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		<title>Weekly Listening: September 2025 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/16/weekly-listening-september-2025-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 18:06:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Angel Tapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Audio Antihero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boston]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brooklyn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Charlottesville]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eli Carvajal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fire Talk Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[First City Artists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fulton Lights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leilani Patao]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Little Angry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[london]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LUCKY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mint Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Night Teacher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ribbon Skirt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Royal Oakie Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Starcharm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiberius]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=46447</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Eli Carvajal &#8211; Forever In recent months we&#8217;ve been following London-based songwriter Eli Carvajal as he prepares to release new full-length Eyen Forever in October via Safe Suburban Home Records. After singles like &#8216;Stretch Marks&#8216; (which “manag[es],&#8221; we wrote, &#8220;to evoke the ways in which love elevates the ordinary into something wonderful, and creates the possibilities of new myths and dreams before us&#8221;) and &#8216;Scar&#8217; (&#8220;welcom[es] the audience into the mundane details of everyday existence in order to gesture towards themes more poignant [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/16/weekly-listening-september-2025-3/">Weekly Listening: September 2025 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Eli Carvajal &#8211; Forever</h3>
<p>In recent months we&#8217;ve been following <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/London">London</a>-based songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/eli-carvajal/">Eli Carvajal</a> as he prepares to release new full-length <em>Eyen Forever</em> in October via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/safe-suburban-home-records/">Safe Suburban Home Records</a>. After singles like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/21/eli-carvajal-stretch-marks/">Stretch Marks</a>&#8216; (which “manag[es],&#8221; we wrote, &#8220;to evoke the ways in which love elevates the ordinary into something wonderful, and creates the possibilities of new myths and dreams before us&#8221;) and &#8216;Scar&#8217; (&#8220;welcom[es] the audience into the mundane details of everyday existence in order to gesture towards themes more poignant and sweeping&#8221;), Carvajal has returned with the album opener, &#8216;Forever&#8217;. Another emotive, tender track, the song finds Carvajal at perhaps his most intimate, the arrangement stripped right back to its bare necessities and possessing the kind of wistful fondness only accessed when one finds themselves far away from home. As he explains: &#8220;&#8216;Forever&#8217; was inspired by my two years&#8217; teaching English in Tokyo, Japan. In the song, I play with the language we use around romance, reframing love and loss with poignancy as well as humour.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3908539124/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3619128259/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://elicarvajal.bandcamp.com/album/eyen-forever">Eyen Forever by Eli Carvajal</a></iframe></center><em>Eyen Forever</em> will be released on the 3rd October via Safe Suburban Home Records and you can <a href="https://elicarvajal.bandcamp.com/album/eyen-forever">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Fulton Lights &#8211; Hold That Thought</h3>
<p>Recording under the moniker <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fulton-lights">Fulton Lights</a>, Andrew Spencer Goldman last put out new music in 2018, when album <em>Moonwalking into the Future</em> highlighted the ambition and invention of his work. New EP <em>Well the Night Has Come </em>shows the hiatus has done nothing to dampen his creative energies. Take single &#8216;Hold That Thought&#8217;, a song concerned with the very process of making art in a world of distraction. Along with guests TJ Lipple (Aloha) on drums, John Davis (ex-QandNotU/Georgie James/Title Tracks/Paint Branch) on backing vocals and Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu) on percussion, Goldman crafts a sound layered and languid, though the laid-back rhythm belies the urgency and depth of feeling present in the delivery. Because this is a track about &#8220;trying to remain open to those moments where creativity is born,&#8221; as Goldman explains. &#8220;Capturing and releasing them before they dissipate. It can be an act of resistance against all of the things conspiring to distract.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1972245523/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3149090474/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://fultonlights.bandcamp.com/album/well-the-night-has-come">Well the Night Has Come by Fulton Lights</a></iframe></center><em>Well the Night Has Come</em> will be released on the 7th November and you can pre-order it now.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Leilani Patao &#8211; Cut</h3>
<p>Starting in 2021 at the tender age of seventeen, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Brooklyn">Brooklyn</a> (via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles">Los Angeles</a>) based songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/leilani-patao/">Leilani Patao</a> put out a series of DIY self-releases, culminating in the acclaimed 2024 album <em>But What If?</em> which earned, among other things, a feature on <em>The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon</em>. But despite this success, Patao grew disallusioned with the biz, not an unfamiliar story within a contemporary music scene which demands not only on hard work in an artistic sense but an even greater degree of effort (and luck) be spent on self-promotion, algorithmic appeasement and any number of equally soul-destorying things. Many criticize this system but few take concrete action against it, which makes Patao&#8217;s new EP <em>daisy</em>, forthcoming this autumn via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/audio-antihero/">Audio Antihero</a>, all the more notable. A release which promises to shun streaming services, playlists and social media in order to focus on what really matters, and thus an experiment to judge what exactly is possible within the conditions of the twenty-first century. “Is it possible to share my music properly, pay everyone who was involved, get paid myself, and not have to interact with the many systems in place that make me dread music?” Patao asks. Lead single &#8216;Cut&#8217; is out now for an early glimpse at a release we&#8217;re rooting for in more ways that one.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1538484590/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://leilanipatao.bandcamp.com/track/cut">Cut by Leilani Patao</a></iframe></center><em>daisy</em> will be released on the 7th November via Audio Antihero and you can <a href="https://leilanipatao.bandcamp.com/album/daisy-2">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Little Angry &#8211; Outerside</h3>
<p>You might know Evan Hashi as part of acts like The Hive Dwellers, Mega Bog, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/twig-palace">Twig Palace</a> and Flying Circles, but the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Seattle">Seattle</a>-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has also long recorded under the moniker <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/little-angry">Little Angry</a>, blending pop, punk and psych influences with an experimental, DIY spirit. Set for release next month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/antiquated-future-records/">Antiquated Future Records</a>, the fourth Little Angry album <em>Screamin&#8217; Inside Your Heart!!!</em> is the first to see the project become a full band, and thus a slightly new name—Little Angry &amp; The Sweets—though the spirit remains the same. With Jen Weisberg (bass guitar, vocals) and Joseph Kuta (guitar, vocals), Little Angry sound better than ever, Hashi using the album&#8217;s title (taken from COVID-era safety instructions provided to riders of roller coasters in Japan) to explore the idea of being a &#8216;good immigrant&#8217; in the US, a notion reinforced through generations. Listen to opener and lead single &#8216;Outerside&#8217; for an idea of the drama and playfulness of the record.</p>
<p><iframe title="Little Angry &amp; The Sweets - Outerside" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V6ONNImKBSA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Screamin&#8217; Inside Your Heart!!! </em>will be released on the 2nd October via Antiquated Future Records and you can <a href="https://antiquatedfuture.bandcamp.com/album/screamin-inside-your-heart">pre-order it now.</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">LUCKY &#8211; Olden Goldy</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve been following Bay Area supergroup <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lucky/">LUCKY</a> (that&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/half-stack/">Half Stack</a>‘s Peter Kegler and Andrew St James alongside Marika Christine and Zach Elsasser of Affectionately) in recent months as they gear up to release their self-titled album, with songs like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/19/lucky-friends/">Friends</a>&#8216; embodying the buoyant rhythm and wistful edge of the project. With the album out now via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/royal-oakie-records/">Royal Oakie Records</a>, LUCKY have shared new single &#8216;Olden Goldy&#8217; to win over anyone not yet on board. The album&#8217;s closer, the song encapsulates everything that makes the outfit so special. &#8220;Out in the big olive groves / where the warms wind blows / I&#8217;m a young man who&#8217;s getting old,&#8221; go the opening lines, though again the reflection of the lyrics and delivery is slightly at odds with the upbeat, swaggering style of the sound itself. As though understanding, for all of the slow realisations and dawning regrets, life will go on kicking yet.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Up in the lonely pines<br />
the wind haunts my mind<br />
I spent days just losing time.<br />
The sky&#8217;s is getting long,<br />
the night is looking cold<br />
and I&#8217;m still a young man who&#8217;s getting old</h5>
<h5>But I can&#8217;t let go</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=434915944/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1502290518/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://lucky4lyfe.bandcamp.com/album/lucky">LUCKY by LUCKY</a></iframe></center><em>LUCKY</em> is out now via Royal Oakie Records and you can get it from <a href="https://lucky4lyfe.bandcamp.com/album/lucky">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Night Teacher &#8211; New Cage</h3>
<p>Consisting of multi-media artist and singer-songwriter Lilly Bechtel and drummer, writer and producer Matt Wyatt, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/night-teacher">Night Teacher</a> sits somewhere between indie rock, chamber pop and doom folk in its style, a sound tied together by Bechtel&#8217;s emotive, often haunting delivery. Ahead of new album <em>Year of the Snake</em>, coming this autumn via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/first-city-artists">First City Artists</a>, Night Teacher have shared new single &#8216;New Cage&#8217;. The song utilises the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Charlottesville">Charlottesville</a> duo&#8217;s evocative and thoughtful style to meditate on pernicious influences of social media in contemporary culture, positioning such forces as a kind of imprisonment we enter on our own volition. &#8220;I was reading Naomi Klein’s brilliant book <em>Doppelgänger</em>, where she writes about the original surveillance system as the concept of God, which in many ways has been replaced by the concept of the idealized self,&#8221; Bechtel explains. &#8220;Social media may be doing a very old thing in a new way: getting people to run surveillance on themselves in order to become better commodities for the marketplace.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2413171704/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://nightteacher.bandcamp.com/track/new-cage">New Cage by Night Teacher</a></iframe></center><em>Year of the Snake</em> will be released on 31st October via First City Artists and you can pre-order it now.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Perish &#8211; God I&#8217;m Freaking Out</h3>
<p>&#8220;A vivid slice of folk-inflected rock which sounds at once wistful and affirming, a combination which looks to be a signature of the Perish sound,&#8221; we wrote of single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/07/15/weekly-listening-july-2025-3/">Cool Guys</a>&#8216; back in July when previewing <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a> outfit <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/perish/">Perish</a>&#8216;s new self-titled album. &#8220;Because while [Katie] Callihan’s delivery is thoughtful, her lyrics probing beneath the surface of things, the sound retains an upbeat, exultant air. As though there’s some energy to be found in the act of being open and honest to the point of vulnerability.&#8221; With the record out now via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rue-defense/">Rue Defense</a>, Perish have shared new single &#8216;God I&#8217;m Freaking Out&#8217;. The song started life as something of a slow ballad when Callihan was playing solo, but the new version is altogether different, the full band adding extra groove and charge to a track all about the push and pull of solitude in the face of stress.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2917914908/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2357893845/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://p3rish.bandcamp.com/album/perish">Perish by Perish</a></iframe></center><em>Perish</em> is out now via Rue Defense and is available <a href="https://p3rish.bandcamp.com/album/perish">via Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Ribbon Skirt &#8211; LUCKY8</h3>
