Tag: Chris Issak Wicked Game

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Julia Haltigan Releases a Jim Jarmusch-like Visual for “Wool”

Julia Haltigan is a New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, who has received attention for crafting a primal rock sound paired with a smoldering, bluesy expressivity. But along with a solo career, Haltigan has been rather busy: she moonlights at the slinky Jessica Rabbit-inspired jazz crooner Vivian Fairchild in the critically applauded off-Broadway show Sleep No More. She’s member of the fizzy pop act The Singles, an act that features Scarlett Johansson, Kendra Morris and Holly Miranda. And recently, she made a cameo appearance in HBO’s The Deuce.

Haltigan’s W. Andrew Raposo and Dave Sitek co-produced album Trouble is slated for an October 25, 2019 release, and the album’s first single “Wool” is a gorgeous, slow-burning and twangy ballad centered around Haltigan’s aching vocals that subtly recalls Chris Issak’s “Wicked Game” and k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving” — but while painting a picture of how we can sometimes allow the lines between fiction and reality to blur, way after the film or TV show has ended.

Directed by Marc McAndrews, the surreal Jim Jarmusch-like video stars Haltigan as a weary and bored New York cab driver, who picks up an eclectic variety of passengers across town. With each series of characters, we’re offered mini vignettes into their foibles, tragedies and idiosyncrasies as they’re rushing about — and it’s done with an empathetic yet playful touch.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Introducing the Gorgeous and Meditative Pop of Treya Lam

Treya Lam is a Brooklyn-based, classically trained vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter, who specializes in crafting cinematic material centered around Nina Simone-inspired piano, meditative guitar, lush chamber pop arrangements and gorgeously ethereal vocals. Lam has shared stages with Yo-Yo Ma, Billy Taylor and has frequently collaborated with renowned guitarist Kaki King. Interestingly, Lam is the first artist signed to King’s label Short Stuff Records, and her forthcoming Kaki King-produced full-length debut Good News continues Lam’s collaboration with King, as King also played several instruments on the album. Along with King, the album finds Lam collaborating with an accomplished array of female musicians, including Catherine Popper (upright bass), who has performed with Ryan Adams, Jack White and Norah Jones. 

Good News’ first single “Magic” is a gorgeous and meditative song featuring a hauntingly atmospheric arrangement featuring slide guitar, ukulele and mbira — and while sonically nodding at 70s AM rock, Sting’s “Fragile” and Chris Issak’s “Wicked Game,” the song was written as a gift for close friends, who had just become parents; in fact, the mother, Megan Faye contributes violin and ukulele on the track. As Lam explains in press notes, “In 2012 one of my closest friends had just given birth to a child. The couple met on a flight to Hawaii after having spent some time in Africa and I had hoped to allude to this by incorporating the mbira, ukulele and slide guitar. The chorus was written the week that the Sandy Hook shooting took place. Beyond the unspeakable loss of 20 children and 6 adults, I was horrified by the idea that the surviving children in that community would lose their childhoods. . .This is not a song about a perfect world but rather one that aims to encourages listeners of all ages to look for, hold onto and create as much magic as we can.” As a result, the song has a deeply meditative and sobering vibe, just underneath the gorgeous arrangements; after all, it’s a reminder that in our constantly connected yet fragmented world, that we should be paying attention to the small moment that make us human.