Quasi Qui - Abby Sage - Iceblynk - Astralux

Photo - Maxime Imbert

Quasi Qui - Terminal 5.

Since the announcement of their signing to microqlima records (Isaac Delusion, L’Impératrice, Pepite, Fils Cara), things have moved fast for British alt-pop duo Quasi Qui. After playing a number of tastemaker festivals in France (Pete The Monkey, Coconut, Love Letters..), and the release of the singles 'Directorial Debut', 'Epoch' and '10 years', the duo is back with 'Terminal 5'. A dense and colourful number, much like the forthcoming album Downloading A New Operating System, which is set to be released November 4.

Together, Yehan Jehan and his sister Zadi are Quasi Qui. In the dystopian / utopian sci-fi reality that they envisage on their new album, the earth has split into two, and it’s up to you to hitch a ride on the parallel universe of your choosing. The duo are not only reimagining how to make great pop music on their debut album, they’re also remodelling the future and imagining a civilisation that works for us all. Such confident prognostications are certainly welcome right now.

The concept for Downloading A New Operating System came to Yehan Jehan periodically, by way of a recurring dream. He describes those dreams as like “a collage of cinematic films”, which formed the basis of ‘City Mashups’, the assured opening track that imbues the spirit of Quincy Jones in widescreen. ‘City Mashups’ sets the tone for the rest of the record, which passes through personal experience, present experience, and then, according to Yehan: “future aspiration and a new hope or innocence.” Their debut is suitably audacious and teeming with musical invention, offering a roadmap out of our current collective malaise by imploring us to dream big and open up our imaginations.

Yehan has turned heads with his production nous, making a plethora of bands sound more expansive and technicolor, though he’s more than just a slick producer: “The modus operandi was to make sure the songs were strong,” he says. That marriage between melody and production is felicitous on tracks like new single ‘Terminal 5’, where breakbeats, sub-bass and sequencers form a nexus with catchy melodies.

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Abby Sage - High Five.

LA/London based alt-pop artist Abby Sage shares her sophomore EP The Florist via Nettwerk. The Florist EP represents a dynamic shift, an evolution in Abby Sage’s artistry. The 5-track collection is fueled by Sage’s love for character sketches, with each song becoming a tiny play or narrative. The songs off The Florist gently flow through the different phases of early adulthood—from the uncertainties and complexities of daily life to those moments of pain and joy that shape us in who we are and who we want to become.

Abby Sage shares this about her EP, “‘The Florist’ I leaned heavily into a ‘fly on the wall’ mentality. I was spending a lot of time alone but surrounded by many people in transit. I wrote the project with others in mind; others and their experiences and stories, particularly struggles people face through the various stages of life. For example, ‘Pool Party’ really zeroes in on moments of youth feeling unprepared, overwhelmed, and a bit out of sorts. To contrast this, I included a conversation I had with my Nanna (the interlude “Irene”) where she speaks on the troubles she faces and her overarching feeling of falling behind, regarding technology in particular. I think we really glorify youth and there are a lot of pieces of work out there that focus on ‘firsts,’ such as first love, first heartbreak etc. My Nanna really inspired the project because I wanted to get both sides of the timeline. The beginning and the end, that’s what I wanted to capture with The Florist.”

Brand new track “High Five” is a celebration of solitude. Co-written with fellow Nettwerk artist, LA singer/songwriter Miya Folick, “High Five” highlights Sage’s reposeful vocals, buzzing alt-pop melodies, and gentle drum beats. “High Five” casually blends nostalgic fueled lyricism with sonically trippy vibes. “‘High Five’ came to me when reflecting on the importance of alone time. I’ve always been a more reserved person who enjoys my space and my own company,” says Abby Sage. “I came to the idea of high five as an homage to that. Waking up alone and going to bed alone with all of those special moments in between. It feels like a beautiful secret between you and the morning hours or you and the night. Only you heard that bird sing or that car passed, only you saw the glow of the streetlight. It’s intimate. I don’t think there’s any better feeling than that.”

