A new Flyte song! New Flyte! Remain calm. Following last year's
return with the White Roses EP (featuring The Staves dreamy) the
band recently shared Easy Tiger, with a video from Bafta winning
director Mark Jenkin. Latest track Losing You is another
heartbreaker, with a video continuing the collaboration between Mark and the
band. The band recorded the track in LA with Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Ariel Pink) and Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver) producing, and Ali Chant (Aldous Harding) on mixing duties.
Talking about the track, Will explains that
"every detail of Losing You is taken directly from the week after a
breakup. We actually got back together and years later it ended again but
this time the roles had been reversed. It felt strangely poignant singing a
song that I was initially directing at someone who’d hurt me, to then turn
it around and sing it back at myself. I don’t think Flyte was ready to take
on this song until now. We were finally confident enough to just play the
song and not add any extra production, and let the lyrics do all the
talking. Andrew Sarlo wanted it to feel like the track never left the lonely
bedroom. Like the band just came over, jammed out the song and that was
that”
On the video, direct Mark Jenkin shares that
"the idea for the aesthetic came from spooling through old VHS tapes in my
studio and seeing the various layers of recordings reveal themselves. I
liked the idea of an old black and white film having been partially recorded
over with some home movie footage and the two then seeming to have a bit of
a conversation with each other, despite being separated by time and place.
Those strange accidental counterpoints only seem to exist in the analogue
world. Digital footage of the band (shot by Tee Byford) was then repeatedly
looped to VHS, with the colour bleeding and drifting with each new
generation. The film element was shot on a Bolex, with the negative
processed by hand, scanned, and copied to video tape."
If you've been tuning into frontman Will's online streams (or were lucky to see them on tour last year) then you might already know the track Easy Tiger, which Flyte have just released. It's a really emotionally fraught, honest and personal track from one of the best songwriters out there at the moment, arriving in response to a painful break-up. The track started life as a 20-minute voice-note that Will recorded for himself to "buckle up and get ready for a really shit time" and was recorded over a few days in LA with producer Justin Raisen and mixed by Ali Chant.
The music video for the track was directed by BAFTA-winning British director Mark Jenkin of Bullion Productions. Will explains that "when I wrote Easy Tiger I was exorcising shame, heartbreak, jealousy; almost impossible emotions to process, I almost regretted writing it. There's a darkness and an emotional brashness to Mark's work that suited the song perfectly. It would have been hard to trust anyone else with it." They worked on the video during quarantine, with Mark's use of hand-process and physically edited film working perfectly amid the current limitations on film making.
Mark describes that "the challenge was to make something that felt amorphous - to create something that has a tactile feel to it, is a single artefact, something that feels like a found film and something that is timeless, abstract and unidentifiable in some ways."
If you like the new track - be sure to head to the Flyte Youtube channel. While touring the US with Jade Bird last year, they hatched a plan to cover an artist from each gig location. Their cover of Helplessness Blues (Fleet Foxes) is heavenly.
Absolutely obsessed with Here's The Thing from Sports Team at the minute. SO good. They're a Camberwell-based six-piece who have had a bit of a word of mouth shoot to stardom over the last couple of years, pulling in sell-out crowds before they had released any music. Two EPs later, they've earned themselves a reputation as an exciting young band, not quite sounding like any of their contemporaries. I'm mesmerised by the lyric video for latest single Here's The Thing, which gives you a little sense of quite how raucous their live shows might be...
They've just announced that their debut album Deep Down Happy is due for release on Island Records on 3rd April. Talking about the album, frontman Alex Rice says that "I don't think we were conscious of doing it but the album maps the journey of moving in together in Harlesden, moving back to home towns to sleep on floors for 18 months, then coming back to London, weighing up whether being in a band with your mates, being young in London is still the best thing in the world. I think it probably is."
Really enjoying this new track from New Zealand artist BENEE which I recently shared to the playlist (listen/follow that here.) At just 19 she's been making waves back in NZ and further afield with her music, falling somewhere between pop and R&B, carving out a soundscape of her own. Earlier this year she released the FIRE ON MARZZ EP with stand-out track Soaked (which has racked up over 25 million streams on Spotify) and my fave, Glitter. She explains that she wrote the new track "about my best bud because sometimes ya hate your friends, but you always love them."
It's hard not to feel completely at peace as you settle down with the new EP from Flyte - White Rosesis 11 minutes of pure bliss from the trio. With their incredibly tight harmonies and honest songwriting fans often draw comparisons to the likes of (and this is kind of huge) The Beatles (yep, them) and Simon & Garfunkel - deservedly so, I reckon. If you caught my recent interview with the band then it won't be much of a surprise to hear that I adore them and their music and I'm really excited that the new EP is out in the world. It's hard to pick a favourite but as the track which launched their return, I'm still really loving the title track White Roses, with the vocal backing of none other than The Staves. How to improve on one group with beautiful harmonies? Combine them with another, of course.
