ALBUM NEWS: Bear's Den - 'Blue Hours'

Wait wait wait... you're telling me I haven't already written about the new Bear's Den track and album news?! What now? If you've been following the blog for a while it's hard to escape how much I love these guys, and I once again might have had a sneaky early listen of this one... best perk. Many listens later and I confirmed what I could've guessed - they're back, they're brilliant, and I love them to bits. 

Spiders is taken from new album Blue Hours (!!!) which is due on May 13th via the lovely folk at Communion Records. 

Having both struggled with their own mental health in recent years and being avid supporters of the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) the album finds mental health as it's over-riding theme. Davie explains "it probably speaks to our struggles and hopefully many other people's too. Men are not very good at talking. We're not really taught how to - men have no idea how to talk about this stuff, certainly to each other." The album's title describes "a kind of imaginary space you get into at night, a place where you process difficult things or where you try to figure everything out." 

I'll no doubt be rambling plenty more about the record until (and after..) the release in May, so for now, here's the new track: 

Bears Den · Spiders

On the track, Davie shares: "I started writing Spiders around the time we left London. In my head, I thought moving would solve lots of problems, like everything will be better. Spiders is a song dealing with the fact that this absolutely wasn't the case. I had this vision in my head that I'd be at one with nature, that I'd be calmer - but all the things that were rattling around in my brain before were still there after the move. The song is about the fact you can't run away from the things that are bothering you." 

"While making the record we wanted to get across a kind of simmering intensity with the song and the idea of someone trying to keep their shit together while wrestling with these darker thoughts and feelings. We wanted to get across a sense of bravery & triumph in saying, "sometimes I can't pull myself out" of these difficult situations. To celebrate the difficult moments because we all have them. They are a universally shared experience even if it feels sometimes like they're not and you're the only one who feels them." 

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LISTEN: PRISMA - 'I Never Wanted To Meet You'

Time for a new discovery that I'm really digging at the moment from Danish sister duo PRISMA (Frida and Sirid Møl Kristensen) - I Never Wanted To Meet You. I'm a sucker for some sisterly harmonies, and these, set atop an energetic slice of scandi-pop, are a beauty. Properly love this! 

The new track, inspired by their own experiences, is all about liberating yourself from negative people in your life. Ohhhh yes. On the track, Sirid shares: "I realised that having this person in my life wasn't doing me any good. I needed to make a choice, focusing on what was best for me. I can't have people around me that no longer contribute to my life." 

The track hints more generally at the music they've been creating lately, in its themes and sounds. They share: "there's this new drive in us. We have this energy inside, and we need to get it out. It doesn't have to be pretty, and we don't have to make perfect takes. The important thing is to emphasise the nerve of the music - this specific energy." 

If you like this, join me in exploring their 2020 EP Her. So far so brilliant. 

Follow PRISMA - Facebook | Instagram.

WATCH: Sunflower Thieves - 'I Don't Know Why'

Anyone else in the need of some musical therapy after the weekend? A couple of walks in two of my favourite nature reserves definitely went a long way in alleviating some stress this weekend, but if I was going to prescribe myself a song to help then I couldn't do much better than this gorgeous new one from Sunflower Thieves. It's no secret that I love their beautiful ethereal harmonies, and this new track, taken from an upcoming EP and complete with a brass section (cry) is aaaaall kinds of lovely. Let them soothe your soul....

On the release, Amy & Lily share: "The track is about how complicated close relationships can be. How the differences in the way we live our lives and follow what we think can affect our understanding of each other, and equally of ourselves." 

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ALBUM NEWS: Lou Roy - 'Pure Chaos'

Exciting news time! My pals at Balloon Machine have only gone and announced a record by an artist that they love, and who I think you're all going to fall for too... not to mention the music video I'm about to share is full of dogs. Exciting news all round, I reckon. 

I enjoyed recent single Valkyrie (which features a bottle as a the percussive string holding the track together - we love an unusual instrument!) but have SO much love for new single Uppercut. It feels like the perfect introduction to Lou as an artist. Confident, experimental, joyful and unapologetically herself, the track is taken from Lou's debut album Pure Chaos (an ode to finding joy) which was co-produced alongside Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties and is due via Balloon Machine on April 29th. Can't wait! 

Now, dogs! A brilliant song! Go forth and enjoy... 

Follow Lou Roy - Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: Honey Moon - 'Stop And Listen'

Ahhhhh, relax. Honey Moon are back! Two years since their last new music (and their last feature here, more importantly?) they're back where they belong with ace new track Stop And Listen. Yep, it was love at first listen. Having gained fans from radio, blogs, live shows and a certain Elton John (name drop) they've been working hard gaining listeners and creating new music for us all... their debut album is in the works! For now, if you like what you hear below then get yourself to a streaming service and listen to Four More from... Honey Moon. So good. There's a little something magic in their music, properly feel-good tunes. The brass section on this one helps...!

