Helven - Áine Rose Daly - Juniper Stone - Sitrekin

Helven - u my homie.

Emerging Norwegian alt-pop artist Helven has announced that she will release her debut EP volume 1 via Jansen Records on Jan 14th 2022. Hailing from the Norwegian countryside, Helven, aka 21-year-old Jenny Bakke,  recently moved to Oslo to pursue her career in music. The up-and-coming musician has a talent for fusing together honest, true and contemporary lyrics with inspiration from pop music of the past, capturing the experience of life as a 21-year-old woman in the 2020’s.

Inspired by the many lessons her brother, who has autism and Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, has taught her, Helven is on a mission to wear her heart on her sleeve. Each of the five tracks that make up volume 1 focuses on a different emotion that she has struggled to express in the past: envy, care, love, sadness and frustration. Attaching a particular feeling to the autobiographical stories she tells in her music has helped her find a true sense of self. Her message to her generation is simple. “In order to survive in this increasingly chaotic world, we need to listen to our feelings more, and express them proudly.”

On lead single ‘u my homie’, Helven delivers her signature smoky vocals atop laidback trip-hop beats. The lyrics were pulled from text messages and notes Helven wrote whilst helping her childhood friend through a tough time. "It's about the journey we had together, what it is like to help a friend, the ups and downs, and the strength of the friendship in adversity" she explains. "I used texts from that period to write the lyrics. It's all the things we used to say to each other during the toughest times, without anyone else understanding what they meant. Instead of saying 'I love you, you'll get through this', we said 'I know you, u my homie'".

Jansen Records · Helven - u my homie (9AM Records

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Áine Rose Daly - Places.

Having already made her mark in the acting world of late, earning a regular part in the hit Amazon Prime series Hanna, emerging singer and songwriter Áine Rose Daly is now staking her claim on the music world as she delivers the wonderfully bright and uplifting new single ‘Places’.

Channelling a rich and dynamic alt-pop aesthetic throughout, ‘Places’ sees the artist deliver a bold and shimmering new offering, layered in rich and euphoric textures. With a light and atmospheric production embedded around her sweet and soaring voice, her new offering showcases her as a strong and powerful artist, brimming with stellar potential.

Speaking about the new release, she said, “I wrote this song a long time ago about my struggles with my mental health and how, at the time, I felt like it was holding me back from doing what I wanted to do with my life.”

Áine Daly is a London-based actor/singer/songwriter. Born and raised in Jersey, Channel Islands to Irish parents and coming from a long lineage of musicians and creatives, Áine has always been surrounded by music and arts.

The last few years have seen Áine’s acting career flourish, having been cast in multiple feature length films and most notably playing a series regular in Amazon Prime's “HANNA”. Outside of her acting career however, Aine has always maintained her love for songwriting and considers it a major creative outlet for herself.

Áine Rose Daly · Places

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Juniper Stone - Patterns.

Juniper Stone is the solo musical project of Brisbane based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Damien Vincent. His musical style has been described as a blend of Lo-Fi Indie Pop and Neo Soul.

After collaborating with many acts in the Brisbane music scene and graduating from Musical Industry College, Damien is now focusing his efforts into his own project with his upcoming debut singles “Patterns” and “Moonchild.”

With plans to release a follow-up EP and play live in 2021, Juniper Stone is set to be an exciting journey.

 

 

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Sitrekin - Open Chest.

Danish artist Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg is off to an historic start as she launches a new project under artist name Sitrekin. She is the voice behind US Grammy nominated Twilight Saga soundtrack hit song ‘Eyes on Fire’, which has racked up close to 100m streams, and now releases her debut solo track in English since her departure from the award-winning Danish group Blue Foundation. The track is entitled ‘Open Chest’ and is a spellbinding, infectious love song. Earlier this year, the track was chosen to be the perfect sonic launchpad for Apple Music’s new lossless format available on iTunes using Dolby Atmos.

‘Open Chest’ was released exclusively for Apple Music on July 1st in their new revolutionary Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos format and now gets a full release via all other major digital platforms. The track was mixed by Dyre Gormsen in the legendary West London Eastcote Studios – one of the most important and influential of music studios in the world, where artists such as Massive Attack, Depeche Mode, Adele and Arctic Monkeys created some of their greatest works.

Dyre explains, “Open Chest is mixed by myself and was the first track I put into Dolby Atmos as an experiment to begin with, but it became clear that it was a perfect media for Kirstine’s music and what we were looking for all the time, as a way to demonstrate how you are able to move objects around as the music is very element based. We used the mix to play for Dolby who were instantly very excited by what they heard and gave approval for this to be the launch track for this new groundbreaking format.”

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The Ninth Wave - The Catenary Wires - Adna - Yes

The Ninth Wave - Piece and Pound Coins.

Glasgow's The Ninth Wave release new single "Piece and Pound Coins", a new taster of their next full length body of work, due 2022.

A compelling piece, "Piece and Pound Coins" was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Max Heyes (Massive Attack, Doves, Lucia & The Best Boys, Primal Scream). Amidst a distinctly chilling atmosphere, rolling piano lines weave their way through chugging percussion with the track standing as a stark examination of grief and loss.

Speaking on the release of "Piece and Pound Coins", singer Haydn Park-Patterson said: "I wrote this song about a friend who passed away a number of years ago. I’ve never really felt like I wanted to/could write about him for a number of reasons, but I guess the main one was because that for a long time, I wouldn’t have known what to write. Writing about death is a world away from writing about heartache/love/friendships because there’s nobody to listen to the song and wonder “is that about me?”. It’s a strange feeling, to write a song about someone that you know can’t ever hear it. 

The song also touches on the thought of wondering what he’d be up to now, 5 years on in his life, and how weird a thought it is that we’ve all continued on with our lives but his had a start and end point, and that’s it. No more memories to be made. The song also lets out a bit of confused anger that I felt not long after he passed, as I watched how a few people reacted to his death and the way in which they talked about it. That’s the meaning behind the line 'death makes some people sad and some people ugly / and some people took your name for their own sake'. I like to think that he’d like the song, as he was one of the most supportive and positive-minded people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing."

