Ali Horn - Dave Banks - Ead Wood & The Heights

Ali Horn's current single 'Dreamers' came out a few days ago and is well worth catching up with, his melodic hooks and fine vocals are getting noticed, as this indie pop song demonstrates, that's quite understandable.

Dave Banks song 'She's Like' is a modern country piece with plenty of charm, it's fresh, natural and just right for playing on a road trip.

'Plum Cake' from Ead Wood & The Heights is another melodic and very catchy song, the musical arrangement is refined and Ead's vocals are vibrant and likable.
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Ali Horn - Dreamers.

Ali Horn has had an interesting 2019 so far. His current single, ‘Dreamers’, had its release date moved forward when 6 Music’s Liz Kershaw fixed on it as her track of the year to date. His last single Modern Voodoo, was regularly heard on 6 Music and, the day after we meet, he is flying to Ulyanovsk, birthplace of Lenin, as part of a Unesco sponsored cultural exchange. This is not standard stuff for an aspiring singer / songwriter.

Ali will be representing his adopted hometown of Liverpool in Russia, a UNESCO world music city, to Ulyanovsk’s UNESCO world literature city. The coming together of Liverpool and Russia’s aspiring creative forces creates both excitement and apprehension. For now, not knowing who is picking him up from the airport is a more immediate concern.

Yet, Ali’s story to date is characterised by taking leaps of faith whilst committing to the hard work necessary to transform dreams into reality. The child of a folk guitar playing father, Ali convinced his parents to take his musical ambitions seriously by enrolling in a Saturday music school, foregoing standard lazy teenager weekends to learn production techniques alongside honing his playing.

A similar focus led to him developing the songs that are now finding friends across the UK whilst playing guitar in Liverpool’s best kept secret The Strange Collective. Taking his cue from a love of simple pop song structure and primary melodies, Ali stepped out of the shadows to centre stage to train the expansive psychedelia of that band into the surf flecked pop of the solo Ali Horn. As Ali puts it in characteristically self-effacing fashion, ‘I didn’t want to shy away from pop music anymore, I wanted to work within that verse / chorus structure’.

Initial releases under the guidance of Carl Hunter, former member of The Farm and current director of ‘Sometimes, Always, Never’ starring Bill Nighy, Jenny Agutter and ‘Control’s’ Sam Riley, led to a deal with Rooftop Records / Funnel Music and a team that includes producer Chris Taylor, Studio Manager at Parr Street Studios where Ali performed for 6 Music in March of this year.

It is a team that will be very busy for the remainder of 2019. Ali’s debut album is in process, an opportunity that he sees as the next self-imposed challenge ‘From starting writing, I saw a completed work. An album that puts the singles into a new context and gives me the opportunity to explore the other side of my music to what you hear with the singles. I love albums that flow for the listener, that are more than just a collection of songs’. Before that there are more tracks and live dates to look forward to. Assuming that airport pick up happened……

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Dave Banks - She's Like.

I'm just a simple country boy singin' country songs. I work 9 to 5, throw my boots on, put my guitar in my truck, and head to the next dive bar to sing some country songs.

I am 100% independent, all the way down to owning and operating my own record label, Reel Country Entertainment. I am determined to take on the machine and put country music back into country folks' hands.

"She's Like" is my first single released under my own record label, Reel Country Entertainment. It blends a contemporary sound with a vibe of more traditional country music. The intro guitar loop pulls the listener in and brings them all the way to the bass drop after the bridge.

"She's Like" is the quintessential love song to blast when you're flying down a backroad, surrounded by cotton fields, with your windows down.

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Ead Wood & The Heights - Plum Cake.

Bristol based Ead Wood delivers a shimmering, sunny indie-pop bop in latest single ‘Plum Cake’ - lilting gorgeously in all the right ways, it calls to mind Alvvays, Amber Arcades, Mazzy Star or Real Estate in its softly infectious sound. He is backed as ever by London band Margot, moonlighting as The Heights for this project. Recording in their own studio, there’s a resolutely DIY feel to the project that fits into the ambitious Bristol music scene.

