Category: Indie Pop

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Sophia Habib Performs “Lifeline” with Cloud Orchestra

Sophia Habib is a rising, Rotterdam-based singer/songwriter, classically trained musician and producer, whose work draws from her love of ’00s pop, R&B and her classical training throughout her life and at the prestigious Rotterdam Conservatory of Music. While her sound is features a maturity and sophistication that seemingly belies her youth, her work tackles themes that touch on relatable, everyday life experiences with a lived-in, heart-worn-on-sleeve earnestness.

Following the release of her full-length debut, last year’s Fragile, Habib recently shared three live tracks, featuring the rising Rotterdam-based artist performing with her backing band and Cloud Orchestra. Two of the songs are off the album — “Lifeline” and “We Can’t Work This Out,” while the third song is a new song “Thank You.” Performing alongside Cloud Orchestra allows the Rotterdam-base artist’s love of classical music — and her classical background — to shine brightly. “To work with an orchestra was a dream I just had to fulfill,” Habib says in press notes. “I called Anton de Bruin and asked if he wanted to do another collaboration with Cloud Orchestra. And that’s how it started!”

The live version of “Lifeline” pairs a stunningly cinematic string arrangement with a slick, hook driven production featuring wobbling, retro-futuristic synth arpeggios, skittering trap-like beats and Habib’s soulful, pop star-like delivery, expressing yearning, confusion, and then self-awareness, followed by defiant pride. “Lifeline” captures a narrator, who initially is desperately and stupidly in love with someone, who may not be worthy of them. And by the end of the song, its narrator recognizes their own self-worth and self-love. If the song sounds like women you know, there’s a good reason: the song is written from the perspective of a very modern woman, discovering her own worth and power — even if it’s in an indirect fashion.

“‘Lifeline’ speaks of desperately wanting someone to love you, even though you know they’re no good for you, but ultimately realising that you don’t need the approval of anyone to be loved,” Habib explains.

Directed by Eloi Genrich and Rebecca Weltner and filmed by Maric Dam, the video for “Lifeline” was shot in a beautiful, hauntingly minimalist location, allowing the focus to be on Habib, the other performers and the music — without lights, explosions and other distractions. The video’s cinematography features warm, golden hues gently blended with shadows, which helps add a subtle emotional cue to the song’s narrative.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Thunder Bae Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “Numb”

Thunder Bae is an emerging and rapidly rising singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and self-described “analog girl in a digital world.” Influenced by Pink Floyd, Sade, Kurt Cobain, Dire Straits, and Elton John, the rising artist aims to create a difficult to pigeonhole sound.

Her latest single, “Numb” is a slow-burning and brooding track built around atmospheric synths, a brief Dark Side of the Moon nod, a reverb-soaked beats paired with the rising pop artist’s sultry pop belter delivery and soaring, shout-along worthy hooks and choruses. Sonically, “Numb” reminds me quite a bit of JOVM mainstay ACES and others, while being rooted in lived-in, personal, yet deeply universal experience that’s lyrically captured with a disarming precision and honesty.

Written when the rising pop artist was going through a period of feeling numb, she intended to capture the essence of the experience. As Thunder Bae explains, the song carries a message “that numbness is not necessarily a good or bad feeling, since it deprives one of emotions. It’s a complex emotional state that deserves understanding and recognition.” She believes that listeners will find solace in the song, because it speaks directly to — and about — deep-seated emotions that they may be experiencing right this moment, while acknowledging that numbness is normal to feel at times. She adds that she hopes the song will empower the listener to emerge stronger from their struggles.

Directed by Agnieszka Oginski, Sönke Schmidt, and Natalie-Isabel Knopps, the accompanying video for “Numb” features the rising artist in the midst of a deep emotional and psychological struggle, helping to ground the song’s theme and lyrics in psychological realism.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JAIN Shares Earnest and Cinematic “The Fool”

French-born international pop sensation JAIN exploded into the national and international scene with her full-length debut, Zanaka, which sold over one million copies globally. Her sophomore album 2018s Souldier, topped the charts in her native France, thanks to the success of hit single “Makeba” which led to her first Grammy nomination for Best Music Video — and to Rolling Stone naming her an “Artist You Need To Know,” writing that the “French singer mixes pop, Afrobeat and more influences in a winning combination.”


