Category: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GIFT Shares Motorik-Driven Affirmation “Share The Present”

Brooklyn-based psych rock quintet GIFT — TJ Freda, Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell, Justin Hrabovsky and Cooper Naess — have developed and honed an uncanny knack for crafting soundscapes that are simultaneously turbulent and gorgeous. As a band, they share the quest of the perfect sound rooted in harmony and radical openness during times of tumult.

Their overall approach is a desire to live in the moment. In fact, live they’ve created a live experience that sees them pushing their material in wildly improvisatory directions — and as a result, they’ve been selling out shows in Brooklyn, mostly through word of mouth.

Dedstrange Records, a new label co-founded by A Place to Bury Strangers’ and Death by Audio’s Oliver Ackermann and Kepler Events‘ Steven Matrick signed the rising Brooklyn psych rockers earlier this year. The new label will be releasing GIFT’s full-length debut Momentary Presence on October 14, 2022.

Inspired by Ram Dass’ 1971 spiritual guide and countercultural landmark Be Here Now, Momentary Presence is a meditation on working through the anxiety and self-doubt that we all, at some point or another, carry. Specifically conceived, written and recorded with the idea of a full-length album being a fully contained work of art, the songs on Momentary Presence reportedly tease something seismic coming around the corner, while featuring dense layered productions that feel and sound self-assured, complete, definitive and impermeable. This is rooted in the band’s belief that each moment has richness, complexity and singularity. And once it’s gone, it can’t be recaptured or repeated. 

The album asks the listener several key questions: Can you truly be present? Can you open yourself up and appreciate life in its fullness — the ugliness and confusion, as well as the beauty and joy? The members of GIFT believe that the listener can. And their full-length debut is a chronicle of that chase, and a celebration of the eternal now. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release next week, I’ve written about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Gumball Garden,” a towering ripper centered around an expansive and densely layered arrangement featuring scorching guitar pyrotechnics, fuzzy power chords, glistening synth arpeggios, thunderous drumming and a relentless motorik groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Freda’s gentle cooing. Sonically, “Gumball Garden” brings Join the Dots-era TOY, Minami Deutsch, Kikagaku Moyo, JOVM mainstays No Swoon and others to mind. 

  • “Feather,” a slow-burning and contemplative song with painterly textures featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering, metronomic beats paired with Freda’s ethereal cooing, a soaring hook and a blazing guitar solo. While simultaneously evoking both a feather floating in the breeze, Autobahn-era Kraftwerk and The Pleasure Principle-era Gary Numan, the song was written by the band’s TJ Freda the morning after waking from a lucid dream. 

 Momentary Presence‘s third and latest single “Share The Present” is centered around a glistening synth arpeggios and a relentless motorik groove paired with wiry bursts of guitar. The arrangement serves as a airy bed for TJ Freda’s breathily cooed, gentle affirmations. Sonically, the song seems like a slick synthesis of Join the Dots-era Toy and The Horrors.

“Sharing the present is being in the present moment. Not looking towards the future or dwelling on the past,” GIFT’s TJ Freda explains. “Being present is the most important thing you can do when you are feeling down. ‘Don’t look back, you’ll fall down’ don’t dwell on the past of who you were. Look to the present moment and appreciate who you are and where you’re going.” 

Directed by Andrew Gibson, the accompanying video for “Share The Present” follows an older couple, Claudia and Leonard. And when we’re introduced to them, we get a sense of profound loss under the superficially vibrant personas and colorful clothing. They miss a loved one, who turns out to be GIFT’s TJ Freda. While watching an informercial, they purchase an odd gift that reconnects them with their beloved TJ in a surreal universe. The couple purchases another gift box, which contains a toy car that takes them on a lysergic adventure. It’s a cinematically shot surrealistic fever dream — with a mischievous vibe.

“When I first met Claudia and Leonard, I sensed a deep sadness burrowed under their vibrant personas,” director Andrew Gibson says in press notes. “It wasn’t until a few weeks later, when they invited me over for a lovely breakfast, that I learned the source of their pain was related to the strange disappearance of their adopted nephew TJ. It was at that moment that I vowed to help them in any way I could in their quest to reconnect with the holy Taj. It has been quite a journey to say the least, but ultimately incredibly rewarding once the magical mailman arrived with the gift that would change everything. After meeting TJ it became quite clear why Claudia and Leonard were so determined to find him, to put it simply, he’s just a great kid.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Deriving its name from the Spanish word for “kite,” JOVM mainstay Nick Hakim‘s fourth album Cometa was recorded between studios and domestic spaces throughout Texas, North Carolina, California and New York. Featuring contributions from Alex G. (piano) and Abe Rounds (drums), and collaborations with DJ Dahi, Helado Negro and Arto Lindsay, the 10-song album is a collection of romantic songs written through different lenses, guided by Hakim’s experience of falling in love that made him feel like he was floating. 

That dizzying, out-of-body sensation is the central theme that anchors the album’s material, with Hakim using the extreme distance between a kite and a comet as a metaphor for the depth of one’s love for someone else — and being humbled by it. “The key is to find that extremity of love for yourself,” Hakim says in press notes. “It’s about growing into someone you want to be; it’s about finding pure love within yourself when the world around us seems to be crumbling.”

