Though led by poet/fiction writer Mike Young, Clementine Was Right is far more than a solo project. With Young now joined by fellow poet Gion Davis, as well as a core group of musicians based between Denver and Arkansas, the project is one always moving and always changing, adapting to each present moment to best convey the stories which feel most pressing at that given time. So while ‘Dreaming of Dancing in a Different Town‘ offered nostalgic country rock and ‘Takes Tall Walks‘ pushed towards Killers-esque indie polish, latest track ‘There Are No More Almond Trees’ adds a scrappier immediacy. Still falling under the wider ‘Western emo’ tag they’ve made their own, the track is full of the wistful fondness we’ve come to expect, but balances this with a newfound playfulness.

Heartrunner – Faltering

‘Faltering’ is the debut single from Toronto indie rock band Heartrunner. Lead vocalist & songwriter Adina V is supported by Eric Bernhardt (guitar), Chris Parnis (bass), and Aidan Lucas-Buckland (drums), who together craft a lush sounds that’s tinged with sadness or longing. The track opens with sedate acoustic guitar and measured percussion, eventually swelling with electric guitar into a rich and emotionally charged finale. The band say the single “takes listeners through the dissociation, slipping relationships, and failing drive that comes with substance abuse,” and this helplessness and loss of self-confidence is captured in the loaded final lines.

Good God I’m faltering
I’m no good at anything

Jeremy Ferrara – Darkness Is A Bright Sound

Next March,  Portland, Oregon-based songwriter Jeremy Ferrara is putting out a brand new full-length, Darkness Is A Bright Sound via American Standard Time Records and A For Effort Records. Though continuing what we’ve previously called a practice centred “on openness and sincerity” which “conjures warm and welcoming songs within which he invites the listener,” the album sees Ferrara adopt a full band arrangement for the first time, resulting in his richest sound to date. The title track and album opener serves as the door through which the audience can enter this world, highlighting the sense of subtlety and control which marks the Jeremy Ferrara sound.

Mal Not Bad – AP

“Drawing the analogy of an athlete going through the highs and lows of competition to ask how one continues to push forward when exhaustion and disappointment have sapped all will to carry on.” That’s how we described ‘Sports’ from Mal Not Bad‘s Continuous Short Feature Film last year. But push forward the LA-based musician and visual artist did, as new single ‘AP’ attests. The first glimpse of a new project due in 2024, the track displays a newfound depth within the Mal Not Bad sound, leaning further into electronic sensibilities while simultaneously interrogating the impact of technology, resulting in a nuanced exploration of the human experience within the digital present.

The song comes with a video co-directed by Hauser and Seannie Bryan, a solo dance-performance created in collaboration with choreographer Alyssa Allen:

‘AP’ is available now from Bandcamp.

Mia Joy – 4th of July

Mia Joy‘s 2021 album Spirit Tamer utilised a dreamy style to form “a chronicle of [Mia] Rocha’s history,” as we put it in a review. “A way of collecting the seemingly disparate pieces that make up a life in the hope of making sense of them, and learning more about the resulting whole.” Again released via  Fire Talk Records, new EP Celestial Mirror sees the Chicago artist continue this exploration, digging into the way people and events can come to shape your sense of identity. Single ‘4th of July’ fashions a safe haven from its hazy sounds, giving space to drop the armour of self-protection in favour of a more vulnerable, open state. “Time is a teacher,” as Mia Joy sings in the opening lines, “so teach me how to love / without the fear of its cost.”

Moselle – Pesticides

“I think I accidentally / smoked pesticides or PCP  the year before I left for college,” sings Moselle on their new single, ‘Pesticides. “Everything looked like a deep fried meme / I think somebody laced my weed / I didn’t do it to myself I promise.” The first taste of an EP coming sometime next year, the track positions the Ozarks folk punk project alongside contemporaries like Pacing, where deadpan delivery and playful details are fashioned into an image of a specific moment and frame of mind. Self-deprecating perhaps, but full of wry humour too. “What if I broke this stupid glass over my dumb head?” as the chorus asks:

Let all the blood run down my arms ’til the garden’s fed
Wait til the flowers bloom in the same place that I bled
Make a bouquet hoping I’m half as useful when I’m dead

Rosie Tucker – Unending Bliss

Following recent “mini visual album” Tiny Songs Volume 1, LA’s Rosie Tucker is back with a brand new single, ‘Unending Bliss’. Packed with power chords and crashing percussion, the single is a fervent and furious treatise on the power of forgiveness and resistance in a society which seems hellbent on pitting people against one another. “’Unending Bliss’ is about petty personal beef,” Tucker describes, “and, simultaneously, about my fury at the material conditions that encourage us to treat each other like crap in order to survive.”