<p><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">Principally consisting of Anishinaabe musician Tashiina Buswa and guitarist Billy Riley, Montreal&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ribbon-skirt/">Ribbon Skirt</a> won acclaim earlier in the year with the release of their debut <em>Bite Down</em> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mint-records/">Mint Records</a>, an album which explored ideas of memory and heritage with a raw, stark style of post-punk. Fast-forward a few months and Ribbon Skirt are back with <em>PENSACOLA</em>, a brand new EP intended as something of an epilogue to its predecessor. One which seems to exist in the wake of <em>Bite Down</em>, powered by the still-charged air and smouldering heat. Lead single &#8216;LUCKY8&#8217; welcomes listeners into this space, a track of woozy layers and surreal, dreamlike imagery which nevertheless holds a pulsing urgency beneath the surface. Like a memory bathed in the feedback and distortion of time yet still possessing its serrated edge.</span></p>
<blockquote>
<h5><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">One day you’re gonna wake up crystalline and mountain-clear<br />
Left her hanging on a word in Thunder Bay the 15th year<br />
You lift your shirt up and then tell me you’re the chosen one<br />
The family knew back then that god made you the lucky one<br />
You make it easy to believe that you’re so strong like that<br />
It’s not a promise and believe me<br />
he could con like that</span></h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2763013583/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3448332715/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ribbonskirtband.bandcamp.com/album/pensacola">PENSACOLA by Ribbon Skirt</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the visualizer by Rory Stobart below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Ribbon Skirt - LUCKY8 (Visualizer)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CEctknZthC4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>PENSECOLA</em> will be released on the 3rd October via Mint Records and you can pre-order it from <a href="https://ribbonskirtband.bandcamp.com/album/pensacola">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Starcharm &#8211; The Color Clear</h3>
<p>The <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fire-talk-records">Fire Talk</a> imprint <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/angel-tapes/">Angel Tapes</a> has been unearthing emergent artists for a number of years now, introducing the likes of Retail Drugs and Jawdropped to audiences, and their latest addition <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/starcharm">Starcharm</a> is another act you will want to get to know. Featuring Elena Buenrostro (vocals, guitar), Jasmin Feliciano (bass) and Amaya Peña (drums), the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/chicago/">Chicago</a> trio has risen from the ashes of Buenrostro’s defunct project Soft and Dumb with all the confidence and energy of new beginnings. Debut single &#8216;The Color Clear&#8217; displays both pop and noise sensibilities, pairing off-kilter post punk vibes with a rising intensity so that everything feels a little odd and unreal. The song “is inspired by a time when I lost all faith in love and felt like men were seeing me as a projection instead of a real person,&#8221; Buenrostro explains. &#8220;I was going through a bit of nihilistic mania during this time which I think you can definitely hear. An avoidant attachment anthem if you will.”</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3804419043/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://starcharm.bandcamp.com/album/the-color-clear">The Color Clear by Starcharm</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed and produced by Peña themselves below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Starcharm - The Color Clear (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PrDs7ZmNXHE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;The Color Clear&#8217; is out now via Angel Tapes and available from <a href="https://starcharm.bandcamp.com/album/the-color-clear">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tiberius &#8211; Moab</h3>
<p>With the release of new album <em>Troubadour</em> edging nearer via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/audio-antihero/">Audio Antihero</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/boston">Boston</a> farm emo band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tiberius/">Tiberius</a> have shared latest single &#8216;Moab&#8217;. After &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/07/18/tiberius-sag/">Sag</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/18/weekly-listening-august-2025-3/">Felt</a>&#8216; introduced the conflicted, searching and cathartic style of the record (&#8220;ebbs and flows across its runtime,&#8221; we wrote of the former, &#8220;pulled in all directions by competing emotions. Uncertainty, doubt, desperation, a recurrent yet skittish determination to embrace some inner truth&#8221;) the new song highlights a different dimension. A track more farm than emo, leaning closer to alt country in its warm twang and compassionate delivery, though one no less cathartic for its more relaxed approached. “&#8217;Moab&#8217; was a song I wrote about trying to let go. At the time I was defining myself by expectations of a strained relationship. I was feeling pretty insane—like the kind of insane you feel back in 8th grade where you come home crying all of the time because you have absolutely no sense of self,&#8221; explains lead Brendan Wright. &#8220;Writing ‘Moab’ offered catharsis. Looking back, I feel a lot of embarrassment around those feelings, but it was how I felt at the time and that was the place I was in. I wish I had acted differently, and I strive to now.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2707179563/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2636973552/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://tiberiuswright.bandcamp.com/album/troubadour-2">Troubadour by Tiberius</a></iframe></center><em>Troubadour</em> will be released on the 14th November via Audio Antihero and you can pre-order it now from the Tiberius <a href="https://tiberiuswright.bandcamp.com/album/troubadour-2">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/09/16/weekly-listening-september-2025-3/">Weekly Listening: September 2025 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">46447</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: August 2025 #2</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/12/weekly-listening-august-2025-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2025 20:22:55 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brisbane]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Buckethead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bundaberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Doc Feldman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[don giovanni records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ernest Jenning Record Co.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feeble little horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foot Ox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General Absurdity & the Open Source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Little Lunch Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People Mover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rich Ruth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sean Thompson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shrunken Elvis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spencer Cullum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Carr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[villagerrr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weakened Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western vinyl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wombo]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=46079</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Foot Ox &#8211; Bed Of Violets The recording project of Teague Cullen and various friends, Foot Ox has made a name with an experimental style of folk, exploring age-old themes of love, loss and longing with rich arrangements and surreal storytelling. Written during extensive travels of the West, new album A Lighthouse with Silver Dog Eyes (forthcoming via Ernest Jenning Record Co.) utilises a genre-spanning style to reckon with the past and present of the area, and ultimately how the [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/12/weekly-listening-august-2025-2/">Weekly Listening: August 2025 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Foot Ox &#8211; Bed Of Violets</h3>
<p>The recording project of Teague Cullen and various friends, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/foot-ox/">Foot Ox</a> has made a name with an experimental style of folk, exploring age-old themes of love, loss and longing with rich arrangements and surreal storytelling. Written during extensive travels of the West, new album A<em> Lighthouse with Silver Dog Eyes</em> (forthcoming via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ernest-jenning-record-co/">Ernest Jenning Record Co.</a>) utilises a genre-spanning style to reckon with the past and present of the area, and ultimately how the mythology of the American West shifts and persists. Following previous single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/07/08/weekly-listening-july-2025-2/">Horseshoe</a>&#8216;, new track &#8216;Bed of Violets&#8217; shows the nuanced, layered nature of the record, able to recognise the beauty of the landscape while confronting the malevolent forces which haunt it. “‘Bed of Violets’ is a pretty dark song for me, even if it doesn’t seem that way on the surface,&#8221; Cullen explains. &#8220;It’s about the struggle of facing a dark force in life and overcoming it. Even though the lyrics themselves might not be overtly hopeful, I feel like the orchestration and the strings bring a sense of something vast and beautiful.”</p>
<p><iframe title="Bed Of Violets" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pOqaZ6Yfgtc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A<em> Lighthouse with Silver Dog Eyes</em> out on the 11th August via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and you can <a href="https://footox.bandcamp.com/album/a-lighthouse-with-silver-dog-eyes">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">General Absurdity &amp; the Open Source &#8211; Limestone Ghost</h3>
<p>A self-described &#8220;CommUNITY Psych-Folk Music Rebel, Performance ARTeest, Pre/Post Historic Bluez, Multi-dimensional BEeing,&#8221; General Absurdity &amp; the Open Source is the new project/alter ego of  <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lexington/">Lexington</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/kentucky/">Kentucky</a> songwriter Derek Feldman. Long time readers might recognise Feldman as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/doc-feldman/">Doc Feldman</a>, who we last wrote about back in 2021 with the release of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2021/05/04/doc-feldman-the-alt-cntry-delete-a-healthy-dose-of-anxiety/"><em>A Healthy Dose of Anxiety</em></a>, an album recorded with full band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/doc-feldman-the-alt-cntry-delete/">Doc Feldman &amp; the Alt + Cntry + Delete</a>. &#8220;Progressing with what might at first seem like pessimism, decrying magic spells and empty prayers, [single &#8216;‘Receiving (for Rollo May)’] repurposes such disillusionment into human solidarity,&#8221; we described. &#8220;Clasping hands not in plea to God but to pull another out of the shit. If we have control over anything, it is what happens here around us.&#8221; The mystical bent of General Absurdity &amp; the Open Source might indicate a brand new stage for Feldman, yet this core message remains. Folk music which belongs alongside contemporaries like Will Johnson and strives for human connection within this lonely world.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=932337004/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://docfeldman.bandcamp.com/track/limestone-ghost">Limestone Ghost by General Absurdity &amp; the Open Source</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Limestone Ghost&#8217; is out now via <a href="https://docfeldman.bandcamp.com/track/limestone-ghost">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">People Mover &#8211; Cane Trash</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brisbane">Brisbane</a> trio <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/people-mover/">People Mover</a>—that&#8217;s Lu Sergiacomi (vocals, guitar), Dan Sergiacomi (drums) and Billy McCulloch (bass)—are preparing to release their new album <em>Cane Trash</em> via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/little-lunch-records/">Little Lunch Records</a> next month, and have unveiled the title track as an introduction. It&#8217;s an inherently nostalgic track that draws on memories of the ash which filled the air of hometown Bundaberg during the burn-off of sugarcane before harvest, the bright, upbeat surface belying the melancholic weight at it heart. Which isn&#8217;t to say the juxtaposition of joy and sadness is in any way peculiar, for what else is fondness but the persistent presence of those very emotions? “‘Cane Trash’ gives into memories of where you came from and how you used to feel,” as Lu Sergiacomi explains. “It analyses where we go when we need to reset. Is it home, or can it be somewhere that reminds you of it? That memory is an analogy for the album—things are fragile, special and fleeting.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3465810046/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1512931080/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://peoplemoverbris.bandcamp.com/album/cane-trash">Cane Trash by People Mover</a></iframe></center><em>Cane Trash</em> will be released on the 12th September via Little Lunch Records and you can <a href="https://peoplemoverbris.bandcamp.com/album/cane-trash">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Shrunken Elvis &#8211; K-House</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/spencer-cullum/">Spencer Cullum</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sean-thompson/">Sean Thompson</a>, and Michael Ruth (AKA <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rich-ruth/">Rich Ruth</a>) are all renowned musicians in their own right, be that with their own work—Cullum releasing solo material via Full Time Hobby, Thompson forming bands like Gnarwhal and Promised Land Sound, and Rich Ruth putting out acclaimed albums with Third Man Records—or supporting a wide range of well-known artists in recording and touring. So bringing the three together was always going to be a recipe for success. Under the moniker <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/shrunken-elvis/">Shrunken Elvis</a>, they have united to explore their shared passion for experimental music, merging their talents in order to transcend genre and create something new. The project &#8220;represents a rare opportunity to create purely for the sake of collaboration and curiosity,&#8221; as the album notes put it, the trio drawing on everything from Michael Rother, Alice Coltrane, and Pat Metheny to Can, Ashra and KLF to inform their sound, not to mention inspiration beyond music, be that visual art or the films of Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman. A self-titled album is on the way via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/western-vinyl/">Western Vinyl</a>, and you can listen to single &#8216;K-House&#8217; now. A track which takes something of the nocturnal urgency of eighties cop show theme tunes then expands its horizons with lush psych and cosmic tones.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1041697958/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=4096433294/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://shrunkenelvis.bandcamp.com/album/shrunken-elvis">Shrunken Elvis by Shrunken Elvis</a></iframe></center><em>Shrunken Elvis</em> will be released on the 5th September via Western Vinyl and you can <a href="https://shrunkenelvis.bandcamp.com/album/shrunken-elvis">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Stella Donnelly – Baths</h3>
