It’s happening, it’s actually happening. After a 15 month closure Rockwood Music Hall is finally reopening this weekend. It’s so exciting and such a relief to see the calendar filling up again. Kudos to Ken, Matt, and the team for pushing through this awful time and hopefully the room will pack out every night from here on out. Never take anything for granted! On Saturday June 5th at 8pm, Irish man Niall Connolly performs with his band.
Rockwood Music Hall reopening gives me a real sense of hope. It feels like a good metaphor for the resilience of New York City. One of the most respected venues has survived this pandemic. In a time when so many people have lost so much, I am very grateful to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am very grateful to have my health and to have an opportunity to play on one of my favorite stages. I am also so excited to play alongside the band again. I am not certain I won’t drown in a puddle of happy tears as soon as I hear them sing. We released two remotely recorded new singles during the pandemic. We have had a few socially distanced walks, countless Tuesday night zoom chats and so on, but I have really missed sharing the stage with them. It’s going to be emotional.
All of the shows at Rockwood Music Hall will require proof of vaccine (dated 2 weeks from your second shot). This includes the excelsior pass or your vaccine card. Anyone without proof will be turned away, no exceptions. There will be no mask or social distancing rules, and the venue will run at full capacity.
It’s a long life, made up of seemingly infinitesimal moments. The Sea The Sea captures those moments when you feel incredibly alive and in the world and reimagines them as flashes of light in their new album, Stumbling Home. When time seems to stretch into prolonged chaos, The Sea The Sea keeps us grounded in the essential with their beautifully intricate brand of indie folk-pop. The New York-based duo is composed of Chuck and Mira Costa, who draw their infectious melodies from pop, but otherwise subverts expectations with their unconventional song arrangements. More than anything else, however, this free-spirited pairing are lauded for their exemplary vocal harmonies. The Costas’ exquisite vocals fit together like puzzle pieces tailor-made for the duo. Their voices are completely authentic, sounding lovely and unblemished in their own right. But while duets are a key part of The Sea The Sea’s sound, they also play with thick choral-textured harmonies and solo lines to add some variance among the tracks while still maintaining their sound.
Stumbling Home is brimming with musical imagery that is at times delicate and at other times deep and rustic. The result is glimpses of life, as seen through nature and a little bit of magic. The opening track, “Nothing Brighter” sounds like light, with the glint of sunlight on a clear day in the understated woodwind flourishes, and the glowing bass and piano as the blurry hues of a sunset. The relaxed, tranquil guitar solo sounds like it’s underwater, painting images of rays of light extending down beneath the surface. “A Thousand Years” is more concrete, sounding like the musical equivalent of camping beneath a starry sky. The rich guitar picking and embellishments are the flickers of the fire as they rise above and become stars overhead. The track embodies the deeply rooted tranquility that comes from being removed from society, as felt in the gentle thump of the drum in the stunning interlude partway through the song. Other images are abstract, such as in “Rainstorm.” While there are no explicit qualities in the track that denote a storm, as a whole, it has this somber beauty to it that echoes that of the fall of rain and thundering clouds.
In literature and art, however, one can always find magic embedded within nature. The Sea The Sea captures this magic in their songs with sparing uses of synth and electric guitar. The chorus of the emotional “Broken” sweeps up in a satisfying multi-part harmony and ends with glimmering drops of guitar plucks. Towards the end, these drops lead the song to the pleasantly haunting outro “oohs,” transforming the sound from sparkling fairy dust to mystic beings deep within the forest. “Fall Before The Climb” starts with a simple voice and guitar, but builds, first with harmony, then with a gently driven beat and dulcet electric tones that return to the shimmering stars of “A Thousand Years”, but from the perspective of outer space rather than earth. The acute line “Can we be in love with it all?” summarizes the album as a whole, mirroring the idea of the moments in life when you feel alive and in tune with the world. Uncomplicated guitar strums and the Costas’ patented vocals showcase guitar and synth sorcery in “Stumbling Home.” Bowed strings make their appearance for the first time in this track. Despite how well they fit, the strings are a bit of a surprise, giving “Stumbling Home” a bit of refinement compared to the other, more rustic tracks. Subtle but welcome changes like this find their way into many songs on Stumbling Home. “Parachute” sounds like you would expect after hearing a few songs on this album, except Chuck’s harmony is missing. Instead, Mira backs herself with echoes and a feathery multi-part harmony that sound like forest nymphs. The track also feels more intimate than the others, beginning with some room noise and ending with an ambiguous woosh sound that keeps the listener tethered to the real world. The standout track “Real Thing” realizes a slightly harder, rock sound with a bit of sharp guitar strums and stronger drum beat. Every guitar, synth melody, and percussion part contributes to the full sound, and the universally appealing chorus line “ahh, give me that real thing” has that cathartic nature to it that makes this track one to sing along to. I only wish it were longer; every time I listen to it I’m disappointed when it reaches its end. “I’ll Be Loving You” and “Foreign Country” share an understated mesmerizing quality. “I’ll Be Loving You” and its 6/8 time creates this swaying nature that’s perfect for a love song. Spirited triplet guitar figures simultaneously embrace the vocals and the listener, coaxing both to sink into serenity. “Foreign Country” has substantial guitar, but the line “Do we ever really know exactly where we are?” floats across the background like falling leaves, and the perpetual beat invites the listener to snap along, almost in a trance.
