Tag: dream pop

indie rock by William Ruben Helms

Founded by the members of the acclaimed Austin-based psych outfit The Black Angels and a collection of friends back in 2008 as a wholly DIY event, Austin Psych Fest expanded over the next handful of years into an international destination for the underground psych music scene. Since the inaugural festival, its organizers have sought to create a thriving center locally for the city’s independent music scene and internationally in the home of psych rock.

The event was renamed LEVITATION in tribute to legendary Austin-based psych rock outfit The 13th Floor Elevators, who reunited to play the festival in 2015.

Austin Psych Fest returned earlier this year, celebrating its 15th anniversary with a three-day throwback to its original, multi-stage, single venue format, bringing back a more intimate gathering for the Spring, while the sprawling LEVITATION will continue to take place in the Fall.

Austin Psych Fest is here to stay. And the 2024 edition of the festival will take place at the historic The Far Out Lounge during the weekend of April 26, 2024 – April 28, 2024. 2024’s edition will bring the old school vibe of the original event back outdoors and under the stars and oak trees at The Far Out Lounge’s sprawling backyard.

The upcoming Austin Psych Fest features an international slate of psych rock, dream pop and indie rock that simultaneously nods to the 1960s psych rock golden age with an eye towards the future. 2024’s lineup will feature Courtney Barnett headlining on April 26, along with Chicano Batman, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Orions Belte and more. JOVM mainstays The Black Angels will headline the festival’s second day, April 27 — and their set will feature the premiere of a new visual collaboration with TV Eye. That day will also see sets from All Them Witches, JOVM mainstays Frankie and The Witch Fingers, L.A. Witch, Japanese kraut rockers Minami Deutsch and more. The festival’s third and final day will feature a headlining set from Alvvays, and sets from JOVM mainstays Still Corners, Kurt Vile and the Violators and more. The full lineup is below.

Mind-bending liquid light and visuals will be provided by video artists Mad Alchemy, TV Eye and drip//cuts.

The LEVITATION Presale for both LEVITATION ’23 and Austin Psych Fest ’23 ticket customers went live earlier today and is here.

General public on-sale is tomorrow, December 15, 2024 at 10:00AM CST. You can check that out here.

AUSTIN PSYCH FEST LINEUP:

FRIDAY, APRIL 26 
COURTNEY BARNETT • CHICANO BATMAN 
PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS
NO VACATION • LIDO PIMIENTA
LEVITATION ROOM • TROPA MAGICA
BRAINSTORY • ORIONS BELTE

SATURDAY, APRIL 27
THE BLACK ANGELS • ALL THEM WITCHES
WITCH • FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS
EARTHLESS • L.A. WITCH • HOOVERiii
MINAMI DEUTSCH • GHOSTWOMAN

SUNDAY, APRIL 28
ALVVAYS • KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS
DEHD • YELLOW DAYS • STILL CORNERS
BLONDSHELL • MIKAELA DAVIS

& MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Still Corners Share Lush and Dreamy Visual for “Secret World”

Throughout their nearly two-decade career, acclaimed 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 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. 

Since the release of The Last Exit, the acclaimed dream pop duo released two stand alone singles:

  • 2021’s “Heavy Days,” which struck me as a synthesis of Dead Blue, Slow Air and The Last Exit — but while arguably being one of the more optimistic and sunnier songs of their catalog. 

  • Last year’s “Far Rider,” an expansive song that to my ear, sounds as though it could have been part of the Slow Air and The Last Exit sessions — but with a subtle modern, production flourish that features Murray’s smoky croon being chopped up and distorted. 

The JOVM mainstays’ long-awaited sixth full-length album Dream Talk is slated for an April 5, 2024 release through the band’s own label, Wrecking Light Records. The album’s material was written in Southern France, East Sussex, UK and Woodstock. “The songs came together quickly and being able to write from anywhere kept up our momentum,” Still Corners’ Tessa Murray says. 

Produced by the band’s Greg Hughes at their Woodstock-based studio, Hughes says, “We tried various things like different mics, amps and effects before committing to anything. Everything was mixed analog through our new SSL console, there’s a gleam to the sound”

Dream Talk features ten carefully-crafted songs that sees the acclaim duo further mastering a sound and body of work that is focused, stylish and incredibly seductive. “The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams. Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember,” Still Corners’ Murray says. “While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on. The repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance. A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery.”

Dream Talk‘s first single “Secret World” pairs Murray’s imitable smoky croon with a shimmering and looping Western-tinged guitar line, twinkling and atmospheric synths and a gently driving rhythm. While continuing a remarkable run of dreamy yet alluring material with a subtle hint of danger — like the mythical sirens on the rock seducing sailors to their eventual doom. Thematically, the song ruminates upon the perils of obsession. 

“Sometimes the thought of someone, wanting to know them, get into their world is dangerous,” Tessa Murray explains. “The real person doesn’t matter anymore, just the fantasy of them, which is totally wrong but feels right.”

South in Southern England, the accompanying video for “Secret World” follows Still Corners’ Tessa Murray in a lush and verdant garden, in which she encounters some strange and fantastical creatures. “And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles,” the band says of the video.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Still Corners Share a Shimmering Rumination on Obsession

Throughout their nearly two-decade career, acclaimed 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 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. 

