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	<title>Gar Hole Records Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
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	<title>Gar Hole Records Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
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		<title>Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/03/16/weekly-listening-march-2026-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:24:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abbey Blackwell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casa Joven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dear Life Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DoYeon Kim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Figure & Ground]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[montreal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mudgoose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new orleans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otracami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramsey Thornton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[runo plum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tao Forms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Same Sky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[This Lonesome Paradise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Dollbaum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tulsa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wellington]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=47947</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Abbey Blackwell &#8211; Rise and Set &#8220;Rise in the west, set in the east / do what I want, go where I please / just gravity keep holding me.&#8221; So sings Abbey Blackwell on &#8216;Rise and Set&#8217;, the lead single from the Seattle-based artist&#8217;s forthcoming album Dream a Day. Emerging from the aftermath of a relationship, the song is at once playful and heartbroken, existing in that disorienting space where everything you thought you knew is upended and you are [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/03/16/weekly-listening-march-2026-3/">Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Abbey Blackwell &#8211; Rise and Set</h3>
<p>&#8220;Rise in the west, set in the east / do what I want, go where I please / just gravity keep holding me.&#8221; So sings Abbey Blackwell on &#8216;Rise and Set&#8217;, the lead single from the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/seattle/">Seattle</a>-based artist&#8217;s forthcoming album <em>Dream a Day</em>. Emerging from the aftermath of a relationship, the song is at once playful and heartbroken, existing in that disorienting space where everything you thought you knew is upended and you are left to hope at least physics will hold true. The arrangement is built to support Blackwell&#8217;s distinctive vocals, building from acoustic beginnings into something far richer with the help of Norman Robbins (electric guitar, lap steel) and Evan Woodle (drums, percussion). The result transforms a decidedly personal experience into something universal.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2033468702/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1143898942/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://abbeyblackwell.bandcamp.com/album/dream-a-day">Dream a Day by Abbey Blackwell</a></iframe></center><em>Dream a Day</em> will be released on the 7th April and you can pre-order it now from <a href="https://abbeyblackwell.bandcamp.com/album/dream-a-day">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">DoYeon Kim &#8211; The Beats of Distant Thunder</h3>
<p>It is telling that <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a>-based composer, improvisor and vocalist DoYeon Kim is one of, if not <em>the only</em>, Gayageum player within contemporary music. Her embrace of the centuries-old Korean zither within her boundary-pushing work is indicative of Kim&#8217;s willingness to harness both cultural traditions and cutting edge vision in order to bring to life her singular sound. Her first release as a bandleader, forthcoming album <em>Wellspring</em> is an encapsulation of this spirit and sign of its radical potential. Because, with Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Henry Fraser (double bass) and Mat Maneri (viola) in support, the record sees Kim utilise these sensibilities to create something of a sonic manifesto. A desperate, timely plea for humanist connection within an otherwise fractured world. “This is the first time I open my hand to the world, a first greeting,” Kim explains. “I wish people hearing this music [receive] energy and comfort. I want to <em>be there</em> with them.” Listen to first single &#8216;The Beats of Distant Thunder&#8217; now:</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1352834006/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3301926100/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/wellspring">Wellspring by DoYeon Kim</a></iframe></center><em>Wellspring</em> will be released on the 1st May via TAO Forms and you can <a href="https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/wellspring">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Mudgoose &#8211; Yum Cha Takeover</h3>
<p>The recording project of Te Whanganui-a-Tara/<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/wellington/">Wellington</a>-based songwriter Fletcher Ng, Mudgoose put out album <em>Chasing Horse</em> a few weeks ago, introducing a sound that sits somewhere in the middle grounded between slowcore, bedroom pop and alt-country, with sprinklings of a slacker vibe thrown in for good measure. Recorded to tape with a Tascam 4-track, the songs are textured, hazy and patient, delivered as though through the fog of memory and further clouded by a drink or two. Single &#8216;Yum Cha Takeover&#8217; is a good place to dive in, the opening so slow its almost sedated, the vocals emerging from beneath these rhythms with what might be resignation or desperation. &#8220;[The] lyrics are loosely based on an embarrassing moment in which I screamed at a group of strangers to get out of my kitchen during a party,&#8221; Ng explains, though the resulting track is by no means a funny anecdote. More a murmured plea from the end of a rope, one last attempt to communicate something before fatalism settles for good.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1174266711/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1246588619/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mudgoose.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-horse">Chasing Horse by Mudgoose</a></iframe></center><em>Chasing Horse</em> is out now and available from <a href="https://swampsoul.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-horse">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Otracami &#8211; Perfect Reach</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured a couple of singles from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/otracami/">Otracami</a>&#8216;s new album <em>Runoff</em> in recent months, first &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/19/weekly-listening-january-2026-1/">Please</a>&#8216; back in January then &#8216;Sirens&#8217; a few weeks later.  Taking the story of Persephone from Greek myth, the latter saw Camila Ortiz weave &#8220;mythic elements with personal reflection,&#8221; we wrote, asking &#8220;How far do the obligations of loyalty extend? [&#8230;] When you are linked to a person involved with something bad, how much responsibility are you expected to take?&#8221; With the album coming this week via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/figure-ground">Figure &amp; Ground</a>, Otracami is back with &#8216;Perfect Reach&#8217;. A song written during a winter School of Song class with Adrianne Lenker and partly inspired by the novel <em>Our Share of Night</em> by Mariana Enriquez, it sees Ortiz lean into a darker, almost threatening atmosphere. &#8220;I was writing in a way that was less directly narrative and more vibes-based, using images, feelings, textures,&#8221; she explains, though a narrative thrust is implied by the very mood. A certain sense of guilt, even villainy marks the shadowed sound. The sensation of having committed a regretful act and having to acknowledge the fact.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3490841681/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1520037152/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">Runoff by Otracami</a></iframe></center><em>Runoff</em> will be released on the 20th March via Figure &amp; Ground and you can <a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Ramsey Thornton &#8211; Rocking</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/07/ramsey-thornton-riverside/">Back in October</a>, we featured &#8216;Riverside&#8217;, a single by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tulsa/">Tulsa</a>-based songwriter, banjoist, and drummer <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ramsey-thornton/">Ramsey Thornton</a>. It was released to announce his signing with the good folks at <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a>, and at the time we mentioned how a full-length record was in the pipeline. Well that time has now come. Titled <em>I Called It! </em>and set for release in May, the album collects 13 songs that perfectly introduce Thornton&#8217;s warm, down-to-earth sound. &#8220;I like my music to sound natural,&#8221; he describes. &#8220;These are songs that I wrote around my kitchen table. I recorded them with my friends. I hope they just sound like me.&#8221; New single &#8216;Rocking&#8217; is a great example, Thornton&#8217;s fingerpicked guitar backed with drums, bass and lap steel to conjure something that feels both understated and emotionally deep.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=51149645/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2208491569/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ramseythornton.bandcamp.com/album/i-called-it">I Called It! by Ramsey Thornton</a></iframe></center><em>I Called It!</em> will be released via Gar Hole Records on 15th May. Pre-order it now from the Ramsey Thornton <a href="https://ramseythornton.bandcamp.com/album/i-called-it">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">runo plum &#8211; butterflies</h3>
<p>Following on from 2025 full-length <em>patching</em>, an album <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/29/runo-plum-sickness/">we described</a> as &#8220;equipped to elucidate the highs and lows of life,&#8221; Minneapolis songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/runo-plum/">runo plum</a> is sharing brand new EP <em>Bloom Again</em> this May via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear">Winspear</a>. Released in support of an upcoming West Coast tour and SXSW, the EP sees plum expand upon her diaristic, emotionally-charged style, as introduced by lead single &#8216;butterflies&#8217;. &#8220;I showed you butterflies / You took ‘em in and burned them alive / In a house buried in smoke,&#8221; she sings in the song&#8217;s opening verse, &#8220;shoved myself to the ground to lay low.&#8221; The blunt, bleak lyricism is juxtaposed with the warm richness of the sound itself, the track playing like a confession or unburdening, runo plum unveiling all of her doubts and disappointments as though the only path to new growth is by clearing the ground.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3768106033/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2225632082/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://runoplum.bandcamp.com/album/bloom-again">Bloom Again by runo plum</a></iframe></center><em>Bloom Again</em> will be released by Winspear on 8th May. Grab a copy now from the runo plum <a href="https://runoplum.bandcamp.com/album/bloom-again">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">The Same Sky &#8211; Sad Songs</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/montreal/">Montreal</a> ‘outsider pop’ band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-same-sky/">The Same Sky</a> have a new record, <em>Haunting in the Mountains</em>, on the way via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/casa-joven/">Casa Joven</a>. Following lead single &#8216;What&#8217;s Left&#8217;, which we <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/02/23/weekly-listening-february-2026-4/">described previously</a> as &#8220;a track where dreamy textures meet an almost mechanical sense of forward motion,&#8221; the four-piece have now unveiled a second preview, titled &#8216;Sad Songs&#8217;. Existing at the heavier end of the post punk / shoegaze spectrum, the song is soaked in fuzz and noise, siren-like guitar riffs and violent percussion carrying the minimal lyrics toward something almost ritualistic. &#8220;The track moves through hypnotic repetition like a ritual, closer to a chant than a traditional song,&#8221; describes lead Joseph Simon. &#8220;Unless &#8216;traditional&#8217; means a psychotic monk howling through a wall of distortion.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2084462449/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3754567210/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sameskyband.bandcamp.com/album/haunting-in-the-mountains">Haunting in the Mountains by The Same Sky</a></iframe></center><em>Haunting in the Mountains</em> comes out on 2nd April and is available to pre-order from <a href="https://sameskyband.bandcamp.com/album/haunting-in-the-mountains">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">This Lonesome Paradise &#8211; Unending</h3>
<p>When previewing <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/this-lonesome-paradise/">This Lonesome Paradise</a>&#8216;s upcoming release <em>Death Motels</em> back in January, we described how the album &#8220;position[s] the project as one working slightly outside of time with a sound that conjures a mythic past while always facing forwards.&#8221; Following on from single &#8216;Changelings&#8217;, what we called a &#8220;brooding, Lynchian number as dark as the night itself,&#8221; This Lonesome Paradise have shared new single &#8216;Unending&#8217; to celebrate the release of the record. Another shadowy slice of desert rock which plays as something both stark and romantic, the cinematic sound and E Ray Béchard&#8217;s pathos-filled vocals combining into an evocative picture of America. A landscape littered with broken dreams and unrealised futures, dark and dangerous and haunted by the ghosts of all that was sacrificed to establish itself upon the world.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1306109103/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3114768157/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/death-motels">Death Motels by This Lonesome Paradise</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed, shot and edited by David Lampley on Super 8 film below:</p>
<p><iframe title="This Lonesome Paradise-Unending" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cB0u6Ifubnk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Death Motels</em> is out now and available from the This Lonesome Paradise <a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/death-motels">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Thomas Dollbaum &#8211; Dozen Roses</h3>
