Song list:

Options – Waiting
2nd Grade – Favorite Song
Alexander – Going to Sleep
Ryan Van Gonten – Fabrique
Haunted Continents – What Were You Born For?
Weakened Friends – Blue Again
Shybaby – Lazy Hazy
Frankie Valet – April
Primo! – You’ve Got a Million
Hypoluxo – Kentucky Smooth
Basement Revolver – Knocking
Dead Painters – Output
HALEY – Infinite Pleasure Part 2
Doe – Heated
Ing – Dust
Benjamin Shaw – Terrible Feelings!
internet boy crush – ghost friend
lowly loverboi – Dumb Phone
Dead Tooth – Liars
Kin Hana – You
Bodega – The Truth is Not Punishment
The Cordial Sins – Not Enough
Indoor Cats – Fun 2
Upstairs – Trust the Process
Sabriel’s Orb – Holding
John Atkinson – Bakwaves // Rye
Fanclub – Leaves
The Chairman Dances – Acme Parking Garage
Con Davison – Talk
Ivy Dye – Diminish
Elizabeth Owens – I Long
The Last Bison – Don’t Look Away
Our Fastest Typist – It’s Nice Outside, but My Head is Killing Me

You can find all of our monthly round-up posts here, and our complete array of mixtapes here.

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

You might recognise Douglas from the solo project under their own name, with the excellent our lady star of the sea, help and protect us released by Team Love Records last year. While lowly loverboi operate with something of a different tone (in no small part thanks to the Casio keyboards), the strong and imaginative writing perseveres. ‘Dumb Phone’ unfurls in hypnotic rhythm, the playful digital bloops of the keyboard lending a naivety familiar to the twee folk pop genre, though Douglas’ vocals maintain an amusing self-awareness that subverts kitschy performance into something more earnest and winsome.

“47 voicemails
half are from my grammy
the other half are robots
sent from space to scam me

i know when i’ve lost control
you know you wont stop”

‘Graveyards in Space’ is more reminiscent of Tica Douglas’ solo work, a rich and detailed song that balances small observations and details with confessional emotion, all bound together by an encompassing warmth. The Casio still present though slightly more jaded, fading back into nostalgic haze that eventually comes to incorporate whistling too, producing the kind of disarming sadness that comes with the passing of time.

“spent my morning with two sisters of mercy
sister pat and in the front sister eileen
eastern parkway’s where i learned their history
gave her three options, she chose to be at peace”

We’re delighted to be able to share a special double feature for the release. Shot, directed and edited by Pizzo, the film is essentially two music videos back to back, though the flow from one to another allows for a degree of narrative progression and thematic linkage that might not be otherwise present. Act 1, aka ‘Dumb Phone’, finds Douglas and Nelson in a park, shooting hoops and playing with dogs and generally having a good time. The scene is in stark contrast to Act 2, ‘Graveyards in Space’ set to the pair wandering a cemetery in low evening light, the contemplative flip-side to the carefree spirit of the first.

However, the more you watch the features, the more such a juxtaposition seems to fade. Both videos are concerned with life, with being alive, and both seem set up to best capture the moments when this feeling is most striking.

Dumb Phone / Graveyards in Space is out now and you can snag it from the lowly loverboi Bandcamp page.

album artwork by alabaster pizzo

The post lowly loverboi – Dumb Phone / Graveyards in Space appeared first on Various Small Flames.