Further Listening:

5. Listen To Lazy Day At The Double

Lazy Day, a vehicle for the songwriting of Londoner Tilly Scantlebury, returned this week with a brand new single, Double J. The track is the first to be lifted from the band’s upcoming EP, Letters, a collection of tracks described by Tilly as being, “constructed from the debris of life: big feelings, big consequences”.

Tilly may have never wanted to be a singer, drums were her first instrument, yet it’s her voice that instantly strikes you listening to Double J; a rasping, emotive instrument in the mold of Margaret Glaspy or Lucy Dacus. Double J is a celebratory track, a track Tilly has suggested is about her best friend and, “her strength and all that it does for me”, Tilly wrote the song to be, “a fierce celebration of friendship”, and it ticks all the boxes, like the best friendships it’s at once rambunctious, reassuring and really quite thrilling.

Letters is out March 22nd via Weird Cool Records. Click HERE for more information on Lazy Day.

4. Look Into Born Again Virgin’s Eyes

Hailing from the musical city of the moment, Austin, Texas, Born Again Virgin is the musical project of Anna Roenigk. Back in 2017, the debut Born Again Virgin EP was released, a record that was equal parts noisy and melodic. Anna has suggested the plan for 2019 is to release a slew of stand-alone singles, a plan which started this week when Anna shared a new track, Nothing In Your Eyes.

Nothing In Your Eyes is a track that definitely falls into the noisy, grungier section of the Born Again Virgin catalogue, like Torres or Magana there’s a certain crashing emotional howl to proceedings. Atop distorted, early 90’s guitar chords and primally pattering drums, Anna wails a tale of moving on from someone who never cared for you anyway. “I don’t want to be the sweet one that you wish you could want, I don’t care anymore that I’m nothing in your eyes”, Anna sings, hurting undeniably but stoically throwing off the past, and dismissively moving on with her life in the best, and best sounding, way possible.

Nothing In Your Eyes is out now. Click HERE for more information on Born Again Virgin

3. Field Medic Leave Their Mark

Field Medic is the musical moniker of Los Angeles based songwriter Kevin Patrick; this week Kevin has detailed the release of his upcoming album, Fade Into The Dawn. The record serves as Kevin’s first proper release for current musical home, Run For Cover Records, and the announcement also coincided with sharing the first single from it, Henna Tattoo.

Henna Tattoo is laced with doubts and decisions as Kevin explains, “it’s a song about being afraid to speak up for fear of what the truth might be…you remain in a state of unease & anxiety, because at least perpetual uncertainty isn’t as bad as the imagined worst case scenario”. Musically, the track seems to mark a boldly lo-fi direction for Field Medic’s sound; recorded straight to a four-track, it leaves Kevin’s voice with just guitars, drum-machines and the atmospheric hiss of the tape for company. The recording style, and plaintive lyricism seem to give the track a certain yearning for a simpler time; the feeling of escaping from the rush of the modern world, and getting back to a time where human emotions and spacious production were king. Henna Tattoo is a track to get lost in, even if, like the titular branding, it might only be a temporary measure.

Fade Into The Dawn is out April 19th via Run For Cover Records. Click HERE for more information on Field Medic.

2. Make Room For Laura Stevenson

There’s been so many wonderful singer-songwriters emerging from New York lately it can be a little tricky to keep up, with that in mind one that you definitely don’t want to miss is Laura Stevenson. With four albums already in her back catalogue, there’s plenty to get your teeth into already, yet this week Laura’s shared Living Room, NY, the first track from her upcoming fifth record, The Big Freeze, and it seems to be shaping up to be her finest album to date.

Listening to Living Room, NY, this feels like a pivotal moment for Laura’s music, while previously Laura’s songs have hidden behind noise and energy, here it’s Laura’s voice and guitar to the fore. The track is like a journey through the best of Americana’s diverse history; there’s a touch of Jason Molina in the atmospheric minimalism, a bit of Imogen Heap in the perfectly layered vocals, quite a lot of Ryan Adams, in the almost unadorned closing break-down. For all the musical touch points though, more than anything this is the sound of Laura Stevenson being herself, a songwriter of the very highest quality.

The Big Freeze is out March 29th via Don Giovanni Records. Click HERE for more information on Laura Stevenson.

1. Honeyblood Graduate With A Third Degree

After two years on the road touring their second album, Babes Never Die, Honeyblood, at that point a duo, decided to take some much needed time off. Former drummer Cat Myers took a gig playing with Mogwai, and Stina Tweedale, always the driving force behind the project, was left alone in a practice room, and Stina liked it, “once I got used to the cabin-fever, I couldn’t turn back”. The result of that cabin-fever is the third Honeyblood album, and Stina’s first solo offering, In Plaint Sight.

This week, alongside announcing In Plain Sight’s May release on new home Marathon Artists, Honeyblood have shared their new single, The Third Degree. Like much of the record, The Third Degree, deals with the ideas of illusions, and the search for truth in a world where you increasingly can’t believing everything you see. Musically, the track is something of a departure from the full-throttle rock of Babes Never Die, nodding to the oeuvre of fellow Scots The Jesus & Mary Chain, it pairs swooning girl-group vocals with walls of bassy-fuzz and the delightfully loose clatters of drums. In many ways this feels like Stina Tweedale reclaiming Honeyblood as her own, boldly embracing her own ideas and refusing to compromise them in any way, the result might just be the most focused, exciting and truly- Honeyblood sounding record she’s ever made.

In Plain Sight is out May 24th via Marathon Artists. Click HERE for more information on Honeyblood.

Photo is Honeyblood by Marieke Macklon http://www.mariekemacklon.com