“Thriving on a diversity of influences and intentions and underpinned by the constant desire to invent new things.” That’s how we described Hybrid Dimension II by The Allegorist, an album which highlighted the visionary style of Berlin-based artist Anna Jordan. One so committed to the world it created, it was performed in an entirely fictional language. Forthcoming album TEKHENU promises to be no less ambitious, again using narrative-based compositions to conjure a mythical world at least partly inspired by ancient Egyptian imagery and shaped by metaphors for human connection. Latest single ‘Howling With The Wolf’ finds such common bond in the animalistic drivers at the heart of every human, re-establishing our connection to the natural world and embracing the wilderness as a plane of interconnection.

TEKHENU is out on the 5th May via Awaken Chronicles and you can pre-order it now.

American Grandma – Stone Cross

The slowcore project of Denver‘s Jensen Keller and Caden Marchese, American Grandma is prepping to release their brand new album Rare Knives of Light later this spring, and single ‘Stone Cross’ finds the outfit at their shimmering best. Positioning itself at the ambient end of the spectrum, the song does not eliminate the dark heft of the genre so much as leaven it, the ascending tones lifting the entire weight of the sound, shadows and all. So as Keller asks a series of cryptic questions, what emerges is curious blend of the physical and intangible—a mirage you can feel between your fingers, a dream or prayer brought to life.

Does the sun shine bright forever?
Will I commemorate you with a painted sign?

Constant Follower & Scott William Urquhart – Waves Crash Here

Last summer we featured Constant Follower and their beautiful record Neither Is, Nor Ever Was. As we described, the project represents “a struggle between calmness and distress, between the real and imaginary, and indeed between the desire for and fear of such clear boundaries.” But ultimately “embraces this turmoil, and in doing so offers a fundamental reimagining of memory, of the past and future, the real and not.” The band are now gearing up to release Even Days Dissolve, a new album in collaboration with Scott William Urquhart, and lead single ‘Waves Crash Here’ shows a continued engagement with both memory and the natural world. With its evocative sweeps and fine detail, Urquhart’s guitar evokes the duality of permanence and ephemerality of the environment which inspired it, and Constant Follower’s Stephen McAll again turns to the poetry of Norman MacCaig to guide his moving, precise writing. Watch the video by animator George Farrow-Hawkins below:

Even Days Dissolve is out on the 14th April and you can pre-order it now.

Eyesore & The Jinx – An Ideas Man

Liverpool post-punk trio Eyesore & The Jinx return this May with a new double-single 7″ An Ideas Man / Do What You Love. We’ve previously described the outfit’s work as “cutting and hysterical, as though the banality of society has pushed them over the edge,” and ‘An Ideas Man’ finds them no less enraged with the world unfolding around them. It’s a twitchy song about “cult of landlordism and a parasitic ideology which has become pervasive in its wake,” as Josh Miller explains, taking on the voice of the titular figure in all of its self-congratulatory smarm. The sound’s taut angles threaten to spill over into some violent climax, and in a world in which men will kick you repeatedly on a punctual monthly rota and pretend they are doing you a favour, how else should our songs sound? As Miller concludes: “In short, it’s about how much I fucking hate landlords.”

Greg Mendez – Goodbye / Trouble

Later this year, Philadelphia‘s Greg Mendez will return with a self-titled full-length via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes. Following on from 2020’s Cherry Hell, a record we described as “taking the themes of Townes Van Zandt, Connie Converse and Elliott Smith and casting them in the bedroom pop spirit of today,” the new album sees Mendez continue this honest reflection, digging into the past to re-examine painful experiences while never losing a wry edge too. “There’s a lot of pretty bleak memories in the songs,” he explains, “but one thing that I hope comes through is that nothing is ever fully dark.” Lead single ‘Goodbye / Trouble’ captures the style perfectly, a lo-fi pop number rooted in memories while waiting for some present transcendence. Watch the video by Video by Doug Dulgarian (of they are gutting a body of water) below:

Greg Mendez is out on the 5th May via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes.

Kassi Valazza – Corners

Back in January we introuduced Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, the forthcoming album by Portland artist Kassi Valazza on Fluff and Gravy Records (US) and Loose Music (UK). Writing of lead single ‘Watching Planes Go By’ we described how her timeless country singer-songwriter style “bears all the hallmarks of the best retro tracks while refusing to fall for nostalgic imitation.” Now Valazza has unveiled the record’s second single. Titled ‘Corners’, it’s a tender but tentative love song that again draws on psych-styled folk as much as it does from Americana, unfurling with an easy emotional ache as though from a decades-old dusty radio. Valazza’s voice sits at the sweet spot between soft and strong, tired and heartsick but holding onto a golden romantic hope.

I wonder if I called you
would it be alright
to say I loved you

Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing will be released by Fluff & Gravy Records / Loose Music on 12th May. Pre-order it now from the Kassi Valazza Bandcamp page.

