Based in Fort Worth, TX, singer-songwriter and musician Cameron Smith cut his teeth in hardcore and post-punk before settling into a solo career in folk rock. Drawing on the loaded depths of the southern gothic genre, Smith has now made the field his own, and latest single ‘Under the Cover of Darkness’ serves as the ideal introduction for the uninitiated. A song for the heartsick wanderer which can be traced back through Molina and van Zandt, where the long night is illuminated only by the blood moon and low fuel light on the dash. But through its melancholic haze rises an impassioned chorus, doubling down on the will to eventually make it home.

Coming home tonight
I’m coming home tonight
Under the cover of darkness
Where the sky grows wide

Dippers – Recurrent Sight

Hailing from Naarm/Melbourne, Dippers is the project of Matthew Ford and Innez Tulloch. Formerly known as Thigh Master, the band make an energetic and immediate brand of jangly indie pop which wears its rough edges with pride, and forthcoming album Clastic Rock promises to find the band at its most raucous to date. That is, if lead single ‘Recurrent Sight’ is anything to go by. The song is inspired by a coping method Ford devised to help with what he describes as “the constant mental anguish caused by the less gratifying neurodivergent traits,” namely, “to portray myself as the protagonist in a coming of age sci-fi film, where an extra-terrestrial life-force is attempting to send me a message via tedious and inconvenient hijinks.” The sound intensifies as it progresses, ramping up towards the transportive tumult of the closing guitar solo.

Jacob Furr – Not That Bad

The music of Jacob Furr has always felt like it served a clear purpose, be it the intensely personal picture of grief that was Trails & Traces or Sierra Madre and its wider wrestle with darkness and loss. Through the analogy of a (not always so) trusty car, latest single ‘Not That Bad’ sees the Texas artist explore this functional aspect of songwriting, where the mechanics of progress are dented by bad luck and punctuated by small moments of faith. “‘Not That Bad’ was written in the middle of the night in the backseat of my ’89 Camry while broken down beside I-20 somewhere around 2015,” Furr explains. “Music has been the vehicle that has carried me through so many days and nights, and sometimes it feels like a broken down car. But then a friend comes along, you get the new alternator installed, and off you go again with your dreams and plans.”

Empty space in the middle of my heart
With my faith in this broken down car
I’m leaving tonight
Turn the key praying for the best
Tomorrow I’ll sing this song again
If the tune don’t let me down

Julie Meunier – I Don’t Want To Be Friends

We first featured the work of Julie Meunier back in April with ‘World War X‘, a collaboration with Dwi Riana we described as “an exchange between lovers which begins as a seemingly innocuous conversation but ratchets up with every sentence, soon precipitating into an argument which draws the relationship’s tensions out into the open.” Meunier’s latest single ‘I Don’t Want To Be Friends’ is equally personal in focus but more a monologue than dialogue. A one-sided conversation which arose from the lockdown-era of the pandemic, where the desire for human connection was balanced against a fear of romance or intimacy.

Lady Apple Tree – S/T

Back in April we wrote about ‘Silver Hands‘, the first single from a forthcoming self-titled EP from Lady Apple Tree, AKA Northern California-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Haylie Hostetter. “A soulful, sinuous song built around the voice at its heart,” as we wrote, “Hostetter’s vocals rising from sultry croon to impassioned urgency, playing like something from a forgotten country star brought into the present.” Hostetter has now returned with the title track of the EP, a reflection on the orchards of Northern California which mines the landscapes for all of its metaphorical weight, again slotting into the classic country style with its balance of melancholic nostalgia and playful charm.

The New Eves – Mother / Original Sin

Having just signed with Broadside Hacks Recordings and Slow Dance Records, Brighton outfit The New Eves have released the double single, Mother / Original Sin. The former track first appeared on a Slow Dance compilation last year, introducing band’s idiosyncratic blend of punk and pagan sensibilities, owing as much to Picnic at Hanging Rock as The Velvet Underground. ‘Original Sin’ pushes this combination further, a folk horror reimaging of Genesis as told from Eve’s perspective, pride, shame, pleasure and pain combining into one heady mix, though the presiding emotion is that of a defiance. Check out the video directed by the band themselves below:

Original Sin/Mother is out now and available from the usual places.

