August 2022 – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

Midnight Oil announces final shows of final tour.

Since Midnight Oil’s new album Resist debuted at #1 early this year, the legendary Australian band has toured around Australia, North America, and then Europe, on their last concert tour. The final leg of this epic run kicks off this week at the Mundi Mundi Bash near Broken Hill followed by rescheduled gigs in Cairns, Darwin, New Zealand, Perth and Canberra to make up for various climate and Covid disruptions earlier this year. In addition, this final leg will include shows at Broome’s Stompem Ground Festival (after a 20 year hiatus) and a new WA gig in Busselton (see below for all details).

Today, the last four dates of this tour were revealed with Midnight Oil announcing two uniquely intimate extra shows in both Melbourne and Sydney. A portion of proceeds from each of these new gigs will be donated to environmental and Indigenous causes and general public tickets will go on sale 10am local time on Monday 22 August via: midnightoil.com/tour

Melbourne will finally experience Midnight Oil playing their classic album 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 in its entirety at the Palais Theatre on Monday September 12 under the banner “One For The Planet”. The band had originally announced this special idea for a benefit show back in March, but Covid got in the way so, like their other cancelled gigs, they are now making good on that earlier promise.

Two nights later, on Wednesday September 14, the Oils will play a final show at the Palais under the banner “One For The Road”. This extra Melbourne date will see the band performing the entire show (ie: no support) and delivering an extended set that will include classics from every Midnight Oil album and EP across their storied career.

Sydney will experience these same two special shows a few weeks later, as “RESIST: The Final Tour” ends with a bang back in the band’s hometown. “One For The Planet” (featuring “10-1” in its entirety) will be staged at the Luna Park Big Top on Wednesday September 28. Then “One For The Road” (an extended concert including classics from every album and EP) will celebrate the end of Midnight Oil’s touring career on the Labour Day public holiday – Monday October 3 – at the famous Hordern Pavilion where the band staged some of their most memorable Sydney gigs back in the day.

“The shows we’ve just done overseas have been some of the best and most enjoyable of our career”, said Midnight Oil guitarist/keyboardist, Jim Moginie. “Every gig on this last tour has had extra emotion around it so we’re looking forward to bringing those feelings back home again.”

“We’ve always supported causes that we believe are important during our tours so these four extra gigs are partly a way of doing that”, explains frontman, Peter Garrett. “They will allow the band and the audience to have a different experience each night by digging deep into the back catalogue in venues that are a bit smaller than the ones we’ve usually been playing in over recent years.”

“From the opening track on our first album through to the last song on our new one, we’ve always been blessed to have fans who are really passionate about what we do”, observed drummer Rob Hirst. “One For The Planet and “One For The Road” are our way of acknowledging that connection over 45 years. We’ve all shared an amazing journey together, so we want to celebrate that by playing something for everyone in places that feel special”.

The Midnight Oil fan pre-sale for these new shows kick off from 10am local time (staggered times – see below) on Thursday 18 August before the General Public on sale starting 10am local on Monday 22 August. Tickets from midnightoil.com/tour

The newly announced RESIST show at Barnard Park, Busselton, WA with special guest Regurgitator on Friday 23 September now joins the existing RESIST shows at Munro Martin Parklands, Cairns with special guests Busby Marou on Thursday 25 August, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin with special guest Leah Flanagan on Saturday 27 August and Fellows Oval – ANU Campus, Canberra with special guests King Stingray, Emily Wurramara (solo) and Moaning Lisa on Saturday 1 October. Tickets via: midnightoil.com/tour

The band’s a day on the green Nikola Estate, Swan Valley, WA show with special guests Goanna and Stephen Pigram on Sunday 25 September is on sale now.

Keep your mind open.

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Auragraph takes out of the ordinary with his new single, “Escapism.”

The palette and precision of prolific synthesizer composer Hector Carlos Ramirez aka A uragraph has heightened incrementally since the project’s conception in 2018, but Reflection Plane – his 8th full-length, and first for Dais Records – finds him streamlining his sound even further, to its gleaming chrome essence.

Moody pads and sequential circuits cycle through cybernetic galleries of marble, ferns, and flickering screens, at the threshold of film score, slow techno, and hard vapor. The album’s nine tracks deploy an array of 80’s tonalities, from night drive arpeggios to Art Of Noise sample stabs to Seinfeld slap bass, but fused into a hybrid landscape of lucid dreaming and hypnotic horizon lines.

