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	<title>Otracami Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
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	<title>Otracami Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
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		<title>Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/03/16/weekly-listening-march-2026-3/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:24:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abbey Blackwell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casa Joven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dear Life Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DoYeon Kim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Figure & Ground]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gar Hole Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[montreal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mudgoose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new orleans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otracami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramsey Thornton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[runo plum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tao Forms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Same Sky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[This Lonesome Paradise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Dollbaum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tulsa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wellington]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winspear]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=47947</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Abbey Blackwell &#8211; Rise and Set &#8220;Rise in the west, set in the east / do what I want, go where I please / just gravity keep holding me.&#8221; So sings Abbey Blackwell on &#8216;Rise and Set&#8217;, the lead single from the Seattle-based artist&#8217;s forthcoming album Dream a Day. Emerging from the aftermath of a relationship, the song is at once playful and heartbroken, existing in that disorienting space where everything you thought you knew is upended and you are [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/03/16/weekly-listening-march-2026-3/">Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Abbey Blackwell &#8211; Rise and Set</h3>
<p>&#8220;Rise in the west, set in the east / do what I want, go where I please / just gravity keep holding me.&#8221; So sings Abbey Blackwell on &#8216;Rise and Set&#8217;, the lead single from the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/seattle/">Seattle</a>-based artist&#8217;s forthcoming album <em>Dream a Day</em>. Emerging from the aftermath of a relationship, the song is at once playful and heartbroken, existing in that disorienting space where everything you thought you knew is upended and you are left to hope at least physics will hold true. The arrangement is built to support Blackwell&#8217;s distinctive vocals, building from acoustic beginnings into something far richer with the help of Norman Robbins (electric guitar, lap steel) and Evan Woodle (drums, percussion). The result transforms a decidedly personal experience into something universal.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2033468702/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1143898942/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://abbeyblackwell.bandcamp.com/album/dream-a-day">Dream a Day by Abbey Blackwell</a></iframe></center><em>Dream a Day</em> will be released on the 7th April and you can pre-order it now from <a href="https://abbeyblackwell.bandcamp.com/album/dream-a-day">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">DoYeon Kim &#8211; The Beats of Distant Thunder</h3>
<p>It is telling that <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a>-based composer, improvisor and vocalist DoYeon Kim is one of, if not <em>the only</em>, Gayageum player within contemporary music. Her embrace of the centuries-old Korean zither within her boundary-pushing work is indicative of Kim&#8217;s willingness to harness both cultural traditions and cutting edge vision in order to bring to life her singular sound. Her first release as a bandleader, forthcoming album <em>Wellspring</em> is an encapsulation of this spirit and sign of its radical potential. Because, with Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Henry Fraser (double bass) and Mat Maneri (viola) in support, the record sees Kim utilise these sensibilities to create something of a sonic manifesto. A desperate, timely plea for humanist connection within an otherwise fractured world. “This is the first time I open my hand to the world, a first greeting,” Kim explains. “I wish people hearing this music [receive] energy and comfort. I want to <em>be there</em> with them.” Listen to first single &#8216;The Beats of Distant Thunder&#8217; now:</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1352834006/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3301926100/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/wellspring">Wellspring by DoYeon Kim</a></iframe></center><em>Wellspring</em> will be released on the 1st May via TAO Forms and you can <a href="https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/wellspring">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Mudgoose &#8211; Yum Cha Takeover</h3>
<p>The recording project of Te Whanganui-a-Tara/<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/wellington/">Wellington</a>-based songwriter Fletcher Ng, Mudgoose put out album <em>Chasing Horse</em> a few weeks ago, introducing a sound that sits somewhere in the middle grounded between slowcore, bedroom pop and alt-country, with sprinklings of a slacker vibe thrown in for good measure. Recorded to tape with a Tascam 4-track, the songs are textured, hazy and patient, delivered as though through the fog of memory and further clouded by a drink or two. Single &#8216;Yum Cha Takeover&#8217; is a good place to dive in, the opening so slow its almost sedated, the vocals emerging from beneath these rhythms with what might be resignation or desperation. &#8220;[The] lyrics are loosely based on an embarrassing moment in which I screamed at a group of strangers to get out of my kitchen during a party,&#8221; Ng explains, though the resulting track is by no means a funny anecdote. More a murmured plea from the end of a rope, one last attempt to communicate something before fatalism settles for good.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1174266711/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1246588619/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mudgoose.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-horse">Chasing Horse by Mudgoose</a></iframe></center><em>Chasing Horse</em> is out now and available from <a href="https://swampsoul.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-horse">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Otracami &#8211; Perfect Reach</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured a couple of singles from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/otracami/">Otracami</a>&#8216;s new album <em>Runoff</em> in recent months, first &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/19/weekly-listening-january-2026-1/">Please</a>&#8216; back in January then &#8216;Sirens&#8217; a few weeks later.  Taking the story of Persephone from Greek myth, the latter saw Camila Ortiz weave &#8220;mythic elements with personal reflection,&#8221; we wrote, asking &#8220;How far do the obligations of loyalty extend? [&#8230;] When you are linked to a person involved with something bad, how much responsibility are you expected to take?