Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brijean Shares Breezy and Mischievous “Workin’ On It”

Brijean is an acclaimed indie pop project that features: 

  • Brijean Murphy, a Los Angeles-born percussionist, who can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: Murphy’s father Patrick is a percussionist and engineer, who taught a young Brijean her first patterns on a pair of congas that she inherited from the late Trinidadian steel pan drum legend Vince Charles. As a percussionist, the younger Murphy initially made a name for herself as a highly-sought after touring musician with stints in the touring bands of Toro Y Moi, U.S. Girls Poolside, and several others.  

  • Doug Stuart, a jazz and pop session multi-instrumentalist and producer, who has worked with JOVM mainstays Bells Atlas, Meerna, Luke Temple, Jay Stone and others. 

2019’s debut EP WALKIE TALKIE was written and recorded in marathon sessions at their intimate home studio, during breaks in Murphy’s then-very busy touring schedule. The EP found the duo quickly establishing a unique sound that meshed Murphy’s Latin jazz and soul upbringing with Murphy’s 70s disco and 90s house-inspired production, along with psych pop.

2021’s full-length debut, Feelings celebrated self-reflection while making sense of the worlds around and within through rhythm and lyricism. However, the months surrounding the album’s release rang extremely bittersweet with the sudden death of Murphy’s father and both of Stuart’s parents. In a haze of heartache and loss, the duo left the Bay Area to be near family, resettling in four cities in under two years.

Their to-go rig became their traveling studio and the tracks they had started writing, along with Angelo, Murphy’s 1981 Toyota Celica became their few constants. 2022’s Angelo EP, which derived its title from Murphy’s beloved car, processed loss, informed by the duo’s own losses and the desire to move and start over.

The acclaimed and accomplished duo’s highly anticipated sophomore full-length album Macro is slated for a July 12, 2024 release through Ghostly International. Reportedly seeing the duo at their most playful, the album’s material features the duo engaging different sides of themselves, confronting the gloriously weird paradox of being alive. They’ve leveled up to meet the complexities and harmonies of the human experience with what may arguably be their most dynamic songwriting to date. Colorful, collaborative, sophisticated and yet deeply fun, the album creates a world of macrocosm with characters moods and points of view rooted in the notion that no feeling is final — and the only way out is through.

The album’s song sequencing elicits an exploratory vibe with high-tempo peaks and breezy valleys in the psyche. The duo sees the record’s vast sonic spectrum in contrast to the expectations for their output — “we’re supposed to know the box that our art fits, in and then fully commit to it existing within that box,” Brijean’s Stuart says. Overall, the album is deeply anchored in the intention to just not just move through the ups and downs life presents you but to feel it all, and to know it intimately.

Macro‘s first single, “Working On It” is a funky and breezy, Larry Levan house-like bop anchored around a layered and strutting baseline and a loop of different percussion paired with twinkling keys serving as a lush and ebullient bed for Murphy’s mischievous crooning. The result is a song that finds the duo at arguably their most playfully light, with the song seeing Murphy riffing on self-improvement, the insomniac’s desire to finally get some sleep and life in the seeming end times in a way that’s halfway serious.

The song started as al living room jam then as Murphy explains, “Doug played the two-layered basslines over a loop of bongos, congas an a dream machine and the rest felt like it happened in a dream.” Later Murphy asked fans to send voice memos in exchange for art, and some of those got peppered into the sound-bed. “That was a treat… Just getting to go through and hear all of these voices from around the world, an intimate and charming experience.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Mary Middlefield Shares Roaring “Young and Dumb”

Mary Middlefield is rising, 22 year-old Lausanne, Switzerland-based classically trained violinist, folk-pop singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has received attention for crafting steam-of-consciousness songs that veer between pop-punk fueled intensity and folk-inspired softness inspired by Elliot Smith, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Claud, Jockstrap and The Japanese House. Thematically, the young Swiss artist’s work sees her wielding high drama, desire and vulnerability as keys to making meaning in a complicated universe, where abuse and love coincide. 

Slated for an April 26, 2024, the young and rising Swiss artist’s forthcoming EP, Poetry (for the scorned and lonely) is reportedly her most cathartic release to date that will not only allow her to move forward with a clear mind and clean palette, but features music for listeners who are feeling stuck, scorned and lonely. Essentially, the EP’s material is an invitation for those who are suffering to scream their hearts and souls out alongside her.

