Mackenzie Leighton is a rising San Diego-born, Paris-based indie folk singer/songwriter and musician. Leighton’s family moved to a small, seaside town in Maine, where she grew up. The San Diego-born, Paris-based artist can trace much of the origins of her music career to her father taking her to classical piano lessons as a young girl. When Leighton turned 18, she attended my alma mater, New York University — and while in New York, she played in several jazz and folk inspired bands.
Upon graduation, Leighton relocated to Paris. She landed a day job as a florist and launched a solo career with the release of 2017’s self-titled EP, a singer/songwriter folk effort that was released to praise and comparisons to Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Jacklin. Leighton’s sophomore EP, last year’s Tourist(e) was a decided change in sonic direction that found the rising American-born, French-based artist working with French musicians and producers while pairing folk-inspired songwriting with lush yet contemporary instrumentation and production. Leighton has supported both of her recorded efforts with shows in and around Paris, as well as with tours in Italy, Belgium and here in the States.
Earlier this week, I wrote about EP track “Un jour la vie.” Centered around Leighton’s coquettish vocals, a sinuous yet propulsive bass line, thumping beats and shimmering guitars, “Un jour la vie” is a playful and infectious invitation to dream of an escape to Italy, to drink endless Aperol Spritzes and to dance the night away without a care in the world. A wondrous dream considering the last 18 months, eh? The EP’s third and latest single, EP title track “Flueriste” is a hook-driven pop confection featuring shimmering synths, a buoyant bass line and Leighton singing the song’s lyrics in a gorgeous and breezy English. The song manages to address the plight of contemporary musicians unable to work — but hoping for a bright future of live shows, and all of things we missed so very much.
Elishéva-Lilla Sabbah is an emerging 21 year-old French-American singer/songwriter, who writes and records as elishéva. Deeply influenced by jazz, Billie Eilish, Charlie Puth, Jazmine Sullivan Peter Collins, spill tab and John Coltrane, Sabbah employs different harmonic and melodic colors into her songwriting. Interestingly, her debut single “Bring Me Back” is a breezy and infectious bop centered around the emerging French-American artist’s coquettish vocals and a slick production consisting of twinkling keys, tweeter and woofer rocking beats — and a bridge sung completely in French.
While indebted to Billie Eilish, the track reveals a potential superstar in the Francophone and English speaking music worlds.
With the release of their first handful of releases — 2016’s Jeunes instants EP, 2017’s full-length debut À jamais privé de réponses and 2019’s Jettatura EP — the rising Montreal-based indie electro pop duo Paupiére, visual artist Julia Daigle and Polipe’s and We Are Wolves‘ Pierre-Luc Bégin, quickly established a sound that finds the duo meshing elements of 80s synth pop and New Wave — think The Human League, Depeche Mode and others — with French chanson. But under their breezy pop melodies and catchy hooks, the duo’s work thematically touches upon naive, adolescent and hedonistic romanticism, disenchantment and ennui.
continues their ongoing and successful collaboration with We Are Wolves’ Vincent Levesque, who produced all of their previously released material. Over the past couple of months I’ve written about two of that album’s previously released singles:
“Coeur monarque,” a playful, hook-driven mix of Phil Spector-era pop and Ace of Base-like synth pop centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, skittering polyrhythmic beats and boy-girl harmonies. Despite the infectious nature of the song, thematically the song as the duo explained, is much darker: “‘Coeur Monarque’ is an imaginary tale about a girl, who lives her life according to her moods. Her freedom contributes to her isolation and she loses herself in it. ‘Coeur monarque’ is a light and poppy piece, just like the protagonist of the story.
“Sade Sati,” a sugary, sweet pop confection centered around an enormous hook, shimmering synth arpeggios and Daigle’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics about the movements of the planets — in particular Saturn — and how they impact and influence all things in our lives.
Adding to a busy year, Paupiére’s Julia Daigle steps out into the limelight as a solo artist with her full-length debut, the Dominic Vanchesteing-produced Un singe sur l’épaule. Slated for a November 5, 2021 release through Lisbon Lux, Daigle’s forthcoming debut effort is a decided sonic departure from her work with Paupiére. Featuring a backing band of impressive local talent including Chocolat’s Guillame Ethier, Marie Davidson’s Asaël Robitalle, Jackson Macintosh, Phillipe Roberge, Alex Crow and Dominic Vanchesteing, the album’s material is a slick synthesis of contemporary alternative pop, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Quebec-based 70s prog act Contraction paired with storytelling-driven lyrics.
