Tag: indie pop

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the course of 2017, I wrote quite a bit about the  San Francisco-born, Los Angeles-based sibling duo Cones, and as you may recall, the duo, which is comprised of Jonathan Rosen, an acclaimed, pop music influenced, hand-drawn animator, who has created music videos for the likes Toro y Moi, Eleanor Friedberger and Delicate Steve,  and played Johnny Thunders on the HBO series Vinyl; and Micheal Rosen, a classically trained pianist, commercial and film composer and experimental sound artist, can trace the origins of the band to when they began playing together as members of New York-based indie rock band Icewater, an act that eventually became the session and touring band for Eleanor Friedberger’s New View. As the story goes, while touring with Friedberger, the Rosens began to conceptualize what their new project would sound like, ultimately deciding that their project would fuse Jonathan’s pop sensibilities with Michael’s lush, atmospheric soundscapes and keyboard-based instrumentation.

After the New View tour ended, the Rosen Brothers along with a collection of friends, associates and collaborators wrote and recorded the material that would comprise their debut EP Whatever You’re Into, which featured the 70s AM radio-like “Echoes On,” and the breezy “Back In The Brain,” an ode to solitude. “Later,” was arguably one of their most dance floor friendly tracks but ironically, was about when someone has begun to find some semblance of peace after a breakup — but with some of the bitterness still hanging around. While “First Time,” found the band nodding towards breezy Pavo Pavo-like bubblegum pop.

Recently, the JOVM mainstays signed to Dangerbird Records and to celebrate that occasion and a Bootleg Theater residency, the sibling duo released their latest single, the shimmering, arpeggiated synth-led “Run the Risk,” a track that decidedly sounds as though it were inspired by Steely Dan and Billy Joel. In particular, “Movin’ Out,” which interestingly enough I mentioned in an earlier post, as well as “Peg” and “Ricky Don’t Lose That Number” come to mind. And while centered around slick production and thoughtful craft, the song continues a run of breezy and sincere material.

Check out their Bootleg Theater Residency dates below.

 

Live Dates

8/06: Bootleg Theater w/ Pavo Pavo, Wolcott’s Instant Pain Annihilator
8/13: Bootleg Theater w/ Lily McQueen, Palm Springsteen
8/16: Taix in the Champagne Room – Echo Park Rising
8/20: Bootleg Theater w/ Malcolm Oliver Perkins, Lisa Sonoda

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Nick Rose and Dan Griffin, the Toronto-based pop duo Teen Ravine can trace their origins to a series of apartment-based studio collaborations begun back in the spring of 2016. Since then, the duo has specialized in work that they describe as thematically focusing on  Gen Y’s struggle between the desire for and the fear of intimacy that ironically has explored through material they wrote and recorded in their bedrooms. We all want to get close to another — but not too close, out of a fear of getting hurt, an inability to discern our true desires or for some other more dysfunctional reason. And while the duo claim that it’s a particular struggle for their generation, I can tell you from experience that unfortunately, it’s not; it’s frustratingly part of the human condition.

Rose and Griffin’s full-length debut  is slate, and for release at the end of this month, and the album’s latest single “Bad Dream” sonically draws from 70s AM Rock and late 70s and early 80s singer/songwriter pop centered around a hook-laden, breezy yet soulful arrangement of Rhodes piano, fuzzy synths, a sinuous bass line, propulsive drumming and as a result the song recalls Billy Joel’s heyday — think “Movin’ Out,”  and “Captain Jack,” Carole King and list of others.  And much like those songs, the duo’s latest single focuses a bit on seeking comfort and pleasure in sadness, because — well, it’s yours; but underneath that is the sense that the song’s narrator has spent his time obsessively picking at emotional scabs until they’re left raw and oozing, instead of taking time to let them heal in any significant way.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Up-and-Coming Teen Singer/Songwriter Billie Eilish Performs on Vevo LIFT

16 year old Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and pop artist Billie Eilish can trace the origins of her musical career to when she joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus whens he had turned 8. And while with the Children’s Chorus, Eilish perfected and honed her vocal talents. Interestingly, as the story goes, when she turned 11, she began writing and performing her own songs, much like her older brother Finneas, who had been writing and performing his own songs with a band he had formed some years before. In 2015, the sibling duo had written and released two songs SoundCloud — “sHE’s brOKen,” and “Fingers Crossed” for fun and to have their friends listen to.

