I Saw the Egg, the first full-length album by Battle Ave in almost a decade, is inching ever closer. As we described in a preview of lead singles ‘Maya’ and ‘Leo’, the album promises to be a continuation of the signature Battle Ave unpredictability, displaying we we described as “openness to contradiction that allows vastness to sit alongside intimacy, ominousness next to sincerity, and ultimately embraces the beauty and truth of ambiguity.” This week, the band have released the record’s third single, ‘Core’, a big hulking thing that plays like slo-mo shoegaze, lead Jesse Doherty’s comparatively reticent vocals dealing in lines as sparse and opaque as the stories of Diane Williams or Lydia Davis.

I Saw the Egg releases on 1st April on Friends Club Records and Totally Real Records and you can pre-order now from the Battle Ave Bandcamp page.

Deau Eyes – Moscow in the Spring

Taken from Deau Eyes upcoming sophomore record, Legacies, ‘Moscow in the Spring’ gives an insight into the cinematic vision and emotional maturity of Richmond artist Ali Thibodeau. With its speckled synths and sleigh bells, the song conjures an intangible quality, a shimmering sound ghosting around what could otherwise be a classic country tale of longing and regret. Marked by both the dawning excitement of some new frontier, and deepening appreciation of what has been built in the present.

‘Moscow in the Spring‘ is out now and available from Bandcamp. Legacies is out on the 10th June via Subflora.

los nerds- s/t

Super lo-fi but super infectious punk rock from Hermosillo, Mexico. Clocking in at just over seven minutes, los nerds don’t mess around. If you like your catchy melodies buried in fuzz and crackle and general chaos, this is the tape for you. Yelped vocals bounce around with hyperactive intensity, singing about everything from playing Tetris all day to making nuclear bombs in lab class, and even a pretty impressive impression of a car going through the gears on the informatively titled ‘bip bip (“beep beep”).

Jackie West – Amelia

Raised by a musical family in Boston, Jackie West’s musical journey leads from Martha’s Vineyard to Brooklyn and eventually to Paris to record with Lewis Lazar (Oracle Sisters). She returned to New York with a newfound sense of purpose and got to writing the songs that would come to form a self-titled EP on Westernesse. Single ‘Amelia’ is the perfect introduction, a song “about a dear friend who also represents the ‘agape’ love state after you’ve come and gone from each other’s lives many times,” as West puts it. One as rich and heartfelt as that sounds.

Jackie West will be released on Westernesse later this year.

Jana Horn – Jordan

Released last month on No Quarter Records, Optimism by Austin-based songwriter Jana Horn is a lesson in tightly woven and lyrical folk music. Despite the relative minimalism of the arrangements, each track represents its own palm-sized world, none more than the starkly cryptic ‘Jordan’ with its soft-spoken delivery and tacit weight. Check out the animated video by Jaime Zuverza below:

Optimism is out now via No Quarter Records and you can get it from the Jana Horn Bandcamp page.

King of Nowhere – Souls

January saw the return of New York trio King of Nowhere with their self-titled fourth album. Centring on themes of nostalgia and shifting identity, the record is at once vulnerable and empowered, charting the peaks and troughs of coming to terms with yourself in the most honest manner possible. Take the slow, mournful single ‘Souls’ and the way it which it rises out of its downbeat beginnings to realise an affirming climax, complete with vocals from Tetchy‘s Maggie Denning.

Last Quokka – Cue

Carving out a space within Australia‘s rich scene, Whadjuk/Perth punks Last Quokka combine irreverent fun with a fierce antifascist agenda, be it through danceable threats to Nazi scum (“Now it’s time, we’ll tear you down”) or wistful odes to Geoff Gallop (“Yeah look we’re not saying he’s such a great guy / But compared to these other pricks he’s alright”). Ahead of their fifth album on Stock Records and with new members in tow, ‘Cue’ introduces a newly fortified Last Quokka ready for a fresh assault. Slightly more polished perhaps, but certainly no less frenetic, the song dives headfirst into the outback and drags the listener along for the ride.

Mal Devisa – kiid

Having recently signed with Topshelf Records to make her full catalogue available across all streaming services, there’s never been a better time to get familiar with the endlessly inventive work of Mal Devisa. From spoken word poetry through hip hop, pop, folk and jazz, Devisa refuses to settle in any one genre, utilising every tool available to communicate what needs to be heard. 2019’s kiid is a great place to start, a record we previously described as “a personal record [that] plays like condensed version of life, reaching high and falling low, crackling and bursting and simmering under the surface, at times exploding in urgent streams of consciousness as if the words and thoughts can no longer be held in.”

