Ivan Moult - Big Little Lions - Ida Mae - Ashley Shadow

Ivan Moult - Steady Hands.

Following on from his last single, ‘What More Could I Say?’, released last August on Bubblewrap Records, Ivan Moult is back with another brand new track. ‘Steady Hands’ was written a few years ago, but with Ivan setting up and honing his home studio in Cardiff, it has now finally found the light of day.

Written and recorded by Moult, the track covers the romantic coupling with his now fiancé, now also the mother of his son. Thematically, the lyrics cover the gradual maturing towards genuine adulthood, and the realisation that family life would require the shedding of some bad habits, alongside learning how to communicate properly.

As ever with Moult’s music, there’s an emotional and experiential honesty worn palpably on the sleeve, with this delivered through his typically ethereal, layered vocals and modernised take on classic 70s folk. ‘Steady Hands’ will be released across all digital platforms on June 18th. The track is accompanied by a cover of The Bangles pop classic, ‘Eternal Flame’.

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Big Little Lions - Peaceful.

Peaceful - Big Little Lions Written by Helen Austin and Paul Otten All instruments, vocals and production by Big Little Lions.

Big Little Lions have been described as ‘a blissful marriage of new folk and sophisticated pop’. Prolific songwriting, infectious folk-pop style, and an offbeat, memorable live show. This award winning duo consists of Helen Austin and Paul Otten who, despite living thousands of miles apart, have found a way to connect and create music together. 

Despite being in two different countries, they have found common ground to share their message. Call it destiny, or call it fate, call it a necessary progression for these modern times. Helen lives in British Columbia, Canada and Paul lives in Cincinnati, OH. 

But the distance provides the necessity to create in a new way. Using technology as their ally and their differences as their strength.  Their monthy single releases are their way of getting through this pandemic while all the usual album cyle release plans don’t make sense anymore. Their music is jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies, the sound of two people working side-by-side.

BigLittleLions · Peaceful

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Ida Mae - Learn To Love You Better.

Nashville-via-London duo Ida Mae have hared their new song “Learn To Love You Better” from their upcoming sophomore album Click Click Domino. Ida Mae writes, “'Learn To Love You Better' was written for a friend of ours who was wildly and selflessly in love with a partner struggling with mental health issues and wanting to do everything right. It was written on a late 1800s Mandolinetto which we later combined with 70s analogue drum machines- inspired by JJ Cale and John Martyn. We just wanted it to be a lighter breath of fresh air on the record." Click Click Domino will be released on July 16th, through Thirty Tigers.

Ida Mae will stream a full-band live performance of their new record via Mandolin on June 24th at 8PM Eastern time. Along with a pre-show cocktail hour and Q&A with Christopher Turpin and Stephanie Jean, the performance will be interspersed with documentary tour footage and track-by-track insight into each of the songs, making the event a truly immersive cinematic experience. Filmed in a secret studio in the wilds of the English countryside, this will be the first opportunity for fans to see Ida Mae perform these songs, accompanied by Ethan Johns on Drums and Nick Pini on double bass and electric bass. Tickets are currently available for purchase here.

Ida Mae will be performing at the Newport Folk Festival, which will take place July 23 - 26 in Newport, RI. “It’s our great honor to announce we will be performing at the world renowned Newport Folk Festival this year in Rhode Island,” said Ida Mae. “Having studied the performances of John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan, Rev. Gary Davis and so many others at Newport it means a great deal to be included in this year’s lineup.”

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Ashley Shadow - For Love.

Vancouver's Ashley Shadow has returned with her new single, "For Love", out via Felte (Ganser, Au.Ra, AUTOBAHN).

Ashley released her debut in 2016 earning support at Pitchfork, Stereogum, KEXP, Brooklyn Vegan, AV Club, Under the Radar and more, in the past she has contributed backing vocals to Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Lie Down in the Light (Drag City), Pink Mountaintop's Outside Love (Jagjaguwar) and The Cave Singers' Welcome Joy (Matador). Interestingly, Shadow's twin sister, Amber Webber, plays in the group Lightning Dust and co-founded psych-rock band, Black Mountain.

