VIDEO PREMIERE: Emma Gatrill - 'Be Brave'

Somehow, criminally, I've never posted about Emma Gatrill's solo music here before - and yet it feels that rarely a week goes by where I'm not falling in love with a track that she's had some involvement in, often lusting over those gorgeous clarinet solos. I first came to Emma's work through Matthew and the Atlas, and have recently been loving tracks that she's played on by Maja Lena, Siv Jakobsen and Rachael Dadd. She's got fingers in many a lovely musical pie! This year, alongside creating a baby (a particularly sweet collaboration with Marcus Hamblett) Emma has been busy making lots of new music. There's an EP on the way, and first track Be Brave is out now. It's a delight to be asked to premiere the beautiful video for the track - enjoy!

On the track, Emma shares: "Be Brave is about how even when someone is going through something very difficult, time continues to pass. About how we all have the strength to keep going if we keep our eyes on the horizon during hard times. It is a reminder that we need to keep looking forwards and up, even when we feel down.

This whole batch of new songs was born from an attempt to invert my writing process - starting with rhythmic elements rather than with the harmonic and melodic harp and vocals. So in this case it started with some drums that Rob Pemberton sent over. We found two really nice bars that worked well played at the same time and looped them. One plays in the left speaker and one in the night. I wrote the song around this loop, exploring a tempo and rhythmic feel I might not have otherwise found. All the upcoming songs were written in this way, with lots of contributions from a wide range of drummers and producers."

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LISTEN: Rae Morris - 'birdsong on the breeze'

Goodness me. I love Rae Morris. So much. Her record Rachel@Fairyland is a shoe-in for my album of the year round-up (which will, in true CMAT style, arrive *very* late in the year) and it looks as if she's after a second spot in the list as she is releasing Rachel@Pianoland on 25th November. Ohhhhh yes! My personalised vinyl-only piano version of her previous record of Someone Out There is a prized possession - you could say that I'm a little bit excited for this. First track birdsong on the breeze (a reworking of Morning Isn't Morning) is out now and is completely and utterly sublime. If you love this as much as I do, Rae is heading out on tour from tomorrow (!) taking in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and London's Lafayette on Tuesday. Now, to persuade myself that Rae is absolutely worth tackling trains for and grab a London ticket... 

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WATCH: Dizzy - 'Barking Dog'

This is honestly one of the most exciting things to appear in my inbox for a long time - Dizzy are back!!!!! Ahhhhhhhh. I'm genuinely thrilled by this news. If you're new here, I've been sort of obsessed with them for a few years, and have a lot of love for their debut album Baby Teeth and its follow-up The Sun And Her Scorch. With more new music on the horizon for 2023, they're back with new single Barking Dog (via Communion Records) but things are looking a little different...

A new era for Dizzy sees singer Katie Munshaw donning a particularly striking mask in press photos and the music video for this track. On the (brilliant) reasoning behind this, Katie explains "I'm a very anxious and sensitive person. Thinking about taking a bunch of photos and videos of myself, especially after two years in isolation, felt a bit shocking and scary, and like something I didn't really want to do." 

"I find it strange how musicians are often introverted people, yet one of the largest parts of our job is visually selling ourselves to an audience. It feels unnatural to pine for strangers' attention to afford rent or whatever, and as someone who's particularly sensitive, it isn't sustainable. To me, the mask not only represents a calloused version of myself but it lends itself to an anonymity that I love. A Jane Doe of sorts. I like the idea of a female artist making the conscious decision to take her appearance out of the question for the audience."

On the video, Katie continues: "Our director was like, 'what if you just punched yourself in your face for three minutes straight?' and I was like 'Fuck it, why not?' We did three takes and by the end of it all I was pretty teary. I don't know that I will ever forget being in that bathroom with my pal feeling very safe and understood while simultaneously scared of my own feelings. 10/10 would punch myself in the face again." 

