Grace Turner - NKOS - Loaver - Terra Lightfoot - Saronde - Ane Brun
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Alluring, honest and thought-provoking; Grace Turner unravels a stream of consciousness in her debut EP Half Truths, an evocative narrative and deep-seated direction for the folk-Americana singer-songwriter.
A seven-track EP, Grace traverses her innermost self and broaches both the subjectivity and complexity of one's truth. Whilst diving into a fresh direction in both sound and writing, Grace remains true to folk-rock soundscapes. A work-in-progress over 3 years, the EP reveals Grace's vulnerability and newfound artistic expression. In retrospect, Grace recalls the solace she found from the process: "I was sick of trying to sound good, trying to be some version of myself I had always told myself I was. I wanted to be seen and heard. When I listen to these songs now and look back at the process they definitely are of a time of great change and renewal for me. I chose the title Half Truths as I was going through such a turbulent time and the songs felt like they were spat out of me."
A lover of storytelling, instrumentals and dissecting lyrics, Grace hopes her body of work is also an introduction to listeners' self-analysis. "Truth is a subjective thing, what we think is true one day especially in relation to ones inner emotions may be really very different the next. When you create something you put those thoughts and feelings down, but you don’t necessarily stay the same person or believe in what you said," she continues.
Written across different settings and inspired by a range of characters, each track mirror an ongoing theme: introspection. Whether it be freeing the mind while driving in opening track 'Disdain', questioning mortality in 'Crossed Your Mind', unpacking cognitive dissonance in 'Half Light', shifting internally in 'Get Your Head Straight' or ruminating on love in 'Forget About The World'. The EP also features gusty single 'Easy I Fall' and breakout track 'Dead Or Alive', both of which received extensive plays across triple j and Double J radio.
To piece the EP together, Grace worked with a number of key figures in the industry. Recording at Melbourne's infamous Sound Park Studios with the production skills of Timothy Harvey (Lisa Mitchell, Ella Hooper), mixing by Fletcher Matthews (Sweater Curse, CLEWS) and mastering by Adam Dempsey (Didirri, Courtney Barnett). Prior to this, Grace has previously played internationally at SXSW Festival, earnt a spot as a triple j Unearthed feature artist, hitting #24 in Spotify US' Viral 50 Playlist, as well as supporting an array of artists including Alex The Astronaut, Lucy Dacus (USA), Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), City Calm Down, Kingswood, Ali Barter and more as well as making appearances at Grow Your Own Festival and Groovin The Moo.
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After their debut ‘Little Miss Numb’ last year and follow up ‘BOW (Brave Old World)’ only a month ago, NKOS are now back with synth/electro gem Lonely Ghost-self, their electronic take on break up, grief, solitude and pain. Building a path that will lead to the release of their debut album in October.
Single number three is now edging towards the digital launchpad, once again co-produced by Jagz Kooner, producer and remixer, doyen of ‘electronic rock & roll’ (it’s his own genre dammit). Co-producer of debut single Little Miss Numb’, Jagz lays a trail of aural breadcrumbs as to what you can expect from ‘Lonely Ghost-Self’, a track titled as if to be a winsome Belle and Sebastian B-Side but revealing a darker, heavier, jagged and harder hitting side to NKOS that was concealed by the dreamier, albeit bruising electronica of previous numbers ‘Little Miss Numb’ and ‘BOW (Brave Old World)’.
Initially a pan-national studio-based project, NKOS has evolved into a full band, one set to thrill on stages around the world. Brought together by friendship, the internet and sometimes sheer luck, NKOS comprise four artists from very different backgrounds – and locations – who share a love of deep, edgy electronica.
NKOS are releasing their debut album ‘From Dust To Life’ on Beatbuzz Records in October. The album will be available digitally via AWAL and OML Sync and physically in a limited edition metal box cassette with the option of cassette + walkman/cassette player also available.
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Loaver is one of the lastest signing to Stockholm label Rama Lama Records (Melby, Julia Rakel, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes etc.). However she's not a new face to the family as Linnea Hall, the woman behind the project, also sings in Malmö act Kluster B. New single 'Bloom With Me' is out now and is the second taste of her upcoming debut album 'Fern'.
Malmö, Sweden, based singer-songwriter Linnea Hall started her solo project Loaver with a desire to be able to showcase all sides of her experiences and inspirations. Earlier this year, Loaver released new single 'Drömmeri (om döden)' on Rama Lama Records (Melby, Chez Ali, Julia Rakel, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes). The single, a pendant to Debussy's Reverie is a memoriam to Linnea's grandmother that was released on her death day. 'Bloom With Me' is the second single of her upcoming debut album 'Fern' and another taste of her creative pop.
Linnea on the track: "Bloom With Me was written in a basement in Italy, in some kind of hopeless longing for union and development amongst all those stringy branches."
In 2019, Loaver put out her self-titled debut EP on Birds Records. The music – experimental, smooth and dark pop at its finest – was written and recorded in Italy during 2017, in close collaboration with artists such as Giovanni Ferrario (PJ Harvey, John Parish etc.), who produced the tracks, and Emanuele Maniscalco. Through the six tracks we were drawn between the uttermost boundaries of emotions – love, hate, dreams, doubt, chaos and naivety. The new record is once again recorded in Italy but this time in collaboration with Emanuele Maniscalco and Carlo Poddighe. On 'Fern', Loaver develop her creative pop and experiments with trip hop, singer-songwriter, dream pop, jazz and bedroom pop elements that together with Hall's splendid vocals and personal lyrics create a hauntingly beautiful soundscape.