This new single comes as Shadow's first since her 2016 release marking a bit of a comeback, it arrives produced by Joshua Wells (Destroyer, Lightning Dust, ex-Black Mountain) and evokes this rich, textured moodiness that to me feels kind of synonymous with Pacific Northwest – the sound definitely has a home on her debut too, but this time Shadow harnesses this palpable sense of hope. It features this lovely swaying percussion, lightly strummed guitar and oscillating vocals.

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The Go! Team - Meggie Lennon - Meg Williams

The Go! Team - A Bee Without Its Sting.

The Go! Team's new LP, Get Up Sequences Part One, is set to be released in a little under 3 weeks via Memphis Industries. The band have so far shared two singles from the record, "Cookie Scene," "World Remember Me Now" and "Pow," which have seen praise for their "ebullient, colorful energy" (Stereogum), and today the band are sharing a final single from the LP that may be the brightest of the bunch, a track called "A Bee Without Its Sting," that channels the bounce of the Jackson 5 while involving some interesting collaborators.

The lead vocals on the track are handled by Jessie Miller and Rian Woods, two teenagers from Detroit who The Go! Team's Ian Parton recruited through his relationship with the choir leader at The Detroit Academy for Arts and Sciences. Together with regular Go! Team Ninja and Niadzi Muzira, the pair (who also appear in the video) bring an infectious enthusiasm to a song that is as immediate an earworm as any in the Go! Team's catalog to date.

"When I was working on the last Go Team record 'Semicircle' I approached the choir leader of a Detroit school called the Detroit Academy for Arts and Sciences - Miss Kee and asked if any of her students were interested in singing on a Go! Team song," Parton explains. "So when it came to finding the singer for 'A Bee Without Its Sting' I thought again of Miss Kee and her students. One of the singers was a teenager called Jessie Miller whose voice was perfect for the song. She'd never been into a recording studio before, but her voice is so full of character."

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Meggie Lennon - Jardin.

Montreal-based singer-songwriter, Meggie Lennon has just shared her new single, "Jardin". The new music follows on the heels of the Exclaim, Beats Per Minute and Secret Meeting-tipped "Night Shift" whilst marking the latest track to be lifted from her forthcoming debut album, Sounds From Your Lips, out July 9 via Mothland.

The debut album arrives produced by Samuel Gemme (Corridor, Anemone, The Brooks) and features the guitar-playing of Gabriel Lambert (also of Elephant Stone, The Besnard Lakes) as well as additional contributions from her longtime friend and collaborator, Jules Henry (Super Plage). Seamlessly fusing the worlds of late 60s and early 70s psychedelia as she subtly harnesses the energy of artists like The Byrds and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T-Rex), with early 2010-era acts such as Melody’s Echo Chamber, MGMT, and Beach House, the album, described by Lennon as "make-out dream-pop," oozes this glowing sense of optimism.

Tracks on Sounds From Your Lips flow with a breezy, laidback energy, marrying warm percussion with finessed bass lines to summon these tar-thick, sultry grooves. This latest cut, "Jardin", marks a true cornerstone to the album's radiant psych-pop aesthetic with Meggie exploring some of her deepest fantasies via the sound of crystalline acoustic guitar and swooning melodies.

Speaking about "Jardin", Meggie says: "I randomly fell upon an article about fantasy-prone personality which is a trait in which a person lives in some sort of dreamlike state and experiences a deep involvement in fantasy. It made me think of my own relationship with my inner fantasies, this secret garden (Jardin in French) I have within myself where I can do anything. I believe everyone has this "Jardin" in them where they can escape reality and let their mind go wild and this is what this song is about."

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Meg Williams - Live and Learn.

Nashville-based guitarist, songwriter, and singer, Meg Williams, performs at notable venues across the country with her full band, as a solo/duo act, and as a guitarist for other artists. She competed in the 2019 International Blues Challenge (Memphis, TN), representing the Kentucky Blues Society after winning the Kentucky Blues Challenge. 

