Which is not to say Slake is an entirely solo endeavour. Single ‘Bonecollector’ represented “both a window into the singular vision of the Californian artist and an embodiment of the collaborative spirit which brings their work to life,” we wrote in a preview, showing off the work of musicians Bridge Gamble (bass), Ryan Albert (additional guitar), Lil Spakoski (synth/theremin), Oona Albertson (drums) and Maya Bon (additional vocals) as well as a whole crew of directors, editors, camera crew and performers on the accompanying video. But it is Claire’s vocals to which all of these elements are in service, something apparent from opener ‘Bauhaus the Dog’, a slow-building song where the delivery is at once haunting and cathartic.

You know I think Bauhaus can hear me thinking about him,
he’s sending all his friends to do his sleuthing.
Cause when I’m porchin’, stoop-sittin’ all alone
the dogs that cross my path are darker than
obsidian.

The rest of the album unfolds in this manner, walking a porous line between sincere emotion and something more foreboding, as though each moment holds both intrinsic beauty and its own latent dread. Take the striking details of songs like ‘Go Fish’ (“eating dinner that’s wrapped up like a present / opening fish bones all folded in parchment) and ‘Big Gray Marbles’ (“Open mouth / I’m looking in / Yours is different than his / you’ve got bright pink, blood-filled skin”). Or the way songs like ‘Back and Forth’ provide heartbreaking tenderness while upending the superficial epiphanies so common in confessional art. “Telling them that I / don’t know if I / can do this much longer / Whatever this in that statement meant,” Claire sings on the latter, before describing the moment of silence before the sister answers. “When you open your heart to the world it opens itself right back up to you.” Yet, unlike the Hollywood version of such a scene, the moment continues beyond this nugget of wisdom. “It’s not what I wanted to hear / because that’s something that I already knew that I knew,” Claire continues. “Isn’t it so unfortunate that we always gotta be the ones to make the first move?”

Coming near the end of the record, ‘1026’ is perhaps a standout. A perfect example of how Slake manages to transform an otherwise mundane moment into something sacred. Or rather, restore the sacredness latent in every moment to its full luster. And by sacred, we mean something beautiful, yes, but also serious, daunting, even scary. Reflecting on both the past and present via everything from framed photos and accumulated possessions to strange dreams, ‘1026’ treats the present as a flat plane facing in two directions. Look one way and we see everything which makes us who we are, look the other for something even more terrifying.

I’ve got this framed picture of us three – my grandma with my name, my daddy, and me.
In it I am a few hours old
my first day in the world.
The longer I look at it the worse it gets, I own this image that reverses death.
Well that Virgin Mary statue looks just like my mom, I guess that makes me her son –
I didn’t mean that at all.

Let’s Get Married is out now via Cherub Dream Records and available from the Slake Bandcamp page.

The post Slake – Let’s Get Married appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Back in March we wrote about ‘Hold On’, a single from LA’s Bouquet which teased the duo’s first full-length album in a decade, Spellbreaker. The song was a slice of dream pop “rich and romantic [in] style,” as we put it, that “championed restraint within a genre often prone to excesses.” Now Bouquet are back with new track ‘Moon Was Made’, offering a further glimpse at the record. A vintage Linn Drum machine is paired with the hi-hats of an old Roland rhythm box to weave a sound almost ethereal in its analog charm, all supporting lyrics which push and probe for answers amid an enveloping sense of uncertainty.

Watch the video shot and directed by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs below:

‘Moon Was Made’ is out now and available from the Bouquet Bandcamp page.

Bug Crush – Mikey Told Me

With a new four-song EP Somehow I go in circles all the time set for release next month, Brooklyn-based songwriter Carolyn Fahrner, AKA Bug Crush, has unveiled new single, ‘Mikey Told Me’. Written after first moving to the city and living in less than perfect housing conditions, the track finds Fahrner tapping into the universal, slightly surreal experience of discomfort in a new place, where everything feels a little hazy and out of sync. “I wasn’t sleeping well because my bedroom floors were three inches uneven. In my groggy waking hours, I wandered around Brooklyn and frequently passed by a store called Mikey’s Hook Up. I thought it was a funny name and it stuck in my head. I wanted to write a song that wasn’t really about me, or anyone I knew, but I think it inevitably ended up being a reflection of my experiences in the world.”