As the story goes, late that year, Eilish’s older brother told his sister of a song he had been playing with his band “Ocean Eyes.” The up-and-coming Southern Californian singer/songwriter covered the song and sent it to her dance teacher, who she hoped would choreograph a dance routine to the song. The following year, Eilish released Ocean Eyes” and he single quickly became a viral hit. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, its follow up, “Six Feet Under,” led to Darkroom/Interscope Records signing her and officially releasing material to critical applause from major media outlets like Stereogum and others. 

Last year was a breakthrough year for Eilish, thanks in part to her critically applauded debut ep dont smile at me, which resulted in sold-out headlining tours across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, a number of national daytime and late night television appearances in the States. Additionally. she was long listed for BBC’s Sound of 2018 , was profiled in Apple’s Up Next Artist campaign, and was named VEVO dscvr Artist To Watch 2018.
Eilish’s “bitches broken hearts” continues a run of sultry and self-assured tracks in which the up-and-coming singer/songwriter’s breathy coos ethereally float over a minimalist yet soulful production centered around bluesy guitar chords, stuttering beats and an infectious, radio friendly hook. Interestingly, while the song sonically nods at 90s neo soul and classic Quiet Storm-era R&B, it’s an unabashedly honest ode to the bitterness of a lost love and the inherent excitement of fresh starts and new love — even when that new love is dysfunctional and completely fucked up.  

Vevo has been championing Ms. Eilish for the better part of the past year or so, and they recently included the young singer/songwriter as part of their LIFT initiative, which connects today’s rising stars to global audiences with original creative content through the release of weekly installments of live performances and behind-the-scenes footage to bring fans closer to the artist than before, essentially pulling back the curtain and revealing the humanity of the artist. Directed by Ryan Booth, the second installment of the series is a live performance of “bitches broken hearts” shot in a ostentatious old mansion/performance space as Eilish seductively and self-assuredly performs the song with her backing band.  

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

 

Livia Blanc is a French-born, Tahiti-rased, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, who has received attention for specializing in a subtly modern take on classic chanteuse pop that at points recalls Edith Piaf and references Brigitte Bardot and Francoise Hardy.Building upon a growing profile, Blanc’s debut EP Amour Amour was released earlier this summer — and the EP’s latest single, closing track “It’s Over Isn’t It,” is a gorgeous, Broadway meets pop standard featuring an arrangement of twinkling piano, soaring strings and strummed guitar paired with Blanc’s gorgeous vocals singing lyrics that serve as a bittersweet farewell to old lovers, old memories and old heartbreaks that immediately brings to mind an old Vera Lynn tune, “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart.”