Since the release of The Last Exit, the acclaimed dream pop duo released two stand alone singles:

  • 2021’s “Heavy Days,” which struck me as a synthesis of Dead Blue, Slow Air and The Last Exit — but while arguably being one of the more optimistic and sunnier songs of their catalog.

  • Last year’s “Far Rider,” an expansive song that to my ear, sounds as though it could have been part of the Slow Air and The Last Exit sessions — but with a subtle modern, production flourish that features Murray’s smoky croon being chopped up and distorted.

The JOVM mainstays’ long-awaited sixth full-length album Dream Talk is slated for an April 5, 2024 release through the band’s own label, Wrecking Light Records. The album’s material was written in Southern France, East Sussex, UK and Woodstock. “The songs came together quickly and being able to write from anywhere kept up our momentum,” Still Corners’ Tessa Murray says.

Produced by the band’s Greg Hughes at their Woodstock-based studio, Hughes says, “We tried various things like different mics, amps and effects before committing to anything. Everything was mixed analog through our new SSL console, there’s a gleam to the sound”

Dream Talk features ten carefully-crafted songs that sees the acclaim duo further mastering a sound and body of work that is focused, stylish and incredibly seductive. “The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams. Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember,” Still Corners’ Murray says. “While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on. The repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance. A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery.”

Dream Talk‘s first single “Secret World” pairs Murray’s imitable smoky croon with a shimmering and looping Western-tinged guitar line, twinkling and atmospheric synths and a gently driving rhythm. While continuing a remarkable run of dreamy yet alluring material with a subtle hint of danger — like the mythical sirens on the rock seducing sailors to their eventual doom. Thematically, the song ruminates upon the perils of obsession.

“Sometimes the thought of someone, wanting to know them, get into their world is dangerous,” Tessa Murray explains. “The real person doesn’t matter anymore, just the fantasy of them, which is totally wrong but feels right.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Moonraker Six Share Breezily Melancholy “Instant Bliss”

Moonraker Six is an emerging, Dutch sibling duo and electronic music project. After initially releasing a batch of indie electro pop and electronica-leaning tracks, they’ve gradually expanded upon their sound and approach, exploring increasingly different sounds and vibes.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Sleepless,” a brooding bit of electro pop that seemingly channeled Power, Corruption & Lies-era New Order, Violator-era Depeche Mode and Come With Us-era Chemical Brothers with the song seeing the duo pair glistening synths, club rocking beats and live drumming with enormous, crowd pleasing hooks and vocals from Angry High Five, who add a swaggering bit of rock bombast to the song.

The Dutch sibling duo’s latest single “Instant Bliss” is a breezy bit of melancholy, hook-driven dream pop featuring glistening synths, a shout-along worthy chorus and a fuzzy guitar solo. While revealing a band that’s restlessly experimenting with their sound and approach, “Instant Bliss” will further cement the duo’s penchant for crafting remarkably catchy hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Portland, Maine’s Crystal Canyon Shares Slow-Burning and Shimmering “Sierra”

Founded by Detroit-born Lynda Mandolyn (vocals, guitar), who spent her formative years fronting the all-female punk outfit Inside Out; and The Baltic Sea’s Todd Hutchinsen (guitar, engineering) back in 2015, Portland, ME-based shoegazers Crystal Canyon were formed with a simple mission: to call upon the spirit and vibe of the tradition of late 80s and 90s shoegaze without rehashing the formulaic gestures or strictures of the genre. The band also features a collection of Northeast indie scene veterans, including Hutchisen’s The Baltic Sea bandmate Jeremy Smith (bass).

The Portland shoegazer’s third album, the recently released nine-song, Stars and Distant Light was recorded at Hutchisen’s Acadia Recording Company studio — and features the band’s newest member, multi-instrumentalist Nate Manning, who primarily contributes drums, along with guitar and other instrumental work throughout the album’s material. The album’s more explosive moments, as the band explains is a direct result of the fresh perspective to their sound that he brought to the sessions.

Sonically, Stars and Distant Light sees the band being true to the classic shoegazer stereotype of being obsessive about their gear, with the album featuring sounds that could only be produced following the trial and error of dozens of guitar tracked meticulously onto analog tape. Overall, the album sees the band’s members taking all of their combined professional experiences to craft material that fuses their previous experiences and influences in a way that sounds unlike anything any individual member has done before. “We formed a band that sounded like the music we listened to,” says Mandolyn. “In the process, we’ve become a band we’d want others to hear.”

The band’s Hutchisen explains, “We started out demoing about sixteen or seventeen songs then finally narrowed down the songs to the nine that are on the record,” while citing the inclusion of more synth and keyboards being not just one point of departure from their previous releases, but a refinement of their established commitment to lush soundscapes.

Stars and Distant Light‘s latest single “Sierra” is a slow-burning, Souvlaki-era Slowdive-meets-Twin Peaks-like bit of dream pop built around shimmering and swirling guitar textures, thunderous drumming paired with Mandolyn’s dreamy delivery and big, swooning choruses. The song sees the band managing to balance cathartic release with restraint, which is important for a band that has a penchant for being loud.

