ythmics’ Dave Stewart. Writing and performing as Indya Love, Stewart’s debut single, the self-produced “Good Morning” is centered around a hauntingly sparse arrangement in which the younger Stewart accompanies her gently plucked acoustic guitar with gently cooed vocals. Her father adds a bit of electric guitar for a bit of country twang.
Recorded at Bay Street Studios in the Caribbean, “Good Morning” manages to be a gorgeous and atmospheric track that upon repeated listens reveals an unsettling and much darker edge: it’s one part, cooed greeting to a lover upon waking up together in bed, one-part wistful reminiscence about a dysfunctional yet wildly passionate relationship and one-part classic murder ballad.
ontinuing with the DIY ethos, the self-directed and self-shot, black and white video for “Good Morning” is inspired by Man Ray’s work and evokes the brooding emotions at the heart of the song.
Holy Hive is a Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstay act featuring:
Paul Spring, a St. Cloud, MN-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who spent his formative years studying ancient languages, poetry and classical guitar before making a name for himself as a folk artist, who self-released seven albums, including a well-received children’s album Home of Song.
Interestingly, Holy Hive can trace its origins to when Spring and Steinweiss met on a Minnesota farm through their respective girlfriends, who are cousins. The duo began a long-distance friendship, which over time developed into a folk-based recording project. Back in 2016, Spring relocated to New York. Shortly after, the duo were invited to tour with fellow JOVM mainstay Lee Fields. That tour dramatically changed their approach and sound: after the tour they began exploring the relationships between the traditions and lyricism of folk and the aesthetics and rhythms of soul music — seamlessly meshing them into something anachronistic yet uniquely theirs. And with a new sound, they began honing their sound with a year-long monthly resident at Red Hook, Brooklyn-based dive bar Sunny’s with a rotating cast of collaborators.
Spring and Steinwess then spent the next couple of years working on folk and soul inspired material that thematically focused on love and loss. The end result was teh duo’s full-length debut, last year’s Float Back to You. Recorded at Steinwess’ Diamond Mind Studios, the album was produced by Steinwess and consists of 10 originals, a cover of Honeybus’ “Be Thou By My Side” and a re-working of the old Irish folk standard “Red is the Rose.” The album also featured an impressive array of guest stars including Mary Lattimore (harp), El Michels Affair’s Leon Michels (sax, keys), The Shacks‘ Shannon Wise (backing vocals), The Roots’ Dave Guy (trumpet), Nick Movshon (bass) and Spring’s wife Sophia Heymans (piano).
The duo’s self-titled sophomore album is slated for a September 24, 2021 release through their longtime label home Big Crown Records. The album reportedly reviews a natural but subtle evolution for the duo: while still largely centered around the old-school soul and folk that has won them attention and praise, the Spring and Steinweiss push their sound and songwriting approach in new directions with narrative-driven Mexican ballads, Turkish funk and even a bit of Chicano Soul being added to the mix.
“We wanted this album to be a blending of our musical personalities – a continuation of our Folk Soul experiment,” Holy Hive’s Paul Spring explains. “We started the album together on tour, staying in Air BnBs with small mobile recording rigs. Then the pandemic forced us to work on it separately from our own quarantined homes. And finally, months later and reunited in New York, we finished it together in the Diamond Mine Studio.” Steinweiss continues, “I think we achieved something new and exciting on this album. We went deeper into ourselves to find inspiration, and we did a lot of self-reflection to find the words and themes that we wanted to express. There is a sadness to the album as a whole, but it was finished during a sad time for the world so I think it reflects a lot of what we have been going through.” Unsurprisingly, their self-titled sophomore album may the most personal of their growing catalog with the album’s material thematically touching upon the joys of partnership and love, and the fact that sadly no matter how hard you may try, all things end. So you dust yourself off, maybe figure it all out and (hopefully) try to start over again with some level of perspective.