&#8221; With the album coming this week via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/figure-ground">Figure &amp; Ground</a>, Otracami is back with &#8216;Perfect Reach&#8217;. A song written during a winter School of Song class with Adrianne Lenker and partly inspired by the novel <em>Our Share of Night</em> by Mariana Enriquez, it sees Ortiz lean into a darker, almost threatening atmosphere. &#8220;I was writing in a way that was less directly narrative and more vibes-based, using images, feelings, textures,&#8221; she explains, though a narrative thrust is implied by the very mood. A certain sense of guilt, even villainy marks the shadowed sound. The sensation of having committed a regretful act and having to acknowledge the fact.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3490841681/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1520037152/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">Runoff by Otracami</a></iframe></center><em>Runoff</em> will be released on the 20th March via Figure &amp; Ground and you can <a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Ramsey Thornton &#8211; Rocking</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/07/ramsey-thornton-riverside/">Back in October</a>, we featured &#8216;Riverside&#8217;, a single by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tulsa/">Tulsa</a>-based songwriter, banjoist, and drummer <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/ramsey-thornton/">Ramsey Thornton</a>. It was released to announce his signing with the good folks at <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/gar-hole-records/">Gar Hole Records</a>, and at the time we mentioned how a full-length record was in the pipeline. Well that time has now come. Titled <em>I Called It! </em>and set for release in May, the album collects 13 songs that perfectly introduce Thornton&#8217;s warm, down-to-earth sound. &#8220;I like my music to sound natural,&#8221; he describes. &#8220;These are songs that I wrote around my kitchen table. I recorded them with my friends. I hope they just sound like me.&#8221; New single &#8216;Rocking&#8217; is a great example, Thornton&#8217;s fingerpicked guitar backed with drums, bass and lap steel to conjure something that feels both understated and emotionally deep.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=51149645/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2208491569/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://ramseythornton.bandcamp.com/album/i-called-it">I Called It! by Ramsey Thornton</a></iframe></center><em>I Called It!</em> will be released via Gar Hole Records on 15th May. Pre-order it now from the Ramsey Thornton <a href="https://ramseythornton.bandcamp.com/album/i-called-it">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">runo plum &#8211; butterflies</h3>
<p>Following on from 2025 full-length <em>patching</em>, an album <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/08/29/runo-plum-sickness/">we described</a> as &#8220;equipped to elucidate the highs and lows of life,&#8221; Minneapolis songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/runo-plum/">runo plum</a> is sharing brand new EP <em>Bloom Again</em> this May via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/winspear">Winspear</a>. Released in support of an upcoming West Coast tour and SXSW, the EP sees plum expand upon her diaristic, emotionally-charged style, as introduced by lead single &#8216;butterflies&#8217;. &#8220;I showed you butterflies / You took ‘em in and burned them alive / In a house buried in smoke,&#8221; she sings in the song&#8217;s opening verse, &#8220;shoved myself to the ground to lay low.&#8221; The blunt, bleak lyricism is juxtaposed with the warm richness of the sound itself, the track playing like a confession or unburdening, runo plum unveiling all of her doubts and disappointments as though the only path to new growth is by clearing the ground.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3768106033/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2225632082/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://runoplum.bandcamp.com/album/bloom-again">Bloom Again by runo plum</a></iframe></center><em>Bloom Again</em> will be released by Winspear on 8th May. Grab a copy now from the runo plum <a href="https://runoplum.bandcamp.com/album/bloom-again">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">The Same Sky &#8211; Sad Songs</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/montreal/">Montreal</a> ‘outsider pop’ band <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-same-sky/">The Same Sky</a> have a new record, <em>Haunting in the Mountains</em>, on the way via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/casa-joven/">Casa Joven</a>. Following lead single &#8216;What&#8217;s Left&#8217;, which we <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/02/23/weekly-listening-february-2026-4/">described previously</a> as &#8220;a track where dreamy textures meet an almost mechanical sense of forward motion,&#8221; the four-piece have now unveiled a second preview, titled &#8216;Sad Songs&#8217;. Existing at the heavier end of the post punk / shoegaze spectrum, the song is soaked in fuzz and noise, siren-like guitar riffs and violent percussion carrying the minimal lyrics toward something almost ritualistic. &#8220;The track moves through hypnotic repetition like a ritual, closer to a chant than a traditional song,&#8221; describes lead Joseph Simon. &#8220;Unless &#8216;traditional&#8217; means a psychotic monk howling through a wall of distortion.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2084462449/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3754567210/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sameskyband.bandcamp.com/album/haunting-in-the-mountains">Haunting in the Mountains by The Same Sky</a></iframe></center><em>Haunting in the Mountains</em> comes out on 2nd April and is available to pre-order from <a href="https://sameskyband.bandcamp.com/album/haunting-in-the-mountains">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">This Lonesome Paradise &#8211; Unending</h3>
<p>When previewing <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/this-lonesome-paradise/">This Lonesome Paradise</a>&#8216;s upcoming release <em>Death Motels</em> back in January, we described how the album &#8220;position[s] the project as one working slightly outside of time with a sound that conjures a mythic past while always facing forwards.&#8221; Following on from single &#8216;Changelings&#8217;, what we called a &#8220;brooding, Lynchian number as dark as the night itself,&#8221; This Lonesome Paradise have shared new single &#8216;Unending&#8217; to celebrate the release of the record. Another shadowy slice of desert rock which plays as something both stark and romantic, the cinematic sound and E Ray Béchard&#8217;s pathos-filled vocals combining into an evocative picture of America. A landscape littered with broken dreams and unrealised futures, dark and dangerous and haunted by the ghosts of all that was sacrificed to establish itself upon the world.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1306109103/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3114768157/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/death-motels">Death Motels by This Lonesome Paradise</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video directed, shot and edited by David Lampley on Super 8 film below:</p>
<p><iframe title="This Lonesome Paradise-Unending" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cB0u6Ifubnk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Death Motels</em> is out now and available from the This Lonesome Paradise <a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/death-motels">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Thomas Dollbaum &#8211; Dozen Roses</h3>