Monde UFO – Government Employee

As their name might suggest, there’s something otherworldly about the work of LA‘s Monde UFO, but new album Vandalized Statue To Be Replaced With Shrine, out next month via Quindi Records, shows just how varied this ethereal mood can be. First single ‘Visions of Fatima’ led the listener into a decidedly downbeat mystery, channelling the miracle of its title to speak of shifting wonders and cloaked truths. But described as “a sun-kissed trip of low-key lounge surrealism, bizarro storytelling and shuffling exotica splendour,” latest track ‘Government Employee’ shows off a different dimension to the record. One where the laidback rhythms evoke an alternate version of visitation, the lyrics playing with an almost Pynchon-esque restlessness beneath the languorous surface.

Nyokabi Kariũki – fire head

Last week, Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki released FEELING BODY, her debut full-length album on New York label cmntx records. Combining everything from experimental electronic, contemporary classical and East African traditional music, the album explores Kariũki’s experience of living with long-COVID for the entirety of 2021. The record is built around a central motif of the voice, utilizing Kariũki’s full vocal range as well as spoken word recordings and text-to-speech software, what she describes as “a way to express visceral feelings and noisy thoughts.” It also features contributions from violinst Yaz Lancaster and trumpet player Michael Denis Ó Callaghan, their playing manipulated to echo symptoms of the persistent illness. Nowhere is this clearer that on standout track, ‘fire head’, a genuinely unsettling piece which layers a field recording of Ó Callaghan disassembling then reassembling his trumpet with a cacophony of automated voices repeating the line “They stopped asking if I was ok.”

Shalom – Lighter

Later this week, Brooklyn-based Shalom will release her debut album Sublimation on Saddle Creek. We wrote a preview of the album last month, describing it as “a bracingly honest exploration of a young life,” that “combin[es] stories of partying and trauma, love and breakups and feelings of disaffection,” and admiring its mixture of bold, direct indie pop and emotional nuance. Ahead of the record’s release, Shalom has unveiled the final single ‘Lighter’. It’s probably the most pop-oriented song on the album, the carefree atmosphere masking its themes of discontent. “So done with being myself,” Shalom sings in the chorus, “I’d rather be anyone else, I’m tired of being a fighter.” Watch the animated video by Rory Alene below:

Sublimation releases 10th March via Saddle Creek. Order a copy now from the Shalom Bandcamp page.

The post Weekly Listening: March 2023 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Lead single ‘Happenstance’ captured these conflicting themes in a slice of bold indie pop, focusing on paradoxical emotions of craving attention and validation while also feeling an urge to become invisible, to disappear. Alex Free’s video portrayed such feelings with a suitably vivid and abstract style, evoking both the alienation of growing up and the embrace of the whatever person you end up becoming.

New single ‘Soccer Mommy’ continues this nuanced picture. A big brash indie rock song, the single again delivers an emotional punch in a driving sugar-rush of cathartic energy, acknowledging the difficult aspects of finding yourself while leaning into the empowering force of momentum. “This song is about a time in my life that I used to be very upset and embarrassed about, but now I’m like, wow, I feel so much better after writing this song,” Shalom explains. “It’s called ‘Soccer Mommy’ because I got my driver’s license in late 2019 and spent my first year on the road listening to Color Theory and thinking about my 20-year-old self who didn’t deserve the things that happened to her. I love Soccer Mommy. I’m terrified of driving, but I always felt brave listening to ‘Circle The Drain’ on 287 south.”

and I’m not sure when it changed but I’m bored of being ashamed
I danced myself clean and I own a denim jacket now
my plants are still alive but the jade I got around you has long died
some things just suck
they aren’t always lessons either

Watch the video directed by Daniella Hoerle below featuring New Brunswick band Valentine’s Day:

Sublimation is out on the 10th March via Saddle Creek and you can pre-order it now.

Photo by Aaron DuRall

The post Shalom – Sublimation appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Following on from the exquisite Skulls Example back in 2018, Dear Nora returns with new record human futures this autumn on Orindal Records. Lead single ‘Scrolls of Doom’ is every bit as idiosyncratic and inventive as the rest of Katy Davidson’s work. A view of the world from an oblique angle which somehow better portrays its folly and wonder. “I make billions in seconds flat / and I stuff it under my cowboy hat,” Davidson sings, deadpan. “Yeah, you punk me and I’m perplexed / but we all know what happens next.” A time capsule of a specific period, a prophecy of what’s to come. The human futures, here and now.

Eliza Edens – Westlawn Cemetery

Back in August we wrote about ‘I Needed You‘, the lead single from Eliza Edens‘s forthcoming release, We’ll Become the Flowers. “A meditation on the strangeness of an aftermath,” as we put it, “when nothing is as it used to feel and anger and longing are impossible split.” The latest track from the album, ‘Westlawn Cemetery’ balances fond visions of the past and concerns about the future through its titular location. A scene of familiarity from childhood nevertheless loaded with themes of death and change. The permanence of the headstones representing the ephemeral nature of life.