Building upon a growing profile, the French pop start has played over 300 shows in 15 countries across the European Union, North America, South America and Asia, as well as the rounds of the global festival circuit with sets at Coachella and Lollapalooza. She has also performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Later . . . with Jools Holland, the 2018 Ryder Cup and the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Her highly-anticipated third album The Fool is slated for an April 21, 2023 release through Columbia/Sony Music France. The album is reportedly a new chapter for the French pop sensation both musically and personally. Thematically, the album chronicles the stages one goes through when making a fresh start — fear, excitement, innocence, self-doubt/doubt, letting go, epiphany and more. While her previously released work meshed a myriad of genres, styles and instrumentation including Arabic percussion. African rhythms. electro pop, reggae, soul and hip-hop, The Fool draws heavily on influences like Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks.

JAIN also relies heavily on Tarot de Marseilles, one of the oldest and most popular tarot decks created — and an art her mother passed on to her. According to the French pop artist, tarot gives her the strength to jump into the unknown through an instinctive perception of the world’s dangers and possibilities.

The Fool‘s first single, album title track “The Fool” is a decidedly 80s pop-inspired song centered around a lush and almost painterly production featuring finger plucked strummed guitar, glistening synth oscillations, thumping beats paired with soaring strings and rousingly anthemic hooks. JAIN’s self-assured and gorgeous, pop star vocal is at the forefront of the mix, singing lyrics that reference The Fool card in the tarot. And as result, the song takes on a brave and hopeful look at the future, seeing it as the sort of grand adventure the you want to go on with a loved one, while sounding a

Directed by Jules Jolly, the video follows the French pop star on an incredible adventure through the universe and into the future. Visually, the video manages to bring fond memories of The Little Prince.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Joseph Shares Buoyant and Anthemic “The Sun”

After a busy weekend covering The New Colossus Festival‘s fourth edition, I wound up catching a real nasty cold that has kicked my ass: I’ve felt miserable for the past four days or so. And unfortunately, because we live together, my mother caught what I had. So it sounds a bit like a sick ward here. But somehow, the show must go on, as best as it could. right?

Portland, OR-based sibling indie pop trio Joseph — Natalie Closner Schepman and her two, younger twin sisters Meegan and Allison — derive their name from two different sources: their grandfather Jo and the tiny town of Joseph, OR, in which he was born and raised. The Closner Sisters grew up in a musical household: their dad was a jazz singer and drummer, while their mom was a theater teacher. But their group can trace its origins back to around 2014: Closner Schepman, who had been pursuing a career as a singer/songwriter at the time, recruited her sisters to join her in a new project. When the Closners began working together, they quickly recognized an irresistible and undeniable creative chemistry. 

The trio quickly developed a reputation for playing intimate house shows, in which they would accompany themselves with acoustic guitar and a foot drum. Within their first yet of being a group, they self-released their debut, 2014s Native Dreamer Kin, which caught the attention of ATO Records, who signed the group the following year.

After releasing 2015’s, ATO Sessions EP, an acoustic, two song, digital EP and accompanying video series, the sibling trio went on to release their Mike Mogis-produced, label debut 2016’s I’m Alone, No You’re Not, which featured the smash hit “White Flag,” which landed on on Spotify’s US Viral Top Ten Chart within days of its release. By that October, the track landed at #1 on the Adult Alternative Charts.

Building both the rapidly growing buzz surrounding them and a growing profile, the trio made their rounds of the national and international talk show circuit with appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Later . . . with Jools Holland, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Conan, CBS This Morning and Today. They also made the rounds of the global festival circuit with stops at  Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Sasquatch Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Outside Lands Festival, Pilgrimage Music Festival and several others. And they opened for James Bay during his sold out 2016 arena tour.

