Based in Nashville, Anne Malin is a poet and songwriter whose work exists at the intersection of country, freak folk and indie rock. New album Summer Angel, coming this June on Dear Life Records, works this space to explore the conflicted themes of love and violence, Malin at its centre both curious about the possibilities of the world and painfully aware of its cruel extremes. Serving as the perfect introduction to the release, lead singles ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Redeemer’ are harrowing in both senses of the word. Vulnerable songs which descend into distress and pain, but also songs sharp and toothed, capable of breaking new ground and imagining the field anew.

Summer Angel releases on 17th June via Dear Life Records. You can pre-order it now from the Anne Malin Bandcamp page.

Chris Bathgate – Don’t Look Back

Next month sees the release of The Significance of Peaches, the latest album from Michigan songwriter Chris Bathgate on Quite Scientific Records. Continuing Bathgate’s distinctively evocative style, new single ‘Don’t Look Back’ evokes the mythic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice to explore a more personal mythology. A love story coloured by both tragedy and defiance, finding compassion in its hard won wisdom. “Ain’t it strange how the things we’ve done,” he sings, “often are the cause of us undone– / that’s love, or something.” Check out the video by Kevin Romeo and Bathgate himself below:

The Significance of Peaches is out on the 13th May via Quite Scientific and you can pre-order it now.

HUSHPUPPY – Nervous

The project of New York‘s Zoë Brecher, HUSHPUPPY makes a cathartic brand of indie rock, as highlighted by latest track, ‘Nervous’. The latest in Hardly Art‘s Singles Series, the track confronts difficulty with defiance, finding empowerment in the knowledge that others suffer too. “As someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, I often struggle to leave the house,” Brecher describes. “This song is about acknowledging I’m not the only one who feels that way.”

Keeps – Over Again

Keeps are an indie rock four-piece from Nashville, Tennessee. Following on from their second album Affectianado released in 2020, they have returned with a brand new single, ‘Over Again’. Written by singer Agustin Escalante and guitar player Robbie Jackson through the lens of pandemic-induced isolation, the song charts the pressures time and distance can put on a relationship, the warm jangle and melancholic vocals combining into a decidedly wistful air.

Kisskadee – Black Hole Era

Next month sees the release of Black Hole Era, the new album by Kisskadee on Anxiety Blanket. The project of LA multi-instrumentalist Kasie Shahbaz, the record combines folk, pop, psych and ambient styles to realise its distinctive sound. Its title track displays just how evocative this blend can be. The various styles knit together into a near cosmic bed of sound which holds Shahbaz’s vocals, the lyrics probing into universal mysteries and possibilities beyond what we understand as reality, a very human line of questioning amid the spacey sound.

Black Hole Era releases on 3rd June via Anxiety Blanket. Pre-order it now from the Kisskadee Bandcamp page.

Metavari – Kings Die Like Other Men (Rediscovery)

Described as “in communion with the decade past,” Soft Continuum sees Nathaniel David Utesch’s Metavari reimagining their 2009 debut full-length, Be One of Us and Hear No Noise. Out this June on Joyful Noise Recordings, the new record functions as both a work by and tribute to founding member Ty Brinneman who passed away in 2020, his recordings expanded into what eventually became the album. With stellar contemporary electronics elevated by a range of styles, from Italian horror movie dramatics to the cosmic experimentation of kosmische and new age music. Lead single ‘Kings Die Like Other Men (Rediscovery)’ drops the listener straight into this style, especially when paired with the video directed by Alex Osmolovsky along with director of photography Vlad Voronin.

Soft Continuum (Studies Vol.2) is out via Joyful Noise Recordings on the 10th June and you can pre-order it now from the Metavari Bandcamp page.

