As well as being a part of Friendship and 2nd Grade, JR Samuels has a made a name with his experimental, improvised releases, as captured by 2019’s In Brend on Dear Life Records. “An eight-song album of improvised guitar that exists for no purpose beyond enjoyment and intuition,” as we put it. “Ambitions are dropped, artistic ideals and intent left behind, the songs allowed to flow.” Out next month on Lily Tapes & Discs, Spasm sees Samuels push further into this intuitive space, delving deep within himself and presenting whatever he finds, unfiltered and in real-time. What emerges is an at times dense, undeniably strange record, though one somehow more human for its refusal to shape itself for mass consumption. Listen to the short single, ‘Wearing a Groove’, below.

KT Laine – Again

Drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Big Thief and classics such as Judee Sill, KT Laine is a songwriter from Victoria, BC who is soon to release her debut full-length Knock Knee on Victory Pool. New single ‘Again’ is the perfect introduction to the nuance of her work, its warm fondness complicated by uncertainty, lending the track an inscrutable air which never quite reveals its hand. ‘Again’ centres on a relationship in some kind of turmoil, its pieces pushing apart, though it is never quite clear if the longing at the track’s heart wants to reconnect these parts or sever the ties for good.

‘Again’ is out now and available from Bandcamp.

Langkamer – Total Motion

We last featured Bristol‘s Langkamer back in May, when we wrote about their single ‘Soul Bucket’, what we described as “a bit of folk, a bit of indie rock, a ton of playful personality.” Now Langkamer have announced a brand new EP on Breakfast Records. Titled Red Thread Route, the record promises to expand on the band’s signature combination of slacker era indie rock and easy country-influenced melodies, albeit with a few surprises up its sleeve. Lead single ‘Total Motion’ is a great introduction, its twisty, loud-quiet dynamic giving way to an anthemic singalong chorus. Willie J Healey provides guest vocals, one of several guests of the EP seemingly cherrypicked from Bristol’s music scene. Check out the video by JJ Jarman and Jimmy Taylor below:

Red Thread Route comes out on 30th November via Breakfast Records. Pre-order it now from Bandcamp.

Leggy – Lipstick on the Mic

We first covered Cincinnati‘s Leggy back in 2019, describing how the innate tension of single ‘Taffy‘ offered “a tautness that always appears on the verge of snapping.” While the rambunctious punk rock style of that track has been swapped out in favour of something more languid on new single, ‘Lipstick on the Mic’, the sense of building pressure remains. This time a sensuous combination of desire and frustration, the song sitting on the knife edge of pleasure and pain yet wrapped within a hazy shawl. A sense of remove which allows a view into the paradox of the situation even as it plays out. “I love to be alone,” as the chorus puts it, “why do I live to be in love?” Check out the suitably sultry and surreal video by Twenty Twenty Productions below:

‘Lipstick on the Mic’ is out now and available from the Leggy Bandcamp page.

Levi Thomas – Shasta

The title track of the third album from Oakland‘s Levi Thomas, ‘Shasta’ is a song seized by the sublime scale of the American West. “The neons fade / To the pink cascade / And right now I can’t feel a thing,” Thomas sings. “The sun don’t rise / Under wild skies / All the shit just starts to shine.” The revelatory experience is captured with a decidedly seventies style, equal parts classic country and cosmic psych which invites the listener into the moment, never losing control of its relaxed rhythms despite everything.

My mind left my body north on the five
And I feel like the last man alive

Macie Stewart – Defeat

Released on Orindal back in 2021, Macie Stewart‘s Mouth Full of Glass was a journey in solo creation after a career of collaboration. The sound of “an artist surveying their own inner workings through considered and open-ended exploration,” as we put it. “Leaning into solitude as a medium of discovery and learning from all that has occurred before without ever becoming beholden to the past.” The album is getting a new release next month via Full Time Hobby, and has been expanded to include two new singles. One of the tracks, ‘Defeat’, is a direct confrontation of the stresses of working with others, warning of the dangers of overcommitting and how it can end up withering the very creativity is should foster. Stewart takes on all the instrumentation on the song, with the exception of flutes from V.V. Lightbody, and sings with the calm of a lesson learnt. “Composing a word to take back the meaning,” she sings, “I promised my best and that’s not what I’m giving.” Watch the video directed and edited by Sid Branca below:

‘Defeat’ is out now and available from Bandcamp., and the expanded edition of Mouth Full of Glass is available from Full Time Hobby.

