The Hello Darlins - Course - Gawain and the Green Knight - Lemon's

The Hello Darlins' - Mountain Time.

With over 450,000 combined Spotify streams off their first singles, it’s safe to say there’s been a lot of anticipation for The Hello Darlins’ debut album, Go By Feel, officially released now on all platforms. It began building almost immediately after the Calgary, Alberta-based Americana collective debuted on the scene in early 2020, with American Songwriter calling the group “the product of a talented pool of session musicians craving more,” while Americana UK stated, “It’s great to see a band put together by the talented folks who would usually be ‘behind the scenes.’”

So, who exactly are The Hello Darlins? The seeds of the band took root in 2016 when vocalist/producer Candace Lacina crossed paths again with keyboardist/producer Mike Little after first meeting at a recording studio years earlier. Once reconnected, they soon found themselves making music together in between their work with other artists, an impressive list that ranges from Shania Twain to Charlie Major, The Road Hammers to George Canyon as well as the late B.B. King.

In short order, the couple began inviting others within their circle to participate, including Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies), Clayton Bellamy (The Road Hammers), Matt Andersen, Dave and Joey Landreth (aka The Bros. Landreth), Russell Broom (Jann Arden), and ace fiddler Shane Guse, creating what some have called "the Broken Social Scene of Americana."

On Go By Feel, this incredible collection of talent has forged a hybrid of country, gospel and blues like no other, from the heart-wrenching ballads “Aberdeen” and “Prayer For A Sparrow” to the classic country-rocker “Mountain Time” and the album’s soulful title track.

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Course - Darkest Tower.

Buzzing Chicago-based synth/indie/pop group Course released a new video for their latest single "Darkest Tower." The latest look at their critically acclaimed debut album A Late Hour (out now), the video was released alongside the accompanying short story written by singer/guitarist Jessica Robbins. 

"'Darkest Tower' set the tone for the album," stated Robbins. "When I wrote this song, I imagined our album going in this direction as it felt very different from the songs I'd written in the past. It feels like it’s the most fluid and open of all the songs with some dark undertones. For the music video I worked with Jess Price, who is a filmmaker and also a musician/songwriter in the band Campdogzz. I shared with her the short story that goes along with the song which is about a thirteen year old boy who keeps seeing a white van on his street and funnels his anxiety through the mysterious van. The story matches the rhythm of the song, in feel and emotion, but they are vastly different in lyrics and content. Jess took the themes and imagery from both the song and story and captured the idea of surveillance and that the darkest tower is like someone watching you - a voyeuristic take of the song."

Course announced their debut earlier this year with the release of their lead single "Give It All Away," which Under The Radar called "a lush dream pop tapestry." It was followed by the "optimistic" (Consequence) standout single "Sixteen" and "Nick of Time," which was featured as American Songwriter's Daily Discovery. Atwood Magazine chose the band as one of their 2021 Artists To Watch and stated, "Course have set themselves apart as an intimately expressive alternative band brimming with irresistibly catchy tunes, cathartic emotions, and utterly stunning energy." Chicago Tribune also raved, "Course managed to craft an inventive collection of songs that blend nostaglic instrumentation with clever lyrics...a body of work that stands strong."

Comprised of veteran musicians Robbins, Chris Dye (drums), Dan Ingenthron (synth/keys), Mikey Russell (guitar), and Brian Weekly (bass), Course blends diverse aspects of dream-pop, 90's new-wave, alternative, electronic, and indie rock. Drawing on Robbins' indie-folk roots, Course incorporates polished, modern production and lush electronic instrumentation to create songs with a characteristic ethereal-industrial sheen.

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Gawain and the Green Knight - A Sleeping Place.

Gawain and the Green Knight have released A Sleeping Place, and will next perform on New York's Governors Island on June 26th as part of the Porch Stomp festival. The EP exemplifies the duo’s “literary folk” stylings, filled with allegory and inspired by mythology, or, as they put it, “folk for people who like to listen to music while pacing mournfully yet poignantly through the streets, pretending they’re the protagonist in a very beautiful film.”