2019’s Christian “Leggy” Langdon-produced sophomore album Good Luck, Kid saw the trio pushing their sound in a grittier, more dynamic direction while retaining the gorgeous harmonies and earnest vocal deliveries that won them acclaim across the blogosphere and elsewhere. “The through-line of the album is this idea of moving into the driver’s seat of your own life–recognizing that you’re an adult now, and everything’s up to you from this moment on,” Natalie Closner Schepman explained in press notes. “You’re not completely sure of how to get where you need to go, and you don’t have any kind of a map to help you. It’s just the universe looking down on you like, ‘Good luck, kid.’”

The sibling trio’s fourth official album, the Tucker Martine and  Christian “Leggy” Langdon co-produced The Sun is slated for an April 28, 2023 release through their longtime label home ATO Records. The album reportedly sees the group working with a collection of new collaborators and making yet another vibrant sonic shift while retaining the craft, three-part harmonies and hard-fought and harder-won lyrical wisdom that they’ve been known for throughout their career. But unlike its predecessors, The Sun sees the sibling trio taking a decidedly more hands-on role in the production process. The result is an album of material that sees Joseph spinning incredibly complex concepts into anthemic, sing-along ready pop that serves as a backdrop for the trio’s fearless and deeply personal storytelling from each of their perspectives. 

Thematically, the forthcoming album sees the trio focusing their soul-searching songwriting on the quietly damaging forces that keep us from living fully in our truth — e.g., gaslighting, cultural conditioning, unconscious yet painfully limiting self-beliefs and the like. Drawing on hard lessons from relationships and personal growth through therapy, The Sun reportedly shares stories of taking control of your own fate, making difficult decisions in the name of becoming yourself and weathering the highs and lows of love while keeping the faith — and importantly, tending to ourselves with presence and compassion. “All of our therapists were a huge influence on this album,” the sibling trio say in press notes. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Nervous System,” a punchy pop song rooted in deep. personal experience, the rousingly anthemic, sing-along friendly choruses the trio is known for, and big-hearted, earnest compassion. Fittingly the song — and its narrator — discusses being our own lifeline during times of anxiety, struggle and uncertainty. “It’s about self regulating and tending to ourselves with presence and compassion, rather than frantically reaching outside of ourselves,” the trio explain. Alison Closner adds “I’ve struggled with a lot of anxiety over the years, at times a constant inner storm, and it’s been easy to look outside myself to feel safe and secure. I’ve fought to find my inner peace, and through that process I’ve found that so much of the time I already have what it takes to calm my nervous system.”

The Sun‘s latest single, album title track “The Sun” is a shimmering, buoyant and fittingly summery pop anthem and a righteously defiant tell-off to a relationship that has made you feel small and insignificant while recognizing — and perhaps for some, reclaiming — one’s own power, integrity and sense of self. Much like the previously released material from the album, the song is rooted in universal yet deeply personal experiences, which add to its rousingly anthemic nature.

Interestingly, “The Sun” was one of the first songs recorded for the album, and it wound up being something of a sonic breakthrough for the trio. The trio took a slowed down, serious and acoustic version of the song on the road. testing it for audiences while opening for The Shins. But when it came down to lay the track down, the song with the help of their longtime producer, became the buoyant and summery version you’re hearing now — while rooted in Meegan Closner’s own experiences of working through the lessons of a past relationship./

“Many times I have found myself in a position where I’m stuck in cycles of negative self-talk” Meegan Closner explains. “Times when I have seen myself as bad and struggle seeing any other possible truth. This song is my higher self speaking to that me. It’s me reminding myself that I am more than I think I am.” 

The song’s shift into its defiantly buoyant version, mirrors the album’s underlying narrative. “The whole album is a sort of thinking through of the story that you tell about yourself, to yourself,” Joseph’s Natalie Closner says, “It’s about looking at whatever is diminishing you or making you believe in these limitations you’ve put on yourself, and then finally asking, ‘What if I’m more than that?’” 

