P.E.'s sophomore album, The Leather Lemon (Wharf Cat Records, out March 25, 2022), ushers in a new era for the New York band. A wild ride through chewy bubblegum pop, sweeping synthetic orchestrations, and mutant club beats, the album slides ever closer to the fully-realized pop sensibility only winked at with their debut album Person (2020) and subsequent releases.
Digging into mystery, romance, and sex appeal with The Leather Lemon, the group — composed of members of Pill (Mexican Summer/Dull Tools) and Eaters (Dull Tools/Driftless) — centers its sound within a Bermuda Triangle of dance music, electronic composition, and experimental rock. Members Jonathan Schenke, Bob Jones, and Jonny Campolo play within pop parameters, building upon free-form collaboration to create a fluorescent groove machine that harnesses the energy of their frenetic live shows.
Singer Veronica Torres explores her softer side, expanding her vocal repertoire from spoken word and jagged growls to cherubic and sensuous psalms. Sax virtuoso Benjamin Jaffe’s chiseled experimental tone is heard in an extended solo of true romance in “Tears in the Rain,” a somber surrealist duet penned by Torres and Andrew Savage, singer/guitarist of Parquet Courts.
Recorded primarily at Schenke’s Studio Windows in Brooklyn, NY, The Leather Lemon was cultivated from a fertile creative period between spring 2020 and summer 2021, which also yielded 2021’s acclaimed The Reason For My Love E.P.
The internet with its rabbit holes, slipperiness, and propensity for mis- and disinformation inspired me to write "Kaleidoscope."
I wanted parts of this song to evoke the same tense, frantic feeling that the internet can sometimes give, paired with a chorus that lifts its way out of that mood. The accompanying "Kaleidoscope" music video was filmed at Halifax's indoor theatre for Shakespeare
By The Sea. Director Meg Hubley (they/she) of Phyllis Rising Productions came up with the idea of setting it in a steadily shrinking room. The strange and surreal figure in the video is played by Mads Higgins (they/them), a circus performer, who moves around the room in a series of graceful and eerie poses.
The lyrics of "Kaleidoscope" evolved extensively as time went on. Given that this song considers the importance of care and precision in language, I felt even more attentive to the lyrics than usual.
Dublin's Pillow Queens are getting set to release their sophomore album Leave The Light On, their first release on Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Alvvays, US Girls), which is due out on April 1st, and today the band are sharing the album's final pre-release single, a track called "No Good Woman."
Preceded by the singles "Hearts & Minds" and "Be By Your Side", which have seen praise from outlets like The Guardian, NPR, Stereogum, Consequence, BrooklynVegan, Uproxx, DIY and Clash who described "Hearts & Minds" as "Pillow Queens at their most out-going," the single arrives at an exciting moment for the band who are about to make their debut on American shores. Their first shows will take place at SXSW (full details can be found below), before they trace their way across the continent, with their New York debut at Mercury Lounge recently selling out over a month in advance.
This song is one which is very narrative based, though not in a linear way. It’s written more from the perspective of someone looking upon the scenarios of those around them," explains singer Pam Connolly. "It tries to convey a perpetual hopelessness of debt and striving for an ideal that can never be achieved. It’s pretty much a song about Sisyphus."
Brighton-based Anglo-French duo Greenness, (Cécile Frangi and Graham Pratt), announce the release of their debut album Sunrooms on 20th May 2022 via Frangi’s label One Fern Records, and share first single ‘Destroy/Enjoy’.
‘Destroy/Enjoy’ is a playful indie-pop song celebrating Earth’s re-birth, inspired by a dream Frangi had about the apocalypse. As Frangi expands: “Earth was rebooting itself on a giant computer screen. It was a strange, but joyous occasion, as if humanity was being given a second chance. There was something very ominous about it, this electricity in the air, but it was also exhilarating.”
‘Destroy/Enjoy’ accompanying video explores themes of escaping the 9-5 and enjoying life and nature whilst you can which is a theme that peppers their debut album. It’s an apt first taster for the album Sunrooms, a record in part a product of the environment in which it was created (in lockdown) and one inspired heavily by the duo’s lifelong love of nature. Greenness describes the title, Sunrooms, as:
“A place that provides shelter from the elements while offering a clear view of surrounding landscapes, a space to reflect, breathe and feel, so that we can go back out with more strength to embrace the weather.”
Inspired by looking out at the world from their home studio in lockdown and the paradox of humanity in chaos whilst nature bloomed, the album also explores wanderlust versus the need to anchor oneself to a home, as French-born Cess Frangi explains: “Sunrooms (in part) follows our personal story travelling across France and the UK on a quest for a place to call home, trying to find the spark of everyday magic and hoping for human progress.”
Some memories help propel us forward while others cling to us so tightly that they bind us in place.
"Second Sight" is about someone who is grappling with a memory that holds them back – it's about a confrontation and making it out on the other side.
It seems that nothing good will keep you from me, and so I live with ghosts and second sight
This latest single is from our upcoming full-length album, which will be released on April 22nd.
Both the song and the video explore ideas around memory. We also knew this song would pair well with a dancer. Having worked with multiple choreographers and performers in the past, we had our sights on Katherine Semchuk. We gave Katherine a loose structure to work with and let her choreograph her own movement.
Another artist we are big fans of is animator/dancer Kristen-Innes Stambolic. Her work primarily involves the integration of animation with contemporary dance, so it was a perfect fit for us.
A little girl wakes up at the bottom of a tree. Confused, with no idea of where she is. Despite of all of this, she feels soothed by the soft light, the bright colors and the buzzing of the creatures that swirl around her. A strange, radiant, watery sphere forms and unfolds delicately before her eyes. Intrigued, she stands up and touches it with her finger...
"Hush Little Bay" is a hybrid adventure, both abyssal and stratospheric. Dark and melancholic trip-hop story, this track is also almost a lo-fi lullaby with reggae solar accents.
