Dirty Projectors live it up, Orville Peck goes into the light, Stephen Fearing walks a proverbial mile and more in today’s Roundup. You know how they introduce people on Jeopardy by their occupation, even if it’s some sort of fake thing like “freelance consultant”? If it were me, I’d ask to be introduced as “professional dipshit-at-large.” Or even better: “Definitely not a serial killer.” You?
1 | Dirty Projectors | FourFiveSeconds / Knotty Pine
THE PRESS RELEASE: “In the late fall of 2018, Dirty Projectors went into New York City’s Power Station studios to record road-tested live arrangements of songs they’d been performing on tour throughout the year. The result of those sessions is Sing The Melody, a new, live in-studio album out today. Sing The Melody features a number of standout songs from the band’s most recent album, 2018’s Lamp Lit Prose. Also included is a medley that has been a highlight of the band’s live performances: A cover of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney’s FourFiveSeconds into a version of Knotty Pine.”
2 | Orville Peck | Nothing Fades Like The Light
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The official music video for Orville Peck’s Nothing Fades Like The Light consists of behind-the-scenes footage captured throughout Peck’s 2019 worldwide tour. Nothing Fades Like The Light comes from Peck’s critically acclaimed debut album Pony. After selling out every North American performance in 2019, Peck will continue to tour throughout 2020.”
3 | Stephen Fearing | Someone Else’s Shoes
THE PRESS RELEASE: “On the heels of the release of Stephen Fearing’s latest solo album The Unconquerable Past, here’s the video for the track Someone Else’s Shoes today. The visuals blend footage of the album’s recording sessions in Winnipeg (where he recorded the album with Scott Nolan) with shots of familiar downtown locations in the city. “I’m always intrigued by unknown territory, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone,” Fearing says. “I had a concept of leaning into a specific sound, but doing it in a simple way, with a palette of potential sounds and instruments drawn primarily from Country-Americana and Roots music and with frequent, deliberate glances over my shoulder to the golden era of analog recording. I have long admired Scott’s work, so the idea of recording with him in Winnipeg — a city with a rich history of the arts including world-class musicians — seemed like a wonderful idea.”
4 | Rose Cousins | The Fraud
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Juno-winning songwriter Rose Cousins is sharing the new video for The Fraud from her upcoming album, Bravado, due out Feb. 21. The Fraud is the song that was “the true seed for this whole record,” says Cousins. “The idea of shooting it in an empty theatre as a live performance was the only way I could think to really capture it’s turbulent vulnerability. I immediately thought of The Confederation Centre of the Arts (home to Anne of Green Gables), where I will be playing my PEI release show in March, and the amazing Atlantic String Machine quintet. Strings highlight so much emotion. Filmmaker Shehab Illyas created a really moving video I’m so pleased with.”
5 | Fields of Næcluda | I See You
THE PRESS RELEASE: “A few weeks after the first limited release of their self-titled debut album effort, French progressive-rock/ambient-metal trio Fields of Næcluda have unveiled its first-ever music video for the song I See You. Fields of Næcluda was launched in 2018 by Michel Teyssier (composer/bass/singing) as a solo studio project. After the recordings of the first tracks, Mathieu Schricke (drums) joined the project and then later Steven Segarra (guitar, Wedingoth) for the first gigs. Together, as a real band, they reshaped the music of Fields Of Næcluda, which evolves between progressive alternative rock and ambient/metal, in order to produce the first album.”
6 | Crywolf | Adah [FAWN]
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Crywolf once again invites us into his universe with the release of the Adah [FAWN] video. The new visual is actually Part I of the Widow short film. The videos stand alone as beautiful visual compliments to tracks from Crywolf’s widow [OBLIVIØN Pt. I] album while also performing as part of a larger emotional narrative unfolding throughout the film. Crywolf writes “the series tells the story of a man’s descent into madness. He loses his mind and, thinking he is being directed by an angelic force, ends up killing the very thing he loves most. When he realizes what he has done, he’s devastated and jumps off a pier to escape. It turns out [in the third video that has yet to be released] that he can’t die, and he is still haunted by the memory of his lover. It’s a metaphor for my own struggle with mental illness, and the tumultuous realities of life as an artist.”
7 | Yorkston/Thorne/Khan | The Shearing’s Not For You
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Yorkston/Thorne/Khan will release their new album Navarasa : Nine Emotions on Jan. 24. At the heart of the trio’s transporting new record is the Indian subcontinent’s navarasa; the nine (nava) emotions or sentiments (rasa) of the arts. This central unifying underpinning is a centuries-old organizing principle and on their upcoming record, YTK have paired each song to one of these emotions. The Shearing’s Not For You is a traditional song James first heard sang by Aberdeenshire Traveller Jeannie Robertson. The song tells a story about a soon-to-be-mother, being abandoned by the itinerant father of their soon-to-be-born child. Many Hindustani musicians instinctively shy away from Bibhatsya because they choose not to soil their art with disgust, but here it clearly informs the story within The Shearing’s Not For You.”
8 | Mishap | Guillotine
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Demonic vocals taunt over a bass-heavy production, as Mishap turns his Guillotine into a horrorcore anthem of destruction. Dakota Loun, better known as Mishap, is a bass producer out of the Denver area. Inspired by the newer generation of trap music, Mishap takes a hard-hitting approach to his gritty productions. After honing his skills at Dubspot electronic music production school in NYC, Mishap moved west to launch his career. He’s developed a cult following through a consistent output of originals, remixes, and innovative flips. With support from UZ, Alison Wonderland, QUIX, and G-REX, Mishap is quickly becoming one of trap’s rising stars.”
9+10 | Sweet Pill | Miss This/Tell Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “With a name like Sweet Pill, it’s assumed any output showcases how the rush of lived experience clashes with hard lessons. You’d also be right to guess this Philadelphia-via-Glassboro five-piece crafts arrangements that are both sugary and spidery, leaving infectious earworms to fester long after frenetic percussion and limber guitars leave behind a smoky trail. Sweet Pill returns with two brand new songs, Miss This and Tell Me. These new tracks, engineered and produced by Eric McNelis at The Gradwell House, show off the distinct differences between surrendering control and controlling how or if you surrender anything at all. Sweet Pill enjoys hanging in the balance between autonomy and adversity—it’s where their gymnastic indie goes down smoothest.”
