance style, genre-defying sound, soaring harmonies, and ability to make music-magic happen everywhere from subway platforms to concert halls, Bandits on the Run kick off a tour with the release of “Radio” and an appearance at Milwaukee Summerfest, opening for Deer Tick and The Avett Brothers.

Formed upon a chance encounter while busking in the subways of New York City, Bandits on the Run have become modern troubadours, the flower children of the digital age. The Brooklyn-based indie-pop-Americana trio is anchored by three-part harmonies and eclectic instrumentation, including accordion, cello, melodica, and a suitcase-kick-drum. Since their first release, 2017’s, The Criminal Record, they’ve received accolades from NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, American Songwriter, NPR Weekend Edition, and the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project. Their most recent EP, 2021’s Now Is The Time, was produced by Ryan Hadlock (Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers). This year has seen a new phase in Banditry, with band members Adrian Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn jointly producing their own recordings for the first time.

“‘Radio’ was written at a time when I felt like I was living in a funhouse mirror... I was dealing with intense feelings of anxiety, dissociation, and dread about the state of the world and the state of my place in it. Many songwriters talk about songwriting as therapy, and I suppose that's true in this case, though it felt a bit more like expelling demons -- and does simultaneously reveling and revolting in your own inner world of absurdity count as a coping mechanism? Who's to say? I do know the bones of this song poured out of me all at once, and afterward, I felt lighter, freer,” Shepherd says. “I shared it with Adrian and Regina the very day it was born, and their brilliant care and thoughts and arrangements crafted it into the beautiful wild entity it is today. We've performed this song out many times (after I got over the weirdness of singing a Bandits song without a cello in my hand), and many folks have come up to us after shows and expressed a kinship with this song, and gratitude for giving a safe space to work out some darkness and dance with their own skeletons.”

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Old Crow Medicine Show Feat. Willie Watson - Phonosonics

Old Crow Medicine Show - Miles Away (Feat. Willie Watson).

Old Crow Medicine Show announces the August 25 release of their new album Jubilee via ATO Records. Arriving as the two-time GRAMMY award-winning band gears up to celebrate their 25th anniversary, Jubilee finds the group once again co-producing with Matt Ross-Spang (Drive-By Truckers, St. Paul & the Broken Bones) and recording at their own Hartland Studios.

The album features appearances from legendary soul singer Mavis Staples and singer/songwriter Sierra Ferrell. Along with the announcement, the band shares the debut single “Miles Away,” a sweetly reflective track co-written by bandleader Ketch Secor and bluegrass virtuoso Molly Tuttle, with guest vocals from Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder Willie Watson.

About the debut single, Ketch Secor explains: “This is one of those rearview songs where objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. 25 years of making music on the road means you’re always coming back to the same places as a different person; there’s a reminder of your past self and the choices you made back when. Molly Tuttle and I wrote this one together and when it was through, I asked my Old Crow co-founder Willie Watson to make his first appearance on an Old Crow record in years. After all, this is a song about amends, of bygones being bygones, and of renewal.”

“Miles Away” marks the first time Willie Watson has recorded with Old Crow Medicine Show in over 10 years. He will hit the road with the band this fall, performing as an opening act in addition to joining them on stage.

While songs like “Miles Away” embody a bittersweet gravity, much of Jubilee harnesses the unruly exuberance that Old Crow Medicine Show unfailingly channels into their live show. The new album finds the band doubling down on their commitment to creating roots music that bears an undeniable urgency, encompassing everything from jug-band tunes to Irish folk songs to exultant gospel jams. The result is a wildly expansive body of work showcasing the dazzling musicality and poetic yet powerfully trenchant storytelling that has made Old Crow Medicine Show one of the most potent and influential forces in American roots music for more than two decades.

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Phonosonics - End of the World.

End of the World is the newest single from Canada’s West Coast Roots Reggae veterans, the Phonosonics. Historically focusing on Rocksteady and Early Reggae, the band began internalizing a more 80’s-inspired sound when they were tapped to backup Sister Nancy in 2019 and subsequently Yellowman in 2020 (sadly cancelled due to COVID 19). Rehearsing these sets allowed the band to branch out into a new vibe, and one inspired by the events of our time.

This new track is a darker one, but still with a positive and conscious message: “the sickness divides us, together the cure, no on should be alone at the end of the world.” With an infectious hypnotic rhythm, spacey dubbed-out harmonies and blazing horn lines, it is sure to please on the radio and in the dancehall.

The world has become divided, but we can still come together united. As the lyrics say “there’s no storm we can’t weather if we come together as one.” Hoping all of our beloved fans and DJ friends can come together and enjoy this new one from the Phonosonics.