Inspired by the etymology of the Greek word for cemetery, which simply means “a sleeping place,” the record sits comfortably in the deep, sometimes dark, parts of the subconscious, arranged in such a way that you remember why life can be so joyful in the first place, its tempo anything but sad.

“The Dressmaker,” one of the album’s most energetic offerings — it’s their first “stomp-and holler” song — is the story of a woman in the 1800s, beginning at the moment she realizes her husband is leaving her, and later finds her building a life for herself and her daughters. “I wanted to elevate the narrator's frustration to proper, righteous anger in spots, which accounts for the occasional rowdiness,” multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike O’Malley mentions of the arrangement. “Toward the end is an arpeggio happening at three different speeds in four different registers, shared by the piano, clarinet, and flute. They lace together like so many threads, echoing the lyrics. I'd hoped to express the triumph of the narrator's self-salvation through the repetitive act of sewing.”

The dressmaker’s story might be too small to make it into a history book and too abstract to make it onto a headstone, but provides a reflection on the quiet triumphs that make up a life, a theme found weaving throughout A Sleeping Place.

Gawain and the Green Knight · A Sleeping Place

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Lemon's - Take It Back.

Lemon's is composed of three core members: Luke Braswell, Aidan Stanford, and Susie Hydrick. As well as a few close friends who typically join Lemon's in most live settings. 

Now that the United States is officially back open, you can either find Lemon's playing an occasional gig or two throughout the city of Memphis or going from the studio to track instruments to Luke's bedroom to add post-production musical elements. 

With the eventual goal being, of course, dominate the Memphis music scene and then. . .the world.

Take It Back is a pop rock, angst-filled story of betrayal that takes place sonically in the wild-west and pulls lyrical inspiration from tracks such as 'no body, no crime' by Taylor Swift.

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Alice Hubble - Big Little Lions - Jesse Roper - Gawain and the Green Knight - Rvrside - Lipstick Jodi

Alice Hubble - Power Play.

London-based synth-pop artist Alice Hubble has shared her comment on the #metoo movement in the form of new single ‘Power Play’ alongside news that her new album will be released later this year. Described as the work of ‘one lady at home with her enormous collection of synthesisers’, Alice Hubble mixes melancholic pop, layered vintage synths and elegant vocals, reminiscent of Ladytron, Ashra and Goldfrapp. 

Her debut album 'Polarlichter', inspired by the 70’s recordings of Tangerine Dream and Sally Oldfield was released in September 2019 to much critical acclaim. Earning the project support from the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Gideon Coe as well as acts like Damo Suzuki, Advance Base, Pram and Beak> with whom she played live.

Where ‘Polarlichter’ offered a soundscape of pastoral solace, new single ‘Power Play’ is a much more direct offering. Written in March 2020, Alice found herself channeling a lot of anger into the single. “The track is my comment on what happens in a post #metoo world, once the worst offenders have been ‘cancelled’ and caught and the news stories have been had. Has something changed?  Does society move on and go to the next issue?” explains Alice. 

The song references the mass hex of Brock Turner, when witches around the world joined together to hex the Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault. “I am fascinated by this form of collective digital activism,” she says. “In honoring this, Power Play is the closest thing I’ve written to a protest song”. ‘Power Play’ wassout on 19th May on Happy Robots and is available to download and stream via all digital platforms, with a new album to follow this Autumn.

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Big Little Lions - Only A Friend Like You

Big Little Lions have been described as ‘a blissful marriage of new folk and sophisticated pop’. Prolific songwriting, infectious folk-pop style, and an offbeat, memorable live show. 

This award winning duo consists of Helen Austin and Paul Otten who, despite living thousands of miles apart, have found a way to connect and create music together. Despite being in two different countries, they have found common ground to share their message. Call it destiny, or call it fate, call it a necessary progression for these modern times. 

Helen lives in British Columbia, Canada and Paul lives in Cincinnati, OH. But the distance provides the necessity to create in a new way. Using technology as their ally and their differences as their strength.  Their monthy single releases are their way of getting through this pandemic while all the usual album cyle release plans don’t make sense anymore. Their music is jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies, the sound of two people working side by side.

