... hi! I've been hiding from the blog a little as I had a week off from work just now and have spent the majority of it out walking and looking for birds and bugs (bliss!) Back to work today, and writing this yesterday (time travel) thinking that I should probably share something pretty special to make up for the lack of posts lately. It didn't take long at all to realise that the new track from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs fits the bill beautifully. On repeat, honestly. Tender openings teaser you into the dance vibes - exactly what you know and love from TEED. In love.
A decade (!) on from debut album Trouble, the new track is taken from his upcoming second album When The Lights Go, releasing via his new label Nice Age on 9th September. Over 17 tracks, the new record explores the ups and downs of the intervening decade between albums - Orlando shares "I feel grateful to know that there are people who are interested in more music from me. So I want to give them something significant in length."
"I couldn't hate somebody more if I tried, let me put it real nicely: if you were on fire, I wouldn't put water on you, I'd just watch you die. Truly I wish you a bad, bad life."
I worked my way through about 200 submissions to the blog on Friday - as you can imagine, it can take something pretty special to stand out amongst those. When I haven't been listening to the new record from The Vaccines on repeat, the chorus from this one has been circulating my head a lot this weekend...
The track is If You Were On Fire by Mathilda Homer, taken from her new EP of the same name, which also features previous singles Rock Bottom, I'm Sorry and Something Sentimental. The unique blend of Mathilda's broad vocal range and the humour found within her lyrics makes for something pretty magical.
Inspired by Martha Wainwright's Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole, the track sees Mathilda venting her feelings of frustration towards the events of 2020 and people in power. She explains: "I had my coat on ready to leave and then asked Matt and Danny [The Six] if they'd ever heard 'bloody mother fucking asshole'. It was around the time that people were storming the White House, and I felt a heavy weight of all of the injustices that were going on in the world. It's a song about the horrible people in high power. We wrote it in about 30 minutes, it was one of those! It just made sense."
New music from CHILDCARE is always a reason to rejoice - particularly when it arrives alongside news of a brand new album. Little Secret is the third single to be taken from upcoming second album Busy Busy People, due 24th September... already a great day for releases with records from Public Service Broadcasting and Bess Atwell out then too!
On the new single, the band explain "Little Secret is one of those songs which has taken years to come together; we've had the chorus for a long time but could never quite get the verses or feel of the song right. It wasn't until I started interviewing friends and asked them to each share a secret with me that the song clicked into place and we recorded it for this album. Little Secret is therefore like a smoothie mix of lots of different people's secrets, blended for your pleasure."
This gloriously sunny weather calls for some summer vibes in your listening (hence my commute choices of The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club the past couple of days) and I've got just the tune in the shape of Vitamins from Cassia. I've got this one on repeat at the moment! Oh to be in a festival tent singing along to this one...
Taken from their upcoming EP Magnifier, the track looks at the highs and lows of long distance relationships. Singer Rob Ellis shares: "it's about being in a long distance relationship and the weirdly scheduled calls that become an unmissable fix, almost like a drug. The distance can bring up all kinds of uncertainties and fears but knowing the next call isn't far away is like a vitamin boost that you need to get through the day, like a good berocca!"
The band called on London based designer Cameron JL West (who has recently worked with Sports Team, Everything Everything and Alfie Templeman) for an incredibly personal animated lyric video to accompany the track. On the video, Rob writes: "we feel like we've had such a crazy journey over the past couple of years. The band has taken us to so many places, and through countless experiences with amazing people. We wanted to fill the video with the moments that we feel mark the different chapters best, from venues in Macclesfield where we played our first ever gigs, to memories on tour and also some of our favourite spots in Berlin (where we're living now). We hope that all the people who have been with us along the way can take something from it."
I'm a couple of weeks behind on sharing this, but I was very pleased to see
new CHILDCARE music arriving into my inbox recently. The first
stand-alone track since debut album Wabi-Sabi sees the four-piece
opening up a new chapter. Soooo much yes. Eagerly awaiting more music.
Recorded at Somerset's Distille Studios with producer
Dom Monks (Laura Marling, Big Thief, White Denim)
- the new track is exactly the sort of sonic patchwork that I love the band
for. The grooviest of vibes, fun lyrics, vocal duelling and guitar parts that
make me desperate to be watching them at a festival of some sort. Love
this.
