In this way, GABBY SWORD lives up to its title. A record to be wielded against previous iterations. To clear the ground for new growth. Smith’s work has always stood out in its honesty and vulnerability, but aided by collaborator and spouse Barrie Lindsay (AKA Barrie), the new material is more forthright in nature. More succinct in its path to the truth. Smith first took on the name Gabby’s World for 2018’s Beast on Beast, though if that album offered glimpses of the titular landscape, then GABBY SWORD is the first proper invitation to the listener to take a step inside.

I had the pleasure of asking Smith some questions about the record. Read on for a deep dive into its influences, imagery and accompanying visual art.

Thanks so much for speaking with us Gabby, and congratulations on the new record. You are no stranger to putting albums into the world, but is it fair to say the experience of releasing GABBY SWORD felt a little different?

Thanks so much for having me! Releasing this album definitely felt different in so many ways. First of all, I hadn’t released anything in quite a while. When my last album, Beast on Beast, came out in 2018, my life looked almost nothing like it does now. To name a few differences, I was living in Brooklyn, I had set personnel in my band, Gabby’s World was touring all the time, but also I was in undergrad full time. Now, I live in France half of the time and the other half wherever, I’m married, I’m out as queer, I don’t have a set band, and I haven’t toured Gabby’s World in a long time. It has felt really different to write and record under these new circumstances. 

Also, over the past five years the music industry has shifted so dramatically! Ways of promoting oneself and touring and releasing and making money… it all looks totally different and it changed so quickly. So in response to all of these things, I decided to do an experiment. Instead of releasing music the usual way (maybe two or three singles and a full album release date), I put out one song each month for all of 2023. By December 1, the whole album was out. 

I thought it would be a good idea to shake things up a bit and see if I could generate new interest in the project by making it feel like a subscription, but without the commitment or something. Fans could have something to look forward to every month and new listeners would have more opportunities to be exposed to the music.

There’s a tangible sense of rebirth across the record, something which feels as hard won as it is affirming. As though previous versions or imitations of yourself had to be vanquished in order for something more truthful to finally break through. In many ways this feels like the first literal dispatch from Gabby’s World?

TOTALLY! That’s such a good way of putting it. Even though this is the second album under the moniker, I feel it’s a lot more representative of my taste, sonic palette, and decision-making. 

Could we talk a little about the influence Barrie Lindsay had on this process and the record more generally? It’s interesting how something so inherently personal can owe so much to outside influence, and how different ways of seeing both music and the world can both break new ground and reveal older truths.

I think Barrie’s influence comes through in two major ways. The first is that she’s a profoundly good listener. This skill can manifest as an overall productive energy or as addressing something specific I’m trying to achieve. I can communicate a vibe or a really vague idea of what I’m going for and she’ll get it immediately, sending me off in the right direction. I can also have a really specific idea of what I want, like an exact drum sound or a particular synth sound, and she’s able to make it happen. She’s very skilled as a producer and musician and knows her way around her very organized library of sounds and plugins. It’s really cool and it makes exciting things happen in the studio. 

The second way that Barrie influenced the record is her unique way of encouraging me to keep chasing my vision. Anytime I get off-track, she’s right there to gently nudge me back toward the goal, whether it’s in writing, producing, or overall career woes. I guess that’s also part of being such a good listener, but she is so motivating and motivated and it makes her a great person to work with. 

She’s also an incredible visual artist. She took several of my press photos, co-directed and filmed some of the many music videos that accompanied this album, and produced even more videos and photo shoots throughout the album cycle. Barrie is amazing!

Has it been difficult, revealing a more intimate picture of yourself? Dropping a mask is often held as an empowering action, but of course there’s comfort in a certain level of concealment. There must be something daunting in songs like ‘Sank’ with its personal picture of grief, or the examination of identity on tracks like ‘Closing Door’?

My songwriting has always been pretty diaristic and felt revealing, but I think this album has a lot more straightforward language. Writing more directly was a challenge I set for myself, starting with when I wrote ‘Sank’. I tried to apply that ethos to all of the songs on the record as best I could. I think now I’m addicted to writing this way and would probably struggle to go back to my old, more cryptic ways!

I have to ask about the title. A sword is both an object of attack and self-defense, as well as something with ceremonial weight. Could you speak a little on what it represents for you?

