Category: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Los Angeles’ Elle PF Releases a Brooding Visual for Slow-Burning and CInematic “Ultimatum”

Ranelle Labiche is a classically trained, Minneapolis-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and frotntperson of Los Angeles-based indie outfit Elle PF. Labiche can trace the origins of her music career back to when she had turned five and started to play piano and violin. By the time she was in her late teens, she was playing in local punk bands. The Minneapolis-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist earned degrees in music and psychology. And as an adult, she splits her time between her full-time job as a board certified music therapist, who works in mental health treatment centers in the Los Angeles area. Between her full-time work and her creative work, Labiche has continued to find a way to fuse music and creative expression as a tool to help herself and others to process and analyze events and emotions.

With Elle PF, Labiche and her bandmates — Jessica LaSota (bass, backing vocals), John Acarregui (drums), Doc (guitar) — specialize in a lush, widescreen sound that features elements of indie rock, haunting harmonies and electronic production within symphonic-like movements , inspired by an eclectic array of artists including Bjork, St. Vincent, Amanda Palmer, and God Speed You! Black Emperor.

Elle PF”s full-length debut, 2018’s She Wrote It was recorded and produced by the band’s Labiche. The 12-song album touched upon themes of social frustration, loss, melancholy, existential apathy paired with incisive political commentary — all while firmly establishing their lush, widescreen sound.

During the pandemic, the members of the Los Angeles-based indie outfit went into the studio to write and record their sophomore album I Woke Up Today Laughing. The album’s first single is the the slow-burning and brooding “Ultimatum.” Centered around a lush production featuring glistening synths, shimmering guitars, Labiche’s sultry cooing, dramatic drumming and a soaring hook, “Ultimatum” sonically — to my ears, at least — brings the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees and contemporaries like Jennie Vee to mind.

Directed by musician and director, Jimmy Whispers, the recently released video for “Ultimatum” is inspired by Labche’s love for motorcycles: on her free time, the Minneapolis-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist rides with local motorcycle crews like Queers on Gears, Women SoCal Rides and The Litas. The video follows Labiche getting on her beloved bike and riding through the Los Angeles area — through suburban sprawl, the Sunset Strip at night and windy canyon roads. The video makes it apparent that its protagonist is struggling with a difficult and challenging past and present, and the desire to freely move forward on a new path.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: James Wyatt Crosby Releases a Hazy, Nostalgia-Inducing Visual for Breezy “Shadow of a Ghost”

James Wyatt Crosby is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who’s currently based in the rural township of Tiny, Ontario Canada. (Yes, that’s a real place. Located in South Central Ontario, Tiny is — well, tiny, as it has a population of 11,787 or so.) Crosby’s full-length debut, 2017’s Twins featured “Deep In Yr Mind,” a track which amassed over 1.2 million Spotify streams, while landing on Nerdist’s 25 Best Underground Albums of 2017.

The following year, Crosby released the standalone single “Lemonade (No I Never),” which wound up being a surprise hit on Canadian college radio, at one point peaking at #1 on CFMU-FM. 2019’s Here We Are In Heaven EP wound up becoming a fan favorite, while seeing the Canadian singer/songwriter craft more addictive dream pop melodies.

Last year, the rising Canadian artist went on a forced recording and touring hiatus as a result of the pandemic; but 2021 has seen Crosby’s material appear on a handful of CBC and Netflix shows. Released earlier this month through Wavy Sun, Crosby’s latest single “Shadow of a Ghost” is a summary blast centered around layers of shimmering guitars, glistening synths, a sumptuous bass line, a simple backbeat and Crosby’s achingly plaintive and yearning vocals. The end result is an infectious and nostalgia-inducing bit of dream pop that sounds indebted to 120 Minutes MTV era alt rock.

“This song was written during a time when it seemed like the fabric of reality was coming apart at the seams right in front of me,” James Wyatt Crosby explains in press notes. “Life can be so beautiful but also so painful and disturbing and this song speaks about the way that loss and grief can change the way that you perceive yourself and the world around you. This song allowed me to move through some challenging times.”

Fittingly for such a nostalgia-inducing tune, the video is shot through a hazy filter, reminding us of summer days when things seemed far easier and far simpler.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New VIdeo: JOVM Mainstay Sam Fender Releases a Frenetic Visual for Anthemic Yet Intimate “Get You Down”

Over the course of the past couple of years, I’ve managed to spill copious amounts of virtual ink covering North Shields, UK-born, Newcastle-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay Sam Fender. 2019 was a breakthrough year for Fender: His Bramwell Bronte-produced. full-length debut, Hypersonic Missiles was a commercially successful and critically applauded effort, which was supported with some relentless international touring that included two North American tours with a festival stop at Lollapalooza and sold-out shows in Los Angeles and NYC. Fender also made appearances Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. And Fender was featured on CBS This Morning Saturday in a segment in which CBS anchor Anthony Mason chatted with the British JOVM mainstay about his seemingly sudden rise in notoriety. 

Although 2019 was full of some momentous, life-changing achievements for the rising, young British singer/songwriter, the year unfortunately, ended on a frustrating and disappointing note: Fender had to postpone and then reschedule a handful of sold-out, end-of-the-year dates.

Before the pandemic struck, last year looked promising for the JOVM mainstay. Fender was hand-picked by  Elton John to play at his annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Party — and he received a BRIT Award nomination for Best New Artist. 

Much like countless other artists across the world, Sam Fender’s plans were put on an indefinite pause but he did manage to keep busy, writing and recording the standalone single, the anthemic 80s-inspired slow-burn “Hold Out,” and a bluesy cover of Amy Winehouse‘s “Back To Black,” which he performed on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge series. But along with that he also wrote and recorded his highly-anticipated sophomore album Seventeen Going Under. 