Today, Auragraph shares the first look at Reflection Plane with its sleek, glossy first single, “Escapism.”

Watch (+ share) the virtual reality video for “Escapism.”

Born in the Texas border town of Laredo, Ramirez relocated to Austin for film school, where he became fascinated by the local electronic underground scene spearheaded by S U R V I V E and the Holodeck Records network. But it was only after moving to Los Angeles to work in the music department of a film trailer house that he crossed paths with Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of S U R V I V E, who were in need of an assistant for multiple ongoing projects. After helping out on National Geographic’s Valley Of The Boom miniseries, Ramirez officially joined the Stranger Things soundtrack team as a Score Mixing Engineer.

This intuitive expertise for audio design infuses Auragraph with a unique sense of fluidity and finesse, able to shift gears and integrate contrasts: sleek yet strange, icy but emotive, minimal though rich. Shades of classic EBM, 90’s electronica, and Dreamcast-era video game music glimmer here and there on certain tracks, but the cumulative effect of Reflection Plane is of entering a place outside of time and space, post- human and pristine. These are songs of parallel realities and second lives, freed from friction and gravity, playing on loop in a skybox sculpture garden at the ends of the earth.

Reflection Plane is available on digital formats now from Dais Records. Order here.

Auragraph, live:

August 14 – Medium Studio – Salt Lake City, UT

August 17 – Pop’s Blue Moon – St Louis, MO

August 18 – Cole’s Bar – Chicago, IL

August 27 – Al’s – Lexington, KY

August 28 – Pandora’s Box – Nashville, TN

August 29 – Rubber Gloves Studios – Dallas, TX

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Stephanie at Indie Publicity.]

Live: Sir Elton John – Soldier Field – Chicago, IL – August 05, 2022

It was Sir Elton John‘s first time playing in Chicago’s Soldier Field, but it would be his last time playing in Chicago or Illinois after scores of performances in the city and state. He’s on the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, which he has stated is his final one. As he told the packed stadium, he’s now seventy-six years old and wants to spend the rest of his time with his husband and sons.

So, he and his top-notch band, some of whom, like drummer Nigel Olsson, have been with him since his first record, played their hearts out and had a great time. The audience did, too, dancing and singing in the heavy humidity to “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man.”

He and the band (which, by the way, included Olsson behind a drum kit and two other percussionists) went nuts on “Levon,” which boomed through the entire stadium. “Candle in the Wind” was also a big hit with the crowd.

They tore through “The Bitch Is Back,” “I’m Still Standing,” “Crocodile Rock,” and ended the main set with “Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting” – any of which could’ve been a finale.

The encore started with his newest number one single, “Cold Heart,” and he followed it with his first number one hit – “Your Song,” which I must admit brought me to some brief tears. He ended, of course, with “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to a standing ovation to the huge, sweaty crowd.

This was the middle of his North American tour before a short summer break. Don’t miss him if he comes near you. You won’t get another chance.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Death Valley Girls, Shadow Show, Waltzer – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL – August 04, 2022

It had been two months to the day that I’d seen Death Valley Girls live, and that was at the Levitation France festival in Angers. They had recently returned from a tour of Europe and the United Kingdom and were now approaching the halfway point of a U.S. tour that would wrap up with appearances at this year’s Psycho Music Festival and Levitation Austin. They played The Empty Bottle with local garage-psych rockers Waltzer and Detroit 60s psych-pop trio Shadow Show.

Waltzer played a fun, solid rock set with a band who, if I heard the lead singer, Sophie, correctly had only been playing together for a short time and was made of members of many other cool Chicago bands. You wouldn’t have guessed they haven’t been together long, because everyone was in synch and had the audience moving. “They sound like Caroline Rose fronting L7, but with more psychedelia,” I thought at one point during their set.

I was happy to hear from Shadow Show that they’re working on a new album, and equally delighted to hear their lovely psych-pop covered in lots of groovy fuzz in a live setting. They hadn’t played in Chicago since before the pandemic, so they were glad to be back on the road and playing a fun set. Afterward, I was stunned to learn that the father of bassist Kate Derringer was one of the driving forces behind the 7th Level music club I attended in Ft. Wayne, Indiana back in my high school days – and the inspiration for the name of this blog. Her father had seen my review of Shadow Show’s Silhouettes and asked her, “Who’s this guy who knows about the Level?” She’d read the review and was now just as floored to meet me in a weird “small world” moment.

