SUGARFUNGUS - St.Arnaud - Tidal Wave - Ewan MacFarlane

SUGARFUNGUS - Whats A Good One Worth?

SUGARFUNGUS is an indie pop/indietronica band from Vancouver, Canada that was formed remotely in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. The 5-piece collective describes themselves as “introverts making dance music” and their songs, like debut single “Ghosts”, evoke a certain dream-pop meets Pacific Northwest electronica sound. But SUGARFUNGUS are more than just bedroom pop, the group’s influences range from classic rock to nu-jazz.

The members of SUGARFUNGUS are lead singer Tess Meckling, bassist Alex Marr, lead guitarist Bradan Decicco, keyboardist Jackson Moore, and drummer Ivan Barbou. The name SUGARFUNGUS comes from a literal translation of Saccharomyces yeast, used in wine, beer, and bread. It is a fitting name as lab partners turned bandmates, Marr and Moore met while attending graduate school at the University of British Columbia in a wine yeast genetics lab. Friends and Capilano University jazz students/alumni, Decicco, Meckling, and Barbou were soon asked to join the group that would ultimately form SUGARFUNGUS. The band is intending to release their first EP entitled “Letting Go, Moving Still” in Winter of 2021/2022. 

The EP presents a set of warm and fuzzy tracks that blend bright guitar lines and atmospheric synths, all the while punctuated by pop-driven hooks that capture the feeling of drifting in and out of a state of sweet, mushroomy bliss. Each song of the EP was written and recorded at the homes of each of the band members, who would produce their parts, share for notes, and feedback, and then send the parts to drummer and producer Ivan Barbou. “Good music presents a story and people feel it through their interpretation,” Barbou says of the band’s intentions. “We have the same vision to entertain people and get them to dance.”

For a band inspired by science, nature, and dance music, the idea of stitching pieces of different organisms together to evolve into something infinitely funkier, more brilliantly alive is an apt metaphor. With restrictions easing, SUGARFUNGUS are hopeful that their underground tendrils will soon be able to rise to the surface and break out into the light, a unique and talented bunch – now a fully formed organism ready for its arrival.

SUGARFUNGUS · What's A Used One Worth?

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St.Arnaud - Catching Flies.

Following up the enormous acclaim he garnered for his brilliant 2019 debut album ‘The Cost Of Living’, Edmonton singer and songwriter St. Arnaud has now returned to announce the details behind his highly-anticipated follow-up LP ‘Love And The Front Lawn’, alongside the breezy new lead single ‘Catching Flies’.

Much like what we heard on his previous full-length, ‘Catching Flies’ sees the artist return in a fresh and jubilant guise. Continuing his light yet textured approach to the sweeping indie-pop sound, his newest venture makes for a wonderfully bright and joyous listen, filled with his distinctive brand of diverse instrumentation and alluring persona.

Speaking about his latest offering, he said, “Catching Flies is, somehow, St.Arnaud’s covid song, if there’s going to be one. Dropped into an inner monologue of feigning amusement and a sigh of complacency, a tone of equal parts smoky and cheeky set the scene of a twenty-something’s life and love on pause.”

Edmonton indie-pop songster St.Arnaud is a little bit of everywhere to everyone. Working alongside his brother and fellow creative, the YouTube animator GingerPale, St.Arnaud found a loving home on YouTube and Spotify with legions of eager listeners and was swept up in dozens of tour dates across Canada and the USA. His debut album was a DIY tour-de-force of fun-loving melodies overlaying themes of death, loss, and anxiety. His new album, 2022’s Love and the Front Lawn continues the sad lyrics/happy melodies framework but with a new instrumental palette. St.Arnaud has performed with Basia Bulat, Reuben and the Dark, and Lucy Rose among countless others and has performed at stages across the world including at Reeperbahn, New Colossus Festival, FOCUS Wales, and Tallinn Music Week, along with been featured on Exclaim!, BeatRoute Magazine, Indie 88, and more.

St.Arnaud · Catching Flies

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Tidal Wave - This Cost Of Life.

Tidal Wave is a 7 piece Art Rock band known for their powerful soundscapes and diverse instrumentation. Formed in 2018, the group met each other working and performing in the local live scene in Toronto. 

This eclectic group of songwriters was initially put together by guitarist and lead vocalist Connor Young; who assembled guitarist Marco Carboni, guitarist and producer Marcus Retterath, drummer and keyboard player Mike Poisson, violinist and vocalist Joey Assaad, violinist Brittany Iwanciwski, and bassist Kyle Texiera. 

Whether you are listening to their recorded or live material, the band meticulously layers its elements to give the music a full wall of sound with forward momentum. It is an ever present atmosphere composed of rich textures of guitars and synthesizers, with a delicate balance between soaring string lines and strong vocal melodies. 

The name of the band rather accurately depicts the overall tone of an unrelenting unstoppable force. Tidal Wave evokes the melodic elements of indie rock bands like Arcade Fire, while creating compelling production-heavy ambient synth and guitar textures comparable to Godspeed! You Black Emperor and My Bloody Valentine. In 2021 they released their debut self-titled EP.

Tidal Wave · This Cost Of Life

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Ewan MacFarlane - Honey.

Ewan MacFarlane’s debut solo album “Always Everlong” was released in October 2021 to much acclaim, as the former Grim Northern Social and Apollo 440 frontman set out his stall as a solo artist with a collection of finely crafted rock ‘n’ roll songs that capture the unnameable feeling all great musicians elicit when you find yourself in the presence of something truly special.

The album came about when MacFarlane challenged himself mid lockdown to write a tune a day to upload to YouTube each evening, these songs tell tales of tension with pledges of eternal love. An expression of his hopes and fears, “Always Everlong” is emboldened by a personable approach to classic rock penmanship as Ewan bares his soul by putting pen to paper, unafraid of the consequences. Honouring the revered rock’n’roll songbooks of Bowie, Petty, and Springsteen, it plots the works of those making up the soundtrack to his own life, who have always called, enthralled, and entranced him.

Like all great albums, music lovers will be revisiting “Always Everlong” for years to come and with this in mind, MacFarlane has announced the digital release of a deluxe “Always Everlong” package to come out in February 2022. Including extra rarities and treasures, the new digital release celebrates the successes of the album’s initial release and as ripples of the initial “Always Everlong” release still expand out into the world, the deluxe edition gives those that may have overlooked this future classic another reason to dive right in and check it out.