The band notes that the song is a tribute to the late Julee Cruise, who was best known for her work with composer Angelo Badalamaenti and director David Lynch in the late 1980s — especially on Twin Peaks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Montréal’s Ormiston Shares Breezy and Hook-Driven “Bittersweet Summertime”

Nicola Ormiston is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Ormiston. Since the release of his full-length debut Hammer Down, album single “Distortion of Reality” premiered on David Dean Burkhart’s YouTube Channel and amassed over 920,000 views and “Time Fades” appeared in Meet Cute, which starred Pete Davidson.

Ormiston’s sophomore album Highway Restaurant reportedly sees him continuing the psychedelic and dream pop influenced sound that has won him attention but with electronic and disco nods. And much like its predecessor, the new album will likely draw comparisons to Toro Y Moi, Men I Trust, MUNYA, MGMT, and others.

Inspired by an eye-opening, several week trip to Los Angeles, Highway Restaurant‘s material reportedly evokes late-night drives through the fanciest and the most neglected parts of urban centers. Witnessing Los Angeles’ “high amount of glamour and money” alongside poverty and homelessness reminded him that, when you look at some of the most beautiful things, morbid and ugly streaks often lie just under the surface. As a result, the material constantly makes contrasts between the beautiful and the ugly, the joyful and the bleak.

Highway Restaurant‘s latest single, the mid tempo strut “Bittersweet Summertime” continues a remarkable run of breezy, funky and hook-driven pop built around glistening synths, Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitar and a sinuous bass line paired with the Montréal-based artist’s dreamy delivery. And while seemingly channeling the breezy and funky bops of JOVM mainstays MUNYA and Kainalu, “Bittersweet Summertime” is a bubble-bursting tell-off to someone who seems vain, delusional — and perhaps a bit narcissistic.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s SWiiMS Shares Fuzzy and Swooning “All I Die For”

Toronto-based indie outfit SWiiMS — founding duo Mai Diaz Langou (vocals)and Colin Thompson (guitar) along with Cian O’Ruanaidh (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2018 when the band’s founding duo began writing songs together that blended Thompson’s fuzzy and jangling guitar swirl with Diaz Langou’s textured melodies and languid vocal. When O’Ruanaidh joined the band, he brought a unique blend of influences and hooky bass lines.

Sonically, the Canadian trio draw from a diverse spectrum of artists and elements including 80s New Wave, 90s Shoegaze, indie rock, Brit Pop and Dream Pop to create a sound that’s uniquely theirs.

SWiiMS’ debut EP, 2019’s Through Waves was released to critical praise and landed on the North American College and Community College (NACC) charts. Building upon a growing profile, the trio’s full-length debut, Into The Blue Night is slated for a November 10, 2023 release through Mint 400 Records.

Into The Blue Night‘s latest single, the swooning “All I Die For” sees the Toronto-based indie outfit firmly cementing their sound as fuzzy and swirling guitar textures are paired with glistening synth arpeggios, a propulsive rhythm section and languid vocal melodies to create a song that’s simultaneously dreamily uplifting and moody. While channelling 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock, the song as the band explains is about “the beginning stages of a relationship, and how you try to make yourself more intriguing or impressive than you are in order to keep that person interested. It also describes the feeling of hopefulness, bliss and loss of control that the start of any new relationship brings.
​
The accompanying stylishly shot video for “All I Die For” features the band in a local park with Diaz Langou brooding in a climbable structure and with her bandmates on a swing behind her, stylishly shot footage of the band playing the song and footage of Toronto at night.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Church Shares Haunting and Dream-like Visual for “Realm of Minor Angels”

Founded back in 1980, the Sydney-based ARIA Hall of Fame inductees The Church — currently founding member Steve Kilbey (vocals, bass, guitar); longtime collaborator and producer Tim Powles (drums), who joined the band in 1994 and has contributed to 17 albums; Ian Haug (guitar), a former member of Aussie rock outfit Powderfinger, who joined the band in 2013; multi-instrumentalist Jeffery Cain, a former member of Remy Zero and touring member of the band, who joined the band full-time after Peter Koppes left the band in early 2020; and their newest member, Ashley Naylor (guitar), a long-time member of Paul Kelly’s touring band and one of Australia’s most respected guitarists — was initially associated with their hometown’s New Wave, neo-psychedelic and indie rock scenes. 

Over the course of the next couple of decades, they became increasingly associated with dream pop and post-rock: Featuring shimmering soundscapes, their material took on slower tempos while built around their now, long-held reputation for an uncompromising approach to both their songwriting and sound. 

Their 25th album, 2017’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity was released to critical praise from the likes of PopMatters, who called the album “a 21st-century masterpiece, a bright beam of light amid a generic musical landscape, and truly one of the Church’s greatest releases.” 

The highly-anticipated follow-up to 2017’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity — and their 26th album! —  The Hypnogogue was released earlier this year release through Communicating Vessels/Unorthodox. 

The Hypnogogue is the band’s first full-length concept album: Set in 2054, the album follows its protagonist Eros Zeta, the biggest rock star of his era, who travels from his home in Antarctica to use the titular Hypnogogue to help him revive his flagging and moribund fortunes. “The Hypnogogue is set in 2054… a dystopian and broken down future,” The Church’s Steve Kilbey explains. “Invented by Sun Kim Jong, a North Korean scientist and occult dabbler, it is a machine and a process that pulls music straight of dreams.”

