Dream pop – Page 5 – 7th Level Music

Let’s Eat Grandma wish us a “Happy New Year” with their new single.

Let’s Eat Grandma – the duo composed of songwriters, multi-instrumentalists, and vocalists Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth – present a new single/video, “Happy New Year,” from their much anticipated third full-length album, Two Ribbons, out April 8th on Transgressive. Following the title track and “Hall Of Mirrors,” “Happy New Year” is a blissful song celebrating friendship. The video features the duo embroiled in a tennis match-turned-party, the fierce to-and-fro between them representing the difficulties their relationship has faced, and the fireworks behind them illuminating a new chapter in their friendship.

Walton elaborates: “I wrote ‘Happy New Year’ after a breakdown between us that lasted for a long period of time, to communicate to her how important she is to me and how our bond and care for each other goes much deeper than this difficult time. I used the setting of New Year as both an opportunity for reflection, looking back nostalgically through childhood memories that we shared, and to represent the beginning of a fresh chapter for us. I’d been struggling to come to terms with the fact that our relationship had changed, but as the song and time progresses I come to accept that it couldn’t stay the way it was when we were kids forever, and start to view it as a positive thing – because now we have been able to grow into our own individual selves.”

Watch Let’s Eat Grandma’s Video for “Happy New Year”

Two Ribbons tells the story of the last three years from both Hollingworth and Walton’s points of view. Following the critical acclaim for 2018’s I’m All Ears, for which they won Album of the Year at the Q Awards, the two began to find themselves as individuals, tastes differing here, reactions jarring there. There was a time when both felt a little trapped, and needed to fight to create the space to express themselves as individuals within their relationship. Two Ribbons can be heard as a series of letters between the two of them, taking the place of conversations as they try to make sense of the rift in their relationships.

As a body of work, Two Ribbons is astonishing: a dazzling, heart-breaking, life-affirming and mortality-facing record that reveals the duo’s growing artistry and ability to parse intense feelings into lyrics so memorable you’d scribble them on your backpack. Two Ribbons treads a fine line expressing the most intimate feelings of, whilst making space for, the different perspectives of two women; an album that says this is not the beginning or the end but part of a never-ending circle. It’s cyclical in nature; there is sadness, and pain, and joy, and hope – and knows that no matter what detours we take, we are all connected.
Listen to “Happy New Year”

Watch the “Hall Of Mirrors” Video

Watch the “Two Ribbons” Video

Pre-Order Two Ribbons

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Top 30 albums of 2021: #’s 25 – 21

Let’s not waste time. Here are the records that cracked my top 25 (of over 60) that I reviewed last year.

#25: The Beths – Auckland, New Zealand, 2020

This delightful live album from The Beths is full of joy. The band was over the moon, the crowd was ecstatic, and daring to open with “I’m Not Getting Excited” was a gutsy move when everyone in the place was bursting with energy.

#24: Acid Dad – Take It from the Dead

Acid Dad were a band I’d heard a lot about, yet didn’t know much about them. I caught them live about an hour from my house and was sold within two songs. Take It from the Dead is a fine psych-rock record with touches of surf that make it a standout.

#23: Ty Segall – Harmonizer

Ty Segall added a bunch of synths and electronic beats to his already heavy fuzz rock, and the result, Harmonizer, was impressive. He showed his love for krautrock and even dance rock, and that he could pull off both genres as easily as psych jams.

#22: Morly – Till I Start Speaking

Easily one of the loveliest and sexiest albums of 2022, Till I Start Speaking is a great mix of Morly’s vocals, electro-beats, and synths. I hadn’t heard of Morly until this record was sent to me, and it was a pleasant discovery.

#21: Pearl & The Oysters – Flowerland

Speaking of lovely records, here’s another one. Bossa nova, disco, ambient, and house all merge together for an album as pretty and trippy as its cover.

Who makes the top 20? You’ll learn tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Brett Naucke – Mirror Ensemble

Chicago’s Brett Naucke teamed up with two other well-respected Chicago musicians, Natalie Chami and Whitney Johnson, to create Mirror Ensemble – an album that combines synthwave, ambient, and even a bit of indie rock to make a meditative gem.

“Vanity Well” gets things off to a mood-altering start, and then “The Glass Shifting” comes in sounding like something from the new Dune film score. The longest track on the album, “A Look That Tells Time,” takes its time to stretch out and let you relax into it with its temple-like bell sounds and lotus flower-drifting-on-a-lazy-river.