On the deluxe release, Ewan said, “we had so many great songs that we left out first time around. Then when the reaction to the album was so strong, it seemed like the sensible thing to do was to release an expanded version of the album.”

The new package includes 7 extra tracks in total, and among them BBC Radio Scotland afternoon show single of the week “This Year” and new single “Honey”. “Honey” represents the first time Ewan has revisited his back catalogue, being a recording of a song that was originally written and released via his band The Grim Northern Social back in 2003. “I’m really proud of that period of my career, the success we had and the songs we released,” says Ewan “Honey is about being so much in love that you can taste it. It’s about wanting someone and fantasising what it would be like to have it all on your terms, which is of course is impossible. None the less, its ok to dream!”

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Pinegrove - Liam Davis - Alice SK - Carmody

Pinegrove - Habitat.

As they prepare for the release of their new album 11:11 this Friday, New Jersey-based group Pinegrove have shared today a new video for the mini-epic lead track "Habitat." A robust, textural masterpiece, "Habitat' was inspired by long drives around upstate New York with dilapidated houses covered in plantlife spotting the landscape along the way."

Of the song, singer/guitarist Evan Stephens Hall stated, "'Habitat' collages imagery from across the 2020's - monuments to the past torn down, vandalized, and thrown to the waves, making much needed room for new symbols to ornament our world with."

Pinegrove have also announced a full band live performance will take place this Friday, January 28th to celebrate the release of 11:11. The livestream will begin at 8pm EST and will be available for 24 hours. Tickets can be purchased on their website at www.pinegroveband.com.

Hall is big on multiple meanings. The leader of Pinegrove titled their sixth album 11:11 because of its layered significance: the numerals gesturing to a row of trees, or striped corduroy; the cornfields of upstate New York, or people shoulder-to-shoulder. But it’s also a special time, a “wink from the universe,” as Hall says, for those who witness it on the clock to wish for something brighter. “Calling the record 11:11 should be a heartening statement, though there's certainly a range of emotion across the album. There's much to be angry about right now, and a lot of grief to metabolize. But hopefully, the loudest notes are of unity, collectivity, and community. I want to open a space for people to feel all these things.”

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Photo - Adrian Lewis

Liam Davis - Make Me Cry.

As a native New Yorker, Liam Davis grew up influenced by an array of music. While his father’s love of classic rock engraved the iconic soundprints of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd into him as a child, his studies of classical percussion (such as Bach’s ‘Violin Concerto in A minor’ for marimba) and jazz (Max Roach’s ‘Max’s Mode’) would shape him into a well-rounded musician as he aged. 

Picking up piano at the age of eight and guitar at fifteen only deepened Davis’s musical character and gave him the ability to put whatever he hears in his head into a real space. Influenced by many of the greats (Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney) as well as more modern acts (John Mayer, Nothing But Thieves, Billie Eilish), Liam has developed a broad writing style that blends numerous genres. 

Liam’s career began with the release of his single ‘In My Dreams’ (2020), a contemporary folk ballad about a past relationship that took a downfall due to personal issues. While the release of this song was a huge accomplishment for him, he’s deeply motivated to expand his sound and has been working on a plethora of new songs that will be released in the coming years.

Here's what he had to say about it: "I started writing 'Make Me Cry' when I was still in college. My girlfriend at the time had hurt me really badly, and I channelled that hurt into my songwriting". He continues, "While it's only my second release, it feels like so much more; I focused in on honing my sound, and was able to take influence from the traditional styles I was raised on while still creating something entirely new, unique, and true to my voice as an artist".

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Alice SK - Run Away.

London artist Alice SK's new single “Run Away” is a striking vintage-noir track about being trapped in our minds and how this can lead to us being our own worst enemy. Alice’s haunting, soulful voice sounds classic yet modern through the influence of cultural icons, such as Ella Fitzgerald & Joni Mitchell, and present-day acts, like The Strokes, to create something fresh.

The single comes from Alice SK’s forthcoming debut EP “Electric”, produced by Muca (Los Bitchos, L.A. Salami). “Run Away” is the fourth track to be unveiled from the EP, following the release of Muca’s single “Until We Meet Again” and Alice’s tracks “Another Girl's Man” and “Hidden Paradise”. Alongside Brazilian bossa nova legend Roberto Menescal, Alice featured on “Until We Meet Again” which caused a stir during the summer and the track will also be released as part of the EP package.

Written in lockdown, when we all had a lot of time to reflect on life, relationships, and our own thoughts, “Run Away” captures the moment at when we start to overthink and analyse and start on a self-destruction landslide without realising that it’s happening. The track’s production has an organic feel and an unsettling intrigue with a vinyl crackling backdrop and dark enveloping moods that build to great effect. Portishead vibes are blended with the uniqueness of Alice’s deep and low vocal tones as the track grows out of control.

The video for the single, directed by Henry Harte conjures late 90s nostalgia. On the video’s concept and style, he reveals, “I wanted to capture not only the vibe of the song but the story, and with that I incorporated the backdrop of a harsh city scape paralleled with imagery of escaping or 'running away' by car as a visual metaphor for being more hopeful for the future. I used super 8 sim to portray the nostalgic aesthetic and texture.”

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Carmody - Morning.

Carmody releases her new single "Morning" lifted from her much anticipated debut album Imperfect Constellations, out 6th July via Young Poet. Co-written and produced by Tom Misch, "Morning" also features percussion and synth contributions from rising London producer and artist Conor Albert. Addressing grief and ultimately hope in the aftermath of loss, the song's instrumentation oozes positivity, with Misch's uplifting guitar work and Conor's soulful beat-driven percussion juxtaposing the track's affecting, personal lyrics: ["I see your face now, in everything / cause my heart it won’t believe / In the unspoken and unnamed, for a life I can’t reclaim"]

"'Morning’ is about grief and the way the world continues even after someone you love has died," Carmody notes. "It’s also about hope, the idea that although they’re not physically present you can carry them with you in your mind. I wrote the track with Tom Misch, who also produced it and recorded some eerie, but beautiful, high-pitched ooo’s, as well as playing a solo guitar line. Conor Albert made the drum beat and also recorded some wondrous synth lines."

Carmody's long-awaited debut album Imperfect Constellations is due for release on 6th July via Young Poet and will be split into four separate "constellations" – with each constellation housing tracks that are all thematically linked. "Morning" stands as the first to be heard from 'Constellation B' - 3 songs that focus on "loss and learning to accept a new world without the person you love in it", following 'Constellation A' which offered "a group of songs that explore how we remember".