Many Voices Speak – Seat For Sadness

Many Voices Speak returns this spring with Gestures, a brand new record on Strangers Candy. The moniker of Stockholm‘s Matilda Mård, the project has made its name with its luscious dream pop soundscapes, and latest single ‘Seat For Sadness’ shows the new album is no exception. Though within the continued style sits a story of change and transformation, however subtle and modest. “What unites the songs is a need for inner change,” Mård explains, “to handle the things in life that can’t be changed. I’m creating strategies for myself – new ways of thinking, so I can live with certain things.”

No Frills – Copy Cat

In lieu of recording with a full band during a period of lockdown, Daniel Busheikin of Toronto‘s No Frills started their new album Downward Dog in the garage-turned-studio of The Wooden Sky’s Gavin Gardiner, with band members dropping by individually to record their various contributions. Such a process must’ve required a sizeable sense of humour, and lead single ‘Copy Cat’ shows the sardonic blend of pessimism and playfulness that’s a feature of the record. The cartoon video is pretty wild too.

Downward Dog is out on the 1st April and you can pre-order it from the No Frills Bandcamp page.

Ruby Landen – Front Teeth

Writing of Ruby Landen‘s Martyr, well last year, we described how the Brooklyn-based songwriter utilised a classic folk sound to evoke “a kind of duality, between specificity and diffuseness, the wide world and Landen herself.” Back with new single ‘Front Teeth’ via Ruination Record Co., Landen continues this style, the tender acoustic guitar capturing the nostalgic tone of the lyrics, though within the wistful sound lies both cutting commentary and playful humour.

Ryan Dugre – For Clement

Another Ruination record, Look See is a new EP by New York-based multi-instrumentalist Ryan Dugre. Following the ethereal richness of 2021’s Three Rivers, the new release hones Dugre’s sound down to a solo tenor guitar. What results is a streamlined, unadorned exploration of a single instrument, and a lesson in the old adage of less being more. Nowhere is this better highlighted than on the poignant opening track ‘For Clement’, which seems to live far beyond its sub-two-minute runtime.

Saapato – Singing House I & II

Writing about Saapato‘s Bird Sanctuary EP back in 2021, we described how Philadelphia‘s Brendan Principato explores “textural soundscape creation and sound bath performance” to weave songs rooted in his surroundings. Be that composing tracks in the backseat of his car at a New Jersey bird sanctuary, or, as with his new release Singing House I & II, pursuing the full sonic potential of his childhood home. Singing House is a petri dish of improvised ambient performance, field recordings, and loops layered or deconstructed and sent whirring through amplifiers into the air, Principato explains:

From the air they go into an oven, or an attic, or straight into a carpet. A microphone may sit two stories above the origin of the sound, it may sit outside the house, it may sit inside my own mouth as a walk through a hallway. A piano in the garage might be piped through a megaphone inside the refrigerator. A speaker may blast drones from inside a plastic bag submerged in a bathtub. Singing House is without formula.

supernowhere – Basement Window

As if the elastic and endlessly inventive compositions of supernowhere’s 2021 record Gestalt weren’t enough, the trio return this spring with a brand new record on Topshelf Records. Originating from ideas that didn’t make the previous album, the band gave the tracks that extra bit of attention only to see them blossom into Skinless Takes A Flight. For the uninitiated, single ‘Basement Window’ invites the listener into the idiosyncratic and escalating soundscape.

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A new volume will be posted every few weeks and will offer a collection of really great songs that we’re determined not to let slip past our radar.

Lazy Legs – Bed Head

We’ve featured Lazy Legs previously, describing the Chicago (soon to be Portland) outfit’s sound as “a heavy mix of shoegaze and noise pop, a million miles from the sugary sweet jangle at the other end of the genre’s spectrum”. The band are readying their sophomore album, Crawler, and have released the first track ‘Bed Head’ in anticipation. Wrapped in a blanket of fuzz, the track ruminates on reasons to leave your bed in depressive, run-down vocal melodies. It’s shoegaze repurposed for an age of ennui, and has certainly whet my appetite for the album.

You can get ‘Bed Head’ on a name-your-price basis from the Lazy Legs Bandcamp page.

Windbury Street – Skinny Jeans and Sweaters

‘Skinny Jeans and Sweaters’ is the new single from “one man indie rock project” Windbury Street, based in Virginia. Part slacker rock mumble, part heart-on-sleeve emo, the song fronts up to a sense of creeping disaffection and growing older, all run through an appealing college-radio filter.

If you like what your hear, head over to the Windbury Street Bandcamp page and check out their debut album which was released on a name-your-price basis last month.