“Catch Your Breath,” at a quarter of the previous track’s length, is a short meditation, while “Parallax” is the sound of sunlight shining through a prism. Trust me, you’ll feel this when you hear it. “Rose Water” is equally delightful, while “Sleep with Your Windows Open” is going to become your new favorite song to put on your bedroom speakers this summer. The closer, “Late Century Reflection,” ends the album with slightly up-tempo beats and synths that rise like a flock of birds from the edge of a still lake.

It’s a lovely record, suitable for meditation, making out, or even just walking around the neighborhood.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]

Review: Cold Beat – War Garden

Named after the gardens people were encouraged to start and tend during World War Two, Cold Beat‘s new album, War Garden, is a lovely collection of synthwave, 1980s pop, and optimism created during the pandemic and written, in part at least, via Zoom.

Opening track, “Mandelbrot Fall,” begins with thick 16-bit video game bass and peppy blips while lead singer Hannah Lew sings “There’s nothing to explain, I’m trying anyway.” That’s basically been my motto for the last month. “SOS” starts off like a sad scene in an episode of Stranger Things, but soon blossoms into a happy skate around the roller rink. “Tumescent Decoy” has bright synths bouncing around lyrics about finding paradise within and within lonely times.

“Weeds” brings in shoegaze guitars that are as dreamy as the lyrics. “See You Again” sums up the band’s (and everyone else’s) feeling during the onset of the pandemic. It has a twinge of sadness to it, but an underlying hopeful vibe as Cold Beat knew they’d eventually reunite in person – or even beyond the void if (when) it came to it. “Arms Reach” is a soft caress while “Year Without a Shadow” is almost an industrial dance club floor-filler.

The synths on “Rubble Ren” are as soothing as a Jacuzzi. Lew’s vocals on “Part the Sea” flow like waves while the synths rise like crests and then splash onto the shore. “Leaves and Branches” is just as uplifting. The album ends with the optimistic “New World” – a track to give us hope as we emerge from our self-imposed exiles.

War Garden is one of the more hopeful albums of 2021. Give it a spin if you need a boost.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Lizzie Loveless – You Don’t Know

You Don’t Know, the new album by Lizzie Loveless, is an album that collects memories, stories, possibly a couple tall tales, and love poems and then focuses on them with presence and mindfulness…and lovely vocals and beats. It’s also an album with many homes – New York City, Halifax, Nova Scotia, California forests, or the many stops of a tour she took with her band TEEN.

“You don’t know what it means to be with me,” she sings on the opening title track. Loveless (AKA Lizzie Lieberson) braces herself for heartbreak as a relationship is about to end, but she’s walking out with her chin up and not looking back. It’s a lovely opener, with crushing lyrics like “Maybe we should just forget it. We had out fun playing house. I know it wasn’t always easy.”

“The Joke” is a simple tune consisting of Loveless’ voice, acoustic guitar, electric beats, bright synths, and lyrics about a health crisis (“My body betrays me.”) Loveless overcame. “Memory” has Loveless wondering if she’ll ever forget a lover as 1980s soft ballad synths and beats play behind her. “My thoughts are clean though dirty from dreams,” Loveless sings on the sexy, strong track “Eyes of a Man.” The buzzsaw guitar and Theremin-like synths mix well together to put you a bit on edge.

As if she hasn’t bared her soul enough, Loveless tells us, “I’m stuck in a loveless black hole.” on “Loveless.” You can’t help but think she’s a bit tongue-in-cheek about it, however, as the thumping electro-bass and the funky beats on the track are dance floor-ready. “Hold Me Close,” with its lyrics of being in different places during different seasons, seems to be a song about missing someone while on tour. “Window” is another pretty (listen to those synths and toe-tapping beats) gut punch as Loveless sings about waiting for a lover she knows won’t return.

“New York, Yesterday” is a tale of Loveless wandering the Big Apple hoping to see her lover, even though she knows he’s in Los Angeles. “Underneath” stacks groovy bass atop Loveless’ echoing vocals about burying her emotions, even when she knows that revealing them could take her further in a relationship. The album closes with “Again,” a fun title to end a record, and a track about about Loveless wanting love but a potential lover just wanting to smooch.

