Category: Indie Pop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: CIAN Shares Slickly Produced and Yearning “Far From Home”

CIAN is a young and emerging Bogota-born and-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, who spent the bulk of his life in Miami. He grew up listening to Justin Timberlake, Usher and Michael Jackson, although as a pop artist, the Colombian artist cites The Weeknd, Zayn, Drake, Khalid, Majid Jordan, Justin Bieber, and Bazzi as influences on his work.

“Far From Home,” the Bogota-based artist’s latest single is a sickly produced and woozy confection featuring glistening synths, wobbling low end paired with his achingly plaintive vocals and some well-placed, razor sharp hooks. While sonically bringing the likes of The Weeknd and other contemporary pop stars to mind, “Far From Home” manages to reveal a budding star, who can express yearning and vulnerability within a turn of a phrase.

The accompanying moodily shot video follows CIAN in a Nike jumpsuit walking through a forest before we see him the a brisk job — in slow motion. Every few feet, we see him turn his head as though expecting someone or something to chase him.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Linsley Hartenstein is an emerging Nashville-based singer/songwriter and the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Darity. Hartenstein derives the project’s name partially from the word “solidarity” and partially from the word “darity,” which according to the artist is defined as “the sum of.” Fittingly, the Nashville-based artist sees her new project as the result of collective influences and changing of hands, resulting in “out of the box” songwriting and production.

Hartenstein has been pretty busy this year, releasing three EPs — You Choose What Remains, Stay Home and Sunroom Sessions. “Pretending” which interestingly enough appears on both You Choose What Remains and Stay Home a slick synthesis of 90s singer/songwriter alt rock and 90s pop with the song being centered classic 90s alt rock-like song structures — the familiar alternating dreamily contemplative verses paired with power chord-driven and stormy choruses before closing out with a dreamy coda. But at its core, the song manages to display the Nashville-based artist’s penchant for rousingly cathartic hooks rooted in earnest, lived-in lyricism: “Pretending” actually speaks about how no matter how much a victim may pretend nothing happened, trauma linger and sit with you.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Chicago’s Somi Shares Swaggering and Self-Assured “Talking”

Somi is a young, emerging Chicago-based singer/songwriter. Her latest single “Talking” is a decidedly lo-fi bit of R&B-leaning indie pop featuring gentle layers of wobbling and jangling guitars, a simple yet propulsive backbeat paired with the emerging Chicago-based artist’s self-assured, soulful delivery and a big, shout-along worthy hook. While sonically bringing early Tame Impala and JOVM mainstay Julien Chang to mind, “Talking” reveals a budding start with a swaggering self-assuredness that belie her relative youth.

The emerging Chicago-based artist explains that “Talking” is “about having confidence in yourself while still keeping an open mind, and learning to listen rather than simply talk at people.” It’s a hard lesson, even for those, who are older — yet it’s a much-needed message to help maneuver the difficulties of human nature and relationships.

Shot on grainy VHS video, the accompanying video follows the emerging Chicago-based artist skateboarding, hanging out at a local skatepark and just being a regular young person. But it has a fitting 90s nostalgia — especially for those olds, like me.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Pollena Shares Sultry “Bask In Blue”

Sarah Brown is a London-based singer/songwriter, who first cut her teeth touring across Europe with neo-soul outfit Girlhood. Last year, Brown stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist, as the creative mastermind behind indie electro pop project Pollena, a project that has seen her collaborating with an eclectic collection of rising producers.

Brown’s debut single as Pollena single “The Pool” caught the attention and support of BBC’s Phil Taggert and Lauren Laverne. Building upon a rapidly growing profile in her native England, the London-based artist’s sophomore single “Glitter” was released to praise from the likes of Under The Radar, Earmilk, Line of Best Fit and others. “Glitter” also received airplay from BBC 1Xtran, BBC 6 Music — and landed on several Spotify and Apple Music playlists, including Apple Music’s New In Alternative and Spotify’s Fresh Finds Pop.