Released earlier this month through Interscope Records, Seventeen Going Under is the most intensely personal album of Fender’s growing catalog with the material finding Fender turning the mirror on himself — particularly his adolescence and the trials and tribulations of growing up. As a result, the album is a relatable journey that careens through an often misspent youth, navigating tumultuous relationships with both friends and family and trying to figure out what comes next and how to get there. Naturally, his birthplace of North Shields serves as the setting for the album’s songs, which see him chronicling cherished memories, difficult encounters and the events that he can’t unsee. “The whole record is about growing up and the self-esteem issues that you carry into your adult life,” the acclaimed, British JOVM mainstay explains. 

Seventeen Going Under‘s third and latest single “Get You Down” is a big, breakneck Born in the USA era Bruce Springsteen-ilke song centered around Fender’s earnest delivery, a soulful horn solo, strummed guitar, a sprinkle of soaring strings. While being an unvarnished and honest look at himself and his life, revealing a man, who has desperately fought against the destructive patterns and cycles of his own upbringing and his battles with crippling self-bout, the new single centered around Fender’s unerring knack for crafting rousing arena rock anthems. “This song in particular is about how insecurity has affected my relationships. Definitely one of the more personal ones,” Fender notes. 

Directed by Hector Dockrill, the recently released video for “Get You Down” stars the British JOVM mainstay as the song’s narrator, desperately struggling with his self-doubt, his upbringing and with keeping a major romantic relationship together. Told through a kinetic yet gorgeously shot series of flashbacks, the video follows the car racing protagonist as he practices for a major race — and then gets into a near fatal car wreck during the race.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Palm Ghosts Release a True Crime-Inspired Visual for Dance Floor Friendly “Bloodlight”

Led by singer/songwriter, producer and Ice Queen Records founder Joseph Lekkas, the Nashville-based indie rock act Palm Ghosts can trace its origins to when Lekkas resided 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, he recorded a batch of introspective songs that at the time, he dubbed “sun-damaged American music” that would eventually become the project’s full-length debut. After a short tour in 2013 to support the album, Lekkas packed up his belongings and relocated to Nashville, enticed by the city’s growing indie rock scene. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, you may recall that Palm Ghosts’ third album, 2018’s Architecture was a change in sonic direction for the project with Lekkas writing material influenced by the sounds of the 80s — in particular, Cocteau Twins, Peter Gabriel, Dead Can Dance, New Order,  The Cure, and others. 

Much like countless other acts across the world, Lekkas and his bandmates spent much of forced downtime of the pandemic, being as busy as humanly possible: The members of the JOVM mainstay act wrote a ton of new material. The past year or so of isolation of lockdowns and quarantines, socioeconomic and financial uncertainty and protests and demonstrations helped to fuel an immediacy to the material the band had been busily writing.

Earlier this year, the Nashville-based outfit released their fourth album Lifeboat Candidate, a fittingly dark, dystopian effort full of confusion, fear and dread, informed by the events and circumstances of last year. And while the world feels little changed since last year, the JOVM mainstay’s fifth album Lost Frequency is a much different album. Initially scheduled for release last year, Lifeboat Candidate harkens to the before, when things seemed normal — or at least less uneasy, less desperate. After a difficult 18 months of pandemic, 700,000+ deaths in the US alone, financial despair, political uncertainty and more, having some respite, some sort of escape is what most of us urgently need. In a loose sense, Lost Frequency feels almost celebratory — and perhaps a bit more nostalgic, than its immediate predecessor. But the material lyrically brings confrontation to the forefront, reminding the listener that at this juncture, normalcy is devastating. 

 Lost Frequency‘s first single “Bloodlight” continues a run of hook-driven material indebted to The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode and the like with the song being centered around tweeter and woofer thumping beats, shimmering guitars, hypnotic, motorik grooves, atmospheric synths and an enormous hook. And while dance floor friendly, the song lyrically is a seething indictment of humanity and its treatment of Mother Earth. 

“‘Bloodlight,’ the album opener, is a dark dance track that compares the  climate crisis to a crime scene,.” Palm Ghosts’ Joseph Leekas explains in press notes. “Luminol is a chemical commonly used in  forensics for the detection of blood stains. Nothing vanishes without a trace  and particles of blood adhere to surfaces for years.  

“The same applies to what humans have done to the earth. The damage will remain long after we are gone.”  

Directed by Nick Hawl, the recently released video for “Bloodlight” stars Ben de la Cour, Jessica Bell, Charles Hager and Cole Morse in a dark and uneasy police procedural that follows two cowboy hat wearing detectives investigating a brutal and bloody double murder. But as the story slows unfurls, we see that something is dangerously wrong: one of the detectives was obsessed with the victim — and towards the end of the video, we see a vicious yet fairly obvious plot twist that hits upon the themes of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Jess Chalker Returns With a Trippy Visual for Sultry “Cynical”

Sydney-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer, Jess Chalker started her music career as the frontman of Aussie New Wave act We Are The Brave. And since We Are The Brave’s breakup, Chalker has become a highly sought-after collaborator: She has worked with Sam Fischer, Vintage Culture, Isamachine, Gold Kimono, and Passenger — and she was part of the Grammy Award-winning songwriting and production team that cowrote Lisa Loeb‘s lead single on the acclaimed artist’s kids record Feel What U Feel. Additionally, the Aussie-born, British-based artist wrote “Darkest Hour” for the Amazon Original series Panic, performed by Tate McRae.

Chalker finally steps out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her full-length debut Hemispheres. Slated for a November 5, 2021 release through her own imprint 528 Records, the album was completed under the massive weight of the pandemic, and as Chalker grappled with the loss of her day job and heartbreaking health issues. 