<p>Three years after the release of her last full length, <em>Flood</em>, Naarm/<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/melbourne">Melbourne</a> songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/stella-donnelly">Stella Donnelly</a> has returned with a new double A-side single, <em>Baths / Standing Ovation</em>. Both songs are stripped back relative to her previous work (at least until the back half of ‘Standing Ovation’), with a patience and stillness that gives them a sense of meditative clarity. ‘Baths’ in particular stands out, almost acapella as Donnelly’s vocals stand front and centre over barely-there keyboard notes. The music has the effect of incidental ambient noise and this is no accident, as the track was conceived as the sounds of the world seeped in. &#8220;I came up with this melody while I was swimming laps at the Brunswick Baths,” Donnelly explains. “The pool filter was making a humming sound on one note which allowed me to sing a melody over the top. “It then continued when I got home and had a shower with the bathroom fan on… I finally sat with a keyboard and held a note and it all just came together.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=561335610/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://stelladonnelly.bandcamp.com/album/baths">Baths by Stella Donnelly</a></iframe></center><em>Baths</em> is out now and is available from the Stella Donnelly <a href="https://stelladonnelly.bandcamp.com/album/baths">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tim Carr &#8211; Alone Playing Piano</h3>
<p>Though <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tim-carr/">Tim Carr</a> has made a name as part of other projects, be that <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/perfume-genius">Perfume Genius</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/hand-habits">Hand Habits</a> or collaborating on records like <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/rebecca-schiffman/">Rebecca Schiffman</a>&#8216;s recent LP, <em>Before the Future</em>, he also has a rich solo career too. His debut release might have followed a folk tradition, but Carr&#8217;s sound is one in constant evolution, and new full-length <em>Pleaure Drives</em> leans into digital pop and electronic music. Recorded in the Crescenta Valley, the album draws on the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles">LA</a> golden hour in its romance and mystery, Carr intentionally working from a position of celebration rather than melancholy. “Pleasure drove this album to completion,&#8221; as he explains, &#8220;as it was made from a playful place as opposed to a melancholic state or being smothered by perfectionism.&#8221; Latest single &#8216;Alone Playing Piano&#8217; encapsulates this spirit both in terms of lyrics (&#8220;Alone playing piano / getting into it / hitting wrong notes / trying to find the right ones / let it happen when the time comes&#8221;) and sound, the track not living up to the apparent austerity of its title but instead offering a shadowy Lynchian waltz.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2723491222/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3585603562/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://timcarr.bandcamp.com/album/pleasure-drives">Pleasure Drives by Tim Carr</a></iframe></center><em>Pleasure Drives</em> will be released on the 29th August and you can <a href="https://timcarr.bandcamp.com/album/pleasure-drives">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">villagerrr &#8211; Ride Or Die w/ Lydia</h3>
<p>&#8220;Zeroing in on life’s small, ostensibly ordinary moments to find the meaning within.&#8221; So we wrote of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/villagerrr">villagerrr</a>‘s <em>Tear Your Heart Out</em> in a <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/01/10/year-in-review-2024/">list of our favourite albums of 2024</a>, a record which saw songwriter Mark Scott embrace his Midwestern roots with a country-inflected brand of indie rock. &#8220;The result is a decidedly empathetic collection of songs able to zoom close to the smallest details of small town life,&#8221; we continued, &#8220;be it light through a sunroof, the smell of cut grass or pencil drawings made in an effort to preserve memories.&#8221; Having now signed with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear">Winspear</a>, villagerrr is releasing a new deluxe version of the album featuring a handful of previously unreleased bonus tracks, including new single &#8216;Ride Or Die w/ Lydia&#8217;. Featuring <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/feeble-little-horse">feeble little horse</a>&#8216;s Lydia Slocum, the track is characteristically fond and compassionate, sitting in that liminal space between summer and autumn, where the shadows grow long and the colours tend towards a sepia glow.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3779301075/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1327485371/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://villagerrr.bandcamp.com/album/tear-your-heart-out-deluxe-edition">Tear Your Heart Out [Deluxe Edition] by villagerrr</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video edited by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/videotrevor/?hl=en">Trevor Hock</a> below:</p>
<p><iframe title="villagerrr - Ride Or Die w/ Lydia (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ROlwNf5qULo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Tear Your Heart Out [Deluxe Edition] </em>will be released via Winspear on the 10th October and you can <a href="https://villagerrr.bandcamp.com/album/tear-your-heart-out-deluxe-edition">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Weakened Friends &#8211; NPC (feat. Buckethead)</h3>
<p>Ever feel like life isn&#8217;t quite as real as many like to believe? That unfolding events are predestined, not so much by cosmic fate but something more computational? These are the ideas worrying <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/weakened-friends/">Weakened Friends</a> on new single &#8216;NPC&#8217;, a decidedly existential track featuring guitarist Buckethead inspired by the reality-bending simulation theory. But far from some exercise in idle sci-fi daydreaming, the song is urgent, defiant and cathartic. Fatalistic, but delivered with the kind of full-throated passion that can only exist in those still with the spirit to fight. This tone runs through <em>Feels Like Hell</em>, the Portland, Maine outfit&#8217;s new album coming soon on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/don-giovanni-records/">Don Giovanni Records</a>, where every soul-destroying facet of our present moment is used as fuel on the fire. The hegemony of global capitalism, complete with its mass surveillance, environmental destruction and rampant inequality, is enough to drive anyone to despair, but Weakened Friends are determined to deny it that one last victory. Better to scream, yell, bring the whole thing crumbling down with us.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Maybe I’m just fucked in the head<br />
Here daydreaming of annihilation<br />
Maybe we should just hit reset<br />
It’d be the best thing</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2965612058/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3674516681/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://weakenedfriends.bandcamp.com/album/feels-like-hell">Feels Like Hell by Weakened Friends</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by SunBronx &amp; Olise Forel below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Weakened Friends - &quot;NPC (feat. Buckethead)&quot;" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3AtHxL4-4tE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Feels Like Hell</em> will be released on the 9th October via Don Giovanni and you can <a href="https://weakenedfriends.bandcamp.com/album/feels-like-hell">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Wombo &#8211; S.T. Tilted</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve covered a number of singles from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/wombo/">Wombo</a>&#8216;s new full-length <em>Danger in Fives</em> in recent months, noting how the release sees the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Louisvill">Louisville</a> outfit push the envelope rather than resting on their laurels. “I don’t want to be in a band that’s confined to one form of writing,” as vocalist and bassist Sydney Chadwick says. “Where’s the fun and the creativity and the exploration in that? You have to push yourself and try something new.” With the album out now via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fire-talk-records/">Fire Talk Records</a>, Wombo have shared new single, &#8216;S.T. Tilted&#8217; as if to prove this sentiment. “It’s the first song we wrote after the <em>Slab</em> EP that made it on <em>Danger in Fives</em>,&#8221; as guitarist Cameron Lowe explains. &#8220;We weren&#8217;t sure it was going to work, but all the contrasting parts ended up being cool. It’s rare for a Wombo song to be written on guitar first like this one, with some of the bass and drum parts jammed out in the basement afterwards. The wacky guitar part came last.”</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2419857286/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1809254852/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://womborocks.bandcamp.com/album/danger-in-fives">Danger in Fives by Wombo</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch Lowe&#8217;s video below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Wombo - S.T. Tilted (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sc-0x3z8Xfo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Danger in Fives</em> is out now via Fire Talk and available from the Wombo <a href="https://womborocks.bandcamp.com/album/danger-in-fives">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/12/weekly-listening-august-2025-2/">Weekly Listening: August 2025 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">46079</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>HLLLYH &#8211; Flex It, Tagger</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/hlllyh-flex-it-tagger/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:49:29 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HLLLYH]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Team Shi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Mae Shi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=45490</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>In recent months we&#8217;ve been sharing singles from URUBURU, the album which heralds the rise of HLLLYH from the ashes of 00s favourites The Mae Shi. What the band describe as &#8220;an end-of-the-world story written on a mobius strip,&#8221; the record sees them dive headlong into the colourful sound, frantic energy and thematic depth that made their former project so beloved. Lead single &#8216;Dead Clade&#8216; kicked things off, what we called &#8220;an apocalyptic anthem dedicated to a variety of ending [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/hlllyh-flex-it-tagger/">HLLLYH &#8211; Flex It, Tagger</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In recent months we&#8217;ve been sharing singles from <em>URUBURU</em>, the album which heralds the rise of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/hlllyh/">HLLLYH</a> from the ashes of 00s favourites The Mae Shi. What the band describe as &#8220;an end-of-the-world story written on a mobius strip,&#8221; the record sees them dive headlong into the colourful sound, frantic energy and thematic depth that made their former project so beloved. Lead single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/11/hlllyh-dead-clade/">Dead Clade</a>&#8216; kicked things off, what we called &#8220;an apocalyptic anthem dedicated to a variety of ending worlds which has nevertheless decided it wants to live,&#8221; while <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/05/13/weekly-listening-may-2025-2/">the title track</a> &#8220;offer[ed] a timely reminder that energy persists irrespective of everything.&#8221; Songs so committed to their own irrepressible motion they come to seem subversive. An antidote to the powerlessness and stasis so many feel within our present political moment.</p>
<p>Latest single &#8216;Flex It, Tagger&#8217; takes this idea head on. A song which traces back to 2009, before the Mae Shi broke up, but which feels more relevant than ever. It not only rails against the pernicious rise of <span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">surveillance and the militarisation of the police, but suggests a potential mode of resistance in the too often forgotten power of the crowd. </span>“At one level, this song is inspired by the Sparks-fueled crowds at their shows in the late 2000s, particularly at LA venues like the Smell and Pehrspace and the early FYF Fests,&#8221; the band explain. &#8220;Crowds so powerful and energetic that they could have overthrown the government. Relatedly, the song is also about overthrowing the government: Every rebellion looks foolhardy until it’s successful; this one looks very foolhardy.”</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>It all began<br />
out on the balcony<br />
an errant ember in the raw<br />
call it disaster<br />
or opportunity<br />
we didn’t start it but we’re ending it right now</h5>
<h5>breathing&#8217;s hardly feeling<br />
we need a reason, but not a plan<br />
foolish, we shouldn&#8217;t do this<br />
