With the record now out, latest single ‘Le goût des mangues’ offers a further glimpse in the world of Klô Pelgag. With an atmosphere embracing a certain ambiguity, the sound straddles the divide between the eerie and the intimate with the record’s signature richness. Subtle pop tones are lifted upon something almost orchestral, and Pelgag’s vocals emerge with assured feeling.

The track comes complete with a video directed by longtime collaborator Laurence BAZ Morais. “I aimed to visually translate her poetry by creating a surreal tableau that blends the personal and universal,” as Morais explains. “Including [Pelgag’s] daughter allowed me to capture a sense of childlike innocence and a connection to nature that resonates deeply with Klô’s musical universe.”

Abracadabra is out now via Secret City Records and available from the Klô Pelgag Bandcamp page.

Photo by Benoit Paille

The post Klô Pelgag – Le goût des mangues appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Now Shaina Hayes is back with the album’s next single. ‘Sun and Time’ is rich and nostalgic, harking back to film-grained memories of summers past as an escape from the cold clutch of the winter months. Told from the perspective of watching a friend struggle through frosty fields and grey skies, Hayes says it’s a song “for anyone who’s ever found themselves slipping into the winter blues.”

Holy weary winter this one’s something
I watch you suffering at its hand
Boggy berry princess we are fading
But I can still make out your laugh

Watch the video below, with direction, cameras, editing and colorization by Charles-David Dubé and Flavie Lemée:

Kindergarten Heart is out on the 23rd February via Bonsound and you can pre-order it now from the Shaina Hayes Bandcamp page.

Photo by Lawrence Fafard

The post Shaina Hayes – Sun And Time appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Insurance agent by day and costumed country star by night, Brent Amaker of Brent Amaker and the Rodeo is something of an enigma. A Southerner in Seattle who channels the classic country spirit while at the same time subverting its tropes, owing as much to the persona-led art rock of Bowie and co. as the macho (so-called) authenticity of the genre’s heavy hitters. “We’re cowboys, living the spirit of the West,” Amaker explains. “We’re not really playing country music, but we’re playing cowboy music. ‘Western performance art’ is what I like to say.” Out early next year on Killroom Records, new album Philaphobia feels like the culmination of this spirit, and single ‘Take It By The Horns’ shows off the project’s infectiously energetic side. Watch the video directed and edited by Sean Downey below:

Philaphobia is out on the 26th January via Killroom Records.

Cool Planet – Don’t Forget to Lock the Door

“A love letter to my tape machine.” That’s how Samuel Szigeti describes Everything on the Floor, the new release from the Cool Planet project. Finding the device discarded at a part time job, Szigeti experimented with the technology and in many ways followed its lead, crafting songs full of nostalgic heart. Single ‘Don’t Forget to Lock the Door’ shows off just how warm and comforting the style can be, conjuring the sense of fond calm unique to crepuscular half-dark. The kind of mood found on “a late summer evening, walking home from work through the park,” as Szigeti puts it, “the lights in the baseball diamond are turning on as the sky goes from blue to orange.”

Everything on the Floor is out now and available via streaming services.

Drench Fries – Poolside

The solo project of Seattle-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Levi Nattrass, Drench Fries first caught our attention last year with the cool pop of ‘Out My Window’. “Think classic country regret made hazy by the sea mist of the West Coast,” as we put it, “with dollops of indie rock fuzz and playful pop synths adding an idiosyncratic charm.” Following successful nights sharing the stage with the likes of Pinegrove and Katy Kirby, Nattrass decided it was time to loosen his grip on the project and invite others to collaborate. New single ‘Poolside’ is the first taste of this newly communal form of Drench Fries. A bright, upbeat pop song which opens up on close listens to grapple with almost existential themes.

Layperson – Massive Leaning

Grief as an elemental force. That’s the theme behind Massive Leaning, the latest album from Portland, OR‘s Layperson on Lung Records. Led by Julian Morris and supported by Barra Brown, Steven Skolnik, Sam Wenc, Alex Fermanis and Tyler Neidermayer, the project straddles the line between country and pop, and its moods are equally fluid. An attempt to communicate from within the aftermath of a painful loss, where the possibility of new beginnings is always challenged by an overwhelming despair. As the title track suggests, Morris sits with these competing emotions and thus transcends the traditional break-up album. Not only mourning what is lost or pining for its return, but appreciating the wonder which can fill the gap if only you let it.