Un singe sur l’épaule’s first single is the sleek “Usage Domestique.” Centered around shimmering and looping mandolin, atmospheric synths, an infectious, motorik-like groove and an enormous hook paired with Daigle’s sultry yet insouciant vocals, the song finds Daigle and her collaborators crafting glossy, radio friendly pop with an art rock scene in a way that brings Kate Bush and Steve Nicks to mind. “‘Usage Domestique’ talks about an object of us,” Daigle explains. “The life span of a material and its value are directly linked to its solidity. When the object of use is abused for ornamental purposes, its life span is shortened b because being subject to fashion, it is doomed to die sooner.”
and White Night, the recently released video for “Usage Domestique” is an intimate peek at Daigle and her collaborators in the studio, rocking out to the song’s infectious groove.
Vancouver-based electro pop duo Carbon Mass — multi-instrumentalist and producer Sina Lankarani, and vocalist and guitarist Tim Clariddge — can trace their origins to a chance meeting back in 2016. And since their formation, the members of Carbon Mass have been busy developing and honing their sound while writing and releasing material that the duo say is informed by Radiohead and David Bowie‘s Blackstar.
The duo’s latest single “French Call Girl” is a carefully crafted song centered around shimmering guitar, atmospheric synths, skittering beats, a motorik-like groove, a soaring hook that serves as an chilly bed for Claridge’s plaintive, Thom Yorke-like vocals. And while their sound continues to sound informed by Radiohead and Blackstar-era Bowie, to my ears, I also hear JOVM mainstays Palace Winter‘s Nowadays album. In other words, hook driven and breezy pop that’s paired with sobering thematic concerns.
Mackenzie Leighton is a rising San Diego-born, Paris-based indie folk singer/songwriter and musician. Leighton’s family moved to a small, seaside town in Maine, where she grew up. The San Diego-born, Paris-based artist can trace much of the origins of her music career to her father taking her to classical piano lessons as a young girl. When Leighton turned 18, she attended my alma mater, New York University — and while in New York, she played in several jazz and folk inspired bands.
Upon graduation, Leighton relocated to Paris. She landed a day job as a florist and launched a solo career with the release of 2017’s self-titled EP, a singer/songwriter folk effort that was released to praise and comparisons to Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Jacklin. Leighton’s sophomore EP, last year’s Tourist(e) was a decided change in sonic direction that found the rising American-born, French-based artist working with French musicians and producers while pairing folk-inspired songwriting with lush yet contemporary instrumentation and production. Leighton has supported both of her recorded efforts with shows in and around Paris, as well as with tours in Italy, Belgium and here in the States.
musician focusing on the reality of life as an expatriate, torn between two different cultures and hemispheres. And much like its immediate predecessor, Flueriste sonically continues in a similar vein. In the lead-up to the EP’s release, Leighton recently released the EP’s second and latest single, “Un jour la vie.” Centered around Leighton’s coquettish vocals, a sinuous yet propulsive bass line, thumping beats and shimmering guitars, “Un jour la vie” is an infectious invitation to dream of an escape to Italy, where you’d drink endless Aperol Spritzes and dance the night away without a care in the world. Considering the last 18 months, that sounds like a wonderful dream to me.
shot and edited by Celia Marie Petersen and Adrianna Lankford, the accompanying visual for “Un jour la vie” follows the adorable Leighton as she plans for an escape to Italy to drink cocktails, be fashionable, eat fantastic food and dance the days and nights away. That’s life, ain’t it?
With the release of their full-length debut, 2016’s Long Days, No Dreams, the Brooklyn-based indie act Water From Your Eyes — This is Lorelei’s Nate Amos and thanks for coming’s Rachel Brown — quickly established a restlessly experimental songwriting approach and sound that finds them grafting sonic ideas together in a ways that feel incongruous before revealing their own inner logic.
Slated for an August 27. 2021 release through Wharf Cat Records, the Brooklyn duo’s forthcoming album Structure reportedly features some of their most overtly pop leaning material of their catalog — while still hewing to their reputation for being experimental. Interestingly, Structure’s second and latest single, “When You’re Around” is sort of drunken lurch centered around a twinkling keys, a shimmering guitar solo, a stately French horn arrangement and a gorgeous harmony paired with Rachel Brown’s vocals, which manage to be simultaneously deadpan yet heartbroken. Sonically, the carefully crafted and sculptured “When You’re Around” brings The Carpenters and Scott Walker to mind: it’s deceptively upbeat but upon closer listens, it reveals itself as being a bit fucked up.
