Further Listening:

5. Kate Davis Breaks Through The Clouds

It was only a few weeks back we were raving about rbbts, the first single from Kate Davis’ upcoming album, Trophy. With that album due in November, this week Kate has shared the second single from it, Cloud, and it is every bit as exciting.

Described as, “a love song written about the fleeting relationships and desires of our teen dreams”, Cloud is a dreamy tumble of a song, all steady rhythms, cyclical guitar patterns and Kate’s easy vocal delivery. Lyrically it finds Kate revisiting her teenage years, quietly longing to go back to those carefree days when love, or at least lust, seemed to fill your every waking hour. On the evidence presented so far, Trophy might just be one of the year’s most exciting releases, and Kate Davis one of its breakout stars.

Trophy is out November 8th via Solitaire Recordings. Click HERE for more information on Kate Davis.

4. Parsnip Is Not The Only Fruit

They might be named after our least favourite root vegetable, yet thankfully Melbourne’s Parsnip are far more palatable than their namesake. Following a number of well received singles, the quartet are set to go long form at the end of August with the release of their debut album, When The Tree Bears Fruit, and have this week shared the first track from it, Lift Off!

Based on the evidence of Lift Off, Parnisp’s sound is an amalgam of playful, propulsive and, in a very good way, just a little bit weird. The track skitters on primal drum beats, Casio-keyboards and almost playground-like sing-song vocals. Discussing the inspiration behind the track, Paris from the band recalls how, “the opening line stems from nonsense I wrote during a low point in my life. I wanted more than anything to be far away from the position I was in, longing to travel, to rise above the sorrow I was experiencing and reach a happier destination”. Thankfully by forming a band with the potential for touring the world, Parsnip might just provide the freedom they were searching for all along.

When The Tree Bears Fruit is out August 30th via Trouble In Mind. Click HERE for more information on Parsnip.

3. Cultdreams Are Talking ‘Bout Their Generation

Existing at the meeting point of lo-fi punk and shoegaze, Leeds-based duo Cultdreams have been firm favourites around these parts since their debut album came out back in 2017 under the previous band name, Kamikaze Girls. The band are set to return next month with their second album, Things That Hurt, and this week the band have shared the latest track from it, Not My Generation.

Not My Generation is quite possibly the band’s most musically ambitious track to date, with dense layering of guitars and heavy hitting drum beats creating an atmospheric back-drop for vocalist Lucinda Livingstone’s acerbic assault on the current socio-political climate. Across the songs three and half a minute run-time, misogyny, politicians and the alt-right all fall under Lucinda’s scorn, and equally at times, the glare seems to fall on herself, as she sings, “I wish I could keep it together and not burden you, telling myself I’m going to change but I never really do”. The coming together of lyrical and musical brutality makes for a challenging and stirring listen, a clattering crescendo of emotions and noise, that couldn’t really be anybody else.

Things That Hurt is out August 16th via Big Scary Monsters Records. Click HERE for more information on Cultdreams.

2. Dry Cleaning’s Royally Good New Single

Without even putting any music online, London’s Dry Cleaning have already started to turn some musical heads, courtesy of some surprisingly well attended headline shows and a tour with Bodega. This week the secret is well and truly out, as the band shared their debut single, Magic Of Meghan, the first taste of their upcoming Sweet Princess EP.

Dry Cleaning set out to implement a simple musical ethos; direct, uncomplicated sounds that cut straight to the point. Recalling the likes of Drahla or Sauna Youth, the band combine wiry post-punk guitars and repetitive driving rhythms, all topped by vocalist Florence Shaw’s enigmatic sing-speak vocal. Magic Of Meghan, is perhaps an unusual lyrical starting point for a band, as it serves as a tribute to The Duchess Of Sussex; “she’s a smasher, perfectly suited to the role”. Beneath the glossy royalist sheen though, lies a different message, a dissection of the way the media over analyse every decision she makes as some great statement, while quietly using her to conceal their misogynistic and racist tendencies.; “you’re just what England needs, you’re going to change us”. A weird and wonderful way to introduce themselves to the world, Dry Cleaning have just put out one of the year’s most exciting musical statements.

Sweet Princess is out August 16th via It’s OK. Click HERE for more information on Dry Cleaning.

1. Villagers Share The Sound Of The Summer

If you take just one thing away from the new Villagers single, Summer’s Song, let it be known that it contains an impressive six flugelhorns! Summer’s Song is the first new material from Conor O’Brien since last year’s release of Villagers’ fourth album, The Art Of Pretending To Swim, and is released to coincide with an impressively looking summer of touring and festivals.

Discussing the track, Conor has suggested it’s, “the closest I’ll ever get to writing a pure pop song”, yet, as is always the case with the music of Villagers, the track is also laced with a certain sense of melancholy. Even as Conor sings of sunbeams, summer’s song in his heart and following a loved one to the ends of the earth, there’s a sense of transience, the wistful shimmer of uncertainty glinting off the landscape of musical positivity. The evolution of Villagers from alt-folk troubadour to pop provocateur continues abound, whatever style Conor turns his hand to seems to come out glistening with creativity and intrigue. Even here as he attempts to write a no-nonsense pop song, what he describes as, “an excuse to make the horns sound like sunbeams”, comes out sounding like one of the most exciting, beautiful and its own way odd songs of the year to date.

The Art Of Pretending To Swim is out now via Domino. Click HERE for more information on Villagers.

Header photo is Villagers by Rich Gilligan – http://www.richgilligan.com