L E M F R E C K – After

Hailing from Newport and now based in Cardiff, L E M F R E C K is an artist and producer who casts a wide net for inspiration. Growing up, he played for gospel artists while honing his tastes with the likes of Ghetts and Kano, before immersing himself in the pirate grime scene across Wales and Bristol. His work now wears this rich variety proudly, drawing on both underground and mainstream influences to become something entirely his own. Take single ‘After’ from new release Blood, Sweat & Fears, which might open as a trap number but soon deepens into a smooth slice of R&B that hints towards a hauntological nostalgia.

Blood, Sweat & Fears is out now via Noctown and available from the usual places.

Montañera – A Flor de Piel

Montañera‘s album A Flor de Piel is a lesson in exploration and self-discovery. Writing on previous singles ‘Un Día Voy a Ser Mariposa‘ and ‘Tú – El Borde de Mi Arista‘, we’ve been struck by the manner in which the London-based Colombian artist is able to conjure such diverse spaces within their work. Soundscapes which seem to travel great distances while mapping interiority, and blur the distinction between reality and dreams, all while eschewing any genre conventions. With the album now out via Western Vinyl, we thought we’d share the title track as final proof of this ability. A song which draws on traditional Japanese sounds to offer a mission statement for the record. To find that light inside, and in full memory of the generations which came before, allow oneself to be born anew.

A Flor De Piel is out now via Western Vinyl and you can get it from the Montañera Bandcamp page.

Night Teacher – Comfort

A collaboration between multi-media artist/singer-songwriter Lilly Bechtel, and drummer/writer/producer Matt Wyatt, Night Teacher introduced their blend of doom folk and electro pop back in 2020 with their self-titled debut album—a collection of songs which delved deep into grief to to hope and despair simultaneously. New EP Dear Ellen builds upon this aesthetic and pushes into an increasingly dreamy atmosphere. Take single ‘Comfort’ with its organic ambient textures, all led by Bechtel’s ethereal delivery. The opening is like a dreamy field recording, swaying in the breeze behind bubbling birdsong, before guitar tumbles in gently and Bechtel’s voice enters with warm but sober sincerity.

Dear Ellen is out now and available from the usual places.

Shaina Hayes – New Favourite

Sometimes your parents know best, as typified by Quebecois artist Shaina Hayes. “My folks always wanted me to be a musician,” Hayes explains, “so for me, rebelling meant getting a degree in agricultural science!” But seeing as next February sees the release of her second album Kindergarten Heart on Bonsound, it seems rebellion didn’t stick. Lead single ‘New Favourite’ shows just why we should be glad of the fact, a folk pop track as playful as it is evocative, owing as much to Feist as Hank Williams in the way it paints the excitingly volatile pull of new love.

Oh, I remember the feeling
My feet on the ground
My heart in your soft hands
My head in the clouds

Will Gardner – Remains

Remains, the debut solo album from London-based composer and artist Will Gardner, is a record of abstract emotions grounded in physical reality. A picture of days spent caring for his father through late stages of Parkinson’s dementia, the songs not only bring to light the difficult realities of the process, but push further into the intangible sensations of losing something so familiar so gradually, mourning that which has not yet passed away. Closing the album, the title track encapsulates the release, built around diary entries written by Gardner’s father, fragments of texts which were used to as scaffolding before being removed, leaving just the rhythms and melodies they inspired.

The post Weekly Listening: November 2023 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Alex Nicol has now released the EP, and the rest of the songs build upon this mission. From the slow country croon of ‘An Eye for an Eye’ and its examination of complicity within unjust systems, to the sleepy ethereality of ‘Fabricated Hedonist’ and its acknowledgement of desire. “There’s a lot to learn / From the voices you ignore,” goes one of the verses on ‘Sit Around and Wait’, “how to be respectful / How to breath new life into this broken home.” Another track which presents the present as a kind of failed state, but furthermore urges us to take an active role in its recovery.

