Faultress returns with her new E.P 'Creatures'. We featured her a few times last year and are delighted to share this creative and imaginative new collection of songs. === Kindsight are a new band from Copenhagen and have just released the gorgeous and melodic indie pop track 'Who Are You'. === The Gina Furtado Project return a month after we first featured them with 'Alley Cat' a vibrant and extremely catchy bluegrass song.
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Faultress - Creatures (E.P).
“I know we’ve all felt this, but the aching dullness of being locked away for months has gnawed away at me, unable to see so many people I love, unable to create. I sat alone for weeks in a fairly broken bout of depression when one day went to the park, and as I watched the birds and the insects around me, these 4 songs poured out of me.
The creatures I saw around me put a shape and words to my thoughts and feelings around loneliness, pain and the feeling of alienation, not only from loved ones, but from myself.”
About Creatures EP - Written entirely during lockdown, Creatures lyrically examines loneliness and fractured mental health and are delivered through Faultress’ voice alone, manipulated with electronics. All songs are designed specifically for headphones and are produced by award winning sound designer and producer Gonçalo Abrantes (aka Agon Branza).It is a poised and assertive performance from a musician with a masterly handle on the themes of her art.
Kindsight is a new Copenhagen based band and the first act outside of Sweden to sign with Rama Lama Records (Melby, Chez Ali, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes etc.). The young quartet today release their debut single Who Are You - a warm, nostalgic and atmospheric indie pop song.
The Danish quartet makes retro-tinged indie pop that is instantly appealing and addictive. Nina's vocals crowns the atmospheric soundscape perfectly and makes Kindsight something that's been missing in Scandinavia for a long time. Debut single Who Are You is the first taste of their melancholic beauty which we will hear a lot more of the upcoming year as the band are ready to finally share their music.
Kindsight about Who Are You: - "Who Are You is a summer song written in January - lush, light and forward-driven. Originally dismissed by the band as a stupid disco song when brought to rehearsal by guitarist Søren Svensson, adjustments were made and the song was granted life as Kindsight’s debut single."
Kindsight are Nina, Søren, Anders and Johannes and formed out of Nina and Sørens shared love for The Sugarcubes. According to the band, the two of them then recruited drummer Johannes to "drag him out of an unsettling obsession with jazz-music" and bass player Anders was chosen "only because of his looks and his ability to fit into small bags.".
Shortly after forming the band played their first gig in a parking lot to a crowd of children. The band tells us that the children "were overwhelmed by the sudden influx of melancholic beauty to the otherwise rather dull parking space. As one 7 year old kid said moments before being squashed under an unstable wheel of fortune, “Wow, they are so cool, I also prefer The Sugarcubes to Björk’s later work!”". Since then, the band have played frequently on the Copenhagen indie scene for a bit older and growing crowd.
Who Are You is out now. Kindsight consists of Nina Hyldgaard Rasmussen (vocals, guitar), Anders Prip (bass), Søren Svensson (guitar), Johannes Jacobsen (drums) and are available for interviews.
Drawing on the distinctive sound and fresh musical ideas that recently earned its namesake her third consecutive International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year nomination, The Gina Furtado Project shows a more playful side of Furtado’s musical personality on “Alley Cat,” the group’s latest single for Mountain Home Music Company.
The song tips its hat to Furtado’s Celtic influences with an irresistible, Irish-flavored melody that works both as a framework for sprightly unison playing by Gina and her violinist sister, Malia Furtado, and as a fitting vehicle for the lyric’s deftly prolonged metaphor:
“He doesn’t care to compromise
The alley cat with laughing eyes
And when he laid his eyes on me
The other girls were history...
A pat and scratch behind the ear
Really you’ve no business here
A little milk is all you’ll get
‘Cause I don’t want an alley cat”
As the bandleader slyly notes, "’Alley Cat’ is for anyone who has been charmed completely and unexpectedly — whether it be by a stray kitty, or any other free spirit."