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M. Ward feat. First Aid Kit - Swansea Sound - TAYLR - M. Rider

M. Ward - too young to die (feat. First Aid Kit).

M. Ward is sharing 'too young to die' feat. First Aid Kit today, the final pre-release track from his upcoming album ‘Supernatural Thing’, out this Friday. In the song’s new video, Ward is a security guard working the graveyard shift who starts to see the ladies of First Aid Kit appear in his security camera’s video feed.

"First Aid Kit are sisters from Stockholm, and when they open their mouths, something amazing happens,” Ward said of working with them. “It was a great thrill to go to Stockholm and record a few songs there.  The sound from blood-related harmony singers is impossible to get any other way – The Everly Brothers, The Delmores, The Louvins, The Carters, The Söderbergs - all have the same kind of feeling in their vocals."

In addition to First Aid Kit, the album is filled with guest stars - Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case, Jim James and others — who enliven the album with surprises. Eight of the album’s ten songs are Ward originals, but there is also an unusual Bowie choice, “I Can’t Give Everything Away” from Blackstar, and a live rendition of Daniel Johnston’s “Story of an Artist.” “Bowie and Johnston are constant sources of inspiration for me, have been for I don’t know how many years,” Ward offered.

‘Supernatural Thing’ is M. Ward’s first new music in three years, but in 2020 M. Ward released two albums. On April's ‘Migration Stories’, Ward was inspired by the immigration journeys he’d heard from friends or read about in newspapers, as well as what his own grandfather had to go through when immigrating to the US from Mexico. For the December album ‘Think of Spring’ he covered classic Billie Holiday tunes, as she is an artist he’s greatly inspired by. “Instead of the small jazz bands or orchestration she relied on, M. Ward pares the songs to just his voice and guitars, making them sound even starker than they once did,” said Rolling Stone.

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Swansea Sound – Keep Your Head On.

The first single taken from the forthcoming LP ‘Twentieth Century’, Keep Your Head On is a duet between Hue (The Pooh Sticks) and Amelia (Talulah Gosh/Heavenly), with a seriously rousing, singalong chorus.

Set in a humble Adult Education class, it’s an anthem for everyone who fears for the Twenty-First Century – a song for anyone who’s struggling to keep their head above the rising tide of digital disinformation and political deceit.

It’s positive and it’s upbeat, despite the odds.  It might remind you a bit of Britpop hit Common People - although, in Keep Your Head On, the woman has a voice, and she’s more interested in education than getting off with her optimistic male counterpart.

Keep Your Head On will be released on all digital platforms and as a very limited lathe-cut 7” single.  Only three copies of the physical single will be made available.  The first will be offered as a raffle prize at Swansea Sound’s gig at The Lexington on 30 June.  The second will be given at random to a customer who pre-orders the album on Bandcamp.  The last copy will be given away at the Twentieth Century album launch gig at Rough Trade East on 9th September.

The new album ‘Twentieth Century’ will be released on 8th September (Vinyl LP, CD, Digital). It features twelve glorious bursts of indiepop agitprop!

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TAYLR - The Blue.

Self-taught Calgary artist TAYLR is no stranger to self reflection and deep internal exploration that bold, technicolor songwriting is born from.  Taking bits and pieces of R&B, jazz, folk, and indie pop, “the thinking person’s songwriter” succeeds in creating hearty melodic recipes.

Their single “The Blue” is a gloomy minimal yet empathetic single inspired by a previous relationship that was bound in deliberate aversion.

“The two of us knew things needed to change and work needed to be done on ourselves and what we had built, but we made a silent agreement to put the blinders on and focus all of that energy into renovating our home. I wanted the song title to be the exact shade of blue that we painted our kitchen cupboards during this escapade but it felt too niche..”

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M. Rider - Little Things.

Croatian electronic-pop singer and producer M.Rider is back with her brand-new single and video for ‘Little Things’. The single is taken from her forthcoming album, due to drop later this year.

‘Little Things’ started off as a sonic adventure on a Prophet 12 synth. From there, M.Rider created a beat on her Roland TR-8  – the usual four-on-the-floor house beat  – which inspired the first version of the song. The single explores ambivalent, evolving feelings underlying in relationships that just aren't meant to last. Illuminating emotions that quietly simmer beneath the surface, the track indicates something is amiss before erupting like a volcano. With hints of New York underground house music, the final version (co-produced with Ant Whiting and featuring synths by Vincent Taurelle (Air) and violin by Lucy Wilkins (Bryan Ferry, Tindersticks)), encompasses a raw and punchy house track edge that has been softened with her signature dreamy, melodic pop sound.

Speaking of the new single, M.Rider said: “It's a song about all the little things that are felt but are often ignored within a relationship. We keep these feelings, this voice of intuition, buried somewhere underneath and we keep going with the story we want to believe in... And these little things, little signs, quietly whisper the truth to us – if only we would listen.”