‘Mikey Told Me’ is out now and available from the usual places, Somehow I go in circles all the time will be released on the 16th May.

JLJR – Thumbtack

“Adopts a tone both reflective and defiant to chart the end of a distinctive kind of relationship. One troubled and difficult to live through, yet equally one whose closure takes something from you too.” That’s how we described ‘Arms For Eyes’, the lead single from JLJR new EP The Rest of Your Life, coming soon on Paper Moon Records. Latest single ‘Thumbtack’ is no less reflective in style. A mosaic of iPhone takes and tape loops which weaves a lo-fi representation of memory itself, while the disarmingly sincere vocals meditate on grief to give the ostensibly inviting sound a real emotional edge.

The Rest of Your Life is out via Paper Moon Records.

Myriads – Call It Quits

Described as “a study of love, happiness, depression, and the search for meaning in these universal human experiences,” Find Ourselves Again is the new EP from Portland, OR-based outfit, Myriads. The work of frontperson Maria DeHart has morphed over the years, evolving from a solo endeavour built upon acoustic and later loop pedal foundations into the full band which would become Myriads, though has maintained a sincere, confronting tone throughout the arc. The new EP represents the next step in this process, blending elements of bedroom and dream pop with the heft and energy of indie rock to communicate in a typically unguarded, empathetic manner. Single ‘Call It Quits’ embodies the style, its wistful fondness counterbalanced with fuzzy weight, capturing the experience of a break-up in all of its conflict and longing.

Old Man of the Woods – Anticipating

“Tendrils is a collection of devotionals, written at a yearning distance from their beloveds. It’s the recognition of the vines that bind us to all we adore, at times only felt once they become taut, begin to quiver, reverberate, fray, snap, curl.” So describes Miranda Elliott of the new album from Old Man of the Woods, set for release this June. Recorded during a residency at the Culterim Gallery in an abandoned German sanatorium, the album explores the close relationship of preservation and decomposition, evolving the goth pop of previous releases like Votives and Triptych I to increasingly evocative results. Lead single ‘Anticipating’ provides a hint of the haunted vibe therein, playing like a private party for one held in memory of all that came before which nevertheless, as per its title, holds hope in the possibility that that which has been lost might be accessible some way down the line.

Tendrils will be released this June.

Penny & the Pits – Pool Party

“Lacks none of the mood or bite of the Motherhood sound, [Penelope] Stevens matching head-banging heft with an abstract, poetic lyricism which plays like a personal journey into the strange currents and slacks of this thing we call life.” So we wrote of ‘Montenegro on Ice’, the first single from Penny & the Pits‘ debut album Liquid Compactor, forthcoming this summer via Forward Music Group. Described as “a gritty, adventurous punk-rock album that processes feminist joy, rage and revenge,” the record harnesses this energy for both fun and fury, something exemplified by latest single, ‘Pool Party’. A surf punk number full of playfulness and bite which again highlights the imagination of the project, telling the delightfully dark story of a girl gang hell bent on revenge against the men who have wronged them.

Watch the video by director of photography Amelia Bailey below, with art direction by Audrey Kirk and Penelope Stevens and editing/colouring by Nicole Cecile Holland:

Liquid Compactor is out on the 27th June via Forward Music Group and you can pre-order it now.

Rose Haven Motor Hotel – Trasig

If any one feature marked Things Don’t Stay, the 2024 EP by Jackson-based project Rose Haven Motor Hotel, it was a sense of perpetual change, the style switching from traditional folk to alt-country swagger and back again on a whim. The release was “appropriately titled,” as we put it, “not only evoking the overarching wistfulness which marks the release, but also speaking to the stylistic fluidity which occurs across the five songs.” Released in preview of a forthcoming EP, latest single ‘Trasig’ sees Ben Atkinson continues to push the project towards new styles and influences. An instrumental guitar track he describes as “George Harrison meets Delicate Steve meets a biker gang.” A song of retro richness and a notable mean streak which refuses to outstay its welcome and maintains an air of mysterious cool as a result.

