<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Anxiety Blanket Records Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
	<atom:link href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/</link>
	<description>New and independent music</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:58:09 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-GB</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>
	hourly	</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>
	1	</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cropped-finalwhite-e1490809629909-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&#038;ssl=1</url>
	<title>Anxiety Blanket Records Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
	<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
<site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">88787050</site>	<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: November 2025 #1</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/11/04/weekly-listening-november-2025-1/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 20:48:36 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[all my thoughts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ANTI-]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crook Decker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dauw]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[G1rldad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Honey I'm Home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia's War Recordings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lia Kohl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lydia Luce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MJ Lenderman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[P.S. Eliot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snocaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Swearin']]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Heidecker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Van Chamberlain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Waxahatchee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western vinyl]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=46946</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Crook Decker &#8211; Beacon You might know Jude Lilley as part of London-based psych-pop outfit Moreish Idols, but after a strange experience during the pandemic lockdown, he is now setting out solo for brand new project Crook Decker. Debut full-length Graffiti Lagoon will be released later this month via Seb Wildblood&#8217;s acclaimed label all my thoughts, and Lilley has put out single &#8216;Beacon&#8217; to give a taste of the unexpectedly humid, tropical tones of a release which reimagines Bermondsey as [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/11/04/weekly-listening-november-2025-1/">Weekly Listening: November 2025 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Crook Decker &#8211; Beacon</h3>
<p>You might know Jude Lilley as part of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/london/">London</a>-based psych-pop outfit Moreish Idols, but after a strange experience during the pandemic lockdown, he is now setting out solo for brand new project <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/crook-decker/">Crook Decker</a>. Debut full-length <em>Graffiti Lagoon</em> will be released later this month via Seb Wildblood&#8217;s acclaimed label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/all-my-thoughts/">all my thoughts</a>, and Lilley has put out single &#8216;Beacon&#8217; to give a taste of the unexpectedly humid, tropical tones of a release which reimagines Bermondsey as a bayou. &#8220;It was during an insanely hot, pandemic summer in 2020 that my astro-turfed terrace became an oasis,&#8221; as Lilley explains. &#8220;The world was getting sick, Peckham was a desert, and London was a swamp, but somehow, up there, I was protected from it all. I began to write through the eyes of Crook Decker, a lonesome swamp dweller who swears by the superficial mantra &#8216;ignorance is bliss&#8217; as he trots through his environment, refusing to take in the real world around him.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1725989266/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2523297731/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://crookdecker.bandcamp.com/album/graffiti-lagoon">Graffiti Lagoon by Crook Decker</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Crook Decker - Beacon (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3EsFcb_BVI8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Graffiti Lagoon</em> will be released on the 12th November via all my thoughts and you can <a href="https://crookdecker.bandcamp.com/album/graffiti-lagoon">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">G1rldad &#8211; Biter</h3>
<p>&#8220;kissing on the bruise / that reminds me of you / and where you left your love,&#8221; sings <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/G1rldad">G1rldad</a> on new single &#8216;Biter&#8217;. Based in San Luis Obispo, California, the project makes an emotive style of indie rock in the vein of Sadurn, and the new track is the ideal introduction to their work. A song delivered with a certain level of restraint, built from a tender hush that is never quite punctured, but not lacking any force of feeling as a result. Because within the intimate style the vocals emerge with a confessional conviction, speaking to the private intimacies of queer love as though to reinforce their joy and meaning.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1330242581/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://g1rldad.bandcamp.com/track/biter">Biter by G1rldad</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Biter&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://g1rldad.bandcamp.com/track/biter">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Honey I&#8217;m Home &#8211; Insecure</h3>
<p>&#8220;Operating at the intersection of shoegaze, indie rock and post-punk&#8221; was how we described the work of Dutch band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/honey-im-home/">Honey I&#8217;m Home</a> back in March, with single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/31/weekly-listening-march-2025-5/">Wishful Thinking</a>&#8216; using shadowy textures and visceral energy to tap &#8220;into ethereal moods without sacrificing a certain emotional immediacy to achieve a cathartic sound.&#8221; Described by the band as a song &#8220;about the notion that carefree innocence doesn&#8217;t exist,&#8221; new single &#8216;Insecure&#8217; dials up this cathartic element even further. A song which rallies against the patriarchal structures of society with both fury and something more hopeful, its soaring crescendos playing like a wish for a better version of the present, where everyone is free to live and move the world without fear.</p>
<p><iframe title="Insecure" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DNOsKDG-nvM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;Insecure&#8217; is out now and available from the <a href="https://found.ee/honeyimhome_insecure?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaemPWkAR5xCNnJSl8WcL2kqTRCRJnBCZa4yJ_DbGve9UTgx_jkDjtzkw43WzQ_aem_6Rqq27MuX3fwH8xCUCO6fw">usual places</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Joyer &#8211; Favorite</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear/">Joyer</a>&#8216;s new album <em>On the Other End of the Line… </em>was created in novel conditions for the duo, siblings Nick and Shane Sullivan working through separation, loneliness, post-tour blues and the perpetual uncertainty around the purpose of making music. Previous singles like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/26/joyer-glare-of-the-beer-can/">Glare of the Beer Can</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/13/weekly-listening-october-2025-1/">At the Movies</a>&#8216; suggested potential escapes from this slow crush of life, but with the album now out via Julia&#8217;s War Recordings, the Sullivans have returned with new single &#8216;Favorite&#8217; which takes a slightly different approach. Because instead of distracting themselves or dreaming of different worlds, the song sees the pair confront the frustrations of making art in a world of short attention spans and a thousand new acts a minute, emerging not with dismay but instead a regained conviction. Because, as the title suggests, making music is their favourite thing to do despite all the associated baggage, and <em>On the Other End of the Line… </em>is a testament to that undying passion.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4040286871/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3650796037/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://joyer.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-other-end-of-the-line">On the Other End of the Line&#8230; by Joyer</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the visualizer by Nara Avakian below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Joyer - Favorite (Official Visualizer)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AOdyBu83d5o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>On the Other End of the Line…</em> is out on the 24th October via Julia’s War Recordings and you can pre-order it now from the Joyer <a href="https://joyer.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-other-end-of-the-line">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lia Kohl &#8211; Voting Line, Downtown Chicago</h3>
<p>Back in October <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/10/lia-kohl-various-small-whistles-song/">we introduced</a> <em>Various Small Whistles and a Song</em>, the new album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/chicago/">Chicago</a>-based composer <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lia-kohl">Lia Kohl</a> which takes inspiration from the Ed Ruscha work of a similar name to use a series of ostensibly humble tracks to evoke larger social situations and spaces. &#8220;The result is an attempt to convey the subtle textures of life in a way that feels at once incidental and carefully curated,&#8221; we wrote, &#8220;and one that ultimately adds up to something far greater than the sum of its parts.&#8221; With the record coming in a couple of weeks via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Dauw">Dauw</a>, Kohl has shared new track &#8216;Voting Line, Downtown Chicago&#8217;, which, as the title suggests, was recorded while waiting to vote in 2024. “The person in front of me began whistling, and the sound carried through the marble lobby, adding levity to our collective anxious solemnity.” A track only a minute long but loaded with all the context of society and history, the sonic equivalent of Frederick Wiseman&#8217;s Cinéma vérité.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2696843056/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3517455504/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://liakohl.bandcamp.com/album/various-small-whistles-and-a-song">Various Small Whistles and a Song by Lia Kohl</a></iframe></center><em>Various Small Whistles</em> <em>and a Song</em> will be released on the 14th November via Dauw and you can <a href="https://liakohl.bandcamp.com/album/various-small-whistles-and-a-song">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lydia Luce &#8211; Belly</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve covered a couple of singles from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lydia-luce">Lydia Luce</a>&#8216;s new album <em>Mammoth</em> in recent months, establishing both the style and thematic concerns of a record all about pain and recovery. First &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/25/weekly-listening-august-2025-4/">Quiet</a>&#8216;, a song, as we wrote, &#8220;all about the slow process of learning to not only tolerate silence but embrace its power within a noisy world.” Then &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/30/weekly-listening-september-2025-5/">Ephemeral</a>&#8216;, a duet with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/luke-sital-singh">Luke Sital-Singh</a> which used strings, winds, piano, viola and cello to create a sound which rises towards almost classical peaks. With the album out now, Luce has shared a new single &#8216;Belly&#8217;. The first song written for the album, it is a fitting choice to celebrate the release. A track which originated in the depths of a period of suffering yet nevertheless asserted the potential of recovery, as though in some way instigating not only the rest of the record but also the path back to health Luce&#8217;s life would take. &#8220;This song is about being more than the state of my physical body,&#8221; she explains, as well as &#8220;being patient with ourselves as we heal.&#8221; Watch the video by by Jason Lee Denton and Aliegh Shields below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Lydia Luce - Belly (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jWWpnXIgnls?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Mammoth</em> is out now and available from the <a href="https://tonetree.ffm.to/-mammoth">usual places</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">paer &#8211; Power Lines</h3>
<p>LA duo <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/paer/">paer</a> have introduced themselves this year with a couple of singles, showing off a style which utilises layered vocals and shimmering guitars to evoke nostalgic soundscapes full of texture and light. To close out their debut year, paer have released &#8216;Power Lines&#8217;, the second track on a double single which does far more than establish the project&#8217;s tone. Delve into the hazy richness of the sound and you&#8217;ll find there&#8217;s an entire world beneath the surface, exploring ideas of grief and mourning with real nuance. The aftermath of loss, the song suggests, is a delicate balance. A push and pull between the past and the future where the seeming opposite desires to commemorate and move on must be handled with care. But far from championing one over the other, or indeed suggesting any sense of competition, paer instead paint a picture where apparent contradictions can coexist. &#8220;To be everything at once, to be nothing, in the same light.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3101606762/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1214605536/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://paer-band.bandcamp.com/album/power-lines">Power Lines by paer</a></iframe></center><em>Power Lines</em> is out now via Anxiety Blanket Records and available from <a href="https://paer-band.bandcamp.com/album/power-lines">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Rainwater &#8211; Bluebelly</h3>
<p><em>Yesturday &amp; Tamarlow</em>, the new record from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rainwater/">Rainwater</a> sits at a crossroads between terror and wonder. Written following the birth of lead Blake Luley&#8217;s first daughter, the record explores both the anxieties and joys of parenthood, particularly its bewildering early days. All this is delivered in a style Luley sums up as &#8220;Arthur Russell fronting a 2000s era indie rock band,&#8221; proving the perfect vehicle as it slides from gently dreamy indie pop to taut indie rockers like single &#8216;Shadow&#8217; which, as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/07/weekly-listening-april-2025-1/">we described in a preview</a> &#8220;sees the project lean further towards post-punk than ever before.&#8221; Today we&#8217;re focusing on &#8216;Bluebelly&#8217;, a lush and romantic look at the &#8220;devoured days&#8221; of a new baby which captures the record&#8217;s ethos perfectly. As Glen Boudin&#8217;s perceptive liner notes put it: &#8220;Becoming a parent is scary, a radical recontextualization of your entire life, but it’s also a beautiful, mysterious encounter with infinite love.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2281620167/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1614927144/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://rainwatermusic.bandcamp.com/album/yesturday-tamarlow">Yesturday &amp; Tamarlow by Rainwater</a></iframe></center><em>Yesturday &amp; Tamarlow</em> is out now and available from the Rainwater <a href="https://rainwatermusic.bandcamp.com/album/yesturday-tamarlow">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Snocaps &#8211; Heathcliff</h3>
