JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Annie Lennox’s 68th birthday.
Tag: singer/songwriter \
Throwback: John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)”
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms offers some thoughts on the holiday season.
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Eddie Vedder!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Eddie Vedder’s 58th birthday.
New Video: CIAN Shares Slickly Produced and Yearning “Far From Home”
CIAN is a young and emerging Bogota-born and-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, who spent the bulk of his life in Miami. He grew up listening to Justin Timberlake, Usher and Michael Jackson, although as a pop artist, the Colombian artist cites The Weeknd, Zayn, Drake, Khalid, Majid Jordan, Justin Bieber, and Bazzi as influences on his work.
“Far From Home,” the Bogota-based artist’s latest single is a sickly produced and woozy confection featuring glistening synths, wobbling low end paired with his achingly plaintive vocals and some well-placed, razor sharp hooks. While sonically bringing the likes of The Weeknd and other contemporary pop stars to mind, “Far From Home” manages to reveal a budding star, who can express yearning and vulnerability within a turn of a phrase.
The accompanying moodily shot video follows CIAN in a Nike jumpsuit walking through a forest before we see him the a brisk job — in slow motion. Every few feet, we see him turn his head as though expecting someone or something to chase him.
Linsley Hartenstein is an emerging Nashville-based singer/songwriter and the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Darity. Hartenstein derives the project’s name partially from the word “solidarity” and partially from the word “darity,” which according to the artist is defined as “the sum of.” Fittingly, the Nashville-based artist sees her new project as the result of collective influences and changing of hands, resulting in “out of the box” songwriting and production.
Hartenstein has been pretty busy this year, releasing three EPs — You Choose What Remains, Stay Home and Sunroom Sessions. “Pretending” which interestingly enough appears on both You Choose What Remains and Stay Home a slick synthesis of 90s singer/songwriter alt rock and 90s pop with the song being centered classic 90s alt rock-like song structures — the familiar alternating dreamily contemplative verses paired with power chord-driven and stormy choruses before closing out with a dreamy coda. But at its core, the song manages to display the Nashville-based artist’s penchant for rousingly cathartic hooks rooted in earnest, lived-in lyricism: “Pretending” actually speaks about how no matter how much a victim may pretend nothing happened, trauma linger and sit with you.
New Video: Chicago’s Somi Shares Swaggering and Self-Assured “Talking”
Somi is a young, emerging Chicago-based singer/songwriter. Her latest single “Talking” is a decidedly lo-fi bit of R&B-leaning indie pop featuring gentle layers of wobbling and jangling guitars, a simple yet propulsive backbeat paired with the emerging Chicago-based artist’s self-assured, soulful delivery and a big, shout-along worthy hook. While sonically bringing early Tame Impala and JOVM mainstay Julien Chang to mind, “Talking” reveals a budding start with a swaggering self-assuredness that belie her relative youth.
The emerging Chicago-based artist explains that “Talking” is “about having confidence in yourself while still keeping an open mind, and learning to listen rather than simply talk at people.” It’s a hard lesson, even for those, who are older — yet it’s a much-needed message to help maneuver the difficulties of human nature and relationships.
Shot on grainy VHS video, the accompanying video follows the emerging Chicago-based artist skateboarding, hanging out at a local skatepark and just being a regular young person. But it has a fitting 90s nostalgia — especially for those olds, like me.
Throwback: Happy 64th Birthday, Joan Jett!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joan Jett’s 64th birthday.
New VIdeo: Warhaus Shares Lush and Groovy “Desire”
Maarten Devoldere is a Belgian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for being co-lead vocalist and one-half of the core songwriting duo behind the critically applauded Belgian indie rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Balthazar. Devoldere is also the creative mastermind behind the equally applauded solo recording project Warhaus.
With Warhaus, Devoldere further cemented a reputation for crafting urbane, literate and decadent art rock with an accessible, pop-leaning sensibility. It shouldn’t be surprising that Devoldere’s Warhaus debut, 2016’s We Fucked A Flame Into Being derived its title from a line in DH Lawrence’s seminal, erotic novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Thematically, the album touched upon lust, desire, the inscrutability of random encounters, bittersweet and regret with the deeply confessional nature of someone baring the deepest recesses of their soul.
