Retracing the footsteps of beloved Scottish nature writer Nan Shepherd, Alice Boyd and eight other women set out into the Cairngorm mountains in 2023, spending four days immersed in nature with Shepherd’s writing and spirit as a guide. Boyd’s new EP Cloud Walking is a journal of this experience, combing folk harmonies and chamber pop instrumentation with field recordings gathered in situ to reflect upon the challenges and joys of facing the elements. A response to the song ‘Heart’ by Jacob Norris’, who Boyd collaborated with for previous release The Favourite, single ‘Heart ii’ embodies the the EP’s philosophy—championing the benefits of slowing down and connecting to your surroundings amid a busy, panicked world.

Stay calm in the torrent
Stay slow in the chase
And hasten to help out
And hurry to make

Brent Amaker and the Rodeo – You’re No Good

“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.” That’s how we described Brent Amaker and the Rodeo earlier this year, won over both by their single ‘Take Me By The Horns‘ and cover of Devo’s ‘Gut Punch‘. Having travelled to Mexico City with Mariachis, Amaker is now teasing new album Vaquero, pencilled for release sometime in 2025, and single ‘You’re No Good’ introduces what to expect from the record. The buoyant spirit of the Salón Tenampa at Plaza Garibaldi committed to song, with Amaker’s distinctive, almost Cash-esque cowboy vocals hinting at the dark underside of such a good time. Watch the video directed and edited by Jasmina Hirschl below:

‘You’re No Good’ is out now. Vaquero will be released some time in 2025.

Celeste Madden – Fever Dream

“A lesson in unguarded feelings which isn’t afraid to risk overstatement in trying to explain the sensation of the moment.” So we wrote back in the summer of Celeste Madden‘s ‘Joan of Arc’, a single released via Sad Club Records which represented the first release from the UK songwriter in two years. This sincere style continues through into latest track ‘Fever Dream’ too. Pairing acute longing with an ethereal air, the song charts those heady days of romance where pleasure and frustration accentuate one another and everything feels so close yet so far away. A state almost unreal in its experience. “Life with someone becomes a distorted daydream,” as Madden explains. “Thrilling but unnatural.”

‘Fever Dream’ is out now on streaming services.

Denison Witmer – Focus Ring (feat. Sufjan Stevens)

Next February, Philadelphia singer-songwriter Denison Witmer will release new full-length, Anything At All, an album made in collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, who produced, recorded and performed on the songs. With a balance found between Witmer’s characteristically straightforward, earnest folk and Stevens’s ornate arrangements, the album probes into great existential themes with a careful hand, delving into ordinary domestic scenes to locate the joy to be found there. “Anything At All is about doubling down on family life and doing everything I can to slow the pace of my life as things around me feel busier than ever before,” Witmer explains. “It’s about putting systems in place and committing to the changes needed to make it work.” New single and opener ‘Focus Ring’ introduces the style perfectly, its warm sound full of heart and fondness. Watch the video directed and animated by Stephen Halker below:

Anything At All is out on the 14th February via Asthmatic Kitty Records.

Frog – Did Santa Come

Having returned from hiatus in 2023 with the excellent full-length Grog, New York cult heroes Frog are already preparing to drop another album on us. And though we have to wait until March for the intriguingly titled 1000 Variations on the Same Song, the duo have been kind enough to share an appropriately seasonal taster to tide us over into the new year. ‘Did Santa Come’ “is about my son when he was two years old at Christmas time,” Daniel Bateman explains. “Every morning for 2-3 weeks after, he would wake up and ask, “Did Santa Come?” Seeing the world through the eyes of your children makes it all very beautiful.” In true Frog style, this is delivered with full sincerity yet with no trace of the Hallmark sweetness the description might suggest, committing instead to the idiosyncratic energy which has won the project so many fans.

‘Did Santa Come’ is available now from the Frog Bandcamp page. 1000 Variations on the Same Song will be released in March.

Golden Tiles – Doesn’t Take Long to Find

Last month Portland, Oregon outfit Golden Tiles released The First EP, their appropriately titled debut via Antiquated Future Records. Consisting of Oliver Stafford (vocals, guitar), Justin Hocking (drums) and Joshua James Amberson (bass), the band create a bright, laidback brand of basement rock which combines playful melodies, fuzzy textures and reflective vocals. Fans of Guided By Voices will find much to admire in tracks like ‘Tale We Told’ and ‘100%’ , while latest single ‘Doesn’t Take Long to Find’ edges towards Yo La Tengo territory with its assured, nostalgic tones. A trio to watch for sure.

Kramies – That’s A Midwest Christmas

Following on from single ‘Social Light‘, which enlisted the help of Allison Lorenzen to bring to life “another dreamy, melancholic fairy tale which blurs the line between eeriness and empathy to form something ultimately affirming,” songwriter Kramies is capping off 2024 with a Christmas song of his own. ‘That’s A Midwest Christmas’ is everything you’d expect from a festive tune. Warm fondness and nostalgic reflection edged with something more melancholic, the acoustic arrangement creating an intimate, authentic sound able to chart the bittersweet quality of the season. Another year has past, the weight of days gone grows heavier, but everyone is home once again.

