Following in the lineage of songwriters such as Lana Del Ray and Ethel Cain, april june is a Madrid-based artist whose Gothic brand of synth pop muddies the line between desire, fantasy and reality. With a full-length edging closer, april june has been releasing a steady stream of singles in recent times, and the latest ‘it’s all my fault’ serves as the ideal introduction for those not already onboard. Shimmering nostalgia, heartbreak and loneliness marble into something enveloping, with a melodramatic gloom that is nevertheless shot through with shining longing.

ARXX – Baby Uh Huh

Earlier this year, Brighton duo ARXX released their album Ride Or Die via Submarine Cat Records, a record which saw Hanni Pidduck and Clara Townsend push the garage rock sound which made their name towards polished, soaring power pop. To close out the year, ARXX have returned with another evolution, this time of single ‘Baby Uh Huh’. Developed in collaboration with trans collective charity We Exist, the reimagined version collects a bunch of friends to celebrate the Queer community’s communal power, taking an already affirming track and elevating its joyous spirit even higher. “We were looking at the world around us, at all the attacks on Queer lives and in particular Trans lives and we wanted to do something to show our support with our Queer community,” the duo explain. “‘Baby Uh Huh’ is about finding the right people to surround yourself with to make you a better version of yourself, which is a very Queer experience.”

You can grab the charity single on Bandcamp. Ride Or Die is out now via Submarine Cat Records.

body / negative – sleepy (feat. Midwife)

Back in October we introduced body / negative‘s forthcoming album everett, with multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Andy Schiaffino enlisting the help of Midwife to create an incredibly personal memorial to her parents. “An attempt at communication through planes of existence and accumulated time,” as we described of the title track, “reaching across seemingly impassable gaps to ensure the line between loved ones remains open, regardless of how distant they might come to seem.” Latest track ‘sleepy’ is no less poignant, its sparse arrangement and layered samples playing like an evening in an empty room. Only within the stillness something else stirs, echoes of past days returning to dispel the apparent solitude, as though time is not a straight line but a stack of superimposed snapshots.

everett is out on the 8th December via Track Number Records and you can pre-order it from the body / negative Bandcamp page.

Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover – How Does The Horse Go Home?

Both Haley Heynderickx and Max Garcia Conover have been regular fixtures here at VSF over the years, so it was a real treat to have the pair join forces for Among Horses III, one of a series of collaborative releases from Son Canciones. “Whether writing confessions about themselves or imagined fictions about others, the genius of both Heynderickx and Conover is their ability to draw a relatable emotion from their subject matter,” we wrote, “tapping into a universal sense of nostalgia and longing and presenting it back to us, shaping and polished into its most gleaming form.” To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the EP, the pair have returned with a new extended edition, featuring new songs like the ‘How Does The Horse Go Home?’—another deft, striking contemplation on love in all of its changing, persistent forms.

Land Dweller – Losing Touch

Having previously recorded under the moniker Varsity Dad, Denver‘s Dan Harvey has now taken up the name Land Dweller and is preparing to release the project’s debut full-length Past Life. With Harvey on bass, guitar and vocals and Larry Shaw lending drums, the album establishes the Land Dweller MO—a blend of slacker and garage rock which melds bright rhythms and nostalgic textures. Take lead single ‘Losing Touch’, where the sound’s fatalistic reflection is counterbalanced by a rising rhythm, allowing for something at once despondent and cathartic.

Luah – To Relate

Luah is the recording project of Brendan Paul Sullivan, a Florida-born, Baltimore-raised and Kingston, New York-based songwriter, alongside an assortment of friends. The first taste of a forthcoming album, new single ‘To Relate’ is a slow unfurling of a song. Downbeat vocals bob along a meandering arrangement, so what might at first appear to be a morose mood is gradually revealed to be something more varied and natural. As though in committing to the flow, Sullivan not only accepts the changeable currents but finds beauty in every small eddy and pull.

Other Suns – To Adrianne

The cornerstone of debut full-length album Songs About Death, ‘To Adrianne’ introduces the hushed, introspective sound of Other Suns. Opening with the gentle lap of the tide, the song uses a spare folk sound to conjure something both warm and searching. A space outside of normal things in which to voice questions or share sentiments in the aftermath of loss. Or perhaps just to listen, to attune to the quiet sadness inherent in all things in an effort to sense the connection which exists between them. As the final line offers: “If everything dies, I’m not alone.”