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WATCH: Elanor Moss - 'Cosmic Memory'

Slightly bewildering to think that the last gig I went to was in June (the lovely Memorial) - a show at which Elanor Moss was opening and was in beaaaaautiful form. Like, really good. Ridiculously talented, of course, but also a brilliant stage presence. With me just about getting over her debut EP Citrus, she's just announced the sequel, Cosmic, which is releasing via Blue Raincoat Music on 23rd February. The news arrives with the first taste of the EP, Cosmic Memory, Elanor's first full-band production. The marriage of Elanor's vocals and those strings... agh. Too good.

"'Cosmic' came after a year of exploration for me. I'd just moved to London, and was experimenting with different styles lyrically and musically, writing with friends for the first time, and visiting New York to work with my friend Oli Deakin on the new record. For the first time in my creative life I felt the freedom to be playful and experimental in the writing process, foraging for different ways to express complex feelings. Before, I was in the thick of a feeling without much perspective, this time I've embraced an approach of 'sometimes all you can do is laugh at yourself.' It's been a liberating rabbit hole to go down."

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WATCH: Brooke Bentham - 'Over and Over'

A slice of much deserved joy - Brooke Bentham is back, yesssss!!! We deserve this news. Brooke's record Everyday Nothing (and its stripped back counter-part Sunday Self) was one of my favourite releases of 2020, so I'm thrilled that she's back with a corker of a single, taken from an upcoming EP. The track was recorded with Patrick J Pearson at Middle Farm Studios.

On the track she shares: "'Over and Over' was written fast. It was my way of asking myself if I could just write a song that I didn't have to think too much about, but reflected where I was at. The last few years have been full of road trips, camping, staying indoors. It's my ode to road trips, getting away from life, feeling like yourself and enjoying being alive. I wanted it to physically sound like that." 

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LISTEN: néomí - 'red balloon'

Fancy some ethereal beauty for your Thursday morning? I've got you. The new track from néomí is a stunner. Following up the before EP from earlier this year, she's back with red balloon and I'm still very much in love - it's a joy to see the evolution of Neomi's sound across singles. 

On the track, she shares: "red balloon was written in the winter of 21. I'd moved into a new home together with my boyfriend and we were going through a tough time. He suggested we write a song together so we went to the piano, sat down having not discussed a lot, and just let the music speak. Little did we know we were writing a break-up song as we parted a couple of months later. Maybe we did know, but we were just very content at that moment creating a song together. I still love that man very much, but love is a very complicated thing as you might understand. The song wasn't finished so months later I decided to finish it up with a good friend of mine. I gave it a twist, as my heart literally burst like a red balloon at that time. Now I just hope that one day I'll be lifted like a beautiful red balloon that didn't rip open."

"The song is about knowing you love someone very much, knowing you want to be with someone still, knowing it doesn't work out the way you want to, knowing that it might be over soon, trying to hold on, trying to let go, losing yourself and for that reason hoping that one day you can cope with the fact you let that one person go and feel gracious again without them."

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LISTEN: Siv Jakobsen - 'Tangerine'

"I'm a tangerine, peel me, throw me in the sink. Leave me there to stink."

As opening lines go, Siv Jakobsen has struck lyrical gold. Having recently shared the first part of her Gardening record, we're onto desperately awaiting part two, which is due via The Nordic Mellow on 20th January. The first taste of that half is new track Tangerine. With dream team Marcus Hamblett and Emma Gatrill adding synths and bass clarinet to the track, it's a delectable musical delight. 

The track is told from the perspective of somebody who feels helpless and trapped - "I imagined someone who was held against their own will inside a run of the mill suburban house, looking out from the front room and willing for someone to come let them out. This someone is mentally stuck, a deer in headlights, scared and frozen. Not wanting to stay but unable to leave - worthless in another's world, like a carefully peeled, squashed and tossed tangerine." 

Siv Jakobsen · Tangerine

Siv Jakobsen has been announced as UK tour support for Beach Bunny this November - dates here.