For Hakim, the purpose of Cometa is less about constructing a narrative around romance and more about exploration through 10 complex compositions woven with aching metaphors throughout. Of course, while for Hakim there are special memories attached to each song, he prefers to leave them open to interpretation, offering the listener a comfortable space to develop their own connections to the material. “I think it’s nice to have love in your life and to have people that are sharing and wanting that,” Hakim explains. “It’s my interpretation of a really romantic way to express love in my own way.”

So far I’ve written about two of Cometa‘s single:

  • Centered around a sparse and unfussy arrangement of strummed guitar, bursts of twinkling keys, atmospheric synths and cymbal-driven percussion paired with Hakim’s breathily cooed delivery, “Happen,” sees the JOVM mainstay subtly pushing his sound and approach in a new direction while still maintaining the dreamy and earnest essence at the core of his work. But ultimately, the song evokes the sensation of weightlessness — and then gently floating away beyond your control. 
  • “Vertigo,” a woozy song centered around a dusty, analog-like production featuring an arraignment of strummed guitar, skittering boom bap and layers of whirring synths paired with Hakim’s achingly tender vocals. The song depicts the dizzying sensation of trying to stay focused on someone when it feels like the world around you in spinning out of control.

Cometa‘s third and latest single, the DJ Dahi co-produced “M1” is centered around a breezy arrangement consisting of a skittering beat loop, choir-like synth stabs paired with wobbling low-end. The arrangement serves as a silky and ethereal bed for Hakim’s achingly plaintive and soulful falsetto. Interestingly “M1” is an easy-going laid back bop that captures Hakim having fun — while capturing the sweet, swooning ache of love.

“I’ll never forget when Nick was opening up sessions he had previously been creating for the album and ‘M1’ was just a DJ Dahi drum loop, a choir synth take plus a sub bass sound with minimal editing,” producer Andrew Sarlo recalls. “It was an immediate head turner and we knew we had to mine it. Later that night Nick delivered an insane scratch vocal take that still gives me chills just recalling the first moment I heard him ascend melodically during the chorus refrain. We tend to have one song during the final stages of the album process that is a hard one to crack and the adrenaline rush of finishing ‘M1’ in time was very gratifying. It’s definitely solidified as one of my favorite Nick songs”

Cometa is slated for an October 21, 2022 release through ATO Records. 

Hakim has three album release shows in NYC (TV Eye), Los Angeles, and London to celebrate the album — and those three shows sold-out immediately. He also announced a headline North American tour throughout January and February 2023, and a headline European tour in March. 

The Winter North American tour features a January 21, 2022 stop at Brooklyn Steel. Tickets for all the dates go on sale Friday at 10:00am local time.

Live Dates

Album release shows

10/20 – Nick Hakim presents COMETA – New York, NY @ TV Eye (SOLD OUT)

10/24 – Nick Hakim presents COMETA – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon (SOLD OUT)

10/27 – Nick Hakim presents COMETA – London, England @ Avalon Café (SOLD OUT)

North America

1/20 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

1/21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel

1/22 – Washington D.C. @ Union Stage

1/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe

1/27 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

1/28 – Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room

1/30 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall

1/31- Austin, TX @ Parish

2/01 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada

2/03 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge

2/04 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah

2/05 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriets

2/07 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent

2/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency

2/10 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir

2/11 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos

2/12 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theater

Europe

3/12 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido

3/13 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg OZ

3/15 – Paris, France @ Trabendo

3/16 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique Rotonde

3/18 – London, England @ The Forum

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Carla dal Forno Shares Sultry “Side By Side”

Singer/songwriter, musician and Kallista Records label head Carla dal Forno has spent the better part of a decade or so moving, writing, recording and touring out our Berlin and London, before recently relocating to Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, where she wrote and recorded her third album Come Around. 

Slated for November 4, 2022 release through her own Kallista Records, Come Aroundreportedly sees dal Forno grappling with ideas of home, disorder and insomnia with self-assured, enlightened songwriting and pop hooks. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about album title track “Come Around,” a narcoleptic, meandering, dub-like take on indie pop centered around reverb and delay-drenched guitar and drums paired with dal Forno’s inviting, easy-going delivery and a well-placed, infectious hook. The end result is a song that feels like an open-ended invitation to stop by and stay awhile, to make yourself at home.

Come Around‘s latest single “Side By Side” is a dreamy and slow-burning, dub-inspired take on indie pop centered around a sinuous bass line, reverb and delay-drenched beats and bursts of twinkling, buzzing and atmospheric synths paired with dal Forno’s yearning, come hither delivery. It’s a slinky and sultry song, full of nocturnal desire.

“‘Side By Side’ is about the anticipation of hooking up with someone and the feelings of inevitability, transparency and impatience,” dal Forno explains. “It’s all in the lyric, ‘Make your move / I recognise the method you use.’ I’ve been sitting on this track for a few years. The production was really slow at first, leaning towards ‘ballad’ territory but it really seemed to find its groove when I increased the tempo and leaned into the bassline hook.”