Walker (still am) and I think that had a lot to do with it. Light on the outside, spooky on the inside. It serves as sort of separate but thematically related scene to set the tone for the rest of the album.
Calica is a rising Miami-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer, who can trace the origins of her music career to taking piano and voice lessons when she was six. She attended various performing art schools, eventually graduating from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. After graduating, the Miami-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer began writing and producing alongside Grammy-nominated production duo smle, working on her full-length debut Yes, It’s About You and “Superficial Love” and “Little Girl.”
Last April, Calica began posting on TikTok and within about six months, she amassed over 250,000 followers, 3.5 million likes and over 10 million views while displaying an ability to effortlessly bounce around different genres. Interestingly “Little Girl” went viral after she posted a Tiktok of her father’s reaction to the song — with the post itself being viewed over 3.7 million times. Since then, the rising artist has been writing and producing her own original material, as well as working with other artists and brands.
Calica’s latest single “Letting Go” is slickly produced banger centered around the Miami-based artist’s coquettish vocals, layered harmonies, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, a sinuous bass line, skittering beats and a shout-along friendly hook. But underneath its club friendliness, the song’s narrator is grappling with loss, longing and the desire to have a relationship on her terms.
Lo Ersare is a Umeå, Sweden-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, musician, and the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie pop project Lucky Lo. Ersare relocated to Copenhagen in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself as a busker and as an integral part of the city’s underground music scene, performing everything from folk to experimental jazz to improvisational vocal music. Along the way, her love for Japan and its music brought her to the island nation, where she has performed, grown a devoted fanbase and gathered inspiration, which has seeped into her music in various ways.
Ersare released her Lucky Lo debut single “Heart Rhythm Synchronize.” Released last month, the song was about synching heartbeats through love and song. Ersare’s latest single “Supercarry,” features the Swedish-born, Danish artist’s soaring and achingly plaintive vocals paired with an expansive arrangement featuring a sinuous and propulsive bass line, layers of shimmering and buzzing guitars and thumping beats. The end result is a song that expresses the deeply human need for companionship, compassion and love. Seemingly sounding like a sleek and seamless synthesis of Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, “Supercarry” thematically finds Ersare quickly establishing a major thematic concern in her work — the transformational power of radical love.
“In Scandinavia we have an incredible safety net. We live a safe, rich lifestyle on paper, but we are also the countries where the most people die alone,” Ersare says in press notes. “We have the capacity to be more inclusive, and we could use this power for the good of others and for enriching our lives.” Ersare continues “So much could be solved if we were to take more care of each other — check in with each other more. It makes you feel strong; like a good human being; an everyday superhero. The idea of doing the opposite of self, or that social care is self-care, is what I want to communicate. This song is about lifting others up, and letting yourself be lifted. It is about putting someone else’s needs in front of your own, and trusting that you will get the same care in return.”
irected by Philip Jørgensen, the recently released video is an 80s-inspired dance workout tape featuring choreography by Freja Kreutzfeldt that’s at points playful, sensual and full of longing and vulnerability as each dancer is seen being lifted up, treated tenderly and let go. “Our vision was to unite people in an act of Supercarry-ing through a choreography in which people are both being lifted up and let go… a celebration of the strength of vulnerability,” Ersare explains. “We want to encourage people to get up, move and take action—to Supercarry and to be Supercarried.”
mus Littauer is a Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the rising indie pop project School of X, which finds Littauer stepping out into the limelight as a solo artist after years as a touring drummer.
lishment, experimental art school, which featured Andy Warhol collaborator Jørgen Leth, art historian Troels Anderson and artists Soul Genres and Per Kirkeby. “It was about learning from each other and being progressive,” Littauer explains. “There were no labels — anyone could join. That philosophy is so cool and I really admire all those artists.”