Directed by Justin Frick, the accompanying video for “The Sun” is as ebullient, joyous as the song it accompanies while capturing the Closners irresistible energy — and their profoundly tight bond. But more importantly, the video nods at the themes of the song: Meegan and her sisters are initially in various stages of shadow before being in brilliant spotlight, with the sisters boldly claiming their space.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Audio Interview: MANE

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms chats with rising Adelaide-based artist MANE at last week’s The New Colossus Festival.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Aussie Artist MANE Shares Lush and Anthemic “Breathing Again”

Paige Court is a rising Adelaide-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, best known as MANE. She exploded onto the Aussie scene with 2019’s breakout hit “Chasing Butterflies,” which amassed over 2 million streams and landed at #7 on the Spotify viral charts.

Her debut EP. 2020’s Coping Mechanisms and follow-up single “Hi Lo” were released through Dew Process/Universal Music Australia and were written during some of the most formative experiences of her life to date.

In a relatively short period of time, MANE has played the national touring circuit, playing some of her homeland’s biggest festivals including Spin Off, Groovin The Moo, Bigsound, and Big Pineapple. She has shared stages with the likes of Matt Corby, Ball Park Music, Yung Blud and The Kooks. Building upon a growing profile, the rising Aussie artist went on a 34 date Stateside tour between last August and last November, across 14 states.

The rising Aussie artist’s latest single, the Mario Späte and Benjamin Tamblyn-Morrow (a in shadowing collaborator role)-produced “Breathing Again” continues a remarkable run of cinematic, heart-worn-on-sleeve pop anthems centered around her smoky, booming pop belter delivery paired with twinkling keys, a mix of thumping beats and live drumming and a rousingly anthemic hook. The song, which was written with Charlie McClean, the co-founder of She Writes feels informed by lived-in experience: it evokes a sometimes fleeting sense of hope and peace during the most difficult times of your life. This song should serve as a reminder that things can — and do — get better; that nothing is forever.

“I distinctly remember writing this song with Charlie at Kobalt Studios in LA and feeling overwhelmed by a waterfall of happy/sad emotions… Charlie really gently helped coax them out of me in a way where I didn’t need to be specific or elaborate into any detail which was really nice,” Court recalls. “The song to me is about a moment of clarity or relief in the midst of healing from something – the sometimes fleeting feeling that it is in fact going to be ok, for me those moments provide a lot of hope… it’s refreshing, relieving and sometimes exciting to feel, especially if it’s felt heavy and dark for so long. I think finding a space where you can genuinely smile, breathe and just exist after a grief is a testament to your own resilience, because even though you may still be going through it your finding room around it to seek hope & happiness and I think that’s brave as hell!”

Edited by Court, the accompanying video emphasizes the healing process at the core of the song as it follows a couple of women, suffering through despair and heartache, and while expressing their feelings experience a moment of clarity and peace that saves them.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: dayaway Shares Breezy and Hook-Driven “hot blue summer”

Acclaimed duo Brooklyn-based indie CLAVVS — Amber Renee and Graham Marsh — can trace their origins back to a chance meeting after they both separately decided at the last minute to attend a random house party.

Renee’s background is in Americana. Marsh cut his teeth working on Grammy-winning hits by Bruno Mars and Gnarls Barkley. But with CLAVVS the pair weave together the organic and synthetic in a way that brings comparisons to Sylvan Esso and Maggie Rogers — but with a glossier, mainstream sheen. And as a result, the pair has landed placements on MTV, PBS, a number of tastemaking playlists and played in stores like Urban Outfitters.

The duo are also behind the rising indie pop project dayaway. Renee is a water sign — and naturally she has an obsession with the ocean. Fittingly, the project was conceived over countless summer afternoons at Rockaway Beach. The songs she writes for dayaway frequently tell stories about love and loss, detailing heartbreak in summertime snapshots paired with hazy dream pop/New Wave-inspired soundscapes.

Last year’s self-titled dayaway debut EP was released to critical applause from the likes of Under the Radar and Earmilk. EP single “cool water” amassed millions of streams across the digital streaming platforms while landing on Spotify’s New Music Friday, Good Vibes and Golden Hour playlists among others. Follow up singles “beach 90th” and “desert island” landed on Apple Music’s New in Indie and Spotify’s Surf Rock Sunshine playlist. Material from the EP were also featured on Netflix’s Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between, and ABC’s A Million Little Things.

