St.Arnaud - Pete Galub & Matt Kanelos - Tamer Berk - Clea Anaïs’
Following on from the release of his stunning comeback single ‘Catching Flies’ at the start of this year, fast-rising singer and songwriter St.Arnaud is now continuing the support for his forthcoming sophomore LP ‘Love And The Front Lawn’ with the sweeping new effort ‘Loving’.
Much like what we heard on ‘Catching Flies’, ‘Loving’ looks to evoke the more uplifting and heartfelt side to his songwriting. Blending a strong mix of folk, indie-rock and pop influences throughout, his newest gem showcases a wonderfully lovelorn artist at the helm, brimming with bright and shimmering textures.
Speaking about his latest offering, he said, “I’m really proud of this one. I wanted to take my songwriting in a more personal, story-telling direction. Once the backdrop was set with the syrupy-sweet chorus, I felt like I could colour and create contrast with scenes from my day-to-day life, including the (unfortunately true) August morning, waking up to find a stranger’s defecation by my car door.”
Edmonton indie-pop songster St.Arnaud is a little bit of everywhere to everyone. Working alongside his brother and fellow creative, the YouTube animator GingerPale, St.Arnaud found a loving home on YouTube and Spotify with legions of eager listeners and was swept up in dozens of tour dates across Canada and the USA. His debut album was a DIY tour-de-force of fun-loving melodies overlaying themes of death, loss, and anxiety. His new album, 2022’s Love and the Front Lawn continues the sad lyrics/happy melodies framework but with a new instrumental palette. St.Arnaud has performed with Basia Bulat, Reuben and the Dark, and Lucy Rose among countless others and has performed at stages across the world including at Reeperbahn, New Colossus Festival, FOCUS Wales, and Tallinn Music Week, along with been featured on Exclaim!, BeatRoute Magazine, Indie 88, and more.
“I want the album to continue the thread of self-reflection, vulnerability, and rawness” that made up The Cost of Living (2019) says St.Arnaud, “but with notable departures in texture and form.” Steeping in the likes of the raucous and fun-loving 70s’ Big Star and Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, the ghostly and intimate Damien Jurado, and the wandering and clever narratives of Charlotte Cornfield, Ian didn’t forget about his innate talent for writing singable hooks and to practice his sha-la-las.
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Pete Galub, is a songwriter/guitarist based in New York City. 'Museum of Brotherly Love' is a collaborative song with Matt Kanelos and it is a beautifully crafted song with intriguing lyrics and superb musical production.
Pete Galub is a songwriter and guitarist from New York City. He has released two solo albums, and currently sings and plays guitar in the band Tape Hiss, which includes members of Sonic Youth, The Modern Lovers, and Arthur Russell’s band. You can hear Pete Galub’s songs and guitar playing in indie filmmaker Hal Hartley’s films “Meanwhile” and “My America.
Author Rick Moody says, “Pete Galub is sort of an amalgam of things that are important to the last thirty years of rock and roll. You can hear Television in him, and The Replacements, and The Feelies, and The Clean, and The Individuals, and Freedy Johnston, and Pavement, and the dBs, etc. But his playing is so great and his songs so impassioned, that he transcends the density of influence and becomes totally his own.”
Matt Kanelos is a pianist, composer and sought-after collaborator in the New York City. He draws equally from both his music conservatory background and his 20 years of experience in the folk and experimental music scenes of New York and Chicago. In recent years, Matt has performed and recorded with Carol Lipnik, Ed Pastorini, Aldo Perez, Kyle Sanna, Dana Lyn, Oren Bloedow, Jenifer Jackson, Jon Lundbom, Lorraine Leckie, Richard McGraw, Pete Galub, Chris Moore and Joe Adamik. Kanelos has released four well-received albums as a leader. New York Music Daily praises his album Love Hello as "a masterpiece of pensive, allusively lyrical psychedelia." About his album Silent Show, NPR says “Kanelos crafts tunes that sneak up on listeners — that begin harmlessly but ultimately overwhelm with the weight of their poignancy, sorrow and joy.”
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Indie pop singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Tamar Berk has released “Tragic Endings”, the second single from her upcoming sophomore solo album Start At The End. “Tragic Endings”, like previous single “your permission” (which was featured on NPR’s New Music Friday playlist) starts out relatively simple and paired back in its arrangement, before building up the energy and layers of instrumentation into an anthemic chorus that shows off the dynamic range of Tamar, whose style bridges the gap between piano driven indie pop ala Regina Spektor and harder rocking power-pop / indie rock of artists like Soccer Mommy or Liz Phair.
Lyrically, “Tragic Endings” deals with some of the darkness that gripped Tamar in the aftermath of suddenly losing her father, as the song begins with Tamar mulling over the question “Tragic endings happen all the time / will I be any different?” as she tries to compose herself in front of a checkout clerk at the grocery store. But much like the rest of Start At The End, Tamar manages to extract humor and catharsis from otherwise morbid topics. Even as she describes “losing faith in happy endings”, you get the sense that Tamar is learning to find empowerment from this state of uncertainty, even when that can be difficult. Sometimes we need words of encouragement to pick us when we’re down, but sometimes, as Tamar emphatically declares on the song’s sing-along chorus, “don’t you promise me that things will work out fine / that’s not what I’ve seen lately”, and “Tragic Endings” is an uplifting anthem for anyone who is looking for relief from the problems weighing on them but doesn’t want sugar coated advice that’s detached from reality.
The single release is accompanied by a music video for “Tragic Endings” that features Tamar performing the song intercut with footage of her riding a rollercoaster on a oceanside boardwalk, a neat little metaphor that speaks to the experience of trying to keep it together when your environment around you looks so picturesque and perfect, but internally you feel in complete flux – riding a rollercoaster of emotions.
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Calgary based musician Clea Anaïs’ compositions centre on two things: their multifaceted artistic sensibility, and an emotional intelligence as sharp as a shard of bright-coloured crystal. After years spent working within her collaborative band, RALEIGH, and recording with bands like Woodpigeon, 100 Mile House, Reuben and the Dark, and Astral Swans, she unveils her debut solo record, Circle Zero, this week.
With genre defying production and inimitable vocals, grounded in nostalgic groove and lush pop stylings, Circle Zero was born from an intense period of challenges, but makes a point of focusing on moments of beauty to evoke hope.
Circling fundamental personal truths, and acknowledging basic desires we share as humans, Clea acknowledges that “the best of the old has come forward on this journey, and the other space has been filled with new support, new love, a renewed iteration of myself.”
Filled with allegories, “Under the Blue of the Moon” out today imagines youthful freedom on the other side of global doom, beyond the conventions of dissolved human structures.
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