This sense of (re)building a home is central to the EP. “I’ll never go to Hollywood / I’ll never be a star,” Nicol sings on ‘Hollywood’. “I’m washed up and my home is here / Between the highway and the corner store.” Here Alex Nicol steps into the shoes of a regretful dreamer rueing their imagined acting career, though the ideas resonate more generally. The track is typical of the EP’s tone, where haunting melancholy is leavened by the small glint of playfulness, as if beneath the weight of any situation persists a wry humour. Not to mention a fondness too, because in addressing the push and pull of home, the track counters the needling sense you should leave to become something else when the things which make where you come from so nurturing. A silver lining far away from the silver screen.

Been A Long Year Vol​.​ 1 is out now and available from the Alex Nicol Bandcamp page.

The post Alex Nicol – Been A Long Year Vol​.​ 1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Bay Area songwriter Asha Wells is releasing a double single ahead of forthcoming album Water Words on Royal Oakie Records. Written during a testing period of a relationship, Water Words traces the arc of a partnership from dreamy beginnings to the new paths of the aftermath, and this pair of singles sits in the strange space at the heart of this progression. The period where nothing is decided in any one direction, the potential of both promise and regret latent within every detail. Take ‘Blue Angels’ and the way it marbles intimacy and hesitance into its tender tones, like an open palm wanting to grasp what is before it, though wary of the thorns hidden out of view.

Elisapie – Uummati Attanarsimat

Recording under her first name, Juno Award-winning Inuk musician, filmmaker and activist Elisapie Isaac makes music that reflects Canada’s complex history, singing in English, French and the Inuit language of Inuktitut as she combines contemporary pop with her ancestral culture. Her latest single ‘Uummati Attanarsimat’ is a cover of Blondie’s new wave classic ‘Heart of Glass’ translated into Inuktitut. A song that transports Elisapie to her childhood, bringing back memories of dancing to the radio with her cousins. “I remember one night when they played ‘Heart of Glass,'” she recalls. “I must have been five or six years old. They all started dancing like crazy. I observed their joy with admiration. I felt like I was free.” The cover also comes with a video, directed by Philippe Léonard, which comprises of Super 8 archival footage from Quebec’s northern reaches. Watch it below:

‘Uummati Attanarsimat’ is out now via Bonsound and available to download from the Elisapie Bandcamp page.

Her New Knife – douglasland.v1

Philadelphia outfit Her New Knife have recently released lead dreams/flayed so light, a new EP via Julia’s War Records. Through a combination of noise and shoegaze elements, the band weave a deliciously dark sound somewhere between 90s alt rock and contemporary acts like Greet Death, the controlled simmer of its brooding dark always threatening to spill over into chaos. Inspired by the band’s dog, who is said to have the regular old name of Halo 3, ‘douglasland.v1’ is the ideal intro to the aesthetic for anyone uninitiated, its palpable weight settling over the listener and gathering like a thunderhead before the searing climax.

Josie Toney – Extra

With album Extra coming soon on Like You Mean It Records, Olympia‘s Josie Toney has shared the title track to whet appetites for her distinctive blend of traditional and contemporary country styles. It’s a tale of longing dressed in a wistful brightness, inspired not so much by the heartbreak so familiar to the genre but rather the missed opportunity that comes with lonely living. “Is there anybody out there / who wants what I’ve got to give?” she sings in the opening lines. “I have so much extra / more than any one girl needs to live.” But more than that, Toney recognises that others are out there feeling the exact same way, and the song becomes a kind of ode to the possibility of a mutual love, if not yet the love itself.

Extra is out now via Like You Mean It Records.

Jude Brothers – practicing silence / looking for water!

There’s a curious mix of sorrow and whimsy on ‘practising silence / looking for water!’, the lead single from Jude Brothers’ render tender / blunder sunder coming soon on Gar Hole Records. The sense that the distance between the confusion of loss and clarity of peace isn’t all that large, with a considerable overlap between the experiences. Consisting of just Celtic lever harp and vocals, the song explores this territory with a delicate, compassionate tone, cataloguing those things lost amid living while coming to a sense of acceptance too. The track also has a video directed by Adeliza Backus-Pace which featured puppets made by Flying Wall Studios and controlled by Damon and Sabrina Griffith:

render tender / blunder sunder is out via Gar Hole Records and you can pre-order it now.