As Blanc says in press notes, “The songs that make up Amour Amour are written like a collection of love letters, spoken from the heart with sincerity. Love hurts, and we have all been there. This EP tells the story of the end of a relationship and is in itself the end of a chapter.” And while the song is in itself an end, there’s a subtle reminder that “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end,” as a song once wisely said.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Now, over the past year or so, I’ve written quite a bit about the Los Angeles, CA-based indie pop project and JOVM mainstays Oddnesse, comprised of singer/songwriter Rebeca Arango and producer Grey Goon. The project has received attention for crafting beautiful and infectious hook-driven material centered around dark, heavy grooves. but with each successive single they’ve released, they’ve managed to subtly expand upon the sound that has captured the attention of this site and others. In  fact, the duo’s latest single “It Runs Wild” is driven by swirling and arpeggiated synths, shimmering guitar chords and a chugging rhythm section,  and while clearly indebted to 80s New Wave and pop, in particular, I think of Prince and Siouxsie and The Banshees, as the song’s emotional center is an aching longing.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms
With the release of her first two singles “Gold Angel” and “Armour,” the London-born and-based based singer/songwriter and musician Minke(pronounced as to rhyme with the word “link”) quickly became a buzz-worthy artist: “Gold Angel” received airplay on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Radio show, was featured on Spotify‘s New Music Fridayand Pop Rising playlists and was a Hype Machine#1  — within a two week period. The track also received praise from the The Line of Best Fit for its “elements of pop, rock, soul and R&B,” and “guitar riffs, mingled with understated vocals like curls of smoke in a darkened bar.” Building upon a growing profile, the up-and-coming London-born and-based singer/songwriter and musician released “Armour” to praise from Billboard, who said the song was “a female empowerment anthem about letting go of your defenses and learning how to be vulnerable, especially with those closest to you.”
Minke’s latest single “Maybe 25” was co-written by the up-and-coming British artist and her producer Rory Andrew and the single which pairs Minke’s tender, ethereal and yearning vocals with twinkling piano, reverb drenched guitar chords, thumping beats, brief bits of industrial clang and clatter, and a soaring hook within a song that to my ears makes sonic nods to Adele and London Grammar but with a self assured, effortless yet soulful quality. Interestingly as Minke explains in press notes, the track was written about the emptiness and frustrations of online dating, and the hold technology has over us. “As I started to write, it became less and less about that, and more a general observation on connection. We’ve never been more connected by disconnected at the same time. It’s made us more insular, less open to having a conversation with a stranger and maintaining eye contact for more than a second without looking at your phone. So it’s about longing about something more than that, whatever that is. Something real in a seemingly disposable world. Questioning if that’s still possible. Questioning if it’s got the better of you.”
The up-and-coming British artist is currently working on her debut EP, which is slated for a Fall release, and there are plans for a North American tour to support it but before that I think we’ll be hearing quite a bit more from her.
Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Majical Cloudz Former Frontman Devon Welsh Releases a Meditative and Brooding Visuals for “By the Daylight”

Devon Welsh is a Montreal-based singer/songwriter and artist, who released two critically acclaimed full-length albums as the frontman of Majical Cloudz, an electronic duo whose brooding and intense music combined elements of poetry, hardcore, folk and minimalist electronica among others. The project ended in 2016 largely because its members felt it had fulfilled its intentions.”The band has come to a very natural conclusion, as it has communicated everything it was meant to and reached more people than we would have ever imagined,” Welsh said at the time.

Following the breakup of Majical Cloudz, Welsh stepped away from music for a year. “I wrote songs but didn’t think about their purpose or anything at all to do with the music industry or if I would be releasing music in the future,” he said about that time. “I just tried to grow as a person and do some learning.” Interestingly, the songs he wrote during that period would eventually comprise much of the material on his solo, full-length debut, Dream Songs. Slated for an August 24, 2018 release through You Are Accepted Records, the album finds Welsh stepping out and away from the strict aesthetic he had worked in with Majical Cloudz but while continuing and expanding upon some of the core themes an ideas which that project was best known for — and as a result, the material thematically is a series of reflections on time and its passing, separation, the complexities of love, free will, life’s endless cycles and so on.

Produced and recorded by BRAIDS’ Austin Tufts with the intention of making an album that maintained the simplicity and minimalism of Welsh’s previous work while exploring the possibilities of more traditional arrangements — guitar, piano, strings — the album presents the Montreal-based singer/songwriter and artist’s songs in a more organic context. As the story goes, Tufts and Welsh essentially rebuilt the recordings from the ground up, working out kinks in demos, imagining different arrangements and re-recorded everything. The simple string arrangements Devon’s demos possessed were transformed and became the sonic and emotional center of the entire album. “I love songs with strings,” Welsh says in press notes, “so making recordings with beautiful string arrangements is a dream come true.

Dream Songs’ first single “By The Daylight” is chronologically one of the oldest songs on the album — and as Welsh explains, it began with a very different arrangement than the recorded version. “It was originally made mostly with synthesizers and had saxophone on it, and then when Austin and I started re-recording the demos it got transformed into something built almost entirely around strings,” Welsh says in press notes, “the new arrangement opened a lot of mental possibilities for what the record as a whole could be.” Thematically, the song has a fatalistic view of life — that there are larger, deterministic forces at play in our lives, and as a result, we’re frequently caught up and swept away in a tide that we don’t (and can’t) really understand. It’s a mature and meditative song with a deep and aching yearning at its core. 

