Hi Clarke, thanks for speaking to us! How does it feel to have you new album Antumbra Pull out in the world?

Hi! Thank you for reaching out. It feels good having the songs out there, and it mostly felt good to give the album a little bit of a spontaneous/quick release. I don’t particularly enjoy the promotion process or sitting on material for too long, so it feels like a weight off my chest to call these songs done and move on in a sense. Joshua from Antiquated Future is wonderful to work with, he handled nearly everything while still keeping my creative vision central. We wound up releasing the album less than two weeks after we decided to work together on it, which is a dream for me.

You’ve described the songs on the album as “thank you notes and love letters” to your partner, who is currently going through some pretty terrifying health issues. First of all, are you both holding up okay? And what influence did the news have on you releasing these songs now?

Thanks for asking, we’re trying to keep our heads up (which he’s better at than me most of the time). I gave him the final version of the album as an anniversary present, which happened to only fall four days before the initial hospital visit and diagnosis (stage IV renal cancer with metastasis in the lungs, spine and ribs). It was timed perfectly in a sense, I was able to give him this (in my opinion) grandiose statement of love and gratitude right before everything got distorted and scary. The songs on the album mean a lot to him, they’re a reflection of our time spent together and he tells me constantly how much strength he’s found in them.

I had talked briefly with Antiquated Future about releasing it before I got the news that he was sick (which rapidly transformed my world – the vast majority of my time was immediately focused on supporting him) so I’m grateful that we were able to get the album out so quickly. Like I said, I have a hard time sitting on material prior to release and I really wanted these songs out in the public as sort of a declaration of love.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1146321364 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1279427804]

We’ve been following your work (as The Washboard Abs and Pleasure Systems) for a while now. To me this seems like your most accomplished work to date, but I’d be interested to know how you feel your music has changed and matured over the last few years.

Thank you! This record is some of my proudest work to date. In the last couple years (really since I started collaborating with my current bandmates in the Washboard Abs, who are all far more skilled musicians than I am) I’ve started to take my musicianship much more seriously and really expand my vocabulary of harmony. But more than that, I write as an immediate reflection of whatever is happening in my life at the time, and I think that’s a much better way of charting the growth of the material. I wrote have u scanned ur club card? from the depths of a depression that followed the death of a couple close friends, I wrote Recurring Chasms as a statement on my recovery process from a sexual assault, and I wrote Antumbra Pull mostly about being head over heels in love and finding a lot of healing within a relationship. Goes without saying that I view Antumbra Pull as my happiest album, but it also feels like my most mature album. I think it’s reflective of the clarity I gained after writing so much material during the darkest points of my life.

How does the music you make as Pleasure Systems differ from the Washboard Abs stuff? Are they two very separate entities in your mind? Or do you use songs for either project depending on what you’re working on at the time?

The idea behind Pleasure Systems came about after the Washboard Abs evolved into a fully collaborative band. Working with my bandmates has been a transformative experience and I’m really humbled to be playing with them, but I had self recorded under the name for about three years at that point and really missed the process of creating music entirely on my own. The key distinction between the two projects for me is the recording and arrangement style, I listen to a lot of electronic music and wanted an outlet to explore digital sounds further – the band is a fairly standard two guitars, bass and drums lineup. There’s a little bit of give and take between the two projects though, I scrapped my Pleasure Systems version of “Through the Air” when my bandmates wanted to play it with me, “Haunt Me” became a pleasure systems song when the rest of the band wasn’t enthused about arranging it, and we’ve been playing “Bathroom Stall Prayer” as a full band in the last couple months.

Besides the aforementioned highly personal stuff, what are the current big influences on your songwriting?

Like I said above, I tend to write from a perspective informed by whatever’s consuming my exterior life. So these days, I’m writing a lot of pretty sad songs about watching someone you love battle serious illness. I’m sitting with a lot of fear and it shows up in the songs more than I want it to, so I’m consciously trying to shift into writing from a more hopeful perspective.