<p>It can be easy to forget Katie and Allison Crutchfield started out their careers in collaboration, the Alabama twins winning acclaim in the beloved yet short-lived P.S. Eliot before going onto bigger things with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/waxahatchee">Waxahatchee</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/swearin">Swearin&#8217;</a> respectively. So it is extra satisfying to see things come full circle with the surprise announcement of new project <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/snocaps">Snocaps</a>. Comprised of the Crutchfields plus <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mj-lenderman">MJ Lenderman</a> and Brad Cook, the project offers a new vehicle for them to explore the overlaps and divergences of their different solo paths. Their self-titled album shadow dropped via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ANTI-/">ANTI-</a> on Halloween so there&#8217;s plenty to dig into, but where better to start than a track named after everyone&#8217;s favourite orange cat?</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3609777143/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3557298470/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://snocaps.bandcamp.com/album/snocaps">Snocaps by Snocaps</a></iframe></center><em>Snocaps</em> is out now via ANTI- and you can get it from <a href="https://snocaps.bandcamp.com/album/snocaps">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tim Heidecker &#8211; Alone Until I&#8217;m Home</h3>
<p>Last month <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/03/passages-artists-in-solidarity-with-immigrants-refugees-and-asylum-seekers/">we introduced</a> <em>Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers</em>, coming this December via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Western-Vinyl">Western Vinyl</a> in support of Texas-based organisations, <a class="x_text-link" title="https://www.americangateways.org/" href="https://www.americangateways.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="5">American Gateways</a> and <a class="x_text-link" title="https://www.casamarianella.org/" href="https://www.casamarianella.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="6">Casa Marianella</a>. Produced and organised by Emilie Rex and Rick Alverson in response to the precarity and cruelty of the present moment,&#8221; we wrote, &#8220;<em>Passages</em> is a new project which asked artists to write and record a song in a place that feels like home.&#8221; A huge range of artists are involved, with the offerings from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/alan-sparhawk/">Alan Sparhawk</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/benjamin-booker/">Benjamin Booker</a> released as early singles to hint at the compassion and solidarity of the release. Now Western Vinyl have unveiled <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tim-heidecker/">Tim Heidecker</a>&#8216;s similarly heartfelt &#8216;Alone Until I&#8217;m Home&#8217;. The compilation&#8217;s closing track and in many ways an embodiment of its message, the song is a lucid, sincere ballad for all those travelling or displaced, be they hoping to return home or else find a new place which might, in time, come to feel like one.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3951250682/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1258270906/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://westernvinyl.bandcamp.com/album/passages-artists-in-solidarity-with-immigrants-refugees-and-asylum-seekers">Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers by Tim Heidecker</a></iframe></center><em>Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers</em> will be released on the 5th December via Western Vinyl and you can <a href="https://westernvinyl.bandcamp.com/album/passages-artists-in-solidarity-with-immigrants-refugees-and-asylum-seekers">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Van Chamberlain &#8211; Miracle Drug</h3>
<p>Over the coming months, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/val-chamberlain">Van Chamberlain</a> will be sharing their second album <em>As Far As the Eye Can See</em>, a planned &#8216;waterfall release&#8217; where a new single is shared month by month until the entire thing is released. Oh and five two-song cassettes will drop in-sync with the singles and videos too. For now, we have our first taste of the record with &#8216;Miracle Drug&#8217;, a lush track pitched somewhere between the dreamy haze of dream pop and something more jangly and bright. The result is decidedly bittersweet in nature, a nascent crush brought to life in all of its longing and shimmering potential. Where the line between melancholy and possibility is porous and the world itself feels new.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1970389704/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://vanchamberlain.bandcamp.com/track/miracle-drug">Miracle Drug by Van Chamberlain</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video below, conceived, directed and edited by Ricky Lewis with cinematography and color by Tony Carter and production support by David Olmsted:</p>
<p><iframe title="Van Chamberlain - Miracle Drug Official Music Video" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jerDWLOEl7E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;Miracle Drug&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://vanchamberlain.bandcamp.com/track/miracle-drug">Bandcamp</a>. <em>As Far As the Eye Can See</em> is coming soon.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/11/04/weekly-listening-november-2025-1/">Weekly Listening: November 2025 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">46946</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: September 2025 #2</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/09/weekly-listening-september-2025-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 18:50:11 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[22Twenty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adeline Hotel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexei Shishkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Altai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Audio Antihero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Broken Palace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cardiff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cormorant Tree Oh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dublin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exploding in Sound Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Frog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lawn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Long Beach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morr Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Múm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Orelans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Repeating Cloud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roccoco Sŵn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rue Defense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ruination Record Co]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirited Followers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sweet Nobody]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trapped Animal Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wide Orbit]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=46344</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Adeline Hotel &#8211; Dreaming &#8220;Existing in the strange space between loss and whatever comes next, searching for clues as to exactly what happened, not to mention where the future might lead.&#8221; So we wrote of Adeline Hotel&#8216;s 2024 album Whodunnit, a raw picture of codependency and its slow disintegration which offered some of Dan Knishowy&#8217;s starkest writing to date. Now Adeline Hotel is preparing to release new full-length Watch the Sunflowers via Ruination Record Co., and it seems the future [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/09/weekly-listening-september-2025-2/">Weekly Listening: September 2025 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Adeline Hotel &#8211; Dreaming</h3>
<p>&#8220;Existing in the strange space between loss and whatever comes next, searching for clues as to exactly what happened, not to mention where the future might lead.&#8221; So <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/15/adeline-hotel-whodunnit/">we wrote</a> of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/adeline-hotel/">Adeline Hotel</a>&#8216;s 2024 album <em>Whodunnit</em>, a raw picture of codependency and its slow disintegration which offered some of Dan Knishowy&#8217;s starkest writing to date. Now Adeline Hotel is preparing to release new full-length <em>Watch the Sunflowers </em>via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Ruination-Record-co">Ruination Record Co.</a>, and it seems the future led to something altogether richer. Because, as new single &#8216;Dreaming&#8217; suggests, the album is a reaction to the threadbare arrangements of its predecessor, as though, having endured the aftermath of loss, the colour has come back into Knishkowy&#8217;s world.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=947896871/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://adelinehotel.bandcamp.com/album/watch-the-sunflowers">Watch The Sunflowers by Adeline Hotel</a></iframe></center><em>Watch the Sunflowers</em> will be released on the 24th October via Ruination Record Co. and you can <a href="https://adelinehotel.bandcamp.com/track/dreaming">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Alexei Shishkin &#8211; Magpie</h3>
<p>Every single <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/alexei-shishkin/">Alexei Shishkin</a> has revealed from new album <em>Good Times </em>has stretched its subject matter in new, apparently unrelated directions, be that computer games (‘<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/07/01/weekly-listening-july-2025-1/">Disco Elysium</a>‘), football tactics (‘<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/07/25/alexei-shishkin-tiki-taka-2006/">Tiki Taka 2006</a>‘) or poetry (‘<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/18/weekly-listening-august-2025-3/">Ode to Carl Dennis</a>’). With the record out now via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rue-defense/">Rue Defense</a>, Shishkin has returned with final single &#8216;Magpie&#8217;, a track which not only widens the topics covered during the full-length but could be read as a kind of metacommentary on this pick and mix style. Because, like the titular corvid, <em>Good Times</em> sees Shishkin collect all manner of shiny objects as and when they take his fancy. So what better a spirit animal for the album than a magpie? &#8220;I was actually going to name the album <em>Magpie</em>, but by the time we got around the finalizing it, Peach Pit had *just* released an album called Magpie, so I obviously couldn’t bite that.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3394912818/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2854106533/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://alexeishishkin.bandcamp.com/album/good-times">Good Times by Alexei Shishkin</a></iframe></center><em>Good Times</em> is out now via Rue Defense and you can get it from the Alexei Shishkin <a href="https://alexeishishkin.bandcamp.com/album/good-times">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Altai &#8211; Brawl</h3>
<p>Back in May we introduced New South Wales duo <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/altai/">Altai</a>, that&#8217;s multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Tessa Collins and drummer Andrew Wilkinson, with single &#8216;Like You Need It&#8217;. &#8220;Released just as the southern hemisphere moves into autumn,&#8221; we wrote, &#8220;the song is suffused with a romantic nostalgia and the gnawing melancholy of the changing seasons.&#8221; With an EP set for release in October via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Broken-Palace">Broken Palace</a>, Altai have new returned with new track &#8216;Brawl&#8217;. It&#8217;s a song which explores masculinity and its associated pressures, charged with a sense of urgency as though in attempt to will someone away from the ruinous expectations loaded onto men within the patriarchal system. Collins&#8217;s vocals harness this energy, sounding at once stark and compassionate in their willingness to name those destructive forces so directly. Fans of acts like The Weather Station will find much to admire.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2813912610/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1280086108/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://altaibandofficial.bandcamp.com/album/all-at-once">All At Once by Altai</a></iframe></center><em>All At Once</em> will be released on the 10th October via Broken Palace and you can <a href="https://altaibandofficial.bandcamp.com/album/all-at-once">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Cormorant Tree Oh &#8211; The Wrong Kind</h3>
<p>Recording under the moniker <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/cormorant-tree-oh">Cormorant Tree Oh</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Dublin">Dublin</a>-based multi-disciplinary artist and songwriter Mary Keane has established herself as one of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Ireland">Ireland</a>&#8216;s premier practioners of experimental folk, winning much praise for 2024 record <em>Moonish</em> (out via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Trapped-Animal-Records">Trapped Animal Records</a>) and sharing the stage with the likes of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Lankum">Lankum</a>. Taken from that album, latest single &#8216;The Wrong Kind&#8217; is another addition to her catalogue, a song presenting isolation in all of its eeriness and beauty, blurring the line between loneliness and romance with an atmosphere as beguilling as it is austere. The song comes complete with a video made in collaboration with artist Zoe Greenway (formerly of M(h)aol), taking cues from 1948 classic <em>Portrait Of Jennie </em>in its visual style. The video marks a conscious embrace of centring the artistic vision above all else, timed just as Keane has decided, in a move we ourselves also made several years ago, to leave Spotify. “I decided to leave Spotify because Spotify’s CEO David Ek is investing in AI war drones, they pay artists feck all and they are now pushing creepy AI music,&#8221; as she succinctly describes. Amen.</p>
<p><iframe title="The Wrong Kind-Cormorant Tree Oh" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k7NkumdfMmY?start=13&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3168116384/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2030738637/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://cormorant-tree-oh.bandcamp.com/album/moonish">Moonish by Cormorant Tree Oh</a></iframe></p>
<p>Moonish is out now via Trapped Animal Records and available from <a href="https://cormorant-tree-oh.bandcamp.com/album/moonish">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Frog &#8211; SPANISH ARMADA VAR. XV</h3>
<p>&#8220;Even for a band who have made a name for their idiosyncratic style, this might just be their most singular release yet.&#8221; So we wrote of <em>THE COUNT</em>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Frog">Frog</a>&#8216;s brand new full-length coming later this month via Audio Antihero, when introducing the record <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/29/frog-bitten-by-my-love-var-xi/">a couple of weeks ago</a>. &#8220;A concept album which sees lead Daniel Bateman assume the persona of the titular count,&#8221; we continued, &#8220;a figure straight out of some Warren Zevon song, full of shady history, personal mythology and perhaps even a supernatural edge.&#8221; After single &#8216;BITTEN BY MY LOVE VAR. XI&#8217; (a song &#8220;strange, unpredictable and oddly heartbreaking), Frog have now returned with &#8216;SPANISH ARMADA VAR. XV&#8217;. Moving from hushed to hysterical and back again, the track showcases the full plasticity of Bateman&#8217;s voice within less than 150 seconds, as well as his ability to present desire and yearning in such a singular manner.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Me and the guys walked over with buckets of fries<br />