Meg was additionally selected as the house band director for the International Women in Blues Showcase during the IBC's. Meg recorded her 2019 full length album, ‘Take Me As I Am: The Muscle Shoals Sessions,’ at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals (Nola Blue Records). 

Meg’s album has since been played on Sirius XM’s Bluesville and radio stations world-wide. Meg is set to independently release her next full length album (roots-rock/Americana), recorded in Nashville, TN, titled 'Live and Learn' in 2021.

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Molosser - Lucy Grubb - Muca & Alice SK feat Roberto Menescal - Said The Whale

Molosser - Black Oak.

On Black Oak, Swedish Molosser go for a lighter touch and lean more towards singer/songwriter and Americana than on their earlier singles. The core of the music is still their trademark interplay between two downtuned, acoustic guitars and the strong, intimate vocals of singer Tess.

Tess and Jahn of Molosser found each other in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city and home of a lively music scene. There, both were playing in various bands and constellations, mainly of the loud and noisy variety. After a while, though, they moved to a small farm in the province of Småland, where they found themselves in the company of a couple of horses, an American bulldog, a gang of cats, some chickens and three sheep. 

They started making music on their acoustic guitars, and lacking a bass player they tuned them down so they could share that duty between them. The music that emerged is colored by both their urban past and their current rural surroundings, a bit like when the blues moved from the delta to the city and got electrified, but the other way around. The nerve and drive remains, but have widened and grown to fill the windy woodlands and dusty, open fields as well as the deeper darkness beyond the edge of town.

Molosser’s music springs from a tight-knit, symbiotic relationship outside the music as well as inside it. It is built around the interplay between the two downtuned guitars, the intimate vocals, strong lyrics and meticulous, creative songwriting. Rather than using traditional acoustic guitar techniques of strumming or fingerpicking, Molosser weave deceptively simple and minimalistic lines and riffs into dancing, rolling patterns. Tess’s vocals add one more voice and deliver strong, poetical and highly personal lyrics, and on the studio recordings her drums make this little unit into a complete band. Any virtuosity involved is less about dexterity or speed and more about composition, arrangement and balance. One of the foundations for Molosser’s music is having access to two rather different musical temperaments, intent on creating a common territory – not necessarily a middle ground but rather a wide, including landscape.

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Lucy Grubb - Waste My Time.

This track is one of the few songs that I have written which seemed to just fall out of my mouth. It was a very quick process from beginning to end, and the pieces seemed to fall together effortlessly. That’s how I remember it anyway. 

When I wrote this song I believed I was writing it about a friend of mine who was going through a difficult relationship and I wanted to write it from her perspective. I imagined her listening to it years down the line, singing the lyrics in her bedroom, and that felt inspiring to me. She’s a strong person and I wanted her to know that. 

As I listen to the song now, in an almost post pandemic era, the song means something different. It represents strength and resilience and being OK with not being in control of everything. 

It’s learning to live with the cards you’ve been dealt with and knowing that you’re doing your best, and you’re not wasting your time. But maybe your best friend needs to know that the guy she’s been crying over is definitely a waste of time.

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Muca & Alice SK feat Roberto Menescal - Until We Meet Again.

“I am now officially a dad!” announced Muca to the world recently. And the timing couldn’t be better for him to celebrate the birth of his firstborn with a delightfully sunny original composition which nods respectfully to an era in Brazil where Bossa Nova ruled the airwaves and Rio and Pele were the hottest cultural touch points of a growing industrialised age.

Murillo Sguillaro better known as Muca is a Brazilian musician and producer living in London who has built a modest following which looks set to explode once his new musical adventures unfold in the coming months. With ‘Until We Meet Again’, this outstanding single from London-based composer and producer Muca, and singer-songwriter Alice SK offers up a refreshed Bossa style piece where Muca’s Brazilian roots meet the indie-folk vibes of the young singer from London. Muca just finished working with Alice SK on her debut EP, he thought her voice would suit perfectly the genre and invited her to write the lyrics and sing along.

