Category: lyric video

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Tokyosongbird Shares Broodingly Cinematic “On Falling”

Back in the day, Tokoyosongbird creative mastermind Justin Lewis was signed to the Beastie Boys‘ label Grand Royal Records, released records globally and toured the global festival circuit with his nine member backing orchestra. Grand Royal Records eventually closed up shop, and Lewis withdrew into the studio.

Last year, Lewis had an epiphanous realization that he was neurodiverse. “It was kinda crazy as I’d been searching for years and just never finishing anything – I thought it was my artistic temperament – and then you learn there’s this thing that means your brain works differently – well shiiit,” Lewis says.

“As I got my head around this I wrote this song ‘Let Your Songbird Sing’ (the project’s next single) that was about being completely yourself, and like nothing I’ve ever written before, and a new project was born,” Lewis continues. “I needed a producer to give the sound a scale and an edge, and to properly kick my butt if I became in danger of shelving another album I almost made. Dave Sanderson was the perfect fit.

“I put my first single ‘After the Storm’ out last year on the spur of the moment, it was finished, I got a bit giddy and in about three hours I’d made a video and launched it. I remember getting several messages going ‘What are you doing? This wasn’t the plan — haha, it felt great though! – Tokyosongbird was born and a decade of paralysis at an end”.

Lewis’ latest Tokyosongbird single “On Falling” is a breathtakingly gorgeous yet eerie and brooding bit of Portishead and Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp-like trip hop that seamlessly blends acoustic and electronic sounds: Lewis’ achingly plaintive falsetto ethereally floats over an uneasy seeming arrangement of twinkling, arpeggiated keys, supple bass lines and atmospheric synths.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

LyrIc Video: DAIISTAR Shares Euphoric Bliss Bomb “Clear”

Formed back in 2020, Austin-based shoegazers DAIISTAR (pronounced Day-Star) — Alex Capistran (vocals, guitar), Nick Cornetti (drums), Misti Hamrick (bass) and Derek Strahan (keys) — have established a narcotic blend of noise and melody that draws from the neo-psychedelic era of the 80s and 90s, but modernizes it with modulating synths, heavy guitars, bouncing bass lines and spiraling hooks.

The Austin shoegeazer outfit’s Alex Maas-produced full-length debut, last year’s Good Time featured the fuzzy The Jesus and Mary Chain-meets- Crocodiles-like “Parallel” and revealed a band that paid a remarkable amount of attention to craft with a penchant for catchy hooks. The band supported the album touring across North America with The Black Angels, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, and included festival circuit stops at Levitation, Desert Daze, SXSW, Freak Out, Treefort, as well as a KEXP session.

The Austin shoegazers will be embarking on a European tour next month — but in the meantime, they share “Clear,” a previously unreleased song recording during the Good Time sessions. “Clear” is a reverb-drenched bliss bomb featuring shimmering synths, Capistran’s dreamily delivered falsetto paired with a slow-burning groove. The song, to me at least, brings road trips on glorious, sunny afternoons — full of hope, possibility, life-altering adventures and laughs.

DAIISTAR’s Alex Capistran (guitar/vocals) says that “the idea behind ‘Clear’ was to write the perfect song for a perfect day. A song that comes to mind on a warm and sunny afternoon; inspiring thoughts of attainable bliss and encouraging you to dream up something nice for your future self.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: L’Impératice Shares Sleek, French Touch-Meets-Disco Bop “Me Da Igual”

Acclaimed Paris-based electro pop sextet and JOVM mainstays L’Impératice — founder Charles de Boisseguin (keys), Hagni Gown (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), Tom Daveau (drums) and Flore Benguigui (vocals) — formed back in 2012. In a relatively short period of time, they quickly established a reputation for being extremely prolific: In their first three years together, they released 2012’s self-titled debut EP, 2014’s Sonate Pacifique EP and 2015’s Odyssée EP. 

In 2016, the Parisian outfit released a re-edited, remixed and slowed down version of Odyssée, L’Empreruer, that was inspired by a fan, who mistakenly played a vinyl copy of Odyssée at the wrong speed. They followed that up with a version of Odysseé featuring arrangements centered around violin, cello and acoustic guitar. 

