Category: New Audio

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Nashville’s Twen Releases an Anthemic New Single

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Nashville-based indie rock act Twen.  The act, which is led by founding members Jane Fitzsimmons (vocals) and Ian Jones (guitar) can trace their origins to their involvement in Boston’s DIY scene, and as you may recall, the duo since their formation have been actively been redefining what a touring band should be and should be in the streaming age. Initially releasing only a live EP recorded from the band’s live debut in a Boston basement, the band has toured non-stop, honing and perfecting a live show that’s been described by critics and fans alike as raw and mesmerizing. 

Continuing to proudly ascribe to the DIY ethos that has influenced and sustained them, Twen’s core duo have run AirBNBs while touring, played in exchange for skydiving, screen printed self-designed merch items by hand and book their own tours. The duo emerged into the national scene with the release of their attention-grabbing single “Waste,” which received praise from the likes of NPR, Stereogum, Paste Magazine, BrooklynVegan, Uproxx, Under The Radar and others. Earlier this year, the duo opened for the acclaimed Louisville-based JOVM mainstays White Reaper — and they released the slow-burning and shoegazer-like “Holy River,” a track that to my ears would likely draw comparisons to classic 4AD Records, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve and Beach House — but with a yearning, dream-like quality that gives the ethereal track a subtle bit of emotional weight.

 Building upon a growing profile, the buzz-worthy, Nashville-based duo will be releasing their full-length debut Awestruck through Frenchkiss Records on September 20, 2019. I also wrote about the album’s first official single “Baptism,” an atmospheric and shoegazer-like track centered around shimmering guitars, propulsive drumming, Jane Fitzsimmons’ enormous, room-filling vocals singing impressionistic lyrics full of a yearning desire to be born, becoming and re-born. The album’s latest single “Make Hard” is centered around jangling, reverb-soaked guitars, propulsive drumming and rousingly anthemic hook — and while bearing a bit of a resemblance to Fleetwood Mac, the song is rooted in lived-in, personal experience that gives the song an emotional weight. 

“The song was rewritten and arranged very late in the recording process,” the band explained to DIY. “Another one of our earliest tunes, the second verse was a response to the growing pains we were going through at the time, transitioning from part-time rockers to full-time road warriors. The lyrics have come to symbolize the dynamics and relationships within a band as it grows, through the transformation of defined roles and how they change over time.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Blackwater Holylight Release a Shimmering, Shoegazer Take on Heavy Psych

Led by founding member Allison “Sunny” Faris (vocals, bass), the acclaimed Portland, OR-based heavy psych act Blackwater Holylight was formed after Faris’ previous band broke up as a way to begin experimenting with what her own version of “heavy” should and could be both sonically and emotionally — while celebrating vulnerability in all of its forms. The primary idea for the project was to have vulnerability be in the driver’s seat when it came to the creative process. And secondly, Faris, who was often the only female in many of her bands, desperately wanted to see how it was to work exclusively with women. 

Blackwater Holylight released their critically applauded self-titled, full-length debut last year, and as a result of extensive touring to support it, the band has managed to hone their sound and identity — with their sound evolving to the point that their live show has become about the slow build.  And as a heavy band, the members of the Portland-based JOVM mainstays sonically and structurally do something unlike their peers: their songs aren’t anchored to riffs, but rather riffs come and go in rippling and undulating waves that surface through material that’s generally meditative and entrancing. Additionally, the band focuses on building tension and intrigue through the song and its structure. 

Now, as you may recall, the band’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Veils of Winter is slated for an October 11, 2019 release through RidingEasy Records. The album finds the band with a different lineup — Faris (bass, vocals), Laura Hopkins (guitar/vocals) and Sarah McKenna (synths) along with the band’s newest members Mikayla Mayhew (guitar) Eliese Dorsay (drums) and perhaps as a result of their new lineup, their sound and writing process has changed quite a bit. “The process of this album was vastly different from our first record,” says Faris. “One, because we recorded it over the course of a few weeks, whereas the first record was over the course of about a year. And two, this album was a true collaboration between the five of us. Each of us had extremely equal parts in writing and producing, we all bounced ideas off each together, and we all had a say in what was going on during every part of the process.”

