Lily Konigsberg - Idle Dream - Mae Krell - Big Little Lions - Maria Pellicano - Church Girls
Lily Konigsberg, a member of the beloved art rock band Palberta, is announcing her solo debut LP. The album arrives after what has been a busy 18 months for Konigsberg, who released her first solo EP on long-time Palberta label Wharf Cat Records (Water From Your Eyes, Dougie Poole) to an extremely positive reception in March of 2020 (Pitchfork described it as a collection of left-field pop that sits "at the center of a Venn diagram containing haunted dolls, Arthur Russell, and Ariana Grande"), before Palberta released their most critically-acclaimed record to date in January of this year ("a gleefully odd record...perfectly Palberta" according to the New York Times), which was followed by the release of a compilation of her early solo recordings culled mostly from Bandcamp and Soundcloud releases.
Her new album is called Lily We Need To Talk Now (out October 29th on Wharf Cat), with the title taken from a text she received from the album's producer Nate Amos of the band Water From Your Eyes, and the announcement is accompanied by the release of the album's first single "That's The Way I Like It".
Though the album is a characteristically eclectic collection of pop songs, recalling in moments the guitar-driven, punk-adjacent feel of her work with Palberta, to things like mid-Aughts Sheryl Crow, and even Cure-inflected post-punk, its buoyant energy is nicely captured by this single. Backed on drums by her Palberta bandmate Nina Ryser with backing vocals from Amos, the track is a burst of perfectly-formed guitar pop with a slight pop punk lean that displays the imaginative and slightly warped melodic turns that Kongisberg has mastered. It holds a deceptive complexity and yet feels as natural as breathing, and its ease only serves to highlight Konigsberg's considerable gifts as a songwriter.
==========================================================================
About the mixed emotions that stems from listening to your head while following your heart, Dublin duo Idle Dream’s second single ‘The First Time’ captures a wild abandonment tempered by responsibility.
Prior to Connor McCabe joining the once-solo project, Chris had already written and recorded ‘The First Time’ with producer Ben Haynes. The duo then put the finishing touches on the song together in Dublin’s Soundcaster Studios.
The essence of the song is underpinned with far more anxiety than the melody’s hopeful, uplifting feel would portray. It deals with the ideas of young love in its later stages, inspired by the idea of falling for someone wholly as you could when you were younger, but being faced with the push-backs and complications of responsibility and personal history.
On the verse, Chris affirms ‘I wanna know you when you’re sober’, digging into the ways in which we mask our trepidation and anxiety at the beginning of a burgeoning romance. The crashing guitars are powerfully emotive, driving the force of this feeling to peaks and troughs throughout.
The first offering from a new batch of upcoming singles – and possibly what’s shaping up to be an EP – ‘The First Time’ is out today August 20th.
==========================================================================
New York-based singer-songwriter Mae Krell shares their new single “rest stop” and the accompanying lyric video. There is an undeniable emotional rawness to "rest stop." Underscored by layered, lush instrumentation, Mae’s vocals bristle with palpable emotion as they come to terms with the loss of a friendship: “I’ve been much worse than this / am I not yours unless I'm sick? / was I better to be around / when you had to pull me out?”
Mae started to write the new single when their car broke down in the trucking area of a rest stop. They were feeling lost in life, both figuratively and literally. “I was sad and still processing a really painful friend breakup and just overall not in a great place,” Mae says. “In writing ‘rest stop,’ I was learning that sometimes getting healthier and becoming more independent can end in a loss of a relationship. And, as this specific friendship ended, I started to realize that maybe it wasn't as good for me as I thought it was.”
For the accompanying music video, Mae hit the road with visual artist Caro Hallock to revisit the aforementioned rest stop. The video chronicles the journey back to where the song was first conceived through nostalgic and timeless road trip footage.
Following a two-year hiatus, Mae Krell returned in early 2020 ready to embark on a new musical era. With a newfound maturity and understanding, they have perfected their folk-pop sound and introspective lyrical chops. At just 22 years old, Mae exudes a musicality wise beyond their years. Influenced by revered singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers, and Gregory Alan Isakov, their songs are intimate reflections that confront trauma, self-love, and personal truths. Their singles have amassed millions of streams to date, with last year’s singles “wash,” “home,” and “garden,” all individually breaking over 500K streams.
In addition to their artist career, Mae has worn many different hats in the music industry, photographing live music for Rolling Stone and Sony RCA, founding the online music publication Tongue Tied Magazine and, most recently, starting Bitch Mgmt, a multimedia marketing and PR company. With a multitude of career milestones already under their belt, Mae is taking it one day at a time and focusing on writing and recording songs that reach new emotional heights.
==========================================================================
Big Little Lions are an award winning duo who were born out of a collaboration that won them a JUNO Award in 2014. Since then they have been cranking out infectious folk pop songs that are jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies that sound like the product of two people working side-by-side instead of living in different countries.
Big Little Lions continue their monthly releases with 'Finally' which is out Thursday August 19th.
"The young people are leading the way with their ability unabashedly speak up about how they feel. Finally is about finding your voice after a long time of feeling held back and the relief that comes with that." - Helen Austin, BLL
==========================================================================
Our families are filled with a rich history of people, lives and experiences, that contribute to shaping the people we become. Singer/Songwriter, author, teacher and coach, Maria Pellicano is releasing her single, ‘My Gift of Love ’today Friday 20th August 2021.
The release is a personal exploration of her own Family Constellation.. A therapeutic approach that helps individuals identify patterns of behaviour that are rooted in family origins and to work towards
acceptance of the past, to build towards a healthier dynamic. Maria has published an article here that will provide you with more of an understanding of how Family Constellations work.
Maria tells us “In writing ‘My Gift Of Love’, I found a depth in expressing a very personal part of my own family history.. It was only through learning about family constellations that I feel this song came to life.. my hope is that others can hear this song and it sparks a desire for them to discover the depth of their own Family Constellations”
Maria worked with producer, Joshua Hennessy, of Pivotal Music Melbourne, to craft this heartfelt song with the hope that it will inspire listeners to take courage in exploring their own family constellations.
==========================================================================
Church Girls is a band that finds comfort in change. Based in Philly, the band's latest single 'Separated' finds revelation in escape while channeling the spoken-word delivery of The Hold Steady and the sheer force of Mannequin Pussy.
"This song is an ode to my twin brother," vocalist Mariel Beaumont (she/her) explains. "It's about realising home was no longer what we thought it was when a family member's battle with alcoholism came to a head. The song is still hopeful in a way since we knew we'd always have a home in each other. He's still my best friend and the first person to hear every song I write."
At the beginning of 2020, Church Girls signed to Anchor Eighty Four Records, a Los Angeles label that had just celebrated a decade in business and carried weighty alumni like The Story So Far and Grayscale. From across the country, out of Philly, came Mariel Beaumont (vox/guitar), Mitchell Layton (guitar/vox), Vince Vullo (bass/vox), and Julien Varnier (drums/vox) with their sophomore LP, The Haunt, that grounded the band in a gritty, chest-pounding sound.
Now, a little over a year later, they've continued to grow with A84's roster of similarly anthemic acts, and while remaining on the label are also announcing their signing to Big Scary Monsters (American Football/Proper./Illuminati Hotties) for UK + Europe.
==========================================================================
Comments