<p>Born in Tampa and now based in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-orleans/">New Orleans</a>, songwriter Thomas Dollbaum has put out several releases in recent years, 2022 LP <em>Wellswood</em> and 2025 EP <em>Drive All Night</em>, though grew frustrated with the slow process as recording was hampered by a variety of factors. For latest album <em>Birds of Paradise</em>, coming this May on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/dear-life-records/">Dear Life Records</a>, Dollbaum was determined to buck this trend. After writing for no more than three months, he enlisted the help of most trusted collaborators Nick Corson, Josh Halper and MJ Lenderman and travelled to Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi to work with producer/engineer Clay Jones. There, the album came to life in a handful of days, the recording process finally matching the urgency and charge that Dollbaum&#8217;s style of music demands. Lead single &#8216;Dozen Roses&#8217; serves as a window into the album and its themes, tapping into the magic and beauty of the natural world to enliven personal memories, and ultimately displaying the lightning-in-a-bottle intensity these songs promise to bring.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=620914069/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=69724503/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thomasdollbaum.bandcamp.com/album/birds-of-paradise">Birds of Paradise by Thomas Dollbaum</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alluvial.ms/">ALLUVIAL</a> below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Thomas Dollbaum – Dozen Roses (Official Music Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kdn5YEsJXBM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Birds of Paradise</em> is set for release on 22nd May via Dear Life Records. Order it now from the Thomas Dollbaum <a href="https://thomasdollbaum.bandcamp.com/album/birds-of-paradise">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/03/16/weekly-listening-march-2026-3/">Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">47947</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Otracami &#8211; Sirens</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/02/06/otracami-sirens/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 19:13:53 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Figure & Ground]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[folk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indie rock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otracami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=47630</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Uses samples and field recordings to add layers of depth to a full band arrangement, a style which speaks to the album’s concerns with the dynamic between restraint and release.&#8221; So we wrote of &#8216;Please&#8216;, the lead single from Otracami&#8216;s new album Runoff, coming next month via Figure &#38; Ground. Picking up the ideas started on predecessor touching the stove coil (an album which offered &#8220;a strange mixture of pain and pleasure” as we wrote in our review, akin to “approaching something [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/02/06/otracami-sirens/">Otracami &#8211; Sirens</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Uses samples and field recordings to add layers of depth to a full band arrangement, a style which speaks to the album’s concerns with the dynamic between restraint and release.&#8221; So we wrote of &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/19/weekly-listening-january-2026-1/">Please</a>&#8216;, the lead single from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/otracami/">Otracami</a>&#8216;s new album <em>Runoff</em>, coming next month via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/figure-ground">Figure &amp; Ground</a>. Picking up the ideas started on predecessor <em>touching the stove coil</em> (an album which offered &#8220;a strange mixture of pain and pleasure” as we wrote in <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/17/otracami-touching-the-stove-coil/">our review</a>, akin to “approaching something which will almost certainly hurt, yet glows alluringly all the same&#8221;) <em>Runoff </em>sees Brooklyn-based songwriter, producer and composer Camila Ortiz channel the imagery of the title to explore the tension which develops between containment and overflow, be that in spheres of work, life or love.</p>
<p>Latest single &#8216;Sirens&#8217; turns to the past in order to continue this investigation. Namely Greek myth and the story of Persephone, herself something of a contradiction. The goddess of death and the afterlife, as well as that of vegetation and spring. Otracami weaves these mythic elements with personal reflection, the track a folk song at heart yet blooming into something altogether richer and more nuanced as it develops. How far do the obligations of loyalty extend? Ortiz asks, using the tale of Persephone and her handmaidens. When you are linked to a person involved with something bad, how much responsibility are you expected to take? The themes are expanded upon by the accompanying video, starring Ortiz and made by long-term collaborator Sai Tripathi along with PA Dylan Karlsson, which pushes the song towards something closer to performance art. Watch below:</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3490841681/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2640466760/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">Runoff by Otracami</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Otracami - Sirens (official video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IuQbRHB6ItQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Runoff</em> will be released on the 20th March via Figure &amp; Ground and you can <a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/otracami-runoff.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/otracami-runoff.jpg?resize=1170%2C1170&#038;ssl=1" alt="artwork for Runoff by Otracami" width="1170" height="1170" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/02/06/otracami-sirens/">Otracami &#8211; Sirens</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">47630</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weekly Listening: January 2026 #1</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/19/weekly-listening-january-2026-1/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:51:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anna tivel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bad Vibes Good Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Figure & Ground]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fire Talk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forge Again Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Howlin Banana Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lucy Kruger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacGregor Burns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otracami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Walters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robber Robber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sister Wanzala]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snake Orange Cake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Special Friend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sweetbreads]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Pretty Flowers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[This Lonesome Paradise]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=47457</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Anna Tivel &#8211; Memphis Hot on the heels of acclaimed full-length Animal Poem, a record which earned its place among our favourites of 2025, Portland, Oregon-based songwriter Anna Tivel is returning with collection of b-sides from the same recording period to further expand the world and themes of the album. &#8220;The EP will not be released until next spring, though lead single &#8216;Swan Song&#8217; shows the new tracks are just as evocative and finely crafted as their sisters on the [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/19/weekly-listening-january-2026-1/">Weekly Listening: January 2026 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">Anna Tivel &#8211; Memphis</h3>
