Tag: indie rock

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ellevator Shares a Hook-Driven and Incisive Look at Social Media and Presentation

Hamilton, Ontario-based indie rock outfit Ellevator — Nabi Sue Bersche (vocals), Tyler Bersche (guitar) and Elliott Gwynne (bass, synths) — have received attention nationally and across the blogosphere for a sound and approach that draws equally from late-aughts guitar music, post-rock, U2, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Feist, Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie paired with lean, razor sharp hooks and Bersche’s earnest, pop star-like vocals. Thematically their work touches upon power, love and loss from lived-in, personal reflections and experiences. 

Their self-titled EP amassed over a million streams across all of the digital streaming platforms. Adding to a growing profile, the members of Ellevator toured across North America with Our Lady Peace, Matthew Good, BANNERS, Cold War Kids, JOVM mainstay Rich Aucoin, Dear Rouge, Bishop Briggs, Arkells and Amber Run. 

Ellevator’s long-awaited, full-length debut, the Chris Walla-produced The Words You Spoke Still Move Me officially dropped today. The 12-song album sees the Canadian outfit documenting universal experiences like existential longing, romantic power struggles and the never-ending work of true self-discovery with the deeply personal and highly specific — notably, Nabi Sue Bersche’s experiences entering into and leaving a religious cult.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I’ve written about three of TWYSSMM‘s
singles”

“Easy,” a song that revealed a band boldly making a decided step forward in their sound and approach while seeing them embrace the fact that they’re a rock band: Earnest and lived-in lyrics are paired with enormous hooks, raw and passionate performances, deliberate craftsmanship and slick studio polish.

“Easy” may arguably be one of the most deeply personal songs on the album, with the song drawing directly and intimately from Nabi Sue Bersche’s life: For a period of her life, Nabi Sue Bersche was a member of a religious cult, and the song is a rumination on the good and evil things we are raised to believe without question. “I was raised in the world of charismatic Christianity – an offshoot of Pentecostalism,” Ellevator’s frontwoman explained. “God was magic and prophetic ecstasies happened every Sunday. As a child, I spoke in tongues and prayed until my body swayed with a gentle force like wind knocking me backward. A deep and abiding love of the natural world took hold of me. I witnessed firsthand the wild power of music – how it could uplift, ensnare, console, inspire.

“When I was 17 I moved to the other side of the world and joined what would most accurately be described as a cult. I prayed for strangers I met in parking lots. I shut my eyes and read the dappled light between my lashes like tea leaves that could divine the future. Vulnerability was a badge in that community so I learned to overshare. Teachings were given in the language of freedom while the stiff hand of purity reduced my body to a shameful temptation. Growing up like that gave me a love of music, a nose for bullshit, and a lot to unravel. This song is about the good and evil things we are raised to believe. I was held captive by an ideology that severely limited my life and my perspective of the world around me. It’s a process I’m still in the middle of, this work of extraction.”

TWYSSMM‘s second single was the 80s rock/pop-like anthem “Sacred Heart,” which featured an expansive arrangement centered around slashing power chords, twinkling keys and Nabi Sue Bersche’s yearning vocals. While sonically recalling John Mellencamp‘s early-to-mid 80s output, Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks” and Stevie Nicks, “Sacred Heart” details swooning and urgent, young love in its guilelessness, passion, fearlessness and neurotic self-consciousness.

“This one’s a love song about how intimacy and deep knowing can make it feel like there’s nothing left to discover, and choosing to push on anyway in search of new depths, “Ellevator’s Nabi Sue Bersche explained. “Ty [Tyler Bersche] (guitar) and I got married on a cold spring morning when I was 22 and he was 19. There wasn’t much chance to sell each other on our own myths, to be the mysterious stranger from outta town: we wrote our origin story together. Learning to love each other better has been a strange journey and the great gift of my life.”

“Party Trick,” TWYSSMM‘s third single was a slow-burning and atmospheric ballad that accurately captures the insecurity, anxiety and flightiness of a young person still figuring out who they are and what they are: They seemingly adopt and discard identities, interests and beliefs until they stumble onto something that maybe suits them. While drawing from deeply personal experience, the song is rooted into something incredibly universal — something we’ve all done at some point or another in our lives.