“One of our favorite things about this album is that because it was so collaborative, we didn’t compartmentalize ourselves into one vibe.” She continues. “It’s heavy, psychedelic, pop, shoegaze, doom, grunge, melodic and more. The whole process was extremely organic and natural for us, we were just being ourselves.”

While album single “Motorcycle”  featured fuzzy power chords, gorgeous melodies and a motorik groove and found the band crafting a song that was one part doom metal and one part shoegaze, the album’s latest single “Death Realms” is a decidedly straightforward, shoegazey affair centered around shimmering guitars, twinkling synths, propulsive drumming, ethereal vocals and a soaring hook. But the thing that “Death Realms” shares with its predecessor is that it’s an incredible nuanced song that you can sway and headband along to. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The acclaimed New York-based electronic duo and JOVM mainstays Sofi Tukker — comprised of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern — have been widely celebrated for an inclusive, global take on electronic music that thematically is centered around self-empower, unity and liberation. The debut single “Drinkee” received a Grammy Award-nomination for Best Dance Recording — and they continued an extraordinary run of success with their full-length debut, Treehouse receiving a Grammy Award-nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Building upon a growing international profile, the duo’s releases have gone Gold or Platinum on every continent on this planet, excluding Antarctica. They’ve played sold out shows and festival stops across the planet, and they’ve performed on some of the world’s most beloved shows including Italy’s X-Factor, the UK’s Sunday Brunch, Russia’s Late Show and Japan’s BuzzRhythm, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and most recently Good Morning America.  Additionally, the duo have a long-held reputation for being passionate activists, who have raised funds an awarenesses for a number of different causes including Planned Parenthood, The Trevor Project, and March For Our Lives.
Slated for a September 20, 2019 release, DANCING ON THE PEOPLE EP is the duo’s much-anticipated follow-up to their highly-successful full-length debut. And the EP’s latest single “Purple Hat” is a joyous, club banger that stars with a breezy Brazilian Tropicalia intro before quickly turning into a thumping club banger centered around tweeter and woofer rocking low-end, a funky, strummed and looped guitar line, an enormous, crowd pleasing hook and Bhangra-like percussion while Hawley-Weld and Halpern trade vocal lines about a wild and joyous party, in which the attendees let go of pretense and facades and let their freak flags proudly flow. It’s a joyous song that says “come all, be yourself — and most important, shake that ass and show ’em what you working with!” Considering the hate and opposition we’ve been inundated with over the past few years, this song feels necessary.
“We wrote ‘Purple Hat’ the day after our first Animal Talk party,” the duo explains. “We started throwing these parties to bring back the wild and inclusive dancing vibe to the nightclub experience. Tuck was literally wearing a purple hat and a cheetah print shirt, people were climbing on top o people, it was over-sold and sweaty, our favorite people were packed in the booth, everyone was loose AF and feeling themselves. It was wild. Every Animal Talk party since then has been like that, and we wanted to capture that raw feeling in a song. If there was a song that included everything we are about, this would be the one.”
The duo will be embarking on a lengthy North American and European tour that they’ve dubbed The R.I.P. Shame World Tour to support the release of their new EP to close out the year. This tour, Hawley-Weld and Halpern are on “a mission to kill shame one loose dance party at at time.” Up-and-coming Aussie dance pop act Haiku Hands and DJ/producer LP Giobbi will be opening for the acclaimed JOVM mainstays for all of their North American tour dates, which includes an October 24, 2019 stop at Avant Gardner’s Great Hall. You can check out the tour dates below, along with a link to buy tickets. 
This tour finds the duo supporting the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), of the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization decided to building better lives for millions of Americans affected by mental illness and their local affiliates. $1 from each ticket sold during each US stop will go to support NAMI and heir programs and services through PLUS1. For the Vancouver show, $1 from each ticket sold will go to support Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA)’s Native Youth Health and Wellness Centre, providing culturally-relevant, welcoming, accessible health and wellness services to Indigenous youth. The centre is a safe, accessible health clinic, where Indigenous youth can feel comfortable seeking support for their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. And in Calgary, $1 from each ticket sold with go to a local organization that supports mental health initiatives, bringing dignity, equity, and access to communities who need it.
Tour Dates:
North American Headline Tour
10/2: Calgary, AB @ The Palace
10/4: Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/6: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10/7: Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
10/9: Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
10/10: Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall
10/13: Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto Theatre
10/15: Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
10/16: Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/17: Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/19: New Orleans, LA @ The Joy Theater
10/21: Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/23: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/24: Brooklyn, NY @ Avant Gardner Great Hall
11/17: Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital
European Headline Tour
11/20: Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
11/22: Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
11/23: London, UK @ Electric Brixton
11/25: Frankfurt, DE @ Gibson Club
11/26: Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
11/27: Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo
111/28: Paris, FR @ Elysee Montmartre
12/1: Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle
12/2:  Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk
12/3: Munich, DE @ Technikum
12/5: Vienna, AT @ Arena Wien
12/6: Bern, Switzerland @ Bierhubeli
12/9: Zurich, CH @ Harterei Club
12/10: Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie
​​​​​​​12/12: Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

