Luvia - Cat Princess - Jaws - Deliluh - Charlotte Cornfield - Far Caspian - Eli Raybon
Brighton’s Luvia is back with new single ‘Hunted’. Marrying the raw attitude of Mazzy Star with the melancholic pop sensibilities of Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey, the newcomer has already been turning heads with appearances at The Great Escape, 2000trees & Liverpool Sound City.
Luvia’s haunting cinematic pop provides the perfect sonic landscape for her emotive storytelling. Her vulnerable lyrics tell the secrets that people are too afraid to share and new track ‘Hunted’ is no exception:
“Hunted has a few layers of meaning to it - the first addresses developing and growing as a person. The character starts off quite young and naïve. She’s left to her own devices and starts to 'grow thorns' as she goes through her life making mistakes and growing from them. She then becomes older, 'the lion as she hunts' which represents how life has affected her. She's become fierce and is trying to fill her life up with crazy experiences in order to learn from them and to excite herself. It deals with the extreme highs and lows of life, the desert being the low part and the rain and flood in the chorus being the highs. It brings out a crazy and manic side of her. The feeling is all-consuming, and she gets swept away within that mind set which inevitably leads her back to the desert. Each time she finds that she's more and more developed; she's changed from the rose to a lioness.”
Its accompanying video presents these ideas in visual terms, with Evan Galeano explaining: “I wanted to explore the themes of isolation present in the lyrics. We juxtapose Luvia’s traversal through a barren, almost alien desert with projector images that flicker in and out in a confined space. Luvia’s isolation is a form of growth, a decision to forge her own path. At the end of her journey, she climbs atop a mountain and rediscovers civilization on her own.”
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Uppsala quintet Cat Princess formed at a New Year's party and debuted only days after playing at guitarist Robin's birthday party. Singer Nils joined the gang after drummer Victor claimed Nils was "a diamond in the rough" of a front-man. Just as spontaneous as the band's birth are their music. Today the new wave cut Silver Socks is released, the second single from Cat Princess' long-awaited debut album Forbidden Items.
Silver Socks follows first album single Sweet, released in February, and shows the band develop their sound further. Sweet broke about a year of silence from the band since their retro banging single Fly on Your Wall, which was followed by the band's debut London show and a support slot for synth legends OMD. Silver Socks is a fine representation of the band's live intensity and one of the brightest cuts from the upcoming LP which took a majority of 2018 to make. The result is an eclectic art rock mix, equally put together by the bands' influences spanning from 80s new wave to contemporary greats.
The band about Silver Socks: "In essence the song is about the feeling of meeting that one person who kind of soars above it all and who brings you with them on the journey; someone with the alien ability to make you not give a shit about worldly things. We wanted to match that theme in the energy and the melodies of the song. We want the listener leave the ground with us. We all dig late 70:s Bryan Ferry and also wanted to capture his luxurious sound in some way, but make it a bit dirtier and Cat Princess-esque. The result was Silver Socks."
Cat Princess' sound have been crafted since their 2016 debut EP Please Me which received positive reviews from Swedish magazines GAFFA and HYMN, stating that their explosive combination of modern indie pop and 80's art-pop channeled the spirit of David Bowie and Talking Heads. The band later signed to Rama Lama Records which re-released the EP on cassette. The quintet has since the EP shared stage with acts like Pale Honey, Magic Potion and Cloud Nothings as well as playing frequently on the Stockholm indie scene and an international appearance in Copenhagen and London.
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Following the announcement of their long-awaited third album, "The Ceiling", Birmingham dream-pop group JAWS have shared a new single from the record entitled "Please Be Kind".
Their third and most ambitious album yet, "The Ceiling" (out April 5th 2019), sees the band head back into the studio with Gethin Pearson, who also produced 2016's "Simplicity". The album represents another musical leap forward for the band, adding new textures and further honing a sound that has been theirs since their inception.
"Please Be Kind" follows the bands latest singles "FEAR" and "Do You Remember?" as well as their propulsive 2018 single and album opener "Driving At Night", which earned numerous plaudits.
Front man and guitarist Connor Schofield has the following to say about the new album and single: “Lyrically "The Ceiling" is generally about feeling a bit lost, I think as you grow up everything feels like its moving along a lot quicker; friends, relationships, life can all seem to move at 100 mph. Sometimes we forget that its OK to stand still for a bit sometimes and actually breathe. A lot of these songs are about dealing with that. Musically I think we’ve surprised even ourselves with it, we’ve gone down paths we haven’t taken before and ended up with something we’re really very excited about.
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Emerging experimental art-rock group Deliluh have announced a brand-new mini LP for release on May 3rd via Tin Angel (UK/EU) and Telephone Explosion (CA/US) – ‘Oath of Intent’ comes hot off the heels of a year spent tracking fresh ideas to tape in local veteran’s hall Owls Club. ‘Oath of Intent’ is a summer sibling, one of two albums birthed in the community space, and documents the group in its most cut-throat realisation to date.
Today the band share a first cut from the record, - Freeloader Feast is a visceral explosion, gritty and urgent as it arrives. The accompanying video was shot on 16 mm film in a vacant room of the band’s apartment with friends and neighbours discussing their everyday lives and personal struggles. The negatives were later distressed by members of the band (and nearly destroyed) through various combined methods; boiling, burning, scratching, painting, bleaching and other means of chemical tampering (detergent, window cleaner, ammonia, etc). The results portray the vulnerability of people under the pressures of modernity that escalate out of their control.