The track is released alongside a stunning video directed by Rianne White. She commented: "I feel completely in awe of this song and Haydn’s ability to frame such an immense feeling. Embraced by the catharsis of nature, the heights of grief and identity are expressed through a journey of Haydn’s internal growth accompanied by a symbolically poignant lone wolf. I like to think of Hayden and the wolf as one, both finding their way back to their truest states of being with wild untamed hearts of companionship and eternal loyalty. "

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The Catenary Wires - Always On My Mind.

Taken from their acclaimed album Birling Gap, The Catenary Wires’ new single is accompanied by a brand-new video. The Catenary Wires combine Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey (both ex-Heavenly, Talulah Gosh) with Fay Hallam (Makin’ Time) Andy Lewis (The Paul Weller Group, Pimlico) and Ian Button (Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge).

'Always On My Mind' is a track for late summer.   It’s a love song full of warmth and emotion.  An old photograph taken on a late summer holiday transports us back to a perfect moment when a relationship first started.  But there’s bittersweet regret in there too.   In the photograph, the sun’s rays were still warm, but they were getting longer; the colder Autumn evenings weren’t far away.  Did the relationship survive the winter?  And now, is it that person in the photo the one we are still in love with, or are they long gone – leaving us with just a memory embedded in a faded old picture?

The song and the video are celebrations of the fact that The Catenary Wires have evolved from a duo into a five-piece band, where everyone contributes to the rich instrumentation and the blissful vocal harmonies.  The video was filmed by all five members of the band, taking it in turns in the practice room – the first time they’d all been together since the start of lockdown.

 

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Adna - Darkness Born in Youth.

Following on from the release of her stunning 2017 full-length ‘Closure’, an album which was lauded across numerous outlets, Swedish-born but Berlin-based singer songwriter Adna has now unveiled the details behind her next LP ‘Black Water’ with the release of her latest single ‘Darkness Born In Youth’.

Much like her work to date, ‘Black Water’ sees her channel a rich and ambient direction, filled with warm and textured aesthetics. With her smooth and seductive voice layered over a heady mix of bright and enticing production, her latest collection looks set to become one of her most praised to date.

Adna’s latest offering follows on from the unfiltered emotion of ‘Don’t Know’, giving us a clear insight into the understated balladry that we can expect on this forthcoming full-length. Conjuring up more of the raw and poignant direction she is known for, ‘Darkness Born In Youth’ spotlights her soulful presence. Recorded in one-take, the track is accented by softly plucked guitar and her trademark soaring vocal.

Speaking about the new release, she says, “It’s hard not to sound pretentious about it, but this is really just a very honest improvisation that I recorded for my own memory in case I would forget about it. The title refers to the sensitivity I often find myself thinking of as a burden… I guess most people have had to end relationships, wishing it could have been with someone else instead.”

To date, Adna has made three beautifully woeful albums; 2014’s ‘Night’, 2015’s’ Run, Lucifer’ and the album ‘Closure’ in 2017. Supporting ‘Closure’, Adna played a packed Eurosonic showcase in 2017 and toured throughout Germany, UK, France and Scandinavia in the months since its release. Adna’s music has had more than 50 million streams on the large DSPs, and has had her melancholic, lo-fi work compared to the likes of Bon Iver and Daughter.

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Yes - Dare To Know.

Yes, who are Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood, recently announced they will release their new studio album The Quest on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music on 1st October 2021. 

The album was produced by Steve Howe. "Much of the music was written in late 2019 with the rest in 2020. We commissioned several orchestrations to augment and enhance the overall sound of these fresh new recordings, hoping that our emphasis on melody, coupled with some expansive instrumental solo breaks, keeps up the momentum for our listeners,” said Steve.

Steve Howe comments: “Dare To Know presents a guitar theme played within many different arrangements, with different chord structures and altered textures. The 'idea' mentioned in the first verse gets described later as an awakening to the subtle goings on within our bodies and mind, all geared to nature's scheme of things, all fluctuating and rearranging according to the principles of life, as we know it. The centrepiece leaves the orchestra alone to elaborate and develop the way the theme is heard, then augments the closing minutes of the song as it rests, with an acoustic guitar cadenza.”

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Catbells - Piper Butcher - Lisa Richards

Catbells - It's Not Hard.

Dreamy melancholic shoegaze meets alt-pop singer/songwriter Catbells engages her listeners with soft hypnotic vocals, lush soundscapes, and moody melodies that capture her deep, heartfelt emotions in the most intimate of ways. Gifted with a voice like an angel, Catbells gently immerses her listeners into a world of sweet nostalgia and velvety sentiments.

The singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was introduced to the piano at age five, and by the 7th grade she was playing the guitar and writing songs about her middle school heartbreaks. After performing in several bands throughout her early music career, Catbells recently decided to focus on her own solo project.

Catbells is a somewhat enigmatic, shy wallflower type, with her name itself being an alter-ego. Named after the popular hiking spot recited in the famous children's book The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter, Catbells' cinematic music is influenced by the vast natural wild. Raised in New England, Catbells often revisits the times of her childhood in her music, where she reflects on fond memories of the seasons changing, swimming in the eastern lakes, canoeing down the river, and working on the family farm.

Her deeply personal and introspective single "Fade - Rainy Day Demo" is an intimate and open-hearted reflection of lost love. “The song really wrote itself and the music needed to match the feeling of how the words felt. There are few people who are lucky enough to escape the feeling of a completely broken heart, and feeling like the person you loved so much just moved on like it was nothing, leaving you left there with a hole where your heart once was” confides Catbells. This emotionally raw and poignant narrative and accompanying music video features innovative illustrations of a sad cat saying farewell in a starry evening background.  While on the single "Wilderness" Catbells’ soft-powered honeyed vocals float above stripped down melodies and dreamy lush acoustic soundscapes. The track was mixed by acclaimed producer Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius, Soccer Mommy).