Boarding the Spanish armada, that’s what I thought when I saw ya</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=878690155/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=382879663/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://heyitsfrog.bandcamp.com/album/the-count">THE COUNT by Frog</a></iframe></center><em>THE COUNT</em> will be released on the 19 September via Audio Antihero and is available to pre-order now from the Frog <a href="https://heyitsfrog.bandcamp.com/album/the-count">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lawn &#8211; Pressure</h3>
<p><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">Built around co-lead singers/songwriters Mac Folger and Rui De Magalhaes, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-orleans">New Orleans</a> band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Lawn">Lawn</a> have excelled with an idiosyncratic combination of jangly pop and taut post-punk across three full-length albums, defying genre conventions to show that fun and edge need not be mutually exclusive. Coming later this month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Exploding-in-sound-records">Exploding in Sound</a>, new full-length <em>God Made The Highway</em> finds Lawn perfect this style. While previous single &#8216;Davie&#8217; showed off the bright side of the release, latest single &#8216;Pressure&#8217; falls on the wiry end of the spectrum. A track which coils like a tightening spring as De Magalhaes mulls over perceived judgement on his life choices from elsewhere, building and building in seething tension as things threaten to spill over into chaos. Whether the feelings are justified or just the product of personal insecurities is left up in the air, but it doesn&#8217;t really matter, there&#8217;s catharsis in the chorus all the same.</span></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1934471237/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=765653102/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://frontlawn.bandcamp.com/album/god-made-the-highway">God Made The Highway by Lawn</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed by Daniel Lynch / Company Businesses Inc<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2122.png" alt="™" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Lawn - &quot;Pressure&quot; (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5KMuRRZcXOY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>God Made The Highway</em> will be released on the 19th September via Exploding in Sound Records and you can <a href="https://frontlawn.bandcamp.com/album/god-made-the-highway">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">múm &#8211; Kill the Light</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve covered a couple of tracks from Icelandic mainstays <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mum/">múm</a> in recent months, previewing their forthcoming new album <em>History of Silence</em>. First &#8216;Mild at Heart&#8217;, what <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/24/weekly-listening-june-2025-4/">we called</a> “a controlled, ever-curious track that shows the power of understatement while also reaching towards new ground,” then &#8216;Only Songbirds Have a Sweet Tooth&#8217; which &#8220;embod[ies the colour and playfulness of the record as a whole,&#8221; as we described, &#8220;all manner of glitches and pops play[ing] across the background melody, offering a bittersweet tone which the dual vocals only further in their searching, reflecting style.&#8221; With release imminent via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/moor-music">Morr Music</a>, múm have shared new single, &#8216;Kill the Light&#8217;, and the song is no less striking. One lighthearted and playful yet evocative too, typical of the sense of nature running through the record. As ever, múm craft with a gentle hand yet evoke things far larger and grander than everyday existence.</p>
<p><iframe title="múm: Kill the Light" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l1gHyylbz1E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>History of Silence</em> will be released via Morr Music on 15th September. Pre-order it now from the múm <a href="https://mumband.bandcamp.com/album/history-of-silence">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">New Balance &#8211; Lemon Slice</h3>
<p>Originating back in 2017, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-balance">New Balance</a> was conceived as the solo project of Jeremy Leasure, a space in which to experiment and improvise with help from a rotating band of collaborators. One which appeared to offer a swan song back in 2022 with second album <em>More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid</em>, as Leasure came to feel the style had reached its apex and thus run its course. However, rather than putting New Balance to rest, Leasure instead evolved the project into something different, the line-up now solidified as a full band with the permanent addition of Jacob Maag, Emily Monnig, Dawson Timpany and Andy Campbell. A full-length is planned for 2026 with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Anxiety-Blanket-Records">Anxiety Blanket Records</a> to fully establish this new era, but for now double single <em>Lemon Slice / Pocket Change </em>gives an indication of what to expect. &#8216;Lemon Slice&#8217; is perhaps the best introduction, its easygoing sound masking lyrics that focus on everyday disasters, what Leasure refers to in the chorus as &#8220;these little devastations.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="New Balance - &quot;Lemon Slice&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T5AJ4FSjmX8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Lemon Slice / Pocket Change</em> is out now via <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sweet Nobody &#8211; Revenge</h3>
<p>Hailing from Long Beach, California, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sweet-revenge">Sweet Revenge</a> are an indie pop quartet whose work embraces the twin joys of melody and noise, utilising both pop and garage rock aesthetics to write songs for the meek and modest among us. Out via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/repeating-cloud">Repeating Cloud</a>, latest single &#8216;Revenge&#8217; shows both the fun and bite of this style, using sunny momentum as a source of energy to confront the phonies and their convoluted ways of living. &#8220;It’s hard to feel like you’re the only one searching for the genuine among the accusing masses,&#8221; as the band explain. &#8220;The hardest thing to face in conflict is knowing that someone is lying and not knowing who it is. This song is for those without an angle. It’s for those who love the straightforward.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Pick up your pen<br />
Accusations fly again<br />
It’s all pretend<br />
Even your friends<br />
You ride the high<br />
Kill anyone who asks you why<br />
You try to cry<br />
But you’re dead inside</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=747598996/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sweet-nobody.bandcamp.com/track/revenge-2">Revenge by Sweet Nobody</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Revenge&#8217; is out now via Repeating Cloud and you can get it from <a href="https://sweet-nobody.bandcamp.com/track/revenge-2">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Spirited Followers &#8211; Awakened</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/cardiff">Cardiff</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Spirited-Followers">Spirited Followers</a> have steadily built an audience in recent times, practising a singular blend of experimental folk and post-rock which reaches around the globe for influence. The resulting sound invokes the act&#8217;s title in its impassioned, enveloping style. With members hailing from Cyprus, India and Wales, Ireland, and England, the diversity of inspiration is perhaps unsurprising, though the work of Spirited Followers pushes beyond those backgrounds too. You&#8217;ll hear elements of Appalachian mountain music in the stark guitar, as well as a Greek flavour among several others. Now the band have released their debut single &#8216;Awakened&#8217; via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/roccoco-swn">Roccoco Sŵn</a>, and the track is the ideal calling card. One typical of the project&#8217;s sense of detail and scale, ebbing and flowing across its length yet, led by Avaneesh Bavadekar&#8217;s striking vocals, always building towards something higher, drawing the audience into its evocative, mesmerised state.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2167125881/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://spiritedfollowers.bandcamp.com/track/awakened">Awakened by Spirited Followers</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Awakened&#8217; is out now via Roccoco Sŵn and available from <a href="https://spiritedfollowers.bandcamp.com/track/awakened">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Wide Orbit &#8211; He&#8217;s A Wizard</h3>
<p>Described by label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/22Twenty">22Twenty</a> as &#8220;a Midwest cough drop for the sore soul,&#8221; Chicago&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/wide-orbit">Wide Orbit</a> are a DIY band in the best sense. A group of college-town buds recording in their cramped room with equal parts heart and playfulness. Suitably titled debut album <em>Introducing&#8230; Wide Orbit </em>has just been released, a calling card for the project and its emotive, mischievous spirit, as highlighted by single &#8216;He&#8217;s a Wizard&#8217;. The country-inflected indie rock number pairs irreverent energy with almost deadpan vocals, telling the tale of a teenage rogue and their attempts to get the better of their parents (&#8220;In May or April of 2006 / my mom bought me a brand new pair of kicks,&#8221; as one verse goes. &#8220;And I ran every which way even far away from them / And they’d come get me in the Honda Odyssey&#8221;). But by the back half of the track, the droll humour ramps up into something different, embracing the sing-a-long energy of a barroom jam.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=993684000/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3370671571/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://wide-orbit.bandcamp.com/album/introducing-wide-orbit">Introducing&#8230; Wide Orbit by Wide Orbit</a></iframe></center><em>Introducing&#8230; Wide Orbit</em> is out now via 22Twenty and you can get it from <a href="https://wide-orbit.bandcamp.com/album/introducing-wide-orbit">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/09/weekly-listening-september-2025-2/">Weekly Listening: September 2025 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">46344</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Michael Robert Chadwick &#8211; Dirt Nap</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/michael-robert-chadwick-dirt-nap/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2025 19:44:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Robert Chadwick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=45468</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;A record about connection in its various forms, friendship, romance, parasocial relationships etc.&#8221; That&#8217;s how label Anxiety Blanket Records describe Illusion of Touch, the new album from LA-based multi-disciplinary artist Michael Robert Chadwick. With everything written and recorded solo apart from guest saxophone from Taylor Blake and guitar by Meg Duffy, the album broaches connection from the inverse angle, taking its title from a fact of subparticle physics where atoms never actual come into contact and in fact repel one [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/michael-robert-chadwick-dirt-nap/">Michael Robert Chadwick &#8211; Dirt Nap</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;A record about connection in its various forms, friendship, romance, parasocial relationships etc.&#8221; That&#8217;s how label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a> describe <em>Illusion of Touch</em>, the new album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">LA</a>-based multi-disciplinary artist <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/michael-robert-chadwick/">Michael Robert Chadwick</a>. With everything written and recorded solo apart from guest saxophone from Taylor Blake and guitar by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/meg-duffy">Meg Duffy</a>, the album broaches connection from the inverse angle, taking its title from a fact of subparticle physics where atoms never actual come into contact and in fact repel one another. &#8220;Many of the songs were written during the pandemic and reflect thoughts about loneliness, isolation and distance in various contexts,&#8221; as the album notes continue, &#8220;while existing in a dense city in an age of near constant contact with the outside world.&#8221;</p>
<p>If this sound austere or morose, then let latest single &#8216;Dirt Nap&#8217; dissuade you of the notion. Supported by Blake&#8217;s aforementioned sax, the song offers a smooth, assured slice of pop. Halfway serious, halfway not, loaded with detail yet languid in spirit. &#8220;&#8216;Dirt Nap&#8217; is a song that may be about something or possibly nothing, I don&#8217;t remember,&#8221; Chadwick explains in his typically wry way. &#8220;Like a lot of my songs it started with a random sequencer pattern, and then a lot of slop heaped on top, slowly whittled away into something resembling a song. Then mostly rerecorded a year later and then further whittled to even more closely resemble music.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Michael Robert Chadwick - &quot;Dirt Nap&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d5_D2DOad5I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Illusion of Touch</em> will be released on the 20th June via Anxiety Blanket Records and you can <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/products/pre-order-michael-robert-chadwick-illusion-of-touch-digital-download">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/michael-robert-chadwick-dirt-nap/">Michael Robert Chadwick &#8211; Dirt Nap</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">45468</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: May 2025 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/05/20/weekly-listening-may-2025-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 May 2025 18:33:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bouquet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Califone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chicago]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Coral Grief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Den Tapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Earth Libraries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Horsepower]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Missouri]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OK Cool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paola Bennet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rose Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Signature Sounds Recording Inc.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soot Sprite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Specialist Subject Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Star Moles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suicide Squeeze Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tyler Bradley Walker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willi Carlisle]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=45148</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Bouquet &#8211; Spellbreaker Back in March we introduced Spellbreaker, the new full-length from LA pop duo Bouquet. Having not put out a record for a decade, the release sees interdisciplinary artist, writer and composer Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and songwriter and producer Max Foreman evolve the project while staying true to its spirit, with singles &#8216;Hold On&#8216; and &#8216;Moon Was Made&#8216; showing off &#8220;a rich and romantic style,&#8221; as we put it, &#8220;that championed restraint within a genre often prone to [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/05/20/weekly-listening-may-2025-3/">Weekly Listening: May 2025 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Bouquet &#8211; Spellbreaker</h3>
