Another Sky - Bitter Defeat
Another Sky have just shared their latest single 'Was I Unkind?' along with a video of them performing with London Contemporary Voices. We have added a second video which features two extra songs 'Tree' and 'Avalanche’ again with London Contemporary Voices. This is our fourth feature for this exceptional band this year and these superb versions of their music really are something quite special and an absolute pleasure to share. ===== Bitter Defeat are a New Zealand based band and their brand new single 'Better' is a distinctive indie rock song. Gritty and packing some gorgeous hooks, this quickly becomes "sing along" music, and needless to say pretty much a certainty for a good few more listens.
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Another Sky releases “Was I Unkind?” taken from 'Music For Winter Vol. 1 EP' out January 1st via Missing Piece Records / Fiction. On the first day of 2021, Another Sky will release their latest body of work, an EP entitled Music For Winter Vol. I. The EP follows their debut full-length I Slept on The Floor, released earlier this year via Fiction / Missing Piece Records. Yesterday, the band released the EP’s third single "Was I Unkind?", following the recently released "It Keeps Coming" and "Sun Seeker". Alongside the studio version of “Was I Unkind?,” the London-based four piece have also released two very special live performance videos, recorded with London Contemporary Voices at London’s Union Chapel in 2019. The first being a live version of “Was I Unkind?,” and the second a medley of “Was I Unkind?,” “Tree,” and “Avalanche.”
“We wanted to release a song to celebrate Winter Solstice, a significant time of year in many cultures,” Catrin Vincent, vocalist and lyricist of Another Sky says of the new single. “‘Was I Unkind?’ was written about the time I accidentally killed my favourite plant. The plant became symbolic of how I treated myself. I realised I was as trapped in the world as the plant was, at the mercy of myself. Winter Solstice is a time of death and rebirth.”
"Winter is the perfect time for sombre music," she continues. On how the project came together, Catrin explains, "some songs are old, some are new, all are entirely collaborative. After being kept apart because of the lockdown and writing a bunch of our second album separately, we just wanted to get back into our studio and record." The entire EP was recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves at their South London studio, The Lighthouse, in October 2020.
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Kirikiriroa Hamilton (Aotearoa New Zealand) based indie-rock band Bitter Defeat today released their third single ‘Better’. One of several tracks recorded at Hamilton’s The Porch Studio (by long-time The Datsuns sound engineer and collaborator Scott Newth), ‘Better’ is the third release from the five-piece, who list the likes of The Wedding Present, Guided By Voices, The Clean, Galaxie 500 and Pavement amongst their influences.
"‘Better’ is a happy song about crappy things ending" said Rob Shirlow the songs writer. "More specifically relationships and things in your life that are totally toxic but for some reason you don’t see it or don’t want to see it, or just can’t imagine that this thing which you think you really love or is important to you is actually really bad for you and messing you up and then it ends. The joy that comes from being released from such awful situations can be quite immense, and that’s what this song is about, really. It’s not about one specific relationship, more a theme of past experiences, some work situations of the past, social groups or ‘friends’ you realise were just truly awful things in your life...when they end, the big breathe out and ‘Oh my god what was I thinking!?’ moments.” Shirlow goes on to say “Musically it starts off a bit Britpop of all things, but I like to think we channel The Clash once it gets going. It’s a favourite to play live and is cathartic to sing and just let it all go!”
The band also recorded and starred in their second music video. “We worked with a friend of ours again, Kat Waswo, (WAZKAT Productions), in Hamilton one sunny afternoon in early summer. She did an amazing job. We had a bit more of an idea about what we wanted for this, and it’s basically us having a big old mess around outdoors, being very happy and doing mildly odd things for middle aged people. We considered a narrative of someone coming out of a troubled relationship and then being happy, but decided to focus on the ‘being happy’ element of the song, so that’s what you see. We don’t take ourselves particularly seriously, not that the subject matter isn’t serious or from the heart, but portraying that on screen is a different thing altogether. We’re very happy with the result and are grateful for all of Kat’s mahi with the video”
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