Directed by Ludovic Sauvage, the haunting accompanying video complements the track’s nocturnal longing as it features a shadowy, blue-lit dal Forno superimposed over a shot of blooming, pink tulips in a stark, black backdrop.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Jordana Shares Cathartic Pop Banger for the Jilted and Heartbroken

2022 has been a massive year for 22 year-old producer, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and pop Jordana: Earlier this year, she released her sophomore album Face The Wall, which she has supported with non-stop touring both as a headliner and as an opener for the likes of Local Natives and Wallows.

Building upon a momentous year so far, the rising, young multi-hyphenate will be releasing a new EP, I’m Doing Well Thanks For Asking. Slated for a November 11, 2022 release through Grand Jury Music, I’m Doing Well Thanks For Asking reportedly sees the New York-based artist and producer getting to know her various selves. During her relatively young career, Jordana has quickly developed a reputation for being a shapeshifter: 2020’s Classical Notions of Happiness was an album of homespun indie folk. It’s follow-up Something To Say To You EP was spindly bedroom pop. The following year’s collaboration with TV Girl, Summer’s Over saw her veering into a dreamy haze. While Face The Wall saw Jordana crafting glossy pop.

As a result of the constant touring, I’m Doing Well Thanks For Asking sees the rising young, multi-hyphenate pulling from and synthesizing a little bit of everything that came before. Thematically, the material remains obsessed with love and neuroses, being left and leaving, pitying yourself and learning to stop.

The EP’s latest single “SYT” is an indie rock-tinged pop banger featuring glistening synth arpeggios, blown-out boom bap-like beats, bursts of slashing guitars and an enormous, catharsis-inducing hook paired with Jordana’s heartbroken yet resilient delivery. The song’s narrator may be jilted and hurt, but they’ve dug deep to tell that lover off. If you’ve been there, you’ve likely sung along lustily to the song, dreaming off how your unworthy flame would respond.

“It channels the feelings of empowerment and emotional awareness after a tough breakup,” Jordana says.

Directed by Graham Epstein, the accompanying video for “SYT” is shot with a lysergic haze as it follows the rising multi-hyphenate through a series of fantastic set ups.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Katy Rea Shares Cinematic and Brooding “Lord Try”

Texas-born singer/songwriter and musician Katy Rea left Texas 12 years ago for the promise and opportunity of New York. Rea auditioned for several television parts and stage plays, occasionally earning a role in someone else’s story, basking momentarily in the flickering glow of rare, unsteady and infrequent success. However, songwriting was her true love and solace, and for her, the only way she could reliably self-soothe.

For years, she floated around the city as if in a daze and found herself drawn to those, who couldn’t love well. After closing bar shifts, she’d return home to write and strum along to the voices and sirens outside, often lulling herself to sleep.

One day during a rehearsal, Rea’s drummer and friend Joshua Jaeger, audibly observed that she’d be happier without her habits, but warned that it would take courage to overcome them. She knew in her heart that Jaeger had been right, so two weeks before recording her full-length debut The Urge That Saves You, Rea quit drinking.

Slated for a November 11, 2022 release, The Urge That Saves You was recorded at Figure 8 Recording entirely live, including main vocals, all in one go. It was during the album’s recording sessions that Rea realized, for the first time with complete certainty that making music was exactly what she needed — and should — be doing.

Sonically, the album is reportedly hook-driven empath rock that splits off into cinematic, dark psychedelia in a seamless and effortless fashion. Her backing band, which features members, who have played with Angel Olsen, Fleet Foxes, Widowspeak and a lengthy list of others play with a touching restraint and makes for a collection of Rea calls “premonitions, prayer and warnings.”

The album’s songs reflect Rea’s life journey in a way that’s not exactly autobiographical and isn’t always obvious. As a songwriter, Rea prefers to use characters and metaphors in her stories. But they’re rooted in a gritty, psychological realism that feels novelistic.

During quarantine, the Texas-born, New York-based artist took it upon herself to learn how to engineer and mix her own album after an inspiring phone call with musician and producer Sam Evian, who urged to make the work her own in every way that she could. She spent countless hours at Phil Weinrobe’s Rivington 66 overdubbing and mixing. Learning to mix wasn’t without difficulty. At times, Rea felt like she was learning a different language. Luckily, she had engineers like Spencer Murphy, Andrew Forman and others around to answer questions and help along the way.

The post-production process was just as rewarding as the recording sessions because Rea succeeded in making the album sound exactly how she wanted it to, while also proving to herself that she was more than capable of taking the reins. So it’s understandable that Rea celebrates the album’s completion with a well-earned pride. She’s also inspired to continue engineering and producing future albums on her own.

The Urge That Saves You‘s latest single, the “Lord Try” is centered around a lush and expansive arrangement consisting of alternating sparse, brooding passages with lightly strummed guitar, supple and propulsive bass lines and gently padded drumming and stormier passages with swirling, reverb-drenched guitar and bursts of mournful trumpet from Lessie Vonner. The song’s two distinct sections are held together by Rea’s achingly yearning delivery. The entire song evokes the seemingly inescapable and lingering ghosts of regrets, old selves, bad memories of bad people and bad places.

