BEEHIVE CANDY

TANDM - Sirens (Album). On the surface, they’re charming in their sweet simplicity – effortlessly compelling thanks to graceful melodies, heartfelt lyricism, and syncopated synergy. But the deeper you dig, the more Toronto duo TANDM’s songs seem to transcend time, place, and even stylistic categorization. The core duo of vocalist/guitarist Maxine Beck-Sinderby and drummer Thomas Franklin first met in their mid-teens and quickly united over a unique creative chemistry. Their new collection, Sirens, finds the duo teeing up their most engaging and enveloping output to date – a potent distillation of the magical individual components that comprise TANDM’s masterful take on alternative pop but with a newfound polish and elevated production style. The rhythms are entrancing and engaging, drawing the listener into a warm, dreamlike world of stirring melodic dynamism and delicate-but-dauntless vocals. The title track, “Sirens,” blasts the hopefulness and excitement of youth, with lyrics refer...

Photo - Anna Longworth Vines - The World At Large. Brooklyn composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cassie Wieland has released the third single, a cover of Modest Mouse's "The World At Large," from her upcoming debut LP as Vines. In 2022, Wieland began covering popular indie songs using her vocoder as a side project, unearthing the emotions lying inside of these tracks. “The World at Large” is just one example of her contemplative reimaginings. Throughout her cover of Modest Mouse’s 2004 hit, Wieland softens each beat, slowing down each peppy “ah” into a pensive hum. The song takes on themes of drifting and running away, and in Wieland’s gossamer threads, heart-wrenching simplicity amplifies its melancholy to unveil the existentialism that colors the music. The single follows "january" and "I don't mind," the latter of which Stereogum likened to "Imogen Heap’s “Hide And Seek,” with traces of Sigur Rós, Bon Iver, and various electronic ...

Chloey Rose - Shot You Down. Delivering powerful pop songs with a theatrical twist, Chloey Rose has been captivating audiences at major venues up and down the UK and in Europe with her dramatic, soaring vocals that have attracted comparisons to Adele and Paloma Faith. Drawing inspiration from Kate Bush and Taylor Swift, Chloey has just released brand new single ‘Shot You Down’, an edgy pop ballad full of dark sounds that could become the theme tune for the next James Bond Movie. ‘Shot You Down’ follows the story of being in an unhealthy relationship and the strength it can take to walk away. Written by Chloey Rose and produced by Aron Bicskey, the track builds from smoky late night piano atmospheres to become a powerful anthem for getting up again once you’ve been cut down, with a nod to Nancy Sinatra’s classic track ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’. As a songwriter, Rose’s debut single ‘Golden Dreams’ was released in 2016, followed by a string of singles including ‘Hearts On The Li...

Photo - Brandon Mosquera Tamar Berk - if u know, u know. Noted indie darling Tamar Berk is excited to share “if u know, u know”, the second single from her upcoming third album tiny injuries, out August 18th. The new single “if u know, u know” comes on the heels of last month’s first single “drop in the bucket”. "If u know, u know" utilizes Tamar Berk's spirited vocals to explore existential crises caused by loss, reminiscent of Soccer Mommy, Aimee Mann, and Liz Phair for an alternative pop edge. In describing the new track, Tamar Berk writes: “I recently learned that we are always mourning something...a child leaving home, houses, cities, jobs, friends, marriage, a death, ourselves...our youth." Getting older has its advantages...but what I dislike most is how long the list of things I mourn has become. When you know, you know." Her lyrics hint at her existential crisis, where she's still coping with feelings of confusion, isolation and dislocation after h...

Clare Siobhan - 3/2 (Loves Me). Onstage, Clare Siobhan is a natural-born performer, and connects with her audience easily. She is eager to make every stage feel like a late-night, living-room, private concert. The CBC recognized, award-winning singer-songwriter from Truro, Nova Scotia is now making a home for herself both in Montreal, Quebec, and in that cozy little intersection of folk, pop, and soul. Her layered harmonies paired with bright piano and ukulele lay the foundation for warm vocals that touch on connection, relationships, worry, and that age-old search for meaning and belonging that we feel as we grow. Clare was inspired to join her poet friend who was participating in a prompt-based creative exercise to craft a song with the word of “misfit,” which became her new single “3/2 (Loves Me)”. “I was thinking about it and didn’t really want to write a misfit-themed song in the original sense of the word, so I decided to start writing something I knew: I was falling in love at ...

Photo - Libby Rodenbough Viv & Riley - Is It All Over. The new single 'Is It All Over' from Viv & Riley (formerly Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno) is released this week and taken from their album coming in September from Free Dirt Records. It's a gently sardonic take on the coming future of climate change and billionaires on Mars. Over soft fingerpicked guitars and a harmonies, Riley wonders if the Arctic will have a baseball field on a field of clover, and whether the mining towns on Mars will have bars or Warby Parkers. I dunno, this song just gets me every time, I think it gets at the absurdity of our current age by amplifying that weirdness into a deadly serious future. Alex Bingham of Hiss Golden Messenger produced the album and you can hear some of the Durham, NC magic on it (Viv & Riley live in Durham)! A bittersweet nostalgia lies at the heart of Imaginary People, the new album from Viv & Riley, coming September 15, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Over ...

Malena Smith - 18. Released today it's Beehive Candy's absolute pleasure to feature 18 the exceptional new single from St. Louis-based artist Malena Smith.  Malena's music is a coming of age story; her previous/recent single, "Betray Myself," was about realizing some of her habits and coping mechanisms weren't really in her best interest. Her new single, "18," is a look back over the last decade of her life, and asking the question, "If I had the chance, would I relive that decade differently?" We are pressured to figure out what to do with our lives at the age of 18, and often succumb to societal expectations to choose the "safe" options - which we can all likely relate to. The weight of the subject matter is juxtaposed by an airy atmosphere and a pop-funk groove, total ear candy. Malena, a classically-trained singer who came up in the world of jazz, has sung in lounges from St. Louis to Tokyo and shared stages with the likes of...

Photo - Stasia Garraway Ora Cogan - Dyed. Experimental singer-songwriter Ora Cogan recently announced the Aug 25 release of her new album Formless by sharing the VHS/Super 8 video for the first single “Cowgirl”,  a haunted acid trip of intense sorrow, deep solitude, and dark nights of the soul. This week, Cogan ponders awkward love with the release of the haunting "Dyed." "I wrote 'Dyed' while I was reading Italo Calvino's Difficult Loves," says Cogan. "It's about how strange and ridiculous romance is... how ridiculous human interaction can be. You're dealing with people on the surface but also their imaginations, fears, dreams, and projections. We're just a bunch of broken funhouse mirrors sometimes and that's sort of horrifying but also kinda fun." “Dyed” is part two of a trilogy of videos by Latro Films created for Formless. The video revolves around a singular character who carries water as a symbol for the human heart and ...