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Oh Wonder - Happy
Oh Wonder - Happy

Oh Wonder - Happy


Trading in bitterness for joy has never been better encompassed than by Oh Wonder's new track "Happy," the fourth single leading up to their third record, No One Else Can Wear Your Crown. "It's good to see you loved / Let's call it even," they sing in earnest, echoing the levity of true release. The London-based duo, composed of Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht, wrote the track in response to West's ex-girlfriend getting married. “I saw a picture of her in her wedding dress and I was like, ‘Wow, what a feeling,'" said West. "[It’s] so cool that she’s met someone else because I could never be the guy next to her.” That epiphanic moment of knowing they're better off without you translates into peace with oneself with ease. No One Else Can Wear Your Crown is due for a February 7 release via Republic Records.

Ysabella Monton on January 28, 2020
Fake Dad Feat. Leke - Big King

Fake Dad Feat. Leke - Big King


Nostalgic and lush, “Big King,” the catchy new single from Brooklyn-based duo Fake Dad, is lo-fi midnight magic. The track defies genres, pulling from indie pop, r&b and rap elements, and emphasizes the opulence and fantasy of influence by juxtaposing cool, dreamy beats with images of grandeur. The instrumentation is delightfully strange: a lovely, reverberating piano and groovy, r&b-inspired percussion coast over the satisfying crackle of a retro synth, while rapper Leke’s verse is a surprising and energizing addition to the arrangement. The track’s cozy, crisp production evokes the indulgence of late-night pillow talk and unfiltered intimacy and is the perfect compliment to vocalist Andrea de Varona’s velvety, ethereal voice. Her lyrics conjure up images of a big king ruling precariously over a glass mountain, lending themselves to larger questions of success and its relationship to truth. “Big King” is pensive and dynamic, and adds an entirely new dimension to Fake Dad’s signature comforting sound.

Britnee Meiser on January 16, 2020
Bonny Light Horseman - The Roving

Bonny Light Horseman - The Roving


Anaïs Mitchell has an uncanny ability to bring new life to old stories. Fresh off of a Best Musical win at the Tonys for Hadestown, a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, she wasted no time before embarking on her next project. Bonny Light Horseman, a collaboration with Eric D. Johnson (known for his work in Fruit Bats and formerly The Shins) and Josh Kaufman (known for his work in countless critical indie darlings like The National and The Hold Steady), uses traditional folk songs as a jumping-off point for lush ballads that could find a home on an album by any one of the group’s innumerable associated acts. Their latest, “The Roving,” is a well-executed entry into the modern tradition of indie-folk, but elements of it stem from centuries ago. Of their process, Johnson joked, “These 500-year-old lyrics are so deeply applicable. ‘The Roving’ could be the plot of an ‘80s teen movie… How incredible is it that as humans we still just want to love and have sex and feel sad and fight?” The group’s debut album, due out January 24th, began and was mostly completed at the 37d03d event hosted by Justin Vernon, Aaron Dessner and friends. They, along with even more members of the April Base extended family, appear on Bonny Light Horseman’s collection of “semi-trad folk jams,” modernized with Mitchell’s signature touch - “We added a singalong chorus so everyone could bond about this.”

Daniel Shanker on January 16, 2020
Hope Tala - Anywhere

Hope Tala - Anywhere


In "Anywhere," a track off her late-summer debut Sensitive Soul, London native Hope Tala explores growth with a sweet vulnerability and timbre as unique as her sound. Hope's music is real and open, provoking thought and relating to familiar circumstances. Confessional lyrics, "I haven't felt this way since high school / I'm sorry, I know you feel lied to / I can't explain it but I tried to give you the words / You said through my hands when I fly with the birds," display both an admirable self-awareness and a poetic handling of emotion in a song about a relationship coming to an end. With jazzy ad-libs, her clear vocals float over other lyrics detailing the ways a relationship feels alive in the face of one that no longer does. Her distinct fusion of R&B beats and bossa nova instrumentation, self-coined as R&Bossa by the artist herself, makes "Anywhere" as delightful to listen to as a day on a beach in Rio.

Jazzmyne Pearson on January 16, 2020
​Tennis - Need Your Love

​Tennis - Need Your Love


Tennis' music is a jaunt that glides effortlessly from past to present. It's a vintage pop-soul project with feet firmly planted in the present. That's what makes the duo's newest single, "Need Your Love" so infectious and romantic: it's a beautiful balance between their nuanced rock sound and the doo-wop vibe that's intrinsic and unique to them as a band. Their aesthetic for this song is '70s soul, with frontwoman Alaina Moore sporting her signature blonde fro and bell-bottom corduroys. Passionate, gripping and indelibly retro, Tennis delivers another single that reminds us of old-time beauty. "Need Your Love" is one of two tracks dropped in the last three months in preparation for their upcoming album Swimmer, which is set to release in February.

Hannah Lupas on January 15, 2020
Moon Bounce - Hook

Moon Bounce - Hook


Moon Bounce returns with "Hook," the leading single off his sophomore record Skip Intro, due February 21. With an orthodox vocal melody to contrast Corey Regensburg's signature pervasive dissonance, "Hook" came of his "full-blown infatuation" in the early stages of the relationship with his now-wife, South African rapper Push Push. It's fixation at its finest as he sings, "You're a fabulous lay / But I kinda, sorta, also just can't stop thinking about you," before oppressing glitches close out the song, mirroring one's brain short-circuiting over his object of affection. Skip Intro is born of producer and songwriter Corey Regensburg's three-year hiatus spent battling an anxiety disorder; time off allowed him to craft a record where he "unabashedly confronts himself." The LP is available for pre-order via Bandcamp as a digital download, on vinyl, or a limited edition USB key "in a petri dish surrounded by slime.