Directed by Kaitlin Scott and shot by Rachael Batashvili on 16mm film, the gorgeously cinematic accompanying video for “Lord Try” was filmed at the site of an abandoned Upstate New York summer camp.

“Kaitlin and I were aiming to capture subtle moments of temptation that often creep up in the still, quiet moments of life,” Katy Rea explains. “Growing up I spent a lot of time alone, daydreaming, fantasizing the mundane away. And as a girl who grew up in the church everything became sweet or evil, right or wrong. Natural desires felt like something bad within me, but eventually I started to become friendly with close calls and cheap thrills. I put myself in dangerous places and learned my strength through escaping them. Eating a flower with thorns, swimming in murky waters, wearing little clothing knowing maybe the neighbor would see, was just the start of some of this flirtation with ‘darkness’ I knew as a girl. The grassy landscape reminded me of Texas, the church down the road, and the neighbors shaking their heads through their windows.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Babehoven Shares a Gorgeous and Heartbreaking Meditation on Loss

Hudson, NY-based indie duo Babehoven — Maya Bon and Ryan Albert — have built a solid partnership over the past handful of years, with the duo releasing several EPs since 2018. Through those EPs, the duo’s work displays Bon’s emotionally incisive approach to songwriting that draws as much power from abstract poetry that asks the big questions, as specific, personal vignettes.

The duo’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Light Moving Time is slated for an October 28, 2022 release through Double Double Whammy. Interestingly, much like their previously released work, Light Moving Time is centered around lyrics that zoom in and out, inviting listeners to bring their own experiences to the album’s songs when Bon’s writing is decidedly cryptic — and to stew in the moments when she presents her entire heart on a platter.

Sonically, the album reportedly continues the duo’s reputation for material with a wide range of dynamics with the band pushing those sounds even further. The album features songs that seem to draw from country and 80s power ballads, indie folk and even shoegaze. But the album sees the Hudson-based duo utilizing Bon’s voice with a greater emotional impact.

Light Moving Time‘s latest single, album closer “Often” is a slow-burning, spectral track built around strummed guitar, gently accented percussion, twinkling keys and atmospheric synths paired with Bon’s vocal, which expresses heartache, grief, loss and resiliency within a turn of a phrase. While sonically bearing a resemblance to Mazzy Star, and rooted in a deeply personal experience of loss, the song is universal, as it focuses on something we’ve all experienced — and will experience many times over.

“‘Often’ is a song about grief, about holding love for a person I’ve lost, about trying to let go and find new paths for myself,” Babehoven’s Maya Bon. “This song changed my life when I wrote it and has provided clarity for me in times of chaos. I hope that, through sharing it, others will find in it comfort and clarity, too.”

Directed and shot by Kevin Prince, the accompanying video for “Often” is comprise of footage that Prince shot around the Hudson Valley and from footage shot on road trips that he has taken. The video loosely follows two characters — a man and a woman — through various moments in time, and with a hazy, heartbreaking nostalgia, full of the understanding that nothing lasts forever.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s Shirley Hurt Shares Introspective and Gorgeous “Problem Child”

Sophie Katz is a Toronto-based singer/songwriter, musician and creative mastermind behind Shirley Hurt, her latest music project. Katz’s self-titled Shirley Hurt debut is slated for a December 2, 2022 release through Telephone Explosion Records.

Recorded with a highly-accomplished backing band that features Fresh Pepper‘s and The War on Drugs‘ Joseph Shabason (sax, flute), Chris Shannon (bass), Harrison Forman (guitar), Jason Bhattacharya (percussion), Jacques Mindreau (violin) and Nick Durado (piano), the Nathan Vanderwielen-produced, nine song album reportedly sees Katz and company traversing into the furthest corners of experimental indie folk, pop and country to create a singular sound that integrates elements of each with self-assured elegance, ease and unpredictability. Sonically, the album’s material is centered around skeletal arrangements that tastefully slink around Katz’s delivery, which subtly recalls the likes of Joni Mitchell, Carole King and others.

“This album feels lonely and roadworn to me. The woman who wrote this was definitely in the winter of her life,” Katz says. “The landscape feels blue and burnt orange. There is a wistfulness and longing, whether I like it or not.” The album’s persistent tone of propulsive contemplation wasn’t by chance; Katz came up with many of the album’s lyrical and structural ideas while on the road.

The self-titled album’s first single “Problem Child” is built around a 70s AM rock/troubadour-like arrangement featuring Bhattacharya’s assertive and propulsive percussion, Dorado’s dreamy and twinkling keys, meditative strummed and looping guitar lines and fluttering bursts of Shabason’s flute. The sparse arrangement allows Katz’s husky delivery and observant, longing and conversational lyrics to take the spotlight. The end result is akin to Nabokov being paired with gorgeous, spectral arrangements.