Steak Blake – Wonderbread

‘Wonderbread’, the latest single from London-based artist Steak Bake on Step Sideways Records, was written when the artist returned home to their native Minneapolis. George Floyd had been recently murdered near their mother’s home, and song inevitably saw a turn towards all those past encounters with prejudiced authority. “When I was only ten or twelve years old / my father sat me down and told me about the skin I hold,” go the opening lines, the droll vocals sitting in a bed of taut post-punk menace. “This is how we live, this is what you’re not / You your father’s son so you might get shot.” And it doesn’t take long for the volatile potential to be realised, the track dipping into manic bursts of noise as though coming to appreciate the absurdity of a nation which has such circumstances inscribed into its very soul.

Tiny Leaves – Campanula Rotundifolia

Tiny Leaves is the moniker of composer and multi-instrumentalist Joel Pike, who hails from the borderlands between England and Wales. The project has just released its fifth full length album, Mynd, which weaves a sonic portrait of the Shropshire countryside that Pike calls home. The record is built from strings, piano, synth soundscapes and, perhaps most importantly, field recordings from a residency Pike completed at The Long Mynd, a heathland plateau and designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the area. Single ‘Campanula Rotundifolia’ captures this landscape in both its sweeping vastness and intricate detail, resulting in not so much of a static picture of the surroundings as a moving, breathing environment.

Mynd is out now and available from the Tiny Leaves Bandcamp page.

Tractor Beam – Backseat

Tractor Beam is the “post-folk” recording project of producer Sasha Balazic. Hailing from Toronto and based in Vancouver, Balazic draws from across the ages in their work, owing as much to 00s indie as 60s folk, and all wrapped up the the contemporary DIY aesthetic, leading to a sound both emotionally immediate and tangibly nostalgic. Having recently released new record Turtles All The Way on Kingfisher Bluez, Tractor Beam have shared their latest single, ‘Backseat’. The ideal introduction to the intimate, reflective tone of the album, where Balazic’s warm vocals blur the line between past memories and future dreams.

The post Weekly Listening: July 2023 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

Dear Nora – White Fur
Lawn – 2000 Boy
Pearl Crush – True Blue
Dead Painters – Fool On Fire
Slowcoaches – Found Down
Two Meters – Left Behind
Kerem Atalay – Winter 2
Pat Moon – I Belong
Blood Hype – Not Too Good
Talons’ – Driving Home From Shows
The Nova Darlings – I Like Crashing My Car (Into Yours)
Dead Sullivan – Swallow
Onlyness – Comfortable
Of the Valley – Italy
Nice Knees – Backout
Suburban Pets – Candy
Minor Moon – It’s Okay
Caroline Lazar – Georgia
Heatwarmer – American Dog
Jacob Furr – Life Comes At You Fast
Deux Trois – Dave
Grace Turner – Dead or Alive
Britton Patrick Morgan – Southern Drawl

The post June 2018 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Of The Valley – Italy

Of The Valley is the recording project of Canadian-born, Copenhagen-based songwriter Brian DellaValle. Ahead of a debut full-length that is set for release soon, DellaValle is currently releasing stand-alone singles, beginning with ‘Quiet and Curious’ back in March. The track was a good introduction to the Of The Valley style, a slow, sad and atmospheric brand of folk which supports DellaValle’s affecting baritone vocals.

His latest single, ‘Italy’ follows a similar pattern, wrapped in warm melancholy that brings to mind a later-era Mark Kozelek. Thematically, the track charts a relationship and its slow evolution across time, change as a shaping force, capable of builing and destroying in equal measure. As the press release describes:

“Italy is a voyeuristic slice into a moment between two people. Beauty in such situations can certainly be found between those two, but also between the lines. When something important comes apart, it takes courage and time to find if you can build it back again.”

Slowcoaches – Found Down

London’s pop punk trio Slowcoaches have been putting out tunes as ferocious as they are catchy for a good while now, with 2016’s album Nothing Gives followed by a series of singles. The latest of which, ‘Found Down’, is the lead track from a new two-song release on Sonic Unyon Records. A boisterous, squally listen, the track races around the throaty vocals of Heather Perkins, demanding you join in with the hollered chorus. “on the dirty ground, I gotta grow up, grow up,” she shouts, “you say you want to be around, you never show up, show up.” However, the words are secondary to the sheer energy and attitude bursting from their delivery in cathartic release, a furious shedding of all of life’s soul-destroyingly banal frustrations in a two-and-a-half-minute storm.