“A friend said to me that being in a band means never growing up,” Ellevator’s frontwoman says in press notes. “It’s easy to feel like Peter Pan on tour, all the trappings of adulthood a hundred truck stops and a thousand miles in the rearview. I started writing this song to my teenage self: a flighty, insecure kid posturing confidence. I’d jump around to all the different cliques like a self-styled Ferris Bueller, leaving just before friendships could settle in. Being on the road brought out those same old tendencies: keep it all on the level, don’t go too deep. Driving down the highway, floating through the hall/Everything is different, nothing’s changed at all.”

“STAR,” TWYSSMM‘s fourth and latest single continues a remarkable run of enormous, hook-driven anthems featuring twinkling keys, propulsive drumming, shimmering and angular guitar lines and a sinuous bass line paired with Nabi Sue Bersche’s plaintive vocals. Sonically “STAR” — to my ears, at least — is a slick synthesis of Stevie Nicks, U2 and Death Cab for Cutie while rooted in a both personal and universal experience: Our tendency to play dress up and attempt to put on our best airs for the outside world — especially through the lens of social media.

“There are so many ways to disguise ourselves I don’t think we even notice we’re dressing up anymore,” the Canadian outfit’s frontperson explains. “Good art has a human point of view, which is to say it’s nuanced, complicated. It often doesn’t have a clear agenda that’s easily distilled, packaged, and sold. Flattening that perspective into something that fits neatly between the clean lines of social media has been difficult for me. Learning how to do it has changed the way I see the world, brought out ugly instincts, and magnified my vanity and insecurity. The wildest part is that this sort of curation and performance is no longer reserved for people like me: artists who pay people lots of money to convince you to listen to our music. Any fourteen-year-old on TikTok has given at least as much careful attention to their brand as I have. But the neurochemical trick these platforms play is just the latest version of a very old phenomenon. We’ve always built our identities carefully: showing the world our good side is an intrinsic part of evolution, whether it’s holding our arms high to make the bear think we’re bigger than we are or an Instagram story of our eight-car-garage.

“I started writing this song about Sable Starr and the baby groupie scene from the 70s in West Hollywood. Writing about licked lips, hey sweethearts, and other abstractions of crude men is a natural place for me to write from. Like a lot of people, there’s a deep well of rage to draw from there. But it morphed into a song about me, how the fucked up aspects of my industry have shaped me, how I’ve bent to the wills of people and entities I don’t trust. When the road runs out, will I be waiting around? Will I still be pretending?”

Directed and shot by the band’s frequent collaborator Cam Veitch, the accompanying video for “STAR” is optimized for viewing on a mobile device in vertical full screen. But whether you’re watching it on a computer as I have or on a phone, we see the members of Ellevator adopting cartoonish. one-note personas, which only capture a small portion of the complicated, flawed people behind the person. But the likes, the shares, the fucking clout!

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

German-Canadian indie rock outfit Pulse Park — Magnusson (vocals, guitar), Frank Hagen (bass) and Oliver Polastri (drums) — trace their origins to rather hilarious circumstances, according to the band: The trio first met while on an Arctic expedition in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada, where they learned how to play ukuleles that they traded dry fruits for with the Inuit.

After the successful introduction of a breeding program for bowhead whales, the band decided to return to Germany. But before they could return home, huskies stole their belongings. So the band had to make a living busking across Canada, singing songs about the Great White North.

Ridiculous, right? In any case, the band which was founded back in 2020 is influenced by the likes of Dinosaur, Jr., The Lemonheads, and Cloud Nothings. Their full-length debut Phonac Music was recorded last November and released last month through Brighton, UK-based Shore Dive Records.

Phonac Music‘s latest single “Sine Wave” is centered around fuzz pedaled power chords, thunderous drumming and dreamy vocals paired with big, mosh pit friendly hooks. Sonically, “Sine Wave” will bring back fond memories of 120 Minutes era MTV alt rock, delivered with an easygoing aplomb.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Weird Nightmare Teams Up with Bully on the Driving and Earnest “Wrecked”

Alex Edkins has developed and honed a reputation for being a master craftsman of sweaty, mosh pit friendly rippers as the frontman of Toronto-based JOVM mainstays METZ. 

Edkins’ new side project Weird Nightmare sees the METZ frontman showcasing a new side of the long-established songwriting that has won him acclaim and fans across the globe: enormous power chord driven rippers with mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses — but paired with a sugary and distorted power pop touch. 