Touch the Clouds – Dissolve

“A study on retrospection itself, calling attention to the artifice of memory and the rose-tinted fictions it has us believe.” That’s how we described ‘Gordie and the Cruisers‘ by Detroit‘s Touch the Clouds back in 2022. A bright indie rock anthem which held a more ambiguous message underneath. New track ‘Dissolve’ is no less dichotomous in style, its driving momentum and impassioned vocals detailing a headspace altogether less certain. As though only in leaning into forward motion can one shake free of the baggage of modern living. “I’ve been goin’ through a lot / trying to find a little peace / in all the yuck / racing around inside of me,” as the song opens. “Like dogs on the loose / running the street / howling a tune / into the moonlight.”

The Wolf In Our Own Backyard – God Help Me

The songwriting project of Kevin Gigler, The Wolf In Our Own Backyard is a Providence, Rhode Island-based outfit that works within folk’s best traditions. New album Stuck in Useless Country is full of wry humour, self-deprecation and dissatisfaction, all delivered with an upbeat and often scrappy folk rock style which twists and bends conventions as it sees fit. Single ‘God Help Me’ is perhaps one of the more traditional tracks on the album, though is shot through with the same spirit. Think John Prine’s ‘Paradise’ updated for a slightly later stage of capitalism, where the citizens of said useless country are left with no recourse but to mourn its perpetual decay.

The post Weekly Listening: November 2023 #4 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Though led by poet/fiction writer Mike Young, Clementine Was Right is far more than a solo project. With Young now joined by fellow poet Gion Davis, as well as a core group of musicians based between Denver and Arkansas, the project is one always moving and always changing, adapting to each present moment to best convey the stories which feel most pressing at that given time. So while ‘Dreaming of Dancing in a Different Town‘ offered nostalgic country rock and ‘Takes Tall Walks‘ pushed towards Killers-esque indie polish, latest track ‘There Are No More Almond Trees’ adds a scrappier immediacy. Still falling under the wider ‘Western emo’ tag they’ve made their own, the track is full of the wistful fondness we’ve come to expect, but balances this with a newfound playfulness.

Heartrunner – Faltering

‘Faltering’ is the debut single from Toronto indie rock band Heartrunner. Lead vocalist & songwriter Adina V is supported by Eric Bernhardt (guitar), Chris Parnis (bass), and Aidan Lucas-Buckland (drums), who together craft a lush sounds that’s tinged with sadness or longing. The track opens with sedate acoustic guitar and measured percussion, eventually swelling with electric guitar into a rich and emotionally charged finale. The band say the single “takes listeners through the dissociation, slipping relationships, and failing drive that comes with substance abuse,” and this helplessness and loss of self-confidence is captured in the loaded final lines.

Good God I’m faltering
I’m no good at anything

Jeremy Ferrara – Darkness Is A Bright Sound

Next March,  Portland, Oregon-based songwriter Jeremy Ferrara is putting out a brand new full-length, Darkness Is A Bright Sound via American Standard Time Records and A For Effort Records. Though continuing what we’ve previously called a practice centred “on openness and sincerity” which “conjures warm and welcoming songs within which he invites the listener,” the album sees Ferrara adopt a full band arrangement for the first time, resulting in his richest sound to date. The title track and album opener serves as the door through which the audience can enter this world, highlighting the sense of subtlety and control which marks the Jeremy Ferrara sound.

Mal Not Bad – AP

“Drawing the analogy of an athlete going through the highs and lows of competition to ask how one continues to push forward when exhaustion and disappointment have sapped all will to carry on.” That’s how we described ‘Sports’ from Mal Not Bad‘s Continuous Short Feature Film last year. But push forward the LA-based musician and visual artist did, as new single ‘AP’ attests. The first glimpse of a new project due in 2024, the track displays a newfound depth within the Mal Not Bad sound, leaning further into electronic sensibilities while simultaneously interrogating the impact of technology, resulting in a nuanced exploration of the human experience within the digital present.

The song comes with a video co-directed by Hauser and Seannie Bryan, a solo dance-performance created in collaboration with choreographer Alyssa Allen:

‘AP’ is available now from Bandcamp.

Mia Joy – 4th of July

Mia Joy‘s 2021 album Spirit Tamer utilised a dreamy style to form “a chronicle of [Mia] Rocha’s history,” as we put it in a review. “A way of collecting the seemingly disparate pieces that make up a life in the hope of making sense of them, and learning more about the resulting whole.” Again released via  Fire Talk Records, new EP Celestial Mirror sees the Chicago artist continue this exploration, digging into the way people and events can come to shape your sense of identity. Single ‘4th of July’ fashions a safe haven from its hazy sounds, giving space to drop the armour of self-protection in favour of a more vulnerable, open state. “Time is a teacher,” as Mia Joy sings in the opening lines, “so teach me how to love / without the fear of its cost.”

