Further Listening:

5. Fightmilk’s New Single Is Out Of This World

Fightmilk’s well received debut album, Not With That Attitude, was one of our favourite releases of 2018. Since then they’ve recruited Healey, ex-Wolf Girl, on bass, toured a lot and even found time for some rather excellent side projects. Behind the scenes though, the London based indie-poppers have been working away on their brand new album, and have made a surprise return this week with the lengthily titled and rather excellent, I’m Starting To Think You Don’t Even Want To Go To Space.

Ostensibly a song about, “emotional labour and rockets”, I’m Starting To Think You Don’t Even Want To Go To Space, is a reflection on the all too common act of wanting to change, while actually always finding a reason not to quite do anything about it. The song aims its malcontent in the direction of someone who promises so much and delivers so little, “reading Carl Sagan, looking kinda vacant, you say you’re buying time but you’re always late, I‘m starting to think you don’t even want to go to space“. Musically, this feels at once a continuation and a bold next step, the driving power-pop of their debut, re-imagined into something leaner, rougher and more melodically marvellous than ever before. Drink it all up, the return of Fightmilk is one to be savoured.

I’m Starting To Think You Don’t Even Want To Go To Space is out March 20th via Reckless Yes. Click HERE for more information on Fightmilk.

4. Don’t Quit Diet Cig They’re Thriving

Back in 2017, Diet Cig were busy winning hearts and minds with their break-out offering, Swear I’m Good At This. After the release, the duo of Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman, moved to Richmond, Virginia, and made their new home a place to, “hide out and make music”, although if their previous tour dates are anything to go by they might not actually have spent much time at home! The result of that move is the bands, “ode to growing up”, their upcoming album, Do You Wonder About Me?

This week the band have not only confirmed the album will arrive in May, they’ve also shared the latest single from it, Thriving. Described by the band as, “a cathartic, campy release of feelings”, Thriving is Diet Cig at their most anguished and accessible. Combining the fierce gunshot rhythm of the snare drum with bright, shimmering vocal tones and slashes of guitar, as Alex attempts to move on, while always checking that their former squeeze notices them doing so. When growing up sounds this good, why does anyone want to stay young?

Do You Wonder About Me? is out May 1st via Frenchkiss Records. Click HERE for more information on Diet Cig.

3. Many Voice Speak Are Real Keepers

Formed in Sweden at the end of 2016, Many Voices Speak is the deliciously dreamy musical project of Matilda Mård. This week Matilda has returned with a brand new track, Want It Kept, the first material since her 2018 debut album, Tank Town, which had pundits queuing up to tell the world about its cinematic beauty.

As best we can tell, a standalone single, Want It Kept feels like a natural picking up point for Many Voices Speak’s music, as beautiful as ever, while showing a slight tendency to head toward darker tones than they’ve visited before. Discussing the track Matilda has suggested it is, “about regretting sacrifices made for love”, written as a reminder to stay true to herself, and not always shift for the needs of others. While it would be easy to get hung up on the slow-moving beauty of the track, there’s a steeliness lurking below, the sound of someone owning their own place in the world and refusing to buckle in the face of what it throws at them. A bright sign of what’s to come, or an impressive stop gap, either way Many Voices Speak have never sounded better.

Want It Kept is out now via Strangers Candy. Click HERE for more information on Many Voices Speak.

2. Jess Williamson’s New Track Will Blow You Away 

We first fell for the music of Jess Williamson back in 2016, when she released one of that year’s finest records, Heart Song. Further acclaim came Jess’ way with the release of 2018’s Cosmic Wink, her first album on the Mexican Summer imprint. This week Jess has detailed the release of her latest album Sorceress, out in May, as well as sharing the lead single from it, Wind On Tin.

Wind On Tin is a song of grief and faith, recalling attending a memorial service and hearing an unexplained sound in the wind, as Jess recalls, “the sound was indescribably beautiful and heavenly”. The work of god or the wind blowing over tin roofs, Jess offers no explanation, just embraces a moment where, “the veil between worlds felt very thin”. Musically, the track continues to explore the middle ground of American-folk and alternative-pop, bringing in a distinctly West Coast-feel that fans of Kevin Morby or My Woman-era Angel Olsen are bound to fall for. Sorceress or not, Jess Williamson might just be about to cast her most impressive spell to date.

Sorceress is out May 15th via Mexican Summer. Click HERE for more information on Jess Williamson.

1. Fly Away On The Legend Of Zelma

Zelma Stone is the hot-off-the-presses San Francisco-based project of songwriter, Chloe Zelma Studebaker. Chloe first started making music aged just fourteen, and has spent the subsequent decade crafting her feelings with the healing power of songwriting. The upcoming Zelma Stone EP, Dreamland, is a musing on grief, after the loss of some of the most important people in her life, an attempt to make sense of the world, even when it feels at its most cruelly senseless.

This week, Chloe has shared the first single from Dreamland, in the shape of Fly. The track is dedicated to her grandfather, an attempt to capture the timeless quality of his favourite artists from Elvis Presley to Patsy Cline. While Fly certainly has some of the grandeur of those musical greats, Chloe’s take is still distinctly her own. The whole thing is delivered with a delightfully hazy feel, as waves of slide guitar and hushed vocals wash over you as a listener and transport you up into the sky. It is a track that seems to find something positive in loss, of accepting your lot and knowing when it’s your time to, “get ready to fly”. On Dreamland, Chloe has suggested re-working our ideas of death, “grief is something you shouldn’t walk away from because it will always follow you. You won’t heal unless you face it.” Chloe knows more than most that the only response is to live your life to the fullest, embrace art, music and all the good stuff, after all what else is a life for if not living?

Dreamland is out April 17th. Click HERE for more information on Zelma Stone.

Header photo is Zelma Stone by Allan Wan.