Past that, I have a deep admiration for the arrangements of Stephen Steinbrink’s songs, his music has this every-element-in-its-place type of perfection to me, there’s so much nuance and texture that all fits together seamlessly and somehow still feels restrained. In a similar vein, I find myself very drawn to the deceptively restrained songwriting of the bands Florist and Big Thief, both melodically and lyrically. My friend Mat Cothran (Coma Cinema/Elvis Depressedly) will always be one of my biggest lyrical influences, I’m constantly moved by his unflinching honesty through songwriting (this newest/final Coma Cinema album especially). Chris Weisman is my absolute favorite songwriter and has been a huge inspiration for me, but his music is so complex and intelligent I’m not sure his influence will ever be audible in my work.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1146321364 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2914336171]

What are your plans for the foreseeable future? Do you plan to tour Antumbra Pull? And can we expect more Pleasure Systems releases?

We have a couple exciting Washboard Abs shows lined up this spring in Washington state, and this February I’m going on a short east coast US tour as Pleasure Systems with Body Meat and Ada Babar. I’ve already started working on recording the next batch of Pleasure Systems songs, and the Washboard Abs are gonna start recording our next album early next year. No idea when those songs will see the light of day though. I’m still working on new material, but for the last few months (and into the foreseeable future) my energy has been pulled away from creative outlets and refocused on helping my partner. He’s recovering from two major surgeries pretty rapidly and regaining a lot of his strength, so hopefully we’ll be able to return to more normalcy soon. For me, normalcy is constant creative work.

Lastly, could you recommend 4/5 artists that you’ve been liking lately? They can be new releases or golden oldies, it’s up to you.

Well, my all time favorite album has slowly become Rendezvous With Rama by Ruth Garbus. I can’t recommend this record highly enough – it’s the perfect blend of soothing and energizing, it’s really mystical and healing music to me. My best friend Chris (who mastered Antumbra Pull) has a project called Body Meat that I think is the best band in the world at this point. The Washboard Abs put out a split tape with him on the label Citrus City this summer. His whole discography is mind blowing to me, and he’s been a tremendous help with critique and motivation. He constantly makes me want to work harder. Angela, the other guitarist (besides me) in the Washboard Abs, makes mesmerizing loop-based ambient music on her own under the name noneforme. She’s taught me an immeasurable amount about harmony and has really helped shape me into the songwriter I am today. The two of us also used to play in our friend Ben Varian’s backup band ‘The Ben Varian Approach’. Ben’s music is triumphant, melancholic and uplifting. He’s an absolute master of weirdo pop. Lastly, I guess what I’ve found myself putting on most often in the past year are the many projects of Lily Konigsberg. She plays in the group Palberta, is half of the magnificent electronic pop duo Lily & Horn Horse and released a wonderful split under her own name with Andréa Schiavelli this summer. Past that I’ve been listening to a kind of silly amount of Steely Dan.

Be sure to check out all we’ve written about Pleasure Systems and The Washboard Abs, purchase Antumbra Pull from Antiquated Future and support the rest of Clarke’s music via Bandcamp.

Photo by Heidi Kleder

The post Interview: Clarke Sondermann appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Naomi Pop – S/T (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie rock, other Z Tapes artists)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2950225191 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=720429825]

naps – one hundred percent confident (REVIEW)
(RIYL: ambient, experimental, naps with an uncapitalised-n)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2509827422 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=312418308]

Naps – You Will Live in a Cool Box (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, garage rock, indie pop, Naps with a capitalised-N)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=311420231 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1110648022]

Nadia – I’m your protector now
(RIYL: dream pop, healing, electronic)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2937531177 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3588139354]

Newfoundland – Good News is Too True (REVIEW)
(RIYL: atmospheric folk, dream pop, Youth Lagoon, Meursault)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4047097999 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2729546599]

Noël – ’10
(RIYL: punk, emo, indie)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3607318759 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2157759179]

Ocean Floor – Old Haunts (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Mount Eerie)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=580507133 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=212727562]

Oddigtl – solarium
(RIYL: beats, lo-fi, electronic, laidback summer soul)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=287588807 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1522588017]

Old Gray – dex
(RIYL: sad, bedroom pop, slo-mo emo)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=69494905 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=460138543]

Pasture Dog – Southern Gothic (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, hymnals, all things Southern Gothic)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2931783610 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=955499972]

Prairie Empire – Sad Winter Songs (Outtakes and Demos)
(RIYL: folk, acoustic, sad bastard music)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3789230254 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2463490625]

Pet Cemetery – dietary requirements (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, ambient, Coma Cinema)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3399328047 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=667553933]

