Category: singer/songwriters

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Akira Galaxy Shares Glittery and Yearning “Silver Shoes”

Born Akira Galaxy Ament, the Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based 20-something singer/songwriter and musician Akira Galaxy grew up steeped in eclectic music by her music-loving family for as long as she could remember. Ament cut her teeth as a musician fronting several high school bands in her hometown — before stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist.

The Seattle-born artist’s five-song Chris Coady and Sam Westhoff co-produced debut EP What’s Inside You was released earlier this year through Bright Antenna Records. The EP sees the rising artist effortlessly blending rock ‘n’ roll edge with synth textures that channel 80s dream pop while also drawing from the magic and beauty of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, where Ament often retreats to write. “I moved to LA as a teen to start my endeavor as a musician, but it wasn’t until I hit the pause button and went back to Seattle at 20 that I discovered my musical and lyrical voice,” the rising artist says. “I remember intending to go back for 2 weeks and ending up staying for 7 months. I like to think it was a perfect combination of things—the guitar, my childhood bedroom, and the state of the world. A fire was ignited beneath me, birthing the first song off of the EP, What’s Inside You.

The EP’s material delves into and touches upon themes of love, yearning and disappointment, resulting in a vulnerable yet self-assured debut effort. EP single and closing track “Silver Shoes” is a dreamy and atmospheric Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac-meets-Beach House-like track centered around glistening synth arpeggios, strummed reverb-soaked guitar and steady backbeat serving as lush bed for the Seattle-born artist’s yearning delivery. Throughout the song, its narrator yearns for and attempts to resuscitate a love that has long since died; so at its core, the song is tied into the sort of foolish, desperate and obsessively nostalgic hope of the lovelorn.

Directed by David Black, the accompanying video is a glittering dream that features the rising singer/songwriter and musician in a glittery jumpsuit and glittery faceprint and shot through kaleidoscopic filters and bright lights.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Eric Wink Teams Up with Caitlin McGrath on Breezy “Inconsolable”

Eric Wink is a producer, arrangement and multi-instrumentalist, who attempts to craft timeless pop influenced by old-school funk, soul, disco, jazz and bossa nova. As a keyboardist, Wink’s sound comes from a love of vintage keyboard tones and his rhythmic style of playing comes from a lifetime of being behind drum kits.

Wink’s career started in earnest in his early teens, when he started recording material, picking up sax, bass and guitar along the way. As a self-taught musician, who was dedicated to improving his craft by playing in local blues rock and funk groups, as well as jazz and Latin ensembles.

As a music educator, Wink is focused on collaboration with other artists and driven by a passion for production, whether it’s jazz, funky pop or beyond. His latest single “Inconsolable” is a swinging, soul pop-leaning take on the Bossa nova sound that features effortlessly soulful vocals from Caitlin McGrath and a smooth jazz sax solo.

While being a breezy and summery tune, the song keeping in line with Bossa nova tradition focus on heartbreak with an achingly wistful nostalgia — the sort that seems to say “Oh, if I had only known then what I know now.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: ALIAS Shares Swaggering and Genre-Defying “EMPTY HEAD” with KROY and Cadence Weapon

Emmanuel Alias is a French-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, dilettante and polymath who had had a varied and rather accomplished career in music before he started his eponymous psych rock project ALIAS. 

After spending nine years studying jazz at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France, Alias relocated to Montréal in 2014. Upon his arrival in Québec, Alias landed a job at XS Music, where he worked on scores for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, ICI Télé’s  Une autre histoire, Hubert et Fanny and Cerebrum et Mon fils, Mariloup Wolfe’s feature film Jouliks and for a number of Cirque du Soleil productions. In 2017, Alias also worked for Musique Nomade, where he produced multidisciplinary Oji-Crie’ and Mi’gmaq artist Anachnid‘s DREAMWEAVER, which was nominated for an Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Award and long-listed for the Polaris Prize. 

The French-born, Montreal-based artist also produced singles by Q-052, Annie Sama, Chances, iskwē and Beyries. And he also had a stint as the musical and stage director for Ananchid.

Along with his production and songwriting work for other artists, the French-born, Canadian-based artist has managed to have had a host of different projects to accommodate his need to explore different genres, releasing punk, hip-hop and even ambient material under different monikers, before starting his solo recording project ALIAS, a cathartic psych rock project that sees him crafting retro-tinged sons rooted in fantastical, batshit crazy, hallucinogenic tales paired with fuzzy guitars and wild tempo changes.