The track features a more than exceptional guest: Roberto Menescal, one of the pioneers of Bossa Nova, who brings his acoustic guitar rhythm into the mix. Muca went to Rio de Janeiro specifically to meet Menescal and record the track with him. But the partnership started much before, when Menescal came to London on tour and the two exchanged ideas and their shared appreciation for Brazilian music and beyond.

Once the song was recorded in Rio, Muca and Alice SK worked on the final arrangements and vocals in London. The track is accompanied with a making-of, directed and filmed by Eduardo Binato, showing Muca and Menescal in Rio working together on the recording process and also Menescal talking about the history of bossa and how it all started. The combination of Alice SK’s atmospheric, soulful voice and Muca’s fine skill of fusing the old and new was the recipe for this fresh and unique piece of music.

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Said The Whale - Show Me Everything.

Said The Whale have earned their place in the Canadian music pantheon. They’ve won a JUNO Award, topped the alternative radio chart, and amassed a devoted base of fans who affectionately describe themselves as “SaidHeads” — all the while maintaining their resolute independent spirit. Now, more than a decade into their career, the Vancouver group are opening their most ambitious chapter yet.

Throughout 2020, lockdowns meant that the band members were at home, away from the relentless touring cycle that had defined most of their 14-year career. Singer-songwriters Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester, plus keyboardist Jaycelyn Brown and bassist Lincoln Hotchen, threw themselves fully into working on new material with producer Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat) at his Tugboat Place Studio, resulting in the most towering, maximalist music of their careers.

“Steve is an incredibly detail-oriented producer,” says Tyler. “We would work until four or five in the morning. Then sleep at his house and work the next day until late into the night. It was exhausting, but each song came to life in such an amazing way with so many layers.”

Stately piano, roaring guitar distortion, giant-sized synths and orchestral flourishes — every moment blooms with bright, vivid sounds and subtle details. But in spite of the grandiose arrangements and go-for-broke production quality, the new songs are, at their core, classic Said The Whale. Lead single “Honey Lungs” is a bright and bubbly anthem, its crunchy rock swagger shot through with frenzied drum fills and sugar-spiked pop singalongs.

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The Hello Darlins - Course - Gawain and the Green Knight - Lemon's

The Hello Darlins' - Mountain Time.

With over 450,000 combined Spotify streams off their first singles, it’s safe to say there’s been a lot of anticipation for The Hello Darlins’ debut album, Go By Feel, officially released now on all platforms. It began building almost immediately after the Calgary, Alberta-based Americana collective debuted on the scene in early 2020, with American Songwriter calling the group “the product of a talented pool of session musicians craving more,” while Americana UK stated, “It’s great to see a band put together by the talented folks who would usually be ‘behind the scenes.’”

So, who exactly are The Hello Darlins? The seeds of the band took root in 2016 when vocalist/producer Candace Lacina crossed paths again with keyboardist/producer Mike Little after first meeting at a recording studio years earlier. Once reconnected, they soon found themselves making music together in between their work with other artists, an impressive list that ranges from Shania Twain to Charlie Major, The Road Hammers to George Canyon as well as the late B.B. King.

In short order, the couple began inviting others within their circle to participate, including Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies), Clayton Bellamy (The Road Hammers), Matt Andersen, Dave and Joey Landreth (aka The Bros. Landreth), Russell Broom (Jann Arden), and ace fiddler Shane Guse, creating what some have called "the Broken Social Scene of Americana."

On Go By Feel, this incredible collection of talent has forged a hybrid of country, gospel and blues like no other, from the heart-wrenching ballads “Aberdeen” and “Prayer For A Sparrow” to the classic country-rocker “Mountain Time” and the album’s soulful title track.

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Course - Darkest Tower.

Buzzing Chicago-based synth/indie/pop group Course released a new video for their latest single "Darkest Tower." The latest look at their critically acclaimed debut album A Late Hour (out now), the video was released alongside the accompanying short story written by singer/guitarist Jessica Robbins. 

