CF Watkins on “Frances”, Inspiration, and Collaboration
Even if you didn’t know that “Frances” was based on a true story, you’d be able to tell just from the lyrics. Written with care by the North Carolina-raised CF Watkins and released ahead of her upcoming album, Babygirl, “Frances” is clearly about someone–a specific someone and not an amalgamation of various someones–and the songwriter is […]
Lore City on “Into Your Blue”, Spirituality, and Collaborative Marital Bliss
Lore City, a Portland-based dream pop duo, consists of a married couple: Laura Mariposa Williams provides vocals, Eric Angelo Bessel provides production, and both provide keyboards and guitar. (Dividing chores and responsibilities is, of course, an important part of any relationship, but most people don’t make great 4AD-esque songs out of those arrangements.) Six years […]
Jagd on “All work/all play”, Their Plans, and The Virus
Jagd, the Amsterdam-based band behind “All work/all play”, are usually a little less forthright. Their music has been described as a “hell of heavenly noise”, and their stylistic influences sit at the intersection of the surreal and the macabre. On the surface, “All work/all play” (the lowercase letters are intentional: it comes from their upcoming […]
Chatting with Hua Li About “Four More Days”, Quarantine, and Montreal
There’s something ironic about being lonely in a city. A city, after all, is defined by the fact that there’s a lot of people, and they usually serve as a cultural hub for the surrounding area. And yet so many people who live in cities find themselves feeling lonely or alienated, confined to offices, subways, […]
Chatting with Sleepy Gonzales about “Sally on the Avenue”, Dream Pop, and Anthony Fantano
Dream pop bands aren’t known for their sense of humor. After all, dream pop prioritizes music over lyrics; from Mazzy Star to Cocteau Twins, dream pop lyrics range from cryptic to incomprehensible. The genre also values sincerity and romanticism, which doesn’t leave much room for irony. But Sleepy Gonzales, the Canadian band behind “Sally on […]
Yasmin de Laine on “Hope Forest”, True Crime, and Australian Gothic
To Americans, the stereotypical view of Australia is rife with the sort of imagery you might find in an Outback Steakhouse commercial: kangaroos, Vegemite, friendly men with big hats and Crocodile Dundee accents. But Australia is a country with a rich culture of its own, and that culture often has shades of the Gothic and […]
FAYYE on “She”, Her Favorite Movies, and the Power of the Piano
On her website, English singer-songwriter FAYYE describes herself as someone with a lifelong passion for the piano. She started exploring melodies on the keyboard from a very young age, and she found herself enamored by the possibilities those 88 keys provided. “There was something about the resonant fullness of the piano sound that I loved […]
Chatting with Maya Lavelle about “HOBO”
The video for Maya Lavelle’s fascinating new song “HOBO” comes with an eye-catching parenthetical: “picnic with a real bear”. That’s not something you see every day, especially not in an indie pop music video, so I watched and listened to see if it delivered the goods. I’m pleased to report that there is still some […]
Jamie Lawson – The Story of Moving Images
I first heard Jamie Lawson five years ago when “Wasn’t Expecting That” blew up on mainstream radio. It’s a brilliant track. It’s got hundreds of million of plays, but if somehow you missed it, you should know that it’s The Notebook in song form, and I mean that in the best way; driven by simple strums […]
Chatting with Rikky Gage of The Memories about “In My Heart, I Am Sailing”
“In My Heart I Am Sailing” by the Memories is a bubbling cauldron, a breaking surface, a sharp breath full of water. Flooded lungs, heavenly gasping, reaching for a handful of sky. It’s a deeply peaceful song – a song about giving in to the currents of life, about sharpening your vision and looking both […]
