With a sound that borrowed equally from folk, DIY pop and post-punk, Brennan’s music was continually surprising and distinctive. It married slow moments of heartfelt reflection with others that rose in jagged peaks, unusual melodies and unpretentiously poetic lyrics that offered glimpses of life’s moments, both mundane and exceptional.

For When the Future Rolls Around (Selected Songs, 2012-2017) illustrates this style perfectly, bringing together tracks from both albums as well as home-recorded releases, live cuts and previously unreleased material. The first single is ‘Resilience’, a song that first appeared on 2015’s Radisson Blue that sketches seemingly quotidian scenes to talk about a bigger picture. “Sitting in the living room on Essex Street,” it begins, backed by simple electric guitar and a feeling of negative space, “you had just shaved your head and I’d been out to eat.” As the title suggests the takeaway emotion is something hopeful, especially when the drums kick in and the whole thing takes on the quality of a slo-mo pop punk hit.

my bedroom has moths in
they’re tiny, they eat nothing
my clothes do not have holes in
I thought they would by now

more resilience than expected

As with previous Selected Songs releases, the release comes on beautiful gold-foil cassettes packaged in letterpress and offset-print boxes and bundled with a risograph-printed booklet of essays by Selected Songs series co-curator Joshua James Amberson and Roxy Brennan. It’s a fitting tribute to the project, a must for long-time fans and the ideal introduction for new listeners.

For When the Future Rolls Around (Selected Songs, 2012-2017) will be released on 31st May and you can get it on cassette or as a download from the Antiquated Future Bandcamp page.

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Tracklisting:

1. Amerika – Wintersleep
2. Born Confused – Porridge Radio
3. Catchyalater – Frog
4. Water – Opals
5. Listerine – Foxall
6. Nightmare Song – Oscar Lush
7. October Mirage – Island Eyes
8. Past is Personal – West America
9. Roller – Quilt
10. Unattached – Two White Cranes
11. On the Nights You Stay Home – Donovan Woods
12. Call Out – Minor Moon
13. Consolation – The Chairman Dances (Lit Links)
14. First I’m Sorry – Haley Heynderickx
15. Waitress – Soft Lions
16. Vanitas – Hanging Hills
17. Waiting – Faint Peter
18. Farewell Navigator – Naomi Pop
19. Gifts – Real Swell
20. Future Wife – Jacob Faurholt
21. Wall – Slows Down
22. Olly Oxen Free – Creature Speak

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The first offering is from Bristol’s Two White Cranes (who we like a lot), with the ironically-titled ‘Unattached’. It’s great and hopefully a sign of further quality to come!

Subscriptions cost £45 (p&p included), with the added incentive of mystery subscriber-only goodies. The pins will be available individually for £4 + p&p, so it’s a no-brainer really. Pencil your name on the list here.

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“It Must Be Grubs is meant to be fun and colourful and playful and enjoyable even though some of the lyrics and songs are a bit sad. We are very happy with it.”

And happy they should be, the album is an eighteen minute rush of jolly good fun. The band meld good things from all of the member’s other projects creating an infectious, if rather messy, brand of indie pop. Opener ‘What Cost’ sees Brennan take the lead and sounds very much like a lo-fi pop version of Two White Cranes, but with added shouty screechy vocals and group wooooahhs. Yes it’s as good as it sounds. ‘Nuffin’ is actually a pretty tight lo-fi pop song, with a beguiling sense of offhand good-times, while Brennan and Williams provide deadpan vocal harmonies on ‘Dec 15th’. The track’s lively drums give things an infectious energy, culminating in shout-along ending. It’s so fun and energetic you can’t help but imagine the band at the end all flushed and blushed, slightly sweaty and embarrassed like toddlers coming down from a Smartie-induced mania. ‘Work in Progress’ is about battling innate self-deprecation and trying to ignore those seemingly perfect people and, ultimately, taking tentative steps into self-care. Brennan repeats the chorus with increasing fervour, creating a strangely defiant and positive song about looking after yourself:

“I focus on myself
swimming everyday
so good for my health”