Frontman Will Taylor describes that for the new EP the band have "stepped into a much starker, more direct place emotionally [...] Our last album told other people's stories, where we were too afraid to look at ourselves. The songs on this EP seem to have predicted our futures - or it may be that things are already happening to us that we're not yet conscious of, and the music gets there way before we do. The song 'Sometimes' is the first track recorded since Sam left the band, and although it was written before he left, it is clearly about him and his reasons for going. The current album we're finishing is so much like that, it's incredibly confessional - so what better warm up than the EP."
If you happen to be in America (hi!) Flyte are currently on tour with the equally magic Jade Bird across the US through to the start of November, after which they're heading home for a sold out Village Underground (London) show on November 11th.
It's time for another interview and I am very excited about this one - the lovely Flyte guys agreed to answer some questions about their recent collaboration with The Staves, upcoming shows and what is coming up for the band this year. Dates for your diary: the band's new EP is due for release on 20th September and they headline London's Village Underground on November 11th.
Flyte with Jess from The Staves
Hello guys! It is wonderful to have you back, but for those who were living under a rock when you released your gorgeous debut 'The Loved Ones' back in 2017 - who are Flyte?
Well hello and thank you it feels very good being back. Ha, well that record still seems to be getting discovered by rock dwelling types, in fact it seems to be getting more attention now than it did on it’s release - which is I suppose is a good sign. Well we’re a band from London who all sing and all write and play instruments. I suppose we’ve become known for singing in harmony in an interesting way but that’s not all there is to it. Our influences are primarily from the past but we definitely bring those influences with us into the present day. Much like artists like Big Thief, Whitney, PhoeobeBridgers, people like that. There seems to be a fantastic wave of music from America and Australia that seem to be coming from where we’re coming from which we’ve found inspiring.
You released the track White Roses a few weeks back. It was a much awaited and longed for return for your fans and the reception looks to have been incredibly positive. The track features The Staves - harmonies upon harmonies! How did that dream collaboration come about?
Very kind of you thank you. We love The Staves, we were always in each others orbit but we only properly met recently. They came to see us on our tour with The Lemon Twigs and we hung out in the pub afterwards. We talked almost exclusively about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and The Office I seem to remember. So we instantly got on. Not long after that they were doing a Christmas show at Earth in Dalston and asked us if we wanted to do a Christmas song with them. That was obviously a wonderful experience. So when we were making White Roses we instantly thought of them. We just knew it would work and people seem to be reacting really well to it, so hopefully it was the right move!
What's next now that you've got this new track out in the world? Should we keep our eyes peeled for album two?
Not sure how much information we’re revealing at this point but there’s plenty of music coming that much is for certain. It’s definitely a very personal collection of songs. The Loved Ones was very much an album about other people and this time round it's very much a personal thing. It feels strange and a little terrifying knowing how exposed the writing is.
I've seen various videos online from your years of busking and I get the impression that you are definitely a band that thrive off of live shows and sessions (your Arcade Fire cover is one of my favourite session videos to exist, ever.) How has it been getting back to playing live after a break - the recent Omeara gig must have been pretty special? Not to mention BST at Hyde Park!
It was always good for us to do those very simple live videos. You can sometimes go overboard in the recording studio by thinking everything has to be big and ambitious. Those live videos kept us in check and showed us how well people react when we’re just singing a good song, completely exposed. We’ve tried to bring that mentality with us into the recording environment this time round definitely. The shows we’ve played recently have been incredible, our fans are just the most amazing, thoughtful, passionate, engaged people and it makes preforming so easy - sorry a lot of hyperbole but its true! The only thing I will say is this new material is so close to the bone that I’ve felt emotionally drained after the shows, if you give that much of yourself it can definitely take its toll.
Where can we see you live in the coming months? A little bird (AKA some internet stalking) tells me you're heading stateside soon!
Haha yes it’s true we’ll be touring all over the States and then the UK and Europe this Autumn, that’ll be announced properly in the coming weeks!
Finally - what are you all listening to at the moment, any must haves for the tour bus playlist? For me it's mostly the new Friendly Fires album...
Weyes Blood's new album is fantastic, we went to see her London show and she was mesmerising. Aldous Harding is also fantastic. Tunnel of Love by Springsteen has been giving the goods recently - a really good divorce album, put it on the shelf with Blood on the Tracks and Graceland.
