Buckskin, the debut album by Cherokee Rose was recorded in the early 90s thanks to a connection to a session engineer at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios. But limited to a small cassette run, which was sold to fans at shows in 1993, the album never achieved the widespread success it deserved. Follow-up To All the Wild Horses was better supported, particularly on reservation radio stations and Native cultural festivals, but still Rose’s music was held back from mainstream acclaim. As a result, both albums have existed in a kind of limbo in the years since, that is until they were discovered by Joe Steinhardt of Don Giovanni Records. He set about tracking down Cherokee Rose and approached her about reissuing the records. In celebration of the release, Cherokee Rose has unveiled a video for the title track of To All the Wild Horses, animated by Chicago artist and musician Izzy True. Check it out below:

To all the wild horses, may you run forever free
May you never feel the yoke of man
Upon your windswept mane
May you pound the heartbeat of the earth
Through canyons wild and tame

Buckskin and To All the Wild Horses are out now via Don Giovanni Records. Order them from the Cherokee Rose Bandcamp page.

Crumbsnatchers – Keep Your Honey

Led by frontman ‘Guetts’ Guetterman, Nashville‘s Crumbsnatchers have made their name with a moreish blend of pop, punk and rock, all tied together by Guetterman’s playful vocals. This was challenged on latest single ‘Keep Your Honey’ for Like You Mean It Records, when Guetterman developed vocal nodules on the day of recording. But it was always going to take more than that to stop them. Instead, he merely sang at a conspicuously lower vocal range, deviating from the usual Crumbsnatchers style but losing none of the spirit in its sinuous, sensual sound

‘Keep Your Honey’ is out now via Like You Mean It Records.

The Dead Tongues – Little Lies

April sees the release of Dust, the fifth record from Ryan Gustafson’s The Dead Tongues project, though it could easily have been very different. Disillusioned with the identity he had built as a musician, Gustafson was keen to purge all his old material from his life and even change his name, though a chance flick through an old notebook directed him to parts of his past selves he was not so ready to lose. Dust emerged from this moment, written with a newfound sense of freedom and fun, recorded in just nine days. Latest single ‘Little Lies’ captures both the loneliness of an identity crisis and the affirming momentum granted when leaning into change.

It’s all the same
No matter what you do
It’s all the same
Whether not it’s true
It’s all the same
When you’re talking to
Someone in your mind
The whole night through

Jenny Berkel – Kaleidoscope

“A communication intimate in tone but fully appreciative of the vastness within a person.” That’s how we described ‘You Think You’re Like the Rain’ from Jenny Berkel‘s upcoming album These Are the Sounds Left from Leaving on Outside Music. The latest single from the Canadian poet and songwriter is no less evocative. As the title suggests, ‘Kaleidoscope’ pitches the listener into a disorientating accumulation of information, using a personal instance of manipulation to evoke the wider erosion of truth in the contemporary age.

Jo Schornikow – Lose Yr Love

Australian songwriter Jo Schornikow recently announced a new album, ALTAR on Keeled Scales. It’s her first new music since 2019’s Secret Weapon, a record we described as “something of a prayer, an album of tender words drawn from love and fear and tied in an awareness of time’s passing and the beauty of things,” and promises to continue her characteristically intimate and inventive songwriting.

Schornikow this week unveiled a video for the album’s second single, ‘Lose Yr Love’, a track which suggests the album will offer more than quiet beauty. It’s a lush folk pop song, sparkled with synths and an airy sense of possibility that belies its sombre subject matter. “‘Lose Yr Love’ grew from a real-life nightmare of losing someone,” Schornikow explains. “The song explores the fear before the fall-out, before finality. It’s a quick and awful spiral, but also a natural counterside of love.”

ALTAR will be released on 2nd May via Keeled Scales and you can preorder it now from the Jo Schornikow Bandcamp page.

