Tag: Juliana Hatfield

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Mathias Engwall is a Gothenburg-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, mixer and mastering engineer. He has been busy over the years: he has done remixes for Lonely Dear and a list of others, and he has collaborated with CYAMO‘s David Ahlen and a handful of others. Engwall is also the creative mastermind behind the Swedish dream pop recording project Llawagne (pronounced Luv-nyay).

With Llawgne, Engwall has released a number of critically applauded, commercially successful singles including:

  • 2019’s “The White In Its Eyes,” which found its way onto the Swedish PSL Top 20 and several major playlists, with the song revealing a penchant for strong melodies within a stormy yet beautiful shoegazer soundscape.
  • Last year’s “Love + Somebody” was described as “Sonic Youth meets Chris Isaak.”

Last year was a big year for the Gothenburg-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, mixer and mastering engineer: Engwall signed with Brooklyn-based label Declared Goods, who released “Reverie Neverending”to a global audience. Building upon a growing profile nationally and locally, Engwall released more material to critical praise from the likes of Savantmusikmagasin, BrooklynVegan, Austin Town Hall, Mystic Sons, Backseat Mafia, White-Light/White-Heat, as well as airplay and playlisting from radio stations globally.

Engwall’s latest Llagwne single “Oh Juliana,” off his forthcoming, full-length debut Nevereveries is a hook-driven slice of 90s alt rock and shoegaze, centered around chiming and reverb-drenched guitars and thunderous drumming within a classic grunge rock song structure: alternating dreamy verses and rousingly anthemic, noisy choruses.

“‘Oh Juliana’ is a song about falling in love with a famous person – you get a crush on the public persona, not the real person,” Engwall explains. “It’s the safest kind of love – you will never meet them and you can never let each other down.” Engwall adds, “Oh and Juliana is, Juliana Hatfield that I have a very safe distant crush on. I stole the whole nineties grunge sound from her. I love you Juliana!”

Nevereveries is slated for an October 29, 2021 release through Declared Goods.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their first two EPs, Gloomy Tunes and Crushed, the Portland, ME-based indie rock trio Weakened Friends, comprised of Sonia Sturino (vocals, guitar), Annie Hoffman (bass), and Cam Jones began receiving quite a bit of buzz for a sound that  clearly draws from power pop and 90s grunge rock. And in fact, over the past year or so the band has seen a growing profile as they played this year’s SXSW and have shared stages with the likes of CHVRCHES, Silversun Pickups, Beach Slang and Juliana Hatfield, essentially adding themselves to a growing list of contemporary fuzzy guitar pop-leaning acts that include JOVM mainstays Dead Stars and others.

“Hate Mail,” the trio’s latest single is a rousingly anthemic, mosh pit friendly “fuck off/don’t you come back here/you were the worst thing that ever happened to me/good riddance” song, perfect for anyone who’s gotten out of a miserable and toxic relationship — with some semblance of their dignity and sanity intact, and the sentiment is complimented (and emphasized) with a fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and howled, distorted vocals. While the song will further cement their growing reputation for crafting 90s grunge rock-inspired power pop, the song features the Maine-based trio collaborating with Dinosaur Jr.‘s J. Mascis, who contributes his imitable guitar sound to the proceedings.

 

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The California-by-way of Boston-based Colleen Green’s forthcoming album Sock It To Me will see a March 19th release through Seattle’s Hardly Art Records. “Heavy Shit” is the latest single from the album and personally, it reminds me […]