‘That’s A Midwest Christmas’ is out now.

The Men – Pony

With their fifteenth album Buyer Beware coming next February via Fuzz Club, prolific New York punks The Men have unveiled new single ‘Pony’ to defiantly evidence their refusal to slow down. In someone else’s hands, a song which asks “when you gonna stop running?” in the opening line might opt for a slower, more reflective sound, but The Men answer the questioning with a blistering momentum, teeing up another record which examines the turbulent present with all the snarl and bite it deserves. Recording engineer Travis Harrison (Guided by Voices, Built to Spill) helps the band achieve their live performance on tape, and the raw immediacy is apparent from the first second to the last.

The world is ending
grab a seat
enjoy the ride

Watch the video by Preston Spurlock below:

Buyer Beware will be released on the 28th February 28th via Fuzz Club.

Will Stratton – I Found You

“When the forest burns, what ghosts rise as steam from the boiling soil?” So asks Points of Origin, the new full-length from Will Stratton, forthcoming via Bella Union and Ruination Record Co. next March. Described as a novelistic album “as dense as a Pynchon picaresque,” by Ben Seretan in the album notes, the collection sees Stratton grapple with the grim realities of the Anthropocene across an almost geologic span of time, centring on California as a kind of a ground zero for both the causes and effects of humanity’s connection to nature. Lead single and opener ‘I Found You’ pitches the listener straight in with a rich, character-led narrative, Stratton’s vocals prominent within the careful, tender arrangement. “I met a mechanic up near the state line / he knew I knew motors and paid me just fine,” as one verse sets out. “I couriered engines all over the state / and settles by Shasta surrounded by lakes / the beds have gone dry but I do what I can / to keep away fire from my plot of land.”

it rips through the Coulter and Tamarack pines
and it thickens the air ’til you’d think you’d gone blind
saying, oh where are you, oh where are you, when it has reddened the sky
oh where are you, oh where are you, when heaven abandoned the sky

The post Weekly Listening: December 2024 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“Up on the hillside / dressed in red,” as the track opens, “wasting the sunlight / is only fair / wronging what you can’t right / with me.” The vocals are crooned gently over languid acoustic guitar and strings, though as the track develops so too does its intricacy and drama, the song revealing itself to owe as much to the left-field arrangements of acts like Dirty Projectors as traditional folk. These sensibilities ebb and flow in keeping with the emotional turmoil of the lyrics and strings which lead with a poignant, often playful plasticity. What emerges is a picture of a failing relationship in all of its contradictions. Regret and longing sit side by side, so too conviction and doubt, as well as a steadfast belief in both the misery and wonder of any human connection. “I wanna say,” as Boyd and Norris voice together, “love is such a luminous waste.”

The song comes complete with a video illustrated and animated by Morvern Graham, which you can watch below:

‘The Favourite’ is out now and available from the usual places.

Artwork by Morvern Graham

The post Alice Boyd & Jacob Norris – The Favourite appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Based in South London, Alice Boyd is a singer-songwriter and sound artist who looks to address our increasingly disconnected position within the wider ecological system. This might be through residences and performances in botanical gardens, travelling to collect field recordings or even making music with plants themselves. As the title suggests, new single ‘Life in Cities’ finds Boyd mourning this separation from nature and pining for a more interconnected way of living. A hushed, reflective folk song which gazes out at its surroundings with a heavy heart. “Life in cities now / sleep no more,” as the opening lines go, “stare out my window / ’til the break of dawn.” Melancholy not as a form of pessimism, but rather a feeling born of knowing what nature could offer us should we let it in. Watch the video by Edith Morris below:

‘Life in Cities’ is out now and available from the Alice Boyd website.

BYLAND – Postcard

BYLAND, the recording project of Albuquerque-born, Seattle-based artist Alie Renee Byland, will next year release a new full-length album Heavy For A While. Latest single ‘Postcard’ gives an insight into what to expect from the release. Mournful but never without hope, the song explores the concept of searching for a place to call home within a world in which things too often fall away. Meagan Grandall of Lemolo sings the last verse before joining Byland for the final chorus, something which elevates the song both stylistically and thematically. “Meagan is someone whose friendship fostered so much of my own growth, and whose music and voice warms and inspires me,” Byland explains. “In the final chorus, we both sing the main melody, doubling each other, which feels almost like a sister comforting another sister in this life of too often ‘goodbyes’.”

‘Postcard’ is out now and available from the usual places.