So far I’ve written about two of Weird Nightmare’s singles:

  • “Searching For You,” a fun, straightforward power pop banger, featuring shout-along-with-upraised-beer-in-the-mosh-pit choruses, earnest lyricism and the enormous power chords Edkins is best known for but with an accessible, old-timey inspired craftsmanship that makes the song incredibly radio friendly — as though it Edkins and his METZ bandmates were covering Cheap Trick or Big Star. “It’s a fun, no nonsense rock ‘n’ roll song,” Edkins explains. “It’s about searching for meaning and inspiration all around us. In my mind, the ‘you’ in the chorus refers to something bigger than companionship or love, it’s that intangible thing we all look for but never find.”  
  • “Lusitania,” Weird Nightmare’s sophomore single is a fun, old school rock/power pop anthem centered around Edkins’ unerring ability to craft an enormous, crowd pleasing hook paired with blistering guitar work and earnest songwriting. “‘Lusitania’ was a big breakthrough for the entire Weird Nightmare album. I realized that, musically, my goal was to make songs that would make people feel good!” Edkins says in press notes. “This idea of waking up from a terrible dream or winter changing into spring. Momentary relief. We all need that feeling right now and music has always been what I turn to most.” 

“Wrecked,” Weird Nightmare’s third and latest single is a driving and ardent guitar pop anthem centered around big hooks, enormous power chords and sweetly, lived-in lyricism. It’s also the first Edkins song that I can remember that features boy-girl call and response vocals, thanks to a guest spot from Bully‘s Alicia Bogannano.

“‘Wrecked’ is about missing something,” Edkins says. “For me, it’s about missing my wife and son while on tour. Being away has become harder and harder to do. I think most people can relate to it.  Feeling impossibly far away from the ones you love and coming to the realization that you won’t feel whole again until you return. I was really happy to collaborate with Alicia (Bognanno) on this song and I love what she adds to it. Alicia has a one in a million voice. A voice that you recognize immediately and she really lifts the song way up.”

Directed by Ryan Thompson, the accompanying video for “Wrecked” follows a dog without a pack entering a dog park. Doggy hijinx ensue.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Soccer Mommy Performs “Shotgun” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”

Sophie Allison is a Swiss-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and the creative mastermind behind the critically applauded indie rock project Soccer Mommy.  Allison first picked up guitar when she was six — and as a teenager, she attended Nashville School of the Arts, where she studied guitar and played in the school’s swing band.

During the summer of 2015, Allison began posting home-recorded songs as Soccer Mommy and posted them to Bandcamp, just as she was about to attend  New York University (my alma mater, no less!), where she studied music business at the University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.

While she was attending NYU, she played her first Soccer Mommy show at beloved, Bushwick-based venue Silent Barn. Allison caught the attention of Fat Possum Records, who signed her to a record deal — and after spending two years at NYU, she returned to Nashville to pursue a full-time career in music. Upon her return to Nashville, she wrote and released two Soccer Mommy albums — 2016’s For Young Hearts released through Orchid Tapes and 2017’s Collection released through Fat Possum. 

Allison’s proper, full-length debut 2018’s Clean was released to widespread critical acclaim, and as a result of a rapidly growing profile, she has toured with the likes of  Stephen Malkmus, Mitski, Kacey Musgraves, Jay Som, Slowdive, Frankie Cosmos, Liz Phair, Phoebe Bridgers, Paramore, Foster the People, Vampire Weekend, and Wilco.

Before the pandemic, Allison, much like countless other artists was gearing up for a big year: she started off 2020 by playing one of Bernie Sanders’ presidential rallies and joined a lengthy and eclectic list of artists, who endorsed his presidential campaign. That year also saw the release of her critically applauded sophomore album color theory, which she had planned to support with a headline tour with a number of sold-out dates months in advance that included a stop Glastonbury Festival and her late-night, national TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

With touring at a halt as a result of the pandemic, Allison, much like countless other artists recognized that the time off from touring offered a unique opportunity to get creative and experiment with new ideas and new ways to connect with fans. 

Combining her love of video games and performing, Allison had a digital show on Club Penguin Rewritten with over 10,000 attendees, who all had to make their own penguin avatars to attend. The show was so popular, that the platform’s servers crashed, forcing a rescheduling of the event. Of course, Allison also played a number of live-streamed sets, including ones hosted by  NPR’s Tiny Desk At Home (which she kicked off) and Pitchfork‘s IG Live Series. She also released her own Zoom background images for her fans to proudly show off their Soccer Mommy fandom. 