Riches – The Frequency

Riches is described as the “manifestation of an ongoing dialogue” between Catherine McCandless (of Young Galaxy) and the choreographer Wynn Holmes. “A glowing and airy slice of pastoral folk,” was how we described previous track ‘Light of Dawn‘, and though new single ‘The Frequency’ retains some of the lightness, it heads into altogether deeper territory with a full band arrangement that introduces an almost gothic dream pop sound. “The frequency is: being swept up, being in love, longing and belonging, soothing and alive,” the band explain. “It is a calling on the ethereal to take on form, on music to bring touch and connection over the frontiers of physical walls and distances.”

The post Weekly Listening: April 2022 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

And the usual disclaimer applies, there were too many great tunes to include them all, so treat this more as a selection rather than a comprehensive round-up of the year. Enjoy.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Constellation

“You’re used to quiet words
and so am I
so I’ll just whisper“

Tiny Ruins – Dream Wave

“always a dream wave drawing you off track
dream wave, a coast calls you back“

Magana – Get it Right

“You were red but my gold turned you green
So you stood there lying through your teeth“

deer scout – holy ghost

“I could find a new kind of devotion
I could know you by another name“

Hovvdy – Meg

“Speak because i know you feel a certain way
but ill pass it along anyway“

Bedbug – Leaving Town, Moving to a National Park <3

“I’m too young for that anyways
everyone’s just tryna skip town these days“

Soccer Mommy – Skinned Knees

“i left
burning streets in tennessee
for a north east feel“

Mitski – Your Best American Girl

“Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me
But I do, I finally do“

LVL UP – Hidden Driver

“God is peeking
softly speaking
fucking everything
until I slowly do see“

Lisa Prank – Starting Again

“You say you’re not still drinking
you just started again
I swear I don’t still miss you
I just started again“

Dicktations – Dicktations Forever

“It’s hard to say when I first figured out something was wrong“

Joyride! – Running on Empty

“Young and running on empty
you said that you thought I looked pretty with my makeup on
so I went home and I took it off“

Sioux Falls (now Stranger Ranger) – Dom

“Spending too much time on the internet
are you ok? you don’t seem very into it“

Camp Cope – Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams

“It’s the trophy wives raising trophy wives raising children on TV
Scared of people like you and me
Just don’t ask questions you’ll sleep peacefully
We will not go out in silence and we will not go quietly“

Fake Boyfriend – BUMTOWN

“Why do I cling to the threads that mean the least?“

Outer Spaces – I Saw You

“I saw you, a shedding snake“

American Enthusiasm – Holy Wow

“Make a note of all the words I cough out on my death bed“

The Hotelier – Soft Animal

“Fawn, doe, light snow
Spots on brown of white 
make me believe that there’s a God sometimes“

Beach Slang – Future Mixtape for the Art Kids

“We’re not lost, we are dying in style
We’re not fucked, we are fucking alive“

CHUCK – Death

“You hold on to whatever kin
that keeps on breathin’ in
that keeps you from driftin’
like paper in the wind“

You Won’t – Ya Ya Ya

“So your daddy was a poltergeist
sent your little sister screaming down the hallway
well I don’t know about the afterlife,
but I can help you to forget about the old days“

Mountain Almanac – Kids Playing Outside

“Saturday morning, cartoon time, let’s go“

Basement Revolver – Johnny

“Please just stay away from Johnny
cos I love him understand“

Boy Scouts – Did You See My Cry

“walking walmart shopping center
i’d never been better
on my own two feet
i guess“

Free Cake For Every Creature – First Summer in a City

“i’ll be singing when i’m 90
climb a tree to see
what tastes to smokey sweet
first summer in a city“

Haley Heynderickx – First I’m Sorry

“Mother knows I drown in my lies
Father knows I learned my lesson the second time.
Ask me where I’ll go I’ll say do not know
No, I do not know“

ARMS – Missing

“I don’t want to force your hand
but wishes disguised as plans will never do
Like the king of deathbed regrets
and the queen of last requests could ever choose“