<p>Born in Tampa and now based in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-orleans/">New Orleans</a>, songwriter Thomas Dollbaum has put out several releases in recent years, 2022 LP <em>Wellswood</em> and 2025 EP <em>Drive All Night</em>, though grew frustrated with the slow process as recording was hampered by a variety of factors. For latest album <em>Birds of Paradise</em>, coming this May on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dear-life-records/">Dear Life Records</a>, Dollbaum was determined to buck this trend. After writing for no more than three months, he enlisted the help of most trusted collaborators Nick Corson, Josh Halper and MJ Lenderman and travelled to Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi to work with producer/engineer Clay Jones. There, the album came to life in a handful of days, the recording process finally matching the urgency and charge that Dollbaum&#8217;s style of music demands. Lead single &#8216;Dozen Roses&#8217; serves as a window into the album and its themes, tapping into the magic and beauty of the natural world to enliven personal memories, and ultimately displaying the lightning-in-a-bottle intensity these songs promise to bring.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=620914069/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=69724503/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thomasdollbaum.bandcamp.com/album/birds-of-paradise">Birds of Paradise by Thomas Dollbaum</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alluvial.ms/">ALLUVIAL</a> below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Thomas Dollbaum – Dozen Roses (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kdn5YEsJXBM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Birds of Paradise</em> is set for release on 22nd May via Dear Life Records. Order it now from the Thomas Dollbaum <a href="https://thomasdollbaum.bandcamp.com/album/birds-of-paradise">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/03/16/weekly-listening-march-2026-3/">Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">47947</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ramsey Thornton &#8211; Riverside</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/07/ramsey-thornton-riverside/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:43:22 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramsey Thornton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tulsa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=46704</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Tulsa-based songwriter, banjoist and drummer Ramsey Thornton has recently signed with the good folks at Gar Hole Records and plans to release a full-length sometime next year, though has offered new single &#8216;Riverside&#8217; to get listeners acquainted with his sound. Recorded with Sam Skinner (member and recording engineer of Pinegrove) and Isaac Stalling in Brooklyn, the song weaves a rich bed of fingerpicked guitar and lap steel to support Thornton&#8217;s intimate delivery, the lyrics charged with emotion yet arriving with [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/07/ramsey-thornton-riverside/">Ramsey Thornton &#8211; Riverside</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tulsa/">Tulsa</a>-based songwriter, banjoist and drummer Ramsey Thornton has recently signed with the good folks at <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a> and plans to release a full-length sometime next year, though has offered new single &#8216;Riverside&#8217; to get listeners acquainted with his sound. Recorded with Sam Skinner (member and recording engineer of Pinegrove) and Isaac Stalling in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a>, the song weaves a rich bed of fingerpicked guitar and lap steel to support Thornton&#8217;s intimate delivery, the lyrics charged with emotion yet arriving with an almost conversational charm.</p>
<p>What emerges is a picture of a day which might appear ordinary on the surface, yet is churning with the small dramas and existential currents beneath the surface. A day, that is, like any other. &#8220;I had no choice on Riverside / Saw it in the last few moments of its life / There was no way that I could stop / But now I am frozen,&#8221; as Thornton sings in the opening lines, voice wavering with sincerity as though urging the listener to grasp the gravity of the moment. &#8220;Now I can&#8217;t get past the thought / This doesn&#8217;t feel very fair at all / I know that there must be a spot / In heaven and he is chosen.&#8221; The tone of the Ramsey Thornton project is embodied by the these first verses, possessing all of the closeness, heart and longing which underpins his work.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Now all I wanna do is just pull over<br />
Turn off my radio and sit here for an hour<br />
When I left home today I figured I&#8217;d just keep hanging out</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3929768281/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ramseythornton.bandcamp.com/track/riverside">Riverside by Ramsey Thornton</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch a live performance of the track captured by Calebe Severo below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Ramsey Thornton - &quot;Riverside&quot; (live inside)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wKOHnCkPfNw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;Riverside&#8217; is out now via Gar Hole Records and available from the Ramsey Thornton <a href="https://ramseythornton.bandcamp.com/track/riverside">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/07/ramsey-thornton-riverside/">Ramsey Thornton &#8211; Riverside</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">46704</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: August 2024 #4</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/27/weekly-listening-august-2024-4/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Aug 2024 11:45:26 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[22 Halo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bad Vibes Good Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Acker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Denmark]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Escho]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EXETER]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fire Talk Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Dirt Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liv Greene]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[london]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lutalo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Molina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muttering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sam Weber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sonic Unyon Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soot Sprite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Specialist Subject Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[This Lonesome Paradise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiny Library Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Why Bonnie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=42389</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>22° Halo &#8211; Virtual You &#8220;At some very basic and intuitive level, [Will] Kennedy taps into the stuff that’s really important. Getting lost in the present, side by side with those you love.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described &#8216;Bird Sanctuary&#8217;, the first single from 22° Halo&#8216;s new album Lily of the Valley, coming this November on Tiny Library Records. The single introduced the style with experience of the natural world, but new track &#8216;Virtual You&#8217; shows such feelings are not unique to [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/27/weekly-listening-august-2024-4/">Weekly Listening: August 2024 #4</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">22° Halo &#8211; Virtual You</h3>
<p>&#8220;At some very basic and intuitive level, [Will] Kennedy taps into the stuff that’s really important. Getting lost in the present, side by side with those you love.&#8221; That&#8217;s how <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/04/19/22-halo-bird-sanctuary/">we described</a> &#8216;Bird Sanctuary&#8217;, the first single from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/22-halo/">22° Halo</a>&#8216;s new album <em>Lily of the Valley</em>, coming this November on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tiny-library-records/">Tiny Library Records</a>. The single introduced the style with experience of the natural world, but new track &#8216;Virtual You&#8217; shows such feelings are not unique to the great outdoors. As the title suggests, the song delves into cyberspace and the abundant nostalgia it offers. But rather than finding melancholy in those old photographs of cherished moments now past, the song is delivered with something brighter. Wistful, yes, and not immune from a certain sense of longing, but always with an overarching gratitude that such times happened at all.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3543231526/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3706909844/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://22halo.bandcamp.com/album/lily-of-the-valley">Lily of the Valley by 22º Halo</a></iframe></center><em>Lily of the Valley</em> is out on the 8th November via Tiny Library Records and you can <a href="https://22halo.bandcamp.com/album/lily-of-the-valley">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Chris Acker &#8211; Shit Surprise</h3>
<p>&#8220;The most beautiful and poetic song about stepping in dog shit that has ever been written.&#8221; That&#8217;s how label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a> describe Chris Acker&#8217;s &#8216;Shit Surprise&#8217;. The first track from upcoming album <em>Famous Lunch</em>, the song is an ode to the cosmic justice which so often comes attached to vanity. How those walking a little too tall will inevitably get slapped down again. Behind Acker&#8217;s trademark absurdity is the essential troubadour tale, where the confused dreamer collides with the banalities of life and comes to feel cursed for his failings. And, most importantly, the tongue-in-cheek style sacrifices none of the track&#8217;s emotional weight, positioning Acker alongside the likes of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dean-johnson/">Dean Johnson</a> as one of the most authentic and interesting practitioners of contemporary folk.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=124666155/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=872700800/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://chrisacker.bandcamp.com/album/famous-lunch">Famous Lunch by Chris Acker</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed and edited by Cooper Kenward with animation by Anubha Gupta below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Chris Acker - &quot;Shit Surprise&quot; - Official Music Video" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EUld-rEtCqc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Famous Lunch</em> is out on the 11th October via Gar Hole Records and you can <a href="https://chrisacker.bandcamp.com/album/famous-lunch">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Liv Greene &#8211; Katie</h3>
<p>Described as &#8220;a reckoning with reality, a vulnerable snapshot of hard-won self-acceptance,&#8221; <em>Deep Feeler</em> is the forthcoming full-length from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/nashville/">Nashville</a> songwriter Liv Greene on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/free-dirt-records/">Free Dirt Records</a>. The product of a decision to finally embrace a truer self within her work, the album sees Greene cease attempts to bury personal truths, reframing songwriting from an escape mechanism to a kind of spotlight. Belonging to a rich lineage of songwriters going back through Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and others, the album emerges defiant in its unguardedness, finding healing within the act of revealing one&#8217;s core. New single &#8216;Katie&#8217; is a great example of the style. A lesson in how learning to be oneself can lead to objective good. “This came out of a relationship that wasn’t my first queer love experience,&#8221; as Greene explains, &#8220;but it was my first time allowing it to not be a bad thing. It comes from a place of tenderness—of allowing yourself to feel those romantic feelings and really revel in them.”</p>
<p><iframe title="Liv Greene - Katie (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rQ7wELpY5So?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Deep Feeler</em> is out on the 18th October via Free Dirt Records and you can <a href="https://livgreene.bandcamp.com/album/deep-feeler">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lutalo &#8211; Oh Well</h3>
<p>Last month <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/30/lutalo-the-bed-broken-twin/">we featured two new singles</a> from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lutalo/">Lutalo</a>&#8216;s upcoming album <em>The Academy</em>, coming soon via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Winspear">Winspear</a>. A hint at the spectrum of moods present on the record, with &#8216;The Bed&#8217; offering a bright folk sound and &#8216;Broken Twin&#8217; something altogether darker. Latest track &#8216;Oh Well&#8217; splits the difference between the two, marbling heavy reverb with an almost transcendent falsetto to evoke Lutalo&#8217;s teenage years in Minnesota, a time set against the backdrop of his mother&#8217;s mental health challenges. What results is a spectrum of emotions packed tightly together, where confusion and desperation sit alongside fondness, and a crushing weight is always threatening to overtake everything.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1093497224/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3612563936/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://lutalo.bandcamp.com/album/the-academy">The Academy by Lutalo</a></iframe></center><em>The Academy</em> is out on the 20th September via Winspear and you can pre-order it now from the Lutalo <a href="https://lutalo.bandcamp.com/album/the-academy">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Molina &#8211; Organs</h3>
<p>This October <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Denmark">Danish</a>&#8211;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Chile">Chilean</a> composer <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Molina">Molina</a> will release debut full-length <em>When you wake up </em>via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Escho">Escho</a>, an album which looks to in some way transcend the rush of contemporary living via a committed awareness of life&#8217;s small details. Thus emerges a layered brand of dream pop which eschews the nostalgia so common for the genre in favour of a close attention to the present. Latest single &#8216;Organs&#8217; sees <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ML-Buch">ML Buch</a> lend their talents to push this sound further. A song &#8220;very much a fusion of our individual approaches to perceiving melodies, recordings and sound in general,&#8221; as Molina explains. &#8220;We are both fascinated by the &#8216;pulse&#8217; in music and how a song can be perceived to move at different paces. We also share a mutual attraction to catchy melodies. ML tends to unfold words with the melody in an elastic manner, while I prefer more on-the-note vocals that introduce unexpected harmonic shifts. &#8216;Organs&#8217; kind of holds all those elements of fascination and exploration together.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1017703751/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1825028941/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://corpusmolina.bandcamp.com/album/when-you-wake-up">When you wake up by Molina</a></iframe></center><em>When you wake up</em> is out on the 11th October via Escho and available to <a href="https://corpusmolina.bandcamp.com/album/when-you-wake-up">pre-order now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sam Weber &#8211; Tamarindo Sunsets</h3>
