Search Results for: priors

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: PRIORS Shares Riotously Upbeat “Daffodil”

Led by singer/songwriter, creative mastermind, and producer, Chance Hutchinson, Montréal-based punk outfit PRIORS have been wildly prolific, dropping six releases, including three full-length albums since 2017. Each of those efforts have seen the Canadian punk outfit firmly cementing a melodic and dynamic punk sound. During that same period, PRIORS have developed a reputation for a wildly energetic live set that they’ve toured across Canada, the States and Europe, while sharing stages with The Mummies, Oblivians, Quintron, and Simply Saucer.

Adding to a growing profile across the indie and punk scene, the members of PRIORS have made the rounds of the international festival circuit with stops at Goner Fest and M for Montréal. (Their M for Mothland showcase set at last year’s M for Montréal was a personal highlight of a week-long trip of highlights.)

The Canadian outfit’s Max Deshernais co-produced Daffodil is slated for a June 2, 2023 release through Mothland. Serving as the band’s seventh release and fourth album overall, the album which features Sonic Avenues‘ Sebastien Godin (guitar), The Famines‘ Andrew Demers (drums) and Tabarnak’s Alan Hildebrandt (bass) is reportedly one of their most hopeful and uplifting efforts to date. Sonically, incisive rhythms serve as the basis for clever arrangements centered around fuzzy guitars, propulsive bass lines and analog synths are paired with Hutchinson’s punchily delivered vocals fed through a bit of reverb, and occasional sax blasts from CIVIC’s and The Steve Adamyk Band‘s Dave Forcier.

“I’d say Daffodil is a pop-heavy punk record with a lot of positive outlooks. I have spent the last six releases kicking the shit out of myself and it was time for a new vibe. A little sprinkle of positivity amongst the angst,” PRIORS’ Chance Hutchinson explains in press notes.

Daffodil‘s latest single, album title track “Daffodil” is built around a chugging and insistent buzzing electric guitar, strummed acoustic guitar, and blasts of wobbling Farfisa paired with an insistent backbeat and Hutchinson’s distorted and punchily delivered vocal. Although it’s more of a bounce and shout-along with the band sort of song, “Daffodil” manages to retain a feral yet joyous mosh pit friendly energy that’s infectious.

“’Daffodil’ is one of those songs that happened very quickly,” Hutchinson recalls. “All the parts just kind of wrote themselves including the vocal ideas. In the studio we opened it up a little more with the Vox Jaguar and acoustic guitar and Max added that wild ‘beach sound’ ending with the birds which I really feel pulls it all together.”

Directed by Studio Del Scorpio and featuring additionally photography by Billy Riley, the accompanying video for “Daffodil” captures a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road, including footage of the band playing sweaty, riotous shows across Canada, the incredibly same looking hotel rooms and roads and more.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by singer/songwriter, creative mastermind, and producer, Chance Hutchinson, Montréal-based punk outfit PRIORS have been wildly prolific, dropping six releases, including three full-length albums since 2017. Each of those efforts have seen the Canadian punk outfit firmly cementing a melodic and dynamic punk sound. During that same period, PRIORS have developed a reputation for a wildly energetic live set that they’ve toured across Canada, the States and Europe, while sharing stages with The Mummies, Oblivians, Quintron, and Simply Saucer. 

Adding to a growing profile across the indie and punk scene, the members of PRIORS have made the rounds of the international festival circuit with stops at Goner Fest and M for Montréal. (Their M for Mothland showcase set at last year’s M for Montréal was a personal highlight of a week-long trip of highlights.) 

The Canadian outfit’s Max Deshernais co-produced Daffodil is slated for a June 2, 2023 release through Mothland. Serving as the band’s seventh release and fourth album overall, the album which features  Sonic Avenues‘ Sebastien Godin (guitar), The Famines‘ Andrew Demers (drums) and Tabarnak’s Alan Hildebrandt (bass) is reportedly one of their most hopeful and uplifting efforts to date. Sonically, incisive rhythms serve as the basis for clever arrangements centered around fuzzy guitars, propulsive bass lines and analog synths are paired with Hutchinson’s punchily delivered vocals fed through a bit of reverb, and occasional sax blasts from CIVIC’s and The Steve Adamyk Band‘s Dave Forcier. 

“I’d say Daffodil is a pop-heavy punk record with a lot of positive outlooks. I have spent the last six releases kicking the shit out of myself and it was time for a new vibe. A little sprinkle of positivity amongst the angst,” PRIORS’ Chance Hutchinson explains in press notes. 

Last month, I wrote about album title track “Daffodil,” a song built around a chugging and buzzing electric guitar, strummed acoustic guitar and blasts of wobbling Farfista paired with an insistent backbeat and Hutchinson’s reverb-soaked, punchily delivered vocal. Although it’s more of a bounce and shout-along with the band sort of song, “Daffodil” manages to retain a feral yet joyous mosh pit friendly energy that’s infectious. “’Daffodil’ is one of those songs that happened very quickly,” Hutchinson recalls. “All the parts just kind of wrote themselves including the vocal ideas. In the studio we opened it up a little more with the Vox Jaguar and acoustic guitar and Max added that wild ‘beach sound’ ending with the birds which I really feel pulls it all together.”