Joanna Petkiewicz (concept, direction, additional footage) explained the accompanying music video: “The idea for the video came from a format of theatrical monologue (in English ‘soliloquy’, where the audience hears the actors thoughts). Visual inspirations draw upon Flemish baroque portraits that are only bust-length, and where characters stare into space or gaze mischievously or alluringly in a direct manner at a viewer, which makes it feel more like a conversation or exchange. Another big inspiration was also the flower motif, that originally also came from still-life flower paintings from the same era as the portraits. What they have in common is very often the lighting and the blurring of physical context as they often have a very dark background, which allows imagination to add a story. I was also inspired by some of Sally Potter’s Orlando headshots, that follow similar aesthetics and she translated them beautifully into a moving image.

I wanted to retain the lyrical intimacy of the song by slowing it down visually so it contrasts with its dance rhythm. The character is mostly quite still, like in the paintings…Such an effect was achieved thanks to filming and editing by Robin Lochmann, a very talented cinematographer from Ireland. We chose a vintage look which also opposes the atmosphere of a modern electronic pop song.”

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Loupe - Sara Lew - Bo Milli

Loupe - Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? (Album).

Amsterdam indie rock quartet Loupe share their hotly anticipated debut album Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? - released June 16th via Excelsior Records. The band are also set to tour the UK later this year with indie-rock breakouts Lovejoy.

Recorded with producer Arne van Petegem (Moss, Styrofoam) and mixed by Beau Sorenson (Death Cab For Cutie, Sparklehorse), the album showcases the bands rich and intricate soundscapes as well as their effortlessly gliding lead vocals, catchy melodies and captivating, story telling lyricism. Atmospheric yet punchy - packing musical depth and beauty, the 13-track release showcases the band's ability to create truly spellbinding music.

The band’s singer and lyricist Julia (vocalist) explores themes of young adulthood, life in the big city and human relationships over a weave of rousing harmonies, free-flowing rhythms and expressive vocals. Besides Julia, the band consists of Jasmine guitar, Lana bass and Annemarie van der Born drums.

Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? is an exploration of growing up in the modern age, both within the songwriting and through collaborations with artists from other disciplines. The vibrant collage-like album artwork created by Ukrainian graphic designer Karaska shows the band standing on top of a building, as colors and images spread around them.

According to Julia, much of the material revolves around finding something to hold on to amidst the heat of the hustle and bustle, and adjusting to a new busy environment full of impulses. “For me it was all a kind of transition, with 'on the one hand 'the new life and all the cool things that come with it. And on the other hand, the uncertainty of being alone in the big city and the adult world.”

Loupe · Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next?

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Sara Lew - Shady Light.

Sara Lew’s new single ‘Shady Light’ is set to shine on the earth’s surface with its release on June 16th, 2023, as a precursor to her upcoming album ‘LOUD’, which she is getting ready to release in autumn 2023. ‘Shady Light’ is the second single to come from the new album, following 'Out of Nowhere', which picked up a lot of playlist additions around the world, as well as and airplay on Amazing Radio and Louder Than War Radio and a video premiere with Vents Magazine.

‘Shady Light’ is a real indie ballad. It's about standing together in a relationship, constantly learning from each other, and sharing with each other and continuing to do so even though life is rushing by with different goals and ambitions.

On the song, Sara explains, “It’s about standing together in a relationship even in a heavy storm when everything else is falling apart around you. It’s about daring to experiment and be vulnerable and stand on new land together. And though there still must be food on the table and the family must endure, to have the ability to seek refuge together in the very close moments, in love, in moments and special spaces of timeless being, where everything else is suspended.”

“I wrote the song after a long summer holiday where there was finally some peace, after a long and intense period.", She adds.

Sara Lew's upcoming album “LOUD” is all based around the development of life. It’s about when young people become adults and experience personal confrontations with the past, in which family stories of shame and taboo culture arise from the subconscious. It explores how to rein in anger and grief, to keep your head above water and be a role model for your own children when life all falls apart and how to protect love and togetherness when everyday life rolls on. Essentially, it’s an album about living in the present moment with love for life's stories, memories, moments of happiness but also life’s unforeseen, manifold trip wires.

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Bo Milli - Making Friends.

Bergen, Norway-based indie-rock rising star Bo Milli has returned with her new single "Making Friends" ahead of a busy schedule of festivals this summer. The new single follows a string of standalone tracks released across the past 12 months which has seen her tipped as one the next breakout musicians to come out of Norway.

Re-creating the chaos and indiscipline of nights out in Bergen, "Making Friends" tracks the expectations, contradictions and drama of nocturnal social interactions through a haze of tumultuous indie-rock.