<p>Back in March we introduced <em>Spellbreaker</em>, the new full-length from LA pop duo <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/bouquet/">Bouquet</a>. Having not put out a record for a decade, the release sees interdisciplinary artist, writer and composer Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and songwriter and producer Max Foreman evolve the project while staying true to its spirit, with singles &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/18/weekly-listening-march-2025-3/">Hold On</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/22/weekly-listening-april-2025-3/">Moon Was Made</a>&#8216; showing off &#8220;a rich and romantic style,&#8221; as we put it, &#8220;that championed restraint within a genre often prone to excesses.&#8221; With the album now out, Bouquet have shared the title track—a song which confronts suffocating societal expectations, both in terms of their subliminal pull on us and the agency to be found in rejecting their logic.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2953330290/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=146904660/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://bouquetmusic.bandcamp.com/album/spellbreaker">Spellbreaker by Bouquet</a></iframe></center><em>Spellbreaker</em> is out now and availble from <a href="https://bouquetmusic.bandcamp.com/album/spellbreaker">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Coral Grief &#8211; Rockhounds</h3>
<p>Seattle trio <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/coral-grief">Coral Grief</a> are set to release their debut album <em>Air Between Us</em> this summer, a joint relase between <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/suicide-squeeze-records">Suicide Squeeze Records</a> (digital), <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records">Anxiety Blanket Records</a> (vinyl) and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/den-tapes">Den Tapes</a> (cassette) which promises to represent a notable addition to the current dream pop revival. Because though the krautrock and synth pop styles underpinning the project might be drawn from the past, Coral Grief do so much more than peddle nostalgia. Rather, they take familiar sounds and recombine them into something entirely new, as displayed by lead single &#8216;Rockhounds&#8217;. It&#8217;s a track of ethereal tones and intricate detail built around a spine of sleek drum loops. The lyrics hint at the core themes of a release all about travel and exploration, championing not the productive gains of such things but rather the inherent value of the process. &#8220;I love beachcombing and searching for small treasures,&#8221; frontperson Lena Farr Morrissey explains. &#8220;This song is an ode to that process, especially when you don&#8217;t find anything but it was still worth the journey.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3740883682/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3900293365/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://coralgrief.bandcamp.com/album/air-between-us">Air Between Us by Coral Grief</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed and edited by Nick Shively below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Coral Grief  -  Rockhounds (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LSQpK3P2DwQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Air Between Us</em> will be released on the 18th July via Suicide Squeeze Records, Anxiety Blanket Records and Den Tapes and you can pre-order it now.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Horsepower &#8211; Excalibur</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Horsepower">Horsepower</a>, the project of NYC songwriter Charlotte Weinman, is preparing to release a self-titled debut EP next month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rose-garden">Rose Garden</a>, and Weinman has shared new single &#8216;Excalibur&#8217; to introduce the release. Produced by brother Noah Weinman (of runnner fame), the song offers a glimpse at the heavier dimension of the Horsepower project, following the tender, dreamy tones of previous track &#8216;Are You Blushing?&#8217; with something altogether more charged and raw. The result is both earnest in tone and inventive in execution, Weinman drawing on her background in theatre writing and performance to convey personal fury in an unapologetically heightened, dramatic register. &#8220;I grew up as a massive fan of Hole and Sleater-Kinney and Kim Gordon, and I&#8217;ve always generally had a huge attraction to women who are being serrated and disgusting with their language and presence,&#8221; Weinman explains, &#8220;and not aestheticizing their anger—“feminine rage” etc.—but expressing it with a critical mass of urgency and conviction to dress it up or perform it any other way.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2047532404&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true" width="100%" height="166" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;"><a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="Horsepower" href="https://soundcloud.com/horsepower-sc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Horsepower</a> · <a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="Excalibur" href="https://soundcloud.com/horsepower-sc/excalibur" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Excalibur</a></div>
<p>Watch the video directed by Jonas Bishop Hayes below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Horsepower - Excalibur (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OHM3p9u07mA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Horsepower</em> will be released on the 27th June via Rose Garden.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">OK Cool &#8211; Waawooweewaa</h3>
<p>Back in 2023 we wrote about Chicago-based project <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ok-cool/">OK Cool</a>, describing how album <em>fawn</em> saw duo Bridget Stiebris Haley Blomquist rise from &#8220;a rich lineage of forebears, from contemporary bedroom pop to Midwest emo and feedback-soaked shoegaze&#8221; while still &#8220;keeping things fresh and experimental.&#8221; Now OK Cool are preparing to release follow-up <em>Chit Chat</em> in August on Take A Hike Records, and lead single &#8216;Waawooweewaa&#8217; suggests the album will build upon these foundations. It&#8217;s a track which combines emo confession with an infectious forward motion to create something genuinely cathartic despite its dark tone. &#8220;I wish I could say fuck it / and walk out into the lake,&#8221; as the final verse goes. &#8220;My entire life relies on being far away /  i’m sorry, it’s my own fault.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1984625251/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3983995544/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://okcool.bandcamp.com/album/chit-chat">Chit Chat by OK Cool</a></iframe></center><em>Chit Chat</em> will be released on the 1st August via Take A Hike Records and you can <a href="https://okcool.bandcamp.com/album/chit-chat">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Paola Bennet &#8211; Landmines</h3>
<p>Drawing on a mix of folk, pop and rock sensibilities, Boston-born, New York-based songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/paola-bennet">Paola Bennet</a> is an artist unafraid of the personal, her music delving into intimate themes of illness, desire and relationships with equal parts tenderness and weight. Described as &#8220;agony put to sound,&#8221; new single &#8216;Landmines&#8217; shows the full range of this style within a single track. An examination of a friendship conducted in its aftermath, where residual bitterness and burgeoning regret are matched with more complicated emotions. The identity-shaking experience of losing a person from your life when you had always imagined them a part of it. The poignant croon of the opening conjures the vulnerability of such a situation, and the gradual introduction of rock energy drives the track towards its fiercely cathartic climax.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2673460403/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2314838978/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://paolabennet.bandcamp.com/album/landmines">Landmines by Paola Bennet</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Landmines&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://paolabennet.bandcamp.com/track/landmines">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Soot Sprite &#8211; Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured a number of tracks from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/soot-sprite/">Soot Sprite</a>&#8216;s new full-length <em>Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon</em> in recent months, what we&#8217;ve called “a call to arms to fight against the forces that make contemporary life so difficult, and a reminder of the radical potential within empathy and community” that focuses on both a societal (on tracks like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/28/soot-sprite-all-my-friends-are-depressed/">All My Friends Are Depressed</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/31/weekly-listening-march-2025-5/">Days After Days</a>&#8216;) and personal (&#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/22/weekly-listening-april-2025-3/">Vicious Cycles</a>&#8216;) level. With the album now out via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/specialist-subject-records">Specialist Subject Records</a>, the trio have unveiled the title track to celebrate. A mission statement for the record and an embodiment of its cathartic defiance and determination. &#8220;As long as there’s blood in my body / I’ll never stop raging against the dark that’s gonna crush me,&#8221; as lead Elise Cook sings. &#8220;And as long as there’s air to breathe / I’ll do everything just to show you my teeth.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1083705641/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2223244681/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sootsprite.bandcamp.com/album/wield-your-hope-like-a-weapon">Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon by Soot Sprite</a></iframe></center><em>Wield Your Hope Like a Weapon</em> is out now via Specialist Subject Records. Get it from <a href="https://sootsprite.bandcamp.com/album/wield-your-hope-like-a-weapon">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Star Moles &#8211; Key Change</h3>
<p>Recording under the moniker <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/star-moles">Star Moles</a>, multi-instrumentalist Emily Moales has put out a wide range of releases since 2017, with a myriad of singles and covers sitting alongside full-lengths like <em>Camelot</em>, released via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/earth-libraries">Earth Libraries</a>. The oeuvre is a lesson in the potential of bedroom pop, refusing to settle for genre conventions to push the style in new directions. Again out via Earth Libraries, latest single &#8216;Key Change&#8217; is a worthy addition to the catalogue. A track representative of Moales&#8217;s growing boredom with idealised romance of polished pop, choosing to instead get its hands dirty and dig into the messy guts of what love really means. The result is off-kilter and idiosyncratic and all the more believable for it, unfurling as a stream-of-consciousness with little filtered out.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3305392649/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://starmoles.bandcamp.com/track/key-change-2">Key Change by Star Moles</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Key Change&#8217; is out now via Earth Libraries and available from <a href="https://starmoles.bandcamp.com/track/key-change-2">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tyler Bradley Walker &#8211; Moon Broke Quiet</h3>
<p>Perhaps best known as one half of electronic rock duo Gone to Color, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tyler-bradley-walker">Tyler Bradley Walker</a> is now preparing to release his debut solo album, <em>The Sun The Moon The Earth and Me</em>, next month. Gone to Color have always broken new ground with their work, blurring the boundaries between pop, rock and concert music with traditional and electronic instrumentation, and lead single &#8216;Moon Broke Quiet&#8217; suggest Walker&#8217;s solo work is no less ambitious. A spacious, evocative soundscape which seems to sit at an angle to reality, everything a little stark and surreal and strange. Tim Rutili of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/califone">Califone</a> fame adds his distinctive vocals, and the result occupies that nocturnal liminal space between waking life and dreams.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=986868471/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://tylerbradleywalker.bandcamp.com/track/moon-broke-quiet-ft-tim-rutili">Moon Broke Quiet Ft. Tim Rutili by Tyler Bradley Walker</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by Chris Del Rio below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Tyler Bradley Walker - Moon Broke Quiet (Official Video) ft. Tim Rutili" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sQpkA2B3G00?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;Moon Broke Quiet&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://tylerbradleywalker.bandcamp.com/track/moon-broke-quiet-ft-tim-rutili">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Willi Carlisle &#8211; Beeswing</h3>
<p>After the acclaim of 2024 album <em>Critterland</em>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/missouri">Missouri</a> songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/willi-carlisle/">Willi Carlisle</a> is wasting no time getting back in the saddle with <em>Winged Victory</em>, a brand new full-length coming next month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/signature-sounds-recording-inc/">Signature Sounds Recording Inc.</a> The quick turnaround is perhaps at least in part explained by the urgency of the tracks therein. These are folk songs driven by (or in opposition to) the ever collapsing present, as though sensing that it is within moments of great change and suffering we might be allowed to imagine new ways of living. But far from pie-in-the-sky utopian dreaming, the album acknowledges the blood and sweat required to achieve such a thing, something made clear by Carlisle&#8217;s rendition of &#8216;Beeswing&#8217;. &#8220;I wanted the record to include a song about romantic love that had ideas about freedom and victory,&#8221; Carlisle explains. &#8220;For me, the song turns on the line &#8216;And they say her flower’s faded now / from hard weather and hard booze / but maybe that&#8217;s the price you pay for the chains you refuse.&#8217; If you want to be untouchable by the regular world, maybe freedom is actually a really expensive thing, and maybe you have to try really hard to reach it.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2227636233/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=930209125/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://willicarlislemusic.bandcamp.com/album/winged-victory">Winged Victory by Willi Carlisle</a></iframe></center><em>Winged Victory</em> is out on the 27th June via Signature Sounds Recording Inc. and you can <a href="https://willicarlislemusic.bandcamp.com/album/winged-victory">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/05/20/weekly-listening-may-2025-3/">Weekly Listening: May 2025 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">45148</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Lizzy Dutton &#8211; See It All</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/17/lizzy-dutton-see-it-all/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2025 20:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[folk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lizzy Dutton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oakland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44973</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Utilise[s] a combination of violin, guitar, pedal steel and piano to weave soundscapes both intensely personal and more generally familiar. Spaces conjured from the interplay of love and loss, each haunting the other, destined to always coexist.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described Lizzy Dutton&#8216;s Amnesia back in 2022, writing about how their sound owed equal debts to classical violin training received during early years in New York State and the country/Americana styles which populated later periods spent in Austin and Nashville. [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/17/lizzy-dutton-see-it-all/">Lizzy Dutton &#8211; See It All</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Utilise[s] a combination of violin, guitar, pedal steel and piano to weave soundscapes both intensely personal and more generally familiar. Spaces conjured from the interplay of love and loss, each haunting the other, destined to always coexist.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lizzy-dutton/">Lizzy Dutton</a>&#8216;s <em>Amnesia</em> <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/05/31/lizzy-dutton-amnesia/">back in 2022</a>, writing about how their sound owed equal debts to classical violin training received during early years in New York State and the country/Americana styles which populated later periods spent in Austin and Nashville. Now Dutton is preparing to release her debut full-length <em>See It All</em> with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a>, an album which continues to explore the overlaps and interconnections between chamber pop, classical, indie rock and folk to portray the liminal space between contentment and uncertainty with the personal experience.</p>