Directed and edited by Eli Spiegel, the accompanying video for “Problem Child” is set in a warm and gorgeous, suburban home, and features two women — presumably a grandmother and her granddaughter spending an afternoon together. The older woman is teaching the younger woman a recipe for pie. Throughout the video, there’s a palpable sense of tradition and love –and in a very lovely place.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Carré Share Uneasy and Lysergic “Brothers”

Over the past couple of years, I managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering Los Angeles-based indie electro rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Carré, an act that features:

  • Julien Boyé (drums, percussion, vocals): Boyé has had stints as a touring member of Nouvelle Vague and James Supercave. Additionally, he has a solo recording act Acoustic Resistance, in which he employs rare instruments, which he has collected from all over the world.

  • Jules de Gasperis (drums, vocals, synths, production and mixing): de Gasperis is a Paris-born, Los Angeles-based studio owner. Growing up in Paris, he sharpened his knowledge of synthesizers, looping machines and other electronics around the same time that Justice, Soulwax and Ed Banger Records exploded into the mainstream.

  • Kevin Baudouin (guitar, vocals, synth, production): Baudouin has lived in Los Angeles the longest of the trio — 10 years — and he has played with a number of psych rock acts, developing a uniquely edgy approach to guitar, influenced by Nels Cline, Jonny Greenwood and Marc Ribot.

Deriving their name for the French word for “square,” “playing tight” and “on point,” the Los Angeles-based trio formed back in 2019 — and as the band’s Jules de Gasperis explains in press notes, “The making of our band started with this whole idea of having two drummers perform together. It felt like a statement. We always wanted to keep people moving and tend to focus on the beats first when we write.”

Carrè fittingly specializes in a French electronica-inspired sound that frequently blends aggressive, dark and chaotic elements with hypnotic drum loops. And thematically, their work generally touches upon conception, abstraction and distortion of reality through a surrealistic outlook of our world.

2020’s attention-grabbing self-titled EP featured:

Since the release of their debut EP, the members of Carré have shared remixes of material off their self-titled EP. But earlier this month, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays released “Brothers,” their first single of 2022. Centered around a dense and woozy production featuring copious amounts of cowbell, buzzing guitars, layered arpeggiated synths, industrial clang and clatter, thumping and propulsive four-on-the-floor, the expansive “Brothers” is a slick synthesis of Pink Floyd‘s “On The Run,” Kraftwerk, Nine Inch Nails, and LCD Soundsystem that’s arguably the act’s trippiest and most dance floor friendly track of their growing catalog.

The band explains that the track “is a surrealistic allegory on climate change and human relationships with Mother Earth.”

The accompanying video was made by San Diego-based artist Jerry Scott Lopez and is an uneasy and lysergic nightmare featuring stop motion animation vaguely inspired by Darron Anrofski’s Mother.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Pop Outfit Lynda Shares a Breezy Yet Wistful Bop

Currently split between Bristol and Paris, indie electro pop duo Lynda — Russ Harley and Youcef Khelil — can trace their origins to a writing session in London‘s Lewisham section back in 2016. With the release of a handful of singles and Lynda Tapes [2018-2020], the duo quickly established a sound influenced by Japanese synth pop outfit YMO, Hiroshi Sato, Vangelis‘ Blade Runner soundtrack and Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks soundtrack.

The duo is set to release their four-song, debut EP LEMONRIVER EP. Mixed by French touch legend Alan Braxe, the EP reportedly sees the duo crafting an ethereal synth wave sound featuring vintage 80s and 90s drum machines, vintage synths paired with Khelil’s plaintive vocal delivery. The end result is a sound that’s dreamy and cinematic and tinged with a bittersweet nostalgia.

LEMONRIVER EP‘s second and latest single “Calliope” derives its title from the Greek muse of epic poetry. Centered around a lush and dreamy soundscape featuring a strutting yet funky bass line, glistening synth arpeggios, Khelil’s achingly plaintive vocal and the duo’s penchant for infectious, razor sharp hooks. Thematically, the song is focused on a familiar scenario for most, if not all of us: That recognition that your lover has changed and become a stranger right before your eyes — and that maybe it’s time for the things to end, even if you don’t want it to end.

Directed by Ikonë Studio, the accompanying video was shot in Kosovo and follows the duo in 90s-styled suits and sneakers, driving through tree-lined suburban streets and downtown Kosovo at night in a red convertible, goofing off at a quirky Wes Anderson-like hotel and dancing on the roof of skyscraper. Underneath the stylishness and quirkiness of the visual is a bittersweet, nostalgic ache.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Danish Pop Artist Kleo Shares Euphoric “Beautiful Life”

Danish singer/songwriter Kleo exploded into the national and European scenes with her debut single “Miss You,” that paired the rapidly rising Danish artist’s achingly tender and vulnerable vocal delivery is paired with a sparse and dreamy soundscape of strummed guitar, twinkling keys, atmospheric synths and persistent, uptempo beats. Rooted in seemingly lived-in experience , “Miss You” features a narrator, who is haunted by longing and their memories of a relationship that they’ll never get back. But it’s core, the song has a bigger message, encouraging the listener to see that all of our experiences help us grow as people, and perhaps most important, there’s almost always a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Beautiful Life,” the Danish artist’s second and latest single is a defiantly upbeat, slickly produced pop anthem centered around glistening synth arpeggios, Kleo’s earnest pop belter delivery and earnest lyricism paired with a penchant for rousingly anthemic, enormous hooks. The song sees Kleo reinterpreting the motto carpe diem through her own lens with the song encouraging the listener to embrace life and to fully immerse themselves in the euphoric feeling of falling — and being — in love. The song is also a reminder that the world can still be beautiful, and that love has a unique power for good.