Naps – Bad Vibrations

“Can’t stand up to the world’s expectations
I’m living on a bad bad vibration“

The Washboard Abs – Day Draws Nearer

“Your backyard
you talked to God
about the heartbreak you forgot“

Trace Mountains – Forgiveness

“old dirt you thrown underneath the stair
is right there
right where you said i’d tremble and stare
at the vast unforgiving spirit lurking there
but it takes time, to realise forgiveness“

Nassau – Desert Blues

“I took a marker and wrote your number on the bathroom stall
That’s just my way of reaching out cos I’m too proud to call“

Adeline Hotel – Near You

“Sleep better tonight
In the heat of red moon light
Whatever we are, whatever we’ll be
I used to live near you, you used to love near me“

Simon Balto – Foothills

“I’ve never been a faithful man
I’ve always been too proud to pray
But won’t you come out to the foothills
And hold me together for one more day“

Cloud Cult – No Hell

“There’s no use in running unless you run like heck
The best things we’ve learned we learned from the wreck
Jesus coming back as a woman this time
Handing out hugs in the clinic line
Someone tell the devil we don’t need no hell
We’re all pretty good at beating up ourselves“

Slingshot Dakota – Break

“And in the end there’s two of us
it was always two of us“

Good Good Blood – No Sadness/Furrowed Brow

“We’ll have no sadness/furrowed brow
There is no shame in dying now
I said from my death bed“

Ben Seretan – Bowl of Plums

“My friends call me when they’re feeling low
We talk quietly for hours and walk the room
Flowers growing in a coffee can
Our lives are wonderful and sad sometimes“

Chris Bathgate – Big Ghost

“I got a Big Ghost
of static in my throat
from coming up too short“

Wintersleep – Metropolis

“The man that you are, the man you were, the man you left
Turn into stars, flowing in through the wilderness“

Mothers – Lockjaw

“I don’t want your kind words
I want your ghost inside a thimble“

Car Seat Headrest – Drunk Driver / Killer Whales

“You build yourself up against others’ feelings
And it left you feeling empty as a car coasting downhill
I have become such a negative person
It was all just an act
It was all so easily stripped away“

Space Mountain – Never Lonely

“Met a friend today
And im feeling okay
She’s in my head
I’m never lonely“

Hallelujah the Hills – What Do the People Want?

“What do the people want?
The people don’t know what they want“

Mount Moriah – Calvander

“Carry on and on and on on
With your cosmic reach
Newport river whispered fate
Spells cast with every crashing wave
Neon lines and a new name“

Frederick Squire – Bike Thief

“The lights are on
And we are sinking way down in our chairs
We don’t say much of anything
Even though there’s still a lot to say“

Kevin Morby – We’ve Been Here Before

“Running my mouth off at the storm
Yelling, “man, what the hell did you do that for?“

Sam Moss – Vertebrae

“Did you watch my vertebrae
Slendering out
Or did you watch your own?
Stretching skin over the bone
I’ve grown
Learning to be proud“

Arlo Aldo – House & Home

“O’er the mountains out past the trees
where the grasslands, meet the sky
you’ll find me singin’ my songs
with my lover in my mind“

Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs

“Jesus what a mess
what they’re all selling
and what’s being sold“

Jeremy Squires – After All

“There’s an old painting of Jesus on a wall
and a tapestry that hangs by a cross
that weighs heavy on my shoulders now and then
I get caught up with why the things we love ain’t never last“

The Dead Tongues – Stained Glass Eyes

“Fifth wind brought a howl got me in a storm
I saw a lighthouse spinning at the edge of the world
like looking through a window to the day
I was born“

Kyle Morton – Automatic

“It’s my head, it’s my head
breaking itself to make a thought but instead
Just some pornographic images to stave off my death
It’s all automatic“