"'Darkest Tower' set the tone for the album," stated Robbins. "When I wrote this song, I imagined our album going in this direction as it felt very different from the songs I'd written in the past. It feels like it’s the most fluid and open of all the songs with some dark undertones. For the music video I worked with Jess Price, who is a filmmaker and also a musician/songwriter in the band Campdogzz. I shared with her the short story that goes along with the song which is about a thirteen year old boy who keeps seeing a white van on his street and funnels his anxiety through the mysterious van. The story matches the rhythm of the song, in feel and emotion, but they are vastly different in lyrics and content. Jess took the themes and imagery from both the song and story and captured the idea of surveillance and that the darkest tower is like someone watching you - a voyeuristic take of the song."

Course announced their debut earlier this year with the release of their lead single "Give It All Away," which Under The Radar called "a lush dream pop tapestry." It was followed by the "optimistic" (Consequence) standout single "Sixteen" and "Nick of Time," which was featured as American Songwriter's Daily Discovery. Atwood Magazine chose the band as one of their 2021 Artists To Watch and stated, "Course have set themselves apart as an intimately expressive alternative band brimming with irresistibly catchy tunes, cathartic emotions, and utterly stunning energy." Chicago Tribune also raved, "Course managed to craft an inventive collection of songs that blend nostaglic instrumentation with clever lyrics...a body of work that stands strong."

Comprised of veteran musicians Robbins, Chris Dye (drums), Dan Ingenthron (synth/keys), Mikey Russell (guitar), and Brian Weekly (bass), Course blends diverse aspects of dream-pop, 90's new-wave, alternative, electronic, and indie rock. Drawing on Robbins' indie-folk roots, Course incorporates polished, modern production and lush electronic instrumentation to create songs with a characteristic ethereal-industrial sheen.

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Gawain and the Green Knight - A Sleeping Place.

Gawain and the Green Knight have released A Sleeping Place, and will next perform on New York's Governors Island on June 26th as part of the Porch Stomp festival. The EP exemplifies the duo’s “literary folk” stylings, filled with allegory and inspired by mythology, or, as they put it, “folk for people who like to listen to music while pacing mournfully yet poignantly through the streets, pretending they’re the protagonist in a very beautiful film.”

Inspired by the etymology of the Greek word for cemetery, which simply means “a sleeping place,” the record sits comfortably in the deep, sometimes dark, parts of the subconscious, arranged in such a way that you remember why life can be so joyful in the first place, its tempo anything but sad.

“The Dressmaker,” one of the album’s most energetic offerings — it’s their first “stomp-and holler” song — is the story of a woman in the 1800s, beginning at the moment she realizes her husband is leaving her, and later finds her building a life for herself and her daughters. “I wanted to elevate the narrator's frustration to proper, righteous anger in spots, which accounts for the occasional rowdiness,” multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike O’Malley mentions of the arrangement. “Toward the end is an arpeggio happening at three different speeds in four different registers, shared by the piano, clarinet, and flute. They lace together like so many threads, echoing the lyrics. I'd hoped to express the triumph of the narrator's self-salvation through the repetitive act of sewing.”

The dressmaker’s story might be too small to make it into a history book and too abstract to make it onto a headstone, but provides a reflection on the quiet triumphs that make up a life, a theme found weaving throughout A Sleeping Place.

Gawain and the Green Knight · A Sleeping Place

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Lemon's - Take It Back.

Lemon's is composed of three core members: Luke Braswell, Aidan Stanford, and Susie Hydrick. As well as a few close friends who typically join Lemon's in most live settings. 

Now that the United States is officially back open, you can either find Lemon's playing an occasional gig or two throughout the city of Memphis or going from the studio to track instruments to Luke's bedroom to add post-production musical elements. 

With the eventual goal being, of course, dominate the Memphis music scene and then. . .the world.

Take It Back is a pop rock, angst-filled story of betrayal that takes place sonically in the wild-west and pulls lyrical inspiration from tracks such as 'no body, no crime' by Taylor Swift.