With harmonies from Malia Furtado, and a gracefully grooving rhythm section of Drew Matulich (guitar) and bassist Max Johnson, “Alley Cat” is a sunny, light-hearted frolic that packs an abundance of good-humored energy into its two minutes, proving once again that, even in music, brevity is the soul of wit.
Thyla return just a few weeks after sharing 'Two Sense'. This time we have 'Lenox Hill', where the band are a little less post punk and a tad more indie rock, the melodic vocals supported by a solid rock backdrop ensuring once again that they stand well out in the crowd. === Faultress has released her '5 Myths' E.P. Having already featured four of the songs we now complete the set with a video for 'Icarus' and have also added the full collection below, needless to say the final song is also something beautiful. === HEBE has released a video for 'Hunting Me' the electro pop song gains considerable traction with her melodic and soulful vocals and well crafted musical arrangement.
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Thyla - Lenox Hill.
Brighton post-punk prospects Thyla continue their extraordinary rise with searing new cut Lenox Hill, the second track taken from the band’s eagerly anticipated sophomore EP Everything at Once set for release 24th January.
Racing to the forefront of the emerging indie landscape, the rising quartet returned last month with masterfully crafted lead single Two Sense, having already attracted glowing praise from all corners of the press (Pitchfork, Stereogum, NME, The Line Of Best Fit, Dork) and across the airwaves (BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Radio X, KCRW) following the arrival of debut EP What’s On Your Mind? earlier this year.
Detailing their newest effort, enigmatic frontwoman Millie Duthie explained: “Lenox Hill is the hospital I was born in, with the track inspired by my early years as a kid living in New York City. It’s an honest and emotional coming-of-age tale. Life can take so many turns and you can forget where you came from and what makes you you. The important stuff like family can get set aside in the pursuit of whatever it is that drives you. Lenox Hill is about realising you’re lost and deciding to go back to your roots to find the way again”.
The indie juggernauts have had a formidable 2019 on the road supporting the likes of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, in addition to capacity shows at The Great Escape, Live At Leeds and Hit The North, and having just completed their first full-length UK tour, plans are already taking shape for a hometown EP release party early next year.
'Icarus' glides on the waxen feathers of Faultress's soaring voice. It is a song about those thoughts of ours that overreach, set to a soundscape of stunning synth production. Faultress's persona shines resplendent through her mythologic lyricism, mesmerising harmonies and spoken word segments. It is a poised and assertive performance from a musician with a masterly handle on the themes of her art.
5 Myths lyrically examines the myths surrounding the female experience of power, beauty, desire, mental health. All songs are produced by Joshua Davenport, and all except 'Marilyn' are mastered by Dom Howard (Submotion Orchestra). 'Marilyn' is co-produced by Bobby Broomfield (Does it Offend You Yeah) at The Rattle (collective of DIY artists), and mixed/mastered by Morgan Bosc at The Rattle.
Faultress is an extinct word for a female criminal, and this musical project is about wearing your unpolished faults and imperfections on your very female sleeve. As an artist, Faultress embodies the challenge to heterodoxy implied in her name, which she wields as a firebrand to write incisive and psychological songs that offer us a look into the complex fragmentation of feminine power, desire and mental health in a rapidly changing musical and cultural world.
Faultress's prime influence is Kate Bush, a soul she shares a love of theatricality with - Faultress has a playwriting MA from RADA - alongside a diverse set of influences that includes the likes of James Blake, Aldous Harding, FKA Twigs and Joni Mitchell. Her full banshee show is a six-part girl choir replete with synths and drums. In her solo shows Faultress plays piano and loop stations. With the release of her 5 Myths EP, she reveals herself something of a polymath: lyricist, musician, singer and storyteller employing the full spectrum of her skillset to make unforgettably charged music.
See Faultress live:
Nov 18th, The Harrison, London, Kings Cross
Dec 5th, The Ivy, London, Central.
