Longtime Titus Andronicus drummer Eric Harm has announced his solo debut record, All The Wrong Moves, due for release at the end of the week via Freeman Street Records. Produced by Patrick Stickles, and sharing the same indie rock, power pop and punk rock foundations as the (especially later) Titus Andronicus releases, the album focuses on a central character that Harm describes as ““the petty tyrant of the most pathetic kingdom.” Lead single ‘When You Move Back In’ introduced things with a triumphantly catchy take on self-deprecation, and now second single ‘Blood Stirred Up In Me’ offers another glimpse. Again built on big guitar lines that cry out to be played loud, it’s a timeless and celebratory power pop song that seems destined for beer-soaked shout-alongs.

Kramies – We’re All Dead

Fresh off the back of 2025 full-length Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour, which blended autobiography and fiction to create a sound at once dreamlike, nostalgic and “full of the mysterious allure [the project] has always offered,” Kramies has now returned with brand new single ‘We’re All Dead’. If Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour was something of a metamorphosis away from the persona developed on Kramies’s self-titled 2022 debut, then this single suggests the songwriter is far from finished with his personal transformation. With the recording process stripped right back to Derek Lee LaJoie and drummer John Panza, and a widescreen, almost orchestral sound that suggests quite the opposite, the track presents another face in what is quickly becoming a Bowie-esque series of them. An ultimately direct exploration of what it means to live (and die) and what we leave behind, the title’s morbid tone of belying the affirming sentiment underpinning the message.

Legit Smitty – Be My Sweet Escape

Back in the summer we previewed This Living Ain’t That Hard, a new album from Jake Smith’s Legit Smitty written in the aftermath of a near-death encounter and full of the kind of emotional honesty such an experience might trigger (Smith says he is more determined than ever, we quoted in our piece, to “continue to share his heart in order that others might feel more at home in their own skin”). With the album now out in its entirety, Legit Smitty has shared new single ‘Be My Sweet Escape’, and the track is every bit as heartfelt and forthright as its predecessor. The song melds the confessional charm of bedroom pop with a more electrified alt country spirit, and emerges all the more emotive for it. “Take every last part of my heart / and throw it in the dirt one time,” as Smith sings in a typically impassioned verse, “and take every last part of who you are / and hold it up real high.”

‘Losin You’ is out now and available from Bandcamp.

l__evi – Summer Ain’t Over

Chances are you know Levi Nattrass from his work as Drench Fries, a project we covered most recently back in 2025 with the release of single ‘Camera‘. But now Nattrass how a new project, appropriately titled l__evi, and single ‘Summer Ain’t Over’ offers the ideal introduction. What could be called a summer song or, perhaps more fittingly, an anti-fall song, the track taps into the refusal to acknowledge the end of something positive, be it an attempt to willingly extend the moment, positive thinking-style, or else a plain act of self-delusion. “They’re sayin’ there’s a chill in the air / but I don’t feel it,” as Nattrass sings in the opening. “They’re sayin’ that the daylight’s gettin’ scarce / but I don’t believe it.” The result is tongue-in-cheek but nevertheless committed in its execution, possessing that Prine-esque blend of playfulness and sincerity.

And I don’t wanna hear
no fuckin’ Bon Iver
Just give me Toby Keith and Alan Jackson
Hey did you hear the news today,
the mayor’s new decree,
summer ain’t over til Halloween

Watch the video shot by Nattrass with Elyse Lankford below:

‘Summer Ain’t Over’ is out now and available from Bandcamp.