Allison and her backing band then embarked on a Bella Clark-directed 8 bit, virtual music video tour that saw Soccer Mommy playing some of the cities she had been scheduled to play that year, if the pandemic didn’t happen — in particular, Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, Toronto, and Austin. Instead of having the virtual shows at a traditional music venue or a familiar tourist spot, the band were mischievously placed in highly unusual places: an abandoned Toronto subway station, a haunted Chicago hotel, a bat-filled Austin bridge underpass and the like. The video tour featured color theory single “crawling in my skin,” a song centered around looping and shimming guitars, a sinuous bass line, shuffling drumming, subtly shifting tempos and an infectious hook.

She closed out 2020 with an  Adam Kolodny-directed, fittingly Halloween-themed visual for “crawling in my skin” that’s full of creeping and slow-burning dread that reminds me of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe movies with Vincent Price. 

Allison’s newest album, the Daniel Lopatin (a.k.a. Oneohtrix Point Never)-produced Sometimes, Forever is slated for a June 24, 2022 release through Loma Vista/Concord. The new album reportedly sees Allison pushing her sound in new directions — but without eschewing the unsparing lyricism and catchy melodies that have won her attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere. 

Inspired by the concept that neither sorrow nor happiness is permanent, Sometimes, Forever will be a fresh peek into the mind of a bold, young artist who synthesizes everything — retro sounds, personal tumult, the disorder of modern life — into music that feels built to last for a long time. The album’s material is also partly inspired by the uncomfortable push and pull between her desire to make meaningful art, her skepticism about the mechanics of careerism, and the mundane, artless administrative chaos that comes with all of it. 

The album’s first single, the woozy “Shotgun” is an infectious banger centered around a classic grunge song structure — quiet verses, explosive choruses paired with layers of distorted guitars, Allison’s achingly plaintive vocals, an enormous hook, thunderous drumming paired with a throbbing groove. 

“Shotgun” manages to liken a young romance to a sort of chemical high — but without the bruising and sickening comedown, which always comes after. But throughout the song, its narrator focuses on small moments in a particular love affair that’s imbued with a deep, personal meaning, “‘Shotgun’ is all about the joys of losing yourself in love,” explains Allison. “I wanted it to capture the little moments in a relationship that stick with you.”

Last night, Allison and her backing band performed “Shotgun” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. After a brief break, Soccer Mommy will be embarking on a couple of Stateside festival dates including a stop at this year’s Governor’s Ball on June 12, 2022.

The band will then embark on a lengthy European tour. For information and tickets, check out the following: https://soccermommyband.com/#tour

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Gothenburg’s Holy Now Shares Hazy Visual for Achingly Earnest “Hold Me/Know Me”

With the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s I Think I Need The Light and its follow-up EP, It Will All End In Tears, Gothenburg-based indie outfit Holy Now, led by Julia Oleander, quickly amassed international acclaim from the likes of Gold Flake Paint, Gorilla Vs. Bear and The Line of Best Fit among a lengthy list of others.

The rising Gothenburg-based outfit’s sophomore album Dream of Me is slated for release this fall through Lazy Octopus. The album reportedly sees the band cementing the sound that has won them international attention — crisp, reverb-drenched guitars, dreamy choruses paired with a decidedly analog feel.

“The album has been in the works for two long years. It was made in stages and recorded in different places around Gothenburg. The pandemic made us change, we did not rehearse as usual but met and rehearsed intensively and then went straight to the studio,” the members of Holy Now say of the album’s creative process.

Dream of Me‘s first single “Hold Me/Know Me” sees the rising Swedish outfit continuing upon the familiar elements of their sound — the aforementioned reverb-drenched and shimmering guitars, Oleander’s achingly plaintive vocals, dreamy choruses and old-school, analog feel — but within an atmospheric arrangement, that places a focus on the song’s earnest, lived in lyrics describing a familiar feeling to all of us:

“‘Hold Me/Know Me’ is a song about a new love,” the band explains. “The feeling of not knowing someone but being absolutely sure that you just want to be around that person, and the fear that also comes with that, when things suddenly become important. It’s a bit more stripped back than other Holy Now songs, both in feeling and lyrics.”

The accompanying video by Oscar Andersson follows the band’s Oleander basking and daydreaming on a glorious, sun-dappled day in a cute apartment. The video is a very much a hazy dream of swooning, first pangs of like/love.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chicago’s Así Así Shares an Uneasy and Feverish Single

Chicago-based indie outfit Así Así — Fernando de Buen (vocals, guitar), Ben Geissel (drums), Celeen Rusk (vocals, keys) and Sam Coplin (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2018, as the continuation of a previous project, El Mañana, which was originally started in Mexico City. Whether as El Mañana or Así Así, the Chicago-based band is a part of the city’s growing Latin rock scene — and has played at a number of venues across the Chicago area.