“The Hypnogogue is the most prog rock thing we have ever done,” Kilbey says. “We’ve also never had a concept album before. It is the most ‘teamwork record’ we have ever had. Everyone in the band is so justifiably proud of this record and everyone helped to make sure it was as good as it could be. Personally, I think it’s in our top three records.”

In the lead to the album’s release, I wrote about three of its singles:

  • The album’s expansive and brooding title track and first single, “The Hypnogogue.” Featuring the band’s swirling and textured guitar-driven sound paired with Kilbey’s imitable delivery, the song introduces listeners to the album’s characters — Eros Zeta and Sum Kim. The song follows Zeta, as they’re traveling to meet Kim, to go through the titular hypnogogue. But during the toxic and weird process, Zeta winds up falling in love with Kim. As Kilbey says, “. . . it all ends tragically (of course . .. as these things often do). 

  • The jangling and deceptively upbeat “C’est La Vie,” which continues the album’s narrative. Zeta’s agent warms him not to mess with the hypnogogue. “His manager has heard some bad rumors about it, and he doesn’t want his boy all strung out on this unknown thing,” The Church’s Steve Kilbey explains. The song ends with a gorgeous, shimmering fade out. “Musically, the song is a fast-paced rocker very much initiated by our guitarist Ian Haug. But it has plenty of twists and turns and ends up fading away in a delicate and winsome way.” 

  • “No Other You,” a glittering glam rock-like ballad with some Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie guitar work and a cinematic quality paired with Kilbey expressing an aching, almost desperate longing. “No Other You” may arguably be the most straightforward and earnest song of the band’s extensive catalog. The song continues the album’s narrative — but on a more personal level: The Church’s Steve Kilbey explains that the song is an “ultra-romantic song that Zeta writes for Sun Kim Jong, who is the inventor of The Hypnogogue. It’s a heartfelt song about an irreplaceable woman. And the Church gets to explore a slightly glam rock feel to boot.”

The band will be embarking on a second leg of their North American tour to support their 26th album during the fall. The tour will see them playing dates across the West Coast, Southwest, Southeast and Illinois. The band will be offering a limited number of VIP packs on the tour’s second leg, which will include the show ticket, early venue access, an invitation to the band’s soundcheck, a special meet and greet with the band, exclusive merch and the ability to watch a portion of the show from the side of the stage, where available. Tour dates are below. 

Coinciding with the fall tour, the acclaimed Aussie outfit recently released a digital deluxe edition of The Hypnogogue that will include material originally cut from the 13-song album.  

The deluxe edition will include “Realm of Minor Angels,” a slow-burning and gorgeous, torch song-inspired ballad featuring shimmering mandolin from Ian Haug and slide guitar from Ashley Naylor paired with Kilbey’s crooned delivery. Sonically, “Realm of Minor Angels” wouldn’t sound out of place on Starfish or Gold Afternoon Fix. 

“‘Realm of Minor Angels’ is without doubt one of my favorite singles The Church has ever released,” The Church’s Steve Bilberry says. “From the moment [guitarist] Jeffrey Cain started playing the opening riff, I was hooked. The singing and lyrics are my own subtle homage to the torch songs of the ‘60s and check out Ian Haug’s mandolin lines and Ashley Naylor’s slide work!”

Directed by Clint Lewis and featuring additional footage shot by Danial Willis and Randall Turner, the accompanying video for “Realm of Minor Angels” stars Carol Larsen as Sun Kim Jong and Selma Soul as Eros Zeta. We see Laren’s Sun Kim Jong discovering Soul’s Eros Zeta strung out and nearly comatose. Through what seems to be flashbacks or perhaps a vivid hallucination, we see Kim Jong and Zeta slow dancing together and other tender moments. Televisions flash all around them in the room, and we see the members of The Church performing the song from the studio. Much like the preceding videos, this one has a haunting, dream-like quality.

Going beyond the initial storyline told in The Hypnogogue, The Church will be releasing Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars, a companion CD that will serve as a continuation of the storyline. The limited-edition CD will only be available at merch tables on the tour.

The original dream-pulling storyline,” as Kilbey explains, “follows Eros Zeta, the biggest rock star of 2054, who has traveled from his home in Antarctica (against his manager’s advice) to use the Hypnogogue to help him revive his flagging fortunes. In the midst of the toxic process, he also falls in love with Sun Kim and it all ends tragically (of course, as these things often do).”

Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars expands and builds upon the mythology of The Hypnogogue. As the band’s Kilbey explains: “Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars were formed in 2048 in Antarctic City in Antarctica. They had many hits including ‘Realm of Minor Angels’ and ‘Sublimated in Song’ and in all released six collections of music. They toured the postwar world incessantly during the early 2050s and were capable on a good night of selling out concerts in most countries that still had gigs. The band were troubled with personnel and substance problems culminating in Eros Zeta’s addiction to Sky and his subsequent inability to write new songs.

“In 2054, he journeyed to Korea where he used the Hypnogogue to create new music. After the disastrous effects these songs created, he died in a traffic accident whilst on his way to the airport to return home. The songs were thereafter prohibited in most places. In recognition of his services to Antarctican music, a statue was built to honor him in the Australian Quarter of Antarctic city. The band continued on without him but to little success which led to them disbanding in 2057.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Glassio and Beauty Queen Team Up on Dreamy and Bittersweet “A Friend Like You”

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates-born, New York-based Irish-Persian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam R. spent the bulk of his formative years split between the third largest Emirati city and Monterey, CA. He fell in love with music listening to Pet Sounds and Graceland on his way to school in the mornings. “It was that  juxtaposition of hearing Brian Wilson’s harmonies in a very barren, desert/Arabian landscape that I think planted the seeds for my love for making music that mixes different influences and challenges associations you might have with certain instruments,” Sam explains.