Besides Loaver, Linnea Hall is the singer of Swedish experimental indie rock group Kluster B. The band have put out two records since 2018 that besides positive reviews in some of Sweden's biggest music magazines, have received international attention from Line of Best fit, BBC Radio 6, NBHAP and more, with The Revue calling them one of the most innovative bands in the world as well as opened for Frankie Cosmos, Omni and more.
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Nearly three years since the release of her critically acclaimed album New Mistakes, soulful rocker Terra Lightfoot shares the new single and video for "Paper Thin Walls" off the upcoming studio album Consider the Speed (October 16th - Sonic Unyon Records).
Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee at legendary Royal Studios, the single sees Lightfoot backed by a trio of session heavyweights —drummer Steve Potts, bassist Davy Smith, and keyboardist Lester Snell —produced by Jay Newland and engineered by Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell. If the single's loping riff and easy groove suggests the makings of a summer anthem, it delivers a stinging lyric for all seasons.
"I wrote this song about overhearing someone you love sharing some harsh words,” says Lightfoot. “I’ve tried to modulate my reactions to things like that, strived to be calmer in my interactions even when I feel strongly. 'Paper Thin Walls' is about having your heart run over by someone who never really comes through.”
Alongside the single, Lightfoot releases a lyric video for the song, directed by Mat Dunlap and featuring performance footage from the tail end of the marathon New Mistakes tour.
Strong, sure-footed and soulful, Terra Lightfoot's new album Consider the Speed sees the artist finding new roots on the road, and at home in her own skin more than ever before. On this Memphis-recorded session, the acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist is in top form, backed by seasoned session ringers and captured by Grammy-winning producer Newland and Grammy-winning engineer Mitchell.
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Saronde return with an afro funk anthem called ‘Firewood’ ft. Idd Aziz - “Nairobi today will be on fire. Finish your work. Wakariru put on your best dress we go and dance in the rain”- Translated lyrics from ‘Firewood’
Beating Heart Music label founders and dance duo Saronde (Ollie Wood and Chris Pedley) are back from a short break after having ignited airwaves (6 Music Giles Peterson, Cerys Matthews, Tom Ravenscroft) and festival stages (Glastonbury, Boomtown, Elrow) in 2019 with their unique recordings from across Africa featuring contemporary artists alongside vintage field recordings, all fused with a New Forest, UK originated musical twist.
‘Firewood’ has the hallmarks of a future classic borrowing from a 50’s Kikuyu all female acapella sung by young unmarried girls as they collect or carry back home firewood. It is an enchanting and delightful use of vocal evocative of youthful innocence and is complemented sublimely by Kenyan superstar Idd Aziz and a modern jazz funk pop disco splash of deliciously catchy jazz guitar, bass, and drums. Dare you not to stop everything and dance to this rhythm!
‘Firewood’ shows another level being reached as this real feel good track brings positivity, smiling faces and lots of energy across an unprecedented global summer.
The Beating Heart label is proud to spur a new wave of collaboration between Africa and the rest of the world, by using an untapped archive of 70-year-old field recordings housed at the International Library of African Music (ILAM) founded by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey and The Kikuyu, (also Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ) where the sample originates from, are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17% of the total population of Kenya making them the largest ethnic group in Kenya.
Saronde was born of an idea in 2016, fusing ancient sounds with modern musical concepts. Now based in Nairobi, Ollie and Chris have gone deeply into this incredibly rich cultural heritage and marry ideas such as ‘Firewood’ with African musical icons like Idd Aziz, who is passionate about ethnic and cultural music and its place in African society and is a proud representative of his Mijikenda culture.
Other than being one of the most distinctive vocalists in the region, Idd Aziz is also an accomplished and dynamic percussionist having learned from his father. He also plays the guitar and flute and experiments with a variety of percussions from all across the African continent.
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| Ane Brun |
Ane Brun has announced details of a brand new single, ‘Take Hold Of Me‘, which has just been released by her label, Balloon Ranger Recordings. It’s the sixth taste of her as-yet-untitled eighth studio album, which will represent her first of original material since 2015’s acclaimed When I’m Free. Due in stores this autumn, it follows 2017’s exquisite collection of cover versions, Leave Me Breathless.
This song came to life during a writing session with Martin Hederos and Josefin Runsteen in Spring of 2019. I’ve hardly done any live co-writing before (that is, meeting together in a room and creating something from scratch). I mostly prefer being alone in my own bubble when I create the first few seeds of a song. It’s a very intimate and intense activity for me, almost meditative and very intuitive and it involves a lot of improvisation. But I decided to give it a chance, and even though at one point I almost blushed because I felt so vulnerable digging into my soul in front of three friends, I’m very grateful we did it because a few really good songs came out of it, and it also made me braver.
My lyrics started out with these few lines: “My existence is screaming, it’s a physical feeling, of missing out on dance and light”. I try to describe an existential complex state of mind. An abstract feeling, and something that I’ve felt come and go through the years. And in some ways, in this time of the pandemic, it’s being emphasized even more. A feeling that things are on hold, that life is not lived to its full potential, and that the bigger questions are so present right there on the surface. It is something that at least I have experienced in this very different situation we’re in right now in 2020.
I reached out to Samuel Starck to co-produce this song with us, who is one of the amazing musicians appearing on my upcoming album. He’s also a synth and production wizard, and thanks to him we created this almost clubby sense of intense growing emotions, reflecting the words of suppressed energy that get a release by the end of the track. “Take hold of me, keep this energy steady.”
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