Lo Barnes – Heaven Was His Name

With a steady, creeping build and spaghetti western sensibility, new single ‘Heaven Was His Name’ shows the full evocative depth of Margate-based Lo Barnes. Released in anticipation of forthcoming EP HEAVEN pt I: the veil, the track opens with a taut, nocturnal tone and slowly asserts itself, a picture of duplicity and disillusionment sketched first through hushed despondence and then thunderous cathartic release. “And his name echoed out ‘cross the roses / and his word turned to dust in the flame,” Barnes sings at the climax, “and the wind callin’ out cryin’ heaven / and his word turned to dust in the flame / they don’t love you like I do,” and it is the ambiguity of that final line which really embodies the nuance with which the song works. “Initially I feared that this closing sentiment inferred that these were the protagonist’s words, and she was still caught in the web of her deceiver, but they could also be the lie she was told to keep her there,” Barnes explains. “Not knowing the end of the tale, despite being its author, inspires me to believe the song and its characters have a life of their own.”

Magdelena Abrego – A Friendship Buried

You might know Magdalena Abrego as one half of Deerlady (alongside Mali Obomsawin), whose 2024 record Greatest Hits was one of our favourites of that year. But now the Chicago-born, New York-based artist has released her first ever solo album, Xolo. The record take its name from the Xoloitzcuintli, a breed of hairless dog that in Mexican culture was a gift from the Gods to help guide recently deceased humans to the afterlife. A fitting title for a collection of songs that explore extremely personal themes of memory and loss. “For me, processing what I’ve been through so publicly feels like an act of rebellion against the structures that encourage us to carry our suffering alone,” Abrego describes. “What I know now is that there is a kind of power in looking backward to understand the ones who came before us as not simply gone, but alive in the ways we show care, in the gestures we repeat without knowing where they began, and in what we choose to pass on.” A cyclical combination of field recordings, electronic pop structures and more traditional songwriting, the album is best experienced as a whole, but the deeply affecting ‘A Friendship Buried’ will give you a good introduction.

Max Bien Kahn – Baby Green (Flannel Shirt)

Be it using a shopping list as a jumping off point to explore the physics of a relationship (‘List II‘), or incidental encounters as ways to meditate on life’s existential questions (‘Skipping Stones‘, ‘Neightbors‘), Max Bien Kahn‘s latest full-length Baby Green makes it its mission to collect the seemingly mundane multitude of details which constitute a life and assemble them into something able to tease out the intangible big picture. With the album now out in full, Kahn has shared the title track to further cement this style. A song about encountering someone once held dear after a significant absence, and how such an experience carries a strange duality. On the one hand, it reveals how specific details persist through the years untouched by the decay of time, yet on the other, clear memories are revealed to have be false after all.

When I saw you on the street again
You looked like a friend
Old friend
Where you been

I remembered your blue eyes
But now I see
They’re green green
Baby green

Melissa Weikart – Contact

We have featured a couple of songs from Paris-based songwriter Melissa Weikart in recent months, as she geared up to release new album Contact via Midnight Special Records, impressed with how her work exists at an unlikely crossroads between “experimental improvisation and crowd-pleasing pop.” The record was finally released last week, and to celebrate Weikart has unveiled a video for the title track, a song that underpins the record’s thematic concerns. “It became clear to me very early on that ‘Contact’ would become the title track of the album,” she explains. “The song encapsulates the central theme of desire to seek authentic connection with myself, the people around me, and perhaps even one or two extraterrestrial beings along the way.” A lush piano-led song that warps and bows with a gentle surrealism, evoking the strange, unreal feeling of calling out into a dark unknown, looking for a response.

Contact is out now via Midnight Special Records and available from the Melissa Weikart Bandcamp page.

Savanna Ruth – Bad Thoughts

Recording under the moniker Burr Oak, Chicago‘s Savanna Dickhut made a name through her ability to combine raw emotion and ethereal atmosphere to tell stories of authentic depth. Now adopting the name Savanna Ruth to herald a new era, Dickhut has recently released brand new full-length The Baseball Diaries to push her worker further than ever before. Retaining the narrative bent and emotional heft of Burr Oak but delving into territory far more personal than ever before, the Savanna Ruth project could be seen as both an evolution and revolution, sounding like a culmination of what came before it, yet also marking a pivot towards new territory. Standout single ‘Bad Thoughts’ is a good place to jump in, typifying both the introspection reflection of the release and the blend of vulnerability and fearless with which Savanna Ruth moves through it.

