Back in July we wrote about  Fort Worth, TX songwriter Cameron Smith, describing how single ‘Under the Cover of Darkness’ drew on “the loaded depths of the southern gothic genre” to evoke “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.” Recorded as part of a Café Solo Songwriters Live session, latest single ‘Shadows of the Moonlight’ follows a similar spirit. This time it takes inspiration from the story of Smith’s great-grandfather Sam Smith who served in WWI and worked as a cowboy before being killed while working as a lineman for the Texas Louisiana Power Company. “I’m not a cowboy but Sam was,” as Smith explains. “It’s a campfire song; a reflection on the mental, spiritual and physical distances a person can travel between night and day.”

You can grab the track now from the Cameron Smith Bandcamp page.

h. pruz – I Keep Changing

The third single from their forthcoming record No Glory, ‘I Keep Changing’ is the perfect introduction to the music of h. pruz, aka Queens-based songwriter Hannah Pruzinsky. It’s a rich and direct track that wanders further toward rock than previous h. pruz songs, giving weight to the very real emotional power that has always underpinned their music. Like much of the record, the song focuses on a pivotal moment, conjuring almost physical dimensions to inner turmoil and subsequent growth. “The song emerged a few weeks following a pretty life-altering break-up, Pruzinsky describes to Stereogum. “I’m trying to capture the feeling of the moment when you can feel something inside you giving way to a newer form, and how ugly yet unstoppable and freeing that ultimately felt.”

No Glory comes out on 29^th March via Mtn Laurel Recording Co. and is available to pre-order via the h. pruz Bandcamp page.

Habibi – On The Road

Brooklyn’s Habibi return later this spring with Dreamachine, their first new record in four years. Released via Kill Rock Stars, the album promises to be something of an evolution for the garage rock five-piece, drawing on everything from post punk and lo-fi experimentalism to vintage disco and the Middle Eastern psych influences that have always made Habibi stand out. And it’s not a case of style over substance either, the band utilizing these disparate elements to explore themes both physical and spiritual. “There’s always a desire for transcendence in our music,” says lead Rahill Jamalifard, “a desire to go beyond our limitations. Whether it’s spiritual or physical or emotional, it feels like this album really embodies that search for something more.” Check out lead single ‘On The Road’ for an early taste, a beguiling and deadpan track with infectious percussion and stabs of wiry guitar.

On the road again, on the road again
Driving north towards the great star of Bethlehem

Dreamachine will be released on 31st May via Kill Rock Stars and is available to pre-order via Bandcamp.

Hailaker – Gist

A collaboration between songwriters Ed Tullett (Lowsimmer) and Jemima Coulter, Hailaker put out two records pre-pandemic, with both their self-titled debut and follow-up Holding proving testaments to the bond between the artists. However, several years of isolation and social distancing, not to mention other creative endeavours in the interim, left the pair wondering whether the spark had extinguished. It was only when Coulter suggested they park any songwriting ambitions and instead just enjoy one another’s company again did the connection rekindle, and the resulting songs are as ambitious and inventive as anything Hailaker has released to date. Take new single ‘Gist’ with its newfound pop sensibilities, sounding like a new dawn fitting for the circumstances, and one suggestive of a bright future for the project once again.

‘Gist’ is out now via Believe.

Jackie West – Snow Amplified

Back in December, we described how Jackie West‘s ‘Tiny Flowers ii’ drew the audience in with a decidedly ambiguous tone, with a specific line from the song “complicat[ing] the second listen and every one thereafter, its gravity subverting the track’s structure and perspective from what the sound might originally suggest.” West has now announced her debut full-length, appropriately titled Close To The Mystery, to be released this May via Ruination Record Co., made in the hope of edging closer to the truth at the heart of any relationship. But with its oscillation between stark fingerpicked hush and chaotic, weighty momentum, new single ‘Snow Amplified’ suggests such mysteries might resist easy explanation, and instead only draw the audience deeper into the rich ambiguity of Jackie West’s work.