Last June, Brown released her third Pollena single, the Footshooter-produced “Stand Up,” a Larry Levan house music-like take on electro pop featuring skittering beats and twinkling synths paired with the London-based artist’s self-assured and soulful vocals and a euphoria-inducing hook. And while being a feel-good, club banger, the song is centered around an uplifting and necessary message for our current moment. “This year more than ever we’re ready for real change. ‘Stand Up’ is about giving people the confidence that they need to make that change happen,” Brown explains. “Don’t just accept things as they are, don’t just go ‘back to normal’. It’s about expecting something better.”

“Stand Up” wound up receiving airplay from BBC Radio 1 and was named Lauren Laverne’s “While you were sleeping track of the day.” The track also landed on several playlists including Spotify’s Fresh Finds and New Music Friday UK among others.

Brown’s highly-anticipated, Barney Whittaker a.k.a. Footshooter-produced and co-written debut EP Rising was released earlier this month through Team Talk Records. The EP sees Brown giving listeners a a reason for optimism and resiliency in especially challenging times. Rooted in raw, honest lyricism, Rising EP‘s material sonically draws from and meshes elements of neo soul, house music, electronic and R&B.

“I enjoyed working closely with Barney on this record. It was really important to me to incorporate genres and sounds we love. The messages and themes of the EP are all important to me, ideas I’ve wanted to express creatively for some time. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved.” Brown says.

Rising EP‘s latest single “Bask In Blue” is a slow-burning and vibey bit of Quiet storm-like neo-soul centered around glistening Rhodes, gently padded beats, a wobbling and strutting bass line paired with Brown’s breathy and yearning cooing. “Bask In Blue” may arguably be the sultriest song of her growing catalog — while revealing a rising, self-assured star.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Belgium’s Illbe Shares Brooding “Growing”

Gauthier Gilissen is a Belgian singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music producer, best known as Illbe. Gilisen is a curious and nerdy sort, who studied musicology. And as a result, he has been drawn by an eclectic array of influences, including film noir, alt-rock, ambient music, doom jazz, the late Angelo Badalamenti, King Krule, Forever Pavot, and more, which he translates into his own unique, musical language.

Gilisen released his latest Illbe EP, Long Gone earlier this year. EP single “Growing” is a slow-burning and brooding song featuring skittering trap beats, glistening guitars, atmospheric synths paired with the Belgian artist’s plaintive delivery and well-placed, enormous hooks. Sonically seeming to mesh 80s pop, trip-hop and goth “Growing” also manages to nod — mood wise at least — with Phil Collins‘ “In The Air Tonight.“

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Emmrose Shares a Heartbroken and Yearning Holiday-Inspired Ballad

Emma Torrison is a rising 19 year-old singer/songwriter, pop artist and JOVM mainstay, best known as  Emmrose. Torrison can trace the origins of her professional music career to when she wrote her first song in math class about four years ago. 

Since she wrote her first song, the JOVM mainstay has been prolific: She has released over a dozen singles, along with her critically applauded debut EP Hopeless Romantics, all of which have helped her quickly establish a sound that some critics have describe as a slick mess ofAdele, Florence and the Machine and a bit of classic, minimalist pop and progressive pop. 

Torrison is currently attending college here in NYC, while writing and working on material for her highly-awaited sophomore EP. Continuing upon her growing reputation for prolificacy, Torrison has had a busy 2022 with the release of three attention grabbing singles:

  • “Run” a hook-driven and accessible banger centered round skittering and blown out tweeter and woofer rattling beats, sinuous bass lines, glistening synth arpeggios paired with the young pop artist’s remarkably self-assured delivery. But the song is underpinned by an anthemic, encouraging and empathetic message of empowerment to those, who desperately need — or about to leave — a toxic, abusive relationship. 

  • “Brave New World,” a cinematic and politically charged pop song centered around earnest yet deliberate craftsmanship that sonically and thematically brought Sting‘s “Russians” to mind. Loosely drawing from some of the themes of Torrison’s favorite novels, George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and the famous line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest “O brave new world, that has such people in it!,” the song was written as a response to our current state of affairs — an embattled world of disinformation, conspiracy theories, war, violence, poverty and destruction. 