<p>Hot on the heels of acclaimed full-length <em>Animal Poem</em>, a record which earned its place among <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/09/year-in-review-2025/">our favourites of 2025</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Portland/">Portland</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Oregon/">Oregon</a>-based songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/anna-tivel/">Anna Tivel</a> is returning with collection of b-sides from the same recording period to further expand the world and themes of the album. &#8220;The EP will not be released until next spring, though lead single &#8216;Swan Song&#8217; shows the new tracks are just as evocative and finely crafted as their sisters on the main album,&#8221; we wrote in our preview. A song which &#8220;pairs a relaxed rhythm and poignant tone with something urgent beneath the surface, a loneliness hurried by the violent pressing of time.&#8221; Ahead of its release, Tivel has now &#8216;Memphis&#8217;, another track loaded with equal parts tender emotion and shining intensity, its characteristically nuanced narrative painting life as something so bright it hurts. &#8220;I started writing ‘Memphis’ on an airplane after meeting an electric-eyed ex-convict heading to an evangelical gathering in Tennessee,&#8221; Tivel explains. &#8220;He was magnetic, ecstatic, possibly manic, and so in love with life. He got me thinking about the things we reach for when reality is too painful to accept.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1362858540/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2814256206/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://annativel.bandcamp.com/album/animal-poem-b-sides">Animal Poem B-Sides by Anna Tivel</a></iframe></center><em>Animal Poem B-Sides</em> will be released on the 6th March via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fluff-and-gravy-records">Fluff and Gravy Records</a>, and you can <a href="https://annativel.bandcamp.com/album/animal-poem-b-sides">pre-order it now</a>. <em>Animal Poem</em> itself is <a href="https://annativel.bandcamp.com/album/animal-poem">available now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">This Lonesome Paradise &#8211; Changelings</h3>
<p>&#8220;A meditation on the American Dream with all its brutality, broken promises and betrayals.” That&#8217;s how we described <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/this-lonesome-paradise/">This Lonesome Paradise</a>&#8216;s 2024 album <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2024/08/27/weekly-listening-august-2024-4/">Luna Nocturna</a>, an almost McCarthy-esque picture of the West in all of its stark and haunted weight. Now E. Ray Béchard and co. are back with <em>Death Motels</em>, a brand new record on Bad Vibes Good Friends which looks to further this aesthetic, positioning the project as one working slightly outside of time with a sound that conjures a mythic past while always facing forwards. Take single &#8216;Changelings&#8217; and its accompanying video, a brooding, Lynchian number as dark as the night itself, playing like some black mass out in the desert, looking to communicate with some other place or time.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1306109103/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1807431286/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/death-motels">Death Motels by This Lonesome Paradise</a></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="This Lonesome Paradise: E02  Changelings" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CMcRD6RhQcw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Death Motels</em> will be released on the 12th March via Bad Vibes Good Friends and you can <a href="https://thislonesomeparadise.bandcamp.com/album/death-motels">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lucy Kruger &amp; The Lost Boys &#8211; Damp</h3>
<p>With the release of new album <em>Pale Bloom</em> fast approaching via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/unique-records">Unique Records</a>, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Berlin">Berlin</a>-based outfit <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/lucy-kruger-the-lost-boys/">Lucy Kruger &amp; The Lost Boys</a> have unveiled latest single &#8216;Damp&#8217;. &#8220;Like most of what I write, it’s about a desire for depth and connection,&#8221; Kruger writes of the track. &#8220;A kind of quiet mocking of the mundane and domestic. The first verse reflects that polite culture of not saying what you mean, of being too afraid to ask for what you need in case you seem too much, or expose the mess of falling apart. There’s a wanting, though—to give in, give up, or simply to give.&#8221; This sense of wanting is made palpable across the song, both in terms of the simmering, taut urgency of the sound and the longing loaded into Kruger&#8217;s vocals, and the result is equal parts uneasy and mournful. The sad discomfort of revealing a deep part of oneself without knowing if anyone is even looking.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2482635658/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1474841928/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://lucykruger.bandcamp.com/album/pale-bloom">Pale Bloom by Lucy Kruger &amp; The Lost Boys</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video below, created by long-time collaborators DTAN (Berlin) and Gaussian Studios (Amsterdam):</p>
<p><iframe title="Lucy Kruger &amp; The Lost Boys - Damp (lyric video)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FM5d5KrQ4Bs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Pale Bloom</em> will be released on the 13th February via Unique Records and you can <a href="https://lucykruger.bandcamp.com/album/pale-bloom">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">MacGregor Burns &#8211; The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald</h3>
<p>Released to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the original, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/macgregor-burns">MacGregor Burns</a> has unveiled his own reverent version of Gordon Lightfoot’s classic &#8216;The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald&#8217;. An impromptu endeavour recorded in a single take, the song sees Burns stick close to Lightfoot&#8217;s process, eschewing embellishment or ostentation to keep the focus on the voice. Not an exercise of reinterpretation but devotion. An attempt to channel the spirit of the original and bring it forward fifty years, something which extends right down to the artwork itself.</p>
<p><iframe title="The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MbKMCD8xey8?list=OLAK5uy_l8h7uAYDz4YHGgB7b1-l9v86xYQDrBMsE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald&#8217; is out now and available from the usual places.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Otracami &#8211; Please</h3>
<p>We last featured <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/otracami/">Otracami</a> back in 2023 with the release of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/17/otracami-touching-the-stove-coil/"><em>touching the stove coil</em></a>, an album which saw Camila Ortiz confront the past in all of its minutiae with equal parts foreboding and longing. &#8220;A strange mixture of pain and pleasure,&#8221; marked the record, as we described. &#8220;Approaching something which will almost certainly hurt, yet glows alluringly all the same.&#8221; Such tension between conflicting states continues on Otracami&#8217;s new full-length <em>Runoff</em> , set for via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/figure-ground">Figure &amp; Ground</a> this spring, as highlighted by lead single &#8216;Please&#8217;. The track uses samples and field recordings to add layers of depth to a full band arrangement, a style which speaks to the album&#8217;s concerns with the dynamic between restraint and release. &#8220;I was trying out leaving for the first time—people and jobs and situations with family,&#8221; Ortiz describes of the period in which the album was written. &#8220;It was real trial and error—sometimes that really worked and felt liberating and other times I had to turn around and go back. It was a period of big experimentation.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3490841681/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=3517177162/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">Runoff by Otracami</a></iframe></center><em>Runoff</em> will be released on the 20th March via Figure &amp; Ground and you can <a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/runoff">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">The Pretty Flowers &#8211; Came Back Kicking</h3>