Phargo. – Rende’s
(RIYL: emo, Braid, anime)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1656720769 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1135440663]

Plums – Jen
(RIYL: dream pop, summer crushes, nostalgia)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3865878424 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1044746564]

PONY – CRUSHED (REVIEW) 
(RIYL: indie pop, Best Coast, Vivian Girls)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3780813636 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2106231262]

Pope – Fiction
(RIYL: noise, grunge, No Age)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4030486681 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3903769915]

Porridge radio – im not sure anymore
(RIYL: lo-fi, sadcore, bedroom pop)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4206302419 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1285007142]

The Pretty Greens – Lonely Hearts Club No Jerks Allowed
(RIYL: The Raincoats, Bratmobile, Brill Building pop)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1845359461 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=461609300]

Radiator Hospital & Martha – Split EP
(RIYL: indie rock, power pop, Radiator Hospital, Martha)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2331373117 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2682973880]

rchrd prkr – it’s getting worse
(RIYL: emo, punk, lo-fi)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=132506566 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=638523406]

Robbie Bankes – Through February Snow (REVIEW)
(RIYL: folk, Tyler Butler, winter)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=62030133 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=120118811]

Romantic States – s/t
(RIYL: minimalist pop, garage rock, blends of quiet & loud)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3235980618 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3042111180]

Ruth & Trudy – Still Pond (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, experimental, lo-fi)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2374956537 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=892951869]

We’ll be sharing a new section of the list every day this week, so be sure to check back for the complete collection. If you find something you like, or think we missed something life-changing, then why not let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or good old email.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2015: N-R appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Henoheno – I Made These Songs Before I Moved (REVIEW)
(RIYL: Bedroom pop, Elvis Depressedly, Alex G)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2890073957 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2415848758]

Henry Demos & Lewtrakimou – I Was trying to Get There But it Was Hard to See From the Balloon (REVIEW)
(RIYL: experimental, psychedelic, lo-fi, incredibly cool/nice people <3)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2127315132 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2503184820]

Hermann Doose – Hawaii Was Beautiful
(RIYL: pop, surf rock, ARMS)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1365012872 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=45317965]

High Bloom – Haloed
(RIYL: ambient, electronic pop, Orchid Tapes)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1952649673 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2725271039]

Honeyuck – very tiny songs (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, twee folk, Frankie Cosmos)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1215926646 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=4223815913]

Isabel Rex – American Colloquialisms/Two Hexes (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, garage rock, Olive Drab)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=406733925 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3775948611]

The Island of Misfit Toys – I Made You Something
(RIYL: emo, indie folk, hardcore)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2603730095 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=4266037981]

Jake Rollins – Spend a Few, Make a Few (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, summer pop, slacker rock)

JANK – Awkward Pop Songs
(RIYL: power pop, emo, Algernon Cadwallader)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2119592842 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3026574015]

Jay Som – Untitled
(RIYL: dream pop, woozy rock, dreaming of summer)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4129302441 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1419028488]

Joplin Rice – Low Hum (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1104700393 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1539314642]

Katie Dey – asdfasdf
(RIYL: bedroom pop, experimental, lo-fi)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4041133559 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3973355794]

The Kickstand Band – In the Sun
(RIYL: indie pop, surf rock, )

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2589488470 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3398208875]

Kip McGrath – S/T EP
(RIYL: lo-fi, bubblegum pop, twee)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2347745008 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2392610473]

Kitten Crisis – Have a good summer
(RIYL: pop punk, summer days, Radiator Hospital)

Lady Paw – Long Shadow

(RIYL: dream pop, experimental, Twin Sister)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4266239799 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=4215642916]

Laurence – Happy Town
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=726278953 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2493961804]

The Le Sigh – Vol. II (close enough to 2015!)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, compilations packed with goodness, female-identified/non-binary artists)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=779331524 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2705534016]

Letters From Bummer Camp – Vol. 1
(RIYL: punk, Boosegumps/Long Neck/other NJ-indie artists, helping good causes)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=581561591 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3689620621]

Long Neck – Heights (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Two White Cranes, Cyberbully Mom Club)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2942656008 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=378057892]

Kizzy Hall – one last shame spiral
(RIYL: scrappy rock, basement pop, Coma Cinema)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1020765855 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