This story, told by the singular voice of Bianca Casady, mythical singer of the group CocoRosie, is inspired by the dreamlike universe of Lewis Carroll. A sort of "Alice in Wonderland" who would dive inside a 70's psychedelic rock vinyl cover.
Looking For Space is the band’s most ambitious project yet, recorded in six beautiful locations across Aotearoa New Zealand over a year, and it’s also Mild Orange’s first time entering a proper studio which was a necessary part in making this record sound as intended. It’s a sonic journey about navigating life, always finding room to grow, considering outlooks and maintaining belief in oneself as we choose our paths. True to MO, it doesn’t sit on one sound and will take you up and down, while feeling like a natural progression – shown on their latest two singles.
Looking For Space will feature video collaborations from NZ to Japan, Indonesia to LA, France and beyond. Despite many hurdles, Mild Orange persisted to connect with the world on this project during this period of global lockdowns and border closures. That’s what Mild Orange have always tried to do – from NZ, for the world.
The just released album cover (see below) by frontman Josh Mehrtens was taken in Switzerland after a Mild Orange headline show at Baden in 2019, and has been tinkered with in tandem with the album so that both feel as each other look and sound. There’s a calmness yet passionate energy felt coming from the electric glow that flows.
After spending two albums carefully organising the framed photos and applying an even layer of paint, Mild Orange felt the urge to tear apart the four walls that defined their bedroom pop sound, capturing the wilderness that lay beyond. And rather than be deterred from that goal by a pandemic and lockdown that left the New Zealanders stuck on their island, Mild Orange used that time to envision a new world. “Colourise”, the first track off the quartet’s fittingly titled third album, Looking For Space (due February 11th 2022 via AWAL), feels like the gate to the land of Oz, a portal behind which hypercolour and fantasy unfolds. “Trust the waves and where you’ll go/ ‘Cause you never know what it may hold,” Josh Mehrtens sings, a snare march, lithe electric guitar, and washes of echo trailing behind. Together, frontman/producer Mehrtens, lead guitarist Josh Reid, bassist Tom Kelk, and drummer Jack Ferguson aren’t just looking for space, they’re carving out grand landscapes all their own.
Souza are a Stoke based alternative rock band, marching to the sound of well matured electric riffs and a fresh lyrical take on the genre.
Established in 2018, the four piece bring a definitive presence to the stage. Lead vocalist Adam Rogers provides a powerful performance, whilst maintaining an interactive experience for the audience. Supported by his brother Ben and Jack Brassington on guitar, the two combine each other’s unique styles of guitar sound to generate a contemporary Britpop tone. The group are completed by drummer Harry Ball, who provides a strong foundation complimenting and driving each melody. The four together exude the chemistry they share and quickly envelop the audience in their sound.
Under My Feet combines shoegaze verses with full throttle choruses and demonstrates both the subtlety and power that Souza can so easily intertwine between. The lyrics provide a fresh view on the excitement and emotions of what relationships can bring from the beginning to the end. Written over lockdown in a unique way to us, pieced together bit by bit through sharing segments from our own homes the track came together in a way we've not written before.
Welsh artist Thallo shares the visual for her emotionally charged, haunting single The Water. The visual, created by Max Toblin (Director) and Dillon Steele (Director of Photography), mirrors Thallo’s music which is at once startingly beautiful but with a melancholic undercurrent running through its gently layered jazz infused tones. It depicts two children dressed in boiler suits, playing in the long grass of empty fields to a backdrop of towering power stations which loom ominously. As Thallo expands “Their childlike, care-free pleasure is contrasted with the power station in the background, a sinister warning that their freedom is temporary. They frantically run and play whilst the daylight is running out, cherishing the time that they have until they finally come to a halt in the dark.”
The video plays on The Water’s bittersweet meaning of cherishing a moment before it is lost, inspired by a relationship destined to fail, and the heartbreak of knowing of a partner’s eventual migration. Both the song’s title and Thallo’s vulnerable yet alluring vocal evoke the feeling of drowning, of laying down on a riverbed and giving into the sensation of the immersion. As Thallo expands “The river is not only the love that drowns me, but it is also the relationship I can’t keep hold of.”
Thallo is the work of Elin Edwards, based between her homelands of Gwynedd, North Wales and London. In 2021 she released three singles Mêl, Pressed and Preserved and The Water to much early acclaim, to date the singles have accumulated support from Sian Eleri (Radio 1 The Chillest Show) and Huw Stephens (BBC 6 Music, Radio Cymru), with Thallo recording a session for BBC Maida Vale. At press, the singles were covered by the likes of Wonderland, Noctis, God Is In The TV Zine, When The Horn Blows and many other blogs both UK and Stateside. Thallo has performed at The Great Escape and is set to play SXSW in 2023.
The Legendary Ten Seconds - The Musical Almanac (Album).
The Legendary Ten Seconds started off as the solo music project of Ian Churchward during the time when he was the lead guitar player of The Morrisons who were featured on John Peel's radio one show back in 1987. In 2013 Lord Zarquon joined Ian's music project and since then various guest musicians and vocalists have helped out in the recording studio. The most recent musicians to join the project are Phil Swann and Martyn Hillstead.
The Legendary Ten Seconds have recorded many critically acclaimed English folk rock albums which chronicle the Wars of the Roses and the life and times of Richard III in England during the late 15th century. The albums are available on Amazon and itunes and the band have donated money to a scoliosis charity from some of the income generated from the sale of their music. The CD versions of the albums are available via the Richard III Society in the UK.
In 2018 the band recorded the Mer de Mort album which was commissioned by the Mortimer History Society to commemorate the Society's tenth anniversary. It is a historically accurate album of songs which tells the story of the significantly important Mortimer medieval family from their roots in Normandy prior to the battle of Hastings and into the 15th century. The album includes historical narratives read by the actor John Challis ( Boycie in Only Fools and Horses ) who was the patron of the Mortimer History Society.
