LISTEN: girlhouse - 'happy now'

Delighting in new girlhouse lately... new track happy now follows up the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin self-titled offering the girlhouse ep, released a few months back. (I was about to type that it was a few weeks ago and now I'm alarmed at the swift passing of time of late... uh oh.) While the EP served as an introduction to girlhouse (AKA Lauren Luiz) and her musical world, happy now sees her building on the momentum of the EP, and honing her style. It's passionate and unapologetically feisty ("are you fucking happy now?!") and I'm a little in love with it, and excited to hear what she releases next.

On the track, Lauren writes: "'Happy now' started as an angry poem towards someone in my life that was really emotionally challenging to me, but as we started producing it and I started looking at the lyrics from a different perspective, I realized I was projecting everything I hated about myself towards this other person. Happy now is my heart, gladiator screaming "are you not entertained?" to my body after doing all the things and following all the people that should in theory make me happy but in the end left me feeling empty." 

girlhouse · happy now

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LISTEN: Karima Francis - 'Say'

Don't say I never treat you... brand new Karima Francis to ease you into the week. The crazy times we've all been living through have pushed me to seek comfort in music, and this one certainly fits the bill in that respect. Say is the fourth single to emerge from Karima's time in LA, where she headed in search of her new sound after hearing The War on Drugs' Lost In A Dream. Local artists, new and old, proved inspirational, and the results - previous single Carelessness Causes Fire included - are stunning. Carrying you along on those soothing vocals like some kind of wispy musical cloud, before you know it Say is over and you've already hit repeat. It'd be rude not to. 

On the track, Karima shares: "'Say' is about the isolation caused by Covid-19 and how that can impact relationships closest to you. The song lyrics came to me whilst I was on my daily run, the whole cycle of Covid repetition was becoming overwhelming. My ongoing battles with CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder) became more outward and started to impact those around me." 

Karima Francis · Say

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WATCH: Mumble Tide - 'Good 4 Me'

Another day, another example of me using my 'bedtime' before a day at work to write a post for the next day... you can't fault my dedication to the cause (of sharing brilliant music with you all, of course.) Aforementioned brilliant music is the latest offering from duo (& couple) Gina Leonard and Ryan Rogers, AKA Mumble Tide. Good 4 Me arrives with news of their mini-album Everything Ugly, due 3rd December, around which time they're heading on a small run of shows in Manchester, Bristol and London. The track's self-directed video (below) is just the tip of the iceberg for the fiercely creative duo, who also produce their own music and create the artwork. 

On the new track, Gina shares "'Good 4 Me' is one of our favourite songs that we've written so far. It fell together late at night during lockdown in our dressing gowns. The vocal is more or less the first take we did where I just let it all out. I guess it's about how the years don't always bring you the answers you thought they would. It's kinda sad but there's also this nostalgia and excitement underneath." 

Launching just in time for Bandcamp Friday - you can pre-order a limited orange vinyl pressing of the mini-album here.

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WATCH: Public Service Broadcasting - 'Blue Heaven' (ft. Andreya Casablanca)

There's certainly some trepidation when a favourite artist releases a new track... Public Service Broadcasting however prove time and time again that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. I tuned in to BBC 6 Music on Monday afternoon for the first play and it was love at first listen. Different, but with that inherent PSB spark running through the centre - those signature riffs for one thing, harking back to their early releases. Blue Heaven is the second track and lead single from their upcoming fourth album Bright Magic, releasing on 24th September via Play It Again Sam. The track features the sublime vocals of Andreya Casablanca from Berlin's Gurr. 

Arriving with a superb video directed by Alex Southam and featuring German dancer, choreographer and multidisciplinary artist Celine Fortenbacher, Blue Heaven is a pure delight, and is lyrically inspired by Marlene Dietrich. The band's J. Willgoose, Esq. explains that "the lyrics highlight her power of self-manipulation, her ambition, her bravery and her lack of compromise on vital matters of character - 'I am all my own invention / I'm in my blue heaven' and so on. It's named after the jazz number "My Blue Heaven" which she sang regularly and which she said first made her dream of America." 

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WATCH: Ada Lea - 'damn'

"it's an album about magic, montreal, parties, friends, memories, phone calls, bedrooms, city-life, ferrante, the great mystery of memory and the passage of time; forgetting, and maybe stumbling into remembrance..." 

I enjoyed previous single Hurt, but Ada Lea's Damn really stopped me in my tracks last week. (Seriously - damn.) The track is taken from Ada's (AKA Montreal's Alexandra Levy) sophomore album one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden, due September 24th on Saddle Creek. Following the four seasons, the record opens a window on the city of Montreal, and the people and stories that exist within it - whether they be personal to Ada ("why would I try to write a story that's not my own?") or more universal. 

The record was written and demoed during an artist residency in Banff, Alberta, before joining producer and engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) to record it in his studio in Los Angeles. "Marshall's expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense." Also working on the record were drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford and mixing engineer Burke Reid.  

Pre-order Ada's new record one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden here.

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WATCH: Elke - 'I Can Help'

I receive quite a few emails to the blog each week with new music to listen to - it takes something special to stand out amongst the crowd. The gems that I discover there are part of the reason that I stick with this all... finding something I might have otherwise never heard is a rare joy. This last week, one of those was the new track from Elke, a new-to-me Nashville-based artist. Elke (AKA Kayla Graninger) has just shared I Can Help and announced details of her debut album No Pain For Us Here, due September 24th (already a ridiculously good day for new releases with records from Public Service Broadcasting, Bess Atwell, Childcare and Ada Lea) via Congrats Records. 

