Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – f(l)ight

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is an artist, poet, writer and musician from Canada who this September released her new album, f(l)ight. Produced by Jonas Bonnetta of Evening Hymns, the album combines lush instrumentation with Simpson’s mutlilayered poetry, sounding at once intensely physical and spiritual, charting not only personal experience but also that of her ancestry and the land on which they live. As such, style and perspective is fluid, every word and note and small space of silence part of some larger whole, where past violence, future hope and enduring spirit coalesce as one. You can get the album from RPM Records.

Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs

Centro-matic frontman (plus Molina collaborator and Monster of Folk alumni) Will Johnson recently released a new solo single, ‘Nervousness Fangs’. The track is a beautifully sad lo-fi folk song, recorded (as Johnson tells American Songwriter) at home on a Tascam 424. The lyrics read like summer evening back-porch wisdom, as Johnson sings “Jesus what a mess / what they’re all selling / and what’s being sold”. Check it out on Soundcloud below:

In other news, Johnson has been nominated for a Grammy (!) for his Record Store Day split single with Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster of Water Liars. You can still get the 7″ via Misra Records.

Givan Lötz – MAW

Described as a “an aural savant whose sound projects operate exterior to expectations”, Johannesburg’s Givan Lötz recently released a new album, MAW. The record, which intends to “shed waning light onto and into this post-scientific realm where meaning is unhinged”, consists of ten dense, dark songs which shift and shimmer with unsettling unfamiliarity, all floated on a sea of melancholy. However, as ‘Speak’ highlights, a sense of positivity seeps through the cracks, though it’s impossible to tell whether this is true hope or just a peculiar euphoria gained from submitting to confusion. MAW is available now from Other Electricities.

Dama Scout – All In Too

Blending dream pop and kraut-rock sensibilities with added noise pop bounce, Dama Scout’s second single ‘All In Too’ feels like a stylistic mutant in the most complimentary sense. Calm and quiet one minute and seized by mayhem the next, the track feels like a surreal ride through a many-eyed storm, excitement and fear and abrupt tranquility passing without rhyme or reason. In other words, you should grab it right now from Bandcamp.

Vagabon – Fear & Force

We loved Vagabon’s last EP, Persian Gardens, so it’s great to hear that Laetitia Tamko is putting out a full-length album next February. The first single, ‘Fear & Force’, is a re-imagining of ‘Vermont II’ from the aforementioned EP, and gives a great insight into the development and evolution of Vagabon’s sound. Here Tamko reveals her multi-instrumentalist skills to flesh out the track and create a deep lush sound without losing any of the organic intimacy which made the original so great. Infinite Worlds is set for release next year on Father/Daughter Records and you can pre-order it now.

Her Harbour – Hewing Crowns

‘Hewing Crowns’ is the first single from Gabrielle Giguere’s Her Harbour’s sophomore full-length Go Gently Into the Night, out on E-Tron Records this coming February. The record was written at a time when “death felt omnipresent,” and the single is intended to serve as a “preface to the demons [Giguere] attempted to quell in making the album,” and is therefore ripe with haunting sounds and symbolical imagery. The video for the track, edited by Mike Dubue, consists of found footage from Conrad Aiken’s 1966 short film “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” forming a collection of oblique frames which match the ghostly ambience of the song. You can grab ‘Hewing Crowns’ from the Her Harbour Bandcamp page.

Pip Hall – Devil You Don’t

Pip Hall must be in the running for the youngest artist we’ve ever featured here at WTD. At just 16, the Preston-based songwriter is making music beyond her years. Her new single, ‘Devil You Don’t ‘ opens with some Stranger Things-style synths before blossoming into a rich pop song that teams Hall’s smooth vocals with the steady pulse of synths and some guitar for added crunch. If you like what you hear, keep an eye out for Hall’s sophomore EP, James, out next March on My Little Empire. You can pre-order via Bandcamp.

Courtney Marie Andrews – Put The Fire Out

Continuing with precocious youngsters, Courtney Marie Andrews apparently left home at 16, travelling the US as a musician before getting a gig as Damien Jurado‘s lead guitarist. She’s done a lot of touring with various acts since then, and earlier this year released an album of her own, Honest Life. The good news for us in the UK is that Loose Records are releasing the album here in January (pre-order now). To whet your appetite, here’s a single, ‘Put the Fire Out’, a warm and reflective country track that is a must for fans of bands like Mount Moriah.