2019 saw the release of four albums, Devon Roses, History Book Part One. Instrumental Legends and Thrilling Blunder Stories. In February 2020 the History Book Part Two album was completed and this was followed by The Acoustic Almanac, Amazing Songs and the Pageant of Torbay Part One albums. Additionally a new version of the first Richard III album was released in digital format via Circle of Spears Productions. The new version of the album features fictional narratives written by Sandra Heath Wilson. Three albums were released in 2021, the Pageant of Torbay Part Two, the Semi Acoustic Almanac and Songs About Devon albums. The atest album is called The Musical Almanac with a release date of 2022.
Black Dog’ is final single from Glasgow trio Jill Lorean’s upcoming debut album This Rock, and sees the band carrying a danceable freak folk energy, which adds to the timeless diversity of their singles to date. An odyssey of sorts, ‘Black Dog’ lures you in with a trance-like violin loop that remains a constant throughout, before crusading through pulsing drumbeats, haunted, gothic guitar lines and playful disco-esque basslines, alongside Jill O’Sullivan’s ethereal vocal delivery, which claws your attention in on the hood laden repetitive chorus line “how can I laugh and how can I cry”.
Jill Lorean as a living breathing thing, featuring Jill O’Sullivan (Sparrow And The Workshop, Three Queens in Mourning, Bdy_Prts) in collaboration with Andy Monaghan (Frightened Rabbit) and drummer Peter Kelly (The Kills, Ladytron), the band is a unique beast inhabiting its own world, incorporating elements of many genres from folk and lo-fi to post-punk and underground rock.
“Black Dog’ is like being on a consciousness-bending, self-seeking quest. It’s a lucid dream-like adventure where a godlike figure attempts to grant all of a persons wishes by carving them all kinds of exciting things out of the clouds. But a sad dog keeps appearing so the deity swallows the sky not understanding that the person wanted to confront the whole spectrum of their emotions, including the sad dog chasing them around.”
“I worked with Pete (Kelly) on this dance project and he would do these fills and I just wanted to dance suddenly. And I like that he did that over the ‘Black Dog’, there is this slight freak folky vibe going on. And it could go down a Fairport Convention, sort of route, but it doesn't. He brings it into this transient style. And I love it. It was not what I was expecting. I like the unexpected. I like to feel surprised, I want people listening to it to feel alive and awake.”
With her 2020 album Big Hair Small City, Shaela Miller proved yet again to have her hand on the pulse of “honky tonk noir.” With central themes rooted in the deep intricacies of heartache, loss, healing, and inner growth, Miller took the listener on a journey with her witty turns of phrase, strong finger pickin' and no-nonsense lyrics.
The native of Lethbridge, Alberta is now giving her fans an added bonus with the new, standalone single “Tidal Wave,” which was recorded during the sessions for Big Hair Small City with producer Scott Franchuk at Riverdale Recorders in Edmonton. Given the meaning behind the song, Miller has chosen to release "Tidal Wave" now to mark International Women's Day 2022.
As Shaela explains, "'Tidal Wave' is an in-depth confession of realizations and struggles of the heart and how a woman can feel, inside and outside of love, like they are drowning in the staggering, multi-dimensional duties of life. It's about how the expected and demanding responsibilities women face in life through the roles of motherhood and romantic partnerships, can leave us feeling completely void of fire, passion and inspiration, yet the expectations remain and we just have to power through it all."
The Hamilton, Ontario-based trio, Ellevator have shared their new single, "Sacred Heart" – it's another thrilling installment lifted from their forthcoming debut album, The Words You Spoke Still Move Me which comes produced by ex-Death Cab for Cutie guitarist, Chris Walla (production for Pinegrove, Foxing, Tegan & Sara, etc) and is out via Arts & Crafts on May 6. The new single arrives following earlier tips from NPR, The Needle Drop, Exclaim, FLOOD, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, CBC and more. The band will support the release of the new record with North American dates, including a stop at SXSW later this month.
Ellevator poses a fantastic ability to sculpt these mammoth, melodramatic post-rock and indie-rock soundscapes, somewhat inspired by the late-aughts sounds of Spoon, Metric, Interpol and Arcade Fire, as well as the stadium-ready sounds of U2, Kate Bush and Bruce Springsteen. The new single, "Sacred Heart" explores ideas surrounding young love, commitment and intimacy while blending racing guitar lines – somewhat reminiscent of Springsteen – with driving percussion and piano.
Speaking about the new single, which comes with a live visual directed by Cam Veitch, singer Nabi Sue Bersche says: "This one’s a love song about how intimacy and deep knowing can make it feel like there’s nothing left to discover, and choosing to push on anyway in search of new depths. Ty (guitar) and I got married on a cold spring morning when I was 22 and he was 19. There wasn’t much chance to sell each other on our own myths, to be the mysterious stranger from outta town: we wrote our origin story together. Learning to love each other better has been a strange journey and the great gift of my life."
When discussing the video, Nabi continues: "We shot, edited, and delivered the whole thing in less than 24 hrs. We’ve made a bunch of videos that I’m proud of but this one touches something special: we wanted to show what it feels like to play live as Ellevator, in all its sublime chaos, and I think we captured the lightning."
GRAMMY award-winning band Old Crow Medicine Show releases “Honey Chile,” the latest single from their new album Paint This Town out April 22 via ATO Records. Showcasing soaring harmonies and swooning fiddle melodies, the melancholy love song is accompanied by a live performance video featured this morning at Garden & Gun, who said “Musically, the song is something of a salvo for the whole of Paint This Town, rising out of the gates with a bold swell before settling into a traditional Americana-tinged groove.” Along with the new single, the band has announced a coast to coast spring/summer tour kicking off in April that will make stops in Philadelphia, New York, Portland, Seattle and many more.