<p>In recent months we&#8217;ve previewed the <em>Clear + Plain</em>, the new album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/vancouver-island">Vancouver Island</a>-based singer-songwriter and guitarist <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sam-weber/">Sam Weber</a>, first with the evocative &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/06/10/weekly-listening-june-2024-2/">Oregon</a>&#8216; and later the warm and relaxed &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/23/sam-weber-void/">Void</a>&#8216;. &#8220;But while the languid tone might suggest a track of romance and intimacy,&#8221; we wrote of the latter, &#8220;the lyrics paint a more ambiguous picture, where mortality flashes into view with an unnerving abruptness.&#8221; With the album out now via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Sonic-unyon-records">Sonic Unyon Records</a>, Weber is back with new single, &#8216;Tamarindo Sunsets&#8217;. A song about &#8220;staring into the digital abyss and being confronted with greener and greener grass,&#8221; as he explains. &#8220;Reckoning with what it means to find that beauty, peace, satisfaction in your heart.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Tamarindo Sunsets" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CL87V4jqEGA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Clear + Plain </em>is out now via <a href="https://sonicunyonshop.com/collections/sam-weber-collection/products/sam-weber-clear-plain-lp">Sonic Unyon</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Soot Sprite x Muttering &#8211; Burn The Leaves</h3>
<p>Hot on the heels of recent single <em>I Went Swimming / Home Among Your Bones</em>, which <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/26/soot-sprite-i-went-swimming-home-among-your-bones/">we described as</a> &#8220;a refusal to romanticise difficult relationships, a determination to learn lessons and live more healthily,&#8221; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/soot-sprite/">Soot Sprite</a> are back with <em>For Joy</em>, a new collaborative EP with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/london">London</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Muttering">Muttering</a>. Again released via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/specialist-subject-records/">Specialist Subject Records</a>, the three-song release sees Elise Cook and Chaz Bush share songwriting duties, with Bush taking the reins for first single &#8216;Burn The Leaves&#8217;. A weighty and cathartic examination of the past inspired by J. L. Carr&#8217;s <em>A Month in the Country</em>, drawing on the novel&#8217;s bittersweet retrospection on a time which could not last. &#8220;We all have certain anchor points that you look back on,&#8221; Bush explains. &#8220;Memories that hold significance and in difficult times often hope to rekindle. The thought of what could have been.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=623634446/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2857157311/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sootsprite.bandcamp.com/album/for-joy-2">For Joy by Soot Sprite &amp; Muttering</a></iframe></center><em>For Joy</em> is out on the 6th September via Specialist Subject Records and you can <a href="https://sootsprite.bandcamp.com/album/for-joy-2">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">This Lonesome Paradise &#8211; These Western Roads</h3>
<p>With forthcoming album <em>Luna Nocturna</em>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/California">California</a> psych-folk outfit This Lonesome Paradise conjure a world worthy of their name, drawing the listener into a sonic environment as stark and striking as the American West of Cormac McCarthy&#8217;s oeuvre. Lead single &#8216;These Western Roads&#8217; offers a path into this landscape. A dark and brooding slice of country noir which simmers with equal parts beauty and foreboding. But more than a lesson in cinematic worldbuilding, the album serves as a meditation on the American Dream with all its brutality, broken promises and betrayals. A project doomed from its very inception, destined to always be haunted by the means in which reached for its goals.</p>
<p><iframe title="These Western Roads" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3t7EULTaPjA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Luna Nocturna</em> is out on the 18th October via Bad Vibes Good Friends and you can <a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/luna-nocturna">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Why Bonnie &#8211; Three Big Moons</h3>
<p>&#8220;Foregoes easy pigeonholing in terms of style, unified instead by the defiant new self-confidence which underpins it.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described <em>Wish On The Bone</em>, the new full-length from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/why-bonnie/">Why Bonnie</a> coming later this week on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Fire-Talk-Records">Fire Talk Records</a>, in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/06/26/why-bonnie-fake-out/">a preview back in June</a>. A style fitting for the new philosophy of lead Blair Howerton, who is looking to escape preconception and expectation to embrace the freedom of constant change. Take latest single &#8216;Three Big Moons&#8217;, where the old Why Bonnie country twang is repurposed to tell an old story in a different way. Themes of loneliness and isolation are keystones of the genre, but here the dusty roads and full moon heartbreak are swapped out for something altogether more extraterrestrial.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>I was a heavy weight<br />
Out there in space<br />
Took one for the team<br />
And took a swan dive into nothing<br />
They pinned a note to my collar<br />
It said “we couldn’t save her”<br />
And dropped down the american flag<br />
Like it was a favor<br />
Walked around a few earth hours<br />
Until my feet got sore<br />
Found a nice big crater<br />
24 by 24</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=62857709/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2862706029/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://whybonnie.bandcamp.com/album/wish-on-the-bone">Wish On The Bone by Why Bonnie</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Why Bonnie - Three Big Moons (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BUloLz9uXyI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Wish On The Bone</em> will be released via Fire Talk Records on 30th August and is available to pre-order via <a href="https://whybonnie.bandcamp.com/album/wish-on-the-bone">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/27/weekly-listening-august-2024-4/">Weekly Listening: August 2024 #4</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">42389</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Maddy Kirgo – Shadow On My Light</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/11/maddy-kirgo-shadow-on-my-light/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Liam Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Jul 2024 17:18:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[louisiana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maddy Kirgo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new orleans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video Age]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=41825</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Seven years since her self-released debut Another Love Song, New Orleans singer-songwriter Maddy Kirgo returns later this summer with her sophomore record. Released via Gar Hole Records, the album sees an evolution of Another Love Song&#8216;s warm and timeless style, expanding in scope without sacrificing any of the intimate sincerity. Recorded with Nick Corson and Duncan Troast (both of Video Age), the record takes the blueprint of classic country music and moulds it into a multitude of different forms, from [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/11/maddy-kirgo-shadow-on-my-light/">Maddy Kirgo – Shadow On My Light</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Seven years since her self-released debut <a href="https://maddycapitalk.bandcamp.com/album/another-love-song"><em>Another Love Song</em></a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/New-Orleans">New Orleans</a> singer-songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Maddy-Kirgo">Maddy Kirgo</a> returns later this summer with her sophomore record. Released via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a>, the album sees an evolution of <em>Another Love Song</em>&#8216;s warm and timeless style, expanding in scope without sacrificing any of the intimate sincerity.</p>
<div>Recorded with Nick Corson and Duncan Troast (both of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Video-Age">Video Age</a>), the record takes the blueprint of classic country music and moulds it into a multitude of different forms, from distorted alt rock to dream pop that’s as steamy and sultry as the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/louisiana">Louisiana</a> air of the city they call home. This stylistic diversity is in no small part to Corson and Toast, whose own quirks and signatures come together to accentuate rather than muffle Kirgo’s style. “Nick and Dunan intuitively understood what it was that I was looking for,” Kirgo explains. “They have their own musical languages that they bring in and sprinkle throughout.”</div>
<div></div>
<div>Opener and latest single &#8216;Spare&#8217; is the perfect introduction. What the label call &#8220;a sugar-sweet curveball of vocal runs and tasty bass scales,&#8221; the song&#8217;s laidback tempo and pliable vocals belie its serious subject matter. Kirgo wrote the track in a moment of converging hardships: the aftermath of a breakup, the death of a close friend and a forced evacuation due to Hurricane Ida. But rather than linger on the pain of loss, she instead focuses on the potential for growth and fresh starts, turning what could&#8217;ve been a sad song into something hopeful and empowering.</div>
<blockquote>
<h5>I’m so glad I met you<br />
Our love was a dream come true<br />
It’s not gonna fade away<br />
Just lives in a different place<br />
Our hearts aren’t broken<br />
No, they’re growing</h5>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=357217540/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=49841961/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://maddycapitalk.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-on-my-light">Shadow on My Light by Maddy Kirgo</a></iframe></p>
<p>This sense of empowerment is a recurring theme across the record, as testified by lead single ‘Try Harder’, a song the label describe as &#8220;about being a confused young person and trying to do your best in a complex and uncertain world.&#8221; Sounding something like a long-lost nineties alt-rock-pop hit, the track packs in plucked acoustic guitar, wistful pedal steel and stabs of brash electric guitar as Kirgo does her best to deal with dashed dreams and grim realities, again striving to find positivity wherever she can. “It’s a pretty simple story,” Kirgo says. “This album was meant to bring me joy and I hope that, when people listen to it, they feel good.”</p>
</div>
<blockquote>
<h5>I’ve been trying hard to try harder<br />
I stretch and drink my eight cups of water<br />
I put down my phone, made me smarter<br />
I’ve been trying hard to try harder</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=357217540/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=2342778261/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://maddycapitalk.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-on-my-light">Shadow on My Light by Maddy Kirgo</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Maddy Kirgo - &quot;Try Harder&quot; official music video" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m89l0REnpos?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Shadow On My Light</em> will be released via Gar Hole Records on 16<sup>th</sup> August. Pre-order a copy now from the Maddy Kirgo <a href="https://maddycapitalk.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-on-my-light">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/maddy-kirgo-shadow-on-my-light-gar-hole-records.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/maddy-kirgo-shadow-on-my-light-gar-hole-records.jpg?resize=1170%2C878&#038;ssl=1" alt="maddy kirgo shadow on my light vinyl LP back cover gar hole records" width="1170" height="878" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Album art by Emma Ledgerwood, Feed My Ego</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/07/11/maddy-kirgo-shadow-on-my-light/">Maddy Kirgo – Shadow On My Light</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">41825</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: April 2024 #5</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/04/29/weekly-listening-april-2024-5/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:36:54 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[A Beacon School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aversions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue Canopy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dog eyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grand Jury Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grind Select]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joy Guidry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lake michigan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mexico City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new orleans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oakland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychic Hotline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shn shn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[START-TRACK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tape Dad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Dead Tongues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Whited Sepulchre Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zelma Stone]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=41066</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Aversions &#8211; Wormhole Last year, East Vancouver post-punks Aversions put out the full-length You Wanted The Bike, an album which “combine[d] heavyweight riffs, pounded percussion and acerbic vocals to comment on our contemporary moment,&#8221; as we put it in a preview. Songs like &#8216;Undecider&#8216; channelled this raw energy into a sound of &#8220;anxiety and latent violence, drawing on a whole host of political and social themes in three and a half minutes of Strummer-esque polit-punk.&#8221; Recorded at the same time as that album [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/04/29/weekly-listening-april-2024-5/">Weekly Listening: April 2024 #5</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Aversions &#8211; Wormhole</h3>
<p>Last year, East <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Vancouver">Vancouver</a> post-punks <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/aversions/">Aversions</a> put out the full-length <em>You Wanted The Bike</em>, an album which “combine[d] heavyweight riffs, pounded percussion and acerbic vocals to comment on our contemporary moment,&#8221; as we put it in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/12/13/weekly-listening-december-2022-1/">a preview</a>. Songs like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/06/06/weekly-listening-june-2023-1/">Undecider</a>&#8216; channelled this raw energy into a sound of &#8220;anxiety and latent violence, drawing on a whole host of political and social themes in three and a half minutes of Strummer-esque polit-punk.&#8221; Recorded at the same time as that album but not quite sitting right among the rest of the tracks, latest single &#8216;Wormhole&#8217; sees the three-piece reaching further afield for their stylistic influences, dialling back some of the ferocity to allow in alt-country sensibilities. But the lyrics are as cutting and contemporary as ever, charting the rise and fall of an internet personality who, after selling their soul for recognition, is left lonely on the other side of fame, banging the locked door leading back to normal life.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3660146449/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://aversionsband.bandcamp.com/track/wormhole">Wormhole by Aversions</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Wormhole&#8217; is out now via the Aversions <a href="https://aversionsband.bandcamp.com/track/wormhole">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Blue Canopy x A Beacon School &#8211; Bright Spot II</h3>