“For me, it’s about being open and holding on to the feeling of happiness I feel in the present moment,” Kleo explains. “For example, the feeling I get when I meditate, or when I’m completely head over heels in love with someone. I woke up one morning and thought: This is the canvas – it’s the backdrop for life itself. And not days of clouds and hurricanes. If I can wake up in the morning and feel bliss, then it must be reality itself.”

Directed by Stine Emil Thorbøll, the accompanying black and white visual for “Beautiful Life” is shot is inspired by 90s pop culture and is shot in a gorgeously cinematic black and white. We see the Danish pop star dancing blissfully with actor Ask Berntsen. And for the pair of star-crossed lovers, time and the entire world itself just seems to melt away.
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Chicago’s Smut Shares Heartbreaking “Let Me Hate”

Chicago-based indie outfit Smut — Tay Roebuck (vocals), Andrew Min (guitar), Bell Cenower (bass, synth), Sam Ruschman (guitar, synth) and Aidan O’Connor (drums) — will be releasing their new album How the Light Felt on November 11 through Bayonet Records.

While 2020’s Power Fantasy EP saw Smut dipping its toe into more experimental waters, How the Light Felt reportedly sees the band diving head-first into their vast array of 80s and 90s influences, including Oasis, Cocteau Twins, Gorillaz, and Massive Attack — while pushing their sound in a new direction. 

How the Light Felt‘s material can be traced back to 2017: Following her sister’s death, Tay Roebuck turned to writing to help her navigate a labyrinth of grief and heartache. “This album is very much about the death of my little sister, who committed suicide a few weeks before her high school graduation in 2017,” Roebuck explains in press notes. ” “It was a moment in which my life was destroyed permanently, and it’s something you cannot prepare for.” 

Roebuck’s bandmates composed the song’s arrangements, excavating underutilized 90s guitar tones and drum beats to build an expansive sonic world for her lyrics. “A couple weeks after the funeral we played a show and I couldn’t keep it together,” Roebuck says, “but we just kept playing and started writing because it was truly all I felt I had, it was all I could do to feel any sense of purpose. For the past five years now I’ve been chipping my way through grief and loss and I think the album itself is just the story of a person working through living with a new weight on top of it all.”

While rooted in profound heartbreak and loss, the album’s material pairs nostalgic inducing guitar tones, lush yet unfussy production, lived-in lyricism, and earnest vocals in a way that turns pain into a bittersweet yet necessary catharsis. Certainly, if you’ve lost a loved one, the album will likely resonate with you on a deeper level than most. 

Earlier this month, I wrote about “After Silver Leaves,” an infectious 120 Minutes era MTV alt rock-inspired anthem centered around reverb-drenched guitar jangle, driving rhythms paired with Roebuck’s gorgeous and expressive vocals, an enormous, sing-a-long worthy hook and a scorching guitar solo. While sonically recalling Reading, Writing and Arithmetic-era The Sundays, “After Silver Leaves” is rooted in deeply personal, embittering experience. 

“This song is about a former relationship I was in, it was really horribly abusive. But the approach to this one was to just spell it all out and see how silly it feels once shit really hits the fan,” Roebuck says. “The song sounds so happy, but I’m talking about driving someone to a hospital when they’ve overdosed. And having to detach myself and realize that maybe it’s not my job as a teenage girl to save some sad sack of a guy. I think a lot of young women will relate to that, unfortunately.”

How the Light Felt‘s latest single “Let Me Hate” continues the 120 Minutes MTV-era vibe with Roebuck’s gorgeous and plaintive vocal paired with glistening, reverb drenched guitars, a gently propulsive rhythm section and a soaring chorus. But unlike its immediate predecessor, “Let Me Hate” directly addresses the aftermath of a tragic death with an unvarnished honesty. And as a result, the song is equally frustrated, grief-stricken, confused, angry, lost and embittered — within a turn of a phrase.

“For years after my sister’s death I could not dream about her. I’d hear my family members talk about her visiting them in dreams and telling them she’s okay or misses them, there was a lot of mysticism going on the first few years,” Smut’s Tay Roebuck explains. “When I did start having dreams she was always out of reach, walking into another room as I entered or people would be assuring me she was present somewhere if I could find her. ‘Let Me Hate’ is about the first time I had a dream where my little sister spoke to me after she died. I knew if I let her go she’d slip away and when I woke up I was angry at myself. So it’s a very literal song.”