Ian Terry – Cut

Short, sharp and sad, Ian Terry’s new single ‘Cut’ is a take on so-called ‘call-out culture’, a digital age plea that’s as heartfelt and poignant as any traditional folk track. The Delaware songwriter uses simple acoustic guitar to back his wistful vocals, falling somewhere between the bedroom pop artists and the indie folk revival, and creating a succinct and satisfying number.

You can grab the track and a handful of other releases via the Ian Terry Bandcamp page.

all-caps LADD – Computer Kids

Taken from their upcoming The Whole EP, ‘Computer Kids’ finds New York’s all-caps LADD practising a dark, foreboding energy that conjures both post-punk and indie rock. With the downbeat vocals threading between frantic guitars and drums, and eventually rising is squally yelps, the whole thing has a claustrophobic, overwhelmed feel, as though some great force is passing all around us. And this makes sense, considering the themes of the song. As the band explain: “‘Computer Kids’ grapples with future shock, the feeling of being left behind by accelerating technological change, from the point of view of kids raised in the dial-up era of the internet.”

Find all-caps LADD on Bandcamp and Facebook.

Philippa Zawe – Time

Based in Birmingham, Philippa Zawe combines folk and soul to create organic music built around her versatile voice. This September sees the release of her debut EP, Road of Hope, and the first single, ‘Time’, acts as a great introduction. A considered, slow-paced track, the single utilises the entire vocal range, switching from casual conversational comments to strikingly effecting croons to produce something that ebbs and flows with human warmth.

Road of Hope is set for release on the 8th September and you get get it from the Philippa Zawe Bandcamp page.

Miseryslims – Onto Elm Street

Taken from the recently released second EP from Manitoba band Miseryslims, ‘Onto Elm Street’ is a jangly slice of indie rock, the drums and vocals driving though the fuzz with resolute energy. With surfy vibes lapping at the edges too, the song emerges as the perfect candidates to soundtrack your final days of summer, upbeat and bright with just a little melancholy peeking through.

The appropriately named EP Two is out now and available from Bandcamp.

Big Baby – Not That

Virginia three piece Big Baby, consisting of Ali Mislowsky, Chris Smith and Brian Dove, make an upbeat lo-fi jangle pop to rival the main players in the field. This July saw them release Sour Patch, a four-song record on EggHunt Records.  With Mislowsky’s emotional vocals surfing the bright summertime instrumentation, ‘Not That’ encapsulates the EP. However the bouncy nature of the song hides a sadness rooted deep within the creative process. “Sour Patch is about the worst year I had after graduating college. I couldn’t catch a break and it felt like everything was crumbling from every direction.” How better to shake loose of the blues that with some cathartic indie pop?

Sour Patch is out now via EggHunt Records, and you can get in from Bandcamp.

Happy Abandon – Severed Seams

Happy Abandon are putting out a new album, Facepaint, this month via Schoolkids Records, and single ‘Severed Seams’ sets the tone. Orchestral indie pop, the track is an emotive slow-burner dealing with loneliness and loss, the spacious atmosphere of the track punctuated with small details, moments of beauty forming is the cracks and gaps.

Facepaint is to be released on the 25th August via Schoolkids Records.

Steakhouse – National

The music of San Francisco outfit Steakhouse is a curious thing to pigeonhole, drawing on electronic, art rock and post-punk to conjure images of a wide, strange America. Following up their 2014 self-titled full-length, the band have unveiled a new track, ‘National’, complete with appropriately atmospheric video. Progressing with hypnotic rhythm, the track has a dreamily detached feel that brings to mind unspoken violence, and slightly removed from its own descriptions by shock or awe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wHg6Bauzw

Keep an eye on the Steakhouse Bandcamp and Facebook pages for more news.

Francis – Swing

Formed in 2006, Sweden band Francis have experienced a number of changes in their lifetime, both stylistically and in terms of line-up. However, retaining the same personnel as on 2016’s Marathon, the outfit are back with a new single, ‘Swing’, a dreamy retro summer song that meanders with a wistful edge, focused on the passing of time. As lead Petra Mases says: “This is what ‘Swing’ is about, the wave that comes with all the memories. There is no valuation, nothing to change, just memories from what once was. Suddenly ten, twenty, thirty years has passed. What happened there?”

‘Swing’ is out now on Strangers Candy and you can get it from Bandcamp.

pastel – Silhouette

pastel is the recording project of Gabriel Brenner, a visual artist and musician based in Los Angeles. His new EP, absent, just dust, is coming out on the 25th of August, and the lead single ‘Silhouette’ has left us intrigued. Brenner, who has maternal Pima and paternal Cherokee heritage, wrote the EP as an attempt to confront the lasting violence and trauma of colonialism and its impact on contemporary Native identities. While we hope to get a fuller review up soon, for now you should listen to ‘Silhouette’ echo and flicker as though distorted by time.