<p>When <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/blue-canopy/">Blue Canopy</a>&#8216;s Alex Schiff asked Patrick Smith of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/a-beacon-school/">A Beacon School</a> to remix single &#8216;Bright Spot&#8217; after its release back in 2022, he probably didn&#8217;t quite expect the level of collaboration and vision which followed. Fast-forward eighteen months and the result has now been released as a single via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/grind-select/">Grind Select</a>. &#8216;Bright Spot II&#8217; is not so much a remix as a reimagining, a sister track which drags a cover of darkness over the original&#8217;s sunny wistfulness, carving out a nocturnal space of electronics which further amplifies the themes of regret and longing in a song about facing difficult periods with a long-term partner. &#8220;I just wanted everything to be OK between us,&#8221; Schiff explains, &#8220;and this song sorts through my feelings throughout that time, hoping for a resolution.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3795303903/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://bluecanopy.bandcamp.com/track/bright-spot-ii">Bright Spot II by Blue Canopy &amp; A Beacon School</a></iframe>The song comes complete with a video by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ebillustrates">Ebony Davies</a> with additional edits from Chase Wagner:</p>
<p><iframe title="Blue Canopy &amp; A Beacon School - Bright Spot II (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2b1w2BOP-ZE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Bright Spot II&#8217; is out now via Grind Select and you can get it from <a href="https://bluecanopy.bandcamp.com/track/bright-spot-ii">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">The Dead Tongues &#8211; Body of Light</h3>
<p>&#8220;Baby there ain&#8217;t no rules here / we can just slide / keep bending and drawing new lines / all shapes defined.&#8221; So opens &#8216;Body of Light&#8217;, the title track from one half of the upcoming double record from Ryan Gustafson&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-dead-tongues/">The Dead Tongues</a> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/psychic-hotline/">Psychic Hotline</a>. Described as a pair of &#8220;interweaving and disparate albums,&#8221; the release embraces the diaphanous, intangible sentiment offered in those opening words, refusing to calcify into solid form in favour of something ephemeral. As the lead single suggests, the result is something intuitive and ever-shifting, mapped along the unseen currents of both our own interiors and the natural world. &#8220;Maybe you don&#8217;t know what to call it,&#8221; as Gustafson sings, &#8220;or it ain&#8217;t got a name / i&#8217;m here for it all just the same / all colors and shades / i&#8217;m just a body of light.&#8221; Watch the video by Gustafson and Cat Siravantha below:</p>
<p><iframe title="The Dead Tongues - Body of Light (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UvQ050TWox8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=172228731/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=415551760/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thedeadtongues.bandcamp.com/album/body-of-light-i-am-a-cloud">Body of Light / I Am A Cloud by The Dead Tongues</a></iframe></p>
<p><em>Body of Light</em> will be released digitally on the 14th June, and physically as a double album with<em> I Am A Cloud</em> on the 9th August via Psychic Hotline. <a href="https://thedeadtongues.bandcamp.com/album/body-of-light-i-am-a-cloud">Pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">dog eyes &#8211; fair</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dog-eyes">dog eyes</a> is the recording project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/oakland/">Oakland</a>&#8216;s Davis Leach and Haily Firstman which started when Leach helped produce Firstman’s previous project Mr Marigold. The pair soon realised their collaborative chemistry could stretch much further. Following on from the earnest, delightfully lo-fi debut <em>good, proper sendoff </em>on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/grand-jury-music">Grand Jury Music</a>, new single &#8216;fair&#8217; continues to develop the dog eyes sound. A track about friendship and its strange ebb and flow, the childlike wonder of the vocals is shaded by a lingering wistfulness, as though every perfect moment foreshadows its inevitable end. &#8220;When you’re a kid and you make a new friend you think they’ll be your friend forever and often they are not, the band explain. &#8220;They were there for a season. A love or crush can be the same.&#8221; Watch the video directed by Ev Fitzpatrick below:</p>
<p><iframe title="dog eyes - fair (official music video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/93yJEhtsK7k?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3347131601/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://dogeyesforever.bandcamp.com/track/fair">fair by dog eyes</a></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;fair&#8217; is out now and available from the dogs eyes <a href="https://dogeyesforever.bandcamp.com/track/fair">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Joy Guidry &#8211; I Will Always Miss You</h3>
<p>Writing <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/03/08/joy-guidry-members-dont-get-weary/">in March</a>, we described how Brooklyn-based bassoonist and composer <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/joy-guidry/">Joy Guidry</a> was releasing new album <em>AMEN</em> via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/whited-sepulchre-records/">Whited Sepulchre Records</a>, where Guidry experiments with the multitude of Black American music styles to create something new. Previous single ‘Members Don’t Get Weary’ combined jazz and gospel music into something impassioned and triumphant, whereas new track &#8216;I Will Always Miss You&#8217; takes an entirely different path. Built upon a foundation of lush ambient synths and boasting some of the most evocative bassoon you are likely to hear, the instrumental piece offers a meditative space that&#8217;s rooted within the wider experience of life—where mourning and joy marble into a single whole.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=637979315/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3936296736/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://guidrybassoon.bandcamp.com/album/amen">AMEN by Joy Guidry</a></iframe></center><em>AMEN</em> is out on the 10th May via Whited Sepulchre Records and you can <a href="https://guidrybassoon.bandcamp.com/album/amen">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lake Michigan &#8211; Rituals</h3>
<p>Described as an album about &#8220;love, OCD, class, addiction and probably a couple of other things too,&#8221; <em>La Madrugada </em>is the latest full-length release from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mexico-city/">Mexico City</a>-based <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lake-michigan/">Lake Michigan</a> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/start-track/">Start-track</a>. The record continues the project&#8217;s gloomy, intimate bedroom pop style, with arrangements stripped back to their sparest elements to sound like raw messages as voiced in the latest hours of the night. Focusing on OCD and the general unease so intrinsic to the condition, single &#8216;Rituals&#8217; is great entry point, its vocals emerging through the lo-fi sound as barely a murmur, heavy with weariness yet afraid of relaxing, as though compelled by the need to balance the world.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=594248998/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2816692330/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://lakemichigan.bandcamp.com/album/la-madrugada">La Madrugada by Lake Michigan</a></iframe></center><em>La Madrugada</em> is out now via Start-track and available from <a href="https://lakemichigan.bandcamp.com/album/la-madrugada">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Mr. Sam and the People People &#8211; Go People Go (Part One)</h3>
<p>This summer sees the release of <em>Again! Again!</em>, the new full-length album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-orleans/">New Orleans</a>-based songwriting project Mr. Sam and the People People on Tape Dad (distributed by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a>). Opening single &#8216;Go Baby Go (Part One)&#8217; introduces the compassionate tone with a mindful reflection on the beauty inherent in simple things. Mr. Sam Gelband&#8217;s vocals land somewhere between Dean Johnson and Frederick Squires in their fond baritone. &#8220;I wrote &#8216;Go Baby Go&#8217; to honor [&#8230;] my closest people, the lake, the porch, the mountain, the shoreline, the neighbourhood, the quiet moments with myself,&#8221; Mr. Sam describes. &#8220;I know now that these things are the keepers of my truest joy, and I thank them.&#8221; Watch the video by Mayme O&#8217;Toole and Sam Gelband below:</p>
<p><iframe title="&#039;Go Baby Go - Part One&#039; - Mr. Sam &amp; The People People *Official Video*" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fFc9OM4VboE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1211822026/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=401462186/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mrsam.bandcamp.com/album/again-again">Again! Again! by Mr. Sam &amp; The People People</a></iframe></p>
<p><em>Again! Again!</em> is out via Tape Dad on the 11th June and available for <a href="https://mrsam.bandcamp.com/album/again-again">pre-order now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">shn shn &#8211; Glimmer</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve covered the work of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/shn-shn/">shn shn</a> several times in recent years, always admiring how <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto/">Toronto</a>-based producer, singer-songwriter and creator Shanika Lewis-Waddell reimagines what the project might be with each release. &#8220;[shn shn] aims to do more than merely convince the listener to examine themselves,&#8221; we wrote of <em>Form(s)</em> <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/10/27/shn-shn-forms/">last year</a>. &#8220;Rather, it allows them to drift off to new frontiers. That is, to dream.&#8221; With its expansive ambient tones and idiosyncratic details, new single &#8216;Glimmer&#8217; furthers this aesthetic. A meditation on the power of patience and understatement which coalesces into something quietly triumphant. &#8220;Building up gradually,&#8221; Lewis-Waddell sings, &#8220;unexpectedly found myself /so close yet so far / to a glimmer of hope.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=281417634/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://shnshn.bandcamp.com/track/glimmer">Glimmer by shn shn</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Glimmer&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://shnshn.bandcamp.com/track/glimmer">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<div class="artist tw-flex tw-items-center" data-v-6b5cecb5="">
<h3 class="tw-ellipsis" style="text-align: center;">Zelma Stone &#8211; Be Free</h3>
<p>Last year Chloe “Zelma” Studebaker, AKA <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/zelma-stone/">Zelma Stone</a>, released the EP, <em>A Dance</em>. A collection of slow burning songs capable of evoking grief and love within the same moment. This month, Zelma Stone returns with a new video directed by Hayden J Frederick for single &#8216;Be Free&#8217;, and the release offers the ideal opportunity for those unfamiliar with the EP to correct the wrong a few months down the line. The song is an act of communication to loved ones dearly missed, specifically Studebaker&#8217;s brother and dear friend Jenny, who was lost in the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland. &#8220;In this song I tell them that they are missed and I ask them if they are free and if they needed to be freed from their body,&#8221; they explain. &#8220;In the chorus I talk to myself and make the decision that they are indeed free and from believing that, I am then free myself from continued grief. Acceptance.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Zelma Stone - Be Free (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ua3410xMFtk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3870069052/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=842866308/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://zelmastone.bandcamp.com/album/a-dance">A Dance by Zelma Stone</a></iframe><em>A Dance</em> is out now and available from <a href="https://zelmastone.bandcamp.com/album/a-dance">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
</div>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/04/29/weekly-listening-april-2024-5/">Weekly Listening: April 2024 #5</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">41066</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: February 2024 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/02/19/weekly-listening-february-2024-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Feb 2024 20:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abigail Lapell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agent blå]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Harper]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bedbug]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dead Slow Hoot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Emma Geiger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gothenburg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jordan Whitlock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kanine Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[london]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Bauer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory Spells]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outside Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Diego]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sheffield]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sweden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Take a Turn Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Lostines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VÅRØ Records]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=40126</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Abigail Lapell &#8211; Anniversary Song &#8220;Has it been a year or two? Will it be cotton or leather?&#8221; asks Abigail Lapell in new single &#8216;Anniversary Song&#8217;. &#8220;Mercury and iron, carbon, silver / bind us together.&#8221; Taken from the Toronto singer-songwriter&#8217;s forthcoming album Anniversary on Outside Music, the song encapsulates the marriage of symbolism and tangibility used across the record. Romantic chemistry as both otherworldly magic and physical reaction. Not that the love on the album is merely of the romantic [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/02/19/weekly-listening-february-2024-3/">Weekly Listening: February 2024 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Abigail Lapell &#8211; Anniversary Song</h3>
