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​The Japanese House - Something Has To Change
​The Japanese House - Something Has To Change

​The Japanese House - Something Has To Change


The Japanese House is the moniker of London-based singer-songwriter Amber Bain. If you are familiar with her writing style, you know that she has an uncanny ability to make indie electronica feel warm and welcoming. That's precisely the texture we encounter in her most recent single, "Something Has To Change." It's much more pop-oriented than her most recent record Good At Falling, which, track for track, feels more like a film score than an album. Bain's voice is subtle and soft but manages to carry a world of emotional meaning. Some of her lyrics are so concise that they feel more like journalism than poetry: "And it's the same girl who's giving you hell / And it's the same face / Your heart keeps breaking in the same place." This indelible quality makes her a whip-smart songwriter. As a listener, you know that the words she's chosen were meticulously procured for this track: they were thought about, loved and woven into the song.

Hannah Lupas on October 4, 2019
San Fermin - The Living

San Fermin - The Living


In advance of their upcoming album, The Cormorant I, the first album in a two-part project following two characters from birth to death after a visit from an ominous bird, Brooklyn chamber-pop group San Fermin has released the second single, “The Living.” The scale of the ambition of their projects is almost comical until you hear how beautifully it’s matched by the ambition of their music. Ellis Ludwig-Leone is a master of orchestration, constructing avant-garde indie rock songs with pop hooks and classical arrangements. After recording three albums with largely the same group of musicians—a group that started out as a piecemeal orchestra gathered specifically to record the self-titled debut and whittled down to a leaner band— what is most impressive is the way Ludwig-Leone employs each member's talents in the larger scope of the song. When Allen Tate, in his bone-rattling baritone, sings the song's memorable tongue-in-cheek lyrical wink—“It’s for the living / We don’t have to try / ‘Cause aren’t we alive?”—the wink in the lyrics is matched by an unexpected chord change, a smirk as the first hint of San Fermin’s more artful composition shines through. “The Living” is the album’s penultimate track, moments away from the inevitable fulfillment of the circle of life, and the band proceeds to its most bombastic as the characters spiral towards their inevitable conclusion.

Daniel Shanker on August 30, 2019
Hater - Four Tries Down

Hater - Four Tries Down


Swedish outfit Hater make an emotive case with their recent release “Four Tries Down,” the first of two new singles on their forthcoming 7” due out next month and the follow up to their magnetic, sophomore 2018 album Siesta. The tender track is a reminder of the band’s ability to shift your mindset from a dream-like state into something more grounded with their poignant take on indie-pop. Lead singer Caroline Landahl guides you through a storm of difficult times with her steady, whole-hearted vocals as the punchy, rolling production marches close beside. It’s a kind of plea to find what’s left over when you’re at the end of your rope and out of options, felt as Landahl states “No one knows their limit / till the limit is near.” As the instrumentals lead you out, you’re left wondering if she ever found what she was looking for to begin with. Four Tries Down / It’s A Mess 7” will officially be out on September 6 via Fire Records.

Meredith Vance on August 30, 2019
​Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

​Angel Olsen - All Mirrors


Angel Olsen: a true, witchy beauty with a musicality like Sharon Van Etten and Fiona Apple (and the wardrobe of a goth Jenny Lewis) is blessing us with a new record on October 4, titled All Mirrors. She dropped the title track on July 30. Tonally intact but musically different, "All Mirrors" is all synth-punk and dreamy. Angel's vocals are as crass, girly and undeniably authoritative as ever, but this song falls more accurately into an 80s pop strain than an alt-rock one. That being said, it's still Angel. "All Mirrors" is still fraught with emotionalism and that rich, velvety darkness that we find in most of her music. The music video features Angel sitting atop a rotating platform in a white gown, singing to the camera in a black-and-white frame. Perhaps the rotation is an echo of the monotony and ache of time as she sings, "Standing, facin', all mirrors are erasin' / Losin' beauty, at least at times it knew me." She's kicking off her North American tour this fall—check out the dates here.

Hannah Lupas on August 30, 2019
Barrie - Chinatown (Alt)

Barrie - Chinatown (Alt)


Brooklyn indie-pop band Barrie strips back their sound to its dreamy, glistening essentials on “Chinatown (Alt),” one of two new singles they released as alternate versions of the more upbeat retro-pop originals on their debut album Happy To Be Here, which came out earlier this year via Winspear. “Chinatown (Alt)” relies mostly on nostalgic, twinkling keys and singer-songwriter Barrie Lindsay’s clear, wistful soprano. The song is a gorgeous dream-pop lullaby, making strategic use of bare, plinking instrumentals and airy harmonies to transport the listener to a place amongst the stars. The raw intimacy of the production proves that sometimes, less is more. Lindsay’s soothing vocal reverberates at the front of the arrangement, so it sounds like she’s whisper-singing into your ear. The lyrics are equally fitting: “Oh, the light in Chinatown tonight/ Those are weaker days / When I talk to you when I say your name / I can't tell if I fell back asleep.” Listen to “Chinatown (Alt)” to wind down after a long night, and you’ll be instantly relaxed.

