‘Patterns’ is a song that I wrote about navigating relationships while in a depressive episode,” explains Annie Schultz of their first single on Trailing Twelve Records. “My songs often subconsciously end up being letters to myself, observing shifting dynamics with the people I love and posing questions about why I choose to make certain decisions.” Having cut their teeth in the Minnesota DIY scene, the Olympia-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist set about crafting a sound somewhere between indie folk and classic goth and punk, allowing for the kind of soul-searching so apparent in the new single. A song about being there for friends when it feels difficult enough to even be kind to yourself.

‘Patterns’ is out now via Trailing Twelve Records.

Haley Blais – Matchmaker

“It’s a love song about being so confident and safe in a relationship that you start to look for cracks out of fear,” explains Haley Blais of new single, ‘Matchmaker’. The Vancouver artist has made waves with her emotive, cathartic style, though one which always possesses a certain playfulness too. Having signed with Arts & Crafts and preparing for a full-length, the single finds Blais at the peak of her powers, combing sincere emotion with a certain impish charm to explore the pressures social and cultural expectations can place on a relationship. “And I read somewhere on the internet / That if we have kids, then they won’t exist,” she sings. “And then I’m the bitch who ruined your family line / It’s nobody’s fault, though, but somebody’s pissed.” Watch the video below, directed by Jacob Pascoe and edited by Haley Blais & Jacob Pascoe:

‘Matchmaker’ is out now via Arts & Crafts.

Kylie V – Runaway

Based in Vancouver, Kylie V is a singer-songwriter looking capture the joys and angst of young life. Following on from 2021 debut Big Blue, they recently returned with The Runaway EP, a collection of four songs which further develops their self-described “overemotional indie folk rock.” The title track typifies the style, casting its eye over the trials of falling in love after one too many burns, and how romance can be curdled by the presence of anxiety and OCD. “What if we don’t get too far and I leave it in ruins cause / these days my body’s struggling to cope?” as Kylie V asks, though the rest of the track plays as a slow lesson in giving in to feelings of comfort and love. Check out the video by Malcolm MacMaster below:

The Runaway EP is out now and available from the Kylie V Bandcamp page.

Luka Kuplowsky – Sudden Reach from the Inner World

Following on from previous single ‘The Spirits Are Busy’, Toronto-based songwriter Luka Kuplowsky has returned with new single ‘Sudden Reach from the Inner World’ on Mama Bird Recording Co. and Next Door Records. The previous track offered a dappled, jazz-inflected sound around Kuplowsky’s distinctive almost-spoken vocals to conjure something at once laid back and esoteric, and this duality is again present in ‘Sudden Reach’. A song which pushes into almost ambient territory in its intuitive warmth, with Bahamas’ Felicity Williams again offering heavenly backing vocals. “This was a beautiful accident,” as Kuplowsky says of the track. “The lyrical imperative of trusting the immediacy of new love seems fitting for a song that’s creation was so sudden and surprising.”

Soft buzz of a summer day
Compassion of a silent kind
Birds meet and disperse
They astound me every time
Sudden reach from the inner world sudden reach

‘Sudden Reach from the Inner World’ is out via Mama Bird Recording Co. and Next Door Records and is available from Bandcamp.

Noah Roth – C U Tomorrow

When moving back to the Chicago suburbs after five years in Philadelphia, Noah Roth was on a bit of a downer. They’d just gone through a break-up, had to leave the place they’d called home to return to their childhood bedroom, and had been working on their last album Breakfast of Champions for so long that they’d fallen into a burnt out disillusionment. But borrowing equipment from a sibling, Roth began experimenting with Ableton and found new songs pouring forth with an unexpected ease. Three weeks later the basis of a new record, Don’t Forget to Remember, had solidified. Lead single and opener ‘C U Tomorrow’ hints at the album’s new direction, set for release on Devil Town Tapes, foregoing any agonising over fine details in favour of a direct expression. “I wanted to make something that was kind of quick and dirty, and doing it myself the way that I used to do when I was a teenager,” as Roth explains.

Plastic Cactus – Year of the Rat

Portland, Oregon outfit Plastic Cactus are gearing up to release their debut full-length album, and new single ‘Year of the Rat’ is the first taste of what to expect. Together, Brooke Metropulos (guitar/vocals), Michaela Gradstein (guitar/vocals), Bill Willson (bass) and Tyler Brown (drums) take equal parts cosmic desert rock and languid surf pop and submerge everything in vocal harmonies, creating a sound which owes as much to spaghetti westerns as it does the polish of classic pop.