The self-titled album’s first single “Ain’t That The Way” is a woozy and uneasy stomp featuring a persistent rhythm punctuated by handclaps, a looping and twinkling keys, a soaring hook and achingly plaintive vocals. And while displaying a breezy and infectious craft, the song is centered around the fact that all things good and bad end. Heartbreak is a part of our lives — and so is what you do with it.
Stefan Kasapovski is a Stockholm-based singer/songwriter and musician — and the creative mastermind behind the emerging solo recording project Santero Projects. Kasapovski’s Santero Projects full-length debut will reportedly feature 11 songs written performed and recorded by Stockholm-based artist in one take, without overdubbing or digital effects to capture the material at its most genuine.
Kasapovski’s latest Santero Projects single, the gorgeous an sparse “Knossos” features the Stockholm-based artist’s sonorous baritone accompanied by atmospheric synths and strummed acoustic guitar. The end result is a song that — to my ears, at least –sounds quite a bit like acclaimed Swedish folk artist Jose Gonzalez.
Acclaimed Seattle-based folk/indie rock act The Head and The Heart — currently, founding member Jonathan Russell (vocals, guitar, percussion), Charity Rose Theielen (violin, guitar, vocals, Chris Zasche (bass), Kenny Hensley (keys), Matt Gervais (vocals, guitar) and Tyler Williams (drums) — can trace their origins to a series of open mic nights at Ballard neighbor based bar, Conor Byrne Pub back in 2009: At the time, the band’s Jonathan Russell relocated from Richmond, VA — and Josiah Johnson (vocals, guitar, percussion), who had relocated from Southern California were both relatively recent transplants. Russell and Johnson met Kenny Hensley, who was relocated the previous year to pursue a career in film score writing. Charity Rose Theilen, who returned from a year abroad studying in Paris became the band’s fourth member. Russell knew Tyler Williams from the Richmond music scene: Williams was a member of Prabir and The Substitutes and he quickly relocated to Seattle after Russell sent him a demo of Down In The Valley.” Chris Zasche was a bartender at the Conor Byrne pub and was a member of Seattle-based bands The Maldives and Grand Hallway before joining The Head and The Heart.
As Johnson explained in press notes the band’s name came from a very relatable situation that many musicians have in which “Your head is telling you to be stable and find a good job, you know in your heart that this [the band] is what you’re supposed to do, even if it’s crazy.”
Since their formation, the Seattle-based folk/indie rock act have released four critically applauded albums — 2010’s self-titled and initially self-released debut (which later caught the attention of Sub Pop Records, who re-issued it), 2013’s Let’s Be Still, 2016’s major label debut Signs of Light and 2019’s Living Mirage. And with each successive release, the band has received greater critical and commercial success while earning a rising profile: They’ve opened for the likes of Vampire Weekend, The Walkmen, Dr. Dog, Dave Matthews, The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers among a list of other equally acclaimed acts.
The band’s latest effort is a lovingly straightforward and gorgeous cover of the Graham Nash-penned Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young hit “Our House,” which appears on the act’s 1970 release Deja Vu. (Admittedly, I’ve somehow just loved the since I was a small. I loved the harmonies — and the melody is an earworm, man.) But most important, The Head and the Heart’s cover is a reminder of two things: Graham Nash is an amazing songwriter and that “Our House” is a pretty song full of longing for the sort of domestic tranquility that’s sadly so very rare. Interestingly, the members of the critically acclaimed Seattle-based act recorded the part of an expansive 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Déjá Vu, which features an additional two hours of rare and previously unreleased audio.
Of course, it shouldn’t be surprising that the members of The Head and The Heart are huge Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young fans — and that the song holds a deep personal meaning for them: “When we first started as a band, we shared a two bedroom apartment where ‘Our House’ was played so much, it became like a mantra of unity and connection to each other, as we discovered what we wanted to do within our music. To say it’s an honor to be asked to cover that very song is an understatement. Happy 50th anniversary to you legends! Déjá Vu Forever!“
The single art for the cover serves as a homage to the original Déjá Vu artwork and features an image of the actual house in Seattle that was The Head and The Heart’s early home.