Started over seven years ago, Sam R.’s solo recording project Glassio has seen him amass millions of streams across digital streaming platforms and a loyal fanbase globally as a result of a sound that has seen apply a melodic sweetness to brooding dance beats — and often bridges influences from Big Beat to Chamber Pop to New Wave.

His debut EP 2016’s Poptimism was released to critical acclaim and featured viral single “Try Much Harder,” which peaked at #9 on the Global Viral Charts on Spotify. A series of singles and 2018’s Experience EP saw the New York-based artist quickly establishing an approach that paired electronic music with insightful storytelling.

2020’s full-length debut For The Very Last Time amassed over 7 million streams through digital streaming platforms and was named one of the best electronic records of the year by Bandcamp. Last year’s See You Shine charted at #1 on multiple iTunes Charts globally and made ways in Europe — perhaps as a result of “Breakaway” being featured in Amazon Studio’s Don’t Make Me Go and Netflix’s Locke and Key.

The next year or so will see the acclaimed New York-based electro pop artist release a string of singles collaborating with a number of artists — and the first single “A Friend Like You,” features Los Angeles-based dream pop artist Beauty Queen.

Hawaiian-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Katie Iannitello is the creative mastermind behind rising dream pop project Beauty Queen. Iannitello crafts sun-bleached, washed out music that has been described as the perfect soundtrack to crying in the bathroom during a high school dance.

Her Henry Nowhere-produced EP Out of Touch was released to critical praise across the blogosphere for material that drew from her laid-back Hawaiian upbringing paired with 1950s and 1960s songwriting influences and her lilting croon.

Their collaboration together “A Friend Like You” is a dreamy lullaby built around twinkling keys, thumping toms, bursts of angular post-punk like guitars and an anthemic hook paired with Iannitello’s plaintive crooning and the duo’s soaring harmony for the song’s hook and chorus. But despite the song’s anthemic nature, the song is actually a bittersweet and heartbreaking farewell to the “friend that sends you down bad choice road” that recognizes that this is indeed, a farewell forever.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Church Share Shimmering and Slow-Burning “Realm of Minor Angels”

Founded back in 1980, the Sydney-based ARIA Hall of Fame inductees The Church — currently founding member Steve Kilbey (vocals, bass, guitar); longtime collaborator and producer Tim Powles (drums), who joined the band in 1994 and has contributed to 17 albums; Ian Haug (guitar), a former member of Aussie rock outfit Powderfinger, who joined the band in 2013; multi-instrumentalist Jeffery Cain, a former member of Remy Zero and touring member of the band, who joined the band full-time after Peter Koppes left the band in early 2020; and their newest member, Ashley Naylor (guitar), a long-time member of Paul Kelly’s touring band and one of Australia’s most respected guitarists — was initially associated with their hometown’s New Wave, neo-psychedelic and indie rock scenes.

Over the course of the next couple of decades, they became increasingly associated with dream pop and post-rock: Featuring shimmering soundscapes, their material took on slower tempos while built around their now, long-held reputation for an uncompromising approach to both their songwriting and sound.

Their 25th album, 2017’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity was released to critical praise from the likes of PopMatters, who called the album “a 21st-century masterpiece, a bright beam of light amid a generic musical landscape, and truly one of the Church’s greatest releases.” 

The highly-anticipated follow-up to 2017’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity — and their 26th album! —  The Hypnogogue was released earlier this year release through Communicating Vessels/Unorthodox.

The Hypnogogue is the band’s first full-length concept album: Set in 2054, the album follows its protagonist Eros Zeta, the biggest rock star of his era, who travels from his home in Antarctica to use the titular Hypnogogue to help him revive his flagging and moribund fortunes. “The Hypnogogue is set in 2054… a dystopian and broken down future,” The Church’s Steve Kilbey explains. “Invented by Sun Kim Jong, a North Korean scientist and occult dabbler, it is a machine and a process that pulls music straight of dreams.”

“The Hypnogogue is the most prog rock thing we have ever done,” Kilbey says. “We’ve also never had a concept album before. It is the most ‘teamwork record’ we have ever had. Everyone in the band is so justifiably proud of this record and everyone helped to make sure it was as good as it could be. Personally, I think it’s in our top three records.”

In the lead to the album’s release, I wrote about three of its singles:

  • The album’s expansive and brooding title track and first single, “The Hypnogogue.” Featuring the band’s swirling and textured guitar-driven sound paired with Kilbey’s imitable delivery, the song introduces listeners to the album’s characters — Eros Zeta and Sum Kim. The song follows Zeta, as they’re traveling to meet Kim, to go through the titular hypnogogue. But during the toxic and weird process, Zeta winds up falling in love with Kim. As Kilbey says, “. . . it all ends tragically (of course . .. as these things often do). 

