Tag: Heaven

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Anchorage’s dreamcat Shares Breezy “Heaven”

Anchorage-based indie electro pop duo dreamcat — couple Em Glaves and Colton Ciufo — can trace a portion of their origins back to when they were children: Glaves and Ciufo grew up in the same small town, and for them music has always been their escape.

The Alaskan duo specialize in homemade, heartfelt, positive indie synth pop that draws from M83, Chromeo and others. Last year, the pair gained recognition regionally by playing at two of Alaska’s biggest music festivals — Sundown Festival and Girdwood Forest Fair.

Over the past 12-18 months, the duo have built upon a growing profile across Alaska, with at the release of a handful of standalone singles and their debut EP joie de vivre earlier this year.

Glaves and Ciufro close out 2025 with “Heaven,” a breezy bit of synth pop that seemingly channels BRIJEAN, M83 and Oracular Spectacular-era MGMT while showcasing the duo’s ability to craft a remarkably catchy hook. But underneath the track’s breezy hookiness, the song, as the duo explain is about addiction.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Heaven Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Dream Aloud”

New York-based shoegazers Heaven was founded in the wake of its founding members Matt Sumrow (vocals, guitar) and Mikey Jones (drums) touring and recording with Dean and Britta, Swervedriver, Ambulance LTD, Caveman, The Comas, The Lemonheads and a lengthy list of others. With the addition of their newest member, Sonia Manalili, the shoegazer trio’s third album Dream Aloud officially released today through Little Cloud Records.

The band’s third album is the trio’s most somnambulistic effort to date. Recorded here in NYC with Jonathan Krienik, the album features guest spots from Longwave’s and Wah Together‘s Steve Schlitz. 

“The record was conceived in the dark depths of the pandemic, when all we could do was stay at home and work on projects and watch the end of the world on TV,” Heaven’s Matt Sumrow explains. “It was created as a vision of hope and dreams, an escape from the reality we were in. It’s also a deliberate move back to a DIY way of making music. Realizing that facing the apocalypse, you have to rely on yourself to make things happen, make art happen, conjure your love and dreams.”

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

  • “I Need You More Somehow,” a hook-driven, slick synthesis of Heroes-era Bowie, New Zealand jangle pop paired with bursts of feedback and Sumrow’s longing vocal. “Both at home on the beach in California or a seedy underground nightclub in Glasgow or Berlin, the song layers two worlds,” Heaven’s Matt Sumrow says. “The lyrics are purposefully ambiguous, needing more of someone and longing for more connection, but also sounding content and blissful with the present situation at the same time.”

  • “The Fire You Know,” a brooding and melancholy song that reminds me a bit of Ocean Rain-era Echo and the Bunnymen and Psychedelic Furs with a lush string arrangement from cellist Megan LaMarca and propulsive drumming that drives the song from its fever dream-like verses to a chugging hook and dreamy coda. Thematically, the song touches upon deeply held secrets, fated beliefs and madness which, fittingly emphasize the song’s swooningly Romantic vibe. 

Dream Aloud’s latest single, album title track “Dream Aloud” is a dreamy mix of jangle pop, 90s alt rock and shoegaze, anchored around Sumrow’s uncanny knack for crafting rousingly anthemic hooks with earnest, nostalgia-inducing lyricism. “I wrote this song in the wee hours of the morning, recording it into my phone,” Sumrow recalls. “Honestly, I don’t even remember writing it. I found it amongst a bunch of other song sketches. It was a hushed lullaby at first, but we turned it into a rocker. I guess if I was trying to explain it, lyrically it’s a Tibetan sand mandala, building something beautiful then destroying it.”

Continuing an ongoing collaboration with director Jeska Sand, the accompanying video for “Dream Aloud” stars Jacqueline Valenti as lone, angel wing-wearing figure wandering around the bars and streets of East Village before heading off to Coney Island as the sun rises. The video captures moments of loneliness, discovery, reflection and dreamlike observation through the city’s shift between neon and daylight.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Heaven Returns with Brooding and Cinematic “The Fire You Know”

New York-based shoegazers Heaven was founded in the wake of its founding members Matt Sumrow (vocals, guitar) and Mikey Jones (drums) touring and recording with Dean and Britta, Swervedriver, Ambulance LTD, Caveman, The Comas, The Lemonheads and a lengthy list of others. With the addition of their newest member, Sonia Manalili, the shoegazer trio are gearing up to release their first full-length album in over seven years, their third album, Dream Aloud. 