Ask and you’ll hear we’re well aware of what we’re going through</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=286186357/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=88059234/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://hlllyhband.bandcamp.com/album/uruburu">URUBURU by HLLLYH</a></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe title="HLLLYH - Flex It, Tagger [Official Video]" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ksv6mqUn8dk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>URUBURU</em> is out on the 27th June via Team Shi and you can pre-order it from the HLLLYH <a href="https://hlllyhband.bandcamp.com/album/uruburu">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hlllyh-uruburu.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hlllyh-uruburu.jpg?resize=1170%2C879&#038;ssl=1" alt="vinyl artwork for URUBURU by HLLLYH" width="1170" height="879" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/hlllyh-flex-it-tagger/">HLLLYH &#8211; Flex It, Tagger</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">45490</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Michael Robert Chadwick &#8211; Dirt Nap</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/michael-robert-chadwick-dirt-nap/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2025 19:44:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anxiety Blanket Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Robert Chadwick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=45468</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;A record about connection in its various forms, friendship, romance, parasocial relationships etc.&#8221; That&#8217;s how label Anxiety Blanket Records describe Illusion of Touch, the new album from LA-based multi-disciplinary artist Michael Robert Chadwick. With everything written and recorded solo apart from guest saxophone from Taylor Blake and guitar by Meg Duffy, the album broaches connection from the inverse angle, taking its title from a fact of subparticle physics where atoms never actual come into contact and in fact repel one [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/michael-robert-chadwick-dirt-nap/">Michael Robert Chadwick &#8211; Dirt Nap</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;A record about connection in its various forms, friendship, romance, parasocial relationships etc.&#8221; That&#8217;s how label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anxiety-blanket-records/">Anxiety Blanket Records</a> describe <em>Illusion of Touch</em>, the new album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">LA</a>-based multi-disciplinary artist <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/michael-robert-chadwick/">Michael Robert Chadwick</a>. With everything written and recorded solo apart from guest saxophone from Taylor Blake and guitar by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/meg-duffy">Meg Duffy</a>, the album broaches connection from the inverse angle, taking its title from a fact of subparticle physics where atoms never actual come into contact and in fact repel one another. &#8220;Many of the songs were written during the pandemic and reflect thoughts about loneliness, isolation and distance in various contexts,&#8221; as the album notes continue, &#8220;while existing in a dense city in an age of near constant contact with the outside world.&#8221;</p>
<p>If this sound austere or morose, then let latest single &#8216;Dirt Nap&#8217; dissuade you of the notion. Supported by Blake&#8217;s aforementioned sax, the song offers a smooth, assured slice of pop. Halfway serious, halfway not, loaded with detail yet languid in spirit. &#8220;&#8216;Dirt Nap&#8217; is a song that may be about something or possibly nothing, I don&#8217;t remember,&#8221; Chadwick explains in his typically wry way. &#8220;Like a lot of my songs it started with a random sequencer pattern, and then a lot of slop heaped on top, slowly whittled away into something resembling a song. Then mostly rerecorded a year later and then further whittled to even more closely resemble music.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Michael Robert Chadwick - &quot;Dirt Nap&quot; (Official Audio)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d5_D2DOad5I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Illusion of Touch</em> will be released on the 20th June via Anxiety Blanket Records and you can <a href="https://anxietyblanketrecords.com/products/pre-order-michael-robert-chadwick-illusion-of-touch-digital-download">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/06/12/michael-robert-chadwick-dirt-nap/">Michael Robert Chadwick &#8211; Dirt Nap</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">45468</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Why Dogs Why &#8211; Play The Hits</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/16/why-dogs-why-play-the-hits/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:45:50 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Why Dogs Why]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44966</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Back in March we introduced Play The Hits, the brand new EP from indie rock band Why Dogs Why, a release which builds upon the bright energy and quirky lyrics of the Los Angeles-based outfit&#8217;s previous releases. Lead single &#8216;Clunkers&#8217; provided a glimpse of what to expect from the EP, &#8220;a song which embraces both scrappy indie rock sensibilities and the smooth surf pop of yesteryear to explore themes of idealism and disappointment,&#8221; as we described, &#8220;the sound filled with [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/16/why-dogs-why-play-the-hits/">Why Dogs Why &#8211; Play The Hits</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Back in March <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/31/weekly-listening-march-2025-5/">we introduced</a> <em>Play The Hits</em>, the brand new EP from indie rock band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/why-dogs-why/">Why Dogs Why</a>, a release which builds upon the bright energy and quirky lyrics of the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">Los Angeles</a>-based outfit&#8217;s previous releases. Lead single &#8216;Clunkers&#8217; provided a glimpse of what to expect from the EP, &#8220;a song which embraces both scrappy indie rock sensibilities and the smooth surf pop of yesteryear to explore themes of idealism and disappointment,&#8221; as we described, &#8220;the sound filled with brightness and forward motion but again troubled by the possibility of a less than perfect reality.&#8221;</p>
<p>With the release of the EP fast approaching, Why Dogs Why are back with the title track as the latest single. What they call &#8220;a song about feeling pressure from those around you to behave a certain way—essentially about masking in everyday life,&#8221; this might be the band&#8217;s most personal track to date. One built upon almost hesitant beginnings, the sound simmering as Alex Johnson paints a picture of self-imposed isolation in the face of various fears, before deepening both in energy and detail to offer a sustained, immersive experience. What results is a song uniquely equipped to deal with the emotional weather of such an existence, ebbing and flowing between rising intensity and hushed, lonely quiet. &#8220;Dance monkey, dance away / When you feel afraid of making a big mistake,&#8221; Johnson sings in the refrain. &#8220;Dance monkey, dance away / When you feel ashamed and your head needs a break.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>I want to die, blue in the lips<br />
My heart aside, I&#8217;ll play the hits</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1450206982/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3697186432/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://whydogswhy.bandcamp.com/album/play-the-hits-3">Play The Hits by Why Dogs Why</a></iframe></center><em>Play The Hits</em> will be released on the 6<sup>th</sup> May and you can pre-order it from <a href="https://whydogswhy.bandcamp.com/album/play-the-hits-3">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/16/why-dogs-why-play-the-hits/">Why Dogs Why &#8211; Play The Hits</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">44966</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>HLLLYH &#8211; Dead Clade</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/11/hlllyh-dead-clade/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:31:26 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HLLLYH]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Team Shi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Mae Shi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44913</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Anyone clued into the indie scene of the noughties will likely have encountered the Mae Shi, the outfit which delivered a blend of art rock, punk, pop and electronic sensibilities bundled up in a manic, madcap intensity, culminating with acclaimed Biblical full-length HLLLYH in 2008. The project has been through various stages of hiatus in intervening years, but now founding member Tim Byron has rounded up the original cast for a new album, URUBURU. Only when Jeff Byron, Ezra Buchla, [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/11/hlllyh-dead-clade/">HLLLYH &#8211; Dead Clade</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Anyone clued into the indie scene of the noughties will likely have encountered the Mae Shi, the outfit which delivered a blend of art rock, punk, pop and electronic sensibilities bundled up in a manic, madcap intensity, culminating with acclaimed Biblical full-length <em>HLLLYH</em> in 2008. The project has been through various stages of hiatus in intervening years, but now founding member Tim Byron has rounded up the original cast for a new album, <em>URUBURU</em>. Only when Jeff Byron, Ezra Buchla, Brad Breeck and Corey Fogel got together, the result felt less like the last chapter of the Mae Shi and more like a fresh beginning. Hence a new name—HLLLYH.</p>
<p>Described as &#8220;an end-of-the-world story written on a mobius strip,&#8221; <em>URUBURU</em> shows HLLLYH have hit the ground running, displaying no let up from the infectiously inventive sound that won the Mae Shi so many admirers. &#8220;Built from bright colors and loud sounds, it is a puzzle to be solved written in English, Morse code, and machine language,&#8221; as the band write of the record. &#8220;It tells several interconnected stories of punk house party disasters, young monsters in love, space travel gone wrong, adventures in other dimensions, showdowns with malevolent forces, and the never ending quest for meaning.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lead single &#8216;Dead Clade&#8217; not only introduces these various thematic strands but also the buoyant energy with which HLLLYH approach them. An apocalyptic anthem dedicated to a variety of ending worlds which has nevertheless decided it wants to live.  &#8220;We’ll sleep when the sun comes up / sleep when our bodies give up,&#8221; as the opening verse promises, filled with the energy of new beginnings. &#8220;Cuz our time’s not unlimited / we’ve got a moment to make it count.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>we came, we saw, we we burned it down<br />
turned every single hydrant on<br />
and every pane on every store was broken by the dawn</h5>
<h5>we’re not special, we’re just what’s left<br />
we’re not chosen, we’re a dead clade</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=286186357/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=4028366582/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://hlllyhband.bandcamp.com/album/uruburu">URUBURU by HLLLYH</a></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe title="HLLLYH - Dead Clade [Official Video]" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V3RztewlRzU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>URUBURU</em> is out on the 27th June via Team Shi and you can pre-order it from the HLLLYH <a href="https://hlllyhband.bandcamp.com/album/uruburu">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hlllyh-uruburu.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hlllyh-uruburu.jpg?resize=1170%2C879&#038;ssl=1" alt="vinyl artwork for URUBURU by HLLLYH" width="1170" height="879" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/04/11/hlllyh-dead-clade/">HLLLYH &#8211; Dead Clade</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">44913</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Weekly Listening: March 2025 #5</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/31/weekly-listening-march-2025-5/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:17:23 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Audio Antihero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avery Friedman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Brother Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discrete Pageantry Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hallelujah the hills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Honey I'm Home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jahnah Camille]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Luminelle Recordings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netherlands]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ruby Gill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sea Lemon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[So It Was]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soot Sprite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Netherlands]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncanny Valet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Why Dogs Why]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44734</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Avery Friedman &#8211; New Thing The release of Avery Friedman&#8216;s forthcoming album New Thing is fast-approaching on Audio Antihero. Previous singles &#8216;Flowers Fell&#8217; and &#8216;Photo Booth&#8217; introduced a sound which, as we put it, “seems to sit in the interstitial space between trauma and growth,&#8221; and if these two states exist at opposite ends of a continuum, then latest single and title track sees Friedman dig further back in her personal history towards the difficult end. &#8220;I wrote ‘New Thing’ [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/31/weekly-listening-march-2025-5/">Weekly Listening: March 2025 #5</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Avery Friedman &#8211; New Thing</h3>
<p>The release of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/avery-friedman/">Avery Friedman</a>&#8216;s forthcoming album <em>New Thing</em> is fast-approaching on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/audio-antihero/">Audio Antihero</a>. Previous singles &#8216;Flowers Fell&#8217; and &#8216;Photo Booth&#8217; introduced a sound which, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/01/31/avery-friedman-flowers-fell/">as we put it</a>, “seems to sit in the interstitial space between trauma and growth,&#8221; and if these two states exist at opposite ends of a continuum, then latest single and title track sees Friedman dig further back in her personal history towards the difficult end. &#8220;I wrote ‘New Thing’ in one sitting after riding the subway home alone at night for the first time since being mugged at knifepoint months prior,&#8221; as she explains. &#8220;I was shocked and disoriented by the anxiety I experienced doing something so routine—I felt foreign to myself.&#8221; But however directly the song confronts this upsetting experience, it also represents the beginning of the path forward, allowing Friedman a method by which to return to her body and start the process of becoming whole again.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3261694326/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=454126205/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://averyfriedman.bandcamp.com/album/new-thing">New Thing by Avery Friedman</a></iframe></center><em>New Thing</em> will be released on the 18th April via Audio Antihero and you can pre-order it now from the Avery Friedman <a href="https://averyfriedman.bandcamp.com/album/new-thing">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Hallelujah The Hills &#8211; Fake Flowers at Sunset</h3>
