Eliza & The Delusionals don’t want to just exist, Okay Kaya tends to her asexual wellbeing, Brkn Love catch flies in the hony, Frank Mighty’s Hotline poses a question and more in today’s Roundup. Hey, Bell — I know you don’t care about your customers in the slightest, but wouldn’t it be cheaper just to fix the cable node behind my house instead of sending a service guy out every few weeks to block the alley while he roots around in the giant mass of wires and pretends he knows what he’s doing? Just a thought.
1 | Eliza & The Delusionals | Just Exist
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Topping U.S. charts all the way from Australia isn’t exactly an easy feat for a new indie rock band, but Eliza & The Delusionals have done just that with their U.S. debut single Just Exist. Straddling the line of such ’90s luminaries as Veruca Salt, Blake Babies, Liz Phair with the modern sensibilities of Tonight Alive and Paramore, the new single has amassed over a million streams in just a few weeks. From Eliza: “Just Exist is about the balance of feeling depressed and feeling creative and inspired by those feelings. I find a lot of my best and most inspired creative ideas have come from some of the saddest and worst feelings I’ve ever felt which is very bittersweet. I hate feeling down but if I didn’t feel that way I think I would plainly just exist.”
2 | Okay Kaya | Asexual Wellbeing
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Okay Kaya — the project of Norwegian-born, New York-based Kaya Wilkins — releases a new single/video, Asexual Wellbeing, from Watch This Liquid Pour Itself, her new album out Jan. 24. Kaya’s lyrics are intimate and playful; in one moment of Asexual Wellbeing, she sings of “Bon Jovi’s rosé” just a few lines away from the question, “Can they turn the two of us into a tree?” Her interest in parodying certain elements of pop songs allows her to showcase her humorous side, but it’s important to her that the songs remain vulnerable enough to connect with an audience. Kaya has been playing music since she was a tween, learning songs on her acoustic guitar and listening to Cody Chesnutt (even playing in a black metal project). Her music and artistic process has a cyclical nature, like water circling a drain. Reacting — whether physically on set, or alone with her guitar — has become an integral part of her writing.”
3 | Brkn Love | Flies In The Honey
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Brkn Love, the brainchild of 21-year-old Toronto native Justin Benlolo, will now release their self-titled debut on Feb. 14. The album, produced by Joel Hamilton (Highly Suspect, Pretty Lights), was recorded live to tape, preserving a raw and real feeling in the riffing tempered by relatable and emotional lyrics. Brkn Love shares a new song Flies In The Honey. “This one brings it back to our bluesy roots and I believe it totally encompasses everything that Brkn Love represents,” says Benlolo. “Flies in the Honey has a message that is very close to my heart, and there are a few social issues we wanted to tackle on this one. Our goal here was to bring the issues of teen and young adult drug addiction to everyone’s attention. We hope that those who have suffered from or are currently suffering from addiction can find some comfort in this and remind themselves that they are not alone. This song has sort of taken a new life of its own since we started playing it live.”
4 | Frank Mighty’s Hotline | What Am I To Do
THE PRESS RELEASE: “John Traboulsi is Frank Mighty’s Hotline — a solo project that started five years ago. What Am I To Do is his second single. He says: “Living with someone and actively making the effort to spend time together are different things. I’ve been lucky to have these people in my life since moving out nearly a decade ago, and whether you live with your significant other, or your pals, having someone to come home to is lovely. When they’re gone, your space feels larger and emptier, you feel their absence the most. The same thing applies to traveling pals, you become so close, spend so much time together, when it’s time to separate, it can be tough. I wrote WAITD thinking about them.”
5 | Claire Ridgely | Busy Body
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Claire Ridgely is a Montreal-based artist originally hailing from Northern Virginia. Having worked as a featured artist for many years, Claire has since turned her energy towards her solo career, releasing four singles within the past year alone. Her fifth and newest single, Busy Body, is a melodic pop track that highlights fluttering vocals over intricate synth-pop flourishes.”
6 | James Righton | Devil Is Loose
THE PRESS RELEASE: “After coming to prominence as the frontman of the Mercury Prize-winning Klaxons, recording with Arctic Monkeys, and crafting his Shock Machine project, James Righton is now set to release his debut solo album The Performer on March 20,. Following the release of first cut The Performer, today James shares another new track titled Devil Is Loose. “Devil is Loose is my take on the worrying rise of extremism/populism/nihilism,” Righton explains. “Musically I wanted it to sound like a bad acid trip with the devil.”
7 | Paragon Cause | Let Me Be
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Let Me Be, the newest single from Ottawa’s Paragon Cause, sees the band mix their characteristic indie/electronic sound with a touch of ’60s soul, adding just a hint of gospel as a refreshing tonic to the stress of the holidays, making it their official anti-holiday song. The song is an emotional plea, both musically and lyrically, to reminisce about a time when people appreciated the simpler things in life. It represents an admission that the current trend toward commercialism in the world is too much, and sometimes, we all need a break. “We wanted to write a song that allowed you to stop for a moment, relax, and just forget about the stress of any holiday and be left alone while the world spins around you” said vocalist Michelle Opthof.”
8 | Marco DeLiso | And We Fall
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Marco DeLiso is a Cambridge, Mass., multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer who uses his music as a tool for expressing a common language. Stylistically, DeLiso’s music is groovy, flush with vocal harmony and presented with levity, bringing people together where they can be themselves and laugh at his silly presentation. And We Fall highlights Marco’s hip hop influences, with quirky pop soundscapes and playful piano melodies. The infectious track emits Marco DeLiso’s diversity and sheer uniqueness.”
9 | The Know | Jingle Bell Rock
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The shoegaze version of the holiday classic drips with echoing vocals atop dreamy soundscapes. The Know began in late 2018 when Daniel Knowles suggested to his wife, Jennifer Farmer, that instead of traveling home for the holidays (to the U.K. and Texas respectively) that the L.A.-based transplants stay put and try to create music together, just the two of them. This would be the married couple’s gift to themselves. For the next few weeks, they isolated themselves in their home studio with no real plan except a mutual love of Beach House, Julee Cruise, Ye Ye, The Jesus and Mary Chain, ’60s girl groups, and the evocative storytelling lyricism of Patsy Cline and The National.”
