Latest single ‘Hand Wringing/In The Wings’ continues this exploration of grief by turning to Brittain Ashford’s background in commercial theatre. “For a long time I was stalled / Wringing my hands after the final curtain call,” she sings in the opening lines. “I didn’t know who I was at all.” The theatrical imagery is supported by a beguilingly rich yet always understated arrangement, evoking an intimate performance, a private slow dance after the lights have been lowered and the audience has gone home. But the space allows Ashford a degree of confessional honesty, examining her past self with an unerring eye and coming to the conclusion that the time for timidity has passed.

And I don’t want to fight this
My entire damn life I’ve been nothing but cautious
What’s it got me?
And I trusted you too much, we melted our rings
While I was waiting in the wings

Watch the video directed and produced by Kelly Mena and choreographed by Reed Laplau and Justice Moore below:

Trotter is out on the 19th May via Misra Records and you can pre-order it now.

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Being Dead is a project built on friendship and trust. A space for Texas-based multi-instrumentalists Falcon Bitch and Gumball to be themselves, however that might manifest in any given moment. New album When Horses Would Run, coming this summer via Bayonet Records, shows how varied and fruitful such a set-up can be, the sound ranging from lo-fi pop and country-inflected rock to something closer to experimental or jazz. Lead single ‘Muriel’s Big Day Off’ captures the duo’s effervescent energy, not to mention the off-the-wall spirit which is always playful but never insincere.

When Horses Would Run is out on the 14th July via Bayonet Records and you can pre-order it now.

Brittain Ashford – Hold On Tight

Trotter, the forthcoming album by Brittain Ashford on Misra Records, is a record about “finality and making regrettable decisions.” A collection of songs crafted in the aftermath of a grief so profound it seemed to seep into anything and everything which comes in close proximity. After the passing of her father, whose surname forms the title of the record, Ashford stayed on a contracted tour, only to run into the full weight of the loss months down the line, a chaotic period which resulted in a cancelled engagement among other things. Single ‘Hold On Tight’ kicks through the ashes with a tangible regret, delivered from the perspective of a newfound distance, allowing a more reflective processing on a fundamentally personal experience.

Hold on tight
I know loving me wasn’t always easy
My entire life, tried to do it right
But I fucked it up completely

Chat Pile – King

After the dazzling, doom-laden intensity of 2022 full-length God’s Country, Oklahoma‘s Chat Pile have returned with Brother’s In Christ, a split with Kansas outfit Nerver on Reptilian Records and The Ghost Is Clear Records. If the previous album railed against capitalism’s pitiless desecration of earth, then the new EP confronts the razed landscape with a kind of fatalistic knowing and utter incomprehension. Because if you pay attention to this world, the misery might not be surprising, but expecting something rarely lessens the impact once it truly arrives. “It’s probably what you’re thinking honestly,” sings leads Raygun Busch. “But I’ve never been to / A place like this / Not even in my dreams.”

Crooks & Nannies – 3AM

“A song which gives in to the rollercoaster ride of intense emotion, no matter how high the peaks or deep the troughs.” That’s how we described ‘Sorry‘, the previous single from Crooks & Nannies‘ LP No Fun, out now via Grand Jury Music. The track was preceded on the release by ‘3AM’, something of a sister song which dials into the same whirlwind of feelings, with everything from volatile sax and “Final Fantasy synths” capturing that disoriented struggle to ground oneself in a world of such hostility. But bursting through this tumult is a big disco beat that closes things out, lending a sense of momentum that might not exactly be triumphant, but it’s momentum all the same.

No Fun is out now via Grand Jury Music and you can get it from Bandcamp.

Laura Wolf – Paper and Plastic

“If reality and fiction are braided into history, then Laura Wolf wants to unpick the threads.” That’s how we concluded our preview of Shelf Life, Wolf’s upcoming album on Whatever’s Clever. Lead single ‘Calligraphy and Calculations’ represented “a sonic of equivalent of family history, where original truths are cherished and embellished into folklore, and stories take on as much importance as the fact of any event.” Latest single ‘Paper and Plastic’ again explores the line between memories and myths, inviting the listener into an ethereal, orchestral soundscape which evokes the foggy allure of retrospection. Watch the video from Dan Criblez below:

Shelf Life is out on the 2nd June via Whatever’s Clever and you can pre-order it now.

Melanie MacLaren – Tourist

Writing of the music of Nashville-based songwriter Melanie MacLaren in the past, we described it as, “indebted to the past and the present without being beholden to either, managing to possess the timeless country spirit without sacrificing any sense of immediacy.” New EP Tourist continues this style, taking well-worn themes of family and loss and addressing them with a tangible immediacy. The title track captures this in all of its poignance, moving through the lows of grief without losing sight of hope. “I wrote ‘Tourist’ for my nieces and nephews during a time when we were all grieving an unimaginable loss in our family,” MacLaren told The Bluegrass Situation. “Overall the song is here to say that most everything is temporary, but that there are some things out there that we don’t understand that are true and eternal.”