Slated for an April 4, 2025 release through Little Cloud Records, Dream Aloud is reportedly the New York-based trio’s most somnambulistic album to date. The album, which was recorded here in New York with Jonathan Krienik, features a guest spot from Longwave’s and Wah Together‘s Steve Schlitz. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about album single “I Need You More Somehow,” a track that’s a hook-driven, slick synthesis of Heroes-era Bowie, New Zealand jangle pop paired with bursts of feedback and Sumrow’s longing vocal. “Both at home on the beach in California or a seedy underground nightclub in Glasgow or Berlin, the song layers two worlds,” Heaven’s Matt Sumrow says. “The lyrics are purposefully ambiguous, needing more of someone and longing for more connection, but also sounding content and blissful with the present situation at the same time.”

Dream Aloud’s fourth and latest single “The Fire You Know” is a brooding and melancholy song that reminds me a bit of Ocean Rain-era Echo and the Bunnymen and Psychedelic Furs with a lush string arrangement from cellist Megan LaMarca and propulsive drumming that drives the song from its fever dream-like verses to a chugging hook and dreamy coda. Thematically, the song touches upon deeply held secrets, fated beliefs and madness which, fittingly emphasize the song’s swooningly Romantic vibe.

Directed and shot by Jeska Sand, the video for “The Fire You Know was shot in and around an early 20th century farmhouse in Narrowsburg, NY follows the trio in a snow-covered landscape reminiscent of U2‘s “New Year’s Day” before entering the old farmhouse and going mad.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Heaven Shares Hook-Driven and Yearning “I Need You More Somehow”

New York-based shoegazers Heaven was founded in the wake of its founding members Matt Sumrow (vocals, guitar) and Mikey Jones (drums) touring and recording with Dean and Britta, Swervedriver, Ambulance LTD, Caveman, The Comas, The Lemonheads and a lengthy list of others. With the addition of their newest member, Sonia Manalili, the shoegazer trio are gearing up to release their first full-length album in over seven years, their third album, Dream Aloud.

Slated for an April 4, 2025 release through Little Cloud Records, Dream Aloud is reportedly the New York-based trio’s most somnambulistic album to date. The album, which was recorded here in New York with Jonathan Krienik, features a guest spot from Longwave’s and Wah Together‘s Steve Schlitz.

The album’s second and latest single “I Need You More Somehow” strikes me as sounding a bit like a hook-driven slick synthesis of Heroes-era Bowie, New Zealand jangle pop paired with bursts of feedback and Sumrow’s longing vocal.

“Both at home on the beach in California or a seedy underground nightclub in Glasgow or Berlin, the song layers two worlds,” Heaven’s Matt Sumrow says. “The lyrics are purposefully ambiguous, needing more of someone and longing for more connection, but also sounding content and blissful with the present situation at the same time.”

Filmed at Mercury Lounge, the accompanying video for “I Need You More Somehow” was specifically shot and edited to resemble 80s and 80s video footage, CCTV or straight-to-home-video-like footage, being a loving homage to the era of their influences. And throughout the video, the band is seen performing while enveloped in a hazy blue and pink swirling lights.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Funky French League is a label and collective of multi-generational DJs, producers and musicians led by Groove Deluxe’s Uncle T that also includes Young Pulse, Chaps, Malka Family‘s Woody Braun, Générations FM and Radio FG‘s mOnsieur Willy, Radio Nova and Générations FM’s DJ Asko.

As a collective and label, Funky French League has two missions:

  • promote and advance the entire disco, dance music and funk spectrum through parties, remixes, edits, radio shows and even their original material
  • to encourage and promote partying — with good taste, in which good people can hang out and listen to dope music with funky grooves

Over the past couple of years, the French collective have been busy: 2020 saw their debut effort, Disconauts, Vol. 1. They released a critically acclaimed series of remixes of French superstars off the Warner music back catalog, which included remixes of Françoise Hardy, Sheila, Veronique Sanson, and others. They then released a collection of reworks of three Latin American disco tracks initially released in 1980 — Irakere‘s “Baila Mi Ritmo,” written by Chucho Valdes; “Dance, Dance, Dance,” by Orquesta Novel; and “La Cotorra Criolla,” by Perucho Conde, one of the first Spanish rap songs, inspired by The Sugarhill Gang’s iconic “Rapper’s Delight.”