‘There’s Something About Grubs’ has male and female vocals seemingly singing two different songs, while ‘Garnish’ is about just that, that green thing in the side of your plate that you don’t want to eat, as well as more serious things that crop up on the side of things, from mystery scratches to thoughts inside your head (“On the side of my head there’s a memory / I don’t know what from / we can talk it through endlessly”). ‘Gym Shame’ is another short burst of lo-fi rock which pairs squally guitars and pounded drums with sweet, innocent vocals, and ‘Windwaker’ is an endearingly twee track about playing the Gamecube (“Tuesday I get upset, playing Windwaker / I fall and fall again, I keep hitting the water”). It’s not an explicitly sad song but its chirpy happiness seems to exist in spite of something, something which suggests that making these little pop songs isn’t just a joke between friends.

‘Skinner’ weaves increasingly agitated male and female vocals, which proceed to merge for the chorus, and ‘Tendons’ is another song about self-improvement and the pains of exercise (“if I run five miles today all joints ache”). ‘Good Timez’ signs off with one final rush of catchy lo-fi pop, complete with a brilliant shout-a-long chorus of “I WILL FOLLOW YOU!” If it sounds like three friends messing around and having fun then that’s because it is! But what else do you want from your lo-fi rock & roll?

You can get It Must Be Grubs as a digital download via the Grubs bandcamp page. Or if you’d like something a little more substantial then why not order the album on vinyl, also on Bandcamp, through Reeks of Effort and Tuff Enuff Records.

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Adeline Hotel

“Exists within that small and fleeting pocket in time and space that opens just before you take off from a familiar location” – we premièred the first song from an upcoming Adeline Hotel EP

Morning River Band

“Songs about those men down on their luck but too stubborn to change… doomed to making the same old mistakes and who continue chasing the same misguided remedies” – we wrote about Abyssal Chanelling, the latest album from Morning River Band

On The Water

“A strange stop-motion collage that sits perfectly with the lyrical themes of death, decay and, naturally, life” – we premièred a video by Nnamdi Ogbonnaya for ‘Born in Reverse’, the opening track from On The Water’s Cordelia.

Bells Atlas

“Using precise imagery to trace imprecise, unknowable things, the words coalescing with the music to create something unclear but imbued with meaning, as if reaching somewhere deeper within your brain or soul than you can consciously go” – the vibrant and mystical Hyperlust EP from Bells Atlas

Frog

“Queens is the most diverse county in America, and maybe the world. Kind of Blah is about living here, in this city, which is sometimes incredibly wonderful and other times feels a lot like prison and most times probably both at once” – we spoke with Frog about listening to Jagged Little Pill with your mom, the brilliance of Lightning Bolt and some terrible advice from David BermanFuneral Sounds

“Casa Ruby strives to enable people to be treated as people” – a benefit compilation from Funeral Sounds in support of multicultural LGBTQ organisation Casa Ruby

Girlpool

“In a weird way, Girlpool have grown up – becoming confident enough to share their dreams and vulnerabilities and in turn galvanise a lonely generation too afraid of ridicule to live the lives they desire” – Girlpool’s new album Before The World Was Big sees the band offer a sustainable and productive antidote to the pressures of growing up

Advance Base

“Sweetly sad stories about lonely Midwesterners trying to make sense of their troubled pasts” – mark your calendars, August will see a new album from Owen Ashworth’s Advance Base

Two White Cranes

“A clear advancement from anything on Two White Cranes, fleshed out with electric guitar and drums and focussed in its writing” – we previewed Radisson Blue, the forthcoming album from Two White Cranes

Evening Hymns

“I could go on about how [Evening Hymns are] brave and heartbreaking and intensely personal, or how [they] made me feel okay and less alone” – Evening Hymns has us very excited for their new album Quiet Energies

Mitski

“I’m not the white boy. I’m not in a position to be heard whatever I make” – Mitski spoke with Caralyn Green for Pittsburgh City Paper about being an introverted person of colour in music. [See our review of Bury Me at Makeout Creek]

Katie Dey

“I remembered that I had earphones in my coat pocket. I plugged them into my phone and listened to asdfasdf and rested my head on the train window. Closing my eyes, what was initially a gloomy train ride turned into something more cathartic” – Gold Flake Paint talked about Katie Dey’s asdfasdf and the restorative power of music