Directed by Christopher Honeywell, the recently released video features footage of nature,  some shot on old, Super 8 film — and in a subtle way, the video conveys passing of time and the sense of larger, natural forces at play.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Born Sophie Stern, Sophie Bom is a Los Angeles, CA-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer, who originally started her music career as a songwriter for mega-hit producer Dr. Luke writing songs for a number of pop stars, including Britney Spears, Kesha and Conor Maynard among others — and after spending a few years behind the scenes, the Los Angeles-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer, decided that she needed to go out on her own as a solo artist. Now, as you may recall, Bom’s solo career began with writing and recording with the Grammy Award-winning producer David Elevator, who’s best known for his work on Beck‘s Morning Phase and Dan Dare, who’s best known for his work with Marina and the Diamonds, Charlie XCX and M.I.A. for her attention grabbing recording project Sophie and the Bom Boms, which released the Shmixtape EP and the Going For the Heart EP before going on a hiatus.

“Broke,” Bom’s latest single, and first official single as completely solo artist finds the Los Angeles-born and-based singer/songwriter her roots — sitting at the piano and writing songs. Additionally, the single finds her producing herself for the first time, and the single features a fairly stripped down production in which Stern’s vocals float over a metronomic beat, warm and expressively blasts of electric guitar, but the spacious and unfussy production has one true star to it — Stern, who’s at her most honest and vulnerable. As the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and producer says of the song, “This song was written stream of consciousness, I hit record and sat at [the] piano and tried to sort out my life. Like, ‘Hello, my name is Sophie, and I’m a broken ass person trying to make a relationship work with another broken ass person. Relationships are funny. Love can be 2 faced. When you’re in a relationship, it can be make you feel so connected and understood by no just the other person, but to everything and everyone, everywhere .  . . and then on the flip side, it touches on the most painful parts of life and yourself and humans, and you feel cheated by the whole fucking world. This song is about about the broken side. Like maybe there’s a wall that you’ll never grow tall enough to climb over. 2 broken people not knowing how to fix something. Like, ‘I love you, but I’m tired . . . and paranoid . . . are you even there? Are we going to fix this? Kiki? Do you love me? Are you riding?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rodes Rollins Releases Sultry and Self-Assured Visuals for “Nasty Woman”

Now, over the past 12-18 months or so, I’ve written a bit about Rodes Rollins, a Boulder, CO-born singer/songwriter, who spent a stint living abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is now primarily based in New York. Rollins emerged into the national scene with “Young and Thriving,” the first single off her critically applauded debut EP Young Adult, an incredibly self-assured effort written as a portrait of an artist as a young woman, in which the narrator looks back at her most formative experiences with a nostalgic yet wizened flashback — with the perspective of someone, who now sees how her decisions for better or for worse, planned or serendipitous have influenced who she has become and where her life is at this moment.

“Nasty Woman,” Rollins’ latest single is a bold, self-assured, feminist anthem that according to Rollins is largely centered on empowerment and pride, while focusing on ” . . .the multi-dimensionality of what it means to be a woman in society — being who you are, as you are; and being proud of that. This song is not presented from only my singular perspective, or through just one medium. The very point of what I’m trying to express is that being a woman shouldn’t be a restrictive identity, but rather a broad and inclusive one.” Sonically, the song is based around a bluesy and reverb-y guitar line, propulsive drumming from Portugal, The Man‘s Kane Ritchotee  an infectious hook and Rollins’ sultry cooed vocals — and while sultry, the song lyrically features inclusive and intersectional lyrics.