  • The jangling and deceptively upbeat “C’est La Vie,” which continues the album’s narrative. Zeta’s agent warms him not to mess with the hypnogogue. “His manager has heard some bad rumors about it, and he doesn’t want his boy all strung out on this unknown thing,” The Church’s Steve Kilbey explains. The song ends with a gorgeous, shimmering fade out. “Musically, the song is a fast-paced rocker very much initiated by our guitarist Ian Haug. But it has plenty of twists and turns and ends up fading away in a delicate and winsome way.” 

  • “No Other You,” a glittering glam rock-like ballad with some Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie guitar work and a cinematic quality paired with Kilbey expressing an aching, almost desperate longing. “No Other You” may arguably be the most straightforward and earnest song of the band’s extensive catalog. The song continues the album’s narrative — but on a more personal level: The Church’s Steve Kilbey explains that the song is an “ultra-romantic song that Zeta writes for Sun Kim Jong, who is the inventor of The Hypnogogue. It’s a heartfelt song about an irreplaceable woman. And the Church gets to explore a slightly glam rock feel to boot.”

The band will be embarking on a second leg of their North American tour to support their 26th album during the fall. The tour will see them playing dates across the West Coast, Southwest, Southeast and Illinois. The band will be offering a limited number of VIP packs on the tour’s second leg, which will include the show ticket, early venue access, an invitation to the band’s soundcheck, a special meet and greet with the band, exclusive merch and the ability to watch a portion of the show from the side of the stage, where available. Tour dates are below.

Coinciding with the fall tour, the acclaimed Aussie outfit will be releasing a digital deluxe edition of The Hypnogogue that will include material originally cut from the 13-song album.

The deluxe edition will include “Realm of Minor Angels,” a slow-burning and gorgeous, torch song-inspired ballad featuring shimmering mandolin from Ian Haug and slide guitar from Ashley Naylor paired with Kilbey’s crooned delivery. Sonically, “Realm of Minor Angels” wouldn’t sound out of place on Starfish or Gold Afternoon Fix.

“‘Realm of Minor Angels’ is without doubt one of my favorite singles The Church has ever released,” The Church’s Steve Bilberry says. “From the moment [guitarist] Jeffrey Cain started playing the opening riff, I was hooked. The singing and lyrics are my own subtle homage to the torch songs of the ‘60s and check out Ian Haug’s mandolin lines and Ashley Naylor’s slide work!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: WIND MILE Performs “Alone” in Berlin

 Berlin-based singer/songwriter, musician and photographer Antonin Côme is the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie rock project WIND MILE. Music allows the emerging Berlin-based artist to shut down the scientific/logical mind and follow his instincts.

Côme’s debut EP was written during a rather liminal period of his life: between Germany and France, and between his time as a student and adulthood. The EP’s material is rooted in the ambition to craft a coherent batch of songs that the listener can dive into repeatedly — built around guitar arpeggios, glistening synths and propulsive bass lines paired with dreamily delivered vocals.

The EP’s latest single, the dreamy ”Alone” is built around glistening guitar arpeggios, twinkling synths, the Berlin-based artist’s dreamy and plaintive delivery and enormous hooks. While sounding indebted to 80s pop, “Alone” is rooted in a lived-in earnestness — and is inspired by personal experience: The one was written between two different conversations with his six new roommates, who were — thankfully for him — becoming his friends. And as a result, the song is an ode to socializing and meeting new friends while reflecting his own need to be surrounded by people.

Recently, the emerging Berlin-based artist shared live footage of him and his backing band performing “Alone” in a gorgeous, sun-filled conference room with 50s-styled chandeliers. The live footage captures a group of young artists, who have developed an unmistakable simpatico.

“This live session came with the wish to capture a performance of us all together, firstly as a memory of the times we are spending creating something that belongs to us only,” Côme explains. “We are proud of it and wanted to be able to watch it when older.

“Additionally, we see it as a display of our craft and aesthetic ideas behind our music. We found this amazing location, the forum of an art school in Berlin, and managed to fully convince its owner after he attended one of our concerts. Restored in 2011, the design is from the 50’s, and the amazing wood walls and exceptionally high ceilings are a true gem and perfect complement our music that wishes to be polished, shiny, yet granular, spacious and soft. Finally, the warm and low-contrasty color palette of the place is fitting our sound ideas : we like to see it as an additional instrument for this session.

Accompanying us are five amazing friends that gathered forces to help us create this session, which made us quite emotional. Everyone in the band contributed to something they were the best at and seeing this synergy that was similar to the one we feel on stage was purely heartwarming. Not many of us actually come from art schools, and having the possibility to take part of a project like this one was a blessing and something we’ve secretly wished for a long time.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s Diamond Day Shares Breezy “Fiction Feel”

Montréal-based duo Diamond Day features two highly acclaimed musicians in their own right:

  • Vermont-born Béatrix Méthé was raised with the traditional music of rural Québec. Her family moved to Canada when she was baby, and she grew up acquiring Lanaudiere’s regional repertoire from her father, the founder of legendary folk-trad group Le Rêve du Diable. Her mother, a singer-songwriter and fine arts graduate versed in early digital media, inspired Méthé’s own aesthetic. After spending some time venturing deeper into visual art, Béthé moved to Montréal to study filmmaking, but wound up discovering indie and psychedelic folk music along the way. She cut her studies short in 2015 to pursue music full-time, fronting acclaimed outfit Rosier, whose unique fusion of Québécois folk and indie rock garnered multiple nominations and awards — and lead them to tour across 15 countries with stops at SXSW, NPR’s Mountain Stage and the BBC. 