Ornette Coleman

“A giant of 20th century music, pushing jazz into new harmonic territory and reconceiving the way in which musicians improvised” – Stewart Smith wrote about the career and legacy of Ornette Coleman for The Quietus

Long Neck

“An album with no season, or maybe it’s every season, or maybe it’s just the season when you feel most alone” – Stereogum are streaming Heights by Lily Mastrodimos’s Long Neck

Mitski (again)

Out of Town Films shot Mitski playing ‘I Will’ in the middle of nowhere

Swell Tone’s Summertime Sanity

“Getting lost in the heat and the sense of freedom inherent in the forthcoming season is tempting, to say the least” – Shana over at Swell Tone has put together a selection of summer songs, including Yowler, Girlpool, Hot Palms and The Washboard Abs. Any playlist that opens with ‘Skin of Your Yellow Country Teeth’ gets a thumbs up from us.

Kathryn Joseph

We liked Kathryn Joseph’s Bones You Have Thrown Me Blood I’ve Spilled an awful lot. Last week she played some songs for the Roddy Hart Show on BBC Scotland and it sounded great. Check it out on the BBC iPlayer.

And Finally… the 8tracks Playlist(s) of the Week

This week’s winner is mix-master Adam, AKA Songsfortheday, and his summer soundtracks. There are separate day and night editions, so he has you covered for all your musical needs.

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“Far from being a homely painted-by-numbers folk singer, Brennan has multiple paths open to her. We for one would love to see which she chooses next”

Well we are about to get an answer. Brennan has announced the second Two White Cranes album, Radisson Blue, will be released on the 1st August this year. So far only one song has been unveiled, so we will have to wait to see just how hotel-centric the record is, but it does give an indication of the direction the project is taking. Presumably named after the Raymond Carver short story, ‘So Much Water, So Close to Home” feels like a clear advancement from anything on Two White Cranes, fleshed out with electric guitar and drums and focussed in its writing.

“The poetry I read
while sitting on the train,
reminding me of times
we wore each other down.
This cup of coffee is here
to evoke a feeling of normality
you’ll eat your crisps and I will fear
the day when you no longer write me”

You can pre-order the album digitally or on CD from the Two White Cranes Bandcamp page, or grab a cassette from Odd Box Records.

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Sarah Winchester – Northeast Kingdom

(RIYL: folk, sad, A Weather, J. Tillman)

Sea Wolf – Song Spells, No. 1: Cedarsmoke

(RIYL: folk, indie rock, Leaves in the River)

Shipwrecks – Unknown Demos

(RIYL: folk, bedroom pop, sad)

Sledding With Tigers – A Necessary Bummer

(RIYL: folk punk, ramshackle fun, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Paul Baribeau)

Slow Violence – New Teen Angst Pt. 2

(RIYL: ambient, dream pop, super slo-mo R&B)

Splendidid – Finx

(RIYL: dream pop, surfing, summer)

The spookfish – Living Room

(RIYL: experimental, surreal synth pop, age-old folk music)

The Sweater I Gave You – Three / Four

(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, bedroom)

Swim Lessons – Winged and Wounded

(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, You Won’t)

Thad Kopec – Noble Neighbour

(RIYL: folk, americana, Blind Pilot, Bowerbirds)

Thorsten Nesch – Spilling the Beans

(RIYL: folk, lo-fi, acoustic)

Trashlord – One

(RIYL: punk, fuzzy indie rock, LVL Up)

TV Girl – French Exit

(RIYL: indie pop, hip hop, spoken word samples)

Two White Cranes – Twowhitecranes

(RIYL: folk, singer-songwriter, Emmy the Great)

Un Blonde – Habit Anything

(RIYL: lo-fi, experimental, art pop)

Unknown Tone Records – Unknown Tone Vol. III (Compilation)

(RIYL: ambient, experimental, field recordings)

Unradiant – S/T

(RIYL: ambient, downtempo, electronica)

Violeta Päivänkakkara – Kipinä​.​jp

(RIYL: electronic, folk, chill)

VVhile – More

(RIYL: lo-fi, noise, pop punk)

WALBERT MK – THE ‘WALBERT MK’ TAPE 2K14

(RIYL: pop, electronic, indie)