<p>This spring will see the release of <em>Never Felt Bitter</em>, a brand new full-length from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-pretty-flowers">The Pretty Flowers</a>, and the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/los-angeles">LA</a> indie rockers have never sounded so urgent. Written within a city (and wider country) shaken by turmoil, be it the unprecedented wildfires or equally tinderbox political moment, the quartet found themselves driven by the surrounding atmosphere, the anxiety and chaos of their surroundings seeping into the tracks themselves. “There’s a sense of urgency, fear, and confusion in these songs,” explains drummer Sean Johnson. “Like each one might be the last song we write, or this might be the last album. If anything, it’s the most present we’ve ever been.” Lead single &#8216;Came Back Kicking&#8217; introduces the style, embracing an almost <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Japandroids">Japandroids</a>-esque momentum to not only burn through the upheaval but offer enough affirming energy to suggest we might be able to stand up to the things which want to drag us down.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>We went walking under black skies<br />
We wore out the terrain<br />
It may have taken billions of years<br />
But it had to happen sometime</h5>
<h5>And you can take it apart or you can blow it up<br />
Either way don’t let it eat you up<br />
Sucked you in to get a better look<br />
And you came back kicking</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2962588376/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://theprettyflowers.bandcamp.com/track/came-back-kicking">Came Back Kicking by The Pretty Flowers</a></iframe></center><em>Never Felt Bitter</em> will be released on 27th March. Order it now from The Pretty Flowers <a href="https://theprettyflowers.bandcamp.com/album/never-felt-bitter">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Richard Walters &#8211; Rafts</h3>
<p>Created as part of an artist residency for the Solent Seascape Project and the Blue Marine Foundation, <em>Songs From the Solent</em> is a new album from songwriter <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/richard-walters">Richard Walters</a>. The eight-song release incorporates field recordings from the local area, voices from Solent communities (sea swimmers, artists, visitors and more) and contributions from a stellar list of collaborators including Isle of Wight native Jeremy Irons to flesh out its folk sound. The result is something fundamentally rooted in place. Indeed linocut artist Angela Harding has made a bespoke illustrated map of the Solent, highlighting the locations which inspired each track, which will appear on the <a href="https://solentseascape.com/">Solent Seascape Project website</a>. Exploring the decline of migratory birds and featuring samples from Hayling Island nature reserve, lead single &#8216;Rafts&#8217; shows just how evocative and uplifting this style proves to be.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2811898266/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2959736803/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://richardwalters.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-the-solent">Songs From the Solent by Richard Walters</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video filmed and edited by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@MattJarvisMedia">Matt Jarvis</a> below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Richard Walters - Rafts (Songs From The Solent)" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XLYLrAPtyhw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Songs From the Solent </em>is out now and available from the Richard Walters <a href="https://richardwalters.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-the-solent">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Robber Robber &#8211; The Sound It Made</h3>
<p>Back in November, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/11/24/weekly-listening-november-2025-4/">we wrote</a> about &#8216;Talkback&#8217;, the fist single from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/robber-robber/">Robber Robber</a> since they signed with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/fire-talk">Fire Talk</a>. &#8220;A song which doubles down on the spontaneous, impulsive style of the previous record,&#8221; as we put it, &#8220;[Nina] Cates’s vocals spiralling over the wiry rhythm like the contents of a racing mind blown up and projected onto a wall.&#8221; Now the Burlington, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/vermont/">Vermont</a> outfit has unveiled new album <em>Two Wheels Move the Soul</em>, and have shared opener &#8216;The Sound It Made&#8217; to further introduce the sound. The record has roots in turmoil, born in a period after a landlord called for the longtime home of Cates and drummer Zack James to be demolished, and sets out to map the experience of living in a world beholden to the whims of the cruel and greedy. As you might expect, the result is chaotic, foreboding and often abrasive, and &#8216;The Sound It Made&#8217; throws the listener right in from the off. &#8220;All systems go again / Will it ever stop?&#8221; Cates asks at one point, her delivery carrying the deadpan cool of someone who knows the ways of the world all too well. &#8220;Don’t know / Don’t think so / Don’t know what we’ll do if not.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3225116143/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=78591393/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://robberrobber.bandcamp.com/album/two-wheels-move-the-soul">Two Wheels Move the Soul by Robber Robber</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video below, by director Wes Sterrs, producer Emilie Silvestri and director of photography Jeff Griecci:</p>
<p><iframe title="Robber Robber - The Sound It Made [Official Video]" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T2U6rCr9tns?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Two Wheels Move the Soul</em> will be released on the 3rd April via Fire Talk and you can <a href="https://robberrobber.bandcamp.com/album/two-wheels-move-the-soul">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sister Wanzala &#8211; Don&#8217;t Be Good To Me</h3>
<p>Following on from &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/21/weekly-listening-october-2025-2/">Now You&#8217;re Mine</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/11/20/sister-wanzala-winter-dominos/">Winter Dominos</a>&#8216;, &#8216;Don&#8217;t Be Good to Me&#8217; is the third and final part of a loose trilogy of singles from London&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sister-wanzala/">Sister Wanzala</a>. And it might just be the most surprising track from the project to date, the outfit having made a name with a wry, tongue-in-cheek humour now turning their attention to that most terrifying of things: earnestness. Which isn&#8217;t to say the self-deprecation of previous releases has evaporated. The song explores the mystifying sensation of another person extending their kindness towards you, despite all the evidence you have collected to prove you could never deserve such a thing. Yet despite the subject matter, the song proceeds with a sensual swagger, proving that no matter how many times love might make a fool of you, there&#8217;s no harm in trying to look cool.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=883487596/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://sisterwanzala.bandcamp.com/track/dont-be-good-to-me">Don&#8217;t Be Good to Me by Sister Wanzala</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Don&#8217;t Be Good to Me&#8217; is out now and available from Bandcamp.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Snake Orange Cake &#8211; Vision</h3>