I’ve written about and have photographed the Northeastern Pennsylvania-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays The Stargazer Lilies quite a bit over the years. And as you may recall, the act which is comprised of founding and married duo John Cep (guitar, bass, vocals, drums, production) and Kim Field (bass, vocals) and a rotating cast of live drummers can trace its origins to when Cep’s and Field’s previous band Soundpool broke up.

Although Soundpool had built up a national profile, touring with Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers, School of Seven Bells, Black Moth Super Rainbow, TOBACCO, and a list of others, Cep and Field desired a change in sonic direction. With Stargazer Lilies’ full-length debut, We Are The Dreamers, the duo established a signature sound, which meshed elements of dream pop, shoegaze — but with a muscular forcefulness. Their sophomore album, 2016’s Door to the Sun firmly cemented their sound and approach while expanding upon it. Since the release of Door to the Sun, Cep and Field have been relentlessly touring as both an opener and headliner, frequently with JOVM mainstay TOBACCO and his Black Moth Super Rainbow, and a list of others.

Slated for a November 1, 2019 release through Rad Cult Records, the band’s long-awaited third full-length album Occabot finds the duo collaborating with their frequent tourmate TOBACCO (a.k.a Tom Fec). Interestingly, their collaboration with TOBACCO can be traced to a Stargazer Lilies show a couple of years ago. “It just hit me they were way heavier than they seem,” TOBACCO explains in press notes. “And that wasn’t translating in their recordings. Their old stuff is panoramic and smooth; I wanted 3D and bumpy.”

Wanting to help get the duo where they all felt they wanted to be, Fec signed the band to his Rad Cult Records imprint and agreed to work on their third album. But not right away though. He let Cep and Field work on the material in their own idiosyncratic image first.  When the members of Stargazer Lilies had completed things on their end with eight raw and primal tracks, Fec then stepped in to distort, bend and burn the material’s overall sound even further.

Cep likens the creative process behind Occabot to what Andy Warhol did with pop art prints and The Velvet Undgeround and Nico. “Lou [Reed] said Andy was the best producer because he basically let the group do whatever the fuck they wanted. Tom did a similar thing with us; he let us have complete creative control, then added splashes of color and made it rough around the edges. Those embellishments make his artistic stamp on the project unmistakable, but leave the essence of our music very much intact.”

“Living Work of Art,” Occabot‘s boundary pushing single finds TOBACCO scrubbing the song with sandpaper then mangling Field’s and Cep’s work in a blender and throwing it into an acid bath while still retaining the hazy shoegazer quality of their previous work. Sonically you’ll hear blasts of hi-hat driven drums skittering across a thick wave of heavily distorted guitars that sound like broken and fuzzy synths while Field’s vocals ethereally float over the mix. It’s shoegaze for the impending end of the world.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by its Pembroke, Ontario-born and-based creative mastermind, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist  Jordon Zadorozny, Blinker the Star initially began as solo recording project that eventually expanded into a trio that released two albums through A&M Records — 1995’s self-titled debut and 1996’s A Bourgeois Kitten. Throughout that period, the band toured steadily, building up a profile nationally and elsewhere.