Kierst – Southern Star

“A reflection on longing and self-worth which owes as much to Grouper and Mazzy Star as it does contemporary bedroom pop, the intimate vocals and pressing rhythm lifted by an ethereal soundscape, resulting in a mood which transcends the immediate pain for heartbreak.” That’s how we described ‘Phone Call from Kierst‘s Thud EP on Sad Club Records. Following on from the success of the release, which among other things saw a track placed on Disney+ series Extraordinary, Kierst has returned with a brand new single, ‘Southern Star’. Just as emotive as anything on the previous record, the new single offers the kind of lush dreaminess only possible with patience and attention. “I wrote this a long time ago when I was really heartbroken, there’s no other way to put it,” Kierst explains. “But years have gone by and the song has gone through countless versions and been transformed by people I hold dear—and in that way, it means so much more to me now than ever before.”

‘Southern Star’ is out now via Sad Club Records and available from the usual places.

Luke De-Sciscio – Papa

Looking to capitalise on the creative breakthrough of recent full-length Heaven, an album which parked any sense of overworking in favour of “an intuitive flow which charges the songs with a sense of poetic authenticity,” prolific songwriter Luke De-Sciscio has already released new album, Papa. Described as “nine songs of delicate brevity,” the album takes stock of the ephemeral moments shared by a couple as they pass through the trials of young love towards parenthood, both as a way to preserve what has been and as a kind of ritual farewell. ‘Insights of a Heart’ is the perfect introduction to this tender, reflective collection, understated yet shot through by a frantic longing which belongs to the late night. ‘Blank Inside, Designed And Printed In The UK’ is no less keen in its observations, evoking the mysterious space between an end and a start with De-Scisco’s trademark reverence for human feeling.

Papa is out now and available from the Luke De-Sciscio Bandcamp page.

Mandy – High School Boyfriend

Best known as the lead singer of Chicago noise rockers Melkbelly, Miranda Winters has also quietly written her own music for over a decade. Despite some small releases over the years, she is now about to step into the limelight proper with the release of Lawn Girl, her debut “solo” full-length on Exploding in Sound Records, released under the moniker Mandy. With assistance from Linda Sherman (guitar), Lizz Smith (bass) and Wendy Zeldin (drums), Mandy make what Winters calls “dirty-bubblegum pop rock” that explores being a daughter, a mother and a woman in general. Lead single ‘High School Boyfriend’ is an exhilarating introduction, a crunchy rock song that packs anthemic noise and clear-eyed sincerity into its barely two minute runtime. Watch the video by  Liam Winters and Marty Schousboe below:

Lawn Girl will be released on 26th April via Exploding in Sound. Pre-order it now from Bandcamp.

Pacing x Career Woman – Boyfriends

After the success of album Real poetry is always about plants and birds and trees and the animals and milk and honey breathing in the pink but real life is behind a screen, Pacing has teamed up with Melody Caudill, AKA Career Woman, for a new single on Lauren Records. ‘Boyfriends’ collides the trademark sensibilities of both artists, blending confessional emotion with quirky charm to offer something between wistful rumination and scream of frustration. But by the end of the joint chorus, the overring emotion is something affirming. “It feels very nostalgic to me,” McTigue explains, “like I can’t tell which parts are about being a kid and which parts are about being a grownup.”

We promised that we would live together in a tree
And watch the world end
But you got a boyfriend
I got a… really cool pen
But you got a boyfriend

The post Weekly Listening: March 2024 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Back in August we wrote about ‘Sarehole Mill‘, the debut single from EP Wandering Worlds by Birmingham-based artist, composer, producer and singer-songwriter AGAAMA. It was a song, we described, “rooted in physical place but also the psyche of the individuals and collectives with pass through it, carrying with it all those people’s energies and anxieties.” Now out via The state51 Conspiracy, the EP continues this examination of spaces, gradually moving from a place of uncertainty to one of love. With its patient intimacy, closer ‘In This Life’ completes this journey, drawing a line between healing and empowerment, championing the healing of wounds as the path to more fully becoming oneself.