Watch the video below, directed and edited by Todd Diederich, with camera by Andy Resek:

The Baseball Diaries is out now via Easy Does It Records and available from Bandcamp.

The post Weekly Listening: November 2026 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Founded in 2018 by musician Adam Kinner and artistic director/writer Jacob Wren, and now expanded into a wider ensemble, The Air Contains Honey is a Montreal-based project which crosses artistic boundaries to meld the musical and the literary in a genuinely innovative way. After gradually evolving over the years, the project is now preparing to release their first full-length, The Air Contains Honey Sings Quotes, via Quindi Records, and the album quite literally lives up to its name. With arrangements orchestrated to be performed by nineteen musicians, the record sees the group sing quotes from across literature and theory (lines from Agnes Martin, Diane di Prima and Chris Kraus feature, to name just a few), resulting in a novel form which sits between indie pop, jazz and something like musical theatre. Lead track ‘Sexuality’ is the perfect example of the release’s ambition and invention. A number built around words from Kathy Acker’s Great Expectations which encapsulates not only the artistic vision of the record but also the welcoming communal spirit with which it is brought to life.

Damn Shame – Making Habits

“Every year that passes / taking stock with where we’re at and / Making plans to break through and make change.” So sings Portland, Maine multi-instrumentalist Robb Paniconi, AKA Damn Shame, on the closing track of new EP For Lack of Trying, out now via Repeating Cloud. As the title might suggest, the release is crafted around this sense of striving, be it towards a better future or healthier version of oneself. But it is forever held back by some self-defeating dimension, or else the hectic distraction that is the contemporary world. ‘Making Habits’ is a summation of the project musically as well as thematically, Paniconi bolstering his songwriting with an array of experimental flourishes, from found sounds and field recording to synths and tape loops. The result is all the more sincere and sympathetic as a result, positioning him alongside the likes of Ben Cooper’s Radical Face or even the slower side of Trace Mountains.

Daniel Glenn Padgett – Geraldine x Rocky Top!

Blurring the lines between DIY experimentalism and classical composition, the work of US-born, UK-based artist Daniel Glenn Padgett draws utilises both analogue and electronic modes to collapse the distance between the past and the present, bringing forward that which seemed lost or else opening up a nostalgic path backwards. Latest single ‘Geraldine x Rocky Top!’ is the ideal introduction to this style, a glitchy dance-based number which opens with a voice note from Parisian photographer Geraldine Morat and grows to incorporate a samples from the anthology of American folk music. On the surface, the result is an infectious slice of pop which hums with a bright energy for its brisk two minute run-time, though delve slightly deeper and the true nature of DGP’s work reveals itself. A cross-pollination between the contemporary and the traditional which charges both which newfound energy, as though commingling these ostensibly mismatched styles allows a kind of mutual invigoration.

David James Allen – So Much Pain

Prince Edward County, Ontario-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist David James Allen has shared a number of singles from his new full-length Jubilation Potpurri in recent months, and now the album is finally out via Littleknown Records, he is sharing one more. Following on from the likes of ‘By Your Side‘ (“an ode to the safe harbour of a significant other, where calm might be found no matter how stormy the outside world might prove”) and ‘Dukes Up (Since You’ve Been Gone)‘ (“a vow to confront life’s struggles head on, standing on your own two feet, fists raised and ready for anything”), latest track ‘So Much Pain’ explores far more uncertain, vulnerable headspace, though you wouldn’t know it from the sound itself. “There’s so much pain / Seen so much pain / It hurts to be alone / Feeling scared on my own,” Allen sings in the opening verse, though the arrangement is full of soulful swagger and confidence, redirecting the needy longing of the lyrics into something altogether different. As though, in voicing such vulnerabilities, Allen isn’t so much underscoring his fear of solitude as championing its opposite, connecting to the universal human experience of loneliness to better communicate the power of connection.