<p>Boston indie rock royalty <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/hallelujah-the-hills/">Hallelujah The Hills</a> have never been ones to shy away from a challenge, Ryan H. Walsh and co. have released a plethora of idiosyncratic albums across their near two-decade career. But their latest project <em>DECK</em> pushes the boat out even for them. A joint release between <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/discrete-pageantry-records/">Discrete Pageantry Records</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/best-brother-records/">Best Brother Records</a>, <em>DECK</em> is a something of a magnum opus—a quadruple album two-and-a-half years in the making which maps entirely to a deck of cards. That&#8217;s four LPs (fittingly titled <em>CLUBS</em>, <em>DIAMONDS</em>, <em>HEARTS</em> and <em>SPADES</em>) and fifty-two songs, all brought to life with an enviable supporting cast which includes Craig Finn (The Hold Steady), Patrick Stickles (Titus Andronicus), Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Tanya Donelly (Belly, Breeders), Clint Conley (Mission of Burma), Ezra Furman and Cassie Berman (Silver Jews). It is Berman who appears on new single &#8216;Fake Flowers at Sunset&#8217; (that&#8217;s three of diamonds within the pack), providing supporting vocals to a song which evokes the push and pull of love in its combination of mournful folk and pressing disco beat.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3563900680/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1597720243/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://hallelujahthehills.bandcamp.com/album/deck-diamonds">DECK: DIAMONDS by Hallelujah The Hills</a></iframe></center><em>DECK</em> is out on the 13th June via Discrete Pageantry Records and Best Brother Records and you can pre-order it from <a href="https://hallelujahthehills.bandcamp.com/album/deck-diamonds">Bandcamp</a>, with some beautiful physical editions with an actual deck of cards featuring original artwork.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Honey I&#8217;m Home &#8211; Wishful Thinking</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/netherlands/">Dutch</a> outfit <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/honey-im-home/">Honey I&#8217;m Home</a> might have already supported the likes of Goat Girl, The Buoys, Blood Wizard and Hotline TNT, but have only now released their debut single, &#8216;Wishful Thinking&#8217;. Operating at the intersection of shoegaze, indie rock and post-punk, the song introduces the band&#8217;s penchant for shadowy textures and visceral energy, tapping into ethereal moods without sacrificing a certain emotional immediacy to achieve a cathartic sound. &#8220;‘Wishful Thinking&#8217; explores the longing to reconnect with people no longer in your life, whether it’s a lost love or a departed family member,&#8221; as vocalist and guitarist Thom Schotanus explains. &#8220;We tried to capture the intensity of that unfulfilled desire with a layered, dreamlike soundscape.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Honey im Home - Wishful Thinking" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i1U0Trjp4Rk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Wishful Thinking&#8217; is out now via streaming services.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Jahnah Camille &#8211; what do you do?</h3>
<p>Writing last May, we described how <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/jahnah-camille/">Jahnah Camille</a>&#8216;s album <em>i tried to freeze light, but only remember a girl </em>used a number of different styles and genres to &#8220;offer a picture of late adolescence in all of its bittersweet nuance, its introspective contemplation matched only by its bold confessional attitude.&#8221; The record, released via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear">Winspear</a>, made the list of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/01/10/year-in-review-2024/">our favourite releases of 2024</a>, so it is very much welcome news that Camille is returning with a new EP, <em>My sunny oath! </em>As lead single &#8216;what do you do?&#8217; shows, the six-song release sees a newfound focus on the louder, stormier end of the spectrum, Camille working with producer Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Indigo De Souza, MJ Lenderman) to explore grunge and shoegaze-inflected styles of indie rock. Exploding into life from the off, the song packs a newfound punch without sacrificing the heart which marked previous releases, and emerges with an affirming sense of forward motion.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=567389147/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=700425487/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://jahnahcamille.bandcamp.com/album/my-sunny-oath">My sunny oath! by Jahnah Camille</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video below, directed by Harrison Shook with assistance from Polycarpe Ancelet and Ava Cavasos:</p>
<p><iframe title="Jahnah Camille - what do you do? (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fF4fFbKW7w4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
My sunny oath!</em> is out on the 13th June via Winspear and you can <a href="https://jahnahcamille.bandcamp.com/album/my-sunny-oath">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Ruby Gill &#8211; The Flood</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured a couple of songs from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ruby-gill/">Ruby Gill</a>&#8216;s forthcoming album <em>Some Kind of Control</em> in recent months, with both the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/11/weekly-listening-november-2024-2/">title track</a> and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/07/ruby-gill-touch-me-there/">Touch Me There</a>&#8216; highlighting what the artist describes as a “cheekier, looser, gayer and even more raw” style. Both singles explored ideas of agency and control in various guises, from the experience of lockdown to the empowerment found in the queer community, and latest track &#8216;The Flood&#8217; is no different. A song inspired by Gill&#8217;s experience of being trapped in the cyclone which struck eThekwini/Durban in 2023 which questions just who possesses power in a contemporary society facing a worsening environment year upon year. Watch the video directed by Emily Dynes below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Ruby Gill - The Flood" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LML795ZLItM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Some Kind of Control</em> is out now and <a href="https://sound-merch.com.au/collections/ruby-gill">available to purchase</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sea Lemon &#8211; Stay</h3>
<p>After the success of 2023 EP <em>Stop At Nothing</em> (an evocative release populated by protagonists, as <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/07/21/sea-lemon-vaporized/">we put it</a>, which &#8220;feel at once fearful and dangerous, some absence at the heart of their existence pushing them toward the darkest of places&#8221;) and subsequent singles like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/09/16/weekly-listening-september-2024-3/">Crystals</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/08/sea-lemon-sweet-anecdote/">Sweet Anecdote</a>&#8216;, Natalie Lew&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sea-lemon/">Sea Lemon</a> is preparing to release debut full-length <em>Diving For A Prize</em> this June via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/luminelle-recordings/">Luminelle Recordings</a>. As the prior singles suggested, the album looks to broaden the dream pop and shoegaze styles which inform the Sea Lemon sound, pushing towards increasingly fantastical directions. And new single &#8216;Stay&#8217; is no different. Suspended in gauzy textures, the track weaves a warm, enveloping space into which the listener is invited, then reflects the world back to us at odd angles to more fully reveal the strangeness at its core. &#8220;&#8216;Stay&#8217; [&#8230;] is a little vignette of a man I saw in a local thrift store,&#8221; Lew explains. &#8220;This older guy, probably in his 70s or 80s, was acting as a security guard at this thrift store near my house, but he was basically asleep on the couch the entire time I was there. I couldn’t stop thinking about him after I left, and wrote Stay as a reaction to seeing this guy who I felt deserved to take a break.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=606409553/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1193819095/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sealemonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/diving-for-a-prize">Diving For A Prize by Sea Lemon</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch video by Otium with styling by Greta Akopov below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Sea Lemon - Stay (Official Visualizer)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l4152CsDwV8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Diving For A Prize</em> is out on the 13th June via Luminelle Recordings and you can <a href="https://sealemonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/diving-for-a-prize">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">So It Was &#8211; In a Rose</h3>
<p>We first covered Daniel Lobb’s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/so-it-was/">So It Was</a> back in 2023 with the release of full-length <em>Round the Mountain</em>, an album which ranged from the &#8220;combination of earnest heart and laidback charm&#8221; of singles like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/06/23/so-it-was-speak-now/">Speak Now!</a>&#8216; and &#8220;something altogether more taut and building&#8221; in the case of &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/08/28/weekly-listening-august-2023-5/">Dance Now!</a>&#8216;, a song which &#8220;confront[ed] the uneasy truth of change with as much positivity as it can muster.&#8221; Now So It Was has returned with &#8216;In a Rose&#8217;, a new single which combines the ornate detail of acts like Beirut, a Vampire Weekend-style playfulness, and some of the indie rock attitude of The Strokes to take on the modern blight of consumerism. &#8220;Aaa-ccumulation / Is such a silly pose,&#8221; as Lobb sings. &#8220;We countin&#8217; on our fingers / We countin&#8217; on our toes.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1013744043/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://soitwas.bandcamp.com/track/in-a-rose">In a Rose by So It Was</a></iframe></center>&#8216;In a Rose&#8217; is out now and available from the So It Was <a href="https://soitwas.bandcamp.com/track/in-a-rose">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Soot Sprite &#8211; Days After Days</h3>
<p>Writing <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/28/soot-sprite-all-my-friends-are-depressed/">back in February</a>, we introduced <em>Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon</em>, the new album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/exeter">Exeter</a>-based emos <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/soot-sprite/">Soot Sprite</a>, calling it &#8220;a call to arms to fight against the forces that make contemporary life so difficult, and a reminder of the radical potential within empathy and community.&#8221; With the release via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/specialist-subject-records">Specialist Subject Records</a> on the horizon, Soot Sprite have now shared new single, &#8216;Days After Days&#8217;. The album&#8217;s opener, the song acts as a mission statement, not only raising awareness of the stakes at hand but also the importance of celebrating every inch of ground won. &#8220;It&#8217;s about facing the endless horrors of the world and remembering to pay attention to the good,&#8221; as lead Elise Cook explains. &#8220;People on the ground, activism, and remembering that we shouldn’t be hardened by everything we witness or we can lose empathy. And it feels like without empathy we’ll never be able to achieve class consciousness, and lose our sense of community.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1083705641/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=379815384/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sootsprite.bandcamp.com/album/wield-your-hope-like-a-weapon">Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon by Soot Sprite</a></iframe></center><em>Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon</em> is out on the 16th May via Specialist Subject Records and you can pre-order it now from the Soot Sprite <a href="https://sootsprite.bandcamp.com/album/wield-your-hope-like-a-weapon">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Uncanny Valet &#8211; Almost Island</h3>
<p>The recording project of New York-based electronic musician and producer David Queen, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/uncanny-valet">Uncanny Valet</a> is a descendant of the likes of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/oneohtrix-point-never">Oneohtrix Point Never</a> and Ryuichi Sakamoto, marrying precise production with an unbridled creative vision in effort to push electronic music into uncharted territory. New album <em>Almost Island</em> carries the mission further, taking elements of eighties pop, ambient, dub and even Saturday morning cartoons and recombining them into something new. The result rarely sits still (just listen to the stylistics differences between the sleek sophisti-pop grooves of &#8216;Cameo Glass&#8217; and melancholic drift of &#8216;Archway&#8217;), not only straddling the nostalgic and the contemporary but mining this juxtaposition for all of its thematic resonance, making for a sound that wouldn&#8217;t be out of place in an Adam Curtis documentary. Nowhere is that more obvious than on the closer and title track, a graceful and thickly-textured piece of ambient beauty.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1967942519/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3279665809/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://uncannyvalet.bandcamp.com/album/almost-island">Almost Island by Uncanny Valet</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1967942519/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3000798519/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://uncannyvalet.bandcamp.com/album/almost-island">Almost Island by Uncanny Valet</a></iframe></p>
<p><em>Almost Island</em> is out now and available from the Uncanny Valet <a href="https://uncannyvalet.bandcamp.com/album/almost-island">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Why Dogs Why – Clunkers</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles/">Los Angeles</a>-based project <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/why-dogs-why/">Why Dogs Why</a> are preparing to release brand new EP <em>Play The Hits</em> this May, and have shared lead single ‘Clunkers’ by way of introduction. Writing <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/06/14/why-dogs-why-homebody/">back in 2023</a>, we described previous EP <em>Homebody</em> as “full of buoyant energy and wacky lyricism, anchored by an underlying volatility and unease,” and the ‘Clunkers’ is no different. It&#8217;s a song which embraces both scrappy indie rock sensibilities and the smooth surf pop of yesteryear to explore themes of idealism and disappointment, the sound filled with brightness and forward motion but again troubled by the possibility of a less than perfect reality. &#8220;We’ll book a tour up the coast / And drive right through the bay,&#8221; as lead Alex Johnson sings, &#8220;When no one comes out to see us / We’ll hit the motel bedbug hay.&#8221; But however disheartening real life might prove, Why Dogs Why champion committing to your dreams if only for the romantic hell of it.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Let’s write some clunkers together, baby,<br />
