Originating from Asheville, North Carolina and now based in Los Angeles, Adriana McCassim introduced her distinctive brand of folk rock back in 2020 with the EP Quiet Sides. It was a release equal parts visceral and ethereal which looked for sparks of beauty and solidarity amid difficult circumstances. With debut full length See It Fades coming next year, McCassim has shared the new single ‘TOUCH’. A track which builds upon the previous releases, stripping out all excesses to place the vocals front and centre, left to work through unreciprocated desire with nothing to hide behind. “This song is about finally allowing myself to take up space,” McCassim explains. “To be naked, ugly and loud.”

Arima Ederra – Steel wing

Discovering the Ethiopian spiritual music mezmur in a Las Vegas Ethiopian Orthodox Church during childhood, Arima Ederra was convinced of the power of music from an early age. Her work since 2016 debut Temporary Fixes has been geared towards capturing this joyous, healing force, and latest album An Orange Colored Day feels like the most confident yet, applying everything learned from a life steeped in music to process any and every pressing issue at hand. Single ‘Steel wing’ is a good place to start for a window into what this entails, its inventive and relaxed style imbued with an infectious, toe-tapping rhythm, inviting you in to sit a while and leave your concerns at the door.

Credit Electric – summit sipper

Fresh from single ‘here 4 u‘ on the Royal Oakie Records tenth anniversary compilation, Bay Area outfit Credit Electric have released their latest full-length record, out of love in the face of a shadow. Germinating within the limitations imposed by the global pandemic, the album represents a new era for the Credit Electric style, their moves to adapt to the novel conditions opening up new avenues of inquiry. Which is how the liner notes can describe the album as one drawing from acts as diverse as Hiroshi Yoshimura, American Football, Dire Straits and Magnolia Electric Co. Single ‘summit sipper’ is just one snapshot of this style, a laidback yet affirming pop number penned after a hike in the Sierra Nevadas, overcoming mountains both figuratively and literally to delve into themes of resilience and recovery.

Denitia – My Weakness

We’ve previewed Highways, the new album from Denitia, a few times in recent months, first with the title track in April and then ‘All the Sweet Tea‘ a little later. Wrapped in a wistful atmosphere, the latter “tap[ped] into bluegrass sensibilities to evoke the American landscape in all its nostalgic idealism,” we explained, and served as an introduction to the bittersweet tone of the album and Denitia’s quest to reimagine the concept of home. Final single ‘My Weakness’ sits at the heart of the record, another track of conflicted moods which possesses real depth beneath its controlled burn.

Grace Hellen – Bubblegum Pink

Hailing from the coast of North Carolina and now based in Nashville, singer-songwriter Grace Hellen cut her teeth in jazz and bluegrass but is now turning toward a more indie pop/rock style. Latest single ‘Bubblegum Pink’ is a great introduction to this aesthetic. A combination of psych and surf sensibilities laid over pop tones sweet enough to live up to its title, though the sugary energy belies the tension beneath the surface. “Bubblegum pink when you spit in the sink this morning,” Hellen sings, twisting the tone. “Flash forward, last night’s an empty dream.” Because this is a song “about fighting depression with hyper-femininity and candy-coated optimism,” as Hellen describes it. As though to keep moving is to stay ahead, no matter how exhausting.

‘Bubblegum Pink’ is out now and available to stream from the usual places.

h. pruz – what a long way i’ve come to be destroyed

h. pruz is the recording alias of Brooklyn-based Hannah Pruzinsky, who will soon release debut EP again, there via oof records. Lead single ‘old car’ introduced the style, which finds emotional power in a gentle, intimate hush. Now h. pruz has unveiled the record’s second single, ‘what a long way i’ve come to be destroyed’, another folk-slash-bedroom-pop song that burns with quiet intensity. Lyrically sparse, the song captures one of the EPs main themes—of recognising life’s cycles and rhythms and the feeling of uncertainty experienced after breaking out of them and moving on.

Jenny O. – The Natural World

Following on from ‘Prism‘, a single we described as allowing “us to see fine cracks in a seemingly unscalable wall of disempowerment, and begin to realise we might not be completely helpless after all,” Jenny O. is back with a brand new single on Mama Bird Recording Co. No less ambitious and heartfelt, ‘The Natural World’ confronts the ecological emergency from a new angle. Turning away from the usual visions of doom and destruction to instead offer a vision of what might be. “This is a declaration of wonder and reverence for the living Earth,” Jenny O. explains. “As we phase out fossil fuels, the way through the climate crisis is by the regeneration of this planet’s incredible natural systems. This song is for alignment with life on Earth (including one another). The future requires us to consider everything and everyone; love and curiosity are key.” Check out the suitably celebratory video filmed and edited by Sam Gezari below:

‘The Natural World’ is out now via Mama Bird Recording Co. and available from Bandcamp.