The French – Maybe Tomorrow

The ongoing mission to make Darren Hayman‘s vast back catalogue available online shows no sign going down (read more on the project here), with Audio Antihero now unearthing some deep cuts Hayman’s bands Hefner and The French recorded during sessions with the legendary John Peel. “When Hefner became a ‘Peel band’ and recorded their first session, I felt that a true life goal had been achieved,” he explains. “Many bands, much more revered and successful than myself, would have wished they’d recorded a Peel session. I could die a little happier.” Invited to a session with no record to promote, Hefner instead recorded a collection of gospel singles, with Peel delighted by a band using his sessions to push themselves and break new ground. Hence, when it came time for The French to visit a year later, they followed suit with another experimental idea, this time recording their own versions of four television theme songs, released here as TV Themes. Alongside ‘Crockett’s Theme’ and ‘Theme from Hill Street Blues’ and ‘Big John, Little John’, Hayman and John Morrison also recorded ‘Maybe Tomorrow’, their take on the theme from The Littlest Hobo which shows both the nostalgic spirit of the project and the invention with which they brought it to life.

henry o henry – There

Back in August we previewed henry o henry‘s new full-length Apocrypha, describing how the Dublin-born, US-based songwriter uses “the experience of being an immigrant in America for over thirty years to observe the country from the novel perspective of an adopted son.” After lead single ‘The Fool‘ (“worn and wistful and weathered but with a glint in its eye, moving with a sincerity and easy grace that comes with experience”) came ‘The Parade’, “an example of the careful patience which marks so much of the album,” as we put it, “understated yet strangely hypnotic, as though its mellow rhythms slowly envelop the listener and hold them within their world.” With the record now out via Western Vinyl, henry o henry has shared final single ‘There’. An album highlight which serves as a metacommentary on the creative process which brought it to life, specifically how making art can take personal feelings and transform them into something greater and long-lasting. “It feels like a triumph over something,” as henry o henry says, “even if you’re a bit embarrassed by some of the sentiment.”

Jonathan Something – The Garden

“A prime example of how One More Lonesome Cowboy Song lives up to its name, the track manages to evoke both the intimacy of personal experience and something far larger, bringing in the melancholy of the archetypal wanderer in search of meaning.” So we wrote of ‘Gasoline‘, a single from Jonathan Something‘s new album forthcoming via High Shelter, back in August, a song typical of a record all about yearning for something more. The record’s release is now less than a month away and Jonathan Searles has shared new track ‘The Garden’ to pave the way. “‘The Garden’ is a collection of epiphanies I had regarding self growth while wrestling demons.” as Searles explains. “I kept the conclusions and deeper meaning behind each verse as cryptic as possible to avoid preaching while still resonating as widely as possible. The goal was to offer my hand to hold for those who needed it and a high five for those who just wanna vibe.”

One More Lonesome Cowboy Song will be released on the 16th October via High Shelter.

Josephine Illingworth – Who Burnt The Mountain

After the release of EP Bright Things I Found In The Dark earlier this year, London-based songwriter Josephine Illingworth returns with new single ‘Who Burnt The Mountain’ in partnership with Sounds Right, a global music initiative that allows nature to generate royalties on streaming platforms. Released as part of the Sounds Right and EarthPercent Climate Week NYC releases, the track confronts the urgent ecological crisis by drawing on the sounds of nature itself, though these gradually distort and denature as the song unfolds to mirror the ongoing loss of habitat and biodiversity. “‘Who Burnt The Mountain’ is a rallying call against the desecration of our wild spaces, and an expression of grief that I, as a young woman, feel in seeing the wilderness that has been a space of sanctuary and identity for me being literally burnt out of existence, often thanks to the decisions of distant male politicians,” Illingworth explains. “The song is about wildfire and deforestation, and the flattening and privatisation of these wildernesses in the UK. I gradually distorted the bird field recordings as the song goes on, ending so that they sound almost like human screams.” Watch the video filmed by Reuben Denison below:

Who Burnt The Mountain is out now via Sounds Right, with royalties donated to frontline conservation projects around the world.