Some songs we’ll sing for fourteen fans.<br />
Let’s write some clunkers together, baby.<br />
Our dads will never understand.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1450206982/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2654411706/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://whydogswhy.bandcamp.com/album/play-the-hits-3">Play The Hits by Why Dogs Why</a></iframe></center><em>Play The Hits</em> will be released on the 6<sup>th</sup> May and you can pre-order it from <a href="https://whydogswhy.bandcamp.com/album/play-the-hits-3">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/31/weekly-listening-march-2025-5/">Weekly Listening: March 2025 #5</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Lucy Liyou &#8211; 16/8</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/07/lucy-liyou-16-8/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:21:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lucy Liyou]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orange Milk Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pop]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44502</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Back in February we previewed Lucy Liyou&#8217;s upcoming full-length Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name. The album promises to be the Los Angeles musician’s &#8220;most pop-oriented to date,&#8221; but pushes beyond the conventions of up-tempo dancefloor fillers. &#8220;As ‘Arrested’ attests, Liyou’s distinctive style is far more complex than that,&#8221; we described, &#8220;possessing both a fragile minimalism and lush melodrama, the understated ethereality of the sound and poignant longing of the vocals combining into a reflective and [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/07/lucy-liyou-16-8/">Lucy Liyou &#8211; 16/8</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/03/weekly-listening-february-2025-1/">Back in February</a> we previewed Lucy Liyou&#8217;s upcoming full-length <em>Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name</em>. The album promises to be the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Los-Angeles">Los Angeles</a> musician’s &#8220;most pop-oriented to date,&#8221; but pushes beyond the conventions of up-tempo dancefloor fillers. &#8220;As ‘Arrested’ attests, Liyou’s distinctive style is far more complex than that,&#8221; we described, &#8220;possessing both a fragile minimalism and lush melodrama, the understated ethereality of the sound and poignant longing of the vocals combining into a reflective and melancholic mood. The sensation of watching a fond memory fade at the edges as the desire to return to its smallest details only grows.&#8221;</p>
<p>Liyou has described wanting to make the album since college, though only now possesses the skills to do the idea justice. The upshot of this is a strange duality within the songs. Liyou at 19, longing for parental acceptance as a closested trans person, and Liyou seven years later, wishing a romantic relationship might extend beyond its apparent end. &#8220;I feel really affected by this parallel between the love in wanting my parents to accept me for who I am and the love in wanting my partner to stay with me regardless of our circumstances,&#8221; they explain. &#8220;I always assumed that these two loves were separate but I think recognizing that (for trans people like me, or maybe just for me specifically) these loves have overlap has been simultaneously distressing and comforting.&#8221;</p>
<p>With the album&#8217;s release fast approaching on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/orange-milk-records">Orange Milk Records</a>, Lucy Liyou has shared new single and opener, &#8217;16/8&#8242;. A track which introduces both the record&#8217;s nuanced pop style and its thematic intention. To document a moment in time in all of its conflicted emotion and tactile experience. &#8220;While writing &#8217;16/8&#8242;, I remember asking myself what does waiting for someone you love sound like, feel like?&#8221; Liyou explains:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 40px;">Having played classical piano for so long, I couldn’t help but compare this feeling to rests in music—the anticipation building in the silences between notes, phrases, and ideas. I thought about the way some musicians like myself count during rests (e.g., the lyrics: “a kiss and click of the tongue”). I thought about how the growing anticipation in the rests make these silences feel substantive and material (e.g., the lyrics: “metal sheen of 16th’s and 8th’s, plexiglass and gold quarter shapes). And then it’s suddenly my turn to play. And I play what I have practiced for so long:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 40px;">“please stay.<br />
please stay.<br />
I have so much love to give, please stay.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4170129969/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=4241645976/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://lucyliyou.bandcamp.com/album/every-video-without-your-face-every-sound-without-your-name">Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name by Lucy Liyou</a></iframe></center><em>Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name</em> is out on the 21st March via Orange Milk Records and you can <a href="https://lucyliyou.bandcamp.com/album/every-video-without-your-face-every-sound-without-your-name">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/lucy-liyou-lp.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/lucy-liyou-lp.jpg?resize=1170%2C829&#038;ssl=1" alt="vinyl art for Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name by Lucy Liyou" width="1170" height="829" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/03/07/lucy-liyou-16-8/">Lucy Liyou &#8211; 16/8</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">44502</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: February 2025 #4</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/24/weekly-listening-february-2025-4/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 19:52:26 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BOAT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Breakfast Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cici Arthur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D. Crane]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dusty Lucite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dwi Riana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eli Carvajal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indonesia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julie Meunier]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leoblu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lex Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mumble Tide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[naya mö]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oh Boy Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palmyra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sweden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[toronto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Triathalon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western vinyl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wishy]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44159</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Cici Arthur &#8211; Way Through &#8220;Highlights how grand need not equate to ostentatious.&#8221; So we wrote of &#8216;Cartwheels For Coins&#8216;, a recent single from Way Through by Cici Arthur, the new collaboration between Toronto artists Joseph Shabason, Chris A. Cummings and Thom Gill. &#8220;Because for all of the richness of the [project&#8217;s] sound, there’s a grounded quality to it too. A kind of attention to detail which allows each track to become its own little slice of life.&#8221; With the album out now via Western Vinyl, [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/24/weekly-listening-february-2025-4/">Weekly Listening: February 2025 #4</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Cici Arthur &#8211; Way Through</h3>
<p>&#8220;Highlights how <em>grand</em> need not equate to ostentatious.&#8221; So we wrote of &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/01/29/cici-arthur-cartwheels-for-coins/">Cartwheels For Coins</a>&#8216;, a recent single from <em>Way Through</em> by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/cici-arthur">Cici Arthur</a>, the new collaboration between <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto">Toronto</a> artists <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/joseph-shabason/">Joseph Shabason</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/chris-a-cummings/">Chris A. Cummings</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/thom-gill/">Thom Gill</a>. &#8220;Because for all of the richness of the [project&#8217;s] sound, there’s a grounded quality to it too. A kind of attention to detail which allows each track to become its own little slice of life.&#8221; With the album out now via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/western-vinyl">Western Vinyl</a>, Cici Arthur are back with the opener and title track as a final single. The perfect encapsulation of the record&#8217;s ability to exist as something both cinematic Technicolor and drably human. &#8220;What good are dead ends when I’m looking for a way through?” as Cummings sings. &#8220;“When the miracle you’d hoped for never comes it’s hard to take, but it’s your fault for hoping.”</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1628378330/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2308863680/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ciciarthur.bandcamp.com/album/way-through">Way Through by Cici Arthur</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Cici Arthur - &quot;WayThrough&quot;" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h8iE8yW7iYQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Way Through</em> is out now via Western Vinyl and you can get it <a href="https://ciciarthur.bandcamp.com/album/way-through">from Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Dusty Lucite &#8211; Old Feelings (feat. D. Crane)</h3>
<p>Led by H.L Stratton-Kuhta, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Portland">Portland</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Oregon">Oregon</a>-based indie outfit <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Dusty-Lucite">Dusty Lucite</a> reach across a whole myriad of genres to bring to life a sound as colourful and idiosyncratic as it is fun. Latest album <em>Normal Harder</em> serves as the ideal introduction for the uninitiated, pitching the listener into a singular world carved from psych-inflected pop and folk. The album is something of a grab bag, mixing raucous garage rock numbers with sedate, dreamy croons, and thus no one single can quite capture the experience, but standout &#8216;Old Feelings&#8217; is perhaps the best place to dive in. It&#8217;s a song which embodies both the playful spirit and emotional depth of the Dusty Lucite sound, enlisting D. Crane (of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/boat/">BOAT</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/unlikely-friends">Unlikely Friends</a>) to add to the swirl of melancholic contemplation.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3994767522/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1193763209/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://dustylucite.bandcamp.com/album/normal-harder">Normal Harder by Dusty Lucite</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Dusty Lucite - Old Feelings (feat. D. Crane)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eeHEe7oUimc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Normal Harder</em> is out now and available from <a href="https://dustylucite.bandcamp.com/album/normal-harder">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Dwi Riana x Julie Meunier &#8211; Elsewhere</h3>
<p>Back in 2023, songwriters <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dwi-riana/">Dwi Riana</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/julie-meunier/">Julie Meunier</a> teamed up for single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/04/27/dwi-riana-julie-meunier-world-war-x/">World War X</a>&#8216;. &#8220;An exchange between lovers which begins as a seemingly innocuous conversation but ratchets up with every sentence,&#8221; as we wrote, &#8220;soon precipitating into an argument which draws the relationship’s tensions out into the open.&#8221; Now the pair have reunited for brand new track &#8216;Elsewhere&#8217;. What they describe as &#8220;a love song for winter,&#8221; the single celebrates those cold days that send you into cosy refuge, as well as the self-reflective peace which descends along with the snow. &#8220;When it snows here in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto">Toronto</a>, I can&#8217;t help but think of where I come from,&#8221; Dwi Riana explains. &#8220;As each snowflake chaotically float along in the air, I think about all the little choices I&#8217;ve made in life to end up here.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="Elsewhere (feat. Julie Meunier)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/acZkeRF3qls?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Elsewhere&#8217; is out now and available from the usual places.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Eli Carvajal &#8211; Fear of Love</h3>
<p>Across a number of albums, London-based songwriter Eli Carvajal has made a name with a markedly unguarded, earnest style, combining folk and pop sensibilities into something at once playful, curious and heartfelt. Following on from 2024 release <em>Eat Shiitake Now</em>, Carvajal is kicking off 2025 with a new single &#8216;Fear of Love&#8217;. It&#8217;s a song of two halves which emerged from a period of transition which in turn suggests his next direction. &#8220;The first [half] came in March 2022, isolated at home in Watford, aching to start a new life in Japan,&#8221; as Carvajal explains. &#8220;The second came a year later in Higashikitazawa, Tokyo, surfacing for air after a year afraid. This is a bridge between my last life and this one, my last album and the next. Hydrangeas were harmed.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1868805779/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://elicarvajal.bandcamp.com/track/fear-of-love">Fear of Love by Eli Carvajal</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Fear of Love&#8217; is out now and available from the Eli Carvajal <a href="https://elicarvajal.bandcamp.com/track/fear-of-love">Bandcamp page</a>. London-based readers can head to Next Door Records W12 in Shepherds Bush on <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bryony-lloyd-eli-carvajal-tickets-1247276420349">Sunday March 16th</a> to catch him live.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Fime &#8211; Better Half of a Dollar</h3>