<p>&#8220;Has it been a year or two? Will it be cotton or leather?&#8221; asks <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Abigail-Lapell">Abigail Lapell</a> in new single &#8216;Anniversary Song&#8217;. &#8220;Mercury and iron, carbon, silver / bind us together.&#8221; Taken from the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Toronto">Toronto</a> singer-songwriter&#8217;s forthcoming album <em>Anniversary</em> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Outside-Music">Outside Music</a>, the song encapsulates the marriage of symbolism and tangibility used across the record. Romantic chemistry as both otherworldly magic and physical reaction. Not that the love on the album is merely of the romantic sort, with a series of personal milestones prompting Lapell to contemplate the phenomenon in all its guises, offering a picture of relationships and commitment with all the complexities left intact.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=341227629/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://abigaillapell.bandcamp.com/album/anniversary">Anniversary by Abigail Lapell</a></iframe></center><em>Anniversary</em> is out on the 10th May via Outside Music and you can <a href="https://abigaillapell.bandcamp.com/album/anniversary">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Agent blå &#8211; Rain To You</h3>
<p>Last month we wrote about &#8216;Discount&#8217;, the lead single from the upcoming album Stab! by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gothenburg/">Gothenburg</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/agent-bla/">Agent blå</a> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/varo-records/">VÅRØ Records</a> (Sweden) and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/kanine-records/">Kanine Records</a> (US). What we described as a song &#8220;simmering with eerie menace and charged with forward motion, splitting the difference between familiarity and strangeness.&#8221; With the album coming later this spring, Agent blå have returned with second single &#8216;Rain To You&#8217; to build upon these beginnings. Squally and loaded with momentum, it looks to small details as sources of comfort within an otherwise overwhelming world, and submits itself fully to forces large and mysterious.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Never spoke it with a sober mouth<br />
I&#8217;m drawn to the chaos, my sanity grown shy<br />
Keep clinging to no time<br />
You’re the moon to me<br />
I was rain to you</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3148214674/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://varorecords.bandcamp.com/track/rain-to-you">Rain To You by Agent Blå</a></iframe></center><em>Stab!</em> is out on the 12th April via VÅRØ Records and Kanine Records.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Al Harper &#8211; Plaster of Paris</h3>
<p>Later this month, San Francisco-based songwriter Al Harper will release album <em>The Analemma Observation League </em>via Take a Turn Records. An album which draws upon the solar phenomenon of its title to explore themes of change and growth. Analemma refers to the figure of eight plot made if one was to chart the sun&#8217;s position in the sky from the same position at the same time of day across an entire year, rendering what might otherwise seem a linear process into an infinite loop. Working in such a spirit, Al Harper draws on a variety of memories and experiences to offer the past not as some line trailing ever further into the distance, but rather something forever orbiting around us. Lessons to learn from, patterns to take comfort in. The suitably sunny sound of latest single &#8216;Plaster of Paris&#8217; is the perfect introduction, and comes complete with a video shot by Harper and Craig Barclift and edited by <a href="https://www.simonlinsteadt.com/">Simon Linsteadt</a>:</p>
<p><iframe title="Al Harper - Plaster of Paris (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IVA40k1CFHc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>The Analemma Observation League</em> is out on the 23rd February via Take A Turn Records and you can <a href="https://alharper.bandcamp.com/album/the-analemma-observation-league">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">bedbug &#8211; postcard</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve long followed the work of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/bedbug/">bedbug</a>, charting how Dylan Gamez Citron has taken the project through a trilogy of acclaimed bedroom pop albums before metamorphosing into a full band for a self-titled EP in 2022. This year sees bedbug return with <em>pack your bags the sun is growing</em>, a full-length album which builds more fully upon this change of direction to push the project closer to Cap’n Jazz than the hushed aesthetic from which they originated. A style which only furthers Citron&#8217;s ability to weave the personal and the political into a seamless whole. Vitally none of the heart or intimacy is lost in this transformation, as single &#8216;postcard&#8217; attests, and while any project inevitably passes through various life stages as time goes on, you get the sense Citron and co. are rising towards their fullest potential. The first bedbug to ever sprout wings.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=586537141/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=630627668/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://linkedin.bandcamp.com/album/pack-your-bags-the-sun-is-growing">pack your bags the sun is growing by bedbug</a></iframe></center><em>pack your bags the sun is growing</em> releases on 15th March. Pre-order it now from the bedbug <a href="https://linkedin.bandcamp.com/album/pack-your-bags-the-sun-is-growing">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Dead Slow Hoot &#8211; Take It Or Leave It</h3>
<p>Specialising in a style of atmospheric alt-rock that&#8217;s at once melancholy and anthemic, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Sheffield">Sheffield</a>/<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/London">London</a> outfit Dead Slow Hoot draw on a variety of genres to create something unique. <a href="https://deadslowhoot.bandcamp.com/track/the-moistest-beak">Previous releases</a> have drawn on poetic folk, shadowy post-punk and epic post-rock, sometimes within the same song, and new single &#8216;Take It Or Leave It&#8217; is no different. Opening with just pared-back guitar and banjo, it eventually builds to a dramatic crescendo of wailing guitar and crashing percussion, straddling the line between an intimate acoustic ballad and a monumental rock song. The song is about &#8220;making necessary compromises for the good of your partner and growing together through that,&#8221; the band explain, &#8220;[and also] a more general realism, accepting the &#8216;competing intentions&#8217; that you might have with another person&#8230; and actively engaging with them to make something better.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1443065362&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true" width="100%" height="300" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></center></p>
<div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;"><a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="Dead Slow Hoot" href="https://soundcloud.com/dead-slow-hoot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dead Slow Hoot</a> · <a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="Take It Or Leave It" href="https://soundcloud.com/dead-slow-hoot/take-it-or-leave-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Take It Or Leave It</a></div>
<p>&#8216;Take It Or Leave It&#8217; is out now via streaming services.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Emma Geiger &#8211; Reverse Bloom</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/durham">Durham</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/north-carolina">North Carolina</a>-based songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/emma-geiger/">Emma Geiger</a> several times over the last year or so. First with 2022 EP <em>Haven</em>, and then with several stellar singles. Excitingly, Geiger is now putting the finishing touches to her debut full-length, <em>Reverse Bloom</em>, which features those singles alongside four brand new tracks. To further whet anticipation, she has released the title track, a song which moves its focus away from romantic relationships towards the difficult loss of a friendship. Someone Geiger was formerly close to wrote a song detailing the dissolution of their friendship, and this is an exploration of the following emotions. &#8220;When I first heard it, I felt her anger, frustration and bitterness,&#8221; she describes. &#8220;That friendship meant a lot to me, and losing it really shook me. It brought up a lot of questions about who I am, and who I was in that relationship.” Watch the video filmed by Archer Boyette and directed by Boyette and Geiger herself below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Emma Geiger - &quot;Reverse Bloom&quot;" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OV4nzMo9XSA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Reverse Bloom</em> is out on 26th April. &#8216;Reverse Bloom&#8217; the single is available now via the Emma Geiger <a href="https://emma-geiger.bandcamp.com/track/reverse-bloom">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Eyesore &amp; The Jinx &#8211; Float Like a Jellyfish (Sting Like a Subtweet)</h3>
<p>&#8220;[A song which presents] the gym as the encapsulation of the country,&#8221; we wrote of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/eyesore-the-jinx/">Eyesore &amp; The Jinx</a>&#8216;s &#8216;Nocturnal Athletes (Ode To Bruno)&#8217; by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/09/06/eyesore-the-jinx-nocturnal-athletes-ode-to-bruno/">back in September</a> when previewing their debut album, <em>Jitterbug, </em>&#8220;where an assortment of lonely and overworked people run without going anywhere, lift with no purpose beyond some abstract penance, and stare at screens playing Top 40 videos on a loop.&#8221; With the record&#8217;s release fast approaching, the Liverpool-based outfit have shared final single &#8216;Float Like a Jellyfish (Sting Like a Subtweet)&#8217;, and fans will be reassured to learn it is every bit as twitchy and cutting as we&#8217;ve come to expect. Light-hearted, mischievous and a little hyperactive, winding taut with anxious energy to evoke a decidedly contemporary unease.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=414456107/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3028497295/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://eyesoreandthejinx.bandcamp.com/album/jitterbug">Jitterbug by Eyesore &amp; The Jinx</a></iframe></center><em>Jitterbug</em> is out on the 15th March and you can <a href="https://eyesoreandthejinx.bandcamp.com/album/jitterbug">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Jordan Whitlock &amp; Memory Spells &#8211; Take My Hand</h3>
<p>Memory Spells is the new project of songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/matt-bauer/">Matt Bauer</a> which takes the orchestral indie folk he puts out under his own name further towards &#8220;his love of contemporary TV, film and video game scores, cinematic post rock, early post punk, and 80s film music.&#8221; His latest collaboration is with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/san-diego">San Diego</a> songwriter and producer Jordan Whitlock, whose intimate writing and impressive soulful vocals have been wining fans all over. Suffused with the lush, shadowy grandeur of Lynch at his most romantic, latest single &#8216;Take My Hand&#8217; is what the duo describe as &#8220;Emmylou Harris meets Cigarettes after Sex,&#8221; not only offering a new dimension to Bauer&#8217;s work but opening up a whole world of its own.</p>
<p><iframe title="Take My Hand" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SgcqSYz9R3E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>You can find out more on the Memory Spells <a href="https://www.memoryspells.com/takemyhand">website</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">The Lostines &#8211; Full Moon Night</h3>
<p>The recording project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-orleans">New Orleans</a>-based songwriters Casey Jane Reece-Kaigler and Camille Wind Weatherford, The Lostines are preparing to release their debut full-length <em>Meet The Lostines</em> this spring on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records">Gar Hole Records</a>. The album draws plenty from the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Lousiana">Louisiana</a> landscape, but ultimately conjures a world of its own. One in which time and space has gone a little strange, and a whole host of periods and places layer atop of one another to form something larger than the sum of its parts. Lead single &#8216;Full Moon Night&#8217; typifies the result, where retro folk harmonies and spectral synths bring to life a languid longing for a love now past.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=695516781/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1148253567/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thelostines.bandcamp.com/album/meet-the-lostines">Meet the Lostines by The Lostines</a></iframe></center><em>Meet The Lostines</em> is out on the 26th April via Gar Hole Records and available to <a href="https://thelostines.bandcamp.com/album/meet-the-lostines">pre-order now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/02/19/weekly-listening-february-2024-3/">Weekly Listening: February 2024 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">40126</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: January 2024 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/22/weekly-listening-january-2024-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jan 2024 16:32:33 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brooklyn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Claud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Company Vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Creekbed Carter Hogan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Den Der Hale]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[erased tapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fatcat records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flying Cloud Recordings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Dirt Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hatis Noit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kaia Kater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Large Brush Collection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LOUD HOUND]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lutalo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[montreal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oakland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sam Evian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thirty Tigers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[toronto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=39817</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Company Vacation &#8211; I Have a Little Room in My House The recording project of Oakland-based illustrator and lettering artist Kyle Benson, Company Vacation uses music as a way to delve deeper into the everyday, and in doing so invites the listener to notice and appreciate the magic in the small details. Out at the beginning of Feruary, new album Okay Headspace feels like the culmination of these ideas, and succinct single &#8216;I Have a Little Room in My House&#8217; serves [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/22/weekly-listening-january-2024-3/">Weekly Listening: January 2024 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Company Vacation &#8211; I Have a Little Room in My House</h3>