Mike Pace and the Child Actors – The Flood
(RIYL: box-office music from the 80s/90s, Oxford Collapse)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1066432373 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1315051960]

Miniature Philosopher – Leaving ‘Bula
(RIYL: Paul Baribeau, Nana Grizol, Talons’)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3877962840 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1213767107]

Mini Dresses – FOUR
(RIYL: dream pop, laidback vibes)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3442729371 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1866728973]

The Modern Folk – Surround Me / Leather Jacket (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, DIY, shambling rock n’ roll)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1517512278 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1815150545]

Morning River Band – Abyssal Channeling (REVIEW)
(RIYL: folk, country, bar-room rock)

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2682538198 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=617363151]

We’ll be sharing a new section of the list every day this week, so be sure to check back for the complete collection. If you find something you like, or think we missed something life-changing, then why not let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or good old email.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2015: H-M appeared first on Various Small Flames.

RIYL: bedroom pop, coma cinema, pet cemetery

Songs:

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2339064648 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2948768123]

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2339064648 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=4282317458]

You can get be kind to me now for as much as you like via the teen love bandcamp page. You should also probably know that I’m kind of late to the party on this, so much so that this project has been killed by it’s owner. Luckily for all of us, Burns has already started another project, named Happy To See You, which you can check out on Soundcloud.

The post Flash Review: teen love – be kind to me appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opener ‘dc’ is a gentle and reflective instrumental, full of wistful lo-fi acoustics which serve as a nice intro for what’s to come, before ‘alright’ gets things started proper, a bedroom pop track that will appeal to fans of Coma Cinema with its hazy downer vocals and clap-along percussion. The lyrics speak of a narrator severed from his surroundings, a collection of abstract images and innermost thoughts jumbled together in deadpan poetry.

“Sick until my hands fell still
my brother talks more than I do
I’m tired & skipping meals
laughter fills the living room
I can’t hear it’s so loud
eyes water from rubbing out

our parents hold the secrets
we’re trying to believe it”

A slower number, ‘Magick’ is just as morose, with the refrain “sit and wish for rain” filled with a little too much longing, while ‘champ’ is frustratingly fleeting, one of those songs that finishes almost as soon as its begun and has you reaching for the repeat button immediately. ‘Milk’ is even shorter, not managing to break the 30 second mark, sounding like a lost Johnny Foreigner demo recorded on a dictaphone. The song sees the narrator resorting to drastic action in an attempt to feel something:

“The treehouse we burnt down looks alright
the kids it belonged to cried & cried
i’m sick to my stomach
I feel alive tonight”

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1600532829 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=514661196]

If the music is anything to go by, arson might well have done the trick. ‘Birthmark’ is warmer, not exactly happy but definitely gravitating somewhat to the positive end of the spectrum, the heavy lo-fi guitars threatening to swamp dreamy vocals but never quite managing it. ‘Birthstone (reprise)’ sees the positivity blossom. An instrumental track based around an audio sample of Dustin Hoffman’s philosophical discourse from the film I Heart Huckabees, the track sees a sense of wonder return to what has otherwise been a drab, defeated point of view, like watching the very beginning of a sunrise over a grey familiar city that can still surprise you in certain lights.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3399328047 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=371272723]

The final track ‘spirit world’ is once again instrumental, this time with electric guitars and shiny shimmering background atmospherics. As a finale it feels mightily hopeful, a far cry from the glumness that pervades a lot for this genre (and even the beginning of this EP), and leaves the release with a strange, vaguely transcendental aftertaste, a feeling which would make life much easier if only you could experience it at all times. The overall effect is one of change, a gradual warming, as if the narrator is being drawn through the vacuous space of depression and apathy to somewhere brighter and more fulfilling. Maybe he finally “got” the blanket thing.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3399328047 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=667553933]

You can get dietary requirements on cassette or as a name-your-price digital download via the Z Tapes Bandcamp page. If you can, get a cassette, because tapes are cool.

The post Pet Cemetery – dietary requirements appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Things open with ‘Pulled Over’, a deadbeat brand of grunge which positions itself in a pissed off zone somewhere between defiance and acceptance (“They wanna know who you are / they really wanna know who you are”). The title track follows  similar style but ups the boldness, adopting the sort of rock-star posturing familiar to musicians of a byegone age (“Call me extra bad / well I don’t care I’m just doin me now”), while ‘Don’t Fall Down’ is more passive aggressive, warning a friend or lover through a series of situations.