Co-produced by Odd Martin (Sigrid, Sløtface) and Magnus Skylstad (AURORA), "Making Friends" opens with a rumbling bass line, with Bo Milli recalling precise moments of discourse amidst the cold Bergen night life: "I've been wondering when it will get under my skin / I bet you're waiting for it to kick in".

Speaking more on the inspiration behind "Making Friends", Bo Milli said: "The song is about a yearning to connect with people and have some sort of meaningful experience motivating a night out. It's about a shallow but euphoric feeling after a certain amount of drinks that every stranger in the room is my friend, all the while I've lost track of the friends I actually wanted to get to know better."

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Vines - Ellie Burke - The Pink Stones Feat. Nikki Lane

Vines - I don't mind.

Brooklyn composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cassie Wieland released the lead single "I don't mind" from her upcoming debut LP as Vines, titled Birthday Party, out August 18th.

There’s dejection in “I don’t mind,” but also a growing assuredness. The first time Wieland sings “I’ll fall apart if I need to, I don’t mind,” her voice sounds tender and soft, even a little distant. But with each emphatic repetition of the simple-yet-potent lyric, which acts as the backbone of the song, her voice fills out, growing into a full chord accompanied by steady piano and glimmering electronics. It’s not unlike the moment when you realize you need to feel the feelings you’re bottling up—and the rush of calm that comes once they’ve finally been released.

Wieland founded Vines as a way to break out of the performer-composer hierarchy, opting for more collaboration and a closer connection to her fans. Vines has already made waves on Tiktok covering indie pop favorites using a vocoder and uniquely processed vocals. She continues this trend on Birthday Party, including a heart-wrenching, some how even more melancholic version of "The World at Large" by Modest Mouse.

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Ellie Burke - Filtered Reality.

Liverpool singer Ellie Burke is using her university music dissertation 'Filtered Reality' to raise awareness about mental health. ‘Filtered Reality’ takes you into Ellie’s world and insecurities caused by social media and how it has affected her in a negative way, from the filtered images, stories and narratives that lead to unrealistic expectations and lifestyles.

Ellie Burke wrote Filtered Reality as part of her university music dissertation to raise awareness about the negative impact of social media. Ellie took a specific approach by researching individual accounts of people who have suffered and are still suffering from mental health problems due to cyberbullying and comparison to filtered realities portrayed online.

"One girl spoke about how social media exasperated her eating disorder due to the negative content surrounding her disorder that was easily accessible. Another account discussed how cyberbullying ruined their mental health and wellbeing. One influencer spoke about how she suffered with anxiety due to Instagram because she was sharing her life in unhealthy ways, ways that weren’t the real her, and people were influenced by her unrealistic lifestyle. This is where my idea for ‘Filtered Reality’ came from." - Ellie Burke

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The Pink Stones - Baby, I’m Still Right Here (Feat. Nikki Lane).

The Pink Stones will release You Know Who on June 30 via Normaltown/New West Records. The 11-song set was co-produced by Henry Barbe & frontman Hunter Pinkston and features guest appearances by Nikki Lane, Teddy and the Rough Riders, John James Tourville of The Deslondes, and Annie Leeth. You Know Who is the follow up to their 2021 debut Introducing…The Pink Stones, which was met with critical acclaim. The Pink Stones, a six-piece outfit creating some of the most shimmering, melancholic Southern rock in years...Introducing doesn’t just tell us who The Pink Stones are, it gets us tickled for what they’ll do next."

The Pink Stones previously released the Joshua Shoemaker-directed video for the first single, “Who’s Laughing Now?” which features the actor, writer, and comedian Chris Crofton. The song, which features Teddy and the Rough Riders, hides its aching heart behind a big sing-along chorus. The band also previously shared the album highlight “Someone You Can’t Move” as well.

Made up entirely of Athens musicians who play in other bands around town (including former members of the Drive-By Truckers and The Glands), The Pink Stones match their frontman’s vast musical vocabulary while adding their own twists to spacey honkytonk, pedal-to-the-metal trucker anthems, and ecstatic gospel.

“This record was me trying to take everything I love as a listener and a player and shove it all into one thing without it sounding random,” says Pinkston, former punk turned cosmic country auteur, describing the boisterous, ambitious You Know Who. Ostensibly they play country music, yet all the pedal steel sobs, the two-steppin’ rhythms, twangy harmonies, and lyrics about broken hearts and long days on the road are launchpads for wild experiments and unexpected stylistic forays.  “There’s obviously a lot of country and rock in our music, but there’s a lot of gospel and soul and psych and dub. I really wanted to get all of those things living peacefully together in one record.” Especially notable is The Pink Stones’ ability to intertwine joy, heartache and self-deprecating humor in songs. It’s a classic hat trick of country music that is all too easy to overplay and seem forced by modern Americana aspirants, but one which the band crafts perfectly.

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