<p><a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/snake-orange-cake/">Snake Orange Cake</a>, the new project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/%C3%85land">Åland</a>-born, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/berlin">Berlin</a>-based artist Julia Carlsson builds upon the electronics of previous project <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/leoblu">leoblu</a> with spoken-word poetry and a newfound narrative focus. After singles &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/07/22/snake-orange-cake-hair/">Hair</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2025/10/08/snake-orange-cake-animals/">Animals</a>&#8216; (a track &#8220;embedded within a nocturnal, slightly unreal space,&#8221; we wrote of the latter, &#8220;[dissolving] any distinction between the organic and the digital, as well as the line between waking reality and dreams&#8221;), Carlsson has returned with new single &#8216;Vision&#8217;. A self-described &#8220;hypnotic ritual in sound&#8221; which functions something like an incantation or mantra, the vocals repeating a series of mystical images as though hoping to conjure some mystical effect. The pulsing beat only furthers the mesmeric vibe, leading the listener into a space somehow adjacent from every day reality.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3294315793/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://snakeorangecake.bandcamp.com/track/vision">Vision by Snake Orange Cake</a></iframe></p>
<p>Watch the video by Maren Frey below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Snake Orange Cake - Vision" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xEn0VgokiYQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;Vision&#8217; is out now via the Snake Orange Cake <a href="https://snakeorangecake.bandcamp.com/track/vision">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Special Friend &#8211; Breakfast</h3>
<p>Consisting of Erica Ashleson (drums, vocals) and Guillaume Siracusa (guitar, vocals), Franco-American duo <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/special-friend">Special Friend</a>, have been making minimalist, lo-fi indie pop since their formation in 2018, releasing an EP and two albums in the process. Now the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Paris">Paris</a>-based outfit is back with <em>Clipping</em>, a brand new full-length with <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/howlin-banana-records">Howlin&#8217; Banana</a> which finds the Special Friend sound as rich as it has ever been. Drawing on folk, slowcore and krautrock influences, it opts for a newfound layer of attention and polish to the mixing. Single &#8216;Breakfast&#8217; gives a taste of what is to come, an infectious track on our eroding attention spans which stays true to the band&#8217;s lo-fi origins with a delightful camcorder video.</p>
<p><iframe title="Special Friend - Breakfast (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sV0UutWIPAw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Clipping</em> will be released via Howlin Banana Records on the 20th March and you can <a href="https://specialfriend.bandcamp.com/album/clipping">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sweetbreads &#8211; Punisher of Love</h3>
<p>&#8220;The perfect antidote to the breakneck bluster of the world we call home,&#8221; was how <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/09/20/weekly-listening-september-2022-3/">we described</a> <em>Out of Range</em> by <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/sweetbreads/">Sweetbreads</a> back in 2022, an EP which followed its protagonist on her &#8220;quest to resist the thankless treadmill of modern living, opting for an unproductive and entirely more positive way of life.&#8221; The latest Sweetbreads release sees lead Melody Stolpp continue their exploration of this contemporary rat race, delving into the weight of expectations and self-sabotage which results. Pushing these ideas of further, comedian Clare O&#8217;Kane directed a video to accompany the track, casting fellow comedian Nick Naney as a humanoid rat pursuing Stolpp and her partner through the streets of New York. &#8220;We wanted to externalize that feeling of being chased by your own worst impulses,&#8221; as Stolpp explains. &#8220;What better way to do that than with a literal rat man running through Brooklyn?&#8221; Watch below:</p>
<p><iframe title="SWEETBREADS - &quot;PUNISHER OF LOVE&quot; (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xd2aA6Ic74E?start=6&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8216;Punisher of Love&#8217; is out now and available from the usual places.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/01/19/weekly-listening-january-2026-1/">Weekly Listening: January 2026 #1</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<title>Otracami &#8211; touching the stove coil</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/17/otracami-touching-the-stove-coil/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Nov 2023 21:52:37 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otracami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=39383</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;An outlet for personal exploration, its songs delving back into the past and untying its knots, attempting to make peace with the present.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described Camila Ortiz&#8217;s Otracami back in September when writing of the single &#8216;Fold&#8216;. The song served as the ideal introduction to the New York-based artist&#8217;s work. &#8220;An examination of the contortions people sometimes put themselves through to try to fit into a relationship&#8221; which forces itself to confront the past in all of its [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/17/otracami-touching-the-stove-coil/">Otracami &#8211; touching the stove coil</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;An outlet for personal exploration, its songs delving back into the past and untying its knots, attempting to make peace with the present.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described Camila Ortiz&#8217;s <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/Otracami">Otracami</a> back in September when writing of the single &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/09/25/weekly-listening-september-2023-4/">Fold</a>&#8216;. The song served as the ideal introduction to the <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/new-york/">New York</a>-based artist&#8217;s work. &#8220;An examination of the contortions people sometimes put themselves through to try to fit into a relationship&#8221; which forces itself to confront the past in all of its minutiae. The result was an &#8220;almost time-travel style journey back to a very specific moment,&#8221; as we put it, following Ortiz leaving a party right through to climbing the stairs to her partner’s apartment later, &#8220;and the swirling thoughts and anxieties that it held.&#8221;</p>