The Found Down 7″ is out on the 30th June via Sonic Unyon Records and you can pre-order it from the Slowcoaches Bandcamp page, including on vinyl.

Minor Moon – It’s Okay

We first wrote about Sam Cantor’s Minor Moon back in 2016 when we covered A Whisper, A Shout, an album we described as “fuelled by the insistent dread of self-doubt and bad feeling to [become] something keenly honest and cathartic, yet always coloured with wry self-referential lines about that very process.” This was followed by an EP What Our Enemies Know, and now Cantor and co. are back with ‘It’s Okay’, a brand new single ahead of a future full-length album.

Don’t let first impressions deceive you. The instrumentation of ‘It’s Okay’ is something of a Trojan horse, housing a keen existential anxiety that flourishes in the lyrics. Therefore, while the sound evokes a timeless rock vibe, the themes of the track are actually far more contemporary, detailing the sense of alienation and dread that comes with the creeping ubiquity of technology and mass media. The song sees something of a fight back against this, preaching the idea that any form of resistance and human connection is valuable, and any attempt to be okay is at least some way closer to realising the wish. As Cantor explains: “I can be very cynical and take a dark view of things, but that cynicism is rooted so much in a desire for hope and for a better world.”

You can grab ‘It’s Okay’ from the Minor Moon Bandcamp page, along with the previous releases.

Caroline Lazar – Georgia

Caroline Lazar is a songwriter from outside Atlanta, so new single ‘Georgia’ is aptly named. The track is the first taste of a new EP to be released on My Little Empire Records, and shows off Lazar’s melancholic mix of bedroom pop and folk. The basis of the track is a languorous flow, a slow summer heat that ripples the vocals into a sedated, less immediate form of heartbreak. But heartbreak this track is, detailing a lost love and conflicted hopes of its return. “Why am I hoping that you might be holding someone else?” Lazar laments, “need a better reason to replace your picture on my shelf.”

Caroline Lazar’s EP is to be released soon via My Little Empire Records, so keep an eye on Bandcamp for further news.

Heatwarmer – Here Comes The Band

Heatwarmer are three piece from Seattle, Washington, who put out their latest album, Here Comes The Band last autumn. The record layers rich retro-pop with tongue-in-cheek humour, something like Mike Pace and the Child Actors taken to the next level of irony. ‘American Dog’ is the prime example, a smooth backwards-looking love ballad, though the focus of this emotion is not a beautiful woman or dark and handsome man, but a small, canine US national. Yes, really. The chorus makes it pretty clear:

“Oh oh oh oh my god
I didn’t know I’d feel this way about a little dog

American dog, American dog
I fell in love with an American dog
Good God, I fell in love with an American dog”

Here Comes The Band is out now and you can get it from the Heatwarmer Bandcamp page.

The Nova Darlings – I Like Crashing My Car (Into Yours)

Hailing from Los Angeles, The Nova Darlings are a garage rock four-piece described by their bio as “equal parts violent and tender.” Their sound draws upon influences from either side of the millennium, mixing the 90s guitar of Built to Spill and 00s vibes akin to The Shins with a more contemporary bedroom pop aesthetic that brings to mind The Washboard Abs. As a result, they manage to live up the the bio’s promise, capable of earnest emotion and ramshackle rocking within the very same track.

Since their EP Songs for Felix back in March, the band have been putting out a series of singles. The latest of which, ‘I Like Crashing My Car (Into Yours)’ is the perfect example of the sound we describe above, the tenderness of the vocals juxtaposing with the violence of the title and lyrics, and the carefree rhythm of the instrumentation managing to serve both.

You can grab ‘I Like Crashing My Car (Into Yours)’, as well as the other singles, from The Nova Darlings Bandcamp page.

Jacob Furr – Life Comes At You Fast

We’ve written about Texan songwriter Jacob Furr a few times in the past, first in 2014 upon the release of his debut album Trails & Traces, and then again in 2017 in a belated review of his sophomore record Sierra Madre. The conclusion of the latter post functions as a neat summation of what Furr’s music is all about: “Hope doesn’t have to be a sentimental act or retreat from reality, rather a considered and consistent refusal to give in. [Furr] finds strength in weathering storms, and, what’s more, wants to share that notion with you too.”

Last month saw the release of a brand new single, ‘Life Comes At You Fast’, and again a similar sense runs through the track. The nostalgic Americana sound is the ideal medium to capture the wistful attitude, and the whole thing is dressed in fondness too, as though any sense of melancholy is not so much regret but rather a reminder to feel.