The forthcoming EP will feature “Sexless,” “Heart’s Desire” and “Atlantis,” a breathtakingly gorgeous and remarkably accessible song built around a sparse arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, ukulele, shimmering strings, atmospheric synths and a subtle yet supple bass line serving as a lush bed for Middlefield’s yearning and expressive delivery. Recorded at Lausanne-based AKA Studio with Alexis Sudan and Gwen Buord, “Atlantis” as Middlefield explains is a sadistic love ballad that explores the dilemma of being infatuated with a person who offers very little in return. 

Originally written as a stripped-down track, Middlefield and Buord rearranged the song’s second part with intricate ukulele arrangements. Then they also tweaked the track a bit more, by adding strings and synths and an underwater-like feel to make the song sound dreamier while readily embracing a folk pop sound.

“Young and Dumb,” Poetry (for the scorned and lonely)‘s latest single may arguably be the most rock-leaning song of the EP’s singles to date. Built around a grunge-like song structure that alternates between textured and fuzzy, power chord-driven choruses and dramatic and dreamy verses with cinematic strings, the breakneck “Young and Dumb” features a narrator, who excoriates someone, presumably a love interest, who made a fool of her — and flagellates herself for her own naiveté and inexperience. Although I’m now in my mid-40s, the song captures a fairly universal sentiment of anyone who’s young and attempting to make their life in their own image, but not quite getting where they think they should be.

singer/songwriters 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: Draag Shares Buzzing and Nostalgia-Inducing “Orb weaver”

Los Angeles-based musician Adrian Acosta was trained as a mariachi singer by his father, an established norteño musician, but after finding his older brother’s electric guitar, Acosta quickly got into indie rock and shoegaze. Growing up in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, there wasn’t much for kids to do; but Acosta got involved in the local DIY punk scene as a preteen. Backyard shows happened every weekend by word-of-mouth and through flyers handed out at school — with some shows ending in drive-by shootings from rival gangs.

As a 10 year-old, Acosta recorded songs on a karaoke tape deck. Shortly after, he purposely used warped tapes and dissonant sounds without understanding what he loved about it, but upon discovering acts like My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, and Throbbing Gristle, he began to realize that he wasn’t the only one.

Acota initially started the rising shoegazer outfit Draag nas a solo recording project but after meeting Ray Montes (guitar), Nick Kelley (bass) and Eric Fabbro (drums) through their many years in the local music community, the band began to coalesce as the full realization of what Acosta had always dreamt of creating while connecting with like-minded artists, who were also deeply involved in the local scene.  

Jessica Huang (synth, vocals) joined the band after replying to a Craigslist ad, completing the band’s lineup. Huang’s background was different than her four bandmates: Huang is classically trained in piano, and she played the alto sax in marching bands. And instead of hanging out at backyard shows, she spent her free time on Tumblr. The band iinitially set about reviving songs from a karaoke tape deck that Acosta recorded when he was 10. They quickly became a buzz-worthy local act, playing shows with Wednesday, Reggie Watts, Mint Field and a lengthy list of others. Then the Los Angeles-based shoegazers released two critically applauded EPs, 2018’s Nontoxic Process and 2020’s Clara Luz and last year’s full-length debut Dark Fire Heresy.

Slated for a May 17, 2024 release though They Are Gutting A Body of Water’s label Julia’s War Recordings, Actually, the quiet is nice is the follow-up to Dark Fire Heresy while marking the first release through their new label home. The EP reportedly explores the liminal space between albums and the far reaching corners of the band’s sound. Inspired by TikTok slides of anonymous Flickr uploads of someone’s friends, neighborhoods on a summer day, their bedroom and the like, the EP’s material delves into an obsession with a particular feeling in childhood, while knowing that you could be back. but no one would be home. The EP is also informed by the experience of growing up with immigrant parents in the suburbs in the 90s.

Actually, the quiet is nice‘s first single “Orb Weaver” is a nostalgia-inducing track that brings back memories of 120 Minutes MTV-era alt rock and warm, carefree summer days without much to really do besides bullshit, get high and listen to your favorite tunes. The song’s warped and densely textured guitars provide a laconic and buzzing backdrop for Haung and Acosta’s dreamily yearning harmonies.

“Jess and I go on night walks in our neighborhood often, probably because there’s no one around and we are obsessed with the eerie nostalgic quality of empty neighborhoods,” Draag’s Acosta explains. “One summer, it was very hard to walk without running into a big orb weaver web. I have a severe fear of spiders. I used the night walks as a form of therapy but it got me in a fearful state instead and dwelling on dark thoughts.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Mildlife Performs “Future Life”

Released last month through Heavenly Recordings, Mildlife‘s highly-anticipated third album Chorus may arguably be their most optimistic effort while serving as a sort of sonic testament to their unwavering adoration or 70s psychedelic and cosmic sounds. But if you delve a bit deeper, you’ll hear references to Polish jazz, Italo disco and a sprinkling of contemporary electronic sounds.