Shadow Show (L-R: Ava East, Kerrigan Pearce, Kate Derringer)

Death Valley Girls came out and immediately got started with guitarist Larry Schemel and drummer Rikki Styxx creating a witch’s brew of beats and fuzz while lead singer / guitarist / keyboardist Bonnie Bloomgarden and bassist Sammy Westervelt shared a pre-set hug / meditation…and Ms. Westervelt rocked shoes that would make KISS envious.

Bonnie Bloomgarden (left) in Chuck Taylors, Sammy Westervelt (right) in shoes she might’ve stolen from Boots Collins or the David Bowie estate.

The creepy sounds soon transformed in “Abre Camino,” which only seems to get heavier every time I hear it live. They flowed right into “Street Justice” and stomped the gas pedal to the floor after that. Bonnie Bloomgarden was going into near-trances when she’d play keyboards by the time they got to “Disco.” New song “Magic Powers,” with Sammy Wetervelt on lead vocals, sounds better every time I hear it. Bloomgarden was prowling through and hugging many in the crowd as she sang “Disaster (Is What We’re After),” and they came back from the bottom of the stage stairs to play “Seis Seis Seis” as a sort-of encore.

They also hung out and chatted with anyone who wanted to chat after the show. Larry Schemel told me that this is the first tour in a long while for them for which they’ve been able to hand-pick their opening bands, so seeing them live right now gives you an insight into bands they also love.

Keep your mind open.

Death Valley Girls putting together spell components.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: “Weird Al” Yankovic and Emo Philips – Lerner Theatre – Elkhart, IN – July 26, 2022

“One of the reasons we wanted to do this tour was to highlight this incredible band,” “Weird Al” Yankovic said at one point during the packed show at Elkhart, Indiana’s Lerner Theatre. The show consisted of all original material and style parodies from Yankovic’s huge catalogue. None of his parody hits were played until the encore, and even then in a medley.

Instead, he and his band (of over forty years) played a lot of lesser-known songs that had everyone rocking and / or laughing. Speaking of laughing, veteran stand-up comic Emo Philips opened the show with his odd and often dark humor in which he skewered everything from religion to dating. He had a joke about a banana that he set up within the first ten minutes of his set and then didn’t pay off until near the end – much to the delight of everyone.

Yankovic and his band soon showed everyone how well they can rock by playing hard tracks like “Young, Dumb & Ugly,” “My Own Eyes,” and the dark, twisted “Larry.” The theme to his film, UHF, was a bit hit with the crowd, and the lounge version of “Dare to Be Stupid” (their famous Devo style parody) was stunning. “He’s even parodying himself,” said a guy next to me about it after the show.

It was a great example of how he and his band can play multiple genres with high skill (and switch back and forth between them) with apparent ease. The Doors style parody, “Craigslist,” showed how well they can play psychedelic rock. The closer of the main set was “Albuquerque,” a wild track that has to be seen and heard to be believed. How Yankovic remembers all those multi-layered lyrics is beyond me.

After a fake encore, in which they went barely offstage and pretended to check their phones and tune a guitar while in full sight of everyone, they came “back on” to do a sharp cover of The Isley Brothers‘ “Nobody but Me” and then the parody medley that went from “Amish Paradise” to “Yoda” and included everything from calypso to acapella Afrobeat chanting. I missed a lot of the humorous lyrics because I was too stunned try their musicianship to notice them.

It was a fun show, and one you should catch if it’s anywhere close to you. Don’t go for the hits, go for the experience.

Keep your mind open.

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Frayle unleash new heavy single, “Bright Eyes,” ahead of new album due September 23rd.

Frayle’s newest single and video may be their most gripping yet. The ritual doom metal act, featuring frontwoman Gwyn Strang and guitarist Sean Bilovecky, is partnering with Knotfest.com to premiere the video today. Filmed in New York City and Salem, Massachusetts, the infamous site of the Salem Witch Trials, the provocative art piece is a powerful meditation on empowerment and shedding the mask to reveal the true self.

Says Strang, “’Bright Eyes’ is about the facade we wear when we’re going through something heavy. Sometimes we’ll mask what we’re going through so that everyone around us feels comfortable or doesn’t ask us to show and share our vulnerabilities.