Paradoxically to its lackadaisical sound, ‘Plum Cake’ channels the low-level anxiety that comes with everyday indecision. Indeed this fed into the naming of the track, as Ead elaborates:

"’Plum Cake’ is written about my lack of decision making. Especially when it comes down to those small everyday insignificant choices that really don’t matter, but I just can’t decide.

The title came as I was playing the song for one of the first times in Munich last summer and typically I couldn’t decide on a name for the track. I asked the audience if anyone had any ideas for a title and to shout them out at the end. As the song finished I asked again, no one replied as half the crowd was eating cake, I asked what the cake was and they shouted Special Bavarian Plum Cake, and there’s the title!"

Backed by influential outlets in DIY and Clash Magazine, as well as building an exciting live plot taking in venues across the country and further afield with European dates, that culminated with a performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, Ead Wood’s brand of catchy, breezy guitar pop is turning heads and getting them nodding.

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Tanya Gallagher - Michael Paul Lawson - Ducks Unlimited - Andrew Rinehart

Tanya Gallagher has just released her 'One Hand On My Heart' E.P and we have the song 'Dark Side' to enjoy, the singer-songwriter has a natural talent for modern folk as is demonstrated with this fine song.

Michael Paul Lawson recently released the seven song E.P 'Some Fights You'll Never Win' streaming in full below. It's a collection of music rich in Americana and alt folk, his distinct vocals are spot on for these genres, and his material is really high class.

'Get Bleak' from Ducks Unlimited is a vibrant jangle pop song, full of melodic hooks and with a feisty beat, it's pretty much guaranteed a second listen.

Back in March we featured Andrew Rinehart for the first time and he returns with 'Rose Gold' which is another gem of a song, it's personal, pleasing and positive... that's good enough for me!
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Tanya Gallagher - Dark Side.

Florida singer/songwriter Tanya Gallagher has just released a brand new E.P. entitled "One Hand On My Heart". “One Hand On My Heart” is a touching folk and country influenced collection of melodic modern pop songs, with minimal but fitting instrumentation and arrangements beautifully displaying Gallagher’s strong and soulful voice, which could be considered one of the stand out instruments of this EP itself.

The songs are mainly driven by acoustic guitar with Gallagher singing in deep personal tones that seem to be heavily influenced by classic folk artists such as Joni Mitchell along side of singer/songwriting artists of the last couple of decades like Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. Gallagher’s vocals serve her insightful and personal lyrics extremely well with her simple guitar chord progressions being tastefully accompanied by delicate keyboards and straight forward percussion.

"Both in relationships and in grad school, you face a lot of rejection, and so sometimes I would come home after a tough period and think, Well, what would I say if I felt confident?” she says. “Writing these songs helped me to face my insecurities and kept me moving forward.”

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Michael Paul Lawson - Some Fights You'll Never Win (E.P).

Michael Paul Lawson was born into a deeply musical family, with generations of band leaders, classically trained academics, and brass band legends before him. While his early inclinations were to follow in their footsteps, his contentious relationship with his father and the urgings of his family to pursue more lucrative career paths, dampened his musical ambitions. Trading in the rust of northern New York for the luster of Long Island’s gold coast, Lawson set his artistry to the side in pursuit of corporate life. Eight years later, saddled with student loan debt and weary from the relentless New York City grind, Lawson moved, on a whim, to Norfolk, VA.

In Norfolk Lawson found space and clarity. He could watch the sunrise over the Atlantic and the sunset across the Blue Ridge Mountains in the same day. In Virginia the music started to flow. Plain-spoken ballads with deceptively straight-forward lyrics. A mix of beautiful prose and raw realities, conjuring up the early work of Jason Isbell and the slow burning, sobering lyrics of John Prine. Lawson was soon singing these songs in breweries and bars across Virginia, working it out, making up for lost time.

A disciplined artist with a punch-clock work ethic, Lawson began building a reputation as one of the most prolific writers and performers in the area, and he quickly began securing notable slots at the Norfolk Folk Festival and providing opening support for The Steel Wheels, and Sons of Bill. Eventually, his songs reached producer Daniel Mendez (Noah Gundersen, The Native Sibling) who offered Michael a development deal and an invite to track a debut EP in Austin.