The Sea The Sea’s 2014 debut release, Love We Are We Love, received praise from NPR, American Songwriter, and No Depression. The video for their song “Waiting” sparked the interest of Buzzfeed and Pitchfork, and was included at the international TED 2015 conference. But for the duo, Stumbling Home reaches a new level of fulfillment. “It’s the work we are most proud of to date,” shares Mira. “We are proud of the way we grew the arrangements in our new creative space. Making music fills us, and we also believe that it matters in the world. Our mission statement as a band is to remind people they aren’t alone — in their pains or their joys, and everything in-between.” This shrewd sense of the world, both what it seems to be and what it is, allows Stumbling Home to be a beacon of light in an otherwise ill-lit world.
Drawing influence in an array of places, Bay area native Chelsea Collins exists in a world somewhere dizzyingly electrifying. With her new track “Used to Be (L.O.V.E.)”, she offers a bold standout. Her appearance and style can be found in the place where anime, gothic aesthetics, and troll dolls meet. This eclectic mix makes Collins alluring in her many visual appearances and voice.
“Used to Be (L.O.V.E.)” is a brash pop song that looks back on past love and where it went wrong. Collins samples Frank Sinatra’s track “Love”, but changes each letter’s meaning to showcase her negative feelings towards this person she once loved.
The track release is accompanied by a music video, which provides another way to showcase Collins captivating aura.
Her independent releases have garnered millions of streams on Spotify, and “Used to Be (L.O.V.E.)” is just one of the few anticipated tracks Collins is set to release this year.
Yola performed an intimate live set for YouTube Space in New York City’s Chelsea Market on July 22nd. Surrounded by cameras in a small studio, Yola and her band were unfazed by the fanfare, playing an energetic, infectious set as if no one else was in the room. Yola is an extraordinary performer; her voice takes flight, soaring on the wings of its own power, immediately capturing the listener. With her latest record, Walk Through Fire, Yola leaves no one untamed.
Largely performing tracks off Walk Through Fire, Yola peppered her set with a cover of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “What You Do” off 2016’s Orphan Offering.
Just four days later, Yola performed at the iconic Newport Folk Festival. She also made appearances during other sets, joining Dawes and Brandi Carlile’s The Highwomen, along with luminary Sheryl Crow. Most incredibly, she joined Dolly Parton herself.
On August 10th, she’ll be opening for Patty Griffin at Lincoln Center’s Roots of American Music Weekend: Americanafest.
When you wander into a small venue and see someone that was a little rough around the edges at a previous job – and you happen to be in attendance with a former coworker from that previous job – things can get a little weird. But we are here to tell you that the experience was not diminished in any way. The incredible talent from duo Seasaw is palpable from first listen, and their performance legitimately lights up any room they happen to be entertaining in. We melted into their lyrical journey, and fell deeper in love with the music with each slight lyrical explanation, each moment their earrings were swinging. Highlights from the show below!