This year, the French collective released the Baule Vice EP. The EP’s first single, EP opening track “Heaven” is a synth-driven, disco-inspired banger centered around a relentless, two-step inducing groove, glistening synth arpeggios paired with soulful vocals and and an irresistible hook. It’s a fun song that sounds as though it draws from Nile Rodgers and Chic, Cameo, The Dazz Band, The Gap Band and others — but with a sleek modern feel and production.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay San Mei Releases “Romeo and Juliet”-Inspired Visuals for “Heaven”

Throughout the past few years of this site’s eight-plus year history, I’ve written quite a bit about Gold Coast, Australia-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Emily Hamilton and her acclaimed recording project San Mei, which began as a bedroom recording project but quickly received attention from this site and a number of major media outlets including NME, Indie Shuffle, NYLON and Triple J. Her San Mei debut EP Necessary found the Gold Coast, Australia-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist decidedly moving away from the bedroom recorded synth pop that first caught the attention of the blogosphere and towards organic instrumentation and a sound that immediately brings Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cat Power, Feist and others to mind.

Hamilton met songwriter, producer and musical phenom Oscar Dawson, who has worked with Holy Holy, Alex Lahey, Ali Barter, British India, Robbie Miller and Joyride at BIGSOUND last year, and the pair immediately hit it off. According to Hamilton, taking Dawson on as a producer and collaborator found the duo refining ideas, exploring different soundscapes and laying down the foundation for her — and in turn, San Mei’s — sonic progression. As Hamilton explains in press notes “[Dawson and I] hit it off straight away and it seemed like he understood where I was coming from, even if I had trouble conveying certain ideas in the demos I made at home.”

“Wonder” was the first single since the release of Necessary. Coincidentally “Wonder” was the first single off her forthcoming Heaven EP, which is slated for a November 2 release and interestingly, the single managed to be a subtle refinement of Hamilton’s sound and songwriting that found her creating radio friendly and arena rock friendly tracks, centered around a razor hooks, fuzzy shoegazer rock-like power chords and propulsive drumming — all while being incredibly earnest. “Heaven,” the EP title track is also the second and latest single of the EP, and its centered around layers of power chord-based guitar lines, four-on-the-floor drumming, Hamilton’s lush yet ethereal vocals, and shimmering synth lines.  And while the new track continues a run of arena rock friendly singles, it may arguably be the most shoegazer/dream pop-like track she’s written and released but underneath the song bristles with a bitter sense of frustration and dissatisfaction. In fact, as Hamilton says of the song, “This song is about when love is blind and it feels like heaven, but if you step back you can see things for what they really are. It’s about waking up to reality and letting go of something that’s going to end up causing harm, even if at first it felt like a dream.”

Directed by Somersault Visuals’ Jennifer Embleton, the recently released visuals for “Heaven” continues Hamilton’s ongoing collaboration with the director, and it’s an incredibly cinematic and swooning meet cute among strangers, that’s largely inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Wong Kai Wai’s Chungking Express. As Hamilton explains in press notes, “The idea was to focus on the sweetness of the young love between two star-crossed lovers. Where the song itself can lean towards a more cautionary and even sad tale about love gone wrong, we wanted to keep the video light and the emphasis on the innocence and dreamlike state of the two lovers – the moment where they’re wrapped up in one another and it still feels like heaven (tying in with the lyrics in the chorus “did you think it was heaven?”). The story ends with them still in this surreal moment together before reality sets in to pull them apart.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Now, throughout the course of this site’s eight year history, I’ve written quite a bit about Gold Coast, Australia-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Emily Hamilton and her acclaimed recording project San Mei, which began as a bedroom recording project but quickly received attention from this site and a number of major media outlets including NME, Indie Shuffle, NYLON and Triple J. Her San Mei debut EP Necessary found the Gold Coast, Australia-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist decidedly moving away from the bedroom recorded synth pop that first caught the attention of the blogosphere and towards organic instrumentation and a sound that immediately brings Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cat Power, Feist and others to mind.