Unsurprisingly, Littauer created a collective with a similar ethos: Over the past decade, Littauer has worked with the likes of Liss, MØ, Clairo, Deb Never as a producer, songwriter or musician. And with School of X, Littauer has collaborated with Half Waif’s and Empress Of’s Spencer Zahn, Hinds’ Anna Perrote, Lord Siva and Soleima. Littauer runs a studio in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro District with friend, collaborator and fellow producer Vera. The rising Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist also hangs in the same circles as Yangze, Vasco and Liss.
ophomore album Dancing Through The Void is slated for a September 24, 2021 release through Tambourhinoceros Records. And as the Copenhagen-based artist explains in press notes, the album is “an ode to live and be exactly who you are no matter the noise that surrounds you.” Dancing Through The Void’s latest single “Feel Of It” is a breezy pop song centered around angular guitar blasts, thumping beats, a propulsive bass line, Littauer’s plaintive vocals and a rousingly anthemic, sing-a-long friendly hook — and this is before we hear the expressive Rhodes solo! And while revealing a songwriter, who can craft earnest yet arena rock-like material, the song as Littauer explains in press notes is “about the desire to break out of daily routines and boredom, craving for headspace, excitement and bigger emotions. It’s a desire that seduces me and haunts me and sometimes comes with a cost, Sometimes you end up alone because you’ve been blinded by the light.”
Directed by Isaac Production’s SIf Lina, the recently released video for “Feel Of It” follows a shirt and tie wearing Littaeur as he’s chased by a man engulfed in flames. Initially, we see Littauer running for his life with a look of complete and thorough, piss-your-pants terror; but as the video progresses, he seems to embrace the chase and the oddness his immediate situation with a wry “oh-what-the-hell” smirk.
“The idea for the video was to do something really precise and conceptual with strong symbolism: the fire hunting the man.” says Littauer. “It symbolizes all these emotions and temptations that you struggle with, and how they either push you ahead or bring you down.”
usic scene through her YouTube channel, which initially featured attention-grabbing covers of Lartiste’s “Clandestina” and Lomepal’s “Trop Beau” — with her cover of “Trop Beau” receiving over 40 million streams on Spotify. As a solo artist, Peters quickly established herself a songwriter, who writes heartfelt and lived-in material, based from her own life experiences and with an unvarnished honesty with the release of her debut EP Fous, etc.
don’t be a pleaser and most importantly, don’t lose yourself. Be you at all costs. Interestingly, EP title track “Fous” features the rising French artist’s coquettish yet self-assured vocals over a lush production featuring shimmering Flamenco-styled acoustic guitar paired with skittering, tweeter and woofer beats.
Recently, Edmofo gave “Fous” the remix treatment. While retaining the original’s looping Flamenco-styled acoustic guitar and Peters’ coquettish yet self-assured vocals, Edmofo adds harder-hitting, beats, bursts of twinkling keys, turning an earnest R&B/pop ballad into an urgent, club friendly banger.
Peter Roy — best known as Peter Peter — is a French Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist, who started his music career as a member of metal/alt rock act Post Scriptum, a band in which he played guitar and occasionally sang English lyrics. After leaving the band, he relocated to Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood, where he began a solo career in which he wrote and sang exclusively in French.
In 2008, Roy competed in the annual Montreal-based Ma Premiére Place des Arts contest and won. The French Canadian artist caught the attention of Audiogram Records, who signed him and released his Howard Bilerman-produced eponymous debut in 2011. Adding to a growing profile Roy played in that year’s Les FrancoFoiles de Montreal, a festival in Downtown Montreal featuring Francophone artists from all over the world.
Roy’s Peter Peter sophomore album 2012’s Une verson améliorée de la tristesse was long listed for 2013’s Polaris Music Prize. And since then, Roy has released two more albums: 2017’s Noir Éden and last year’s Super Comédie to critical acclaim across the Francophone world. Roy is currently in the studio working on new material — but in the meantime, Super Comédie’s latest single “Les mariés ont disparu” is a brooding and introspective song featuring shimmering guitars, atmospheric synths and Roy’s breathy and achingly tender vocals. But at its core, the song is centered around an age old tale of fading love and love lost told through the lens of a dreamy nostalgia.
The recently released lyric video was shot on grainy VHS video and fittingly set in an old cemetery that a curious cat wanders around. Some of the gravestones are dedicated to lost loved ones while others seem to have been worn down by time and weather — to the point that the deceased has been erased by time.