  • “The Feelings Mutual,” an anthemic yet heartbroken ballad centered around a rousing and cathartic shout-at-the-top-of-young-lungs chorus, Torrison’s pop belter vocals, feedback driven guitars, industrial clang and clatter paired with big hooks. While the song focuses on the bitterness and heartache of the end of a relationship — it can be romantic or platonic — but with a tacit understanding that the relationship was toxic and needed to end.

The JOVM mainstay closes out the year with “Cuffing Season,” a slow-burning and spacious pop ballad centered around twinkling keys and Torrison’s gorgeous delivery, which expresses both longing and heartache. Fittingly, the song is inspired by the holiday season — with the song’s lonely and heartbroken narrator yearning for love, when it seems everyone else has it.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alexandra John Shares Glittery and Earnest Confection “Healing”

Deriving their project’s name from the combination of their middle names, the emerging, Los Angeles-based, fraternal twin sibling, indie electro pop duo Alexandra John — Liza and Weston Cain — officially formed back in 2020. But they can trace their passion for music, and the origins of their music careers to growing up in a musical household in San Francisco: Liza Cain spent much of her childhood dancing, acting and singing, as well as playing piano. Weston Cain is a seasoned multi-instrumentalist, who first started playing the drums when he was four, and picked up other instruments, like guitar and piano, as he grew older.

With Alexandra John, Liza and Weston Cain craft hook-driven indie electro pop influenced by Massive Attack, Glass Animals, and Zero 7 meant to embody both feminine and masculine energies. Fittingly, their creative process is rooted in their uniquely deep personal connection. “When my sister and I get into a room together to work there’s a kinetic, creative energy that’s so familiar,” Alexandra John’s Weston Cain says. “We just seem to feed off one another.” Thematically, the duo’s work tackles big, universal concerns including anxiety, addiction, grief, loss and more.

The duo’s debut EP Healing officially drops today, and the EP was written and informed by the weirdness, chaos and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were all grieving our old lives and accepting the new,” Weston Cain explains. “Everyone goes through healing, every day. The EP lyrically breaks down the process of grieving from denial to acceptance. Each song on the EP adds a new layer of acceptance. It’s really about the growth we all go through while experiencing this crazy beautiful thing we call life,” Liza Cain adds.

Centered around Liza Cain’s self-assured and sultry pop starlet delivery gliding over a slick and contemporary production featuring skittering, trap beats, woozy and atmospheric synths, squiggling funk guitar, Healing EP‘s second and latest single, EP title track “Healing” is a slickly produced, glittery, lounge and club friendly bop that to my ears meshes 80s synth pop with trap and contemporary R&B. But underneath the slick production is earnest, seemingly lived-in lyricism with the song reminding and urging the listener that true healing can only happen when you’re in touch with and acknowledge your feelings.

Featuring videography by Mallory Tuner and Flasch World and edited by Flasch World, the accompanying video for “Healing” features the siblings performing the song and filmed through hazy and kaleidoscopic filters while serving lewks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Enisa Shares World Cup-Inspired Anthem “Olé”

Rising Albanian-American, Brooklyn-born and-based singer/songwriter, pop artist Enisa is a first generation American, who has spent her whole life preparing for a career in music: Following her graduation from Edward R. Murrow High School, Enisa went on to attend Brooklyn College, where she further honed her sound — a sound that sees her meshing contemporary soul pop with Balkan and Middle Eastern flourishes and a touch of Europop. 

The Brooklyn-based artist released a series of distinct covers, which went viral while earning critical acclaim from Complex, XXL, ThisSongIsSick and more. Building upon a growing profile, singles like “Burn This Bridge” and “Wait for Love,” and a guest spot on Scridge and Glenda’s viral smash “Karma (Remix)” amassed over 16 million views and over 3 million streams globally.

Last year was a big year for the rising Brooklyn-based artist: She appeared on the cover of Out Now and made her debut live performances as S.O.B.’s and Sacramento’s Lost In Riddim Festival. She closed out the year amassing over 8 million total followers globally — with 3.8 million on TikTok and over one million YouTube subscribers. 

