WATCH: Bear's Den - 'Blue Hours'

Happy Thursday! I might have woken up to snow (say what?) and it might be a little bit miserable outside, but internally I'm reeling from a couple of overwhelmingly exciting album announcements in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, Maggie Rogers shared a trailer for Surrender (due 29th July) and Rae Morris seems to have just announced Rachel@Fairyland (due 8th July) - they released my favourite records of 2019 and 2018 so this is BIG news and I am all sorts of ready for new music from both. 

First, though, another record I'm eagerly awaiting this year is Blue Hours from Bear's Den, due for release via Communion Records on 13th May. I *might* be in the very lucky position to have already heard the record (ahhh!) and it is (of course) beautiful, but you all knew that! While you've got a few weeks to wait to hear the rest of it (sorry) you can wrap your ears around the title track now - which I think is actually one of my favourites from the record at the moment! It'll certainly go down a treat live - they're touring Europe and the UK across April and May, and North America later this year (dates & tickets here.) 

Blue Hours arrives with a video created by illustrator and animator Ryan Anderson here... 

Talking about the new track, Davie shares: "Fundamentally Blue Hours is a song about communicating with someone that's hard to reach. It's this idea of trying to have a conversation with someone through one-way glass, where they can't even see you and there's a real disconnect with how you're communicating. On one level, it's also an internal thing, where you're trying to get through to yourself. I think the act of writing songs, or even trying to write anything, is the act of trying to communicate, so I think there's something in that which is interesting." 

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WATCH: EFÉ - 'KIWI'

Some tongue-in-cheek indie-pop for your Tuesday, arriving courtesy of Irish artist EFÉ. A new name for me, EFÉ - AKA 21 year-old Dublin based Anita Ikharo - came onto the scene in 2020 with the release of her self-made debut EP What Should We Do This Summer? Her return sees the track KIWI, the first from forthcoming EP VITAMIN - C, set for release this June. The new track was co-produced with her best friend who.killed.romeo and mixed by Ben Baptie. 

In the video, which was thought up, directed and edited by EFÉ herself, alongside a group of close friends, we see... "a girl who goes camping, she's brought her laptop, fairy lights and cute magazines, but she can't light a fire or even hunt for food. She is super scared cause she sees a bear but then she falls in love with the bear." 

On making the video, EFÉ adds: "I came up with the concept and directed the video. It was definitely hard to make because it was very necessary that the right location was chosen as well as the right bear costume and right people to work with. I did cry a whole lot, scared nothing would come out right. I had so much fear around the video because of the huge pressure I put on myself to make it good. I also worked on some of the editing and colour grading so there was a lot I had creative control over. I think it was worth it in the end though and shows hard work and the right people around can really pay off!" 

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LISTEN: Lizzie Reid - 'Bible'

Happy Wondrous Place day, folks... Paddy from Stay Loose has made the exciting move to set up his own PR agency which launches today!!! I'm excited for him, and to see what brilliant music he continues to share with us all. That rambling is mostly to say that I'm sharing one of Paddy's artists today, the brilliant Lizzie Reid, who has shared her first new material since the Cubicle EP of last year. The EP, which explored the deterioration of Lizzie's first same-sex relationship, saw her gaining much deserved love from press, radio and streaming, and led to her supporting Arlo Parks on a couple of tour dates in Glasgow and Edinburgh. I love it!

On Bible, for which Lizzie worked with her regular collaborator and producer Oli Barton-Wood, she shares: "Bible is about being nervous about falling in love again. I was feeling something, and that scared me. I wanted to get things right this time, be important to someone, and not to bring my anxieties into the picture. Becoming involved with someone tends to bring up things within yourself. It holds a mirror up and forces me to look at myself through someone else's eyes."

Lizzie Reid · Bible

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WATCH: Superorganism - 'Teenager'

Ah, March 2018... simpler times. Happier times? For me, a lot of that had to do with the release of the self-titled debut record from Superorganism. If you haven't heard it, you're missing out (Night Time!!!! The Prawn Song!!!!) but you most definitely didn't escape Everybody Wants To Be Famous playing all over the radio. I was at HMV at the time, and remember playing the album on the store stereo a lot (you're welcome, people of Peterborough). I went to see the band at The Great Escape a couple of months later, too...  the venue was a much longer walk than I'd been expecting and I found myself almost in Hove for the set, but it was so worth it. Endless fun to be had at one of their live sets!