Returning to Austin, where Lawson spent childhood summers visiting his father, was cathartic. It had been 16 years since Lawson was last in hill country, and 16 years since he last saw his father’s silhouette in the back of a squad car, when the constant drinking and violence came to a head in the Texas night, ultimately leading to their estrangement. It was an odd place to return now that he was carving out a new life path, but it also felt strangely in step with the material he had written for his debut EP, Some Fights You’ll Never Win. He was reconciling his relationship with his father, there in the flesh, and in the studio, as he committed his highly personal songs to tape. It was a healing experience, coming full circle, continuing the lineage of musical craftsmanship that had run in his family for generations.

“It’s taken a long time for me to get to where I should have been going from the start,” Lawson reflects. But taking the ‘back roads’ gave him the clear understanding, as the songs on Some Fights You’ll Never Win attest, that the most important battles to dive into are internal.

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Ducks Unlimited - Get Bleak.

The Toronto-based jangle-pop quartet, Ducks Unlimited, are now airing their new cut ‘Get Bleak’ - listen here Featuring a contribution from Laura Hermiston of Twist, the track follows on from earlier singles that drew tastemaker acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and will be followed with a date at The Garrison, Toronto on July 20 in support of Sacred Paws.

Drawing on the sounds of Sarah Records and Flying Nun acts like The Go-Betweens, The Verlaines and Field Mice, Tom Mcgreevy of the band says: “‘Get Bleak’ is a song about this idea that moving somewhere else is going to solve all your problems. It's something that I’ve heard expressed by a lot of friends in one way or another, especially as more and more people are getting priced out of cities like Toronto, New York and London.”

“There can be plenty of good reasons to leave the place that you're from or somewhere you've made your home for a long time, but I think there's this "grass is always greener" thing that in my experience, and anecdotally from people I know just isn't true. It's hard to move to a new place and you're still going to be you when you get there with the same issues and hang-ups, plus you're going to miss the people who care about you and they're going to miss you.”

Produced by Josh Korody (Weaves, F Up) and Shehzaad Jiwani (Greys), Ducks Unlimited’s early releases found the band opening for the likes of Weyes Blood, Rolling Blackouts Coast Fever and The Goon Sax. ‘Get Bleak’ is available via streaming services now and will be part of an EP set to be released later this year, additional live dates will follow shortly too.


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Andrew Rinehart - Rose Gold.

Andrew Rinehart shares the music video for his latest single, "Rose Gold".  The video was directed by Joseph Kenneth, Andrew Rinehart, & Frankie Latina and features Paige Elkington. Rinehart recalls how the song and video concept came together:

""Rose Gold" was one of those rare songs that came in a flash — the entire song all at once, verses, choruses, lyrics, everything, all in one dizzying vision. I had just reconnected with someone I was totally in love with, so in that moment I was high out of my mind on life and literally anything and everything seemed possible. Basically I was in a headspace of 100% pure optimistic glee. I don’t experience that perspective very often, so I leaned into it hard and waddya know, out came this song.

So it’s sort of a rare one of mine in the sense that it is 100% positive, uplifting, and sweet natured. I’m not sure I have any other songs like that to be honest. For the music video we basically just ran around like idiots at Salvation Mountain (with some Super Bloom footage for good measure) in a similarly blissed out and frenzied-happy state. Shout out to my friends Joseph Kenneth, Glen Jennings, Frankie Latino, and Paige Elkington for helping me make it! Hopefully its Technicolor swirl broadcasts the same kind of mega joy I felt when the song showed up like some stupid happy dog psyched to take off running."

Rinehart is a Louisville, KY native who has, for the last 5 years or so, paid his dues bouncing around the usual bigger-city zones, finally settling on Los Angeles as home.  He was one of the original 10 founders of the influential Body Actualized Center in Brooklyn, and more recently threw shows at Basic Flowers, a DIY space in downtown LA which Ariel Pink co-funded.  Now on the verge of exiting the purgatory of grad school, Rinehart is currently in the process of releasing a series of singles (“Off On A Roll…” being the first), all of which explore the inscrutable ups and downs inherent to that age-old pleasure/torture device: love.