Carmody went on to say: "'Morning' in particular focuses on this as I write about carrying them with me in my mind, although they are not physically present. 'Strange' is about a walk I took through a cemetery, I was really inspired by observational lyric writing and how artists like Phoebe Bridgers and Alex Turner make the everyday sound beautiful and I wanted to emulate this in the song. 'Yosef' is also about grief, but I am mourning someone who is yet to be found, almost a loss in reverse."

 

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Old Crow Medicine Show - Fe Salomon - Lisa Heller - Nurdjana

Old Crow Medicine Show - Bombs Away.

Old Crow Medicine Show have just released “Bombs Away,” the latest single from the GRAMMY award-winning band’s seventh studio album Paint This Town (out April 22 via ATO Records). Featuring Molly Tuttle on banjo, the band’s devil-may-care twist on a classic divorce song is accompanied by a live performance video.

"I realized something about my song ‘Bombs Away’ when my new girlfriend played the Kacey Musgraves’ album Star-Crossed on a recent road trip; I realized that ‘Bombs Away’ is a song about divorce,” explains Ketch Secor. “Bobby Braddock wrote what I believe to be the genre’s epitome when he spelled it D-I-V-O-R-C-E, but my song about life's detour through Splitsville is far more breakneck, full of fiery fiddling, lyrics more spat than intoned, focusing upon that final phase of the Big D.”

He continues, “‘Bombs Away’ is a song about acceptance. And not of the keel over and die variety, instead it’s a whole-hearted without-a-net leap, a jump-from-the-airplane kind of acceptance, one in which the singer obliges his fate and decides that ‘If I can’t learn to fly let me fall.’ We all crash. We all burn. And if you can accept that, then you might just get through it, hobble home from the impact site, and start living again. Because the only trail down the mountain spelled D-I-V-O-R-C-E  is the one spelled S-U-R-V-I-V-E, and since that’s the path to take, you might as well start now, pierce the air, take the plunge, commence falling. What are you waiting for? Bombs away.”

Paint This Town showcases Old Crow Medicine Show’s ability to merge profound introspection with a rapturous string band revival sound, shining a light on the darker aspects of the American experience with character-driven songs underpinned by visions for a more harmonious future. The album unlocks a new level of creative freedom for the band, who took a far more insular approach than on previous releases as they recorded in their own Hartland Studio and co-produced it with Matt Ross-Spang (John Prine, Jason Isbell). The process revived the band’s spirit of pure abandon and marks a return to the deliberate unpredictability of their earliest busking days.

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Fe Salomon - Super Human.

Gifted with the kind of superpowers that have blessed Alison Goldfrapp with her unwavering glam-pop allure and Stevie Nicks with that invincible soul, Fe Salomon’s strident first offering proves she’s cut from the same cloth and ready to be your newest musical hero.

With pop prowess firmly in check, “Super Human” sees Salomon backed by simmering ‘Big Band’-esque arrangements courtesy of her faithful co-writing sidekick: Johnny Parry. An esteemed classical arranger in his own right, Parry conjures all of the drama and intrigue of a Vaughan-Williams composition, accompanying Salomon’s earthy vocal with shadowy orchestral overtones.

Speaking about the inspiration behind “Super Human” and its origins, Salomon says: ““Super Human” is a song exploring the alter ego. It originated with dancing around with some upper body shimmy moves. Then a chunky brass section, dirty synth and disjunctive rhythms, all inspired by a number 70’s and 80’s movie soundtracks.”

Chiming with the single’s cinematic qualities, “Super Human” is accompanied with an expertly choreographed, kaleidoscopic video by Director/Videographer Fraser Taylor and starring Salomon. Fe Salomon is a singer-songwriter, performer and producer, currently based in the East Midlands. Born in Northampton, Salomon moved to London where she cut her teeth on the bustling stages of the Camden music scene. Developing her act in the capital for over 13 years, it was there that Salomon honed her idiosyncratic sonic stylings from its melting pot of influences and began to percolate ideas for a solo career.

 

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Photo Credit Adrian Andres

Lisa Heller - cheetos n coke.

Today, the young bedroom pop superstar Lisa Heller is thrilled to share her new single, “cheetos n coke.” The first music to be released since last year’s massively successful is anyone listening? EP is a beautifully vulnerable performance, replete with sweet-as-sugar melodies and Heller’s endearing and inviting vocals.

Speaking on the origins of the song, Heller writes: “I wrote “cheetos n coke” with my frequent collaborator Meghan Williams. We wrote the song when I mentioned I wanted to write a song about my previous struggles with an eating disorder and the common struggle amongst a lot of people, especially young women, with body image and body neutrality.”

Heller continues, “I recorded the song in my bedroom in LA, which felt symbolic because I have actually looked in the mirror in that very room and dealt with some negative body image. I worked with my producer, Will McCoy, to make sure the production remained just as vulnerable as how I felt when writing the song. I think that “cheetos n coke” touches on important aspects of mental health. Although not everyone will have a mental illness in their life, everyone has their mental health to tend to. Body image is something that I have had my struggles with and at times really took over my happiness and my life. I wanted to open the conversation by openly sharing those struggles for the first time through a song, because maybe it will help someone feel a little bit less alone.”

Raw, authentic, and honest describe the alternative pop music of Lisa Heller. Lisa found her voice at the age of 13 when music became the creative outlet for her anxiety. As her local following grew, Lisa saw that her music not only helped her, but that its message could help others. Through the release of her music, including her latest EP, “is anyone listening?” Lisa has gathered millions of views and streams, been placed on official Spotify and Apple playlists, and performed with artists such as Bryce Vine, American Authors, Party Nails, Weathers, Jesse McCartney, Kenzo Cregan and Bea Miller. 2022 will bring more touring, more music, and more fans. Lisa Heller and her music and just getting started.

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Nurdjana - What If I Love You.

Nurdjana is a Canadian vocalist who was born and raised in the Netherlands. She’s been immersed in music ever since as a little girl she tagged along with her dad Rob de Rijcke.

He was a singer/songwriter and guitarist and when Nurdjana started singing it was only natural to start making music together.

Rob was a composer of dreamy songs full of love and sadness. Nurdjana and her dad won songwriter competitions, recorded music and played lots of gigs together. He was a modest man and modesty doesn’t bring fortune and fame. But that was not what he was after. He was only after poetry and that was what he found.

