Tag: Elle Magazine

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Lola Kirke Teams Up with Wyndham Garnett on a Gorgeous Cover of Ted Lucas’ “Baby Where You Are”

Last year, I wrote quite a bit about the British-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, musician and actress Lola Kirke. Although she may be best known for starring roles in  Noah Bambauch’s Mistress America and the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle, and a supporting role in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, the British-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and actress is the daughter of drummer of drummer Simon Kirke, who was a member of the 70s hit-making rock bands Bad Company and Free and Lorraine Kirke, the owner of Geminola, a New York-based vintage boutique known for supplying outfits for Sex and the City.  

As a solo artist, Kirke’s Wyndham Garnett-produced full-length debut, Heart Head West was released last year through Downtown Records, and  the album, which was tracked live to tape was a deeply personal effort that was as Kirke said in press notes “about basically everything I thought about in 2017 — time, loss, social injustice, sex, drinking, longing — essentially everything I’d talk about with a close friend for 40 minutes.” 

Wyndham Garnett is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who first made a name for himself as an original member of Elvis Perkins in Dearland and a touring member of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. And as a result, he has shared stages with the likes of My Morning Jacket, Cold War Kids, Levon Helm, Pete Seeger, Dr. Dog, The Felice Brothers, Marco Benevento and a lengthy list others. 2016 saw the release of his self-produced full-length debut WYNDHAM and the Gus Seyffert-produced EP Double You, which featured lead single “Gypsy,” a track that landed on Elle’s “Best New Songs of December 2016” with singles by the legendary Neil Young and Childish Gambino. Now, as you may recall Garnett is a frequent collaborator with Kirke that has included her self-titled EP, last year’s Heart Head West and a pair of Christmas-themed songs. 

Garnett and Kirke continue their ongoing and extraordinarily successful collaboration with two Valentine’s Day-themed singles “Lights On” and a cover of Ted Lucas’ “Baby Where You Are.” The Garnett and Kirke cover of Lucas’ “Baby Where You Are” is a fairly straightforward and atmospheric rendition of the song with a twangy 12 bar blues-like solo, the song is rooted in cold and lonely nights, longing for that special someone, who’s far away — although the song hints at the hope of being with that person again. “When we first got together, Wyndham and I rented a house in upstate New York and spent the majority of our time drinking too much wine and learning songs we liked on guitar so we could at least sing them at parties and maybe one day even record them,” Kirke says in press notes. “Ted Lucas’ ‘Baby Where You Are’ came into our lives then and has remained a staple because of how simply it expresses the truth of love and longing. I’m always excited by art that achieves that balance, which is why I fell so in love with Wyndham’s song ‘Lights On.’ I feel like the two songs express different sides of desire, one that is more certain and the other less, but both hopeful and both very known.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Jesse Jo Stark Returns with Sultry Visuals for “Dandelion”

I’ve written a bit about the up-and-coming  24 year-old, Los Angeles, CA-born and-based singer/songwriter Jesse Jo Stark, and as you may recall, Stark’s parents, Laurie Lynn and Richard Stark are the founders and owners of high-end silver jewelry brand Chrome Hearts, which has expanded into gold, diamond accessories, leather, clothing, furniture, incense and eyewear, and as a result, the young singer/songwriter grew up in an environment that fostered creative expression of all types. Interestingly enough, the youngest Stark was initially known as a model, who as a young teen was photographed by Gilles Bensimon for Elle Magazine before venturing into design, creating the critically applauded Pete Punk collection, a fashion line largely inspired by the punk era.

Unsurprisingly, music and fashion go hand-in-hand and Stark felt the pull to express herself musically,  and under the guidance and collaboration of The Sex Pistols‘ Steve Jones, Guns ‘N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan and others, Starks began writing and recording her own original material, material that drew a variety of sources from country, punk and rock. The up-and-coming singer/songwriter has been busy balancing her fashion work with writing and recording her debut effort but she has managed to release a handful of singles including the dusty, Western gothic “Fire of Love.”

Stark’s latest single “Dandelion” is an atmospheric and slow-burning bit of power ballad-style country and western, centered around reverb drenched guitar, soaring synths and an enormous, swooning hook that clearly sounds inspired by 50s and 60s country and Phil Spector pop — while sounding much like Lana Del Rey and JOVM mainstays Still Corners., complete with an aching longing at its core, thanks in part to Stark’s equally sultry cooing.

Directed by Connor Ellmann, the recently released video continues a run of sultry visuals  — but unlike its immediate predecessor, it possesses a swooning nostalgia.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Up-and-Coming Singer/Songwriter Jesse Jo Stark Releases Sultry Visuals for “Fire of Love’

With her parents Laurie Lynn and Richard Stark being the owners of the high end silvery jewelry brand, Chrome Hearts, which has expanded into gold, diamond accessories, leather, clothing, furniture, incense and eyewear, the 24 year-old, Los Angeles, CA-born and-based singer/songwriter Jesse Jo Stark grew up in an environment that fostered creative expression; in fact, she was initially known as a model, who was photographed as a young teen by Gilles Bensimon for Elle Magazine before venturing into design, creating the Pete Punk collection, which was largely inspired by the punk era. The collection was critically applauded by fashion editors and was a commercial success — and as a result, it lead to a collaboration with Vans.  

Of course, music and fashion go hand-in-hand, and Jesse Jo Starks felt the pull to express herself musically — and under the guidance and collaboration of The Sex Pistols‘ Steve Jones, Guns ‘N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan and others, Starks began writing and recording her own original material, material that drew a variety of sources from country, punk and rock.

The up-and-coming, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter has been busy balancing the busy schedule of her fashion work with writing and recording her debut effort, but she has released a handful of singles over the past year, including her latest “Fire of Love,” a sultry and cinematic track that possesses a dusty, Western Gothic vibe reminiscent of JOVM mainstays Betty Black and Bambara.

Directed by Chuck Grant, the recently released video is fittingly brooding and sultry, and features a scantily clad Stark as a stripper/burlesque dancer, who seduces a skeleton man. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Monogem’s Atmospheric and Sexy Cover of The Weeknd’s “Earned It”

Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the better part of the past year to about 18 months or so, you might be familiar with Monogem, an electro pop duo featuring singer/songwriter Jen Hirsh and producer/songwriter Scott […]

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Monogem’s Breezy, 80s Synth Pop-Inspired “Wait and See”

Featuring singer/songwriter Jen Hirsh and producer/songwriter Scott Smith, electro pop project Monogem derives its name from a unique cosmic phenomenon — a Monogem Ring, the leftover glow of an supernova explosion. Interestingly, one of the largest monogem rings […]