<p>Having made waves with 2019 EP <em>Sprawl</em>, the rise of Fime was in many ways derailed just as it was beginning, the LA outfit suffering the consequences of 2020 and everything that time brought with it. A period of mourning and self-reflection followed, before they teamed up with Melina Duterte (Jay Som) to record full-length <em>Sweeter Memory</em>, an album which grappled with nostalgia as the bittersweet, counterproductive force it can so often be. With this context in mind, new single &#8216;Better Half of a Dollar&#8217; feels like the dawning of a new era. One which has decided to lift itself from beneath the past and all of its unrealised dreams to contend with the present on its own terms. A song as searing and intense as anything Fime have written to date, with lead Beto Brakmo declining the temptation to retreat into nostalgia, instead staring the precarious, volatile present dead in the eye and refusing to blink.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1204576913/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://fime.bandcamp.com/track/better-half-of-a-dollar">Better Half of A Dollar by Fime</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed by Hailey Ruffner below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Fime - Better Half of A Dollar" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IA5xGnKDVLk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Better Half of a Dollar&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://fime.bandcamp.com/track/better-half-of-a-dollar">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Leoblu &#8211; livingroomfloor</h3>
<p>&#8220;An indie pop song filtered through a digital prism, it combines synths, beats and Carlsson’s signature vocals to create something at once emotional and oddly mesmerising.&#8221; So we wrote of &#8216;PEACHES&#8217; by Åland-born, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/berlin/">Berlin</a>-based producer <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/leoblu/">Leoblu</a> last year, the song continuing the artist&#8217;s willingness to test genre expectations to reach new ground. Latest single &#8216;livingroomfloor&#8217; is no different, evoking the intimate space of its title to explore the immediate experience of love, Leoblu creating a beguiling pop soundscape which is at once grounded and ethereal, alluring and strange. “Love is full of contradictions,” as Leoblu puts it. “It can be overwhelming yet fragile, euphoric yet filled with doubt. &#8216;livingroomfloor&#8217; is about letting yourself feel it all, and trying to stay present in these feelings.”</p>
<p><iframe title="Leoblu - livingroomfloor" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fdoWzrCLpzE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;livingroomfloor&#8217; is out now and available from the <a href="https://www.submithub.com/link/leoblu?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZvRIcvzUiClfiJLVPzUX1DQBMqyWzZKTu2TmI6GF6S5RoM_rUK_V1mMaY_aem_0Y4DVvZzQNfErAR5uk2CDw">usual places</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Mumble Tide &#8211; Pea Soup</h3>
<p>&#8220;Grounds both the style and theme of the album, offering a sound undeniably sad yet reaching towards something more uplifting.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described &#8216;Mawpao&#8217; from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/mumble-tide/">Mumble Tide</a>&#8216;s forthcoming full-length <em>Might As Well Play Another One </em>on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/breakfast-records">Breakfast Records</a>. The song typified a release written as duo Gina Leonard and Ryan Rogers moved through a break-up to genuine friendship. Latest single &#8216;Pea Soup&#8217; embraces this space in all of its contradictions, juxtaposing bright power pop tones with morose bedroom pop reflection to emerge with a picture of a moment with all the dark, light and undecided future left intact. &#8220;&#8216;Pea Soup&#8217; is one big lumpy splurge, Leonard explains, &#8220;scribbled down on a hot day hiding away in my bedroom. It’s a bit of throwback to OG Mumble Tide with a chorus too big to slurp in one go.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=280932048/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3761781835/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mumbletide.bandcamp.com/album/might-as-well-play-another-one">Might As Well Play Another One by Mumble Tide</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by Mumble Tide, with colour and title card by Steph Dutton, below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Mumble Tide -  PEA SOUP (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pmh0ux0YsDg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Might As Well Play Another One</em> will be released via Breakfast Records on the 1st May and you can pre-order it now from the Mumble Tide <a href="https://mumbletide.bandcamp.com/album/might-as-well-play-another-one">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">naya mö &#8211; reverb boy</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured a number of singles from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/naya-mo/">naya mö</a>&#8216;s forthcoming debut EP <em>Dealing With Ghosts</em> in recent months, with &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/18/weekly-listening-november-2024-3/">wanderlust</a>&#8216; &#8220;draw[ing] on the grunge and alt-pop of the nineties and the soaring indie rock of the mid 00s [to create] something that sparkles with possibility despite being coated in gritty fuzz and shadowy reverb&#8221; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/01/16/weekly-listening-january-2025-1/">outsider</a>&#8216; &#8220;tap[ping] into a gauzy shoegaze style to create an enveloping sense of loneliness, though [one] charged with enough energy to face this darkness with a steely defiance.&#8221; Latest track &#8216;reverb boy&#8217; continues the dreamy aesthetic to offer a picture of the titular character—a figure adrift from everything yet able to make his voice heard around the world. &#8220;The EP is about the ghosts that haunt my mind and body—good and bad, dark and light, love and fear,&#8221; Mö explains. &#8220;Shadows of memories, ideas, regret, and people linger in my head. I wrote songs about them and drenched them in distortion, reverb, and fuzz.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="naya mö - reverb boy (video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XFjbSxSMxow?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;reverb boy&#8217; is out now and available from the usual places.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Palmyra &#8211; Arizona</h3>
<p>Emerging from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, Palmyra is a folk rock outfit consisting of trio Teddy Chipouras, Mānoa Bell and Sasha Landon. Next month sees the release of new full-length album <em>Restless</em> on Hey Boy Records, and the band have shared new single &#8216;Arizona&#8217;. Described as &#8220;a little dose of summer in the dead of winter,&#8221; the song evokes the affirming joy of a road trip with a fresh, vivid Americana style, where everyday worries seem to evaporate within the languid rhythms of easy forward motion. &#8220;I was in a haze in Arizona come back won’t it come back,&#8221; as the opening lines detail:</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Hours felt like days and I was happy for the first time in a while<br />
I was at a payphone in Sedona calling someone falling<br />
Up over my head and back to Boston leave me in the desert please</h5>
<h5>Leave me open<br />
Arizona</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe title="Palmyra - &quot;Arizona&quot; (Lyric Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1x94qM15Ewo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Restless</em> is out on the 28th March via Hey Boy Records and you can <a href="https://palmyratheband.bandcamp.com/album/restless">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Triathalon &#8211; RIP</h3>
<p>It is not every day you come across an album built around the maxim &#8216;play this at my funeral,&#8217; but Triathalon&#8217;s forthcoming full-length <em>Funeral Music</em> is exactly that. The New York trio (Adam Intrator, Chad Chilton and Hunter Jayne) thought long and hard about what might soundtrack their respective requiems when writing their fifth record, and the result is perhaps their darkest and most unguarded collection of songs to date. Ahead of its release in May on Lex Records, Triathlon have shared single &#8216;RIP&#8217; to give an indication of the mood. A song so shadowy and dramatic is sounds almost sublime. “The aim for ‘RIP’ was to kick start feelings on what it felt like to listen to a late 90s rock song for the first time as a kid in your parents car in the backseat and asking to hear it louder,&#8221; as Intrator explains. &#8220;‘RIP’ has a double meaning; it’s about both dying and being reborn.”</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3544137476/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1207299311/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://triathalon.bandcamp.com/album/funeral-music">Funeral Music by Triathalon</a></iframe></center><em>Funeral Music</em> will be released on the 16th May via Lex Records and you can <a href="https://triathalon.bandcamp.com/album/funeral-music">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Wishy &#8211; Fly</h3>
<p>Back in January we featured &#8216;Planet Popstar&#8217;, a single by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/wishy/">Wishy</a> from the <em>Triple Seven</em> sessions which saw Kevin Krauter&#8217;s vocals &#8220;[land] somewhere between impassioned and laconic, while supporting harmonies from Nina Pitchkites work to leaven the heavy thicket of guitar to create something almost ethereal,&#8221; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/01/wishy-planet-popstar/">as we wrote</a>. &#8220;And this otherworldly tone is a fitting match for the track’s themes, something of a message beamed into space into the hope it might be received, no matter how far away from earth the recipient might be.&#8221; The Indianapolis outfit have now announced the <em>Planet Popstar </em>EP, coming this spring on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear">Winspear</a>, and latest single &#8216;Fly&#8217; is everything fans of the band have come to love. This time Pitchkites takes lead vocals for a song that looks to move beyond heartbreak with a mix of affirming energy and wistful longing.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Someday, babe, I don’t wanna feel the way<br />
I don’t need to know the taste<br />
Of not being with you</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4257174335/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=38622447/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://wishy.bandcamp.com/album/planet-popstar">Planet Popstar by Wishy</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video below, filmed by Wishy themselves with editing, color grading and title card by Bobby Sheppard:</p>
<p><iframe title="Wishy - Fly (Official Video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-JV3dyxvoM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em><br />
Planet Popstar</em> is out on the 25th April via Winspear and you can <a href="https://wishy.bandcamp.com/album/planet-popstar">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/24/weekly-listening-february-2025-4/">Weekly Listening: February 2025 #4</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">44159</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: February 2025 #1</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/03/weekly-listening-february-2025-1/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:58:09 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Athens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casper Skulls]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Celeste Madden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craig Finn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dead Bandit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Georgia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indecent Artistry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jacob faurholt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kathleen Edwards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Léna Bartels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lucy Liyou]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mumu The Free Diver]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nico Hedley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[north carolina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orange Milk Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Penny Loafer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raleigh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rock For Sale Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sad Club Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tractor Beam]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=44153</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>A.L. West – Rabbitbrush 2 The recording project of Texas musician Daniel Bryson (who also plays drums in Skirts), A.L. West is an outlet for lo-fi bedroom pop meets indie rock. He recently released a new double single, Nothing At All / Rabbitbrush 2, which is the perfect introduction for newcomers. &#8216;Nothing At All&#8217; is a lovely patient indie pop song, but it&#8217;s &#8216;Rabbitbrush 2&#8217; that sees things kicked into another gear. As its name suggests, the track is something [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/03/weekly-listening-february-2025-1/">Weekly Listening: February 2025 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;" data-olk-copy-source="MailCompose">A.L. West – Rabbitbrush 2</h3>
<p>The recording project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Texas">Texas</a> musician Daniel Bryson (who also plays drums in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/skirts">Skirts</a>), <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/AL-West">A.L. West</a> is an outlet for lo-fi bedroom pop meets indie rock. He recently released a new double single, <em>Nothing At All / Rabbitbrush 2</em>, which is the perfect introduction for newcomers. &#8216;Nothing At All&#8217; is a lovely patient indie pop song, but it&#8217;s &#8216;Rabbitbrush 2&#8217; that sees things kicked into another gear. As its name suggests, the track is something of a sequel to one from 2023 A.L. West album <a href="https://alwesttx.bandcamp.com/album/the-store"><em>The Store</em></a>, but whereas the original was a gentle folk-inflected bedroom pop song, ‘Rabbitbrush 2’ is thick with a heavy fuzz, building from lulls of plodding percussion and Bryson’s draw out vocals into peaks of triumphant noise.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=863164287/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=557673073/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://alwesttx.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-at-all-rabbitbrush-2">Nothing at All / Rabbitbrush 2 by a.l. west</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by Alex Montenegro below:</p>