Gold Coast, Australia-based indie pop duo GENIIE BOY — Alisha Todd and Scott French — can trace their origins to earlier this year when the duo, who both come from different musical backgrounds were sitting in Lovestreet Studios decided that “music sounds better with you” and that working together would be something that they wouldn’t regret. Interestingly, the heart of their collaboration is their desire to find balance between the feminine and the masculine, the strange and the familiar, tension and release.
in a relatively short time together, the duo have quickly established a unique sound in which Todd sings lyrics tacking the dark and light aspects of the human psyche are paired with French’s multi-instrumental experimental and sophisticated productions. The duo’s forthcoming EP is slated for release next month — but in the meantime, “Fool’s Play,” which was released earlier this year, is a slickly produced, pop confection featuring Todd’s self-assured and sultry vocals paired with woozy production centered around a sinuous bass line, a fuzzy yet expressive guitar solo and atmospheric electronics. The end result is a song that sonically — to my ears, at least — is a slick and soulful synthesis of Tame Impala and Haitus Kaiyote, while thematically the song tackles affairs of the heart.
With the release of her critically applauded, Dan Auerbach-produced full-length debut, 2019’s Walk Through Fire, the Bristol, UK-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay Yola had a breakthrough year with a series of career-defining highlights including:
making her New York debut at Rockwood Music Hall
playing a buzz-worthy, breakout performance at that year’s SXSW
opening for a list of acclaimed artists including Kacey Musgraves, Lake Street Dive and Andrew Bird on a select series of US tour dates that featured stops at Newport Folk Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Austin City Limits Festival, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors
playing a YouTube session at YouTube Space New York
making her nationally televised debut on CBS This Morning: Saturday Sessions
receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Artist, along with fellow JOVM mainstays The Black Pumas
making her late night national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
releasing a soulful cover of Elton John‘s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,”that not only quickly became a staple of her live sets — but caught the attention of Sir Elton John, who praised her and her cover
Last year, the JOVM mainstay had hopes to build upon the momentum of the previous year with a handful of opportunities that came her way that many artists across the world would kill for: Early in the year, it was announced that she was going to play blues and rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama Elvis alongside Austin Butler in the title role, Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Presley’s mother. Unfortunately, much like with everyone else,the COVID-19 pandemic threw a series of monkey wrenches into her hopes and plans: Tom Hanks wound up contracting COVID-19 while filming in Australia and because of pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions, filming was delayed. During breaks in the filming schedule, she was supposed to open for a handful of dates for country superstar Chris Stapleton and Grammy Award-winning acts The Black Keys and Brandi Carlile — with one of those shows being at Madison Square Garden, which also got postponed until later on this year. (More on that below.)
However, Yola was able to finish her first Stateside headlining tour, a tour that included a stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg, a few weeks before the world went into lockdown. In lieu of touring, the Bristol-born, Nashville-based artist wound up making virtual stops across the domestic, late night television show circuit: She played album bonus track “I Don’t Want to Lie” on The Late Late Show with James Corden — and she played a gospel-tinged cover of Nina Simone‘s classic and beloved “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” filmed at The Ryman Auditorium for Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The Bristol-born, Nashville-based JOVM mainstay used the unexpected gift of time and space to ground herself physically and mentally as she began to write the material that would eventually become her highly-anticipated sophomore album Stand For Myself. Some of the album’s material was written several years previously and inspired by deeply personal moments, like her mother’s funeral. Other songs were written during pandemic isolation, and as a result they reflect on her personal and collective moments of longing and awakening — inspired and informed by Black Lives Matter and other movements.
Tracks were also cowritten with Ruby Amanfu, John Bettis, Pat McLaughlin, Natalie Hemby, Joy Oladokun, Paul Overstreet, Liz Rose, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Hannah Vasanth and Bobby Wood. But importantly, the album’s material will most likely make a connection with anyone who has experienced feeling as though they were an “other” while urging the listener to challenge the biases and assumptions that fuel bigotry, inequality and tokenism — all of which have impacted her personal life and career.
“It’s a collection of stories of allyship, black feminine strength through vulnerability, and loving connection from the sexual to the social. All celebrating a change in thinking and paradigm shift at their core.” Yola says in press note, adding, “It is an album not blindly positive and it does not simply plead for everyone to come together. It instead explores ways that we need to stand for ourselves throughout our lives, what limits our connection as humans and declares that real change will come when we challenge our thinking and acknowledge our true complexity.” Ultimately, the JOVM mainstay’s hope is that the album will encourage both empathy and self actualization, all while returning to where she started, to the real Yola. “I kind of got talked out of being me, and now I’m here. This is who I’ve always been in music and in life. There was a little hiatus where I got brainwashed out of my own majesty, but a bitch is back.”