Abby Sage · High Five

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Iceblynk - Seen Gone.

Queens, NY-based indie-pop trio, Iceblynk, made up of Andrea Lynn (vocals) and brothers Martin (guitars, bassVI, mellotron-D) and James Newman (bass, drums, lapsteel) release their debut, self-titled EP Iceblynk via A Secret Brand. 

To accompany the EP release, the band highlights their latest single “Seen Gone,” which features guitarist Martin Newman cleverly layering hypnotizing and dreamy guitar plucks over a 12-string guitar throughout the track. From there, a solid drum groove and silky-smooth Fender BassVI steps in to lead the listener into the crescendo. 

“‘Seen Gone’ was originally recorded for Iceblynk’s straight-to-vinyl limited release as ‘Seagulls,’” explains vocalist Andrea Lynn. “I insisted not only that we include it on the EP, but that it should be highlighted as one of our singles. It’s one of my favorite songs to perform and in some ways, departs from our previous singles. 

It’s more of an emotionally charged slow burner, with gently hypnotic guitar leading us in and soft vocals that reference the sensations of flowing like a dream and floating away. All of it beckoning us to lean in and listen closely. From quiet beginnings, “Seen Gone” eventually bursts forth, intense in every sense with fevered layers of guitar and soaring vocals. Moments later, the rising tide recedes with all elements circling back to the beginning as we slowly drift back into silence.”

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Astralux - Desert Dream.

Rock n Rollers Astralux are back with a music video for their single "Desert Dream." The video showcases the Los Angeles band as they drive out to the desert and set up to perform. 

Shot in Joshua Tree, California, the video perfectly complements the overall free-spirited vibe of the song. 

Thrilling, powerful, and enigmatic, the "Desert Dream" is a sonic journey through the surreal and inspiring places we travel to when the “Sun goes away.”

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Carleton Stone - Iceblynk - Rosanne Baker Thornley

Carleton Stone - Hard Day's Work.

There’s a fantasy about show business that we’ve been fed since performers started offering up their hearts on stage for public consumption. The glamour, the jet-setting, and the parties all get played up over the reality of the whole thing: a career that seeps into your real life and can dismantle your relationships, the exhaustion of the road, and more than a few hangovers. On his third solo album, the self-produced Papercut—armed with a couple lifetimes of songwriting and touring in his rear view mirror—Carleton Stone gets honest about the toll of devotion to craft while illustrating his mastery of it. Through sax-blasted Americana, power-pop laced with ‘80s synth, and dreamy, sophisticated pop melodies, the Nova Scotia songwriter blurs genres to explore a tumultuous few years and some of the scariest questions someone can ask: what the hell have I done? What if I’d gone down some other path?

“And what are some of the things that you lose when you decide to live your life like this?” Stone says. “There are parts of it where you experience the highest highs, things that feel so rare, you know—performing songs you wrote in front of sold-out audiences all the time or shit like that. I don’t take any of it for granted. But there are sacrifices, too: your relationships with your family and your friends and significant others can suffer, and you’re always on the road. There’s collateral damage, and I was thinking a lot about that, and about things that might’ve been.”

The result is Stone’s strongest and most candid songwriting to date, and finds him plumbing the depths of those feelings without succumbing to despair, gracefully switching between genuine moments of melancholy, anger, hope, self-deprecating humour, regret, anxiety, and bliss.

You don’t make music for this long without making some talented friends, and along with the aforementioned players, Papercut also features Liam Jaeger (bass), Howie Beck (percussion), Kevin Fox (cello), Tom Moffett (trumpet), Julian Nalli (saxophone), Mel Stone (vocals), and Erin Costelo (vocals). It was engineered by Stone himself, Darren McGill, and Aaron Goldstein at Union Sound (Toronto, ON), Gold Standard Recorders (Toronto), and The Loft (Cape Breton, NS), and mixed by Howie Beck. The album also spotlights some of Nova Scotia’s most compelling talent in its co-writing credits, which include Breagh Isabel, Leanne Hoffman, Dave Sampson, Dylan Guthro, and Kayleigh O’Connor.

