Dear Lord, it’s too easy to get lost in Jada Michael‘s captivating vocals. Need to infuse our lives with a little more of this, so playing her performance from Cancelled Plans Music Festival on repeat.
In preparation for her debut EP release next month, singer-songwriter Lorelei Rose Taylor releases the title track “Versailles”. Taylor shares that the track “embodies a sort of cosmic dance between two people very much in love, but very toxic for each other – and everyone around them.”
“Versailles” feels light instrumentally, but lyrically you can sense a tug of war between love and toxicity. The lyrics that introduce the chorus “dance between the lines / dance around your lies”, shows that the main subject is aware of the problem occurring between the two people.
The song starts off with a serendipity feel but becomes more tragic as it progresses. With the use of building up the instrumentation and adding sirens as the song fades out, that progression is driven home.
Taylor’s style lives in the space between alternative, baroque rock, and dream-pop. With her soft, sweet, and raw vocals, coupled with her lyrical storytelling, Taylor is able to create vivid words of love, lust, and loss.
If the title isn’t enough to entice you (the full version is “Eating Ass 2020”), perhaps Wwoman‘s silky smooth vocals and light as a feather soundscapes will give you reason. As artist and musician g smee’s one-man project, wwoman delivers a well-thought out track for us to enjoy during social distancing. Admits the artist, “It’s a remake of the first track I ever recorded, ‘EA2020’ is a redemption track. A therapist once told me my problem is that I can’t settle for good when better exists.”
While many of us are spending more time with our own idiosyncrasies, he bares it all in his music. The lyrics are also strangely relatable right now, addressing loneliness like 2020 was made for it.
Just by yourself everyday
And you never wanted
And you never wanted
You never want it that way
Take the simplistic nature of the lyrics as you will, but we’re totally here for the vibes of the track. Thank you, Wwoman.
Boston-based pop artist GILLIAN has just put out her new single, “High”. The young songstress is only 15 years of age but is already proving her knack for chronicling life’s ups and downs and trials and tribulations with clarity, poetic eloquence, and a stirringly soulful voice. Whether it’s with a piano, guitar, or her haunting vocals, GILLIAN explores dissolving relationships, the horrors of addiction, and facing loneliness with unbridled emotion that belies her 15 years. “High” marks GILLIANS first release of 2020 with plenty in the books to follow, including a new EP release in the summer of 2020.
GILLIAN navigates tranquil piano with skill beyond her years on “High”, her mesmerizing voice serving as the ever-so-pleasant guiding light through a sparse backtrack. Delicate and carefully chosen pronunciation and vocal embellishments give her a unique flavor. She builds the song’s tension up to an arresting chorus with commanding percussion and soft backing vocals, showing up with a strong delivery that sets the hook apart from the calm verses.
“High” is available now wherever you like to stream and keep an eye out for more releases from GILLIAN in 2020.
R&B artist Rileyy Lanez continues to showcase her ‘heart on her sleeve’ music style with new single “Foul Play”. This track, along with previous release songs “I’m Leaving” and “Left 4 Me” will be featured on her forthcoming 5-track EP Beautiful Mistakes, out on May 1.
“Foul Play” looks at a relationship that is turning sour or is just about to, but focusing on the moments the two vibed with each other. With a contagiously catchy chorus and energized tempo, this song is memorable in more ways than one. This is a song you’d want to dance to, drive around to, or simply chill while it is on in the background.
Lanez’s vocals help represent the past, present, and future of the situation presented in “Foul Play”. This aspect of her voice helps to make her songs relatable. Her voice can be haunting, a punch in the gut, or honest.
Keep up with her here.
Deerhoof has released their new song “Farewell’ Symphony”. The single precedes the release of the group’s forthcoming album Future Teenage Cave Artists. The song’s inspiration is as ambitious as the track itself, with the video (edited by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier) featuring a supercut of six performances of the final movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Farewell’ Symphony”.