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Piper Butcher - September (E.P).

Australian singer-songwriter, Piper Butcher, follows on from the success of her smash hit singles with her shiny new EP, “September”. The debut offering is a five-track release, showcasing the talented young artist from the New South Wales steel city of Newcastle.

Leading the EP is “Haunting Your Thoughts” which has already generated close to 40,000 streams on Spotify. It’s a rocky anthem thriving on Piper’s passionate vocals and one that takes you through the story of when a trouble maker doesn’t clean up their own mess. “Long Road” is co-written with fellow roots act, Cassi Marie, and covers the long road of heartbreak. The lyrics provoke feelings of sorrow and frustration, but Piper ensures in song that leaving unhealthy people behind is a difficult but prosperous journey.

Hitting the middle of the EP is the current single, “Before The Thunder”. It has immediately struck a chord with fans and the industry alike, emanating from the storyline where someone tries to cross the line to get what they want. The song builds with emotion, entrancing you with whimsical guitars and strong melodies.

The very first song that Piper ever wrote is included in the form of “Not Yet”. It stems from pure feelings of staying in the moment which listeners correlate with on a personal level. It’s honest and calm, yet it has a depth in meaning owed to its simplicity. Closing out “September” is a steamy swarm of blues rock that immediately draws the listener in. “Soul Into Sand” sees Piper truly soaring - her voice driving the song with immense intensity and soul.

“September” is further proof that we are witnessing the launch of one of Australia’s most exciting new roots artists. It is testament not only to her talent, but also Piper Butcher’s hard work and passion for her music. Piper Butcher - “September” - is released Wed 1st September 2021.

Piper Butcher · september

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Lisa Richards - Dominoes.

Dominoes is the second single from the upcoming sixth album “I Got A Story” from Australian singer and songwriter Lisa Richards, the latest from the acclaimed singer and songwriter since she moved back to Australia from Austin, Texas. Last year Lisa returned to the USA to record in New York City to record with Tim Bright.

As Lisa explains: “Tim and I first worked together on my debut release, ‘Not Quite So Low’, then three albums later we did ‘Mad Mad Love’ and co-wrote half that album together.  We completed recording this new one on November 18th 2019 which seems like an eternity ago, given all that has transpired since then.  I lived in the USA for so long that it seemed logical to me to work with people I know and trust and have history with. So I combined tour dates in the USA with recording this new album in New York, which was, in retrospect, crazy. This recording was completed with partial support from ArtsACT for which I am very grateful.”

Lisa says that Dominoes is, "A song about being young and out of control. This song was written on piano, which is different for me as I don’t really play piano. Growing up in Townsville North QLD was wild. I don’t make a secret of the fact that I began drinking at 7 and that I was dosed on anti psychotic medication from when I was 4 or 5 years old. The sexual abuse started somewhere in there and continued until I hit puberty. Alcohol and drugs were my close friends and it’s no wonder I was all over the place!  I was super confused about men, women, sex and relationships. I remember having this desperate need to be loved and desired and the suicidal spiral that would come over me when I was rejected. Which happened a lot.  I hung out with a gang of equally confused people and we were like dominoes!

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Citrus Country - Moonshine - Ben Stalets

Citrus Country - This Heat.

Citrus Country is Milo McNulty, the acclaimed talent behind previous projects Morning Smoke and Method Actress. Returning under a fresh name, the London-based artist is set to release a new track ‘This Heat’.

When Milo’s writing style began to move beyond Morning Smoke’s ‘wall of noise’, he decided he needed a clean split from the group. With a penchant for experimenting with his artistry, Milo moved to London to launch Citrus Country and work on a new set of songs with Chris Zane (Passion Pit, The Walkmen) at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch.

This Heat is the first of three singles - a unique dreamy song that layers complex electronic production with washy guitars and pensive tones. Carrying influence from Milo’s noisy post-punk days, some fuzzy guitars find their way in and there is still a great energy to the otherwise calm track. On top of it all perch Milo’s poetic lyrics that ruminate on

With previous acclaim from The Guardian, Clash, DIY, The Line Of Best Fit and BBC Radio, and experience playing some of the UK’s high-profiled shows, including The Great Escape, Citrus Country is set to make a name once again for himself as one of the most exciting new acts in London.

Speaking about the track, Milo said “This Heat was written during a period of my life where I found myself questioning my identity and purpose . The song aims to express feelings of despondency and loss however it was important to me that although the song sounded melancholy there was a sense of beauty and joy beneath it.”

CITRUS COUNTRY · This Heat

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Moonshine - IDWW.

Moonshine tell us their story, they also produce some wonderful music: "We are Moonshine, an indie-folk-pop band currently based in Israel. Our music is characterized by a combination of both acoustic and electric sounds along with thought-out lyrics and two voices trying to tell a story.

It all started in a rehearsal room at the well known “Rimon school of music”. With an old songbook that had piled up dust, we slowly found ourselves performing every week.

The band was formed by the end of 2018 by the band's lead singers Coral Oulu and Oshri Bitton and together with the other members of the band (Omer Yihye, Amit Mintz and David Frider) we released our debut E.P "Come back home”.

The E.P entered some international playlists on Spotify, the editors' choice at KAN 88 and a successful Netflix series in Sweden (Älska mig).

In the past year, between quarantines, we continued to create and finish our debut album, which was mostly funded by the "Headstart"crowdfunding project and in which we raised 50,000 NIS".

 

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Ben Stalets - Everybody's Laughing (Album).

Taking cues from 60s and 70s musical influences such as John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Warren Zevon, Todd Snider, Willie Nelson, and even Prince, Toledo native Ben Stalets addresses the thorns in his side on new record, Everybody’s Laughing, both personal and worldly. 