Much like countless others across the globe, she found herself spiraling and turned to music for the creative outlet she needed. Collaborating with friends across Sydney, Los Angeles and London, including Dan Long, Josh Humphreys and Chalker’s former We Are The Brave bandmate Ox Why, Chalker wound up finishing what would turn out to be a deeply emotional album. And interestingly enough, she managed to find much longed-for freedom in the process: “Releasing this album is terrifying and thrilling to me,” the Aussie-born, British-based artist says in press notes. “I grew up in a religion that discouraged us from pursuing career success, where women weren’t allowed on stage to address an audience directly. I think it’s why I’ve always tried to avoid the spotlight but, after the year we’ve all had, my perspective on things has changed quite a lot. I’m not wasting any more time doubting myself.”

Sonically, the album reportedly finds Chalker and her collaborators crafting material featuring guitar-driven hooks and retro synths paired with the Aussie-born, British-based artist’s expressive vocals. Thematically, the album deals with themes that explore the dichotomy between depression and hopefulness, self-doubt and self-love and more. 

In the lead up to the album’s forthcoming release, I’ve managed to write about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • The Chalker, Rich Jacques and Martjin Tinus Konijnenburg co-written “Don’t Fight It.” Centered around glistening synth arpeggios, reverb-drenched drums. Chalker’s expressive vocals, the track hints at Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Prince, while full of the bittersweet longing and uncertainty of a narrator who’s physically and emotionally lost. 
  • The breezy and defiantly upbeat “Stupid Trick.”Centered around shimmering guitars, atmospheric synths, Chalker’s plaintive vocals, the song thematically focuses on the innocence and desperately intense feelings of teenaged love, before gradually learning what love really is and what it really means. And while bringing up memories of Pat Benetar‘s “Love is a Battlefield,” Rod Stewart‘s “Young Turks” and others, the song continued a run of material driven by Chalker’s unerring knack for paring earnestly written material with a razor sharp hook. 

“Cynical,” Hemisphere‘s latest single is a smoky pop song centered around Chalker’s achingly tender vocals, twinkling keys, atmospheric synths, a sinuous and propulsive bass line, and a bluesy guitar lines. But while being sultry and full of longing, “Cynical” possesses an underlying tension, tumult and tension that should feel familiar to anyone, who has been in a complicated, dramatic relationship full of fiery passion that will burn out or blow up in everyone’s faces,

“Musically this song feels quite drama-filled,” Chalker says, “There’s a tension in it that’s familiar, like the tumult of being in one of those relationships you know won’t go the distance but feels good in the moment.”

Directed by Thomas Calder, the recently released video for “Cynical” is part lyric video, part music video in which we see Chalker rendered in blown out, psychedelic colors,.

Pre-order the album now via Bandcamp (https://jesschalker.bandcamp.com)

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Belgian Shoegazers Slow Crush Return with a Dreamy Visual for Brooding and Lush “Lull”

Belgian shoegazer outfit Slow Crush — currently Isa Holliday (vocals, bass), Jelle Harde Ronsmans (guitar), Jeroen Jullet (guitar) and Frederik Meeuwis (drums) — exploded into the international shoegaze scene with the release their full-length debut, 2018’s Aurora. Between 2018 and 2020, Slow Crush supported the album with nonstop, relentless touring across the world with acts like Pelican, Torche, Soft Kill, and Gouge Away — and with festival stops at Roadburn, ArcTanGent, 2000Trees and Groezrock.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the members of the Belgian shoegazer outfit was forced to cancel plans for two European tours and a Stateside tour at the last minute. But interestingly enough for the band, the pandemic was a bit of a blessing and a bit of a curse: The time off from touring allowed the band to re-think and re-group. Aurora‘s unexpected success and the demands of heavy touring had taken a toll on everyone’s personal lives. This was intensified with a massive lineup change, which saw two members leave. Eventually Holliday and Ronsmans recruited the band’s newest members Julioet and Meuwis to complete the band’s newest lineup. And adding to a stormy period of change and uncertainty, the band’s label Holy Roar Records collapsed, leaving the band without a home. 

Slow Crush’s highly anticipated sophomore album is slated for a Friday release through Quiet Panic. Written in between tours and the unexpected downtime during pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, the album’s material is heavily influenced by turbulent times — both personal and global. While further cementing their sound, featuring abrasive and whirling layers of guitars and thunderous drumming paired with Holliday’s ethereal vocals, Hush reportedly finds the band growing as musicians and songwriters. Although the album was informed by and inspired by the dark and heavy times, the material isn’t all bleak; in fact, it’s filled with the hope for a bright, new day. 

In the lead up to the album’s release, I’ve written about two of Hush‘s released singles:

  • Brooding album title track “Hush,” which was centered around an expansive song structure with towering layers of feedback and fuzz pedaled guitars, thunderous drumming and Holiday’s sensual yet ethereal cooing. And at its core, the song expresses an aching and unreciprocated longing.
  • “Swoon,” a breakneck ripper with mosh pit friendly hooks that brought Finelines era My Vitriol and Lightfoils to mind but paired with introspective and impressionistic lyrics. The song can be read in a number of different ways: it could be read as touching upon the loneliness, uncertainty and longing that comes about as a result of a seemingly bitter breakup. But it can also be read as a desire to escape a bleak world through connecting with someone equally as lonely as you are. 

“Lull,” Hush‘s latest single continues a run of brooding and lush painterly textured shoegaze that may remind some listeners of a slick synthesis of A Storm in Heaven, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. And much like its predecessors, the song features impressionistic lyrics that express a profound and bitter ache.

The recently released video for “Lull” by Bobby Pook at SumoCrucial is a hazy yet cinematic fever dream that follows a man riding around a very European town on a bicycle when he sees a woman walking into the sea, The man gets off his bicycle and runs towards the woman — but is she a mirage? Is she some lingering ghost that has haunted him? That is up to you.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Frankie and The Witch Fingers Take Viewers on a Drug, Chaos and Violence-Fueled Trip Through Los Angeles

Since initially forming in Bloomington, IN over a decade ago, the rising Los Angeles-based psych rock outfit Frankie and the Witch Fingers — featuring core trio Dylan Sizemore (vocals), multi-instrumentalist Josh Menashe and Shaughnessy Starr (drums) — have developed and honed a reputation for restless experimentation, multiple permutations and a high-powered, scuzzy take on psych rock, centered around absurdist lyrical imagery, often fueled by hallucinations, paranoia and lust. The end result is material that manages to be simultaneously mischievous and menacing. When Shaughnessy Starr joined, the band went through another of their many sonic permutations, which resulted in a lysergic and claustrophobic sound rooted in Black Sabbath-like riffage.