<p>The recording project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/oakland/">Oakland</a>-based illustrator and lettering artist Kyle Benson, Company Vacation uses music as a way to delve deeper into the everyday, and in doing so invites the listener to notice and appreciate the magic in the small details. Out at the beginning of Feruary, new album <em>Okay Headspace </em>feels like the culmination of these ideas, and succinct single &#8216;I Have a Little Room in My House&#8217; serves at the nostalgic, buoyant prologue. &#8220;As a kid, I dominated the family computer. It was steroids to my tiny brain,&#8221; Benson explains. &#8220;My parents kept it opposite the TV, centrally located in the family room, to keep anyone from using it to look at porn. Having a computer room felt like the luxury of the rich.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Lately, I&#8217;ve been feeling small<br />
But I feel a whole lot cuter<br />
When I play computer</h5>
<h5>I have a little room in my house<br />
it has a chair and a desk<br />
it&#8217;s where I get on the Internet</h5>
</blockquote>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=1095902643/album=901091360/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Watch the video below, with animation by Jared Clark Gay and illustration by Benson himself:</p>
<p><iframe title="Company Vacation - I Have a Little Room in My House (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qqCC_gyQtks?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Okay Headspace</em> is out on the 9th February and available to <a href="https://companyvacation.bandcamp.com/album/okay-headspace">pre-order now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"> Creekbed Carter Hogan &#8211; If I Was</h3>
<p>With a self-titled album on its way <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/austin/">Austin</a> songwriter Creekbed Carter Hogan has released single &#8216;If I Was&#8217; to introduce their unwavering style of folk. The record sees the trans artist both catalogue the past and confront the present, with Hogan searching for ways to survive and find community in a society which too often seems to have been built to prevent such endeavours. &#8220;If I was a loaded gun / You might / Treat me better,&#8221; they sing, hinting at the defiance which sits at the heart of their work, an anti-capitalist song which yearns for something more.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=2078777733/album=3425948317/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Watch the video directed by Jordan Moser below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Creekbed Carter Hogan, &quot;If I Was&quot; (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TpykFDgauds?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Creekbed Carter</em> is out via Gar Hole Records on the 22nd March and you can <a href="https://creekbedcarter.bandcamp.com/album/creekbed-carter">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Den Der Hale &#8211; Donkey Skin</h3>
<p>With their evocative blend of psych, folk and post-rock, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sweden/">Sweden</a>&#8216;s Den Der Hale established themselves as a mysterious force back in 2019 with EP <em>Harsyra</em>, and having now signed to <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fatcat-records/">FatCat Records</a>, forthcoming album <em>Pastoral Light</em> looks set to build upon these foundations to paint a bleak picture of humankind&#8217;s decimation of the natural world. After the foreboding simmer of Bela Tarr-inspired &#8216;Horse From Turin&#8217;, the five-piece are back with new single &#8216;Donkey Skin&#8217;. A track which draws on the seventies animation of the same name to create an ethereal sound at once alluring and dangerous, doing for French fairy tales what Lankum do for Irish folk tales.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1476415313/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=214555522/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://denderhale.bandcamp.com/album/pastoral-light">Pastoral Light by Den Der Hale</a></iframe></center><em>Pastoral Light</em> is out on the 2nd February via FatCat Records and you can <a href="https://denderhale.bandcamp.com/album/pastoral-light">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Hatis Noit &#8211; Jomon</h3>
<p>Having featured in David Lynch&#8217;s Manchester International Festival showcase in 2019 and appearing in Rick Rubin&#8217;s Showtime documentary series <em>Shangri-La</em>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/japan/">Japanese</a> voice artist Hatis Noit released the superlative debut album <em>Aura</em> on Erased Tapes in 2022. “Words cannot describe everything we feel,&#8221; she explained in the liner notes. &#8220;How can one accurately verbalise the sensation we feel when we’re a newborn and our mother holds us in her arms, and we feel her skin on our cheek [&#8230;] Music is a language that can translate that sensation, feeling, the memory of love.” The description goes some way to describing the album&#8217;s tactile, enveloping sound, one all the more impressive for the fact that it is conjured exclusively from Noit&#8217;s voice, looped and layered into entire worlds. Made with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/berlin/">Berlin</a>-based Taiwanese-Japanese media artist NAOWAO, the new video for the single &#8216;Jomon&#8217; brings this to life even further, matching the almost shamanistic sound with visuals every bit as mystical, collapsing the apparently divided spheres of human, natural and spiritual experience onto a single plane.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=904836034/album=3676045736/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><iframe title="Hatis Noit - Jomon (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SacTSZKxiZk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Aura</em> is out now via Erased Tapes and available from <a href="https://hatisnoit.bandcamp.com/album/aura">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Kaia Kater &#8211; The Internet</h3>
<p>Born in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/montreal/">Montreal</a> and now based in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto/">Toronto</a>, Kaia Kater makes music inspired by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/canada/">Canadian</a> folk music, her father&#8217;s Grenadian heritage and the Appalachian music of her college years in West Virginia. Planning to release a new record sometime in 2024, Kater kicked off the year by releasing a new single, &#8216;The Internet&#8217;. A bright and tumbling folk song, it captures the strangeness of communicating with loved ones at a digital remove, replacing physical proximity with a stream of ones and zeros pinged around the world via satellites and fibre optic cables. &#8220;I can only talk to you through the Internet,&#8221; Kater sings, &#8220;in bits and in bytes and right angles.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2483432519/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://kaiakater.bandcamp.com/track/the-internet-3">The Internet by Kaia Kater</a></iframe></center>&#8216;The Internet&#8217; is out now via Free Dirt Records and available via the Kaia Kater <a href="https://kaiakater.bandcamp.com/track/the-internet-3">Bandcamp page</a>. She is also in the middle of a UK &amp; EU tour. Find the dates <a href="https://www.kaiakater.com/shows">here</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Large Brush Collection &#8211; Arm&#8217;s Length</h3>
<p>Back in September we wrote a preview of <em>Off Center</em>, the forthcoming record by Austin folk rockers <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/09/22/large-brush-collection-better-be/">Large Brush Collection</a>. “The band combine intuitive rhythms with intricate detail to conjure soundscapes able to explore the most personal of things,” <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/09/22/large-brush-collection-better-be/">we wrote</a>, impressed with their ability to explore thorny issues with nuance and tenderness. The album comes out at the end of the week, and in anticipation Large Brush Collection have unveiled one last single. Titled ‘Arm’s Length’, it is perhaps the most important track of all. &#8220;This was the first song I brought to the group when Dan (Magorrian) and Gaby (Torres) and I began playing together,” describes songwriter/bassist Nora Predey. “And we all really connected over it. In a way, I think it became the foundation of the band.” With Torres’s flute and snaking melodies, the song ebbs and flows between dreamy and anxious, floating along sedately before rupturing with stabs of stormy guitar and clattering percussion.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4136114238/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3970170751/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://largebrushcollection.bandcamp.com/album/off-center-3">Off Center by Large Brush Collection</a></iframe></center><em>Off Center</em> will be released on 26th January. Order it now via the Large Brush Collection <a href="https://largebrushcollection.bandcamp.com/album/off-center-3">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">LOUD HOUND &#8211; Comet</h3>
<p>The project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-jersey/">New Jersey</a> singer-songwriter Tommy Florio, LOUD HOUND is a project that crafts polished pop songs made emotive and interesting with lo-fi guitar and introspective lyrics. Following last year’s album <em><a href="https://loudhound.bandcamp.com/album/its-okay-to-be-lonely-part-ii">It’s Okay To Be Lonely Part II</a></em>, LOUD HOUND has returned with a brand new single ‘Comet’, which exists at the quiet, melancholy end of Florio’s stylistic repertoire. This is due to the circumstances in which it was created. “[I] rented a house in the middle of the mountains of Pennsylvania so I could clear my head after the most gut-wrenching break up,” Florio describes. “I needed to isolate myself from the world to understand what just happened and process my emotions so I could slowly get back to myself.” But it’s not all hushed heartbreak, Florio’s tired voice reaches out for hope and healing, and the energetic electronics that support the chorus suggest they might be on the horizon.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3778567277/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://loudhound.bandcamp.com/track/comet">Comet by LOUD HOUND</a></iframe></center>‘Comet’ is out now and available from the LOUD HOUND <a href="https://loudhound.bandcamp.com/track/comet">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lutalo &amp; Claud &#8211; Running</h3>
<p>‘Running’ is a joint single between <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/vermont/">Vermont</a>-based songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Lutalo">Lutalo</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a>’s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Claud">Claud</a>, a song which lands at the super catchy sweet spot between indie rock and pop. Both artists released records last year, Lutalo with <em><a href="https://lutalo.bandcamp.com/album/again">AGAIN</a></em> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear/">Winspear</a> (which <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/08/29/lutalo-again/">we described</a> as “blend of folk, rock and soul which…critique capitalist and racist systems”), and Claud with <em><a href="https://toastmp3.bandcamp.com/album/supermodels">Supermodels</a></em> on Saddest Factory Records, both of which established them as some of the freshest new indie pop talent around. The new single is no different, an upbeat, driving indie pop song which explores a tricky relationship with a domineering parent. It comes complete with a video directed by Eleanor Petry which sees the pair act out this relationship in a beautifully warm and grainy seventies colour palette.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=855299926/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><iframe title="Lutalo &amp; Claud - Running (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3bkP2bWyVps?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>‘Running’ is out now via Winspear. Listen via streaming services and purchase a download from the Lutalo <a href="https://lutalo.bandcamp.com/track/running">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sam Evian &#8211; Wild Days</h3>
<p>If the soulful psych pop of 2021&#8217;s <em>Time To Melt </em>saw Sam Evian embrace a retro aesthetic, then forthcoming album <em>Plunge</em> sees the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-york/">New York</a> songwriter take things to a whole other level. Carved from the lush pop that marked the seventies, the record is written from the perspective of Evian&#8217;s parents, tracing a story of love in all of its complexities and complications. A team of friends including Liam Kazar, Sean Mullins, El Kempner (<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Palehound">Palehound</a>) and Adrianne Lenker (<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Big-Thief">Big Thief</a>) all offered their talents, following Evian&#8217;s orders to keep things fun and immediate. “No-one knew the songs or what the plan was,&#8221; he explains. &#8220;We kept it loose and fun. This was the spirit of the sessions. No headphones, no playback, minimal overdubs, or bleed. Fast and loose.” Lead single &#8216;Wild Day&#8217; gives a glimpse as to what to expect from the album, where the nostalgic haze is leavened by the spontaneity of the process.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=3709861057/album=1654283200/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Watch the video by CJ Harvey below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Sam Evian - Wild Days (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ARqtqoF7uSM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Plunge is out on the 22nd March via Flying Cloud Recordings/Thirty Tigers and you can <a href="https://samevian.bandcamp.com/track/wild-days">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/22/weekly-listening-january-2024-3/">Weekly Listening: January 2024 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">39817</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Desiree Cannon &#8211; Radio Heat</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/11/desiree-cannon-radio-heat/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Jan 2024 19:06:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Desiree Cannon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oakland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Long Road Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=39910</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>This February sees the return of Oakland-based songwriter Desiree Cannon with Radio Heat, the follow-up to her 2018 debut Beach Sleeper, on The Long Road Society and Gar Hole Records. Like the previous record, the new album presents a diverse collection of songs linked with a strong thematic thread. Namely the titular concept of radio heat—&#8221;a collective electrical energy that is perpetually transferring human emotions through space and time,&#8221; as the label explains, &#8220;and our ability to transform that energy [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/11/desiree-cannon-radio-heat/">Desiree Cannon &#8211; Radio Heat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This February sees the return of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/oakland/">Oakland</a>-based songwriter Desiree Cannon with <em>Radio Heat</em>, the follow-up to her 2018 debut <em>Beach Sleeper</em>, on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-long-road-society/">The Long Road Society</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a>. Like the previous record, the new album presents a diverse collection of songs linked with a strong thematic thread. Namely the titular concept of radio heat—&#8221;a collective electrical energy that is perpetually transferring human emotions through space and time,&#8221; as the label explains, &#8220;and our ability to transform that energy through acts of beauty, intention, and art.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Radio Heat</em> has this idea baked into its very bones, Desiree Cannon holding the creation of songs as a kind of alchemical process. With a country-inflected style that reaches towards everything from dark pop and surf influences, Cannon brings an assortment of pain and doubt to the table in an attempt to transform it into something different. As though a song is a kind of machine able to transmute suffering into beauty, not only for the artist but the audience too.</p>