Nurdjana is a true advocate of her father’s music and after taking a break from singing when he passed away, she is back full force; determined to put her dad’s music back in the spotlight. Her sound has been described as delicate, yet soulful and jazzy.

Her first EP ‘Coming Home’ will be released May 10th. All songs are written either by Rob or by the duo of father and daughter, some completed by Nurdjana after he passed away.

Nurdjana · What if I love you

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Papercuts - Primer - Brooks Young Band (feat: Ruth Clapton) - Basement Revolver

Papercuts - I Want My Jacket Back.

""I Want My Jacket Back" started out as a bit of absurdist fun, as I was feeling at my wits' end during the end of the US election cycle." -Jason Quever

Jason Quever has been releasing timeless guitar-based dream pop as Papercuts since 2004, impervious to trends or micro genres that have come and gone around him. In that regard, his contemporaries are artists like Hiss Golden Messenger, Fruit Bats, Andy Shauf or Kings of Convenience – artists who are more concerned with song craft and perfecting their sound, and less concerned with gimmicks or fitting into a specific scene. Past Life Regression is his new album and it's a journey into the dreamier reaches of psychedelic folk-pop that digs deep into influences as wide-ranging as The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Spiritualized, Echo & The Bunnymen, Leonard Cohen and late 60s pop of various flavors.

Crafted shortly after Jason's relocation back to the San Francisco Bay Area after several years in LA, the new album revels in the tensions between the pleasures of homecoming and the collective miseries of the pandemic and our current political upheaval. The return home and the enforced isolation of lockdown lend the album a mood of contemplation and immersion in memory. The results are beguiling, from the lush sunshine pop harmonies of first single "I Want My Jacket Back" to the trippy farfisa-driven space-pop of "Lodger" to the gorgeous, Bunnymen-tinged "Palm Sunday."

As always, Jason's songcraft, arranging and production are immaculate, (Quever has been tapped to work with dream pop luminaries Dean Wareham and Beach House as of late) as evidenced by the elegant chamber-pop of "My Sympathies" and the epic flow of "The Strange Boys," “Hypnotist" and "Remarry" in the album's warbly second half. The mood of longing and recollection is a perfect match for the album's dreamy textures and for the unusual times we're living through. It's a true testament to the resilience of the Papercuts project that after several acclaimed albums, Jason still has much that's new to say, and is continually finding new ways to say it.

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Photo - Blake Doyle

Primer - Just A Clown.

Primer (AKA Alyssa Midcalf) makes stadium sized electro pop bangers with bubbly synths, thumping bass and lofty choruses. Quote from Alyssa: Just A Clown is a self effacing pop song about feeling like you’re constantly failing. It’s a song to scream-sing along to by yourself in the car after getting rejected or feeling humiliated. It’s about coming to terms with the knowledge that the game is rigged but continuing to play along because it’s never occurred to you to quit.

“There were experiences that hit me hard emotionally, moments in my life that hit me in a weird way,” Alyssa Midcalf shares when asked about the inspiration behind her latest album, Incubator. “I felt like the only way to process them was to write about them.”

In 2019, under the performance moniker Primer, Midcalf released her first solo album Novelty. And now, the vocalist and electronic producer, has put the full wealth of her experience, from life to music into her sophomore album, Incubator, sharing honest, and sometimes harrowing, stories from her own life through a pop-tinted lens.

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Brooks Young Band -  Promises (featuring Ruth Clapton).

Brooks Young Band's new song, Promises. The song originally made famous by Eric Clapton, has now been covered by Brooks Young Band featuring Ruth Clapton, the daughter of the guitar legend. Brooks Young and Ruth Clapton became friends during the pandemic and started working on new music. Ruth always loved her Dad's Promises recording, so Brooks and Ruth decided to record a new version of the classic track.

You can hear how well the two of their voices harmonize. In this classic rock/country song, Brooks Young adds smooth bluesy guitar licks underneath his and Ruth Clapton's vocals. Ruth's warm, heartfelt vocals remind you of the classic harmony sung initially by Marcy Levy on the 1978 Backless album released by Eric Clapton.

Brooks Young has toured extensively throughout the USA, sharing the stage with icons such as B.B. King, George Thorogood, John Waite, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, The Wallflowers, Boyd Tinsley of Dave Matthews Band, Byran Adams, Robert Cray, and many others.

Brooks Young · Promises (featuring Ruth Clapton)

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Basement Revolver - Circles.

Basement Revolver has always centered around the friendship of bassist/keyboardist Nim Agalawatte and guitarist/vocalist Chrisy Hurn. Lead guitarist Jonathan Malström and drummer Levi Kertesz round out the band’s larger-than-life sound.

The band’s catalogue spans back to their breakout single, 2016’s “Johnny.” That single, and their self-titled EP from the same year, led to their signing with Fear of Missing Out in the UK, and later, Canada’s Sonic Unyon Records.

Heavy Eyes, their debut LP, built on their aesthetic which merges hardcore-inspired indie and ambient dream pop. In support of that they toured throughout the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany. With tour plans on hold through 2020, Basement Revolver found time to wrestle with questions about identity, faith, mental illness, and sexuality.

Their sophomore LP, Embody, is explicit about these new ideas and new thoughts, addressing them with a deeper sound and crisper production to adroitly express the complexity of the world. It is an album of friendship, of working out identity together, and making deeply personal art.

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The Gina Furtado Project - Blue Violet - Team Me - Cassidy Mann

The Gina Furtado Project - It Wont Be Me.

Drawing on the distinctive sound that earned her a third consecutive International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year nomination in 2021, Mountain Home Music Company’s Gina Furtado starts off her 2022 with a new single, “It Won’t Be Me.” Backed by her eponymous Gina Furtado Project, which includes two of her sisters, the singer-songwriter serves up a characteristic blend of engaging music with a powerful lyric theme.

“It Won’t Be Me” mines the rich vein of Latin- and gypsy jazz-flavored sounds that has served Furtado well since her 2017 breakout hit, “Puppet Show” — and as it did there, the deft ensemble playing of sisters Malia (fiddle) and Lu (bass) Furtado, plus guitarist Drew Matulich, is deployed to support a woman’s declaration of independence from mistreatment.