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Jesse Roper - Does Anybody Know.

Canadian rocker Jesse Roper continues to tease music from an upcoming album due later in 2021, dropping a serendipitous, Motown-infused new single, “Does Anybody Know” this week. Roper hit the studio earlier this year with JUNO nominated producer Gus Van Go (Arkells/Sam Roberts Band/The Stills) in Brooklyn, NY.

Discussing how the track came about Roper, notes, "It was kind of funny how the song came about. I’d been listening to a lot of Leon Bridges at the time and it was just a matter of time before I wrote something in that fashion. The song is about a guy who’s been dumped and is confused and looking for his ex all around town. I was in a relationship when I wrote it, so it had no particular meaning to me. But months later, after I got home from a long tour, my girlfriend met me at her door and informed me that she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with me. I was shocked and hurt and suffering from all those feelings. The song now felt like foreshadowing to my own future, and I was almost embarrassed to sing it.

But Gus loved it, and went straight to it. The song came together quickly and it was my introduction to his way of doing things,  which I immediately loved.  The tones were rich and the song ended up being really groovy. It was also the first song that Josh Dion played drums on. That guy is next level pro and my mind kind of blew watching him lay it down in one take.

It’s one of my favourites off the upcoming album. I’ve since played it to the girl who broke up with me. She loves it too. And now we’re actually back together. Maybe because she liked the song. I don’t know."

“Does Anybody Know” follows the March single “Horizons,” showcasing a new side to Roper's musicality with a focus on his powerhouse of a voice. Roper is quick to give credit to working with Van Go, who pushed him to explore new musical directions. “Recording with Gus helped take things to a whole new level. Everything was broken down to the finest details and nothing was allowed to sit at just ‘ok’. He really cared where the songs were headed and that they ended up just right. It was all about getting the vibe right.” And right it is.

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Gawain and the Green Knight - Fingers.

Leading up to the June 11th release of their new EP, A Sleeping Place, Gawain and the Green Knight have released the single, “Fingers.” Filled with allegory and inspired by literature and mythology, the duo calls their sound, “folk for people who like to listen to music while pacing mournfully yet poignantly through the streets, pretending they’re the protagonist in a very beautiful film.” 

“Fingers” is “a love song for my soon-to-be husband [bandmate Mike O’Malley], simple as that,” says singer/guitarist Alexia Antoniou, and one of her only auto-biographical songs. She found inspiration in an unusual place - on an airplane, when they were unable to get seats together. “I had been reading Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles and finished it mid-flight and was just completely emotionally devastated. I wasn’t just teary-eyed, I was outright weeping- so much so that the woman next to me took one look at me and started turning up the volume on her little headrest TV,” Antoniou recalls. “I managed to make meaningful eye contact with Mike across the aisle, and with a few gestures of the head, he agreed to meet me near the airplane toilets so I could cry some more on him. ‘Fingers’ was inspired by that whispered conversation.”

O’Malley produced the song with that same intimate, hushed atmosphere. “I wanted to ride the line of all-the-way-in-love and all-the-way-scared. And I wanted Alexia to sound like she was alone in the dark with a torch,” he says. “Sparseness and reverb seemed the order of things - a little Rhodes piano here, a little bowed bass there.”

Inspired by the etymology of the Greek word for cemetery, which simply means “a sleeping place,” the EP sits comfortably in the deep, sometimes dark, parts of the subconscious, arranged in such a way that you remember why life can be so joyful in the first place, its tempo anything but sad. “I think of this EP as a love letter, full of desperate affection, to anyone who has ever been alive and been scared to die,” Antoniou states.

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Rvrside - Beautiful Life.

Indie-rock band, RVRSIDE, release their debut EP, Bullet With Butterfly Clips, today May 21, 2021.

Consisting of front-woman Jessica Vaughn, a songwriter and vocalist whose music has been heard on a variety of top networks, including Netflix, MTV, NBC, ABC and more, songwriter and producer Curtis Peoples, who has a storied musical past as a songwriter for artists like Pierce The Veil and Third Eye Blind, and producer Colin creeV, who has produced big names like Jez Dior, hot up-and-comers like Traces, and even Third Eye Blind (of which he is a band member), Rvrside came together over a love of grunge, pop, and dirty synths.