The duo’s latest single “hot blue summer” is a breezy and summery bop rooted in Renee’s achingly tender and ethereal delivery paired with buzzing and reverb-drenched guitars, bubbling electronics, twinkling keys and a razor sharp hook. The song evokes the blissful buzz of summer afternoons at the beach — but the uptempo poppiness of the song is a bit deceptive: The song actually acknowledges that despite the hopes and playfulness of summer and summer love, heartbreak is always around the corner.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Seoul’s ROSS 248 Shares Slow-Burning “Blinded by your Light”

Deriving their name from a small star in the northern constellation Andromeda, ROSS 248 is a mysterious, Seoul-based songwriter and producer, who employs an old-school songwriter’s approach with each and every song, which showcases the voices of an eclectic array of vocalists.

Influenced by a number of different genres, including electro pop and indie pop, ROSS 248’s career started in earnest producing for other artists in her native South Korea. But increasingly,. the Seoul-based producer increasingly desired to express herself through songwriting — with a continued focus on production.

A influential trip to Liverpool helped the South Korean producer further establish her own sound and approach. Her debut single, “Somewhere Only We Know” received airplay on BBC Music Introducing Merseyside last year.

Her latest single “Blinded by your light,” a slow-burning and vibey pop gem that seems indebted to neo-soul with the song being featuring wobbling synths, glistening Rhodes, a sultry Quiet Storm-like groove paired with Victoria Murray’s achingly tender and yearning delivery. Continuing upon the previously released “Sunshower,” “Blinded by your light” channels the feelings of stability and tranquility within a stable and fulfilling relationship. As the South Korean producer explains, the song’s main messages is “if you love someone more than anything, you see the deeper hopes and positiveness in your life.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alfa Mist Teams Up with Kaya Thomas-Dyke on Soulful and CInematic “Aged Eyes”

Throughout the London-based producer, composer, musician and Sekito Records head Alfa Mist’s career, he has steadfastly refused to be boxed into a specific genre or style: his work has spanned everything from hip-hop beatmaking to producing for rappers like Loyle Carner, composing neo-classical works for the London Contemporary Orchestra and reworking tracks for Ólafur Arnalds and legendary jazz label Blue Note. He also hosts the Are We Live podcast with Barney Artist and Jordan Rakei. 

Since the release of his full-length debut, 2015’s the London-based multi-hyphenate has also quickly established himself as one of the UK’s most focused and distinct contemporary musical voices while also working with Jordan Rakei, Tom Misch, Richard Spaven, Lester Duval and Emmavie.

Building upon the success of 2017’s Antiphon, which has amassed over 10 million streams of YouTube, 2019’s Structuralism and 2021’s ANTI- Records debut, Bring Backs, the forthcoming Variables finds Alfa Mist moving forward with a renewed intensity and purpose. “The whole album is more uptempo and influenced by the freedom of returning to gigs,” Alfa Mist explains. “It feels like I’m coming back to my early days of making grime beats and creating tracks that make me want to bop my head fast.” 

Variables‘ latest single “Aged Eyes” featuring longtime collaborator Kaya Thomas-Dyke is a gorgeous bit of trip hop-inspired neo-soul built around a finger-plucked guitar melody by Jamie Leeming, a swelling string-driven, cinematic chorus from Peggy Nolan (cello), twinkling keys from Alfa Mist paired with Thomas Dyke’s expressive, gossamer vocal. The arrangement and Thomas Dyke’s vocal express a yearning sense of hope.

The accompanying video by SPOD features some gorgeously animated watercolor paintings reminiscent of Van Gogh and the Dutch masters.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Sophie Colette Shares Breezy and Upbeat Anthem

Currently based in Richmond, VA, singer/songwriter, keyboardist. indie pop artist and JOVM mainstay Sophie Colette initially moved to New York to pursue fashion design. But she pivoted to music after being scouted at a high school reunion by The Party Faithful‘s bassist. As the story goes, about a month or so later, Colette was contributing vocals, keys and synths for The Party Faithful, playing at venues across town.

