London-based dream pop act and JOVM mainstays Still Corners — vocalist and keyboardist Tessa Murray and multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Greg Hughes — have managed to bounce between chilly and atmospheric pop and shimmering guitar-driven, desert noir through the release of five albums: 2012’s Creatures of an Hour, 2013’s Strange Pleasures, 2016’s Dead Blue, 2018’s Slow Air and 2020’s The Last Exit.
The critically applauded The Last Exit continued where its immediate predecessor left off with 11 songs centered around shimmering and carefully crafted arrangements featuring organic instrumentation paired with Tessa Murray’s smoky crooning. Thematically, the album took the listener through a hypnotic and mesmerizing journey filled with dilapidated and long-abandoned towns, mysterious shapes appearing on the horizon and long trips that blur the lines between what’s there and not there.
The album’s material was brought into further focus as a result of pandemic-related lockdowns and quarantines. “There’s always something at the end of the road and for us it was this album. Our plans were put on hold – an album set for release, tours, video shoots, travel,” Tessa Murray explained in press notes for the album. “We’d been touring nonstop for years, but we were forced to pause everything. We thought the album was finished but with the crisis found new inspiration and started writing again.” Three of the album’s songs — “Crying,” “Static,” and “‘Till We Meet Again” were written during this period and they reflect upon the profound impact of isolation and the human need for social contact and intimacy.
Late last year, the JOVM mainstays released “Heavy Days,” a propulsive and uptempo bop featuring twinkling synth arpeggios, a chugging motorik groove, shimmering and reverb drenched guitars and a soaring hook paired with Murray’s smoky vocals. The end result twas a song that saw the duo retaining the beloved elements of their overall sound — but while seemingly drawing from 80s pop.
Despite the literal weight of it’s title “Heavy Days” may be the most optimistic and sunny song of the JOVM mainstays’ growing catalog. “Sometimes it all feels like too much, there’s a lot to take in reading the news all the time,” Still Corners’ Tessa Murray says in press notes. “We wanted to write a reminder to put the phone down now and again and get out there and live life to the fullest while you can.”
The JOVM mainstays start off the year with the expansive “Far Rider,” a track that sounds as though it could have been on both or either Slow Air or The Last Exit as its centered around shimmering, reverb-drenched guitars and a steady rhythm paired with Murray’s smoky crooning, which at one point are chopped up and distorted.
“This song is about leaving, lost love and finding yourself somewhere on the journey, really it’s about redemption,” Still Corners Tessa Murray explains. I recently drove 6000 miles across the southwest to feel the sun on my face and think. We used the dreamlike nature of the song to capture the landscape and a hypnotic feel to conjure up the long and lonely travel days.”
Still Corners will be embarking on a lengthy tour throughout 2022 that includes a June 16, 2022 stop at Le Poisson Rouge. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
European Tour Dates
2nd April – Athens, Greece @ Gagarin 205 Tickets
4th April – Lille, France @ L’Aeronef Tickets
5th April – Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie Tickets
6th April – Sint-Niklaas, Belgium @ De Casino Tickets
7th April – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Q-Factory Tickets
8th April – Groningen, Netherlands @ Vera Tickets
10th April – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Hotel Cecil Tickets
11th April – Hamburg, Germany @ Grünspan Tickets
12th April – Köln, Germany @ Gebäude9 Tickets
13th April – Berlin, Germany @ Heimathafen Tickets
14th April – Leipzig, Germany @ UT Connwitz Tickets
15th April – Prague, Czech Republic @ Meetfactory Tickets
16th April – Vienna, Austria @ Flex Café Tickets
18th April – Zagreb, Croatia @ Boogaloo Tickets
19th April – Ljubljana, Slovenia @ Kino Šiška Tickets
20th April – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia Tickets
21st April – Bern, Switzerland @ Dachstock/Reitschule Tickets
22nd April – Metz, France @ La Chapelle des Trinitaires Tickets
25th April – Dublin, Ireland @ Pepper Canister Church Tickets
26th April – Glasgow, United Kingdom @ Stereo Tickets
27th April – Leeds, United Kingdom @ The Brudenell Social Club Tickets
28th April –Manchester, United Kingdom @ YES Tickets
29th April – London, United Kingdom @ EartH Theatre Tickets
US Tour Dates
18th May – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania @ Underground Arts Tickets
19th May – Vienna, Virginia @ Jammin Java Tickets
20th May – Durham, North Carolina @ Motorco Tickets
21st May – Atlanta, Georgia @ Aisle 5 Tickets
22nd May – Tampa, Florida @ Crowbar Tickets
26th May – Dallas, Texas @ Deep Ellum Arts Co Tickets
27th May – Austin, Texas @ The Parish Tickets
30th May – Phoenix, Arizona @ Rebel Lounge Tickets
31st May – San Diego, California @ Soda Bar Tickets
1st June – Santa Ana, California @ The Observatory Tickets
2nd June – Los Angeles, California @ Echoplex Tickets
3rd June – San Francisco, California @ Great Northern Tickets
5th June – Portland, Oregon @ Mississippi Studios Tickets
6th June – Seattle, Washington @ The Crocodile Tickets
8th June – Boise, Idaho @ Neurolux Tickets
9th June – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Urban Lounge Tickets
10th June – Fort Collins, Colorado @ The Coast Tickets
11th June – Denver, Colorado @ Globe Hall Tickets
14th June – Chicago, Illinois @ Lincoln Hall Tickets
16th June – New York, New York @ LPR Tickets
17th June – Hamden, Connecticut @ Space Ballroom Tickets
18th June – Allston, Massachusetts @ Brighton Music Hall Tickets
18th June – Allston, Massachusetts @ Brighton Music Hall Tickets