Parliamo - Freya Beer - YOVA - La Faute
A funk-laden guitar pop anthem filled with hazy melodies that flutter and float like the last rays of sun dipping behind the horizon on a languid summer day, “You’re An Animal” arrives as the first new music from Parliamo this year.
Taking primary inspiration from the laid-back electronica-infused indie pioneered by the likes of Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals or Blur, with a healthy dose of the dazed guitar-pop rhythms reminiscent of Swim Deep or Peace also detectable amidst its sunny substance matter; “You’re An Animal” finds the band facing up to our fear of failure with a fizzing new release.
As vocalist Jack Dailly explains of the track: “The lyrics [of “You’re An Animal”] centre on projecting your own failures and insecurities onto someone else in an argument: when you really should be having a go at yourself, you deflect the blame and double down. It quickly became an effective live number, with loads of people who had seen us live asking us when it would be released.”
Initially written over two years ago, “You’re An Animal” has been finessed to perfection at live shows and their home studio ever since. The final version was recorded, mixed and produced by Jamie Holmes at Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow in 2023.
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Her first new music of 2023, the “Fantasy” // “Galore” AA-side single arrives as Freya begins to etch out the successor to her acclaimed debut album ‘Beast’. Toying with that which tempts us in both lucid fantasies and shadowy realities, these two bold, dark and exhilarating new tracks find Freya Beer delving into what drives our deepest desires and showcasing two very different sides of her artistic abilities.
“You stretched your pegs out wide, slightly confused my appetite” teases Freya on “Fantasy” as she opens up the floor to a track of rapacious sexually-charged spills and raw garage rock thrills. Told through tactile, tantalising prose and prowling proto-punk riffs, this latest cut finds Freya celebrating the uncensored version of ourselves we become in our wildest daydreams. As Freya elaborates:
“Fantasy is an unfiltered exploration of self-discovery and expressing your thoughts in a fictional world. I wanted to write a song that emotes raw emotion and tells the listener to embrace their feelings in a positive way.”
On the flipside, “Galore” is an altogether more salacious affair that explores what can happen when those fictional pursuits and carnal desires boil over into real world infatuations with uncertain consequences. As Freya explains: “Galore is about people who are infatuated with something, almost bordering on ‘obsession’. The line “I’m your galore, you don’t want anyone else babe” depicts how this obsession is becoming a feeling of escapism and creating a fictional storyline for themselves.”
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Letting loose a runaway freight train of jumpy guitar rhythms and primal percussive rumblings, the new single from the duo of Jova Radevska and Mark Vernon is one intended to heighten the senses and toy with what drives our fears and failings. As Jova explains:
“”Feel Your Fear” is about the human’s fallible nature to form addictions in order to alleviate pain. We can do this with a person too: we can believe that their company will save us from the challenges we are facing and we cling to that, when in fact we haven’t addressed the real cause of those feelings. It is often our insecurity and un-dealt trauma that makes us cling to people/substances, addictions in general.”
Citing ESG, Gang of Four, King Sunny Adé, and early Talking Heads as being amongst the subliminal influences that played into the track, “Feel Your Fear” sees YOVA deftly update their dynamic brand of alternative pop music with hints of garage rock, Afropop and funk to gripping effect.
Produced by Mark Vernon and arranged by Rob Ellis, the track was recorded between Dorset and London and also features Daniel O’Sullivan of Grumbling Fur on bass and features the legendary Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey) on saxophone. Intending to create an unshakeable feeling of restlessness, Jova Radevska’s airy vocals toe a fine line between playful and impending, while its haunting baritone sax, sinuous bass, and meticulously timed blasts of trumpet and organ all play their part in the unsettling fabric of “Feel Your Fear”. As Vernon adds: “The sonic tapestry and rapid tempo of this track is written to convey a sense of heightened urgency: the impending sense of emotional claustrophobia and resulting fear is echoed in the narrative of Jova’s lyrics. A sense of one last rushed midnight dance before emotions inexorably spiral out of control and time literally gets swallowed up before our eyes.”
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A hidden gem from the frozen heart of Toronto, Canada, art school dropout and Sony Music Publishing artist La Faute (aka Peggy Messing) is releasing her third single “The Crown” from her upcoming debut Album, “Blue Girl Nice Day”.
La Faute is Messing’s dark, dreamy solo project. A visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she explores themes of surface vs. depth, longing, betrayal, mourning and desire. Using tenor electric guitar and obsolete hardware samplers, she created her captivating live show and released her debut EP just before the pandemic. She chose to pause performing live due to her health, and returned to focusing on creation, finding workarounds to the problem of isolation. She connected with fellow artists and producers in France, the UK, Canada and the US to create music during this time, most recently with LA-based Topher Mohr who produced her upcoming album.
She received unanimous praise for the first single from the album, ‘Blue Girl Nice Day’, in February 2023, an unsettling, haunting song inspired by the Milgram experiments of the 1960s. The song was accompanied by an eerie video that showed the artist making a bed in a windswept field with looming power lines in the background. Her second Single, “Watercolours” was equally highly praised, and featured a video of Messing night driving in the rain and getting drenched in a cold downpour. She has become increasingly interested in filmmaking, art-directing and shooting music videos for each song herself, inspired by French new wave and film noir aesthetics.
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