Devoldere’s sophomore Warhus album, 2017’s self-titled saw the acclaimed Belgian songwriter and artist thematically moving away from decadence, lust and sin towards earnest, hard-fought and harder-won love — with much of the material being informed by his relationship with vocalist Sylvie Kreusch. Interestingly, the recording sessions were much more spontaneous and heavily influenced by Dr. John‘s Night Tripper period: The album features heavy nods to voodoo rhythms and New Orleans jazz despite the fact that his backing band wasn’t known for being jazz musicians.
The Belgian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s third Warhaus album, Ha Ha Heartbreak is slated for a November 11, 2022 release through Play It Again Sam. Ha Ha Heartbreak‘s material was written during a three week stay in Palermo. All Devoldere needed was the solitude of a hotel room, a guitar, a microphone and a recently broken heart.
The sorrow was too difficult to handle, so he went to Sicily to escape. But as it always turns out, those who try to outrun life and heartache quickly run into themselves. But the album sees Devoldere wrapping his sorrow into hooks, instant singalong choruses and irresistible melodies. Sonically, the material is light yet lush featuring strings, sensual vocals, horns and even playful piano parts. The end result is an album that’s a deep and moving emotional exploration yet something musically very rich.
Album opening track and first single “Open Window” the first bit of new Warhaus material in five years was centered around Devoldere’s brooding baritone, strummed acoustic guitar, a Quiet Storm-like groove, twinkling piano and a gorgeous, cinematic string arrangement. It’s the sort of song that you can gently sway along to with eyes closed and drifting off into your own nostalgia-induced dreams — or delusions.
Perhaps unsurprising, the song thematically is rooted in a heartbroken delusion that should feel painfully familiar to most of us: the delusional hope against hope that the breakup isn’t permanent, that they’ve just temporarily lost their minds and will return soon. But in the end it’s all vapor and blind, foolish denial.
“Open Window is about keeping reality at bay in that comfortable bubble of denial. Definitely my favourite stage of heartbreak,” Delvodere explains.
Ha Ha Heartbreak‘s second and latest single “Desire” is a lush and sultry bop centered around mournful horns, soaring strings, an infectious, two-step inducing groove and twinkling keys paired with Devoldere’s breathy baritone. The song’s narrator desperately addresses just about every god he can imagine, but as he says in the song, “No matter what I turn to/it’s failing me.”
“Trying to love without attachment? Trying to stop the hedonic treadmill from spinning? Trying to reincarnate as Celine Dion’s voice? Follow me on Instagram for misinformation. This song’s dedicated to all those false idols out there. Love, Warhaus,” Devoldere says of the new single.
Directed by Pieter De Cnudde features Devoldere in a musty, old apartment as a bored man, fulfilling Sisyphean-like tasks on old analog devices, including an old train monitoring system and a phone operator bank, which at one point he’s connected to by umbilical cord. The visual continues a run of brooding and surreal visuals, rooted in heartache and despair.
New Audio: Julia Jacklin Shares Hazy and Earnest “Be Careful With Yourself”
With the release of 2016’s full-length debut, the folky Don’t Let The Kids Win, acclaimed Melbourne-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julia Jacklin quickly carved out a reputation for being a direct lyricist, willing to excavate the parameters of intimacy and anger with songs that were simultaneously stark and raw, loose and playful. 2018’s sophomore album Crushing managed to draw the listener in even closer.
Jacklin’s third album PRE PLEASURE is slated for a Friday release through Polyvinyl Record Co. Conceived upon returning home at the end of an extensive world tour to support Crushing, PRE PLEASURE‘s material was finished in a frantic few months of recording in Montreal with co-producer Marcus Paquin. “The songs on this record took either three years to write or three minutes,” Jacklin says.
Jacklin teamed up with her Canadian touring band, which features The Weather Station’s Ben Whiteley (bass) and Will Kidman (guitar), Folly and the Hunter’s Laurie Torres (drums) and Adam Kinner (drums), as well as string arrangements by Owen Pallett recorded by a full orchestra in Prague.
“Making a record to me has always just been about the experience, a new experience in a new place with a new person at the desk, taking the plunge and just seeing what happens” Jacklin says of traveling to Canada to work with a new producer for the third time in as many albums. “For the first time I stepped away from the guitar, and wrote a lot of the album on the Roland keyboard in my apartment in Montreal with its inbuilt band tracks. I blu-tacked reams of butcher paper to the walls, covered in lyrics and ideas, praying to the music gods that my brain would arrange everything in time.”