Building upon a rapidly growing national profile, the band has opened for the likes of JOVM mainstays Thee Oh Sees, Cheap Trick and ZZ Top.

The band’s most recent full-length effort, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters . . . was last released last year through Greenway Records and Levitation Festival‘s label The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Recorded in a breakneck five-day recording session, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters . . . features much more insidious, evil and ambitious material while capturing the band in the midst of massive personnel changes: longtime bassist Alex Bulli left the band, and as a result, Josh Menashe wound up writing and playing most of the material’s bass parts with occasional contributions from Dylan Sizemore. Much like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s Infest the Rats Nest, Frankie and the Witch Fingers’ latest effort sees the band writing expansive and maximalist material — with fewer moving parts.

Since the release of Monsters, the band has been busy writing and recording new material, including the “Cookin'” seven inch, which was released through Greenway Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society today. “Cookin'” further cements the Los Angeles-based psych outfit’s long-held reputation for psych rock centered around scorching riffage. Paired with a punchy baseline and a rousingly anthemic sing-along chorus, “Cookin'” manages to be a rollicking party starter — but the good time vibes are superficial, as the song thematically calls out humanity’s obliviousness, greed and wastefulness,

Directed by Alfredo Lopez, the recently released video for “Cookin'” features three badass women, who gleefully inflict all kinds of chaos and destruction wherever they go, while doing a shit ton of drugs and drinking way too much booze.

“‘Cookin’ is a visceral and violent snapshot of three agents of chaos who gleefully inflict destruction and terror wherever they go,” the members of Frankie and The Witch Fingers explain. “They are personifications of the brutality of nature, the wrath of humanity, and the cruel unpredictability of reality. Havoc incarnate, they weave a path of wanton destruction and utter wastefulness throughout a sweaty, summer day in Los Angeles. The significance of moral values, of good and evil, are entirely human constructs; in nature it’s only kill or be killed — and leave the remains for someone else to clean up. The themes behind this song and video are a rumination on the ways in which we are carelessly laying waste to the resources we were gifted. Nature is relentless, humans are destructive, and everything decays eventually. The planet doesn’t belong to us, we belong to the planet, and she’ll be here long after we’re gone.”

The band is currently on tour with Acid Dad — and the tour includes a stop tomorrow night at The Bowery Ballroom. For tour dates and ticket information for tomorrow night and the remaining tour dates, check out the following: https://frankieandthewitchfingers.com/#shows

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Money War Release an Intimate Visual for introspective “Blood”

Perth-based dream pop duo and JOVM mainstays The Money War — married duo Carmen and Dylan Ollivierre — can trace their origins to a road trip that the pair took across the States in 2015. During their trip, they were so inspired that they wrote and recorded a ton of iPhone demos. After a chance meeting with producers Thom Monahan and Arne Frager in a San Francisco dive bar, the duo were convinced of the value of their demos, and began to further flesh out their material, which eventually lead to their full-length debut, 2019’s Home. 

Since their formation, the duo have managed to attain a national and international profile: They’ve toured with acclaimed Aussie acts Meg Mac, Dope Lemon, Holy Holy, and Neil Finn across their homeland, and they’ve received an Australian Music Prize nod for Home. They’ve made the rounds of the global festival circuit with stops at SXSW, BIGSOUND and others. And adding to a growing profile, they’ve received airplay on Double J, Triple J, BBC 6, KCRW, NPR — and they’ve cracked Stateside college radio charts. They’ve also been covered by Rolling Stone Australia, Tone Deaf, Pile Rats, and theMusic.

The Olliverres have been rather busy over the past 18 months or so: They released their sophomore, full-length Morning People. They signed a global publishing deal with Mirror Music/BMG. They had a baby. And then they released two standalone singles, the Still Corners meets 80s Bruce Springsteen-like “Miles Away” and “Zoom.” Interestingly, during all of that, the Perth-based JOVM mainstays managed to write and record their forthcoming EP Blood, which is slated for a November 5, 2021 release.

The EP’s first single, title track “Blood” is a deliberately crafted, 70s AM rock and Nashville country inspired song prominently featuring Carmen Ollivierre’s achingly plaintive vocals, twinkling keys, gently layered harmonies, a twangy yet soulful electric guitar solo. But at its core the song is centered around the duo’s unerring knack for writing infectious hooks and introspective lyrics that come from deeply lived-in places and experiences. In”Blood,” the song finds its narrator reflecting on the complexities of familial relationships, bloodlines, genetics and dysfunctional patterns, with its narrator, a new parent wondering about the age old debate of nature vs. nature while worrying that they might screw their child up, the way they were screwed up.

“It’s written about the complexity of family relationships and bloodlines, and delves into the nature vs nurture debate I suppose,” The Money War’s Carmen Ollivierre explains in press notes. ” The character in the song has a very tricky relationship with their parents and they’re reflecting on whether they will become like them or learn from them. I think having a kid makes you think about things differently and we’ve been watching our song grow and change, with different characteristics starting to show through from both of us. It’s a topic that both of us have been thinking about a lot”

Continuing their ongoing collaboration with Dan Beard, the recently released video for “Blood” employs a simple concept: We get intimate footage of Carmen and Dylan Ollivierre performing the song with their backing band performing the song in studio.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lost Horizons Teams Up with KookieLou on a Slow-burning and Gorgeous Standalone Single and Visual

The members of the acclaimed duo Lost Horizons — Cocteau Twins‘ and Bella Union Records label head Simon Raymonde (bass. guitar, keys, production) and Dif Juz’s Richie Thomas (drums, keys, guitar) — each ended a 20+ year hiatus from creating music with the release of their full-length debut together, 2017’s Ojaiá, which derived its title from the Spanish word for “hopefully” or the the idiomatic expression, “God willing.” “These days, we need hope more than ever, for a better world,” Thomas said in press notes at the time. “And this album has given me a lot of hope. To reconnect with music . . . And the hope for another Lost Horizons record!” 