The songs were not written with an overarching theme in mind, but when it came time for the album art concept, it was the “cult leader” vibe that gave him a sense of what the underlying vision is: Collective suffering allows us to collectively suffer less.

The album is a reference to a quote from Mark Twain’s social commentary book, Following the Equator: “The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.”

“The way I look at it,” says Stalets, “everybody is laughing, which means everyone is suffering— we’re all in this together.”

 

Ben Stalets · Everybody's Laughing

Sadie Campbell - Rebecca McCartney - Mikaela Finne - Ben Heffernan - Gal Musette

Sadie Campbell - Darkroom (E.P).

Singer/songwriter Sadie Campbell has released her new EP Darkroom. Campbell wrote Darkroom about her own mental health struggle in 2020, when isolation and uncertainty gave way to despair and, eventually, healing. On three gripping songs, the Canadian-born, Nashville-based artist tracks the mind’s disorienting descent into depression. “2020 for me felt like a darkroom," says Campbell, "It was a lot of isolation and alone time, but it was a place of creativity and development."

Last month, Campbell shared the EP’s effervescent opening track “Fade,” co-written by Vinnie Paolizzi. As Campbell explains, "’Fade’ is about finding comfort in the darkness. Being able to sit in the low points of life because you know they will eventually pass."

Holler.Country recently named Campbell New Artist of The Week saying, “Country-folk is built on the beauty of lyricism, but sometimes a particular musical interlude ends up saying far more than any one verse can. That's the case with singer/songwriter Sadie Campbell's single 'Fade.’ Across a slow, and increasingly intense, opening build of electric guitar, synths and vocals, Campbell captures the difficulty of breaking out of a darker moment.”

The Tennessee Star also spotlighted Campbell recently, raving that the “singer-songwriter has a strong sense of self, and the music that pours out of her is meaningful, purposeful, and it will draw you in like a moth to a flame.”

Campbell grew up in Pritchard, BC, a town so small she says it consists of just one general store. There, she sang in the church choir before taking off for the open-mic scene in Vancouver, ultimately dropping everything to try her luck in Music City, USA. Years of couch-surfing turned to a home in Nashville where Campbell found full-time work performing in the city’s bustling honky-tonks. No stranger to odd-jobs, she has worked as a mail carrier and karaoke host, and has serviced airplanes and flagged logging roads on ATVS in Canada.

Sadie Campbell · Darkroom

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Rebecca McCartney - Remember Less.

Rebecca McCartney returns to the city where she was raised by a family of musicians and nerds, now with her own sound and much to say. She grew up immersed in NYC’s classical music world and her early songwriting eventually led to the release of an indie-folk record under the duo name Garden Party (2020) with her close friend, Jakob Leventhal. 

Now, after a college career studying jazz and playing in an R&B band, McCartney is preparing to release her genre-bending debut EP, How You Feel. Calling on her eclectic musical influences and experiences, the upcoming record generates an edgy, ethereal sound that celebrates McCartney’s buttery vocals and absorbing lyrical insights.

Here's what she had to say about it: "I wrote this song in my college house in Minnesota, thinking about the boy I had just left behind in New York, where I'm from. You can hear me working through the day-by-day loss of the tactile feeling of our time together as his memory got farther away, even as I was trying to convince myself I didn't care. 

It's a moody fusion of R&B, indie rock, and wondering whether someone's moving on faster than you. I worked with my close friend and collaborator, Jakob Leventhal, who produced the whole EP that Remember Less is on".

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Mikaela Finne - Time Stands Still (Album).

With its Telecaster leads, acoustic strums, mid-tempo waltzes and tales of outlaw women and lost love, one might naturally assume Time Stands Still, the new album from Mikaela Finne, is a product of Nashville, TN.

Truth be told, Finne was born and spent her childhood on the coast of Finland in Vaasa, and now hails from Stockholm, Sweden, where the album was recorded with producer Brady Blade (Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and the Dukes, Jewel, Indigo Girls, Buddy & Julie Miller). Somewhat fitting for an album that’s laden with contrasts, Finne actually found as much inspiration in heavy metal as she did the country genre during her youth, the rebellious spirit she found in both prompting her to pursue her musical passion.

Like her contemporaries Sarah Shook and Lydia Loveless, Finne’s emotive vibrato is its own instrument, adding an undeniable passion to her songs and making lines like “I’ve lost count, how many times you’ve broken my heart“ even more impactful. “The country music comes from my dad,” she explains, recalling his love for Dolly Parton and Creedence. “The word ‘outlaw’, for me, [means] you do something that you love regardless of what anybody else thinks about what you’re doing. … When I was a teenager, the music and the heavy metal that I listened to were totally outlaw.”

While topics like self-awareness and confidence are certainly not new terrain for a songwriter to excavate, Finne puts her own spin on them, with lead-off track “What If I” revealing a realization that sometimes self-confidence means admitting a sense of uncertainty and taking a step back to think things through if another’s intentions don’t seem to be pure. Set to a swinging rhythm section and tasty guitar riffs, and wrapping up with a nice classic country modulation that exudes swagger and confidence, the track finds Finne “second guessing … stressing … going out of [her] mind,” but make no mistake, as she also warns the listener, she can be a bit headstrong and they best get on board or get left behind.

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Ben Heffernan - drive in movies (E.P).

Ben Heffernan’s third EP, drive in movies, sees the Canadian Folk Music Award nominated singer-songwriter move into new sonic and lyrical territory. drive in movies is a personal, cinematic collection of songs that chronicles key events in the life of a teenager: falling in love for the first time, losing someone for the first time, frustration with the world around you, and the speed in which one’s young life tends to change.