Camp Cope – Keep Growing

Following their excellent self-titled debut album, Melbourne’s Camp Cope recently put up a new single which appears to be from an as-yet unannounced release. ‘Keep Growing’ sticks to the successful formula of the previous album, playing like an internal monologue that flicks through sadness and confusion and doubt but keeps cycling back to a joyous resolve, the recognisable pilot light of Camp Cope’s music. As Georgia Maq explained on Facebook, the song is about “new beginnings, it’s about rejecting what society tells you is beautiful,” ending the post with the simple but perfect advice. “Do you.” Grab the track now via Bandcamp and keep your eyes peeled for news of a physical release.

Field Medic

We’ve covered San Francisco’s Field Medic several times at WTD, so its cool to learn he’s got a new song. ‘uuu’ is essentially a classic folk song, gentle instrumentation and yearning vocals directed to a love (the titular you you you). The lyrics are as heart-on-sleeve as we’ve come to expect from Field Medic, with lines such as “all i ever needed was your matchstick mama / to take my wrongs & make them right / to take my darkness & make it bright “. Get the song now on a name-your-price basis via the Field Medic Bandcamp page.

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“This isn’t about forgetting death, or even really ‘moving on’… [but instead] coming to a deeper understanding of one’s life… how a person can be so shaped by another, and how such an impact can and should be a source of immense pride and joy”

During an interview around the release of Quiet Energies, Bonnetta told us that we should expect a lot of new music from him in the coming months, and we now have the first song into which to sink our teeth. ‘Northern Arm’ sees an expansion on some of the themes on Quiet Energies, while also harping back to the remote romanticism that made Spirit Guides so special. As Bonnetta explains:

“The idea of being on the arm of someone still seems romantic to me and the idea of trying to maintain that alone in the woods even more so. Can two people entertain themselves with love forever? In our days of constant distraction can a real, clear love even exist?”

‘Northern Arm’ finds the band pushing further into dream pop territory while still retaining the folk influences and strong songwriting that has marked their career thus far. Electronics are utilised more than one might expect, coupled with sharp riffs and background vocals, though Bonnetta’s recognisable voice glides over the top of the instrumentation in what could be celebration or lament, echoing strongly like a shout in the woods.

‘Northern Arm’ is forthcoming on Tin Angel Records and you can pre-order it now via Bandcamp. Evening Hymns are set to tour Europe this September and you can find the full run of dates below:

Sept 16th – Hamburg – Golem
Sept 17th – Berlin – Privatclub
Sept 18th – Darmstadt – Golden Leaves Festival (with Lanterns on the Lake)
Sept 19th – Munster-Pension Schmidt
Sept 20th – Koln – Die Wohngemeinschaft
Sept 21st – Amsterdam – Paradiso
Sept 22nd – Paris – Pointe Ephemere (with Chris Cohen)
Sept 23rd – Coventry – The Tin at The Coal Vaults
Sept 24th – London – Shacklewell Arms (with Mauno)

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If you aren’t familiar with Jonas Bonnetta’s  Evening Hymns, then you really should be. 2009’s Spirit Guides was a lesson in atmospheric, well-written folk music and 2012’s Spectral Dusk is, without exaggeration, one of my favourite records of the decade so far. We only managed this measly non-post at the time, but lets just say it dragged me through some stuff I needed dragging through. I could go on about how Spectral Dusk is brave and heartbreaking and intensely personal, or how it made me feel okay and less alone, or how Evening Hymns, miles from home in a humble Cardiff venue, dredged everything up again to play a quite stunning and draining live set for our pleasure when it would have been easier not too, but I’m sure Bonnetta gets that all the time.

Anyway, yesterday the band announced that their new album Quiet Energies is to be released on Outside Music on the 18th of September. To learn a bit more about it then you should read this interview with Sarah Murphy over at Exclaim, then watch the rather lovely trailer below:

Photograph from Outside Music

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