Rising artist HEBE unveils the cinematic visuals for her recently released single ‘Hunting Me’. Out now as a self-release via Kartel, the soulful electro-pop number tackles her fears and anxieties.
Hailing from Amsterdam, the talented artist has been collaborating with some of the Netherlands’ finest musicians. Credits for the new cut see award-winning producer/mixer Huub Reijnders, drummer Martijn Bosman, pianist and vocalist Ruben Hein contributing to the harmonious contrast of warm, catchy vocals set to pulsating electro-pop drums and synths.
The single is the first offering from HEBE’s forthcoming debut album ‘Cards On The Table’, planned for release in Spring 2020. ‘Hunting Me’ tells the story of a vivid dream in which the artist faces her own demons; “I could feel these fears so clearly but couldn’t see or grab them. In ‘Hunting Me’ I try to make these fears tangible by giving them a face,” HEBE reveals.
Growing up in an artistic household - her father is a film and documentary director, while her mother is a theatre designer, and her brother a visual and lighting artist - this all added to HEBE’s fascination with music and the arts. After graduating from the Conservatorium of Amsterdam and influenced by both her contemporaries such as James Blake and BANKS - as well as by iconic songwriters Van Morrison and Bob Dylan, HEBE locked herself away in the studio to hone her sound, one which is both uplifting and melancholic at the same time.
‘Hunting Me’ gives us a small window into her unique sensibility and sound; just one piece of a puzzle which will cement her status as a bonafide songwriting talent.
Faultress were featured just four weeks ago and now we have a couple more new songs namely 'Sanctury' and 'Hood&Wolf'. It's becoming clear that creativity and originality are something Faultress thrives on, yes the influences are there however that if anything ups the quality, the 5 Myths E.P is sounding good.
We have seven minutes of gorgeous dance punk from Two Tribes in the form of 'Videodrone' an epic, addictive and powerful song.
Back in May we first featured Cousin Kula with the song 'Stacked' and they now return here with 'Invitation,' a funky psych pop track that exudes warmth and refined melodic hooks.
Dee Lunar has shared 'Shapeshifter' which is an imaginative rocker where her fabulous vocals intertwine with a flowing musical backdrop and some slick guitar work adding to the piece.
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Faultress - Sanctury / Hood&Wolf.
The minimal arrangement and throbbing bass of 'Sanctuary' evoke a sense of claustrophobic wonder as Faultress's dynamic vocal lends it vivid and spectacular tonal colours. Here Faultress gives voice to a deeply introspective and lesser-documented side of social experience: letting people into the darkened hallways of our minds without warning them. Closing the 5 Myths EP with heady emotional catharsis, 'Hood & Wolf' has a Kate Bush style theatricality to its sweeping pianos and bewitching vocal lines, which use the peaks and troughs of melody to weave a lyrical parable about the marginalisation and internalisation of female sexuality in a male-dominated and highly sexualised world.
About 5 Myths EP - 5 Myths lyrically examines the myths surrounding the female experience of power, beauty, desire, mental health. All songs are produced by Joshua Davenport, and all except 'Marilyn' are mastered by Dom Howard (Submotion Orchestra). 'Marilyn' is co-produced by Bobby Broomfield (Does it Offend You Yeah) at The Rattle (collective of DIY artists), and mixed/mastered by Morgan Bosc at The Rattle.
Faultress is an extinct word for a female criminal, and this musical project is about wearing your unpolished faults and imperfections on your very female sleeve. As an artist, Faultress embodies the challenge to heterodoxy implied in her name, which she wields as a firebrand to write incisive and psychological songs that offer us a look into the complex fragmentation of feminine power, desire and mental health in a rapidly changing musical and cultural world.
Faultress's prime influence is Kate Bush, a soul she shares a love of theatricality with - Faultress has a playwriting MA from RADA - alongside a diverse set of influences that includes the likes of James Blake, Aldous Harding, FKA Twigs and Joni Mitchell. Her full banshee show is a six-part girl choir replete with synths and drums. In her solo shows Faultress plays piano and loop stations. With the release of her 5 Myths EP, she reveals herself something of a polymath: lyricist, musician, singer and storyteller employing the full spectrum of her skillset to make unforgettably charged music.