Ysabella Monton on January 14, 2020
Sun June - Terrified

Sun June - Terrified


Sun June perfectly encapsulate the feelings of helplessness, frightening uncertainty, and the endless, resolute love that exists between a parent and child in their new track, “Terrified”. The release dropped earlier this month and follows up the band’s Younger EP, which featured two B-sides and two demos from their 2018 record Years. The song was the result of the Austin-based outfit participating in the Song Confessional Project, a podcast where people tell personal stories anonymously and then artists are asked to adapt them into an original song. In this specific case, a mother discusses her incredible fear upon learning her child had an accident and she couldn’t get to them right away. Sun June teamed up with Curtis Roush (of The Bright Light Social Hour), who stood at the producing helm, to create this sensitive, poignant ballad. A minimal, soft layer of instrumentation kicks things off and sets the pace as lead singer Laura Colwell’s airy, leveled voice sweeps in. As she sings heartfelt thoughts "I didn’t like that song / Til I heard you sing along to it / Cryin’ cause I can’t hold onto anything," it mimics the yearning to grasp something definite and the notion of certainty. The enchanting melancholy is rivaled only by the persuasive care that exists in this loving dynamic. A sentiment that can be all too familiar and extended to a partner, another family member or a friend. Regardless of the specific individual, Sun June captures that notion of wanting to always be there for the ones you love. “Terrified” is out now.

Meredith Vance on January 14, 2020
Skullcrusher - Places / Plans

Skullcrusher - Places / Plans


“Places/Plans” is not a song you would expect from a band named Skullcrusher. The soft and sweet rumination on the fragility of existence and friendship is LA-based songwriter, Helen Ballentine’s debut single. The indie-folk track begins with a narrative of friendly gossip, “You told me your friend’s in love / with a guy she looks up to” before launching into something more introspective as she sings, “Can I make it out there as I am / without my name on a door or a headline band.” Reminiscent of The Weepies, the softly strummed acoustic guitar carries the track through as piano and a looming atmospheric sound perfectly accompanies Ballentine’s vocals that echo through gently. It’s beautiful in its simplicity as it weaves through a message that changes with each turn never relying on repetition, but breaking new ground with each line except the last, “I don’t have any plans for tomorrow.” We couldn't be more excited to premiere this exciting new act's debut! Be on the lookout for Skullcrusher's debut EP—coming out later this winter.

Corey Bates on January 7, 2020
Eliza Shaddad - Girls

Eliza Shaddad - Girls


When you have been best friends with someone for the majority of your life, it sometimes feels like you can read their mind—even when it’s different from what they say out loud. This kind of deep connection is the subject of Eliza Shaddad’s “Girls,” a track told in second-person, addressed to her friend during what sounds like a particularly difficult time. As Shaddad reminisces, she paints a sweet portrait of this kind of real friendship: it’s made up of sweet memories like listening to “Tracy Chapman on repeat” in her friend’s “old room,” but also memories of “shit times” and “fistfights.” The airy effect of Shaddad’s instrumentation and echoey vocals play with time so that the link between childhood and the present feels impossibly small. Though on one level the song is fiercely personal, it also provides a useful reminder for all of us. It’s easy to forget, but sincerely shared memories can have a uniquely grounding quality even in the darkest of times. “Girls” is about the importance of taking care of those closest to you when they can’t take care of themselves.

Karl Snyder on December 30, 2019
Tim Atlas - Crime of Passion

Tim Atlas - Crime of Passion


LA-based indie-pop artist Tim Atlas trades his relationship fears for newfound confidence on "Crime of Passion," a single from his self-produced EP, Together Lonely. Atlas' airy timbre breezes over a mechanical drumbeat, which insistently mimics the urgency with which he professes his love. Where trusting a new lover can be driven by blind faith, Atlas likens the act to a "crime of passion," assuring them that  "I don’t do this often / But I know that I can for you." When talking about the song Atlas says, "This confidence I have in this specific relationship isn’t something I’d normally possess," says Atlas. "A crime of passion is the notion that I’d do whatever it took to be in that person’s life.” As he sings of "the gravity I save for you," we're reminded that when one lives with an underlying feeling of social anxiety, sometimes all it takes is one person to be a grounding force.

Ysabella Monton on December 30, 2019
​Gabriel Birnbaum - Mistakes

​Gabriel Birnbaum - Mistakes


Gabriel Birnbaum (also known as lead vocalist and songwriter of Wilder Maker) released a solo album smirkingly called Not Alone in November. Like its title, Not Alone is at turns darkly humorous and legitimately humbling. Each reflective half-story provides a healthy, balanced tincture of grim irony and earnest nostalgia. Lyrically, “Mistakes” is a regretful realization, a retelling of a past too blurred with booze to have been fully witnessed by its antagonist in real-time. Birnbaum’s careful relationship to language provides a number of delicious images throughout the track, culminating in the compelling line that gives the song its name: I saw the way the pieces fit, / mistakes I dug my toes between like bricks / How do I know that they were mistakes at all? But in contrast to Birnbaum’s meticulous approach to his text, he has an experimental jazz musician’s relationship to instrumentation. From the first glorious moment that “Mistakes” stumbles into existence, each instrument already sounds happy-drunk on its own bottle of wine, as ragtime piano and country guitar blend with jazzy drums to create something fresh and yet unnamed. Overall, the ensemble manages to create a satisfying, controlled chaos that honors a whole host of American musical traditions, including country, rock, jazz and everything in the dusty cracks between.

Karl Snyder on December 30, 2019

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