Last autumn, Ahern signed with indie stalwarts Fatcat Records, with plans to release several more singles in preparation for a full-length album. The first taste of the partnership, ‘Hard Luck in Love’ furthered the smoky fondness of the vocal style, and displayed a careful hand in utilising space to convey emotion.

The most recent single, ‘Stone by Stone’ sees a similar use of simplicity to craft its atmosphere, though there is a starker quality to the timbre. The result is the most haunting song from Melissa Mary Ahearn so far, skeletal electric guitar and sparse shuffling drums imbuing a lingering loneliness that calls to mind some Lynchian crooner, sashaying upon a half-lit stage.

‘Stone By Stone’ is out now on Fatcat Records and you can find Melissa Mary Ahern on Bandcamp.

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In contrast to the “cool contemporary tracks” that came before it, we wrote, ‘Maria, Maria’ was “altogether more timeless.” Centred on the titular character, the song was “carved out of the folk tradition, its earthy tones owing as much to the landscape as the love in question,” leading to a track of “plucked guitar and ambling percussion […] something barefoot and intimate.”

Building upon that new direction, Melissa Mary Ahern is back with a brand new song, ‘How Will I Know’. Built from the simplest acoustic guitar line, the song hangs upon Ahern’s smoky vocals which rise from barely a murmur to wistful croon and back again. The result is warm and fond and coloured by sadness, a song for late evenings on the porch front, the sun dipping below the horizon once again and casting a golden light, if only for a moment.

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Ruth Garbus – Strash
Mauno – Vampire
Outer Spaces – Gazing Globe
Benjamin Shaw – Long Ago and Oh So Far Away
Erin Durant – Islands
Daughter of Swords – Dawnbreaker
Melissa Mary Ahern – Maria, Maria
Oscar Lush – Kind Living
Midwife – Angel
Young Elk – False Paradise
Wilder Maker – Love So Well
Big Joanie – Way Out
Secrecies – Life We Live
Beat Radio – Everyone I Know, Just Holding On
American Poetry Club – pro pic?
So Totally – sike
halfsour – Paper Window
Joyer – Here
Marbling – Wisdom Teeth
High Sunn – Grateful
Slow Pulp – New Media
Molly Drag – Out Like a Light
Van Houten – Moon
Birdspotter – Riverbed
Tender Perennial – Delivered
JR Samuels – In Brend 2
Elly Swope – Habits
Derek Piotr – The Sign
Fighting Kites – Kita Senju
Nathalie Joachim – Papa Loko (Interlude: September 24, 1918)
Kali Malone – Sacrificial Code
Kate Tempest – Holy Elixir
Little Musket – Fever Blister
Gold Baby – 500/1
Tennis Club – Stay
Young Mammals – Lost in Lima
Abe Hollow – Paradise
bdrmm – Question Mark
Briston Maroney – Fool’s Gold

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

The post July 2019 Roundup Mix appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Although being part of musical scenes in both New York and Berlin, it is only now that Melissa Mary Ahern is formally releasing her own music. After a collaboration with Doveman back in 2018, two singles emerged that showed different sides to Ahearn’s talents. The slow drift of ‘World of Wonder’ played as a sunset reflection, memories cast with a new fondness in the golden light, while ‘Next To You’ injected a soulful pop edge. Shaking around wordless hums and finger-clicked rhythm, the track hinted at a moody edge, memories with the claws left on.

The post Melissa Mary Ahern – Maria, Maria appeared first on Various Small Flames.