Four years later and they're back! They've just shared Teenager (featuring Chai and Pi Ja Ma) taken from their upcoming record World Wide Pop, due 15th July. Yessssssss. The video (below) features actor and comedian Brian Jordan Alvarez and is exactly as playful and weird as you'd expect from the band. If you need a little escapism, and to be transported back to your teen years... off you go: 

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LISTEN: néomí - 'eyes filled with sky'

A song to brighten up any of those Monday morning blues you might be feeling... following recent release if i wasn't made for love, néomí is back with eyes filled with sky. It is, again, a wonder. Like a soft hug wrapped up in a song. The tracks are both taken from the before EP, set for release in June. 

Talking about the new track, néomí shares that it "felt really emotional to me for a long time. Sometimes you can love someone so deeply that you forget what's best for you. They might end up telling you what they think you want and need, and you might end up believing everything they say. Still the love is so deep, you don't want them to leave and neither can you leave yourself. I hope the song feels dreamy and takes you to places where only eyes are filled with skies. Creating this song was really therapeutic to me. Now, after some time, when I listen to it, I find comfort in the heaviness and I just float away into my thoughts."

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WATCH: Bloomsday - 'Phase'

I say this all the time but I think that I might be a little bit in love with this one. It's exactly the kind of song that I feel like I need right now... properly dreamy. The track is Phase, the latest from Brooklyn duo Bloomsday (AKA singer-songwriter/producers Iris James Garrison (they/them) and Alex Harwood (he/him). They've released the track recently alongside news of their debut album Place To Land, which is due on 10th June via Bayonet Records. 

On the track, Iris shares "I wrote this song amidst a very stagnant period, emotionally. I had recently undergone an upheaval of life: I had changed my job, housing, had a new friend group, and new romantic relationships. All of my surroundings had changed drastically in the fall of 2019. I remember I had a moment of stillness after the dust settled, and I was shaky inside. I remember feeling like it was a calm before a storm, which is interesting to look back on now since it was right before the pandemic hit in 2020."

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WATCH: Low Island - 'Just Another Dreamer'

What a week last week was for new releases... the return of Superorganism and The Black Keys, new Florence on repeat, new Cosmo Sheldrake and so much more that I can't get enough of.... there is however always space in my playlists (and my heart) for new Low Island! Following on from recent release Everything Before Us, they've released the track Just Another Dreamer and it is (unsurprisingly) brilliant. They never miss. A slower number to begin with, the layers build for a busier outro that I can only imagine being SO good live. My imagination there slightly helped along by another brilliant live performance music video... I must say that this series of videos is making me a little nostalgic for the 360 sessions by Post War Years around a decade ago. 

The track is taken from an EP of the same name, due April 8th via the band's own label Emotional Interference. That day too is shaping up to be quite the release day with new records from Wet Leg, Let's Eat Grandma, Kae Tempest, Dahlia Sleeps, Deanna Petcoff... aren't we lucky?!

Speaking about the track, Carlos shares that it is about "the promise of a future that may never come. The song is a reflection on one of my favourite Lennon quotations: 'Life's what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.'" 

If you like what you're hearing, you can pre-order the new EP via the band's Bandcamp here. It's a digital only release, and they're donating all the proceeds taken via Bandcamp to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

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WATCH: Abbie Ozard - 'Pisces'

"I know you're really trying, our stars just aren't aligning... " 

You're all here for a zodiac themed 'wobbly indie-pop put-down'... right? Pisces from Abbie Ozard is all kinds of brill. The Manchester-based artist is stepping away from her bedroom-pop origins with the track, the first to be taken from her upcoming EP Water Based Lullabies, due 1st July via House Anxiety. Witty lyrics sit on top of a beautifully woozy number... I'm really enjoying this one! 