Jackie West – Tiny Flowers ii

Back in 2022 we wrote about ‘Amelia‘, a single from New York-based songwriter Jackie West which offered a picture of close friendship in all of its persistence and comfort. But working within this warm sound was something more mysterious, dipping beneath the surface fondness to evoke the intangible connections we might share with other people. Released via Ruination Record Co., new single ‘Tiny Flowers ii’ builds upon these foundations, drawing the audience in with tenderness yet remaining distinctively ambiguous in its overall tone. The opening verse’s wistful fondness is undercut by the refrain: “I don’t fall in love like that anymore.” The line complicates the second listen and every one thereafter, its gravity subverting the track’s structure and perspective from what the sound might originally suggest.

‘Tiny Flowers ii’ is out now via the Jackie West Bandcamp page.

Jacob Faurholt – Words Whispered From the Sand

We’ve long admired the work of Jacob Faurholt, most recently with album When the Spiders Crawl and single ‘Madness on the Rise‘. The latter was a song “exploring mental struggles with Faurholt’s characteristically empathetic and understanding style,” as we wrote, [but carrying] a certain starkness too as the electric guitar rumbles with palpable weight, a formidable force bubbling up around fragile vulnerability.” With new album Burn Burn Here out now, Faurholt has shared single ‘Words Whispered From the Sand’, which embodies the record’s foreboding yet tender tone. Faurholt recorded the album at his home studio beneath his children’s bedroom, its hushed quiet as much a practical necessity as anything else. The result feels like being invited into an artist’s home to listen to what comes out in the still hours of the night.

Burn Burn Here is out now and available via the Jacob Faurholt Bandcamp page.

Luke De-Sciscio – Clever Ghost

Heaven, the latest full-length album from songwriter Luke De-Sciscio, felt like the work of an artist finding their true voice. “As though,” as we put it in our review, “having built up momentum across the years, De-Sciscio was able to record an album free of overthinking and overworking, instead tapping into an intuitive flow which charges the songs with a sense of poetic authenticity.” Not one to squander this headspace, De-Sciscio has returned with ‘Clever Ghost’. The stripped-back folk sound splits the difference between warm intimacy and tortured loneliness, playing like the patient confession of a man caught between memories and dreams.

‘Clever Ghost’ is available now on a variety of streaming platforms.

Oh, Rose – Back 2 U

We’ve followed Olympia’s Oh, Rose since the release of their exceptional SEVEN, so it was with great excitement that we saw Olivia Rose and co. have returned with brand new single, ‘Back 2 U’. Their first release since 2019’s While My Father Sleeps, the song shows a newly pop/dance dimension to the Oh, Rose sound. But however changed the style might be, it is the sense of returning which stands out most clearly. “I remember when I wrote this I wondered who/what I was going back to. Songs have a funny way of revealing themselves and we took our time with this one,” Rose explained in an Instagram post. “Right now I’m gonna leave it at back to music, back to friendship, back to y’all in a way that feels lighter than before… I hope this song can be a roadmap to LOVE.”

ask me where I am
the maps they all trace back
back to you

Speedrun – Hysteria

‘Hysteria’ is the new single from Speedrun, the “indie chic” project of New York’s Nina Lüders. Named after the psychological condition that was originally considered unique to women (the word originates from “hystera”, the Greek word for uterus), the song explores what Lüders describes as “the false equivalency of female rage as psychosis, independence as irritability, autonomy as threat.” Beneath the angular guitars and propulsive percussion and indignant backing vocal (“do what the fuck I want!”) lies an uplifting message of female solidarity and empowerment. “This song is for the mothers and sisters in my life who raised me,” Lüders describes, “and taught me to turn my rage into light, compassion, and forgiveness.” Watch the lyrics video by John Filmanowicz below:

‘Hysteria’ is out now via streaming services.

talker – Drag Your Feet

“I’ve said that the songs on my new record are my most honest songs ever,” says Celeste Tauchar of talker of her forthcoming debut album, “but that doesn’t always just mean being honest with others. Sometimes, it means accepting a hard truth for yourself.” This is particularly true of latest single ‘Drag Your Feet’, a song written after the long decline of a five-year relationship. It’s a hooky indie rock song that marbles sadness over the end with a sense of relief in finally admitting the truth, a big messy catharsis that burns a new hopeful path into the future.

‘Drag Your Feet’ is out now via streaming services.

WILDES – heartbreak is silent

Following the release of debut album Other Words Fail Me back in January, Ella Walker’s WILDES is readying a new EP for release next Spring. Titled Subsidence, the record promises to see the Anglo-Irish songwriter and producer return to her roots, recorded at home with the help of long-time collaborator Matt Wiggins. Walker says the EP “centres around the abrupt end of a loving relationship that left me quite devastated and shocked,” and lead single ‘heartbreak is silent’ tackles this theme head on. It’s a pulsing synth pop song with a calm, clear-eyed centre, capturing the strange mixture of strength and vulnerability that follow in the aftermath of heartbreak.

‘heartbreak is silent’ is out now via the WILDES Bandcamp page.

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