Pre-order absent, just dust now from the pastel Bandcamp page.

Check out the previous editions of Bright Sparks to find a whole host of great music, and if you prefer something a little more in-depth then head to our Reviews section.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 4 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Reuben Hollebon – On & On

We first wrote about the music of Reuben Hollebon back in 2012, though his latest single is a departure from the folk tunes he was releasing back then. Complete with a strange, evocative video, ‘On & On’ is an experimental sounds that’s at once tender and ominous, channelling the likes of Siskiyou to push into emotional areas with understated intensity.

Jenny O. – Cheer Up, Free Your Mind

Taken from her latest EP, Work, ‘Cheer Up, Free Your Mind’ is the perfect introduction for those unfamiliar with the Californian songwriter. Blending folk and jangle pop, Jenny O. creates rich songs which belong to a sepia tone world of summer evenings and wide open spaces. Released earlier this month, you can grab the EP now via Bandcamp.

Holiday Oscar – Nicholas

Holiday Oscar couples a warm folk sound with smart lyrics, kind of like You Won’t crossed with The Head and The Heart. Take ‘Nicholas’ as an example, the song’s basic premise (learning to play guitar!) used to conjure a funny, interesting and almost poignant story about wanting to be an artist. If you’re a fan, his latest EP, Spilt Milk and Teething Powder, is available now.

True Strength – Lyse Striber

True Strength is the collaboration between Copenhagen’s Ida Duelund-Hansen and Melbourne’s Alexander Garsden. The duo’s debut self-titled album is out in December on Eastmint, and to whet your appetite we have the beautiful ‘Lyse Striber’. The track is darkly elegant and somehow timeless, Duelund-Hansen’s vocals soaring over gentle instrumentation like a heartbroken crooner from a byegone age.

The song comes complete with a video by award-winning filmmaker Hanna Chetwin, which you can check out below.

Golden Suits – Don’t Let Love Go By

Back in 2013, as “autumn suddenly descended [with] summer finally on its knees” we turned to the self-titled album by Daniel Rossen’s Golden Suits. Well, fast forward a few years and we’re back in the same position, wondering whether we need the heating on with new music from Golden Suits in our ears. The third single from his latest album, Kubla Khan, ‘Don’t Let Love Go By’ hits the sweet spot between reflective and raging, like some of The Walkmen’s more rattled moments. Grab the album now via Hit City U.S.A.

Drowning by Numbers – The Ground Before Him

Featuring on the Netflix sports documentary Last Chance U, ‘The Ground Before Him’ by Adelaide’s Drowning By Numbers is a down-tempo ambient track shrouded in melancholy and loneliness, sounding like the world as half-heard from within the head of someone occupied by their own business.

Many Voices Speak – Blue Moon

Many Voices Speak is Matilda Mård from Stockholm. An outtake from the recording sessions for her new EP, this cover of ‘Blue Moon’ is the perfect way into her music, classic US folk with a Twin Peaks-y plink. The EP, Away for All Time is out on the 28th October via Hit City U.S.A. and Strangers Candy and you can pre-order it here.

Silver Liz – Float

Silver Liz is the new bedroom pop project of Carrie Wagner and Matt Wagner from Chicago. Combining harsh, 90s-esque noise with velvety vocals, their new track ‘Float’ packs a double punch of goodness, shaking things up like Sonic Youth fronted by Bethany Cosentino. Grab the two-song EP from their Bandcamp page.

Ego Death – The Total End

Canada’s Ego Death began as the solo project of Noah York but has since evolved into a duo with Maya Gulin. Their latest release, The Total End, is made up of four soundscapes which pull together neoclassical, ambient and guitar-based experimental to form something vaguely geological, bursts of noise emerging from the constant swirl of primordial drone. The EP is out now via Deep Sea Mining Syndicate and you can snag a cassette from Bandcamp.

Akira Kosemura – Luna

One Day is a new album of improvisational piano pieces by Japanese artist Akira Kosemura. The entire thing is breathtakingly pretty, though single ‘Luna’, complete with a beautiful video directed by Kimihiko Nitta, is a great place to start. Once convinced, you can grab the record from Schole Inc.

Wild Leaves – Fallen Robin

‘Fallen Robbin’ is a single taken from the new full-length by Brooklyn-based folk-rock outfit, Wild Leaves. With its smooth vocals and easy, near-hypnotic flow, the track exudes a gentle autumnal peace, a serenity disrupted only by a distant nostalgia. Despite the creeping sense of loss, the whole thing is wrapped in a certain kindness, as though the narrator and you both are in this thing together.

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