The album reportedly sees Jacklin expanding upon her signature sound while thematically conjuring the ripples and fault lines caused by unreliable communication.
In the lead-up to PRE PLEASURE‘s release, I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:
- “I Was Neon,” a relentless motorik groove-driven track featuring buzzing guitars, Jacklin’s plaintive delivery and an enormous, arena rock friendly hook. And while being an anthemic bit of rock-leaning pop — or perhaps pop-leaning rock? — the song is rooted in earnest, lived-in lyricism that simultaneously expresses crippling self-doubt with a deeply, intelligent, almost winking self-awareness of how ridiculous it all is.
- “Love, Try Not To Let Go” is a shimmering and swooning Fleetwood Mac-like track featuring Jacklin’s achingly tender delivery floating over twinkling keys, reverb-drenched guitars before exploding into thundering guitar chords during the song’s bridge. It’s a fittingly gorgeous yet brooding arrangement for a song that describes the confusing mix of hesitation and desire one feels towards love, heartbreak and moving forward.
“Be Careful With Yourself,” PRE PLEASURE‘s is a hazy and dreamy slow-burner, centered around layers of jangling guitars, driving rhythms and ethereal harmonies paired with Jacklin’s effortless vocals and her unerring knack for anthemic hooks. At itNs core though, “Be Careful With Yourself” is an honest and vulnerable love song full of hope — hope for the longevity of the partner and the relationship in a way that captures the hopes of a fledging relationship.
Lillian Frances is a Sacramento-based singer/songwriter, producer and self-professed “sonic collager.” Inspired by the creative and imaginative nature of children, Frances’ work generally isn’t bound to genre or style conventions. Her work frequently meshes and blurs genre and style lines, often within the same song with lyrics sung in English and Spanish.
Frances’ 2018 EP Timeism featured a sound that some have compared to Lorde, Sylvan Esso, and Billie Eilish — and received praise from NPR’s Heavy Rotation, Indie Shuffle, and Cap Radio. She supported the EP with appearances across the state and regional festival circuit with sets at Sacramento PorchFest, the Davis Music Festival and the Davis Cherry Blossom Festival among others. Adding to a growing profile, Frances has opened for Sylvan Esso — and she has played alongside Shakey Graves, Sage the Gemini, and Lexi Panterra.
The Sacramento-based artist released her full-length debut Moonrise Queendom back in 2020 and the album featured “Raincheck Summer,” a breezy and forward-thinking, summery pop confection centered around a coquettish and mischievous push and pull — and a deep, timely sense of irony: A summertime bop for the summer in which you never actually saw anyone. Interestingly, underlying the song’s bold playfulness and irony, the song as Frances explains “explores the idea of authentic connection.”
This February, Frances did something she had been dreaming of for years: She finally moved out of her parents’ home and into her own apartment. The pandemic had been in full swing for about a year, and she was — understandably — champing at the bit to get out of the way-too-close quarters with her mother, father and sister.
When she moved, the Sacramento-based artist was overwhelmed by what she describes as a beautiful wave of freedom. She felt as though she could go anywhere, do anything, be anyone (within reason) — and so she did.
Week after week, Frances would jump into her Chevy Volt and head to some new outdoorsy location, usually revolving around rock climbing, like Joshua Tree, CA; Smith Rock, OR; Red Rocks, NV; and so on. Through her road trips, the Sacramento-based artist experienced a level of freedom, adventure and romance that reminded her of what it’s like to be truly alive and present.
Those road trips wound up informing and influencing her latest single “Direct Sunlight.” Around the time, she started writing the song, she was figuring out how to be a good plant mom — i.e., figuring out where in the house is the sunniest? shadiest? how much water? etc. — she was figuring out how much sunlight and care, she really needed.
Written, recorded and produced by Frances, “Direct Sunlight” is a breezy pop confection centered around skittering trap-like beats, atmospheric synths and glistening bursts of mandolin paired with Frances’ coquettish, come hither delivery. The song captures the feeling of being on the road — perhaps for the first time in some time — and the sense of adventure and possibility that every single trip brings with it. Add it to your road trip playlist.