Of the Deerhoof original, Saunier says: “Just imagine if all the living things that’ve been done in by capitalism could reunite for one big final bow! All the extinct cool underground music scenes, all the extinct species of plants and animals, all the extinct arts and educational and political systems that were meant to help people…they’d all be there!” The song itself is a magical ride of controlled chaos; under different guidance the gritty guitar, clanging drums, and singer Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals might be overwhelming, but under Deerhoof’s watchful eye it’s the perfect storm.
“Farewell’ Symphony” is available on all streaming platforms and Future Teenage Cave Artists is due to release May 29th via Joyful Noise Recordings.
Heaven-sent artist Hannah Grace (come on, even her name sounds angelic) has just released her newest track, a beautiful number called “Wasted Love”. The atmospheric track offers comforting support during heartbreak. Regarding the single, Hannah says,“I wrote ‘Wasted Love’ as a message to my past self. The song is about reassuring someone who is heartbroken that no love is wasted, even if it feels like it at the time.”
And nothing is more reassuring than Hannah’s light as a feather, crystal-clear vocals to guide you through the world of delicate keys and electronics that is created in “Wasted Love”. The song is a real beauty; a siren-song of healing. Grace’s perfectly controlled power is displayed through her impressive vocals, her voice diving into its depths and soaring easily into a stunning head voice a second later.
“Wasted Love” precedes the release of Hannah Grace’s new album, which is scheduled to drop in 2020. Grace has rescheduled her London headline show and will play Omeara on October 29th and she has also announced a hometown show at Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach on October 26th.
Los Angeles-based indie band Sincere Gifts have just released their new single, “Ghost of America”. The upbeat alt-rockers couple bright sounds and light-hearted production against dark lyricism for a fun listen that gets their serious (and important) message across.
Two lost musicians, Benben and Nick, found each other in the midst of America’s collapse. They emerged from the darkness as Sincere Gifts, conjuring love and earnest companionship. Because what is more needed in the era of rapacious capitalist greed than a sincere gift?
“Ghost of America” puts a strong focus on the current landscape in the United States in 2020. “The US is super fucked,” says vocalist Nick Byron Campbell.” In ‘Ghost of America’ the listener is taken on a short musical tour through the decline.”
At first listen, the track appears to be all sunshine and rainbows on the surface, but take a closer look (or more appropriately, listen) and hear the very real issues that the band is tackling. Sincere Gifts tackles everything from zombies to guns to riots before stripping back and ending the song with a stripped back and mesmerizing take on a section of the National Anthem. The band impressively tackles mountainous issues while making their important message fun and easy to take heed of. Keep doing what you’re doing, boys, America needs you.
With the release of their second full-length Cry All The Time, Impulsive Hearts delve into darker themes of love and loss, while keeping true to their bright and fierce style of songwriting.
The album opens with “MELODY” is a look at a relationship that fell apart where one knew it was coming and the other didn’t. This uses the idea of creating a melody of music to capture one’s love for the other, “I could build a melody, it’s in a song u would write it down all summer long, oh I would build the world you love, who you waiting on?” and the realization that person wants out of the relationship with: “you took it back what you said / … / you said forget the rest, the rest of what we said.”
The album ends with the track “some heartbreakers” a slower and slightly upbeat tempo track that encompasses the theme of Cry All The Time, love, heartbreak, and loss.
Impulsive Hearts creates music that has a touch of sadness to the world of neo-girl garage rock bands. With Danielle Sines providing captivating vocals and fuzzy guitar, Doug Hoyer (bass) and Dan Julian (drums) hold down the rhythm section bringing each track to its peak moment, and Fallon McDermott (saxophone) and Jess LeMaster (violinist) add a depth to these tracks. All parts come together to create the larger than life sound of Impulsive Hearts.
Cry All The Time comes full circle from its start to finish, with “MELODY” presenting an example of heartbreak and loss while “some heartbreakers” shows that we all have stories of heartbreak, each song on this record is a story of heartbreak.