Moselle – Pesticides

“I think I accidentally / smoked pesticides or PCP  the year before I left for college,” sings Moselle on their new single, ‘Pesticides. “Everything looked like a deep fried meme / I think somebody laced my weed / I didn’t do it to myself I promise.” The first taste of an EP coming sometime next year, the track positions the Ozarks folk punk project alongside contemporaries like Pacing, where deadpan delivery and playful details are fashioned into an image of a specific moment and frame of mind. Self-deprecating perhaps, but full of wry humour too. “What if I broke this stupid glass over my dumb head?” as the chorus asks:

Let all the blood run down my arms ’til the garden’s fed
Wait til the flowers bloom in the same place that I bled
Make a bouquet hoping I’m half as useful when I’m dead

Rosie Tucker – Unending Bliss

Following recent “mini visual album” Tiny Songs Volume 1, LA’s Rosie Tucker is back with a brand new single, ‘Unending Bliss’. Packed with power chords and crashing percussion, the single is a fervent and furious treatise on the power of forgiveness and resistance in a society which seems hellbent on pitting people against one another. “’Unending Bliss’ is about petty personal beef,” Tucker describes, “and, simultaneously, about my fury at the material conditions that encourage us to treat each other like crap in order to survive.”

I want nothing but unending bliss for my enemies

Watch Vanesa De La Mora’s animated video below:

‘Unending Bliss’ is out now via Sentimental Records.

Sonya – God Save Your Soul

With new album At What Cost? on the horizon, California-based alt pop act Sonya has shared the first single, ‘God Save Your Soul’. With a sound that flits between chilled and urgent sensibilities, the song offers the sultry pop soundscapes of the late 00s buzz bands and adds a through line of energy. What results might be buried in a sun-kissed haze, but nevertheless possesses a tangible immediacy, Sonya’s vocals emerging from within the hypnotic atmosphere as though looking to shake you from its hold.

‘God Save Your Soul’ is out now via streaming services.

Sophie Gault – Christmas in the Psych Ward

Having previously recorded as Sophie & the Broken Things, Nashville-based songwriter Sophie Gault is releasing new album Baltic Street Hotel on Petaluma Records next spring, and single ‘Christmas in the Psych Ward’ gives an indication what to expect. The record was produced by Ray Kennedy, collaborator with folk royalty including Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin, and the single very much follows such a lineage, delving into highly personal experiences of bipolar disorder with a tone both steely and wry.  “There’s a guitar they give you if you’re doing good / It’s got four strings and it’s made of plywood,” as Gault sings. “I’m gonna go write down some songs and take them to Nashville / ‘That’s funny, honey, just swallow a few of these pills’.”

Baltic Street Hotel is out via Petaluma Records on the 12 April 2024.

Trinket – Silver Thread

Trinket might have originated as the solo project of Madison Kate Proffitt, but soon welcomed Basil Lee (drums), Nara Avakian (bass) and occasionally Sean Camargo into the fold and evolved towards a jangling, eighties-inflected pop style. Debut EP New Hobby is coming soon on Sad Club Records, and single ‘Silver Thread’ highlights why audiences should be anticipating their potent blend of lush nostalgia and serious self-reflection. “This song is about idealization, getting to a point with someone important in your life who sends you mixed messages,” Proffitt explains. ‘Maybe you want them to be someone they aren’t, maybe you’re projecting onto them […] It’s about stopping that cycle and letting yourself move forward.”

‘Silver Thread’ is out now via Sad Club Records and available from the Trinket Bandcamp page.

The post Weekly Listening: November 2023 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“Thriving on a diversity of influences and intentions and underpinned by the constant desire to invent new things.” That’s how we described Hybrid Dimension II by The Allegorist, an album which highlighted the visionary style of Berlin-based artist Anna Jordan. One so committed to the world it created, it was performed in an entirely fictional language. Forthcoming album TEKHENU promises to be no less ambitious, again using narrative-based compositions to conjure a mythical world at least partly inspired by ancient Egyptian imagery and shaped by metaphors for human connection. Latest single ‘Howling With The Wolf’ finds such common bond in the animalistic drivers at the heart of every human, re-establishing our connection to the natural world and embracing the wilderness as a plane of interconnection.

TEKHENU is out on the 5th May via Awaken Chronicles and you can pre-order it now.