The imagery of a female ‘goth’ roller skating past the house that was once lived in by a judge that was personally responsible for the executions during the Salem Witch Trials is powerful to us.”

See the video for “Bright Eyes” here: https://youtu.be/HY-1ig1iRUY

As Knotfest.com declares, “Embracing a unique balance of doom that encapsulates an element of the harmonious and the hulking, the band’s pedigree spans a sophisticated stylistic spectrum … Anchored by Strang’s often heartbreaking, harrowing vocal harmony is countered by Bilovecky’s metallic blare – the kind of lumbering guitar riffage that layers with suffocating heft.”

“Bright Eyes” is from Frayle’s forthcoming LP, Skin & Sorrow, which will now be released September 23 via Aqualamb Records.

Skin & Sorrow was fully written and recorded by Bilovecky and Strang from the third floor of their own studio, on the edge of Cleveland, surrounded by ancient lakes and woods that echo the howls of coyotes. The band is rounded out live by Jason Knotek on bass and Jon Vinson on drums.

The record follows Frayle’s groundbreaking debut 1692 in 2020 that further introduced the world to their penchant for creating “lullabies over chaos.” Tracks feature Strang’s ambient vocals laid over the voluminous instrumentals of Bilovecky (formerly of Disengage), morphing into disturbing harmonies best described as music for the night sky and are poised to dominate the doom circuit.

In addition to haunting original tracks that push heavy music into new dimensions (an inspirational mix of Sleep and Portishead, or Black Sabbath and Bjork), the duo is known for their cryptic covers including takes on Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire” and Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.”

Their passioned creations have caught the attention of Revolver who named the band “one of the five artists you need to know in April” as seen HERE, who called their previously-released title track “eerie and ethereal for its first half, but slowly lets more crunchy fuzz into the fold that builds up to a detonating finish with gobs of spiritual atmosphere.” As well Metal Hammer has heralded Frayle as “the new face of doom” in their latest issue.

Recently, Frayle signed to The Oracle Management, now part of the roster that also includes Cradle of Filth, DevilDriver, Jinjer, Wednesday 13 and more hard rock and metal acts all represented by co-owners of The Oracle Management Dez and Anahstasia Fafara. In one of the first orders of business, Frayle joined on for Cradle of Filth’s “Existence Is Futile” Headlining Tour.

The track listing for Skin & Sorrow includes:

1. Treacle & Revenge

2. Bright Eyes

3. Skin & Sorrow

4. Ipecac

5. Stars

6. Roses

7. Sacrifant

8. All The Things I Was

9. Song For The Dead

10. Perfect Wound

Presales for Skin & Sorrow are available now at Aqualamb Records’ website with iridescent, metallic blue, metallic turquoise and metallic violet vinyl variants, CD and digital options. dditional Europe only vinyl variants will be coming via Lay Bare Recordings. Each purchase comes with an accompanying 100-page book filled with lush artwork, drawings, lyrics and additional content to get inside the mind of Frayle and the creative process.

About Frayle

Heavy, Low, & Witchy. Frayle is a doom, sludge band from Cleveland, formed in 2017 by guitarist Sean Bilovecky (ex-DISENGAGE) and singer Gwyn Strang. They draw their inspiration from bands like Sleep, Portishead, Bjork, Kyuss, & Black Sabbath. Frayle makes music for the night sky.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frayleband

Twitter: https://twitter.com/frayle_band

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frayle_band/

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

NEU! to release 50th anniversary box set of their first album.

Photo by Thomas Dinger: from left – Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother

NEU!, the legendary Krautrock duo of Michael Rother and the late Klaus Dinger, celebrate the 50th anniversary of their self-titled debut album with the NEU! 50! box set, out September 23rd via Grönland. NEU! 50! includes albums NEU! NEU! 2! and NEU! 75 plus the brand new NEU! Tribute Album, a NEU! stencil and booklet. The Tribute Album features reworkings by The National, Idles, Man Man, Mogwai, Alexis Taylor, and more. Today, Grönland presents two new tracks off the tribute album – “Weissensee (Fink Version)” and “Zum Herz,” a new, NEU!-inspired song by Guerilla Toss.

