This autumn, Hazelcreak are releasing a new full-length album, Gopher State, and have unveiled the first single, ‘Father Hennepin’, by way of an introduction. Described as “the cross-product of a funeral song and a road trip jam,” the track revolves around the idea of grief as a shared event. It originated from a loved one’s loss of someone close, and paints mourning as a kind of ripple effect, disturbing more than those directly effected.

From Bemidji’s trees on Halloween
Couldn’t force yourself to fall asleep
Stuck at that Dairy Queen
You told me you were scared to leave

Like lavender and Albert’s – the taste it leaves
But having had you is enough for me
Having had you is enough for me

The track comes complete with a short film by Old Neighbor and Nick Richter. Shot at Bear Head Lake State Park in Ely, Minnesota on Kodak Super8 film, the video captures the song’s sense of blue-skied nostalgia, infused with equal parts carefree joy and bittersweet memory.

Gopher State is out on the 1st October.

The post Hazelcreak – Father Hennepin appeared first on Various Small Flames.

We’re pleased to announce that this week sees Con Davison return with a brand new single, ‘Sofa Bed’, and we’re lucky enough to be able to share the song a day early. Building upon the previous release, the track leans into the warm, malleable rhythms to lend a distinctively languid aesthetic, though the sound masks less than sunny themes. “Having spent much of the last 2 years on the road, I feel like I’ve really had to get comfortable with constantly being in a state of missing home,” Davison explains. “I’m not sure there’s any way to make being gone feel better or easier, and ‘Sofa Bed’ leaves it at that. It’s miserable to be away from the ones you love.”

Swapping out any trite answers or melodrama in favour of honest self-awareness, the song doesn’t attempt to answer the tensions at its heart, rather sketch them more fully in order to better understand them. Things are hard and likely staying so, so why pretend otherwise? Instead, Con Davison flips the focus on its head, describing the joy and belonging to be found at home through its very absence on the road, forming an indirect testament to that which is familiar and significant.

You can find Con Davison on Bandcamp.

The post Con Davison – Sofa Bed appeared first on Various Small Flames.