John Roseboro – The Banquet

Last year, Haitian-American artist John Roseboro released his debut album, Human Nature. It introduced a distinctive style that draws inspiration from folk, bossa nova and jazzy lounge singer-songwriter material. Spirited music crafted from equal parts bright compassion and steadfast belief. Latest single ‘The Banquet’ is again informed by this rich fondness, breathing relief and joy into a fraught moment, emerging with a calm conviction as to what comes next.

You don’t have to live in fear anymore

Lady Dan – Not In Love

“I’d like to write a love song about anyone,” opens the latest single from Texas-based outfit Lady Dan. “The problem is I’m so angry all the time / and I’m not in love.” The song builds upon the mood established on last year’s record I Am a Prophet on Earth Libraries, probing into the complicated tangle of existence not with timid reluctance but fierce determination. The result is both stinging and affirming, seizing the wound in order to close it, or perhaps just to feel the pain.

Mila Webb – Lucky Nights

Ahead of an EP titled Lucky Nights, coming soon on Perpetual Doom, songwriter Mila Webb has unveiled the title track to introduce her lush and reflective brand of folk music. But for all of the warmth of the lap steel and melodies which comprise her classic sound, the music of Mila Webb is shaded by darkness too. “In the demos that became Lucky Nights, I was writing about the sort of restlessness and unfairness of being left wanting more when something dies,” she explains. “It’s everything to do with the passage of time and my attempts to cope with it.” I’m also coping with my feelings about watching the earth lose beauty as it tries to survive human destruction.” The single delves into this darkness, searching for any light within.

The Lucky Nights EP is out via Perpetual Doom later this year.

MXMS – Wave of Mutilation

Self-described ‘funeral pop’ duo MXMS (Me and My Shadow) consists of singer Ariel Levitan and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Dawson. Having initially operated with minimalist arrangements of piano and vocals, the New York pair gradually expanded their sound to a variety of instruments, though made sure to maintain the haunting spirit which informed their early work. Their most recent single, a cover of Pixies classic ‘Wave of Mutilation’ is a perfect example of this aesthetic. The widescreen sound rings with a clarity only possible in wide open space, as recordings of some other time seep through in the background.

‘Wave of Mutilation’ is out now and you can find out more from the MXMS website.

S. T. Manville – How To Belong

Back in October we wrote about How To Belong, an EP from UK songwriter S. T. Manville, and to book-end this period of his career, he has returned with a new single of the same name. “I’ve always been jealous of people that have a strong sense of heritage and identity,” Manville explains. “An infinity with a place or culture, I’ve never had that.” Unfurling with a melancholic patience, the wrestles with this feeling via the banal details of life on the road, Manville both mourning the home he doesn’t have and making peace with the situation as best he can. “I started writing this song when I woke up in a hotel one morning after playing a show, stupidly hungover and feeling like shit about everything,” he continues. “I realised I felt crappy because I was never in the same place for longer than a few days at a time.”

The post Weekly Listening: March 2022 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The Estok’Gna have survived hundreds of years of genocide and oppression since the arrival of Europeans, and continue to face severe threats to their culture, history and way of life. Now, three natural gas pipelines are planned on traditional Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe territory, which would destroy scared sites and make it a felony for the Estok’Gna to occupy them. Not to mention the project’s lack of consideration to it’s non-human impacts—current plans will see it destroy over 300 acres of important habitat that is home to 21 endangered species.

As you would expect from Keeled Scales, the album contains recordings from a whole host of great artists. From indie rock heavyweights like Big Thief and Sharon Van Etten, to the countless whose releases we have written about and loved over the last few years, including (takes breath) Black Belt Eagle Scout, Erin Durant, Jess Williamson, Jo Schornikow, Karima Walker, Sun June, Will Johnson, and Tenci.

There is considerable diversity across the 31 tracks, but all are united by a common spirit. Renée Reed brings her distinctive and dreamlike Cajun folk with ‘J’ai Trouve’, while Christelle Bofale shows off her wonderful soulful vocals with a stripped-back demo titled ‘And I’ll Go’ and Aisha Burns sets the tone with the collection’s first track, the beautiful and immersive ‘Chinati’. A personal favourite is Little Mazarn’s take on the classic cowboy folk song ‘Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie,’ which sounds at once bright and mournful.