During its most human moments, the album’s material luxuriates in the velvety embrace of Tom Shanahan’s bass lines, Adam Halliwell’s luminous guitar riffs, Kevin McDowell’s hushed and alluring vocals, Jim Rindfleish’s intricate percussive tapestries and the spiritual rhythms of regular collaborator Craig Shanahan. Swept up in the chorus, the lines between individual and ensemble blur. 

“It’s knowing that all the pieces of our own puzzles can slot neatly into a bigger one,” the band’s Tom Shanahan says. The album sees the members assurance growing — both individually and as a band. On their previously released material, Kevin McDowell was the primary vocalist but Chorus sees each member having a moment of expression, highlighting their own choral visions, while forging a new unified openness and humanity to their sound. 

“We had this idea that we wanted to create a kind of disparate ecosystem of living things,” the band’s Tom Shanahan continues. “We liked the idea of creating a small metaphor of moving through space. You see moments of things and sounds that may not emerge again, until everything around you starts to unify.” 

The album sees the members of Mildlife thematically linking microcosmic personal meaning with a macro view from on high. “Chorus is about a coming together of disparate elements. Not in some sort of utopian aesthetic where everything works perfectly, but in the natural flow and state of things,” shares the band’s Jim Rindfleish. “It’s about cosmic compatibility and chemistry: what makes things work? Not just what makes the band work, but what makes good music, art or love? It’s the rhythm of nature.”

In the lead-up to the album’s release last month, I wrote about three of the album’s singles:

  • “Return to Centaurus,” the acclaimed Aussie outfits first bit of new material since 2020’s Automatic and first single off the album. Clocking in at a little over 10 minutes, “Return to Centaurus” opens with droning synths and leads into Wish You Were Here-era Pink Floyd-meets-space rock-like introduction, with Kraftwerk-like vocoders. By around the 2:40 mark, the song quickly morphs into some hook-driven acid funk with loping yet supple bass lines, shimmering funk guitar riffs, glistening space-age synths, bursts of fluttery flute and intricate yet propulsive drum patterns. Rooted in the Aussie outfit’s love of 70s psychedelic and cosmic sounds, the new single serves as a reminder of their seemingly effortless mastery of mind-bending and unhurried trippy grooves. 

  • “Musica,” a track built around a groove that’s one-part motorik, one-part glittery Giorgio Moroder-era Italo disco paired with squiggling, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, glistening synths and a supple bass line paired with McDowell’s hushed, gently vocodered vocal and propulsive congo-driven percussion with a spacey, Wish You Were Here-like synth solo. While seeing the band further cement their retro-futuristic sound, “Musica” reminds the listener — both new and familiar — that the Aussie outfit are modern masters of trippy, mind-bending grooves that draw from and effortlessly mesh elements of funk, jazz fusion, prog rock, komische musik and more. 

  • “Yourself” is a slinky yacht rock-meets-funky jazz fusion bop that sounds — to my ears, at least — as though it could have been a B-side to Hall and Oates‘ “I Can’t Go For That (Say No Go)” or on Jaco Pastorius‘ self-titled debut. Thematically, the song is about radical and meaningful self-acceptance and the joy to be found in shared purpose. It’s arguably one of the most uplifting and optimistic songs of the Aussie outfit’s growing catalog. 

Today, the acclaimed Aussie JOVM mainstays an announced a 16-date headlining US and Canada tour this October that includes an October 19, 2024 stop at Brooklyn Bowl and ends with a set at Live Oak, FL’s Hulaween Festival on October 25, 2024. Presale tickets for the tour are available through the band’s site and started at 10:00am local time and ends April 4, 2024 at 11:59pm local time (password: CHORUS). The general public on sale begins Friday April 5, 2024 at 10:00am. As always tour dates are below.