London quartet Two Tribes are at the start of something special. They’ve been turning heads with their vital noise in the capital for a while now, a massive live show developing as a word of mouth sensation. It’s pinned on a momentous, euphoric sound that falls somewhere between the Balearic psychedelia of Primal Scream or Jagwar Ma and the darker, industrial krautrock tones W.H. Lung or Snapped Ankles .
Mesmeric new single 'Videodrone' follows the precedent set by intent-filled debut cut ‘Zone’. It’s a 7-minute dance-punk tinged rally against information overload, spiky synths bubbling up to a symphonic hook, suspense-building breakdown and cathartic reprise. Thematically they explain: “’Videodrone’ deals with how the idea of a digital identity, over-stimulation from technology and the internet can perpetuate disillusion and desensitisation in the real world. For some of us, the amount of information available can be a difficult thing to process sometimes, we wanted to explore in this song that increasingly blurred line between mind and mechanism. The title takes inspiration from David Cronenberg's 1983 film 'Videodrome', which carries similar themes about the cult of technology."
Every show so far has been a sell-out, and the next headliner is an immersive takeover of their home base The Shacklewell Arms on 9th November, a full venue transformation geared towards their mind-melting psych-rave sounds.
There’s an exciting visual aesthetic to match the abrasive noise. Photos come courtesy of Alexandra Waespi, responsible for shooting much of the XL Recordings stable including Adele and The xx, and vintage, futuristic artwork accompanies the single, echoing the eerie ‘80s SciFi-horror influence on sound and message. The four-piece is made up of Patrick Smith (Vox, guitars), Annalisa Iembo (Vox, synths and samples), Kim Engelhardt (bass) and Alastair Batchelor (drums, programming).
Bristol-based band Cousin Kula announce the release of their second EP 'Stroodles', along with the release of a sparkling new synth-led psych-pop single 'Invitation'. The EP news and new single release arrive alongside the news of a UK headline tour in November, following their recent support in Budapest alongside Bo Ningen.
To celebrate the release of 'Stroodles', the band will be releasing a 12" blue vinyl on November 8th, with 'Stroodles' on one side and the previously released 'Oodles' EP on the flip side. The vinyl package will be released via Chiverin and will include singer Elliot's artwork printed in a booklet, available on tour and online from 8th November.
New single 'Invitation' is a slight departure for Cousin Kula, bringing together its funky bass line & euphoric dance-floor build, adding another dimension to the forthcoming EP, already known for screwball odysseys which "meddle with the script, welding psych freakouts to slick R&B/pop vocals" (The Line Of Best Fit).
Walking into the Kula household you’re met by bundles of bicycles in the hallway, friends’ artwork on the walls and instruments everywhere. In the garden a self-made pizza oven and an array of home grown vegetables demonstrate their ambition for self-sufficiency. This is a band with an energy not just about the way they make music, but about their day to day life, which translates to the stage with vigour, turning audiences into fans up and down the country.
All meeting as highly active members of Bristol’s progressive jazz music scene, Cousin Kula bonded over their shared love for an eclectic range of music from pop and psych through to prog, disco & afrobeat. The six members soon found themselves living together and with a rehearsal room in their basement became one of the tightest and most impressive bands on the Bristol circuit, blending these genres into something both modern and refreshing.
New single 'Invitation' is out now, and the 'Stroodles' EP is out November 8 via Chiverin.
Drawing on the deep well-spring of feminine energy, Dee Lunar’s latest single Shapeshifter is sonically and thematically indomitable.
To quote the Cairns-based artist she hopes that this latest single becomes a “full on female empowerment anthem”. Inspired as part of her spiritual experimentation, a journey via a trance state connected her with animal guides. Taking away the knowledge that all woman are shapeshifters and warriors in essence, assuming different roles and integrating various animalistic energies during daily life, becoming more than mothers and daughters, becoming warriors.