Seemingly, the state of the world has gotten much worse and much more dire since the release of Ojalá. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the viciously inequitable flaws of our socioeconomic systems and our blind selfishness and greed. We’re on the brink of irrevocable climate catastrophe. Millions across the world are risking life and limb, migrating to wherever they can as a result of climate change, socioeconomic instability and civil war. But one small portion of Thomas’ hopes have been fulfilled: the duo reconvened to write and record their acclaimed sophomore album In Quiet Moments. 

Written and recorded during pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, In Quiet Moments‘ material is inspired by the sense of existential doom, fear, uncertainty and anxiety of the larger world — and deep heartache: Just as the duo were settling into the studio to craft the largely improvised, instrumental bedrock of the album’s material, Raymonde’s mother died. 

As a response, Raymonde threw himself into his work as a way to channel his grief. “The way improvisation works,” he says, “it’s just what’s going on with your body at the time, to let it out.” The duo forged ahead, crafting 16 instrumental tracks that they sent to an eclectic array of guest vocalists including Ural Thomas, Penelope Isles‘ Jack Wolter, The Hempolics Nubiya Brandon, Tim Smith, Gemma Dunleavy, the innocence mission’s Karen Peris, Horse Thief‘s Cameron Neal, Marissa Nadler, Porridge Radio‘s Dana Margolin, John Grant, Ballet School‘s Rosie Blair, Penelope Isles’ Lily Wolter (as her solo recording project KookieLou) and an impressive list of others. 

When they sent the instrumental tracks to their then-prospective guest vocalists, Raymonde suggested a guided theme for their lyrics: “Death and rebirth. Of loved ones, of ideals, at an age when many artists that have inspired us are also dead, and the planet isn’t far behind. But I also said, ‘The most important part is to just do your own thing, and have fun.” Roughly half of the album’s lyrics were written during the middle of pandemic-related lockdowns but as it turns out, Raymonde in particular, saw a sliver lining: people were forced to slow down and take careful stock of themselves and their lives. Interestingly, after having heard a lyric written by Ural Thomas, Raymonde singled out on the phrase “in quiet moments,” and thought it would be a perfect album title. “It just made sense,” he says. “This moment of contemplation in life is really beautiful.” 

Although generally centered around loss and heartbreak, the album’s material is imbued with a sense of hope. And as a result, the album subtly leans in the direction of rebirth more so than death. “I think it’s more joyous than Ojalá,” Thomas says. “But both albums have a great energy about them.” That shouldn’t be surprising as both Lost Horizons albums find the duo and their various collaborators on a journey through a dizzying area of moods and voices. 

Lost Horizons’ teamed up with Penelope Isles’ Lily Wolter (a.k.a. KookieLou) on In Quiet Moments single “Heart of a Hummingbird,” a widescreen yet hazy bit of shoegaze that focuses on the confusing and often contradictory feelings that love and heartache inspire — in particular, longing, desperation, uncertainty, acceptance and denial.

Lost Horizons’ Simon Raymonde, along with Penelope Isles’ Lilly Wolter teamed up on slow-burning and gorgeous standalone single “Florida.” Centered around atmospheric synths, shimmering pedal steel, sinuous bass lines and Wolter’s ethereal cooing, “Florida” is a dreamy and introspective song featuring a narrator, who looks at herself and a romantic relationship with a very adult, unvarnished honesty.

Directed by Jack and Lily Wolter, the video for “Florida” further establishes the duo’s reputation for doing as much as possible in a DIY fashion: Featuring a mix of hand-made illustrations and animation, the video follows Lily Wolter in a paper mâché air balloon on a journey through weird and fantastical landscapes and views.

“Like most videos my brother Jack and I make, this one was most certainly trial and error,” Lily Wolter explains. “A lot of the time we find ourselves surrounded in a jungle of paints, flowers, glitter, string, lava lamps and makeshift green screens and say, ‘what have we gotten ourselves into?’ Despite the hours of drawings and the former attempts to make something that suited the trance-like, flowing, softness of the song, we got there in the end! The lyrics are about a time I spent on tour in America a few years back. We wanted to show an abstract journey overlooking all sorts of weird and wonderful views. I’ve always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon, but I reckon it would be pretty damn scary. Big thanks to our mum for assisting with the paper-mâché balloons, to our dear friend Josh for the helping hand, and to Lost Horizons for wanting me to sing on their music, I’m once again, truly honoured.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montreal’s Reno McCarthy Releases a Feverish Visual for Slickly Produced New Bop “For A Moment”

With the release of his full-length debut, 2019’s Counterglow, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and pop artist Reno McCarthy quickly received attention for his remarkably self-assured songwriting. The Montreal-based artist also received praise for his debonair stage presence — and for having a backing band that plays a groove-heavy live set.

Following the loss of his father last year, McCarthy wound up writing and recording a moving and deeply moving EP, Angels Watching Us Down, which found the Montreal-based artist crafting much more stripped down and strikingly sensitive material. Since the release of the EP, McCarthy has been busy writing and recording a string of standalone singles including the introspective yet upbeat “Sundown.”