To begin with, it’s really easy to misread Gabby’s World as Gabby Sword, especially when it’s mashed together in a hyperlink, like “gabbysworld.” Oliver Kalb pointed that out to me and it made me laugh. I’ve kept it in my back pocket as an album title for years, pretty much since the project adopted the moniker. 

Separately, my friend Luke Jenner once said that every artist is carrying around a metaphorical sword that they use to get ahead in their industry. He said that even if you think other musicians are your best friends, they’ve always got their sword ready on their person and are likely willing to use it against you if they have to. Even if they don’t mean you any harm, it’s just how one keeps their precarious position in the industry safe. 

I don’t like that I see the merit in such a cynical approach to interacting with one’s peers, but it’s especially applicable in such a precarious industry as the music world. I see it come out sometimes in others in professional social situations and, admittedly, sometimes in myself, despite my best efforts. I think about it a lot when I’m navigating professional events and try to remember to leave my sword at home, or if I forget, in the green room.

Lastly, an album is such a powerful vehicle through which to announce who you are and what you’re about. The title GABBY SWORD is like, here I am, here is my sword that I poured all of my recent energies into. I’m going to use it to show you what I’m all about. It’s tangible and it’s the beginning of its legacy. If I ever had to own a sword, that would be its name. 

Can we turn to the artwork a moment? It sometimes feels album art is neglected these days, often relegated to a thumbnail on a screen, so it’s always a pleasure to come across a record where the art feels such an intrinsic part of the release. I’d love to hear more about that side of things.

Part of the joy of releasing a song every month was that each one had to be accompanied by artwork. I had a blast figuring out the visual vibe of each song. I often felt so inspired that it led to several music videos to accompany the songs, way more than I expected to or than I’ve had on any previous albums.

I also had the pleasure of working and collaborating with so many visual artists whom I’ve come to admire over the past several years. I was just waiting to have a reason to reach out to them. One of those people was Allie Oldfield, who I’d been following on Instagram for a while, and who made a beautiful landscape illustration for “Powerful.” I ran into Zoë Greenway at SXSW last year who ended up making two of my favorite videos, for “33” and “Theme from Gabby’s World.” I’d always wanted an excuse to work with Sang Patten, Ginger Leigh Ryan, and Mae Stark, who photographed, made up, and styled me, respectively, for the photo shoot that I’ve used for a lot of the artwork and press. And, of course, it was such a treat to collaborate with Grace Weir, a true human multitool, who schemed with me on four music videos and the graphic design for most of the single art. 

And lastly but most importantly, is Kirini O.K., my childhood best friend, who painted the album cover. We reconnected in the past few years and I was absolutely floored by the work she was making. She makes these hyper-realistic, absolutely stunning oil paintings. We worked together on the concept for the album cover and I could not believe what she made. It was way beyond my expectations. She’s such a genius and I’m so lucky to have gotten to work with her. 

Do you know what the future looks like for Gabby’s World? Do you feel you have laid concrete foundations with this album, is change always going to be a part of the process? 

The beauty of Gabby’s World is it’s reflective of whatever I’m going through and whatever I’m into at the moment. I hope to continue to change and grow and have that reflected in my work. What’s immediately next is focusing on a live show for a while. I haven’t gotten to perform Gabby’s World in a while and I’m really looking forward to it. 

GABBY SWORD is out now via Carrot All Records and available from the Gabby’s World Bandcamp page.

Photos by Sang Moon, album artwork by Kirini O.K

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Tender, the debut solo album by Colorado’s Allison Lorenzen on Whited Sepulchre Records was marked by “a transience which feels deeply compassionate,” as we described in our review. “Hope manifest as an understanding of the potential for change.” Follow-up single ‘The Fourth Cycle‘ continued this examination of change, detailing the gamut of emotional states involved with any upheaval, and latest track ‘MTO’ feels like the next step along the process. Described as sounding like a “final climax of a Mark Fisher-influenced hauntological prom scene,” the song looks to recognise the repeating patterns of the past so that Lorenzen might heal and move forward.

Bad Tiger – Enough

Last year, we described how Bad Tiger’s 2020 album The Goat and the Bad Tiger was “far from being the full realisation of [Yasi] Lowy’s goals,” but instead “merely opened the doors to new possibilities.” The San Francisco outfit are back with ‘Enough’, a new single which focuses on the precariousness of the present moment. With Lowy’s tender and confessional vocals, the track paints a vulnerable, open-hearted mood which longs for certainty within the painful fervour of love.

