‘sleepy baby club’ sets the vibe from the off. A song which embraces Maya Lucia’s trademark balance of emotion and energy to explore “a decidedly pessimistic present without losing hope of something better just over the hill,” as we put in our preview. “All delivered with an infectious pop rock bounce.” With yelling neighbours and thwarted fun, ‘spinelli’ captures the angst and injustice of an energetic kid, though turns its attention to a more present melancholy too. That youthful melodrama which we noted on ‘numb or something’ rearing its head once more.

But despite what the clichés might tell us, young melodrama comes as a veritable rainbow of moods, and like Lucia’s nuanced picture of nostalgia, miss girl world paints with them all.  Closer ‘another day another night’ opens with the slow sway of heartbreak but channels its own confident swagger, while ‘pbr’ strips things back to ponder the past more clearly. “Oh I wish I would’ve known / how things were gonna go,” the track muses, but in lieu of clairvoyance Maya Lucia is left with the only thing remaining. The present moment in all of its dragging heat and confusion.

On the lawn drinking Sundays PBR
This the longest summer by far
In the mirror staring at old scars
I don’t know who you are

The song comes complete with a video directed, produced and edited by Jack Campise along with director of photography Taylor Tomlinson and colourist Cameron Marygold:

miss girl world is out now and available from the Maya Lucia Bandcamp page.

The post Maya Lucia – miss girl world appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“I tend to get lost in nostalgia—fixated on the past, out-of-touch with the present, uninterested in the future,” explains Balto lead Daniel Sheron. The Californian outfit’s latest single ‘Spanish Wine’ confronts this habit head on, albeit with digressions toward trysts in laundromats, conga lines in Cuba and the ghost of an imagined future with no distinction between state and civil society. “I wrote this song in the height of the pandemic as a rejection of that concept,” Sheron continues. “I needed a reminder that the past is an illusion—it doesn’t exist anymore!”

Big Joanie – In My Arms

London punk trio Big Joanie return later this year with new album Gone Home on Kill Rock Stars and the Daydream Library Series from Ecstatic Peace Library. A record which promises to examine the concept of home in all of its variety, be it where we’ve come from, where we’re going, or some imagined place we work towards and dream about. Single ‘In My Arms’ combines these elements of past and future, reflecting on fond memories as a way to instigate a desired future. Check out the video directed by Lydia Garnett below:

Back Home is out via Kill Rock Stars and Ecstatic Peace Library on the 4th November and you can pre-order it now.

Butch Wifey – Eighteen

Based in Boise, Idaho, Butch Wifey is the recording project of Chloe Ponder, who makes indie pop songs she says “aim to dredge up the uncomfortable feelings associated with queer relationships.” Her latest single ‘Eighteen’ draws upon two periods of anxiety faced several years apart. The first was leaving home for the first time at eighteen, and the second was early-twenties romantic troubles, both of which elicited a similar sense of unease and confusion. But for all the discomfort of the subject matter, the single is ostensibly a slick and summery pop song, Ponder’s vocals providing a nostalgic and wistful edge.

Canary – i used to write you love songs

If there seems to be something of a paradox at work on ‘i used to write you love songs’, the latest single from Pennsylvania‘s Canary, then it’s one which depends on the definition of a love song. Because though the track has all of the tenderness and contemplation of a classic love song, it doesn’t take long for the track to reveal its fangs. By the time Zach Dennis’s guitar goes spiralling and Kat Leverenz sings the titular refrain, it becomes clear this isn’t a love song at all, at least not in the usual sense. What begins soft and sedate blooms into a heavy and dynamic exploration of heartbreak and betrayal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1MYacMeP9s&ab_channel=Canary

‘i used to write you love songs’ is out now and available on streaming services.

Couch Prints – All I Know

Described as “centred around the American car crash,” New York-based Couch Prints’ forthcoming mixtape Waterfall looks to capture the contemporary moment. The project of Jayanna Roberts, Brandon Tong, and Jacob Truax, Couch Prints make synth pop that’s equal parts danceable and introspective, and latest single ‘All I Know’ represents perhaps their furthest foray into the latter aspect of their sound. The song is “a simple expression of the unease caused by the boundless media and content of the modern world,” say the band, “an ode to ignorance is bliss”. Sonically it feels like a balm for this sensory overload, stripping back the dance elements to leave a gently spacious song built on gentle guitar and Roberts’ soft vocals.