I want nothing but unending bliss for my enemies

Watch Vanesa De La Mora’s animated video below:

‘Unending Bliss’ is out now via Sentimental Records.

Sonya – God Save Your Soul

With new album At What Cost? on the horizon, California-based alt pop act Sonya has shared the first single, ‘God Save Your Soul’. With a sound that flits between chilled and urgent sensibilities, the song offers the sultry pop soundscapes of the late 00s buzz bands and adds a through line of energy. What results might be buried in a sun-kissed haze, but nevertheless possesses a tangible immediacy, Sonya’s vocals emerging from within the hypnotic atmosphere as though looking to shake you from its hold.

‘God Save Your Soul’ is out now via streaming services.

Sophie Gault – Christmas in the Psych Ward

Having previously recorded as Sophie & the Broken Things, Nashville-based songwriter Sophie Gault is releasing new album Baltic Street Hotel on Petaluma Records next spring, and single ‘Christmas in the Psych Ward’ gives an indication what to expect. The record was produced by Ray Kennedy, collaborator with folk royalty including Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin, and the single very much follows such a lineage, delving into highly personal experiences of bipolar disorder with a tone both steely and wry.  “There’s a guitar they give you if you’re doing good / It’s got four strings and it’s made of plywood,” as Gault sings. “I’m gonna go write down some songs and take them to Nashville / ‘That’s funny, honey, just swallow a few of these pills’.”

Baltic Street Hotel is out via Petaluma Records on the 12 April 2024.

Trinket – Silver Thread

Trinket might have originated as the solo project of Madison Kate Proffitt, but soon welcomed Basil Lee (drums), Nara Avakian (bass) and occasionally Sean Camargo into the fold and evolved towards a jangling, eighties-inflected pop style. Debut EP New Hobby is coming soon on Sad Club Records, and single ‘Silver Thread’ highlights why audiences should be anticipating their potent blend of lush nostalgia and serious self-reflection. “This song is about idealization, getting to a point with someone important in your life who sends you mixed messages,” Proffitt explains. ‘Maybe you want them to be someone they aren’t, maybe you’re projecting onto them […] It’s about stopping that cycle and letting yourself move forward.”

‘Silver Thread’ is out now via Sad Club Records and available from the Trinket Bandcamp page.

The post Weekly Listening: November 2023 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

After a hiatus from music, Yasi Lowy moved to San Francisco in 2018 and returned as Bad Tiger. Released in 2020, album The Goat and the Bad Tiger was the first product of this new period, but far from being the full realisation of Lowy’s goals, it merely opened the doors to new possibilities. With new ideas in hand, Bad Tiger worked with Mackenzie Bunch at Coyote Hearing Studio on a new EP, Sanctuary. ‘Clear Vision’ is our first taste of the release, a bedroom pop track stretched taut with strength of feeling. A track which holds paradoxes in its palm with a sense of curiosity. “I know what I want so long as it’s gone,” Lowy sings, “so long as it’s out of sight, I’ve got clear vision.”

Head to the Bad Tiger Bandcamp page for info on pre-ordering Sanctuary.

bedbug – songs about ghosts

When bedbug released their last full-length, life like moving pictures, back in 2020, it was something of a conclusion. The final part of a trilogy of albums that began with on 2016’s if i got smaller grew wings and flew away for good, it marked the end of a significant stage of the project’s life. It served “not only as a conclusion,” we wrote in a review, “but a summation of what bedbug has come to mean over the previous few years.” So the natural question was, what comes next?

After a little wait, the answer is now revealed. bedbug has evolved Pokémon-style into a full band and announced a self-titled EP, to be released in March on the inimitable Disposable America. To display this new direction, bedbug have unveiled the EP’s lead single, a reimagining of ‘songs about ghosts’, which initially featured on if i got smaller…. Check it out below:

Big Nothing – A Lot of Finding Out

Philly-based outfit Big Nothing are set to release their second record Dog Hours this coming February. Their first on Lame-O Records, the album captures the buoyant blend of compassion and confidence that makes Big Nothing so compelling. Equal parts intimate alt-country and bold power pop, as highlighted by lead single ‘A Lot of Finding Out’ with its acoustic guitars and elastic bounce.

