Each song on the record features a guest contributor, and in total more than twenty musicians lended their talents in fleshing out the arrangements. Cuchulain would write and record a demo, then pass the prototypical version on to his various friends and see where their creativity would take it. The cross country (and Atlantic) project therefore not only helped break the isolation of lockdown, but also reinforced the mutual relationship between creativity and human connection.

Today sees the release of ‘Iris’, a single featuring Seattle-based musician Katie Kuffel. Centering on Cuchulain’s mother (whose nickname is Iris), the track draws inspiration from an overheard conversation between his parents. And though Cuchulain and Kuffel do not strictly take on the roles of each parent, the back and forth vocals brings this exchange to life. What emerges is a track warm if somewhat wistful, the playful energy undercut by a lingering sadness. An awareness of time passing.

Mama says they’re tearing down the church where we used to dance
putting up high-rises condos and offices to rent
They called it an investment in the community
but it saw the community out on the street

The post Cuchulain – Iris (feat. Katie Kuffel) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Rat Tally – Feel Something

The recording project of LA’s Addy Harris, Rat Tally makes an emo-inflected brand of indie rock, exploring tortured emotion and mental health struggles in a manner at once wistful and fierce.  New single ‘Feel Something’ is a perfect example. A song about depression and self-sabotage, Harris delves into the competing horrors of feeling bad and feeling nothing at all. “When you feel depressed and numb, and you’ll stop at nothing to feel anything at all,” she explains, “even if it means emotionally hurting yourself and sometimes the people around you.” Gathering momentum as it progresses, the track becomes both an expression of regret and something of an explanation, and thus a drive to continue forwards nonetheless.

But I just want to feel something
Even if I end up spitting out blood
I told you you’d get used to it
I think I always knew you never would
But I just want to feel something
Even if you end up spitting out blood
When you’re finally done with it
I’ll tell you I always knew one day you’d run

EL LAGO – Pyramid

Existing at the intersection of shoegaze, dream pop and post-punk, EL LAGO’s Pyramid is a nocturnal record, ominous and dark and shot through with shimmering points of light. Released last month on Wallflower Records, the EP packs a genuine sense of variety, from the brusque, Patio-esque detachment of ‘Moths’ to the breathless, soaring shoegaze of the title track. However, each track is linked by a common spirit, all existing in a mysterious twilit space where threat and wonder stand side by side.

Lead single ‘Citadel’ is as good an introduction as any. Kicking into dinghy rhythm, the song holds a promise at its heart, though whether this is a promise of awe or violence is left unsaid. As such, there’s an unhinged intensity to the sound, like Bambara’s crazed preacher vibe, or something that might roll through the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks.

Pyramid is out now on Wallflower Records and you can grab it from the EL LAGO Bandcamp page.

Will Orchard – Turning Back Again

Working under the moniker LittleBoyBigHeadOnBike, Will Orchard wrote and released hundreds of songs a year, his Bandcamp featuring a vast array of experimental and colourful albums that stitched a giant patchwork of his creative influences. After much touring, Orchard decided to reinvent his practice, focusing on less tracks for a longer period of time and putting them out under his own name.

The result is Old Friends on the Mountain, an album made with engineer Jeff Prystowsky (The Low Anthem) that is concerned with loss and longing ” for lost imagination, friends long gone, and memories slipping away.” Ahead of its release next January, Orchard has unveiled the lead single, ‘Turning Back Again’, showing off his more cohesive, Americana-inspired sound. The tone is certainly nostalgic, and therefore focused on things now lost, though cast in a fond light—committed to bringing to life those moments, however mundane or ordinary, that help us become ourselves.

Katie Kuffel – Jelly Donut

Back in October of last year, we had the honour of sharing Take It Up, the debut album from Seattle-based songwriter Katie Kuffel. The record was one “of complete authenticity,” we wrote. “All pretences have been dropped, all half-truths abandoned, every wrinkle of self-doubt examined and ironed out.” In cherry picking the best bits from blues, jazz, folk and pop, Kuffel’s piano-led sound is capable of being fun as well as emotionally deep, tied together by a sense of live energy that her soulful vocal style only grows.