dani mack – fleabag

We first featured dani mack, the project of Baylee Barrett, back in April when we covered her single ‘Someday’, released via LA label Future Gods. We called it “bright and disarmingly straightforward…weav[ing] a careful balance between strength and vulnerability.” Now Barrett returns with a new single, ‘fleabag’, a taut and irreverent pop song about trying to let go of residual shame. “In simplest terms, which most can relate to, it’s a nod to dating and how terrible it is,” Barrett explains. “[But] on a deeper level, it’s a song about my own sexual repression and my difficulties with casual relationships. I grew up a devout Christian and letting go of the guilt that was instilled in me from such a young age is still something I still struggle with. There’s still a little part of me that’s afraid that come judgment day.”

‘fleabag’ is available now via streaming services.

Fusilier – No Words

Fusilier is the project of Atlanta-born, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Blake Fusilier. Later this month he will release a new EP, Treason, which promises to explore themes of selfhood, alienation and belonging in a style that draws on a diversity of influences, from Bill Withers and Fela Kuti to TV on the Radio and Nine Inch Nails. But as lead single ‘No Words’ shows, the result is something wholly his own, sleek and sinuous yet charged with a desire to make meaningful change. Namely through a reframing of the self within a wider picture, reaffirming one’s own ability to define themselves beyond whatever outside forces might think or want them to be. As Fusilier puts it, the song is about “letting go of the thought that I’m not the main character in my own story.”

Maya Lucia – numb or something

‘numb or something’ is the latest single by indie rock artist Maya Lucia, who makes angsty and exuberant songs that allow her to vent her emotions in the healthiest way possible. Taken from a forthcoming album, miss girl world, the song is a great introduction for newcomers, a stormy and infectious pop song that’s noisy enough to purge any lingering frustrations. “This is the song you scream in your room after a long day,” Lucia describes. “It’s melodrama at its core — the feeling of the world ending only to realize you’re crying over nothing.”

You wouldn’t care if I went and disappeared
You wouldn’t care if I drowned myself in tears

miss girl world comes out on August 19th and you can preorder it from the Maya Lucia Bandcamp page.

 Mol Sullivan – Deep End Dive

Cincinnati‘s Mol Sullivan has made a name over the last decade making earnest and unflinchingly intimate songs leavened with pop melodies and confident vocals. Latest single ‘Deep End Dive’ is described as “a reflection of a regretful approach to a loved one,” and combines difficult soul searching with feelings of growth and hope. Born of Sullivan’s recent sobriety, the track displays a genuine sense of self-reflection and reconciliation, a clear mind piercing the storm clouds of the past and allowing more positive progress into the future.

‘Deep End Dive’ is out now and available from the Mol Sullivan Bandcamp page.

Prudence – Waste Some Time

The recording project of Sydney‘s Tom Crandles, Prudence makes what we’ve described previously as “human traits wrapped up in a gloominess as grey and chilly as the Cold War-era of the post-punk and new wave it references, revealed only in the intermittent illuminations made so prominent by the twilit tones.” New album Negatives looks to continue the aesthetic, a fitting soundtrack for the troubled world in which it was created. Lead single ‘Waste Some Time’ introduces the shadowy and conflicted atmosphere, a lean and linear pop song that’s all sinew and forward motion, forgoing the repetition of the conventional verse-chorus structure.

Negatives is out on 26th August and you can pre-order it now from the Prudence Bandcamp page.

Snake Lips – Braindead II

After a series of releases on Repeating Cloud and Totally Real Records, Portland, Maine’s Snake Lips have unveiled brand new record Happy Anxious. The title feels like the perfect fit for their hectic sound, lead Cody Mitchell’s vocals delivered with both volatility and wry humour, as though strung out between hope and despair and choosing to ride the instability. Single ‘Braindead II’ sets the mood, its lo-fi punk style barrelling along with real pace as Mitchell shouts, shrieks and smirks about the hand life has dealt him.

Zack Keim – Canyon

Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Zack Keim cut his teeth in music from an early age, forming bands from his early teens and touring as the frontperson of punk outfit Nox Boys when only sixteen. But, despite the band’s success, his creativity wasn’t satisfied, turning to solo work as a new outlet with the 2017 album First Step. New single ‘Canyon’ represents Keim’s first solo work since, emerging from some major life changes as well as the usual global turmoil with a newfound freshness and confidence. A bright-eyed refusal to back down from his passions and will to create, and perhaps the first time he has really started to develop his artistic voice.