Directed by Louis Browne, the recently released video for “Nasty Woman” is as sultry and self-assured as the song it accompanies. As Rollins says of the video treatment, “‘Nasty Woman’ is my own personal feminist anthem. Tonally and thematically it’s very different from my other material. It was really empowering and fun for me to write and record this one. I wanted that to come through in the visuals for the song too. So, we made an effort for the video to incorporate bold, bright colors and a strong energy. Performing in this video really gave me a platform to showcase the confidence when I sing ‘Nasty Woman.'”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms
James Clifford is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, and creative mastermind of the recording project Primaveras, which was once known as Modern Howls. As the story goes, Clifford grew up in a rather musical family; in fact, Clifford began playing guitar in his early teens and throughout his high school years, he played in a number of garage bands. Foregoing a formal musical education, the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is largely self-taught with his passion for playing and writing stemming from a lifelong passion for everything music, as he’s been known to scour music stores for vintage guitars and synths or to stay up into the wee hours listening to records. Unsurprisingly, Clifford has cited the likes of David Bowie, Prince, The Clash, Funkadelic, Chic, Todd Rundgren, Roxy Music, Steely Dan, and The Beach Boys as some of his greatest music inspirations.  Thematically, Clifford and Primaveras draws influence from the stretch of the famed Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu to Santa Monica — warm breezes through cracked car windows, the soft sound of waves crashing and receding into the Pacific, and the silhouette of the Los Angeles skyline. For many it’s timeless and almost dreamlike; but those who haven’t stuck around long enough fail to notice the effects of salt air on the surroundings — in the form of rust and erosion. In some way, it evokes faded dreams and hopes of a paradise that never really was there in the first place, and in another sense, the faded surroundings evoke a lonely introspection. Clifford’s Primaveras debut Echoes in the Well of Being was written in a way to embody that dualism — with the album’s material generally being sunny psych pop yet possess an underlying longing and introspection.
Interestingly with Clifford’s previously released material and Echoes in the Well of Being‘s latest single, the shimmering and strutting “Better Off,” his sound has been compared favorably to the likes of Tame Impala and Phoenix — and while that is definitely fair, I also hear a subtle nod at Avalon-era Roxy Music as the song evokes bright neon lights, evening faces, Jack and Cokes, the buzz of a coke high and a desperate escape from one’s loneliness and regret. But interestingly enough, Clifford pays loving  homage to The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark, Parts 1 and 2” with the song’s intro drum break, which not only ties the song to classic R&B, but gives it a subtle sensuality.
As Clifford says of the song, “While most people will immediately interpret as a breakup song, I see the core sentiment as trying to grow up and move on from any sort of worn-out relationship.”
 
Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lola Kirke Returns with Sultry and Expressive Visuals for “Sexy Song”

Lola Kirke is a British-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, musician and actress, best know for starring roles in Noah Bambauch’s Mistress America and the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle, as well as a supporting role in David Fincher’s Gone Girl; but interestingly enough, she’s also the daughter of drummer Simon Kirke, who’s best known for stints in Bad Company and Free and Lorraine Kirke, the owner of Geminola, a vintage boutique known for supplying outfits for Sex and the City. Now as you may recall, last year I wrote about “Not Used,” off her self-titled EP, a song about learning to live with a lover’s absence and their lingering ghosts. 

Kirk’s full-length debut Heart Head West is slated for an August 10, 2018 release through Downtown Records, and the Wyndham Garnett-produced album, which was tracked live to tape, is a deeply personal album that Kirke says is “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.” Heart Head West’s latest single “Sexy Song” is a slow-burning and meditative bit of honky tonk that’s reminiscent of Chris Issak and Roy Orbison, but with a feminine and self-assured sultriness at its core. 

