Adrianne Lenker – cradle
German Error Message – Hopelessness
Jo Schornikow – Incomplete
Grizzly Coast – Half-Light Boy
Taylor Hamilton – Might Say
Porridge Radio – Give / Take
Patio – Scum
Ruthie – Spirit Now Moves
Esther Rose – Don’t Blame It On the Moon
Blood Cultures – Flowers For All Occasions
Puddle-Cuddle – Compost
Mess – Dead Space
Cry Babe – Soft Honk
The Painters – Pieces of Life
Two Meters – Ground
Erin Durant – Take a Load Off
Michelle Blades – Ring
Eric & Magill – Thanks to Sciences
Foundlings – Caught Up on You
Craig Finn – Something To Hope For
JW Ridley – Homesick (Out The Blue)
Pieket – Eternal Recurrence
The Curfews – Rose
Emily Fairlight – Body Below
Raggedy – Brainwash
Barrie – Saturated
Blush – Forever Is a Long Time
Shane Leonard – Empire Builder
Con Davison – Sofa Bed
Gold Light + Snakemusk – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Chats – Pub Feed
Shutups – Yellowjacket
Izzy Heltai – Stuck In Stone
Adam Ostrar – Take It Back
The Death Of Pop – Last
Toledo – Some Samurai
Yot Club – Japan
Evan Thomas Way & The Phasers – Long Distance
K. Campbell – Heads Up
The Duke of Norfolk – As the Heralds Revere You
Leaky Engine-John Birch Society Blues
naps – treading
Vieo Abiungo – What the Rain Restores
Old Earth – The Friends ∴ The Gods
Good Good Blood & Astral Social Club – Heathen Astronaut

Like what you hear? Catch up with the rest of our Monthly Mixes!

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

The project’s first EP, Bug Garden is what Quint describes as a five song goodbye to his mother, who passed away when he was in high school. However, as hinted above, Quint hasn’t followed convention by approaching grief and loss with purely sad songs, instead creating rich and varied indie pop that captures a whole gamut of emotions. This range and balance proves to be the true strength of the release, drawing not just upon the sorrow related to his mother but the joy too.

Opening track ‘Hemlock’ sets the tone, an upbeat indie pop song prone to eddies of hurried release, Quint following the current of his feelings across the both a flat meandering flow and white water washes. Similarly, ‘Stepped On’ has two distinct tempos, slow earnest lulls giving way to a breathless rattle that brings to mind the earnest wordiness of Kimya Dawson.

But none of this is to say the EP shrinks away from the difficult moments. ‘Hospice’ sees Quint confront his mother’s illness directly, imagining himself as a worm cut in two, cleaved by grief in the hospice chapel. The gentle acoustic track ‘Mother Moth’ is similarly direct, a song about the promise of heaven that embraces an almost Elverumian tone of plainspoken thoughts.

Final track ‘Compost’ feels like a distillation of everything that has come before. It’s a beautiful mix of carefree and feeling, wistful and celebratory and glad despite everything. Quint describes ‘Compost’ as a song about “letting go and moving on, while still preserving the memory of someone inside you,” and the idea is captured perfectly in the track. Puddle-Cuddle in no way downplays or underestimates the implications of loss, but appears determined to portray the other side of the relationship—the joy of knowing and being known, of loving and being loved.

Cover Photo by Nina Wilder, text by India M

The post Puddle-Cuddle – Bug Garden EP appeared first on Various Small Flames.