City Dress – Empires of Honey

“Music is for everyone who spent their childhoods obsessively reading the lyrics to their favorite songs.” That’s how Brooklyn‘s Christina Skramstad describes her folk pop project City Dress. Together with guitarist Johnny Simon Jr. (Wilsen), she writes lush and literary folk songs, which we last featured back in 2020. Fast forward a few years and City Dress is back with a new single, ‘Empires of Honey’, a rhythmic and resolute exploration of the self-deception involved in ego and boundless ambition. “The song is about standing at a crossroads and making decisions you imagine will bring you joy and contentment,” Skramstad describes, “but realizing that sometimes your wants and needs are misaligned.”

‘Empire of Honey is out now via streaming services.

clay pigeon – Come Down

Having released an EP and album under his own name, Montreal-based songwriter James Clayton has now adopted the moniker clay pigeon for his new material. Clayton recently recorded the project’s debut album at Hotel2Tango with Howard Bilerman and Shae Brossard, and debut single ‘Come Down’ gives a glimpse into what to expect. A simmering blend of shadow and rhythm, where the understated mood grows taut as it progresses, threatening to snap into an all-out crescendo but never quite breaking its controlled progress.

Lael Neale – White T-Shirt

Following the release of her sophomore record Star Eaters Delight back in the spring, LA’s Lael Neale has released standalone single ‘White T-Shirt’, a take on one of her older songs that didn’t quite fit on the album. As producer Guy Blakeslee describes, “White T-Shirt’ dates back a number of years to when I used to follow Lael around LA to all of her barely publicized performances. The song never ceased to silence the chatter in the room…it’s a raw gem that stands alone and cuts through the noise” Blakeslee is not wrong. Clocking in at under two minutes, ‘White T-Shirt’ has an almost uncanny timeless quality, stripped back to guitar and Neale’s distinctive vocals

‘White T-Shirt’ is out now via Sub Pop and available via the Lael Neale Bandcamp page.

Left Tracks – Strawberry Moon

LA‘s Kabir Kumar (AKA Sun Kin) and Oakland‘s Phil Di Leo (DI LEO) first met in 2016, though it is only now they’ve decided to combine their skills. Enter Left Tracks, a brand new project that sees Kumar and Di Leo use all of their skills as composers, vocalists and multi-instrumentalists to imagine a new future in the wake of COVID and the adjacent catastrophes. What emerged was End Times Hauling, an EP which sits on the precipice of disaster but makes a decision to envisage a different world, working on the logic that no significant change can occur without first rekindling a sense of imagination. Opening track and single ‘Strawberry Moon’ introduces the left-field folk-inflected pop sound, as well as the compassion and collaboration which marks the release.

Nina Keith – Blow Up Yr Life (U Need To)

LA-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Nina Keith first caught attention in 2019 with MARANASATI 19111, an LP which decorated piano arrangements with a whole host of flourishes from flute to field recordings to better explore ideas of memory and death. With a tour opening for Youth Lagoon fast approaching, Keith has returned with ‘Blow Up Yr Life’, a single featuring Barrie and Qur’an Shaheed which again combines classical and contemporary styles to urge its audience to break from from their circumstances and live on their own terms. “Lately the more I wear the turmoil of my life on my sleeve the more often I find myself in conversations with strangers and loved ones that reach a similar end,” as Keith explains. “I can never be the one to tell someone to burn it down and start over. They see the ash stains on my shirt and ask to borrow a match so they can play with it, save it for later, but sometimes it’s like ‘girl, the house is already on fire, you can’t stay in there’.” Check out the visualizer by Nik Arthur below:

‘Blow Up Yr Life (U Need To)’ is out now and available from Bandcamp.

Ratboys – The Window

Later this summer, Chicago indie rockers Ratboys return with The Window, a brand new record via Topshelf Records. Having already released two singles – the epic ‘Black Earth, WI’ and expressive ‘It’s Alive’ – they have now unveiled the title track, an uber-personal song that forms the record’s emotional centre point. “I wrote that song a few days after the death of my grandma” explains lead Julia Steiner. “She didn’t have Covid, but because of the pandemic my grandpa wasn’t able to visit her in person at the nursing home to say goodbye. He ended up standing outside her room and saying goodbye through an open window.” It starts quiet and sober, but this is not your standard sad song. It soon kicks up a gear, becoming a country-tinged rock song that displays the Ratboys knack for combining tenderness with raucous noisy energy. Watch the John TerEick-directed widescreen video below:

The Window will be released on 25th August. Pre-order a copy from the Ratboys Bandcamp page.

