Wilma Nea - Palm Friends - Deer Scout - Sky Barkers
With her dynamic expression, shaped by influences from Fiona Apple, Ane Brun and Kate Bush, Wilma Nea debuted with the EP "Issues" in 2020.The debut was warmly received by a united group of critics such as The Line Of Best Fit, GAFFA, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. As Wilma today releases her debut album "This Too Shall Pass" due, it's with an equal force.
”My music is singer/songwriter pop that has been called both indie-quirky and bedroom pop. I see inspiration as a luxury, and one that does not always come naturally when wanted. For me, inspiration is so much about energy. Going for a run, showering, hanging out, being somewhere else."
On the album "This Too Shall Pass", where Wilma also makes her debut as a producer, we hear an artist exploring stories of daring to communicate her needs, daring to let go and start breathing again. It’s an honest, raw and naked portrait of relationships, the importance of self-respect and growing as a person.
"I want the music to bring energy, to be able to act as a soundtrack to a walk that makes you feel better when you come home than you did when you went out. Writing the album was a stepping stone for me, and I've learned a lot about myself."
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Minneapolis-based quartet, Palm Friends are today sharing their new single, "Domino" which arrives as the latest installment of the forthcoming EP, The Delivery which is out March 24 via Forged Artifacts. The Minneapolis-based quartet found acclaim last month with its first single from the new EP, "Hidden Perks" which went on to achieve support at FLOOD, The Alternative, Mindies, Here Comes The Flood and more. The new EP, mixed and mastered by Ben Etter (Deerhunter, Cate Le Bon) follows the band's 2019 debut EP, Nice Weather.
Palm Friends first came together as a means of healing. After his brother passed away, guitarist and singer Jesse Pedersen moved from New York back home to Minnesota to be with his family. As part of the grieving process, he called up some of his high school friends and asked if they wanted to start a band. With Jon Lindquist on drums, Will Bunton on bass and Jesse on guitar and vocals, the band quickly recorded their debut EP. The result was an ebullient indie rock six-song burst, the sound of a band in its early stages having a blast together. Soon after, Shawnna Stennes joined, and the final Palm Friends lineup was solidified.
The band wrote most of The Delivery together over quarantine before recording in three ten-hour sessions at The Terrarium in Minnesota. The result is a truly collaborative effort, on a songwriting level but then also on a deeper, emotional level. As a songwriting duo, Jesse and Shawnna play off of each other’s strengths, from Jesse’s indie rock songcraft to Shawnna’s warm yet melancholic lyrics but as a full group, this is really a collaboration centered around healing and friendship.
The new single and EP-closer, “Domino” is a tempo-shifting ballad about staying open-minded in a world where everyone feels a social-media-driven pressure to be right all the time. The song begins with a slow-strummed guitar and Shawnna’s soft vocals shifting over the top. The tempo speeds up as the chorus kicks in as Shawnna sings: “I love to be wrong/I swear/It gets me everywhere.” It’s affirming, playful and questioning all at once, a song that pushes for a more understanding and compassionate approach to life. Speaking about the new single, Shawnna says: "This song is about the fantastic power you wield when you’re open to being wrong. Simple as that!"
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| Photo - Felix Walworth |
Last month, Dena Miller announced her debut LP as Deer Scout. Entitled Woodpecker (due out April 8th), the album is both her first full length and her first release on Carpark Records (The Beths, Cloud Nothings, Emily Reo), and was announced with the debut single "Cowboy" which made an immediate impression, earning praise from outlets like NPR, Stereogum, NYLON, BrooklynVegan and FADER, who highlighted the track's "gentle and warm" aesthetic. Today, Miller is sharing the second single from Woodpecker, a track called "Peace With The Damage" that was written by Miller's father, a folk musician.
The track features her father, who Miller describes as "one of my favorite songwriters," playing guitar as part of a beautifully spare arrangement of layered vocal harmonies. It's a track that, in it's subject matter, origin and performance, encapsulates the warm-hearted intimacy that makes Deer Scout's debut so special.
"Peace With The Damage is a song by my father, Mark Miller, originally recorded by my parents’ band, Spuyten Duyvil," Miller explains. "My dad is one of my favorite songwriters and this is a song I always wanted to record even though it’s a little bit of an outlier on the album. It’s a retrospective song about the past and regret. We recorded it together as a duet with me singing both parts, 4 years apart, so it feels like a conversation between a past and present self. My dad played guitar and was generous enough to trust me with it.
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Sky Barkers is an indie trio based in coastal West Wales. It is comprised of Joanna MacGregor Messore, Dan Messore and Matt Brown. They make groove based, hook heavy, vocal laden music - lyrically connective and energy driven, rooted in song-writing but with a wonky edge.
‘Beholden to None’ is their first single as a trio and speaks to the new sound that is emerging. “This is a song that invites you into one of my regular day dreams – what would life be like if I was a wanderer, a rover, a free soul flitting from town to countryside, sleeping in nooks of the earth and following old paths?
Of course, it’s is a romanticised version of what it would actually be like to live that way – its more about that deep, simple urge to just get up and walk off. To be answerable to no one, leave no forwarding address - to know that no governing body or co-orperate nonsense can find you. To be elusive, beholden to none but the night sky”.
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