MANAS (Tashi Dorji & Thom Nguyen) – 100 sunset

The project of Asheville-based duo Tashi Dorji and Thom Nguyen, MANAS gather threads of free jazz, noise, punk and experimental music into propulsive improvised tracks that pay attention to small details while possessing a physical intensity and unpredictability. “Improvised music, this music-making in the immediacy and now, in the moment, feels way more radical than anything I’ve ever done,” says Dorji. “Making improvised music and creating radical music with the intention of opening people’s ears.” October sees the release of a new MANAS record, The most yielding thing in the world will overcome the most rigid, via American Dreams. The album came into being as the score to 100 Sunset, the debut feature film from director Kunsang Kyirong. Our first glimpse is the opening track, which is named for the film, a 13-minute exercise in restrained forward motion that builds toward a blown-out crescendo, the pair merging guitar and percussion into a single, unified instrument of urgent power.

Melissa Weikart – L’amour se construit

Back in July, we featured ‘Crash’, a single by French-American songwriter Melissa Weikart. Calling it “lush, immersive and slightly warped at the edges,” it was the perfect introduction to an artist who exists “between the poles of experimental improvisation and crowd-pleasing pop.” Weikart has just announced that the song was our first taste of a new album, titled Contact, which will be released via Midnight Special Records at the end of next month. To coincide with the album announcement, Weikart has unveiled a second single titled ‘L’amour se construit’. Translating into English as “love is built”, it’s what Weikart describes as “a plea to not only accept but welcome the inevitable messiness that accompanies our emotions around love.” Musically this translates into something as strange as it is sophisticated, drawing on foundations of both jazz and smooth seventies folk and bending them into dreamlike shapes with a psychedelic flourish. Watch the suitably surreal Ruby Cicero-directed video below:

Contact will be released via Midnight Special Records on 23^rd October. Pre-order ti now from the Melissa Weikart Bandcamp page.

summersets – Forgetting For The Better

“Drunk conversations, uncomfortable truths / Daily routines, bills that are due,” so opens ‘Forgetting For the Better’, one of the standout tracks on Pine Trees In A Perfect Row, the new record from Kalle Mattson and Andrew Sowka’s summersets project. The line is indicative of an album that is very much grounded in reality, exploring the contemporary moment without sanding away its uncomfortable edges. The pair of childhood friends reunited in their northern Ontario hometown of Sault Ste. Marie after being priced out of the big cities, and this frankness and economic realism is littered across the record. Mattson calls it “a (complicated) love letter to Northern Ontario and small town Canadian identity and experience… with the intention of speaking to a (hopefully) universal sentiment: that you never really leave your home.” As that quote might suggest, there is a glimmer of magic braided throughout too. ‘Forgetting For the Better’ is the perfect example, a gentle folk song that explores life’s ups and downs (from car crashes and playoff defeats to “the words that I said”) with a combination of wistful regret and mellow warmth.

The post Weekly Listening: September 2026 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The varied and undefinable style is perhaps a product of Michelle Blades’ nomadic life. Born in Panama to a Mexican mother, Blades escaped the regime of Manuel Noriega by moving to Florida. From there she found the underground music scene during a spell in Arizona, and finally relocated to France to fully-realise her potential as a musician. Her family were Central American pioneers of salsa, and music is in the Blades genes—her grandmother a Cuban pianist and singer, her father a producer and composer, and her uncle Rubén Blades a huge force in the contemporary scene.

