The album, created during a period of free time after Leitch lost his job and chose to focus on music for a few months, was born from the tiniest seed—some chords that Leitch heard his wife playing on their piano. “I knew right away that I was making a full album with that song as the intro,” he says. Opener ‘Admit’ begins with these chords, which almost have a dial tone quality, Leitch’s gentle vocals delivering something of a mantra to recite during the mundanity of the day-to-day. “Tell yourself it will all just be okay,” he sings, “take your time and you will find there is a reason.” Eventually the song blossoms into crunchy, 90s throwback indie rock, and provides a quick intravenous rush to go with the confidence building lyrics.

‘Ant’ is a different thing altogether, A Weather-style snaking guitar like an autumn drive through the countryside, Leitch’s vocals delivered with an effortless flow. It becomes quickly apparent that the whole album has this variation, that About a Million isn’t satisfied with settling on just one sound or song structure. From the dreamy haze of ‘Caught Up’, to the slow waltzing bedroom pop of ‘Don’t Be Afraid’, the songs are varied musically but linked by a narrative thread, the intentions that formed the basis of the record.

Side B begins with ‘Underwater’, with its acoustic guitar and pan-pipe effects, which describes growing older, before the Songs:Ohia-esque shadowy Americana of ‘I Know You’.
But it’s ‘Young Bull’ that is perhaps the side’s standout, a LVL Up style laid-back indie rock song. “I wish I could stay young forever,” Leitch sings, “that way I could break all the rules and get away with it.” It’s one of many tracks where About A Million laments growing into that long middle period of life where you’re supposed to be responsible and take care of yourself. As Already Dead describe in their write up: “It’s like that scene in Army of Darkness (1993) where the Deadites are resurrecting skeletons from a graveyard to form an army and the ringleader says to a freshly unearthed skeleton: ‘Welcome back to the land of the livin’. NOW PICK UP A SHOVEL AND GET DIGGING!'”

The message that comes through most strongly on Look For Me When You Get Bored is that it’s okay to reject some of society’s expectations, that there are better ways of finding contentment than subjecting yourself to a daily grind. And, most importantly of all, everyone should find time to be themselves. As Leitch tells Already Dead, “I finally had the time to be who I really am without having to forcefully brush the work dust off my shoulder after getting home.”

You can get the album now from Already Dead Tapes and Records or from the About a Million Bandcamp page.

The post About a Million – Look For Me When You Get Bored appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire – Violet

Glasgow’s Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire are back with a new single, ‘Violet’, a track which blends delicate melancholy with a human warmth in a way reminiscent of The National.  The song is taken from their forthcoming album, Swithering, which you can pre-order right now.

Winter Villains – We’re Stuck With The Beauty

Taken from the Cardiff band’s sophomore album Once there were sparks, now there are ashes, ‘We’re Stuck with the Beauty’ is a strange, orchestral chamber pop song both striking and beautiful. A certain oddness underpins both the sound and the lyrics, a sense that the world is not quite as it seems, the angles not quite logical, the imagery shot through with an obscure sense of meaning.

dné – Meeting Points at 2AM

The recording project of Czech Republic’s Ondrej Holy, dné is a neo-classical project born not of formal training but an innate musicality, drawing upon piano, strings and vocals as well as lush field recordings and other sampling techniques. The result is new album These Semi Feelings, They Are Everywhere, a critique of “today’s world of Internet driven hyper-realities, superficial connections and the increasing elusiveness of romance and relationships”, though as ‘Meeting Points at 2AM’ shows, there is hope and light aplenty. The album is out via Majestic Casual Records.

Mitski – ‘Your Best American Girl’ live on Colbert

We wrote a preview post about Puberty 2 and ‘Your Best American Girl’ back in , and while we’d planned to give the album the full review it deserved, it was difficult to find the time and space to write something interesting about Mitski that hasn’t already been said. So, in the likely event that the review never appears, here’s a spellbinding live session from Colbert to remind you that Mitski is special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkvE_0k_2q0

Luke De-Sciscio – Stanton Park

Luke De-Sciscio describes his latest album Gossamer Rose as one about “growing to the point you can face yourself candidly – about recognising your flaws and intricacies such that you can contribute to this journey through life in the most positive way… it’s a record about eye contact.” This idea shines through on ‘Stanton Park’, a suitably intimate folk song where every imperfection only reinforces the sense of authenticity, drawing on the likes of JBM and adding warmth and nostalgic poetry.

Hypocrite in a Hippy Crypt – New Friend

San Diego’s Hypocrite in a Hippy Crypt are soon to release a new 6″ lathe-cut single with Brooklyn’s Already Dead Tapes and Records, ‘New Friend’ sounds sunny and gentle, with strummed acoustic guitar and warm choral vocals. With the cartoony, wish-you-were-here style novelty postcard artwork, it’s a welcome relief from the frosty mornings and biting north wind. Pre-order the single now from Bandcamp, and get bonus download codes for four (!) Hypocrite in a Hippy Crypt albums.

Jordan Burchel – Why They Call You Blue

Gainesville, Florida resident Jordan Burchel makes electrically and emotionally charged indie rock that’s infused with a sense of mass and negative space. He’s soon to release his sophomore album, Vowel Sounds, and has recently unveiled a single, ‘Why They Call You Blue’. The song is the perfect introduction to Burchel’s sound and has certainly whet our appetite for the LP. Be sure to keep an eye on his website ahead of release in December.

Century of Ecstasy – Bus

The recording project Stockholm’s Joakim Persson, Century of Ecstasy produces sparse, lonely songs with nothing more complicated than an acoustic guitar and piano. Taken from his latest EP, I’m Leaving, Who Cares?, ‘Bus’ is a lesson in insular music, sounding like a late-night lament as heard from an empty room, so reflective and melancholic that it comes off almost as a ghost story, or rather a story from a ghost.

Skinny Blonde – Hi Annie

New York’s Skinny Blonde blend power pop and garage rock together with wry humour and deadpan vocals to tell stories of wasted youth, coming off like BOAT might have sounded in their high school years. ‘Hi Annie’ is the perfect introduction, the tale of a introverted, peace-loving admirer following their beloved, party-going Annie from a distance, thinking that their differences need not get in the way of romantic love (“I can wait in the car Annie, and you can have a real good time / you and me could go far Annie, I can push on through and I don’t mind / Lord knows I’ve got the time, Annie”). The song is taken from their new album, Precious Cargo, that you can get from Bandcamp.

David Stone – Sound of a Spark

David Stone is a songwriter from Ontario who recently wrote and recorded ‘Sound of a Spark’, a song about his great uncle Sid, a belly gunner in the Second World War. While the whole Remembrance Day thing has become a bit of a commodity, today of all days we should remember the human side of war, and this song does just that.

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