Slake – Votive

Back in March we introduced Slake, the recording project of self-described ‘lesbian doom folk’ songwriter Mary Claire, with single ‘Bonecollector’. Serving as “both a window into the singular vision of the Californian artist and an embodiment of the collaborative spirit which brings their work to life” as we put it, the track was the first glimpse of Slake’s new album Let’s Get Married, coming this June with Cherub Dream Records. New single ‘Votive’ further grounds this style and suggests all of the album is delivered with the same shadowy atmosphere and intimacy that made its predecessor so striking. Against the backdrop of a subtle yet poignant arrangement, it is Claire’s vocals which represent the heart of the track. A voice that plays as both a plea and a prayer, looking for a way to move beyond present suffering or else come to understand the purpose of the pain in order to better withstand it.

Soot Sprite – Vicious Cycles

With the release of new album Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon fast approaching on Specialist Subject Records, Soot Sprite have shared final single ‘Vicious Cycles’ to further whet appetites. We’ve previously described the album as “a call to arms to fight against the forces that make contemporary life so difficult, and a reminder of the radical potential within empathy and community,” and the new single zooms in on the most personal experiences to explore how such a mission might look on an individual level. “‘Vicious Cycles’ is about addressing your patterns of behaviour and the damage done in previous relationships,” as lead Elise Cook explains. “The fear of retribution for the smallest of hiccups that sticks with you long after the impacting relationship is done. The thought that you’ll never fully shake it off.”

I can’t wash off the oil from your spill
Part of me is always blackened by your will
Try to leave it in the years
But I still shake with fear
The eggshells stab like little spears

Sucker Crush – Stranger

Echoqualia is the latest EP from Sucker Crush, the recording project of Oakland-based songwriter Marissa Deitz. Built from a myriad of home recordings made between 2016 and 2021 and elevated beyond the sum of its parts with extra work in the subsequent years, the release has been long in the making, and this extended gestation period only served to add to its richness and weight. “A lot has happened in that time (personally, politically, pandemically…),” as Deitz says, “and it’s a strange and beautiful thing to hold these songs as they are now.” Lead single ‘Stranger’ highlights the signature blend of chamber pop and electronic sensibilities of the EP, its gentle, airy style belying the orchestral depth of the sound, and Deitz’s vocals equally notable for their simultaneously hushed and powerful tone.

Yoshika Colwell – There’s Got To Be A Loser Babe

“Pushing the folk sound into ethereal, almost cosmic territory, the song again embraces the satisfying weirdness of dreams, where logic might not adhere to the ordinary laws of such things, yet feels like logic all the same.” So we wrote of Yoshika Colwell‘s ‘Last Night’ back in February, but despite the single’s dreamy aesthetic, its heart was firmly rooted in the physical world. The track features on Colwell’s debut full-length On The Wing, an album coming this summer on Blue Flowers which further mines the more ethereal territories of folk to explore real life experiences. “This album is a bit of a shrine I suppose to all of the pivotal experiences that shaped me during my twenties and it’s also, I feel, a tentative lean towards hopefulness for the future,” Colwell explains. “It is, at its core, an album about acceptance and release, and freedom from old binds […] The process felt quite ritualistic, akin to writing down the things you know you need to let go of on a piece of paper and burning it.” Watch the video for latest single ‘There’s Got To Be A Loser Babe’ by Tilly Wace below:

On The Wing is out on the 25th July via Blue Flowers and you can pre-order it now.