American Grandma – Stone Cross

The slowcore project of Denver‘s Jensen Keller and Caden Marchese, American Grandma is prepping to release their brand new album Rare Knives of Light later this spring, and single ‘Stone Cross’ finds the outfit at their shimmering best. Positioning itself at the ambient end of the spectrum, the song does not eliminate the dark heft of the genre so much as leaven it, the ascending tones lifting the entire weight of the sound, shadows and all. So as Keller asks a series of cryptic questions, what emerges is curious blend of the physical and intangible—a mirage you can feel between your fingers, a dream or prayer brought to life.

Does the sun shine bright forever?
Will I commemorate you with a painted sign?

Constant Follower & Scott William Urquhart – Waves Crash Here

Last summer we featured Constant Follower and their beautiful record Neither Is, Nor Ever Was. As we described, the project represents “a struggle between calmness and distress, between the real and imaginary, and indeed between the desire for and fear of such clear boundaries.” But ultimately “embraces this turmoil, and in doing so offers a fundamental reimagining of memory, of the past and future, the real and not.” The band are now gearing up to release Even Days Dissolve, a new album in collaboration with Scott William Urquhart, and lead single ‘Waves Crash Here’ shows a continued engagement with both memory and the natural world. With its evocative sweeps and fine detail, Urquhart’s guitar evokes the duality of permanence and ephemerality of the environment which inspired it, and Constant Follower’s Stephen McAll again turns to the poetry of Norman MacCaig to guide his moving, precise writing. Watch the video by animator George Farrow-Hawkins below:

Even Days Dissolve is out on the 14th April and you can pre-order it now.

Eyesore & The Jinx – An Ideas Man

Liverpool post-punk trio Eyesore & The Jinx return this May with a new double-single 7″ An Ideas Man / Do What You Love. We’ve previously described the outfit’s work as “cutting and hysterical, as though the banality of society has pushed them over the edge,” and ‘An Ideas Man’ finds them no less enraged with the world unfolding around them. It’s a twitchy song about “cult of landlordism and a parasitic ideology which has become pervasive in its wake,” as Josh Miller explains, taking on the voice of the titular figure in all of its self-congratulatory smarm. The sound’s taut angles threaten to spill over into some violent climax, and in a world in which men will kick you repeatedly on a punctual monthly rota and pretend they are doing you a favour, how else should our songs sound? As Miller concludes: “In short, it’s about how much I fucking hate landlords.”

Greg Mendez – Goodbye / Trouble

Later this year, Philadelphia‘s Greg Mendez will return with a self-titled full-length via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes. Following on from 2020’s Cherry Hell, a record we described as “taking the themes of Townes Van Zandt, Connie Converse and Elliott Smith and casting them in the bedroom pop spirit of today,” the new album sees Mendez continue this honest reflection, digging into the past to re-examine painful experiences while never losing a wry edge too. “There’s a lot of pretty bleak memories in the songs,” he explains, “but one thing that I hope comes through is that nothing is ever fully dark.” Lead single ‘Goodbye / Trouble’ captures the style perfectly, a lo-fi pop number rooted in memories while waiting for some present transcendence. Watch the video by Video by Doug Dulgarian (of they are gutting a body of water) below:

Greg Mendez is out on the 5th May via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes.

Kassi Valazza – Corners

Back in January we introuduced Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, the forthcoming album by Portland artist Kassi Valazza on Fluff and Gravy Records (US) and Loose Music (UK). Writing of lead single ‘Watching Planes Go By’ we described how her timeless country singer-songwriter style “bears all the hallmarks of the best retro tracks while refusing to fall for nostalgic imitation.” Now Valazza has unveiled the record’s second single. Titled ‘Corners’, it’s a tender but tentative love song that again draws on psych-styled folk as much as it does from Americana, unfurling with an easy emotional ache as though from a decades-old dusty radio. Valazza’s voice sits at the sweet spot between soft and strong, tired and heartsick but holding onto a golden romantic hope.

I wonder if I called you
would it be alright
to say I loved you

Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing will be released by Fluff & Gravy Records / Loose Music on 12th May. Pre-order it now from the Kassi Valazza Bandcamp page.

Monde UFO – Government Employee

As their name might suggest, there’s something otherworldly about the work of LA‘s Monde UFO, but new album Vandalized Statue To Be Replaced With Shrine, out next month via Quindi Records, shows just how varied this ethereal mood can be. First single ‘Visions of Fatima’ led the listener into a decidedly downbeat mystery, channelling the miracle of its title to speak of shifting wonders and cloaked truths. But described as “a sun-kissed trip of low-key lounge surrealism, bizarro storytelling and shuffling exotica splendour,” latest track ‘Government Employee’ shows off a different dimension to the record. One where the laidback rhythms evoke an alternate version of visitation, the lyrics playing with an almost Pynchon-esque restlessness beneath the languorous surface.

