Caitlin Rose - CHVRLI BLVCK - Awkward Branches - Kassi Valazza - Dutch Uncles
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Caitlin Rose announced today a new batch of tour dates this spring. The full-band shows will be co-headlined with fellow Nashville favorite Andrew Combs.
They’ll kick off on May 30th in Louisville followed by stops in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, DC, New York City, and Philadelphia among others. Rose will also be out on the road next month supporting The Old 97’s for several dates across the west coast.
Last fall, Rose made her long-awaited return with the release of CAZIMI, her first new album in nearly a decade. Co-produced with Jordan Lehning (Andrew Combs, Caroline Spence, Rodney Crowell), it earned widespread critical acclaim including NPR Music, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Paste, Slate, Nashville Scene, and Stereogum who named it as their Album of the Week upon release.
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CHVRLI BLVCK is a London-born singer-songwriter living in the New Forest, known for his vocal prowess and emotionally raw style. His music reflects his personal struggles with mental health, with an eclectic but immediately recognizable sound, influenced by artists such as Jeff Buckley, The Maccabees, and Fiona Apple.
He began releasing music in mid-2022 and has quickly developed a dedicated online following, with over a quarter of a million streams, positive reviews, podcast interviews, and regular airplay on independent radio stations. He has also entered the live arena with some success performing small shows, and is fast becoming a fixture of the local scene.
His single, "Why Did You Go?", is released today, in conjunction with End of The Trail Creative, is a poignant and deeply personal account of the aftermath of a breakup. It begins as a gentle ballad, "People are already walking in my house", builds to a pleading refrain, "Why did you go?”, and concludes with the pain of acceptance, “Feel like I missed my train”.
"Why Did You Go?" blends simple acoustic guitar with layered vocals and retro-inspired synths to create a hauntingly beautiful soundscape, which rises and falls in harmony with the emotional journey it imparts.
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Awkward Branches, the new project of singer, keyboardist and former Fiction frontman Mike Barrett and close collaborator and guitarist Phil Swan, announce their debut EP Melody for a Friend due out May 4th via Tip Top Recordings. This weeks announcement comes with the release of their new single ‘In That House’, the second single to be released from the duo, following on from tranquil sun-flecked number ‘A Frame (Not A Window)’ which came out in the winter of 2022. ’In That House’ is an alt-folk number, which began life in the Welsh countryside. The track combines widescreen guitars, winding synths and breezy vocals that speak to the curious boundary between humans and animals.
Beginning as a few tender sketches some years ago, Awkward Branches' new EP Melody for a Friend has grown, unhurriedly, into a set of six lovingly crafted alt-pop songs. From the acoustic opener and debut single, ‘A Frame not a Window’; the balearic dream-pop of ‘Summer of the Pine’; to the nostalgic title-track which closes the collection, this EP showcases Awkward Branches knack for weaving melody texture and lyricism into compelling and rewarding songs.
Mike Barrett and Phil Swan aka Awkward Branches appropriately first met standing under a much-beloved tree in the gardens of an old wedding chapel where they both worked. While waiting for ceremonies to run their course, talk would often turn to music. United by a shared appreciation for ambient soundscapes and buoyant melodies, they tentatively began recording sketches; ideas which grew over several years, without hurry, into a handful of fully formed songs. Ever since then, they have been writing and performing with each-other in numerous other projects - including a 6-piece experimental collective (Holy Island Sketchbook), gothic trio (Sweet Heave) and as part of Mike’s dream-pop project (Brand New Moon) - they felt it was finally time to put a name to their own project, and thus Awkward Branches was born.
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Portland, Oregon-based artist Kassi Valazza recently announced her sophomore full-length, Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, which is set to release on May 26 via Loose (Margo Cilker, The Handsome Family).
Now, Valazza has shared the second single from the album, ‘Corners’, which is premiering now over at Brooklyn Vegan. Throughout the track, fingerpicked acoustic guitar dances with bounding bass and twinkling piano, as a gentle backing choir flows behind Valazza like a stream through a lonesome vista. “The clouds move slower than they ever seemed to / Still, they find a way to pass me by,” she sings on her breezy lament about the longing that comes with an unhealthy love, “My friends, though, they wonder what I’m used to / To love a man who never treats me right.”
Of recording "Corners," Valazza offers, "On this album, everything was recorded live, all the vocals and instrumentation. We recorded in a room together with [Portland-based band] TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, who hadn't heard any of the songs before we went into the studio. You're rarely going to find a songwriter that writes and composes every single song; it's a combination of people working things out together, of what I want and what the band hears.
When people don't know the songs, it’s a lot looser and more magic can happen. You don't overthink it. One thing I really loved about recording 'Corners' in particular was watching the guys do the four-part harmonies. It finally felt like the song was coming together. I also made a point to have no electric guitar to add to those breezy Eagles sounds, making it the only track on the album without electric guitar."
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Dutch Uncles have shared new single “In Salvia", the final taste of the band's long-awaited sixth album, True Entertainment, out on 10th March via Memphis Industries.
Showcasing a new sonic palette for the band, new single "In Salvia" blurs the lines between synthesised and acoustic instrumentation, all laser focused around a jaunty "ode-to-Outkast" 808 beat. Accompanied by an all star cast of musical apparatus; Triton horns, bouncing arpeggiators, synth flutes and EBows, the band once more enlisted the help of Metronomy's Anna Prior, further elevating the track with some ethereal ad libs and ASMR additions.
The band have also revealed details of a special launch event for new album True Entertainment. On 11th March, West Didsbury & Chorlton play Ascot Utd in the FA Vase. Dutch Uncles will be taking out an advert in the matchday programme, playing album tracks out on the stadium's tannoy and running a pop up merch stand with discounted tour tickets, vinyl, t-shirts etc. The band have also teamed up with The Beagle in Chorlton, and will continue the album celebrations later that day with the addition of an exclusive new pizza to The Beagle's menu for one night only, the True Entertainment Pizza - a normal pizza, but with chips on top, in reference to their popular Podcast 'Chips Of Chorlton'. The band will also be DJ'ing at the venue.
Dutch Uncles are masters of the unique album launch. For 2017's Big Balloon the band invited fans to join them go-karting beneath the Manchester Arena and for 2013's Out Of Touch In The Wild they worked with chefs at Manchester burger restaurant Almost Famous to develop a burger in honour of the record.
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