Visitor feels like a culmination of this personal and familial history, a genre-bending ode to where she has come from. Situated within a 70s-style aesthetic of protest and political struggle, the record finds Blades both confident and fierce, as though all of the faces and places that have inspired the record are standing with her, shoulder to shoulder in solidarity.  With help from Victor Peynichou (bass, guitar), Alexandre Bourit (guitar), Marius Duflot (synth, piano, vibraphone, percussion), Pierre-Louis Vizioz (drums), Edouard Pons (piano, vibraphone), Daniel Hart (violin) and Manfred Kovacic (saxophone), Blades has created an experimental album that aims to explore not just musical conventions but those of language and culture too, making for a sound that is radical without sacrificing complexity.

Nowhere is this clearer than opening track, ‘Politic!’, a techicoloured art-rock track that brings together psychedelic peculiarities and Patti Smith’s nonchalant poetry, with notes of krautrock and even ska threaded through the sound too. The track has a pervasive energy, the peppy bounce of its tempo a vehicle through which Blades delivers her message, the sound as irrepressible as the people it describes.

This refusal to settle in any one genre or style is the true radical spirit of Michelle Blades. Many songs on the album could be said to creep close to a ‘commercial’ accessibility, though with constant invention and a knack for the strange, Blades always subverts conventions. Which is how one minute ‘Behind the Black’ can offer a languid shake, shimmering psych mirages playing across its surface, and the next ‘Piri Piri’ can supply a playful brand of pop cast in tropical hues. Some, like ‘Literally’, strip things back to acoustic guitar and swirling ambient tones, while others bloom in kaleidoscopic intricacy. The frenetic spaghetti western post-punk of ‘Dr Pysch’ juxtaposes almost completely with the sultry slow-motion of ‘Acid On The Hillside’, though both are united by a theatrical energy that matches their hallucinatory groove.

The willingness to experiment essentially serves to stoke the curiosity of the listener, pushing them to dig down into even the more straightforward tracks. As we described of the aforementioned ‘Kiss Me on the Mouth’, there appears a kind of duality, where the surface of the lyrics is stalked by some strange second (or third, fourth etc.) meaning. Blades’ ability to draw our attention to the unseen without sacrificing its cryptic allure is one of the true strengths of the record—something perfected on the captivating single, ‘Ring’.

Lookin’ at the ring on yr finger
A look too long could cause a disaster
We’re no longer kids
everything is weird
everyone’s got a job to talk about
And I don’t learn from my mistakes

Visitor is out now on Midnight Special Records and you can get it from the Michelle Blades Bandcamp page.

Album artwork By Lou Benesch

The post Michelle Blades – Visitor appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Michelle Blades – Kiss Me on the Mouth

Michelle Blades is a Mexican-Panamanian songwriter currently based in Paris. The latest taste of forthcoming full-length, Visitor, her new single ‘Kiss Me on the Mouth’ sees Blades occupy the grey area between upbeat and melancholy, pop underpinned by a high-strung tension. The result is something strange and compelling, the facade of innocence hiding something altogether more weird or dangerous. But Blades never allows the mask to slip too far, presenting a simmering intrigue in place of any sure answers.

The track comes complete with a video directed by arts collective Fuerza Basicas, which you can see below:

Visitor is set for release on the 29th March via Midnight Special Records.

Dehd – Dying For

Hailing from Chicago, Dehd is Jason Balla, Eric McGrady and Emily Kempf (who got a mention in our piece on Desert Liminal). Following 2017’s Fire of Love, part of Infinity Cat‘s subscription series, the trio are back with ‘Dying For,’ a brand new single on Fire Talk Records. The song sees Dehd smooth out their angular side in favour of a more relaxed style, leading to a laid back indie rock that’s coloured by the wild west—like cowboy music for the digital age. The result is a song that finds comfort in the isolation and escape of wide open spaces, the conviction of one’s eternal loneliness countered by the promises of the open road.

“Is a dream worth dying for
when you’re six feet under ground?
And what are you lying for,
aren’t you tired out?