During that same period, she met singer/songwriter, musician, and Degraw Sound producer Ben Rice. Colette eventually showed Rice a stack of sketchbooks filled with lyrics and visual palettes. Those sketchbooks eventually spurred her work as a solo artist.

“Tonite” off Colette’s debut EP Strangers and Lovers was featured at Jasmine Chong’s runway presentations to the editors of Vogue, WWD, Elle and others during New York Fashion Week 2017. Selected footage from the Stephen Dirkes-directed music video for “Get Close” was nominated for Best Creative Concept, Art Direction and Visual Effects at the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival. She also supported the EP with a European tour with Berlin-based The Crystal Elephant.

Over the past couple of years, Colette has released a handful of singles that have received praise from my colleagues and dear friends at Glamglare, Adam’s World Blog — and of course, this site. Her work has also received airplay on French radio station Déclic Radio 101.1FM.

The JOVM mainstay’s latest single “Don’t Worry” is a breezy and uptempo, hook-driven anthem featuring a mix of live drumming and programmed beats paired with lush, twinkling keys, punchy syncopation and Colette’s achingly vulnerable delivery and lyrics. While rooted in the Richmond-based artist’s heart-worn-on-sleeve earnestness, “Don’t Worry” possesses an easy-going swagger. The song’s narrator is clearly feeling herself. But along with that confidence, the narrator is expressing her willingness to fight for the love they deserve — both from others and herself.

“I wanted to write a song I could dance to, to shake off negativity, and get myself out of bed to make that cup of coffee in the morning and get dressed,” Colette explains. “I needed it as my own antidote to loneliness and self doubt. It became a reminder that I could be my own cheerleader and push myself out of a funk.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Singapore’s Aisyah Aziz Shares Gorgeous Ballad “janji kita bertemu lagi”

https://youtu.be/szoIpBWhRRE

Aisyah Aziz is a Singaporean singer/songwriter, musician, model and actor with a soulful vocal that effortlessly spans a range of genres — and an ethereal presence on both the theater and concert stage. Aziz quickly established herself as a household name through notable performances both in Singapore and beyond, including Singapore’s National Day Parade, where she performed an original song co-written with longtime friend RHUAN.

The Singaporean artist also expresses herself through fashion, a passion of hers — and more recently through acting: She made her theater debuting a work by Teater Ekmatara commissioned for the Singapore International Festival of Arts.

Back in 2020, Aziz released her first English-language EP, Sugar: The Live Extended Play, which was performed and recorded as a live session. She followed that up with with 2021’s Ying Tan-produced, full-length Pearls. Her earliest work saw the Malaysian-Singaporean artist performing songs that were written for her, and she long thought herself to be a vessel for the music. But that changed when she found a creative community, who inspired her to break out of her shell and come into her own as a collaborator and independent singer/songwriter and producer.

Since then she has collaborated with Charlie Lim, Rizky Febian, YAø and a growing list of others. Adding to a growing profile. she was invited to perform with Malaysian music icon Dato’ Jamal Abdillah during his most recent Aku Jamal . . . My Musical Journey show in Singapore.

Armed with a newfound confidence, the rising Singaporean artist is ready to share what she’s been creating with the world, and is looking forward to releasing new material through various creative projects throughout the year with the hopes to bring her work further into the regional and international market. Aziz’s latest single “janji kita bertemu lagi” is the Malaysian-Singaporean artist’s first English-Malay bilingual song of her growing catalog — and the first single from her forthcoming EP, til death do us part, which is slated for an April 2023 release.

Translated from Malay “janji kita bertemu lagi” means “promise we’ll meet again.” Featuring a sparse arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar paired with Aziz’s breathtakingly gorgeous vocal “janji kita bertemu lagi,” is an achingly bittersweet ballad that captures the heartache and uncertainty, as well as the begrudging acceptance and hope (both real and sometimes delusional) of a breakup.