During the summer of 2017, the Parisian electro pop act signed to microqlima records, who released that year’s Séquences EP. 2018’s full-length debut Matahari featured the attention grabbing single “Erreur 404,” which they performed on the French TV show Quotidien. They followed with an English language version of Matahari. 

2021’s Renaud Letang co-produced sophomore album Taku Tsubo derived its name from the medical term for a broken heart, also known as takutsubo syndrome ((蛸 壺, from Japanese “octopus trap”). The condition usually manifests itself as deformation of the heart’s left ventricle caused by severe emotional or physical stress — i.e., the death of a loved one, an intense argument with someone you care about, a breakup, a sudden illness or the like. Yes, a broken heart can actually kill you.

The French JOVM mainstays are about to embark on their Double Trouble International Tour, a tour which sees the sextet playing two shows back-to-back in London, Berlin, Paris and here in NYC — with an April 9, 2024 show at Racket NYC and an April 10, 2024 show at Music Hall of WIlliamsburg. I’ve caught them once, and they’re a must-see act that will have the entire room dancing the night away. So I’m not surprised that all the shows on this run of tour dates are sold out. Along with that, they’re going to make a return to Coachella with sets April 12, 2024 and April 19, 2024, as well as stops at Austin City Limits and Outside Lands.

L’Impératice’s latest single “Me Da Igual,” is a sleek and elegant, hook-driven Giorgio Moroder-era-disco-meets-French touch tune anchored by a strutting bass line, a squiggling Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar line and glistening synths serving as a sinewy and silky bed for Flore Benguigui’s sultry and ethereal delivery. Further cementing the French outfit’s reputation for crafting infectious, sensual, dance floor friendly bops, “Me Da Igual” features lyrics sung in Spanish and French while being a call to free ourselves from the injunctions to please at all costs, to reclaim your body by abandoning yourself to the euphoria of strobe lights and the dance floor — and listening to the sensations that movement and sound provides you.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Québec’s Ghostly Kisses Shares Uneasy and Brooding “Keep It Real”

With the release of their acclaimed full-length debut, Heaven, Wait, Québec City-based indie pop outfit Ghostly Kisses — singer/songwriter Margaux Sauvé and Louis-Étienne — received attention both nationally and internationally for crafting hauntingly gorgeous and spectral electro pop that pairs Suavé’s ethereal delivery with moody productions featuring swirling and ambient electronics, twinkling keys, propulsive drumming and so on.

After touring with Ry X, Men I Trust, Lord Huron, and Pomme, the Québec City-based outfit launched their “Box of Secrets” initiative, which gave their fans an anonymous place to share their most deeply personal thoughts. What the duo quickly discovered a global, post-pandemic, postmodern era of pain — an intense and strange loneliness felt around the world. “We heard from a lot of fans from countries where they couldn’t openly love the person they were in love with for political or social reasons,” Sauvé says. “I felt that pain, identified with it in my own way, and knew many others would too.” The duo would up synthesizing the missives they received into their highly-anticipated sophomore album Darkroom. 

Slated for a May 17, 2024 release through Akira Records, Darkroom sees the acclaimed Canadian duo willing those inner monologues they received into view, finding mystic connection in the darkest, electronic corners — with tears falling on the dance floor. The duo’s long-held writing style reflects their ability to bridge the gap between people, who may feel far away. In fact, the duo would each set up in a different room, sharing snippers via email and only meeting up to finalize ideas. “Writing separately ensures we’re not influenced by anything else, and we can bring more depth to our process,” Sauvé explains. 

For Darkroom, the Box of Secrets project provided an unusual baseline for the material’s influence, rather than just their own individual experiences. After compiling demos, the duo brought in new collaborators to further bolster their new electronic palette: co-producers George FitzGerald and Oli Bayston. Longtime engineer and Santais’ cousin Alex Ouzlileau further shaped the album in the studio and Gabriel Desjardins’ string arrangements also help to add depth and drama to the overall proceedings. 