Delivered in Furtado’s immediately recognizable voice, the lyric works its way over minor chords from an opening uncertainty — “I could see the writing on the walls/Sometimes it would fade/And sometimes it was all I saw” — to a dawning recognition (“You broke my heart, my home/And in my broken mirror/A woman said, ‘He’ll never break your spirit’”) before turning to a more optimistic sound that underpins the defiant lines of the chorus:

“I will be the one who’s standing firm and strong
And I will be the one who writes
Whatever kinda song I want
And when you treat somebody just exactly as you please

“This was a touchy song for me,” notes Furtado. “Domestic abuse is so prevalent that we're all bound to know someone who has, and/or is experiencing it. I know I do. It is often so confusing for victims, and so hard to leave a bad situation. I hope that this song might help somebody who just needs to hear an ending that is alternate to what they may currently be feeling they are destined for.”

 

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Blue Violet - Poster Girl.

“When I was a Poster Girl in 1984, you tore me from your magazine and pinned me to your wall” lulls Sarah Gotley, seemingly adrift in the bittersweet reflections of another lifetime.

A twisting ballad that touches on the fickle promises of fame, the fight for feminist rights and finding your own way through life, “Poster Girl” is the story of a shining star who’s unafraid to stand her ground. As Blue Violet guitarist Sam Gotley elaborates of the track:

“”Poster Girl” is a song about fighting back. The character it centers around resists objectification, defends herself from evil and keeps whatever company she sees fit – in the chorus she finds herself the leader of a group of drunken sailors that accompany her on her voyage… As the writing process went on we felt that a dystopian, Orwellian setting was perfect for the female protagonist: weary traveller, fighter, lover & saviour all rolled into one.” 

With shades of Slowdive or Sigur Ros’ subtly-epic sonic masteries to Mazzy Star’s brittle heartbreakers, “Poster Girl” finds the Anglo-Scottish duo of Sam & Sarah Gotley in perfect synchronicity as they pair lush arrangements to a narrative straight out of Hollywood biopic. “Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed definitely worked its way into the fabric of this one” adds Sam, “but we also wanted to give it an anthemic feel. We layered a lot of guitars & synths and have two drum kits playing at the end, giving a feel that the world is kind of collapsing around you.” 

Written in 2019 as Blue Violet found themselves well-into the throes of recording sessions for a full album with legendary producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Bat For Lashes), the track emerged as a standout from a clutch of new demos the band recorded during a particularly prolific creative spell. With pre-production perfected at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, “Poster Girl”’s swelling riff and lyrical narrative soon began to fall into place. With the final version recorded with Ellis, “Poster Girl” was mastered by Mount Olympia Mastering, engineered by Peter Miles and mixed by TJ Allen.

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Team Me - High Street.

Norwegian art-pop band Team Me release new single "High Street" - the third track to be heard from the their long-awaited third studio album 'Something in the Making', out 11th March 2022 via Propeller Recordings (Sløtface, Highasakite, Lokoy).

Mixed by Grammy-award winning producer/mixer Darrell Thorp (Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Beck) and mastered by Emily Lazar (David Bowie, Björk, Coldplay, Haim) the new album is their first for 7 years, following their critically acclaimed and Norwegian Grammy-winning debut album To the Treetops! (2011) and its follow up Blind as Night (2014).

Psychedelic art-pop anchored by superlative songwriting, "High Street" is another charming taste of what to expect from Team Me's long overdue return to the fore. Led by Norwegian singer/songwriter Marius Drogsås Hagen, Team Me have received widespread international success and attention to date, creating an engrossing alternative pop universe in the process.

New album 'Something in the Making' continues in that vein, a journey which began with the band's surprise reunion in 2019: “When we first announced our reunion, the love and appreciation was just overwhelming to be honest. I was very surprised,” says Hagen. “Still, it was a good move to not rush into anything. It left everyone with hope and motivation for the future.”

It paid off. That compulsion drove Hagen to complete the most accomplished and world-beating collection of songs of his career so far. What makes it even more of a triumph is that this music finds a whole lot of light out of the darkness.

 

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Cassidy Mann - Fine.

By entwining her acoustic roots with gentle electronic textures, singer-songwriter Cassidy Mann finds her true voice on the upcoming debut EP, If It’s Not Forever. As a lyricist, she often reshapes a small moment into a powerful and poetic song that feels both personal and relatable. What makes these recordings stand out, though, is the way the sonic approach enhances the storyline, allowing her to share her most intimate memories in a singular way.

Co-producing with her friend Roman Clarke, Mann wanted to find a cinematic yet wistful sound to complement these emotionally driven pop songs. They achieved that effect through reverb and delay on the guitars, along with crafting lyrics about specific moments in past relationships.

“My favourite thing is to write about tiny things that make the bigger picture more important somehow,” she says. “I was wondering a lot about how two people can be in the same situation and have different memories attached to those times. It’s interesting to me how memories are interpretable that way.”

Mann notes that these songs also serve as a catalogue of how her early relationships ended and why – and she hopes that other people will feel seen and comforted by her stories. While processing one particular breakup, she remembers sitting on her bed and eating the same sour candy she once shared with the person she missed. When she discovered the metaphor – “this thing that seems sweet, but also physically hurts you if you have too much,” as she describes it — the song “Tropical Sour Candy” emerged.

She wrote “Election Night,” tweaking the melodies with Clarke, to capture the intense awakening and transformation that many people experienced over the four years of the prior presidency. The lyrics focus on a couple that moved beyond just friends that night but ultimately ended as strangers. Her skill as a writer is especially clear on “Fine,” as that simple word takes on multiple meanings in the context of a heartbreak.

Certain moments in a relationship are almost always at the core of her songs, whether it’s the potential start of something special (“Since I Met You”) or the inevitable end (“Stop a Heart”). There’s also an acknowledgement that listeners can carry those important parts of the past through the rest of their lives (“If It’s Not Forever”). “A lot of the time, whenever I’m remembering something, I find myself connected to these subtle moments that made me feel alive in some way. Those are the things that I replay in my mind a lot.”

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Clever Hopes - Dropper - The Inevitables - Crystal Eyes

Clever Hopes - The Other Side.

A few years ago, Andrew Shaver directed the musical, Once, in Montréal. Eva Foote walked in to audition for “Girl,” the female lead, and blew him away. Every night after the show, the whole team would drink whiskey and play songs in the dressing rooms until the wee hours – including Andrew and Eva. 

This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and musical collaboration. A few months later, Andrew’s girlfriend flew home from Paris to tell him to pack his bags. Tired of the fighting, he did. He hit the highway out of Montréal and called his buddy Matthew Barber (who produced the album). The two of them spoke for hours as Andrew drove to Toronto. 