<p>The single was taken from Otracami&#8217;s debut full-length <em>touching the stove coil</em>, and now the album has been released it is clear that a similar level of detail shines across the entire record. Opener &#8216;in the car&#8217; offers a picture of an overbearing homelife (the only time I could ever really be alone / was after dropping everybody off at home / waiting for the stop sign to turn green / blinking through the high beams&#8221;) set to a dappled rhythm, while &#8216;Stove Coil&#8217; punctuates a sedate, listless lethargy with the sharp violence hinted at in the album&#8217;s title. &#8220;Spiral glowing red / on the razor&#8217;s edge,&#8221; Ortiz sings, &#8220;a sting and a sweetness / will I feel it.&#8221; A strange mixture of pain and pleasure which could represent the entire action of the record. Approaching something which will almost certainly hurt, yet glows alluringly all the same.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=1153987794/album=3185103050/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>But despite the potential for injury, the process actually grew to achieve healing properties. “Over the course of writing, I often started in an angry or sad place,” Ortiz explains. “But by the end of each song, I was more able to let go, to return to the present.” As though in grasping the iron, its threat is conquered and neutralised. Something apparent in the calm confidence that threads through the songs. Be it in the ostensibly furious &#8216;Angel&#8217; which instead plays with assured restraint, or &#8216;Garúa&#8217; with its ability to view a difficult situation with distance and understanding. A mature outlook which suggests that the pain is not winning. As Ortiz concludes: “It felt like growing up in a way, writing and finishing this record.”</p>
<p>Single &#8216;Pitcher&#8217; encapsulates this mood. Another picture of an almost out-of-body stillness ruptured by a single, visceral image. &#8220;I fill the pitcher with hot water / it cracks right down the middle,&#8221; Ortiz sings. &#8220;Water spills all over the counter / you&#8217;re still talking and I&#8217;m in the middle / I go somewhere else in times like these.&#8221; But as with all of the songs on the record, Otracami returns to this specific moment for a reason. Sensing on some level there is a lesson to be learnt there, or recognising an opportunity to convey an otherwise incommunicable truth.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>the clouds shift<br />
I swallow<br />
the air is thick around my head<br />
if there&#8217;s a truth in this I need to<br />
find a<br />
way to<br />
show you</h5>
</blockquote>
<iframe width="100%" height="120" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="//bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=1979641864/album=3185103050/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><em>touching the stove coil</em> is out now and available from the Otracami <a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/album/touching-the-stove-coil">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/otracami-pic.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/otracami-pic.jpg?resize=640%2C640&#038;ssl=1" alt="picture of the artist Otracami" width="640" height="640" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2023/11/17/otracami-touching-the-stove-coil/">Otracami &#8211; touching the stove coil</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<title>Weekly Listening: May 2022 #2</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/05/09/weekly-listening-may-2022-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2022 18:36:01 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[New Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekly Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[à La Carte Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DoomFolk StarterKit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Field Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fronjentress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hand Over Foot Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Like You Mean It Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love Chain Tapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maryland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Hampshire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Old Moon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otracami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perpetual Doom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photokem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shrill Pill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Everett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington D.C.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Whatever's Clever]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=28423</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>DoomFolk StarterKit &#8211; 2Hands Following on from singles &#8216;Sun Self&#8216; and &#8216;Kristofferson/StarStuffs&#8216;, DoomFolk StarterKit (the recording project of Portland&#8217;s David Swick) is back with a brand new song. Existing within a conflicted state familiar in our contemporary moment, &#8216;2Hands&#8217; finds a narrator caught between a need to retreat and rest and the seemingly endless task of working in order to stay afloat. A challenge faced with Swick&#8217;s trademark brand of introspective sincerity. 2Hands EP by DoomFolk StarterKitThe song has also [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/05/09/weekly-listening-may-2022-2/">Weekly Listening: May 2022 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 style="text-align: center;">DoomFolk StarterKit &#8211; 2Hands</h3>
<p>Following on from singles &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2021/08/27/doomfolk-starterkit-sun-self/">Sun Self</a>&#8216; and &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2021/11/19/doomfolk-starterkit-kristofferson-starstuffs/">Kristofferson/StarStuffs</a>&#8216;, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/doomfolk-starterkit/">DoomFolk StarterKit</a> (the recording project of Portland&#8217;s David Swick) is back with a brand new song. Existing within a conflicted state familiar in our contemporary moment, &#8216;2Hands&#8217; finds a narrator caught between a need to retreat and rest and the seemingly endless task of working in order to stay afloat. A challenge faced with Swick&#8217;s trademark brand of introspective sincerity.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1371728791/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2251071471/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://doomfolkstarterkit.bandcamp.com/album/2hands-ep">2Hands EP by DoomFolk StarterKit</a></iframe></center>The song has also been bundled with the previous singles in the series to form an EP, which is available on cassette via <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/like-you-mean-it-records/">Like You Mean It Records</a>. Get it now from the DoomFolk StarterKit <a href="https://doomfolkstarterkit.bandcamp.com/album/2hands-ep">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Field Guides &#8211; Margaret</h3>
<p>&#8220;Attempting to not just represent the world, but show it to us anew.&#8221; That&#8217;s how we described <em>Ginkgo</em>, the forthcoming album from <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/field-guides/">Field Guides</a> on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/whatevers-clever">Whatever&#8217;s Clever</a> in our preview of lead single, &#8216;<a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/04/12/field-guides-salmon-skin/">Salmon Skin</a>&#8216;. Latest track &#8216;Margaret&#8217; takes its inspiration from the nineteenth century author and women&#8217;s rights activist Margaret Fuller, her transcendentalist belief in the possibility of change lingering over an otherwise melancholic scene of domestic conflict. &#8220;And all that we have is ours for the taking&#8221; goes the final line, amended slightly from those which come before it, shimmering if not with hope then some mysterious precursor. Check out the video by Caleb Bryant Miller, Rebecca El-Saleh and Kupstas himself below:</p>