After spending the larger part of the second half of 2018 and the first half of 2019 playing over 150 shows across Canada, Ireland and the UK, Heffernan chose to record his by then well road-tested group of new songs at home. While “Drive In Movies” acknowledges Heffernan’s roots in what he describes as “classic singer-songwriter folk-pop”, it also reflects his love for 80s-inspired maximalist pop/rock productions and widescreen, stadium-sized ballads. The songs are neatly tied together through the use of vintage movie samples, which lends the EP a conceptual, unified feel.

Lead single “Movie Nights”, an up-tempo, 80s-inspired pop/rock track, reflects the frustration with the questions asked about a generation determined to see change as well as the “nagging feeling that we might just be living through the end of the world as we know it”, as Heffernan suggests. This is bookended by “When the Stars Collide”, a stadium-sized two-part singalong that leaves more questions unresolved than it answers. This is intentional, as Heffernan points out, as it “reflects the people that this EP is really about – most of us haven’t turned 21 yet. None of us have any kind of real resolution to our stories yet either.”

Ben Heffernan has become recognized as a young Canadian artist to watch over the last few years, after being nominated for Young Performer of the Year and performing at the Canadian Folk Music Awards after the release of his 2018 EP “Home”, and contributing a cover of Tom Petty’s “Angel Dream” to a Petty tribute compilation that included artists such as Matt Mays, Terra Lightfoot, and Royal Wood. Roots Music Canada called his Canadian Folk Music Award performance “a highlight”, while Spill Magazine called his cover of Angel Dream “incredible”. Among an ever-growing list of dive bars, bowling alleys, moving trains, and hair salons, Heffernan’s touring schedule has seen him play the Winnipeg Folk Festival, JUNOfest, and the Ruby Sessions in Dublin, Ireland (previous acts have included Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Sons), among other high-profile festivals and live appearances.

Ben Heffernan · drive in movies

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Gal Musette - Julia.

Gal Musette is the nom de plum of Grace Freeman, a musical prodigy who began writing piano based lyrical compositions and performing at open mics in her home city of San Clemente, CA at the age of 10. Her graceful approach to melody-driven indie-folk and French chansons has captured audiences all over Southern California. At age 14, inspired by The Magnetic Fields’ triple album 69 Love Songs, Gal recorded her own collection titled 70 Love Songs, which caught the attention of the band, and won her an opening slot on a few of their Midwestern U.S. tour dates. 

In more recent years, Gal has opened for several renowned artists such as Macy Gray, Suzanne Vega, Todd Snyder, and Donavon Frankenreiter. While her artist name is taken from bal-musette, the accordion-based, waltz-style French instrumental music, Gal’s primary inspiration is drawn from songwriters including Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Bjork, Cocteau Twins, Burt Bacharach, Irving Berlin and The Cure.

In October 2021, Gal will be releasing her debut album, Backwards Lullaby, featuring a vocal duet with one of her biggest musical inspirations, Rufus Wainwright. The upcoming album explores the pangs of hopeless romances and unrequited love, what it’s like to move beyond idealized love into the acceptance of what is real and constant, as well as the cyclical nature of life and love in relationships.

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Purple Pilgrims - The Velveteins - Maygen & The Birdwatcher - Alicia Stockman - M. Byrd

Purple Pilgrims - Ancestors Watching.

Sister duo Purple Pilgrims have released the third part of a trilogy of Super 8 films that were made with friend and fellow musician Gary War. ‘Ancestors Watching’ is taken from the band’s album Perfumed Earth which was released via Flying Nun Records in what seems like another world; pre-pandemic. Due to one thing or another the sisters were delayed in releasing the third instalment, then with the emergence of Covid-19, it was temporarily lost to the archives. This is the final piece of Purple Pilgrims’ current story left to share.

“The video is our take on an ancient ritual. We were thinking about folkloric traditions, and of course our ancestors. The song is largely about being kind to oneself, and the idea that muddling our way through life can feel less daunting when we consider all our family branching out behind us, holding wisdom and strength. It’s an idea that can offer comfort when we’re feeling lost. We had this really simple idea loosely based around a maypole dance - the ancient celebration of oncoming warmer weather and new growth. May celebrations are so optimistic, always looking forward - which felt fitting as the song itself is about a new beginning too in a way.”

 this video was filmed by Gary War in the summer of 2019, freely on a hillside in Tāmaki Makaurau, with their ancestors watching on (amused we presume). Concept and art direction by Clementine and Valentine Nixon and makeup by Jessica Hunt.

As Purple Pilgrims, sisters Clementine and Valentine Nixon make music that is at once spacious and sensual, swooning and spellbound. The sisters’ intertwined voices soar and slow dive, radiating a rich spectrum of experience: journeys, homecomings, and great longing.

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The Velveteins - Cosmic Saturation.

Soaked in the bright psychedelia of the 1960’s and dipped in the indie rock explosion of the new millennium, The Velveteins are best described as a bridge between the two. Inspired after living out of a camper van on the beaches of Australia for a year, frontman Spencer Morphy returned to Canada and started the band with co-songwriter Addison Hiller in 2014. Later joined by Dean Kheroufi and Danger Sedmak, the foursome have since made a name for themselves for their incendiary live performances.

Radiating hazy energy, “Cosmic Saturation” has a trippy, laxed aura with a structurally, pop-rock sensibility. The vintage twangs on the guitars surf over an ocean of edgy, quirky melodies and soft drums that lend to a more modern indie feel. The vocals maintain a relaxed feel allowing the subtle, psychedelic atmosphere to stand out next to charming, gritty guitar riffs.

While travelling across the USA, the band were exposed to a colorful palette of sights and sounds, with a fusion of delirium, euphoria and chaos spinning the web of inspiration for their new single. Morphy shares, “Cosmic Saturation was largely inspired by our lives at the time, being constantly travelling and the lifestyle we were living playing so many shows. Driving across the country from the east to west coast, watching the interstates fly by in the dawn.” Keeping the themes of their tracks very much in the present day, their sonic taste buds draw them back to the classic flavours of the 60s, resulting in a throwback sound reminiscent of Babe Rainbow, Foxygen and Deerhunter.