Nyokabi Kariũki – fire head

Last week, Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki released FEELING BODY, her debut full-length album on New York label cmntx records. Combining everything from experimental electronic, contemporary classical and East African traditional music, the album explores Kariũki’s experience of living with long-COVID for the entirety of 2021. The record is built around a central motif of the voice, utilizing Kariũki’s full vocal range as well as spoken word recordings and text-to-speech software, what she describes as “a way to express visceral feelings and noisy thoughts.” It also features contributions from violinst Yaz Lancaster and trumpet player Michael Denis Ó Callaghan, their playing manipulated to echo symptoms of the persistent illness. Nowhere is this clearer that on standout track, ‘fire head’, a genuinely unsettling piece which layers a field recording of Ó Callaghan disassembling then reassembling his trumpet with a cacophony of automated voices repeating the line “They stopped asking if I was ok.”

Shalom – Lighter

Later this week, Brooklyn-based Shalom will release her debut album Sublimation on Saddle Creek. We wrote a preview of the album last month, describing it as “a bracingly honest exploration of a young life,” that “combin[es] stories of partying and trauma, love and breakups and feelings of disaffection,” and admiring its mixture of bold, direct indie pop and emotional nuance. Ahead of the record’s release, Shalom has unveiled the final single ‘Lighter’. It’s probably the most pop-oriented song on the album, the carefree atmosphere masking its themes of discontent. “So done with being myself,” Shalom sings in the chorus, “I’d rather be anyone else, I’m tired of being a fighter.” Watch the animated video by Rory Alene below:

Sublimation releases 10th March via Saddle Creek. Order a copy now from the Shalom Bandcamp page.

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

TV Ready “will take you on the road trip you never knew you needed,” the band claim, their ability to combine fun energy and emotional earnestness harnessing the goodwill of a spontaneous summertime sojourn. The dual vocals of Olivia Hendrick and Oliver Holloway help to develop this affirming mood, building a sense of community that underpins everything. Not only is this a trip you didn’t know you needed, you get to take it with friends you didn’t know you had.

Strapped in for the ride, the album drives you across the various highways and backroads. Be it the high speed energy of ‘Trapper Keeper’ with its irrepressible drums and runaway momentum, the easy going cruise of ‘New Reckless’ or the nuanced heart of slow-burning single ‘Standing At All.’ “I’ll laugh when you tell me that we could be hopeless,” Hendrick sings:

Or maybe I won’t laugh at all
because I’ll be standing here
and you’ll be standing there
at least that’s something
at least we haven’t given up yet

This sentiment runs through the Knuckle Pups sound like a rich seam. Whether on the reflective ‘Cheap Flesh’, the moody groove of ‘Letters’ or impassioned catharsis of ‘Sandwich’. The sense of going through something together, both good times and bad, often with no idea of what lies beyond. Finding strength not in the knowledge that things will work out fine and all the answers will reveal themselves, but rather the knowledge that we need not ask those questions alone. Closer ‘Wealthy Diner’ encapsulates the spirit. A smouldering track which burns brighter and brighter, full of uncertainty an confusion but finding empowerment in its shared feelings.

Lovely the way you lie with me
Just where we’re supposed to be
All across the moonlit line
We would watch the wealthy dine
Upon our time

TV Ready is out now and available from the Knuckle Pups Bandcamp page.

The post Knuckle Pups – TV Ready appeared first on Various Small Flames.

To celebrate the arrival of their brand new record, Embody, Hamilton’s Basement Revolver have unveiled the final single, ‘Dissolve’. We previously described how the album displays a “willingness to confront the intricacies of modern life with a newfound steel and depth,” and the new single is full of the compassion and solidarity which makes this possible. An ode to figuring things out together.

Carli & The Dark – Voicemail

Carli & The Dark is the folk rock project of Phoenix-born, Brooklyn-based songwriter Carli Naff. Latest single ‘Voicemail’ concerns losing a parent, specifically that strange half second when the urge to contact them arises out of well-worn habit, a wish to share a simple moment of a day. The song emerges from this brief period where they are still alive, still waiting, and follows it through the renewed sense of loss before culminating in a compassionate group refrain which features Naff’s mother and siblings among other loved ones. “All my peeps who grieved together,” as she puts it. “It’s a little detail that really brings me a sense of safety at the end, of being held.”

Saying my nickname in a voicemail from your car
You were there, there you are
And though you are not around,
You would love this song I found

Cinder Well x Jim Ghedi – I Am a Youth That’s Inclined to Ramble

Cinder Well and Jim Ghedi have teamed up for a new two-song single, reinterpreting traditional folk ballads. ‘I Am a Youth That’s Inclined to Rambled’ highlights how the pair accentuate the stark loneliness of the material with sparse arrangements haunted by foreboding drone. A song of vast distances and separation, sung into a soundscape as empty and inscrutable as the ocean itself.