Earlier this year, Enisa released the Fake Love EP, an effort that she describes as “empowering” and “authentic” and features “Tears Hit The Ground and “One Thing.” She also made her television debut on NBC’s American Song Contest, representing her home state of New York. Since then she has over 41 million streams globally and more than 198 million total video views — with her material topping the charts in Nigeria, Gambia, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sri Lanka, India and more. 

Building upon growing momentum, the rising Brooklyn-born and-based artist released the Enisa and Space Primates (Marc Sibley and Nathan Cunningham) co-written “Just A Kiss (Muah),” a sultry. club and radio friendly banger, centered around tweeter and woofer rattling thump, bursts of strummed guitar and glistening synth arpeggios and a slick string section and melodic nod to Tarkan’s “Kiss Kiss,” a crowd-pleasing banger over in Turkey. Enisa’s sultry come-hither vocals effortlessly glide over the dance floor friendly, genre-defying production. If there’s one thing to say about the track it’s this: Enisa is about to be a breakout star — and real soon.

“I grew up loving music from all around the world and this one track by Tarkan had a chorus melody that always randomly played through my head growing up, so I knew one day I wanted to put it in a song but make a whole new version with a different concept!” Enisa explains. “I went to the studio with that song in mind and created ‘Just a Kiss (Muah).’ I’d love for the new generation to listen to my song and feel the same way I did with the Tarkan one. “‘Just a Kiss (Muah)’ is about the fun of being a tease when it comes to dating & knowing you have the power to say yes or no! I wanted to make a really catchy, fun, lighthearted song that people can dance to, that also has the element of nostalgia!”

Enisa’s latest single, the Carmen Reece co-written “Olé” continues a remarkable run of crowd-pleasing bangers, rooted in enormous, slick, modern production: With “Olé,” the Brooklyn-born and based artist’s self-assured vocal confidently glides over a sleek production featuring skittering trap and reggaeton-like beats, glistening synths, melodic nods to Middle Eastern music and her knack for anthemic hooks.

“I wrote ‘Olè’ to give myself a self-confidence anthem that I needed at the time,” Enisa explains. “I wrote this song with the World Cup in mind as well, when I closed my eyes, I pictured people all around the world singing the chorus and shouting ‘OLÈ.’ I’m so happy people were loving the short snippet I posted, so I had no choice but to give you guys the whole song finally! What better time to have this song out, while the World Cup is heating up! I hope you love this song & I hope the lyrics hit your heart. Love you all & thanks for the support. OLÉ!”

Fittingly, the accompanying video is World Cup-themed. We see Enisa at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s soccer field wearing the uniforms of several World Cup nations — in particular Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, and the USA. We also see locals playing soccer in the park, in between footage of the rising Brooklyn-based artist rocking out.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lo Ersare is a Umeå, Sweden-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter and musician, best known as Lucky Lo. Ersare relocated to Copenhagen in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself as a busker and as an integral part of the city’s underground music scene, performing everything from folk to experimental jazz to improvisational vocal music. Throughout the years, her love for Japan and its music and culture has brought her to the island nation, where she has performed a number of times, grown a devoted fanbase and has gathered inspiration, which naturally has seeped into her music.

Supercarry Ersare’s full-length debut was released earlier this year through Tambourhinoceros Records. The album featured “Heart Rhythm Synchronize,” a song about synching heartbreaks through love and song. I’ve personally written about two other album singles:

  • Album title track “Supercarry,” a sleek and seamless synthesis of Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, that thematically finds Ersare quickly establishing a major thematic concern in her work — the transformational power of radical love.
  • “Ever,” a swooning and infectiously optimistic pop song centered around glistening synth arpeggios, a strutting disco-inspired bass line, shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, a rousingly anthemic hook and Ersare’s plaintive pop belter vocals. Arguably, the most dance floor friendly of the album’s released singles, “Ever!” brings Talking Heads, and Annie Lennox to mind paired with the euphoria of Sylvester‘s queer anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” 

Supercarry has received praise from the likes of KCRW, Clash Magazine, Amazing Radio, Radio Eins, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, The Revue, Swedish P3 and P4, BR Puls, Gaffa Denmark, P6 Beat, NRK, and others. 