Joe McCarthy and the Faders – Hey Dom

With new release Outpost Truck Stop out later this week, Joe McCarthy and the Faders have unveiled new single ‘Hey Dom’ to raise the anticipation. An ode to friendship, the track captures the road trip spirit of the EP. One following in the footsteps of Craig Finn or The Boss himself, built on a togetherness and camaraderie which faces down life’s difficulties through equal parts compassion and momentum. The result is bittersweet but undeniably joyous, and better yet its triumphant energy invites the listener along for the ride. Check out the video edited by Zach Pulls below:

You’re just as dumb as me
And we’re as thick as thieves when we can stand
Hey dom!
Why don’t you take my hand

Outpost Truck Stop is out on the 21st October and you can pre-order it now.

Poolblood – shabby

Back in July we wrote about ‘twinkie‘ by Poolblood, their first single since signing with Next Door Records. Now the project (Toronto‘s Maryam Said) has announced their debut album, mole, which will release early next year. To celebrate the announcement, Poolblood has unveiled a brand new single ‘shabby’, a song which they says “celebrates the intimacy of friendship.” Fittingly then, the song is reflective and introspective, pairing bedroom pop sincerity with just the faintest hint of country twang. There is also a video featuring friends and collaborators Shamir and Drew Harmon, which you can watch below:

mole will be released on 13th January and you can pre-order a copy from the Poolblood Bandcamp page.

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

Ahead of her debut record, Highways, Denitia has been releasing a steady stream of singles over the past few months. Writing back in April, we described how the title track captured the bittersweet experience of life on the move. The upbeat song “embrac[ing] this nomadic spirit while recognising the value of connection too,” as we put it. “An ode to the road which is nevertheless unwilling to leave home behind.”

Latest single ‘All the Sweet Tea’ offers a similarly wistful atmosphere, as Denitia taps into bluegrass sensibilities to evoke the American landscape in all its nostalgic idealism. “Don’t wanna waste it / All these precious nights,” she sings, the wide-open space of the mountains and sunsets standing in for a sense of as-of-yet unrealised possibility. “We never know the day /
When we’re gonna fly.” The dream might not be as perfect in reality, but in times when outside forces impinge upon what we can have and where we might go, it is always nice to dream.

All the sweet tea in Carolina
All the sun that comes to dry up all the rain
All the mountain peaks in Colorado
They’re waiting there and
Calling out our names

‘All the Sweet Tea is out now and available from the Denitia Bandcamp page.

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Following 2020 album Unearth on Topshelf Records, Brooklyn-based artist Alexia Avina is set to return with a brand new LP, A Little Older. Released via Lost Map Records, the album began on a borrowed guitar and a friend’s floor, slowly blossoming into a deep and searching meditation on the existential functions of love and art. “What does it mean to feel small, to feel nothing, to feel everything?” asks the album notes, “to skirt around the edge of true vulnerability unknowingly and yet somehow so consistently?” Clocking in at over eight minutes, slow-burning single ‘I Am Opening’ shows that while Avina might not have an answer, her rich and evocative compositions create spaces in which to contemplate such questions.

The Bins – Santa Cruz Mountains (Remix by Danny Spiteri)

Last summer, The Bins released the album Happiness Complete, a stellar collection of songs which showed off Clark Barclay’s joyous plunderphonic style. But as if his own endlessly inventive cut and paste experiments weren’t ambitious enough, Barclay then turned over his sonic mosaics to other artists and asked they rework them into new forms. The result is Happiness Completely Remixed, an entire album of these reimaginings. Danny Spiteri’s take on ‘Santa Cruz Mountains’ is emblematic of the power of such processes, rendering the originally buoyant track into something reflective and subdued. A meditation on place which excavates not just the sunny present but the ghosts of the past too.