Unlike their previously released material, the duo tested the material while touring, a new step in their creative process that also served as portal into connecting more with their music and their fans. 

Last month, I wrote about Darkroom‘s lead single “On & Off,” a looping, hook-driven bit of spectral pop built around Sauvé’s ethereal yet expressive delivery, glistening synths and squiggling bursts of funk guitar that evokes the tumult of an inconsistent, confusing and complex love. The track “depicts a complex and tumultuous cyclical relationship where two people constantly break off and get back together,” Ghostly Kissses’ Margaux Sauvé explains. “The lyrics draw inspiration from a revelation in the ‘Box of Secrets,” which was the conceptual inspiration behind our new album.” 

“Keep It Real” may arguably be one of Darkroom‘s most brooding and uneasy tracks built around glistening and buzzing synths, skittering beats paired with the duo’s uncanny knack for remarkably catchy, dance floor friendly hooks and Sauvé’s achingly plaintive delivery. At its core, is the doubt and longing of a narrator, who’s desperately trying to decipher the thoughts of others — particularly dear ones — to help shed light on a complicated, uneasy situation that is rooted in an almost novelistic attention to psychological detail.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Ghostly Kisses Share Spectral “On & Off”

Québec City-based indie pop outfit Ghostly Kisses — singer/songwriter Margaux Sauvé and Louis-Étienne — derives its name from William Faulkner’s “Une ballade des dames perdues,” which seemed to Sauvé like the perfect reflection of her ethereal voice.

With the release of their acclaimed full-length debut, Heaven, Wait, the French Canadian pop outfit received attention both nationally and internationally for crafting hauntingly gorgeous and spectral electro pop that pairs her ethereal delivery with moody productions featuring swirling and ambient electronics, twinkling keys and propulsive drumming.

After touring with Ry X, Men I Trust, Lord Huron, and Pomme, the Québec City-based outfit launched their “Box of Secrets” initiative, which gave their fans an anonymous place to share their most deeply personal thoughts. What the duo quickly discovered a global, post-pandemic, postmodern era of pain — an intense and strange loneliness felt around the world. The duo synthesized those missives into their highly-anticipated sophomore album Darkroom.

Slated for a May 17, 2024 release through Akira Records, Darkroom sees the acclaimed Canadian duo willing those inner monologues they received into view, tears falling on the dance floor, but to find mystic connection in the darkest, electronic corners. The duo’s writing style reflects their ability to bridge the gap between people, who may feel far away. Typically, Sauvé and Santais would each set up in a different room, sharing snippets via email and only meeting up to finalize ideas. “Writing separately ensures we’re not influenced by anything else, and we can bring more depth to our process,” Sauvé explains.

For Darkroom, the Box of Secrets project provided an unusual baseline for the material’s influence, rather than just their own individual experiences. After compiling demos, the duo brought in new collaborators to further bolster their new electronic palette: co-producers George FitzGerald and Oli Bayston. Longtime engineer and Santais’ cousin Alex Ouzlileau further shaped the album in the studio and Gabriel Desjardins’ string arrangements also help to add depth and drama to the overall proceedings.

Unlike their previously released material, the duo tested the material while touring, a new step in their creative process that also served as portal into connecting more with their music and their fans.

Darkroom‘s lead single “On & Off” is a looping and hook-driven, spectral pop song built around Sauvé’s ethereal yet expressive delivery, glistening synths and squiggling bursts of funk guitar that evokes the tumult of an inconsistent, confusing and complex love. The track “depicts a complex and tumultuous cyclical relationship where two people constantly break off and get back together,” Ghostly Kissses’ Margaux Sauvé explains. “The lyrics draw inspiration from a revelation in the ‘Box of Secrets,” which was the conceptual inspiration behind our new album.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Mama Zu (Those Darlins’ Jessi Zazu and Linwood Regensburg) Share Anthemic and Sarcastic Kiss-Off

Nashville music scene darlings Those Darlings — Jessi Zazu, Nikki Kvarnes and Kelley Anderson — could trace their origins back to 2006, when they all met at the Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp. The trio quickly gained an underground following for a raucous take on alt-country that was equally indebted to the likes of The Carter Family as it was the Ramones.