Following Harley‘s first release “Behave”, comes thrilling, smooth new track “Backseat”. The amount of vulnerability that is displayed in the specifics as emotional vocals croon in your direction is astounding, and the song itself is bittersweet in its existence. Admits the band:
It was really cool to write a fully loaded song [emotional] with the guys like that. We based it around some slang that we feel like we coined and that is so deeply rooted in our vocabulary. There was this girl I couldn’t shake, and she was always in the backseat of my mind. We sat down as a team and immediately started to get to work on it.
Los Angeles-based alt-folk rock musician Sean Pawling has released his enigmatic new track “Rio Grande”, a soundscape that seems to span across the Rio Grande itself. Sprawling, fun instrumentals run the gamut while Pawling’s vocals bring you a sense of ease and contentment. It’s like a vacation in a song, and – as people who didn’t get that mid-winter break we so desired – we’re all for it!
Electro-pop/at r&b artist Corina Seas – backed by band members Luis Castro and George Carberry – is ready for the world to peep her brand new music video for the track “Sonic Erasure”. Lucky you, we’re the ones hosting the premiere. The 80s/90s dance track influence is pulled into the video, as she gets ready for an event by trying on different looks in the mirror, as many of us have found ourselves doing before.
The song itself, though it sounds as though you would hear it in a club, actually covers a darker topic. Explains Corina Seas of the track: “What I think is the most interesting part of “SonicErasure” is that I wrote it about how toxic my relationship was with my then-boyfriend while still being in the relationship. The song is almost like an ode for him to stay. He didn’t.”
Shot in warm lighting, the video then goes in a direction you don’t expect as her date shows up for dinner at her apartment.
Disassociated is out now. Keep up with Corina Seas here.
We’ve had a blissful courtship with indie rock/folk duo Seasaw since before Imperfect Fifth ever existed. Having had the opportunity to review an album of theirs at a previous publication, my mailbox experienced an unexpected and happy surprise when they shipped me a vinyl copy of said album with a personalized thank you note. The music industry is incredibly rewarding in most ways, but to get a hand written note is rather rare anymore. That particular memory stayed with me, and then when I got a chance to peep the material for their new album Big Dogs, I was floored.
Lucky for me, I got the unique opportunity to meet up with Meg and Eve on a balmy September day in Kansas City while they were on tour. We sat down while they tried some tacos from Mission Taco, and chatted a bit about that new album and their progression as artists. Check out the words below!
What’s the first song or record you remember hearing, and does it have any bearing on who you are as a performer today?
Eve: The first thing I probably listened to would be the Beach Boys because my dad is a huge Beach Boys fan. He would make me mix tapes of the Beach Boys that I would play on my tiny kid cassette tape player. He made me lots and lots of music like that. And we would listen to it all the time in the car too when I would drive around with my dad. I don’t know that anyone could live up to the amazing harmonies and chord progression that the Beach Boys produced, but of course it’s always in the back of my mind to choose something even a fraction of the beauty that they were able to create sonically. They did such cool things in the studio too as their albums progressed.
My dad also made me a mix tape that had The Kinks and included “Lola”, which is one of my all-time favorite songs. As you know, it’s a song that has a very adult theme. But I brought it in for show and tell in 2nd grade and I think the teacher called my parents and was like, “Did you know that Eve** brought ‘Lola’ in?” Of course they loved it. It’s an amazing song.
Meg: I remember listening to Billy Joel’s The Stranger a lot with my dad and dancing around the living room to that. My mom would always play Carole King’s Tapestry. I was a dancer when I was little, so I would put those two songs on and kind of go for it. I don’t think they shaped anything besides the fact that I still listen to those records today.
My parents didn’t listen to a lot of music. Eve went to a lot of concerts growing up, but I didn’t really. I think the first concert I went to was when I was in high school with my brother. Music was there. I played instruments and stuff and I sang here and there. But I really remember Billy Joel and I still listen to it all the time. I have my dad’s copy of The Stranger vinyl. They would all write their social security numbers on their records so they were safe, but that was when social security numbers weren’t as protected so now it’s blacked out on the copy of the vinyl. In hindsight, a pretty poor choice but kind of cool.
The inspiration behind the title track from Big Dogs – and much of the album – was brought on when the duo played a festival slot recently. A band member from the act playing after them jumped on stage while they were wrapping up their equipment and harassed them about moving too slowly. “If you want to play with the big dogs, you need to get the fuck off the stage,” he yelled at them. This caused a verbal altercation, and the ladies didn’t have security or stagehands to help them out. The power imbalance was notable, and bred some of their most alluring new work.