Julia Blair – Waste Away

Making her name fronting Wisconsin country rock outfit Dusk, whose 2018 self-titled record on Don Giovanni Records won wide acclaim, Julia Blair has gone solo for brand new album Better Out Than In on Crutch of Memory. After the bright and fierce nineties-inflected pop rock of lead single ‘Relax’, new song ‘Waste Away’ shows off another side to Blair’s work. A considered meditation on the dissolution of a relationship wrapped within a rich arrangement of strings. The track comes complete with a video directed by Finn Bjornerud, with choreography by Monica Endres.

Better Out Than In is out via Crutch Of Memory and you can pre-order it from the Julia Blair Bandcamp page.

Bryde – Silver Suns

Hailing from Pembrokeshire and now based in London, Bryde has won acclaim with an emotive and cathartic brand of indie rock. Following on from 2020’s The Volume of Things, Bryde is opening 2022 with the first taste of a brand new record. With its tenderhearted piano foundations, ‘Silver Suns’ explores the diversity of love, pushing beyond the stereotypical images to delve into ideas of self-acceptance and non-judgemental affection.

Georgia Harmer – Austin

Following on from first single, ‘Headrush‘, Toronto‘s Georgia Harmer returns with new track, ‘Austin’, on Arts & Crafts. Building on the rich and nostalgic sound of the first song, ‘Austin’ tackles homesickness and familial love with a special focus on Harmer’s father and his experiences as a touring musician. Indeed, Harmer Snr. plays lead guitar on the track, recorded in the family living room. A tangible link to the connection which sparked the song in the first place. “Went to Austin Texas for a day / To everyone I saw I said your name,” she sings in the opening line. “The setting sun the hot wind on my face / Felt like home an unfamiliar place.”

We were cowboys in another life
But I am you your other life is mine
Often when I speak to you I cry
Never can explain the reason why
Never understood the reason

KASHKA – isolation

Last winter saw the return of Toronto-based dream pop project KASHKA with latest release, soft. Part of Kat Burns‘s ever-evolving style, the record lived up to its title with its gentle and welcoming sound, providing a nook in which the listener can sit and contemplate the current moment. Single ‘isolation’ captures this mood through the muted beauty of a snow day, looking for common humanity within the experience of being cut off from the world.

soft is out in February and you can find it on the KASHKA Bandcamp page.

Lofi Legs – My Silence

Combining garage rock and bedroom pop with psych and surf sensibilities, San Francisco‘s Lofi Legs are out to capture the highs and lows of life. Ahead of their album Leg Day on Italian-American label We Were Never Being Boring Collective, they have unveiled lead single ‘my silence’ to welcome us into this style. A song smack back in the middle of a Venn diagram between poignant and playful. “‘My Silence’ started as a conversation on shrooms about how I had gotten quieter,” explains Paris Cox-Farr, “and in the song I am picking apart my silent vulnerability to see if there’s something happening inside.”

Night Shop – Let Me Let It Go

Next month sees the release of Forever Night, the full-length album from LA‘s Night Shop on Dangerbird Records. To add to the anticipation for what we’ve described previously as a “triumphant meditation on nocturnal life,” Justin Sullivan has unveiled a brand new single, ‘Le Me Let It Go’. With a band featuring Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Will Ivy (Flatworms) and Anna St. Louis, as well as engineering from Jarvis Taveniere (Woods), the song finds a bona fide supergroup at the height of their chemistry. Check out the video by Jeff Davenport and Cooper Kenward below:

I was halfway through my time on this earth. When I had a strange feeling like I had at my birth. Surrounded by strangers, crying in some room. I felt myself at such a remove. And I loved them all but I couldn’t say how, I just screamed a lot and then I shut my mouth.

Forever Night is out via Dangerbird Records on the 11th February and you can pre-order it from the Night Shop Bandcamp page.

