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Shamir - On My Own
Shamir - On My Own

Shamir - On My Own


Follow along this week as singer/songwriter Shamir walks us through notable tracks from his expansive DIY genre-blending discography. Don't miss your chance to meet Shamir in Brooklyn at Full Bloom, our latest food, beverage and music event in collaboration with Strainge Beast Hard Kombucha, on June 25.

"This song isn't one of my personal favorites, but I get why it's a crowd favorite. It's a good practice in all the things people love about pop music, and I found a way to filter it through my DIY sensibilities and cathartic and personal songwriting. Finding strength in solitude is a very hard, but powerful thing!" — Shamir

on June 18, 2021
William Maxwell - Dead Plants

William Maxwell - Dead Plants


Though also a member of the Austin-based project The Oysters, William Maxwell’s solo act allows for a deeper, more vulnerable connection to the artist. Maxwell’s latest album, It’s Been Here Changing for a Long Time, is no exception. Released with a 24-page art booklet, in all,the album is a multi-media exploration of self-expression. 

“Dead Plants” is a perfect example of his talent and candor. Drawn in by the lively guitar, you quickly find yourself wrapped up in the story of the lyrics. You find regrets lingering like a bicycle still tied to a tree, apologies spilling out like water in a cab. “I guess when you’ve done so much crying,” he sings as a buoyant guitar carries through, sometimes all you can do is “sit back and laugh.” 

There’s something just so raw and unexpected about the last lines: “I’ll do anything just to try to get you back / When you’re gone for the weekend, I’ll still water your dead plants.” It’s clever and modest, but it punches you right in the gut—a William Maxwell specialty. Photo by Mireille Blond.

Monica Hand on May 4, 2021
Lydia Luce - Dark River

Lydia Luce - Dark River


Each day this week, Nashville-based folk singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lydia Luce offers insight on tracks from her sophomore album, Dark River. Follow along as she intimately details her songwriting process in her own words. Photo by Betsy Phillips

I wrote this song with my dear friend Raven Katz. This song is about not letting people take away my energy. Raven and I lived together for a year and she knows me better than most. The song talks about habits both good and bad. Sometimes when I am depleted of energy and running myself into the ground I give more than I should. I am learning that I have to take care of myself and recharge before I can show up for others. I know that when I give myself alone time especially in nature I am able to recharge and fill up my cup. This is something that works for me because it forces me to listen to what’s really going on in myself without the external noises from around me. I value my time spent in solitude. — Lydia Luce

on April 30, 2021
Laufey - James

Laufey - James


Laufey's debut EP Typical of Me is out today, and it's already stealing hearts left and right. Her track "James" might be especially good at that, as it tells a tale of the type of heartbreaker we've all fell for—and had a dramatic fallout with. Nothing feels quite like the realization that you were in too deep over the appearance of someone who is, in reality, too shallow. And nothing feels quite likes this track as Laufey combines her jazzy guitar style with captivating vocals and harmonies that will give the name "James" a whole new meaning for you. The Icelandic-Chinese musician writes songs the way a painter would make a self-portrait: mixing strengths and limitations to present a perspective no one else would have. The result is something deliciously charged with feelings. For more of that, make sure to check Laufey's Typical of Me. Photo by Blythe Thomas

Giulia Santana on April 30, 2021
PRONOUN - I WANNA DIE BUT I CAN’T (CUZ I GOTTA KEEP LIVING)

PRONOUN - I WANNA DIE BUT I CAN’T (CUZ I GOTTA KEEP LIVING)


In their first release since the sultry pre-pandemic single “Song Number 1.5” (Sleep Well Records, 2020) PRONOUN (formerly stylized “pronoun”) has returned in all caps, with a single to match. Tight, upbeat guitar riffs and kick drum bring a pop-punk sound to the latest from the self-proclaimed “indie-bedroom-pop-rock-whatever” musical project by Brooklyn-based artist Alyse Vellturo, whose layered reverberating vocals are the undertow of “I WANNA DIE BUT I CAN’T (CUZ I GOTTA KEEP LIVING).”

The song’s lyrics hit home right from the start: “Everybody’s moving on / Growing in their own way / No matter where I put myself / I’m always in the same place.” Even after more than a year spent primarily in quarantine and face masks, where surviving alone can be seen as an accomplishment, the pressures from society (and often from ourselves)—to do more, grow more, be more—have hardly let up. For this anxiety-prone writer, the future has been an ever-looming and ever-daunting question mark, with very few anchors around from “the before times” to keep the spiraling at bay, and not nearly enough of anything to distract from spiraling into the past. “I WANNA DIE BUT I CAN’T (CUZ I GOTTA KEEP LIVING)” is both a comforting notion that these feelings are not as unique as they can often seem and a welcome reminder that “Everything gets better, just later.” The arc of the lyrics in the song mirrors the title itself, waxing from self-deprecation to pep talk, with these especially encouraging words near the song’s end.

The release of “I WANNA DIE BUT I CAN’T (CUZ I GOTTA KEEP LIVING)” was accompanied by the announcement of PRONOUN’s forthcoming five-track EP, triumphantly titled OMG I MADE IT, out June 11th on Wax Bodega. Photo by Mitchell Wojcik.

Maya Bouvier-Lyons on April 30, 2021
Lydia Luce - Maybe in Time

Lydia Luce - Maybe in Time


Each day this week, Nashville-based folk singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lydia Luce offers insight on tracks from her sophomore album, Dark River. Follow along as she intimately details her songwriting process in her own words. Photo by Alysse Gafkjen

The song was written with my friend and fellow singer/songwriter Raymond Joseph. Growing up in a religious family I have often questioned the existence of God. I went to a Christian school from preschool up until college. l attended Christian camps in the summer, went to church every week, and memorized Bible verses. For most of my life, I accepted the ideologies of Christianity because that was the only thing I knew. As I grew I started playing music and reading books outside of my Christian school curricula. Music led me to spaces filled with people that did not believe the same things I did. I started to question the beliefs I was raised with and become curious about other possibilities.