<p>Lead single and title track &#8216;See It All&#8217; is the ideal introduction to the record. The song has roots in a psychosomatic episode which turned out to be an inflection point in Lizzy Dutton&#8217;s path towards improving mental health. It opens as a relatively simple folk song but unfurls into something as vivid and enveloping as the experience itself. Alek Barkats and Geoff Saba add piano and clarinet respectively, bringing to life the album&#8217;s orchestral sensibilities and furthermore highlighting its ability to be at once inventive and intuitive.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Oh, well I think I’m going mad<br />
I know there’s something there<br />
There’s something there</h5>
<h5>I hope you see it all</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1961298147&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true" width="100%" height="300" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></center></p>
<div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;"><a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="Lizzy Dutton" href="https://soundcloud.com/lizzy-dutton-music" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lizzy Dutton</a> · <a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="See It All" href="https://soundcloud.com/lizzy-dutton-music/05-see-it-all" target="_blank" rel="noopener">See It All</a></div>
<p><em>See It All</em> is out on the 25th April via Anxiety Blanket Records and you can <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/products/lizzy-dutton-see-it-all">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/17/lizzy-dutton-see-it-all/">Lizzy Dutton &#8211; See It All</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">44973</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Asha Wells &#8211; The Lesson</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/08/asha-wells-the-lesson/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Apr 2025 19:40:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asha Wells]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oakland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stephen Steinbrink]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44878</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>In 2024, Oakland songwriter Asha Wells released Tears of a Clown, an EP which saw them develop and evolve beyond the sound introduced on debut full-length Water Words, &#8220;splitting the difference,&#8221; as we wrote, &#8220;between pop and folk with avant garde invention.&#8221; Now Wells is preparing to release The Lesson, a new three-song release on Anxiety Blanket Records which picks up the threads of its predecessor and continues to develop the Asha Wells sound. Songs cut from a kind of twilit [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/08/asha-wells-the-lesson/">Asha Wells &#8211; The Lesson</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In 2024, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/oakland/">Oakland</a> songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/asha-wells/">Asha Wells</a> released <em>Tears of a Clown</em>, an EP which saw them develop and evolve beyond the sound introduced on debut full-length <em><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/10/10/asha-wells-water-words/">Water Words</a></em>, &#8220;splitting the difference,&#8221; as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/17/asha-wells-the-carousel/">we wrote</a>, &#8220;between pop and folk with avant garde invention.&#8221; Now Wells is preparing to release <em>The Lesson</em>, a new three-song release on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a> which picks up the threads of its predecessor and continues to develop the Asha Wells sound. Songs cut from a kind of twilit melancholy which blurs the distinction between sadness and dreams.</p>
<p>Wells enlisted a host of talent to help bring the songs to life Jack Brown (Healing Potpourri) adds bass and piano, Zach Elsasser (Affectionately, Jay Som) drums, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lizzy-dutton/">Lizzy Dutton</a> violin and vocals and Ainsley Wagoner (<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/silverware/">Silverware</a>) vocals, plus <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/stephen-steinbrink/">Stephen Steinbrink</a> and Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Healing Potpourri) produced the release. What results is a sound rich and idiosyncratic enough to match Wells&#8217;s vision, each track carving out its own small, ethereal world. Take the latest single and title track, &#8216;The Lesson&#8217;. A song of subtle detail and alluring patience which closes out the release with a space of relative calm. Indeed, if predecessor &#8216;Ophelia&#8217; paints a darker picture, then &#8216;The Lesson&#8217; serves as the quiet on the other side of the storm. Not a definite safe haven, but a place from which you might catch your breath before pushing towards something better and new.</p>
<p>Steinbrink also features in the track, and his fingerprints are clear in its execution. Writing of his 2023 album <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/10/albums-we-missed-in-2023/"><em>Disappearing Coin</em></a>, we described how the album represented &#8220;a wilful attempt to make music with the same creativity and sense of awe-filled wonder that he felt when exploring these other avenues,&#8221; leaning heavily on the magic trick imagery of its title to become &#8220;a figure who, guided by invention and playfulness, looks to use mastery of a physical craft in order to open the door to small, intangible miracles.&#8221; <em>The Lesson</em> is very much informed by the same ideas, with Asha Wells highlighting how thinking outside the box can lead to the more intuitive, authentic expressions of emotion, and collaboration need not preclude a singular style.</p>
<p><iframe title="Asha Wells - &quot;The Lesson Feat. Stephen Steinbrink&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/exbAnZ078Do?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>The Lesson</em> will be released on the 3oth May via Anxiety Blanket Records and you can <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/products/asha-wells-the-lesson-digital-download">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/08/asha-wells-the-lesson/">Asha Wells &#8211; The Lesson</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">44878</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: December 2024 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/17/weekly-listening-december-2024-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Dec 2024 20:07:16 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Born Losers Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cameron Keiber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Camille Schmidt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris A. Cummings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Chism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cici Arthur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CULTBABY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eldridge Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GOON]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Have a Nice Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joseph Shabason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Luah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mol Sullivan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicholas Krgovich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oldest Sea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[othermusic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thom Gill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western vinyl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Young Elk]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=43632</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Cameron Keiber &#8211; Habsburg Jaw Having won acclaim as part of noise pop outfit The Beatings, Cameron Keiber went on to start the project Eldridge Rodriguez, releasing albums like Slightest of Treason and Atrophy which explored a plethora of contemporary issues with equal parts passion and disillusionment. Now recording under his own name, Keiber is returning next spring with new full-length Nurser, a record which continues this examination of the current state of things with a newly immediate, personal edge. [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/17/weekly-listening-december-2024-3/">Weekly Listening: December 2024 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Cameron Keiber &#8211; Habsburg Jaw</h3>
<p>Having won acclaim as part of noise pop outfit The Beatings, Cameron Keiber went on to start the project <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/eldridge-rodriguez/">Eldridge Rodriguez</a>, releasing albums like <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2020/02/14/eldridge-rodriguez-slightest-treason/"><em>Slightest of Treason</em></a> and <em><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/09/14/eldridge-rodriguez-atrophy/">Atrophy</a></em> which explored a plethora of contemporary issues with equal parts passion and disillusionment. Now recording under his own name, Keiber is returning next spring with new full-length <em>Nurser</em>, a record which continues this examination of the current state of things with a newly immediate, personal edge. The addition of loops and beats offers a new dimension too, though as single and opener &#8216;Habsburg Jaw&#8217; shows, it is Keiber&#8217;s distinctive vocals and lyricism which represents the sound&#8217;s core. A track about depression and the insidious impact of those who belittle its dimensions, Keiber&#8217;s delivery slightly weary and a little bit wry as it challenges those who believe all it takes is a bit of bootstrap pulling and positive thinking. But above all else it&#8217;s empathetic in its picture of someone straining within such a hostile world.</p>
<p><iframe title="Habsburg Jaw" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/98MhcFnwZAQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Nurser</em> will be released on the 14th March via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Midriff-Records">Midriff Records</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Camille Schmidt &#8211; Stanley</h3>
<p>&#8220;Each of the six songs on the album deal with the different masks we might hide behind, [but] the very nature of its creation see the true [artist] reaching out from behind the disguise.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/camille-schmidt/">Camille Schmidt</a>&#8216;s <em>Good Person</em> <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/06/13/camille-schmidt-good-person/">back in June</a>, a release which explored ideas of authenticity and the lack thereof with a sense of cathartic release. With the Brooklyn artist&#8217;s debut full-length <em>Nude #9</em> coming early next year, Schmidt has returned with equally affirming new single, &#8216;Stanley&#8217;. A song which displays the richer sound of a growing supporting band without sacrificing any of <em>Good Person</em>&#8216;s raw immediacy, pairing a gathering momentum with a sense of aimlessness to bring to life a playful, idiosyncratic vibe. Watch the video directed by Henry Nelson and produced by Brooke Goldman below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Camille Schmidt - Stanley (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KJ8HyJ3ljwo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Nude #9 is out on the 10th January and you can find more on the Camille Schmidt <a href="https://camilleschmidt.com/">website</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Chris Chism &#8211; Drive My Car</h3>
<p>&#8220;Focusing on the working class experience and following a lineage through Dylan and van Zandt, Richmond, Indiana’s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/chris-chism/">Chris Chism</a> delves into the personal to emerge with a more universal picture of life’s joys and struggles.&#8221; So we wrote back in 2023 when covering the North Carolina-based songwriter&#8217;s EP <em>Things Has Changed</em>. Now Chism is back with &#8216;Drive My Car&#8217;, a song which taps into melancholic peace of a night alone on the road. &#8220;I like to drive my car at night / get lost in the dark / everything gets left behind,&#8221; Chism sings in the opening lines, finding some sense of direction within the dark isolation. &#8220;The road goes on and on / the headlights show my way.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Drive My Car - Chris Chism | OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hRVWgUtuwgM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Drive My Car&#8217; is out now and available from the <a href="https://linktr.ee/chrischism?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZynOZDtpeGGaATFgD82CVHSCJ0RBnKzOHOmM3_4TQWu8we2UlT9stDOKU_aem_cUKq5skwzS_UeEXdHMcrTQ">usual places</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Cici Arthur &#8211; All So Incredible</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/cici-arthur">Cici Arthur</a> is a new collaboration between <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto">Toronto</a> artists <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/joseph-shabason/">Joseph Shabason</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/chris-a-cummings/">Chris A. Cummings</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/thom-gill/">Thom Gill</a>. Cummings previously recorded under the name Mantler, releasing jazz, lounge and R&amp;B-inflected pop via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tomlab">Tomlab</a>, and Cici Arthur sees Shabason and Gill bend their sound towards such styles to give Cummings&#8217; writing and vocals the grand, vivid backdrop they deserve. A stellar cast of guests like Owen Pallet, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/nicholas-krgovich">Nicholas Krgovich</a>, Phil Melanson and Dorothea Paas lend their talents too, and the result is a lesson in both cinematic scale and artistic control. Lead single &#8216;All So Incredible&#8217; shows off the aesthetic in all its technicolour glory:</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1628378330/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3115570974/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ciciarthur.bandcamp.com/album/way-through">Way Through by Cici Arthur</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video edited and directed by Nicholas Krgovich below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Cici Arthur - &quot;All So Incredible&quot; (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/86pMq1IpjAc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Way Through</em> is out on the 21st February via Western Vinyl and you can <a href="https://ciciarthur.bandcamp.com/album/way-through">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">CULTBABY &#8211; mr. pouch</h3>