Hussy – Forever

Hussy is the recording moniker of South London multi-instrumentalist Sophie Nicole Ellison. While her sound might be most accurately described as dream pop, new single ‘Forever’ shows that Ellison does not limit herself to the blissful and soft. Rather, the track feels caught between an otherworldly lightness and a great, raw weight that seeks to drag anything and everything down into the void, producing an ominous and dark atmosphere from which you will struggle to wake.

Never Betters – Alone

In April, we wrote about a split release from Ontario bands Grievances and Never Betters, describing how their spiky energy and cathartic release powered succinct, attitude-driven songs that might be labelled ‘post-pop-punk’. Now, Never Betters are back with a brand new single, ‘Alone’, and though the track doesn’t quite reach the tumultuous crescendos of the previous release, the spirit remains. Opening with jagged pop-punk guitars that soon race into sweeping rhythm, the track finds April Romano maintaining a cooler, more considered vibe—her repeated insistence of “I am alone” neither wry nor melodramatic, rather a mere reportage of simple facts.

Deanna Petcoff – Stress

The music of Toronto’s Deanna Petcoff exists at the intersection of beautiful and playful, finding depths of emotion connected to yearning and loss while maintaining a sense of joviality in the face of such things. Latest single ‘Stress’ makes this style clear, detailing impatience and loneliness as a fact of life, and telling it with a sense of amused perspective. “‘Stress’ is about frustration, loss of hope and acceptance of a situation that will never be fixed,” Petcoff explains. “The unbearable weight of not feeling good enough for the person you want and thinking they might want you too.”

Check out the video, directed, edited and produced by Brittany Farhat, below:

Find Deanna Petcoff on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Sen Wisher – Feather Tongue

Based in Eugene, Oregon, Sen Wisher is the experimental project of Ben Swisher. Far from being a solo effort, Swisher enlists the help of an array of musicians, including Sophie Blair (of Nymph), Stuart Wheeler (Quiet House) and Stephen Cope (Officer Jenny), to form a vivid sound capable of portraying the wonder and complexity of the natural world. Take single and opening track ‘Feather Tongue’ as the case in point, existing somewhere between soft emotion and experimental inventiveness—sincere simplicity which rises into a dizzying crescendo.

Bird Languages is out now via Song Club Records and you can get it from the Sen Wisher Bandcamp page.

Bels Lontano – That moment when you die and you think of everyone you ever knew in slow motion and it’s incredible

Bels Lontano is the recording project of composer and producer Bret Bohman. Drawing upon a range of electronic genres and influences, not to mention non-musical inspiration too, Bohman works to explore “concepts of liminal spaces, natural beauty, therapy and personal growth.” The resulting music takes the form of “rich sonic tapestries” that owe as much to IDM and hip hop as they do to neo-classical and ambient styles.

Taken from a forthcoming EP, Kind Decade, the succinctly titled ‘That moment when you die and you think of everyone you ever knew in slow motion and it’s incredible’ leans more toward the ambient end of things, though shows off such a diverse palette of influences through it’s sheer warmth and lightness.

Kind Decade is set for release soon, so keep an eye on the Bels Lontano Bandcamp page for further details.

Press Club – Headwreck

Working out of Brunswick, Australia, Press Club make a raucous yet celebratory brand of indie rock that races with a sense of abandon that rivals the likes of Japandroids. After winning acclaim down under, the band have signed with Hassle Records to spread their full-length Late Teens further afield early next year, and earned shows with Cloud Nothings, Iron Chic, Dream Wife and Joyce Manor in the process.

‘Headwreck’ is the perfect example of their sound, channelling a relentless intensity into something both tight and raw, lead Natalie Foster growling and shouting with throaty emotion to seal the sense of urgency and authenticity.

Late Teens is set for release on the 25th January via Hassle Records and you can pre-order it now.

Frederick The Younger – Everyone’s Changing

Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Frederick The Younger is duo Jenni Cochran and Aaron Craker, with the addition of Shelley Anderson (bass) and Taylor Powell (drums). Following up from 2017’s Human Child, the band have recently put out a new single, ‘Everyone’s Changing’, a song which continues their distinctive combination of western folk and retro psych pop. Still, there’s a newfound tenderness to here, some of the swagger stripped back in favour of slow-burn sincerity.