Following on from their self-produced debut LP ‘Day Catcher’ (released via Hand Drawn Dracula, 2018), new EP 'Oath of Intent' tells tales that pick apart the conflict and unease within our human makeup, respectively inhabiting its characters and peering through anxious lenses at the past, present and future, with lyrical tenacity and razor-sharp tact. Swift instrumental exchanges are opted in preference to layers or blending, delivering an experience front-to-back like a tight collection of hard-boiled short stories.
Deliluh’s live propensity to ignore the traditional circuit of bars and clubs in favour of unconventional venues has built a reputation at home, and one they intend to maintain. Over the past few years, they’ve given audiences a variety of performances in bakeries, libraries, apartments, and a decommissioned subway platform. They embark on a tour of the UK and Europe this May, with festival appearances across Canada to follow throughout the summer. The band hail from Toronto and have solidified a reputation as a torchbearer for the DIY music community. The exciting post-punk quartet combine drone and experimental music into a fiercely resonating sonic identity.
The group’s slow-burning force is becoming more potent by the month. Foregoing the clean polish of professional studios for living spaces of contextual importance, Deliluh's dedication to thoughtful writing and analog documentation has been a constant process that's kept loyal fans highly anticipating their culminate fruit in this year’s offerings.
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Charlotte Cornfield has a new single from her forthcoming album The Shape of Your Name. The video for "Silver Civic" (feat. Leif Vollebekk on the piano) features a subtle, but devastating performance from Charlotte. The whole album features a star-studded cast of collaborators including (but not limited to) Grammy-winning engineer Shawn Everett, and Broken Social Scene members Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin.
Charlotte on the origins of "Silver Civic": This is something I think we have all experienced at some point, that association of an inanimate object with somebody, or something – that wave of emotion it brings. And cars, they’re just everywhere. I recorded what I thought was going to be a demo version of this song with my friend Matthew Bailey right when I wrote it. And then I tried recording it a bunch more times with different arrangements but in the end that first recording had the emotion, the rawness.
“You free yourself when you take away the script,” says Toronto songwriter Charlotte Cornfield. “That’s where this record came from, dismantling patterns and embracing the process.” Cornfield’s third full length, The Shape of Your Name, is set to arrive in Spring 2019 via Outside Music imprint Next Door Records. The album has a more honed studio sound than her scrappier 2016 release Future Snowbird, and for good reason: it was recorded in 5 different sessions over the course of 3 years. The songs are her strongest and most striking to date – contemplative and contemporary, funny and heart-wrenching – and they’ve got that stuck-in-your-head-for-days quality that Cornfield is known for. The Shape of Your Name features a star-studded cast of collaborators including (but not limited to) Grammy-winning engineer Shawn Everett, Broken Social Scene members Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin, and Montreal songwriter Leif Vollebekk.
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Specialising in stylish, college dorm low-key indie, Leeds risers Far Caspian continue to show remarkable progression in latest release A Dream Of You, the second effervescent slice of luscious dream pop taken from upcoming sophomore EP The Heights out this summer.
Emerging last year with their collection of catchy lo-fi gems on hazy debut EP Between Days, and crafting their self-coined ‘melanjolly’ style to widespread critical praise, the trio’s newest output showcases their trademark sound with fresh commercial overtones and a very intentional 80s production sheen.
Discussing their forthcoming single, frontman Joel Johnston stated: “A Dream Of You was the first song I wrote for this EP. It was inspired by some of our favourite synth pop bands of the 80’s and gave us the idea to play with that sort of sound for the rest of the songs. It’s mainly about feeling abandoned whether that’s from a relationship or from friends or family and already knowing that feeling from previous experiences.
The inspiration for the lyrics came from a place where I was thinking about my experiences as a kid. I’m the youngest of five boys and I was always seeking validation and wanted to be a part of the fun. I quickly got used to the feeling of being alone as each brother eventually moved away from home. It made me realise my expectation of others now that I’m older. The more I have conversations with people the more I realise everyone carries something from their childhood with them and at our age it’s about figured out whether it’s a good or bad thing”.
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Eli Raybon - Empathy Test.With only a few releases to his name, 21-year-old Eli Raybon has quickly established himself as a sci-fi weirdo auteur. The staunch non-conformist is now priming his most rebellious release yet: a sci-fi concept album called Supertoys.
Raybon’s work is fueled by an unrestricted imagination, born from a serious case of childhood nostalgia. His formative years were spent exploring small-town Mississippi, writing songs, and directing his own Hi8 tape movies. But as he grew, Eli became keenly aware of the sobering realities that faced him and his peers – a conveyer belt existence where they were destined to become carbon copies of their parents. He himself was on route to New York to study computer science and mathematics, before pulling the emergency brake and changing his plans only two days before freshman orientation.
When the dust settled, Eli began recording his debut LP, The Machine & My Dilemma, which documented his desire to jump off the hamster wheel of life. Following its release, Raybon moved to LA to pursue music full time. Never one to flounder, Eli immediately recorded and released two lauded singles. The track 30 Cents was accompanied by an ambitious music video which was screened at film festivals across the country. He soon followed up with Green, an EP that drew praise from Buzzbands LA, Noisey and Paste.
Eli became infatuated with hardware synthesizers and moved from writing material on the guitar to a more expansive pallet on synths. Feeling his new material called for a producer beyond his skillset, Raybon sought the help of synth guru Prozak Morris, who had transitioned from making bass heavy hip hop to calibrating cutting edge vaporwave. The two collaborated on a remix and Eli quickly realized this was the producer he had been dreaming of. They began work on an album, recording from opposite coasts, Eli on the East and Prozak on the West, connecting through frequent phone calls as they slowly pieced their production together.
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