Continuing her ongoing collaboration with acclaimed producer, singer/songwriter, musician and label head Dan Auerbach, the album which was recorded late last year at Easy Eye Sound is inspired by the seminal albums she initially discovered through her mother’s record collection, as well as the eclectic mixtapes she created while listening to British radio that featured neo soul, R&B, Brit Pop and others. Featuring a backing band that includes Nick Movshon (bass), best known for his work with Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars alongside Aaron Frazier (drums), a rising solo artist in his own right, the album is sonically is a noticeable shift from her debut, with the album’s aesthetic meshing symphonic soul and classic pop while occasionally hinting at the country soul of her critically applauded debut.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Stand For Myself’s first single, “Diamond Studded Shoes,” a woozy yet seamless synthesis of densely layered Phil Spector-like Wall of Sound pop, country, 70s singer/songwriter pop and late 60s/early 70s Motown soul centered around the JOVM mainstay’s powerhouse vocals and some of the most incisive sociopolitical commentary of her growing catalog. “This song explores the false divides created to distract us from those few who are in charge of the majority of the world’s wealth and use the ‘divide and conquer’ tactic to keep it,” Yola explained in press notes. “This song calls on us to unite and turn our focus to those with a stranglehold on humanity.”
Interestingly, Stand For Myself’s second and latest single is the album title track “Stand For Myself.” Centered around a rousing, shout-along worthy hook, Yola’s powerhouse vocals and a clean, pop-leaning take on the Nashville sound, the song was cowritten by Yola, Dan Auerbach and Hannah Vasanth — and features The McCrary Sisters contributing backing vocals. The track manages to be a bold and proudly feminist anthem written from the perspective of a survivor, who wants to thrive and be wholly herself — at all costs. And yet much like its immediate predecessor, there’s incisive social commentary underpinning the whole affair: Essentially, the track reflects on the JOVM mainstays’ belief in the possibility of paradigm shift beyond the mental programming that creates both tokenism and bigotry. “The song’s protagonist ‘token,’ has been shrinking themselves to fit into the narrative of another’s making, but it becomes clear that shrinking is pointless,” Yola explains. She adds “This song is about a celebration of being awake from the nightmare supremacist paradigm. Truly alive, awake and eyes finally wide open and trained on your path to self actualisation. You are thinking freely and working on undoing the mental programming that has made you live in fear. It is about standing for ourselves throughout our lives and real change coming when we challenge our thinking. This is who I’ve always been in music and in life.”
Directed by Allister Ann, the recently released video visually is indebted to Missy Elliott’s classic videos of the ’90s and ’00s but with strobe lights and a motorcycle to symbolize, the JOVM mainstay’s escape — and freedom — from those forces that have been oppressing her. And most importantly, depicting a much more nuanced definition of Black female strength — a strength thats balanced with vulnerability. r”My school years were during the 90s and 00s, and Missy Elliott’s videos were always aesthetically superior to me,” Yola says of the video. “I feel that the video is set in the antechamber to freedom. The feeling of escaping something truly oppressive and heading towards an unknown with a sense of hope and choice you haven’t felt in a long time. We all have the capacity to go through this process in our own minds, I kinda look like a superhero at times, but I’m not. I’m just a person trying to be free.”
KUNZITE — RATATTAT’s Mike Stroud and Hawaii and Oregon-based Agustin White — can trace their origins to the fact that the individual members’ various movements have found them occasionally crossing each other paths yet consistently admiring each other’s work: While stroud was busy touring with RATATAT, White went on a spiritual journey exploring yoga, meditation and psychedelics. But throughout their friendship the duo were looking to do something together. Interestingly, the formation of KUNTIZE allowed Stroud and White the ability to merge their minds and missions with a sound that blends psychedelia with beat-heavy electronic production and live instrumentation.
The duo’s debut effort, 2018’s Birds Don’t Fly was written and recorded mostly through email. But their forthcoming sophomore album VISUALS, which will be released through Lowly/Wilder Records reportedly finds the duo writing and recording material together — in the same space. Throughout the recording process, the duo came to realize that their best vocals are when their voices from together in the atmosphere and meet in harmony. So far, the duo have released two singles from their forthcoming sophomore album — “SATURN” AND “NOVAS” but the album’s third and latest single “FROSTY” sees the duo changing things up a bit, with Stroud taking up lead vocal duties on a feel good, summery jam centered around a trippy and cosmic groove featuring an easy-going bass line, shimmering synths and Stroud’s laid back vocals.