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Maygen & The Birdwatcher - Jigsaw.

Minnesota based folk turned genre-bending Americana-Newgrass duo Maygen & The Birdwatcher, have just released "Jigsaw," the track is an "honest look at the dynamics of what family life really is.

Maygen Lacey is an accomplished, Midwest CMA nominated singer/songwriter with millions of streams on Spotify from listeners around the world. Noah Neumann is a wicked talented guitar virtuoso with a taste for Delta Blues. The combination of the two is Maygen & The Birdwatcher, an indie-folk duo turned genre-bending Americana-Newgrass and Soul experience you need to hear!

In many respects, Maygen and Noah couldn’t be more different. From upbringing and musical taste to the Minneapolis vs Saint Paul debate, there are few things these two agree on. The short list includes: sarcasm, the great outdoors, quality beer, and having a good ‘ol time. Maygen & Noah’s 2018 debut album, “The People We Don’t Choose,” drew on their distinctly different musical influences including Brandi Carlile, Florence + The Machine, and Balmorhea to create a collection of songs that explored family, addiction, loss and navigating the people in their lives. With heartbreak and hope intertwined throughout, it was very well received. Its single, “Comeback” currently spins on local radio, including The Current’s Radio Heartland

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Alicia Stockman - Stay Between the Lines (feat. Mary Bragg).

Utah-based country meets Americana singer-songwriter Alicia Stockman has released her new single "Stay Between The Lines." Conceived during a long journey home on the highway from New Mexico, the song is a reflection on how we all can sometimes “dance between right and wrong and personal limits and boundaries to keep life interesting.” Featuring a twangy Americana melody, reverb-drenched guitar, and dynamic vocal harmonies, this is the perfect tune to get lost in during your summer road trip.

Alicia Stockman is a Utah-based folk-meets-Americana singer-songwriter whose music pulls back the veil to reveal everyday vulnerability. Her songs are written like intimate moments, drawing listeners into a relatable emotional journey.

At a young age, Alicia Stockman began her deep love for music, compelled by the vivid storytelling of powerhouse songwriters including Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile and Jewel.  After performing in a loud rock n’ roll band playing bars with sticky floors and belting out Stevie Wonder tunes, Alicia began writing her own music more seriously.  Realizing her new songs didn’t have a place in a loud bar with a party atmosphere, she branched out and started playing more intimate venues, quickly finding her home in the folk and Americana scene. Her whisky-dipped soulful vocals and creative takes on day-to-day realities soon sparked the interest of “Nashville’s Americana Queen” Mary Bragg who began collaborating with Alicia on her new album.

Her upcoming debut 10-track full-length album is entitled These Four Walls and is a collection of  "songs to make you feel and feel seen." The album says, “I see you. I've been there. I understand.” Written over a three year period, These Four Walls is a luminous roots release  infused with gritty blues rock guitar licks and attention worthy melodies.

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M. Byrd - Orion.

After his two singles "Mountain" and "Morning Sun", M. Byrd now releases his first EP titled Orion - four songs full of vastness and warmth, carried by the feeling of passing trees outside a backseat car window and the melancholic homesickness that sometimes goes along with. Just one year ago, the first sign of life appeared with "Mountain" and the interim summary is impressive: M. Byrd has become one of the most exciting newcomers on the European music scene, counts 3.5 million streams on just two songs, was recommended in the French Rolling Stone as well as in American blogs. This summer he plays at tastemaker festivals like Immergut, in September at the Reeperbahn Festival and next year he will support indie dance king Roosevelt on his full European tour.

Wafting reverb tails, the casually stoic drums - Byrd's music sounds like Guadagigno's "Call me by your name," at times reminiscents of Tom Petty, Sufjan Stevens or Kurt Vile, while the guitars first sound like Sonic Youth and then fade away like The War on Drugs. In the title single, "Orion" M.Byrd remembers a long-time-nameless turtle that lived with his family for years - without anyone being bothered by the fact that it has no name. In the end, it is named Orion. "It's living in the past, you held me in your hands and never called me Orion". In the accompanying video, director Constantin Timm accompanies the artist and turtle on a journey through the desert.

M.Byrd’s timeless songs shine with a feeling of strength and self-understanding that can be rarely found at the beginning of a young musician’s career - they transport the listener to the American west coast, emitting a sense of melancholic future and euphoric youth, urging them to trust their intuition and find their inner-self. “I spent many years soaking up personal and musical experiences and I’ve been learning a lot in different studios and touring situations. The music I make is thus inspired by being on the road, moving on and allowing growth to happen. I realized that the experiences on my path might also inspire other people and I hope that this will continue in the future with the songs we release.”

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Natalie Jane Hill - Kate Ellis - Mike Etten - Ruth Lyon - Vera Ellen - Parliamo

Natalie Jane Hill - Orb Weaver.

“Orb Weaver” is a song about comparing myself to the hidden intricacies that I might find on a walk in the woods. I attach most of my memories to what is visually around during a certain time. Sometimes there is a comfort to the natural world and other times there is a harshness. My experiences can almost mirror them. I’d like to think that nature has a way of telling us exactly what we need to hear.

Taken from the forthcoming "Solely”, the sophomore effort by folk guitarist/singer-songwriter Natalie Jane Hill, it is a record of transition. While the Central Texas native’s stunning debut “Azalea” grew from years spent developing a textural narrative voice and idiosyncratic guitar style in the vibrant Blue Ridge Mountains, “Solely” represents a period of inward growth, and an outward push into an expanded sonic palette.

Following a move back to the Austin area in the fall of 2019, just months ahead of the pandemic, Natalie began an intensive period of reflection, and expanded her song-craft’s foundations from the broader themes of nature into the vulnerable intricacies of self-discovery. Along with this process came an openness to external creative input.

