September 2019 Roundup

Liam Doyle — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 18:43:52 +0000

Here’s a mixtape featuring all the bands and artists we covered in September 2019.

Blood Warrior – Wooden Shade
Rosie Tucker – How Sad, How Lovely (Connie Converse cover)
Fran – Company
JAYA – Learn To Swim
Taylor Hamilton – What Is Real?
Carver Baronda – If Nothing Else Comes Along
Rose Dorn – Deathwish
Milly – Crazy Horse
Guidon Bear – Washing Machine
Joey Nebulous – Pride Month
Dorio – Shortcuts
Special Friend – Before
Sarah Pagé – Lithium Taper
Old Amica – Condensation
Blushing – Dream Merchants
Patient Hands – Stasis
Bryce Kepner – Chances
Jake Bellissimo – why fit? (Jordaan Mason cover)

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

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

Milly – Talking Secret / Crazy Horse

Jon Doyle — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 19:19:55 +0000

Led by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Dyer, Connecticut-born, Los Angeles-based band Milly fuse lo-fi indie rock with slowcore and leaven the mix with a shoegaze shimmer. The resulting tracks manage to hold lightness and heaviness within the same hand, packing a serious punch with both guitars and drums without ever sacrificing on the subtleties.

Released as part of the Microdose monthly music series by Dangerbird Records, Milly are back with a brand new single, ‘Talking Secret’ (with b-side ‘Crazy Horse’), and the songs sound like a band really finding their feet, carving an identity out of cascading instrumentation that veers between momentous and ominous. Contemporary comparisons would be bands like Gleemer, those who push mournful emotion through great walls of noise, though the debt to acts a little further back in time cannot be ignored.

The nineties aesthetic, hinted at with the distinctive star logo on the album art, is in full bloom here, Milly channelling The Smashing Pumpkins in their great washes of guitar, swells of noise that flood and cleanse. The result is a track that not so much ebbs and flows but gushes and teeters, the great hammering sound pulling back only in preparation for something deeper and more cathartic.

With one look,
I’ll fall apart.
I’ll take the hook out of the shark

The track comes complete with a fantastic video directed and shot by Logan Rice, so be sure to check that out below:

B-side ‘Crazy Horse’ takes a more reserved route, favouring an introspective vibe built from acoustic guitar and piano and an off-kilter drum-machine beat. The effect is one of unguarded emotion, creating a vulnerable and earnest style that brings to mind Yo La Tengo or perhaps Strange Ranger, though something of Milly’s trademark strangeness persists, and makes the track very much its own beast.

The video for this one is shot and directed by Justice Ott:

Talking Secret is out now via Dangerbird Records and you can grab it from the Milly Bandcamp page.

Album artwork by Derec Patrick, Milly ‘Star’ by Drew Auscherman

The post Milly – Talking Secret / Crazy Horse appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Milly Archives - Various Small Flames

September 2019 Roundup

Milly – Talking Secret / Crazy Horse

With one look,
I’ll fall apart.
I’ll take the hook out of the shark

Milly Archives - Various Small Flames

September 2019 Roundup

Milly – Talking Secret / Crazy Horse

With one look, I’ll fall apart. I’ll take the hook out of the shark

With one look,
I’ll fall apart.
I’ll take the hook out of the shark