Category: Video Review

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Distance H Teams Up with Saigon Blue Rain’s Ophelia on Brooding “Bitch 16”

Distance H is a post-punk/darkwave/coldwave recording project of French producer ManuH. The project sees ManuH collaborating with an eclectic array of female vocalists, who contribute melodies and lyrics.

Released earlier this year, the brooding and cinematic “Bitch 16.” sees ManuH collaborating with Saigon Blue Rain‘s Ophelia on a Cocteau Twins-meets-Sixousie and the Banshees-like song rooted in eerie atmospherics and razor sharp hooks.

Directed and edited by Anaïs Novembre, the accompanying video for “Bitch 16” is split between gorgeous and broodingly lit footage of the collaborators in studio, and Saigon Blue Rains Opehila dancing in a creepy, goth-like forest.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: South Africa’s Mikhaela Faye Shares a Slickly Produced, Hook-Driven, Feminist Anthem

Cape Town-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer Mikhaela Faye specializes in music that draws from her degree in jazz, but also informed by the punk rock, indie rock and hip hop that were part of the soundtrack of her teenaged years. Interestingly, Faye has made a name for herself through collaborations on a number of locally produced and released house and hip-hop tracks.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the South African-born and-based artist has developed and honed a reputation for being restless sonic explorer as a collaborator — and as a solo artist that describes her work as “alt pop infused with elements of jazz, R&B and electronica.” And within that framework, Faye claims that there are four distinct cornerstones that inform her creative process: “There’s ‘satirical, tongue-in-cheek, zero fucks given Faye’, and also ‘I graduated with a degree in jazz and like to play complicated chords Faye’. But there’s also ‘I’m trying to be pop but just missing the mark Faye’ and I am sensual, sophisticated and electronically curious Faye.” For Faye, the four-cornered alt pop terrain won’t be the end of the story. “My chameleon brain is birthing new Fayes as we speak,” she says of her current-state of mind.

“I Don’t Want Your Baby,” is a slickly produced pop confection rooted in enormous, shout-along-worthy hooks and seemingly lived-in lyricism while being a defiant and relatable feminist anthem. The song’s narrator expresses a real ambivalence towards motherhood — perhaps with the tacit understanding that at this point in her life, a child would be severely limiting, complicated and exhausting and that she might not be ready or interested in the sort of sacrifices children entail. What’s striking about the song is that it finds Faye being both deadly serious and mischievous.

Directed by Tom Willows, the accompanying video for “I Don’t Want Your Baby” follows Faye as she goes through “traditional” gender roles awkwardly — with Broadway styled, brightly colored dance scenes. The video manages to emphasize the song’s spirit with an uncanny fidelity.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: CIAN Shares Slickly Produced and Yearning “Far From Home”

CIAN is a young and emerging Bogota-born and-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, who spent the bulk of his life in Miami. He grew up listening to Justin Timberlake, Usher and Michael Jackson, although as a pop artist, the Colombian artist cites The Weeknd, Zayn, Drake, Khalid, Majid Jordan, Justin Bieber, and Bazzi as influences on his work.

“Far From Home,” the Bogota-based artist’s latest single is a sickly produced and woozy confection featuring glistening synths, wobbling low end paired with his achingly plaintive vocals and some well-placed, razor sharp hooks. While sonically bringing the likes of The Weeknd and other contemporary pop stars to mind, “Far From Home” manages to reveal a budding star, who can express yearning and vulnerability within a turn of a phrase.

The accompanying moodily shot video follows CIAN in a Nike jumpsuit walking through a forest before we see him the a brisk job — in slow motion. Every few feet, we see him turn his head as though expecting someone or something to chase him.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Chicago’s Somi Shares Swaggering and Self-Assured “Talking”

Somi is a young, emerging Chicago-based singer/songwriter. Her latest single “Talking” is a decidedly lo-fi bit of R&B-leaning indie pop featuring gentle layers of wobbling and jangling guitars, a simple yet propulsive backbeat paired with the emerging Chicago-based artist’s self-assured, soulful delivery and a big, shout-along worthy hook. While sonically bringing early Tame Impala and JOVM mainstay Julien Chang to mind, “Talking” reveals a budding start with a swaggering self-assuredness that belie her relative youth.

The emerging Chicago-based artist explains that “Talking” is “about having confidence in yourself while still keeping an open mind, and learning to listen rather than simply talk at people.” It’s a hard lesson, even for those, who are older — yet it’s a much-needed message to help maneuver the difficulties of human nature and relationships.