Así Así’s sound sees them and blending elements of rock, dance and Latin with arrangements that feature acoustic and electronic drums, synths, guitars paired with propulsive grooves frequently create material that’s haunting yet upbeat and catchy.

Their debut single “Carne Molida” was released back in 2020 and received coverage in Remezcla, Filter Mexico and Indie Rocks, as well as airplay on Mexico City’s Reactor, 105.75FM.

Recorded at Palisade Studios, the Chicago-based outfit’s Fernando de Buen and Marcus Reese co-produced album Mal Otras is slated for release later this year. The album’s first single “Yo La Sé” is a dreamy and expansive track featuring a driving, motorik-like groove, glistening guitars, de Buen’s plaintive vocals and an uneasy bass outro. While the song evokes the sensation of waking up from an unpleasant and incredibly vivid dream. Thematically the song focuses on a familiar sensation for all of us — a deep-seated frustration over the seemingly never-ending stream of terrible news.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Kansas City, MO-based indie trio Search & Seizure — Gene Abramov (vocals, bass), Dave Fyten (vocals, guitar) and Jason Trabue (drums) — features a collection of grizzled, local scene vets, who have played in bands locally and regionally for most of their professional lives.

The members of Search & Seizure have released three EPs — 2016’s Turning Tides, 2018’s Intersections and 2020’s Outer Space, which landed on The Big Takeover’s Top 30 Albums/EPs list that year. Their full-length debut, Nothing Natural is slated for a May 20, 2022 release sees the band blending their heavier rock influences with softer melodic elements borrowed from indie rock, post-punk and shoegaze.

“Lazar,” Nothing Natural‘s third and latest single is a decidedly 120 Minutes MTV era alt rock-inspired song centered around an alternating quiet-loud-quiet song structure featuring thunderous drumming, layers of shoegazy power chords, a rumbling bass line and arena rock friendly hooks paired with a dreamy, melodic bridge. Sonically speaking, “Lazar” to my ears brings local acts like The Life And Times and JOVM mainstays Shiner and others to mind. But under the slick studio polish are passionate performances paired with earnest, lived-in songwriting.

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Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Aussie Artist Gray Days Shares a Trippy Visual for Glistening “Transcend”

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and records all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material. 

Last week, I wrote about “Going Nowhere,” a song that sonically brought JOVM mainstay act Husky and Starsailor to mind, complete with an anthemic Brit Pop-like hook. But underneath all of that, “Going Nowhere” revealed a songwriter with a deliberate attention to craftsmanship and an uncanny knack for a big, catchy hook.

Released late last year, “Transcend” is a dreamy, 120 Minutes MTV-like track centered around shimmering and twangy guitars, a sinuous bass line, the Aussie artist’s plaintive delivery, a big hook and a wah wah pedaled solo, that sounds as though it were inspired by Starfish era The Church.

The accompanying visual features some trippy and fittingly psychedelic imagery.

Both “Going Nowhere” and “Transcend” will appear on Gray Days full-length debut, Drifting, which is slated for release tomorrow.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging Aussie Artist Gray Days Shares a Heady Visual for Anthemic “Going Nowhere”

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and recordings all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material.

Released a few weeks ago “Going Nowhere” sees the emerging Aussie artist pairing shimmering and reverb drenched guitars, a steady backbeat and a plaintive vocal delivery with an enormous, anthemic Brit Pop hook. And while sonically recalling Aussie JOVM mainstay act Husky and Starsailor, “Going Nowhere” not only reveals a deliberate attention to craftsmanship — but a songwriter with an uncanny knack for writing an infectious hook.

The accompanying visual for “Going Nowhere” is a heady mix of cinematic, live action footage of every day people — a young couple madly in love, a commuter train in the rain and of people seemingly starting anew in their lives with animation and other effects.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Blake Morgan Shares Euphoric Love Song

Blake Morgan is a New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and the founder and President of ECR Music Group. In his role as President of ECR Music Group, Morgan’s ideas, opinions and editorials on music and the music business have been regularly published by a number of major media outlets including The New York Times, Billboard Magazine, CNN, Newsweek, Variety, The Hill, NME, The Huffington Post, and The Guardian.