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Flora Hibberd - Lola Marsh - Magnetic Skies

We first featured Flora Hibberd in April and she returns today with 'In Violence' an atmosphere drenched song where her imagination and creativity are again notable as is her fabulous voice.

With close to forty thousand views since last Friday the new video from Lola Marsh for 'Echoes' has attracted a lot of attention, not surprising really it's a hook fuelled psych folk piece and the video is fabulous.

Coming out this Friday is the brand new E.P. from Magnetic Skies titled 'Hold On' and along with this they will also release their second single 'Refugee'. As this is our fourth feature for them this year, I think it safe to say we like them (and some).
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Flora Hibberd - In Violence.

Born in East London but currently residing in Paris, Flora Hibberd has been described as ‘intelligent and measured…there is a profound intuition in her work’ and her songs as ‘deeply rooted in the timeless lyricism of Dylan and Cohen.’

With influences as diverse as Nick Cave, Joan Baez and Jacques Brel, she moves effortlessly between acoustic folk traditions and the bruised indie of PJ Harvey, Jason Molina and Cat Power. Her powerfully emotive voice, evocative melodies and poetic lyrics combine beautifully to give her songs a deeply haunting and unforgettable quality.

Flora’s debut single ‘The Absentee’, was released March 2019, was a bold statement of intent and announced her as a powerful newcomer. Follow-up single, ’In Violence’ is Flora’s follow-up single, out July 12th. Flora states that this commanding new song ‘comes from anger, specifically about something that I witnessed happen to a friend, and more generally about all the people that are put in that position every day. It is painful, but I don’t think it is entirely dark. There is power in the anger.’

Her debut single ‘The Absentee’, released by ClearLight Records / Declared Goods, is out now. New single ‘In Violence’ is out now. The Absentee EP is scheduled for release September 2019.

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Lola Marsh - Echoes.

Lola Marsh are pleased to release their new single Echoes, out now, along with a brand new video directed by Indy Hait. Lola Marsh - aka vocalist Yael Shoshana Cohen and multi-instrumentalist Gil Landau - cut an upbeat tone on this new offering, sending the listener on a dizzying psych-folk journey complete with Cohen’s honeyed vocals. The accompanying video provides a visual art feast, featuring Gil and Yael with multiple versions of themselves. The band creates an army with 70’s vintage stylings, and like opposite sides of a mirror, play with energy and urgency both against and towards each other.

“"Echoes is about that feeling you sometimes have when you want to disappear, but at the same time, want to be found. That scary beautiful moment just before falling asleep, when you are the most lonesome version of yourself. And it’s for Maya."- Lola Marsh

Lola Marsh create music that combine clever lyrics with deep warm harmonies. Together with their 5-piece live band, they first made waves at Primavera Sound in 2014, following which the duo immediate gained industry attraction. It wasn't long till the band graced the stages on the festival circuit including Primavera Sound, Exit and Pukkelpop, as well asintensively touring Europe. Following their breakthrough success, their debut album Remember Roses was released in June 2017 (Anova Music / Universal Music Group).

The leading single 'Wishing Girl’ became a fan favorite and was featured in ads for leading brands such as Ebay and California Lottery. The band have made a big impact internationally; featuring in leading publications, gaining positive reviews, climbing to the top of Spotify’s most viral charts, and hitting over 40 million streams that are growing by the day. Their popularity crossed over to Hollywood and they co-wrote a song for the film “Criminal”, and were featured in the hit TV series "Better Call Saul".


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Magnetic Skies - Refugee.

Hot on the heels of supporting Heaven 17, synth-rock band Magnetic Skies are set to release their second EP, “Hold On”, in July 2019 via the independent ReprinT Records label. Lead track “Hold On” just came out as a single with a second single “Refugee” to be released on 19 July 2019.