Created by the band’s Aidan O’Connor, the accompanying lyric video features photos from the band’s summer North American tour with indie darlings Wavves.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Palm Ghosts Shares a Dance Floor Friendly Bop

Throughout the course of this site’s 12+ year history, I’ve spilled copious amounts of virtual ink covering Nashville-based indie rock act Palm Ghosts. Led by singer/songwriter and producer and Ice Queen Records founder Joseph Lekkas, Palm Ghosts can trace its origins to when Lekkas lived in Philadelphia: After spending a number of years playing in local bands like Grammar Debate! and Hilliard, Lekkas took a lengthy hiatus from writing, recording and performing music to book shows and festivals in and around the Philadelphia area. 

Lekkas initially started Palm Ghosts as a solo recording project — and as a creative outlet to cope with an incapacitating bout of depression and anxiety. During a long, prototypically Northeastern winter, Lekkas recorded a batch of introspective songs that at the time, he dubbed “sun-damaged American music,” which eventually became the project’s full-length debut. After a short tour in 2013 to support the album, Lekkas packed up his belongings and relocated to Music City, enticed by its growing indie rock scene. 

Palm Ghosts’ third album, 2018’s Architecture was a decided change in sonic direction with Lekkas crafting material influenced by the 80s — in particular, Cocteau Twins, Peter Gabriel, Dead Can Dance, New Order,  The Cure, and others. 

Much like countless musical acts across the globe, Lekkas and his bandmates spent the forced downtime of the pandemic, attempting to be as busy as they possible could: They wrote a ton of new material informed by a year or so of quarantine-related isolation, socioeconomic and financial instability, protests and demonstrations. 

Last year, the JOVM mainstays released two albums, their fourth album, Lifeboat Candidate and their fifth album, Lost Frequency. Lifeboat Candidate was a fittingly dark, dystopian effort full of confusion, fear and dread that drew from the events and circumstances of the year preceding its release. Interestingly, Lost Frequency is a much different album: Initially scheduled for a 2020 release, Palm Ghosts’ fifth album harkens back to before the pandemic, when things seemed more or a less normal and carefree — or at least somehow a bit less uneasy and desperately urgent. In some way, the album’s material feels both celebratory, escapist, and perhaps even somewhat nostalgic. But paradoxically, the album’s material lyrically brings confrontation to the forefront, reminding the listener that nothing is normal — and that normalcy and the desire to return to it is extremely destructive. 

The JOVM’s mainstays forthcoming sixth album Post Preservation reveals an entirely different side of the band. The album’s material features love songs — and there’s even a hint of optimism and some light showing through the cracks. But it’s still 2022, and there’s still plenty of darkness and discontent to the proceedings to balance the sunniness of much of the material. Conceived as a sort of soundtrack to a long lost John Hughes film, Post Preservation is full of nostalgic longing for a world that no longer exists, except in our hearts and minds.

Last month, I wrote about “Cross Your Heart,” a swooning, hook-driven power ballad that sonically is one-part Psychedelic Furs‘ “Pretty in Pink,” one-part Simple Minds‘ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” and paired with earnest, lived-in lyrics that describe being in — and perhaps out of — love, during the end of the world. 

Post Preservation‘s latest single “Signal” is a New Order-like, dance floor friendly bop featuring wiry guitar bursts, arpeggiated synths and relentless four-on-the-floor that’s rooted in the band’s unerring knack for enormous hooks and incisive social criticism. “Signal,” as the band explains “is about our dependent relationship with technology and the negative effects associated with it. Particularly, the increasing isolation that it eases and allows.”

Directed by Michael Patti, the accompanying video for “Signal” follows a man desperately attempting to escape his own reality in pursuit of a girl from another dimension.

“For ‘Signal,’ I wanted to explore an obsession for love just out of reach. We follow our lead as he attempts to escape his own reality, in pursuit of a girl from another dimension. She sends a signal from the other side that drives him to go to extraordinary lengths to get to her,” Patti explains. “The music video captures something that I believe we all have within ourselves. A longing to love and be loved. That distinct moment, when two people cross paths spark an instant connection, you can’t help but pursue it. That is what the story in the video tells.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ghost Funk Orchestra Shares Spectral “Why”

Founded and led by multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer Seth Applebuam, rising New York-based psych rock/psych soul outfit Ghost Funk Orchestra initially began as a lo-fi, solo recording project back in 2014 with a unique sound featuring tape-saturated drums, spring reverb, surf rock guitar, Latin-styled percussion, odd time signatures and Spanish language female vocals. Since then, the project has become a full-fledged band with as many as 10 members — while crafting a unique sound that draws from even more eclectic and diverse sources, including salsa, Afrobeat, classic soul, film soundtracks and more. 

Ghost Funk Orchestra’s full-length debut, 2019’s A Song for Paul was conceived as a tribute to Applebaum’s late grandfather Paul Anish, who played an immense role in his life. Although the album’s songs don’t address Paul Anish directly, the album’s creative direction specifically conveys what Anish’s presence felt like — and was — for Seth, a tough but kind, music obsessed, native New Yorker. For Applebaum, accurately capturing what his grandfather’s essence meant to him forced him to expand the band’s arrangements and sound further than anything he had done to that point, including writing much more comprehensive horn lines and working with a string section. 