<p>Moniker of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">LA</a>-based multidisciplinary artist Richard Benjamin Greer, CULTBABY is less a name and more the key to the project&#8217;s themes and style. Born into a small Christian Metaphysical organization in Berkeley, CA, Greer&#8217;s origin story is far from typical, and though he left the group with his mother at a young age, his links to the group—be they literal or psychological—persisted for far longer. Forthcoming via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a>, new CULTBABY release <em>cut the arm, preserve the body </em>is a compilation of recordings which explores this experience, pairing a detailed picture of collapsed relationships while preserving fondness for those involved. The album is both stylistically and narratively ambitious, but single &#8216;mr. pouch&#8217; gives an idea of what to expect. Watch the video directed by The Fanza below:</p>
<p><iframe title="mr. pouch" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mq5h5KxkN-0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
cut the arm, preserve the body</em> is out on the 21st February via <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Goon &#8211; Death Spells</h3>
<p>Having just signed with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/born-losers-records">Born Losers Records</a> for an upcoming full-length, LA&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/goon/">Goon</a> have shared standalone new single &#8216;Death Spells&#8217; as something of a reintroduction. The track emerged from a difficult period in the life of lead Kenny Becker, and its plaintive opening plays as something of a dirge. &#8220;Death spells are coming down / don’t go outside,&#8221; as the opening lines go. &#8220;Helpless for higher ground / helpless to hide.&#8221; But slowly it blossoms with the addition of xylophone and vocal harmonies as well as various chirps and chimes, and by the close begins to sound less like some lament as a talisman offered in protection against such loss. The entire Goon band joined for the recording, including founding guitarist Drew Eccleston on backing vocals, and the result takes on a communal power. “I wanted everyone to play on this one,” Becker explains. “It feels really special, and comforting. The way your friends gather around you in tough times, when you’re hurting, to make music together.”</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2160994175/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://gooon.bandcamp.com/album/death-spells">Death Spells by Goon</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="GOON - Death Spells (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pd2W-NSIwA4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Death Spells&#8217; is out now via Born Losers Records and available from <a href="https://gooon.bandcamp.com/album/death-spells">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Luah &#8211; Small Time</h3>
<p>Writing back in 2023, we wrote about the work of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/luah/">Luah</a>—the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/florida/">Florida</a>-born, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/baltimore/">Baltimore</a>-raised and Kingston, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-york/">New York</a>-based songwriter Brendan Paul Sullivan—through single &#8216;To Relate&#8217;. &#8220;A slow unfurling of a song,&#8221; as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/27/weekly-listening-november-2023-4/">we put it</a>, &#8220;as though in committing to the flow, Sullivan not only accepts the changeable currents but finds beauty in every small eddy and pull.&#8221; Now preparing to release a new album, Luah is back with &#8216;Small Time&#8217;, another downbeat, assured track full of swampy twang and lo-fi textures. With the languid, slightly woozy flow comes a certain sense of reflection, as though the echoed backing vocals chasing Sullivan&#8217;s lyrics are emerging from some other time or plane.</p>
<p><iframe title="Small Time" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aGFQiBvdV64?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Small Time&#8217; is out now via <a href="https://linktr.ee/luahsound?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaWmEQrQkIzqud7YjzTki-GdtJ_d46iKGrtmWMxK616vBw1jdp2uVbYi4U_aem_yKn2fhsVtLBxiraHDDrlOA">streaming services</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Mol Sullivan &#8211; On the Balcony</h3>
<p>Cincinnati songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mol-sullivan/">Mol Sullivan</a> kicked off 2024 with <em>GOOSE</em>, an album &#8220;set deep in those early days of a new beginning,&#8221; as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/15/mol-sullivan-still-tryin/">we put it</a>, &#8220;where everything feels possible yet tenuous and a little too vivid to bear,&#8221; and has released a series of videos in support of the record through the months (we recommend the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/15/weekly-listening-january-2024-2/">title track</a> and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/31/mol-sullivan-cautiously/">Cautiously</a>&#8216; in particular), though is closing out the year by reaching back into the past to polish an old gem. First recorded in 2013 in her aunt and uncle&#8217;s basement, &#8216;On the Balcony&#8217; offers a glimpse of a more lo-fi version of the Mol Sullivan sound, albeit here remastered for the re-release. But although it might differ stylistically to the polished sound of <em>GOOSE</em>, the track still evidently possesses the same DNA, its hushed intimacy full of the compassion and confessional honesty that has come to mark Sullivan&#8217;s work.</p>
<p><iframe title="On the Balcony" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZXPIJ8AtumY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;On the Balcony&#8217; is out now and available from the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4J3sb3TQjrjhb3YWXVShJI">usual places</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Oldest Sea &#8211; All Shall Love Me And Despair</h3>
<p>Originating as the solo project of Sam Marandola but now expanded to become a full band, Oldest Sea is a vessel built to navigate the heaviest seas of experimental folk, pushing into dark, tempestuous waters in order to most fully explore soundscapes at once elemental and otherworldly. Latest release <em>Judith Slaying Holofernes </em>serves as the ideal introduction for the uninitiated, a two-song collaboration with masters of the genre Have a Nice Life. Opening track &#8216;All Shall Love Me And Despair&#8217; embodies the release&#8217;s weight, rising from hushed beginnings with a stark insistence towards its transcendently dark climax, possessing all the Old Testament drama of the double single&#8217;s apocryphal title.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1977589828/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2225666588/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://oldestsea1.bandcamp.com/album/judith-slaying-holofernes">Judith Slaying Holofernes by Oldest Sea</a></iframe></center><em>Judith Slaying Holofernes</em> is out now and available from <a href="https://oldestsea1.bandcamp.com/album/judith-slaying-holofernes">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">othermusic &#8211; pretty please</h3>
<p>A new project between Portland, OR&#8217;s Ezekiel J. Rudick (<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/young-elk/">Young Elk</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/goodgrief/">goodgrief</a> etc.), Kathrin Skiff and Tony Reyes, othermusic combines richly fuzzed synths with dramatic drums and guitars to create a shoegaze sound able to straddle both delicate emotion and crushing heft. Single &#8216;pretty please&#8217; serves as the perfect introduction, its tender, almost music box opening soon ceding way to a thunderous march, the track thereafter cycling with a quiet-loud dynamic able to evoke both closeness and distance. &#8220;Can you / please find / a way / to be kinder / to me / so I / can fall / asleep,&#8221; the lyrics ask, situating the audience in the heart of a troubled relationship. &#8220;Come on / pretty please?&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3137032618/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://othermusicpdx.bandcamp.com/track/pretty-please">pretty please by othermusic</a></iframe></center>&#8216;pretty please&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://othermusicpdx.bandcamp.com/track/pretty-please">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/17/weekly-listening-december-2024-3/">Weekly Listening: December 2024 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">43632</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: December 2024 #1</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/03/weekly-listening-december-2024-1/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Dec 2024 21:49:46 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adwaith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anna Arboles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boiled Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britta Phillips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carmarthen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dead Gowns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[georgie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hand Drawn Dracula]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Katy Rea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mansions and Millions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meagre Martin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mtn Laurel Recording Co.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nona Invie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raincoated Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raybody]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Ascroft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[run for cover records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sun June]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wales]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=43467</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Adwaith &#8211; Miliwn &#8220;An album born of travel and distance, pieced together from segments of other places, but ending up very much unique.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described Bato Mato by Carmarthen&#8217;s Adwaith released by Libertino Records back in 2022. The record was an ambitious one, drawing upon &#8220;any number of psych, grunge and dream pop influences to realise its sound,&#8221; as we wrote, but follow-up Solas goes even further. A twenty-three track double album which serves as the closing part [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/03/weekly-listening-december-2024-1/">Weekly Listening: December 2024 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Adwaith &#8211; Miliwn</h3>
<p>&#8220;An album born of travel and distance, pieced together from segments of other places, but ending up very much unique.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/08/31/adwaith-bato-mato/"><em>Bato Mato</em></a> by Carmarthen&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/adwaith/">Adwaith</a> released by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Libertino-Records">Libertino Records</a> back in 2022. The record was an ambitious one, drawing upon &#8220;any number of psych, grunge and dream pop influences to realise its sound,&#8221; as we wrote, but follow-up <em>Solas</em> goes even further. A twenty-three track double album which serves as the closing part of a coming-of-age trilogy, tracing the arc of the band&#8217;s progression which sees them drawn back to their West Walian roots at the height of their powers. “I feel like we’re confident in ourselves as musicians, and our sound, and the world that we want to create,” as Hollie Singer explains. “We feel fully realised.”</p>
<p><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1957696315&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true" width="100%" height="166" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video shot and edited by Rhys Grail below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Adwaith - Miliwn" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bWtqvb3kz8U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Solas</em> will be released on the 7th February via Libertino Records.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Anna Arboles &#8211; By Any Means Necessary</h3>
<p>LA-based songwriter Anna Arboles is gearing up to release <em>Pure Fanfiction</em>, a brand new album on Anxiety Blanket Records which fictionalises the personal in order to edge closer to the truth. &#8220;These songs are about passing into adulthood and clarifying who I wanted to be,&#8221; Arboles explains, &#8220;but are not necessarily about my life. I wrote these songs as soundtracks to movies, TV shows, books, or photographs that catalyzed introspection. They’re like fanfiction for my life.” Taking inspiration from seminal queer film <em>By Hook or By Crook</em> by Harry Dodge and Silas Howard, first single &#8216;By Any Means Necessary&#8217; serves as an ode to friendship and its supportive power. Hence how the doubt of the repeated refrain—&#8221;I don’t know if I can do it&#8221;—is slowly conquered, the uneasy movement towards self-actualisation made easier by those there along the way.</p>
<p><iframe title="Anna Arboles - &quot;By Any Means Necessary&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_Cc_jW4VCAE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Pure Fanfiction</em> will be released on the 14th February via Anxiety Blanket Records</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Dead Gowns – In the Haze</h3>
<p>Early next year, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dead-gowns/">Dead Gowns</a> (that’s the project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/portland">Portland</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Maine">Maine</a>’s Genevieve Beaudoin) will release their debut album, <em>It&#8217;s Summer, I Love You, and I&#8217;m Surrounded by Snow</em> on New York label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mtn-laurel-recording-co/">Mtn Laurel Recording Co.</a> Second single ‘In the Haze’ is a beautiful introduction, a patient and spacious country-tinged indie rock song that put’s Beaudoin’s incredible vocals front and centre, shifting from a quiet hush to a quivering wail as she explores the complex emotions of dealing with a then-undiagnosed illness. It’s indicative of a record that takes real-life experiences and then stretches their edges, probing at possibilities and straying from fact into fiction. “There’s a sense of freedom by starting in an autobiographical place and then expanding into fiction,” Beaudoin describes. “I learn so much about what has happened by exploring what could have been.”</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3313056599/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=342284025/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://deadgowns.bandcamp.com/album/its-summer-i-love-you-and-im-surrounded-by-snow">It&#8217;s Summer, I Love You, and I&#8217;m Surrounded by Snow by Dead Gowns</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Dead Gowns - In the Haze (Visualizer)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8w58OrE6l_k?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>It&#8217;s Summer, I Love You, and I&#8217;m Surrounded by Snow</em> will be released via Mtn Laurel Recording Co. on 14<sup>th</sup> February. Pre-order it now from the Dead Gowns <a href="https://deadgowns.bandcamp.com/album/its-summer-i-love-you-and-im-surrounded-by-snow">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">georgie &#8211; 2d</h3>