Directed by Aziz’s best friend Paul Lin, the video was shot from the perspective of a guitar — presumably her guitar. “Having fallen back in love with singing on the guitar, it witnesses everything that happens in my life without judgement. It is simple and it takes everything in as it is. Alhamdullilah I’m beyond stoked to be able to work with Paul, my best buddy, on this video. You don’t need a big team to create something magical.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Maddy Boyd is a Santa Fe-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, who cut her teeth with stints in indie rock outfits Current Joys and Surf Curse. In 2019, afterplaying over 150 sold-out shows, Boyd left both bands to pursue her solo recording project Your Angel. That same year. she released her full-length debut, Pipe Dream.

Boyd’s sophomore Your Angel album A Star in the Headlights is slated for a March 17, 2023 release. So far, two of the album’s previously released singles “You Never Say Sorry” and “Misbehave” have received praise from the likes of Consequence, NYLON, and Notion among others.

A Star in the Headlights‘ third and latest single “Good Girl” is a slow-burning Quiet Storm-like bop centered around an atmospheric production featuring lush and glistening synths, skittering beats paired with Boyd’s plaintive and yearning cooing and her unerring knack for catchy hooks. While sonically bringing JOVM mainstays like ACES, Beacon, and others to mind, the song as Boyd explains is ” . . . about dating someone, who always has their sights set somewhere else. It’s about the feeling of spending all of your time with someone and still feeling profoundly alone.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Matt Corby Shares Lush and Cinematic “Big Smoke”

Matt Corby is a multi-award winning Australian singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Since the release of 2018’s J Award-winning album, Rainbow Valley, the acclaimed Aussie artist and producer has been busy: He launched his own independent label and loaned his production expertise to material by fellow JOVM mainstay Genesis Owusu, Jack River, Great Gable, Bud Rokesky and most recently, his award-winning collaboration with Budjerah. During 2020, Corby released two standalone singles “If I Never Say A Word” and “Vitamin.”

Corby’s highly-anticipated third, full-length album Everything’s Fine is slated for a March 24, 2023 release through UK-based Communion Music. Marking his first album in five years, Everything’s Fine vividly captures the personal and creative growth of the acclaimed Aussie artist and producer, who like many of us, had life tip him upside down and downside up. 

On the day Corby was going to start recoding his new album, he and his family were rescued by a neighbor. Their home had been engulfed by floodwaters that raged through Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. After nervously watching his very pregnant partner and young son be whisked away in a small, inflatable dinghy, he got to work ferrying provisions to stranded neighbors and locals and digging rotting mud out from beneath his home. 

With their home inundated by floodwater, the whole family was forced to move into Corby’s Rainbow Valley Studios, during the album’s recording process. Juggling familial responsibilities with his creative and professional pursuits was a one-of-kind pressure cooker circumstance that helped galvanize his artistic evolution. Ruminating on love, domestic life, natural disaster and more, Corby reconfigured his creative instincts and returned to his longstanding creative collaborations with Alex Hendrickson, Chris Collins and Nat Dunn.

The end result is arguably be the acclaimed Aussie’s most sonically adventurous, deeply personal and resonant album to date. While drawing from his long-held R&B influences, Everything’s Fine is very much a story of survival, perseverance and love told through a polychromatic embrace of vintage funk, hip-hop and playful soft rock through Corby’s uniquely offbeat lens.

“I’m currently rebuilding a lot of my foundational stuff,” Corby explains. “Covid changed me a lot, slowed me down. I feel like I’ve become aware of a lot of the stuff I need to work on, and I’m happy to start – and I have been. All of that chaos helped me not be neurotic with this album process and get to the point where I accepted things. Like, I couldn’t sit and stew over how something sounded and potentially make it worse if I was needed elsewhere.”

Firmly fixed on seeing the best of things, Matt reveals “I’m at a really beautiful point in my life. I’m accepting all this stuff: the good and the bad, but particularly the bad. Which is kind of great. It’s a good thing to come to that point. Life isn’t always magical, but the moments that are, well you really value them. I think this record is about that, about managing your actual reality. Sometimes I have those moments when you realize: well I’m still breathing, you still have the gift of life, so everything is fine I guess?”