This was the beginning of a new chapter for Andrew, that would see him bounce around a few winter sublets before heading to Australia to – as a buddy so wisely suggested – flip his chi. Artefact chronicles the journey of that flip. Clever Hopes was born when he got back to Canada and played those songs for Eva.

Clever Hopes · The Other Side

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Dropper - Ok Ok Ok.

The third single from NYC band Dropper is a break-up anthem called "Ok Ok Ok" and it's out Jan. 21. "I think most people have gone through at least one breakup or had a friendship end that pretty much wrecked them for a little while. "Ok Ok Ok" is about going to a party and being hyper-aware of that other person’s presence. It’s about trying to overcome discomfort but in the process overcompensating and being (maybe just a little) petty. It’s about that desire to prove to that other person, and to yourself, that you’re okay when maybe the truth is, you’re not." -Andrea Scanniello

Dropper is the brainchild of Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Andrea Scanniello, a lifelong musician and veteran of the NYC indie rock scene. Having played in local favorites like High Waisted, Stuyedeyed, TVOD and Russian Baths, Dropper shows Scanniello stepping into the spotlight as a songwriter and vocalist. She is joined by longtime collaborators Jono Bernstein (also of High Waisted), Yukary Morishima and Larry Scanniello.

The band will self-release their debut record, Don’t Talk to Me, in February 2022. Written and recorded pre-pandemic, the LP centers on the ennui and spiritual exhaustion that comes with working in the service industry and participating in a local scene: the drinking, the late nights, the shallow friendships born over too many beers and cigarettes. Scanniello wrote the record as she scraped by working odd bar jobs and even a bowling alley, a painstaking personal inventory of her life thus far, born of an ugly break-up and analyzing the habits and patterns that no longer serve her as she reaches the end of her twenties.

They say the record is for “People who have worked in the service industry too long and become curmudgeons at the ripe old age of 26. People who are lonely yet want to be left alone. People who drink because they are sad but also sad because they drink. Bisexuals with crumbs in their bed. Optimistic pessimists. Those with seasonal allergies. But overwhelmingly for people who, in lieu of being crushed by the eternal weight of existence, choose to scream internally with a smile upon their face.” In other words, all of us – every millennial struggling to remain true to themselves in a world as unrelenting as this one.

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The Inevitables - Florida Moon.

The Inevitables announce the start of Pre-Orders on Jan 21st for their new 7’ EP “Florida Moon” (EP release March 25, 2022 on LAW Records).

What if your love story was just beginning at the end of the world? Former Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello and Westbound Train frontman Obi Fernandez of The Inevitables explore that question on their lovers rock-inspired new single “Florida Moon” (out now in advance of an upcoming 7’ EP to be released March 25, 2022).

“We wanted to write a love song about people who have only found each other just as their world is ending,” says Fiorello, “Are they going to fight for it? Or are they just going to say ‘why are we bothering to try to start something new when it's the end?’ When you're so deeply in love, yet things start to go awry, you have a choice whether you're going to fight for it, or whether you're going to succumb to the heaviness and just let it sink you”.

A multimedia project encompassing both comics and some fine ska music, The Inevitables story is based on a group of nobodies trying to save the world. While Fiorello and Fernandez have put together some great talents on both platforms, the aggregate on the music side also includes Matt Appleton (Reel Big Fish), Billy Kottage, John DeDomenici (Jeff Rosenstock, Bomb The Music Industry!), Alex Stern (Big D And The Kids Table) and Sean-Paul Pillsworth (Nightmares For A Week). Opening with the line ‘Are you running out of life to live under the Florida moon?’ the track’s stark juxtaposition of dark lyrical content and light, delicate melodies represents a spin on a central theme of The Inevitables universe, that of “Paradise and Grime”.

Our story starts in the not-so-distant future when Big Pharma has been able to produce a “cure for death.” Of course there’s a big number on the price tag for such a coveted item, which further divides the mega wealthy from the working class. It’s about time the corporations get a reality check that playing God has consequences and death is inevitable.

LAW Records · The Inevitables "Florida Moon"

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Crystal Eyes - Wishes.

The Calgary, Alberta-based psych-rock/dream-pop band, Crystal Eyes are today announcing details of their new record, The Sweetness Restored which is set for release via the beloved Madrid label, Bobo Integral (Motorists, Ducks Ltd, Quivers) on April 22, 2022. They are sharing details of the new album alongside the first single and its accompanying video, "Wishes."

Crystal Eyes, who are made up of Erin Jenkins (singer/guitarist) and a revolving cast of musicians, currently Jordan Tettensor (guitar), Joleen Toner (synth), Will Johnson (bass) and Paul de Andrade (drums) describe the new record as a "feel-good self-help record for the age of existential dread." The Sweetness Restored displays a kind of wistful self-awareness right from the start, it's a collection of ten tracks that flirt with musical influences ranging from new wave, psych-rock and shoegaze, with songs driven by melody and steeped in texture.

Recorded at Montreal's Breakglass Studios with producer/engineer, Andrew Woods (The Operators, Legal Vertigo, Basia Bulat) before being mixed by Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire, The Unicorns, Peter Gabriel) the record contains thoughtful attention to musical detail thanks to the talented team of artists behind the project. And with the beautiful, warm tones of the Neve console, it's at once a unique sound, but one that feels comfortingly familiar. The prolific Scott' Monty' Munroe (Preoccupations, Chad VanGaalen) contributed bass and the talented Eve Parker Finley composed and performed string arrangements.

On the first single, "Wishes", the band serves up a conflicting happy/sad mood designed to be something that you can dance to, complete with a trippy rock 'n' roll fairy tale music video that's somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz. Taking inspiration from the sounds of New Order and The Cure, the track makes use of the ghostly therevox, a touch-controlled theremin proudly made in Windsor, Ontario. Speaking about the single, Jenkins says: "'Wishes' is a song about the spiritual act of wishing as a form of the creative process, and the ultimately delicate and complicated relationship between dream and reality. It’s also a song about faith and redemption. Although we will experience loss and pain, we always have the promise of a new wish."

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Amelie Tobien - Ben Sures - Flamango Bay - Pillow Queens - Mear

Amelie Tobien - Ocean Girl 

Untie the knot, set sail, run away - that's her plan. If it weren't for that hand that keeps pulling the rope back ... In her indie pop anthem ‘Ocean Girl’, gently kissed by melancholy, the modern Trobairitz Amelie Tobien sings about life jackets that are too tight and lifts anchors to the surface, entangled in seaweed. Ropes get cut like umbilical cords and the compass needle is poled to freedom, the longing for emancipation breaks through Amelie's lines like cold rays of sunshine between clouds. 