On the night behind the track, frontman Ian Cares explains
"for [guitarist] Rich's birthday I bought us tickets to an all-night gong
experience. So we packed our sleeping bags and cereal bars and headed to a
church in west London, with the promise to 'release old and stale energy',
'energize your life' and 'allow your soul surround your body'".
A treat for you today, with the first new music of the year from Mathilda Homer. Last year saw Mathilda bring us her gorgeous debut EP Dear Life (with the tune I Hate That I Love You So Little) and her cover of The Beatles' Do You Want To Know a Secret which you might recognise from a certain festive advert. Brand new single Rock Bottom, co-written with Matt Maltese and produced by Danny Casio, is everything you love (or will soon love) about Mathilda, but with a slightly evolved and heavier sound. It's the first in a collection of new tracks and I'm excited to see what comes next!
The track explores the moments of a relationship during its demise, grasping 'good memories and comfort of the familiar, to avoid coming to terms with the inevitable reality'. On the track, Mathilda shares: "It's realising that it really couldn't get much worse, but something keeps you there, maybe it's the familiarity of that person. Trying to fight for something that you know can't go back to how it used to. Only talking about good memories and not making new ones but you don't want to move on, because it's all you know."
You really don't need me to tell you just how special Arlo Parks is, do you? Her much anticipated debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams was released via the legends at Transgressive Records on Friday. Despite only dispatching on Thursday, my signed copy of the album on vinyl managed to arrive to my door on Friday morning and I was delighted to get my hands on it - the excitement of taking a first listen of the album via a physical copy instead of Spotify! I miss getting to browse in record stores so much, and the feel of a brand new record is such an exciting thing. It's a truly stunning collection of tracks. So many that we've all come to know and love so much through lots of radio play and support all over - the likes of Caroline, Eugene and Black Dog, and so many more instant favourites in the rest of the record.
Among them, current single Hope is delivering a ray of sunshine in stressful times. Thinking about it, hope is exactly the sentiment that Arlo's music makes me feel. There's so much delicate and raw passion buried throughout her music. The writing and delivery of those gorgeous vocals makes it feel as if Arlo is singing to you and you only - "you're not alone, like you think you are." It's a hug disguised as a song. Listening to Arlo is pure joy and ecstasy. The emergence of a true star of our times... she's such an exciting artist moving from strength to strength.
The video for the track (above) sees Arlo collaborating with film-maker Molly Burdett (Hurt, Black Dog) alongside director of photography Robbie Ryan (Marriage Story, The Favourite) for a short film starring Arlo herself. A meander through intimacy and friendship - it's as stunning as the track itself.
On the video and the song, Arlo says "this video to me is a warm, vibrant exploration of friendship and introversion. I think there's something so powerful about the saturated, filmic textures, the human portraits and depictions of euphoria. The song surrounds isolation, being present in your pain and knowing that you're not the only one on the planet feeling low. I think especially in times like these it's important to focus on the inevitability that things will get better."
You can buy and stream Collapsed In Sunbeams here.
If you're not on the Arlo Parks train yet, don't worry - there's still time. You've got a couple of months to catch up before her debut record Collapsed In Sunbeams releases on Transgressive Records on 29th January. She's been one of my favourite discoveries of the year and if I had a "ones to watch" list for next year, she'd top it. I am so so excited for the record and wishing away the days until it arrives.
Premiering on Monday night as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1, new track Caroline gives another delectable taste of the record. On the track, Arlo comments "Caroline is an exercise in people watching and seeing situations unfold without context. It's an exploration of how something once full of healthy passion can dissolve in an instant."
I sat down to write this post and saw that Arlo Parks has been crowned the Artist of the Year by BBC Introducing. Absolutely delighted - from the tracks that I've heard (and adore) and interviews with Arlo speaking about her music, it feels like it couldn't happen to somebody more deserving. I'm so so over the moon to share that she is releasing her debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams on the ever-brilliant Transgressive Records on 29th January 2021. Speaking on the record, Arlo says "my album is a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it. It is rooted in storytelling and nostalgia - I want it to feel both universal and hyper specific."
The album news comes alongside brand new single Green Eyes which I am absolutely loving at the moment. She describes it as "as song about self-discovery, self-acceptance and adolescence. It is supposed to uplift and comfort those going through hard times." With backing vocals and guitar from Clairo, the track has a video directed by Louis Bhose. As ever, brilliant. Is 29th January here yet?
Pre-order/pre-save the new record Collapsed In Sunbeams here.