Britnee Meiser on August 29, 2019
Bon Iver - Naeem

Bon Iver - Naeem


From Bon Iver's newest LP i,i comes "Naeem," a track likely named after Justin Vernon's collaborator and co-writer Naeem Hanks. More rhythmic and brimming with vocal warmth than some of the other tracks on this album, "Naeem" feels emotional and omnipresent: a cinematic departure from Vernon's otherwise loftier songwriting. This is not to say that this song is shallow in any sense. On the contrary, it feels more authoritative and defining. During an interview with BBC Radio 1, Vernon describes this particular track as signifying a crucial turn in the album: "I think it’s like the end of the first act. It ends the first side […] It was kind of too rambunctious, too energetic, or too Les Mis to end the record. It’s the end of the first act, the end of the first breadth of songs. It kind of gives you a chance to start over again on the second side." Bon Iver released i,i on August 9, 2019.

Hannah Lupas on August 29, 2019
FIG - Stamped With Love

FIG - Stamped With Love


New York-based singer-songwriter Fay Liew, performing under the moniker FIG, has released a new track about "leaving things which feel like home to you." "Stamped With Love" transports listeners to those final moments before departing, as depicted in the dreamy cover art by moosepopcorn, when the scenes are fresh, playing back like a film reel. The nostalgia permeates through her nonchalant vocals gliding over a retro R&B-influenced beat, with bittersweet lyrics like "Catching fireflies / Jumping oh so high / Imprinted in my head" reminding us of the things we all hold onto. Whether it's an old flame or a city you've left behind, FIG lets you know that even when change is imminent, memories and lessons learned are souvenirs to take along as you move forward.

Ysabella Monton on August 28, 2019
MyKey - Was It Something I Said

MyKey - Was It Something I Said


“Was it something I said… oh fuck.” MyKey's new song "Was It Something I Said" begins with these softly spoken words right before bursting into sound. Though rhythmically upbeat and melodic, the song’s lyrics convey a sense of bitterness and resentment. Coupling the beat with the lyrics produces an underlying tone of nostalgia; it’s almost as if there is a dreamy memory washing over the bitterness. Introspective, soft, and bubbly— it’s the perfect song for a summer night.

Caroline Peacock on August 28, 2019
Ashe - Not How It’s Supposed to Go

Ashe - Not How It’s Supposed to Go


“Not How It’s Supposed to Go” by Ashe is the closing track off of her most recent EP Moral of the Story: Chapter 2. Beginning with a calmly rising piano that stands alone for a moment, Ashe begins to relay an increasingly invasive set of societal expectations. In defiance of these expectations, a chorus swells beneath her achievement of clarity against these impositions. Our narrator “makes a wish into a fallen eyelash,” perhaps to find some understanding or solace within this life she finds herself in, but the eyelash “flies away and so [she] takes [her] life back.” Musically and thematically, the conclusions reached throughout this song’s journey are perhaps ‘not how it’s supposed to go’, but listeners ought to be glad that it did.

Ben Burke on August 28, 2019
mini golf - Audrey

mini golf - Audrey


Mini golf’s single “Audrey” is harmonious in an unorthodox way. Leading in with cautious strings and what sounds like a slowly rushing waterway, the song moves quickly and boldly from the outset. In an amalgamation of synthetic, acoustic, and resonant natural sounds, the thematically chronological progression of the lyrics lulls the listener into a sort of subdued bystander role. Hearing but not fully participating in everything thanks to the paradoxically calming and exciting collection of instrumentals, eventually to be contented with the conclusion: “Sunlight gets brighter, at just the thought of you.”

Ben Burke on August 27, 2019
THE HARMALEIGHS - DIM THE LIGHT

THE HARMALEIGHS - DIM THE LIGHT


Within the open-armed, free belts of “Dim The Light” ready ears may find strands of honest self-discovery and powerful utterances. This courageously self-aware track is one of many refreshingly candid pieces from Nashville indie pair The Harmaleighs’ new LP She Won’t Make Sense. “Dim The Light” is a movement-generating shadow-cast of the woes of loving someone while simultaneously holding hands with a lingering toxicity.

Laney Esper on August 27, 2019

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