‘You can't come with me,’ she says, and yet she pulls us into a sensitive river full of interpersonal flotsam. A gentle ‘... this time’ adorns the horizon as a ray of hope without sinking into false promises. With ‘Ocean Girl’ Amelie Tobien presents a gentle ballad about letting go. 

The singer-songwriter Amelie Tobien, born and raised in the mountains of Salzburg, developed her artistic work in the wine regions of Bordeaux and perfected her inimitable voice after work in Dublin's whiskey-soaked bars. After her debut album ‘We Aimed for the Stars’, Amelie Tobien is now targeting the seven seas with her single ‘Ocean Girl’, which will be released on January 21st.

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Ben Sures - Cry Like A Flood.

is a storyteller. On his poignant, natural-sounding acoustic tenth album, The Story That Lived Here, the Edmonton-based songwriter, guitarist, and author sings stories told to him by friends and fans. Songs about library ladies, yard sales and dive bars, accidents and grieving; and – because we’re living through a pandemic still – at least one song about the end of the world.

Sures’ 25-year-deep catalogue is eclectic, spanning folk, country, jazz and rock’n’roll, and borrowing from blues, Sinti swing and West African guitar. But The Story That Lived Here, recorded mostly live in Victoria, BC, with old friends Richard Moody (viola, violin, mandolin and vocals) and Scott White (upright bass), and with Rebecca Campbell adding backup vocals and percussion remotely from Toronto, is a satisfyingly cohesive and tender North Americana-tinged album with a steady heartbeat. It’s the perfect accompaniment for Sures’ funny, honest, quirkily wise and wistful tunes.

“In case it’s the end of the world, I’m gonna have a cinnamon bun…” Sures quips to kick the record off, addressing a universal desire for comfort going hand in hand with a newfound vulnerability. In “Before We Had Sarah” a couple with grown kids try to romantically reconnect (though they live in the same house); while “Boring People” is perhaps the most sparse, evocative performance of Sures’ career to date. Nearly every song on The Story That Lived Here has a strong, tender, sing-along-able chorus, including “Cry Like A Flood,” which is Kat Goldman’s story of a music career interrupted; and “No One Will Remember You,” which conjures cover bar culture.

Two of the songs on The Story That Lived Here are inspired by Sures’ relationship with his father, ceramic artist Jack Sures, who passed away in 2018 and who the album is dedicated to (along with Mitch Pololak, Michael Laderoute, and Thérèse Duffy). “We put so much stock into people at the end of their life,” Sures says about the title track. “What was the last thing they said? The person is often on the wickedest cocktail of their life and they don’t know where they are. The meaningful time is the life.” In “Father’s Shoes” Sures paints a portrait of his relationship with his father and finds an apt metaphor for grieving that could apply equally as well to his music: “They’re a funny combination of neon green and blues,” he sings. The shoe fits.

Ben Sures · Cry Like A Flood

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Flamango Bay - LA.

Flamango Bay have today announced details of their debut EP 'The Fool', set to be released on 13th May via 0800-MOSHI-MOSHI. To celebrate, they share new single 'LA', which was written shortly before moving to the eponymous city.

"Because of life circumstances and the pandemic, we really romanticized moving to LA," say the band, who are originally from the Bay Area of San Francisco. "We put a lot of expectations on the city to fix our internal problems. However, when we actually moved there, we were still the same people with the same problems."

"Musically, the song is inspired by pop artists like Harry Styles, Lady Gaga and indie acts like Surf Curse, and probably anything off the Spotify Surf Rock Sunshine playlist."

Speaking about the 'LA' video, the band said: "we came up with a storyline loosely based around this drive from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, a journey we've been doing a lot recently."

"Ligaya Chinn (the protagonist) is moving to LA, and along the way gets a mysterious invitation to a party. Once she gets to LA, she meets up with us (Flamango Bay) and, after taking in some iconic Los Angeles sights, she goes to the party. At first it's fun, but when she goes to get water, she realises everything is not what it seems. The video ends with an ominous yet silly tone, representative of our feelings towards living in LA."

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Pillow Queens - Be By Your Side.

Dublin's Pillow Queens had been quietly building momentum on their side of the Atlantic since the release of their 2017 debut EP Calm Girls. Selling out shows in their native Ireland, supporting artists like IDLES, Pussy Riot and Future Islands, and earning enthusiastic support in the UK before they independently released their 2020 LP In Waiting. 

The album was a major breakthrough for the band, earning them praise from outlets like The Guardian, who called them "2020's most exciting indie rockers," NPR, NME, DIY, and The Line of Best Fit, a Band To Watch feature from Stereogum, an Irish Album of The Year nomination, and most remarkably of all a US national television appearance on the Late Late Show w/ James Corden.

The band are returning to announce their sophomore LP Leave The Light On, which is due out April 1st on Royal Mountain Records, and sharing the first single from the new album, a track called "Be By Your Side".

"This song is about the mechanisms that are used to hide your vulnerabilities and carry on," explains singer/bassist Pamela Connolly. "But also, the feeling of being about to burst and how cathartic it could be to allow yourself to let your emotions out and feel the world around you. This was one of the first songs we finished on the album as it was the quickest to become fully realized by all of us."

The album announcement coincides with the announcement of the band's first North American tour, which will include a stop at SXSW before the band return to the UK in May and their native Ireland in October. Full details can be found below.

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Photo - Jen Squires

Mear - The Order.

From Frances Grace Miller of Mear: In 2014, I lost the ability to do a lot of things I'd previously taken for granted. 

I wrote "The Order" during my early experiences living with a post-viral chronic illness, at a time when I was grieving the loss of my health.

I found I couldn't read for more than a few minutes a day and a short walk around the block could leave me bedridden. "The Order" was an attempt to voice some of the pain and loneliness of that; of not understanding what was happening to me. This single is from our upcoming full-length album, which will be released on April 22nd.

Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is often a long and painful journey full of misdiagnosis and gaslighting, "when nothing's right and nothing's wrong." The song's title is a reference to the loss of control that comes with no longer being able to count on your body.

Mear · The Order

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Dahlia Sleeps - Renata Zeiguer - Kindsight - Josienne Clarke

Dahlia Sleeps - The Calm You Keep.

London based duo Dahlia Sleeps release new track "The Calm You Keep", the latest cut to be heard from the band's debut album Overflow, out 8th April.

