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.

LISTEN: heka - ‘(a) wall’

I must admit that I was really excited when Paddy from Balloon Machine and Stay Loose sent this track over to me. The track is (a) wall by heka, the latest artist to sign to the Balloon Machine label. Based on how much I loved the Laura Fell record they put out last year and knowing Paddy's exquisite taste, I was already basically sold on it - but the mention of Hailaker being involved only served to pull me in deeper.

heka, AKA Francesca Brierley, a solo artist living in London though raised in the Italian hills, has announced her new EP (a) and this is the first track from it. Co-produced with Ed Tullett (of Hailaker) and with Jemima Coulter (of... you guessed it) on trumpet, it's a really special tune. Very much unlike anything else you'll listen to this week and that you might have listened to for a while. In the best way. The blend of vocals and production is at once enchanting and haunting. A thrilling combination - I was enthralled from the first listen, dived straight into my stream of the EP (due 19th May) and listened all the way through twice in a row almost without realising. Check out the single below...

. heka · (a) wall

On the track, heka writes: "I guess the song is an ode to anger. Not in an absolute sense but as the cathartic alternative to the numb powerlessness that can take over and swallow every other emotion when we find ourselves in a painful or shocking situation. 'Hate' in this sense is seen as a way to eventually move past the grief, especially in the face of someone else's lack of action, or evasiveness, which can be overwhelmingly paralysing." 

Follow heka - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Laura Fell - 'Bone of Contention'

A little belatedly, I'm really chuffed to share this gorgeous debut. Friend of the blog Paddy from Stay Loose has just launched the first artist on his blog-turned-label, Balloon Machine Records. Not one to do things by halves, the track has already been picked up and recommended all over the place - and now it's here...! 

I love the story behind this. After a decade of writing poetry, Laura Fell, a psychotherapist by day, started to play music at 28, when her poems began to feel more like songs. She has just announced the release of her debut LP Safe from Me, due in November, and released first track Bone of Contention. Dedicated to fully realising her plans for the record, she held down three jobs to fund it, determined to push the record beyond its acoustic guitar origins. A gang of classically trained musicians were enlisted, with their flugelhorns, cellos, saxophones and double bass, and can be heard, beautifully, on this first track.

balloonmachine · Laura Fell - Bone Of Contention

On the track, Laura explains that it is "an exercise in anger, really. I've always struggled to feel anger without also feeling out of control, and, therefore, disempowered. This song is about allowing myself to sit with my anger, and ending up finding clarity and power within it." 

Safe from Me is due for release on 20th November - order digitally/CD via Laura's Bandcamp here.

Follow Laura Fell - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.