Michael Cormier O’Leary – Heard From The Next Room

To describe the work of Michael Cormier O’Leary takes some time. From the playful warmth of last year’s solo album More Light!! to the almost fragile intricacy of Hour, not to mention his work in Friendship, Cormier O’Leary spans the full spectrum between free and controlled. Out next month of Lily Tapes & Discs, new solo release Heard From The Next Room moves completely toward the former, an exploratory, spontaneous collection of improvised piano compositions recorded on a single day earlier this year. The resulting two pieces live up to the release’s title in their unguarded charm, following the haphazard rhythms of the moment without any sense of outside audience, and thereby capturing an easy comfort only possible at home. Hear an excerpt from the first below:

Volunteer Department – Swell

Back in September we wrote about ‘Make It Easy‘ by Nashville‘s Volunteer Department, the first track from a forthcoming release on Like You Mean It Records. A scathing track with vocals “barely more than a whisper,” we wrote, “almost unpalatably bitter in [its] acerbic tone.” Latest single ‘Swell’ might possess a brighter rhythm, but thanks to the wry and fatalistic songwriting, the sour tone remains. “I’ll cut my fingers off and mail them to France,” sings Oliver Hopkins, “at least then some small part of me won’t be stuck here arguing the ins and outs of something which has no shape.”

Wayne Graham – How Was Your Night?

With new album ISH on the horizon via K&F Records, Wayne Graham have shared one last single as a final taster of what to expect before release. Primarily the project of brothers Kenny and Hayden Miles, the Whitesburg, Kentucky outfit wrote a new album in the years since previous record 1% Fruit, though decided to change course for what would eventually become ISH. What emerged was something more intimate and ambitious, drawing on science, fiction and scripture to search for meaning in this strange world. ‘How Was Your Night?’ not only opens the album but poses the question which hangs over everything which follows.

Don’t you know I’m not alright?
Can’t you taste my mind?
Just trying to make it through the night,
no reason and no rhyme

ISH is out on the 11th November via K&F Records.

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Upset – S/T

The current project of former Best Coast and Vivian Girls drummer Ali Koehler, along with Patty Schemel, Nicole Snyder and Lauren Freeman, Upset formed in 2013 and released their debut record She’s Gone on Don Giovanni that same year. In 2015 the band put out a 10″ via Lauren Records and now are back with a self-titled album on the same label. The album continues to perfect the band’s pop-punk flecked crunchy indie rock, with songs like ‘Lucky Strikes Out’ exploring relationship woes with blazing energy. There’s even a Hollywood-style happy ending, so what’s not to like?

The Great Yawn – California

Based in Pretoria, South Africa, The Great Yawn are a country folk band led by singer-songwriter Danielle Bakkes. Following on from this year’s full-length album, Botanica, the band are back with a brand new single ‘California’. Offering a sultry yet tongue-in-cheek take on the the West Coast culture, the song scores its syrupy, dreamy style with a cutting satirical edge, evoking chlorined pools and toned bodies and those superficial fantasies we know to be false yet secretly pine for all the same.

The track comes complete with a video to further these ideas, directed by Susan van Tonder with cinematography by Heleen van Tonder, and you can watch it below:

Botanica is out now and you can find The Great Yawn on Spotify and Apple Music.

Point No Point – Don’t Cancel Your Plans

Point No Point is the recording project of multi-instrumentalist Jana Sotzko, a renowned figure in the Berlin music scene known for the likes of Soft Grid, Dropout Patrol and many more. The new Point No Point album, Drift, marks a return to the early experimentation of Sotzko’s career, moving away from the rigid planning and attention to detail that represented the Soft Grid style in favour of something more impulsive and impromptu. The result is a release that lives up to its name, a drifting collection of songs, unguided by anything beyond the mysterious natural rhythm of things.

