Hunter Metts is Iconic on “Monochrome”
(Photo: Travis Shinn) Listening to Hunter Metts’ debut EP Monochrome made me wonder: what does Zach Bryan have that this guy doesn’t have? Nashville-based Metts writes great songs and has a hypnotic, Bon Iver-type voice. When people hear this new collection of songs, he could easily become our next breakthrough indie-folk sensation. Metts’ songs remind […]
Julia Pratt Deals with Her Past on Family Feud EP
A car crash inevitably produces a gapers’ block (the traffic caused not by an accident, but by the people who slow down to “gape” at the accident on the other side of the highway) and the fascination of the gaper is kin to the proverbial “there but for the grace of inscrutable cosmological forces and/or […]
Tugaloo has mastered the art of chaos
Some people just don’t get the album. Playlist people want constant variety. Yes, they might binge five seasons of a show in a weekend, but no way could they commit to 45 minutes of music from one artist or group. There are playlist people, and there are album people. I am the latter, and I […]
Imogen Clark is Iconic on “Big One”
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and proclaim that Imogen Clark is destined to be an international star with the release of her new album The Art Of Getting Through in May. Everything about this Australian artist screams “charisma.” Her songwriting, singing, production wizardry and everything else. Imogen’s latest single “Big One” is […]
Katy Kirby’s “Blue Raspberry” is Cubic Zirconia in the Rough
Katy Kirby’s new album is a languorous, poetic ode to artificiality and imperfection. Chronicling the end of a relationship and the bright, sparkling discovery of a new one, Kirby warbles, trills, and serenades over somber piano, understated guitar, and the occasional soaring strings. The album drawls in slow and almost hymnal with the syllabic, chantlike […]
Noele Flowers’ Triptych Singles Are a Sight to Behold
Noele Flowers has time and time again proven her unique ability to write stirring and frustratingly relatable heartbreak songs, not about a lover but instead: friendship. And in her most recent trio of singles—”Spider’s Silk,” “Red Sweater,” and “Let You Down”—she walks us through a friendship of 10 years—how it slowly degrades, and is lost. […]
JUNGWOO’s “Cumulus” is Blissfully Liminal
I heard JUNGWOO for the first time in 2019 when she popped up in my new releases with a Kim Sawol feature, one of my favorite singer-songwriters of all time. I made the grave mistake of not further exploring her music or clicking onto the album from which the song joined my playlists. Unfortunately, this […]
Joel Ansett delivers a quiz show for the soul
First impressions mean a lot. No one likes a floppy handshake. Opening lines of a novel matter too. How many books have you not read because the story sets off blandly? Albums are no different, and the opening song not only creates a statement for what’s to come but needs to grab the attention of […]
The Japanese House’s “In the End It Always Does” & Cycles
When I was in middle school, I wrote a science paper from the perspective of a water droplet to prove I understood the water cycle: evaporate, rise, cool & condense… I got rave reviews back about the emotional turmoil of my water droplet as she was ripped from her family’s river current to the sky […]
Noele Flower’s Debut EP “Wait For Me” is a Stunning Retrospective
image: Luca Pearl Khosrova Noele Flowers’s debut EP, “Wait For Me” is a journey, a diary, a biopic – a testament to letting go of regrets and holding onto hope, and ultimately? A damn good listen. Ranging from optimistic, bright surf pop, to heavy-hit ballads and soft forest-folk, Flowers has taken inspiration from the path […]