Dee Lunar recorded Shapeshifter in her home studio studio in Cairns, layering heavy guitars and rock vocals to create a sound that is a departure from her previous releases but a clear direction her music will take into the future. The independent spirit of the 90s courses through Dee’s veins, and manifests itself in her music as a staunch grind against convention, a sound that is equally as beautiful as it is rough around the edges. Steadfast in her perfect imperfection, echoes of the self-esteem and gritty self- determination of the alternative artists of yesteryear are present in this reverent and rocking single.
Active for many years as a writer, Dee Lunar has used 2019 to put her songs at the forefront, releasing Demons in April, Blue Bird in May and Wicked Mind in July. Her continued campaigns receiving positive reviews in publications Happy Mag and NQ Music Press. Her upcoming single, Shapeshifter, is set to drop this October and become her strongest entry to her confident catalogue.
bdrmm first appeared here in October last year and the new song 'Shame' makes for a refreshing return as the mixture of lighter shoegaze and to use their expression ugly pop, works so well together.
We have previously shared a couple of songs from Madame Psychosis and the opportunity to present the new album 'Survivor' is to good to pass up on. The band mix alt pop and indie rock together with clarity and passion, they are quite open about their musical influences, yet manage to present a distinct and very fine sound.
There are a couple of songs to hear from Faultress namely 'Marilyn' and 'Beating Heart'. Both are notably different, the vocals give some continuity, however the creativity and delivery is outstandingly good.
Sean Cronin the man behind Very Good has also shared a couple of tracks recently with 'Ghost Warning' and 'Adulthood' showcasing his off the wall creativity. Genre defying and veering towards experimental at times, there is something quite likable about these songs, I just haven't figured out what it is yet.
We have the debut single from The Electric Arch entitled 'Crisps & Crackers'. What starts out as something of an alt pop piece slowly drifts into a psychedelic fusion of sounds, the slacker rhythm keeps it on track as the song becomes rather addictive listening.
Kacy & Clayton are back for a third time this year with 'That Sweet Orchestra Sound' where the psych folk duo are more country and folk orientated on this beautiful and melodic song.
Portland share 'Killers Mind' where the Belgian singer-songwriters Jente Pironet and Sarah Pepels deliver a sublime pop song with gorgeous dual vocals, it's our second feature for them, hopefully there will be more.
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bdrmm - Shame.
bdrmm combine a flair for weaving together dreamy sonic textures and introverted small-town sketches, channelling hazy adolescent disconnection into a washy synthesis of Beach House, jangly slackers DIIV and otherworldly shoegazers Slowdive. They’ve found a kindred spirit in cult shoegaze label Sonic Cathedral (Spectres, Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, Echo Ladies), to whom the Hull based quintet have signed.
Their first release is the ‘If Not, When?’ EP on October 11th – a tying together of their acclaimed slacker-shoegaze gems thus far, led by brand new single ‘Shame’. Retaining most elements of their signature sound, ‘Shame’ also introduces some post-punk components – staccato vocals, and hypnotic rhythms giving the track a purposeful drive. It relays a relatable theme, as vocalist and songwriter Ryan Smith explains:
“’Shame’ is about the heartache of having to tell someone you care about the most that being together can’t work, for whatever reason - having to be the person who takes it upon themselves to do the right thing, even though it feels so wrong.”
Releases from the band so far have caught not just the attention of Sonic Cathedral, but of numerous tastemakers in The Line of Best Fit, MTV, So Young, and DORK. As well as this, Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq & Jon Hillcock are big fans, and John Kennedy invited them on for a Radio X live session, with pedigree coming in too from Andy Bell of Ride on his Boogaloo Radio show and Simone Marie of Primal Scream on Soho Radio.