<p>Lead single and album opener, the title track is a door through which the listener is invited to witness this process in action. &#8220;I wished for a brighter start for you / Picturing day’s first light / Like a tide running over your door,&#8221; as Cannon sings with something like weary fondness. &#8220;Hot water on cold veins / When a soft beat drops like a screen / I know, and I know you’ve got it too.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>I can feel radio heat on<br />
While you walk to my back I retreat<br />
Now everytime before like<br />
A box of matches in the sink on fire</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2301034656/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=435380138/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://desireecannonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/radio-heat-2">Radio Heat by Desiree Cannon</a></iframe></center><em>Radio Heat</em> it out on the 23rd February via The Long Road Society and Gar Hole Records and you can <a href="https://garholerecords.com/collections/desiree-cannon-radio-heat">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/01/11/desiree-cannon-radio-heat/">Desiree Cannon &#8211; Radio Heat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">39910</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: July 2023 #2</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/07/10/weekly-listening-july-2023-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jul 2023 18:37:10 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annie Hart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anything Bagel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arts & crafts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austin Cash]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bud Tapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christopher Tignor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eat My Butterfly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[future gods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Generifus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[His His]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steven van Betten]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[toronto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tremolo Fields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uninhabitable Mansions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western vinyl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zeus]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=37803</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Annie Hart &#8211; What Makes Me Me First making a name as part of indie pop outfit Au Revoir Simone, Annie Hart&#8216;s solo work has branched out in a number of directions, most recently Eno-inspired ambient as seen on Everything Pale Blue released via Orindal Records in 2021. With new album The Weight of a Wave coming later this summer on Uninhabitable Mansions, Hart is back with brand new single &#8216;What Makes Me Me&#8217;, and the song suggests some degree [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/07/10/weekly-listening-july-2023-2/">Weekly Listening: July 2023 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Annie Hart &#8211; What Makes Me Me</h3>
<p>First making a name as part of indie pop outfit Au Revoir Simone, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/annie-hart/">Annie Hart</a>&#8216;s solo work has branched out in a number of directions, most recently Eno-inspired ambient as seen on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2021/06/03/annie-hart-everything-pale-blue/"><em>Everything Pale Blue</em></a> released via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Orindal-Records">Orindal Records</a> in 2021. With new album <em>The Weight of a Wave</em> coming later this summer on Uninhabitable Mansions, Hart is back with brand new single &#8216;What Makes Me Me&#8217;, and the song suggests some degree of return towards ARS-esque pop. A song which attempts to work through sadness by choosing to smile, as though by calling attention to your own dark moods allows for a certain irony, and with it a sense of distance. &#8220;I felt like the only thing I was good at was feeling gratitude—but, paradoxically, I was so melancholy about it,&#8221; Hart explains. &#8220;I pulled a trick from Belle and Sebastian’s hat and made a song about it as cute, sing-alongable, and folky as I could. If I was going to feel bad about myself, why not have fun with it?&#8221; Check out the video shot and edited by Emily James with art direction from Jenna Gribbon:</p>
<p><iframe title="What Makes Me Me Annie Hart Official Video" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bTKBcXMBwTY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>The Weight of A Wave</em> comes out August 4th on Uninhabitable Mansions. Order a copy now from the Annie Hart <a href="https://anniehart.bandcamp.com/album/the-weight-of-a-wave">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Austin Cash &#8211; Franklin, King of the Beers</h3>
<p>Written over the course of a year but recorded in a single night, <em>Hello, Franklin</em> is the latest release of Fayetteville, Arkansas songwriter Austin Cash. Coming next month via Gar Hole Records, the EP mines a deep history of American Primitive and minimalist styles to paint late-pandemic life in all of its strangeness. A collision of dissonance and harmony which looks to conjure not only the needling dread of the contemporary moment but its small joys too. Single &#8216;Franklin, King of the Beers&#8217; is the perfect introduction to the record&#8217;s tensions, a song which nods to the wide-open landscapes so often painted by the genre while evoking the insular claustrophobia of pandemic living, looping on itself like the anxious motion of a restless mind.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=955209214/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=4114485826/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://austincash.bandcamp.com/album/hello-franklin">Hello, Franklin by Austin Cash</a></iframe></center><em>Hello, Franklin</em> will be released on 11th August via Gar Hole Records. Pre-order it now via the Austin Cash <a href="https://austincash.bandcamp.com/album/hello-franklin">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Christopher Tignor &#8211; Ritual of a Thousand Limbs</h3>
<p>Brooklyn-based composer and violinist Christopher Tignor has won acclaim across classical and experimental music scenes with his evocative electroacoustic arrangements. Latest album <em>The Art of Surrender</em>, coming this September on Western Vinyl, sees Tignor explore instinctive territory, pushing the violin towards an almost atavistic sound which foregoes too much planning or intention to instead embrace raw movement. Single &#8216;Ritual of a Thousand Limbs&#8217; encapsulates this style, tapping into primal urges to which are brought to life in a video directed by Jason Akira Somma and starring Rachelle Nidra Somma:</p>
<p><iframe title="Christopher Tignor - Ritual of a Thousand Limbs (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i4OTEujbgeE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>The Art of Surrender</em> will be release on the 29th September via <a href="http://westernvinyl.com/shop/wv251">Western Vinyl</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Eat My Butterfly &#8211; Dolé</h3>
<p>With EP <em>Esperar El Sol</em> coming in a few weeks via FPE Records, producer Eat My Butterfly has unveiled new single &#8216;Dolé&#8217;. The EP is described as &#8220;a celebration of La Réunion&#8217;s folklore,&#8221; and the song serves as an encapsulation of this style. A mix of traditional instruments and synthesizers, united by Dilo&#8217;s passion for percussion and rhythm which conjures an organic soundscape. Vocals from Romane Mana (of Romane &amp; Gaël) lift the track further, aligning it within the catchy indie pop bracket alongside the likes of Sylvan Esso and more importantly drawing the listening into a living, breathing world of its own.</p>
<p><iframe title="Dolé" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IT1HA4-T9qY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Dolé&#8217; is out now &amp; available on streaming services.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Generifus &#8211; Didn&#8217;t Even Look at the Mountain</h3>
<p>The recording project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/olympia/">Olympia</a>&#8216;s Spencer Sult and assorted friends, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/generifus/">Generifus</a> has carved out a space within the independent scene with a steady stream of albums dating back over a decade. A joint release between <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anything-bagel/">Anything Bagel</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/bud-tapes/">Bud Tapes</a>, latest record <em>Rearrangel</em> sees Generifus back after a hiatus and looking to capture the duality of any journey, where banal details and deep, almost spiritual meaning intermingle along a single road. With live band members Wilson Caicedo, Andrew Dorsett and Henry Wilson joined by the likes of Lee Baggett, the result is brought to life with a rich and often wistful mood, as typified by single &#8216;Didn&#8217;t Even Look at the Mountain&#8217;, where regret meets an unfailing fondness.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4247711701/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1297503566/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://generifus.bandcamp.com/album/rearrangel">Rearrangel by generifus</a></iframe></center><em>Rearrangel</em> is out now via Bud Tapes and Anything Bagel and you can get it from <a href="https://generifus.bandcamp.com/album/rearrangel">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">His His &#8211; Underdogs</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve written about <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto/">Toronto</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/his-his/">His His</a> several times in recent years, most recently back in February with &#8216;People, Places, Changes&#8217;, a &#8220;bittersweet&#8221; song &#8220;both pining for what has now gone and determined to capture the fondness which persists all the same.&#8221; Latest single &#8216;Underdogs&#8217; is similarly concerned with change and the passing of time, though this time the focus is on the gentrification of familiar places. A picture of incremental loss which worsens on every visit, the past slowly changed by multi-millionaires, tree by tree, brick by brick.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/2DXCuZniSyeNnasWrcgtgj?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>&#8216;Underdogs&#8217; is out now and available via streaming services.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Steven van Betten &#8211; Yosemite</h3>
<p>Though fronting Fell Runner and co-founding School of Song, where he teaches alongside the likes of Phil Elverum, Miya Folick, Luke Temple, Lomelda and Meg Duffy of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/hand-habits/">Hand Habits</a>, it is only now Nevada-born, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">LA</a>-based songwriter Steven van Betten is releasing his debut EP. <em>Family &amp; Friends </em>sits at the intersection of traditional and contemporary styles, with new single &#8216;Yosemite&#8217; highlighting van Betten&#8217;s ability to evoke both the timeless folk narratives of Townes van Zandt and the ethereality of Sufjan Stevens. The song was written after a close friend lost a parent at the national park, which in turn made van Betten reflect on his own childhood memories of a space where human life gets as close as it might to a sense of something larger. Watch the video shot and directed by Marcus Högsta below:</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Hike with your wife<br />
to the top of the falls<br />
and sit in the shade of the afternoon<br />
Your favourite places in the United States<br />
tangible proof that there is a God</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe title="Steven van Betten - Yosemite" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Ic0BSU0vCc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Friends &amp; Family</em> will be released on the 27th October via <a href="http://www.thefuturegods.com/index#/steven-van-betten">Future Gods</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tremolo Fields &#8211; Stumble On Out</h3>
<p>The recording project of Iowa-raised, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/portland/">Portland</a>-based artist David T. Rogers, Tremolo Fields combines folk sensibilities with rock and electronic styles to weave its evocative sounds. With debut album <em>still as can be</em> out now, latest single &#8216;Stumble On Out&#8217; serves as the perfect introduction to the project. A song where heartfelt romance meets brooding drama, strung on a drum machine rhythm though prone to drifts upward, capturing a balance between physical and ethereal sensations. The rhythm builds as the track develops, eventually descending into an overwhelming crescendo which carries both passion and desperation—love as a kind of longing, even in the present moment.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>I once heard the drum<br />
deep in your chest<br />
pulsating blood below<br />
our hands pressed<br />
and we held each other so close<br />
counting down til the sun rose<br />
six, five, four, three, two, one<br />
I’ll always feel<br />
the beating of your drum</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe title="stumble on out" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wxT9nZZ2pMw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>still as can be </em>is out now and available via the Tremolo Fields <a href="https://tremolofields.bandcamp.com/album/still-as-can-be">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Zeus &#8211; Air I Walk</h3>
<p>Almost a decade since their last record (2014&#8217;s <a href="https://zeusband.bandcamp.com/album/classic-zeus"><em>Classic Zeus</em></a>), <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto/">Toronto</a> indie rock band Zeus return this September with their fourth album, <em>Credo</em>, via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/arts-crafts/">Arts &amp; Crafts</a>. Inspired by equal parts classic rock and 80s synth pop, the record promises to see a continuation of the Zeus M.O., indie rock at once fresh and timeless and full of hooks and harmonies. Lead single &#8216;Air I Walk&#8217; is our first taste of the new material, a song that&#8217;s been a fixture of live sets for a while and serves as a stepping stone from past to present Zeus. What lead Neil Quinn calls &#8220;lovesick cowboy music,&#8221; there&#8217;s a slight dusty folk influence amidst the guitars and electronics, a niggling ache beneath the catchy chorus. Watch the video, directed by 1TruR, below:</p>