Shot on grainy VHS video, the accompanying video follows the emerging Chicago-based artist skateboarding, hanging out at a local skatepark and just being a regular young person. But it has a fitting 90s nostalgia — especially for those olds, like me.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Richmond, VA’s Keep Shares Brooding And Shimmering “Dasani Daydream”

Richmond, VA-based shoegazer outfit Keep formed back in 2013. And since their formation, the Richmond-based act have developed a sound that is heavily influenced by 80s goth and post-punk, 90s shoegaze and grunge, as well as post 2000s indie rock.

Their full-length debut, Happy In Here is slated for a February 3, 2023 release through Honey Suckle Sound. The album’s latest single “Dasani Daydream” is a brooding track centered around shimmering, shoegazer-influenced guitar textures, ambient synths, thunderous drums, enormous hooks paired with achingly plaintive vocals. Rooted in earnest songwriting and performance, “Dasani Daydream” sonically brings A Storm in Heaven and The Life and Times to mind.

Shot at sunrise at the beach, the accompanying video for “Dasani Daydream” follows the band strolling along the beach and playing near the rising tides — and at an eerie amusement park and aquarium.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Say She She Share Hazy and Dramatic Visual for “Trouble”

Deriving their name as a sort of tongue-in-cheek nod to the legendary Nile Rodgers — “C’est chi-chi! It’s Chic!” — NYC-based funk and disco act Say She She features three accomplished, strong female lead vocalists: founding members Piya Malik, who has spent time in El Michels Affair, 79.5 and Chicano Batman; and Sabrina Cunningham; along with Nya Gazelle Brown, a former member of 79.5. 

The rising New York-based outfit can trace their origins back to when Malik and Cunningham found themselves living in the studio apartments directly above and below each other. The pair would hear each other singing through the floorboards and quickly became friends. “I knew the girl below me had the most beautiful voice as I would hear her early in the morning and she would hear me late at night. Between the two of us I don’t think we got a wink of sleep. Then again I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say they moved to New York City to sleep,” Malik says in press notes. 

After spending years singing in other people’s bands, Malik and Cunningham felt they were finally ready to step out into the spotlight with their own project. At first, they wrote tongue-in-cheek songs about bad boyfriends, band breakups and bad politics. But shortly after, they started writing much more serious and vulnerable tunes, like much-needed therapy sessions, detailing the lives of post-modern women. Since then, their material frequently touches upon love, lust, sex, heartbreak, betrayal and hope. 

A few years after they started the project, the duo recruited their close friend and Malik’s former 79.5 bandmate Nya Gazelle Brown to join them. At that point, the act’s core lineup was settled. 

Sonically, Say She She’s sound nods at 70s girl groups — multi-part female harmonies paired paired with funky, disco-inspired arrangements played by a backing band featuring some of New York’s most talented and accomplished players, featuring former members of  Antibalas, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaries, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, The Shacks, Twin Shadow and others. Locally, they’ve developed a reputation as a must-see live act, playing sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom, Nublu 151, Brooklyn Bazaar, C’Mon Everybody and Baby’s All Right among others. 

Released earlier this month through Karma Chief Records, an imprint of Colemine Records, Say She She’s eight-song, Sergio Rios-produced, full-length debut Prism was recorded on old tape machines 
in the basement studios of friends. The album features guest spots from The Dap Kings‘ Joey Crispiano and Victor Axelrod, The Shacks’ Max Shrager, Chicano Batman’s Bardo Martinez, Antibalas‘  Superhuman Happiness‘ and Low Mentality’s Nikhil Yerawadekar, Twin Shadow’s Andy Bauer and NYMPH‘s Matty McDermot. 

Over the course of the year, Say She She have released a handful of attention-grabbing singles that include: 

  • “Forget Me Not,” the New York-based act’s debut single and their debut album’s first single. Featuring a strutting bass line, glistening wah wah pedaled funk guitar, fluttering flute and dreamy three part harmonies “Forget Me Not” is one part Patrice Rushen, one part Tom Tom Club’s “Gangster of Love,” one part ESG, one part Mary Jane Girls, centered around righteous feminist lyrics. “Forget Me Not” premiered on KCRW‘s Morning Becomes Eclectic and was played in heavy rotation, with a KCRW DJ describing the song as “The funkiest shit I’ve heard in a while!” They performed the song for a Paste Magazine session. The song has started to receive airplay on BBC6.