On the origins of the track, Abbie shares: "after releasing songs about yearning, loss and change I was set on creating a bad bitch anthem that girls, gay, theys and everyone inbetween could feel empowered by. Pisces is about recognising your own strengths, taking control of what you really want and setting your standards high. This song was so fun to write, me and James were in stitches when we were writing it but behind the humour there's a deeper meaning to it all. Don't settle for mediocrity, know your worth and surrounding yourself with people that make you feel amazing."  

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WATCH: MICHELLE - 'POSE'

Album recommendation time, folks!!!! You all know how much I love MICHELLE, right? They're an NYC-based collective that first came onto my radar about two years ago with this brilliant live session performance of The Bottom from their first record. They had just signed to Transgressive over here and have been releasing a string of superb singles since, but I think that new track POSE might be one of my favourites yet. It's taken from brand new record AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS which I can confirm, after a good few listens, is pretty damn superb too. See for yourself... 

Grab a copy of the record and check out their upcoming tour dates on the website here.

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WATCH: Sunflower Thieves - 'Lichtenberg Figures'

Happy International Women's Day, folks! Celebrating with some of my favourite women in music on the girls allowed playlist and by sharing this gorgeous track from Sunflower Thieves. In the words of The Staves (ish) they're good good women indeed. Lichtenberg Figures is taken from their upcoming EP - if like me, you're unsure what those are, you'll know them but perhaps not by name... they're the branch-like scars or patterns which form on the human body or the ground after a lightning strike.) A symbol for finding beauty and strength through vulnerability. The video (below) was directed by Olivia Sofia Ferrara and is brill, as ever... as of course is the track. 

On the track, the duo share: "we were fascinated by Lichtenberg figures because of how they can look beautiful whilst coming from something so intensely dangerous and powerful as lightning. The song is about going through something traumatic and coming out the other side stronger, proving to yourself and others that you're unbeatable."

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WATCH: Francis of Delirium - 'The Funhouse'

Oh hello! Francis of Delirium are back and all might be alright, if only for a moment?! New track The Funhouse arrives with another brilliant self-directed video from Jana, and just when we need a dose of their honest no-holds-barred reflections on modern life. As always, every aspect here is superb, right down to Jana's closing "slow it down, slow it down." Perfect. 

On the track, Jana shares: "The Funhouse is largely about how we are adapting to the chaos that is present in our everyday lives. The way it can feel that the world is crashing down around us and in order to protect ourselves, we become numb to the sheer terror of it all. Sort of like walking through a funhouse and attempting to remain unphased by the mayhem that surrounds you."

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LISTEN: Matilda Mann - 'Four Leaf Dream'

It's a bit of a dreary day so how about something to bring a little joy and comfort? A new Matilda Mann song always does the trick for me. Four Leaf Dream is her first new track since the release of the Sonder EP last year, and arrives just ahead of her first UK headline tour kicking off later this month. More to follow I hope... 

On the track, Matilda writes: "Four Leaf Dream is about letting go of the idea of someone. Sometimes we mould people and relationships to fit this idea we created in our heads - that they're perfect, that this is definitely right. Sometimes it stops you from seeing what they're actually like, and that it's best to let them go. I wrote this a few months ago with Rich Cooper in his studio. It was one of those songs that just so effortlessly came together." 

Matilda Mann · Four Leaf Dream

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WATCH: Ailsa Tully - 'Salt Glaze'

Last week was a bit ridiculous for new music, right? We saw the return of Florence + the Machine, Rae Morris and Nick Mulvey for one - and I am a little bit obsessed with the new Gang of Youths record too. Another new track which has been taking up space in my headphones this weekend is the new one from Ailsa Tully. Released via Dalliance Recordings, new track Salt Glaze touches on themes of family, friends, new relationships and home - it was written while Ailsa and her partner spent time living in her Grandma's old house during the lockdown in January last year. A beautiful home-made video captures this time and sits perfectly alongside the track. It's all just reaaaaally lush. 

Talking about the track, Ailsa shares: "My Grandma passed away a few years ago and the house remains unchanged, it was like a museum of salt glaze ceramic and abstract art pieces which began to absorb into my creativity. This song is about that space and how my partner and I tried to make it feel like home during that period while also knowing that it wasn't ours. It's ultimately a song about acceptance, balance and letting things be." 

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