I caught them at Baby’s All Right back in March 2022, and they’re a must see live act. So don’t lose out on an opportunity to catch them, huh? In the meantime, the band shared a live video for album track “Future Life.” Starting with a slinky and strutting bass line, “Future Life” is anchored around a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon/Wish You Were Here-era synth line, squiggling and dexterous over-drive and reverb-drenched jazz funk guitar line, a funky and strutting four-on-the-floor serving as a lush bed for McDowell’s and Halliwell’s dreamily delivered harmonies paired with bursts of vocodered vocals. This is the sound of 2024, as envisioned in 1975.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 85th Birthday, Marvin Gaye!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 85th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Close to Monday Shares Lush and Uneasy “Stranger”

Since their earliest releases back in 2019, rising electro pop duo Close to Monday — Ann (vocals) and Alexander (production) — quickly amassed a dedicated international following while establishing a sound that some have described as blending elements similar to that of acclaimed outfits like CHRVHCES and Boy Harsher, but while forging a musical identity uniquely their own. Thematically, the duo’s work is a guide for people, who are on a journey — either exploring themselves and/or the surrounding world.

2021’s Interference and 2022’s Secret Wishes landed on the Top 3 on the Deutsche Alternative Charts. Adding to a growing profile, the video for “Guns” won awards at international film festivals in London, Rome, and Paris.

The rising electro pop duo will have a very busy 2024: They’ve started a monthly series of releases that continues with their latest single “Stranger.” Built around brooding production featuring glistening synths, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats that serves as a lush and uneasy bed for Ann’s breathily yearning delivery.

Sonically channeling Soft Metals‘ 2013 effort Lenses and Depeche Mode, “Stranger” as the duo explain dives into the darker dimensions of love that can pull us into multiple conflicting directions simultaneously.

“The track delves into the shadows of [the characters’] love story, a complex dance where the desire to break free collides with an irresistible pull, creating a vortex of torment and vitality,” the band says. Elaborating on the magnetism of dysfunctional relationships, they add, “Despite their yearning to escape, each attempt only draws them back into the vicious cycle, a paradoxical realm that both torments and breathes life into their existence. The music mirrors this tumultuous relationship, offering a hauntingly beautiful reflection of the individuals’ struggle to break free from a toxic yet life-sustaining bond.”

The accompanying video for “Stranger” is shot in a gorgeously cinematic black and white that accurately captures the topsy-turvy feelings of unease, obsession, longing and desire that love often brings.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Seattle-based post-punk outfit Weep Wave released their full-length debut, 2019’s S.A.D.to critical praise from KEXP, Seattle Music Insider, Raised by Cassettes and Dan’s Tunes among others.

In the five years since S.A.D.’s release, the band has been rather busy: They’ve gone through a lineup change, which has resulted in their current lineup: Dylan Fuentes (vocals, guitar), Mike Hubbard (drums, synth) and Mitch Midkiff (bass). They’ve released an EP and a handful of singles, one which was featured as KEXP’s Song of the Day that have gradually revealed an evolving and decided change in sonic direction. The band has shared stages with a handful of acclaimed and renowned acts including JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos, Blackwater Holylight, Gustaf, The Bobby Lees, Godcaster, Habibi, Reignwolf and Spirit Mother among others. 

They’ve also made the rounds of the local and regional festival circuit, playing sets at Treefort Music Festival, Capitol Hill Block Party, South Sound Block Party and Off Beat Music Fest. They’ve done multiple tours up and down the West Coast — and they’ve even played few times here in NYC.

Slated for an Friday release through Corporat Records, the Seattle-based outfit’s 11-song Dylan Wall-produced sophomore album Speck was recorded at Seattle’s 7 Hills Studios and reportedly sees the trio embarking on a kaleidoscopic sonic odyssey through the diverse array of genres they proudly call home. Thematically Fuentes’ lyrics oscillate between two contrasting realms: outward to explore the effects of the perils of capitalism and climate change — and inward, to scrutinize the self, in particular dissecting the ego and self-identity. 

In the lead-up to to Friday, I wrote about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • The Low Praise-meets-grunge-like “Rebirth Mantra,” a song built around a pummeling, most pit friendly riff, thunderous drumming and a supple yet propulsive bass line within a classic, alternating loud-quiet-loud song structure that captures Fuentes at his most introspective and neurotic, with the song’s narrator expressing his fears of feeling into the same unhelpful — and perhaps even destructive — patterns that always lead to repeated failure and frustration. The song’s narrator envisions a transformed, evolved version of himself, a much more caring, courageous and empathetic self. Of course, are we able and willing to change and evolve? Or are we too stubborn, too blind to do what’s necessary to better ourselves?”
  • “Phasing,” a decidedly grunge-like ripper built around the sort of feedback fueled, power chord-driven riffs reminiscent of 90s alt rock greats like Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, complete with enormous, arena rock-meets-mosh pit-like hooks and choruses. 