I feel that I am in connection with God when I am still and when I’m in nature.  Writing this song forced me to have conversations about my beliefs with my family and it encouraged me to be vulnerable and honest. Even though we don't believe the same things there is still love and respect for one another. I want to remain curious and respectful because we are all just trying to work out the complexities of life. — Lydia Luce

on April 29, 2021
Richie Quake - Never See You

Richie Quake - Never See You


Occasionally, farewells can be some of the most difficult bridges to cross. Other times, well, it seems those bridges just couldn’t burn any quicker. Indie-pop gem Richie Quake tells the tale of the latter in his latest drop “Never See You." 

This smooth track offers experimental synths that activate the senses, maintaining an intoxicating spontaneity in every pulse. Quake cultivates a lo-fi, retrowave audiovisual within this track that is most notably his. A stylized bassline effortlessly carries the lo-fi nature of the track before bleeding into an electronic funhouse of synths. The chorus is inexplicably tranquil, gliding listeners through the three-minute song on the back of the happily purported reassurance that he will “never see you again."

“Never See You” is the successor of “Rules," an upbeat funky track with a personality of its own that was released back in March. With more music on the way in the near distant future, anticipation cannot even begin to describe our elated disposition for all things Richie Quake. Photo by Freddy Torres

Bianca Brown on April 29, 2021
Lydia Luce - Tangled Love

Lydia Luce - Tangled Love


Each day this week, Nashville-based folk singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lydia Luce offers insight on tracks from her sophomore album, Dark River. Follow along as she intimately details her songwriting process in her own words. Photo by Alysse Gafkjen

"Tangled Love" is about attachment. I was in a relationship that became painful and difficult yet there was something that held me to it. My partner realized he was an addict and I realized I had co-dependency issues. This song talks about the intricate web that those patterns create.

We tried a few different percussive ideas and what stuck was clapping and hand drums to create these polyrhythms. The percussive section in the chorus is Ross McReynolds and Jordan Lehning clapping (Jordan's Idea). — Lydia Luce

on April 28, 2021
James Lockhart Jr. - 2short

James Lockhart Jr. - 2short


“2short," the lead single from James Lockhart Jr.’s upcoming debut EP, poignantly and cleverly tackles the cruel beauty of memory and the uniquely sublime nature of time spent with those you love. The song follows a back and forth in the narrator’s mind, between moments of warmth, brought on by images of the past, and cold realizations that those images cannot compare to the true moments of connection that they shadow. This contrast is expertly accentuated by the arrangement and production choices. In the sections of memory, the sound is full, the drums are center stage, and it feels like James is singing right next to you. When the feelings of isolation and longing take over, the drums cut and his voice takes on the distant quality of a radio or telephone. The lyrics are straightforward yet lush with emotional potency. The second verse description of a Polaroid photo being taken, and subsequently looked to, “when I need to see somebody glowing,” struck me with a sharp bolt of nostalgia because of its accuracy and truth. In this particular moment, as we move into the summer and the world hopefully begins to open up safely, “2short” is able to delicately both lament the love and connection which was lost over the past year and implore the listener to cherish the moments that will come. Photo by Sara Laufer

Emerson Obus on April 28, 2021
Lydia Luce - Occasionally

Lydia Luce - Occasionally


Each day this week, Nashville-based folk singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lydia Luce offers insight on tracks from her sophomore album, Dark River. Follow along as she intimately details her songwriting process in her own words. Photo by Betsy Phillips

Jordan Lehning and I wrote "Occasionally" in the fall of 2019. He sent me the melody in a voice memo while I was on tour in California and I began jotting down some lyrics. Initially, the song was written about a reoccurring memory of someone. It lingers, you try and cast it away but it is resilient. 

After the tornado hit Nashville in March 2020 this song took on a completely different meaning. I realized that this song was about anxiety. I was having a really difficult time the few weeks after the tornado with panic attacks and severe anxiety. We recorded this song at Southern Ground in Nashville. — Lydia Luce

on April 27, 2021
Sea Glass - Lemon Lime Watermelon (feat. Sky Adler)

Sea Glass - Lemon Lime Watermelon (feat. Sky Adler)


Sunny chords strum in to transport you to a beach somewhere with great friends and cool drinks on Sea Glass’ newest single “Lemon Lime Watermelon.” 

Sea Glass is the brand new project from Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Jake Muskat. Through Sea Glass, he aims to create an exciting, collaborative project as each song features a different co-writer vocalist. For “Lemon Lime Watermelon,” Muskat enlists the help of Chicago native Sky Adler. 

Whimsical lyrics let us know that “Lemon Lime Watermelon” is “fresher than toothpaste.” The song builds as arpeggiated keys and a buoyant beat surface, inviting us to get out of our heads and be more present as Adler sings, “They’re stuck in last year / I’m flying through this week.”  

With the vaccine rolling out, the weather getting nicer every day, and the possibility of experiencing live music again, it certainly feels like we’re in the home stretch of a forgettable year. Although we must keep taking care of ourselves and others, these uplifting times tell us that despite what’s happened, there’s still joy to be found.

As the song closes and filtered keys play the last chords, you can’t help but feel compelled by their proposition: “I’m starting over baby / You should come along with me / Let’s go on a spaceship / Let’s go on a journey.” How could you say no to that? Photo provided by Sea Glass

James Ramos on April 27, 2021

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