‘Don’t Cancel Your Plans’ encapsulates this new mindset. With its spacious, patient sound, the track is sparse yet undeniably warm in its own peculiar way, and Sotzko’s distinctive vocals are equally captivating, sitting next to the likes of Dear Nora in their confident, idiosyncratic flow.

K. Campbell – Chords Come Easy / Static Threads

We wrote about K. Campbell back in April when he released his album Heads Up on Poison Moon Records. “Taking the DIY aesthetic of punk and hardcore and filtering it through the more refined lens of power pop,” we wrote, “Campbell […] retains the immediacy and personality of the former while gaining the polish of the latter, allowing for songs that are as affective as they are precise.”

November saw the release of a new double single, Chords Come Easy / Static Threads, which develops this aesthetic further. Belonging to the same family as the work of Beat Radio, ‘Chords Come Easy’ is a nostalgic slice of lo-fi rock that celebrates the power of creating art, while ‘Static Threads’ adds a jangling warmth to the mix, maintaining a wistful air but not dwelling on the past.

no reason to look back if you accept the fact
that our days will end with simple math
and static threads

nutrients – always in bloom

Toronto quintet Nutrients specialise in sweet and snappy songs, borrowing from slacker rock and dream pop and some psychedelic tones too to create tracks both bright and soft. After a series of self-released tapes, last month saw the band release their self-titled debut on Earth Libraries—a record that embraces the warm, relaxed style that Nutrients have made their own.

This is made clear on single ‘Always in Bloom’, a sub-two-minute track that punches above its short run-time. Because, in contrast to its succinctness, the song is mellow and loose, not rushing toward a conclusion but ambling slowly, taking in the hazy atmosphere through which it moves.

tumble, tumble on down
down where those prickly plants
and the evergreens are always in bloom
seeing double
see twice or vice versa
exercise all the second thoughts you can’t bare to lose

Nutrients is out now on Earth Libraries and available from Bandcamp.

Winter – Nothing More

Hailing from Curitiba in Brazil, Samira Winter moved to Boston at eighteen and started recording under the moniker Winter. The project combines the gauzy dream pop of the Cocteau Twins with something a little more psychedelic, resulting in a sound that is at once immersive and surreal.

After a series of successful bilingual releases, Winter are now teaming up with Bar None Records for a brand new EP, Hazy. Taking the band in newly lo-fi direction, the EP draws influences from the bedroom aesthetic to strip back the layers of previous material, allowing for a more intimate, direct sound. Lead single ‘Nothing More’ is a good example, showing off the conversational tone of the release, and it’s nuanced take on what it means to be in love.

Cayley Thomas – Midnight Hours

Based in Edmonton, singer, guitarist and songwriter Cayley Thomas is set to release her debut record, How Else Can I Tell You?. An album that “reflect[s] upon a period of subconscious overwhelm and the subsequent shift into conscious thought and awareness,” the songs blur the line between studio richness and home charm, managing to achieve a vivid pop sound without sacrificing any of the personal wrinkles that give them their charm.

Lead single ‘Midnight Hours’ is a great example of this. A pop song with an eccentric edge, the track proves accessible but also disarmingly weird, as though below the polished surface lies a whole world, strange and deep. The video, which Thomas co-directed with Sam at Bootjack Video, furthers this sensation, leading the viewer through all of the window dressing in order to get closer to the essence of one’s thoughts.

Keep an eye on the Cayley Thomas website for more information on How Else Can I Tell You? 

Teen Idle – Dreaming

The recording project of New Jersey-based songwriter Sara Barry, Teen Idle fuses the heartsick melodrama of 60s love ballads with the downbeat and languorous tones of 90s slowcore. The result is a melancholic sound clouded by love, so richly textured that you feel you could lean back into it and never quite fall through. New single ‘Dreaming’ is the perfect example, emerging from a slow and wistful opening that sets the tone from the off, the track possessing a smooth, elegiac tone that threatens to rise into some great crescendo but instead meanders on in its restraint.