Upper Narrows – Tinker’s Darn

Based in Portland, Maine, Upper Narrows is the recording project of songwriter and producer Tyler Jackson. Jackson’s process is an unusual one, swapping out drums and guitars for programmed beats and an array of synths. In October he will release While We’re Warm, the debut Upper Narrows full-length via Repeating Cloud, and debut single ‘Tinker’s Darn’ is our first taste of what to expect. A deep and spacey sound that balances its digital soundscape with a very human emotion, resulting in something as immersive as it is affirming, even if the lyrics hold a more conflicted view.

hungover when I cry
my bucket of bolts on fire
preach forgiveness around the clock
pretend I’m not a liar

fathoms of forgiveness
from the magazine to the gun
the apples inside her are turning to cider
the terror of not having fun

The post Weekly Listening: July 2023 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Adrianne Lenker – cradle
German Error Message – Hopelessness
Jo Schornikow – Incomplete
Grizzly Coast – Half-Light Boy
Taylor Hamilton – Might Say
Porridge Radio – Give / Take
Patio – Scum
Ruthie – Spirit Now Moves
Esther Rose – Don’t Blame It On the Moon
Blood Cultures – Flowers For All Occasions
Puddle-Cuddle – Compost
Mess – Dead Space
Cry Babe – Soft Honk
The Painters – Pieces of Life
Two Meters – Ground
Erin Durant – Take a Load Off
Michelle Blades – Ring
Eric & Magill – Thanks to Sciences
Foundlings – Caught Up on You
Craig Finn – Something To Hope For
JW Ridley – Homesick (Out The Blue)
Pieket – Eternal Recurrence
The Curfews – Rose
Emily Fairlight – Body Below
Raggedy – Brainwash
Barrie – Saturated
Blush – Forever Is a Long Time
Shane Leonard – Empire Builder
Con Davison – Sofa Bed
Gold Light + Snakemusk – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Chats – Pub Feed
Shutups – Yellowjacket
Izzy Heltai – Stuck In Stone
Adam Ostrar – Take It Back
The Death Of Pop – Last
Toledo – Some Samurai
Yot Club – Japan
Evan Thomas Way & The Phasers – Long Distance
K. Campbell – Heads Up
The Duke of Norfolk – As the Heralds Revere You
Leaky Engine-John Birch Society Blues
naps – treading
Vieo Abiungo – What the Rain Restores
Old Earth – The Friends ∴ The Gods
Good Good Blood & Astral Social Club – Heathen Astronaut

Like what you hear? Catch up with the rest of our Monthly Mixes!

The post April 2019 Roundup Mix appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Esther Rose – Don’t Blame It on the Moon

Based in New Orleans, Esther Rose is a singer-songwriter whose work continues the long and storied tradition of American folk. Rose’s latest single ‘Don’t Blame It on the Moon’, her first new music since 2017’s debut album This Time Last Night, is a wonderfully simple but bitingly honest folk song, a dialogue between two lovers that has all the barely restrained heartbreak of the country greats.

“I hope you’re worth all this heartache”
She said / outside the bar at 2 A.M.
She said, “All this pain is gonna break us down, I can’t take it”
She said, “Don’t make me cry, I’ve got my makeup on
and I haven’t had a drink in so long

Blood Cultures – Flowers For All Occasions

Blood Cultures is a cryptic “individual (or group of individuals)” from New Jersey that make a compelling brand of psych-pop while masking their identities with balaclavas. The inspiration came from a mass hijacking of local television broadcasts in 1990s NJ, the usual programming replaced by mysterious sounds and images by an anonymous infiltrator. Blood Cultures position themselves as the second coming of this unexplained phenomenon, a faceless, nameless entity looking to worm its way into your homes and minds, perhaps hoping to leave an impression on a new generation so that esoteric message might live on.

You can find Blood Cultures on Bandcamp and Youtube.