100% of donations from the album will go directly to the Estok’Gna to support their fight for their land, culture and very existence. As Keeled Scales put it: “As indigenous people continue to lead the fight against the reckless fossil fuel industry, we are honored to offer this compilation and its earnings in solidarity with everyone in the fight for racial justice and a livable future for all beings on planet earth.”

To the People of the Land is out now and available via the Keeled Scales Bandcamp page.

The post Keeled Scales – To the People of the Land appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Adrianne Lenker – cradle
German Error Message – Hopelessness
Jo Schornikow – Incomplete
Grizzly Coast – Half-Light Boy
Taylor Hamilton – Might Say
Porridge Radio – Give / Take
Patio – Scum
Ruthie – Spirit Now Moves
Esther Rose – Don’t Blame It On the Moon
Blood Cultures – Flowers For All Occasions
Puddle-Cuddle – Compost
Mess – Dead Space
Cry Babe – Soft Honk
The Painters – Pieces of Life
Two Meters – Ground
Erin Durant – Take a Load Off
Michelle Blades – Ring
Eric & Magill – Thanks to Sciences
Foundlings – Caught Up on You
Craig Finn – Something To Hope For
JW Ridley – Homesick (Out The Blue)
Pieket – Eternal Recurrence
The Curfews – Rose
Emily Fairlight – Body Below
Raggedy – Brainwash
Barrie – Saturated
Blush – Forever Is a Long Time
Shane Leonard – Empire Builder
Con Davison – Sofa Bed
Gold Light + Snakemusk – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Chats – Pub Feed
Shutups – Yellowjacket
Izzy Heltai – Stuck In Stone
Adam Ostrar – Take It Back
The Death Of Pop – Last
Toledo – Some Samurai
Yot Club – Japan
Evan Thomas Way & The Phasers – Long Distance
K. Campbell – Heads Up
The Duke of Norfolk – As the Heralds Revere You
Leaky Engine-John Birch Society Blues
naps – treading
Vieo Abiungo – What the Rain Restores
Old Earth – The Friends ∴ The Gods
Good Good Blood & Astral Social Club – Heathen Astronaut

Like what you hear? Catch up with the rest of our Monthly Mixes!

The post April 2019 Roundup Mix appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The music of Jo Schornikow stands in opposition to this. As shown on latest album Secret Weapon, her first solo release since 2012, Schornikow presents intimacy in its intrinsic, intangible sense, a pure intimacy that cannot be reduced to any sound or style. “A secret weapon is a hidden source of strength,” reads a line in the album’s description, capturing something of its modest power. “Unpretentious good work, a reminder of what to aim for.”

Jo Schornikow’s history is not the average story. Starting out as a church organist and jazz pianist, she went on to play with Hugh Jackman and Lana Del Rey before eventually becoming a touring member of Phosphorescent, which is led by her partner Matthew Houck. The pair had two children in 2014-15, and Secret Weapon explores the experience of motherhood, an upheaval that far outweighed any experienced as a touring musician.

Released last month on Keeled Scales, the record is intended as an antidote to turmoil and restlessness of the period. “In direct contrast to the chaos that child-rearing amidst a music career can be,” the label explain, “Secret Weapon pours from a deeply situated place of profound quiet, a place of restraint, contemplation, and healing.” The album’s brevity speaks to this, twenty-five snatched minutes amidst everything else. Think of it as a space carved out in the middle of time’s flow—a conscious attempt to reflect on what might otherwise prove a breathless blur, and to communicate honestly about a period all too often reduced to rose-tinted ideals.