Released earlier this year, “Sundown” was centered around an expansive song structure featuring twinkling synths, glistening guitars, McCarthy’s plaintive vocals, a soaring hook and a brooding bridge; but more importantly, the song managed to reveal an artist with an unerring ability to craft songs drawing from lived-in, personal experience: Lyrically, the song touches upon infatuation and obsession in a way that should feel familiar to anyone who has been — or felt — unrequited love/lust/desire.

McCarthy’s latest single, the Jesse Mac Cormack co-produced “For A Moment” is a slick, hook-driven confection centered around thumping beats, glistening synth arpeggios, a driving yet funky bass line, dub-like tape echo and reverb paired with the Canadian artist’s plaintive achingly plaintive vocals. While sonically recalling JOVM mainstay St. Lucia and 80s synth pop, the song lyrically deals with hesitation and decisiveness, capturing the push and pull of a complicated and uncertain romantic relationship.

“For A Moment” will appear on the Canadian artist’s soon-to-be released album, RUN UP RIVER, slated for an October 29, 2021 release.

Edited by Reno McCarthy and Charles-David Dubé, the recently released video for “For a Moment” is a frenetic fever dream that follows McCarthy brooding in an abandoned, post apocalyptic-like downtown area, driving around in a gorgeous, classic Mustang and being chased, as well as McCarthy trying to maneuver through a wild party. In some way, the video suggests that all of this may very well be in his own head.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: High Waisted’s Jessica Louise Dye Steps Out as a Solo Artist with Dance Pop Project Hello Lightfoot

New York-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Jessica Louise Dye is best known for being the co-founder and frontwoman of acclaimed New York-based surf pop/surf rock outfit and JOVM mainstays High Waisted. Founded back in 2014 by Dye and her bandmate Jono Bernstein (drums), High Waisted has toured across the country both as an opener and as a headliner, with stops at SXSW and Riot Fest.

High Waisted contributed a song inspired by and written about the Eighth Amendment, which was featured on NPR’s More Perfect and 27: The Most Perfect Album alongside a who’s who list of indie artists. They were also featured on a Record Store Day compilation with Lenny Kaye, and fellow JOVM mainstays Atmosphere.

Besides being an acclaimed songwriter and musician, Dye has made a name for herself as a DJ, playing sold out rooms across the — and for throwing some of the city’s wildest themed parties in basements, rooftops and on boats. Just as a party organizer, she has received praise from the likes of NYLON, GQ, Noisey, BrooklynVegan, Consequence, Billboard, Paste and High Times. I’ve been to a couple of the High Waisted at Sea parties and they were they legendary.

2021 sees the High Waisted frontwoman stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her brand new, solo recording project Hello Lightfoot. “I finally had the courage to finish the solo EP I stared nearly ten years ago, after the sudden death of my best friend,” Dye explained through email. “It was a heavy, cathartic process and I am really proud of myself for pushing through the pain to complete it.”

While we await details of the EP, Dye’s debut single as Hello Lightfoot “Twenty-Seven” is a slickly produced, hook-driven, club friendly confection featuring glistening synth arpeggios, thumping beats and a relentless motorik groove. While being a decided sonic departure from her acclaimed work with High Waisted, the song is centered around confessional lyrics delivered with an aching vulnerability informed by lived-in experience of heartbreak, self-doubt and uncertainty.

Directed by Zach Wright and Zack Bass, the accompanying video for “Twenty-Seven” is shot with hazy, candy colored hewed color palette and follows Dye as she navigates Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Releases an Introspective New Single and Visual

With the release of Out in the Dark, the Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay MAGON quickly established a sound that he has publicly dubbed “urban rock on psychedelics.” Sonically, to my ears, the material seemed indebted to Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie and T. Rex. 

Late last year, the Israeli-born, Paris-based artist released his critically applauded sophomore album Hour After Hour. Featuring tracks like  “Change,” a dreamy meditation on the passing of time, “Aerodynamic,” a decidedly glam rock-inspired take on psych rock and the No Wave meets post-punk like album title track “Hour After Hour,” MAGON’s sophomore album was a decided change in direction with the album’s material being “somewhere between Ty Segall, Allah-Las and The Velvet Underground” according to MAGON.

MAGON’s third album In The Blue is slated for release in December. The forthcoming album reportedly finds the Israeli-born, French-based JOVM mainstay’s work inspired by two different sets of influences 70s rock like Lou Reed and Led Zeppelin and contemporary influences like Mac DeMarco and Devendra Banhart. Additionally, the album’s material is centered around contemplative songwriting.

In The Blue‘s first single “The Willow” continues a remarkable run of 70s rock inspired material, but paired with some of the most contemplative and introspective songwriting of the JOVM mainstay’s growing catalog: The song follows its characters through a trip to Egypt, where the narrator sees the titular willow. But the trip also serves a larger metaphor for its characters, who are trying to find something — themselves? some deeper, hidden truth? Whether they find something or not, is up to you.

Directed and shot by Magon and Alexa Rotarescu, the video for “The Willow” was gorgeously shot at the Coco Reef Ecolodge and follows the Parisian-based artist on a trip through Zanzibar.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brazilian JOVM Mainstays WRY Releases a Sunny and Optimistic Bit of Power Pop

Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil-based psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays WRY — Mario Bross (vocals, guitar), Luciano Marcello (guitar), Ítalo Ribero (drums) and William Leonotti (bass) — are at the forefront of Brazil’s indie rock and psych rock scenes, releasing six albums of material that have firmly established a sound that features elements of Brit pop, alt-rock, shoegaze and post punk — with a distinctly Brazilian flavor.

After a stint living and working in London, the Brazilian JOVM mainstays earned a growing international profile, which led to several tours across the UK and the European Union, including some stops on the European festival circuit, most notably, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound. 

Along with their growing recorded output, the members of the band own a very popular club in their homeland, which has frequently hosted their internationally acclaimed countrymen, fellow JOVM mainstays and friends  Boogarins. 