The Painters – Pieces of Life

Montreal indie pop band The Painters, led by Alex Bourque, have a new album on the way on Egg Paper Factory. This is good news in itself, but what’s even better is that the band have released an outtake from the record to raise anticipation a little. ‘Pieces of Life’ sees the band, led by Alex Bourque, continue with their bright and nostalgic indie pop aesthetic that we last heard on 2016’s Specks of Dust. There are shades of Velvet Underground and Nap Eyes in the laid-back vibes and pseudo-philosophical musings, but with more of a lo-fi folk angle, right down to the withering birdsong at the end.

Why do I need everybody to like me?
If I’d rather be alone

Craig Finn – Something To Hope For

Following on from 2017’s We All Want the Same Things, Craig Finn is set to release his third solo album this spring. I Need a New War continues Finn’s brilliant and humane songwriting while adding further dimensions and textures through a larger instrumental palette, leading to what might be his richest, most atmospheric release to date. This is displayed in latest single ‘Something To Hope For’, the light, almost celebratory tone balanced against Finn’s distinctive sing-speak delivery.

The only kind of dreams you ever seem to have
are bad dreams

I Need A New War is out via Partisan Records on the 26th April and you can pre-order it now.

Pieket – Eternal Recurrence

Pieket are a band from Dhaka in Bangladesh. Sinjan Saadat, Syed Wadud, Hasib Mahmud and Rushnaf Wadud combine to create lo-fi indie pop in the fashion of Mac DeMarco. Their latest EP, Powerpoint Depresentation, is out now, and opening track ‘Eternal Recurrence’ acts as a good introduction. The song begins with a ruminative intro, eventually giving way to languid percussion and slacker-inspired vocals, bright guitar lifting everything out of bummed-out bedroom pop territory.

Emily Fairlight – Body Below

Emily Fairlight is a folk singer who lives in Dunedin, New Zealand. Fairlight makes self-described “doom folk,” which has earned comparisons with PJ Harvey (for the vocals), Will Oldham (for the writing) and Calexico (for the conjured atmosphere). Her new album, Mother of Gloom, was recorded in Austin, Texas, adding a Southern Gothic edge to the collection of rich and emotive folk songs. The album’s first track, ‘Body Below’ delves straight into weighty emotion, the label describing Fairlight’s voice as “stark and haunting […] teak-hard yet soft as crushed velvet” in some indication of the juxtaposition of power and vulnerability on display. If this is anything to go by, Emily Fairlight is about to follow the likes of Nadia Reid and Aldous Harding as the next breakout New Zealand folk artist.

Barrie – Saturated

Brooklyn’s Barrie might revolve around the work of lead Barrie Lindsay, though it’s anything but a solo project. Drawing on the talents of Dominic Apa, Spurge Carter, Sabine Holler and Noah Prebish, Barrie has recorded Happy To Be Here, an album that celebrates collaboration and inclusivity to become something larger than the sum of its parts. New single ‘Saturated’ is as good a place as any to dive into the band’s silky pop sound, with the track standing out as pure even to the band themselves. “It came out fully formed, sounding mostly like how it sounds now,” explained Lindsay. “It’s minimal and exposed, kind of vulnerable but in a confident way. I want people to relate to that state of pure, open saturation. I want this song to feel like a crush.”

Happy To Be Here will be released on the 3rd May via Winspear and you can pre-order it now.

Shane Leonard – Empire Builder

Shane Leonard is a name that pops up periodically here at Various Small Flames, with his work as Kalispell and appearances on records from the likes of Field Report and Jeremy Squires, (not to mention helping to record and produce music with Simon Balto and Anna Tivel). However, Leonard also records solo under his own name, and 2019 will see the release of a brand new album, Strange Forms.

Giving a taste of what’s to come, lead single ‘Empire Builder’ is a bright amalgamation of folk and rock, the calm energy of the song complementing Leonard’s quiet philosophising. The lyrics are balanced between confusion and peace, the unanswered and unanswerable questions of life framed not as sources of crippling doubt but mysteries to acknowledge and appreciate from outside.

Gold Light + Snakemusk – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Meeting in Asheville in 2017, Joe Chang (aka Gold Light) and Beau Campolong (Snakemusk) found they shared an appreciation of the tragic heartbreak of classic country records and started making music together. Full-length album Shadows In The Shallows is the result of the collaboration, channelling the big players in folk and country to create a traditional Americana fit for the twenty-first century. Lead single ‘The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter’ is the perfect example, a narrative-driven, lovelorn track with an almost otherworldly edge, 70s folk coloured by the strangeness of Carson McCullers’ South Gothic style.

