Dizzy - The Quilter - Kelly McMichael - Los Lobos - ELUNIA
Following their recent JUNO Award nomination for Alternative Album of the Year, Dizzy are excited to release their new single "Sunflower, Are You There?" featuring Kevin Garrett. The new track is the second offering from a forthcoming collaborations EP titled Separate Places. The EP will be released by Royal Mountain Records and Communion Records on 11th June, and features recent single "The Bird Behind The Drapes" featuring Luna Li.
The Separate Places EP sees the Oshawa four-piece reimagine some of the standout tracks from their second album, 2020’s The Sun and Her Scorch. Each track features a different guest artist: "Sunflower, Are You There?" is a reworking of the album’s lead single "Sunflower", now featuring Grammy-nominated musician Kevin Garrett, known for his work on Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
On the collaboration, vocalist Katie Munshaw explains, "We opened up for Kevin back before we had released any music as a band. I remember looking up to him as someone our age touring, writing perfect songs and just doing the damn thing so well. Having his seal of approval on "Sunflower", a song about self-doubt, felt very full circle."
Upon its release, The Sun and Her Scorch album was praised for its “lyricism paired with their dreamy indie-pop sound” (MTV) and its candid exploration of the messiest, most raw emotions young people experience in the modern age. “I wanted to be completely honest about the things nobody ever wants to admit, like being jealous of your friends or pushing away the people who love you,” frontwoman Katie Munshaw says. “So instead of being about romantic heartbreak, it’s really about self-heartbreak.” The Sun and Her Scorch has been nominated for Best Alternative Album at the Juno Awards, a feat previously achieved by the likes of Arcade Fire - and Dizzy themselves, for their 2018 debut Baby Teeth.
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The Quilter is Glasgow native Stuart Dougan, who having previously made an impact on the Scottish indie scene with notable projects French Wives and Smash Williams, returns entirely on his own terms - writing everything himself and recording most of the project alone. Set to release his debut EP in June, setting a high standard for what is to come, latest single ‘The Long Weekend’ (May 7) is the quilters most anthemic indie pop tune yet.
‘Bolt The Door’ EP is a collection of bold alt-pop songs, some of which were made before the pandemic and others that were written during the initial lockdown. This EP follows on from 2020’s immersive, cinematic visual record Dark Cloud/Grey Area, equal parts documentary film, live concert and album. Currently being considered for various film festivals for 2021.
Inspiring the same sense magnitude and euphoric nostalgia as Phoenix or Arcade Fire, ‘The Long Weekend’ is a driving anthemic slice of alternative indie-pop. Bold and colourful textures and melodies drive the track euphorically forward. A love letter to ordinariness pre-pandemic days, The Quilter makes one ache to share our lives with our friends again, to sit on the grass and bask in sunlight, stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of live music, just to spend a long weekend in the company of other humans - we’re all ‘patiently waiting for nothing particular, the mundane’s incredible now that it’s simpler’.
For The Quilter, ‘this song was in part inspired by a viral clip I saw from the set of ‘Uncut Gems’ where the crew had finished filming and were all dancing to ‘I Feel It Coming’ by The Weeknd. It was just a short clip but I wanted to try and capture the palpable sense of joy that was clearly being felt at the time. It was written during lockdown and is basically a love letter to my friends and daydreaming about getting to hang out and have fun in a post pandemic world. I’m very aware that it’s bombastic and over the top in places but I wanted to purposely try and capture a sense of hopeful euphoria that one day, not too far from here, you’ll get to hug all your friends again.’
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Kelly McMichael (from Peterborough ON, based in St. John’s NL), is known for her commanding vocals and stage presence as well as her classic-sounding songwriting. She has a unique ability to conduct powerful musical forces whether making bedroom beats, rocking a Gibson SG or serenading softly on the piano. Kelly has toured Canada, the UK and the US with various projects, most recently keys and vocals with Sarah Harmer.