<p>Serving as a celebration to a specific corner of the DIY scene in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rochester">Rochester</a>, New York, <em>spit takes and split tapes</em> is a four-band split release by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/raincoated-records/">raincoated records</a>. Featured artists include <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/bugcatcher/">Bugcatcher</a> (whose album <em>Go!</em> we covered <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/12/06/bugcatcher-go/">last year</a>), Home Videos and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/kitchen/">Kitchen</a> (who we first mentioned <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/12/15/song-premiere-kitchen-november-prayer/">way back in 2016</a>), as well as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/georgie/">georgie</a>, the project led by Claire G. McClusky who &#8220;combin[ed] ecological, personal and political sensibilities&#8221; for the excellent album <em>Intimacy Hangover</em> <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/08/15/georgie-intimacy-hangover/">in 2023</a>. One of the latter&#8217;s contributions to the split release, &#8216;2d&#8217; sees McClusky and co. push the georgie sound through its usual airy folk style until it disintegrates into a noisy crescendo.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=107657906/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3026217950/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://raincoatedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/spit-takes-and-split-tapes">spit takes and split tapes by georgie</a></iframe></center><em>spit takes and split tapes</em> is out now via Raincoated Records and available from <a href="https://raincoatedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/spit-takes-and-split-tapes">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Meagre Martin &#8211; Frankie</h3>
<p>After a fantastic 12 months which has included appearance at the Reeperbahn Festival, Pop Montreal and Pitchfork London, as well as successful singles &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/09/09/weekly-listening-september-2024-2/">Never Thought</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/03/12/weekly-listening-march-2024-2/">Malcolm</a>&#8216;, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Berlin">Berlin</a>-based indie rockers <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/meagre-martin/">Meagre Martin</a> are closing out the year with one final, celebratory single, &#8216;Frankie&#8217;, which also serves as the first preview of EP <em>Up To Snuff</em> coming next February on Mansions and Millions. Pairing gauzy shoegaze textures with a persistent rhythm, the track embraces a bright spirit of playfulness and curiosity. &#8220;I can’t help / But smile / I look at you like a child,&#8221; as the opening lines go, submitting to the thrilling sensation of falling for someone and letting the current move in whatever direction it sees fit.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1306974712/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://meagremartin.bandcamp.com/track/frankie">Frankie by meagre martin</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed by Federico Corazzini and Meagre Martin below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Meagre Martin - Frankie (Lyric Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EWCp-etQf0o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Frankie&#8217; is out now via Mansions and Millions and available from <a href="https://meagremartin.bandcamp.com/track/frankie">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Nona Invie &#8211; Forget My Name</h3>
<p>Created as an antidote to ubiquitous feelings of anxiety and fear, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/nona-invie/">Nona Invie</a>&#8216;s appropriately titled new album <em>Self-soothing</em> sees the Minneapolis songwriter aim to provide a safe haven of calm within an often terrible contemporary world. &#8220;These songs are a weighted blanket that comforted and supported me in a lonely time,&#8221; as Invie explains. &#8220;I hope that they can be supportive, comforting to others.&#8221; Opener and lead single &#8216;Forget My Name&#8217; offers a glimpse of the meditative sound which brings this mission to life. A lesson in the necessity of loosening our grip and letting go those things which do us no good in order to more fully inhabit a healthy sense of self.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1741882946/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1188661299/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://nonainvie.bandcamp.com/album/self-soothing">Self-soothing by Nona Invie</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by Ingrid Weise below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Nona Invie - Forget My Name (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qCIqMqQjxtM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Self-soothing</em> will be released on the 28th February via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/boiled-records/">Boiled Records</a> and you can <a href="https://nonainvie.bandcamp.com/album/self-soothing">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Raybody &#8211; Puddle</h3>
<p>Then recording under her own name, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/katy-rea/">Katy Rea</a> released full-length <em>The Urge That Saves You</em> back in 2022, an album which, as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/11/22/katy-rea-the-urge-that-saves-you/">we put it</a>, &#8220;explor[ed] her life not directly but through imagined characters and metaphorical stories that feel something like modern fables.&#8221; Now having adopted the moniker Raybody, Rea has returned with &#8216;Puddle&#8217;, the first taste of a new era for an artist currently at work on her second album. &#8220;[The new name] allows me to step into a braver and more honest part of myself,&#8221; Rea explains. &#8220;I’m after a truth that requires me to unattach from my given name—which has always felt sweet, well mannered, and more feminine than I am.” The new single introduces this new spirit, combining classic singer-songwriter sensibilities with something more singular and strange, resulting in a sound able to paint an intimate picture of a blossoming relationship and the self-reflection inherent within the process of learning to love another person.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2557167060/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://raybody.bandcamp.com/track/puddle">Puddle by Raybody</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video shot by Sawyer Gaunt and directed by Nicole Townsend and Rea herself below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Raybody - Puddle (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gTkudu14Z2A?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Puddle&#8217; is out now and available from the Raybody <a href="https://raybody.bandcamp.com/track/puddle">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Robert Ascroft &#8211; Where Did You Go feat. Britta Phillips (Luna, Dean &amp; Britta)</h3>
<p>With album <em>Echo Still Remains</em> coming in January via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/hand-drawn-dracula/">Hand Drawn Dracula</a>, producer and artist <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/robert-ascroft/">Robert Ascroft</a> has been releasing a series of collaborative singles in recent months, including ‘Faded Photographs’ with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ruth-radelet">Ruth Radelet</a> and &#8216;Empty Pages&#8217; with Zumi Rosow of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-black-lips">The Black Lips</a>. The latter offered &#8220;a beguilingly ambiguous interplay between rhythm and fuzz&#8221; as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/09/03/weekly-listening-september-2024-1/">we put it</a>, complete with a cinematic video, and now Ascroft has enlisted vocalist and actress Britta Phillips (who you might know as part of Luna and Dean &amp; Britta) for another dark and filmic track. With rhythmic percussion, sensual vocals and an enveloping night-time mood, &#8216;Where Did You Go&#8217; channels a sultry Lynchian aesthetic full of nocturnal weight. The full record promises to feature the likes of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ora-cogan">Ora Cogan</a> and Christopher Owens too, so is certainly one to watch out for in 2025.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4140970934/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=206058398/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://handdrawndracula.bandcamp.com/album/echo-still-remains">Echo Still Remains by Robert Ascroft</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video starring Phillips and directed by Ascroft himself below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Robert Ascroft &amp; Britta Phillips // Where Did You Go (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uef_89wkJ4s?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Echo Still Remains</em> is out January 31st via Hand Drawn Dracula and you can <a href="https://handdrawndracula.bandcamp.com/album/echo-still-remains">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sun June &#8211; 41 Dollars</h3>
<p>Described as a song about &#8220;listening to men talk,&#8221; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sun-june/">Sun June</a>&#8216;s new single &#8217;41 Dollars&#8217; is the Austin band&#8217;s first proper release since last year&#8217;s <em>Bad Dream Jaguar—</em>a record <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/10/albums-we-missed-in-2023/">we described</a> as &#8220;painting impressionistic pictures of love and longing in quiet dusk-hued pastels, as though in effort to preserve that which might otherwise fade out into nothing. The single is every bit as emotive and assured as we&#8217;ve come to expect from the outfit, the sound holding reflection and longing within the same moment, and what results is a sound placid on the surface yet roiling with a myriad of unseen currents and pressures below. Released via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/run-for-cover-records/">Run For Cover Records</a>, the single comes complete with a demo version of &#8217;16 Riders&#8217; as well as a remix of &#8216;Easy Violence&#8217; by Porches.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Wasn’t it all in my head?<br />
Wanted you<br />
Fighting off all that I can<br />
Watching the horizon waul<br />
Trying my best in the cool water<br />
Watching it rise and fall<br />
Listening to you talk</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2996942223/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=789267699/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sunjune.bandcamp.com/album/41-dollars">41 Dollars by Sun June</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Sun June - &quot;41 Dollars&quot; (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ar7AIi-x6U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8217;41 Dollars&#8217; is out now via Run For Cover Records and available from <a href="https://sunjune.bandcamp.com/album/41-dollars">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/03/weekly-listening-december-2024-1/">Weekly Listening: December 2024 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">43467</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Jac Aranda &#8211; Ultraviolet / Nobody Knows</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/25/jac-aranda-ultraviolet-nobody-knows/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Liam Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Nov 2024 19:17:17 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jac Aranda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=43401</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>This coming February, Los Angeles-based songwriter James Aranda is releasing the EP Ultraviolet via Anxiety Blanket Records under the moniker Jac Aranda. Having played in a number of bands including Media Jeweler (Fire Talk Records), Aranda enlisted the talents of old bandmates to bring the sound to life, with Sam Farzin (Media Jeweler, Windy, Moon Pearl) and Paul Tran-Hoang (Moon Pearl) joining the recording session and Tara Milch (Pastel Felt) and Matt Maruskin (Gigi) adding overdubbed vocals and violin respectively. To [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/25/jac-aranda-ultraviolet-nobody-knows/">Jac Aranda &#8211; Ultraviolet / Nobody Knows</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This coming February, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">Los Angeles</a>-based songwriter James Aranda is releasing the EP <em>Ultraviolet</em> via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a> under the moniker <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/jac-aranda/">Jac Aranda</a>. Having played in a number of bands including Media Jeweler (<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fire-talk-records/">Fire Talk Records</a>), Aranda enlisted the talents of old bandmates to bring the sound to life, with Sam Farzin (Media Jeweler, Windy, Moon Pearl) and Paul Tran-Hoang (Moon Pearl) joining the recording session and Tara Milch (Pastel Felt) and Matt Maruskin (Gigi) adding overdubbed vocals and violin respectively.</p>
<p>To whet appetites for the record, Jac Aranda has unveiled two singles. The title track is a buoyant, slacker rock-inflected indie pop song that explores the possibility that we have powers beyond our five senses. &#8220;Some would chalk it up to confirmation bias, but I think we don’t give ourselves enough credit in terms of extrasensory perception, we underestimate our psychic prowess,&#8221; Aranda describes of those strange moments of seemingly clairvoyant insight. &#8220;What happens when we embrace phenomena and look deeper, past a world taken at face-value?&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Jac Aranda - &quot;Ultraviolet&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ST2TidGSyM8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The second single is &#8216;Nobody Knows&#8217; deals with themes altogether more worldly, suffused with a deep frustration and weariness with the hollow nature of much of modern society. &#8220;&#8216;Nobody Knows&#8217; is this sort of third-person story about a man who is experiencing existential dread,&#8221; Aranda continues. &#8220;Realizing the futility of individualism and capitalism, and questioning his place in the world, what the world he participates in is founded on, and what it could be instead.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>How did it all come to be<br />
Devoid of meaning,<br />
All this stupidity?</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe title="Jac Aranda - &quot;Nobody Knows&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i6cOP-VC1Ng?list=PLRbNllCjs7isUoAFTQ9TtzJQR5qGC1kIb" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Ultraviolet</em> will be released on cassette via Anxiety Blanket Records on 7th February. Pre-order it now from their <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/products/jacarandaultraviolet">webstore</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/25/jac-aranda-ultraviolet-nobody-knows/">Jac Aranda &#8211; Ultraviolet / Nobody Knows</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">43401</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: August 2024 #1</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/05/weekly-listening-august-2024-1/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Aug 2024 20:24:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[allie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arbes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brisbane]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Coolin' By Sound]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Earth Libraries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Esther Rose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kazakhstan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lame-o records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Macro/Micro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mama Bird Recording Co.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maripool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meeanjin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[melbourne]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Naarm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new orleans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smoking Room]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snack Shack Tracks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tape/Off]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Third Eye Stimuli Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trace Mountains]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video Age]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=42186</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>allie &#8211; Radio Shower The mononymous creative moniker of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Allie Cuva, allie has served as a vehicle through which to explore personal relationships, from the study of a break-up on debut album Maybe Next Time to the perspicuous details of connection seen on 2022 single cast iron // infinite jesters. With new album Every Dog coming this September via Snack Shack Tracks and Anxiety Blanket Records, allie has shared new single &#8216;Radio Shower&#8217;. With its compassionate [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/05/weekly-listening-august-2024-1/">Weekly Listening: August 2024 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">allie &#8211; Radio Shower</h3>
<p>The mononymous creative moniker of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Allie Cuva, allie has served as a vehicle through which to explore personal relationships, from the study of a break-up on debut album <em>Maybe Next Time</em> to the perspicuous details of connection seen on 2022 single <em>cast iron // infinite jesters</em>. With new album <em>Every Dog</em> coming this September via Snack Shack Tracks and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a>, allie has shared new single &#8216;Radio Shower&#8217;. With its compassionate vocals and ache of longing, the track is every bit as heartfelt as anything allie has so far released, with Cuva matching a romantic present against the sense of loss always looming, as though to love is to anticipate the absence of love, and loneliness is always approaching from some distance to reclaim you under its grip.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/1X0KT85vMdwnGqGyYfp5V6?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center><em>Every Dog</em> will be released on the 27th September via Snack Shack Tracks and Anxiety Blanket Records.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Arbes &#8211; Impasse</h3>
<p>Anne Carson once wrote that “perfect desire is perfect impasse,” an idea <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/naarm/">Naarm</a>/<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/melbourne/">Melbourne</a> indie pop outfit Arbes explore on &#8216;Impasse&#8217;, the lead single from the debut full-length <em>Counterways</em>, coming later this year on Third Eye Stimuli Records and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/earth-libraries/">Earth Libraries</a>. “I picture this unruly character, going back and forth on an ultimatum,&#8221; lead Jess Zanoni explains of the single, &#8220;trying to toy with the emotional limits of a situation—weighing up permanence vs non-existence.” This indecisive spirit is brought to life with a sound caught between angular post-punk twitch and smooth pop grooves, and Zanoni&#8217;s vocals evoke a personality full of contradiction too. Where a certain arrogance sits alongside vulnerability, the sense of a person in competition with themselves, their two halves struggling for dominance.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=678329318/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2094284307/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://arbes.bandcamp.com/album/counterways">Counterways by Arbes</a></iframe></center><em>Counterways</em> will be released on the 1st November via Third Eye Stimuli Records and Earth Libraries and you can <a href="https://arbes.bandcamp.com/album/counterways">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Haley Heynderickx &#8211; Seed of a Seed</h3>
<p>Her first new music since 2018&#8217;s debut album <em>I Need to Start a Garden</em>, &#8216;Seed of a Seed&#8217; is the new single from Portland singer-songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/haley-heynderickx/">Haley Heynderickx</a>. Again released via the good folk as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mama-bird-recording-co/">Mama Bird Recording Co.</a>, it&#8217;s a direct and sincere folk song that strips back  contemporary life&#8217;s complications to get at the heart of what really matters. With a wisdom that may be intentional or incidental, what this entails to Heynderickx is not lofty or grandiose, but small and mundane. &#8220;It’s so simple, but I didn’t realize how much angst I’d woven into it,&#8221; she describes of the song. &#8220;A desire for simplicity, and how far away that felt.&#8221; What&#8217;s remarkable is how, from a few spare lines on modest hopes and dreams, emerges something of a self-portrait. As Heynderickx concludes: &#8220;It seems I accidentally pressed my story—the last four years of my life—into a tiny little tune.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3862418070/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://haleyheynderickx.bandcamp.com/track/seed-of-a-seed">Seed of a Seed by Haley Heynderickx</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Seed of a Seed&#8217; is out now via Mama Bird Recording Co. and is available via the Haley Heynderickx <a href="https://haleyheynderickx.bandcamp.com/track/seed-of-a-seed">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Macro/micro &#8211; Balaclava</h3>
<p>Having worked as an audio engineer for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for soundtracks such as <em>Watchmen</em>, <em>Mank</em> and <em>Waves</em>, as well as Nine Inch Nails&#8217; <em>Ghosts V &amp; IV</em>, Tommy Simpson cut his teeth among some of the best. Now recording his own music as Macro/micro, Simpson works across various fields with his dark electronic soundscapes, the latest of which being the soundtrack for <em>Streets Loud With Echoes</em>, a documentary by Katerina Suvorova. Made on the ground with activists amid unrest in Kazakhstan, the film follows the fallout after the murder of Olympic figure skater Denis Ten and a population&#8217;s attempt to instigate political change. Macro/micro&#8217;s score is every bit as shadowy and charged as you might expect, with single &#8216;Balaclava&#8217; introducing the use of field recordings and building rhythm to bring to life the paranoia of the moment.</p>
<p><iframe title="Balaclava - Macro/micro + Tommy Simpson" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M3LRYaq-tl4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The <em>Streets Loud With Echoes </em>OST will be released later this year.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Maripool &#8211; Twist</h3>
<p>&#8220;The ostensibly frolicsome nature of the song is undermined by a shadowy edge. Something sinister lurking just beneath the surface.&#8221; So <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/09/12/weekly-listening-september-2022-2/">we wrote</a> of &#8216;This Time Again&#8217; by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lisbon/">Lisbon</a>-born, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/london/">London</a>-based artist Natasha Simões, AKA <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/maripool/">Maripool</a> back in 2022. Now Simões is back with <em>a day that feels like nothing</em>, a brand new EP which builds upon this ambiguous style. The Maripool sound blends bedroom pop emotion with a punk personality to fall between the sincerity of Frankie Cosmos and the deadpan charm of the likes of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/patio">Patio</a>. Single &#8216;Twist&#8217; is a great place to dive in, its lo-fi textures ebbing and flowing as the vocals switch between yearning and embittered defiance.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=693758085/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2643241604/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://maripool.bandcamp.com/album/a-day-that-feels-like-nothing-at-all">a day that feels like nothing at all by Maripool</a></iframe></center><em>a day that feels like nothing</em> at all is out now via Smoking Room and available from <a href="https://maripool.bandcamp.com/album/a-day-that-feels-like-nothing-at-all">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tape/Off &#8211; Paris, Texas, Queensland</h3>
<p>With an album slated for release early in 2025, Australian rockers Tape/Off have shared brand new single &#8216;Paris, Texas, Queensland&#8217; via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/coolin-by-sound/">Coolin&#8217; By Sound.</a> Half love letter, half furious screed, the track does for the band&#8217;s home of Meeanjin/Brisbane what Last Quokka&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/05/24/last-quokka-red-dirt/"><em>Red Dirt</em></a> did for Kimberley, caught between the nostalgic fondness for the familiar and a simmering anger at its many downfalls. Hence sunnies, ciggies, singlets and footy shorts worn by Alfie Langer are matched with images of gentrification and colonisation. More proof the current crop of Aussie punk rock is ahead of other countries in its willingness to confront the imperialistic violence which underpins contemporary society.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>I had this dream, you see?<br />
I was holding a lump of coal in my hand<br />
And it exploded in a spray of dead Coral<br />
That covered all of Queensland</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>Watch the video filmed by Luke Henery and edited by Branko Cosic below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Tape/Off - Paris, Texas, Queensland (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lJBei8wab8I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1985493658/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://tapeoff.bandcamp.com/track/paris-texas-queensland">Paris, Texas, Queensland by Tape/Off</a></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Paris, Texas, Queensland&#8217; is out now via Coolin&#8217; By Sound and available from the Tape/Off <a href="https://tapeoff.bandcamp.com/track/paris-texas-queensland">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Trace Mountains &#8211; In A Dream</h3>
<p>&#8220;You’re in a dream,&#8221; sings Dave Benton on &#8216;In a Dream&#8217;, the first single from the latest <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/trace-mountains/">Trace Mountains</a> full-length, <em>Into The Burning Blue</em>, coming next month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lame-o-records/">Lame-O Records</a>. &#8220;You&#8217;re in a dream you feel the world busting at its seams you’re coming clean but you don’t know what the fuck it means.&#8221; In an album which sees Trace Mountains explore the whole range of the colour blue, the single and opener finds Benton very much at the darker end of the spectrum. A dispatch from whatever stage of capitalism we&#8217;re calling contemporary America as delivered from a breathless nighttime bike ride. The effect is passing through a dark passage full of eerie shadow without quite knowing if there&#8217;s an exit at the other end.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=509372952/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=568551813/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://tracemountains.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-burning-blue">Into The Burning Blue by Trace Mountains</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Trace Mountains - In A Dream (Official Lyric Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X6BXCRw8QhA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Into The Burning Blue</em> is out on the 27th September via Lame-O Records and you can <a href="https://tracemountains.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-burning-blue">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Video Age x Esther Rose &#8211; Out In The Country</h3>
<p>A reworking of the title track from their 2023 LP <em>Away From the Castle</em>, &#8216;Out In The Country&#8217; is the new single from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-orleans/">New Orleans</a> duo Video Age. Except, for this song at least, Video Age are no longer a duo. Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli are joined by alt-country singer-songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/esther-rose/">Esther Rose</a>, who brings her signature vocals to a stripped-back take on the track that dials back the technicolor psych of the original in favour of something soft and swaying. The collaboration was inspired by a live performance of the song Farbe and Rose played in Nashville, a moment captured on video and shared as an added bonus with the proper studio-recorded version. Check out both below:</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1530219225/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://videoage.bandcamp.com/track/out-in-the-country">Out In The Country by Video Age, Esther Rose</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Video Age feat. Esther Rose - Out In The Country (Live from Nashville)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RoUanIgmpnU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Out In The Country&#8217; is out now via Winspear and available from the Video Age <a href="https://videoage.bandcamp.com/track/out-in-the-country">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Vince Nudo &#8211; Everyone Here Reminds Me of You</h3>
<p>Having started out as a drummer, founding Priestess and touring and recording as part of Kurt Vile’s backing band The Violators, Vince Nudo has since turned his attention to composing, with films he&#8217;s scored having premiered at Cannes and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). His latest score is for <em>Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads &amp; Hallucinations</em>, Matt Creed&#8217;s intimate chronicle of the New York artist renowned for her abstract geometric forms and use of colour. Nudo&#8217;s ambient soundtrack is suitably lush and fluid, drawing on Heilmann&#8217;s minimalist sensibilities and overarching playfulness to create something which matches her daydream ethos of creativity.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1513172499/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2328583238/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://vincenudo.bandcamp.com/album/mary-heilmann-waves-roads-hallucinations-original-motion-picture-soundtrack">Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads &amp; Hallucinations (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Vince Nudo</a></iframe></center><em>Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads &amp; Hallucinations (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)</em> is out now and available from <a href="https://vincenudo.bandcamp.com/album/mary-heilmann-waves-roads-hallucinations-original-motion-picture-soundtrack">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/05/weekly-listening-august-2024-1/">Weekly Listening: August 2024 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">42186</post-id>	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

<!--
Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https://www.boldgrid.com/w3-total-cache/

Page Caching using Disk: Enhanced 

Served from: varioussmallflames.co.uk @ 2026-04-20 02:56:41 by W3 Total Cache
-->