French Vanilla jest, New Swears root around, Yuno takes it outside, Scattered Clouds raise questions and more in today’s Roundup. Make it happen, cap’n!
1 What do you get when you cross a Ren faire, America’s Got Talent and Disco Night at Medieval Times? I honestly have no idea — but I suspect it might look at little something like the video for Suddenly, the second single off L.A. post-punk dance crew French Vanilla’s June 7 album How Am I Not Myself? SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “A fashion and talent show in the style of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire occur for the viewing enjoyment of the queen (Day) and her court (Trautfield, Shilton). While the jester (Spitz) and her players suffer abuse by the royals, the jester plots in secret the queen’s murderous upheaval in a flamboyant, over the top metaphor for anti-aristocracy and oligarchy.” If you say so:
2 Ottawa pop-rockers New Swears go country — or at least country-rock — on their new number Concrete Cowboy, a preview of their fourth full-length Night Mirror, due June 13. Yee-haw. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “It was a cold evening in late September and we were on tour playing a show in Hamburg, Germany. The show was packed and afterward we hung out with the locals, had some laughs, and stayed out until the crack of dawn. We crashed at the promoter’s house down the street from the venue and when we woke up the next day, we noticed that one of the bedspreads laid out for us was still untouched. Our drummer, Stoney, never made it back home! After a couple of panicked hours exhausting every possible angle we could, we were faced with the reality of reporting him missing and canceling the next night’s show. That is, until our driver Goose went to grab our van…and wouldn’t you know it, he found the little cowboy curled up, far from the venue, half-frozen, asleep on the street.” Giddy-up:
3 If he’s anything like me, bedroom popster Yuno doesn’t get nearly as much outdoor time as he should. So it’s probably a good thing that he penned a joyful song called Sunlight and complemented it with an outdoorsy home movie. Remember to wear a hat. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This song is about longing to be with someone you care about. I just started touring last year, and I got to meet a lot of people in person that I’ve been friends with for years. I was also far away from people I care about. I wrote this song a long time ago, but I wanted to update it and capture the feeling of how relevant it is in my life right now.” Get out:
4 Quebec pop experimentalists Scattered Clouds have announced that their sophomore album Take Away Your Summer will be out June 27 — and will be “a futuristic broken romance set amidst a burning dystopian landscape.” Whatever that means, it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the retro visuals that illustrate their trippy track Don’t Question Me. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Don’t Question Me‘s brooding but restrained rhythm, oddly melodic synth threads, and distant echoic vocals setting the stage for the album’s terse retro-synthetic soundscapes. Lyrics about police interrogation and not answering to authority are articulated in a found footage collage video directed and edited by Michael John Dubue – who also contributes musically to all nine songs of the album – repurposing scenes from 1971 drug awareness film The 16 Floor to create the song’s unsettling neo-noir universe.” Take it away:
5 Donovan Woods doesn’t let much go to waste. The singer-songwriter recycles random performance footage for his latest video, a stripped-down version of Great Escape taken from his recent acoustic release The Other Way — itself a remake of his accclaimed album Both Ways. Expect him to reuse the recording tape as ribbon for his Christmas presents. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Serving as an acoustic re-imagining of his 2019 Juno Award winning LP Both Ways (that respectively has over 15 million streams itself), The Other Way strips down Donovan’s expertly-written musical narratives to their nuanced, heartbreakingly real essences.” This way:
6 Be careful what you wish for. Unless you’re wishing for a darkly beautiful new single and lyric video from supernatural L.A. synth duo Digital Daggers. In that case, you’re all good. Just like their aptly titled new track Black Magic. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Inspired by a bad breakup, some tears, candles, crystals, sage and a little fascination with the dark arts, Black Magic serves as a warning that every action has consequences. We find ourselves returning to the sentiment and sound that made our song The Devil Within such a success with our fans — that universal theme of love gone wrong with a supernatural twist.” Hocus-pocus in focus:
7 Been waiting for a new song from Atlast? Well, Atlast is back at last. And with the help of Montreal’s Syn, he’s dropping Outer World, a dubstep platter that exists in a twisted parallel universe of its own making. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I had this idea of blending midtempo with dubstep, while staying within a cyberpunk/futuristic universe,” states SYN on Outer World. “I wanted some other worldly vocals, so I started messing around with vocal samples and ended up with the ones on the record. Afterwards, I jumped into the sound design process – glitch noises and distorted basslines are what I had in mind here. Then I sent it to ATLAST and he jumped in, adding some awesome melodic elements and chord progression, which really reinforced the theme of the track.” To infinity and beyond:
8 Carmen Villain has an excellent name. Though to be honest, it doesn’t really suit her music. At least, not her soothing new instrumental Observable Future, a sneak preview of her upcoming third album Both Lines Will Be Blue, out July 12. Oh well, nobody’s perfect. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I’ve been playing around with instrumentals for a long time, and it was something I wanted to do more with after I finished Infinite Avenue,” says Carmen. “Leaving out my voice and lyrics got me out of my own head a bit, which I needed. Working with sound is to me the ultimate meditation and is a more unconscious way of expressing whatever is going on inside.” To the future:
9 You might know Sarah Pagé as the harpist in The Barr Brothers band. But you can meet her again for the first time when the Montrealer releases her debut LP Dose Curves in October. In the meantime, immerse yourself in her world with the gorgeously (and fittingly ephemeral) epic single Ephemeris Data. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I wanted to create a feeling of stillness within motion with Ephemeris Data, like looking through the passenger window of a car traveling down the highway. The trees and the landscape eventually become one and it has a hypnotic effect,” Pagé tells self-titled about the track. “I’m playing as quickly as I can around just a few strings to create a blur and slowly shifting the melodies and harmony to mark the time passing.” Pull some strings:
10 French stoner/fuzz/garage power trio Prohibition Dead get ahead of themselves by sharing the shady, tightly tense demo single Staying Around from their upcoming EP due in the fall. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Prohibition Dead has been founded in 2016 by Fab (guitars / vocals), Ben (guitar / vocals) and Phil (drums) all come from rock bands that have been playing on the French scenes for several years. What brought them together? Rock.. But not just any … Powerful, wild, crunchy, fuzzy rock … The rock that comes to your mind when you enter the room … The rock that extends from one musician to another until you touch and invade.” Sample their staying power:
11 Vancouver’s Leisure Club set sail with their lush and leisurely latest single Shoreline, the band’s second release of 2019. Sounds like things are going swimmingly. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Shoreline was born in the depths of hedonism. The song represents a melancholic yearning for more meaningful connections in a fast, substance fuelled environment. Waiting on the shoreline is waiting to dive into an ocean of opportunity and self realization.” Float away:
12 Yoke Lore has nothing to fear. The New York indie-popster — also known as Adrian Galvin — makes that clear with his sweetly stirring song Safe and Sound. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “A stirring observation on the changing roles relationships plays in this era. Speaking about the track, Adrian Galvin explains, “I think there are different times throughout history where relationships have meant different things. In the Stone Age, they meant survival. In the Victorian era, they meant politics. And I think part of what they mean in our era is refuge. A bright spot of intimacy in an otherwise intricate web of depersonalization and the mass casual insincerity among daily interactions. Olly Olly Oxen Free.” Wherever you are:
