Danny Elfman gets his Valentine’s Day freak on, Bones Owens has romance on his mind, Hot Breath know what you want (and have it in spades), Whispering Sons come up for air — and things are just heating up in your latest multi-part Thursday Roundup. Let the hijinks begin:
1 | Danny Elfman | Love In The Time Of Covid
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Just in time for Valentine’s Day, composer, singer and songwriter Danny Elfman is sharing his new song Love In The Time Of Covid. The short film accompanying the track is directed by German filmmaker and photographer Sven Gutjahr and Elfman’s creative director Berit Gilma. It tells a somewhat bizarre story of longing for intimacy in today’s socially isolated world in a very unique way. “There’s certainly nothing light-hearted or funny about Covid, but I can still poke a little fun at the crazy way social isolation has changed our lives in every way shape and form, and that’s what Love In The Time of Covid is about,” Elfman explains. “An expression of the borderline madness that so many of us have been experiencing. Lord knows I have. I wrote it from the view point of a young man going crazy in his apartment. Creators Gutjahr and Gilma had the idea to turn the lead character into a green skinned animal-like creature. As many us feel completely alienated in this insane new world we live in, and I thought it was an interesting idea.”
2 | Bones Owens | When I Think About Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville rock ’n’ roller Bones Owens has shared the video for his latest single When I Think About Love. The compilation of home footage was shot during a family trip to Marfa, Texas. When I Think About Love is featured on Owens’ self-titled debut album due Feb. 26. Discussing the track, he said, “When I Think About Love is a rare love song from me. There’s not much beneath the surface of the lyrics really. It’s just about being happy with the person you’re with. That person who can still make you feel like a kid in love. Whoever you love, that’s who this song is about.”
3 | Hot Breath | What You’re Looking For, I’ve Already Found
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hot Breath will release their debut studio album Rubbery Lips during the spring of 2021. With a foundation built on dirty riffing, memorable hooks, and a nononsense attitude, the new album contains 10 tracks of energetic and catchy garage rock ’n’ roll. With their minds firmly set on releasing nothing but killers, Hot Breath have pushed themselves into perfecting the sound that they presented on their 2019 self-titled EP. The result is a straight-shooting album, guaranteed to twist your hips.”
4 | Whispering Sons | Surface
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Belgian five-piece Whispering Sons have shared a new live video for their recent single Surface. It’s their first new material since their 2018 debut Image, which saw them garner early support at press and radio as well as tallying up millions of streams for their dark and unique blend of experimental and frenetic post-punk. Similarly, prior to lockdown, their infamously ferocious live shows had also seen them begin to firmly cement themselves as a must-see live band playing alongside the likes of The Murder Capital, Patti Smith, The Soft Moon and Croatian Amor as well as touring across the U.K. and Europe with the likes of Editors.”
5 | Amor | Unravel (ft. Lemur)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Here is the new video by Glasgow artist Torsten Luschmann for Amor’s Unravel. It’s the opening track from Amor/Lemur, the new recording by Amor featuring Norwegian ensemble Lemur. Amor is Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand, Yummy Fur), Richard Youngs, Michael Francis-Duch and filmmaker/ artist Luke Fowler. This is the first release since their debut album Sinking Into a Miracle and documents a weekend of recording in January 2020 with Lemur.”
6 | Holiday Ghosts | Mr. Herandi
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brighton’s Holiday Ghosts announced the release of their third album North Street Air — and shared the first single Mr. Herandi, a song about their landlord. Guitarist Sam Stacpoole explains: “This song started out as a joke / folky country song I wrote almost on the spot. Just looping the chords and commenting on ways it felt like an unfair deal with our landlord/tenant situation. The landlord is taking the stance of being completely oblivious to the standards of what he’s paid large sums monthly for whilst living abroad. All the lines are directly factual to the situation we were in at that point and his name really is Mr. Herandi. We also recorded it in his house, which was directly above his letting agents.”
7 | Lxvuri | Headlights
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lxvuri is the new project of Sara Timms (Black Mare, Ides Of Gemini, Black Math Horseman). Today Lxvuri is pleased to present the video for Headlights, the first in a series of singles in which Timms enlisted cohort Dylan Neal of the band Thief to co-write and produce. Lxvuri reveals a new body, which will house a new and different canon of work which she calls her “Solar Temple.” Aurora Dawn is an amalgamation of an idealized feminine identity, the wandering fortune teller, and the alien erotic dancer seeking to please her mate, the sun, her audience beloved, and herself, as servant of Love.”