Following on the heels of the duo’s debut EP, “Dreams And Memories”, which received glowing praise, the 5 tracks on the new release showcase the diverse elements of the band’s output, moving from synth pop and rock to ambient soundscapes. The songs feature Kent’s delicate and instinctively melodic vocals set against Womar’s synth backdrops, evoking the emotionally-charged hooks of some of the 80’s defining pop bands, such as Japan, Duran Duran and Tears For Fears.

“Refugee” is an uptempo synth rock track dealing with the nature of reality and the suffocation of anxiety and panic: “I’m drowned in confusion/blind by illusion/I want to find a reason/something to believe in”. The track is a re-recorded and re-worked version of a song Simon had written before the band was formed, and features a video of him as an astronaut taking off from Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, in which the Queen is seen making a guest appearance.

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Madame Psychosis - Smoking Alaska

We have a couple of tracks from Madame Psychosis namely 'Crashing Down' and 'Kapow'. The bands mixture of indie rock and alt pop is very impressive, whether they are performing more melodic and refined pieces such as 'Crashing Down' or full on rockers like 'Kapow', they give every song their all, and do so with considerable class.

Smoking Alaska recently released their new E.P. 'Bring Me Back a Souvenir', and these Dutch indie rockers can and do cover plenty of differing styles. From slick and pleasing indie rock like 'Sirens in the Sky' to the more expansive and vibe filled 'Allegory of the Cave', the new E.P is imaginative and genuinely worth listening to in full.
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Madame Psychosis - Crashing Down / Kapow.

Madame Psychosis is a five-piece alt pop & indie rock band from Toronto. Members include singer Michelle Mondesir, guitar players Bret McCaffrey and Rene Ip, drummer Jaina Tharakan, and bass player Giovanni Paola.

The band released their debut album in June 2017 and received a positive response. Most notably, the single “Space Motorcycle” cracked Alan Cross’ Top 11 Playlist. The album was also featured on 94.9 The Rock FM‘s artist spotlight, Generation Next, in May of 2018. Four songs from the debut album were showcased, including “Space Motorcycle”, “Run”, “On Top of The Game”, and “Mellow”. The band supported the album by performing at venues across Toronto, including at the legendary Opera House and The Horseshoe Tavern.

Madame Psychosis is now working on new material for their upcoming album. They released the “soaring” single “Crashing Down” in May, 2019 ahead of their two showcase performances at Canadian Music Week 2019. They also released a music video for the single. “A song that takes the listener on a poetic journey”, “Crashing Down” is the followup to “Just Wanna Be Myself“, which was released in January as the lead single. The band performed the song live on Global News’ national broadcast of The Morning Show.


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Smoking Alaska - Bring Me Back a Souvenir (E.P).

Smoking Alaska is a dutch indie-rock band that takes inspiration from bands like Nothing but Thieves and Foals. 'Bring Me Back a Souvenir' is an EP with the overarching theme of getting out of your confort zone.

We want the entire EP to be listened to as much as possible so any of the 7 songs can be featured in playlists/blogs. For convenience sake I'll just be focusing on the opening track of the EP called 'Sirens in the Sky'.  'Sirens in the Sky' is about dealing with anxiety and panic-attacks and how those things can affect your relationship aswell. It's an energetic indie-rock song with a lush guitar sound and a melody that swings back and forth.

Dreamy guitars changing into warm distortion by Thijs, extensive bass riffs with a deep sound performed by Frank, a tight drum by Wiebe and a unique voice from Alex that come together to form a whole. Smoking Alaska knows how to create a good atmosphere with their huge variety from soft melancholic songs to hard alternative rock. The foursome, who describes their music as indie/alternative rock, has been active as a band for over 5 years.


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AVA - Clear - Davina and The Vagabonds - Laughed the Boy - Katrina Parker

'In Motion' from AVA is a refined ambient soundtrack with a mixture of violin and piano that blend and flow together beautifully.

Clear shares 'Somnium' a dream pop track that exudes atmosphere, as the distinct vocals and layered sound-scape creatively merge together.

Our second feature this year for Davina and The Vagabonds this time with 'I Can’t Believe I Let You Go' another bluesy piece with some fine jazz vibes running alongside.

