Canadian avant-garde folk artist, Mappe Of (a moniker for Tom Meikle) has just released a wonderful song entitled 'Unkno'. It's something of a folk epic as Tom's superb vocals and a clever, intriguing musical background garner immediate attention.
Our third feature this year for Emily Breeze is for her latest single 'Heaven's Gate'. Described as "a glacial slice of Sci-Fi propaganda" (see more below) the songs musical arrangement conveys other worldly notions, Emily's vocals are once again impressive as they drive the piece forward.
Café Spice return here for a second occasion with their brand new single 'Open Door'. Once again the beautiful vocals and exquisite harmonies are simply wonderful, this trio are most certainly on my must hear music list.
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Lucy & La Mer is the LA-based indie project of singer/songwriter Lucy LaForge.
Known for her bright melodies and disarming lyrics, Lucy wrote her debut EP Little Spoon while living aboard a sailboat after a bad breakup. The folk pop EP charted on College Radio in 2015, followed by a national tour and 2 semi-finalist spots in the International Songwriter Contest.
After landing in LA, Lucy began performing live with a full band and caught the attention of major press like the LA Times. Lead by Lucy’s welcoming stage presence and unmistakable attire (the band wears colorful bowties and decorates the stage), their live shows have gained attention for their interactive audience participation and focus on community activism.
Lucy has garnered acclaim from the likes of Billboard, Huffington Post, Refinery 29 and Earmilk to name a few. The songstress has shared the stage with everyone from electronic artist Moby, folk sirens Joseph, to emo rockers Bayside. She is endorsed by Kala Brand Ukuleles and stays close to her fans by live-streaming every weekend on the band’s facebook page. Her message is about positive self-belief, self-care, and honest self-expression.
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The Canadian Avant-garde folk artist, Mappe Of - a moniker for Tom Meikle - is now sharing the beguiling new single ‘Unkno’. Released in the wake of ‘Ailynn’, ‘Unkno’ is the latest to be lifted from the forthcoming nine-track sophomore record, The Isle Of Ailynn, which is due for release on November 1, 2019 via Paper Bag Records.
Recorded at Bathouse Studio, Ontario (operated by the multi-award-winning Canadian band, The Tragically Hip) with longtime collaborator Will Crann and engineer Nyles Spencer (Broken Social Scene, Gord Downie), The Isle of Ailynn documents a fantasy world through nine different landscapes that draw parallels between a mythological space and everyday conflicts, troubles and fears within our lives. ‘Unkno’, which makes up one of the nine distinct environments, sonically situates Meikle alongside the likes of Grizzly Bear and The Antlers, pulling on resplendent string sections and Meikle’s velvet-soft vocals.
Speaking about the new single, Meikle says: “‘Unkno' explores how violently the barriers of distance, language and culture can separate us when our hearts and minds are closed. The second half of the song features these two distinct vocal lines, one descending and the other ascending, that I like to envision as the two parties in this fictional land having this same core belief, yet somehow manifesting it in nearly opposite ways.”
The Isle of Ailynn looks to follow-on from the Toronto-based artist’s critically acclaimed 2017 debut, A Northern Star, A Perfect Stone (tipped by Stereogum, NPR, Consequence of Sound and Paste) marking a more focused theme and progressive understanding of genre and songwriting. Meikle’s debut release would find him on tour with the likes of Martha Wainwright and Bahamas whilst amassing over five-million streams on DSPs. UK dates are set to follow the new release in early 2020, these to be announced shortly.
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The fourth single from Emily Breeze’s debut album Rituals, “Heaven's Gate” is a glacial slice of Sci-Fi propaganda which was inspired by a documentary about the 90’s Christian U.F.O cult of the same name. Emily says, “I was interested in how a seductive promise of eternal salvation can compel a person to hand over all personal agency to devote themselves entirely to a belief system, especially one as bizarre and deadly as Heaven's Gate”.
Written from the perspective of the cult leader, this is interstellar Doo Wop for all the drifters, loners, dropouts and seekers out there. Emily and her cohorts invite you to join the psychedelic dance, cast off your earthly shells and drink the Kool Aid!
Produced by Bristol luminary Stew Jackson, writer, producer for Massive Attack, who has also worked with Tom Waits, Patti Smith and Nick Cave, Rituals has received airplay from Radio X, BBC Introducing in the West and Tom Robinson (BBC Radio 6) who described Emily as a “21st century Patti Smith”.
Other praise for Rituals includes Louder Than War stating that it is “As vital a statement on what it is to be alive in 2019 as any of the more celebrated, male, bands currently garnering all the praise." God Is In The TV refers to “the kind of delicious noirish pop that Luke Haines specialise in. If there is a soundtrack to the world gradually falling apart this is it!” and MOJO magazine draws comparisons to Jarvis Cocker and describes “A tempestuous debut, Rituals accentuates the drama of its songs, swathing them in black humour”.
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Café Spice have just released their latest single ‘Open Door’. This is the third single to be released by the phenomenally talented trio, and their second single release this year. A beautifully orchestrated song that features all three distinct voices creating a trifecta of harmony and accompanied by a sweet core progression of melancholic pros.
Born from a love of singing in harmony, beautifully crafted songs and plain naan bread, Manchester based all female indie folk band Café Spice have been blessing our eardrums with heavenly and autumnal harmonies since the release of their first single ‘Lauren’ in 2018.
Since then the trio, made up of Georgia Gage (Scotland), Niamh Feeney (Ireland) and Eleanor Lang (The North), have been performing gigs in most major cities across the UK and a significant series of gigs in Bangkok earlier this year. Not to mention a sold out full band gig at Jimmy’s in Manchester and supporting the legendary singer songwriter Boo Hewerdine!
The single, Open Door, is a song about two people who love each other and although they want deeply to be together at this moment in time it’s not possible. The trio tells us, “it’s about having to say goodbye to someone when you know that you love them, when you know it’s not the end of your story and when you know it’s not forever. You’re leaving them for now, leaving them in pain, but leaving with an open door behind you.”
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