  • Western Canada-born Quinn Bachand grew up in a home where art was omnipresent and the family’s 40-year-old record collection was on an omnipresent loop. As the son of a luthier, Bachand began playing guitars handmade by his father and was touring internationally by the time he turned 12. After graduating from Berklee College of Music back in 2019 on a presidential scholarship, the Western Canadian-born multi-instrumentalist spent time in the Grammy-nominated band Kittel & Co. His involvement in the US folk scene prompted collaborations with a number of like-minded artists, including Chris Thile. In 2019, Bachand began collaborating with Méthé and Rosier, quickly establishing himself as an influential, genre-bending producer.

That initial successful collaboration with Rosier lead to the duo’s forthcoming full-length debut as Diamond Day, Connect the Dots Slated for a fall 2023 release, the Canadian duo’s full-length debut reportedly sees them crafting a sound that weaves elements of folk, indie rock, electronica, shoegaze and dream pop into a unique take on alt-pop.

Earlier this year, I wrote about Connect the Dots‘ first single “Noisemaker,” which was built around tape-saturated organ echo, fluttering synths, blown out beats, a sinuous bass line and lush, painterly sheogazer-like guitar textures paired with Méthé’s gorgeous vocals. The result — to my ears at least — reminded me of a mix of Beach House and Souvlaki-era Slowdive with a subtle amount of glitchiness.

The album’s second and latest single “Fiction Feel” is a breezy, summertime dream of a song built around a glitch pop soundscape featuring vintage tape recordings, glistening synths and a shuffling organ drum machine before quickly morphing into a lush New Wave/post-punk anthem that brings Cocteau Twins and Violens to mind.

Directed by Natan B. Foisy, the accompanying video is shot in a gorgeous, cinematic black and white an features a collection of Montréal area theater club teens in a school auditorium. We see the teens as they cycle through a series of different emotions in an oddly bipolar yet playful fashion.

“We recorded ‘Fiction Feel’ a few times over the past year or so. Initially, it was very ‘post-punk,'” Diamond Day’s Quinn Bachand explains in press notes. ” I had just watched Converse PURPLE video which featured ‘Cries and Whispers’ by New Order and I was getting into a lot of newer stuff in that vein, especially Cate le Bon’s latest album. Ultimately, we don’t sound anything like that, so the arrangement turned into a bit of a frankenstein. We re-wrote melodies, and added and muted stuff. Before we sent it out to get mixed by Elijah [Marrett-Hitch], we removed tons of unused tracks and weird outdated plugins that were constantly making Pro Tools crash.”

“The song ended up being a little glitchy. Lo-fi thrift store keyboards, cheap classical guitars, archived speech recordings and arena-rocky drums,” the duo’s Béatrix Méthé says.  

“One of our mix notes to Elijah was, ‘Make the drums a bit more douchey, like Eric Valentine,” Bachand adds.

“We wanted it to evolve from tiny and creepy like The Books to big and bombastic like Depeche Mode. But we wanted it to remain catchy and dancey,” Méthé says.

“We love how The Books use extremely edited found sounds to intensify emotional moments and create a really unique feel. There’s so much subtle information–both melodic and rhythmic–packed into speech and these dated home recordings have so much depth,” says Bachand.

“We’re both folk musicians. Slightly jaded ones… [when it comes to folk music] we really only listen to archives now–rare home recordings of musicians in rural areas. There are tons of old reel-to-reel and cassette recordings across the country with this material, anyone can find them, you just have to dig. Quinn and I have a lot of that digitized now. Listening to everything around the music, the stuff the interviewer or engineer didn’t mean to record; that’s the weird stuff,” Méthé explains. “Quinn and I heard an argument on one tape, there was so much tension and urge in their speech. It was perfect… we had to include it in ‘Fiction Feel.’ Connect the Dots (the full record) has a bunch of awkward little archive-chestnuts sprinkled in.”

“Natan B. Foisy also directed this visualizer. He and Béatrix (and most of the video team) are from a region north of Montreal called Lanaudière,” Bachand says of the video. “Last winter, we were able to utilize a local high school in the region for some video.”

“The song is a little nerdy and bipolar and Natan did a great job of capturing that in the visualizer. He got teenagers from the school to play with the camera, cycling through different emotions and expressions as the song develops. And it’s all in black & white to contrast those dynamics,” Méthé says of the video.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Fake Fever Shares Glistening Pop Confection “Graveyard Shift”

Andrew Barnes is a New York-based producer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who has spent much of his musical life playing guitar and drums in a variety of heavy bands. Barnes made a splash with his solo recording chillwave/bedroom pop/dream pop project Fake Fever — and its 2020 full-length debut, Surrogate, which caught the attention of the blogosphere with its material being a hazy, subdued trip through a lazy river of vaporware-tinged dreams and memories.

Of course, nostalgia is a rather powerful drug. It can be provide a quick escape or a warm blanket of comfort in times of need — or in desperately uneasy times. But what happens when that temporary saccharine rush fades? As it turns out, the longer that Barnes spent in the nostalgic space that had long defined Fake Fever, the more he felt those reflective comforts dissipate over time, and found that the harsh realties of the present being uncomfortably inescapable. “When I initially tried to piece together ideas for my 2nd album, I was hitting a wall and slowly realized that I had spent so much time over the last few years trying to recreate this essence of my childhood and my past and existing in this escapist place where I was constantly looking backwards, that I was doing a horrible job of living in the present and trying to progress, both creatively and personally,” says Barnes.