Bandleader Ketch Secor explains the new single: “When you mine the musical traditions of the South as we have you’re always going to run head on into the region’s most successful export: Southern Rock, and my favorite performers of this style are the Charlie Daniels Band, who Old Crow was lucky enough to open for back in the early 2000’s. We’ll miss Charlie around these parts, but he lives on in songs like ‘Honey Chile,’ a backwoods slow burn about good lovin' and other hard habits to break.”
Paint This Town showcases Old Crow Medicine Show’s long-standing ability to merge profound introspection with a rapturous string band revival sound. The album shines a light on the darker aspects of the American experience, with character-driven songs underpinned by the band’s vision for a more harmonious future. The debut single “Paint This Town” has maintained the #1 slot on the Americana Singles Radio Chart for three weeks in a row, garnering praise from press including Billboard, Rolling Stone, SPIN and more. The band’s latest single “Bombs Away” (feat. Molly Tuttle on banjo) was recently hailed by Consequence, who said it’s “brimming with the euphoria of new beginnings, a tongue-in-cheek tale of throwing caution to the wind and starting over.”
This is the new single from singer/songwriter Casii Stephan. Entitled "Already Gone", the rock single details a woman's courage and journey into leaving her abuser. Casii confides, "I don't think mocking your abuser is ever advised and this song definitely mocks. This is more the hype song that someone can play to give them the courage to finally just leave. May it give someone the extra push they need to run. Trust your soul. Go."
Casii Stephan is a soul pop/rock artist hailing from Minnesota. Now based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the impassioned songstress evokes subtle vibrato notes and roller-coaster-like melodies, which immediately grab the listener, while her emotional lyrics share intimate stories. She has been compared to the likes of Florence Welch, Fiona Apple and Carole King, as her vocal timbre possesses a full and warm quality.
Stephan’s voice is fierce and fearless, but this was not always the case. She grew up shy and afraid of her voice until she started writing songs on the family piano in South St. Paul when she was 16. In music, she discovered something extraordinary that allowed her to transcend everyday life and find a deeper sense of self. Stephan moved to Tulsa in 2014 with the intent to give up her pursuit of a music career, however with a little encouragement from a friend, she continued her journey and started releasing music. Her songs were promptly applauded by critics and have since been racking up a number of awards, as well as garnering acclaim from media and fans across the globe.
An underlying theme throughout Stephan’s music is hope, she explains, “Its such a cliched word and yet there are so many layers to it. Hope keeps us alive. It keeps us moving. But it also feels flighty some days like a pixie that does what it wants. But it's not a pixie. It's more like the air we breathe. Some days it's presence is stronger than we realize and some days we forget in our day-to-day lives that it's there... keeping us moving forward”. Her music combines her love for the storytelling elements of Disney ballads and the bold, brilliance of The White Stripes, as well as the soul-wrenching R&B melodies of H.E.R.
Australian songwriter Jo Schornikow (now based in Nashville) has shared the second offering from her forthcoming album ALTAR, out May 20 via Keeled Scales. “Lose Yr Love” gives another glimpse into her thoughtful songcraft, recalling Warren Zevon in the way she marries an honest, almost folk-indebted approach with a more abstracted lyrical style. A subtly shifting wash of synthesizers sparkle at the edges of a layered vocal arrangement as Schornikow uses ocean imagery to reflect on her own experience of loss. The song, which follows recently released “warm, wry” (Brooklyn Vegan) “Visions,” is accompanied by a video directed by Ives Salbert that was shot in an East Nashville junkyard and in partner Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent’s studio, and features a brief cameo from Schornikow’s two children.
“'Lose Yr Love' grew from a real-life nightmare of losing someone,” Schornikow explains. “The song explores the fear before the fall-out, before finality. It's a quick and awful spiral, but also a natural counterside of love. I think we found the beauty that exists in this incredibly bleak space.
ALTAR was written between Nashville and Melbourne over a year. It was recorded in Melbourne, Australia during a blisteringly hot Australian summer week at Hard Rubbish Recorders by Selwyn Cozens, who also plays drums on the album. It was recorded on an old Harrison TV3 console that was being thrown out by a local tv station. The album was co-produced by Jo and Selwyn. The nine track album centers Jo’s songwriting, which Gorilla Vs Bear proclaimed “smouldering” and her piano playing, which Pitchfork has praised as “sensitive [and] impressionistic.” It follows 2019’s Secret Weapon, which Rolling Stone hailed as “excellent.”
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Walter Martin unveiled today two new singles titled "Baseball Diamonds" and "Hiram Hollow." The tracks are the latest to release from his forthcoming album The Bear, out later this month on March 25th through his imprint Ile Flottante Music. "Baseball Diamonds" was the first song written for The Bear, which ultimately set the tone for the rest of the album, while "Hiram Hollow" is a waltzing tune that toys with American folk traditions as it wrestles with the pain of saying goodbye to a loved one.
"I see these two songs as two different ways of telling a story about my life and my family," stated Walter. "It's a story a lot of people can probably relate to - one with a lot of love but also a lot of sadness. That story is what this whole album is really about. 'Baseball Diamonds' lives very much in reality with real life details, while 'Hiram Hollow' takes a much more allegorical approach. These weren't really conscious style decisions, the songs just came out that way."
"Hiram Hollow" and "Baseball Diamonds" follow the release of "Easter," a somber and uneasy song that Flood Magazine called "a melancholy reflection on the past." The lead single and title track "The Bear" is also out now, which tells a story about the past, the present, and the future brought to life with humor and real-life detail. It was featured by Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar, and Stereogum who stated "Ever since the Walkmen embarked on their hiatus, several of the band's members have had prolific solo careers. But none of them have churned out music at quite the pace as Walter Martin."
Born out of untamed anger and frustration at the cruel state of the world, “bb” taps into a universal mood: its downcast melodies and restless guitar lines speak to the collective sense of agitation and boredom we’ve all experienced over the past two years.