Langkamer – Hatchet

With new album The Noon and Midnight Manual coming this May on Breakfast Records,  Bristol‘s Langkamer are unveiling a steady stream of new tracks. First single ‘Sing at Dawn’ found “the sweet centre of a Venn diagram of twangy Americana and insouciant indie rock,” as we described it, though in doing so worked through heavier themes and depressive moods. New single ‘Hatchet’ again uses left-field pop energy as a Trojan horse to push into darker territory, taking inspiration from an old poet vocalist/drummer Josh Jarman knew. “He read me a poem about going to the supermarket with his wife, and how much of a struggle it was,” Jarman explains. “His words really stuck with me. How difficult such everyday things had become for them. Even just getting out of a car. It was heartbreaking, the matter-of-fact way he spoke about it.”

The Noon And Midnight Manual is out on the 8th May via Breakfast Records and you can pre-order it now from the Langkamer Bandcamp page.

Matthew Danger Lippman – And

Matthew Danger Lippman practises what has been called “stream-of-consciousness songwriting,” blending psych, pop and indie rock into an inventive and endlessly shifting style able to evoke the flights of fancy of our inner worlds. New album Once You Get Low You’ve Gotta Start Flying Baby promises to build upon this style is all of its bizarre glory, with lead single ‘And’ typifying Lippman’s ability to be earnest and absurd in the same breadth. The sort of thing which only makes sense when caught up within it, dream logic fired by its own momentum and charged by the endearing brightness of its rhythm.

And I had that dream last night
Where I pissed on the third rail
And the charge climbed up the piss trail
And it shot into my dickhole
And electrified me

And I walked around glowing
And I fried everything that I touched
And then I ran into my third grade teacher and she said
“You better watch where you piss”
And watch me now!

Palm Shadow – You Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way

Based in southern California, Palm Shadow is a songwriter and musician who combines elements of dream pop, shoegaze and folk to create lush, diaphanous songs that shimmer and swirl in an enveloping haze. Debut single ‘You Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way’ is the perfect introduction, taking the stark emotion of the likes of Phoebe Bridgers or Lucy Dacus and wrapping it up in ethereal ambience. Subtle arpeggiated synths add a cinematic poignancy as the song looks head-on at the tender regrets and heart-quickening inevitability of a complicated relationship, touching on what the liner notes describe as “bad timing, tabled ambitions, missed connections and procrastination guilt.”

Wayfinding – Hiro Up From The Woodshop

Wayfinding is an Edmonton-based project consisting of nêhiyawak members Marek Tyler and Matthew Cardinal alongside musician/artist Cassia Hardy (Wares) and Ryan Beattie (Himalayan Bear, Chet). The band introduced their shoegaze-inflected pomo pop back in November with ‘Bad Bloods’, which turned out to be the opening track of a self-titled EP set for release next month. It is a collection of songs which explores the full spectrum of memories both personal and cultural to Canada’s colonial history and the people shaped within it. Latest single ‘Hiro Up From the Woodshop’ moves through loneliness and humble compassion to capture the essence of a friendship, as well as the existential weight bubbling beneath even the quietest of moments.

And if you should inscribe
Iambic pentameter on my gravesite
make it a couple of lines
about the first part of my life
No empty accolades
Or poetry infantilized
Just the good times

The post Weekly Listening: March 2023 #4 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

With contributions from Audreanne Fillon (cello), Jon Evans (pedal steel), Ben Heard (double bass), Ryan White and Max Izzo (both drums), and additional bass arrangements by Leonard Sauve, the Moulting sound is fluid and tactile. Opener ‘Oleanna’ leans most heavily towards the country end of this style, its lazy rhythms offering a reflective warmth which serves as the ideal underpinning for the crooned vocals, and ‘I’ll Be On Time (The Last Time I Speak To You)’ follows with a similarly wistful tone. ‘Prussian Blue’ emerges from an acoustic line but soon widens into a richer chamber pop atmosphere, maintaining the balance between smoothness and edge inherent in the Moulting vocal style.