The post Weekly Listening: August 2022 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

US-born, Sydney-based songwriter Ainsley Farrell is set to release her album Dirt later this year, and new single ‘The Way Back’ gives an indication of what is to come. With its careful yet constant rhythm, the song faces up to suffering with a steely determination, urging anyone struggling to hold on a little longer until the clouds begin to break. Farrell wrote the song while a close friend experienced a difficult period, channelling her feelings of futility at being unable to help from a distance into a kind of promise. An insistence that things will not always be this way. “This song is metaphorically holding her in the light, holding some of that pain for her,” as Farrell puts it. “Until she’s ready to put one foot in front of the other and realize it’s worth sticking it out in this world.”

Attia Taylor – S/T

Out next month via Lame-O Records, Space Ghost is the debut album of songwriter and activist Attia Taylor. Taking it’s name from the absurd Hanna-Barbera cartoon, the record draws upon childhood memories within its psych-inflected style, taking the best and worst of the past in order to craft the possibility of healing in the present. The title track is a great entry point, its lush 60s aesthetic populated by Taylor’s confident delivery, though beneath the florid surface lies something more uncertain as she explores her relationship with her mother and their hit-and-miss attempts at connection.

The Burning Hell – The Last Normal Day

Garbage Island. No, it’s not the new official title of the United Kingdom but the forthcoming album by Canadian outfit The Burning Hell on BB*Island. Led by songwriter Mathias Kom along with with multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll and a variety of rotating guests, the band make everything from tongue-in-cheek anti-folk to racing indie rock. Latest single ‘The Last Normal Day’ sees the likes of Nick Ferrio join the gang to weave a bright and mischievous ode to a pre-apocalyptic world. A track which might be terrifying if it wasn’t so much fun.

Watching things get destroyed, a
Brand new schadenfreude
Crept into our conversations
And our dreams

Garbage Island is out on the 24th June via BB Island and you can pre-order it now.

dampsquib – a new slice of pie

The moniker of Brighton born multi-instrumentalist Matt Farrugia, dampsquib takes a heap of experience working in ambient, art rock and pop styles and combines into its own singular entity. His forthcoming EP is described as a “smorgasbord of musical ideas,” refusing to sit still in any one genre in its quest for experimental and improvisational sounds, and single ‘a new slice of piece’ gives one example of what such a process might sound like. Ambient Rhodes and piano lines coalesce with Farrugia’s vocals, the looping Wurlitzer supported by drums run through a tape machine to achieve that trademark 90s texture.

Doll Spirit Vessel – Train Brain Rot

“Write another half song / Grief under a summer sun,” opens ‘Train Brain Rot by Kati Malison’s Doll Spirit Vessel project. “Dead flies in the candle crater / Promised that I’d call you later / But I’m not me, this is a shell of someone.” The lead single from debut album What Stays which is coming later this summer on Disposable America, the song hints at both the band’s wry humour and questioning tone, the slacker-esque sound refusing to settle for easy comforts even as it invites identity crises to the door. Check out the video directed by Jon Cox and Kati Malison below:

What Stays is out on the 12th August via Disposable America and you can pre-order it now from Bandcamp.

elison – Covered Me

Writing about single ‘Hopes & Horoscopes‘ back in January, we described the work of Des Moines duo Elison as “distinctive balance between tender emotion and gauzy soundscapes” which the band used to “confront bad habits and vices, from mourning unrealised dreams to becoming lost in superstition or introspection.” New single ‘Covered Me’ adds a sense of momentum to the style, the insistent drums evoking a certain tension as elison chart a troubled relationship with a narcissistic partner.

You’re the reason I don’t trust myself
With me you’re someone else
Nothing you say is true
Cause you want everyone to love you

Frank Meadows – Dead Weight

To call Frank Meadows’s forthcoming record Dead Weight a country album is both entirely fitting and slightly reductive, drawing as it does from a rich array of influences scattered across the American continent. Out next month on Ruination Record Co., the release sees the Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist look to the various stops of his past in order to more fully realise the current moment, stringing the pearls together with a palpable momentum which gives the whole thing an affirming air. The title track is as good an introduction as any, full of the warmth and self-reflection with marks the record thanks to Meadows’s piano-led style and contributions from the likes of Michael Cormier O’Leary, Oliver Kalb and Winston Cook-Wilson.