You Don’t Know is a lovely record all-around, and will probably be one of the best albums of love songs of the year. It’s soulful, sometimes scorching, and sometimes sweet. It’s all good.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

Review: Pearl & the Oysters – Flowerland

“Delightful” is the word I’d use to sum up Pearl & The Oysters‘ new album, Flowerland. It’s a bright, lovely electro-pop record and the kid of music we all sorely need as we approach the latter half of 2021 with trepidation. Should we travel? Is the pandemic really over? Is it okay to make out and hug people again? Pearl & The Oysters might not have all the answers, but they do have warm, self-replicating optimism.

“Soft Science,” the album’s opener, is a song about taking time to enjoy life (“Hey, come to the beach. You studied all night long.”) and not being a slave to the self-imposed grind. Poppy, fun synths encourage us to step outside our comfortable homes and feel the sand between our toes again. The up-tempo “Bit Valley” is an ode to staring at a computer for so long that you dream about it later. The synths sound like happy, giddy birds throughout the whole track.

“Treasure Island” is perfect for lounging at the outdoor hotel pool, at the beach, or even on the plane ride back from vacation. It’s lazy, groovy, and lovely electro-lounge. “Radiant Radish” is psychedelic surf as Pearl & The Oysters encourage us to get away from bumper-to-bumper traffic and forget your troubles at the beach. The lazy beats and lazy, warped guitar riffs on “Crocodile” reflect the self-isolation lethargy so many of us faced (“Why am I still inside?”). On its surface, “Candy” is about a love of candy and indulging in one’s sweet tooth, but is actually about love, lust, and, I suspect, oral sex. It’s a sweet, funky jam anyway you cut it.

The title track is a dreamy fantasy of crashing on an alien world and discovering it’s a sunny paradise. “Evening Sun” is about being hungover, both on booze and on Netflix, home cooking, and staying indoors. The beats on it are crisp, and the addition of a flute is a lovely touch. “Baby” is their version of the Bossa nova classic, and it’s a welcome delight on an already delightful album.

“Wizzo” brings in sitar and robot-like vocals about the future coming early, as it always does. “Osteroid Asteroid” is so full of fat synth bass that it should probably have its blood sugar checked. On “Satellite,” Pearl and the Oysters sing about the law of (physical) attraction, to the point where it’s keeping her awake at night for fear of missing something delightful. “Rocket Show” has a bit of minstrel show / circus sound to it, with what I think is a harpsichord prancing throughout it. It’s a song of optimism and seems like it’s congratulating all of us for making it through 2020, but Flowerland was completed pre-pandemic. The album closes with the instrumental, trippy “Flamingo Sketches.”

It’s a lovely record all-around and one you’ll enjoy as you move from summer to autumn, and then listen to again in winter so you can remind yourself that summer will come.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine PR.]

Nation of Language share “Wounds of Love.”

Brooklyn trio Nation Of Language returned last month with ‘Across That Fine Line’, announcing their new album A Way Forward to be released on 5th November 2021. Pre-order the album HERE. Today, they share new single ‘Wounds of Love’, a song about feeling directionless after an emotional breakup, with a DIY lyric video made by singer Ian Devaney himself.

Listen to ‘Wounds of Love’ HERE.

On the single Ian says, “‘Wounds of Love’ is a song about getting caught in a mental feedback loop when a relationship ends. It’s an endless inner argument – wanting to move on defiantly, but feeling utterly lost about how to do it when the other person has informed so much about how you see yourself. For every bit of progress there’s just as much retreating, and eventually it seems like this back-and-forth becomes the new root of your identity – still tied to the same person, just without them actually being there.”

He adds, “During its creation, the song was really born out of the main riff – I was experimenting with synth sounds and delay pedals, trying to find something that felt kind of like Man Machine era Kraftwerk, and this simple melody just flowed out. At first the urge was to go very robotic with it, but a laid-back groove fell into place and gave everything a really warm, spacey, stoned feeling, which felt like it amplified the emotional haze that the song deals with.”

A Way Forward is the follow up to Nation Of Language’s highly acclaimed debut album, Introduction, Presence, released in 2020 during the early stages of COVID’s merciless mayhem. Unable to promote the album in any traditional live sense, the record grew through a flurry of rave reviews and airplay from radio stations around the world, ultimately landing on year-end ‘Best of’ lists from Rough Trade, Stereogum, Paste, Under The Radar, and NME.