After spending three years of false starts, new surroundings, much-needed band-aid ripping, chaotic experimentation and refinement, the result is Barnes highly-anticipated sophomore album Inside The Well. Slated for a for a September 1, 2032 release, the album thematically is a bittersweet breakup album viewed through the lens of nostalgia. “This album encompasses that sometimes-painful process of loosening the grip on the past so that you can free yourself to move forward,” the New York-based artist explains.

Sonically, the 11-song album sees Barnes sees him effortlessly weaving new genre flourishes to the Fake Fever sound including hints of shoegaze, house music, footwork, 2000s indietronica revival and drum & bass among others. The result is an album that sees Barnes showcases a new confidence that honors the electro pop sound and ear worm video game bleeps of the 90s and 00s while maintaining a creative, forward-thinking approach to blissful soundscapes and hook-driven songwriting.

Inside The Well‘s first single “Graveyard Shift” is a slickly produced and deliberately crafted slice of pop built around glistening synth arpeggios, sinuous bass lines and skittering processed beats paired Barnes’ ethereal and yearning falsetto, and his unerring knack for razor sharp, remarkably catchy hooks. Along with a shimmering guitar solo, “Graveyard Shift,” manages to sound like a sleek synthesis of Jorge Elbrecht’s work as an artist and producer, Brothertiger‘s 2022 self-titled album and 80s sophisitipop. But the song is rooted in the devastation of heartbreak, the longing for something you can’t get back, and the slow process of moving forward as best as you can.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Drab Majesty Shares Lush Meditation on Time “The Skin and The Glove”

Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist Andrew Clinco, also known for his work drumming in Marriages founded Drab Majesty back in 2011 as a way to create music in which he recorded every instrument himself. For the project, Clinco created the androgynous character Deb Demure. Alex Nicolaou, a.k.a. Mona D (keys, vocals) joined the project in 2016. 

Since signing to Dais Records, the Los Angeles-based duo have released three albums, 2015’s Careless, 2017’s The Demonstration, 2019’s Modern Mirror, which saw the project combining androgynous aesthetics and commanding vocals with futuristic and occult lyrics, to create a style and sound that the band’s Demure refers to as “tragic wave.” 

Drab Majesty’s forthcoming EP, An Object in Motion is slated for an August 25, 2023 release through Dais Records. Clocking in at 32 minutes, the release actually sits somewhere between an EP and a mini-album, and the effort reportedly marks a new chapter in the project’s legacy story: Written during a 2021 retreat to the remote costal Oregon town of Yachats, the band’s Deb Demure leaned into the neo-psychedelic resonance of a uniquely bowl-shaped 12-string Ovation acoustic/electric guitar. After early morning hikes in the rain, Demure would record ambient guitar experiments the rest of the day, tapping into “flow states,” in which he would let the sound lead the way. Those sessions were then refined or recreated and then later elevated with contributions from Slowdive‘s Rachel Goswell, Beck’s, M83‘s and Air’s Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and Uniform’s Ben Greenberg. Fittingly, the EP reportedly holds true to its title, as it captures Demure and Drab Majesty in a transitional state, and evolving while showcasing a series of potential futures from the project. 

Last month, I wrote about An Object in Motion‘s first single “Vanity” featured a very rare guest spot from Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. Built around shimmering, reverb-drenched 12 string guitar, gated reverb-soaked drum patterns, Demure’s plaintive commanding baritone paired with soaring hooks. Goswell contributes her imitably expressive vocal, which seamlessly intertwines with Demure’s vocal in an uncannily gorgeous harmony. To my ears, sonically, “Vanity” seems like a synthesis of Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne‘s “Close My Eyes Forever,” Sisters of Mercy, Disintegration-era The Cure and Goswell’s work with Slowdive — or in other words, something that will warm the cold hearts of any goth. 

An Object in Motion‘s second and latest single “The Skin and The Glove” is a lush, Smiths-meets-Slowdive/RIDE-like song built around reverb-soaked, shimmering 12 string guitar, a driving groove paired with the Los Angeles-based duo’s uncannily unerring knack for gorgeous harmonies and catchy hooks. But under the lush soundscapes is a song that thematically touches upon the endless march of time, and our inevitable mortality.

Inspired by the song’s lyrics, the accompanying video for “The Skin and The Glove,” was shot primarily on Super 8mm film while the band was on tour, and includes sequences in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Switzerland, France, Italy, Hungary, Mexico, Vancouver, and Tasmania. Digital video footage was shot in Los Angeles. The duo decided that film was the medium that most accurately reflects the way that memories seem sewn together by fragments of imagery.

The video’s flashing moments in time that seem naturally edited seem naturally edited in some part by simply moving through moments, holding down the trigger and choosing to remember certain aspects of a day, a trip or an extended period of travel. Throughout, there’s the attempt to compress a long passage of time and the effort that goes into playing and touring in a band and to present it as the mind does; a tapestry of reflection and memory that seems stitched together randomly. And with that sort of ephemeral granularity, the potential to misremember — and to mythologize.