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Lucy Francesca Dron - James McMurtry - Lindsay Jarman - Pollena - Simone

Lucy Francesca Dron - Leftovers (E.P).

Brisbane-based songstress Lucy Francesca Dron has been turning heads with her genre-defying style and compelling storytelling, her most recent singles ‘What Is Next?’ and ‘Liquid Numbing Pain’ paving the way for highly-anticipated EP ‘Leftovers’ (out now).

Combining her enchanting fusion of indie-rock and lo-fi folk with her feathery jazz-style vocals, Dron has delivered an introspective coming-of-age journey in ‘Leftovers’, each of the five tracks representing a different stage of her transition into adulthood. Dron further explains:

“Leftovers is like a musical journal of my experience transitioning from a teenager to a young adult. Each song represents a piece of the journey, exploring themes of curiosity, anxiety, love, heartbreak and acceptance.”

Similar to a journey of self-discovery, the five tracks making up ‘Leftovers’ were once thought of as outcasts, not fitting into any of Dron’s other album concepts, until finding their rightful place within this contemplative EP as it cascades through each theme with sonic finesse.

Lucy Francesca Dron · Leftovers

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James McMurtry - Canola Fields.

In James McMurtry’s new effort, The Horses and the Hounds, the acclaimed songwriter backs personal narratives with effortless elegance (“Canola Fields”) and endless energy (“If It Don’t Bleed”). This first collection in seven years, due August 20 on New West Records, spotlights a seasoned tunesmith in peak form as he turns toward reflection (“Vaquero”) and revelation ( closer “Blackberry Winter”). Familiar foundations guide the journey. “There’s a definite Los Angeles vibe to this record,” McMurtry says. “The ghost of Warren Zevon seems to be stomping around among the guitar tracks. Don’t know how he got in there. He never signed on for work for hire.”

The Horses and the Hounds is a reunion of sorts. McMurtry recorded the new album with legendary producer Ross Hogarth (Ozzy Osbourne, John Fogerty, Van Halen, Keb’ Mo’) at Jackson Browne’s Groove Masters in Santa Monica, California, a world class studio that has housed such legends as Bob Dylan (2012’s Tempest) and David Crosby (2016’s Lighthouse) as well as Browne himself for I’m Alive (1993) and New Found Glory, Coming Home (2006). McMurtry and Hogarth first worked together 30 years ago, when Hogarth was a recording engineer in the employ of John Mellencamp at Mellencamp’s own Belmont Studios near Bloomington, Indiana. Hogarth recorded McMurtry’s first two albums, Too Long in the Wasteland and Candyland, for Columbia Records and later mixed McMurtry’s first self-produced album, Saint Mary of the Woods, for Sugar Hill Records. Another veteran of those three releases, guitarist David Grissom (Joe Ely, John Mellencamp, Dixie Chicks), returns with some of his finest work.

Accordingly, the new collection marks another upward trajectory: The Horses and the Hounds will be McMurtry’s debut album on genre-defining Americana record label New West Records (Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Buddy Miller, dozens more).

“I first became aware of James McMurtry’s formidable songwriting prowess while working at Bug Music publishing in the ’90s,” says New West president John Allen. “He’s a true talent. All of us at New West are excited at the prospect of championing the next phase of James’ already successful and respected career.” McMurtry perfectly fits a label housing “artists who perform real music for real people.” After all, No Depression says of the literate songwriter’s most recent collection, Complicated Game: “Lyrically, the album is wise and adventurous, with McMurtry — who’s not prone to autobiographical tales — credibly inhabiting characters from all walks of life.” “[McMurtry] fuses wry, literate observations about the world with the snarl of barroom rock,” National Public Radio says. “The result is at times sardonic, subversive and funny, but often vulnerable and always poignant.”

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Photo - Joelle Grace Taylor

Lindsay Jarman - Rue Collective.