Throwback: Black History Month: Marvin Gaye
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Marvin Gaye.
Lyric Video: Athenian Artist Theodore Shares Expansive, Shoegazer-like “Frame of Reference”
Initially schooled in piano and traditional Greek folk music, before heading to London to study Music Composition, the critically applauded Athens, Greece-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Theodore frequently meshes classically inspired compositions, electronic production and rock arrangements to create a cinematic sound and approach that nods at psych rock, prog rock and experimental rock. And in some way, it shouldn’t be surprising that the critically applauded Athenian artist has publicly cited Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Manos Hadjidakis, Vangelis Papathanasiou, Nils Frahm, The National, Olafur Arnalds and Max Richter as being major influences on his work and sound.
The Athens-based artist performed his sophomore album It Is But It’s Not at London’s Abbey Road Studio 2 and the live footage of that session amassed over two million YouTube views. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, Theodore and his backing band played sets across the global festival circuit, including Reeperhbahn Festival, Eurosonic Nooderslag, Release Festival, New Colossus and SXSW.
Adding to a growing profile, he also opened for Sigur Ros and DIIV, and has received praise from a number of major outlets including Clash Magazine, Music Week, Tsugi, FGUK, Gaffa and Szene, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne.
As a composer, Theodore has written the scores for Matina Megla’s Windo and Vladan Nikolic’s Bourek. He was also commissioned to write a new, live score for Buster Keaton’s classic silent comedy The Cameraman, which was performed by the acclaimed Greek artist and his band during a screening at the Temple of Zeus. (Seriously, how cool is that?)
Theodore’s third album, 2018’s Inner Dynamics thematically found the Greek artist looking inward to examine the dichotomies — and dualities — of his identity to seek new, creative potential. “On It Is But It’s Not, I tried to explore how the opposite elements in the universe interact, how they fight and how without the one you can’t have the other.” Theodore says, adding, “For Inner Dynamics, I was trying to express my urge to connect the conscious and subconscious part of myself so I can be creative. It’s an understanding that humans are not just one thing, and they shouldn’t try to hide certain elements of their personality because society likes to put labels of who we are. It’s the different sides of my self that makes who I am.”
The Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer’s fourth album, The Voyage is slated for a March 13, 2022 release through United We Fly. The Voyage is a concept album that takes the listener on a journey through space while examining and reflection on human evolution.
The album’s latest single “Frame of Reference” is a slow-burning and expansive song that begins with a lengthy introduction featuring atmospheric synths and slowly builds up into a massive, orchestral swelling with swirling, shoegazer-like guitars and increasingly forceful drumming. The two distinct sections are held together by Theodore’s yearning vocals.
“Frame of Reference” is inspired by a dream Theodore had in which he was looking back on how charmingly blue Earth was, as he was floating away in outer space. The song as he explains is about how the things we don’t really appreciate in our daily lives can often appear beautiful from a distant point of view.
Fittingly, “Frame Of Reference” is accompanied by a space imagery themed, official lyric video, which helps set the overall mood for the Athenian artist’s forthcoming album.
“This lyric video is a space journey. From Earth to the planets of our solar system, to distant galaxies and interstellar transitions,” Danai Nielsen, the video’s director explains in press notes. “It follows the emotion and intensity of the song, trying to communicate and engage the emotion that Theodore conveys musically into moving images. It has a strong element of nostalgia and exploration. We are moving away from the Earth, our safe base and home, without a clear destination. We are just floating in this infinitely beautiful space.”
New Video: JOVM Mainstay Alewya Returns with the Sultry and Urgent “Channel High”
Dubbed “this decade’s triple threat” by Love Magazine, Alewya is a rapidly rising London-based singer/songwriter, producer and visual artist. Born in Saudi Arabia to an Egyptian-Sudanese father and an Ethiopian mother, Alewya has spent her life surrounded and nurtured by diaspora immigrant communities: she grew up in West London and after spending several years in New York, she returned to London. Upon returning home, the rising British artist developed and honed her ear for music through the sounds of the Ethiopian and Arabic music of her parents and the ambient alternative rock albums of her brother.