“Don’t fall down
theres nobody here to catch you
and you’d make us sad too
and you wouldn’t want that would you?”

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2146572745 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=449661457]

‘Small Stuff’ is a cocky rock number with vocals that sound almost like something from Oasis, ‘Uncurl’ unfurls (sorry) from downtempo melancholy into a rather hectic ending, while ‘No Surprise’ wanders near Coma Cinema/Elvis Depressedly territory. ‘The Park’ sees the pace pick up with tight 80s guitars and racing percussion, like The Police writing songs about wandering, defiant teens.

“We climbed a tree to see how far we could see
but the moon was blinding and the town was dark.
Then a worker came in a pickup truck
and he took me aside to remind me they’d be closing soon.
Well fuck that, we’ll stay here forever.”

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2146572745 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2171009193]

The nostalgia doesn’t end there. ‘Wiped Out’ is Britpop meets US rock, as if The Stone Roses had gone through a plaid phase and taken up skating, while ‘Don’t Turn Away’ is again reminiscent of Oasis and ‘Outer Line’ is a washed out slow burning grunge hit:

“The whole wide world is waiting, they talk all the time.
Outer lines fading, so take all you want.
I’m hoping now time has gone, you’ll find out you can”

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2146572745 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1822077180]

You can get Extra Bad right now on the Generifus Bandcamp page, including on some rather nice cassettes.

Cover art by Paul Williams

The post Generifus – Extra Bad appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Farther Reaches was first released in January of 2013 and is a perfect example of what Aaron Powell strives to with the project. It’s lo-fi pop for the drone kids, sometimes atmospheric and echoey, sometimes blissfully dreamy, with faraway vocals and a warm gauzy ambience, like a downer version of Youth Lagoon’s début.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1302915793 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=4155018457]

Virgo Indigo was released more than a year later, and this is reflected in the production quality, although the album still retains Fog Lake’s signature solitary and inward-gazing aura. Think the doleful bedroom pop of Coma Cinema meets the experimental pop music of Broken Social Scene. The album was originally released on cassette by Orchid Tapes, but has long sold out, so this is a great opportunity for anyone who missed it first time around.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1302915793 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1489523745]

You can get Virgo Indigo / Farther Reaches right now on double cassette via Z Tapes.

The post Fog Lake – Virgo Indigo / Farther Reaches appeared first on Various Small Flames.

‘Renegade’ is a placid intro, just Powell’s hushed voice and piano and atmospheric background vocals, the vague lyrics dealing with old mistakes and current worries, while ‘Andy’, a short and sweet track that clocks in at under two minutes. sets gentle, almost whispering, vocals in front of layers of instrumentation.  ‘Shanty Town’ is a slight change of direction with its looped drum sample, athough Powell’s morose vocals are still present, creating (in a typically opaque manner) a sense of regret and refusal to move on. Next up is ‘Antidote’, a lo-fi pop song which is all slapped drums and minimalist off-centre poetry:

“chew me out of this hole dear
ward me off with amethyst
half built walls still setting in
sold my soul to the devil yeah”

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=126330908 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=73122941]

The title track is piano-led with earnest vocals, a sad song but one with something intangibly upbeat, some glimmering glow that suggests things aren’t all bad. Following that is ‘Running Out Fast’, with its echoey vocals and clinking percussion and dreamy vocals gliding through the gloom. ‘No Innocents (Bad Moon)’ is slow and winding, inching along in an eerie, shadowy ambience, and ‘Autumn 1998’ is led by acoustic guitar and sits on a backdrop of minimal piano and atmospherics, ending in an extended outro that buzzes and hums and whines. ‘Disposable Comatose’ sounds like a dream pop Coma Cinema track played at half pace, and ‘Bury My Dead Horses’ has chilled-out shambling rock and roll drums and sad mumbling vocals, eventually building with squealing electric guitars, as if something has come unloose and broken through the thick murk. ‘Midnight Cross’ is sad and sedate, with breathy floaty background vocals and an audio sample. It’s a lovely track and feels like sweetly sad, like a dream about a loved who has been dead for a long time. Closer ‘Dog Years’ is a slow and melancholy finale, with synth lines which swing around in slow motion.