Live invitations have become bigger and bolder, supports with Trudy & The Romance, Her’s, Gengahr and Horsey, as well as capacity sets at Tramlines, Gold Sounds and especially a chaotic, raucous homecoming show at Hull’s Humber Street Sesh making bdrmm exciting stalwarts on the live indie scene.
The band worked with Alex Greaves (Working Men’s Club, The Orielles, Heavy Lungs) to bring their self-styled ‘gross dreamy noise’ to life.
Joining lead singer and guitarist Ryan Smith in the line-up is brother Jordan Smith (Bass), Joe Vickers (Guitar), Daniel Hull (Synth & Backing Vocals) and Luke Irvin (Drums).
Madame Psychosis is a five-piece alt pop and indie rock band from Toronto. Members include singer Michelle Mondesir, guitar players Bret McCaffrey and Rene Ip, drummer Jaina Tharakan, and bass player Giovanni Paola.
The quintet came together in late 2014 after a conversation at a wedding, where a mutual friend of some of the eventual band members suggested a jam session. This very unlikely jam session resulted in what became Madame Psychosis. Five years later, the band continues to write and perform original music. Though their sound is often compared to Metric or a cross between the Black Keys and Alabama Shakes, the band cites a number of musical influences from an array of genres. These artists include Whitney Houston, Freddie Mercury, The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, Spoon, Wilco, Pearl Jam, Guns N’ Roses, Smashing Pumpkins and War on Drugs.
The band first made waves with their self-titled debut album, released in June of 2017. Alan Cross, the internationally syndicated host of The Ongoing History of New Music, selected the single "Space Motorcycle" for his weekly Top 11 Playlist in August of 2017. The album was also featured on 94.9 The Rock FM's emerging artist spotlight, Generation Next, in May of 2018. Four songs from the debut album were showcased, including "Space Motorcycle", "Run", "On Top of the Game", and "Mellow". The band supported the album by performing at venues across Toronto, including at the legendary Opera House and the iconic Horseshoe Tavern.
Coming off the heels of this positive reception, Madame Psychosis was invited to perform on the nationally televised segment of Global’s The Morning Show in January 2019. They were also selected to perform at Canadian Music Week in May 2019 and cracked Dropout Entertainment’s Top Picks for CMW 2019. The band also released two music videos in 2019 for “Just Wanna Be Myself” and “Crashing Down”. A third music video for “Kapow” is currently in progress.
Madame Psychosis is now turning their attention to the release of their forthcoming sophomore album, Survivor. They have released three singles from the record. A Journal of Musical Things calls the aforementioned lead single, “Just Wanna Be Myself”, “a fun, upbeat song with sweet yet edgy female vocals”. They followed with “Crashing Down”, which was called “mellifluous magic wrapped in a grungy garage rock exterior” by Odd Nugget. Most recently, “Kapow” drew the attention and acclaim of several writers and playlist curators from around the world. Buzz Music calls it a “heart-dropping anthem”. Lefuturewave refers to it as “a brilliant piece of music”.
About ‘Marilyn’/‘Beating Heart’ - The seductive crawl of 'Marilyn' sets a fantastic pace for Faultress's 5 Myths EP. Its dark and minimal tone and stacked vocals underpin an emotionally dynamic vocal performance. But the nature of its seduction is quickly revealed to be a snare. Faultress offers us a different kind of femme fatale, one whose vulnerabilities are centre stage, deconstructing the masculine idea of femininity by showing it as an air-brushed performance for the male gaze:
"Would you love me on a bad day? Would you love me every state I'm in / I am not performing today / No it's not that kind of day. / And I would rather hide me away / Where I can't be your Marilyn." 'Beating Heart' explores the role of the human bonding hormone oxytocin in making us feel closer to each other than we really are. It resists easy-reach hooks, favouring sharp and stylised grooves in its vocal loops and synth bass. An ode to post-coital bliss, 'Beating Heart' is instrumentally as carnal and as naked as its subject matter. 'Marilyn' was named one of the moderators' songs of the year by Fresh Faves.