Keaton Henson – Alright

“Obviously
My wounds are open to see
But don’t take them seriously
I’ll be fine“

Talons’ – Work Stories

“Is this what the end of the world looks like?
Or is this just life?“

Jordan O’Jordan – A Lonely Road

“There are truths we may or may never know friend
and that is the point“

Mal Devisa – Sea of Limbs

“Honey-lover
keeper of the bees
Soft-spoken
seldom-seen“

Young Jesus – Hinges

“I’m pretty sure I’m a kind of collection of things
scattered throughout the backyard
under the moon
pulling weirdo slow dance moves
maybe always losing it a little
i am ashamed to believe in myself!“

Lung Cycles – For a While

“I feel like sharing
so I’ll press record
and I’ll tell you that I had a vision“

Sister Grotto – UNCANNY

“When we go, we go alone“

John K. Samson – Virtute At Rest

“You should know I am with you, know I forgive you
Know I am proud of the steps that you’ve made
Know it will never be easy or simple
Know I will dig in my claws when you stray“

If you missed it, you can see the list of our favourite albums of 2016 here, and stay tuned for our collection of the best name-your-price releases on Bandcamp next week.

The post Wake the Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2016 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Fire – Mal Devisa
2. wild fire/flowers – Trust Fall
3. Home Alone – Max Gardener
4. Your Love – Jeremy Squires
5. Veins – Camp Howard
6. How To Dance – Mount Moriah
7. Good Evening – Adeem the Artist
8. Shallow – Candy
9. Francie Cool – Francie Cool
10. Bad Vibes – Zebrafi
11. Piece of Ivy – Jake Bellissimo
12. Snow Day – Julia Brown
13. Alive – Dear Tracks
14. Ted the Radical Westy – Ravetank
15. ft1 – naps
16. We Have The Perimeter Surrounded – Hallelujah the Hills
17. Bullet in a Broken Gun – Oscar Lush
18. Color Peels – The Wandering Lake
19. Nowhere Nothing – Oceanator
20. Suagr Skull – The Washboard Abs
21. Of Wandering – Littler
22. bicycle – Twelve Gardens
23. Ya Ya Ya – You Won’t
24. Find You – Family Video
25. Jack Campbell (Quick Jammer) – Dingus.
26. Candy – Fish Food
27. It May Very Well Do – 100 Watt Horse
28. Life – Whim
29. Meg – Hovvdy
30. Piano Player – The Hotelier
31. Calvary – Chris Bathgate
32. Postman – Sam Moss

The post March 2016 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Maybe it’s just because I’m listening with this prior knowledge, but the opening track of Old Factory, ‘Big Ghost’, sounds like a man who’s ready to be back. The guitar is slick and electrified, the whole thing full of energy and life. Bathgate delivers lyrics about pumping hearts and ghosts emerging from throats like static before the song builds into a swirling clattering outro with a waspish droning background. Old fans of Bathgate will be delighted too with ‘Acorns’, a slice of the kind of superior folk rock that made his name, where a slammed drum beat eventually kicks the song into life, becoming its pulse, lingering even in the moments of near silence. SIngle ‘Calvary’ is slow and stirring, with additional vocals from Samantha Cooper, as well as piano and strings. Lyrically its something of a paradox, simultaneously hurt and victorious, wise and suspicious and joyously naive. I guess that’s something that can happen when songs are crafted over the course of years, things and people change, lines that held certain sentiments at the outset may take on another meaning altogether.

“Ain’t it good to be alive
with the wounds still in your side?”

‘Wait’ is elegant and sombre, again with piano and violin and cello, before closer ‘Red Arrow Highway’ burns slow with lush and pretty instrumentation, the kind of patient and considered folk rock that sounds really good during the dawning spring.

Let’s hope that it’s not another half-decade before we hear more from Chris Bathgate. You can but Old Factory now via the Chris Bathgate online store or Quite Scientific Records. And if you haven’t already, why not dig into his back-catalogue? I promise you won’t regret it.

The post Chris Bathgate – Old Factory appeared first on Various Small Flames.