Indie rock band Suggested Friends share a music video for 'Cygnets' a deliciously melodic rocker and a slightly paranoid video.
Just a month after his first UK single 'Montaigne' Harry Heart is back with 'Work It Out'. Once again his vocals really impress, the alt rock arrangement adds further originality, the forthcoming Hands in the Hive EP, is out 6th September.
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Victoria, BC art-pop quintet Bridal Party have always had the goal of making pop music they like. Now with the approaching release of debut full-length Too Much (due August 23rd on Kingfisher Bluez) the band find themselves at a critical moment: as songwriters and collaborators presenting their personal vision.
Principal lyricists Suzannah Raudaschl and Joseph Leroux formed Bridal Party with bassist and producer Lee Gauthier and drummer Adrian Heim in 2015. Jordan Clairmont joined on keys in 2017. Their initial EP release Hot Daze (2015) found chart success on college radio and some modest but promising support through placement on Bandcamp Weekly. Their second EP, Negative Space (2017) charted well and lead to six-figure streams of lead single Fruitless on Spotify. Beatroute (BC) magazine describes Bridal Party as “a perfect marriage of indie pop and soul.”
The band recorded Too Much over three separate week-long immersive studio visits in 2017 and 2018. This disparate recording process would ultimately undo and reform everything the band knew about their sound. A playful and unflinching lyrical voice was honed, drawing on themes of care and self-love as well as their sombre opposites. Each players’ particular handle on their instrument resonates without tuning out the chemistry of influence the members enjoy with one another.
The resultant record is a vibrant collection of songs of uncanny intimacy, thriving from experimentation in studio that remains honest to the band’s live set. Whether it’s the confessional lyricism and feathery textures of “When I’m Naked”, the plaintive riddle and bedlam of “Armour”, or the celebratory disco of the title track, Too Much shines a light on the band’s interior joys and terrors in equal measure.
A broad sonic landscape that shares territory with Crumb, U.S. Girls, and early work of The Cardigans, Too Much is due Friday, August 23rd, accompanied by a relentless tour schedule.
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Suggested Friends are an indie rock quartet with a firm grounding in queer identity, fusing DIY punk roots with the interweaving guitars of 90s indie and a sometimes tongue-in-cheek take on the performative masculinity of 80s rock. There’s a tenderness to their songwriting, with lyrics reflecting on cultural malaise, trauma recovery and the banal absurdity of everyday life. Personal politics can come with an incisively dry sense of humour too.
Turtle Taxi is their second album and demonstrates just how far they’ve come from the raw, scuzzy sounds of their DIY debut; unrepentant in letting the pop hooks loose. The choruses are big, harmonies frequent, and guitar solos abound - this is a lush, textured leap forward. Suggested Friends are more confident, acknowledging emotional pain and exploring how this affective space elides with a more expansive sense of injustice in the world.
On "Pretty Soon Your Grave Will Be A Landfill" the earnestness and absurdity of gaslighting politicians is laid bare, through to the futility of naming social ills and not acting on them on "At Ease". The album’s title track, "Turtle Taxi", talks about the relationship between love as a labour and the focusing in on life as an opportunity for that to flourish in all directions – (‘teach ‘til I die, let this all pass by…’).
The quieter numbers on the record, such as "At Ease" or "Blooms", recall folkier inspiration such as The Weather Station and Hiss Golden Messenger, through to the alt-pop oddness of "Nilufer Yanya" and "Blood Orange". But for parallels as a socially conscious, high-energy and vulnerable punk pop band, think Martha or Charly Bliss - though they’d argue for that perfect sweet spot between Weezer and Abba!
Recorded in rural Norfolk over two separate sessions a year apart, album was able to flourish into a more collaborative effort, incorporating Faith’s wife Meghan on percussion and Sickroom Studio's Owen on trumpet - plus plenty of time to experiment with overdubs and piano flourishes to up that classic-rock vibe that simmers just under the surface.
Suggested Friends formed in late 2015 following a chance meeting at a gig between Christabel (drums) and Faith (guitar and vocals). They were soon joined by Jack on guitar, who had met Faith through an activist group in London. Mammoth Penguins’ Emma Kupa is the most recent addition on bass, having worked with Faith on a number of projects over the past four years.
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Still bathing in acclaim from the likes of BBC Radio 6, Amazing Radio and Record of the Day after the recent release of his last single Montaigne, Sydney via Walthamstow London artist Harry Heart shares the solemn and smooth-tongued new single Work It Out from his upcoming EP.
Earlier this year, Harry Heart was invited on his first ever UK headline tour, a total of 20 shows in just two weeks. The relentless tour-schedule proved to be worthwhile, resulting in BBC airplay and accumulating almost half a million streams across Spotify and Apple Music.
The second single to be released since Heart's foray into the UK is Work It Out, from the upcoming Hands in the Hive EP. Work It Out exudes indie-rock maturity with lyrical prowess, gritty guitar work, and a mix of urgency and poise in its delivery. Heart unpacks the origin of the song:
“I was listening to so much Otis Redding for a while there, I wanted to hear my take on Soul. That tempo’s a great platform for lyrics. The track talks about the strains of balancing ambitions with good relationships, trying to stay sane and keep problems at bay.”
After releasing the 2018 EP First Endorphin, Harry Heart toured Australia twice, and made his UK debut, while also performing at Australian Music Week and featuring on Apple's Best of the Week: Pop playlist.
Work It Out is just a taste of the forthcoming Hands in the Hive EP, out 6th September.
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