I Am a Youth That’s Inclined to Ramble is out now via Free Dirt Records and is available from the Cinder Well Bandcamp page.

hemlock – to carry (feat. Laith)

Described as an “interstate phone-fi bedroom folk saga of sorts,” talk soon is the full-band Chicago-based project hemlock. Latest single invites long-time friend and collaborator Laith Scherer and explores the nuances of a relationship as it changes over time and distance. A song of hushed yet heartfelt vignettes which rises toward an impassioned finale, providing snapshots of love in its various guises.

it’s okay
we carry our pain
in separate ways
on different days
but I’ll be there for you

Jeremy Squires – Drift

We’ve written about North Carolina native Jeremy Squires numerous times, an artist working in the American songwriting tradition of sharing heart and soul with generous helpings of grit and honesty. Ahead of a new album, slated for release later this year on Blackbird Record Label, Squires has unveiled a new single, ‘Drift’. It’s a song that finds him at his devastating best, built on just acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals that quaver with both exhausted despondency and a steely inner strength. “I was sad,” he sings, “Now I’m lost / I forgot where I belong.”

Knuckle Pups – Soft Attraction

Ahead of their upcoming album, TV Ready, Denver “soda punk” outfit Knuckle Pups have unveiled single ‘Soft Attraction’. The track is an encapsulation of what such a genre entails, taking the fizzy energy of indie and adding an anarchic punk edge, though the songs are far from one-dimensional sugar rushes. Principle songwriter Oliver Holloway writes songs spread across the gamut of moods and tones, making room for earnest emotion and ironic playfulness within the same track, and as the new single shows, this often builds into triumphantly cathartic crescendos.

TV Ready is set for release sometime later this year.

Mouse – Pinned To An Avalanche

Based between Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, Mouse formed over a mutual appreciation of noisy DIY music, and thus set about making it themselves. The first single from forthcoming debut Here Was Then on Kitty Records, ‘Pinned to an Avalanche’ is all about escaping worry and doubt through some larger, consuming present, and Mouse oblige by recreating the descending wall of snow with their dense and hefty sound. Check out the video directed by the band and shot by Harley Jones:

Here Was Then will be released by Kitty Records later this year.

nudista – inasmuch

Next month sees the release of nudista’s Halfway Here EP on Sad Club Records, but in the meantime they have unveiled a new standalone single, ‘inasmuch’. The song is a great introduction to Pilar Matji Cabello and Robbie Carman’s work, a clarified dream pop which seeks to communicate directly and honestly. “It is a message to say that we are capable of evolving and moving forward even when it is scary,” as Cabello puts it, the gentle rhythmic pull drawing the listener close and compelling them onward.

Oceanator – Bad Brain Daze

April sees the return of Oceanator with Nothing’s Ever Fine, a brand new album on Polyvinyl Records and Big Scary Monsters which looks to build upon the apocalyptic themes of 2020’s Things I Never Said. Lead single ‘Bad Brain Daze’ typifies the duality of tenuous optimism and crushing pessimism which marks the record. The sound of existing within an unfolding disaster where the conclusion is still unclear, and nevertheless delivered with Elise Okusami’s characteristically triumphant energy. Check out the video directed by Chris Farren below:

Nothing’s Ever Fine is out on the 8th April via Polyvinyl Records and Big Scary Monsters and you can pre-order it now from the Oceanator Bandcamp page.

Sonic Løland – Up to You

Norwegian musician Anders Løland spent much of 2020 experimenting with styles and sounds, building up a library of ideas and demos which would form the basis of And Then The Sun Came Up, the debut album of his Sonic Løland project. Due for release this autumn via Koke Plate, the album shows off the full spectrum of Løland’s inspiration, creating a new brand of indie folk with ambient styles, electronic drums and rich 60s sensibilities, as shown by lead single, ‘Up to You’.

And Then The Sun Came Up will be released by Koke Plate this coming autumn.