Directed by Priest Fontaine Batten, the recently released video for “FROSTY” was filmed in sunny and beautiful Venice Beach, CA and features the all-female identifying surfing and skating crew GIRLSWIRL boldly doing their thing as the confident, give no fucks badasses that they are. “It’s about grabbing your board or wheels and just having fun,” KUNZITE’s Agustin White says in press notes. “All of the athletes featured in the video were super supportive and encouraging of one another. You see their different skills on display throughout the video, including roller skaters, who have made such a big comeback over the last few years, for Black Culture, it’s always been there. The roots of roller skating lie within the Black community and we wanted to honor that.”
Sloan Stumble is the 20-something Aledo, TX-born, Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and creative mastermind behind the critically applauded and rapidly rising indie rock/indie pop project Dayglow. The project can trace its origins to Struble’s teenaged years, growing up in a Fort Worth suburb that he has referred to as a “small football-crazed town,” where he felt irrevocably out of place. Aesthetically and thematically, the project finds Struble crafting material cen nloater red around a hard fought, hard won optimism.
Much like countless other hopelessly out of place young people across the globe, Struble turned to music as an escape from his surroundings. “I didn’t really feel connected to what everyone else in my school was into, so making music became an obsession for me, and sort of like therapy in a way,” Struble recalled in press notes. “I’d dream about it all day in class, and then come home and for on songs instead of doing homework. After a while I realized I’d made an album.”
Working completely on his own with a minuscule collection of gear that included his guitar, his computer and some secondhand keyboards he picked up at Goodwill, Struble worked on transforming his privately kept outpouring into a batch of songs — often grandiose in scale. “Usually artists will have demos they’ll bounce off other people to get some feedback, but nobody except for my parents down the hall really heard much of the album until I put it out,” Struble recalled. With the self-release of 2018’s Fuzzybrain, the Aledo-born, Austin-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer received widespread attention and an ardent online following — with countess listeners praising the material’s overwhelming positivity.
In 2019, Struble re-released a fully realized version of Fuzzybrain that featured Can I Call You Tonight,” a track that wound up being a smash-hit last year, as well as two previously unreleased singles “Nicknames” and “Listerine.” With the two new singles, the album further establishes Struble’s growing reputation for illuminating emotional pain in a way that not only deeply resonates with listeners but while managing to make that emotional pain feel lighter.
Continuing upon that momentum, Struble’s highly-anticipated Dayglow sophomore album Harmony House is slated for a May 21, 2021 release through his own Very Nice Records and AWAL. After Fuzzybrain‘s release, Struble had started to write material that was inspired by the 70s and 80s piano-driven soft rock that he had been drawn to — and around the time he had been watching a lot of Cheers. “At the very beginning, I was writing a soundtrack to a sitcom that doesn’t exist,” Struble recalls. And while actively attempting to generate nostalgia for something that hadn’t ever been real — as well as something most of his listeners had never really experienced — the album’s material thematically is about growing up and coping with change as an inevitable part of life.
“Balcony,” Harmony House‘s fourth and latest single may arguably be the most upbeat song on the entire album. Centered around shimmering guitars, bouncy synth arpeggios, four-on-the-floor drumming and an incredibly infectious hook, “Balcony” is a summery, feel good house party anthem that will get everyone jumping up and down and shouting along to the chorus. “I wrote ‘Balcony’ quite a while ago, but it’s been through tons of phases & revisions before landing on this final version,” Struble says of his latest single. “I wanted to make a song that felt like The Cure,BRONCHO, and the Mario Kart Soundtrack huddled up. Not sure why— it just feels nice 🙂 Hope you enjoy it and play it at a house party or something cause that’s definitely what it’s for/about”
The rising Texan artist also announced series of North American tour dates that we hope actually will happen. The tour includes an October 17, 2021 stop at Webster Hall. Check out the tour dates below.
North American Tour Dates:
09/09/21 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
09/10/21 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s
09/11/21 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
09/13/21 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
09/15/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
09/16/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre (SOLD OUT)
09/17/21 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
09/18/21 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
09/22/21 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
09/23/21 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
09/24/21 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
09/26/21 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox
09/28/21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
09/29/21 – Denver, CO @ Summit
10/05/21 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe
10/06/21 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
10/12/21 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
10/13/21 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
10/15/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
10/16/21 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/17/21 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/19/21 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
10/21/21 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
10/23/21 – Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