With its upbeat tempo, ‘Spinning Out’ offers a country rock driving song, its brightness belying the uncertainty of its lyrics and its motion serving as a balm against such concerns, before ‘Pescado’ introduces something slower and more atmospheric. A careful, shaded song which might be morose or carefree depending on how you hold it up to the light. The closing title track is equally ambiguous in its tone, the sound ostensibly brighter though the vocals decidedly more downbeat. But within the idiosyncratic timings and impassioned yet controlled vocals lies something which seems to exist outside of simple concepts of bright or sad. A scene where death is a freeing motion, the moment the spirit leaves the body and returns home.

Artwork by Mathilde Jobin

The post Moulting – Vacation Autographs appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The lead single from the EP, ‘Ditch’ is a good example, sacrificing some of the richness of the previous tracks in favour of raw mood. Tip-toeing into existence with a muted, foreboding creep, the song grows gradually with a strangely portentous air. As though some latent violence or fury sleeps within the airy vocals and ominous bass. The beginnings of this tumult begin to stir in the track’s back half, though the promised crescendo is never quite reached, the sound instead settling back into its stalking, menacing rhythm.

Watch the road you always said to me
As if I could predict it
It’s pretty in the inbetween
Pull me in the ditch

The post Seatkickr – Ditch appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opening track and lead single ‘Where I’m At’ sets the tone. “Honey, I’ve been stumbling,” Davies sings, “I’ve been fumbling through the days / I get up, I go out / and I come back home again.” This daily inertia is complicated by another force, one which has snared more than its fair share of country musicians. A subtle downward pull that follows the aimless wanderer, as though by going nowhere, one in fact sinks into days or time itself, which is all too ready to accumulate above their head. “Fleeting are the moments and lonely are my dreams,” concludes the opening verse. “It’s a long way to the bottom, but it’s quicker than it seems.”

There’s nevertheless a warmth to ‘Where I’m At’, especially the chorus with its additional vocals and sense of solidarity if not solution. This juxtaposition of downcast and upbeat is the key theme of the release, the easy-going rhythms and relaxed vibes at once tired of life yet glad to be breathing. From the disarmingly bright ‘Sad & Lonely’ to the loose-limbed ‘What if I’m Right’, Davies repeatedly pairs bummed out lyrics with pleasantly wistful instrumentation.

But far from coming across as playful or jarring, this blend of moods only strengthens the spirit underpinning the Ian Davies style. Not only does the sound provide a sense of distance and context for the emotions, preventing things from descending into melodrama, but it also forms a unifying compassion. The sense that, no matter how painful or dispiriting, there’s some connection to be found within melancholy. Some proof that hope still exists. Because the past would not smart so much if there was no promise of a future.

The King of Bedroom Country is out now and available from the Ian Davies Bandcamp page, and 100% of sales will be donated to the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.

The post Ian Davies – The King of Bedroom Country appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Michelle Blades – Kiss Me on the Mouth

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

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

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

Dehd – Dying For

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

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

Hussy – Forever

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

Never Betters – Alone

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

Deanna Petcoff – Stress

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

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

Find Deanna Petcoff on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Sen Wisher – Feather Tongue

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

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

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

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

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

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

Press Club – Headwreck

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

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

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

Frederick The Younger – Everyone’s Changing

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

Find more at the Frederick the Younger Bandcamp page.

Great Health – Lazarus

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

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

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

Sasha Cay – Washing Dishes

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

Pretty Matty – Kicked Out

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

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

You can find Pretty Matty on Bandcamp.

Ladada – Float Away

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

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

Weston Smith – Paranoia

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

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

Human Girlfriend – Opposite People

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

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

We’re delighted to share the second single, ‘How Long Has It Been?’, an equally striking meld of intimacy and elegance. From Gavanski’s count in, the track feels spontaneous, as though recorded on impulse as thoughts and feeling emerge, though sacrificing nothing in terms of craft and atmosphere. Thematically, the song casts love as a natural process, meteorological or geological, both subject to and capable of great change. Here relationships are for the most part unpredictable, their subjects reduced to superstition and flat hard waiting, blind hope mixed with vertiginous fear, everything beautiful and delicate and tending toward slow disintegration.

“It felt like the wind blew us apart
just so we could begin to see in the dark
to believe in the feeling
that starts in the bones”

The post Song Premiere: Dana Gavanski – How Long Has It Been? appeared first on Various Small Flames.