  • “Blow My Mind,” a slow-burning, sultry bop centered around the trio’s yearning and impassioned cries, shimmering Bollywood-inspired riffage and a strutting bass line that’s about returning to a former flame, who you’ve managed to hold feelings for — even after some period of years.

  • “NORMA,” a defiant, politically-charged, glittery dance floor anthem — and urgent call for action, for all of us. Written in response to the leaked Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the song is a powerful reminder that the fight to have this country live up to its ideals ain’t over — and that women’s rights and their right to choose what’s best for them need to be protected. 

  • “Prism,” a glittery and silky ballad centered around glistening keys, a supple bass line and metronomic-like drumming paired with the trio’s lush harmonies. The end result is a hook-driven song that sonically nods at The Supremes, psych pop and psych soul, and sounds as though it could have been released in 1968, 1978, 2008 or — well, today. 

  • “Fortune Teller,” a glittering and slinky disco ballad featuring fluttering vintage synth-driven arpeggios, twinkling keys and a tight, strutting groove paired with the trio’s gorgeous three-part harmonies. The song’s narrator makes an urgent plea of devotion to a lover: they will do whatever they can to protect their lover, no matter what the future holds.

The Michael Buckely and Vince Chiarito co-produced “Trouble,” a standalone single, which was released earlier this year, landed at #7 on KCRW’s Top 30, is an R&B-tinged disco ballad centered around twinkling keys, a sinuous bass line and the trio’s stunningly gorgeous harmonies singing lyrics about being obsessed with a no good, inconsistent lover, who may never come back home.

Directed by Katrina Naficy, the accompanying video for “Trouble” sees the trio stepping into a ’50s-inspired series of vignettes that sees each member of the band longingly waiting for a lover, who may never come home. As the song’s operatic choruses build up to a feverish pitch, the trio losses their shit while realizing the futility of their situation. But in that moment, the members of the trio reclaim their power and agency.

The video is also accompanied by a new 45pressing from the group that features both the aforementioned “Trouble” with a new song “In My Head.” The 45s will be available in both standard vinyl and a limited edition red pression on Colemine’s site, Bandcamp, and at local record shops. You can stream and/or purchase here: https://ffm.to/kcr124

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 49th Birthday, Yasiin Bey!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Yasiin Bey/Mos Def’s 49th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Frais Dispo (formerly Foreign Diplomats) Share Gorgeous and Melancholy “Juillet”

Featuring the members of Montreal-based indie rock outfit Foreign Diplomats — Élie Raymond (guitar, vocals), Antoine Lévesque-Roy (bass), Thomas Bruneau Faubert (trombone, synths), Charles Primeau (guitar) and Antoine Gallois (drums) — Frais Dispo is simultaneously a sort of side project for the members of Foreign Diplomats and a new direction for the band. The project’s self-titled marks the members first album with lyrics written and sung entirely in French.

Deriving, its title from the French name for the month of July, “Juillet,” the first single off the new project’s first album is a melancholy yet accessible bit of pop rooted in the sort of thoughtful and deliberate craftsmanship that gives the song a sweetly anachronistic air. Centered around a gorgeous arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, jangling and reverb-soaked electric guitar, atmospheric synths, a supple bass line, propulsive rhythm section paired with big razor sharp hooks and Raymond’s achingly plaintive and wistful vocals, “Juillet” manages to subtly recall Fleetwood Mac and others. The band explains that the song is a reflection on the languorousness of every day life and the passing of time in a small town. Everything is the same, including the simultaneous longing for the past — and for something different.

Directed by Léonard Giovenazzo, the accompanying video for “Juillet” begins around the fall as we see two buddies stealing apples from an apple orchard with their dog. We quickly fast-forward to a very Canadian winter with our two friends hitching a ride on the back of a pickup truck. Throughout the video, we see gorgeously shot scenes of rural, Canadian life, including man riding his horse and taking it back to the stable, another man ice fishing and so on, before we see the band in Western-styled garb performing on a cold night in a barn. The seasons pass and people do what they do to get by — and it’s all pretty much the same.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Melbourne’s Ben deHoedt Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “Divided Souls”

Ben de Hoedt is a Melbourne-based singer/songwriter, musician and documentary film maker. de Hoedt’s forthcoming album City Lights Shimmer is informed by undercover police drams like Miami Vice, Deep Cover and others while thematically exploring dissonance, duality and paranoia.