Recorded between October 2020-March 2021 to Tascam 8 track in the Lockhart Texas home of producer Jason Chronis (Voxtrot, Tele Novella), these recordings represent Hill’s first incorporation of other musicians into her arrangements, featuring performances by Mat Davidson (Twain) among several other trusted friends. There is a liberating and careful grace in these collaborations, providing strength and color to the upper branches of each song while preserving space for the health of the roots.

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Kate Ellis – Bluebirds And Rye.

US artist Kate Ellis Bluebirds & Rye released on Friday! This is the second single from her impressive sophomore album ‘Spirals’ due out in early 2022; a collection of songs that came out of a process of soul searching "to quiet the thought storms in my head and find my balance in the world," says Kate.

‘Bluebirds And Rye' follows the critically acclaimed and widely playlisted first single Another Way. Also produced by John Reynolds (Sinead O'Connor, Indigo Girls, Damien Dempsey), it is a sweet, poignant and uplifting folk song about a mother’s loving words of advice for her young daughter. In Kate’s words: "I wrote this for my daughter who, like me, is an emotional girl. 

This is my letter to her telling her I know what she’s going through, and it can feel hard, but everything’s going to be fine in the end. The song is about recognising the patterns in myself that I can see getting passed on, and the pitfalls of certain emotional pathways that I know from experience you want to avoid. I wanted to tell her: just take a breath and find a moment of rest. All there is is love and peace, everything else is in your head. This is what's important so don’t worry about the other stuff; it’s all going to be ok."

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Mike Etten - Drive.

The newest Dull Tools release is the first solo venture from Mike Etten, who you may know from his contributions to PC Worship & to Dougie Poole's recent LPs. Love Wash lands somewhere in between those two projects stylistically, it's a brooding psych-folk LP filled with unconventional arrangement touches, as demonstrated by the rubato swirl of saxophone, synth and acoustic guitar that kicks things off.

Drive was inspired by a late night trip down a country back road, touching dark memories of that ride and wrong turns made in the past. The tune starts with a simple guitar figure that unfolds and winds its way through changes, with a mix of percussion and drum machines bouncing around it. It felt like it lent itself to pedal steel, so I asked Tristan Shepherd (Dougie Poole band) to put down some tremolo-y tracks and a wild fuzzed out solo in the middle that really gave this one its character. 

I improvised a lead synth track that I really like too, it has that first-take spontaneity which I tried to capture whenever I could through the whole recording process. Drive feels full of confusion and hope at the same time, with me trying to move towards a more peaceful station, a more loving vision, and accepting that chaos can always be around the next corner.

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Ruth Lyon - Lemon Tree.

Ruth Lyon is a singer-songwriter of intense honesty and an impulse to say it how it is. Making a unique brand of ‘baroque-pop’ she bares her soul with courage and conviction - full of stark self-reflection but also a knowing nod to the absurdity of life. She returns to drop her latest single “Lemon Tree” on August 25th, in anticipation of her debut EP “Nothing’s Perfect” expected October 22nd.

In 2019 Ruth released her first single “I’d Give It All” (under the name Ruth Patterson) which received support from 6 Music, Radio X and Spotify editorial. In 2020 Ruth cemented herself as one of the North East’s most important voices, when Sage Gateshead named her Artist-in-Residence. Over the course of the year, despite being thrown into turmoil by the pandemic, Ruth released two more singles, the evocative “Sink or Swim” and “Somebody Else”, for which she received the PRS Woman Make Music award and was named as BBC Intro one to watch in 2021.

Ruth is now taking on her mother’s maiden name, Lyon, as she launches the next chapter of her career.  Co-producing with Rhiannon Mair (Laura Marling, LUNA) and Cameron Craig (Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua) Ruth explores her different identities - from the louche rock star, to the bittersweet poet, looking for love and a place in the world. Classically trained but with an eye for the catchy chorus and bright, pop melodies, Ruth sweeps from self-questioning piano ballads and lush string arrangements, to hands-in-the-air indie bangers. With the raw energy of a young disabled person who has constantly had to adapt to life’s twists and turns, her introspective and sometimes droll twist on storytelling brings up questions you never knew you should be asking.

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Vera Ellen - Crack The Whip.

Introducing Vera Ellen’s third single ‘Crack the Whip’. Vera wrote most of this song when she came back to New Zealand from LA at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was feeling a bit of whiplash from moving countries. I was reflecting a lot on the motions of life,  the wheel of fortune and coming to accept that our efforts to control anything are charmingly futile.”

Lyrically, it's a mash up of different points of Vera feeling homesick for New Zealand; when she was missing the nature and culture and people. “I used to work at this pop up called "Wonderworld" on Hollywood Boulevard. No one would ever come in so I would just stand at the counter and look out the window wondering why the hell I came here.”

The accompanying video is made up from home video footage from Wellington Zoo in 1997, and features Vera Ellen, her brother Albert River (who features heavily on the upcoming album, and is also in Vera’s live band), and their Nana. These images are intercut with footage of familiar sights from Vera’s current LA residence; Hollywood and Santa Monica beach.

“My brother and I are very close and we have always had this way of protecting each other. The video kind of turned into a homage to our bond and the deep sadness of being apart.“

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Parliamo - She's Only Human.

Perth, Scotland based 6-piece Parliamo (pronounced Par-Lee-Ammo) today release new single "She's Only Human",  lifted from upcoming EP 'The Parliamo Manifesto', out October 7th via Modern Sky (The Coral, The Lathums, Abbie Ozard).

A bracing indie-rock jammer addressing the fragility of mental health, speaking on the release of the new single, the band said: "She’s Only Human is a testament to confusion in confusing times. It discusses the limitations that those with poor mental health can face when it comes to relationships with others and oneself, and ultimately conveys that it’s okay not to be okay."