‘Year of the Rat’ is out now and available from the usual places.

Rin McArdle – Something Blue

With a self-titled album coming later this summer, Naarm/Melbourne-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Rin McArdle has released new single, ‘Something Blue’. The album spans the emotional gamut from searing anger to tender vulnerability, and the track shows off the latter side of the work, tapping into a nineties aesthetic to bring to life its searching, therapeutic sound. Camp Cope’s Georgia Maq joins on vocal duties too, charging things with an impassioned intimacy. “It’s a really personal song so I wanted to get someone close to me to sing on it in a kind of conversational way,” McArdle explains. “I thought Georgia would be perfect, our voices are quite different, there’s a contrast to them that I really like.”

The song also comes with a video directed by Louis Oliver Roach which takes imagery from  Norwegian black metal band Immortal and transplants it into the Australian bush.

Rin McArdle is out on the 28th July and you can pre-order it now.

Sea Lemon – Cellar

Having just signed with Luminelle Recordings, Sea Lemon (AKA Seattle‘s Natalie Lew) has unveiled a delightfully ethereal new single, ‘Cellar’. Dream pop in an almost literal sense, where weightless textures bely the ominous weight within, and close-held impulses make themselves known in strange ways. “‘Cellar’ was inspired by my love of really classic horror and thriller films, like Blow Out and Misery,” Lew explains, “and how loving scary movies can sometimes feel like something is wrong with you.” A compulsion to seek out the dark and disturbing aspects of life that’s often mirrored within the movies themselves. Characters who allow their morbid curiosity to get the better of them, drifting toward what they already know to be bad news as though a certain inevitability exists within the situation. Watch the video shot and edited by Natalie Lew and Abe Poultridge below:

‘Cellar’ is out now via Luminelle Recordings.

Sleepy Gonzales – Skylight / Freaking Out

With EP Mercy Kill coming next month on Light Organ Records, Vancouver‘s Sleepy Gonzales have unveiled a double single, ‘Skylight/Freaking Out’. A pair of tracks which act as a kind of yin and yang, the first slower, heartfelt and emotive, searching for illumination within an otherwise gloomy environment, while the latter is the polar opposite. A racing track which taps into darker interiors, finding catharsis in allowing the less than positive feelings out into the world. “Maybe they balance each other out, or maybe one eventually destroys the other,” as the band explain. “That depends on you.” Watch the video for ‘Skylight’ filmed by Ethan Andrews below:

Mercy Kill is out on the 30th June via Light Organ Records.

The post Weekly Listening: May 2023 #5 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

And, of course, being comprehensive is impossible these days, so let us know if we missed your favourite and maybe we’ll add it to the collection.

Emily Yacina – Nice Try
(RIYL: bedroom pop)

Evening River Band – EP5
(RIYL: country, folk, psych rock)

Ever – But I Am
(RIYL: bedroom pop, dark rooms)

Exam Season – Mostly Homely
(RIYL: indie rock, emo, Trust Fund)

Family Video – Places To Sleep
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, longing)

Field Medic – that beer called becks reminds me of a haiku i wrote
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, modern folk)

Fish Food – For Shadow Hurts
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, weird lyrics)

Folktale Records – Folktale Sampler (COMPILATION)
(RIYL: experimental, folk, indie pop)

Fossil Jane – will you?/you will.
(RIYL: bedroom pop, singer songwriter, )

Free Space – Ahead of Myself
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Trace Mountains)

Generifus – Peace Sign Rising
(RIYL: indie pop, indie rock)

Georgia Maq – Brain Studio Session
(RIYL: acoustic, bedroom pop, Camp Cope)

Ghost Camp – Great Lakes
(RIYL: indie rock, psych pop)

Glider – Demos
(RIYL: lo-fi, psych pop)

GoldFlakePaint – Too Far From Town To Learn
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, Gold Flake Paint)

Good Good Blood – O Belong / Motion Sickness
(RIYL: ambient, dream pop, folk)

Gorgeous Bully – Better Demons
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie rock, fuzz)

Govier – Predator
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, “alien folk”)

High Sunn – i will never learn
(RIYL: chillwave, lo-fi, dream pop)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2016: E – H appeared first on Various Small Flames.