Alexia Avina – Let This Die

Fresh off the back of recent album A Little Older on Lost Map Records, Alexia Avina returns this month with a brand new EP, Crush. Focused on vulnerability and smallness, the previous record probed at tender spots we might usually ignore or protect, choosing to sit and contemplate pain instead. But Crush emerges from the aftermath of this period. A fresh start where new feelings germinate and sprout through the ground. Composed entirely of synths, the result is something freer, more fun, ready to give itself over to joy and desire, even while understanding such emotions might only stay for a fleeting moment. Check out the video for lead single ‘Let This Die’ below, shot, directed and edited by Sara Laufer.

Crush releases on 14th October and is available to pre-order from the Alexia Avina Bandcamp page.

Alicia Clara – I Let My Plant Die

Following last year’s EP Outsider/Unusual, Montreal-based dream pop artist Alicia Clara returns this month with a new four song release. Titled Velveteen, the EP is something of a message to her teenage self, and finds Clara at her most assured, combing confident musicianship with impressionistic and introspective lyrics that display an admirable vulnerability. Latest single ‘I Let My Plant Die’ was written on the pandemic’s one year anniversary and is full of both yearning for “normal” life and gentle self-admonishment for living passively and taking small things for granted. “The inspiration behind the title came from three baby plants I inadvertently let die when I left my apartment to go stay with family outside of Montreal in March 2020, thinking I’d be back in the city come April,” Clara explains. “I recognized a parallel between this and a tendency I have to put off tackling tasks or situations that scare me, thinking time will do the work on its own.” Check out the video directed and shot on the Swiss-French border by Alix Bortoli below:

Velveteen is out on the 28th October via Hot Tramp and you can pre-order it now.

Brody Price – It Was You

Later this month, Dallas artist Brody Price will release his latest album Win a Trip to Palm Springs! On Niles City Records. Price refers to his style (only semi sarcastically) as “doom country,” a tag which goes some way to capturing the record’s blend of folk, country, noise and sludge. The album’s second single, ‘It Was You’ exists on the gentler end of the spectrum but still captures the wider tension and stormy atmosphere which mirrors the lyrics’ exploration of the turbulence of life. Price is joined by Robert Ellis (piano) and Andy Baxter (vocal harmonies), who together create a folk song that, despite its twang and gentle melodies, actual explores the difficulties we all face and sometimes try to hide. “This song is about being aware of my own internal turmoil and realizing that everyone has the same thing in some form or fashion,” Price explains. “Even if someone may appear to have it all together, you still can’t tell what’s racing through their mind when they lay awake at night.”

Win a Trip to Palm Springs comes out on 28th October and you can order a copy now from the Brody Price website.

Doctor Delia – Whoa

Based in Portland, Oregon, Doctor Delia is a self-described “entity specializing in tinctures, alchemical transubstantiation, and old-time new-time music.” We first featured their work last summer, when we reviewed Parlor Songs, a collaborative album with Mother Juniper that we described as possessing “an intangible sense of homespun communal spirit.” Their latest release is Sunroom Vloop // Whoa, a double single which again takes a traditional instrument (here the violin) and creates something that feels both fresh and somehow timeless. ‘Sunroom Vloop’ is a bright and playful expression of the titular sunroom, all clear warm air and vivid reflections, while ‘Whoa’ is a violin loop altogether more mystical. “If you listen closely you can hear a great Spirit moving through the bones of the violin,” Doctor Delia describes. “It is my spirit; it is more than what I can put into words. So I play.”