The band's upcoming debut EP 'The Parliamo Manifesto' is the culmination of over a year's songwriting and is a bold statement of intent from the 6 piece. Employing a charming tongue-in-cheek approach to some of the slightly darker aspects of life which young people face today, the record touches on the complications of religious pressure on "Catholic Guilt", spiralling addiction on "Who Needs a Reason?", mental health on new single "She’s Only Human" and the awkward beauty of young love on lead single "Paul & Barry".

The baggy, swaggering sound of the band and the often darkly humorous nature of the lyrics, stands in stark contrast with some of the subject matter, echoing the band’s propensity for laughing in lieu of crying. In a world of such turmoil and uncertainty, with ‘The Parliamo Manifesto’ the band are aiming to reconcile people with positivity through vibrant, energetic music, whilst providing a relatable commentary on the modern world and the inner workings of the minds of young people.

Written and delivered in the Scottish vernacular, the record offers a somewhat unique perspective on the simultaneously charming and terrifying nature of modern life.

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Black Bordello - Sylvie - Gustaf

Black Bordello - Nunhead.

Peckham, London based quintet Black Bordello have released their new single "Nunhead". An uncompromising 5 minute art-rock attack of the senses, the track examines the gentrification of Peckham, its new generation of disrespecting residents and the inevitable fate of us all.

The release of "Nunhead" coincides with the announcement of the band's signing to Hideous Mink Records (Opus Kink, Fake Turins, Body Horror) and arrives alongside an accompanying video for the track, shot in Nunhead cemetery and directed by Will Reid (recently working with the likes of Malady, Slowthai, LEGSS and Lauren Auder).

Comprised of singer and guitarist Sienna Bordello, Eddie Amos (drums/percussion), Anthony Boatright (bass), Rachel Asafo-Agyei (backing vocals) and Henry Carpenter (keys), Black Bordello are widely regarded as one of the most unique and exciting live acts in London right now.

Pulling together the shapeshifting creativity and theatrics of PJ Harvey, the jazz-flecked tones of Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith with the emotional intensity of Patti Smith, Black Bordello are a force to be reckoned with and "Nunhead" is a momentous statement of intent from the 5-piece.

Speaking on the track, the band said: "'Nunhead' was written during the plague, at a time when people were confined to their houses. Sienna would visit Nunhead cemetery frequently as a place of refuge and to see the graves of her family members. There she was met face to face by the ills of gentrification. The place that always held profound, peaceful contemplation and wisdom buried deep within its grounds was now ruined by over-privileged pleasure makers who had no real connection to the area or its history. Sienna and the band felt this reflected the overarching psychopathy in our times."

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Sylvie - Falls on me.

Last month Sylvie announced their self-titled debut EP on Terrible Records, and shared its epononymous title track. The song is a cover of a song from an obscure 1970s record by Ian Matthews called Later That Same Year, and a track that serves as a partial inspiration for the band's existence. Before they adopted it as a name, the band (which is led by some time Drugdealer & Golden Daze member Benjamin Schwab and features Marina Allen and Sam Burton) started using the term "a Sylvie" to refer to "a song from the past that’s incredible but for whatever reason, is basically unknown," and the group's sound is a sort of homage to lost gems like Matthew's songs, and the recordings of Mad Anthony, the Southern California group that Benjamin's father John Schwab played in during the '70s. 

Now the band are sharing a new single from the EP and their first original composition, a track entitled "Falls on me" that features lead vocals from Allen, whose well-regarded solo debut Candlepower, came out on Fire Records earlier this year.

A gorgeously rendered song that feels as though it could have been airlifted directly out of Laurel Canyon, the track is anchored by a powerful and strikingly nuanced performance from Allen, but was written by Schwab who identifies it as the most personal song on Sylvie's debut.

"A lot of the songs on the EP feel like they're about other people's lives, my experience with them, or a time and place in the past, but this is the one off the EP that is directly about my life and my growth," Schwab explains. "When I was writing 'Falls on me', I was sorting through all these emotions that had built up over the past 5-10 years. Through rel-tionships ending, bridges burning, or whatever it was, I found myself at a place where I felt very distant from the source. 

Repeating similar patterns, being heartbroken over someone over and over again or whatever it was. I found myself really lost to the point where there was really no other place to go but home. The first half of the song explores this feeling, and then 3/4 of the way through the character meets a friend who reminds them of themselves. There is this person who reminds them just enough of who they are so that they can see themselves again or what it would be like to return home, back to the source, to yourself. This song to me is about deliverance and a returning home that took me many years to arrive at. Itʼs sung by Marina Allen, who realy did such an amazing job delivering the sentiment."

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Gustaf - Best Behavior.

Brooklyn’s Gustaf are sharing "Best Behavior", the follow up to the NPR-approved "Book" and second offering from the debut album Audio Drag For Ego Slobs, out October 1st on Royal Mountain Records. A frenetic and suitably buzzing from one of New York’s “hardest working…and most reliably fun bands” (BrooklynVegan), it comes ahead of an extensive of touring throughout the US, UK and Europe that sees them sharing the stage with IDLES, Pillow Queens, and Osees.

Vocalist Lydia Gammill explains, "“Best Behavior” was fun to record because it was one of the first songs we finished/crafted in the studio rather than onstage. It started out as a demo we had in the early days of the band but never ended up playing live. It sat forgotten until we began planning the record and came together pretty effortlessly in the studio." She continues, "Unlike the bulk of the album that we developed over the course of many live shows, it was exciting to be making decisions and constructing the final song as it was happening. It also helped us get our footing and identify how we wanted to steer and produce the remaining recordings."

"The song’s ethos is a bit of the old and the new attitude for Gustaf. Our narrator, the ‘ego slob’, is bargaining with itself, scrounging for self compassion and self assurance despite a pile of hurt feelings in its wake. In demanding spoils despite having done nothing to earn them, we see the initial cracks in a brutish facade— our antihero slowly realizing maybe the shell they built for themselves was not built for the world."

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