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LISTEN: Banji - 'Freshcakes'

I'm not posting much at the moment as I'm really struggling to find the time, but dropping in now and then to share things that I love - and at the moment, that's the debut album from Banji. It's ridiculously good. I've been a fan since the first single found its way into my inbox almost exactly two years ago, and I am all kinds of excited that the album is finally out. It's been a great soundtrack for my commutes over the past few days. You can (and must..!) listen to Freshcakes here, but to whet your appetite, there's a lovely acoustic session from a few days ago below.

Talking about the process of making the record, frontman Morris Brandt explains: "Banji's songwriting has always reflected my surroundings and environment. Big themes of this album are struggling with adulthood, self-worth and self-esteem, mental health and frustrations, addiction, and finding your own self-discipline and maturity over time. The lyrics that flowed out of me throughout the making of Freshcakes tend to be built around introverted thoughts, personal social situations, and subjects that I find difficult to dissect. Stressful feelings about mistakes made, expectations unfulfilled, and the guilt that surrounds that. At a young age I've learned to use music as an output for frustration and stress. The main thing that I wanted to do with this record was find a place for those feelings and letting them go, kind of like therapy in a way." 

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LISTEN: Connie Constance - 'Hurt You'

Agh, I love Connie Constance. Her debut album Miss Power arrives in a few weeks via Play It Again Sam and she's just shared another brilliant cut from it. You know that an artist is brilliant when each new track becomes an immediate favourite, and this is certainly the case with Connie's music - I fell in love with James on first listen a couple of years back, and have gone through obsessions with Electric Girl, Prim & Propa, Miss Power and Mood Hoover since then. I might have a new obsession now.

On the track, Connie explains: "My revenge song, this is a song for all the villains that are just a product of their environment. This is for the Joker and Harley Quinn. In this realm the villain is the peoples champion and anarchy reins. As an artist people think you just get lucky, one song blows up and that's it you're a success over night. 

No one sees the years before that, they don't hear the years of music that didn't make it out the hard drives or the note pads. This song is about the lowest time in my life and in my career when Connie Constance the artist was dead and buried and it's about how I climbed out that grave and didn't let anyone take my love of writing and my hunger to share my music away from me. 

If I wasn't mad before I'm definitely a bit crazy now. But I feel bulletproof cause I had to fight to get my powers back. Nobody should ever have to feel stuck or unworthy. I hope this song reaches anyone who feels trapped, scared or squashed and I hope they listen to it before and after tell their oppressor to get fucked."

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WATCH: Divorce - 'Checking Out'

You all love Divorce, right? Of course you do. You definitely should do. Not *that* divorce... the superb indie four-piece from Nottingham. They've just shared Checking Out (my current obsession) with news of their debut EP Get Mean, which is due via Hand In Hive on December 2nd. I cannot wait! If you enjoy this one - check out the equally brilliant Pretty and Services.

Talking about the track, Tiger Cohen-Towell explains: "the track was written when a group of musician friends and I did a songwriting exercise, the challenge being to write five songs in five days. I think it was maybe the 4th day of the process and I wanted to write something that was as far away from myself as possible, I was tired of my own personal narratives. 

I've always loved dramatic country and western ballads and a major inspiration for the track was country-singer Marty Robbins, who writes the most intense 'gunfighter ballads', which are bordering on slap-stick in their incessant violence and all-American heroism. I wanted to flip that on its head by having a female narrator who feels justified in her heinous act because those gunfighter ballads make you root for the underdog anti-hero, even if they are behaving completely irrationally - that's a running theme in country music I think. 'Checking Out' is satirical and humorous, whilst getting into the head of a person who has been pushed too far and had enough of mistreatment in a relationship (although I don't condone murder!)"

Divorce are Tiger Cohen-Towell (vocals, bass), Felix Mackenzie-Barrow (vocals, electric guitar), Adam Peter Smith (electric guitar) and Kasper Sandstrøm (drums).

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