Weaving together an ansty mesh of gossamer vocals, driving ‘90s guitars and a steady drum beat, the track was first penned in September 2020 when vocalist Ali Genevich found herself increasingly restless in the face of the seemingly never-ending pandemic.
Feeling disheartened by the “depressive daily routine” of being stuck inside with no social interaction — and even less inspiration to write songs — Genevich locked herself in her bedroom with a guitar when “bb” took its first breath and stirred to life.
Speaking of the inspiration behind the track’s moody sound, Genevich says: “In the winter of 2020, every day really started to feel the same for me. The pandemic seemed to be getting just as bad as when it began back in Spring and like everyone else all I had been thinking about was the possibility for life to feel normal again. For a while I was just thankful that most of my friends and family were in good health and that we were able to keep ourselves afloat in such a crazy time, but of course that’s not all I was feeling. Both Jake and I felt like the past year had been so wasted.”
Dublin-based singer songwriter Ellen Arthur Blyth is set to release the title track of her upcoming debut album ‘Nine’ this March. The cinematic pop track follows on from Ellen’s recent release ‘Young Ones’, which garnered support from acclaimed publications such as Hotpress and Nialler9. Ellen shares the meaning behind the upcoming single ‘Nine’:
“Nine is about self doubt, the ongoing internal dialogue in your head that can keep you stuck. For me it's about realising it's always there and I need to live my life alongside it. I think in doing that there's real freedom.”
The track was recorded as part of her upcoming debut album ‘Nine’ in Hell Fire Studios, Dublin and produced by Alex Borwick, head engineer at the famed Grouse Lodge studios in Ireland. The music video for the track is a Hitchcock-inspired video and was shot in The Sally Gap in Co. Wicklow on a beautiful day in February. Directed by Rob Blyth, shot by Martin Osborne and starring Alexandra Moloney and Ellen Arthur Blyth.
Born in Dublin, the youngest of nine, in a house where the one who shouted loudest ate most, Ellen learned early how to sing for her supper. Dragged out of bed, dusted down, slung into a polyester frock, her early forays into musical performance consisted of pitch perfect renditions of Any Dream Will Do to family friends. But as success followed the clan, friends turned to ambassadors, heads of state, Hollywood actors and other visiting dignitaries passing through. Aged 9, she woke her father and told him she was going to be a famous singer and would buy him a racehorse. He told her to go back to bed. At 16 she made the live finals of Ireland’s ‘You’re a Star’ but lost her voice. Her early adult life was spent serenading drunk punters in a city buried in snow, before finally, she fell through a drunken crevasse. After reaching bottom, she started to climb back out and rediscover her voice.
Heavy Salad - Joggers From Mossley To Malibu Beach.
Heady and frolicking — and embracing the notion that life’s challenges are nothing but positive opportunities — “Joggers From Mossley To Malibu Beach” is a jovial new cut that comes just a week before Heavy Salad touchdown in Austin, Texas for an official showcase slot at SXSW. Packed with playful rhythms, carefree “sha la la”’s and a whimsical, vintage tinge, the track was produced and mixed by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur) and is plucked from the band’s forthcoming second record, ‘Long Wave,’ set for release later this year.
Brought to life when guitarist Rob Glennie noticed hoards of people out jogging as a way of coping with the initial COVID lockdown in his hometown of Mossley, frontman Lee Mann explains of the track: “The story of “Joggers…” sees our protagonist embrace jogging as a means of getting out of the house, but their world is changed through what starts as a way of coping with the lockdown that then blossoms into the realisation that there’s a whole world out there! Their journey eventually leads them to a new life in California inspired by the song’s melodic, West Coast feel.”
And, for all its sunny melodies and Californian surfer-town twinges, the track includes several nods to the band’s hometown roots in the North of England. Name-dropping everywhere from Mossley and Malibu to Tameside and the Pacific Coast Highway, Heavy Salad manage to traverse geographical borders just as neatly as they do genres. Merging 60s-inspired backing vocals with slacker-rock riffs that Pavement would be proud of, “Joggers…” uses its cheery sonic stylings to embrace a serendipitous and happy-go-lucky approach to the limitless possibilities that come with our seemingly mundane lives.
Expanding on the track’s back story, Mann adds: “The song was also partly inspired by a chance encounter with a Venice Beach bike hire shop owner who it turned out was from Rotherham and originally lived in the same part of town as my in-laws. Having travelled to Brazil for Carnival in the 70s our bike hire shop owner had travelled to California on his way home and never actually made it home! The song is about the possibilities of life, to embrace changes, to see challenges as positive things and to embrace random opportunity in the short time you are alive.”
With her dynamic expression, shaped by influences from Fiona Apple, Ane Brun and Kate Bush, Wilma Nea debuted with the EP "Issues" in 2020.The debut was warmly received by a united group of critics such as The Line Of Best Fit, GAFFA, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. As Wilma today releases her debut album "This Too Shall Pass" due, it's with an equal force.
”My music is singer/songwriter pop that has been called both indie-quirky and bedroom pop. I see inspiration as a luxury, and one that does not always come naturally when wanted. For me, inspiration is so much about energy. Going for a run, showering, hanging out, being somewhere else."
On the album "This Too Shall Pass", where Wilma also makes her debut as a producer, we hear an artist exploring stories of daring to communicate her needs, daring to let go and start breathing again. It’s an honest, raw and naked portrait of relationships, the importance of self-respect and growing as a person.
"I want the music to bring energy, to be able to act as a soundtrack to a walk that makes you feel better when you come home than you did when you went out. Writing the album was a stepping stone for me, and I've learned a lot about myself."
Minneapolis-based quartet, Palm Friends are today sharing their new single, "Domino" which arrives as the latest installment of the forthcoming EP, The Delivery which is out March 24 via Forged Artifacts. The Minneapolis-based quartet found acclaim last month with its first single from the new EP, "Hidden Perks" which went on to achieve support at FLOOD, The Alternative, Mindies, Here Comes The Flood and more. The new EP, mixed and mastered by Ben Etter (Deerhunter, Cate Le Bon) follows the band's 2019 debut EP, Nice Weather.