<p><iframe title="Field Guides - &quot;Margaret&quot; (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h9YQJuapOD8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Ginkgo</em> is out via Whatever&#8217;s Clever on the 26th June and you can <a href="https://fieldguides.bandcamp.com/album/ginkgo">pre-order it now</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Fronjentress &#8211; Moon</h3>
<p>Consisting of a rotating band of musicians based in Portland, Fronjentress unites artists who share an interest in the styles and themes of country music. &#8220;Classic country for contemporary times&#8221; is how the project describes its output, utilising traditional instruments and tropes to create something rooted within the present moment. Out this week on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/perpetual-doom/">Perpetual Doom</a>, latest album <em>Baby Got Problems </em>displays not only the aching melancholy of classic country music but also its wit and wry humour, as demonstrated on lead single, &#8216;Moon&#8217;. &#8220;If they told us that the moon / could be our new home pretty soon,&#8221; it begins:</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>Well, I&#8217;d pack a single bag<br />
and go drifting<br />
because this world has gotten strange<br />
I surely won&#8217;t miss the rain<br />
from my lonely paradise up in space</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><iframe title="Fronjentress - Moon (Official Video)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NJ48fIbEYoY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Baby&#8217;s Got Problems</em> will be released on 14th May via Perpetual Doom. Order it now via <a href="https://perpetualdoom.bandcamp.com/album/babys-got-problems">Bandcamp</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Old Moon &#8211; Eastern Skies</h3>
<p>Old Moon is the project of Tom Weir from Lyme, New Hampshire, who next month is releasing a brand new album titled <em>Cities of the Plain </em>via à La Carte Records and Love Chain Tapes. New single &#8216;Eastern Skies&#8217; introduces Old Moon&#8217;s style, opening as an electrified folk song stark and expansive enough to live up to the McCarthy reference of the album&#8217;s title, but soon evolves into gothic shoegaze clamour. Weir&#8217;s vocals emerge from this with a brooding intensity, as though suspended within the sound, or else conjuring the heavy, sparkling tone itself.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3962381691/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=4169973901/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://oldmoon.bandcamp.com/album/cities-of-the-plain">Cities of the Plain by Old Moon</a></iframe></center><em>Cities of the Plain</em> releases on 3rd June via à La Carte Records/Love Chain Tapes and you can pre-order it now from the Old Moon <a href="https://oldmoon.bandcamp.com/album/cities-of-the-plain">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Otracami &#8211; Pipe Scream</h3>
<p>The project of <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/brooklyn/">Brooklyn</a>-based songwriter Camila Ortiz, Otracami pitches itself between open coastal landscapes and gloomy bedrooms, working to unveil the mystery within both worlds. Latest single &#8216;Pipe Scream&#8217; evokes the building pressure of an interrupted flow, its spacious, dreamy sound belying the desperation beneath the surface. There might not be a crashing crescendo within the track itself, but the promise of release is ever-present, even if the dam holds for now.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>pipe scream<br />
until it&#8217;s not<br />
water pools behind my eyes<br />
until i let it fall</h5>
</blockquote>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3917511608/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/track/pipe-scream">Pipe Scream by Otracami</a></iframe></center>&#8216;Pipe Scream&#8217; is out now and available from the Otracami <a href="https://otracami.bandcamp.com/track/pipe-scream">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Photokem &#8211; Future Minister</h3>
<p>Consisting of Nana Acheampong (vocals), Leah Blom (violin), Nico Fennell (instrumentals/production), Jack Kelly (instrumentals) and Evan Ryckebusch (cello/bass), Photokem is an <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/austin/">Austin</a>-based outfit formed in 2021 after the group read Acheampong&#8217;s writing in the University of Texas&#8217; BlackPrint publication. None of them had recorded music before, and Acheampong had never sang in public, which makes the richness and detail of debut EP <em>Luffon Bright</em> all the more impressive. &#8216;Future Minister&#8217; introduces the style, its arrangement moving from quiet folk and emo-inflected rock to vivid orchestral swells, all tied together by Acheampong&#8217;s conversational yet striking delivery.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1418165602/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1848149745/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://photokem.bandcamp.com/album/luffon-bright">Luffon Bright by Photokem</a></iframe></center><em>Luffon Bright</em> is out now and available via the Photokem <a href="https://photokem.bandcamp.com/album/luffon-bright">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Shrill Pill &#8211; Still Alive</h3>
<p>Northampton, MA&#8217;s Shrill Pill introduced their new EP <em>Sparky</em> on Hand Over Foot Records with the plucky and raucous &#8216;Loud and True&#8217;, though the latest single shows a different side to the band. &#8216;Still Alive&#8217; offers an altogether more restrained sound, its quiet folk sensibilities creating a space reflective and warm, but within this subdued mood the lyrics still hold a feistiness. &#8220;War stories and war trophies are not the same at all,&#8221; goes one verse. &#8220;One you win and one you tell your friend you love but never call / Memory is better than an elegy / Keep me in your thoughts but please don&#8217;t talk to me.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3634325472/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=2474628843/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://civicmusic.bandcamp.com/album/sparky">Sparky by Shrill Pill</a></iframe></center><em>Sparky</em> comes out on 24th June. Pre-order it now from the Shrill Pill <a href="https://civicmusic.bandcamp.com/album/sparky">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Troy Everett &#8211; ripples / outcast</h3>
<p>The music of Maryland-born, D.C.-based artist Troy Everett encompasses a whole range of genres. From orchestral strings and electronic beats to more metal-adjacent screaming, his work lifts elements from across the stylistic gamut to bring to life his reflective and vulnerable themes. New double single <em>ripples / outcast</em> is the perfect example of this range, the first a mournful classical composition, the latter a stark and confessional pop song which slots alongside the work of artists like <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/g-brenner/">G. Brenner</a>. &#8220;I feel like an outcast in my own mind,&#8221; Everett sings as the song builds around him, frenzied beats and lush classical arrangements coalescing into something urgent and poignant.</p>
<p><center><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3096395903/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=700616479/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://troyeverett.bandcamp.com/album/ripples-outcast-single">ripples / outcast &#8211; single by Troy Everett</a></iframe></center><em>ripples / outcast</em> is out now and available from the Troy Everett <a href="https://troyeverett.bandcamp.com/album/ripples-outcast-single">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/05/09/weekly-listening-may-2022-2/">Weekly Listening: May 2022 #2</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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