I know you want to leave these familiar streets
The city weeps
When the moon fades
There will be no light
If you’d be mine

Leggy – Not What You Need

Back in March, Cincinnati trio Leggy released their latest album, Let Me Know Your Moon, on Sheer Luck Records and cemented their place among the most exciting and interesting indie rock bands plying their trade today. “[Leggy’s] punk rock possesses an inner tension,” we wrote in a preview piece. “Both the sound and Allaer’s lyrics having a tautness that always appears on the verge of snapping, lending an atmosphere that is both engaging and slightly volatile, a provocative spirit that threatens to unravel at any moment.”

With the album receiving praise and the year seeing Leggy tour with the likes of The Ophelias, Summer Cannibals, Pile, The Spook School and Personal Best, the band are closing out 2019 with a brand new video for ‘Not What You Need’. Directed by Jo Shaffer, the film is a celebration of what Leggy does best, blending dreamy shimmers and nostalgic longing with something far more confrontational, all topped off with a playful air that adds further layers to the tone. Check it out below:

Let Me Know Your Moon is out now via Sheer Luck Records and available via the Leggy Bandcamp page.

So with Vol. 31, that’s Bright Sparks done for another year. Be sure to check out the Reviews and Previews sections for more in-depth writing, and keep you eyes peeled for our end of year lists in the coming weeks.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 31 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklist:

Field Medic – henna tattoo
Leggy – Taffy
Myshiuno – Turf War In Chinatown, SF
Press Club – Suburbia
Shady Bug – Make it Up
Calicoco – Anchor Park
LUNCH – Forget Everything
krissanthemum – Honesty Hour
Wy – Pavements
UV Rays – Flowerhead
Fanclub – Stranger
Jeffrey Silverstein – Easy Rider
Ryan Dugré – Tonight
Okay Embrace – Phantom Text
Samia – Lasting Friend
community college – karaoke
runnner – eggshell
Fields of Heaven – Song of Loss
Minor Moon – Hold Me Up (Liar)
Lampland – You Little Liar
Westkust – Swebeach
kate can wait – licantropía
Bleeder – Rusted and Raw
Laveda – Dream Sleep
Pass/Ages – As It Rises
Yuri Tománek – In the end, we all fade away
Tender Glue – Dear Peri
Red Wedding – Bones
Women Tied to Railroad Tracks – Endless Carpet
Eyesore & the Jinx – On An Island
Bellows – What Can I Tell You About the World?
Merival – Sinner
Vassals – Lil Anvil
The This – The Strangest Ritual
Breakup Films – You Said You Hate Not Seeing Me
The Phone Booth – Healthcare
Seamstress – Everything
Zelma Stone – Light Bulb Boy
Charlotte Cornfield – Andrew
Wicketkeeper – Night Night (Whatever)
a. harlana – faces
Lady Dan – What Sanity
Tesha – Funeral

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Taking this sensibility and pushing further into experimental directions, Leggy’s forthcoming follow-up, Let Me Know Your Moon promises to see the trio realise their aesthetic more fully. Single ‘Taffy’ is a perfect case in point, racing out of the blocks with a real urgency as the vocals rise and fall amidst the tumult, breaking patterns and conventions in favour of more intuitive shapes. Focusing on interpersonal relationships, Allaer’s delivery veers between a desperate wordiness and plain-spoken mantras, meaning that the self-assurance displayed in one moment can descend (or evolve) into a manic rant within seconds. This brings into relief the grey area between people where communication is not possible, a zone where fury, sadness and self-doubt coalesce into a disorientating stupor.

“Why do I still pout?
I pray to be content with all these goodly things I’ve found.
You fit like a glove but still I push you away.
Why do I do that my love?
Can’t you tell that it scares me when you say you will do anything for me
and I can eat you like a saltwater taffy
and I melt in the way you adore me
Boy I told you I’m crazy”

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