Palm Friends first came together as a means of healing. After his brother passed away, guitarist and singer Jesse Pedersen moved from New York back home to Minnesota to be with his family. As part of the grieving process, he called up some of his high school friends and asked if they wanted to start a band. With Jon Lindquist on drums, Will Bunton on bass and Jesse on guitar and vocals, the band quickly recorded their debut EP. The result was an ebullient indie rock six-song burst, the sound of a band in its early stages having a blast together. Soon after, Shawnna Stennes joined, and the final Palm Friends lineup was solidified.
The band wrote most of The Delivery together over quarantine before recording in three ten-hour sessions at The Terrarium in Minnesota. The result is a truly collaborative effort, on a songwriting level but then also on a deeper, emotional level. As a songwriting duo, Jesse and Shawnna play off of each other’s strengths, from Jesse’s indie rock songcraft to Shawnna’s warm yet melancholic lyrics but as a full group, this is really a collaboration centered around healing and friendship.
The new single and EP-closer, “Domino” is a tempo-shifting ballad about staying open-minded in a world where everyone feels a social-media-driven pressure to be right all the time. The song begins with a slow-strummed guitar and Shawnna’s soft vocals shifting over the top. The tempo speeds up as the chorus kicks in as Shawnna sings: “I love to be wrong/I swear/It gets me everywhere.” It’s affirming, playful and questioning all at once, a song that pushes for a more understanding and compassionate approach to life. Speaking about the new single, Shawnna says: "This song is about the fantastic power you wield when you’re open to being wrong. Simple as that!"
Last month, Dena Miller announced her debut LP as Deer Scout. Entitled Woodpecker (due out April 8th), the album is both her first full length and her first release on Carpark Records (The Beths, Cloud Nothings, Emily Reo), and was announced with the debut single "Cowboy" which made an immediate impression, earning praise from outlets like NPR, Stereogum, NYLON, BrooklynVegan and FADER, who highlighted the track's "gentle and warm" aesthetic. Today, Miller is sharing the second single from Woodpecker, a track called "Peace With The Damage" that was written by Miller's father, a folk musician.
The track features her father, who Miller describes as "one of my favorite songwriters," playing guitar as part of a beautifully spare arrangement of layered vocal harmonies. It's a track that, in it's subject matter, origin and performance, encapsulates the warm-hearted intimacy that makes Deer Scout's debut so special.
"Peace With The Damage is a song by my father, Mark Miller, originally recorded by my parents’ band, Spuyten Duyvil," Miller explains. "My dad is one of my favorite songwriters and this is a song I always wanted to record even though it’s a little bit of an outlier on the album. It’s a retrospective song about the past and regret. We recorded it together as a duet with me singing both parts, 4 years apart, so it feels like a conversation between a past and present self. My dad played guitar and was generous enough to trust me with it.
Sky Barkers is an indie trio based in coastal West Wales. It is comprised of Joanna MacGregor Messore, Dan Messore and Matt Brown. They make groove based, hook heavy, vocal laden music - lyrically connective and energy driven, rooted in song-writing but with a wonky edge.
‘Beholden to None’ is their first single as a trio and speaks to the new sound that is emerging. “This is a song that invites you into one of my regular day dreams – what would life be like if I was a wanderer, a rover, a free soul flitting from town to countryside, sleeping in nooks of the earth and following old paths?
Of course, it’s is a romanticised version of what it would actually be like to live that way – its more about that deep, simple urge to just get up and walk off. To be answerable to no one, leave no forwarding address - to know that no governing body or co-orperate nonsense can find you. To be elusive, beholden to none but the night sky”.
Bergen, Norway based artist Bo Milli shares her debut track "At The Wheel". The latest signing to MADE Management (Sigrid, AURORA), "At The Wheel" was co-produced by Odd Martin Skålnes (Sigrid, Sløtface, AURORA).
With a predisposition to self-criticise and a talent for turning that into art, Bo Milli is an essential new voice in music. Through her diaristic lyrics, the super smart environmentalist writes hook after hook as she navigates her inner conflict. And indeed, in putting her own life into words, she has unknowingly narrated our collective existential angst. “Writing music is an emotional outlet, but it’s also a puzzle,” she says, reflecting on her craft. “Sentences come to me and I try to make the pieces fit together. And if just for a moment my music is a good thing in someone’s life, then I will take any opportunity to play it.”
Debut track “At The Wheel” is a Soccer Mommy-adjacent song about becoming an adult and suddenly finding yourself responsible for not just your own destiny but the future of the planet. “It’s embarrassingly earnest,” she says of the track, in which she questions “who’s at the wheel these days?” from a bed of idiosyncratic lyrics and melodies. “It’s about how the small things feel big, and how you try to relate to the big things but the everyday stuff takes up so much real estate. There are these flashes of ‘oh fuck!’ but then you’re like… ‘wait, where’re my keys?’” The feeling of powerlessness though, is all-too relatable.
Bo Milli (a deconstruction of her birth name, Emilie Østebø) grew up in the suburbs of Karmøy, an island off the west coast of Norway, before relocating to Oslo. It was there that she collaborated with her friend Lokoy (bassist of Sløtface) on “a mistake” - which saw widespread praise from NME, DIY, The Line Of Best Fit + more.
Now based in Bergen, today's release of "At The Wheel" teases more new music to come in 2022 from Bo Milli. Nodding at times to Phoebe Bridgers, others to nostalgic mid-00s teen anthems – the music sees her lament procrastination, admit to being on the verge of tears for days at a time and recount thinking she might die on the 10-hour bus ride home. Far from bleak, she makes complicated subjects sound like the soundtrack of your next favourite coming-of-age movie.