Walter Mitty and his Makeshift Orchestra – Well Soon

(RIYL: indie pop, acoustic, kazoos)

Water Music – Wolves

(RIYL: folk, indie rock Sparklehorse)

Wet Wood – s/t

(RIYL: experimental, psychedelic, krautrock)

Whatever, Dad – 100% Take Home! Grade Pending

(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, lo-fi)

Wood Spider – Decadence

(RIYL: folk, punk, gypsy, Defiance Ohio)

The Yellow Dress – Faint Music // Ordinary Light

(RIYL: folk, indie pop, The Mountain Goats, The Magnetic Fields)

Favourite Free Music of 2014 (S-Z) from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Tracklist:

1. Something About Us (Daft Punk cover) – Spazzkid
2. Waves and Waves and Waves (Playlounge cover) – Two White Cranes
3. Dogmas (Kississippi cover) – Cyberbully Mom Club
4. Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen cover) – The Yellow Dress
5. Clouds (One Direction cover) – Shunkan
6. Lodi (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) – Advance Base
7. Emma’s House (The Field Mice cover) – Lost Film
8. Pitseleh (Elliott Smith cover) – Marissa Nadler
9. Pink Rabbits (The National cover) – Matt Paxton
10. Ontario Gothic (Foxes in Fiction cover) – Julia Brown
11. Australia (Attic Abasement cover) – R.L. Kelly
12. Sister of the Moon (Fleetwood Mac cover) – Globelamp
13. I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover) – Wakes
14. When the Sun Hits (Slowdive cover) – Mao Ra Sun (Feat Dems)
15. Tomorrow is a Long Time (Bob Dylan cover) – Phosphorescent
16. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover) – Noah Gundersen
17. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton (The Mountain Goats cover) – Nathaniel Rateliff
18. Museum of Flight (Damien Jurado cover) – Winterpills

Covers Mix Volume #13 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Tracklist:

1. Deserter – Siskiyou
2. Pill – Ought
3. There’s a GIrl In the Corner – The Twilight Sad
4. Kill What You Love – Scotdrakula
5. PS You Still Do This To Me – Kissing Fractures
6. Walls – Two White Cranes
7. Lifetime Warranty – Cyberbully Mom Club
8. The Great Big World – R.L. Kelly
9. Misery Loves Company – Gorgeous Bully
10. Blah Blah Blah – Girlpool
11. My Song – Spencer Radcliffe
12. Summer Lawns – Mike Pace & The Child Actors
13. Crossroads – Sally Fowler
14. Sweet Isolation – Nathan Reich
15. Home At Last – John Statz
16. Our Town – Chalk
17. Mole – The Mountain Goats
18. Easy It Goes – Eric & Magill
19. Slow Thickening – German Error Message
20. Cabin Lights – Lung Cycles
21. The Day is Past and Gone (Variations) – Sarah Louise
22. Holding – Grouper

November 2014 Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post November 2014 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The album opens with ‘walls’, which uses bursts of clamour to punctuate what is otherwise a sweet and restrained song self-doubt. This sort of quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, the sense that Brennan is struggling to keep a lid on a whole bunch of noise, appears throughout the album and serves as a neat sonic metaphor for the swells of worry that sometimes affect us all. Even the quieter tracks like ‘On Keeping a Notebook’ and ‘Skeleton’ have staccato spikes in volume and feeling, be it in her voice or the instrumentation, and you get the feeling that the songs are keyed in to her inner rhythm, not rehearsed into flat routines but fresh and raw and alive.

While Two White Cranes will draw comparisons to acts like Emmy the Great, these peaks hint at another side, something deeper and darker and real. This manifests most clearly on ‘Mountainside’, a short and weird song that sounds a lot more abstract and experimental than the other songs. “They found a whale,” she sings, “they found the body of a whale on a mountainside.” This mantra is backed by the striking of a guitar and is repeated with minimal changes, the intensity ebbing and flowing to exacerbate the disconcerting feel. The track suggests that, far from being a homely painted-by-numbers folk singer, Brennan has multiple paths open to her. We for one would love to see which she chooses next.

You can buy the album now from the Two White Cranes Bandcamp page on a pay-what-you-can basis.

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