The post Weekly Listening: April 2025 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Last May, Toronto songwriter  and multi-instrumentalist Abigail Lapell released Anniversary, an album of love songs that explored the L-word in a variety of its many guises. Now, almost a year on, Lapell has announced More Songs About Love, an extended version of the record that adds eight extra tracks, including acoustic versions and French translations of some of Anniversary‘s standouts. Lapell made the album with the help of Tony Dekker (of Great Lake Swimmers), and he lends his vocals to the lead single, an acoustic duet version of ‘Wait Up’. “I feel like it brings out such a different, more intimate side of the song,” Lapell describes, “and was super fun to play and sing live together.”

Amiture Music – Mountain

Jack Whitescarver’s Amiture might be a thing of the past, but a new project has risen from the ashes. Amiture Music sees Whitescarver enlist drummer Justin Fossella, bassist Max Berine Shafer and multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Allie Wrubel to push into a style of experimental rock unreachable to a solo artist. “As musicians, the four of us are able to access an unspoken knowing, a shared voice,” Whitescarver says, “and this intimate understanding has allowed us to blend and mold our distinct approaches and styles into a unified, total sound.” The first taste of this new beginning, single ‘Mountain’ embodies the deep sincerity which underpins Amiture Music, forgoing any conceits or flashy gimmicks in favour of open collaboration and good old fashioned craft.

Domino Lewis – Do It All

Described as a songwriter “born in France but raised on Gordon Lightfoot and Joan Baez,” Domino Lewis crafts a timeless style of folk which owes equal debts to the classics and contemporaries of the genre. Ahead of a new EP scheduled for release sometime later this year, Lewis has shared brand new single, ‘Do It All’. A song which draws on a quote by Sylvia Plath—”I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations possible in my life. And I am horribly limited”—to form a sound at once affirming and shot through by melancholy. An apparent contradiction embraced throughout the track, as though to fully inhabit one’s life is to grasp both sides of the coin with identical curiousity. “I wanna see a morning /and moonlight just the same,” as the opening lines assert. “I wanna burn the sunshine / wanna drown the rain.”

Lewis joined up with Western AF on their European tour to record a version of the track. Watch the video recorded and mixed by Will Ross and edited by Manuel Deakins below:

‘Do It All’ is out now and available from the Domino Lewis Bandcamp page.

Foxtails Brigade – Forevermore

Described as “a lonely, bedroom anthem for the lost and forgotten,” ‘Forevermore’ is the latest single from San Francisco‘s Foxtails Brigade, and the first taste of their upcoming new full-length Red Album. Led by Laura Weinbach, the project has long made what we’ve called previously “a peculiar brand of Gothic folk-pop which embraces the weirder side of life,” and the new single is no exception. A poignant ode to those who exist at some kind of angle to the conventional modes of living, too often shunned by the cultural and political gatekeepers of their time.

‘Forevermore’ is out now. You can sign up for early access of Red Album on the Foxtails Brigade website.

Hectorine – Is Love An Illusion?

Bay Area-based songwriter Sarah Gagnon, AKA Hectorine, is preparing to release thrid album Arrow of Love later this spring with Take a Turn Records, an album which invoked the Sumerian goddess Inanna in its conception. Mesopotamian myth tells of Inanna descending into the underworld, giving up clothing and possessions at each of the gates of hell to finally arrive naked, and Gagnon followed the analogy to trace a path through a period of intense change during the pandemic, stripping away all protections to confront demons unguarded. Single and opener ‘Is Love An Illusion’ signals the start of this journey, with flitting marimba and dramatic vocals drawing the listener into dark, alluring netherworld.

Arrow of Love is out on the 23rd May on Take a Turn Records and you can pre-order it now.

IE – Simplify

Later this spring, Minneapolis quintet IE are releasing their latest album Reverse Earth on Quindi Records. The release draws upon kosmische, lounge pop and psychedelica in its sound, though with an intentional style which prioritises intuitive flow. There’s sizeable variation across the five songs, but lead single and centrepiece ‘Simplfy’ shows off the evocative patience of the outfit. A song which seems to raise itself from minimal beginnings, stirring with an almost organic logic, like the mysterious mechanical movements of subcellular particules, or else the heavenly bodies burning bright through outer space.