<p><iframe title="A.L. West - Rabbitbrush 2 (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i6and-Zy6RA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Nothing At All / Rabbitbrush 2</em> is out now via the A.L. West <a href="https://alwesttx.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-at-all-rabbitbrush-2">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Casper Skulls &#8211; Roddy Piper</h3>
<p>Turning the page onto a new chapter for the Sudbury/<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/toronto">Toronto</a> indie rock outfit, new album <em>Kit-Cat</em> promises to see <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/casper-skulls/">Casper Skulls</a> push themselves to new heights. Single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/11/18/weekly-listening-november-2024-3/">Spindletop</a>&#8216; introduced this refreshed sound, drawing on <em>There Will Be Blood </em>to create a moody, ominous atmosphere, and now &#8216;Roddy Piper&#8217; introduces a more energetic and soaring dimension. Drawing on the titular figure, the track uses a wrestling analogy to explore confrontation within a relationship, the combination of upbeat rhythm and fuzzy weight evoking the dramatic ups and downs of a choreographed bout. Watch the Mortal Kombat-inspired video, directed by Curtis Carriere and Jordan Vandenberg (of Goodscreen Media) along with the band themselves, below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Casper Skulls - Roddy Piper (OFFICIAL VIDEO)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G9D4T354hj0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Kit-Cat</em> will be released on the 11th April via Next Door Records and you can <a href="https://casperskulls.bandcamp.com/album/kit-cat">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Celeste Madden &#8211; Lapdog</h3>
<p>Having signed with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sad-club-records/">Sad Club Records</a>, recent months have seen <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/celeste-madden/">Celeste Madden</a> unveil a handful of singles, with tracks like &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/22/celeste-madden-joan-of-arc/">Joan of Arc</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/12/09/weekly-listening-december-2024-2/">Fever Dream</a>&#8216; embodying the London-based songwriter&#8217;s singular style. Songs both unashamedly melodramatic and undeniably strange, drawing the listener directly into Madden&#8217;s psyche so that we too might experience the diverse range of moods and feelings therein. Having announced that EP <em>Is It Really Goodnight?</em> will be released next month, Madden has now returned with new single &#8216;Lapdog&#8217;. Another dreamlike folk song where placid surfaces hide a roiling depth beneath, reflecting on difficult experiences in order to exorcise the hold of the past.</p>
<p><iframe title="Celeste Madden - Lapdog (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aOcFpBaw8YE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;Lapdog&#8217; is out now and available via the Celeste Madden <a href="https://celestemadden.bandcamp.com/track/lapdog-2">Bandcamp page</a>. <em>Is It Really Goodnight?</em> will be released on the 27th March via Sad Club Records.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Craig Finn &#8211; People of Substance</h3>
<p>Anyone who caught <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/craig-finn">Craig Finn</a> on his This Is What It Looks Like tour last autumn will be champing at the bit for a new album, Finn using the solo sets to introduce a number of new narrative-driven songs full of the detail, emotion and empathy which has so long marked his work. The record, it turns out, is called <em>Always Been</em>, and will be released this spring. A fitting addition to Finn&#8217;s oeuvre in the year <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-hold-steady">The Hold Steady</a>&#8216;s <em>Separation Sunday</em> celebrates its twentieth anniversary, the album traces the arc of a protagonist through a rise and fall and eventual redemption, the character committing the life of a priest despite his lack of faith. A whole cast of characters pass into the frame within the telling of this story, but for now we have single &#8216;People of Substance&#8217; as a glimpse at the world within.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1305147771/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1256521644/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://craigfinn.bandcamp.com/album/always-been">Always Been by Craig Finn</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the visualizer by David Kelling below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Craig Finn - People Of Substance" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ckhsMBuUWIM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Always Been</em> is out on the 4th April and you can <a href="https://craigfinn.bandcamp.com/album/always-been">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Dead Bandit &#8211; Pink</h3>
<p>&#8220;Something of a landscape,&#8221; was how we described <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dead-bandit/">Dead Bandit</a>&#8216;s self-titled album, coming soon on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/quindi-records/">Quindi Records</a>, in a preview <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/01/20/dead-bandit-glass-half-smoked-cigarette/">back in January</a>. &#8220;One rural in tone which seems at once physical and emotional. Often stark and severe in its loneliness, a kind of haunted prairie or steppe, yet often possessing some kind of yearning fondness for the wide open space.&#8221; New single &#8216;Pink&#8217; furthers the style. A cryptic, slow-building number which possesses a kind of shadowed mystery, the layered guitar and creeping beats never puncturing the understated air, as though the truth of the track is always drifting just out of view.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=486453326/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2322171278/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://deadbanditmusic.bandcamp.com/album/dead-bandit">Dead Bandit by Dead Bandit</a></iframe></center><em>Dead Bandit</em> will be released on the 14th March via Quindi Records and you can pre-order it now from <a href="https://deadbanditmusic.bandcamp.com/album/dead-bandit">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Jacob Faurholt &#8211; I Will Hold You</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured the prolific <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/denmark/">Danish</a> songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/jacob-faurholt/">Jacob Faurholt</a> multiple times in recent years, an outsider artist in the vein of Daniel Johnston and co. who looks to explore existential themes via lo-fi, idiosyncratic combination of folk, rock and pop. Recorded in the room beneath his children&#8217;s bedroom while they were asleep, the most recent release of Faurholt&#8217;s we covered <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/12/18/weekly-listening-december-2023-3/">embraced a hushed style</a>, but new single &#8216;I Will Hold You&#8217; pivots away from this entirely. It was written in the aftermath of a Dinosaur Jr. gig, post-show tinnitus still ringing, which anchors its poignant emotion and melodies with a dense undercurrent of noise.</p>
<p><iframe title="I Will Hold You" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3dLqyULu1d4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8216;I Will Hold You&#8217; is out now and available from <a href="https://jacobfaurholt.bandcamp.com/">the usual places</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Léna Bartels &#8211; January is the Loneliest Month</h3>
<p><em>It&#8217;s Gonna be a Wonderful New Year</em>, a split between NYC’s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Lena-Bartels">Léna Bartels</a> and <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/nico-hedley/">Nico Hedley</a>, is the first release on new label <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Rock-For-Sale-Records">Rock For Sale Records</a> who release music on cassette tapes and not streaming services. Bartels and Hedley have collaborated across a range of projects (both realised and not quite), and this EP is from the intimate end of the spectrum. The pair describe it as a collection of “songs from winter. Songs for the new year. Songs to get by by,” and if lead single, Bartels’s ‘January is the Loneliest Month’ is anything to go by, it makes good on the promise of its admirably optimistic title. Though not with saccharine cheerfulness but a quiet persistence and steady belief in new beginnings.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1685567337/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=483869395/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://rock4sale.bandcamp.com/album/its-gonna-be-a-wonderful-new-year-2">It&#8217;s Gonna Be a Wonderful New Year by Léna Bartels</a></iframe></center><em>It&#8217;s Gonna Be a Wonderful New Year</em> will release via Rock For Sale Records on 28th February. Pre-order it now from <a href="https://rock4sale.bandcamp.com/album/its-gonna-be-a-wonderful-new-year-2">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lucy Liyou &#8211; Arrested</h3>
<p>&#8216;Arrested&#8217; is the lead single from <em>Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name</em>, the new record from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lucy-liyou">Lucy Liyou</a>. Released next month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/orange-milk-records">Orange Milk Records</a>, the album promises to be the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Los-Angeles">Los Angeles</a> musician&#8217;s most pop-oriented to date, but anyone expecting a collection of up-tempo dancefloor fillers might be disappointed. As &#8216;Arrested&#8217; attests, Liyou&#8217;s distinctive style is far more complex than that, possessing both a fragile minimalism and lush melodrama, the understated ethereality of the sound and poignant longing of the vocals combining into a reflective and melancholic mood. The sensation of watching a fond memory fade at the edges as the desire to return to its smallest details only grows.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4170129969/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3997319571/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://lucyliyou.bandcamp.com/album/every-video-without-your-face-every-sound-without-your-name">Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name by Lucy Liyou</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video shot and directed by Park Seung Won below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Arrested (Visual)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QGercocdlMM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name</em> is out on the 21st March via Orange Milk Records and you can <a href="https://lucyliyou.bandcamp.com/album/every-video-without-your-face-every-sound-without-your-name">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Mumu The Free Diver &#8211; Blossoms</h3>
<p>The project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Raleigh">Raleigh</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/north-carolina">NC</a>-based singer-songwriter Aki Laakso, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Mumu-the-free-diver">Mumu The Free Diver</a> offers an evocative brand of indie folk which embraces the authenticity of the DIY aesthetic. Recorded at home with what Laakso describes as &#8220;a cheap mic, an old guitar and a bargain-bin audio interface,&#8221; new song &#8216;Blossoms&#8217; swaps out technical polish for a sense of immediacy, sounding like a direct communication from within a moment of grief-stricken vulnerability. But don&#8217;t let the description fool you, for though the arrangement is based around acoustic guitar and humble, near-spoken vocals, the track possesses a real sense of richness too. As though through its unguarded nature flows a certain intensity, be it born of compassion, panic, plain hard longing, or indeed a combination of all three.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=252296172/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mumuthefreediver.bandcamp.com/track/blossoms">Blossoms by Mumu The Free Diver</a></iframe></center><em>Blossoms</em> is out now and available from the Mumu The Free Diver <a href="https://mumuthefreediver.bandcamp.com/track/blossoms">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Penny Loafer &#8211; Fridge</h3>
<p>Consisting of Emma Barnes (vocals, guitar, keys) and Seth Parker (drums, percussion), <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Penny-Loafer">Penny Loafer</a> make self-described “post-college rock” which draws from nineties heavyweights like Fugazi and Sonic Youth to offer songs about everyday life which nevertheless possess real weight and bite. With debut EP <em>Daily Deal</em> set for release via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/indecent-artistry">Indecent Artistry</a> next month, the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/athens">Athens</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/georgia">GA</a>-duo have shared single &#8216;Fridge&#8217;. It&#8217;s an example of all the ingredients which make the Penny Loafer sound so enticing, with deadpan observation and wry humour meeting tangible heft, all strung together by a chugging momentum which pulls the audience along for the ride. A little bit salty, a little bit sweet and with a noticeable acidic edge.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3289406932/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://pennyloafer.bandcamp.com/track/fridge">Fridge by Penny Loafer</a></iframe></center><em>Daily Deal</em> will be out on the 28th March via Indecent Artistry.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Tractor Beam &#8211; SHOW YOU</h3>
<p>&#8220;Draws from across the ages in their work, owing as much to 00s indie as 60s folk, and all wrapped up the the contemporary DIY aesthetic, leading to a sound both emotionally immediate and tangibly nostalgic.&#8221; So we wrote of Toronto-born, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/vancouver">Vancouver</a>-based artist <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tractor-beam/">Tractor Beam</a> back <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/07/18/weekly-listening-july-2023-3/">in 2023</a>. Now Sasha Balazic and co. are set to return with <em>Monoliths &amp; The Early Reflection</em>, and latest single &#8216;SHOW YOU&#8217; sees the outfit combine their usual freak folk sensibilities and a more chaotic noise pop style within a single track. The result feels like witnessing a band solidify their ambitions in real time, expanding the possibilities of the Tractor Beam project and pushing closer to their final form. Watch the video directed by Aiden Millroy below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Tractor Beam - SHOW YOU [Official Video]" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/csiDxGzImfE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Monoliths &amp; The Early Reflection</em> is out on the 19th February via Good Stones // Calm Water.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/02/03/weekly-listening-february-2025-1/">Weekly Listening: February 2025 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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