Cus the heart is a lonely hunter it seems
But your heart will miss it’s mark if it comes after me
Like a dog gone and barked up the wrong tree
Cus the heart’s gonna go wherever it please

The Chats – Pub Feed

The premiere practitioners of in-your-face, off-the-wall punk, The Chats burst onto our radar in 2017 with the raucous tongue-in-cheek EP, Get This In Ya. After a year of growing success, the Aussie trio are back with a brand new single, ‘Pub Feed’, and it’s a pleasure to report that the growing recognition has done nothing to dampen their forthright, absurd style. As the title suggests, the song finds the band hungry in a pub chain and slavering over the options. Whether it’s beef and gravy, chips and tomato sauce, chicken schnitty or parmigiana, it doesn’t really matter. Only one thing is important:

All I want, and all I need
All I crave is a good pub feed.

The track comes complete with a video directed by Matt Weston and shot by Ben Blenner, with
camera assistance from Wilson Bambrick.

The Pub Feed “7 is out now and you can get it from The Chats webpage.

JW Ridley – Homesick (Out The Blue)

JW Ridley has been steadily building a collection of songs demonstrating his incisive, emotionally-resonant sound, and latest single ‘Homesick (Out The Blue)’ is no exception. Blending the woozy melancholy of Radiohead with an insistent energy more akin to post-punk, the song is something of a juxtaposition, the momentum of the sound masking something altogether more drifting in the sentiment of lyrics. Indeed, such a contrast could be said to be a key theme of the track. “It’s about the things we hold on to,” Ridley explains, “or the things that never really leave us.”

‘Homesick’ is out now via Handsome Dad Records.

Ruthie – Spirit Now Moves

Ruthie is the new recording project of Naomi Baguley, who you might know as the former front of cult punk outfit, Bruising. Taking a new direction, Ruthie now peddles an altogether more luscious sound, taking equals parts folk and indie rock and crafting a 70s-inspired middle ground. Inspired by David Szalay’s novel All That Man Is, new single ‘Spirit Moves Now’ not only highlights Ruthie honeyed style but also the considered approached to songwriting that underpins it, Baguley creating an admirable thematic and emotional depth.

Check out a video from Kamil Dymek below:

You can find all relevant links on the Ruthie website, and listen to more on Spotify and Soundcloud.

The Curfews – Rose

The Curfews are a fuzz pop band who have recently relocated from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Santa Cruz, California. Their latest single ‘Rose’ shows off their style very nicely, the hazy style distorting an otherwise upbeat sound and giving the whole thing a carefree edge, a kind of loose-limbed stride forwards irrespective of whatever might be weighing you down.

Blush – Forever Is a Long Time

The recording project of Maura M. Lynch, along with Jonathan Campolo (drums, piano, vocals), Nicholas Campolo (guitar) and Andrew Chugg (bass, synth), New York’s Blush makes an intimate brand of bedroom pop that hinges about Lynch’s restrained vocal style and the warm instrumental arrangements. Following on from 2017’s self-titled debut album, Blush is back with a brand new single, ‘Forever is a Long Time’, taking the soft earnestness of Free Cake For Every Creature and adding something a little more pressing so as to exist halfway between bedroom pop and garage rock.

Shutups – Yellowjacket

Oakland-based duo Shutups is a band based on a connection deeper than most. After being college friends, life and geography separated Mia and Hadley, but after an accident left Hadley housebound, the bond persevered and grew. Shutups became the mechanism with which to realign life, a reason to continue despite difficulty. “It didn’t feel like a happy ending movie plot,” Hadley says of his eventual re-emergence into the world. “I came out depressed and not wanting to do anything. The band saved me.”

Four EPs later, the band have honed their angular pop punk style for a debut full-length, Every Day I’m Less Zen. Lead single ‘Yellowjacket’ serves as an introduction, it’s urgent and off-kilter style creating a frantic abandon that lifts the act above its peers, the pair’s obvious connection allowing a tight-knit yet idiosyncratic sound. Check out the video shot edited by Braith Miller below:

Head to Bandcamp for more from Shutups.

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