So from the last album to this one, there is a little more edge, and that’s for a variety of reasons including subject matter. When the – actually heartbreaking – event happened that inspired “Big Dogs”, did you dive in and write a song, or did it take a second before you were able to process and create material around it?
Meg: It was mostly me that the interaction happened with, but Eve came to bat for me and we both had an interaction with the person. So we had talked about it together and had brainstormed a list of all of the things that were funny because we wanted to be able to process it somehow. So we wrote some of the funny things that were said — some of the words in the song are actual direct quotes. Then I would say it was maybe a month later that I sat down and hammered it out and wrote “Big Dogs”.
Some songs take me a long time to write, but that one kind of just poured out really fast. It was done within an hour or two and then Eve helped me make some revisions. It was pretty quick that it happened after the event.
Eve: So we were going to name the album Big Dogs before the song and then Meg wrote the song so we were like, “Oh, great. That’s even better.”
So when the theme of the music video for that song came up, how did you guys decide to go tongue-in-cheek?
Eve: I came up with the idea just after hearing what Meg had written. The image of a dog is kind of tricky in a song because of the language involved and we think the phrase is funny. So, we were trying to figure out a delicate way to be kind of cutting with the idea of what a big dog is. Because it is someone who is kind of a sad person who doesn’t have self confidence and is a bully and has to call themselves that to feel important. So we wanted to portray that in a more artistic and creative way so there wasn’t just dogs on everything.
It came about after trying to be very thoughtful about how to portray that idea. And then I came up with the invisible dog and it fits. We a kind of tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic with everything we do, and I like how it makes you have to think about it a little harder so it’s not as obvious. Even the front cover to the back cover forces the listener to wonder who the Big Dogs are. Is it the women on the cover or the image of the dog on the back? I like how it makes people try to figure it out and dig a little deeper to understand the meaning. That’s wha we did with the video too.
How did your recording process differ this time than with the last album?
Eve: There’s definitely a big difference. With the last album we did everything ourselves. I engineered everything so I couldn’t put my whole mind into the playing piece of it because there was still that hindrance of about 10% brain energy. This time we had a friend engineer the whole thing for us so we really got to go all-in. We also spent a lot of time demoing the songs. It was probably about a month before we started recording so we were able to go through many iterations of the pieces to get them to a more full state. We didn’t have as much time to do that with the last record. I think that really helped inspired a lot of the full and different sounds you hear. We were able to have fun with it.
As for your live performance, you guys do such a wonderful job. Was that something that just came naturally to you? How did your performance style come to be?
Eve: Well, we’ve been working on our presentation for as long as we’ve been recording. We’d start sitting on two chairs and Meg would play the bongos and I would quietly cower near the guitar. So we just had to grow into the confidence to do things that are more thoughtfully laid out for the audience’s sake and for the flow of the music that we’re performing. So there is a lot of thought that goes behind the flow of what we’re doing. We’re constantly tweaking things and trying to make it better because it’s just the two of us in the moment so anything can go right or wrong and throw something off. So there’s a lot of energy in our performances because we can only rely on each other to make the music. So I think that pressure gives us the reason to act the way we do.
There’s a lot of thought that goes into our social media and the esthetic on our stage and the esthetic in our album and the fact that it’s blue. Every little piece has been made cohesive to grow into this more thought out and developed product that you’re going to hear on this album, all the way from the recorded version to the final piece to the performance.
In these 8 years that we’ve been together, we’ve been stepping towards something we can stand behind. Each piece is more 100% than we could in the past because we just didn’t have the experience at that time.
When you were here in June, did you get a chance to experience KC at all? I know it was a pretty quick trip.
Eve: No, and there’s a lot to see. It looks beautiful and we need a tour guide to show us the inside scoop. (wink)
Is there anything specific that you have planned for the rest of this tour for your off time?
Meg: We only have like one off day but it will be in D.C. so we’re hoping to hit some art museums. We’re meeting some friends in Baltimore so that’s what we will be doing as well. I think we are going to the restaurant at the top of The Revival there too. This tour is going to be a lot of fun.