Quinn Devlin – Lillian

Pennsylvania-born multi-instrumentalist Quinn Devlin has played with a whole range of acts both on stage and in recording, with Aisha Badru, Alex Lleo, JW Francis and vern matz just a few of the talents he has helped support. Devlin’s new single ‘Lillian’ sees this relationship inverted, with a series of collaborators turning out to bring his own earnest folk style to life. From co-producer Sahil Ansari to contributions from James Woodall (pedal steel and lap steel), Jack Broza (electric guitar), Jordan Wolff (drums), Andy Shimm and Dylan DeFeo (both piano), the range of guests take a laid back indie folk number and lift it into something larger. The result is solo intimacy blown up into something communal, the sound’s careful richness developing into an affirming final chorus.

Quinn Tsan – Roses

The work of Chicago-based songwriter Quinn Tsan has often combined heartfelt emotion with something bolder. Releases like 2014’s Good Winter and more recent single ‘She’s No Better’ blurred the line between folk and rock to conjure a smoking, swaggering barroom sound. New single ‘Roses’ swaps the bravado for something altogether more tender, the stripped back style and pensive croon sounding more like a dispatch from a lamp-lit bedroom at the dead of one bad night too many. But within what appears to be a state of vulnerability, Tsan’s words suggest a sense of agency fully intact, taking control of the situation, no matter of painful it might be.

Don’t buy me roses
Take your clothes from the floor
Leave your silence
Nancy, we don’t belong

Xena Glas – Let Go

Last year, Texas-born, Brooklyn-based visual artist, poet and musician Xena Glas released Movements, an EP which blended classical, ambient, folk and electronic styles to explore their move from southern suburbs to an urban space. A kind of psychogeography of a new environment, as well as a survey of the internal changes that accompany such a culture shock. Latest single ‘Let Go’ is no less inventive or striking, a song built around Glas’s vocals which shimmers with what could be tranquil calm or some slow-gathering energy, ebbing and flowing with a tidal rhythm as intricate details gather and dissipate with a natural ease.

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Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – f(l)ight

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is an artist, poet, writer and musician from Canada who this September released her new album, f(l)ight. Produced by Jonas Bonnetta of Evening Hymns, the album combines lush instrumentation with Simpson’s mutlilayered poetry, sounding at once intensely physical and spiritual, charting not only personal experience but also that of her ancestry and the land on which they live. As such, style and perspective is fluid, every word and note and small space of silence part of some larger whole, where past violence, future hope and enduring spirit coalesce as one. You can get the album from RPM Records.

Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs

Centro-matic frontman (plus Molina collaborator and Monster of Folk alumni) Will Johnson recently released a new solo single, ‘Nervousness Fangs’. The track is a beautifully sad lo-fi folk song, recorded (as Johnson tells American Songwriter) at home on a Tascam 424. The lyrics read like summer evening back-porch wisdom, as Johnson sings “Jesus what a mess / what they’re all selling / and what’s being sold”. Check it out on Soundcloud below:

In other news, Johnson has been nominated for a Grammy (!) for his Record Store Day split single with Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster of Water Liars. You can still get the 7″ via Misra Records.

Givan Lötz – MAW

Described as a “an aural savant whose sound projects operate exterior to expectations”, Johannesburg’s Givan Lötz recently released a new album, MAW. The record, which intends to “shed waning light onto and into this post-scientific realm where meaning is unhinged”, consists of ten dense, dark songs which shift and shimmer with unsettling unfamiliarity, all floated on a sea of melancholy. However, as ‘Speak’ highlights, a sense of positivity seeps through the cracks, though it’s impossible to tell whether this is true hope or just a peculiar euphoria gained from submitting to confusion. MAW is available now from Other Electricities.

Dama Scout – All In Too

Blending dream pop and kraut-rock sensibilities with added noise pop bounce, Dama Scout’s second single ‘All In Too’ feels like a stylistic mutant in the most complimentary sense. Calm and quiet one minute and seized by mayhem the next, the track feels like a surreal ride through a many-eyed storm, excitement and fear and abrupt tranquility passing without rhyme or reason. In other words, you should grab it right now from Bandcamp.

Vagabon – Fear & Force

We loved Vagabon’s last EP, Persian Gardens, so it’s great to hear that Laetitia Tamko is putting out a full-length album next February. The first single, ‘Fear & Force’, is a re-imagining of ‘Vermont II’ from the aforementioned EP, and gives a great insight into the development and evolution of Vagabon’s sound. Here Tamko reveals her multi-instrumentalist skills to flesh out the track and create a deep lush sound without losing any of the organic intimacy which made the original so great. Infinite Worlds is set for release next year on Father/Daughter Records and you can pre-order it now.