Hallelujah The Hills – God Is So Lonely Tonight

Back in July, Boston favourites Hallelujah The Hills released their first single since 2019’s I’m You with ‘Superglued to You’, a track of open hearts and racing momentum bound together by Ryan Walsh’s ever-inventive lyricism. Brand new single ‘God Is So Lonely Tonight’ pushes further onto this ground, albeit this time concerning a different relationship and with a more reflective, wry tone. But as the song develops so too does the energy underpinning it, contemplation transformed into conviction as another shout-a-long chorus arrives. “And you know he don’t even know my name / But he needs me, he needs me, he needs me all just the same,” Walsh sings. “You know that God is / God is / God is / so lonely tonight.”

‘God Is So Lonely Tonight’ is out now and available from the Hallelujah the Hills Bandcamp page.

Hunting – Piano Fire

Vancouver duo Hunting have announced their brand new LP, You’ve Got Love (But it Even Tears You Apart), will be released via Nevado Music this autumn, and have unveiled a cover of Sparklehorse‘s ‘Piano Fire’ by way of introduction. Released to coincide with Mark Linkous’s sixtieth birthday, their take captures both the energy and strangeness of the original, and the stop-motion video created by Hunting’s own Jessicka Lynne at Field and Glass Studio only pushes further into the track’s surreal nature.

You’ve Got Love (But it Even Tears You Apart) is out on the 11th November via Nevado Music.

JPW – Wealth of the Canyon

What better schooling can there be in music than consistently talking to the best? As the writer and host behind the ever-present Aquarium Drunkard, Jason Woodbury has had the opportunity to do just that, and his debut solo record Something Happening / Always Happening, out now on Fort Lowell Records, suggests he has been taking notes. Under the moniker JPW, Woodbury creates songs dialled in to both the surrounding landscape and the mystical dimensions above and beyond it. Classic cosmic folk rock which might well beam you up, if only to get a better look at the world below. Take single ‘Wealth of the Canyon’, its sound rich and enveloping, its easy rhythms so laidback as to be practically horizontal. But within the warmth lies something mysterious, something quite possibly sublime. A cloaked thing which you can only hope to catch in glances as time goes by.

Maripool – This Time Again

The moniker of Lisbon-born, London-based artist Natasha Simões, Maripool offers a brand of bedroom pop equal parts bright and moody. Released via Practice Music, new single ‘This Time Again’ captures the balance perfectly, with a certain tension between the easy-going instrumentation and Simões vocals. A juxtaposition caught in the lyrics, where the ostensibly frolicsome nature of the song is undermined by a shadowy edge. Something sinister lurking just beneath the surface.

And I get to see you when I see you
And I knew you were the one
To say I could see it in your eyes
With all of your lies

And I’d like to see you cry
And I’d like to see you die

Pony Girl – Running in Circles

Ahead of their new LP Enny One Will Love You on Paper Bag Records, Ottawa-Hull-based outfit Pony Girl have shared their latest offering, ‘Running in Circles’. A slow-burning pop number which slowly unravels into something more chaotic as another crushingly mundane day in work pushes the narrator to the brink. The song comes with a suitably cinematic video produced by K Collective in association with Dan Rascal & Cloud in the Sky, directed and edited by Dom Llanos with director of photography Santiago Trugeda. A flash horror movie which captures the enmeshed relationship between deadening boredom and overwhelming anger. Check it out below:

Enny One Wil Love You is out on the 14th October via Paper Bag Records and you can pre-order it now.

Sarah La Puerta – A Gun

Artist, musician and calligrapher Sarah La Puerta embraces the in-between. Be it the spaces between artforms, between places themselves, or the metaphysical gap between so-called reality and everything else. It’s fitting then that debut album Strange Paradise, released last year on Perpetual Doom, started in Austin and finished in upstate New York, and took on a whole world of inspiration to inform its search for paradise in the smallest, strangest gaps of life. La Puerta has recently unveiled a new video for single the ‘A Gun’, where director Christopher Michael Hefner further excavates the record’s surreal and elusive spirit, ensuring the search continues on.

Strange Paradise is out now and available via Bandcamp.

Shalom – DTAP

Ahead of a debut album scheduled for sometime in 2023 on Saddle Creek, Brooklyn‘s Shalom has unveiled new single, ‘DTAP’. Packaged together with a cover of Hovvdy‘s ‘True Love’, the single offers an unabashedly upbeat vision of love. A breathless and overwhelming experience unique to those early, giddy days. As Shalom explains, the song is about “dreaming of someone and the magic that happens when you don’t really care where or when as long as the who is right, the right person.” And it rings true even if real life experiences didn’t quite line up at the time of recording. “Even though I was in the midst of processing my big breakup, there’s something so pure about that song so the joy prevails,” Shalom continues. “Joy prevails, different time, any place.”

DTAP / True Love is out now via Saddle Creek.

The post Weekly Listening: September 2022 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.