Kuffel is back with a brand new single, ‘Jelly Donut’, a track which develops on the sound of the record. Revolving around ideas of recovery and healing in the face of trauma, there is once again a serious weight at the core, though that is only half of the story. Replete with an energetic groove and smoky charisma, a fluid confidence permeates the sound, producing an affirming mood that’s as enlivening as it is infectious. Check out the video from Amphora Media below:

Alex Chilltown – Drown

Alex Chilltown is the recording project of Croydon’s Josh Esaw, and their debut record Eulogies is very much a product of that south London milieu—a blend of dream pop and art rock for the hyperreal present, a place of concrete and tarmac and a constant bustle toward a future that no-one can quite imagine, so is instead painted as another cycle of the past.

Lead single ‘Drown’ gives a taste as to what to expect. Threaded by a taut energy and a richly intricate sound, the song has pressing tone, unfurling in a relentless flow. “I wanted to write something that felt urgent,” Esaw explains. “It represents a lot of anxieties I was having about myself and that’s why it has that kind of tightness to it like when your brain is stuck in an anxious thought pattern and you’re crippled with indecision but also can’t stop ruminating on that.”

Eulogies will be released on the 24th January via Fear of Missing Out Records and you can pre-order it from the Alex Chilltown Bandcamp page.

French for Rabbits – Highest Hill

Led by Brooke Singer, New Zealand dream pop band French For Rabbits make an ethereal, layered brand of music. Their previous record, The Weight of Melted Snow, released on Home Alone Music and Muscle Beach Records, was translucent and melancholic and alive, the songs the musical equivalent of a sea mist that drifts in with a beguiling hush and settles upon your skin.

‘Highest Hill’, sees French for Rabbits perfect the style, the muted atmosphere showing that emotional resonance need not resort to bombast or melodrama. Working with Misma Andrews, the band set out to record a video with Lucifer the cat and dogs Pepa and Jolene, though with too much footage and/or a reluctance to cut, they ended up crafting two films for the same track—the cat version and the dog version. You can see the one for the far superior animal below:

You can find French for Rabbits on Bandcamp, and find out about the upcoming tour dates on their website.

Lazy Legs – Silkworm

We’ve written about Portland, OR’s Lazy Legs a few times in the past, from their self-titled debut in 2016 to last year’s single, ‘Nosebleed‘. The latter was taken from a new record, Moth Mother, and we’re finally getting close to release, with the album out on the 15th November.

In the preview, we suggested that the new record would see Lazy Legs “orbiting closer to their grunge and slowcore influences,” and latest single ‘Silkworm’ continues the trend. Finding a shuffling rhythm from the tape hiss intro, Laura Wagner’s vocals shimmer across the track before an almighty crunch of sound, drums and guitar and bass clattering into a reverb-drenched crescendo. From here the track ebbs and flows, settling into brief moments of peace before diving headlong into the noise once more.

The Big Easy – Nothing Comes for Free

The recording project of Stephen Berthomieux and friends, The Big Easy makes a distinctive blend of bedroom pop and garage rock that leans into the lo-fi aesthetic as a route toward authenticity. From now until February, The Big Easy will release a brand new single on the first Friday of every month, and ‘Nothing Comes for Free’ is the first entry in the series.

With fuzzed out guitar and a drum machine whirring behind, Berthomieux puts his vocals through a guitar amp to give them a distorted edge too, his voice almost becoming another instrument in weaving the rich texture of the sound. Thematically, the title does the talking, exploring ideas of uncertainty in the face of our costly society.

