Animai - Moontype - Colour Tongues - Byla Rose - Hawkmoon
No (wo)man is an island but somehow Animai finds brilliance when deserted.
Her 3rd self release since 2020 does not disappoint. A homecoming of sorts, Animai revisits her 140 roots, with a nod to Zero 7. This time her lone production, arrangement and lyrics promise to lull the listener into serenity. A perfect soundtrack to your morning meditation or after a stressful day.
She says "I wanted the production to match the emotional intention, but slowly the track turned into a paradox (calm music with turbulent lyrics) which I actually prefer, in fact the track really calms me down" She laughs with a surprised tone "I've accidentally written my own personal lullaby".
Created by slicing up and layering her voice to make a vocal pad with an off beat harp pattern, there is a sense of uncertainty that only makes the calm even more compelling when it arrives.
Animai's interests in the Arts spans many disciplines. She has worked with instrumentalists, cross genre remixers, photographers and filmographers and is excited to continue to collaborate and promote more art forms in her future projects. On ‘ISLAND’ Animai couldn’t wait to work with Finnish collage designer and animator Laura Matikainen, the result a striking piece of artwork and mesmerising video that encapsulates the emotions and lyrical content of the track, and Animai's hypnotic music production.
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Last month, Moontype announced their debut LP Bodies of Water (due out April 2nd on Born Yesterday Records). The announcement coincided with the release of the band's single "About You," which recently appeared on NPR's All Songs Considered, and followed their stand alone debut single "Ferry," which received an overwhelming response when it was released in late 2020, earning comparisons to Galaxie 500 and Beach House in The New York Times and praise and "most anticipated LPs of 2021" nods from outlets like FADER, MTV, VICE, Stereogum, NPR, Paste and Bandcamp. Today, the band are sharing a third single from the LP, the beautifully understated "3 Weeks."
Beginning with a simple finger-picked guitar and vocal arrangement that eventually blossoms into an array of vocal harmonies in the song's final third, it's a track that perfectly captures the uncertain thrill of a new crush. A quieter song than the band's earlier releases, it's a gorgeous example Margaret McCarthy's remarkable ability as a songwriter. A song that beautifully captures the the nuance of feeling and subtle details that makes the raw honestly of her writing resonate.
"I wrote this song in the midst of a big crush that was mixed with a new friendship and a new job and a new city," McCarthy explains. "I was trying to get a handle on how to move through this phase of transition while also having a feeling that was too big to really put into words. I kept waiting for the moment to come, when I would know exactly what to say and how to say it, but it never came."
The three players in Chicago’s Moontype orbited each other for years before they came in phase. Bodies of Water, their debut album for local label Born Yesterday, documents travel, insecurity, friendship, and the titular element—all of which are representative of the band members’ strong connection to place and to one another. “Being rooted in the landscape became important to me while studying geology, which completely changed how I think about the world,” offers songwriter, vocalist and bassist Margaret McCarthy of the album’s central themes. The arrangements themselves feel like open-hearted negotiations; sparse fingerpicking gives way to saturated tube-screaming as naturally as the changing of tides. Over twelve tracks, Moontype revels in the woozy concoction of its many influences, but always lands on punchy hooks, shifting between arrangements both spacious and mystifying without abandoning their conversational warmth.
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Since their inception, Colour Tongues have taken hits and weathered storms, both literally and figuratively, and they’re still alive to tell the story. Boasting a nurse, a carpenter, an actor, and a dog walker, the band combines elements of math and progressive rock with dreamy indie pop.
James Challis, Colour Tongue’s singer and guitarist is an Australian native whose father was a high ranking member of the Sahaja Yoga cult in the early 80’s and 90’s. Thankfully for Challis, his mother got the kids out.
As a child, Challis would bang his head on his pillow every night before bed. When his mother asked him why he answered: “I’m banging on my pillow to a song I have in my head.” Instead of ADHD pills, he was given a guitar.
As a young musician, Challis was in awe when introduced to Transatlanticism and Plans by Death Cab for Cutie. Inspired by the poetry and imagery in the lyrics, and the songwriting relationship between Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard, Challis was determined to form his own band.
Over the next couple of years Challis leaned heavily into music and moved to Vancouver where he met bass player Dan Lavergne via craigslist. The two clicked musically and began writing together, forming the band Colour Tongues with two other musicians: Hamish Miller (guitar) and John Bazuick (drums). The band recorded a self-titled EP before Bazuick and Miller left due to internal strife. Challis and Lavergne, their bond now stronger than ever, continued, committed to finding the right musicians to complete their vision for Colour Tongues.
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The spring is a spectacular time to meet your new favorite song-poet/singer. BYLA ROSE is the nom de plume of Julia Rose Cummings, and her debut How Far blossoms into the world on March 5, its effervescent Laurel Canyon pop-soul a perfect soundtrack to a season of joyful change and the sweet blues of moving on.
Cummings calls her music Pacific Coast Folk, and if that reminds you of certain classic hissing summer lawns and dear pals falling in love in dive bars, spot on. Her influences are not overt but span decades of emotionally blissful but mindful music you may have inherited from your parents (Cohen, Waits, Al Green) or discovered on your own (Mazzy Star, Fiona Apple).
Now based in Seattle, she was born in Bolinas, CA, grew up in Hawaii, and went to college in Oregon. BYLA ROSE are Cummings’ middle names, and both evoke the possibilities of the Emerald City, where people journey out to reinvent themselves inside the beauty of rain-nourished foliage and battered Western tenements
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From the band - We're Brisbane band ‘Hawkmoon’. Our second album ‘INFINITE MIRROR’ was released late last year. If you haven’t checked it out yet, we would love it if you could! Our Biography with some more info on the album is attached.
The record is a cohesive collection of surreal, woozy, psychedelic sounds and raw, dark acoustic arrangements. An album that creates a dark but hopeful mood for a dark, uncertain time.
The recorded was preceded by two singles – 'A MIDNIGHT BALL' - a unique mixture of psychedelic rock and waltz-pop with a dark undercurrent and 'THE WIDOW' - a song that combines a dark, slinky groove with a jangly, melodic chorus of bright guitars and memorable vocals.
The next single from the album is ‘DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE’ – a woozy, organ driven song inspired by late 60’s psychedelia covered in harmonies.
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