Maja Lena – No More Flowers

Ahead of forthcoming album Pluto on Chiverin Records, Maja Lena has shared brand new single, ‘No More Flowers’. With bucolic folk and cosmic synth sounds, the song explores the way in which friendships can change or end, and acknowledges that sometimes it is better to walk away rather than try to resuscitate something outside of your control. Like much of the record, imagery and ideas are drawn from fictional sources, in this case a particular branch of animation. “I’d been re-watching Studio Ghibli films at the time and fell in love with some of the earlier heavily synth driven soundtracks,” Lena explains. “I liked the idea of some the parts sounding like creatures from another world in conversation with each other, which Rob [Pemberton] managed to emulate better than I could imagine.” Check out Martha Webb’s video below:

Pluto is out via Chiverin Records on the 18th November. You can buy the single via Bandcamp.

Maya Lucia – sleepy baby club

We first covered Maya Lucia with the release of lashing out back in 2019, an EP which signalled a pivot from love ballads into rambunctious garage rock. New record miss girl world builds upon these foundations, again channelling the mischief and exaggerated pain of youth into something full of both fun and heart. Described as “an internal dialogue of growing up and moving on,” single ‘sleepy baby club’ song faces a decidedly pessimistic present without losing hope of something better just over the hill, all delivered with an infectious pop rock bounce.

Touch the Clouds – Feeling Light

With members of Few and Far Between, King For A Day, Lovesick, and others, Touch the Clouds is something of a Detroit scene supergroup. With equal parts pop and punk, the band combine the energy of post-hardcore with the invention of space rock, allowing infectious harmonies and vast ambient textures to coexist with the same song. Take ‘Feeling Light’, the first track from a forthcoming Touch the Clouds album, a song full of impassioned energy and left-field turns which combines emo earnestness with a transportive atmosphere.

I’m feeling light
floating right
in tune with ultraviolet I’m set free

TOLEDO – L-Train

New York‘s TOLEDO have released brand new single ‘L-Train’ with Grand Jury Music, a track which finds Dan Álvarez de Toledo and Jordan Dunn-Pilz confront the struggles of living and creating within the contemporary moment. ‘L-Train’ was “written at a low point for the both of us,” the band explain. “We had just moved to Bushwick and started playing shows every week. We were drinking and partying and losing sight of ourselves.” The age-old paradox of the touring musician, where a career expressing yourself can turn upside down, pushing the truth further away.

each morning I wake up
the headache
the shape of release still far from my doorbell
and I don’t wanna do this anymore
i wanna know me better

Check out the animated video by Kohana Wilson below:

‘L-Train’ is out now via Grand Jury Music and is available from the TOLEDO Bandcamp page.

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Black Sea Dahu – Thaw
Will Henriksen – Nothing Left Behind
Dehd – Letter
Hovvdy – Ruin (my ride)
Maya Lucia – preteen
They Are Gutting A Body of Water – french
Jason Calhoun – moving
Dilary Huff – Overused Sayings
Two Meters – The Nightmare
Dead Painters – Marigold
The Deer – Confetti To The Hurricane
Pastel – Moon Landing
Hit Like A Girl – No More Dysphoria
Basement Revolver – Master’s Degree
Bodies on the Beach – Ghost
Highnoon – Lens
Distant Reader – Marie
Drakes Island – 4 Days
Wet Dream – Worried
Best Mann – Must Be Wrong
The Funs – Trains Across The Sea
Ganser – Buio
Nothings – Favorite Shirt
Corinne Sharlet – Hail Mary
ahem – Halloween
Max and the Martians – Please Hold On
A.S. Wilson – Taken Apart
Béret – Book of Hera
Joel Jerome – There’s Nothing Here To Bother You Anymore
Carpet City – Little Longer
Hannah Cranton – Kite
Zachary Lucky – Didn’t Know That You’d Come Along
Wintersleep – Fading Out
Coral – find me wrong
Boo Baby – “Jazz?”
Margaux – Palm

Check out our previous Monthly Roundup playlists, and be sure to read our Reviews and Previews throughout the month.

The post October 2019 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Ganser – Buio

Chicago post-punk outfit Ganser are set to release a new EP, You Must Be New Here next week. “We keep saying this EP feels like a confectionery,” explains Nadia Garofalo, though if this has you expecting something sugary sweet and superficial then you would be very much mistaken. Because far from being throwaway, nutritionally-poor treats, “[Confectionery] can hold significant symbolism, seen as a more precious sustenance, celebratory, comforting or a show of gratitude.” Garofalo continues. “We assign moral weight to them and to ourselves for consuming them, ‘I’ve been so bad’ or ‘I shouldn’t.’”