8 | Kavrila | Sunday
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rituals III, out March 26, is the spawn of Kavrila’s rage, anxiety, gloom, self doubt, pure energy, and grit. A vicious beast that crawls out of a pool of darkness, and suffering that has a hold on the world around us, that we are constantly fighting to overcome. The band is out today with a new video for their latest single Sunday. Alex from Kavrila comments: “ ‘Supposed to be the best time. Turns out to be the day I die.’ This line sums up this song pretty good. It was a Sunday back in 2018 when I had a massive anxiety attack while I was performing on stage. I will never forget this moment and the night that follows this event. It changed me forever.”
9 | Seething Akira | Kenneth Dopeland
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Seething Akira have released their video & new single Kenneth Dopeland. It’s more twisted electro-metal mayhem from these Pompey crossover maniacs, smashing forward in unique Seething Akira style and leading in to their new album release later this year. Innovators and outstanding performers, Seething Akira are an award-winning U.K. band known for infusing rock, electronic dance music and drum and base with shredding metal guitars and commanding vocals.”
10 | For Those I Love | Birthday / The Pain
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following a 2020 that introduced Dublin producer and songwriter David Balfe to the world, For Those I Love returns today with details of a much-anticipated debut album set to land March 26. FTIL also shares a third single today, the electric Birthday / The Pain. An engaging juxtaposition of surefire melodic hooks laced with pitch-black and ever-personal lyrical content, David has the following to say about its themes: “I was six when I first encountered the fallout of a violent death. It’s such a haunting burden at that age, and still is. Birthday / The Pain recalls that moment, the desperation of trying to make sense of it as a child, and what it’d mean for me growing up against that backdrop.”
11 | Vokonis | Blackened Wings
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vokonis will release their fourth studio album Odyssey in spring 2021. More dynamically diverse than ever, the six new tracks feature guest musician Per Wiberg (Opeth, Spiritual Beggars, Kamchatka) on keyboards. Odyssey is Vokonis’ first true prog record. A record for the new decade. After the success of their third album Grasping Time (2019), Vokonis immediately went into recording more material. With the goal set to further expand the prog landscape, Vokonis crafted recordings that are more dynamically diverse and forward-thinking than ever before. The result is Odyssey, featuring everything from full-blown doom to melodically blissful passages.”
12 | Dolenz | Blak Helicopter (ft. Dabbla)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “You lot seem to love this one from Dolenz’ new EP Electric Fence. Now with skitz visuals courtesy of Daisy Chain Video, Dabbla gets even more mashed-up into the Non Phixion classic. Dolenz’ production prowess is fully out to play, and if you’ve heard the EP, there’s little more to say. Run it up.”
13 | Lipstick Jodi | do/SAY
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lipstick Jodi, led by songwriter Karli Morehouse, premiered the video for their new single do/SAY, and announced their sophomore album More Like Me will arrive May 7. The Grand Rapids trio’s burn-it-all-to-the-ground video encapsulates the song’s post-breakup and fresh start. Morehouse notes, “I was in a toxic relationship that I felt like I couldn’t get out of. All of the blame was all being put on me, but I knew that it takes two. I was being gaslit into thinking that I was the only bad person in the relationship. The tone of do/SAY really shows how angry I was and how I knew that I wasn’t insane the entire time.”
14 | Glitterer | Life Is Not A Lesson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Glitterer (aka Ned Russin) is sharing the title track from his upcoming album Life Is Not A Lesson, along with a video directed by Chris Tharp. “The song Life Is Not A Lesson came about halfway through the writing process,” Russin explained. “I borrowed the line from a recently-written-yet-unused lyric. It seemed like the sentiment in the song answered a lot of the questions that earlier songs had brought up, and the further along the album went it just felt right to title the album after this lyric and its solution. It summed up succinctly what I was trying to say all along: life is not a lesson to be learned.”
15 | Sufjan Stevens | Tell Me You Love Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sufjan Stevens unveils the Luca Guadagnino-directed video for Tell Me You Love Me from The Ascension. Sufjan previously collaborated with the celebrated director for his 2018 film Call Me By Your Name. Guadagino says: “The aching feeling of loving and wanting to be loved, the mystery of bodies that clash, the uncanny aspects of nature, the sublime music poetry and voice of Sufjan — all this went into this video that I am proud to have made with the collaboration of two more great artists, Alessio Bolzoni and Celia Hempton.” The Ascension, Sufjan’s eighth studio album, was released in September.”