Fittingly, the album was conceived as the soundtrack to an imagined undercover detective film — heavy on atmospheric and textures, with songs serving as set-pieces and vocals as incantations. The album is structured like two sides of an LP while still feeling connected and of a piece.

City Lights Shimmer‘s latest single, “Divided Souls” is a brooding and atmospheric bit of 80s-inspired synth pop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, throbbing percussion, a slow-burning yet fiery guitar solo and enormous hooks paired with de Hoedt’s yearning delivery. Sonically, the song seems to evoke the sort of scene that’s seemingly in every undercover detective movie and show: a rainy, foggy night in which our lost and broken detective’s personal and professional lives are about to violently explode.

The accompanying video is based in carefully and slickly edited footage from Miami Vice, which manages to emphasizes the song’s aesthetic and lyrics.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alexandra John Shares Glittery and Earnest Confection “Healing”

Deriving their project’s name from the combination of their middle names, the emerging, Los Angeles-based, fraternal twin sibling, indie electro pop duo Alexandra John — Liza and Weston Cain — officially formed back in 2020. But they can trace their passion for music, and the origins of their music careers to growing up in a musical household in San Francisco: Liza Cain spent much of her childhood dancing, acting and singing, as well as playing piano. Weston Cain is a seasoned multi-instrumentalist, who first started playing the drums when he was four, and picked up other instruments, like guitar and piano, as he grew older.

With Alexandra John, Liza and Weston Cain craft hook-driven indie electro pop influenced by Massive Attack, Glass Animals, and Zero 7 meant to embody both feminine and masculine energies. Fittingly, their creative process is rooted in their uniquely deep personal connection. “When my sister and I get into a room together to work there’s a kinetic, creative energy that’s so familiar,” Alexandra John’s Weston Cain says. “We just seem to feed off one another.” Thematically, the duo’s work tackles big, universal concerns including anxiety, addiction, grief, loss and more.

The duo’s debut EP Healing officially drops today, and the EP was written and informed by the weirdness, chaos and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were all grieving our old lives and accepting the new,” Weston Cain explains. “Everyone goes through healing, every day. The EP lyrically breaks down the process of grieving from denial to acceptance. Each song on the EP adds a new layer of acceptance. It’s really about the growth we all go through while experiencing this crazy beautiful thing we call life,” Liza Cain adds.

Centered around Liza Cain’s self-assured and sultry pop starlet delivery gliding over a slick and contemporary production featuring skittering, trap beats, woozy and atmospheric synths, squiggling funk guitar, Healing EP‘s second and latest single, EP title track “Healing” is a slickly produced, glittery, lounge and club friendly bop that to my ears meshes 80s synth pop with trap and contemporary R&B. But underneath the slick production is earnest, seemingly lived-in lyricism with the song reminding and urging the listener that true healing can only happen when you’re in touch with and acknowledge your feelings.

Featuring videography by Mallory Tuner and Flasch World and edited by Flasch World, the accompanying video for “Healing” features the siblings performing the song and filmed through hazy and kaleidoscopic filters while serving lewks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Enisa Shares World Cup-Inspired Anthem “Olé”

Rising Albanian-American, Brooklyn-born and-based singer/songwriter, pop artist Enisa is a first generation American, who has spent her whole life preparing for a career in music: Following her graduation from Edward R. Murrow High School, Enisa went on to attend Brooklyn College, where she further honed her sound — a sound that sees her meshing contemporary soul pop with Balkan and Middle Eastern flourishes and a touch of Europop. 

The Brooklyn-based artist released a series of distinct covers, which went viral while earning critical acclaim from Complex, XXL, ThisSongIsSick and more. Building upon a growing profile, singles like “Burn This Bridge” and “Wait for Love,” and a guest spot on Scridge and Glenda’s viral smash “Karma (Remix)” amassed over 16 million views and over 3 million streams globally.

Last year was a big year for the rising Brooklyn-based artist: She appeared on the cover of Out Now and made her debut live performances as S.O.B.’s and Sacramento’s Lost In Riddim Festival. She closed out the year amassing over 8 million total followers globally — with 3.8 million on TikTok and over one million YouTube subscribers. 