Two packs a day is more than just a goal of mine
cause then they find my ashes they’re be nothing left that’s mine
and every fucking time that i find i spend the night
life’s like every episode of twilight zone
something must be wrong
i never trust myself

People Person – Bound

Coming from the abrasive world of post-metal and hardcore, People Person is a project that aims to take aggression and ferocity and channel them into a more thoughtful, considered sound. The result, album Look Outside, Watch Closely, is somewhere between post-rock, bedroom pop and ambient, the sound rising from confessional whispers to something intense and soaring. If heaviness comes in a variety of forms, People Person are keyed into the nuances.

Lead single ‘Bound’ is a case in point. Opening with a despondent pop-rock style in the vein of Daughter of Julien Baker, the song intensifies gradually, the band displaying a real expertise in the balance between build and payoff. The result is something more intricate that the one-speed rush of hardcore while avoiding the self-indulgence of post-rock, creating a sound at once vast and immediate.

Alexander Biggs – Madeleine

Australian songwriter Alexander Biggs makes music haunted by a sense of loneliness and loss, as though something important has gone missing from our times. Through poignant arrangements and evocative folk melodies, Biggs brings such emotions to life, binding it all together with his earnest vocal style somewhere between Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers.

Brand new single ‘Madaleine’ is described as an “observational piece,” collating several toxic relationships to paint something of a caricature—a person violent and volatile and suffering, lashing out as though to share some of the pain they are subjected to. Loaded with starkly beautiful lyrics and possessing a tenderness despite the bitter tone, the track is caught between two poles: the immediacy of hurt not lessened but matched by the slow sadness of understanding.

That’s all for Vol. 30 of Bright Sparks folks, but be sure to stick around the Reviews and Previews sections for more in-depth writing.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 30 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

Restorations – Nonbeliever
Goshen Electric Co. – The Grey Tower
Horse Culture – Follow
Yowler – Where Is My Light?
Desert Liminal – Gauze Cave
Anamon – In 3
Adeline Hotel – Lightning
Lea Thomas – Upstream
Scott Orr – No Phone
Advance Base – Christmas in Nightmare City
Blue Wilson – Golden Eyes
The Sofas – Nothing Major
Lazy Legs – Nosebleed
All Boy/All Girl – Bomb
Strange Ranger – New Hair
Elly Swope – Idea
Dweller – Running
Will Henriksen – Halo
Knuckle Pups – Bottom Baby
Ian Wayne – Guessing
Massage – Crying Out Loud
Recluse Raccoon – Mother America
Interbellum – Ink
Marc Ferrino – Like a Spark
Katie Kuffel – As the Crow Flies
Emily Brown – Sometimes
KASHKA – Holding Steady
Philippe Bronchtein – Me and the Moon
Spencer Segelov – Sacred Songs
Annie Dressner – Fades Away
Belaver – Grave Robber
Of The Valley – Ride Alone
Hour – Give thanks in a special way

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

Following 2015’s Pearls, Katie Kuffel is back with a brand new full-length album, Take it Up. Despite appearing a solo release, the record is actually a lesson in collaboration, drawing on the talents of Arthur James (guitar), Jonathan Robinson (bass), Jordan Wiegert (drums), Kale Lotton (sax), Lana McMullen and David Kelly (singers/songwriters) to achieve its rich style. The fact is pertinent beyond the musical sound too, the album itself concerned with finding true connection in a world that values the superficial, and using such links as a kind of balm against the pain and suffering one might face. As Kuffel explains:

Take it Up is what came out of the last few years of transition, where I found new ways to connect with myself and my community. How I move through the world as a woman, owning my sexuality, my mental health, and embracing my truth. I’m proud of how authentic this album is, and how I’ve melded different styles, and moods, to create a landscape shaped by my relationship to love, pain, recovery, and connection.

It is fitting then that opener ‘Offering’ is something of a devotional hymn, Kuffel’s vocals and those of the backing singers operating in an almost a cappella style, the negative space of the song adding a near spiritual dimension. As such the vibe is somewhere between adoration, self-assurance and penance, or perhaps all three at once, a sound that comes to represent a sense of sincere belief.