Taking inspiration from the spirit of the 90s, Bullet With Butterfly Clips welcomes listeners into RVRSIDE’s world, “a little dark but not too self-serious,” with a mix of originals and a few choice covers. Three new songs from RVRSIDE appear alongside hypnotic reimaginings of quintessential 90s hits. The next single, “Beautiful Life” (out 4/23), turns the Ace of Base bop into a sinister alternative pop anthem, while “Love Me Like The End Of The World,” is “a love song for the apocalypse.”

Rvrside · Beautiful Life

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Lipstick Jodi - Don't Wanna Know.

Lipstick Jodi, the Grand Rapids trio led by powerhouse non-binary songwriter, vocalist, guitarist Karli Morehouse, want you to know who they really are with their latest single, “Don’t Wanna Know.” Out now, the track is featured on More Like Me, Lipstick Jodi’s sophomore album due June 4 via Quite Scientific.

Discussing the single, Morehouse stated, “The first demo I made of ‘Don’t Wanna Know’ was the first spark of Lipstick Jodi's renewal for me. It seemed like the light at the end of a really long tunnel. I was feeling stuck in time in the eyes of the people around me; like I was being judged constantly for my past. I felt like no one wanted to know me past surface level, or know me for who I really was and who I would become.” 

With More Like Me Morehouse closes the books on everything that got them to this place. All the raw emotions and experiences of childhood, teenage complexity and early adulthood angst are explored and expressed in depth - soundtracked by adrenaline rush of synths, guitar-fuzz and propulsive drums. When Morehouse sings, they blast through the sounds in triump.

Listening to More Like Me is like thumbing through a journal of self-improvement, self-doubt, self-preservation, and self-celebration - words sometimes written in a steady hand and sometimes scrawled angrily on the page. Through their music Morehouse explores the deepest valleys of their mind, celebrating small victories, right after a big fight, or driving fast yelling out the car window on the treacherous road of trying to do better. While the songs contained are wildly infectious, Morehouse could not be more clear what this album means to them. A little more mature, a little wiser, a lot more confident about what they want from their music, what they want to say as a queer artist, and what they want from life. More Like Me is just that.

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SLUGS - Gunke - Gawain and the Green Knight - Shannon Dooks - This Is The Deep

SLUGS - I Could Do Better.

SLUGS is a four-piece alt-rock outfit out of Los Angeles comprised of singer/songwriter/guitarist Marissa Longstreet, Sarsten Noice (bass/vocals), Josh Beavers (lead guitar) and Dash Hutton (drums). Their influences range from Linda Perhacs with their melodic harmonies and tenderness to Thee Oh Sees with their high energy, spitfire performances.

SLUGS latest tune “I Could Do Better” got its title after enduring a flight from a poor choice of airline when the idea of I could do better humorously arose. Later working with a friend the song was written and developed at a time when exploring the journey of sobriety, where the lyrics took a deeper dive into the meaning. The song narrates wanting to find a way back to the blissful naivety of being a child, as well as the wonderful and complicated revelations and the highs and lows during the process of grounding. Longstreet shares, “I compared my carefree attitude as a child, finger painting an image of nothing, to the “I don’t care” attitude of my 20’s. I wrote this song as if it were an intervention on myself, and I was playing both sides. I wanted to find my way back to carefree innocence coming from a place of sinister repetition and complacency.”

“I Could Do Better” emits a reflective and experimental sonic appeal through its trippy, psychedelic feel. Somewhat woozy and chill, the song has subtle peaks and falls with wavering vocal melodies that metaphorically pronounce the verified range of emotions. Through jingling high-hats, rocking, rich electric riffs, twangy guitars and a range of percussion that has a softer, tropical sound, “I Could Do Better” is truly transcending. The vocals are soft and restrained, yet clear and powerful, adding to the juxtaposition of the feelings around the journey of going sober. Longstreet explains, “I think the theme is a voyage of floating in space, the big chaotic crash down and every small step after in getting grounded.”