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Iceblynk - Tragic.

Queens, NY-based trio, Iceblynk, have announced their debut, self-titled EP will be released on October 21, 2022 via A Secret Brand. To celebrate the announcement, the band has shared their lead single “Tragic.” “Tragic” is a nostalgic indie-pop tune that expertly showcases singer Andrea Lynn’s cheery vocals as well as the instrumental prowess of Martin and James Newman.

“The EP is titled ‘Iceblynk,’” shares co-founder Martin Newman. “It’s our introduction to the world and represents who we are in the present and hints to where we’re headed in the future and what to expect from our full-length next year. It’s also an introduction to the name change.”

“We chose to release ‘Tragic’ as the introduction to our EP as its driving force and evolving richness of tightly interwoven guitars lock in the listener from the start,” adds vocalist Andrea Lynn. “While the vocal melody has a light and bright feel, the lyrics hint at a growing sense of despair/dissolution, creating a playful dissonance.”

“Production-wise, ‘Tragic’ began as a clean, jangly-pop song with a slightly quirky chord progression,” Newman continues. “But as the recording process went on and our pandemic spending increased, we added Gamechanger’s Bigsby pedal and Mastro Valvola’s Lysergic Energy Module to the mix, and the guitars warped into something more along the lines of My Bloody Valentine crossed with Emma from Lush, which gave the song more of its edge and dreamy textures. By chance theremin extraordinaire Pamelia Stickney happened to be in town while we were recording, so to break up the onslaught of guitars, we had her lay down a solo during the bridge.”

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Rosanne Baker Thornley - Sorry I'm Late.

“The narrative that runs through this album is – life and the pieces of that journey. The insights. The moments of awe. The losses. The lessons. The determination to continue on” says Rosanne Baker Thornley. ”My inspiration comes from everywhere. From experiences and of people both good and bad. From the simplicities that live between the complexities, I have an inherent want to capture those moments and describe them.” So began a new creative journey for Thornley, and in this journey, a quiet and extraordinary shift occurred; fuelled by the magnetic musical pull that she has fed for years.

Based in Toronto, Thornley has been evolving and expanding her relationship with music (and writing) for quite some time. With her new album, Sorry I’m Late, she further delves into her craft, cultivating songs from an intensely personal space. “As my songwriting years have evolved, my writing is more grounded in writing what I know. In searching my heart and writing that. To be honest. To be vulnerable. To be brave.“ She has worked to distill those emotions that are experienced across generations, and she sheds light on the experiences and stories that have the ability to be profoundly moving. “There’s prescience in what I do. I’ve written many songs on the premise of what I thought I was writing about only to find days, months, sometimes years later that I wrote the song from the future. And though I don’t yet fully grasp the how of that, I simply let myself go with where it takes me and write it all down.” It is precisely those joys, discomforts, and authenticities that accompany vulnerability – and she has channeled those feelings into an expansive and intimate collection of songs.

Emerging on the Canadian music scene years ago, Thornley established herself as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for ‘Daystar’, ‘Niteskool’ and ‘Bakersmith’, a critically acclaimed album “Courage” via Sony Music – as well as through repeat tours of North America and Europe – garnering both national and international media attention. From her base in Toronto, she established her reputation one show at a time, and had audiences connecting to her stories. Over the past few years, Thornley has continued to hone in on her exceptionally gifted writing talents by working with (and co-writing on) a myriad of artists albums, EPs and standalone singles. With brand new music on the horizon, Thornley has her sights on reconnecting with fans and igniting a renewed interest in her music.

 

Rosanne Baker Thornley (RBT) · Sorry I'm Late

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