Josienne Clarke - Everything By Electricity - Brenda - Marlody - Sock

Josienne Clarke - Anyone But Me.

Josienne Clarke has released “Anyone But Me,” the final single from her new album Onliness (songs of solitude and singularity), out today Friday, April 14th via Corduroy Punk Records. Darkly urgent, with distorted guitars reframing its folk origins to create a whole new sound for Clarke, “Anyone But Me” is a study in possessiveness. The song’s grim and ominous music video directed by Alec Bowman_Clarke is a fitting visual companion as it follows the end of a marriage. “Maybe I just watched too many Hitchcock films in lockdown, but when I was commissioned to make a video for this song, I knew exactly what I had to do” explains Bowman_Clarke. “Bob Gallagher, the maker of Josienne's wonderful 'Chicago' video, was kind enough to grant me permission to use his character, and Chris Newman jumped at the chance to reprise his role. I'm very grateful to them both for helping bring this vision to life.”

The “Anyone But Me” video has earned early support from film festivals across the world–it’s currently a semifinalist in the London Indie Short Festival and the San Jose Independent Film Festival, and has been selected by the Tokyo International Short Film Festival and the Roma Short Film Festival. “Anyone But Me” follows previous album singles “The Birds,” “The Tangled Tree,” and “Words Were Never The Answer”.

Written, arranged, and produced entirely by Clarke, Onliness is the follow-up to 2021's A Small Unknowable Thing–her first LP released via her own label–and presents a career retrospective viewed through new eyes and ears. The LP arrives about five years after she left her contract with Rough Trade Records and is ultimately a striking overview of an artist who has beautifully traversed their own path, no matter how rocky it became. Throughout the process, Josienne was clear that she wanted the album to work on its own terms, that it could stand tall as a brand new chapter even to those unfamiliar with the initial recordings. She also wanted to approach each new song as a singular exercise, to follow the instincts that she’s honed over the past few years.

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Everything By Electricity - Goodbye.

"Goodbye"  first came to fruition when singer-songwriter Yulia Bizyukova decided to do some spring cleaning in her flat. From the ashes appeared an external hard drive with various unfinished tracks - one of which recovered a skeletonized version of "Goodbye".

At the time, the track contained only a few lines of a verse and chorus. After tweaking "Goodbye" for a couple weeks, Yulia sent it to Andy Baldwin, for mastering at Metropolis Studios. The end result is a captivating display of shoegaze layered underneath lush vocals that gently embrace the listener's ears.

Yulia Bizyukova was born and raised in the barren landscape of Barnaul, Siberia, where it snows for a third of the year and freezing cold winters can last up to five months. At age 10, Yulia taught herself guitar and began writing songs that drew inspiration from the melancholy she witnessed.

Everything by Electricity accredits Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, and Joni Mitchell, as some of their biggest influences. Prior to the pandemic, Everything By Electricity's rich sound enabled them to support Helen Marnie of Ladytron on tour.

Everything by Electricity · Goodbye

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Brenda - Microscopic Babe.

Glasgow trio Brenda release Microscopic Babe, the second single from their upcoming self-titled debut album. Microscopic Babe is out 14th April, following recent single Cease and Desist.

Brenda are Litty on guitar, Apsi on drums and Flore on synths. They’ve created a buzz by gigging across Glasgow with their post-punk, dream-pop. Their energetic sets described as the type that “end up seared onto your brain after a single viewing” (The Scotsman). The combination of their dreamy synths, witty lyrics and unapologetic energy is truly infectious.

The album is released 28th July and will be launched with a gig at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow with support from label-mates Casual Worker. The Brenda album is available on blue vinyl and digital by Last Night From Glasgow.

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Marlody - Runaway.

‘Everything was gone: I was on my own…’ ‘Runaway’ by Marlody is a melancholy pop song about being on the brink of oblivion: contemplating the beauty of nothingness but stepping back just in time.

As with many of Marlody’s songs, if you concentrate to her mesmerising keyboard and her exquisite melodies you’ll be okay: they will keep you safe from the sheer drops either side of you.

‘Runaway’ is the third single from Marlody’s acclaimed debut album ‘I’m Not Sure At All’.

Marlody is from Ashford, Kent, UK.  Her next live performance are:
23 April 2023: London (Camden), The Green Note.
20 May 2023: London, Bush Hall: Le Salon de Heavenly, afternoon show.
27 May 2023: London (Forest Gate), Tracks E7.
1 June 2023: Folkestone (Kent), Folklore.
17 June 2023: Rolvenden Layne (Kent), The Skep: Words and Music Festival.

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Sock - Change Your Mind.

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self- titled follow up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion.

Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound.

Change Your Mind is the second track released from their self-titled second album, which is out on the 28th April through Bubblewrap Collective.

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Katherine Fischer - Marlody - Caitlin Rose - Eliza McLamb - Mary Middlefield

Katherine Fischer - To This Day.

Like a re-discovered diary entry on your worst day, Katherine Fischer wants you to feel understood. With over 250 songs in her arsenal and counting, she hopes to be your tour guide through the darkest corners to the brightest balcony of her human experience.

Hailing from London Ontario, Katherine Fischer writes songs for souls with big feelings. In August 2016 Katherine released her debut EP "Here I Am" followed by her sophomore release "Wildflower Heart" in 2019.  Her EP's share folky heart led narratives that rival your favourite coming of age novel. Katherine's song "I Choose You" was included on Amazon's "Best of 2020: Folk" playlist alongside Kathleen Edwards and John Prine. In 2021 her single "Memories" was released and placed on Spotify's "New Music Friday" and most recently her song "The Current" was added to Spotify's "Folk and Friends" playlist.