Earlier this year, Enisa released the Fake Love EP, an effort that she describes as “empowering” and “authentic” and features “Tears Hit The Ground and “One Thing.” She also made her television debut on NBC’s American Song Contest, representing her home state of New York. Since then she has over 41 million streams globally and more than 198 million total video views — with her material topping the charts in Nigeria, Gambia, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sri Lanka, India and more. 

Building upon growing momentum, the rising Brooklyn-born and-based artist released the Enisa and Space Primates (Marc Sibley and Nathan Cunningham) co-written “Just A Kiss (Muah),” a sultry. club and radio friendly banger, centered around tweeter and woofer rattling thump, bursts of strummed guitar and glistening synth arpeggios and a slick string section and melodic nod to Tarkan’s “Kiss Kiss,” a crowd-pleasing banger over in Turkey. Enisa’s sultry come-hither vocals effortlessly glide over the dance floor friendly, genre-defying production. If there’s one thing to say about the track it’s this: Enisa is about to be a breakout star — and real soon.

“I grew up loving music from all around the world and this one track by Tarkan had a chorus melody that always randomly played through my head growing up, so I knew one day I wanted to put it in a song but make a whole new version with a different concept!” Enisa explains. “I went to the studio with that song in mind and created ‘Just a Kiss (Muah).’ I’d love for the new generation to listen to my song and feel the same way I did with the Tarkan one. “‘Just a Kiss (Muah)’ is about the fun of being a tease when it comes to dating & knowing you have the power to say yes or no! I wanted to make a really catchy, fun, lighthearted song that people can dance to, that also has the element of nostalgia!”

Enisa’s latest single, the Carmen Reece co-written “Olé” continues a remarkable run of crowd-pleasing bangers, rooted in enormous, slick, modern production: With “Olé,” the Brooklyn-born and based artist’s self-assured vocal confidently glides over a sleek production featuring skittering trap and reggaeton-like beats, glistening synths, melodic nods to Middle Eastern music and her knack for anthemic hooks.

“I wrote ‘Olè’ to give myself a self-confidence anthem that I needed at the time,” Enisa explains. “I wrote this song with the World Cup in mind as well, when I closed my eyes, I pictured people all around the world singing the chorus and shouting ‘OLÈ.’ I’m so happy people were loving the short snippet I posted, so I had no choice but to give you guys the whole song finally! What better time to have this song out, while the World Cup is heating up! I hope you love this song & I hope the lyrics hit your heart. Love you all & thanks for the support. OLÉ!”

Fittingly, the accompanying video is World Cup-themed. We see Enisa at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s soccer field wearing the uniforms of several World Cup nations — in particular Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, and the USA. We also see locals playing soccer in the park, in between footage of the rising Brooklyn-based artist rocking out.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Veils Share Lush and Contemplative “No Limit of Stars”

Born in London, acclaimed singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and frontman of The Veils, Finn Andrews spent his teenaged years attending high school in Auckland. Largely disinterested in school, Andrews spent the bulk of his free time playing in several bands — and writing the material that would later comprise The Veils full-length debut, 2004’s The Runaway Found. When he was 16, a set of demos he sent to record companies created some buzz and led to invitations for him to return to London to record an album. 

Andrews and The Veils were signed almost immediately to Blanco y Negro, an indie/major hybrid imprint led by Rough Trade label head Geoff Travis. The band released a handful of singles including the promo-only single “Death & Co,” their commercial single debut, “More Heat Than Light,” and “The Leavers Dance,” a single distributed exclusively at gigs. By 2003, increasing contractual disparities and creative differences between the head of Warner and Travis wound up delaying plans for the band’s full-length debut. 

Blanco Y Negro closed up shop and the dispute turned into a court battle with The Veils regaining ownership of their masters from Warner. By mid-2003, Travis signed the band to Rough Trade. The band went on to record four more songs with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, including “Guiding Light,” “Lavinia,” and “The Wild Son,” which led to the release of the band’s full-length debut, The Runaway Found. Although the album was released to rapturous critical applause, Andrews felt unhappy with the band’s creative direction — and after alleged altercations between him and the other members, The Veils’ first lineup split up two months after their debut album’s release. 

In early 2005, Andrews went on a solo tour of the States and Japan, eventually returning to New Zealand, where he rehearsed with high school friends Liam Gerrard (keys) and Sophia Burn (bass) in Gerrard’s bedroom, quickly amassing an album’s worth of material. When the trio returned to London, Dan Raishbrook (guitar) and Henning Dietz (drums) joined the band, completing the band’s second lineup. 