Quiet Hollers – Garden of Love

Louisville outfit Quiet Hollers returned this January with Forever Chemicals, what they describe as their “joyfully nihilistic” fourth record. True to their genre-bending spirit, the album draws from all facets of the rock style to create a sound at once mischievous and sincere, leaning toward the darker end of the spectrum without sacrificing the steely will beneath the gloom. Single ‘Garden of Love’ is and example of the record’s earnest side, a yearning track fired by propulsive drums and lifted by the evocative delivery of lead Shadwick Wilde.

Rascal Miles – Locusts

We’ve previously described Rascal Miles‘s Tailor-Made as an examination of “both the violence and banal practicalities of becoming the person you are meant to be,” and latest single ‘Locusts’ is no different. Taking inspiration from Ennio Morricone and the world of Spaghetti Westerns, the track confronts post gender transition dysphoria and the hostility of the world with a sense of defiance. “I am who I am, and sometimes it seems like the whole world is out to get me, but even if we’re marching into an outnumbered battle in our fight for acceptance, we’re stepping out of the shadows and into the light,” Miles explains. “No more hiding. No backing down. Bring on the locusts.”

You can grab a copy of Tailor-Made from the Rascal Miles Bandcamp page.

Lee Switzer-Woolf – The Negative Twin

Having been a part of bands like Launch Control and The Seasons in Shorthand, 2022 sees Reading-based artist Lee Switzer-Woolf step out on his own with debut single, ‘The Negative Twin’. Taken from full-length Scientific Automatic Palmistry, out by All Will Be Well Records this February, the song introduces the darkly ruminative tone of Switzer-Woolf’s sound. A sparse and haunting track which nevertheless carries a stark urgency beneath its inky surface. Like an undercurrent pulling toward some unfortunate conclusion.

Erisy Watt – New Same

This spring sees the release of Eyes like the Ocean, a new record from Portland’s Erisy Watt on American Standard Time Records. Lead single ‘New Same’ welcomes us into the world of the record, one as indebted to contemporaries like Haley Heynderickx as the sixties stars of the genre. “I was reflecting on habits, trying to break the old and shape the new, and I was feeling stuck,” Watt explains. “We all want to blossom into the best versions of ourselves and often forget that it takes time, that it’s never a linear path. Old voices linger. Old behaviours crop up.” ‘New Same’ is a recognition of this fact, learning to adapt one’s outlook as the landscape shifts below.

Anna Westin – Bright Burning Mess

‘Bright Burning Mess’ finds Canadian poet and songwriter Anna Westin working at the intersection of her various artistic outlets. With both spoken word and sung lyrics populating the lushly ethereal folk arrangement, the track slots in alongside those contemporaries like Cassandra Jenkins. Songs looking to push the possibilities of language within the indie folk movement, and elevate the emotions found within.

‘Bright Burning Mess’ is out now more about Anna Westin’s work on her website.

Kimberly Morgan York – Real Thing

Though it was recorded way back in 2006, only to be released in 2022, Kimberly Morgan York’s debut LP Found Yourself a Lady transports you far further back than that. Recorded with The Everlovin’ Band and featuring Brad Morgan of the Drive-By Truckers, Found Yourself a Lady is a country record in the classic sense. A collection of songs occupying a timeless space of love and loss, as demonstrated by single ‘Real Thing’. A romance so fierce it could never burn for long, but oh how warm it is in the moment.

Call your momma we ain’t coming tonight
I need some lovin by the pale moon light
She’ll forgive you and I won’t wait
Tomorrow I’ll call in late

Found Yourself a Lady is out now and you can find more about Kimberly Morgan York’s work on her website.

The post Weekly Listening – Jan 2022 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opening track and lead single ‘Morning Light’ serves as the perfect introduction to this style. It is a song that explores “inner peace found through movement, place, freedom, love,” Ferrara explains, “and the strange intersection of these different but similar forces.” This peace emerges through the track, not in the form of some New Age bliss but rather something modest and imperfect and beautiful. Quiet joys coloured by sadness, where impermanence can be mourned but never resented, and is perhaps the key to finding contentment after all.

So I thank you Northwest Sky
I thank you open road
I thank you morning light
For you I’ll never be alone

So now everything’s changed, taken a different name
Taken a different weight in my life
This whole book’s busted open wide
I’m just a page drifting away in the night

The post Jeremy Ferrara – Morning Light appeared first on Various Small Flames.