“Running like a river through your dreams
down into the ocean, where nothing is as it seems.
And you watch the seasons change, you listen to the rain,
see the wind that’s tied up in the trees.

And you know just how that feels
Wishing you were free”

‘Life Comes At You Fast’ is available now from the Jacob Furr Bandcamp page, along with his previous releases.

Deux Trois – Dave

Working out of Kingston, Ontario, Deux Trois is something of a Canadian super group, featuring Nadia Pacey (Konig) Benjamin Nelson (PS I Love You) and Ben Webb (Carvings). Ahead of a new eight-song release, Health, the three-piece have been unveiling some singles to get the anticipation up. Following on from the hypnotic and salacious ‘Late Night Girls’, latest song ‘Dave’ moves on to unrequited love and the invisibility it casts over its suffers. The song has something of a dual perspective, the present pining for the titular Dave, but also one positioned ahead of the moment, looking back, free from the clutches of the once consuming conviction of love.

“Dave, I feel like an infant
Dave, just tell me I’m human
you look so sad but didn’t age that bad
drop the glass and struggle hard but
it’s all gone to waste.

At the time I was just a kid
you said you loved me but you never did”

Health will be released on the 8th June in a variety of formats, so keep an eye on the Deux Trois Bandcamp page.

Grace Turner – Dead or Alive

Utilising elements of folk, rock and country, Australian musician Grace Turner crafts songs at once energetic and emotional, the charged sound allowing her to delve into intimate and honest personal difficulties without ever coming off as trite or overwrought.

Latest single ‘Dead or Alive’ is a case in point, the persistent momentum of the drums leading Turner into a haunting exploration of internal suffering and the comfort that human connection can bring in the face of such turmoil. “The lyrics in the chorus are literally transcribed from [a] conversation,” Turner explains. “[A friend] called and said, ‘I didn’t know if you’d be dead or alive’. The whole song was written in about an hour after the phone call.”

“That was so sweet just the other night
You called me just to see if I was alright
You said you didn’t know if i’d be dead or alive
You said you worry so much about me sometimes”

‘Dead or Alive’ is out now and you can snag it at the Grace Turner Bandcamp page.

Britton Patrick Morgan – Southern Drawl

Britton Patrick Morgan is a multi-instrumentalist based in Kentucky who has recently put out his debut album, High Lonesome Throne. The record is rooted in the folk traditions, with Morgan using a 1947 Gibson LG2 parlour guitar to evoke a timeless quality to his sound, despite loving his Huss & Dalton guitar enough to give it the name Jane. “Instruments,” he explains, “much like people, have their own distinct personalities.”

‘Southern Drawl’ is a great welcome into this warm and wistful world, a song drawn forth from an age old existence in the American south, where the landscape colours the essence of life and a kind of patient longing seeps into the fabric of things. Fittingly, the song is pitched somewhere between plaintive and hopeful, a kind and compassionate word into the air in the hope that others might hear.

“I’d try to catch you if you had a fall
nobody’s perfect, we’re all flawed
If you ever need me you can call
And I’ll always love you
with a southern drawl.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYc45eO2pFw

High Lonesome Throne is out now and you can get it from iTunes.

You can find all of the previous instalments of Bright Sparks here, and be sure to check back in a few weeks to see what makes the next edition.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 13 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Sierra Madre, the follow-up full length, builds upon the various threads on Trails & Traces to form a heavier and more cohesive sound. As with all the best folk songs, Furr’s songwriting creates whole times and places around pivotal moments in the lives of his characters, people lost amidst huge forces around them, happenings concerning fate and prophecy and the great weight of history pressing down. As such, the record is darker than his previous, existing on the edge of things, as though one bad day away from being consumed by the depression or dread or dead-eyed distress that plagues the narratives.

Sometimes, as on ‘El Paso’ and ‘Ophanim’, this registers as lonely minimal guitar and sad yearning lyrics concerning characters trapped by visions of the past, while others as something with a little more bounce, with tracks such as ‘Taillights’ and ‘Wire’ cast from the nostalgia unique to those who can see the world they knew slipping through their fingers. ‘The River’ is a dark biblical folk song which simmers with danger, a sort of devil-dealing desperation which winds and writhes with the prospect of violence, while ‘Estacado’ responds to despair with a brash lucidity, a man drawing words from deep within himself, voice booming with the confidence of those with little left to lose.