Ersare closes out a big year with the standalone single, and Supercarry follow-up, “I Will Always Be You.” Centered around the Swedish-born, Danish-based artist’s gorgeous and expressive vocal literally dancing over a buoyant, ebullient production featuring propulsive and pulsating percussion, ambient electronics, looping Afrobeat-like guitar, enormous, euphoria-inducing hooks and a subtle nod to Bulgarian folk music, inspired by her childhood in Sweden: Her mother used to play Bulgarian folk music on the home studio when Ersare was a girl.

The song invites the listener to remember the playfulness, imagination and lightness of childhood, to take care of yourself — and to find that same childhood playfulness, imagination and lightness in adult life. “Children’s gut feeling is more intact and they are great at following their intuition. When we grow up, we tend to forget our ability to listen to what our body and subconscious are trying to communicate”  Lo Ersare explains. 

“I would encourage people to take a break and look back at their childhood. What can we learn from it?” says Lo Ersare, who personally experienced how gut instinct and immediacy took over when “I Will Always Be You” was created in the studio. 

“We were in a situation of trying to be serious adults. But it evolved into an experiment where we let ourselves be childlike, playful and humorous. We went with our gut feeling and instantaneous nature, which succeeded in evolving into this track”, Ersare says of the first days in the studio with producers Frederik and Fridolin Nordsø, who later continued the same process with Lucky Lo’s drummer Casper Henning Hansen and guitarist Mads Nørgaard.

Ultimately. the song is a loving tribute to the intuition of magic and childhood and a call to bring that magic into adulthood. It’s also a call to push boundaries wherever possible and not put restraints on yourself. And it’s a reminder to “find your way home, to find your way within,” the Swedish-born, Danish-based artist explains — both in everyday life and in tense situations. It’s often necessary to take a breath, rewind the tape and feel from the beginning.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Swiss Producer Panaviscope Teams Up with Thaïs and Alvin Chris on a Woozy Banger

Swiss producer Panaviscope has developed a reputation for being restlessly prolific. His latest single, “De l’autre côté” is a slick and woozy synthesis of hip-hop, electro pop and R&B centered around glistening spaceship-like synth arpeggios, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling thump that features guest spots from rising Montreal-based pop artist and JOVM mainstay Thaïs and Alvin Chris, who croon and spit fire, revealing to the world that they’re both budding superstars.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sophie Jamieson Shares Hauntingly Gorgeous “Boundary”

Rising British singer/songwriter Sophie Jamieson released two EPs back in 2020 that caught the attention of Bella Union Records, who signed Jamieson — and then released her Steph Marziano-produced full-length debut Choosing today.

Choosing is a subtle rework of the sound that Jamieson quickly established through her first two EPs: While those EPs flirted with playful experimentation, Choosing‘s sound is simultaneously more organic, simpler and intimate, centered around arrangements of live drums, bass, cello and piano, which are roomy enough for Jamieson’s mesmerizing vocals to take the spotlight.

Jamieson has described the songs on her first two EPs as “black holes,” and while Choosing manages to cover similar ground, it never takes its eyes from what lies beyond, never fully releases its grip when its telling her to let go. The album is deeply personal documentation of a journey from the painful rock bottom of self-destruction to a safer place, and imbued with a faint light of hope. Focusing on the bare bones of each song, the album’s material is influenced by songwriters like Elena Tonra, Sharon Van Etten and Scott Hutchinson, and sees Jamieson singing openly about longing and searching, of trying, failing and trying again, and the strength of love in its varying forms. 

“The title of this album is so important,” Sophie explains. “Without it, this might sound like another record about self-destruction and pain, but at heart, it’s about hope, and finding strength. It’s about finding the light at the end of the tunnel, and crawling towards it.” 

Ultimately, the album asks the listener to look deep within themselves and to show them that they can take whatever pain they’re experiencing, and choose, to some extent, how they let it affect them; whether they let it burn them down or whether they choose to look it straight in the face. “The songs are bursting with something, and that energy just needs to be reshaped into love for the self,” Sophie explains. “I can say this from a place of having learned now how to love and care for myself. The love that reverberates through this album is like the green shoots of something I have happily learned to nurture into my present day.” 

