Tracklist:

Act Of – I am Fungus
Static Animal – See You Around
Skirts – Brite Boy (Alex G cover)
Space Mountain – Cloud
Alexander – Going To Sleep
German Error Message – Murmuring
Thelma – Take Me To Orlando
Jeffrey Silverstein – Make Yr Peace (And Have It Too)
camp counselor – museum of broken relationships
Spartan Jet-Plex – Stop
Lala Lala & Why? – Siren 042
Shrimpwitch – Leerers
Sir Babygirl – Flirting With Her
Spielbergs – Five On It
Stella Donnelly – Lunch
Mentalease – Avert a Gaze
Priests – The Seduction of Kansas
Mike Pace and The Child Actors – Hazy, Hot & Humid
Swim Camp – Circle K
BURLY – Kent Lame
Miserable chillers – Cider Palace
Imp of Perverse – Tripping Thru a Hallway On Fire
Go Fever – Olivia
Polyan – Dan Song
Morning River Band – Bury Me
Nigel Wright – Overcast
Denmark – I Know
Sister Wanzala – I Went Whaling in My Gap Year
Body Meat – Nairobi Flex
Derek Piotr – Repeating Bloom (Simon Whetham Remix)
Michael Chinworth – Good As It Gets
Mesa Luna – Dispel
yot club – jaded

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The album, which was released jointly by Disposable America and Forged Artifacts, served as an exploration of the relationship between light and darkness, the often morose lyrics offset by warm, bright instrumentation. However, as ‘Going to Sleep’ highlighted, this juxtaposition was more sincere than incongruous.

The dissonance between style and content is no dissonance at all, rather a considered effort to find light within all things, as though a widened view on the possibility of strength, wonder and joy might allow more opportunities for these features to come to us.

With this in mind, we are delighted to be able to share a brand new video from Alexander, and one which reinforces the band’s earnest and thoughtful sound. Recorded and filmed by Ty Ueda at Mount Misery in Barrington, New Hampshire, the video features two tracks from Settle Down in live session, opening with the aforementioned ‘Going to Sleep’ and leading into ‘Capable’. Both tracks are marked by a sense of care and warmth, opening with an almost hesitant gentleness and growing more assured and urgent as the songs unfurl, as though strength and confidence can be conjured from the simple act of opening up.

March 1st – Philadelphia, PA @ Super Wimpy Punch HQ
March 2nd – Harrisonburg, VA @ Crayola House
March 3rd – Charlotte, NC
March 4th – Atlanta, GA
March 5th – Nashville, TN
March 6th – St. Louis, MO
March 7th – Chicago, IL
March 8th – Akron, OH @ Kling Thing
March 9th – Syracuse, NY @ Otro Cinco
March 10th – Boston, MA @ O’Briens

The post Alexander – Going to Sleep / Capable appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Song list:

Options – Waiting
2nd Grade – Favorite Song
Alexander – Going to Sleep
Ryan Van Gonten – Fabrique
Haunted Continents – What Were You Born For?
Weakened Friends – Blue Again
Shybaby – Lazy Hazy
Frankie Valet – April
Primo! – You’ve Got a Million
Hypoluxo – Kentucky Smooth
Basement Revolver – Knocking
Dead Painters – Output
HALEY – Infinite Pleasure Part 2
Doe – Heated
Ing – Dust
Benjamin Shaw – Terrible Feelings!
internet boy crush – ghost friend
lowly loverboi – Dumb Phone
Dead Tooth – Liars
Kin Hana – You
Bodega – The Truth is Not Punishment
The Cordial Sins – Not Enough
Indoor Cats – Fun 2
Upstairs – Trust the Process
Sabriel’s Orb – Holding
John Atkinson – Bakwaves // Rye
Fanclub – Leaves
The Chairman Dances – Acme Parking Garage
Con Davison – Talk
Ivy Dye – Diminish
Elizabeth Owens – I Long
The Last Bison – Don’t Look Away
Our Fastest Typist – It’s Nice Outside, but My Head is Killing Me

You can find all of our monthly round-up posts here, and our complete array of mixtapes here.

The post September 2018 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Forthcoming record Settle Down, which is being released jointly by Disposable America and Forged Artifacts, looks to solidify this aesthetic, as first single ‘Capable’ suggests. Lyrically, the song takes a rather gloomy path, offering the kind of insular hopelessness familiar in bedroom pop, though the sound itself does not necessarily stick to the memo. Rather, it marries a relaxed rhythm with emotional intimacy, offering an honest warmth that rises into a more pressing chorus.

We’ve been granted the privilege of sharing a second single, ‘Going to Sleep’. Again there’s something of a juxtaposition between the brightness of the sound and the sadness of the lyrics, though there’s also the suggestion of hope flickering at the edges. “‘Going to Sleep’ was one of the first songs I wrote for this record,” Fatato explains, “and it might be my favorite. The B section says: ‘Spitting up the husk of what I won’t be, at least for today, I won’t be that way’ and I think that captures what I wanted the album to be about.”

This offers something of an explanation for the Alexander sound, and one which emerges naturally through repeated listens. The dissonance between style and content is no dissonance at all, rather a considered effort to find light within all things, as though a widened view on the possibility of strength, wonder and joy might allow more opportunities for these features to come to us.

Photo by Savannah Bastian

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