Early the following year, then-newly minted quintet started recording sessions with Nick Launay in Los Angeles, which resulted in their sophomore album, that year’s Nux Vonica. Released to critical applause, with the album landing on the Best of Year lists of both American and British journalists, Nux Vonica had a darker, heavier and much more complex sound, bolstered by string arrangements by former Lounge Lizard, Jane Scarpantoni. 

Over the course of the next 16 months, the band played over 250 shows across 15 countries. But during the Stateside leg of the tour, the band announced that Liam Gerrard was leaving the band to return home, due to personal reasons. The band continued onward as a quartet, and while living out of a classic garage in Oklahoma City, started recording demos at The Flaming Lips‘ studio between Stateside tour dates of the East and West coasts. 

By mid-2008, they returned to London to work on their third album with Graham Sutton. The three-week session at West Point Studios resulted in 2009’s Sun Gangs, an album that continued a remarkable run of critically applauded material — with the album appearing on a number of Best of Lists that year. 

2011’s Finn Andrews and Bernard Butler co-produced Troubles of the Brain EP marked several major changes for the band: They had left Rough Trade, their longtime label home of nine years and started their own label Pitch Beast Records. 

2013’s Time Stays, We Go was recorded in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles and was supported with a 150-date world tour with sold shows across North America, Europe and New Zealand. Once the tour ended, Andrews told NME in an interview that the band had moved into their own studio in East London and had already begun work on a new record, slated for release in 2016. He also mentioned that he had been commissioned to write an orchestral piece to commemorate the Antipodean dead of World War I, which would be performed in Belgium. 

2016’s Total Depravity was recorded in Los Angeles, London, NYC and Porto and features production by El-P, Adam Greenspan and Dean Hurley. The same month of the album’s release, David Lynch announced that Andrews would appear in the Twin Peaks reboot. The band with Andrews performed album single “Axolotl,” on episode 15. 

Following the release of Total Depravity, Andrews released a solo album and supported it with a world tour. One night, while lashing out at a particularly intense moment on piano, he broke his wrist on stage. “It sounds wild and Jerry Lee Lewis-esque, but it was an absolute fucking nightmare,” Andrews says. He played on and finished the tour, but it wasn’t until after he got the wrist examined much later, that he learned that was a major mistake. “The scaphoid bone in my wrist had died, which I didn’t know was possible. My sister said that at least it was a really ‘on brand’ injury for me.”

Andrews’ convalescence necessitated a lengthy hiatus from touring, so he spent his free time at home writing songs. “I was in a cast and couldn’t use my right hand. I sang the melody lines, then recorded the right hand piano part, then the left hand part,” Andrews recalls. “It might have been an interesting, avant-garde process if it wasn’t also just profoundly annoying.” 

When his wrist had healed enough to allow him to play again, The Veils also found themselves in need of a new label, but in the meantime Andrews was determined to write and record an album regardless. Tom Healy invited Andrews to his studio, where they listened to the massive amount of songs he had written throughout the previous year. “Tom was incredibly patient. It was a really laborious process,” Andrews says. “I brought a lot of junk down there and we had to sift through it all to try and find the parts worth saving.”

During the past two years of intermittent recording between pandemic-related lockdowns, Andrews’ wife gave birth and he wound up writing even more songs. By the time the songs were recorded with a backing band that featured Cass Basil (bass), Joseph McCallum (drums) and longtime bandmates Liam Gerrard (piano) and Dan Raishbrook (lap steel, guitar) and guest spots from NZTrio, who play string arrangements by Victoria Kelly. and Smoke Fairies, who contribute backing vocals, it was clear that the album’s material should be split into two halves to best suit such varied songs. But for a while, the overall meaning of the songs was eluded Andrews. “Then my daughter was born, and suddenly the whole record made sense to me,” he says. The music was telling a story, and somewhat strangely for The Veils, it seemed to have a happy ending.

The Veils’ forthcoming album . . . And Out of The Void Came Love is informed by and is the result of the past two-plus years of convalescence confinement, uncertainty and questioning. Structurally, the album is meant to listened in two sittings with a short break in the middle. Or as Andrews instructs us, “Make a coffee or smoke a cigarette – but don’t mow the lawn or go to the movies or something, that takes too long.”