“Conscious Dust,” Speck‘s latest single and opening track is a Jack Endino-like grunge take on post-punk that begins with a intricate punk-meets-cheek-in-tongue Motown-like drumbeat and a fuzzy bass line. Fuentes enters the fray with a punchy chant-like delivery before the song explodes into a hypnotic and noisy mosh pit friendly ripper. As a single, “Conscious Dust” sets up the album’s overall aesthetic and thematic concerns as a sort of bold, flag-planting moment for the band and the listener. For me, the song kind of reminds me of Pearl Jam’s “Do The Evolution,” as a sort of tongue-in-cheek takedown of humanity and human consciousness.

“‘Conscious Dust’ is the first song I wrote for the album—and I intended it to be the first song on the album,” Weep Wave’s Dylan Fuentes says in press noses. It’s an ontological song that can function as playful mushroom-induced pontifications or absorbed as a reminder of the cycle of life. It speaks to a life cycle of having been here before but striving to do better than the last time.”

“I like how the chill keyboards balance the heaviness,” Fuentes adds. “I tried to create songs that feel like a journey, something you can get lost in.”

The Seattle-based outfit will be touring down the West Coast this Spring, and it begins with an April 5, 2024 album release show at Seattle’s Sunset Tavern. If you’re planning to be on the West Coast or if you’re a West Coast pal, check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Spring 2024 Tour Dates

4/5 – Seattle, WA at Sunset Tavern 

4/6 – Tacoma, WA at New Frontier 

4/12 – Chico, CA at Naked Lounge 

4/13 – San Francisco at Kilowatt Bar 

4/19 – San Diego, CA at Che Cafe 

4/20 – Los Angeles, CA at Gengis Cohen

4/21 – Long Beach, CA at Alex’s Bar 

4/27 – Denver, CO at Hi-Dive
5/1 – Salt Lake City, UT at Old Cuss 

5/3 – Missoula, MT at VFM
5/4 – Spokane, WA at The Big Dipper

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.”

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Gil Scott-Heron!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 75th anniversary of Gil Scott-Heron’s birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: OWLS Returns with a Furious Howl of Protest

Emy Collum is a Longford, Ireland-based producer, musician and creative mastermind behind the rising electronic music project OWLS. Starting his career in earnest playing drums for a number of local indie bands, Collum stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist and began crafting darkbrooding songs paring driving rhythms and grooves, dynamic vocals and abrasive textures.

Sonically, his material draws largely from post-punk, techno and synth pop — or as he describes them “songs for the night, for the moon and its shadows” and “dark tunes you can dance to.” Thematically, his work focuses on the uneasy balance between love and brutality. 

The Irish producer released his debut single 2021’s “They Kill.” 2022 saw the release of his acclaimed debut EP End Me. Last year was a busy year for the acclaimed and rising Longford, Ireland-based artist: He made the rounds of the national, summer festival circuit. He played headlining shows in Dublin — and he played at a slew of underground events throughout the country. He closed out a busy year with two more singles “Swallow My Love” and “Bury Me,” a brooding and uneasy mix of industrial and post punk built around relentless, twitter and woofer rattling, skittering beats and whirring and wobbling synths and bursts of angular guitar paired with the Irish producer’s furious howls. 

Lyrically and thematically, “Bury Me” saw its narrator on a tumultuous dance between life and death, hope and despair with an uneasy, unvarnished honesty. 

The acclaimed and rising Irish producer “Body Bags” is an aggressively furious, in-your-face goth meets techno howl of protest featuring skittering tweeter and woofer rattling thump and scorching synth arpeggios with eerily processed and distorted yet strangely beautiful howls attempting to burst out from the chaotic, messy and punishing soundscape.

According to Collum, the song and its accompanying video has been largely informed by the current and unfolding events in Gaza. “‘Body Bags’ looks at humanity turning it on itself,” Collum says. “For all the beauty and harmony in the world, we are chaotic by nature — violent and cruel to our own. It explores the human condition and our ability to inflict pain and suffering upon the most vulnerable.” Throughout the video, violence and cruelty are treated with the mundanity of daily errands.

The events in Gaza has forced the rising and acclaimed Irish artist to look outward instead of inward, as he has previously done. “All of my songwriting up until now has been dealing with internal conflicts and self assessment. It feels selfish looking inwards when being faced with bloodied images daily. I teach history. I had a Palestinian student join one of my classes recently. They presented a project on the ancient buildings of Gaza City only to highlight the fact that they’re no longer there. That hit hard.”

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.