Hamilton met songwriter, producer and musical phenom Oscar Dawson, who has worked with Holy Holy, Alex Lahey, Ali Barter, British India, Robbie Miller and Joyride at BIGSOUND last year, and the pair immediately hit it off. According to Hamilton, taking Dawson on as a producer and collaborator found the duo refining ideas, exploring different soundscapes and laying down the foundation for her — and in turn, San Mei’s — sonic progression. As Hamilton explains in press notes “[Dawson and I] hit it off straight away and it seemed like he understood where I was coming from, even if I had trouble conveying certain ideas in the demos I made at home.”

“Wonder” was the first single since the release of Necessary. Coincidentally “Wonder” was the first single off her forthcoming Heaven EP, which is slated for a November 2 release and interestingly, the single managed to be a subtle refinement of Hamilton’s sound and songwriting that found her creating radio friendly and arena rock friendly tracks, centered around a razor hooks, fuzzy shoegazer rock-like power chords and propulsive drumming — all while being incredibly earnest. “Heaven,” the EP title track is also the second and latest single of the EP, and its centered around layers of power chord-based guitar lines, four-on-the-floor drumming, Hamilton’s lush yet ethereal vocals, and shimmering synth lines.  And while the new track continues a run of arena rock friendly singles, it may arguably be the most shoegazer/dream pop-like track she’s written and released but underneath the song bristles with a bitter sense of frustration and dissatisfaction. In fact, as Hamilton says of the song, “This song is about when love is blind and it feels like heaven, but if you step back you can see things for what they really are. It’s about waking up to reality and letting go of something that’s going to end up causing harm, even if at first it felt like a dream.”

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring Chuck Bronson, Brodie Conley, Nicolas Hyatt and David Lacalamita, the members of Canadian indie rock quartet Future States is a band with members based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, making the band a long distance affair, reportedly held together by the band member’s long-time friendship — and the Greyhound bus. Since their formation, the band has developed a reputation for crafting material that straddle the line between accessible, radio friendly pop and experimental pop based around arrangements of keys, guitar, sampled sounds and propulsive rhythms paired with pop melodies and reverb-drenched harmonies. And while, their latest single “Heaven” will further cement their reputation for crafting propulsive, left field (and incredibly breezy) pop reminiscent of Talking Heads and others, it also reportedly finds the band experimenting with new sounds and refining their overall production as the song is centered around a tight, propulsive rhythm, and a deceptively simple chord progression and verses; however, the song features an irony-tinged skepticism — of whether heaven exists, if it would be how it’s described and if the song’s narrator would even want to go there.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeously Cinematic and Expressive Visuals for Black Needle Noise and Jennie Vee’s “Heaven”

John Fryer is a London, UK-born, Los Angeles, CA-based multi-instrumentalist and producer, who is best known for his work as a producer, shaping the sound of Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, much of the Mute Records, 4AD and Beggars’ Banquet roster, as well as Nine Inch Nails, Love and Rockets, Cradle of Filth and countless others. Fryer is also known as one-half of the duo This Moral Coil with Ivo Watts-Russell. 

Fryer’s solo recording project Black Needle Noise continues his legacy for crafting lush and moody soundscapes as he collaborates wth a number of different vocalists; in fact, Lost in Reflections, the renowned producer and recording artist’s sophomore Black Needle Noise effort finds him working with Jennie Vee, Andrea Kerr, Chrysta Bell, Sivert Hoyem and others — and interestingly enough, it come-on the heels of Fryer’s collaboration with the aforementioned Chrysta Bell on a Twin Peaks-inspired cover of Julee Cruise, Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch’s “Falling.” Anyway, album single “Heaven” is a strikingly cinematic track which pairs Jennie Vee’s sultry and achingly tender vocals with a lush yet atmospheric production featuring swirling electronics, shimming guitar chords and industrial clang and clatter. And although the track will further cement his legacy for crafting a sound that you would have grown up obsessed with as a child of the 80s, the song also reveals not just his generosity in working with up-and-coming and contemporary artists, but it also reflects the contemplative, introspective nature of the album’s title — while pairing a dark sensuality with an visceral sense of heartbreak. In fact, the song’s narrator is facing the ghosts of a dysfunctional and controlling relationship that has lingered, even as she’s 4,000 thousand miles away. 

Shot in a cinematic and creepy black an white, and directed by Talon McKee and Lloyd Galbraith, edited by Jennie Vee, featuring animation by Mark Francombe and choreographed by Caroline Haydon, the video starts its choreographer writhing and swooning in a combination of pleasure and heartache; but at its core is a protagonist, who expresses desire, vulnerability, and self-asurredness simultaneously.