Funded by the Ontario Arts Council, London Arts Council, SOCAN Foundation and SHINE Foundation, Katherine's debut full length  album "Great Loves" was released November 2022, and has garnered over 60,000 streams and 8,000+ fans worldwide. "Great Loves" blends Americana, indie pop, cinematic strings and harmonies that wrap around you to create a breathtaking folk album. Great Loves is the story of all incapsulating love, of the land, of people, of yourself.

Katherine Fischer · To This Day

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Marlody - Summer.

Marlody’s first album I’m Not Sure At All will be released by Skep Wax in January 2023, and this single is the first taste of what’s to come. The beauty of the music – the rolling waves of keyboard, the apparently simple vocal melody – hit you first.  But Summer is like a trap: it’s drawing you into a darker place.

Sung from the perspective of a young girl whose mother has died, Summer gives a disturbing, eerie picture of an adult world that’s losing its moorings.  The innocence of the child and the sweetness of the music pull us safely through, saving us from the worst of it, but Summer is a perfect example of Marlody’s ability to weave songs so disarming that, for a few minutes, we feel as innocent as the child in the song.  For a while, we don’t notice that summer is over. We don’t notice how dark it’s getting.

There are many echoes here: the infectiousness and daring of some of the vocal melodies might remind you of Kate Bush, the intimacy might remind you of Cate Le Bon, the stabs of anger and pain might remind you of Liz Phair. The harmonies are from another place again – you could imagine hearing them in an Unthanks recording.

 

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Caitlin Rose - Getting It Right (Featuring Courtney Marie Andrews).

Celebrated Nashville singer/songwriter Caitlin Rose released a new single called "Getting It Right" off her forthcoming album CAZIMI (out November 18th via Missing Piece Records). Co-written with Courtney Marie Andrews, who also sings harmonies on the track, "Getting It Right" finds a resolute Rose trying her wearied best at self-improvement.

“Several years ago, I fell in love with Courtney’s first album,” stated Rose. “I had been doing co-writes for a while, but realized I needed to start focusing in on the writers and artists I really wanted to collaborate with. I wasn’t really being set up on things that were fulfilling that desire so I snuck into her DM’s and proposed a write whenever she was in town. Luckily she was already in town and we spent an extremely hot afternoon on the patio talking astrology and music and walking away with what I always thought of as a bit of a banger.”

She continued, “It feels like an obvious anthem for the album with all the time that’s gone by and the hole I was in for a few years. All the disappointment of feeling like I couldn’t do a damn thing right. I’m not even sure how much of that discussion was had, but it was really refreshing to talk and create something with someone on the brink of their own amazing journey. A little of my own cynicism dissolved that day, and even though it would take a few more years before I could actually embark on my own re-entry into the field, it’s definitely a song that helped push me in the right direction

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Eliza McLamb - Pulp.

Singer-songwriter Eliza McLamb is coming of age right in front of us. When the beginning of the pandemic interrupted McLamb’s studies at George Washington University, she eschewed the pre-law path she’d planned for herself and headed west. She started sharing original songs on TikTok while working on farms in North Carolina and Kansas, and was shocked to see her videos find a devoted audience. “I'd been writing songs since I was six years old. It just never really occurred to me that there would be anyone interested,” says McLamb.

Soon, her intimate songs about relationships, body image, and the complexities of life as a young woman started racking up millions of views apiece. Her earliest tracks were deeply personal, made from nothing but her voice and a guitar and recorded in the laundry shed where she lived at the time. Nevertheless, they contained something that resonated — an intimacy borne from her ability to speak to the universal while also speaking only for herself.

Last month McLamb announced her signing to Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Pillow Queens, Girlpuppy), with a track called "Doing Fine", that received a glowing write up from FADER, who said that McLamb "pins down big feelings with sharp observations" adding that her writing is "sharp and heavy at the same time, packing a heftier kick than her singer-songwriter peers." Today, McLamb is back to announce her debut EP Salt Circle, produced by Sarah Tudzin (aka Illuminati Hotties), and sharing a new track entitled “Pulp."

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Mary Middlefield - Band Aid.

Mary Middlefield is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and classically-trained violinist from Switzerland. Her debut single “Band Aid” features Middlefield’s melody, guitar, and violin writing skills all of which is on full display.

“I really wanted to write a song in which the lyrics could really transmit plenty of different scenes and images,” Explains Mary Middlefield. “I ended up creating a story in which two characters fall out of love before their love story actually begins. I loved the idea of using specific vocabulary that would make the story take place in a theater, where a show should have taken place but never did. I chose to lead with ‘Band Aid’ as a single because I think it’s very relatable. Relationships often break before they even begin and someone always gets hurt, especially if they put themselves out there from the start. The production incorporates everything I love: violins and cellos, folky guitars and smooth drums…”

“The video for ‘Band Aid’ is very similar to the song,” Middlefield continues. “I really wanted it to be set in a theatre where I’m the one putting on a show for a man, desperately trying to give him any character he could potentially want. But it ends up being all in vain as he gets bored and falls asleep during this pathetic show that he doesn’t enjoy. I’m a very openly vulnerable person and give people around me often big pieces of me from the very start. I feel that this video is very true to me and sincere.”

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