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Victoria Park is perhaps Fog Lake’s most accomplished effort to date, a complex collage of nebulous angst and heartfelt nostalgia, although not the rosy golden kind you might be used to. The cassettes are sold out, but you can still get it on a pay-what-you-want basis via the Fog Lake Bandcamp page.

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Details about Henoheno are scarce. We know that he is based in Japan, but that he wrote this album before leaving wherever he was pre-Japan (hence the title). Aaaand… that’s about it. ‘Destroy’ is a lo-fi bedroom pop song with misleadingly chirpy instrumentation and some rather dark lyrics. Imprisoned within the adolescent cell of Home, the narrator deals with suffocating anxiety and dread, denouncing his situation and pleading for help:

“I hate my parents they really fuck me over. I just want to leave this house.
I hate my family they really fuck me over. Don’t want to see them ever again.
Get me out, get me out, I can’t say it enough. Get me out, get me out ‘cause living here is tough.
I go out, I go out, the stress is killing me. I go out, I go out where nobody knows me.”

With it’s imperfect instrumentation and candid, painfully honest lyrics, Henoheno has more than a bit in common with Coma Cinema. Here unbearable emotional suffering is presented in a detached manner, as if the narrator has transcended into an outer body experience or else knows the pain so well it lacks the immediacy it once possessed. The talk of drastic action in the strangely catchy chorus only furthers this sense of dissociation between the narrator’s body and self:

“I stopped that feeling but it has come back. I feel like shit and I just want to destroy myself”

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The album might not be the easiest of listens, but will speak to many who feel alone and afraid and in need of connection. In a world where social media pushes photoshopped portraits and misleadingly exciting lives, artists like Henoheno are needed to remind us just how hard life can be.

I Made These Songs Before I Moved will be released on the 2nd of July on Fox Food Records. You can pre-order it now via Bandcamp, both digitally or on limited edition cassette tapes (which are a lovely pea green, see below).

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New Alhambra is held together by a variety of samples, snippets of recordings that act as tiny, fervid interludes between the deadpan songs. From wrestling commentary to the title track’s televangelist, these clips are packed with half-remembered meaning, sharp, alluring passions which time has driven out of reach. The result appears to be indifference, the waves of agony and joy synchronising perfectly and flat-lined by destructive interference. For every wound avoided is a comfort missed, the roulette wheel of pleasure and pain thrown out in favour of a vague and nagging ache that no amount of distraction can overcome. The question is, do we accept this trade-off?

For me, this begins to get at the biggest misconception about Cothran’s songs. Many view his impassive style as the message of his music, the emotionless delivery sucking life from his poetic words, showing his deadened apathy toward a meaningless life etc., but really it’s the other way around. Cothran is challenging his numbness with his words, refusing to give in, attempting to break out as opposed to barricading himself in. Do we accept the trade-off? On New Alhambra, as typified by closing track ‘Wastes of Time’, Cothran says no:

“If you try I will try,
when we fuck up it’s alright,
there is always more to life,
than all these wastes of time.”

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When you take a second look you find the entire album illuminated in this way, light seeping through the cracks in the shadows. What first appear brief sparks are revealed to be points of a sustained blaze which guide you from the murk, like some form of celestial navigation for our age of smog and light pollution. Suddenly the samples begin to sound sincere, what was mistaken for an ironic smirk revealed to be the fragile, vulnerable smile of someone who doesn’t get much practice. The tables have turned 180°, no longer stark, bravely honest songs confronting darkness but rather straight-faced, easily-mockable hymns of the light. This is made clear on ‘N.M.S.S.’ (‘No More Sad Songs’), a song whose I initially assumed ironic that turned out to be an ode to the unshakeable faith of a better future:

“Someday never came so I keep waiting
I will go to sleep still believing

No more sad songs
I will serve no purpose
I love everyone that I have ever known.”

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This is not a born-again Love-The-World-Because-Life-Is-Great sort of album. Elvis Depressedly will not mend broken bones or cast out demons or have you walking across hot coals. Instead they say that afflictions are not all there is, that you are not defined solely by your circumstances. They say that peace and hope are never out of reach and offer an achievable version of optimism, one which does not require manic enthusiasm or God-like goodwill but instead a pinch of determination and a firm belief in love.

New Alhambra is out now on Run For Cover Records, including some rather lovely vinyl editions.

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