Sunroom Vloop // Whoa is out now and available via the Doctor Delia Bandcamp page.

ghost orchard – rest

This November sees the release of rainbow music, the new album from ghost orchard on Winspear. The project of Grand Rapids, Michigan’s Sam Hall, ghost orchard has made its name with a distinctively sincere blend of folk and electronic styles, and their latest record develops this aesthetic further. A picture of calm and patience amid loss, where the quiet stillness holds the latent warmth of things now gone. New single ‘rest’ is the perfect introduction, its palpable, physical details holding something less tangible too. As though the world itself mourns that which is lost, and the correct arrangement of objects might summon it back once more. Watch the video by Nik Arthur below:

rust on its bearings
links in the chain
scars intermingled
the feeling wanes

and like the moon still crests as its’ hue ruminates
like thick smoke fills the room
and brings you back again

rainbow music is out on the 4th November via Winspear and you can pre-order it now.

Greta O’Leary – Body, Now

Written during an autumnal drive through the mountains of the South Island, ‘Body, Now’ is the latest single from Aotearoa folk artist Greta O’Leary. It’s a delicate, careful track which places the body into this context of the environment, charting its subtle changes in the face of grief in the manner one might watch the seasons pass across a landscape. But for all its isolation and heartbreak, the song emerges as a balm against outside forces. A return to the self as not only a mode of protection, but a way in which to reconnect with the most fundamental of things.

‘Body, now’ is available from the Greta O’Leary Bandcamp page.

Hang Linton x LeBron Aggressive – SALE

The work of Leeds-based interdisciplinary artist Hang Linton has been described as “a rebellion against clean aesthetics,” his work across music, performance, video and installation inspired by time spent amid countercultural collectives in Berlin. Debut single ‘SALE’ sees Linton enlist the talents of LeBron Aggressive for a synth-based meditation on consumerist culture, the catchy and playful sound simmering underneath sardonic lyrics. Essentially repurposing the strategy of advertisements to send the attack in the opposite direction. A crystal clear message dressed up with shiny adornments. “Discounts on discounts but don’t discount the fact,” as Linton sings. “We bought it all for cheap, with the sweat off someone else’s back.”

Kierst – Phone Call

South Carolina raised, Brooklyn-based songwriter Kierst has a new EP, Thud, coming next month on Sad Club Records, and latest single ‘Phone Call’ sets the tone for the release. A reflection on longing and self-worth which owes as much to Grouper and Mazzy Star as it does contemporary bedroom pop, the intimate vocals and pressing rhythm lifted by an ethereal soundscape, resulting in a mood which transcends the immediate pain for heartbreak. “I think it’s important to know how to sit with yourself, and not depend so much on romantic fulfilment, Kierst explains of the track. “You can only be as good to someone else as you can be to yourself, and the song’s about knowing when to respect that.”

Platonic Sex – Exhausted Competing For You

Meanjin/Brisbane outfit Platonic Sex are gearing up to release a brand new EP this November, and latest single ‘Exhausted Competing For You’ gives further indication of what to expect from the four-piece. The single is a track based around the tensions of a mismatched relationship, where the initial rush of excitement has dissipated and issues of compatibility are brought into relief. The temptation to persevere in the face of such doubts is clear, but struggling to make things work comes at a cost. “It’s exhausting to keep something alive for the sake of fighting for it,” says lead Bridget Brandolini, a realisation which becomes apparent across the song, its energy picking up into an affirming catharsis. Check out the video directed by Bridget Webb below:

‘Exhausted Competing For You’ is out now on all your favourite streaming services.

Puck – Best Friend

Having cut her teeth touring in the bands of SZA, dhruv and Maggie Rogers, Puck might have already announced themselves as keyboardist, but upcoming debut album Best Friend feels like a proper introduction. The record draws upon a childhood immersed in Seattle’s grunge and alt-rock scene but reaches out toward folk and jazz too. A highly personal blend used to conjure the experience of love but also violence, ultimately directing its energies into processing trauma and grief within a society seemingly arranged to reinforce such phenomena. “I wanted it to be catchy enough for the words to sneak under people’s skin,” Puck explains of the title track. “I didn’t really have much music to heal by, so I made some.”

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