Last month, I wrote about . . . And Out of The Void Came Love‘s first single “Undertow,” an atmospheric and brooding song centered around an arrangement of twinkling keys, reverb-drenched guitar textures, dramatic, glistening bursts of pedal steel and padded drumming paired with Andrews’ hushed delivery. As The Veils’ frontman explains, “In the year before I started writing this album, I really didn’t think I’d ever write another album again. I was done. I’d irreparably broken my wrist on stage. Then this song came shimmying down the drainpipe, and it really seemed to be willing me to carry on. It is, embarrassingly enough, a song about writing songs, written at what I admit was a pretty low ebb for me emotionally. Both my parents are writers, and though I am grateful to it for the life it continues to afford me, it is a complex genetic inheritance.”

The album’s second and latest single “No Limit of Stars” pairs Andrews’ plaintive and emotive delivery with a lush and swooning soundscape that nods at indie folk, shoegaze and classic Nashville country. Throughout the song Andrews’ narrator contemplates many of the themes of album including “the certainty of death, the power of new life, and the dizziness of contemplating yourself in an unknowably vast cosmos,” Andrews explains.

Directed by Tim Flower, the accompanying video was shot on 16mm film. The video stars Lucas Armstrong as “Warren” and Ella Finer as “The Voice.” The Voice has prepared a gorgeous presentation for Warren, depicting various aspects of human life. We also see the band performing in front of some of that same footage. The video its heavily inspired by the 1970s thriller The Parallax View.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: West Wickhams Share Shimmering “This is a Hang Up”

Originally formed in Tresco, the second biggest island of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, UK, an island famously known as “The Island of Lost Souls,” and now currently based in Richmond, UK, the self-described psychedelic, garage noir duo West Wickhams — Jon Othello and Elle Flores — have a name that’s an imagined rival gang name to British punk style icons The Bromley Contingent, a group who followed Sex Pistols and whose style was largely influenced by David Bowie and Roxy Music. 

Their overall aesthetic is influenced by a wide range of goth and horror sources including the work of Mary Shelley, Whitby Abbey, Edgar Allan Poe, Andy Warhol, abstract painting, film noir and more. 

Earlier this year, the duo released their debut EP Consider Her Way, which featured EP title track “Consider Her Way,” a brooding bit of goth-leaning post-punk centered around angular, reverb and delay-drenched guitars and a motorik groove that sonically sounded informed by The Cure and Cocteau Twins.

Released last month, the British duo’s second EP of the year Magenta is informed by the color. “Magenta is the colour of universal harmony and emotional balance,” the duo explain. “It contains the passion, power and energy of red, restrained by the introspection and quiet energy of violet. It promotes compassion, kindness and cooperation. The colour magenta is a color of cheerfulness, happiness, contentment and appreciation.”

Magenta‘s second and latest single, the “This is a Hang Up” continues a run of nostalgia-inducing, goth-leaning, post punk rooted in shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars and driving rhythms paired with ethereal vocals buried into the mix. Sonically, “This is a Hang Up” seems like a slick synthesis of The Cure and New Order, complete with a dance floor friendly hook.

The accompanying video is derived from edited footage from the B-film The Planet of the Vampires.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Le Ice Shares Woozy Banger “Whap”

Le Ice is a rising Laval, Quebec-born and-based emcee. He started rapping when he turned 12 — and when he started, he knew how to stand out with a unique, sharp flow. By the time he was a teenager, the Laval-based emcee left his family home, and was on the streets, hustling to survive. His experienced helped forge a steely mindset and an unparalleled entrepreneurial spirit.

Over the past few years, Le Ice has made a name for himself in the Montreal Francophone hip-hop scene with collaborations with the likes of Lary Kidd, Mike Zup, Raccoon, Shreez, and Tizzo. Building upon a growing profile within both Montreal and the rest of Quebec, the rising emcee has made the rounds of the provincial festival circuit with stops at Francos de Montreal, Metro Metro, Osheaga, and LVLUP among others.

Released last year, his full-length debut J‘ta l’eau pour un boute was well-received by the public, and has helped position Le Ice as an artist to watch.

His latest single, the Gavin-produced “WHAP” pairs skittering trap triplets with tweeter and woofer rattling thump, a woozy and pitchy Middle Eastern-like vocal sample, shimmering synth arpeggios and glitchy video game noises with the Laval-based emcee’s self-assured, razor sharp flow and an enormous hook. Simply put, it’s a banger.