“And I drew so deep upon the well of love
As I watched the sickness growing in her eyes
The heart dries up and starts to wither
At the bottom of a well that has run dry

And the sky looks ready to fall down
And my ears are ringing with the sound of the thunder
And I know I am ready to cry now”

However, the album’s weightiest moments serve as bookends to the release. The title track opens with an elemental vibe, stark guitar cutting through the reverb like licks of lightning through a darkened sky. Furr’s vocals are dragging along, rising and straining in staccato bursts as though compelled by forces unseen. Closer ‘Easy Waves’ is heavy in the opposite sense, possessing the mass of wide open spaces populated with nothing but stone and shadow, the characters left to cling to lovers and memories as one would a life-ring, fighting to keeping their heads above water in the hope of one day finding calmer seas.

“Call your name, call your name
Let the waves wash over me.
Is there truth in the smoke rings
cos I’ve been burning cigarettes
walking the edge of sorrow
I heard love’s not through with me yet”

The sentiment is a pertinent one for the record as a whole, voicing the general feeling Furr imparts through his songwriting. Hope doesn’t have to be a sentimental act or retreat from reality, rather a considered and consistent refusal to give in. Given the confidence in Furr’s voice, it seems he understand this, finds strength in weathering storms, and, what’s more, wants to share that notion with you too.

Sierra Madre is out now and you can grab a copy from the Jacob Furr Bandcamp page.

The post Jacob Furr – Sierra Madre appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklist

1. Boat – The Tallest Tree
2. Lonely – Rivergazer
3. I Think I’m Old Enough – Adult Mom
4. Thought u were better than that – Cyberbully Mom Club
5. Way Gross – Aunts
6. Fierce Resource Allocation – Emperor X
7. Dark Arts – Baby Cages
8. Stranded (On My Own) – Titus Andronicus
9. Singapore – Reid
10. Attak (ft. Danny Brown) – Rustie
11. Gold (Chet Faker re-work) – Flume
12. Duals – Bonobo
13. Ongoing Thing (ft. Oddisee) – 20syl
14. Animal – The Acid
15. Heirloom Luna – Chemists // 化学者
16. Triumvirate – Lewis & Clarke
17. Holly Would – Benjamin J Woods
18. Terrified – The Rural Alberta Advantage
19. Friday Night – The Parade Schedule
20. Falling Stars – Jacob Furr
21. Red Thread – Spark Alaska
22. Blood – Ahava
23. Stars Pt. 2 – Psalmships
24. Goodbye Letter – Adieu Caribou

You can also listen over at Minilogs.

July Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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

In a recent email, Furr stated that he wants to share the album “in an effort to tell my story and open up a space for others to share theirs.” “I have found some healing in making Trails & Traces,“ said Furr, “and I want to share this beautiful space music creates with others… using music to open up space between strangers and allow them to connect with one another.”

It is an admirable intention, and one which seems embedded within all of the most rewarding and valuable art, be it music or literature or whatever else. When dealing with subject matter such as the death of a loved one, there is a real (and understandable) danger of things becoming overly dark and despondent. What Furr describes above, and what comes through on the album, is about trying to do more than that. It’s about making something meaningful, something cathartic/therapeutic for the artist, but also comforting/useful for the listeners. Trails & Traces is poignant but never morose, putting love over regret and allowing hope to be the dominant emotion. As Furr explains:

“I do not want cancer to be the end of Christina’s story. She left behind a tradition of joy, wonder, and love that has inspired so many of us here in Ft Worth. And to me, her husband, she left behind an ache that is only satisfied with song. These songs are part of her legacy that continues to inspire us and to connect each other with love.”

The album is ten tracks of folk/Americana goodness. Starting off with the country-tinged foot-tappers ‘Branches’ and ‘Lines’, it becomes more intimate by ‘Drift Away’ and ‘Blake’s Song’, and morphs into something more rocky by the midway point. ‘Falling Stars’ is the leading track, a song which starts off relatively slow and builds to a loud crescendo that encapsulates his intense emotions over the loss of his wife. “Now you’re a song on my dry lips,” Furr sings, “now your the beat that’s breaking my heart. You’ve become the air in my heavy lungs. Won’t you stay so we’ll never be apart?” You can watch the video below.

Trails & Traces is due to be released on the 14th September.

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