2009’s self-titled debut was released to critical praise from the likes of AllMusic, Consequence and a list of others. Their longtime drummer Linwood Regensburg, who has contributed to Low Cut Connie’s Art Dealers and Tristen’s Sneaker Waves joined the band as a full-time member for the writing and recording of their sophomore album 2011’s critically applauded Screws Get Loose.

The Nashville-based outfit’s third album 2013’s Blur the Line continued a run of critically applauded material with eh album receiving praise from Rolling Stone, Paste and others.

By 2016, the band spent a decade touring and recording together, and each of its members felt it was time for something new. During the middle of New York’s biggest blizzards con record, Those Darlins found themselves stranded in Brooklyn, trying in vain to finish their farewell tour.

Back in 2016, in the middle of New York’s biggest blizzards on record, the members of Those Darlings found themselves stranded in Brooklyn, trying in vain to finish their farewell tour. As the snow blanketed New York and the rest of the East Coast, Zazu and Regensburg thought about their own blank slate ahead of them. They devised a plan: Take a month off. Get some much-needed rest after a grueling run of gigs. Then they would get back to work on a new album.

With Zazu, the blank page never stayed blank for very long; she was always relentlessly doing, bursting with ideas, whether she was painting or writing, mentoring young musicians in her community or leading grassroots activism initiatives. For Zazu, there were always more songs to be writing and sung, more notes to be played, more issues to shine a light on and advocate for. Sadly, just as Zazu and Regensburg were set to begin working on their next project together, Zazu was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and things understandably were put on hold.

Work on their album started in early 2017 and was done in fits and spurts. “I don’t know if she felt the same way or not,” Regensburg says, “but watching this situation play out in my head, it was like I was equating it to some kind of hero journey. This person, who I believe to be invincible, overcomes a dire circumstance and the writing and recording of the music is all just part of the legendary comeback story. But that’s not what ended up happening, unfortunately.” Tragically, though, they weren’t able to finish the album: Zazu died at the all too young age of 28.

Understandably, the unfinished album was put on the shelf. . “After she died, I didn’t want to touch it,” Regensburg says. “I didn’t want to play the songs or listen to the songs, let alone finish them. It just seemed like such a daunting task with a lot of layers—there was a lot of work left to do, but then there was also this exhausting underlying emotional component that pops in and hangs around the moment I’d open a session.”

Years passed and distance grew. By 2020, Regensburg felt ready to finish what they had started, he says “both for her sake, and for my own sanity level. I was the only person left with this project. Working on those songs again was therapeutic, even if doing so brought on a new set of challenges as he polished nearly-finished tracks and rebuilt songs out of disparate parts, from the drum track on an older, alternate recording to a simple phone demo. “It was a way of spending time with her, and kind of the only capacity in which I could,” he said. “But then, I was also left with a lot of creative choices without her. Even though I had played most of the instruments, it had still been a totally collaborative thing; if there was a part I played that she didn’t like, she was clear about that. If someone’s gone, you can still talk to them, but you can only assume what their feedback might be. So I was stuck with a lot of musical choices that I’d be working under the context of, I hope you like what I did here.” 

But on February 23, 2024, the world will hear the duo’s last project together Mama Zu — and what they had been working on with the 11-song Quilt Floor. The album sees the duo stitching a sonic tapestry of punchy songs that defiantly resist categorizing or pigeonholing in any specific genre. The material deftly flits from shimmering shoegaze to hooky power pop, riot grrl-tinged punk to 60s psych rock. Working without parakeets and without outside expectations led the duo to create an album that lives up to its mixtape moniker: 11 distinct tracks that are their own entire, separate universes while never feeling disjointed. The songs seamlessly form a robust whole, a representation of someone, who has a wildly eclectic, seemingly limitless record collection.