Daffodil‘s second and latest single “Optimizer” is a post punk anthem built around a propulsive bass line, relentless four-on-the-floor, angular and shimmering guitar bursts paired with Hutchinson’s reverb-soaked, punchy delivering and the Montréal-based outfit’s unerring knack for catchy hooks and shout-along worthy choruses. Sounding like a prototypical post punk song, “Optimizer” boldly eschews the genre’s common tropes, while being ambiguous” Is it a heart-wrenching cry for help? A sardonic take on peer pressure and confusion? A criticism of a seemingly never-drying and wistful fad? That’s up to you to decide. And I bet it’ll change depending on your mood.

“’Optimizer’ is a direct stab at post-punk because I wasn’t really impressed with a lot of the stuff I was hearing,” Priors’ Hutchinson explains. “We always dipped our toes in post-punk, but I felt it was necessary to dive in on this one. I hadn’t written a song around a bass line since /’Brew HA HA’ from the last record (My Punishment On Earth) and once I had the groove, it was really easy to see where it should go.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Single Review: not hermes Shares Dancey “note”

not hermes is a mysterious and emerging Lower East Side-based artist. And over the past month or so, he has shared a couple of singles off his forthcoming EP:

  • “machines,” a swaggering bit of electro pop/electro rock built around buzzing bass synths and twinkling keys paired with enormous, arena rock-like hooks. 

  • “another,” a decidedly pop-leaning song featuring skittering boom bap beats, glistening, reverb-drenched guitars, shimmering synths paired with not hermes’ plaintive delivery and a big, catchy hook.

The EP’s third and latest single “note” is a remarkably 80s New Order-like bop built around glistening, reverb-drenched guitars, skittering boom bap, shimmering and arpeggiated synths paired with an infectious, two-step inducing hooks and the emerging New York-based artist’s yearning delivery.

“. . . it’s more on the indie pop/dance end of the spectrum than my prior two songs, but is still synth heavy (as always),” not hermes explains.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Steve Terry Project is a Denver-based jazz/jazz-fusion/funk outfit. The band’s latest single “Hot Mess Express” is a a loose and laid back track seemingly drawing from 70s funk and jazz fusion centered around a bluesy and soulful horn line, twinkling organ, sinuous bass lines, bursts of retro-futuristic synths, rolling percussion placed within an expansive and improv-driven composition featuring a explosive peaks and meditative valleys. The composition also manages to be spacious enough for each musician to take the metaphorical wheel, catch the song’s funky groove and jam out.

Written during a caffeinated drive across Georgia and South Carolina, Terry found himself humming the bass line, connecting its repetitious nature to the seemingly endless sameness of trees, road, highway sign, trees, road, highway sign, sky. The composition’s horn line is meant to represent the stop and start nature of breaks in the trees — or a new landmark approaching. The track is also heavily influenced by the Grant Green standard “Jan Jan,” as Terry recalls having just performed it at an open jam prior to recording “Hot Mess Express.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bored at My Grandma’s House Shares Lush and Anthemic Ode to Love

Cumbria-born, Leeds-based singer/songwriter and musician Amber Strawbridge is the creative mastermind behind the rising British indie rock project Bored at My Grandma’s House. Strawbridge began recording music back in 2017 using the GarageBand app on her phone; she then updated her bedroom setup after saving the money to buy a laptop and Logic Pro. After a couple of years of self-taught production and recording, the rising British artist worked with Clue Records, who released her critically applauded debut EP Sometimes I Forget You’re Human Too, an effort that sold out two pressings before Strawbridge ever played a single gig.

Strawbridge’s Bored at My Grandma’s House full-length debut, the Alex Greaves-produced Show & Tell is slated for a June 7, 2024 release through Clue Records/EMI North. She wrote and recorded all the demos for the album in her bedroom, before heading to The Nave Studio, where she worked with Alex Greaves, who gave the material a proper studio polish.

Show & Tell sees Strawbridge exploring a broad range of heavy topics including anxiety, friendship, introspection, love, greed, mental health, loss, empathy and the lack of it thereof in the world. “The main overall theme of this album is connection. Connection with myself, connection with the world and connection to the people around me who I love,” the rising British artist explains. “This album is for me first and foremost and was a way for me to internally process. 

“The origin of these tracks all stem from me wanting to understand these connections and process my emotions surrounding them. The album covers topics such as the power of queer love, humanity and its ‘delusions of grandeur’,  reflection and purpose. 

It would be unwise to say that I haven’t developed and changed a lot since my EP,” Strawbridge continues. “I’ve experienced more, questioned more, felt more and allowed myself to be vulnerable more – which I hope translates throughout the Album.” 

Sonically, her full-length debut reportedly sees her establishing a sound that’s reminiscent of the likes of Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail and Alvvays, while displaying the ability to alchemize the wistful and hopeful into expansive, anthemic tunes rooted in a pop sensibility.

The album’s latest single “I Like What You Bring Out In Me” is anchored around a lush and ethereal sound and production in which glistening and reverb soaked 90s alt rock-like guitars, a steady yet propulsive rhythm section are paired with Strawbridge’s yearning, heart proudly worn on sleeve delivery and her unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks. At its core, is a song written from lived-in, personal experience and captures the woozy, goofiness of love with a sense of optimism and a contented sigh.

“This song is about all the gross cringey things that come along with being in love. It’s about the realisation of someone bringing out the best in you and making you feel confident in yourself at all times, something that I hadn’t really ever experienced prior to being with my girlfriend,” Strawbridge says.