In 1997, Zadorozny relocated from Montreal to Los Angeles, where he worked with Courtney Love, helping craft songs for Hole’s acclaimed Celebrity Skin. He also began soaking up new influences and became progressively fascinated with production. Signing with Dreamworks in 1999, the band, which featured Zadorozny, Failure’s Kelli Scott (drums), longtime bassist Pete Frolander and a collective of Southern California-based session musicians recorded and released their critically applauded August Everywhere. The band toured across North America with Our Lady Peace, Sloan, Failure and The Flaming Lips. 

Returning to Pembroke in 2002, Zadorozny built his first commercial recording studio and began working with Sam Roberts, producing and contributing drums on Roberts’ breakthrough debut EP The Inhuman Condition. The Pembroke, Ontario-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer also worked on albums by Melisa Auf der Maur, Chris Cornell, Lindsey Buckingham and others.

During the winter of 2013, Zadorozny wrote and recorded Still In Rome as a duo with Kelli Scott. Following a brief tour, he quickly settled into the production side, working on a number of collaborative projects including Digital Noise Academy, SheLoom, Abbey and The Angry Moon. He was also kept busy with production work with an eclectic array of artists.

We Draw Lines was the first Blinker The Star album that Zadorozny wrote and recorded as a solo project in quite some time. He followed We Draw Lines with Songs from Laniakea Beach, a one-off single “Future Fires” the 11235 EP and 2017’s 8 of Hearts. Continuing a run of recent prolificacy, Zodorozny’s latest Blinker The Star album Careful With Your Magic is slated for a September 20, 2019 release.

Careful With Your Magic‘s latest single is the  synth-driven and anthemic “Sweet Nothing.” Centered around a sinuous bass line, twinkling keys, atmospheric synths, blasts of shimmering guitars, a soaring hook and Zadorozny’s plaintive crooning, the song seems indebted to 80s synth pop — in particular Thompson Twins and Tears for Fears immediately come to mind. And while there’s a similar attention to craft, the song comes from a deeply personal and lived-in place, as the song’s narrator recognizes that they’re at a crossroads: do they grow up and take a chance on a relationship that could transform their life — or do they retreat back to single life? At some point, we all face this and the uncertainties of that decision.

“My new single ‘Sweet Nothing’ was written by myself and my good friend Bob Wilcox,” Jordon Zodorozny says in press notes. “The song started as an instrumental track that I completed where I was sort of aiming for a Thompson Twins vibe. Bob heard the music and immediately had melodic and lyrical ideas. Although Bob wrote all of the words, I feel he was tuning into some things that were happening in my life that made it quite easy for me to get behind when the time came to sing it.”

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about the New York-based rock/punk act Baby Shakes.  The act, which is currently comprised of Mary  (lead vocals), Judy (guitar, vocals), Claudia (bass, vocals) and Ryan (drums) was formed back in 2005. And since their formation, they’ve released a handful of one-off singles, a singles compilation, a 10 inch heart-shaped EP and three albums that have firmly established their sound and aesthetic — a sound that generally draws from Ramones, Chuck Berry, 60s Motown-era girl groups with melodic vocals, fuzzy and distorted power chords and enormous hooks within breakneck songs.

The members of the band have toured across the US, Japan, China, Ireland, the UK and the European Union and shared stages with the likes of The Romantics, The Boys, The Shadows of Knight, The Undertones, The Barracudas, Protex, Black Lips, Paul Collins’ Beat, Iggy Pop and a growing list of others. Now, as you may recall, Baby Shakes’ latest effort Cause a Scene is slated for release next week, and the album is reportedly inspired by and indebted to the original wave of punk — in particular, The Nerves, The Kids, early Bangles and The Go-Gos, The Runaways, as well as the Ramones.