Produced by Kayla's partner, fellow musician and collaborator Zac Farro (HalfNoise, drums in Paramore) the new record pulls together influences from the New York music scene past and present. Kayla moved to the city at the age of 17, immersing herself in music and playing gigs under various monikers until landing on Elke, the name of her mother and grandmother, who passed before she ever got to meet her. 

"I wrote 'I Can Help' as an ode to the somewhat dystopian life we all seem to have accepted as comfortable, myself included. And then how the responsibility always gets dumped on the people who didn't even create the fundamental issues. Steel drums felt to be an appropriate foundation, and from there Zac and Co. worked their magic to lift up this song in an irresistible way. I'm very proud of this song, it is one of my favorites on the record."       

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EP NEWS: Melin Melyn - 'Blomonj'

Blimey. I love Melin Melyn so much that they're unwittingly making cool music and things history... I am almost certain that this is the first time I have ever featured a track performed in Welsh (perhaps even in any language other than English?!) A big day. I deliberated - I have very little idea what frontman Gruff is singing, but it's too difficult not to share when the band, and track, are this good. With one other Welsh track (Mwydryn) under their belts from 2019, they came onto my radar with the completely raucous Rebecca last year, and followed it this year with Lucy's Odyssey. Those three, and the brand new track - Dewin Dwl - feature on the band's upcoming Blomonj EP, due August 17th on Bingo Records.

Traversing between languages, the Welsh 6-piece exist in a space of their own making within the industry, pulling together aspects of folk, rock, pop and psychedelia to do their bidding. Intense, passionate, furiously melodious... I can only imagine what it would be like to see the tracks performed live. 

Melin Melyn · Dewin Dwl

Frontman Gruff has this to say on the new track... "Dewin Dwl. It means Silly Wizard. We've all met a Silly Wizard in our time, and when they depart, I've often wondered, where do they go? This is a tale of legends: of bards debating upon a hill, dancing with skylarks and smoking a big fat pipe in a pub. It's also the name of a smash hit cartoon from my childhood. Tan y tro nesa ! / Until next time!" 

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EP NEWS: Chartreuse - 'Is It Autumn Already?'

It's happened again - completely shocked that I've never featured Chartreuse on the blog... how?! Their Keep Checking Up On Me EP was one of my favourite releases of 2020, the title track easily one of my favourite tracks of the year. There's a familiarity to their sound, a relatability in the stories they tell through their lyrics - and yet they sound unlike anything else I'm listening to right now. They've just shared Things Are Changing Too Quickly, the first track from the upcoming Is It Autumn Already? EP, due 19th November. 

Chartreuse are Hattie Wilson, Mike Wagstaff, Rory Wagstaff and Perry Lovering, and if you've not listened to them before - now is as good a time as any. Check out the video for Things Are Changing Too Quickly below. (You can thank me later.)

To support the release of the EP, Chartreuse are heading out on a run of headline shows kicking off at The Lexington in London on 30th November. Dates and tickets here. Yep, still feels weird to say that.

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ALBUM NEWS: Aquilo - 'A Safe Place To Be'

Busy day at work. Sits down to write a blog post in the evening. Falls asleep at/on the laptop. Repeat.

Somehow being at home more since I've reduced the hours I work in my day job to do an internship has made me more tired. In a snatch of consciousness before sleep, however, I'm typing away at this...

The lovely Aquilo guys are back with a new track, and have just announced their upcoming record A Safe Place To Be. An incredibly moving track, my heart feels all aflutter listening to the strings on it. Stunning! Written a couple of years ago when the duo returned home to Lancashire from time in LA, it was recorded just before Christmas, in the basement of Ben's family home, where they made their first ever music together. 

They share: "When we made this song it felt like a defining moment for us and the album. It was one of the first songs we made where it all clicked into place for the two of us. We started playing this melody on an old, dusty, out of tune piano. Within a few hours of going with the flow it just poured out! We hope it can do the same thing for people listening that it's done for us." 

The new record, A Safe Place To Be, is due on October 15th - last word to the duo, who share "it really does feel like a new phase for the two of us. The start of something new. We're just eager to get it out in the world." 

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LISTEN: Liz Lawrence - 'Babies'

Is it just me that's a little bit overwhelmed by the volume of superb music being released at the moment? As is probably predictable if you know me, I've got a spreadsheet list of records (which started last year as a lockdown boredom project, a list of classic albums & artists that I had never listened to, and is now a sort of release calendar on top of that) and, more than half way through the year, there are still SO MANY brilliant artists releasing records in the next few months. Big Red Machine, the newly announced James Blake, the debut MarthaGunn, new Bess Atwell, Public Service Broadcasting, LUMP and Jungle to name but a few....

One of my most anticipated albums of the year is The Avalanche from Liz Lawrence. Each new taste of the record is bringing with it such elation, and Babies is no exception to the rule. While previous record Pity Party (a complete gem if you're new to it) saw Liz drawing on herself and her experiences, the new record takes more of a distanced approach. In Babies, Liz inhabits a character 'dragging themselves away from drudgery' - she describes "I thought of a man who's driving to work every morning and saying goodbye to his wife, kissing her on the cheek and then going to sit in his car, even though he lost his job months ago." 

"I've been singing pretty for a long time, and I wanted to try new things. So I've machoed it up. Babies is one of my favourite tracks on the record. I felt like I was exorcising some demons with it, just for fun." 

The Avalanche is due on September 17th (pre-order/pre-save here.) 

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