Ultimately, Mama Zu is simultaneously a continuation of the groundwork that Zazu and Regensburg laid with Those Darlings — and sadly, a final chapter. Importantly, it’s a snapshot of an artist in her prime, who was taken too soon, but while being stubbornly upbeat, defiant and fearless.

Regensburg shares Quilt Floor‘s first single “Lip.” Built around fuzzy guitars, a relentless and propulsive backbeat paired with Zaza’s sneering delivery, “Lip” is a kiss-off with a sarcastic smirk. The song’s subject is one that should be pitied — and perhaps laughed at — than scored. “The beauty of a ‘fuck you’ song (of which there might happen to be several on this album) is that you could simultaneously find yourself singing along while also being the oblivious target,” Linwood says. “Granted I never asked Jessi what this song was actually about and it’s also quite possible I might be an unreliable narrator here. Nevertheless, in the meantime, whether you’re in the mood to raise a middle finger or perhaps deserved of one, this song’s for you.”

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Jessi Zazu, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to continuing Jessi’s work in the arts & humanities, social justice, and women’s health.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: JOVM Mainstays Elephant Stone Shares Ethereal Yet Politically Charged “History Repeating”

Brossard, Québec-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rishi Dhir is a grizzled indie rock and psych rock veteran , who has played in a number of bands, including The Datsons and The High Dials. He is also an in-demand sitarist and bassist, who has collaborated with Beck, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Dream Syndicate, psych rock supergroup MIEN and countless others. 

Dhir founded the acclaimed psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Elephant Stone back in 2009. Along with collaborators and bandmates Miles Duper (drums), Gab Lambert (guitar), Robbie MacArthur (guitar) and Jason Kent (keys, guitar), the Montréal-based band has released six albums, including 2013’s self-titled album and 2020’s acclaimed Hollow. They’ve also released a handful of EPs including last year’s Francophone Le Voyage de M. Lonely dans la Lune. Each of those efforts has seen them develop, refine and firmly cement a sound that frequently incorporates elements of traditional Indian classical music with Western psych rock paired with introspective lyrics rooted in Dihr’s personal experiences. 

Dihr’s own journey in music frequently found him tryin to find a place that fit him, until he decided that what he made was worth sharing in the space that he had created for himself. “I only write about what I know and think I understand. As long as there’s Rishi, there’s going to be Elephant Stone,” Dhir says in press notes. 

2023 has been a busy year for the Canadian psych rock outfit: Earlier this year they released Dawn, Day, Dusk, which featured “Godstar,” and “The Imajinary, Nameless Everybody In The World.” Those two tracks saw the band continuing their narrative journey through crating material that deftly balanced human complexity with introspective themes paired with an evolving sound.

They followed that up with “Lost In A Dream,” a song built around a Tame Impala-like groove, while continuing their long-held reputation for dexterous guitar work, catchy hooks and introspective lyrics. “Creating ‘Lost In A Dream’ has been a thrilling journey for us, one where the fascination with dreams and their mysterious ties to reality took center stage,” the band’s Rishi Dhir says. “While there are subtle hints of inspirations like The Nazz’s ‘Open My Eyes‘ and Echo and the Bunnymen‘s ‘Killing Moon,’ this song is really about charting our own musical course. We’ve woven an auditory landscape that we hope allows listeners to dive into their thoughts and dreams. It’s all about losing yourself in the music, in the narrative it spins, and finding a resonance within your own life.”
 

Elephant Stone’s highly-anticipated seven album, Back Into the Dream is slated for a February 23, 2024 release. The album will reportedly feature a harmonious blend of introspective lyrics and entrancing melodies that represent the latest culmination of their musical evolution. Thematically, the album explores the mysteries of dreams, capturing the cycle of sleep and wakefulness. As the band’s Dhir puts it, “Our music aims to bridge the gap between the known and the unknown.” Previously released tracks “Godstar” and “The Imajinary, Nameless Everybody in the World,” draw from the themes of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, delving into the intricacies of human existence, creation, life and death while “Lost In A Dream,” is an exploration of dream-like states and blurred realities. 