“The few times I have listened to this album from start to finish, I have realized that there is a huge amount of love in it,” Jamieson says “I think there is a strong potential for real, healthy, healing love. It’s like a line of relief that runs along through all the songs. It’s never unleashed, it hasn’t yet learned how, but it’s present in an underlying tension and potential.” 

Earlier this year, I wrote about Choosing‘s devastating first single “Sink.” Centered around a sparse arrangement of twinkling and wobbling keys that seem simultaneously childlike and ironically detached, skittering boom bap-like drumming, “Sink” is roomy enough for Jamieson’s weary and heartbroken delivery to take the lead. The song is an unflinchingly honest look at someone on the edge — and not quite know what’s next. “Sink” was written as a love letter to alcohol amid an increasing dependence upon it, informed by a recurring image Sophie had of herself on a desert island, a quiet, calm place that was just too good to be true. “’Sink’ presents a purgatory between being able to choose and begging not to be pulled under,” Sophie explains. “It’s about teetering on the edge, looking over the cliff, asking not to be pulled over before realising you only have to choose not to jump.” 

The album’s latest single “Boundary” is a slow-burning, meditative and sparsely arranged track centered around strummed guitar, and subtle bursts of keys before paired with Jamieson’s gorgeous, achingly yearning vocal. The first time I heard this one, I stopped dead in my tracks, stopped everything and got lost in her

“This song comes from a kinder place than some of the others on this record. It steps back and acknowledges self-inflicted pain and the repeated effort to heal,” Jamieson says. “It’s about trying and failing, knowing there is something you’re trying to grasp but that keeps slipping out of your reach. The journey isn’t smooth or pretty but it’s hopeful, and the light starts to creep in once you choose to be honest with yourself.”

Directed, edited and shot by Jamieson, the accompanying video captures both the endless passage of time and of change. “I filmed this video over 4 months, between February and May 2022 in my garden, on my cycle journey to work through South East London and several stops along that journey,” Jamieson says. “It started with an interest in how things change, the idea that nothing ever lasts and the healing effect of time – and ended up being a joyous documentation of spring unfolding. The process of making this video has been incredibly healing, and an act of choice in itself – to stop and look up, to find beauty and become intimate with how time moves nature. I noticed details as though I’d never seen them in my life, things I’d always struggled to see from the pit of self-destruction.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Belgian Duo Portland Releases an Atmospheric Ode to Heartbreak and Resolve

Belgian indie pop duo Portland — Jente Pironet and Sarah Pepels — can trace their origins back to when the duo lived at the same student housing unit while studying at Hasselt, Belgium‘s PXL Music School. The duo also a shared the same love of music with a specific soft spot for Elliott Smith. In fact, the project’s name is a nod to Smith’s hometown. From the start, it was clear that the duo had a palpable chemistry: Their voices blend and complement each other perfectly.

The duo took part in and won several local talent competitions before signing to [PIAS] back in 2018. Their full-length debut, 2019’s Your Colours Will Stain was released to critical and commercial acclaim with the album peaking at #6 on the Belgian album charts, thanks to success of the melancholy and dreamy sound of singles like “Killer’s Mind, “Ally Ally” and “You Misread Me.” Adding to a growing profile, the Belgian pop duo made the rounds of the national and international touring circuit with sets at Rock Werchter, Pukklepop, and The Great Escape, as well as several festivals across the Benelux region (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg) and France.

Earlier this year, the duo relocated to the UK to record their highly-anticipated, 12-song, sophomore album Departures with Oliver Baystom. Slated for a March 17, 2023 release, the album reportedly sees the duo growing into their own as performers and songwriters. The material is more direct and to the point, while displaying more intricate melodies and arrangements. Casting aside the need to show off their vocal range or tricks on every song, the duo let the songs guide them to find the perfect tone and harmonies to complement the melodies and rhythms. The end result is an album of moving, beautiful and dream-like music.

Departures‘ latest single, the Sarah Pepels-penned “Stardust” is a slow-burning and beguiling song featuring an atmospheric and brooding arrangement of organ, keys and woodwinds. Pepels’ delicate vocal gently tiptoes through the arrangement, with the song and vocalist slowly growing louder and gaining confidence while getting to the song’s chorus. The song is rooted in deeply personal yet universal experience: lost love, lives turned upside down and putting the pieces of a broken life and heart back together while being a celebration of one’s inner strength and resolve.