Last year’s brilliant Noites Infinitas was released to critical praise, with the album receiving airplay on radio stations across Brazil and the States. The album also landed on a number of Best of Lists globally. Continuing upon the momentum of Noites Infinitas, the Brazilian psych rock outfit will be releasing their seventh full-length album Reviver on November 12, 2021 through Deaf Haus.

Reviver‘s first single “Where I Stand” is a sunny and overwhelmingly optimistic bit of power pop centered around WRY’s unerring knack for crafting enormous Brit Pop-like hooks, fuzzy power chords and thunderous drumming. The band explains that lyrically the song is about hope — but it can be read about hope returning after a bleak and very dark period, much like our current one. As long as we breathe, feel, think and experience, all is never lost.

Directed by Alex Batista, the recently released video for “Where I Stand” features the members of the Brazilian quartet riding bicycles on an airport runway while rocking out to the song. It’s playful, goofy and necessary.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New VIdeo: JOVM Mainstays Kælan Mikla Teams up with Alcest on Brooding and Atmospheric “Hvítir Sandar”

2018 was a breakthrough year for Reykjavik-based post-punk/industrial act and JOVM mainstays Kælan Mikla— Sólveig Matthildur Kristjánsdóttir (synths, vocals),  Margrét Rósa Dóru-Harrysdóttir (bass), and Laufey Soffía Þórsdóttir (vocals): The Cure’s Robert Smith championed the Icelandic trio, and handpicked them to open for the legendary British act’s festival stops through the UK and US. The Icelandic post punk outfit played that year’s Roadburn Festival, and they toured with King Dude. Interestingly enough, all of that happened before the release of their critically applauded third album Nótt eftir nott. 

Undir Köldum Norðumljósum, the Reykjavik-based trio’s soon-to-be released, Barði Jóhannsson-produced fourth album is slated for release next week through their longtime label home Artoffact Records. Undir Köldum Norðumljósum reportedly sees the trio crafting lush and cinematic material centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, ethereal vocals sung in their native Icelandic, spine-chilling background screams, relentless motorik grooves and programmed drums while pulling the listener into their unique world full of folklore, fairytales, magic, spells and mysticism. The album will also feature a guest spot from Alcest, who toured with the trio across the European Union before the pandemic. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release I’ve managed to write about three of the album’s released singles:

  • “Sólstöður,” a brooding and cinematic track centered around droning and shimmering synths, nightmarish screams and an ethereal and gorgeous vocal melody. Sonically, “Sólstöður,” evokes horror soundtracks — especially those featuring witches and demons slinking out into the night to perform ancient rituals involving human or animal sacrifices. “’Sólstöður’ is an ode to the darkest night of the year, when witches summon winter spirits in the frozen vastness of Icelandic landscapes,” the members of the Icelandic trio explain in press notes. “The song represents the strength of unity, Kælan Mikla in its truest form, fueled by the power of harsh and raw nature.”
  • “Ósýnileg,” a dance floor friendly track centered around shimmering and atmospheric synth arpeggios, relentless motorik grooves, rapid fire, four-on-the-floor beats and blood curdling screams in the background. Interestingly, the track manages to evoke strobe lit discos and howling wintry winds and unexplained phenomena simultaneously. 
  • “Stormurinn,” a decidedly widescreen take on the sound that has won them attention internationally: While you’ll still hear shimming synth arpeggios, rapid fire four-on-the-floor, motorik grooves and razor sharp hooks paired with the trio’s ethereal vocals, you’ll also hear some a gorgeous flute arrangement and howling winds, which evoke Icelandic’s stormy and unpredictable weather.

Undir Köldum Norðumljósum‘s fourth and latest single is the slow-burning and brooding “Hvítir Sandar,” a collaboration with French act Alcest. Sólveig Matthildur Kristjánsdóttir’s hauntingly ethereal vocals float over a stormy mix of glistening and icy synths and industrial clang and clatter.

“‘Hvítir Sandar’ is about feeling like you’re being defeated by your inner faults and demons. It’s about self-acceptance,” the Icelandic JOVM mainstays explain in press notes. ” Even if you carry a darkness within, it’s what makes you who you are, and you shouldn’t have to change for other people.”

“We felt really honored when Kælan Mikla offered us to be guests on their song ‘Hvítir Sandar,'” the members of Alcest say in press notes. “Alcest and Kælan Mikla toured together in 2020 and from the start we definitely saw connection between the two bands, despite the stylistic difference. ‘Hvítir Sandar’ is one of our favorites on the album and before even starting to work on it we had a vision of what the aesthetics of Alcest could bring to the song. We are so proud of how it turned out and we hope that the fans of Kælan Mikla will enjoy this collaboration just as much as we did!”

Directed by Máni Sigfússon, the recently released video for “Hvítir Sandar” continues a run of gorgeous and cinematically shot and incredibly eerie visuals paired with computer generated graphics.

Album pre-order is available here: https://kaelanmikla.bandcamp.com

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Robert Finley Returns with a Soulful Plea for Empathy and Kindness

Robert Finley is a 67 year-old Winnsboro, LA-born, Bernice, LA-based singer/songwriter and JOVM mainstay, who was one of eight children in a family of sharecroppers. As a child, a young Finley was unable to regularly attend school and often worked with his family in the cotton fields. When he was a teenager, he briefly attended a segregated school; but he dropped out in the 10th grade to help the family out financially.

As an adult, Finley has lived a full, complicated and often messy life: he’s an army veteran and a skilled carpenter, who has survived house fires, a bad auto accident and a divorce. Sadly, the Louisiana-born and-based JOVM mainstay lost his sight in his early 60s as result of glaucoma. And although, he was forced to retire from from carpentry, Finley realized that he now had an opportunity to purse a lifelong dream — becoming a professional musician and singer.

Finley believes that his sight was improved by the power of prayer — and that his faith has also helped him focus on launching a music career in his 60s. According to Finley “losing my sight, gave me the perspective to see my true identity.”