Last month, I wrote about Back into the Dream single “The Spark,” a breezy power pop-meets-jangle-pop take on psych pop built around soaring electric guitar, strummed acoustic guitar and Dihr’s earnest, plaintive falsetto paired with the band’s unerring knack for crafting enormous, remarkably catchy hooks and choruses.

“Crafting a song is like tapping into a kind of magic that exists beyond the realm of the ordinary. I’m in perpetual pursuit of that elusive sensation—the spark that turns fleeting thoughts into something immortal,” the band’s Rishi Dhir admits. “’The Spark’ is my love letter to the art of songwriting, a tribute to the creative process itself. It’s about that serendipitous moment when time and space align, allowing you to capture lightning in a bottle.”

Back into the Dream‘s third and latest single “History Repeating” sees the band blending their dreamy, 60s psych sound with slick, modern and hi-fi flourishes: The track is built around an arrangement of swirling and washed out tambourines, jangling, reverb-soaked guitar, twinkling keys, glistening synths paired with Dihr’s plaintive delivery. But despite the song’s ethereal nature, the song lyrically is centered around Canadian indigenous history, serving as a plea for reparations owed to the country’s First Nations people.

“History has a haunting tendency to repeat itself, from the scars of colonialism to the rise of authoritarian regimes,” says frontman and songwriter Rishi Dhir. “It’s as if we’re trapped in a loop, forever replaying the same tragedies. ‘History Repeating’ is my way of confronting these harsh realities, particularly as they relate to my home country of Canada, which was built on the deeply troubling foundations of genocide and ethnic cleansing targeted at Indigenous peoples. In recent years, thanks to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the appalling truths about our past have been laid bare…This song serves as an urgent plea: let’s break the cycle. Let’s learn from the darkest chapters of our history to create a more just and compassionate future.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Deap Vally Tackles a Classic Stones Tune with Swaggering Aplomb

Acclaimed Los Angeles-based rock duo Deap Vally — Julie Edwards (drums, vocals) and Lindsey Troy (guitar, vocals) — can trace their origins to the duo’s chance meeting in a knitting class over a decade ago. The Los Angeles-based duo’s debut single, 2012’s “Gonna Make My Own Money,” was released through tiny British indie label Ark Recordings.

Since then, Edwards and Troy went on to release three albums of roaring, idiosyncratic maximalist minimalist rock — 2013’s SISTRONIX, 2016’s Nick Zinner-produced FEMEJISM and 2021’s MARRIAGE. They’ve shared stages with Blondie, Garbage, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age and a lengthy list of renowned acts. Along with that, they participated in a series of groundbreaking collaborations with an eclectic array of artists including Peaches, KT Tunstall, Jamie Hince, Soko, and The Flaming Lips, with whom they recorded a joint album, 2020’s DEAP LIPS.

Although the band has been received critical applause and won fans across the globe, maneuvering the contemporary music industry has become increasingly difficult. And if you add the challenges of the pandemic and raising families, the duo increasingly found themselves struggling to fit into the recording, promotion and touring cycle. “That model isn’t compatible with our current lives,” Lindsey Troy says. “We found we just can’t function as a traditional band anymore,” Julie Edwards adds. “It’s time for both of us to explore motherhood and other avenues of our lives properly, rather than squeezing them into our artist’s hustle.”

“I’m so proud of all our records, and Julie and I have an uncanny creative relationship,” Troy says. “It’s hard to ever picture having that with someone else. After all that, ya never know what could happen! We need to find the balance where we can focus on the fun stuff, but have the freedom to make the music we love. We just felt it would be fitting to go out with a bang, not a whimper. I felt marking this occasion should be a cathartic process: healing deep wounds, reconnecting with old friends and collaborators – and falling in love with Deap Vally all over again.” 

So while Deap Vally is calling an end to their decade-plus long run together, they’ve decided to go out with a bang — and not with a whimper. They’re releasing a re-recorded version of their full-length debut, SISTRONIX 2.0, which is slated for a February 1, 2024 release through their own Deap Vally Records. The double LP will also include demos, previously unreleased covers, re-recordings of limited release B-sides and rarities, and much more. Pre-order vinyl, exclusive bundles and the digital LP here.  