We have to go back over two years for our last song feature from Laughed the Boy however their latest track 'Sun' sees them still writing catchy indie rock and bodes well for their next album due in August.

Katrina Parker title track for her new album is 'Stars' a powerful folk ballad where her vocals are packed with emotion and sincerity.
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AVA - In Motion.

AVA is Anna Phoebe (Jorja Smith, Erland Cooper) and Aisling Brouwer – a duo who create ambient soundscapes based on intricate interplay between violin and piano. Both are professional composers in their own right; Aisling for film and TV and Anna for multi-platinum selling bands and artists, but it is through AVA that the pair carve out their own musical identity in collaboration with each other.

They have just released their debut album Waves on One Little Indian Records (Poppy Ackroyd, Manu Delago, Roger Goula, Gabriel Olafs, Amiina, Björk) – a deeply personal record, written for those looking to find solace in a world full of unrest.

Alongside their album release they also share a brand new video for single 'In Motion', and announce a string of dates with Erland Cooper.

As British residents born and raised in mainland Europe, the musicians started writing Waves with the Brexit referendum on the horizon. In the wake of the vote, the music became a search for common identity against a backdrop of uncertainty, expressed through their emotionally driven post-classical music.

Coming from mixed European backgrounds (Anna Phoebe is German/Greek/Irish and Aisling Brouwer is Dutch/Irish) and having each grown up moving around multiple countries, the pair respectively made Britain their home, meeting for the first time and writing together in 2015. “When Aisling and I started writing together, it was against this background of social and political turmoil – we were both trying to understand our identities within a country where we had built our lives” explains Anna Phoebe.

“The sessions we had together were an escape from all the noise. We would take breaks from writing and walk onto the beach, looking across the water at the outline of the French coast...discussing what it was to be European in a country where people had voted to reject Europe. All those mixed up emotions found their way into the music, exploring the complex layers of identity we all have — the layers of who we are and where we fit in.”

No strangers to a constantly changing surrounding environment, their relationship to the violin and piano-based pieces they composed together became one of emotional catharsis. Through AVA, they found their musical counterpart and individuality.


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Clear - Somnium.

Somnium is the elevating debut single from Australian singer and songwriter Clear. The atmospheric dream-pop track encourages listeners to slow down and allow themselves to dream again.

“Somnium is an anthem for the dreamers. Our society can often discourage us from believing in the value of our passions, so the song is about being present— appreciating our collective human disposition to be idealistic, ambitious, daring and hopeful... about allowing ourselves to believe in our creative abilities, not stifling or dismissing them... to see the world around us as a smorgasbord of potential. Everything we have created was once pure imagination, after all... and to stay soft... open. To understand vulnerability is true strength. To bring back that inner child and remember our creative nature... to believe in it again.” - Clear

Somnium, Latin for ‘dream’, is about the freedom that can be found in allowing yourself to pursue passions for passion’s sake and chase ambitions outside the pursuit for material wealth. Clear’s honest lyrics meet the audience where they are at; stirring feelings of familiarity in the meanings, addressing the vulnerable nature of our human lives and evoking authentic emotional response. The song was self recorded by Clear in her hometown in rural Victoria and had been an experimental work in progress since 2017, July of 2019 will be it’s unveiling

Clear is carving a place for herself on the Fraser Coast performing at her local in Hervey Bay. In early 2019, she debuted on Triple J Unearthed with the simple and stripped back For You, Somnium the unconventional and ambitious follow up.

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Davina and The Vagabonds - I Can’t Believe I Let You Go.

Davina and the Vagabonds have announced a brand new release date for their album SUGAR DROPS, the first album from the label Red House Records out on August 2. Their track, “I Can’t Believe I Let You Go,” was just featured on Rolling Stone’s “10 Best Country and Americana Songs to Hear Now.” Listen to “I Can’t Believe I Let You Go” here.

The album marks the first time singer/songwriter/pianist Davina Sowers entered a proper studio to record an album.  The Minneapolis-based artist holed up in Nashville’s Compass Sound Studio with producer (and Compass Records co-founder) Garry West, along with her trumpeter, string arranger and husband, Zack Lozier, and a rotating cast of powerhouse players including Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Robbie Fulks) on bass, Doug Lancio(Patty Griffin, John Hiatt, Tom Jones) on guitar and Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa) on Hammond B3.