Find more at the Frederick the Younger Bandcamp page.

Great Health – Lazarus

Now the solo project of Virginia’s Tyler James, Great Health saw members of its band quit ahead of a planned tour and recording session. ‘Lazarus’ is something of a reaction to James’s experience, a cathartic slice of emo-rock that serves as both an attack on the vapidity of the music scene and an ode to following your dreams of making art. So, while possessing all of the heart-on-the-sleeve emotion of the genre, Great Health maintains a wryness that helps lift them beyond melodrama and into an area that’s far more interesting and emotive.

“To sold out circle jerk crowds
To sold out overplayed bands
On their hands and knees
Play the same song again

As Lazarus lay out longing for scraps
We’ll help ourselves to seconds before going back
But step by step we’ll take your hand
Step by step by step we’ll book your band again”

Sasha Cay – Washing Dishes

Sasha Cay is a songwriter from Montreal who this November put out a brand new EP, Sink Your Teeth. Pitched halfway between relaxed and melancholic, the album brings to mind the likes of Sun June in its ability to craft nuanced feelings from understated instrumentation. Single ‘Washing Dishes’ demonstrates Sasha Cay’s captivating rhythms and alluring vocals, where simmering emotion burns bright beneath the gentle surface, undercurrents of bright white feeling that are sure to drag you under.

Pretty Matty – Kicked Out

Led by Matty Morand with a revolving cast of bandmates, Pretty Matty formed in Montreal and now exists in Toronto. “Pretty Matty is my experiment in writing music that makes me feel good,” Morand explains, “inspired by bands that I love like The Breeders and Paramore.” Still, after a self-titled debut EP that came out in March, it’s fair to say that the act has moved beyond mere experiment, something that plans of tours and full albums will attest.

In preparation for the forthcoming album, Pretty Matty have released a new single, ‘Kicked Out.’ Complete with a video by Jono Hunter, the track shows off the band’s blend of pop and punk aesthetics, managing to pour carefree energy into the disaffection of youth.

You can find Pretty Matty on Bandcamp.

Ladada – Float Away

Based in Virginia Beach, Ladada started out as the solo project of Josiah Schlater, though soon evolved into a full band. Building upon Schlater’s surf rock sensibilities, new EP Heaven on the Rocks draws upon shoegaze and punk to produce a sound that’s rich and dreamy though always propelled by a keen sense of energy. Which is the perfect description of single ‘Float Away’, a song that opens with lush swells of guitar and vocals but kicks into an engaging momentum soon enough, guitars, drums and vocals all pressing to cut through the gauzy texture.

Heaven On The Rocks is set for release on the 15th February via Gold Robot Records and you can pre-order it now.

Weston Smith – Paranoia

Weston Smith makes “mind bending songs harking back to the past,” utilising synths to their full range in support of his casual vocal delivery that fans of The Washboard Abs will appreciate. Taken from his latest album, Introspective, ‘Paranoia’ serves as a great place for those unfamiliar with Weston to jump in to his strange world. Beneath the near-conversational vocals, subtle synths threaten to swell into some great climax but never quite follow through, leading to a curious, twitchy sound that lives up to its paranoid name.

Introspective is out now via Feels So Reel Music and you can get it from the Weston Smith Bandcamp page.

Human Girlfriend – Opposite People

Formed by George Matsuo and Thomas Paparella as Les Tigres, Human Girlfriend came into existence after the addition of Jared Shaw and Thomas Miritello saw the band adopt a more fully realised sound. ‘Opposite People’ is as good a place as any to get acquainted with the Human Girlfriend aesthetic—a sparkling, nostalgia-filled indie pop that’s as laidback as it is heartbroken.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 19 appeared first on Various Small Flames.