“I’ve got a longer way to go than some
I spare no parts to part the seas that come
Sum me up steep and cup me
I’ve run through hands that tried to love me
I saw the cracks as words and sung each one”

‘Come Home’ is the first example of a more traditionally joyous style, the piano bright and finger clicks infectious, before ‘Arete’ switches up the mood again, a sultry musing driven by piano and deep drums. ‘RCBIF’ is rosier and more considered, the romantic melody building into an insistent drive and finally something of a dazzling crescendo, and the bluesy ‘Canteloupe’ emerges with the mischievous confidence of someone fully inhabiting their own skin.

With their variation and diversity, these first five tracks set the mood of the record—one not interested in classifying itself, with conforming and fitting into neat boxes. Rather, the sound functions in complete opposition to this, Katie Kuffel represented in all of her idiosyncrasy, a persona not mappable into any neat character or temperament for the very reason that it is too fully realised and human. Too alive for boxes and pigeonholes. Too truthful.

‘Vices’ is playfully brash, the self-assured sound at first appearing to belie the confessional lyrics, though soon the mood comes to make perfect sense, a complete ownership of every facet of character, no matter how dysfunctional or revealing. ‘Reinvent Her’ is a brooding slow burn that eventually becomes a blaze, growing with each lick and flicker, while the title track is equally patient yet at the languid end of the spectrum. Here Kuffel’s vocals highlight their ability to rise and fall in natural cadence, the leisurely feel lending an almost improvisational edge, the gradual build into full-bodied emotion having an organic sense of sincerity.

With its breathy vocals and gentle piano, ‘Fault Lines’ is a stripped-back ballad, relatively unadorned saved from the odd lines of skating sax and shuffling percussion. Instead, Kuffel’s vocals provide the sole focus, the patient unfolding of the lyrics building momentum with each cycle, and the eventual payoff is all the more vivid for it. Perhaps the closest thing to a folk song on the record, ‘As the Crow Flies’ is tender and finespun, possessing a kind of natural intricacy within its flow that unfurls as though directly from the heart.

“And I hear you’re supposed to clear
Muddy water by leaving it alone
But I’m the carrion kind
All maw and mind
I always seem to pick things to the bone

And I’ve been thinking ‘bout the rows
of trees and creosote
What a burden New World fruit has to bear
Anchor me in moving through the silt I buff my roots in
And test all the truth that I hold there.”

Take It Up is an album of complete authenticity. All pretences have been dropped, all half-truths abandoned, every wrinkle of self-doubt examined and ironed out. Such a process requires a great degree of vulnerability, though Kuffel leans into this notion and as a result presents just the opposite. Every quirk and weakness owned and held aloft, and as such form not chinks in the armour but a key component of the Katie Kuffel tapestry, threads that weave into a confident, assured whole, and one that is as beautiful examined up close as it is from a distance.

We’re honoured to be able to share the album in full, so turn your volume up and spend your day with this:

08 Oct w/ Heather Mae, Sarah Clanton and Shaleigh, @ Uncommon Ground Chicago, IL
10 Oct w/ Heather Mae and Sarah Clanton @ 20 Front Street Orion Charter Township, MI
11 Oct w/ Heather Mae and Sarah Clanton @ The Range Ithaca, NY
12 Oct w/ seatbelt and The Benji’s @ News Cafe Pawtucket, RI
14 Oct @ Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 New York, NY
15 Oct @ The Saint Asbury Park, NJ
16 Oct w/ Heather Mae and Sarah Clanton @ Pie Shop Washington, DC
06 Nov @ McMenamins White Eagle Saloon & Hotel Portland, OR
08 Nov @ Bootleg Music Productions’ Tiki Lounge Sacramento, CA
09 Nov @ Neck Of the Woods San Francisco, CA
10 Nov @ The Study Los Angeles, CA
15 Nov w/ DATENITE and Arthur James @ The Tavern Seattle, WA

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