Her Harbour – Hewing Crowns

‘Hewing Crowns’ is the first single from Gabrielle Giguere’s Her Harbour’s sophomore full-length Go Gently Into the Night, out on E-Tron Records this coming February. The record was written at a time when “death felt omnipresent,” and the single is intended to serve as a “preface to the demons [Giguere] attempted to quell in making the album,” and is therefore ripe with haunting sounds and symbolical imagery. The video for the track, edited by Mike Dubue, consists of found footage from Conrad Aiken’s 1966 short film “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” forming a collection of oblique frames which match the ghostly ambience of the song. You can grab ‘Hewing Crowns’ from the Her Harbour Bandcamp page.

Pip Hall – Devil You Don’t

Pip Hall must be in the running for the youngest artist we’ve ever featured here at WTD. At just 16, the Preston-based songwriter is making music beyond her years. Her new single, ‘Devil You Don’t ‘ opens with some Stranger Things-style synths before blossoming into a rich pop song that teams Hall’s smooth vocals with the steady pulse of synths and some guitar for added crunch. If you like what you hear, keep an eye out for Hall’s sophomore EP, James, out next March on My Little Empire. You can pre-order via Bandcamp.

Courtney Marie Andrews – Put The Fire Out

Continuing with precocious youngsters, Courtney Marie Andrews apparently left home at 16, travelling the US as a musician before getting a gig as Damien Jurado‘s lead guitarist. She’s done a lot of touring with various acts since then, and earlier this year released an album of her own, Honest Life. The good news for us in the UK is that Loose Records are releasing the album here in January (pre-order now). To whet your appetite, here’s a single, ‘Put the Fire Out’, a warm and reflective country track that is a must for fans of bands like Mount Moriah.

Camp Cope – Keep Growing

Following their excellent self-titled debut album, Melbourne’s Camp Cope recently put up a new single which appears to be from an as-yet unannounced release. ‘Keep Growing’ sticks to the successful formula of the previous album, playing like an internal monologue that flicks through sadness and confusion and doubt but keeps cycling back to a joyous resolve, the recognisable pilot light of Camp Cope’s music. As Georgia Maq explained on Facebook, the song is about “new beginnings, it’s about rejecting what society tells you is beautiful,” ending the post with the simple but perfect advice. “Do you.” Grab the track now via Bandcamp and keep your eyes peeled for news of a physical release.

Field Medic

We’ve covered San Francisco’s Field Medic several times at WTD, so its cool to learn he’s got a new song. ‘uuu’ is essentially a classic folk song, gentle instrumentation and yearning vocals directed to a love (the titular you you you). The lyrics are as heart-on-sleeve as we’ve come to expect from Field Medic, with lines such as “all i ever needed was your matchstick mama / to take my wrongs & make them right / to take my darkness & make it bright “. Get the song now on a name-your-price basis via the Field Medic Bandcamp page.

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Sean Atkins

Sean Atkins is a songwriter from Pittsburgh. I was immediately taken by his sound; a heartfelt simplicity with a good dose of melancholic introspection and regret, while all the while underpinned by a faint hint of hope. This is an achingly beautiful release from someone who deserves much wider attention. Volume 2 and numerous other releases are available on Bandcamp for free.

Castanets

Castanets is the moniker Ray Raposa, a Portland resident with quite a few albums already under his belt. Unfortunately I have only recently stumbled across him but am looking forward to exploring backwards through his catalogue. Check out the Keith Whitley cover below.

Matt Olsson

Matt Olsson, from New Jersey, has that American acoustic sound that brings to mind Bob Dylan and Tallest Man On Earth. ‘Snakes’ is the first single from his new album The Sabotage and is available free on Bandcamp.

Reuben Bullock

Reuben Bullock, a songwriterfrom Calgary, has formed a band called Rueben And The Dark. They have a much fuller sound than the previous artists on the list but are no less enthralling. I’m hearing some similarities to band such as Hip Hatchet, which is no bad thing.

Jo Schornikow

I first caught Jo Schornikow on The Waiting Room radio show where she played a session (along with Scott Rudd, who we wrote about here). The Australian plays piano/keyboards for The Shivers and is now going it alone with her various bandmates in support. Here a song below.

Water Liars

Water Liars, fronted by Theodore’s Justin Kinkel-Schuster, have released their debut album Phantom Limb on Misra Records. A superb blend of loud and quiet (as opening track ’$100’ displays below), like Damien Jurado singing on Pope Killdragon. An album that is well worth your time.

While it would be better to give each of these their own post (and therefore the attention and focus they deserve), time isn’t something I have in abundance right now. You have my apologies but this will have to suffice.

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