On the track, the band share: "It's an upbeat stomper that tells the story of two people pulling in opposite directions throughout a fractious relationship. Born out of a period of negativity and frustration, writing and recording the song has been a cathartic process - one that has taken what was once a sensitive subject matter and bundled it into our own little sing-a-long anthem, all tied up with a soul-pop bow. On a thematic level, 'Stop and Listen' is for anyone who's been through troubles and disagreements with friends, struggles with anxiety, control and inward reflection, but it's also just for anyone who wants to dance!" 

Honey Moon headline London's The Lexington on 26th February (as a seven-piece!) before touring around the UK in April as a trio - tickets on sale now! 

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LISTEN: Tara Nome Doyle - 'Caterpillar'

Anybody else already a little (or a lot) overwhelmed by just how much brilliant new music has already been released this year? It often feels like a scramble to keep up with everything while trying to remember to take time to enjoy it, let alone finding time to discover new artists. A track I am very much enjoying at the moment is Caterpillar from Tara Nome Doyle. This one, I feel, almost demands that you stop and listen - building suspense with its pulsating rhythm. Hypnotic. It is as brilliant as previous two offerings Snail I and Crow - I can't wait for her record Værmin which is releasing on the 28th. 

On the track, Tara shares: "Sometimes it seems to me as if my depression is actively trying to lull me into a false sense of comfort in times of perceived hopelessness. I wanted to explore my relationship with this state that is at once harrowing and oddly tempting, so I wrote Caterpillar from the perspective of personified depression."

Follow Tara Nome Doyle - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: CMAT - 'Lonely'

I think I'm a little bit in love with CMAT. Perhaps it has something to do with her being my namesake. It has a lot to do, however, with the brilliant string of singles she's put out over the past year or so. With debut album If My Wife New I'd Be Dead due on 4th March, we were treated to a new track from the record yesterday. The track is Lonely and while it tackles themes of isolation and mental health struggles, there's that genius comedy element in the track that you'd expect. I think that the songwriting is perhaps the biggest factor in my love of CMAT (offering up "who needs god when I have Robbie Williams?" and "I honestly forgot that you even existed" as evidence.) 

Love the video too. Shot and produced by Tiny Ark, it unveils another string in CMAT's bow - roller-skating. 

On the track, Ciara shares: "I started writing the song ‘Lonely’ in the Arndale food hall in Manchester when I was on my break from work. Anyone who has been there will know that it is as aesthetically unpleasant as it is bustling, at all hours of the day. There was something that always drew me to it though - people. I was very isolated during this period of my life and longed for a day when I could be sitting at a table of friends that I did not have. Instead, I found myself regularly sitting alone and watching strange families and friend groups, peering out from underneath a Taco Bell crunch wrap, for a false sense of comfort.

"It took me years to finish this song because I couldn’t figure out the point of it. Then the pandemic happened, and suddenly I realised that everybody was in the boat that I had been long accustomed to (my sea legs are beefy in this regard). I realised that the point of isolation is maybe to learn to cherish people more, and to not be so scared of them, or scared of how you are perceived by them.

"Ultimately though, I wrote this song to try and get Robbie Williams to notice me."

Follow CMAT - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Elanor Moss - 'Soundings'

Psssst, it's brand new music time - sharing a debut single today which might just stop you in your tracks. Soundings is the first offering from Elanor Moss's Citrus EP, just announced. Originally from Lincolnshire, Elanor lived between York & Leeds while studying her undergraduate degree in Medieval Literature. It was in these four years that this body of work came to be, written through her late teens and early twenties and taking on influences from Elanor's life and studies. 

The first track sits around the concept of 'taking soundings' to measure the depth of a body of water. On the track, she shares: "Soundings is essentially about relying on substance abuse to drown out depression and trauma. How easy it is to slip into that. Contrary to the dark narrative, I wanted there to be a catharsis and playfulness to the melodies and delivery, and a melodrama too. I wanted to capture that feeling of total self-indulgence that can come with wanting to escape in your low moments. There's a self-awareness in the narrator's need to disappear into a haze; you know it's unhealthy but you do it anyway."  

The Citrus EP is set for release via Blue Raincoat Music (Laura Marling, Phoebe Bridgers) and was co-produced with Brooklyn producer Oli Deakin (CMAT, Ed Nash, Benjamin Francis Leftwich). Keep an eye out for more info...

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WATCH: Kid Kapichi ft. Bob Vylan - 'New England'

"Is it you can't change, or that you won't change?"

First blog post of 2022... hello! Setting the tone for the year with New England from Hastings four-piece Kid Kapichi (featuring Bob Vylan). Raucous, brutally honest and a pure anti-fascist anthem, this one really struck a chord when I was working through submissions emails last week. It's their first track to follow last year's debut album This Time Next Year and it's reaaally good. (Dare you to play it at a party with your xenophobic relatives...) 

On the track, vocalist and guitarist Jack Wilson explains "New England is a song that targets the blindly patriotic, grabs them by the shoulders, shakes them and shouts 'wake up'. We're living in scary times where the top of society have found a way to turn the working class against themselves. We become more confident in our xenophobia as it's only reinforced by our government on a daily basis." 

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