Oslo Twins - Mazey Haze - Esther Rose - Allie Crow Buckley
Bristol born outfit Oslo Twins release their new single "Breath" and announce their signing to Fascination Street Records - a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.
With lo-fi, dream-pop and trip-hop influences, Oslo Twins' new single "Breath" is teeming with quiet passion. Produced, mixed and engineered by Ali Chant, the track signals the release of the band's debut EP, due for release on Fascination Street Records later this year.
Held together by a sharp, addictive electronic drum beat, "Breath" hints toward insomnia and dread, but with a sense of acceptance coming from the gentle and complex rhythms of the track and the softness of the wistful call and response vocals. The track features Harry Furniss from Bingo Fury (cornet) and Tom Connolly from rising Bristol group Quade (violin), whose instruments bring the track into its progression from its intimate verses to its shimmering, heady ending.
“For us, Breath is a very nocturnal song about feeling cut off from the world,” says vocalist and songwriter Claudia Vulliamy. Speaking more on the track's lyrical inspiration, guitarist, keys player, vocalist and songwriter Eric Davies said: “Breath is an attempt to embody how unrequited love feels. I wrote it after having a panic attack, so it’s about that as well - an expression of panic in the style of a love song. There’s a sort of dry irony about it.”
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Indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze (aka Amsterdam based musician Nadine Appeldoorn) releases her new EP 'Back to the Start' and shares the video for its title track. The EP's titular, opening track perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the project. Announcing itself like a Californian daydream, awash with synths, heavenly vocal harmonies and jangling guitars, the song's accompanying video was directed by Pasqual Amade.
The EP's title track captures a certain struggle Appeldoorn has untethering herself from the umpteenth setback. “I’m just being very honest and very real, being like, ‘I went through all this shit for a reason, but now I’m clueless again,’” she explains. “But I think that’s basically what life is: you constantly get over these really hard, big things.”
Following a string of European tour dates supporting acts Spacey Jane, Paolo Nutini and Feng Suave alongside widely praised performances at this year's edition of Eurosonic Festival ("a set of swooning dream-pop. Singing over a tapestry of guitar and synth, the songs were encapsulating, swaying in sentiment and washing through the dark room" - The Line Of Best Fit) - Mazey Haze will embark on a brief stint of European tour dates in support of the EP this month, with stops in London, Paris, Amsterdam and more.
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Esther Rose will release Safe to Run April 21, 2023 via New West Records. The 11-track set was produced by Ross Farbe in New Orleans, LA and Placitas, NM and is the follow up to 2021’s acclaimed How Many Times. Alongside longtime collaborators Farbe and Lyle Werner, Safe to Run also features the New Orleans based band Silver Synthetic, Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes, as well as Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff on the title track.
The video for the album highlight “Spider,” which was directed by Anthony Simpkins has just been shared. Of the song, Rose says, “As I was writing this, I remember thinking ‘This. Is. My. Final. Word!!!’ My drummer Lonnie calls this one an ‘emotional dump truck.’ We tracked vocals live and tried to redo them later, but they didn’t hit as hard as the original take. There’s something kind of deranged happening in the third verse, the situational complexities, you can feel it. It’s our favorite to play live.” Anthony Simpkins said, "When Esther approached me to make this video, she had an idea to involve a boxing match. I thought, why not film it at a real MMA event? I love the stark contrast in the on-screen action and Esther's song. It is somehow both the polar opposite and perfectly matching the journey each person is going through from the beginning of the night to the end of the fight. Love, anxiety, pain, triumph, anger, defeat... you feel everything at a fight. Esther captures the same emotions in her songs."
Safe to Run is the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry, and presents Rose’s always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. Her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a newfound pop element that attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey. The album’s production takes a giant step forward. Across all of the tracks, the open-air, live-in-the-room sound she tended towards in the past was exchanged for an exploration of multitracking and overdubs.
Rose previously shared the video for the album’s title track, “Safe to Run,” which features Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff. The song is a gorgeous duet that directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief. She also previously shared the video for the album’s first single, “Chet Baker.” Of the song, she says, “Someone sent me a DM, asking ‘do you remember me.’
I was transported into a decade-old memory; a weird weekend with a crew of dangerous college preps, a car crash. What came out is this short study of my townie life in Ann Arbor. As I was writing this song, it occurred to me how lucky I was to have survived that time of willful recklessness. I wanted to empathize with my younger self, like, ‘it’s alright, you were 23. You were out of control. I got you now. You’re okay.’”
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Los Angeles & London-based indie artist Allie Crow Buckley has shared her final single, “Cowboy In London,” from her forthcoming LP, Utopian Fantasy, out May 19th. To go with the driving and playful track, Allie directed a mesmerizing video that showcases her in one of her trademark ethereal dresses, frolicking around London.
Buckley explains, “The song is a reflection on my years as a teen and being on my own in London for the first time. It was wonderful and terrifying, and I was totally enthralled. I had terrible jet lag, so I would wake up and sort of stalk the streets at five in the morning. So, I tried to set the sonic scene with this in mind.” Adding, “The video was shot traipsing around London - I wanted to capture some of the naivety, and sort of carefree sass that I feel the song evokes.”
Utopian Fantasy is the follow-up to her 2021 debut, Moonlit and Devious, and takes the listener on a psychedelic journey through the mythical world inside Buckley’s head. The album was recorded at the 4AD Studio in London, mastered at Abbey Road, and was written, recorded, and produced by Allie Crow Buckley and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes) between a lush cottage in the English Countryside, the sunny mountains of Ojai, California, and the hotels in-between. The album will also feature her recent singles “Dreamboat Soulmate,” “Greatest Hits,” “Naked At The Feast,” “Utopian Fantasy” and “Angel.”
When asked about the record, Allie explains, “It is the sort of feeling of leaving your body - as one does during times of immense stress or when chaos ensues. Escapism of sorts. These themes occur throughout the record - from references to Dionysus (god of wine and chaos) to the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Resigning yourself to whatever is - a sort of submission to chaos. Like in the myth of Apollo and Dionysus. Being naked at the feast, the idea of that vulnerability of just awaiting your fate. How we all long to be carried by Zephyr, the wind, from our fate into a bed of flowers. Just as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. But what comes next? Coming to terms with your new reality. Like being lost in the realm of the faery, and reemerging years later. Feeling as if it were all one day or one dream."
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