Opening song ‘Alright’ explores this directly, grasping at the terror and joy of parenthood. “Light of mine, o love required / divine love, terrified,” Schornikow sings, “love is just a lot of time / love is just a child of mine.” Dawning slowly with vivid grace, the track has a devotional quality, like some hymn drawn from above then sent back skywards, its beauty always drifting off, as though too light for this world.

yet love is love and born of love &
love is never enough
it’s just a mother’s call to quiet
love I know, it’s all alright

Schornikow’s songs belong to the same lineage as Phosphorescent’s. Synths bring an otherworldly modernism to the uniquely hopeful lonesome vibe of traditional folk/county. In contrast to the bedroom genres, Schornikow’s music is intimacy in a timeless guise, the blurring of genres allowing her to avoid any reliance on tropes, the genuine human heart behind the sound allowed to beat through.

‘Incomplete’ is a good example, a track which melds Schornikow’s country songwriting with minimal contemporary pop, creating something downbeat but richly emotive. ‘Only One’ is similarly sparse though dappled with a golden hope, just as spring sunlight is caught on the surface of a lake.

There are solely folk songs too, like ‘Will You Miss Me’ which is built of mostly just guitar and Schornikow’s voice, the words those of the sentimental wanderer which has populated these songs for decades. ‘Martingale’ too is rooted in the traditional, piano and guitar intertwining as the lyrics face the themes of love and death with a classically wry tone. “The oldest joke,” Schornikow sings, “is getting old.”

‘Ghosts’ is a hushed but emotionally intense, striving for connection to the present while being haunted by the spectres of the people you used to be, while ‘Home’ is a direct and plaintive love song that swells with an understated majesty, a grand organ in a dilapidated cathedral. Finale ‘Interspecies’ has an even more otherworldly atmosphere, glimmering synths swirling like the cosmos as Schornikow sings of unrealistic expectations.

Oh how I made you God’s perfect image
A perfect stranger, a perfect plan
Now that it’s later I see the mistakes
I made when I drew ya with my own hand

In many ways, Secret Weapon is something of a prayer, an album of tender words drawn from love and fear and tied in an awareness of time’s passing and the beauty of things. Perhaps the secret to Jo Schornikow’s intimacy is the intention behind its creation—her opening up not intended as some final answer or complete reveal but rather more like a question. This is how things are, how things were, how things might be.

Secret Weapon out now via Keeled Scales. The LP bundle options are pretty special for this release too. Choose to add a baseball cap or a Petrichor & Eucalyptus scented candle for a few extra dollars.

The post Jo Schornikow – Secret Weapon appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Sean Atkins

Sean Atkins is a songwriter from Pittsburgh. I was immediately taken by his sound; a heartfelt simplicity with a good dose of melancholic introspection and regret, while all the while underpinned by a faint hint of hope. This is an achingly beautiful release from someone who deserves much wider attention. Volume 2 and numerous other releases are available on Bandcamp for free.

Castanets

Castanets is the moniker Ray Raposa, a Portland resident with quite a few albums already under his belt. Unfortunately I have only recently stumbled across him but am looking forward to exploring backwards through his catalogue. Check out the Keith Whitley cover below.

Matt Olsson

Matt Olsson, from New Jersey, has that American acoustic sound that brings to mind Bob Dylan and Tallest Man On Earth. ‘Snakes’ is the first single from his new album The Sabotage and is available free on Bandcamp.

Reuben Bullock

Reuben Bullock, a songwriterfrom Calgary, has formed a band called Rueben And The Dark. They have a much fuller sound than the previous artists on the list but are no less enthralling. I’m hearing some similarities to band such as Hip Hatchet, which is no bad thing.

Jo Schornikow

I first caught Jo Schornikow on The Waiting Room radio show where she played a session (along with Scott Rudd, who we wrote about here). The Australian plays piano/keyboards for The Shivers and is now going it alone with her various bandmates in support. Here a song below.

Water Liars

Water Liars, fronted by Theodore’s Justin Kinkel-Schuster, have released their debut album Phantom Limb on Misra Records. A superb blend of loud and quiet (as opening track ’$100’ displays below), like Damien Jurado singing on Pope Killdragon. An album that is well worth your time.

While it would be better to give each of these their own post (and therefore the attention and focus they deserve), time isn’t something I have in abundance right now. You have my apologies but this will have to suffice.

The post Folk Grab-Bag appeared first on Various Small Flames.