Brent Amaker & the Rodeo – Take It By the Horns
Insurance agent by day and costumed country star by night, Brent Amaker of Brent Amaker & the Rodeo is something of an enigma. A Southerner in Seattle who channels the classic country spirit while at the same time subverting its tropes, owing as much to the persona-led art rock of Bowie and co. as the macho (so-called) authenticity of the genre’s heavy hitters. “We’re cowboys, living the spirit of the West,” Amaker explains. “We’re not really playing country music, but we’re playing cowboy music. ‘Western performance art’ is what I like to say.” Out early next year on Killroom Records, new album Philaphobia feels like the culmination of this spirit, and single ‘Take It By The Horns’ shows off the project’s infectiously energetic side. Watch the video directed and edited by Sean Downey below:
Philaphobia is out on the 26th January via Killroom Records.
Cool Planet – Don’t Forget to Lock the Door
“A love letter to my tape machine.” That’s how Samuel Szigeti describes Everything on the Floor, the new release from the Cool Planet project. Finding the device discarded at a part time job, Szigeti experimented with the technology and in many ways followed its lead, crafting songs full of nostalgic heart. Single ‘Don’t Forget to Lock the Door’ shows off just how warm and comforting the style can be, conjuring the sense of fond calm unique to crepuscular half-dark. The kind of mood found on “a late summer evening, walking home from work through the park,” as Szigeti puts it, “the lights in the baseball diamond are turning on as the sky goes from blue to orange.”
Everything on the Floor is out now and available via streaming services.
Drench Fries – Poolside
The solo project of Seattle-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Levi Nattrass, Drench Fries first caught our attention last year with the cool pop of ‘Out My Window’. “Think classic country regret made hazy by the sea mist of the West Coast,” as we put it, “with dollops of indie rock fuzz and playful pop synths adding an idiosyncratic charm.” Following successful nights sharing the stage with the likes of Pinegrove and Katy Kirby, Nattrass decided it was time to loosen his grip on the project and invite others to collaborate. New single ‘Poolside’ is the first taste of this newly communal form of Drench Fries. A bright, upbeat pop song which opens up on close listens to grapple with almost existential themes.
Layperson – Massive Leaning
Grief as an elemental force. That’s the theme behind Massive Leaning, the latest album from Portland, OR‘s Layperson on Lung Records. Led by Julian Morris and supported by Barra Brown, Steven Skolnik, Sam Wenc, Alex Fermanis and Tyler Neidermayer, the project straddles the line between country and pop, and its moods are equally fluid. An attempt to communicate from within the aftermath of a painful loss, where the possibility of new beginnings is always challenged by an overwhelming despair. As the title track suggests, Morris sits with these competing emotions and thus transcends the traditional break-up album. Not only mourning what is lost or pining for its return, but appreciating the wonder which can fill the gap if only you let it.
L E M F R E C K – After
Hailing from Newport and now based in Cardiff, L E M F R E C K is an artist and producer who casts a wide net for inspiration. Growing up, he played for gospel artists while honing his tastes with the likes of Ghetts and Kano, before immersing himself in the pirate grime scene across Wales and Bristol. His work now wears this rich variety proudly, drawing on both underground and mainstream influences to become something entirely his own. Take single ‘After’ from new release Blood, Sweat & Fears, which might open as a trap number but soon deepens into a smooth slice of R&B that hints towards a hauntological nostalgia.
Blood, Sweat & Fears is out now via Noctown and available from the usual places.
Montañera – A Flor de Piel
Montañera‘s album A Flor de Piel is a lesson in exploration and self-discovery. Writing on previous singles ‘Un Día Voy a Ser Mariposa‘ and ‘Tú – El Borde de Mi Arista‘, we’ve been struck by the manner in which the London-based Colombian artist is able to conjure such diverse spaces within their work. Soundscapes which seem to travel great distances while mapping interiority, and blur the distinction between reality and dreams, all while eschewing any genre conventions. With the album now out via Western Vinyl, we thought we’d share the title track as final proof of this ability. A song which draws on traditional Japanese sounds to offer a mission statement for the record. To find that light inside, and in full memory of the generations which came before, allow oneself to be born anew.
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A Flor De Piel is out now via Western Vinyl and you can get it from the Montañera Bandcamp page.
Night Teacher – Comfort
A collaboration between multi-media artist/singer-songwriter Lilly Bechtel, and drummer/writer/producer Matt Wyatt, Night Teacher introduced their blend of doom folk and electro pop back in 2020 with their self-titled debut album—a collection of songs which delved deep into grief to to hope and despair simultaneously. New EP Dear Ellen builds upon this aesthetic and pushes into an increasingly dreamy atmosphere. Take single ‘Comfort’ with its organic ambient textures, all led by Bechtel’s ethereal delivery. The opening is like a dreamy field recording, swaying in the breeze behind bubbling birdsong, before guitar tumbles in gently and Bechtel’s voice enters with warm but sober sincerity.
Dear Ellen is out now and available from the usual places.
Shaina Hayes – New Favourite
Sometimes your parents know best, as typified by Quebecois artist Shaina Hayes. “My folks always wanted me to be a musician,” Hayes explains, “so for me, rebelling meant getting a degree in agricultural science!” But seeing as next February sees the release of her second album Kindergarten Heart on Bonsound, it seems rebellion didn’t stick. Lead single ‘New Favourite’ shows just why we should be glad of the fact, a folk pop track as playful as it is evocative, owing as much to Feist as Hank Williams in the way it paints the excitingly volatile pull of new love.
Oh, I remember the feeling
My feet on the ground
My heart in your soft hands
My head in the clouds
Will Gardner – Remains
Remains, the debut solo album from London-based composer and artist Will Gardner, is a record of abstract emotions grounded in physical reality. A picture of days spent caring for his father through late stages of Parkinson’s dementia, the songs not only bring to light the difficult realities of the process, but push further into the intangible sensations of losing something so familiar so gradually, mourning that which has not yet passed away. Closing the album, the title track encapsulates the release, built around diary entries written by Gardner’s father, fragments of texts which were used to as scaffolding before being removed, leaving just the rhythms and melodies they inspired.