He also lectures frequently at The Georgetown University Law Center, California State University, Syracuse University,NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, American University and his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. His music advocacy has taken him to Capitol Hill numerous times where, as the founder of the #IRespectMusic movement, he continues to fight for musicians rights in the digital age. As a producer, Morgan has collaborated with a who’s who of contemporary music from Lenny Kravitz to Lesley Gore. 

Since the release of 2013’s Diamonds in the Dark, Morgan has been extremely busy: he has a remarkably six-year run of sold-out shows at Rockwood Music Hall that often feature guest spots from a number of Grammy and Tony Award-winning artists, who join him for unique, on-stage collaborations; 150,000 miles of touring and sold-out shows on both sides of the Atlantic; and production work on over 20 albums by some serious A-list artists. 

Late last year, the New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and music biz exec released “Down Below Or Up Above” to praise from the likes of The Aquarian, Post-Punk.com, Culture Catch and my dear friends at Glamglare. “Down Below Or Up Above” will appear on Morgan’s long-awaited fifth album Violent Delights, which is slated for a May 20, 2022 release through ECR Music Group.

Last month, I wrote about the rousingly anthemic “My Love Is Waiting” a defiant and brazenly hopeful love song that views love as the most important and necessary force of the world, meant to get people up from their seats to dance and and shout along with it. But underneath its anthemic hooks, the song, which at points nodded at The Police‘s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” Joe Jackson and JOVM mainstays Palace Winter revealed a penchant for old-timey pop craftsmanship paired with an uncanny knack for a well-placed, razor sharp hook.

Violent Delights‘ third and latest single “Baby I Would Want You” is swooning and euphoric guitar pop song that to my ears that sounds indebted to Elvis Costello, XTC‘s “Mayor of Simpleton.” While continuing a remarkable run of brazen and defiantly earnest love songs, “Baby I Would Want You” manages to be unintentionally fitting for our apocalyptic moment that simply says “welp, the ship is sinking and the end is nigh, but I got you and you got me.” r

It’s a rare sort of love, but the sort of love we all need in our desperate and uncertain time.

Continuing his ongoing collaboration with genre-defying filmmaker Alice Teeple, the accompanying video for “Baby I Would Want You” is shot in a cinematic black and white at Williamsburg’s Pete’s Candy Store and features Morgan and his backing band performing and hanging out at the venue. And much like the preceding visuals, it captures a very New York scene that’s near and dear to my heart.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Silk Skin Lovers Share a Dreamy and Atmospheric Ballad

Silk Skin Lovers — Félix Foucambert (vocals, guitar), Jean-Baptiste Halin (bass, bass synths), Lucas Lerbret (guitar, backing vocals) and London-born Callum Taylor (keys, backing vocals) — is a rising French indie rock outfit that emerged into French scene with a handful of singles inspired by and informed by nightlife and nightlife revelry.

Released last year, Silk Screen Lovers’ debut EP, Bloom saw the band crafting material that bounced between playful delight to late-night melancholy; the blurring of memories to the brink of sobering up a bit as you head home — or when you arrive home, whichever comes first. While the EP’s material is primarily based in magical surrealism, it also reveals a band concerned about serious issues, including racism and police brutality.

“The first seeds of Bloom were planted in the summer of 2020,” the members of Silk Skin Lovers explain. “As a young and developing band, we found ourselves growing in a context that was harsh and complicated, as opportunities for artists were scarce to non-existent for a period. The EP was a natural response to not only the artistic restraints we were faced with, but the frustration of being away from what we love to do, and further from our aspirations as musicians.”

Earlier this year, I wrote about the the uptempo, Smiths-like bop “Moon 1AM,” a track that revealed itself to be emotionally ambivalent: despite the upbeat tempo, the song was a bittersweet and dreamy rumination meant to make you dance away your sorrows — even if it’s only for a little bit.

The rising French act’s latest single, “Forever” is a slow-burning and dreamy ballad centered around atmospheric synths, shimmering, reverb-drenched guitars, gently padded drums and Foucambert’s achingly plaintive vocals. “Forever” manages to sonically recall Beach House while simultaneously evoking melancholy and euphoria.

Directed by Robinson Lebret, the accompanying video for “Forever” follows a young woman as she prepares for a night out — to catch Silk Skin Lovers at a local club while reminiscing about a presumed lost love. And as a result, the video is a fever dream in which past and present bump into each other uncomfortably, and where ghosts linger.