SLUGS have been on tours with LP & The Districts and have opened for Jessica Lea Mayfield, Joywave, Lets Eat Grandma & The Mattson II. Having garnered acclaim from the likes of Refinery29, Live Nation’s Ones to Watch, American Songwriter and Earmilk, SLUGS are certainly an artist to watch in 2021.

SLUGS · I Could Do Better

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Gunke - Football.

‘Football’ is the raw, explosive second single from Glasgow based solo artist Gunke that discusses the anxieties of not fitting channelling that into a churning slice of head nodding energy and a chant along chorus that will resonate with so many that have felt socially outcast ("Football? Softball? I don't know the difference”).

It’s a passionate piece of punk fuelled indie rock that vibes on abrasive 90s alt-rock and early 00's guitar band sounds, creating a powerful energetic tone to counteract the disparate isolation behind the lyrics.

Gunke is the solo creative efforts of Luc Grindle (Dutch Wine, HEYUP, Moonsoup), which aims to bring out the brighter, more optimistic side of punk rock.

Taking strong influence from the likes of The Cribs, Yuck and early Bombay Bicycle Club hits, this is one sure to be left humming their tunes for days to come.

“‘Football' took a long time to mature as a song; four years of recordings in fact!

“I didn't really engage in sports growing up, so often felt out of my depth when conversing with friends who would talk about last night's game or whatever; I made the chorus with football chants in mind as way to a kind of counteract that notion.

“I took a lot of inspiration from The Cribs during the writing process, a lot of their fans are football lads, despite the band having no interest in the sport, I found that quite fitting to pay some kind of homage to.”

‘Football’ was written by Luc Grindle, Melissa Brisbane and Jack Boyle. Performed, recorded and mastered by Luc Grindle. Mixed by Melissa Brisbane. Video was filmed by Christopher Devine. Edited by Luc Grindle.

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Gawain and the Green Knight - In My Dreams, a Perfect Chair.

With the release of “In My Dreams, a Perfect Chair,” Gawain and the Green Knight announce their upcoming EP, A Sleeping Place, out June 11, 2021. The new single exemplifies the duo’s “literary folk” stylings, filled with allegory and inspired by mythology, or, as they put it, “folk for people who like to listen to music while pacing mournfully yet poignantly through the streets, pretending they’re the protagonist in a very beautiful film.” Listen HERE.

“In My Dreams, a Perfect Chair” offers a deep dive on insecurities, centering around a woodworker’s apprentice who feels inadequate because they can’t make anything good enough. Vocalist/guitarist, Alexia Antoniou, wrote the song as a metaphor for her own writer’s block, and multi-instrumentalist bandmate, Mike O’Malley, and the EP’s drummer, Derek Swink, created woodshop inspired sounds to immerse the listener in the story, mimicking sandpaper and hammers. “It’s strange to think of artists in the past being full of doubt, anxiety, self-loathing. Because the art remains but the process is so rarely documented,” Antoniou observes. “But of course, those emotions had to be all tangled in the artistic process, no matter what time we’re talking about… right? I think anyone who has ever sat down to make a thing can relate.”

Partners in life as well as in music, Antoniou and O’Malley were due to be married in the fall of 2020. Like everyone, their plans were waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding themselves isolated, surrounded by insecurity and fear, they felt an urgent need to capture these songs that felt of the moment. “Even before all of last year happened, the fact of our own mortality always felt present, impossible to get away from, really. I think there must be something biologically in human brains that tries to make you forget it so you can function, and the part of you that remembers your mortality and the part that makes you forget are always going at one another,” says Antoniou.

Inspired by the etymology of the Greek word for cemetery, which simply means “a sleeping place,” the duo created a collection of songs that sits comfortably in the deep, sometimes dark, parts of the subconscious, arranged in such a way that you remember why life can be so joyful in the first place, its tempo anything but sad. “I think of this EP as a love letter, full of desperate affection, to anyone who has ever been alive and been scared to die,” Antoniou continues. “Death is loud, but it doesn’t mean you were never heard.”

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Shannon Dooks - Doubts.