The Saudi-born, Ethiopian-Sudanese, British-based artist’s name translates from Arabic to English into “most high” or “the highest,” and interestingly enough, her work thematically concerns itself with transcendence. She sees her music as an accessible space for her and her listeners to connect on a deeply spiritual level — with her work challenging the listener to remember the last time that they felt truly connected to themselves and their emotions. “I want to move people to themselves. I want them to feel the same way that I felt when I had a taste of a higher power and felt there was a presence over me,” Alewya says. “I want people to feel that.”
Last year, Alewya had an attention-grabbing feature on Little Simz‘s “where’s my lighter,” which caught the attention of Because Records, who signed the rising artist and released her The Busy Twist-produced debut single “Sweating,” a forward-thinking Timbaland-like mesh of trap, reggae and electro pop. The rising London-based quickly followed that up with “Spirit_X.” Centered around a forward-thinking production featuring skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling beats and arpeggiated beats “Spirit_ X” is indebted to classic drum ‘n’ bass while seeing the rising British artist alternating between spitting fiery bars and sultry crooning.
Alewya capped off a big 2021 with the release of her critically applauded debut EP Panther In Mode last month through Because London Records. The EP features the aforementioned “Sweating, “Spirit_X,” “Jagwa,” and the sultry and defiantly feminist anthem “Play.”
“Channel High” Panther in Mode‘s fifth and latest single is a slick synthesis of grime, contemporary R&B, dancehall, electro pop and Afrobeats that’s roomy enough for the rising British artist to pull out another incredibly self-assured, Lauryn Hill-like performance. Much like its predecessors, “Channel High” is politically charged, calling for music to bring about a much-needed paradigm shift.
Directed by Alewya, Simon Lane and Lee Trigg, the recently released video follows the JOVM mainstay biking through an abandoned industrial zone while performing the song.
Live Footage: Courtney Barnett Performs “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight” on “Jimmy kimmel Live!”
With the release of 2012’s I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Farris EP and 2013’s How to Carve a Carrot Into a Rose, Melbourne-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Courtney Barnett received critical acclaim from outlets across North America, the UK and Australia for work that featured witty and rambling conversational lyrics, often delivered with an ironic deadpan paired with enormous power chord-driven arrangements. And although her success may have seemed like it came about overnight, it wasn’t; Barnett carved out a long-held reputation for being one of Melbourne’s best guitarists: she had a stint in Dandy Warhols’ Brent DeBoer’s side project Immigrant Union and guested on Jen Cloher‘s third album, In Blood Memory.
Barnett’s full-length debut, 2016’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, which featured “Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party” and the T. Rex-like “Elevator Operator was released to critical praise across the world. The acclaimed Aussie artist collaborated with Kurt Vile on 2017’s critically and commercially successful Lotta See Lice, which landed at #5 on the Aussie charts, #11 on the British charts and #51 on the American charts.
Her sophomore solo album, 2018’s Tell Me How You Really Feel, which featured the motorik groove-driven “City Looks Pretty” continued an enviable run of critical and commercial success. Barnett supported Tell Me How You Really Feel with a three month world tour that included some of her biggest tour steps in Australia at the time.
Barnett’s Stella Mozgawa co-produced third album Things Take Time, Take Time was released last month through Mom + Pop Music and Marathon Artists. Centered around intimately detailed songwriting, Things Take Time, Take Time finds the acclaimed Aussie crafting a journey through heartbreak, recovery and all the soft moments in between that speak to the feelings and experiences that are innately human.
Earlier this year, I wrote about the lovely ballad “Before You Gotta Go.” Centered around a sparse arrangement that begins with a warm drone before gently adding layers of twangy guitar, Barnett’s tender vocals, synths, drums and percussion in a slow-burning crescendo, “Before You Gotta Go” is a simultaneously a frustrated kiss-off and a gracious send-off rooted n a bittersweet, lived in-experience: the hope that the last words between you and a love be to unkind because nothing is guaranteed.
The acclaimed Aussie artist is currently in the middle of a lengthy and extensive North American tour that includes a February 5, 2022 stop at Radio City Music Hall with Julia Jacklin. As always, the rest of the tour dates are below. But in the meantime, Barnett was recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she performed the introspective, garage rock-like “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight,” a empathetic portrayal of the desperate self-doubt and awkwardness of a crush that’s probably requited, yet not exactly confirmed.