NEU!’s version of “Weissensee” evokes a majestic river, cascading, waves crashing. Fink honors the beautiful, lapping waterscape of the track. “I have walked around Weissensee many times – a little urban lake in a pretty rundown part of Berlin - particularly beautiful when it’s frozen over. I had to try this one. Stepping up to NEU! and the anniversary of their debut was an honor, a challenge and a joy.”
Listen to “Weissensee (Fink Version)”
Guerilla Toss’s “Zum Herz” is a salute from a band whose members were not yet born in NEU!’s heyday. “Zum Herz” draws heavily from the NEU! aesthetic, with an emphasis on the repetitive beat and multi-layer guitar production. The band explains: “NEU! is one of the most important bands of the 20th century, and a personal favorite of GT’s. Their influence on psych, rock, punk, and electronic music is enormous. The lineage of so many great bands can be traced back to NEU!. We are thrilled to be part of this compilation. I like to think that the U.S. / U.K created Rock music, but the Germans made it forever weird. Thanks, NEU!“
Listen to “Zum Herz” by Guerilla Toss
NEU! are a product of Düsseldorf, Germany, home to Kraftwerk’s Klingklang studios, as well as galleries, graphic designers and advertising agencies. Rother and Dinger drew on all of this and their impeccable musical training to create the overall concept of NEU!. They intended to create a previously unheard new music, aping the processes of commodification while remaining resolutely hostile to the commerciality of the music industry. Like other experimental bands of the late 60s and early 70s gathered under the Krautrock banner, NEU! were driven by a mixture of political and artistic imperatives to reject the clichés and conventions of orthodox, blues-based Anglo-American rock and create a music that was, formally, West German in origin.

NEU! are one of the great, belated success stories of rock music. Their influence continues to be internationally widespread. Since paving their own road ahead, they’ve created a model of forward propulsion away from conventional rock clichés. The NEU! Tribute album shows how much there is for subsequent generations to unpack in NEU!, how much is buried, implied in their sound.
Watch “Hallogallo (Stephen Morris and Gabe Gurnsey Remix)” Visualizer

Pre-order NEU! 50!

NEU! Tribute Album Tracklist:
1. Im Glück (The National Remix)
2. Weissensee (Fink Version)
3. Super (Mogwai Remix)
4. 4+1=5 – Alexis Taylor
5. Hallogallo (Stephen Morris and Gabe Gurnsey Remix)
6. Lieber Honig (Yann Tiersen Remix)
7. Super (Man Man Remix)
8. Negativland (Idles Negative Space Rework)
9. Zum Herz – Guerilla Toss
10. After Eight (They Hate Change Cover)

NEU! 50 Vinyl Boxset:
1.     LPGRONI / NEU! / NEU!
2.     LPGRONII / NEU! / NEU! 2
3.     LPGRONIII / NEU! / NEU! 75
4.     LPGRONTI / NEU! / Tribute album
5.      LPGRONTII / NEU! / Tribute album
6.     Stencil
7.     Booklet

NEU! 50 CD Boxset:
1.     CDGRONI / NEU! / NEU!
2.      CDGRONII / NEU! / NEU! 2
3.     CDGRONIII / NEU! / NEU! 75
4.     CDGRONIV / NEU! / NEU! `86
5.     CDGRONT / NEU! / Tribute album
6.     Stencil
7.     Booklet

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

John Cale salutes 1970s New York City on his new single, “Night Crawling.”

Today, John Cale presents “Night Crawling,” his first new music since 2020 when he released the single, “Lazy Day,” and collaborated with Kelly Lee Owens on “Corner of My Sky.” “Night Crawling” is a taste of much more to come from Cale, and precedes his fall UK tour, which includes his first performances since pre-pandemic (more to come on the touring front in 2023, as well). Cale wrote “Night Crawling” with a nod to ’70s NYC pre-disco, recalling times when he and David Bowie would traverse the city at night. Throughout the track, Cale layers his inimitable vocals with a skipping beat and hovering bass. As it expands, it becomes nearly danceable with jockeying percussion and whirs of synth. Cale played nearly every instrument on the track, aside from additional drums by Deantoni Parks and backing vocals by Dustin Boyer, and it was mixed by Seven Davis, Jr.. The accompanying video, animated by Mickey Miles, visualizes the song’s vibrant sounds with colorful, retro animation.