Ahead of the release of her new album, Do It Again, Shannon Dooks, lends her supple voice to its earnest and heartfelt lead single, “Doubts” — available now!

When a once-thriving connection turns dubious, acknowledging the signs can be a tough experience — and “Doubts” says it all. Everything from the innocent piano intro to the mellow rhythm sections that follow, the arrangements send the notion of a fond farewell wrapped in a melodic package.

The message within is signed, sealed and delivered by Shannon Dooks’s harmonious and smooth vocal style. As light as the single sounds, the weight within the lyrics denotes a tipping point in a crumbling relationship. According to the Toronto-based artist, “it’s that feeling of constantly putting in effort into the relationship and each broken promise is that much more devastating as it goes on and then you finally reach a breaking point.”

The introductory lyrics in the first verse of “Doubts” perfectly summarizes the singer’s insight: “Don't write, don't text, don’t call, don't do anything at all.” Further reinforcing the message are the closing lyrics of the first verse: “You tell me go, you tell me stay, you tell me leave, but don't tell me what I should believe.”

While Shannon Dooks is known for writing her own songs, “Doubts” was penned by Toronto-based internationally-renowned songwriter, Rosanne Baker Thornley. The single was intended to be a submission for film and television spots, however the voice of Shannon Dooks was found to be a perfect vessel for the tone of the single.

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This Is The Deep - Glass.

East London 7-piece psych pop collective This Is The Deep have released their new single "Glass", along with the announcement of their debut EP 'The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1)' - out May 21st via B3SCI Records.

Over the last two years This Is The Deep have quietly established a cult live following through support slots with HMLTD, PVA, and Family Time, as well as their own sold out cross-over events at venues such as Windmill Brixton, Moth Club and The Shacklewell Arms, combining immersive art and video installations with live performances from acts including Sinead O'Brien, Opus Kink and Baby Vanga.

Debut EP 'The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1)' out May 21st is a stunning 7-track introduction, with new single "Glass" an inarguably captivating invitation into This Is The Deep's mysterious world. Utilising a sample of a dramatic reading of Humpty Dumpty, the track brings together a cacophony of horns, pounding drums and squelching synths - all written, recorded and produced by the band at 'The Sauna', their HQ in Hackney Wick.

Speaking on the themes at play on "Glass", the band said: "The song is about the idea of falling and the feeling of something foreboding happening as the result of over-reaching. There are different ways to interpret the lyrics; they can apply to the excesses of late capitalism, our unbalanced position with the natural world, as well as a relationship between two people.The focus on falling and impact could also be seen to be a metaphor for a human position of being in some way always falling towards something, some conclusion or unknown destination. Maybe ultimately the fall is part of what we are, as Buzz Lightyear says maybe we're not flying but ‘falling with style’."

The track's engrossing video was directed and animated by the band themselves, and follows a muscled action-man in a dystopian CGI city who gets sucked into another world through his TV.

"It's kind of a retelling of Humpty Dumpty but instead of an egg there's this bald muscly action-man figure and instead of falling and cracking he gets sucked into another world through his TV", the band nonchalantly explain, going on to say..."He falls into a plasticine Loony-Toons inspired landscape haunted by a mysterious cowboy with pop-corn eyes where pop-corn clouds hang in the sky. We're interested in working with the tropes of visual media and popular culture and how they affect the way we perceive and ultimately construct the world. David Greaber's quote that 'The ultimate hidden truth of the world is it is something we make and could just as easily make differently sums this up for us pretty well."

What started out as late night recording sessions between flatmates Ranald Macdonald, David Bardon and Oscar Robertson - quickly spiralled into This Is The Deep’s carnivalesque troupe of seven musicians. Drawing as much from artists such as Suicide, Death Grips, and the scores of David Lynch and Ennio Morricone, as from the glittery pop-disco of the Scissor Sisters, This Is The Deep consists of post-punk royalty Susie Honeyman (Mekons) on fiddle, Sammy Silue on guitar and vocals, Ranald Macdonald on synth and vocals, Hannah Tilson on trombone and vocals, David Bardon and Oscar Robertson on bass and drums, with electronic drums and percussion from Liam Toon.

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