Directed by Mara McKevitt, the intimate, recently released video for “Sexy Song” features expressive and sultry choreography by Elizabeth Sonenberg, and as Kirke told Harper’s Bazaar, “I think that understanding what the core and the truth of women’s sexual desire is really tricky. Is it something that’s just like a man’s? Is it totally different? is it something that is just a like man’s because men told us exactly how it should be or what they would like it to be?” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Acclaimed and Up-and-Coming Austrian Artist Inner Tongue Performs “2 Seconds”

Inner Tongue is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Vienna, Austria-based singer/songwriter, composer and musician, who grew upon an intensely musical home — his father is a saxophonist, who constantly wrote songs, so musical instruments were always lying around and his parents frequently shared their favorite albums with him; in fact, Inner Tongue formed his first band when he was 6. “We started out using one of my dad’s synths to play a pre-programmed beat,” he recalls. “I’d sing something that sounded to us like English.” Unsurprisingly, the Austrian artist, who cites Bjork, Moby, Portishead, Micheal Jackson, Sonic Youth, Radiohead, Pet Shop Boys, Aphex Twin, and The Cure’s The Cure In Orange as influences — although those influences don’t quite correspond to his own sound and songwriting approach continued playing and writing music, playing in a small number of bands, including one that had briefly worked with Duran Duran and David Bowie’s producer before getting dropped by their label. 

Interestingly, with the release of some of his earliest solo work, the Austrian artist quickly garnered comparisons to James Blake, Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Death Cab for Cutie, Sohn, and Chet Faker/Nick Murphy. His quietly released yet critically applauded 2015 debut EP Tz Ka allowed him to open for the likes of Ghostpoet, Everything Everything and others. The Vienna, Austria-based singer/songwriter, composer, and musician’s full-length debut Favours was released earlier this year, and interestingly, the album’s overall sound and thematic concern is inspired by a deeply personal yet remarkable story. Back in 2013, Inner Tongue was diagnosed with a rare vocal-cord disorder that was so severe that only a handful of specialists throughout the entire world were capable of treating it; but eventually his condition required surgery, which left him, for a time unable to talk. Understandably, the months that followed the surgery were emotionally and physically shattering but he began composing music again.  At the time, singing was out of the question and as the Austrian singer/songwriter, composer and musician says in press notes, “I decided to modify my musical focus temporarily by writing songs which could produce a melodic tension without vocals, but which featured the traits of forward-looking pop music. It was as if someone had pressed a resent button on the musical identity I had of myself.” Adds Inner Tongue, “I used to layer many sounds and melodies before, and felt like I hid the core of any idea behind that technique.”

Some of the Austrian artist’s full-length debut was made at home with most recorded in a friend’s stood in Vienna. Foals’ John Catlin, who collaborated with him on his 2015 debut EP assisted once again although his involvement varied throughout; however, as Inner Tongue says, Catlin “was continually involved as a producer and friend,” who also mixed the album with some further overdubbing where necessary. As the Austrian artist readily admits, the entire experience of writing and recording his full-length debut provoked ” “a lot of soul searching, trying to become a better mixing engineer and producer. I’m somewhat controlling when it comes to my music, and I need to get the little details right.”

However, unlike his debut EP, Favours was more of a collaborative effort, as he shared his ideas with a collective of very dear and close friends. “All contributions are built on a vision I initially had and then gain shape during the process,” Inner Thought says. His live backing band contributed much of the music with his father playing sax on “New York.” The live version of “2 Seconds,” Favours’ latest single features a sparse yet soulful arrangement centered around twinkling Rhodes piano keys and Inner Thought’s achingly tender vocals, which manage to express a plaintive, vulnerable need. It’s a delicate, sensitive yet incredibly sexy song that balances earnest emotion with deliberate attention to craft. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bells Atlas Releases Gorgeously Cinematic Yet Surreal Visuals for “Be Brave”