Lafayette, LA-born singer/songwriter Renée Reed grew up in an intensely musical home: a young Reed grew up on the accordion-bending knee of her grandfather Harry Trahan in the middle of countless jam sessions at the one-stop Cajun shop owned by her parents Lisa Trahan and Mitch Reed. And as a result, Reed wound up being surrounded by a who’s who of Cajun and Creole music legends — both backstage at the many festivals of Southwest Louisiana and at her family home. Reed also soaked up the stories and storytelling of her great uncle, folklorist Revon Reed and his brothers from Mamou.
Reed’s self-titled debut is slated for a March 26, 2021 release through Keeled Scales Records and the album will feature music that Reed describes as “dream-fi folk form the Cajun prairies.” Thematically, “this album is a collection of songs about toxic relationships, seeing ghosts, ancestral baggage and blessings, and daydreaming about love,” Reed explains in press notes. “It is about certain feelings and experiences I’ve had over my life coming to fruition in the past three years. It was all made on a four track recorder at home, in a place and in a way I feel most natural, and I believe that quality comes through in the sound.”
“Neboj,” the soon-to-be released album’s third and latest single derives its title from a Czech word that Cajuns pronounce as “nuh-boy” and represents the amalgamation of influences and cultures that inform Cajun music. Centered around a hauntingly sparse arrangement of delicately picked, looping guitar and Reed’s ethereal vocals, “Neboj” manages to be a self-assured yet vulnerable fever dream of full of earnest longing. Interestingly, for Reed the song is about letting go and not being afraid to fall in love, to just trust her heart.
Throughout the course of this site’s ten-plus year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink cover the acclaimed Northern California-born and-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay Chelsea Wolfe. During that same period, Wolfe has maintained a long-held reputation for channeling somber and eerily haunting beauty in a variety of styles and forms including gothic rock, doom metal and folk.
Wolfe’s unique gifts as a songwriter is made much more apparent whenever she strips her material down to a few key elements. Wolfe’s latest single, “Anhedonia,” features guest vocals and guitar from labelmate Emma Ruth Rundle, and the slow-burning and hauntingly gorgeous song continues in the vein of the JOVM mainstay’s last full-length album — centered around a sparse arrangement of shimmering acoustic guitar, reverb-drenched guitar and ethereal effects. Interestingly, the song manages to evoke our current moment of socioeconomic and political instability, of constant death, fear and heartache. Pleasure and happiness right now just seem inappropriate and impossible.
“I wrote ‘Anhedonia’ after I experienced it during summer of 2019, then tucked the song away and moved forward with my acoustic album and subsequent North American tour,” Wolfe says of the new single. “When COVID-19 hit and stay-at-home orders began in 2020, my European tour was canceled and I had to fly home. Restless, I started listening through my archives of unfinished songs and little unused ideas. When I heard Anhedonia again, it hit me how strangely relevant the lyrics felt to current times. I’d been wanting to work on a song with Emma [Rundle] for a long time, so I recorded it and sent it her way. She graciously added her gorgeous vocals and lead guitar, and then Ben [Chisholm] mixed it, adding his signature sound landscape as a fortress around the song. As I listened back to the final version, I was finally able to set free those emotions which I couldn’t feel back in 2019. I had worries around releasing the song, not wanting to romanticize the condition of anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure), but I also understood that it could possibly be cathartic for others who are struggling, as it was for me, to sing and dance my way out of a depression.”
Emma Ruth Rundle adds “I was moved to tears when she sent me Anhedonia, which made getting through the tracking very emotional and slow on my end. I love the way the guitars I tracked morphed in Ben’s mix. The whole song swirls in a poignant eddy of sorrowful sound and still takes a hard swing at my heart hearing it now.”