Within a week of the flood, Corby returned to the studio, and wound up writing and recording “Problems,” a funky R&B-inspired bop centered around a strutting bass line, twinkling keys and boom bap-like drumming paired with the Aussie artist’s plaintive crooning and his unerring knack for well-placed, razor sharp hooks. Sonically, “Problems” sounds indebted to D’Angelo and Mayer Hawthorne — but while rooted in personal, lived-in experience and astute observation of human behavior and character. The song’s message is a simple and profound one: While maybe your own world is on fire or about to sink under water, the most important thing is that you and your loved ones are alive — and mostly well. 

“It’s about how funny humans are creating our own problems and issues that we then have to solve. Or creating problems so difficult we then can’t solve,” Corby says. “And how people talk so much shit and don’t do anything – how we’re setting ourselves up for failure. People want to point the finger but nobody wants to carry anything themselves.” 

Everything Fine‘s second single “Reelin,‘” a strutting bop featuring light yet propulsive percussion, twinkling keys and warm horn bursts paired with Corbys effortlessly soulful crooning. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Reelin’” is rooted in lived-in personal experience and astute observation. The new single sees Corby reflecting on the inherent push-and-pull dynamic of long-term romantic relationships. Throughout the song, the acclaimed Aussie artist makes the observation that the cornerstone of every successful committed relationship is communication, compromise — and a lot of forgiveness and healing, too. 

The album’s third and latest single, “Big Smoke” marks Everything’s Fine halfway point, and may arguably be it’s most lush and cinematic track: Centered around atmospheric synths, deliberately struck toms, twinkling keys, soaring strings, a supple bass line and overdrive pedal-drenched guitars paired with Corby’s breathy cooing, “Big Smoke” manages to channel Lenny Kravitz‘s “Believe,” and Tame Impala‘s Currents. But under the in-your-head, dreamy vibes, the song sees its narrator attempting to process the self-sabotaging nature of the crutches leant on for support during difficult times.

“‘Big Smoke’ is a song that touches on the duality of living with your vices but being conscious of the fact they are probably not good for you,” Corby explains.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Singapore-born, Sydney-based St. Humain Shares Funky, Self-Deprecating Bop

Rising Singapore-born, Sydney-based singer/songwriter, producer and self-described “genre-agnostic” artist St. Humain creates music informed by his multicultural upbringing and life: Starting out songwriting while in his teens back in his native Singapore, he moved to Sydney, where he learned production.

After encouragement from music industry friends, St. Humain released his debut single, 2017’s “Make a Move,” which caught the attention of the Capitol Music Group in Los Angeles. Capitol Music Group signed him and re-released the single through their Listen For Pleasure imprint. The Singapore-born, Sydney-based artist released his debut EP Emotional Sauna back in 2019. And just as things were starting to get exciting, the pandemic struck and threw a monkey wrench in his — and everyone else’s plans and hopes.

St. Humain’s work has amassed over a million streams to date while receiving praise from Billboard, Live Nation’s One to Watch, Earmilk and a lengthy list of others. He has also had singles land on Spotify’s New Music Friday and Fresh Finds playlists, Apple Music’s Best of the Week playlist and Amazon Music’s Brand New Music Playlist.

In 2021, “Sick Sad Love Song” landed on Spotify’s new music playlists all across Asia. He continued to write new music, including the material, which will appear on his sophomore EP Metadramatic. Metadramatic sees the rising Singapore-born, Sydney-based artist boldly pushing his sound towards the intersection of pop, electronic music and R&B paired with introspective, self-analytic lyrics drawing from his own life.

Metadramatic‘s latest single “Wanna Talk” is a radio friendly bop centered around a razor sharp, rousingly anthemic hook, an irresistible, funky groove, twinkling synths paired with the Singapore-born, Sydney-based artist’s plaintive yet soulful falsetto. But underneath the slick production and tight grooves is a satirical, self-deprecating song that features a narrator, who recognizes that they’re awkward and have a difficult time even chatting up a love interest but ironically, they feel comfortable pouring their heart out to thousands of strangers — on stage. The universal thread at the core of the song is something familiar to all of us: love can make even the most confident of us feel a foolishly crippling self-doubt.