With the pandemic putting so much on hold, Nation Of Language (Ian Devaney, with keyboardist Aidan Noell and bassist Michael Sue-Poi), decided to forge ahead and begin work on what would become A Way Forward. While much of the sounds on Introduction, Presence garnered comparisons to the synth-punk sound of the 80’s, with this new set of songs the band delved heavily into the Krautrock pioneers and electronic experimentalists of the 70’s for inspiration in the studio, stretching their boundaries in new and different ways. Production on the record was divided between Abe Seiferth (who worked on Introduction, Presence) and Nick Milhiser of Holy Ghost!

Due to perform at the sold out Reading and Leeds Festival this year, Nation Of Language announce a January 2022 tour of the UK and EU including dates in London, Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow, and Leeds.

Tickets are on sale and available HERE.

Nation Of Language UK/EU Tour Dates:

27th Aug 2021 – Leeds Festival SOLD OUT

29th Aug 2021 – Reading Festival SOLD OUT

10th Jan 2022 – Cologne @ YUCA

11th Jan 2022 – Antwerp @ TRIX Bar

12th Jan 2022 – Amsterdam @ Paradisio

14th Jan 2022 – Hamburg @ Turmzimmer

15th Jan 2022 – Copenhagen@ Ideal Bar

16th Jan 2022 – Stockholm @ Obaren

17th Jan 2022 – Oslo @ Bla

19th Jan 2022 – Berlin @ Kantine am Berghain

20th Jan 2022 – Zurich, CH @ Kater

22nd Jan 2022 – Barcelona, ES @ Laut

23rd Jan 2022 – Madrid @ Sala El Sol

25th Jan 2022 – Paris @ Supersonic

27th Jan 2022 – Leeds @ Hyde Park Book Club

28th Jan 2022 – Glasgow @ Broadcast

29th Jan 2022 – Dublin @ The Grand Social

30th Jan 2022 – Manchester @ YES Basement

31st Jan 2022 – London @ Lafayette

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[Thanks to Amy at Prescription Music PR.]

Anika shares “Rights” from upcoming album – “Change” – due July 23, 2021.

Anika – the project of Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson – shares the new single/video, “Rights,” from Change, her first new album in over a decade, out July 23rd on Sacred Bones and Invada. Following “Change” and “Finger Pies,” “Rights” drones with Anika’s beautifully plaintive voice and oscillating percussion. In her words, the song is about “turning the tables, giving power to those who normally feel disempowered. This song is about unification not division. This song is about female (/queer/non-binary/marginalised communities) empowerment – the joining of forces, not pitted against each other. This song is about wanting to escape reality but then we can never truly escape it, it will always be there to collect its dues. We can only ever achieve temporary escape. The better option is to bring whatever we want into reality.” During the song’s peak, Anika chants encouragingly: “Feel the power // feel the power // show me power.”

The accompanying video, directed by Anika and Sabrina Labis, features Anika and Mueran Humanos’s Carmen Burguess. The video toggles between the virtual and real worlds, playing with the ideas of dreams and displacement, and seeking places of empowerment. Anika elaborates: “At the end of the video, the memory of the feelings, the knowledge that it was possible, remained, that is enough to start bringing it into our own life. We all have rights.” Co-director Sabrina Labis adds: “Making videos is my way to feel power. The power of changing perspectives, escaping conservative structures and landing on a very close and free power-planet where everything is possible. Press play, take off and enjoy.”

Watch Anika’s Video for “Rights”

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Wings of Desire encourage us to “Choose a Life” with their new single.

Following last single ‘Better Late Than Never’ (video here), a song about self-discovery, the ever intriguing Wings Of Desire share new single ‘Choose A Life’, plus announce their new EP Amun-Ra to be released Friday 13th August 2021 on WMD Recordings.

Filmed in 8mm pre-covid, the video for ‘Choose A Life’ is meant to feel freeing from responsibility and life in general. Somehow that feels even more poignant now.

One the track, the duo say: “Choose A Life is about our automated programming which convinced us that once we get ‘there’ we will be happy. That once we’ve acquired the material check list we will be fulfilled, but this is never the case. The song explores finding joy in the smaller moments of the everyday, the mundane, those micro expressions that we take for granted. And realising that you don’t have to bend the world to make your mark. That it’s better to just enjoy it.“

Watch the video for ‘Choose A Life’ HERE.

Amun-Ra which is released on 13th August, moves on from the observant nature of debut EP End Of An Age and into a more inwardly focused journey of self-discovery. It is named after the ancient Egyptian deity, the transcendental creator of the universe and the god of light. It represents unlimited and boundless freedom. It explores the trappings of time, ageing, and looks back with a nostalgic glow on past misdealings and successes. Amun-Ra leaves breadcrumbs for anyone growing up and asking the big existential questions on life, lighting the way for the disenfranchised.