Stephen Durkan – Prayer

Combining spoken word with electronic and ambient styles, Glasgow’s Stephen Durkan seems the latest in a long line of cynical Scottish preachers, bitter and sardonic yet bursting with a verbal energy. Written in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist/producer Niko O’Brien and released via Upcycled Sounds Records, his debut EP The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves both confirms and subverts this label. The anger and frustration are palpable, but beneath this lies something else. A flimsy belief in the continued value of critiquing the society in which we find ourselves, in imagining something new. Check out the first single ‘Prayer’ below:

Teen Idle – Burning

The music of Teen Idle might be an almost entirely solo endeavour recorded in a New Jersey basement, but you’d never guess it from the sound. For Sara Abdelbarry rejects the lo-fi aesthetics of many garage and bedroom acts for something more full-bodied. Take latest single, ‘Burning’, its rich sound featuring electric guitar, bass guitar, keys, synth, shaker, maracas, claps, lighter and sound effects all played by Abdelbarry, with only the drums delegated to Danny Murray. What emerges is an examination of unrequited love in all of its vivid detail, hope, bitterness and unabashed emotion rising into a huge climax.

I climbed up to the top alone
And watch the city burn below
If you won’t help me put her to rest
I’ll dig the hole by myself

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

Beyond the McCarthyian desolation, something else stirs. The sense that, perhaps, the dark is not some adjacent threat, but the very space around us. Perhaps we’re already sitting in darkness, and our inability to flee is not a fearful reaction but a steadfast show of strength. If we’re already in the vale, or indeed are the vale itself, then thoughts can turn in a different direction. Be it hope of future illumination, or merely the knowledge that we can withstand such a space, and learn to live within it.

This complicated relationship between darkness and light is the cornerstone of Tender, Allison Lorenzen’s debut full-length on Whited Sepulchre Records. Written and recorded in the aftermath of a relationship, as well as her previous project School Dance, the album took shape in a strange moment for Lorenzen. Several of her life’s defining characteristics had been removed at once, leaving not only pain and sadness but a deteriorating sense of self. ‘Vale’ is representative of this liminal space. Shadow-veiled and vacant, dreamlike in its intangible swirl but no less heavy, its dark burden weighing on both spirit and mind.

But it is Lorenzen’s vulnerability within this milieu which truly informs the record. Consider the nuance of the title. Tender. Not tough. Easy to cut through. Sensitive to pain. But also warm, affectionate, kindly in outlook and gentle in action. This heightened receptivity and inclination for compassion repositions the vale from terminal nadir to just another milestone on a far longer path. Take ‘Chalk’, a song of movement and change which charts if not the impermanence of pain then at least its habit of fading with time. Jack Manzi’s video finds Lorenzen alone but empowered within a stark environment, aligning her own internal weather with that of the surrounding landscape, thus evoking its grand cycles and propensity for change no matter how severe the present moment.

The style is a subversion of the traditional healing narrative. A rejection of linear progress, an acknowledgement of the uneven topography of life. It’s this embrace of contradictions that allows the ethereal fondness of ‘In a Dream’ to be sandwiched between ‘Vale’ and the stricken ‘Afterthought’ with its needling unease. That allows too for the value of both solitude and company, for loving and being loved, for having both the confidence to walk one’s own path and the ability to submit to the grace of others when in need.

Tender might be a survey of Allison Lorenzen’s emotional journey, though it is less a complete map than an ongoing journal. Or perhaps a map that is so far incomplete, still in progress, drawn in situ and prone to change. The locations might reappear, be reimagined or given new names. Many have no name at all, just feelings judged in comparison to everywhere else. A transience which feels deeply compassionate, hope manifest as an understanding of the potential for change. A complete map would be a key to existence. A definite answer, a solution to life. Tender is not an answer, and this is its greatest strength.

Tender is out now via Whited Sepulchre Records and you can buy it from the Allison Lorenzen Bandcamp page.

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Now Allison Lorenzen has returned with a second song, ‘Be a Fortress’, along with the news that it will join ‘VALE’ on a full-length record out via Whited Sepulchre Records later this year. Emerging from the liminal space between conclusions and new beginnings, the track is a break-up song in the strict definition of the style. The half-paced twirl and textured washes of the sound, the bittersweet intimacy of the delivery. The opening lines rooted in a kind of romantic melancholy. “This is the last time / so smile and walk away.”

But ‘Be a Fortress’ subverts the classic break-up aesthetic by changing the direction of address, altering the entire mood and coming to form a counterpoint to the darkness of ‘VALE’. Because the track is not an outward address to the now absent other, but rather an interior (re)commitment to the deep rooted convictions driving the whole situation. A song about “saying ‘no thank you’ to that which doesn’t serve me,” Lorenzen explains, “and to situations/people that aren’t actually a fit, and to stay connected with the deeper parts of myself where my truth and creativity reside.”

Written in the aftermath of both a romantic relationship and the School Dance project, ‘Be a Fortress’ steps beyond the minutiae of circumstance to present a mood more universal. One as applicable to one end as any other. The process of trusting oneself in order to live a life as truthful as any life might be.