The lovely Flyte chaps have just released I Still Believe In You, a follow-up to recent single White Roses - both of which are gorgeous. I wouldn't expect anything less from the guys! The tracks are taken from an upcoming EP, also entitled White Roses, which features as yet unheard tracks Sometimes and Gone Girl and is due for release on September 20th. Lead single Will Taylor details that the new track was "born out of a very difficult time [...] and grapples with truth, honesty and fidelity in a relationship." In the video for the track, directed by Kasper Häggström, we see a father driving his daughter to University for the first time. It's topical for this time of year (I can't believe my first drive to university was almost five years ago!) and falls somewhere in between humour and heartbreak, and is a beautiful accompaniment to the song.
One of my favourite discoveries of recent years, Rhys Lewis has consistently shared some of the most simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking music I've heard recently. Writing in an incredibly honest way about his experience of relationships, the listener is presented with lyrics which are incredibly personal but usually relatable too. His soulful vocals and production which gives them the forefront offers a fairly emotional listen (if you're a fan of sad songs - you'll probably love Rhys as much as I do.) He's back with new single End Like This, the third single to be taken from his upcoming 5-track In Between Minds EP alongside Hold On To Happiness and Better Than Today.
Speaking about the new track, Rhys shares:“Putting too much faith in love is the only way to feel it in its strongest incarnation. When you do feel it powerfully for someone you put all your trust in it, you start thinking 10 years ahead and picture what your lives might look like together. When a relationship breaks down, you not only have to let go of the person you were with, but every single one of those visions too. So, for a while at least, you have to live with a different image of the future.”
Check out this exclusive live version of the track for VEVO!
Rhys heads out on a headline tour this May with a sold out show at London's Omeara on 1st May - if you missed out on tickets he is also playing at Bushstock Festivalon 15th June alongside a brilliant line-up! Full tour dates here.
I'm loving this gorgeous new offering from Rhys Lewis, which also comes alongside news of a tour! I'm a big fan of Rhys' music - often stripped back and emotionally charged, he's released eight songs and an EP to date, and demand for his debut album is fairly high! Originally from Oxford, Rhys has gained live experience through support tours with the likes of Sigrid, Freya Ridings and JP Cooper over the past couple of years, as well as having heavy support from BBC Introducing.
Writing of the ideas behind the new track, Rhys explains that "I don't believe we need a lot to be happy, but we live in a complicated world now that seems to make us focus more on the things we don't have than the things we do. Social media makes people fall into that trap, and I've realised how damaging it is. Life just happens, and it'll pass you by if you let it. So, I'm trying to stay more in the present, to be truly there when the moment's golden, to make memories I'll reminisce not regret."
Rhys plays a European tour in May, which kicks off with a show at London's Omeara on May 1st. Check out the rest of the dates and grab tickets here.
Rhys Lewis has shared a new acoustic tune, entitled No Right To Love You, and it's pretty darn flawless. A quick listen makes it pretty clear just how personal this track is to Rhys - an extension of his recent (and beautiful) Bad Timing EP, the lyrics across all of these tunes show him to be an artist who isn't afraid of wearing his heart on his sleeve musically. His voice is just as captivating as the lyrics, and the acoustic performance below is completely flawless.
Writing of the tune, Rhys explains that "this song is about a really difficult break-up and I would say it's definitely the most personal song I've ever written [...] I knew that it was for the best, but you can't just turn off your feelings for someone overnight. It was so difficult for me I had to actually leave London because everything around me reminded me of her. I went to stay with a friend and that's when I wrong the song. I hope the song does justice to how I felt waking up and living that first day apart from her, it's a painful process whatever side of the break-up you're on."
Although I've only been aware of them for a year or so, a little search online tells me that the Flyte guys have been around for a few years, a pretty permanent fixture busking around London back in 2013. The live experience shows as their harmonies are incredibly tight and make for some really beautiful tunes, including the stripped back and heartbreaking Faithless which they released last week.
Their debut album The Loved Ones is out today... I got an early listen a few days ago and can confirm it's just as beautiful as expected. The album release is supported by the first of a four part documentary about the making of the record. A filmmaker followed the guys to Australia to capture the recording process, and it includes voiceover in the form of an incredibly personal conversation with producer Burke Reid. Check out the documentary below and watch out for the rest of it to premiere online soon...
You can catch Flyte live as they tour to celebrate the release of the album, first with a tour of record store performances and signings including Banquet Records and Rough Trade East & Nottingham, which starts this Friday at Hundred Records near Southampton (full dates here), and then across September and October up and down the country, including their London headline at Scala. Check out all the dates and grab your tickets here!