She has fronted Renders, Thelma & Louise, Kelly McMichael and The Gloss and Rouge, and as a collaborator Kelly has performed with Regina Gently (and alter ego Gentleman Reg), Allie X, Richard Laviolette, Terra Lightfoot, The Hidden Cameras, John, Claire Whitehead and Geordie Gordon (Islands, US Girls).
The first two singles from Kelly McMichael’s debut full-length album Waves display a wide range of rock sounds and mark a transition from her electronic based project RENDERS. It has taken years to find the right circumstances to bring these arrangements to life, and she finally found them by the ocean with the support of engineer, co-producer and drummer Jake Nicoll (The Burning Hell), and multi-instrumentalists Maria Peddle and Sarah Harris (Property) from St John’s. Kelly is keeping busy with musical explorations on the island, sharing little treats in the form of piano covers, vocal looping arrangements and other musical explorations until touring the album becomes a possibility.
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Los Lobos will return with Native Sons on July 30th via New West Records. The 13-song set was produced by Los Lobos in East Los Angeles and finds the band mapping their musical DNA as a kaleidoscopic selection of tribute songs from their homeland, ultimately creating a crucial snapshot of L.A.’s musical heritage. Having formed in 1973 and gotten their start playing spirited renditions of Mexican folk music at parties and in restaurants, Los Lobos are no strangers to reinterpretation (and if you’ve ever been to one of their legendary live shows, you already know that). These brothers have always held a deep appreciation for diverse music, and they love pulling out old gems and making them shine like new.
For all the trailblazing musical acts who’ve emerged from Los Angeles, very few embody the city’s wildly eclectic spirit more wholeheartedly than Los Lobos. Over the last five decades, the East L.A.-bred band has made an indelible mark on music history by exploring an enormous diversity of genres—rock-and-roll and R&B, surf music and soul, mariachi and música norteña, punk rock and country—and building a boldly unpredictable sound all their own.
In a nod to their neighborhood, Native Sons opens with the wide-eyed frenzy of “Love Special Delivery” by Thee Midniters, an East L.A. garage band and one of the first Chicano rock groups to ever score a major hit in the U.S. From there, it features favorites and deep cuts by other Los Angeles luminaries such as the Beach Boys, WAR, Buffalo Springfield, Jackson Browne, and more. In a particularly meaningful moment for the band, Native Sons includes a fiery cover of “Flat Top Joint” by the Blasters, the seminal L.A. roots-rock band who helped pave the way for their signing to Slash Records in the early ’80s (and whom counted Steve Berlin as a member before his joining Los Lobos). The album’s title track is its sole original song, a loving homage to Los Angeles that sounds right at home amid so many classic tracks.
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When reality became too much, ELUNIA created an alternative existence. A singer-songwriter-producer executing all of her own visuals, the New Hampshire-based recording artist captures the endless meaning of human interaction as an immersive experience. Her music delves beneath the surface, with striking electronic textures, soaring melodies, and observant, probing lyrics.
Although trained in music from an early age, it was the discovery of transforming feelings into creative entities that inspired the emerging songsmith to chart a different path. The multi-instrumentalist began writing and producing incessantly, hiding away in school practice rooms as a coping mechanism for the isolation she faced in the world around her. Fragments of thought noted in the midst of heart-wrenching moments evolved into ethereal, liquid atmospheres. Co-producing with multi-million streamed producer JMAC (Haux, Luz), the result is a flood of wild self-expression channelled through cinematic soundscapes.
Her latest release “Pressure Points” speaks of idolizing someone through a struggle with mental health and the fear of losing them. ELUNIA describes, “It's not like someone is outright saving you, but more that they're just existing in the right places and the right ways, and it's really subtle, but that makes it all the more powerful.”
ELUNIA is inspired by unique sonics that push boundaries, alongside currents of inexplicably raw, human emotions. The genre-bending, alt-pop essence radiates through her music, with the introspective single oozing in intimacy and vulnerability. “Pressure Points” features cries of hazy guitar falls and atmospheric keys, all shimmering with authenticity. The mellow track includes original voice memos with birdsong floating in the background, resulting in a hypnotic and peaceful delivery and ultimately giving listeners a moment to breathe and appreciate our inner strength.
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