“In January 2021, I was heartbroken, I had to leave a lot of memories and a part of my life, my love, behind,” Portland’s Sarah Pepels explains. “I didn’t know where to go, but I knew, I had to write music to put those thoughts and heavy emotions into. I needed to be alone, so I went cat-sitting at my niece’s apartment. I locked myself up for four days with nothing but the warmth and company of the furry kittens. It turned out to be a very intense and cathartic journey. And so ‘Stardust, a song that means the world to me, was born.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

M. Byrd is a German-born and based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalists and producer, who can trace the origins of music career, and his passion for music to when he was small: When Byrd was three, he played drums in front of the TV. Eventually, he found his dad’s guitar. Encouraged by a teacher, he picked up electric guitar and attended countless roots jam sessions at local joints. Influenced by Alice Coltrane, Tom Petty, Elliott Smith and David Lynch, Byrd began writing his own material.

The German-born and-based artist turned heads back in 2020 with the release of “Mountain” and “Morning Sun,” tracks that amassed millions of streams and praise from Ones to Watch, Earmilk, Atwood Magazine and several others while firmly cementing his sound and approach: Byrd’s work pairs intensely personal songwriting with shoegazer textures and pop accessibility.

At the end of 2020, Byrd along with producer Eugen Koop holed up in Detmold, Germany in a WWII-era British Corps squash hall, turned recording studio, where they worked on The Seed, the German artist’s forthcoming, full-length debut, an effort that sees Byrd personally playing guitar, synths and bass. The album’s material reportedly draws you in to inspire your own evolution. As Byrd says ““When you listen to the album, I hope you feel like you can grow with me. Maybe you’ll find confidence in yourself. We’re planting this thought with The Seed.

The German artist’s latest single “Over You/Over Me” features Byrd’s plaintive and balmy vocals floating over a textured, shoegazer-like soundscape paired with a motorik groove and an enormous hook. Much like his previously released work, the new single is rooted in a bright, hopeful sense of the future.

“I dreamt there were snakes all over my apartment,” Byrd recalls. “A snake is a symbol for drastic change in your life and you’re repressing it. There’s a lot of change for  me.  I’m  starting  to  be  a  full-time  musician.  There’s  still  a  pandemic.  I  tried  to  dress  up  this darkness nicely. I talked to a friend who is into interpreting dreams, and she said that snakes in dreams meant that I was going through a profound change in my life. I remembered a quote I once read in an essay by Freud:  ‘A  dream  is  the  liberation  of  the  spirit  from  the  pressure  of  external  nature,  a detachment of the soul from the restraints of matter.”

The Seed is slated for release next year through Nettwerk Music Group.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Me.Kai is a singer/songwriter and guitarist, who began her career busking on Santa Barbara‘s streets covering an eclectic array of artists including Ella Fitzgerald and Dua Lipa, among others. Gradually transitioning from cover artist to solo artist, she became a staple in her hometown’s music scene, collaborating with of Area 51, Everything’s Fine, and a number of up-and-coming producers, including Gold Man and Burko. She has developed and honed a genre-blending style and sound that draws from Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks, and her love of bass heavy, indie electro pop.

Some of her songs have landed on Insomniac’s In/Rotation Label list, and several high-profile Spotify playlists. She has also had some of her work appear in the Netflix series All American. Building upon a growing profile, the Santa Barbara-based artist plans to be very busy: a number of collaborations with popular EDM producers and her debut EP are slated to on the horizon in the upcoming months.

But in the meantime, her latest single “Bump in the Night,” is a sultry and accessible bop centered around the Santa Barbara-based artist’s coquettish, come hither delivery and a breezy production featuring looping and glistening guitars, wobbling tweeter and woofer rattling low end, dancehall-like riddims and twinkling synths. Seemingly drawing from contemporary pop, dancehall and Quiet Storm soul, “Bump in the Night” is a song full of carnal longing and desire with a narrator boldly expressing that she has sexual needs that need to be fulfilled — tonight.