This is the brand new single from Betty Read's superb forthcoming acoustic version of her debut E.P. It may be stripped down but the whole collection of new versions are simply beautiful. Betty Reed tells us about the acoustic version of her debut E.P.
After releasing my debut EP Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned, I wanted to create a stripped down version of these songs. By changing up the tempo and key, and using only an acoustic guitar and percussionist, the songs were re-architected and re-imagined to be more intimate and revealing.
The songs on Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned (Acoustic Version) address the overarching theme (to varying degrees) of learning from past mistakes (or at least coming to terms with them) and finding the strength and desire to move forward.
"Misunderstood" is about not being afraid to assert your boundaries and make clear that no means no. "Karma" is about getting that good life you deserve after breaking free from a toxic relationship. The chorus of "Happy" is the affirmation to myself that even on dark days, I know that there will be happier days ahead.
I chose “Let It Out” as the single because, out of all the songs on the EP, this one is the most personal. I cope with depression, as did my grandmother, and she believed a good cry was cathartic. “Let It Out” was born out of a collaboration with Nashville songwriter, Evan Knutila. Evan lent another perspective to my personal story, essentially that men who cry are deemed less manly, which carries the extra burden of being both ostracized and suffering the consequences of keeping their feelings bottled up.
I collaborated with Nashville producer, Evan Redwine, who brought on acoustic guitarist, Nate Dugger and percussionist, Josh Hunt, to give these stripped-down songs a multi-layered, rich sound.
“It never goes… the way you thought.” This lyric – which circles around twice in the final song of Kate Klim’s new album, Something Green – pretty accurately summarizes the album as whole.
When the project began, Kate imagined it would be an album about a return to self, navigating new terrain, and the real life messiness of two human beings trying to travel that road together. Over the recording process in the months that followed, the arc of the album grew to include the end of her marriage. This is not an album about loss, though. It's an album about hope, love, change, and new growth.
In so many ways, the album did not go as planned. Not just the content of the songs and their roots in her personal life, but the actual recording process. The song “Lines” was written between studio sessions and added to the album last minute. The second verse of that song was born from Kate discovering that a catastrophic tornado had just torn through her neighborhood of East Nashville while she was out of town recording (her home and family were fine). She flew back from the initial recording session in Dallas on March 5th, 2020 – and within a week the first wave of Covid shutdowns began and it was clear that she would not be traveling again nor heading back into a studio anytime soon.
Over the course of the next year, she chipped away at her vocal and piano parts from home while she and her then-husband navigated divorce proceedings under the same roof. “I was working on creating one thing and letting go of another all from the same house. I think you can hear it in the music,” she says. “If nothing else, it surely helped me.” The release date for the album is meaningful, too – exactly two years after recording wrapped in Dallas.
Sam Bambery is incredibly excited to announce the release of his third single ‘Songs About Sailors’. Sam puts his alt-country style on display with an innate sense of hook-worthy melody. The song is the title track off his upcoming nine-track album, which explores both the heartbroken and hopeful sides of Bambery’s psyche.
‘Songs About Sailors’ stretches across the canon of New Zealand-based independent music, incorporating sounds from alternative rock, country and folk. Bambery distills this all down to an elegant and thoughtful track with guitar and piano melodies complimenting his powerful vocal delivery. Bambery’s influences are made plain here, with various inspirations from Wilco and Sharon Van Etten.
Sam Bambery is a Christchurch-based musician that has built a steady reputation in the Garden City’s alternative music and art scenes whilst also having a deep interest in folk music and creative songwriting as a whole. Having recorded his debut album with De Stevens (Marlin’s Dreaming, Asta Rangu), Bambery is embarking on a 3-date New Zealand tour with Emily Fairlight to celebrate the album. He also recently released two singles, ‘Here I Am’ and ‘The Other’, the latter of which is accompanied by a Flying Nun-style music video. The full album will be released on Thursday 24th March.
Bambery takes great inspiration from various indie artists like Wilco and Elliot Smith, Aldous Harding and Cut Worms. His music is deeply rooted in Christchurch's local country/folk scene, taking cues from local artists such as Marlon Williams, Adam Hattaway and Delaney Davidson. His music pushes this envelope further into his own contemporary style. His band consists of an ensemble of local musicians that enjoy approaching his folksy songs with a modern artistic sensibility.
"Pretend" the latest single from Sooner's debut album, Days and Nights.
On the track, the band shares "Despite it being one of our catchier hooks, the lyrics operate in dark contrast of the feeling – they’re about a sexual assault."
Formed in 2016, Sooner blends alternative rock, dream pop, and shoegaze in a style that is both lush and energetic – with Federica Tassano’s ethereal yet powerful vocals haunting every song.
After fits and starts and pandemic delays, Sooner are now finally able to bring their grand, whirring dream-pop to the fore. Meditations on a deep longing for an impossible love, dreams of being inextricably connected and nurtured by nature and heavier subjects in depression and addiction come together to rise up beyond the darkness and celebrate the depths of emotions.
Many Voices Speak will release her second album 'Gestures' on 29th April via Strangers Candy. After sharing the record's first single 'Seat for Sadness', described by Stereogum as a 'subtle stunner', she has now released new track 'Within Reach'. She explains: “It is one of the songs on the album that started out from an issue and ended up as a reminder on how to cope with it. As the song was finished, I had figured out something new about myself that could actually help me in real life. That’s something that unites the songs on the album, that I'm trying to find new ways of thinking as a strategy for myself so that I can live with certain things that can’t be changed.”
Many Voices Speak, the project of Swedish musician Matilda Mård, has always found its power in its ability to capture an eternity in an expression. Mård’s elegant, yearning dream-pop makes the world seem to slow down around it, where time stretches out, and you can get lost in the deep pools of memory and emotion. After the success of her 2018 debut 'Tank Town,' her new album 'Gestures' showcases her growth as a songwriter, one more comfortable in her own skin.