Their sophomore album, 2020’s An Ode to Escapism saw the band further expanding upon the sound developed on A Song for Paul with the album’s material featuring much more intricate arrangements, unusual time signatures, rapid tempo and time signature changes within songs, heavier drums and vocal harmonies that soar over the entire affair. Specifically written as an invitation to the listener to close their eyes while listening and delve deep into their own subconscious, if they weren’t too afraid to do so, the album thematically touched upon isolation, fear of the unknown and the fabrication of the self-image. 

Written during pandemic-related lockdowns, Ghost Funk Orchestra’s third album  A New Kind of Love reportedly feels like the soundtrack from an imaginary movie — with the album’s songs easily being part of the score of a romantic drama, an action thriller or a modern twist on film noir: Spare, cascading vocals accentuate the lush instrumental arrangements composed, arranged, performed and produced by Applebaum. Sonically, the album’s material draws from mid-20th Century exotica, 60s and 70s orchestral pop, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Antibalas among others, as well as his experiences as a young filmmaker. Sonically speaking, the end result is an album that encompasses a loving reverence for the past without attempting to recreate it. 

The 12 song album sees Applebaum exploring the complicated, confusing and conflicting realm of love, with the album’s songs capturing the emotional notes of love going well and love gone sour, as though manifesting love songs based in ghostly affairs. 

Earlier this month, I wrote about A New Kind of Love‘s first single “Scatter,” a cinematic affair that pairs Romi Hanoch’s sultry and ethereal delivery with an expansive, lush and downright trippy arrangement that’s one-part film-noir-like spy movie, one-part classic rom-com, one-part Blaxploitation — with a wild late-period John Coltrane-like saxophone freak out of a solo. But if you pay close attention, the song captures a narrator reeling from a love gone disastrous wrong but with the knowing self-assuredness and confidence that she deserves — and will get much better soon enough.

A New Kind of Love‘s second and latest single “Why” is a spectral and slow-burning bit of psych soul with Latin-influenced percussion paired with powerhouse vocals. The song manages to capture curiosity, obsession and desire with an uncanny psychological realism.

The accompanying video for “Why” was shot on Kodak film –and manages to seem inspired by nouveau vague yet surrealistic.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Florence, Italy’s Lazy Lazarus Shares Dreamy “Fame Fatale”

Lazy Lazarus is a Florence, Italy-based singer/songwriter and musician. After stints in a number of bands that started when he was 14, the Italian artist stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist.

Interestingly, as a songwriter, the Italian artist sees himself as a fisherman, trying to catch ideas, sensations and feelings from the endless ocean of life, and only when he catches them, does he proceed to shape them into songs.

The Florence-based artist’s latest single “Fame Fatale” is a slow-burning and woozy bit of crafted psychedelia that brings Tame Impala and Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles to mind but paired with blown out beats and rumbling low end.

Directed by Lorenzo Torricelli, the accompanying, cinematically shot video for “Fame Fatale” follows the Florence-based artist through some hallucinogenic and dream-like sequences.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Blue Canopy Teams Up with Misty Boyce and Patrick J. Smith on Slow-Burning “Stranger At The Door”

Portland, OR-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alex Schiff started his music career as a co-writer for indie outfit Modern Rivals — and with Modern Rivals, Schiff has shared stages with the likes of Ra Ra Riot, Stars, and The Black Keys.

Since his time with Modern Rivals, Schiff has stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with his recording project Blue Canopy, which sees the Portland-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist combining versatile songwriting chops and exuberant melodies to convey nostalgia as a force to move forward. Sonically, Blue Canopy sees Schiff weaving dream pop, psych rock-inspired guitars and expansive electronic soundscapes. The end result is work that’s introspective at a time when self-reflection seems more crucial than ever.

So far, Schiff has released two Blue Canopy EPs 2020’s Mild Anxiety and last yer’s Sleep While You Can, which featured additional instrumentation and co-production from A Beacon School‘s Patrick J. Smith.

Schiff’s latest Blue Canopy single, the slow-burning and meditative “Stranger At The Door” features vocals from Misty Boyce, who has worked with Sara Bareilles and BØRNS and guitar from A Beacon School’s Patrick J. Smith. Featuring glistening synths arpeggios, skittering beats, a sinuous bass line paired with Boyce’s gorgeous vocals, “Stranger At The Door” sounds like a synthesis of Currents-era Tame Impala and Quiet Storm soul while centered around earnest, seemingly lived-in lyricism.

Interestingly, “Stranger At The Door” examines social anxieties in the COVID era, but written from the perspective of his dog Banjo, who has become increasingly anxious and paranoid over the past few months, as the world returns to a certain version o of normalcy.

‘”Stranger At The Door’ is a song from my dog Banjo’s perspective. He’s been super anxious and paranoid since we moved to a new house. He’s especially worried that there is someone or something dangerous at the front door. Some of it, and the inspiration is from his perspective. I relate it later in the song to my own social anxieties that have escalated since COVID. I often don’t feel comfortable in my own skin, or without a mask, or around people in general.”

Directed by Alex Beebee, the accompanying video for “Stranger At The Door” is a surrealistic fever dream featuring a mix of animation, grainy super 8-like live footage rooted in nostalgia.