“Explores the human elements of electronic music, pairing American folk melodies with weaving analog synths…written in the Southern California desert, the song meditates on drought and adaptation.”

That’s a pretty good summation of how the track sounds, a slow electronic build eventually joined by smoky vocals and gentle swelling percussion. Have a listen below:

Details are otherwise scarce, so give Opals a follow on Facebook to keep up to date with any future releases.

Cover art by Serrah Russell

The post Introducing Opals appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting

1. Saturday Night – The Wooden Sky
2. Wings – Field Report
3. Infestation – Bear Medicine
4. Cigarettes – Oquoa
5. Chris Bell – M. Lockwood Porter
6. Ride On, Molina – Rivulets
7. Farewell Transmission – Songs: Ohia
8. HSKT – Sylvan Esso
9. Reconstruct (feat. Seafloor) – Photay
10. Second Night – Mansionair
11. Beacon – DEAREST
12. Sweetness – Wayne Szalinksi
13. Yellow Leaves – Ezkiel
14. Travel Advisory – Baby Mollusk
15. ESRT (2001) – Whatever, Dad
16. Black Kettle – Real Life Buildings
17. Six Dollar Sunglasses – Steve Palmer
18. I Have Heard of a Land – C.Strøm
19. Blue Ridge Mountain Blues – Wes Tirey
20. Breaking Bad – Talons’
21. Raft – Sarah Winchester
22. Ontario Gothic – Foxes in Fiction
23. Thrown – Kiasmos
24. You (Nate Connelly Rework) – Nils Frahm
25. Form By Firelight (With Raphaelle Standell) – Jon Hopkins
26. Lights – Mt. Judge
27. I Love – David Karsten Daniels

Remember that we make a mix like this every month, so if you want even more cool new music then head over to the Wake the Deaf 8tracks page, or read the site itself!

October 2014 Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post October 2014 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Back in June we featured a lovely track from dream pop outfit DEAREST. Now the LA band are back with a new, equally lovely follow-up, ‘Beacon’.

The track fuses electronics with live instrumentation to create a dreamy, otherworldly sound. This is accenuated by lead singer Tessa Bolsover’s haunting vocals. In an email Bolsover told us that ‘Beacon’ “moves between vulnerability and confrontation. It’s not the start of a fire but the realization of one.” As the title suggests, the song burns bright and slow, like a smoky ball of incandescence above the Californian desert that the band call home.

The post Dearest – Beacon appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklist:

1. Trying To Walk – Kissed Her Little Sister
2. Kickar Grus – Johan Hedberg
3. Harvey – Alex G
4. I Kept Your Teeth in a Jar By My Bed – Gorgeous Bully
5. Hypochondriac – Diveliner
6. Hallow – Cloud Boat
7. Hunting – Dearest
8. Rain, Windows – Sad Souls
9. Weeding Riverbanks (Excerpt) – The Volume Settings Folder & Tanner Garza
10. Side A (Excerpt) – Wes Tirey
11. Elevator Song – Keaton Henson
12. Y.O.Y.O. – Thom Byles
13. Accept That the Mark Will Outlast You – Old Earth
14. Dog – Jeremiah Nelson
15. PRPL – Ava Luna
16. Wire Frame Mattress – The Wytches
17. Post Holiday Dead Song – Tyrannosaurus Dead
18. Shut In – Strand Of Oaks
19. Pocket Knife – Liam Betson
20. Jean Moulin – VTCN RADIO
21. Temporary View (feat. Sampha) – SBTRKT
22. Yogyakarta – Derek Piotr
23. Can’t Do Without You – Caribou
24. Days With You (feat Sinead Harnett) – Snakehips

If you missed them, we have such mixes for January, February, March, April and May too.

June Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post June 2014 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The band have just one other track online, which you can hear on their Souncloud page.

The post Dearest – Hunting appeared first on Various Small Flames.