Finley’s rise has been rapid: As the story goes, Dan Auerbach immediately saw Finley’s potential, quickly proclaiming that the Louisiana-born and-based artist is “the greatest living soul singer.” As Auerbach recalls in press notes, “He walked in like he was straight out of the swamp.” He adds, “He had leather pants, snakeskin boots, a big Country & Western belt buckle, a leather cowboy hat and a three-quarter-length leather duster. The final touch was the folding cane the legally blind Finley wore on his hip, in a holster. Basically, he was dressed for national television.” 

Auerbach went on to produce Finley’s 2017 breakthrough sophomore album Goin’ Platinum, an album released to widespread critical acclaim from the likes of the Associated Press, who praised Finley’s ability to lend “instant credibility to any song” and The Observer, who wrote “Finley’s versatile voice ranges from prime Motown holler to heartbroken falsetto croon.” The Louisiana-born and-based singer/songwriter went on to support the album with international touring across 10 countries — with his live show drawing praise from a number of publications, including The New York Times and several others. Finley was also profiled on PBS NewsHour, which led him to becoming a contestant on the 2019 season of America’s Got Talent, eventually reaching the semi-finals. 

Finley’s third album Sharecropper’s Son was released earlier this year through Easy Eye Sound. The album continues the Louisiana-born and-based JOVM mainstay’s successful collaboration with Auerbach and features songwriting and cowrites from Finley, Auerbach, Bobby Wood and Pat McLaughlin. Much like other Easy Eye Sound releases, the album features an All-Star backing band that includes Auerbach (guitar); Kenny Brown (guitar), a member of R.L Burnside‘s backing band; studio legends Russ Pahl (pedal steel) and Louisiana-born, Nashville-based Billy Sanford (guitar); Bobby Wood (keys and as previously mentioned songwriting); Gene Chrisman (drums), who’s a Memphis and Nashville music legend; as well as contributions from The Dap Kings‘ Nick Movshon (bass), Eric Deaton (guitar); Dave Roe (bass), who was member of Johnny Cash‘s backing band; Sam Bacco (percussion) and a full horn section. 

Sharecropper’s Son may arguably be the most personal album of Finley’s growing catalog, drawing directly from his life and experience. “I was ready to tell my story, and Dan and his guys knew me so well by then that they knew it almost like I do, so they had my back all the way,” Finley says in press notes. “Working in the cotton fields wasn’t a pleasant place to be, but it was part of my life. I went from the cotton fields to Beverly Hills. We stayed in the neighborhood most of our childhood. It wasn’t really all that safe to be out by yourself. One of the things I love about music is that, when I was a boy growing up in the South, nobody wanted to hear what I had to say or what I thought about anything. But when I started putting it in songs, people listened.”

In the past few months, I’ve written about three of the album’s released singles:

  • “Country Boy,” a swampy and funky bit of country soul featured a tight, strutting groove, bluesy guitar lines, shimmering organ and Finley’s soulful and creaky falsetto paired with autobiographic lyrics, which were improvised on the spot with the tape rolling. “When we play live, I always leave room in the show for lyrics I make up on the spot while the band hits a groove,” Finley explains. “I guess the younger generation calls it free-styling, but for me, it’s just speaking from my mind, straight from my soul.” While lyrically, the song touches upon classic blues fare — heartbreak, loneliness, being broke, being a stranger far away from home and the like, the song is fueled by Finley’s sincerity. He has lived through those experiences, and you can tell that from the vulnerable cracks in his weathered croon. 
  • Album title track “Sharecropper’s Son,” a strutting blues holler featuring James Cotton-like blasts of harmonica, shimmering Rhodes, a chugging groove, a classic blues solo, and Finley’s creaky and soulful crooning and shouts. And much like its predecessor, the song is fueled by both the lived-in experiences of its writer and the novelistic details within the song: you can feel the hot sun on Finley’s and his siblings’ skin, the sore muscles of backbreaking and unending labor in the fields. But throughout the song, its narrator expresses pride in his family doing whatever they could do legally to survive and keep food on the table. 
  • “Make Me Feel Alright,” is a swampy boogie that’s one part John Lee Hooker barroom blues, one part Mississippi Delta Blues centered around a twangy blues guitar line, a shuffling rhythm and Finley’s expressive crooning. While being the sort of song you want your bartender to play loudly on a Friday or Saturday night, as you try to spit some game to some pretty young thing, the song as Finley explains in press notes “is about not looking for love, but for companionship. Sometimes you want to find someone to have a good time, You meet someone, have a fun night and then go on your separate ways with your own problems at the end of the night but still experience love in the moment.” 

Sharecropper’s Son‘s latest single “I Can Feel Your Pain” is an old school soul ballad centered around twinkling Rhodes, Finley’s expressive crooning, a two-step inducing rhythm, bluesy guitar blasts and a soaring chorus. But at its core, the song is an earnest expression of empathy for everyone who has had a difficult time of things, during this most unusually difficult period. And it comes from the deeply lived-in place of someone who’s experienced profound difficulties and inconsolable loss.

From my own experience, sometimes you just need someone to say to you, “I’ve been there. I know how that feels. Grief and heartache come in waves but somehow, some way, life will push and shove you forward.” And this song says exactly that — and at a time when we all really need it.

“‘I Can Feel Your Pain’ relates really to what is going on today,” Robert Finley explains in press notes. “From people losing loved ones to the pandemic, all the marches going on, people being slaughtered by the police. Even if you don’t really know about the situation from a personal perspective you feel sympathy for that person who had to go through those things and this song is for them.”

Directed by Tim Hardiman, the recently released video for “I Can Feel Your Pain” is shot with a hazy and nostalgic-tinged filter but makes far larger, more powerful points: the righteous struggles for justice and equality of Finley’s youth sadly still go on. Life is a struggle. Heartache and loss are constant. But choose empathy and love, and you’ll get by.