Led by Alicia Gaines, single ‘Buio’ gives an insight into what to expect, complete with a confectionery filled video. With an angular and pervasive tempo, the track forms uncomfortable atmosphere, unease extending into the lyrics too. “I won’t pretend I know anymore,” sings Gaines, “I don’t even know what I like anymore.” The mood serves as an interesting exploration of the artist-audience relationship, as well as wider concerns related to authenticity and truth within any form of communication.

You Must Be New Here is out on the 8th November and you can pre-order it now from the Ganser Bandcamp page.

A.S. Wilson – Taken Apart

‘Taken Apart’ is the first single from Convinced Friend, the forthcoming album from Providence, RI-based songwriter A.S. Wilson. The song introduces an aesthetic that’s rooted in stark emotionally-wrought folk a la Jurado or Bazan. Wilson says the album will “deal with characters realizing that suffering doesn’t make us unique,” and so perhaps unsurprisingly it’s on the downtempo end of the spectrum. But there’s more to A.S. Wilson than mopey folk. There’s a glimmer around the edges, supple and gauzy dream pop elements illuminate the track from within, resulting in something that’s ultimately quietly uplifting. Something that, as Wilson puts it, might “open the door past solipsism into empathy.”

‘Taken Apart’ is out now and available via the A.S. Wilson Bandcamp page, and keep your eyes peeled for further news on Convinced Friend in spring 2020.

Béret – Book of Hera

Béret is the project of Seattle’s Ian Kurtis Crist, who makes Velvet Underground style minimalist post-punk. The new Béret record, Jesus White, is out later this month on Born Yesterday Records, and in the meantime we have some advanced singles to increase the anticipation.

Latest offering ‘Book of Hera’ promises to be one of the album’s “emotional peaks”, a song that Crist tells Post-Trash is intended to explore the “blurriness between the want and the need for human compassion and understanding.” It’s a good introduction to Jesus White precisely because it sounds quite unlike anything else on the record. Béret’s approach is at once careful and intuitive, the songs fitting together more like elements of an artwork than a traditional album. All of which means Jesus White is one to spend some time with once it’s released.

Joel Jerome – There’s Nothing Here To Bother You Anymore

The latest offering from Dangerbird Records‘ Microdose singles series (like the Milly release we wrote about last month), ‘There’s Nothing Here To Bother You Anymore’ shows off the psychedelic folk talents of California’s Joel Jerome at their very best. Blending a sunny energy with a western twang and a slice of psychedelic heartbreak, the single is firmly rooted in the bittersweet rhythms of life.

The song therefore has a dual spirit, on the one hand perfect for soundtracking the warmest days with its effervescent air, yet also possessing a wistful tone, as though all the while aware that the seasons pass all the same.

‘There’s Nothing Here To Bother You Anymore’ is out now via Dangerbird Records.

Hit Like A Girl – No More Dysphoria

Hit Like A Girl is the recording project of Nicolle Maroulis from Montclair, New Jersey, starting out as an acoustic solo endeavour before evolving into a full band. Maroulis also runs the non-profit No More Dysphoria, which seeks to provide emotional and financial support for people going through the transition process.

The band and charity operate according to the same aim, and latest single ‘No More Dysphoria’ is something like a title track for Maroulis’s work. Describing themselves as a “non-binary Rosie The Riveter for young adults struggling with their identity,” Maroulis uses Hit Like A Girl as a vehicle for their goals, extending the support they offer to LGBTQ+ people from the practical stuff of the non-profit to the intangible but no less important influence of music, showing that identity need not be a barrier to art, and furthermore can act as the binding force within a community.

Carpet City – Little Longer

The solo recording project of Jack Ventimiglia, Carpet City makes a downbeat and emotionally resonant brand of bedroom pop. So far we only have debut single ‘Little Longer’ to go on, though the track marks the act as one to watch for sure. With its moody, melancholic sound that nevertheless captures a distinctive empathy, the song reminds us that emotions are temporary, that “feelings are just feelings, and they will pass eventually.” The trick is therefore to ride out the storm. As Ventimiglia continues, “When it seems hopeless, you just need to wait a little longer.”

asking for a friend
how you been doin
in this crazy world
with your crazy heart
won’t it fall apart again?

it only hurts right now
just a little longer

Zachary Lucky – Didn’t Know That You’d Come Along

A songwriter in the traditional sense of the word, Saskatoon’s Zachary Lucky cut his musical teeth on the road, playing hundreds of dates a year as he blew through towns and played his songs to whoever was listening. “I never felt the need to come home” he says, “because there was never anything waiting for me there.” Fast forward a decade and things are changing, a family waiting at home in Ontario changing his whole perspective.