“Nowhere Fast,” the album’s first single was a breakneck bit of fuzzy, old school punk with an infectious power pop-like hook that reminded me of a seamless synthesis of Ramones and The Go-Gos. The album’s second single,  “Love Song In Reverse” continues in a similar vein as its predecessor: it’s all fuzzy and distorted power chords and enormous hooks. And while clocking in at a little over two minutes — roughly 2:25 in this case — the song manages to be an infectious mixture of sugary sweet pop confection and sleazy barroom rock.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jude Woodhead is a London-based electronic music producer and electronic music artist, who emerged into the national scene with release of his first two singles “Beautiful Rain” and “For The Birds,” both of which revealed a young, upstart producer whose sound was compared favorably to the likes of Floating Points, Four Tet, Joy Orbison, and RJD2. But since the release of those two earlier singles, Woodhead started a new recording project Saint Jude, which was partially inspired by the tinnitus he developed while spending his formative years as a DJ and club-goer. And as a result, Woodhead turned from the euphoria and strobe light of the dance floor and towards the bedroom, where he began working on much more intimate material.

Woodhead’s forthcoming, self-titled Saint Jude debut is a decided sonic evolution that finds the up-and-coming British producer moving from the loop-heavy EDM-styled production for a sound that may recall Caribou and others — propulsive rhythms paired with shimmering guitar lines. The EP’s first single “Deaf Ears, Blind Years” is centered around hushed, reverb-drenched vocals ethereally floating over a lush and moody production featuring shimmering guitars, twinkling keys, four-on-the-floor like beats — and while recalling Paracosm-era Washed Out, the track evokes an aching nostalgia for a rapidly-passing youth full of excitement and waywardness. In press notes, Woodhead describes the song as “a bit of breakthrough for me in terms of songwriting: I was writing about real stuff rather than abstract ideas.”

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring members of Oslo, Norway‘s jazz, indie, art rock and folk scenes, the Norwegian Grammy-winning septet The Switch formed back in 2010. They started out playing fairly straightforward pop rock with the thought that Norway — and Scandinavia in general — produced an over-abundance of eclectic, heavily hyphenated music. Eventually, their material became more forward-thinking and ambitious.

Their debut album, 2014’s Big If was a meditation on psych pop. Their sophomore album, 2015’s B for the Beast was an atmospheric, prog rock-inspired homage to their hometown. We’re Fooling No One, also released in 2015 found the band making forays into more painterly and improvised pop. Their next effort, The Switch Album found the Norwegian septet crafting a classic pop-rock-like sound — and it was their most successful album to date: it was listed on the Best Albums List of several Norwegian newspapers, before eventually winning a Norwegian Grammy (a Spelleman) in the Indie Music category.

Slated for a September 27, 2019 release, the acclaimed Norwegian act’s fifth album Birds of Paradise as the band’s Thomas Sagbråten says in press notes finds the band trying to “make a musical universe with slightly different laws of nature than real life. A bit less gravitation. The air is thicker. It’s hyper realistic but also unreal.” Interestingly, the album’s latest — and last official — single “Spring in the Forest of Time” is one Hiatus Kaiyote and Bells Atlas-like off kilter neo-soul, one part jazz fusion, one part Steely Dan-like AM radio rock: you’ll hear heavily arpeggiated synths, slashing guitars, twinkling keys, a bluesy guitar solo reminiscent of “Reelin’ in the Years,” and off-kilter syncopation held together by ethereal lead vocals and harmonizing. Centered around an adventurous and mischievous arrangement, the new single will further cement their reputation for crafting songs that are genre-defying yet hook driven, loose and jam-like yet incredibly tight.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

I’ve written quite a bit about the Newcastle, UK-born and-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Sam Fender over the past 12-15 months or so. And in that same period, the rapidly rising British singer/songwriter and guitarist has received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere for crafting rousingly anthemic, arena rock-like material with a broad focus on hard-hitting social issues — while also drawing from his own experiences growing up in Northeastern England.

This year may be a breakthrough year for the Newcastle-born and-based JOVM mainstay. His highly-anticipated full-length debut Hypersonic Missiles is slated for a September 13, 2019 relates through Interscope Records. Recorded and produced at Fender’s self-built North Shields-based warehouse studio, with longtime friend, producer and collaborator Bramwell Bronte, the album is reportedly fueled by Fender’s long-held belief that great guitar music with enormous hooks still has the power to influence people and change lives — and to even better themselves and change the world.