They’ll be supporting SISTRONIX 2.0 with a final tour, which will see them celebrating SISTRONIX‘s 10th anniversary by playing SISTRONIX in its entirety. The tour begins with West Coast dates during November. And a Midwest and East Coast run in early 2024. The east coast run includes a February 17, 2024 stop at Le Poisson Rouge. 

More information on the tour can be found here. L.A. Witch, JOVM mainstays Death Valley Girls, Sloppy Jane, and Spoon Benders will be opening for the band in select markets. A handful of new tour dates have been added and from what I understand there may be more added, so be on the lookout.

Earlier this year, I wrote about album single “Baby I Call Hell (Deap Vally’s Version),” a swaggering and towering ripper built around buzzing power chords, thunderous drumming and soulful vocals that capture the quintessential Deap Vally sound and energy but with a completely different, new context: The duo is a bit older and wiser. Kids are around — and that forces you to rethink everything about your life and career. But they do so lovingly and wistfully with a sense of admiration and awe as though the pair is saying to each other: “Holy shit! We did actually did THAT!” 

“SISTRIONIX is just classic Deap Vally. It’s so pure and raw,” Troy continues. “It really encapsulates an era — an era of dank, yeasty backstage rooms across the UK, of the endorphin rush of that first wave of success, of youthful drunken, wild nights, of the worldly adventures and the newness of it all.”  

“We’re just going to go to play as many places as we can and say farewell to everyone,” Julie Edwards says. “Though the band is playing live for the last time, the door is open to us to collaborate. Now we’re all about re-establishing a workflow and connection around our friendship, after all we’ve shared together along the way.” 

“‘Baby I Call Hell’ is quintessential Deap Vally,” Lindsey Troy says. “It was the first song we ever wrote as a band, so it’s very meaningful to our story. Re-recording that song was a lot of fun, but also a lot of pressure because we wanted to make sure the recording captured the magic of the song again.” 

SISTRONIX 2.0‘s latest single is a previously unreleased swampy and sultry cover of The Rolling Stones‘ “Ventilator Blues” that captures the vibe and feel of the original while being defiantly feminist.

“Covering ‘Ventilator Blues’ was a special privilege to pay homage to one of the greatest and most seminal bands in the history of rock’n’roll,” Deap Vally’s Lindsey Troy says. “We recorded this song in 2014 and it has been in the vaults ever since, so I’m really glad it’s finally seeing the light of day!”

 “‘Ventilator Blues,’ one of our favorite Rolling Stones songs, is a song about the inevitable end we are all hurtling towards, and we felt it was a perfect way to soundtrack the final chapter of Deap Vally,” the band’s Julie Edwards adds.”To assemble this video, I sifted through archival footage from twelve years of heavy riffs, sweat, and dream-fulfillment.  This was a very cathartic exercise and I recommend it for anyone confronting the end of a project that meant everything to them.  This video would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of videographer and director Anthony Ferrara, who filmed some of our earliest shows, and has continued to bear digital witness to us up until the present day.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Ghostly Kisses Shares Swooning, Ethereal “Golden Eyes”

Québec City-based singer/songwriter Margaux Sauvé is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed Canadian electro pop project Ghostly Kisses. The project derives its name from William Faulkner’s “Une ballade des dames perdues,” which seemed to her like the perfect reflection of her ethereal voice.

Sauvé has received attention both nationally and international for crafting hauntingly gorgeous and spectral electro pop that pairs her ethereal vocal with moody productions featuring gently swirling and ambient electronics, twinkling keys and propulsive drumming.

Now it’s been a handful of years since I’ve written about Sauvé and Ghostly Kisses. But her latest single, the swooning “Golden Eyes” sees her channeling Goldfrapp and Portishead with the song pairing skittering, UK garage beats, atmospheric house-inspired synths with her ethereal yet achingly yearning delivery.