Alias’ sophomore ALIAS album Embrace Chaos will be released through Simone Records. Embrace Chaos will feature “CURSED” and “TRUTH OR TRUST,” a woozily euphoric bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, whirring bas synths, relentless four-on-the-floor paired with razor sharp, incredibly catchy hooks. The result is a LCD Soundsystem-meets-Psymon Spine-like soundscape that’s roomy enough for Alias, along with fellow Montréalers Virginie B and Meggie Lennon to playfully trade neurotically self-aware and vaguely paranoid verses and hooks throughout. 

Embrace Chaos‘ third and latest single “EMPTY HEAD” sees the French-born, Canadian-based artist further establishing a genre-bending and genre-defying sound. Featuring guest spots from acclaimed Canadian emcee Cadence Weapon and KROY, the hook-driven “EMPTY HEAD” features elements of industrial electronica, hip-hop and punk rock delivered with a swaggering, in-your-face aplomb.

Directed by Gabrielle Thiffault, the accompanying video for “EMPTY HEAD” features Alias at a birthday party — or some other related gathering — with a table seated by mannequins and masked people. Throughout the French-born, Canadian artist seems to lose his mind and behaves poorly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jinte Deprez is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, programmer and producer, best known as being one-half of the songwriting duo behind the acclaimed Belgian indie outfit Balthazar.

Over the course of the past two decades, the members of Balthazar have played across the global festival circuit with sets at All Points East, British Summer Time, and others — while selling over 600,000 albums globally. Throughout his career, Deprez has firmly cemented a reputation for being a wildly talented generalist: Along with his songwriting partner Maarten Devoldere, Deprez has co-produced three of Balthazar’s five albums to date. 

As the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed solo recording project, J. Bernardt, Deprez wrote, recorded and produced his full-length debut, 2016’s Running Days, an album with a sound molded from electronics. That album has amassed over 40 million streams globally since its release. 

Deprez’s sophomore J. Bernardt album, the Tobie Speleman and Deprez co-produced Contigo is slated for a May 17, 2024 release through Play It Again Sam. Deriving its name from the Spanish phrase “with you,” the album sees Deprez crafting an old-school band-based sound featuring a collection of the Belgian artist’s super-talented friends that he guided through intense rehearsals and performances, “searching for that spark.” The string and orchestral arrangements were written by Deprez, who’s a classically trained violinist. 

Contigo sonically is reportedly a dramatic, compelling and colorful body work and brought to life by sumptuous melodies, vocals and production flourishes from an acclaimed singer/songwriter and producer. Thematically, the album explores all the phases of a break-up: shock, sadness, denial, anger and acceptance while being viciously romantic. “I know a break-up record is a cliché,” says Deprez. “But I’m growing to love cliches! I wasn’t afraid to go all the way. Forgetting about the break-up by singing about it is like self-sabotage, but I’m having fun with it too.”

Last month, I wrote about “Taxi,” a taut pop gem featuring a slinky bass line-driven groove, a soulful female choir, propulsive percussion, twangy bursts of guitar and cinematic strings serving as a lush bed for Deprez’s plaintive and heartbroken delivery. The song’s narrator is in a taxi, desperately desiring an escape to contemplate a recent, very bitter breakup: throughout the ride, the narrator endlessly replays and questions everything that led up to the split. And for devastated and heartbroken narrator, he’s left without any real answers to anything, other than raw hurt, confusion and shock. He’s a man who has had the rug violently yanked out from under.

Contigo‘s latest single, “Mayday Call” is a swaggering yet woozy tune that starts off with a wailing horn but is lead by a thick and brooding orchestral section, a propulsive rhythm section serving as a lush and uneasy bed for Deprez’s squealed delivery, which describes a panic attack with an uncanny verisimilitude before ending with a wearily exhausted coda.

Talking about the release, Deprez elaborates, “it’s a straightforward beautiful song lead by a thick orchestral unisono, all to back the vocals that squeal their way through a description of virtually a panic attack, calling out for help. The song was written in one breath with a suitable code of blasting chaotic horns, there’s also a touch of the original acoustic demo in the outro.”