Directed by Le Ice, the accompanying video features the Laval-based emcee and his crew at a house party, with strippers, making it rain — with American dollars, no less.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sophie Jamieson Shares Hauntingly Gorgeous “Boundary”

Rising British singer/songwriter Sophie Jamieson released two EPs back in 2020 that caught the attention of Bella Union Records, who signed Jamieson — and then released her Steph Marziano-produced full-length debut Choosing today.

Choosing is a subtle rework of the sound that Jamieson quickly established through her first two EPs: While those EPs flirted with playful experimentation, Choosing‘s sound is simultaneously more organic, simpler and intimate, centered around arrangements of live drums, bass, cello and piano, which are roomy enough for Jamieson’s mesmerizing vocals to take the spotlight.

Jamieson has described the songs on her first two EPs as “black holes,” and while Choosing manages to cover similar ground, it never takes its eyes from what lies beyond, never fully releases its grip when its telling her to let go. The album is deeply personal documentation of a journey from the painful rock bottom of self-destruction to a safer place, and imbued with a faint light of hope. Focusing on the bare bones of each song, the album’s material is influenced by songwriters like Elena Tonra, Sharon Van Etten and Scott Hutchinson, and sees Jamieson singing openly about longing and searching, of trying, failing and trying again, and the strength of love in its varying forms. 

“The title of this album is so important,” Sophie explains. “Without it, this might sound like another record about self-destruction and pain, but at heart, it’s about hope, and finding strength. It’s about finding the light at the end of the tunnel, and crawling towards it.” 

Ultimately, the album asks the listener to look deep within themselves and to show them that they can take whatever pain they’re experiencing, and choose, to some extent, how they let it affect them; whether they let it burn them down or whether they choose to look it straight in the face. “The songs are bursting with something, and that energy just needs to be reshaped into love for the self,” Sophie explains. “I can say this from a place of having learned now how to love and care for myself. The love that reverberates through this album is like the green shoots of something I have happily learned to nurture into my present day.” 

“The few times I have listened to this album from start to finish, I have realized that there is a huge amount of love in it,” Jamieson says “I think there is a strong potential for real, healthy, healing love. It’s like a line of relief that runs along through all the songs. It’s never unleashed, it hasn’t yet learned how, but it’s present in an underlying tension and potential.” 

Earlier this year, I wrote about Choosing‘s devastating first single “Sink.” Centered around a sparse arrangement of twinkling and wobbling keys that seem simultaneously childlike and ironically detached, skittering boom bap-like drumming, “Sink” is roomy enough for Jamieson’s weary and heartbroken delivery to take the lead. The song is an unflinchingly honest look at someone on the edge — and not quite know what’s next. “Sink” was written as a love letter to alcohol amid an increasing dependence upon it, informed by a recurring image Sophie had of herself on a desert island, a quiet, calm place that was just too good to be true. “’Sink’ presents a purgatory between being able to choose and begging not to be pulled under,” Sophie explains. “It’s about teetering on the edge, looking over the cliff, asking not to be pulled over before realising you only have to choose not to jump.” 

The album’s latest single “Boundary” is a slow-burning, meditative and sparsely arranged track centered around strummed guitar, and subtle bursts of keys before paired with Jamieson’s gorgeous, achingly yearning vocal. The first time I heard this one, I stopped dead in my tracks, stopped everything and got lost in her

“This song comes from a kinder place than some of the others on this record. It steps back and acknowledges self-inflicted pain and the repeated effort to heal,” Jamieson says. “It’s about trying and failing, knowing there is something you’re trying to grasp but that keeps slipping out of your reach. The journey isn’t smooth or pretty but it’s hopeful, and the light starts to creep in once you choose to be honest with yourself.”

Directed, edited and shot by Jamieson, the accompanying video captures both the endless passage of time and of change. “I filmed this video over 4 months, between February and May 2022 in my garden, on my cycle journey to work through South East London and several stops along that journey,” Jamieson says. “It started with an interest in how things change, the idea that nothing ever lasts and the healing effect of time – and ended up being a joyous documentation of spring unfolding. The process of making this video has been incredibly healing, and an act of choice in itself – to stop and look up, to find beauty and become intimate with how time moves nature. I noticed details as though I’d never seen them in my life, things I’d always struggled to see from the pit of self-destruction.”