<p><iframe title="ZEUS - AIR I WALK (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DKm-9XDmOmQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Credo</em> releases 8th September via Arts &amp; Crafts. Pre-order a copy now via <a href="https://zeusband.bandcamp.com/album/credo">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/07/10/weekly-listening-july-2023-2/">Weekly Listening: July 2023 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">37803</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: March 2023 #4</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/03/28/weekly-listening-march-2023-4/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Mar 2023 08:55:01 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asha Heart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asha Wells]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bonsound]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Breakfast Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elisapie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Her New Knife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Josie Toney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jude Brothers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia's War Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Langkamer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Like You Mean It Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matthew Danger Lippman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[montreal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palm Shadow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philadelphia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Quebec]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Royal Oakie Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Victory Pool Records]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Asha Wells &#8211; Blue Angels Bay Area songwriter Asha Wells is releasing a double single ahead of forthcoming album Water Words on Royal Oakie Records. Written during a testing period of a relationship, Water Words traces the arc of a partnership from dreamy beginnings to the new paths of the aftermath, and this pair of singles sits in the strange space at the heart of this progression. The period where nothing is decided in any one direction, the potential of both [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/03/28/weekly-listening-march-2023-4/">Weekly Listening: March 2023 #4</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Asha Wells &#8211; Blue Angels</h3>
<p>Bay Area songwriter Asha Wells is releasing a double single ahead of forthcoming album <em>Water Words</em> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/royal-oakie-records/">Royal Oakie Records</a>. Written during a testing period of a relationship, <em>Water Words </em>traces the arc of a partnership from dreamy beginnings to the new paths of the aftermath, and this pair of singles sits in the strange space at the heart of this progression. The period where nothing is decided in any one direction, the potential of both promise and regret latent within every detail. Take &#8216;Blue Angels&#8217; and the way it marbles intimacy and hesitance into its tender tones, like an open palm wanting to grasp what is before it, though wary of the thorns hidden out of view.</p>
<p><center> <iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=269199489/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=953735312/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ashawells.bandcamp.com/album/water-words">Water Words by Asha Wells</a></iframe></center><em>Blue Angels / Drugstore Perfume</em> is out now via <a href="https://idm.fm/blueangelsdrugstoreperfume">Royal Oakie Records</a>.<em> Water Words</em> is set for release on the 31st March and you can <a href="https://ashawells.bandcamp.com/album/water-words">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Elisapie &#8211; Uummati Attanarsimat</h3>
<p>Recording under her first name, Juno Award-winning Inuk musician, filmmaker and activist Elisapie Isaac makes music that reflects Canada&#8217;s complex history, singing in English, French and the Inuit language of Inuktitut as she combines contemporary pop with her ancestral culture. Her latest single &#8216;Uummati Attanarsimat&#8217; is a cover of Blondie&#8217;s new wave classic &#8216;Heart of Glass&#8217; translated into Inuktitut. A song that transports Elisapie to her childhood, bringing back memories of dancing to the radio with her cousins. &#8220;I remember one night when they played &#8216;Heart of Glass,'&#8221; she recalls. &#8220;I must have been five or six years old. They all started dancing like crazy. I observed their joy with admiration. I felt like I was free.&#8221; The cover also comes with a video, directed by Philippe Léonard, which comprises of Super 8 archival footage from Quebec&#8217;s northern reaches. Watch it below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Elisapie - Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass) (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g7BSjmxg9DY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Uummati Attanarsimat&#8217; is out now via Bonsound and available to download from the Elisapie <a href="https://elisapie.bandcamp.com/track/uummati-attanarsimat-heart-of-glass">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Her New Knife &#8211; douglasland.v1</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/philadelphia/">Philadelphia</a> outfit Her New Knife have recently released <em>lead dreams/flayed so light</em>, a new EP via Julia&#8217;s War Records. Through a combination of noise and shoegaze elements, the band weave a deliciously dark sound somewhere between 90s alt rock and contemporary acts like <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/greet-death/">Greet Death</a>, the controlled simmer of its brooding dark always threatening to spill over into chaos. Inspired by the band&#8217;s dog, who is said to have the regular old name of Halo 3, &#8216;douglasland.v1&#8217; is the ideal intro to the aesthetic for anyone uninitiated, its palpable weight settling over the listener and gathering like a thunderhead before the searing climax.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3861168303/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1376395068/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://hernewknife.bandcamp.com/album/lead-dreams-flayed-so-light-2">lead dreams/flayed so light by Her New Knife</a></iframe></center><em>lead dreams/flayed so light</em> is out now via Julia&#8217;s War Records and available from <a href="https://hernewknife.bandcamp.com/album/lead-dreams-flayed-so-light-2">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Josie Toney &#8211; Extra</h3>
<p>With album <em>Extra</em> coming soon on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/like-you-mean-it-records/">Like You Mean It Records</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/olympia">Olympia</a>&#8216;s Josie Toney has shared the title track to whet appetites for her distinctive blend of traditional and contemporary country styles. It&#8217;s a tale of longing dressed in a wistful brightness, inspired not so much by the heartbreak so familiar to the genre but rather the missed opportunity that comes with lonely living. &#8220;Is there anybody out there / who wants what I&#8217;ve got to give?&#8221; she sings in the opening lines. &#8220;I have so much extra / more than any one girl needs to live.&#8221; But more than that, Toney recognises that others are out there feeling the exact same way, and the song becomes a kind of ode to the possibility of a mutual love, if not yet the love itself.</p>
<p><iframe title="Extra" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JWc5Yv8IUGM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Extra</em> is out now via <a href="https://www.likeyoumeanitrecords.com/">Like You Mean It Records</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Jude Brothers &#8211; practicing silence / looking for water!</h3>
<p>There&#8217;s a curious mix of sorrow and whimsy on &#8216;practising silence / looking for water!&#8217;, the lead single from Jude Brothers&#8217; <em>render tender / blunder sunder</em> coming soon on Gar Hole Records. The sense that the distance between the confusion of loss and clarity of peace isn&#8217;t all that large, with a considerable overlap between the experiences. Consisting of just Celtic lever harp and vocals, the song explores this territory with a delicate, compassionate tone, cataloguing those things lost amid living while coming to a sense of acceptance too. The track also has a video directed by Adeliza Backus-Pace which featured puppets made by Flying Wall Studios and controlled by Damon and Sabrina Griffith:</p>
<p><iframe title="Jude Brothers - &quot;practicing silence / looking for water!&quot; (official music video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZIGb6WrIzxc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>render tender / blunder sunder</em> is out via Gar Hole Records and you can <a href="https://judebrothersmusic.bandcamp.com/album/render-tender-blunder-sunder">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Langkamer &#8211; Hatchet</h3>
<p>With new album <em>The Noon and Midnight Manual</em> coming this May on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/breakfast-records/">Breakfast Records</a>,  <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/bristol/">Bristol</a>‘s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/langkamer/">Langkamer</a> are unveiling a steady stream of new tracks. First single &#8216;Sing at Dawn&#8217; found &#8220;the sweet centre of a Venn diagram of twangy Americana and insouciant indie rock,&#8221; as we described it, though in doing so worked through heavier themes and depressive moods. New single &#8216;Hatchet&#8217; again uses left-field pop energy as a Trojan horse to push into darker territory, taking inspiration from an old poet vocalist/drummer Josh Jarman knew. &#8220;He read me a poem about going to the supermarket with his wife, and how much of a struggle it was,&#8221; Jarman explains. &#8220;His words really stuck with me. How difficult such everyday things had become for them. Even just getting out of a car. It was heartbreaking, the matter-of-fact way he spoke about it.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Langkamer - Hatchet (official video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kcd3GhRdkhE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>The Noon And Midnight Manual</em> is out on the 8th May via Breakfast Records and you can pre-order it now from the Langkamer <a href="https://langkamer.bandcamp.com/album/the-noon-and-midnight-manual">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Matthew Danger Lippman &#8211; And</h3>
<p>Matthew Danger Lippman practises what has been called &#8220;stream-of-consciousness songwriting,&#8221; blending psych, pop and indie rock into an inventive and endlessly shifting style able to evoke the flights of fancy of our inner worlds. New album <em>Once You Get Low You&#8217;ve Gotta Start Flying Baby </em>promises to build upon this style is all of its bizarre glory, with lead single &#8216;And&#8217; typifying Lippman&#8217;s ability to be earnest and absurd in the same breadth. The sort of thing which only makes sense when caught up within it, dream logic fired by its own momentum and charged by the endearing brightness of its rhythm.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>And I had that dream last night<br />
Where I pissed on the third rail<br />
And the charge climbed up the piss trail<br />
And it shot into my dickhole<br />
And electrified me</h5>
<h5>And I walked around glowing<br />
And I fried everything that I touched<br />
And then I ran into my third grade teacher and she said<br />
“You better watch where you piss”<br />
And watch me now!</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3532477646/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3228469782/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://matthewdangerlippman.bandcamp.com/album/once-you-get-low-youve-gotta-start-flying-baby">Once You Get Low You&#8217;ve Gotta Start Flying Baby by Matthew Danger Lippman</a></iframe></center><em>Once You Get Low You&#8217;ve Gotta Start Flying Baby</em> is out on the 2nd June and you can <a href="https://matthewdangerlippman.bandcamp.com/album/once-you-get-low-youve-gotta-start-flying-baby">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Palm Shadow – You Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way</strong></h3>
<p>Based in southern <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/california/">California</a>, Palm Shadow is a songwriter and musician who combines elements of dream pop, shoegaze and folk to create lush, diaphanous songs that shimmer and swirl in an enveloping haze. Debut single ‘You Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way’ is the perfect introduction, taking the stark emotion of the likes of Phoebe Bridgers or Lucy Dacus and wrapping it up in ethereal ambience. Subtle arpeggiated synths add a cinematic poignancy as the song looks head-on at the tender regrets and heart-quickening inevitability of a complicated relationship, touching on what the liner notes describe as “bad timing, tabled ambitions, missed connections and procrastination guilt.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3751370697/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://palmshadow.bandcamp.com/track/you-wouldnt-have-it-any-other-way-2">You Wouldn&#8217;t Have It Any Other Way by Palm Shadow</a></iframe></center>‘You Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way’ is out now and available from the Palm Shadow <a href="https://palmshadow.bandcamp.com/track/you-wouldnt-have-it-any-other-way-2">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Wayfinding &#8211; Hiro Up From The Woodshop</h3>
<p>Wayfinding is an Edmonton-based project consisting of nêhiyawak members Marek Tyler and Matthew Cardinal alongside musician/artist Cassia Hardy (Wares) and Ryan Beattie (Himalayan Bear, Chet). The band introduced their shoegaze-inflected pomo pop back in November with &#8216;Bad Bloods&#8217;, which turned out to be the opening track of a self-titled EP set for release next month. It is a collection of songs which explores the full spectrum of memories both personal and cultural to Canada&#8217;s colonial history and the people shaped within it. Latest single &#8216;Hiro Up From the Woodshop&#8217; moves through loneliness and humble compassion to capture the essence of a friendship, as well as the existential weight bubbling beneath even the quietest of moments.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>And if you should inscribe<br />
Iambic pentameter on my gravesite<br />
make it a couple of lines<br />
about the first part of my life<br />
No empty accolades<br />
Or poetry infantilized<br />
Just the good times</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3874834718/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1064847815/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://wayfinding.bandcamp.com/album/wayfinding-2">Wayfinding by Wayfinding</a></iframe></center><em>Wayfinding</em> is out on the 21st April via Victory Pool Records and you can <a href="https://wayfinding.bandcamp.com/album/wayfinding-2">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/03/28/weekly-listening-march-2023-4/">Weekly Listening: March 2023 #4</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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