Faultress is an extinct word for a female criminal, and this musical project is about wearing your unpolished faults and imperfections on your very female sleeve. As an artist, Faultress embodies the challenge to heterodoxy implied in her name, which she wields as a firebrand to write incisive and psychological songs that offer us a look into the complex fragmentation of feminine power, desire and mental health in a rapidly changing musical and cultural world. Faultress's prime influence is Kate Bush, a soul she shares a love of theatricality with - Faultress has a playwriting MA from RADA - alongside a diverse set of influences that includes the likes of James Blake, Aldous Harding, FKA Twigs and Joni Mitchell. Her full banshee show is a six-part girl choir replete with synths and drums. In her solo shows Faultress plays piano and loop stations. With the release of her 5 Myths EP, she reveals herself something of a polymath: lyricist, musician, singer and storyteller employing the full spectrum of her skillset to make unforgettably charged music.
See Faultress live:
26th October - Union Chapel supporting Eska and London Contemporary Voices
8th November - Headline show at The Laylow, Ladbroke Grove, London.
Adulthood is the third album from Sean Cronin and his project Very Good. A multi-instrumentalist and formally-trained double bassist who is both a composer in the traditional sense and a songwriter in the popular sense, Sean Cronin has worked primarily in the realm of jazz (bebop, swing, New Orleans, modern, etc.) over the last 20 years. But that only tells part of a story that spills forth from Adulthood in rich, naked — and often bitingly funny — detail. In many ways, it's a universal story: You freak out, you drift, you lose your way and you chafe against the pressures imposed upon you by the outside world.
Then, as Cronin discovered, the real challenge begins once you come to realize that the biggest obstacles are actually internal. The age itself may vary, but sooner or later the truth hits. "I got to, like, 28-29," Cronin says, "and it was like 'Oh. I actually know what I'm capable of, but now it's just a matter of what I do with those abilities.' By that point, you know what they are. So then it's about putting them forward in the world."
Therein lies the conflict at the heart of Adulthood.
Now several years (though not quite comfortably) removed from the conflict, Cronin has essentially lived several musical lifetimes in one. From classical piano training as a young child to his first real gig at age 12 playing country music in bars with his father, it was on to punk bands, then the orchestra pit for musicals followed by touring with bluegrass acts, theatrical scoring work, indie rock, collaborations in modern dance, etc.
Musically speaking, Adulthood comprises all of those things. We can readily identify the influences Cronin drew from to create the pastoral folk balladry of "Tree Dreams," the magnificent, opera-esque buildup of indie epic "Without You Around," the funked-up Band-style Americana of the title track, the choral transcendence of "Light's Refrain," etc, etc. with a little bit of influence from both absurdist and classical literature thrown-in for good measure.
The Electric Arch shares their debut single "Crisps & Crackers" and announces their debut record Out of Range.
“Crisps & Crackers” immediately sinks into a nodding groove that never lets up, as Marler adds reverbed guitar shimmers, streaky distorted riffs, and a mouthwatering bass solo over a steady, plunky piano lick. His lethargic, stoned delivery grounds the psychedelic instrumentals to keep things from drifting too far of into the ether, and each respective part is leveled perfectly within the mix. It sounds positively gorgeous and Marler finds just the right balance between exercising his obvious virtuosity and doing justice to the song’s sturdy melodic structure. It’s psych-pop par excellence.
The Electric Arch is based out of Chateau St. Philippe in Bayou St. John, New Orleans. The live version of the band includes James Marler, T-Rey Cloutier and Sir Alex Smudge Smith. Drummer and surf guru Ron Bocian plays with the band on the West Coast while Mr. Binkles the Spider Monkey covers Deep South gigs.
Out of Range features Marler’s compositions, translated, recorded, and produced by vaping enthusiast Matthew Cloutier. Recording sessions took place in the attic of a 1908 double shotgun mansion, with the humble sounds of the past captured through classic gear from the 1960’s and 70’s. These sessions, fueled by fish sticks, beans, beer, and tequila, typically began in the late afternoon and ended just before sunrise. Various friends would drop in to offer philosophical insights around the “cocktail plank”. All sessions were attended by a Hungarian scent hound and a cat of unknown origin.