Cale further explains: “It’s been a helluva past 2 years and I’m glad to finally share a glimpse of what’s coming ahead. There was this period around mid-late ’70s when David and I would run into each other in NY. There was plenty of talk about getting some work done but of course we’d end up running the streets, sometimes until we couldn’t keep a thought in our heads, let alone actually get a song together! One night we managed to meet up for a benefit concert where I taught him a viola part so we could perform together. When I wrote ‘Night Crawling,’ it was a reflective moment of particular times. That kind of NYC that held art in its grip, strong enough to keep it safe and dangerous enough to keep it interesting. I always figured we’d have another go at the two of us recording together, this time without the interference of being perpetually off our heads! The thing about creating music is the ability to divine a thought or feeling even when reality says it’s a logical impossibility.”

Watch John Cale’s Video for “Night Crawling”

John Cale Tour Dates
Sun. Oct. 23 – Edinburgh, UK @ The Queen’s Hall
Mon. Oct. 24 – York, UK @ Barbican
Fri. Oct. 28 – Cardiff, WLS @ Llais Festival *
Mon. Oct. 31 – Whitley Bay, UK @ Playhouse Whitley Bay
Thu. Nov. 3 – Birmingham, UK @ Birmingham Town Hall
Mon. Nov. 7 – Bexhill on Sea, UK @ De La Warr Pavilion
Wed. Nov. 9 – London, UK @ The London Palladium
Thu. Nov. 10 – Cambridge, UK @ Cambridge Corn Exchange
Fri. Nov. 11 – Liverpool, UK @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

* = John Cale + special guests, 80th Birthday Celebration

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: GOAT – Fuzzed in Europe (2017)

Fuzzed in Europe is a six-song live EP from Swedish psych-voodoo rockers, GOAT, that compiles some of their favorite tracks from a European tour in the autumn of 2016. The tracks were picked due to them being alternate versions of album releases or even “normal” live cuts. As a result, we get to hear GOAT further expanding their cosmic sound into new dimensions.

The opener, “Talk to God,” is over seven minutes of hypnotizing psychedelia that takes on a bit more drone than the album version. The same goes for “Time for Fun,” which practically turns into a mantra by the end of it. “I Sing in Silence” transforms from a blissful dance into a trance-inducing vision of something much like the album cover.

The guitars on “Gather of Ancient Tribes” (possibly also known as, you guessed it, “GOAT”) are almost like magic wands casting spells as the female duo lead singers keep singing / chanting, “Into the fire!” “The Sun the Moon” speeds up in this live version, becoming a frantic voodoo-disco track.

A ten-minute-plus version of “Run to Your Mama” ends the EP, being heavier than other versions and no less head-spinning. You might end up dancing around shirtless and seeing visions of Egyptian gods riding boats across the sky while listening to it. I didn’t, but the fact that the image came to mind while writing this suggests otherwise.

The whole EP is full of moments like this. Don’t let it slip by you.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Brijean – Angelo

Named after a 1981 Toyota Celica they bought on Craigslist, Brijean‘s lovely new EP, Angelo, is another lush, breezy, dreamy record from the duo that captivates you right away.

The EP starts by asking us “Which Way to the Club?” Just follow the sounds of Brijean’s great bass notes and playful drums, and they’ll take you straight into “Take a Trip” – which is delightfully trippy and bubbly, almost tickling you with its beats. The record was written during the pandemic, with the duo (Brijean Murphy on vocals and percussion, Doug Stuart on production and multiple instruments), like the rest of us, experiencing upheaval and loss. Writing and record Angelo became a way for them to escape the gloom by dreaming about what was and what could come after the pandemic.

“Shy Guy” encourages everyone to dance again, or even for the first time (“Show me how you like to move. I feel something, too.”). Their fun beats certainly help nudge you onto the dance floor. The title track tones down the dream-synths a bit to make room for more house beats. “Ooo La La” has some of the heftiest bass on the record.

The brief, dreamy “Colors” drifts into “Where Do We Go from Here?” – a song that has Murphy contemplating space-time and our place in it. “Caldwell’s Way” has Murphy and Stuart pining for a place they left behind when they moved away from Southern California. You can hear the yearning in Murphy’s voice, but also the conviction that she knows they might the right decision. The EP even closes with a short instrumental called “Nostalgia.”

It’s another winner from Brijean, and a record that will brighten a room.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]