Working with longtime producer Petter Nygårdh, the writing process, and how Mård thinks about it, grew into something new on 'Gestures'. She wrote the early versions of the songs on piano, as she always has. But before, she thought as a singer-songwriter, determined to make the songs stand up on their own, in their stripped-back version. Here, she wrote them merely as beginnings, aware of the possibility to evolve them into something more. “I want to capture these things that I can’t really put my finger on”, says Mård. “The lyrics have become more important for me. I’ve put a lot of trust in the text this time. I could explore this darker and more cinematic sound, I didn’t just think about writing a pop song”. That step made for an album that presents a more mature, developed vision of Many Voices Speak.
As well as an artist, the album has seen Mård grow as a person through writing it. Each song represents an issue she has struggled with - they tell a story of unspectacular, but deeply meaningful, transformation. Mård says “What unites the songs is a need for inner change, to handle the things in life that can’t be changed. I’m creating strategies for myself - new ways of thinking, so I can live with certain things. The title comes from that. I’ve figured out that gestures are important because they’re proof of love, and that’s the only power we have against death and separation”. It’s a theme that’s very personal to Mård, but one that resonates with a lot of people – something that could be said about Many Voices Speak itself. The stargazing mood of Gestures makes for an album that’s powerfully moving, one that creates a space apart from the noise of the world around it – a little retreat for Mård, and her listeners, to call their own.
Merv Pinny pens a song about those fighting for freedom and never giving up on their beliefs. Taking on a storyteller role with this latest single, Pinny voices the words that many around the world are crying out for. "Let us be kind to our brothers on the road ... and their freedom is their journey ... their feelings may over load ... and the voices call for freedom."
Merv Pinny's brand new album is set for release in 2022. Titled Dark to Light, the album follows Pinny's journey as an artist with songs that have captured the imaginations of millions from across the globe. War; humanitarian crises with children; refugee crises; the cruel world of love on the internet; and gun violence have been the topics that Pinny felt compelled to write about in the hope of invoking change for the better. Seeing the effects that both money and power had had on so many of these devastating events, Pinny used his songs to help give more meaning and donated proceeds direct to World Vision and Children in Crisis. Just this month, Merv performed for Kerikeri locals as part of a fundraising event for the Northland Rescue Helicopter, helping to raise more than $15,000.
Our entire world has now been affected since the pandemic started in 2020, filling lives with heartbreak and sadness as we all have learned to live in new ways. Merv recognised the importance during this time to have more positive and uplifting experiences, so he started writing new material that has been crafted to instill in everyone a much-needed feeling of joy and laughter, with the hope yet again of using his music to invoke change for the better. Dark to Light celebrates the significant journey of an artist who has evolved his music over the years, in keeping with the times.
Mixing emotive vocals with an avant-garde alt/pop production, Salomon delivers a stylish follow-up shrouded in a shadowy mystique. With an early demo originally featured in ‘Complicity’ (2013), a US indie film which sees a seemingly innocuous teenage party spiral out of control, the track echoes similar themes of adolescent abandon; with the artist dwelling on the loss of innocence and the growing burdens of responsibility that ultimately comes with adulthood.
Speaking about the new single “Polka Dot”, she says: “”Polka Dot” is about mourning innocence, and the darkness that’s picked up along the way, with an ‘up yours’ sarcastic tone, and not wanting to grow old.”
“Polka Dot” sees Fe Salomon working once again with esteemed classical arranger and maverick: Johnny Parry. The resultant record is one that blurs genre boundaries and defies simple categorisation, with the pair revealing that its outlandish arrangements were “birthed through a pair of orchestral bass drums coupled with the clang of an old washing machine”.
Teaming up once again with Director/Videographer Fraser Taylor (who also shot the “Superhuman” video), “Polka Dot” is accompanied with artful video that nods to the track’s dark coming-of-age ruminations. Taking inspiration from the works of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (who is notably renowned for her use of polka dots in many of her installations), the video flickers through surrealist choreography interspersed with real childhood images of Fe from the 80s & 90s that were cut from old home movies and family albums. Watch the video here.
Fe Salomon is a singer-songwriter, performer and producer, currently based in the East Midlands. Born in Northampton, she 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.
The Brotherhood release debut single "Till the Wheels Fall Off" with TLG Entertainment/Ingrooves. The Brotherhood make their way onto the scene with "Till The Wheels Fall Off", an ode to life as a musician. Though this track has many guest features, we owe this country/rock blend to three musical masterminds- Michael Alexander, Scott Wilson (Saving Abel) and Rick Monroe.
The three, while coming from different backgrounds within the vast world of music, join forces with years of experience under their belt. Listeners are in for a treat when they realize The Brotherhood goes beyond their integral three with this debut track and bring in a number of fellow musicians and friends to feature on the track, such as Kent Slucher (Luke Bryan), Neal Middleton (Royal Bliss), Marshal Dutton (Hinder) and more. The Brotherhood stay true to their name by integrating their own friendships into this truly collaborative musical effort.
"When we first wrote “Till the Wheels Fall Off” I never thought of it as being a duet or multi singer song, but when my co-writer Arlis Albritton (Jamey Johnson / Luke Bryan) demoed it he had Craig Wayne Boyd (The Voice) in the studio doing another song and figured let’s try it out. So, when we were looking for our first Brotherhood song, this one seemed perfect- plus, with this group of guys we have definitely lived the lyrics of this tune!" - Rick Monroe
“When The Brotherhood were pitching song ideas back and forth, "Till The Wheels Fall Off" felt like it was written for us. When asked to produce the song, I immediately had musicians in mind to make a grinding musical arrangement. We called in Kent Slucher (Luke Bryan), Brian Bonds (Florida Georgia Line), Steve Hinson, and it was a blast working long distance aside all my friends." - Scott Wilson. "Till the Wheels Fall Off" was produced by Scott Wilson (Saving Abel).