Forthcoming album Midwestern confronts the change, delving into the experiences of fatherhood as well as change both personal and global, wondering whether his daughters will experience the same Canadian prairies that he found himself traversing. Lead single ‘Didn’t Know That You’d Come Along’ serves as an introduction into Lucky’s new situation, balancing the joy of kinship with the allure of the road and seeing which way the scales fall.

Seen the sun rise over the mountain peaks
I drove a thousand miles to feel so free
I always thought I would die alone
I didn’t know you would come along

Midwestern is out on the 18th October and you can pre-order it now.

Maya Lucia – preteen

When Maya Lucia was in high school, she told her friends that she liked a boy, only for the guy to find out and come up with the coup de grace of any adolescent. “Isn’t she like a preteen?” he asked, perhaps aware of the insult or perhaps not. Either way, the experience forms the basis of ‘preteen’, the first single from Lucia latest EP, lashing out, where Lucia reclaims the term to describe “someone who is constantly lashing out and just upset[ing] everyone.

Where her previous releases were firmly in the love ballad camp, the song marks a change of direction, pushing into a rambunctious garage rock sound while still giving her strong vocals room to hold centre stage. The result is as sweet and stroppy as any moody child, so lean into your angsty side and let Maya Lucia take you back to the melodrama of youth.

Wintersleep – Free Fall / Fading Out

Mainstays of the Canadian indie rock canon, Wintersleep have made a habit of writing anthemic and often existential songs that run the gamut between triumphant and brooding. In the wake of full-length album In the Land Of, released this March and earning a place on the Polaris Prize longlist, the band are releasing two singles, ‘Free Fall’ and ‘Fading Out’.

Led by Paul Murphy’s distinctive vocals, the songs continue Wintersleep’s career-long exploration of the line between awe and dread, taking on issues both personal and political with a palpable weight and beauty. Following a recurring theme in Murphy’s work, ‘Fading Out’ pitches human fragility against an inorganic tide of chemicals and electronics, as well as dealing with the death of a loved one. Leaning more toward prog rock, ‘Free Fall’ instead confronts the death of a relationship, though again within a soundscape that far exceeds such personal intentions.

‘Free Fall’ comes complete with a video directed, animated and edited by Christopher Mills of Number Four Films, which you can check out below:

Free Fall / Fading Out is out now via Dine Alone Records and you can get it now.

ahem – Try Again

Minneapolis trio ahem released their debut EP Just Wanna Be back in 2016 on Forged Artifacts, blending boisterous punk and indie rock into a sweet ‘n sour mix of blown out guitars and vocal harmonies. After a follow up EP last year, the band are once again teaming up with Forged Artifacts to unveil their full-length record, Try Again.

Lead single ‘Sideways’ sees the return of ahem’s trademark energy, the guitars weaving a bright and infectious sense of momentum that sweeps up the listener and delivers them to cathartic release. The wistful lulls in the racket hint at another side to the band, and second single ‘No Kid (Gold Star)’ embraces the quiet/loud dynamic too, pitching reflective introspection into the moments of quiet, then riding the crests of the guitars to arrive at a sense of certainty.

Coral – find me wrong

Coral is the recording project of Miranda Coral Engholm, a swede who grew up a “theatre kid” Österlen but views songwriting as her favoured mode of expression. “I like the intimacy of it,” Engholm explains. “Sometimes when I listen to a song it can feel like a complete stranger is suddenly standing in my living room talking about something really personal.”

Such a connection drives all of Coral’s work. For Miranda it’s really important to stay genuine and tangible as an artist, so this feeling of connection is something she wishes to achieve with her own music. “Like someone wrote it in their diary and it just happened to rhyme.” Debut single ‘find me wrong’ certainly achieves such intimacy, spinning a tale of tender love and fear of loss. Check out the suitably affectionate video below:

find me wrong is out now via Feverish and available from the Coral Bandcamp page.

That’s all for Vol. 29 of Bright Sparks, but be sure to stick around the Reviews and Previews sections for more in-depth writing.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 29 appeared first on Various Small Flames.