Sauvé explains the track is “about being in love with your best friend and how gauche it feels to finally admit it. The lyrics were inspired by a revelation from a fan we met on tour, about how hard and vertiginous it can be to express our true feelings to someone that we really love.” While party about Sauvé’s own experience falling in love with her songwriting partner Louis-Étienne Santais, the song is also inspired by Ghostly Kisses’ ‘Box of Secrets’ project, where fans submitted anonymous stories to the band.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: JOVM Mainstays Friendship Commanders Share Earnest and Rousingly Anthemic “We Were Here”

Released this past Friday, JOVM mainstays Friendship Commanders‘ Kurt Ballou and Friendship Commanders co-produced third album MASS is a concept album that thematically is about time, memory and frontperson Buick Audra’s personal experiences of leaving Massachusetts, a place she left because she no longer felt comfortable or welcome. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I managed to write about five of the album’s singles:

  • “Fail,” a grunge-inspired ripper built around fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and enormous mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses paired with Buick Audra’s expressive, Ann Wilson-like delivery. “Fail” manages to simultaneously evoke a cry for help and a desperate attempt to connect with another that just seems to fall a bit short. The duo explained that the song was written to honor the memory of Spore‘s and Sunburned Hand of the Man‘s Marc Orleans, who committed suicide in June 2020. “We chose to make the song energetic, dissonant, and big, just as he would like it. Bit of a departure for us from our usual doomy vibe, but it’s still the same band, we think,” the band says. 

  • “High Sun,” a 120 Minutes-era MTV alt-rock/shoegazey-like single that’s a a bit of a departure from the doom-influenced heaviness that they’re best known for. “When I moved away from Boston, I hauled an enormous amount of shame along with me. I had experienced these weird, high-impact moments that were not only troubling on their own, but the aftermath saw me painted as an outcast in my former social groups,” Friendship Commanders’ Buick Audra explains. “And I was young enough to believe that I was the problem. I had been in one controlling relationship in which being different was treated as disobedient, and I was punished for it—publicly. Being a person who was wired to take on blame, I absorbed it. But now when I look at the story, I see the manipulation, the dynamics that repeated themselves. They were experts at making people feel like outsiders, experts at deflecting responsibility. I wanted to drag it all out into the daylight with this big, fuzzy song. I’ve been waiting a long time to say this.”

  • “Vampires,” an earnest, arena rock-like anthems — with the new single being built around fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming, enormous shout-along worthy hooks. Much like its predecessors, “Vampires” is informed by and fueled by deeply embittering and at times humiliating personal experience. And as a result, the hurt and disdain at the core of the song is visceral. “There was a season at the end of my time in Boston where I was being turned into ‘The Problem’ by someone who wanted to control me and couldn’t; it was a moment where I could have played small and gone along with what she wanted, as I had once done,” Audra explains in press notes. “But I didn’t. I played big. I kept what was mine instead of giving it away—which included parts of my identity. And while the result was a scorched earth reality that impacts my sense of self to this day, it also ended the whole thing. I learned a valuable lesson in that season: don’t fuel the narcissists. Keep your power for yourself. It’s what they hate. And if they’re going to drag your character out in front of everyone you know, you might as well burn it all down for the warmth.”

  • “Still Life,” a stormy and forceful ripper built around Jerry Roe‘s thunderous drumming, Audra’s towering walls of guitar and her powerhouse vocal, which in this song express hurt, confusion, simmering anger, defiance and pride within the turn of a phrase. The band explains that the song outlines a series of interactions in which one person is told to be quiet about their injuries, to essentially “walk them off,” even when those injuries might be life-threatening. 

MASS’ sixth and latest single, “We Were Here” continues a run of earnest, heart proudly worn on sleeve anthems built around Roe’s thunderous and forceful drumming, Audra’s roaring guitar work and powerhouse delivery paired with the duo’s unerring knack for enormous, arena rock friendly hooks and choruses.

The duo explains that the song look back to a time spent in a city, where you felt like a different person. And as a result, the song is fueled by a sense of loathing, shame and discomfort — but from a deeply universal position: If I had known then what I know now.