A pensive, indie-rock track "The Calm You Keep" is the album's closing song and completes the record in cathartic fashion. A stunning examination into motherhood; vocalist Lucy Hill captures the poise of a mother supporting her child through mental ill-health, with the lines "I climbed into your bed, just like a child I laid and wept / You did not show your fear, you knew the sun was somewhere near".

Filled with nostalgic electric guitar and live drums it paints images of a dreamlike world - "It's a portrait of a parent providing the calm within the storm; half a Dalí-esque soundscape from within an unwell mind, half a paradise of safety”, Lucy says of the track.

Two years in the making and almost 6 years since their debut single, producer/writer Luke Hester and singer/writer Lucy Hill bring a new weight sonically to their debut album Overflow, depicting a new kind of freedom for the duo – from managing and coming to terms with mental health problems to experiencing love in all its forms despite them.

With eclectic influences ranging from electronic acts including MOVEMENT, Autechre and Burial to the lyrically poetic works of Florence + the Machine, Radiohead and The National, Dahlia Sleeps shift seamlessly between genres; from dance to electronic to pop.

Dahlia Sleeps · The Calm You Keep

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Photo - Josh Goleman

Renata Zeiguer - Sunset Boulevard.

Renata Zeiguer—the Filipino/Argentinian, Brooklyn-based artist who has recorded on albums by Cassandra Jenkins, Landlady, Quilt, Ava Luna, Mr Twin Sister, among others—today announced Picnic In The Dark, her second full-length album for Northern Spy, will release April 8, 2022.

Zeiguer takes us by the hand and leads us into her surreal storybook realm by way of lead single “Sunset Boulevard”, which arrives alongside a music video by OTIUM (Hand Habits, Widowspeak, Ana Fox Rochinski). We are guided through the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, a kaleidoscopic metaphor for the process of letting go of the seemingly safe and familiar in order to evolve and thrive.

Picnic in the Dark follows Zeiguer through a dreamworld of magical realism as she navigates her memories and seeks to confront inherited dysfunctional patterns head-on. As Zeiguer reconciles her childhood and her adult lives with careful compassion, Picnic in the Dark reveals itself as an album not only of transformation, but of healing and self-actualization.

In collaboration with co-producer and old friend Sam Griffin Owens (Sam Evian), Zeiguer sonically invokes the meeting point of memories and dreams, calling to mind Broadcast, Cindy Lee, or David Lynch’s multidisciplinary ventures. With generous splashes of spring reverb, ghostly vocal harmonies, antique drum machines, cinematic strings, and the comforting warbles of synthesized organ, all bolstered by a tight indie rock sensibility, the sonic palette of Picnic in the Dark is magically anachronistic.

 

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Kindsight - Sun Is Always in My Eyes.

Danish four-piece Kindsight make music that draws from 80’s and 90’s alternative rock and combines it with the shimmering Scandinavian pop that the region has become so renowned for, resulting in a sound that is both fuzzy and melodic in equal measure. Releasing their first material in 2020, the up and coming Danish four-piece have been quick on the rise, picking up steam with a series of new singles over the last 18 months. Now, they are announcing their debut album, Swedish Punk, will be released on March 25th, 2022.  New single Sun Is Always in My Eyes is out now alongside a DIY video made by the band.

Kindsight formed when front-woman Nina Hyldgaard Rasmussen and guitarist Søren Svensson bonded over a shared love of The Sugarcubes. They went on to recruit bass player Anders Prip and drummer Johannes Jacobsen and over the past few years have earned a reputation within Copenhagen’s thriving indie scene for their exciting live shows.

On the album’s title, Rasmussen says “Swedish Punk’ was an off the cuff term our producer, Adam, came up with when we needed a working title for a new song we wrote during the recording sessions. Our bass player, Anders, then wrote some lyrics based on the working title and we ended up liking the whole ‘Swedish Punk’-thing so much it became the name of the album”.

There’s a real coming of age charm to Swedish Punk. ‘Don’t You Grow Up’ was the first song the band ever wrote together. Written in “a time when we thought to be a sunny teenage rock band, you had to write songs about teenagers in the sun,” they say. Atop jangling guitars, Rasmussen’s distinctive voice dances somewhere between that of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, leaving the listener drenched in the nostalgic optimism of summers gone by. Lead single ‘Sun Is Always In My Eyes’, an unrelenting indie-pop earworm, continues in that same vein. Recalling a time when life was carefree, the band say the track is about ‘stealing money from your mother and feigning to run away from home. Being blessed and unable to see because you've got too much sun in your eyes’.

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Josienne Clarke - Workhorse.

Today, award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Josienne Clarke has shared 'Workhorse', the second cut to be taken from her forthcoming EP I Promised You Light. ‘Workhorse’ is one of the most experimental tracks of Clarke’s career to date, with Sharon Van Etten and Sylvan Esso being the song’s musical touchstones. “This is the most joyous one on [the new EP], to me,” Clarke says of the song which she describes as a “weird dance acoustic mashup.” The song’s video, by Alec Bowman_Clarke, sees the artist roller-skating at a silent disco to emphasise the sheer joy of the track. “It’s just me in a massive room with loads of disco lights with silent disco headphones on just messing about to my own positivity anthem,” she smiles.

Of the track’s experimentation, Clarke says she has been “slightly flirting with synths and electronic sounds more” and using “less acoustic music” in an about turn from her usual style. “I don’t intend to  renounce my acoustic roots at all, but I feel like the old set-up in the industry was quite keen to tell me what type of music I could and couldn’t make,” Clarke explains. “I feel like ‘Workhorse’ is like: ‘What if I could do whatever I wanted? What would that sound like? That sound is this track,” Clarke says assuredly, mirroring the confidence of a track that is sure to become a standout of her career.

I Promised You Light follows on from Clarke’s critically acclaimed 2021 LP, A Small Unknowable Thing, an emotionally charged album bubbling with courage and defiance. If A Small Unknowable Thing were a sentence, I Promised You Light is the full stop at the end, or “the light at the end of that particular tunnel,” as she puts it. “People over the years have often tended to be a little intense at my merch stand, it sort of comes with the territory when you write the kind of music I do. But none more so than a lady who stood there and pleaded for me to ‘write a more positive song, one with a happy ending’” she explains. It was a request that stuck with Clarke over the years. “That’s basically what this EP is,” she says. “It’s all the positive lessons I’ve learned over the past few years and presented in my own, somewhat melancholic, way.”

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