Mae Powell – Rope You In

Having signed with Karma Chief and Colemine Records, self-described “songstress and rainbow entity” Mae Powell is preparing to release a second album this summer, and latest single ‘Rope You In’ introduces the audience to the ethereal atmosphere and emotional clarity of the Bay Area artist’s work. The song was essentially the origin point of the record, the first steps of a challenging journey through a myriad of emotions, though step into the lush sound and crooned vocals and you’ll soon discover the experience to be one which places comfort front and centre. “I feel grateful for the way writing songs helps me make sense of and process emotions while I’m in the thick of them,” as Powell explains, and now the songs exist as something which might help listeners too.

Mourning [A] BLKstar – Stop Lion 2

Following on from 2024’s stellar Ancient//Future, Mourning [A] BLKstar are already on their way back with Flowers of the Living, a brand new full-length to be released by Don Giovanni Records to coincide with the Afrofuturist collective’s ten-year anniversary. And, if lead single ‘Stop Lion 2’ is indicative of the album in its entirety, MAB draw on the full breadth of creativity and expertise gained across this decade, bringing to life a sound packed with detail yet unafraid to spread its wings and take its time. Indeed, this is a song where space is given equal footing next to any instrument or vocal. “Not only does space represent stillness, contentment, and mindfulness, it’s also the fulcrum of collectivism and free expression, and a key tenet of the Black ecstatic lineage,” as the press release puts it. “Space has always been politicized, and to view it from a place of abundance rather than scarcity, even in a conceptual sense, is a rebuke of fascist oppressors and an affirmation of love and self-belief.” The result is every bit as defiant, moody and assured as this suggests, and primes the canvas ready for a blockbuster album. Watch the video below:

Flowers of the Living is coming soon via Don Giovanni Records and you can pre-order it now.

nina gala – honey

Back in 2022 we wrote about swan heart by Baltimore-based songwriter nina gala, an album we described as “reflecting on what was and what might have been with an almost reverent tone. One which explores feelings of longing, anger and despair yet descends fully into none, instead suspended in the strange wonder that things such as love could ever happen at all.” Now nina gala is back with ‘honey’, a brand new single which further descends into a shimmering world of romance and fear. “do you still wanna taste my honey? / do you miss my touch? / do you love my body?” as the opening lines ask, gala’s vocals soaring over a sparse arrangement like concerned thoughts filling an empty room at the dead of night.

Penny & the Pits – Montenegro on Ice

Penelope Stevens is perhaps best known as part of New Brunswick alt-rock outfit Motherhood, but is now ready to introduce a new project to the world—Penny & the Pits. Out via Forward Music Group, first single ‘Montenegro on Ice’ lacks none of the mood or bite of the Motherhood sound, Stevens matching head-banging heft with an abstract, poetic lyricism which plays like a personal journey into the strange currents and slacks of this thing we call life. A song “about letting your memories overwhelm your life,” as Stevens explains, “and about using any ol’ thing to avoid confronting your trauma.”

Laps like milk, with my mind like silt,
I underwent the kind of thing you can’t forget,
Unbroken, but not unbent
full eclipse
I was held up, transfixed
I was looking for some kind of sign I can’t ignore
But I found no sign I can’t ignore.

‘Montenegro on Ice’ is out now via Forward Music Group.

Slake – Bonecollector

Written to christen their new project, Mary Claire has just released the single ‘Bonecollector’ under the moniker Slake via Cherub Dream Records. Produced by Ryan Albert (Babehoven) and mixed by Melina Duterte (Jay Som), the song is both a window into the singular vision of the Californian artist and an embodiment of the collaborative spirit which brings their work to life. Bridge Gamble (bass), Ryan Albert (additional guitar), Lil Spakoski (synth/theremin), Oona Albertson (drums) and Maya Bon (additional vocals) all lend their talents, as too do a whole crew of directors, editors, camera crew and performers for the track’s accompanying, suitably commited, video filmed at the Padma Yoga Studio and Kilowatt Bar. Watch below:

‘Bonecollector’ is out now via Cherub Dream Records.

The post Weekly Listening: March 2025 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.