Dawning – Demo Tape

After fronting post-folk Apricot Blush, South Carolina’s Jackson Wise has emerged from a musical hiatus with brand new project, Dawning. A collaboration with artist and musician Matt Massara, the outfit work between brooding punk and gauzy slowcore, the tracks united by the texture of their style. Soundscapes that drift over you, invite you to lose yourself inside. The debut release Demo Tape shows off this aesthetic, from the frustrated yells of ‘We All Went Swimming’ and the searing energy of ‘Kreuzberg’ to the searching melancholy of ‘Sediment’. Each of the six songs feels like a door through which the Dawning project might head, and Demo Tape has more than enough to suggest you would be advised to follow whichever they choose.

Demo Tape is out now.

Dead Nettle – Undertow

The recording project of Nashville/California artist Lindsey Wall, Dead Nettle is set to release album How I Thought later this year. With its slow burning intensity, single ‘Undertow’ introduces the engaging and poetic style the record promises to bring. Opening with acoustic strums and smoky vocals, it builds from wistful warmth to fierce conflagration, finding a sound which engages with emotional turmoil yet finds buoyant energy within the roil. As though the updrafts of the burn lift Wall high above the situation, floating high and free if only for a moment.

Denitia – Highways

Raised in Houston and currently living in New York’s Hudson Valley after time spent in Nashville and Brooklyn, Denitia is an artist often on the move. New song ‘Highways’ embraces this nomadic spirit while recognising the value of connection too. An ode to the road which is nevertheless unwilling to leave home behind. “‘Highways” is a song about looking forward but taking the past along with you,” Denitia explains. “I’ve had many friends and loved ones in my life and as time passes and I move from place to place, phase to phase, I hope to always take those connections with me wherever I go. I want to take home with me everywhere I go.”

Itch Princess – To Be Your Fool

The recording project of New York‘s Katelyn Farstad, Itch Princess make self-described psycho-existential-dredge ballads which wrestle with the various torments of human living. Latest record POP CALLS PASSES, out now via Crass Lips Records, was written at the end of an eighteen-year struggle with substance abuse, and directs all of its ambition and energy to communicating the move beyond suffering into a more creative space. Single ‘To Be Your Fool’ is the perfect introduction to the record’s off-kilter vibe, capturing its embrace of left-field oddness symbolic of a wider acceptance of life and its unpredictable motion.

Marissa Nadler – Cold Wind Blowin’

This spring sees the release of Todo Muere SBXV, a compilation celebrating fifteen years of Sacred Bones which asks artists from across their roster to cover one another’s songs. With songs from Anika, The Hunt, Dean Hurley, Black Marble, Hillary Woods and others, the result is a testament to the diverse and ambitious line-up the label has built over a decade and a half. A group linked not by clear style or genre but something more oblique. A shared commitment to artistic vision, whatever shape that might take. A great example is Marissa Nadler‘s take on ‘Cold Wind Blowin’ from David Lynch‘s The Big Dream, a version which understands the twin forces of familiarity and strangeness which underpin Lynch’s work and treats each with the reverence they deserve.

Todo Muere SBXV is out via Sacred Bones on the 27th May and you can pre-order it from Bandcamp.

Pacing – Sunny <3

Combining the twin forces of anxiety and sarcasm, Katie McTigue uses Pacing to explore the busy and oftentimes ridiculous period we find ourselves inhabiting. Ahead of new mixtape hatemail later this spring, McTigue has unveiled lead single ‘Sunny <3’ to get us acquainted with her distinctively sardonic style. Because do not be fooled by the title, or at least be sure to excavate its wry connotations, as this FOMO anthem does not find joy or self-actualisation at the end of a productively jammed day. Just creeping panic as the pressure to be better and better coils like a spring. “I’m gonna be good,” goes the tongue-in-cheek refrain. “I’m gonna be so good.”

hatemail is out on the 13th may and you can pre-order it from the Pacing Bandcamp page.

This Frontier Needs Heroes – Not Gonna Write a Song

Following on from 2021’s Go With the Flow, the fifth album from David Bradley Lauretti’s This Frontier Needs Heroes, this spring sees the project return with a new song series titled Every Song is a Single. The first taste of this new material comes with the ironically titled ‘Not Gonna Write a Song’, a wry take on a break-up number which sees Lauretti break his own promise in real time. A song about resisting the urge to write. But despite this playful humour, the sound itself commits to a subdued warmth. Earnest and reflective, caught between looking back and moving on. Lauretti is gonna continue to write songs, and the world is all the better for it.

Take what you have to take
And I’ll break what I have to break
I know that it’s not a mistake
So I’m not gonna write a song for you

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