Over the past couple of years, I’ve written a bit about the Oakland, CA-based soul pop quintet Bells Atlas, and as you may recall, the act, which is comprised of Derek Barber (guitar) Geneva Harrison (drums, percussion, keys) Sandra Lawson-Ndu (vocals, percussion, keys) and Doug Stuart (bass, vocals, keys) specializes in a forward-thinking, kaleidoscopic, lush and difficult to pigeonhole sound that frequently incorporates elements of indie rock, R&B, Afro pop, Afrofuturism, jazz, electro pop and experimental pop. Adding to a rapidly growing profile, the Oakland-based act has opened for the likes of Hiatus Kaiyote, Badbadnotgood, Bilal, Meshell Ndegeocello, W. Kamau Bell, Angelique Kidjo and others, as well as Bermuda Triangle. the side project of Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard. Along with that, they spent 2016 as the touring band for NPR’s Snap Judgement.
“Be Brave” is the first bit of new material from the band in about a year, and  the track reveals a band that has further experimented and expanded upon their sound and songwriting. Centered around incredibly dexterous and percolating bass lines, driving percussion and Lawson-Ndu’s sultry cooing, the track shifts and morphs between time signatures and tone in a sinuous and fluid fashion. And yet the song is underpinned by a resilient, life affirming spirit that seems to say, “When the shit hits the fan, be like a shark. Keep on swimming.” As the band’s Lawson-Ndu explains in press notes, “This song, in a way, is a chant and reminder that we have our own set of super powers and a pool of instincts to lean on. I’ve had instances of loss or fear in my life that hold the kind of weight that, in those exact moments, have felt impossible to navigate out of. At times I’ve felt it’s luck that eventually pulls me out, and in other cases I’ve realized that I’m actually rarely helpless; that just by actively moving through life, I’ve collected survival tools along with a growing sense that I’m not alone. It’s often a wonder to have felt something so strongly, but to eventually make it to the other side and know that you’re ok.”

Directed by San Francisco-based filmmaker Dominic Mercurio, the recently released and cinematic visuals for “Be Brave” follows the band’s Sandra Lawson-Ndu alone in a desert landscape and out of water. After finally succumbing to extreme dehydration, she is abducted and revived by strange, fuzzy Jim Henson-like creatures that perform a ritual to revive her — with a major consequence. And while surreal and almost dreamlike, the video thematically focuses on empathy, sacrifice and communal exchange, reminding the viewer that while things seem incredibly bleak that its those deeply human traits that will win out in the end; they always do.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

I’ll be pretty busy today, as I’ll be in Coney Island for an annual rite of summer here in New York City — The Mermaid Parade. I’m sure that there’ll be some Instagram posts until I actually get a chance to edit the photos — but in the meantime, let’s get to the business at hand, right? Now, over the past 18 months or so, I’ve written quite a bit about the Paris-born, London-based singer/songwriter Sophie Baudry, whose solo recording project Million Miles is the culmination of a life-long love affair with soul music.

After completing her studies at  Berklee College and a stint as a recording engineer and studio musician in New York, Baudry returned to London, where she felt an irresistible pull to write music inspired by Ray Charles and Bill Withers.  On an inspired whim, Baudry, took a trip to  Nashville, where she spent her first few days wandering, exploring and reaching out to strangers, as though she were saying “I ’m new here. I’m a songwriter and I’m looking for like-minded people to collaborate with.” As the story goes, Baudry wound up having chance meetings with local songwriters and producers Robin Eaton and Paul Eberson and within an hour or so of their meeting, they began writing material that eventually became the French-born, British-based singer/songwriter’s Million Miles debut EP, Berry Hill, which was recorded over the course of a year during multiple sessions at Robin Eaton’s Berry Hill home studio. And from EP singles “Can’t Get Around A Broken Heart” and “Love Like Yours,” Baudry quickly received attention across the blogosphere, as well as this site, for an easy-going yet deliberately crafted, Sunday afternoon, Soul Train-like soul that nodded equally at the aforementioned Bill Withers and Erykah Badu and Jill Scott.

Baudry’s latest single is the folksy and effortlessly soulful “If Only,” and while being a fitting vehicle for her equally effortless vocals, the hook-driven track is centered around a loose, jam-like arrangement of  funky, Bill Withers-ike strummed guitar, twinkling keys and gentle yet propulsive drumming and a funky bass line and while being an incredibly self-assured track that reveals an artist who is expanding upon her sound and approach, the song evokes the swooning pangs of meet-cute first love, but from the perspective of a narrator, who is over it and too busy to care — or so she tells herself. In some way, the song’s narrator takes on a tough veneer to protect herself from the inevitable. We’ve all been there at some point in our lives and as a result, the song manages to be warmly familiar sonically and thematically.