Standalone single ‘My Oldest Friend‘ furthered the style, and now Em Spel is gearing up to release brand new full-length Bird or Snake this spring via Birdwatcher Records. Lead single ‘Geographic’ might have the same invention and depth of The Carillion Towers, and even some similar ideas around interconnection, but in place of the organic imagery is something altogether more modern and synthetic. An exploration of being plugged into the contemporary world in all its overwhelming chaos, where every page is trying to sell you something, every scrap of data repurposed and sold in the name of understanding your desires. “Sometimes a song fragment writes itself and gets stuck in your head,” Hospelhorn explains. “That’s what happened to me with Geographic—something about that opening cadence grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. There’s the concept of a “digital world” that existed five, ten years ago, and then there’s whatever we have now. This is a song for everyone who is constantly bombarded by ads, by algorithms, by a million screens vying for your attention.”

Art by Jessica Roberts

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Next month sees the release of a brand new Bleach Day album, as if always, recorded over two years between other projects (such as performing on Wished Bone‘s Cellar Belly). Having since grown into a five piece, the record finds Bleach Day at their most versatile and vivid, ambling bass and twelve-string guitar and deep, dawning percussion combining to form a sound that possesses a rich, translucent form. Equally adept at spacey expanses and sun-bleached warmth, this “impressionistic and painterly palette” allows the band a broad scope in theme and focus, from introspective intimacy to soaring trips beyond the self and back again. As the press release explains:

as if always composes a sonic language that takes the listener through a story of growth and self discovery in its most primeval form, which mirrors a full life cycle from birth to death. Through struggle you learn to confront your fears, your shadows, and your limitations to become the person you are meant to be. It’s a journey to a place that feels far away—until you realize it’s actually within yourself, and always has been.

Today we’re delighted to be able to share the album’s lead single, ‘in limbo’. Taking the languid cordiality of classic pop and applying a lo-fi sheen, the song has an uncanny edge, a certain spectrality, phasing in and out of solid existence as the verses and refrain cycle through. The result is something like a haunted transmission, a hopeful message from the past coloured melancholic by distance and context, and one that fades into the empty, barren distortion of blank tape.

as if always is out on the 6th March via Birdwatcher Records and you can pre-order it now on vinyl, CD and cassette from Bandcamp.

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Adir L.C. is about to release his sophomore album, Basket Star, follow up to 2016’s Oceanside Cities, on Birdwatcher Records. In preparation, he is drip-feeding singles, starting with ‘Big Bad’, which was premiered on Post-Trash last month. There, Dan Goldin described the sound as “a textured type of eerie folk on a song that slowly unfolds in synch with his silky vocal melodies,” praising galloping rhythm and radiant composition.

Today, we have the pleasure of unveiling a second single, ‘Reacting’. Created with long-time collaborator Cameron Wischhe (Sheer Mag, Porches, Cende), the song fuses sunny folk-inflected indie pop with a more intense and driven style. The most striking and impressive thing is the sense of freedom that emerges, the song shining with genuine easy joy. Therefore, despite the melting pot of influences and meticulously complex art pop arrangements, Adir sounds like he’s having so much fun, a feeling that proves to be infectious.

Basket Star is due for release in May, and you can pre-order it now via the Adir L.C. Bandcamp page.

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