Sonically the EP continues the exploration of 60s pop songwriting, noise rock, and euphoric atmospherics, and lifts it into new horizons. Produced by the band and mixed by kindred spirit Vincent Cacchione (Caged Animals). It will include both ‘Choose A Life’, and ‘Better Late Than Never’.

The new EP Amun-Ra is out 13th August 2021 via WMD Recordings

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[Thanks to Amy at Prescription Music PR.]

Morly announces debut album, “‘Til I Start Speaking,” and new single – “Dance to You.”

Visual artist and singer-songwriter Morly (aka Katy Morley) announces her debut album ‘Til I Start Speaking, out August 20th on Cascine, and shares new single/video “Dance to You.” Morley’s soft, swooning strain of storyteller pop has distilled across the past half decade into an increasingly hushed and heartfelt private language, as lived in as it is lyrical. Her debut full-length took shape slowly during stints in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and London, stripping back the melodies to their essence, driven by a yearning to “reach ‘the other side,’ to live in and be art and music.” The songs that emerged are time-worn, aching, and acoustically rich, like hymns or traditionals, traced in piano, voice, and percussion. She describes the creation process as almost a “subconscious exorcism,” casting out old ghosts and outgrown loves.

After establishing her singular style with a series of EPs — In Defense of My Muse (2015), Something More Holy (2016) and Sleeping In My Own Bed (2017) — Morley took some necessary time away from the public eye as she battled chronic illness. She returns now with newfound strength and focused sound. Much of ‘Til I Start Speaking revealed itself as she found herself falling in love with someone across the Atlantic. The Minneapolis-born artist relocated from her homebase in Los Angeles to London this year, joining her partner, who was “a beam of light irrupting into the darkness” of her deteriorating health. The album paints a portrait of realizing you’re in love. It’s also the result of Morley finding herself at the crossroads of graduate school and considering pursuing music full time. Morley felt adrift and estranged from herself, but year by year she’s closed that gap in incremental ways: studying piano, pursuing painting (her artwork adorns the sleeves of her entire discography), unlearning self-doubt, trusting one’s inner voice.

Working with frequent collaborator Christopher Stracey, Morley followed a muse of stillness and naturalism, allowing each composition to flower in its own fluid, elegant way – arriving finally at a sequence he quipped as “nine sleep bangers and a bop.” There is indeed a sensuous, low-lidded mood to this music, as though sung at a quiet hour in an intimate setting, a quality she ascribes to her affinity for conscious listening: “It’s in my own silence that the world really comes alive, and I see the deep connections.” Morley’s voice moves in reflective pools, spotlit but subdued, full of lilts and breathy pauses. The effect is one of patience and hidden wisdom, transmuting sorrow into strength, inspired by her hero Nina Simone’s ability to “take the saddest feeling and alchemize it into joy.”

‘Til I Start Speaking represents a stylistic movement towards organic sounds that was hinted towards in Morley’s previous works, blending her love of classic acoustic songwriting and minimal electronic music. This manifests in new single “Dance to You,” the follow-up to previously released single “Twain Harte.” “Dance to You” opens with piano before expanding with Morley’s soothing voice and a velvety bass line and a mellow beat. Morley elaborates: “‘Dance to You’ is about the need for–and is the vehicle for–a benevolent exorcism. It sprang from an encounter with someone so radiant to me that they helped light my way, but that I had to outgrow in order to see my own brilliance: I can’t grow/inside your glow.”

The incredible accompanying video, directed by Lawrence Pumfrey and choreographed by Katya Bourviski, explores the sort of dream state and rush of inspiring infatuation, but also its malleability and destabilizing effect. “Katya and I talked about my experiences as a young artist finding my feet in a difficult industry, especially with flagging health, and the constant pressure to define and sell yourself which helped to inform the structure of the piece,” says Morley. “It’s also partially inspired by Pina Bausch’s dance, Kontakthof.”
Watch “Dance to You” Video

Pre-order ‘Til I Start Speaking

Stream “Twain Harte”‘Til I Start Speaking Tracklist
1. Til I Start Speaking (I & II)
2. Dance to You
3. Sleeping in My Own Bed
4. Wasted5. Twain Harte
6. Up Above
7. Jazz Angel (Bill)
8. Savior Mind Tattoo
9. Superlunar
10. Eliogy
11. Feels (Bonus Track)

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]