The 11 songs on Out of Range are short films about disconnection and disentanglement (éloignement et liberté), shot up close or from a distance. Inspired by 60’s French pop, surf music, garage rock, and the wobbly sounds of troubling times, Out of Range goes high, low, and far away…
“Crisps & Crackers” speaks of depression and the universal consolation of comfort food. “Postcard to Celeste” stars a lush artist appealing to his estranged lover to join him in his seaside redoubt. The figure in “Las Ramblas” struts through an urban promenade of feminine beauty, drawn ever forward toward “the little death.” A romantic wanderer dives deep inside a vintage travel poster in “Granada.” “Porcelain Hole” enters the dark forest of a nativist cult, shield in one hand, sword in the other. “Saturday Night into Sunday Morning” celebrates the temporary escape of late night bars and after hours culture. In “Moving to the Islands,” the cynical and affluent flee the mainland in the face of impending disaster. The early morning haiku of “Lullaby (for Donostia)” savors the calm before the world wakes up. Modern war machines pulverize classical architecture in “Lost City.” An adolescent musician aches for his popular ex- girlfriend in “Can’t Stand It.” Finally, “Western Civ” launches a new backwards dance craze.
"That Sweet Orchestra Sound" is the new single by Canadian psych-folk second-cousins Kacy & Clayton. The track is taken from the new album Carrying On, which out via New West Records on 4 October 2019. The 10-song album was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and recorded by Tom Schick at The Loft, Wilco’s recording studio and rehearsal space in Chicago. The band have announced a UK and EU tour for Jan/Feb 2020.
"That Sweet Orchestra Sound" was written as a tribute to the rural dance bands of the area where Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum's grew up, Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan (population very few). These dance bands referred to themselves as ‘orchestras.’ One such band, the Romansky Orchestra from Fir Mountain, featured Kacy’s Grandpa Carl in their line-up when he was in his teens.
The track was premiered by Clash who said; "Kacy & Clayton are able to reach towards the timeless while delivering something highly individual."
Carrying On follows the international acclaim for their previous records Strange Country (which Q Magazine called “A beautiful album that nudges a classic past into a brave future”) and 2017’s The Siren’s Song (described by Uncut as “Ageless and beguiling. A classic record for this or any other time.”)
Kacy & Clayton's sound is equal parts homespun, coming from a family and community where playing music is an ever present part of social gatherings, and the rare country, blues, and English folk rock they obsess over and collect. It’s an arresting amalgamation of psychedelic folk, English folk revival and the ancestral music of Southern Appalachia. For Carrying On, Clayton cites as influences: Bobbie Gentry’s Delta Sweete, Hoyt Axton’s My Griffin Is Gone, Cajun fiddle music, and the steel guitar of Ralph Mooney, who played on many of the records that defined the Bakersfield country music scene of the 1950s. Sixties psych has also woven its way into these new songs; Kacy enjoys telling people that they live 250km from the mental hospital that coined the term “psychedelic.”
Belgian upcoming talent Portland had an amazing summer. The band helmed by singer-songwriters Jente Pironet and Sarah Pepels played Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop and in between they finished their debut album with producer David Poltrock (Triggerfinger, Hooverphonic).
“Your Colours Will Stain”, mixed by Grammy Award winning producer/mixer Eduardo De La Paz (Local Natives, Frightened Rabbit), is set for release on October 18 through [PIAS].
This week they release the brand new single ‘Killer’s Mind’. A story about getting hurt, dealing with it and eventually moving on to better experiences is set against pure pop brilliance.
An ominous synth follows a commanding beat, Jente and Sarah trading verses and finding angelic harmony in a sneaky chorus that’ll warm up your auricle for the remains of the day. It’s dark versus light with some killer hooks. Highly addictive stuff!