SUGAR DROPS is distillation of bluesy barroom baritone and bravado, graveyard jazz grooves, and noir-ish confessional lyricism backed by boisterous piano, guitar, and strings. Eclectic, engaging and instilled with a deep respect and knowledge for the Great American Songbook, SUGAR DROPS is the actualization of longstanding intent for Davina.

“It represents about 100 years of Americana; I did exactly what I wanted to do,” she says.

Davina grew up in Altoona, PA, which she now describes as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school.”  She developed a heavy drug habit in high school, which morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail, and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she “got clean, started the band, and worked [her] ass off every day since.”


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Laughed the Boy - Sun.

Laughed the Boy began as an outlet for honest and unpretentious 90’s nostalgia inspired songs. After splitting time between writing songs intended for video games and his own solo material, he decided to combine the two into one project when he went into the studio with his brother Sean to record their EP “Out of the Blue”.

The band’s catchy melodies and fuzzy guitar playing drew comparisons to artists such as Weezer, Sloan, and Pavement. The two brothers added bass player Brennan Hrehoruk to the lineup and began playing the songs live. While rehearsing for shows, the trio ended up with an album’s worth of fresh material and headed into the studio once again to record their debut full length LP Here is Fine released in 2017.

After a busy year that saw the band tour while also releasing 2 new singles, the trio slowed things down and took a patient approach to writing and recording their follow up album “Change of Scenery.” Working with producer Dylan Frankland, brothers Chris and Sean spread recording sessions out over 5 months, crafting each song to represent a different mood while adding new elements such as piano and violin. “Change of Scenery” will be out August 9th.

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Katrina Parker - Stars.

Katrina Parker knew from a very young age that music was her calling. Swinging in her backyard in rural North Carolina, belting Patsy Cline at the top of her lungs, she felt connected to the pure joy of expression and knew it was something she was meant to do. “Music was total catharsis. It provided me both a means of escape from the world around me and a way to connect to the people around me - something lifesaving for a painfully shy, awkward kid,” Parker remembers. This love of music carried over into her teenage years and young adulthood.

After a move to LA where she worked on honing her songwriting and playing live whenever and wherever she could, Katrina found herself on Season 2 of NBC’s The Voice where she progressed into the top 8 contestants, gaining thousands of new fans and glowing nods from LA Weekly and Rolling Stone. It was a whirlwind experience that ended abruptly, leaving Parker to check off all the post-reality competition boxes. Red carpets and TV appearances became the norm, but the busier she became ‘maximizing’ her opportunity, the further away she felt from what made her love music in the first place. Her full-length album, In & Out of the Dark, was created in the turbulence of this period. “I was overthinking the entire thing, working from my head instead of my heart and missing the mark,” Parker reflects.

Feeling buried beneath the trappings of post-reality TV, Parker abruptly cut ties and stopped her promotional appearances. Her focus shifted to developing a sense of normalcy and reconnecting to that original spark, taking time to remember why she started singing and writing in the first place. The image she called back was from her childhood - swinging in the backyard, singing her heart out all by her lonesome, bathed in the natural reverb of her rural surroundings, doing exactly what she was born to do. She continued to cultivate that feeling and began writing again, this time with a clear touchstone for why she was making music.

Parker’s new album, Stars, reflects the duality of a childhood spent in rural North Carolina and an adulthood in LA, shifting between sinuous Southern roots and starry Laurel Canyon magic. Parker describes it as “Sparkling Desert Pop/Folk with a lot of warmth, a little bit of magic, and a touch of banjo.” Producer Josh Doyle of 3 Theory Music knew it was important to not overwhelm the songs with ornamentation, leaving Parker’s rich and tender voice front and center. The resulting recordings are clearly made from a place of confidence, channeling the clear-eyed nuance of Gillian Welch, the emotionality of Hozier, and the deep-rooted Americana of Over the Rhine.

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