Atlanta's Lindsay Jarman has announced an August 20 release for her debut LP The Gallery, and has shared the first single "Rue Collective" at Glide Magazine. The outlet praised the track as "a stirring whirl of throwback lounge-y jazz grooves and alt-folk soul...an imposing debut statement."

With Laurel Canyon folk vibes that mix and mingle with a Nora Jones-esque, jazz-influenced delivery and production, Lindsay Jarman’s music exudes a depth and maturity far beyond what one might be inclined to expect from a debut full-length album. But to hear her tell it, the songs are less creative endeavors and more a means of healing; of processing life’s painful moments and putting them out into the universe, enabling her to view them much like one admires the paintings on a gallery wall.

“There were extremely painful moments of my life that I was able to get some catharsis for through writing certain songs on this record … they definitely added to who I’ve become as a person,” Jarman says. “Patience is passion tamed, and the rapture that prevails the willful processing of trauma holds healing and gratification in its palm. This record offered that hand to me, and I took it. I found shelter there.”

The songwriter spent time in New York, writing jingles for a score house, before relocating to Georgia and enrolling in UGA, completing her studies in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management several years ago. While she attributes much of her musical background to her father, she also nods to the value in self-discovery and individuality, enlisting the help of friends in the Atlanta music scene and connecting with producer/engineer Damon Moon to create The Gallery.

lindsayjarman · 06 - Rue Collective

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Pollena - Stand Up.

An acclamation of glowing piano, sparkling synths, spacious percussion and confident vocals. "Stand Up" premiered this week on BBC 6 Music as Lauren Laverne's While You Were Sleeping track is a powerful new direction from rising London-based talent Pollena with a message that demands attention. 

“This year more than ever we’re ready for real change. Stand Up is about giving people the confidence that they need to make that change happen. Don’t just accept things as they are, don’t just go ‘back to normal'. It’s about expecting something better,” says Pollena

Pollena is a vocalist/songwriter who cut her teeth touring Europe in 2018/19 with neo-soul outfit Girlhood. Since lockdown she’s been writing and releasing experimental new solo tracks, collaborating with rising producers.

"Stand Up" is her third solo single, produced by DJ and musician Footshooter (previous collaborators include Poppy Ajudha and Allysha Joy with tracks released by Rhythm Section International and Dance Regular Recordings) and follows ‘The Pool’ and ‘Glitter’ (feat. BBC Radio 1 / 6 / X-Tra / Apple New Music (editorial) / Spotify Fresh Finds Pop (editorial) et al).

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Simone - Love Lessons (E.P).

After revealing four alt-pop songs "Kissing Strangers", “Boy Of My Dreams”, “everything/nothing” and “Wine”, and with each release gaining new fans and praise, New York’s Simone is releasing her 6-track pure pop Love Lessons EP. Simone’s musically diverse songwriting styles from acoustic teary to pop bops. Even at the young age of 16, Simone writes with a very strong cinematic eye here, capturing the rough edges of modern relationships in vivid detail. Today, her Love Lessons EP is rounded out with “Girl Like Me” and “Who Do You Think You Are?”.

Simone says: “Every song on “Love Lessons” tells a story about a relationship that ultimately isn’t built to last. All six tracks are written from different perspectives about experiences with love and heartbreak. I wrote all of these songs by myself in my bedroom, touching on vulnerable and way too relatable emotions. I’m really proud of the versatility showcased in this project, from pop songs to rock songs to ballads.”

At 10 years old, her worldview opened up to become a performer when she sang 2 self-written songs at an open mic in Nashville, TN. Needless to say that from an early age, New York-based Simone has set her vision on sharing her love for music. “Kissing Strangers” arrangements are sonically rich to match, mixing radio-ready pop hooks with indie rock grit and singer/songwriter intimacy. “Kissing Strangers” is a buoyant, brilliant earworm exploring the rise and fall of young love in all its exhilarating, heartbreaking transience. About “Boy Of My Dreams”, she said: “it’s a song I wrote after ending a relationship that really damaged my perception of love.”

Simone · Love Lessons EP

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