Hypersonic Missiles last official single “The Borders” continues an incredible run of pop anthems. While being slickly produced, the track is centered around deeply heartfelt and earnest songwriting and singing, shimmering guitars, a soulful horn solo, arpeggiated synths and an enormous, arena rock friendly hook. And while sonically the song is essentially one part Born in the USA-era Bruce Springsteen, one part Reckless-era Bryan Adams and Billy Idol and Rebel Yell-era Billy Idol, the song’s narrator tells a story about two boys growing up together as best friends and brothers-in-arms but who then go their separate ways. Throughout there are memories inferred and implied but not completely addressed, the wistful and halcyon-tinged nostalgia of people, places and times you can never get back. It’s a track that’s both personal and lived-in, yet universal and anthemic — and to hear that from a songwriter as young as Fender is a rare gift.

Fender will be embarking on a roughly month-long tour of the States. The tour will include an October 17, 2019 stop at The Bowery Ballroom. I saw Fender earlier this year at Rough Trade, and I can tell you that if he’s in your town, you should catch him. The guy is gonna blow up.

Tour Dates:
September 25 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
September 26 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
September 28 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
September 30 – West Hollywood, CA – Troubadour
October 3 – Dallas, TX – Dada
October 4 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits
October 6 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
October 8 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
October 10 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
October 12 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
October 14 – Montreal, QC – L’Astral
October 15 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
October 17 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
October 19 – Harrisburg, PA – Harrisburg University
October 20 – Washington, DC – U Street Music Hall
November 22 – Academy, Manchester SOLD OUT
November 23 – Guild of Students, Liverpool SOLD OUT
November 26 – Rock City, Nottingham SOLD OUT
November 27 – O2 Academy, Glasgow SOLD OUT
November 28 – O2 Academy, Leeds SOLD OUT
 November 30 – Dome, Brighton SOLD OUT
December 1 – O2 Academy, Bournemouth SOLD OUT
December 3 – Pavilions, Plymouth
December 4 – O2 Academy, Bristol SOLD OUT
December 5 – O2 Academy, Birmingham SOLD OUT
December 7 – O2 Academy, Newcastle SOLD OUT
December 8 – O2 Academy, Newcastle SOLD OUT
December 10 – O2 Academy Brixton, London SOLD OUT
December 11 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
December 13 – Great Hall, Cardiff SOLD OUT
December 16 – Dublin, Olympia SOLD OUT
December 17 – Ulster Hall, Belfast SOLD OUT
December 19 – O2 Academy, Sheffield SOLD OUT
December 21 – O2 Academy, Newcastle SOLD OUT
December 22 – O2 Academy, Newcastle SOLD OUT
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada-based indie rock act Hey Major, comprised of sibling multi-instrumentalists Mickaël and Raphaël Fortin initially formed under the name Orange O’Clock — and back in 2015, competed against 3,000 Canadian acts in CBC’s Searchlight competition, eventually winning the contest with their single “Can’t Fight the Feeling.”  The following year, the Fortins traveled to Nashville and competed in the International Songwriting Competition, eventually landing second place with their song “Wax ‘n’ Wane.”

Adding to a growing national and international profile, the first single off Crazy Carnival was added to Grant Lawrence‘s monthly “Songs You Need to Hear” playlist — and was promoted on NPR, BBC Radio 1 and CBC music.

Earlier this year, the up-and-coming Canadian sibling duo went on a month-long Australian tour. And upon returning to Canada, the duo holed up at Montreal’s Indica Studios to finish their forthcoming Peter Edwards and Franz Schuller co-produced album  The Station.  Interestingly, the album’s third and latest single is the brooding “The Station.” Centered around a soaring hook, twinkling keys, atmospheric synths, dynamic and propulsive drumming, the Canadian duo’s latest track reminds me quite a bit of Danish JOVM mainstays Palace Winter, as the single finds the duo pairing an elegant and deliberate attention and to craft, and deep introspection with ambitious songwriting.

“This song is an introspective track, describing a moment between two people and what they could have been, but knowing deep inside that they will never be,” the Canadian sibling duo explain via email. “It’s a journey of change and enlightenment through love stories, struggles, encounters and wishes for humanity. That was the inspiration.”