‘Be a Fortress’ is out now and available from the Allison Lorenzen Bandcamp page. Be sure to stay tuned to Whited Sepulchre Records for more info on the album.

Photo by Kyle Johnson

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This month saw the release of ‘VALE’, the first song Allison Lorenzen has released under her own name. Building upon and pushing beyond the School Dance style, the track embraces the stark and the mysterious, with Madeline Johnston (AKA Midwife) lending guitar and backing vocals to further deepen the sound. What results is a song that lives up to its title, a shadow space of glisten and reverb that is as ominous as it is alluring, daring the listener to peer over the edge into the dark depths beyond.

But as ‘VALE’ unfolds, a different perspective dawns. For beyond the McCarthyian desolation, something else stirs. The sense that, perhaps, the dark is not some adjacent threat, but the very space around us. Perhaps we’re already sitting in darkness, and our inability to flee is not a fearful reaction but a steadfast show of strength. If we’re already in the vale, or indeed are the vale itself, then thoughts can turn in a different direction. Be it hope of future illumination, or merely the knowledge that we can withstand such a space, and learn to live within it.

In the pale of the warmth,
the pale of the fire.
I’m like a vale in the night

Art by Travis Hetman, photo by Kyle Johnson

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Following their debut EP, Good Luck!, released in 2017, the band are readying their first full-length, titled Hurts Being Alive. Produced by Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore of Tennis, the record builds on what the previous album started but also signals a real development in the ambition and range of the Down Time sound. Optimism and compassion still form the heart of the music, and now the trio have new ways of conveying it, leading to a newly authentic heart.

The album’s lead single, ‘Not a Complicated Person’, captures this ethos wonderfully. There’s a real welcoming warmth to the melodies, a carefree bounce to the drums, all complemented perfectly by Maunders’s earnest vocals. There’s something kindly about the whole thing, something almost child-like, but not in a way that’s cutesy or shallow. Rather, it has a gently irrepressible spirit, something simple and sincere and wholesome.

The band say the song is “about the oft-overlooked simple pleasures of a home cooked meal—creating something from nothing.” The idea captures the essence of Down Time. It’s music made the way grandma used to, rich and wholesome and good for the soul, and most importantly free from the pretensions or ambitions that so often haunt such artists.

The press release puts it nicely. “Listening to Down Time is like dropping in on a friend,” it says, “someone who’s there to listen or challenge or provide a new perspective. Down Time brings excitement to familiarity. It’s a conversation between three friends that invites the listener to be part of the family.”

Today we have the pleasure of unveiling a video for ‘Not a Complicated Person’. Shot in the style of a kitsch family sitcom, the video has the same endearing glow as the music, and that’s before things get weird. Click play below to see Maunders pulled into a surreal pie-world, while Camilli and Weaver skate to the local roller rink for garishly-costumed fun.

Hurts Being Alive is out on the 6th March on vinyl, CD and cassette, and you can pre-order it now from the Down Time Bandcamp page.

3/6: Denver, CO – Lost Lake
3/14: Fort Collins, CO – Hotel Hillcrest
3/15: Provo, UT – Free Provo Radio
3/17: Sonora, CA – Waterwheel
3/18: Santa Cruz, CA – SubRosa
3/19: Berkeley, CA – Sweehearts
3/20: Ashland, OR – Oberon’s
3/21: Portland, OR – Fixinto
3/23: Seattle, WA – Belltown Yacht Club
3/27: Boise, ID – Treefort Day Party

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The band are set to release their debut EP, San Panino, via Wild Baby Records, and we’re delighted to be able to share the single ‘Bottom Baby’ a few days early. Opening with warm instrumentation, the track kicks into a satisfying rhythm, Holloway’s distinctive delivery at once playful and earnest. There is something idiosyncratic about the cadence of his lyrics too, yet the flow seems organic and uninhibited, as though rising from some place of sincerity, not filtered or edited.

Such an idea marks the track, and possibly the Knuckle Pups style as a whole, and goes some way to explaining their cross-genre sound. Because this is a band operating with natural rhythms, riding the peaks and troughs of energy as they emerge from within the music itself.  The journey from indie pop to punk is not so much a change as a logical development, an evolution which tends toward one final swelling transcendence. This is typified by the vocal harmonies at the close of ‘Bottom Baby’, their stirring communal feel like some collective expression of emotion, and one which by its very nature suggests solidarity and compassion.

“Oh, how we roll down to the bottom baby
Out of control, upside the inside maybe
And all the saints and all the men
They march on and capture significant
it’s on their list of things to do

You know why I’m here
You know why I came for you”

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