Further Listening:

5. The Dog Days Are Just Beginning For Sasha Adrian

Based out of the Danish capital of Copenhagen, Sasha Adrian is both a writer and scholar of music, studying at the Danish National Academy of Music. Freshly signed to Celebration Records, Sasha will release her debut EP, Token this October, and this week shared the first single from it, Dog.

An example of Sasha’s ability to give a voice to the most difficult of truths, Dog was originally written for a friend experiencing domestic violence, a tale of denial expressed with love and a promise to be there for someone in whatever capacity they need you to be. The track’s lyrical heaviness is explored via suitably rich backing, as loose cascading guitars sit atop the clatter and subtle swells of the rhythm section. Amid it all, sits Sasha’s vocal, gritty and sympathetic as she offers an ear to a friend in need, “the dog scratched your shoulder, you walked into a door, you bit your lip by accident, like a million times before”. It’s a stark and bruising introduction to Sasha Adrian, yet one that lingers in the memory, a voice of support for those at risk, and a reminder to the rest of us to always keep our eyes open for friends in need.

Token is out in October via Celebration Records. For more information on Sasha Adrian visit https://linktr.ee/sashadrian.

4. Allegra Krieger Lingers Long In The Memory

It was only a couple of weeks back that Allegra Krieger last appeared on this list, that was around the announcement of both her signing to Double Double Whammy and her upcoming fourth album, I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plain. The album was initially recorded in California, with Allegra laying down guitar and vocals, while still imagining where other instruments would play a role, “as characters which would walk in and out of the soundscape”. This week Allegra shared the album’s second single, Lingering.

A song of new love, Lingering is an exploration of city life, full of run-down apartments, overspilling bins and the excitement of endless possibilities. While a love song is nothing new, few people have approached it with such reluctance, as Allegra initially sings, “don’t want to get used to, how it feels to hold you, want to lose the desire to hold anything at all”. Despite her protestations though, Allegra still finds herself inviting her new partner back, “I better get home I’ve got work to do, but I don’t have to do it if you wanna come too”. The track is imbued with a subtle simplicity, nodding to Mazzy Star as the guitar flows and chugs, atop barely there piano runs and the constant almost industrial tick of the pattering snare drum. While Allegra dresses the songs in imperfections, at its core it is a song of sweet moments, rounding a corner to see a face that makes you forget the words you wanted to say or slipping, “into that Fragile Plane, where I exist without a body or name and you meet me there for a moment”. Perhaps Lingering is a song that is here to remind us to keep our minds open to possibility; life and love have a way of coming into sharp focus, even when and where we least expect it to strike.

I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plain is out July 21st via Double Double Whammy. For more information on Allegra Krieger visit https://www.allegrakrieger.com/.

3. Samuel Nicholson Is Suited And Booted

A neuro-divergent songwriter, musician and composer currently based out of Edinburgh, Samuel Nicholson last appeared on these pages back in March with West Coast Feeling, the first taste of his new album Birthday Suit, and a track that has grown to be one of my favourite singles of the year so far. With Birthday Suit released last Friday, this week Samuel shared the record’s fabulous title track.

Discussing the track, Samuel recalls how the titular phrase, “broke open the whole meaning of the album for me“. Samuel notes how he, “started playing around with the phrase because I would always think of it literally like an actual suit…the more I played it out the more it became obvious that the song had a much deeper significance than I’d realised—the perfect autistic thread to pull at and unravel it all”. Samuel is quick to point out the influence of Elliott Smith on his songwriting and here it exists in the mixture of lyrical struggle and major key musical joy, “there’s a sad happy melancholy to this track that I have him to thank for“. The track bounds along at a fair lick courtesy in particular of the excellently uneasy bass line that seems almost in double time to the other instruments, adding a lurching propulsion to the more languid guitar work. Lyrically the track takes a deep dive into the thread of Samuel’s mind, tumbling between memories and thoughts, as he grapples with connecting to others when you feel like you’re existing on a different plane, “stubborn and thoughtless, oh I think I’m an artist, and all I’ll do is put it on you”. Samuel has spoken of his new record as, “a dysfunctional self-portrait of my life”, presented to a deep love as an honest assessment of his own ability to be there for someone romantically, it is a record of naked honesty, presenting yourself in your metaphorical Birthday Suit and letting someone find you, and love you, just as you are.

Birthday Suit is out now. For more information on Samuel Nicholson visit https://www.samuelnicholsonmusic.com/.

2. Divorce Take To The Skies

After releasing one of my favourite EPs of 2022, Nottingham’s Divorce have set about building upon that success by agreeing to spend the Summer playing pretty much every festival going, as well as lining up a headline tour of their own for November. Celebrating that news, as well as their signing to GRAVITY/EMI Records, this week the band released their first new material of 2023, Birds.

Recalling the song’s creation, co-vocalist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow recalls how it came from a place of insecurity, “that felt like it was piling in on me from all angles but this song was an attempt to reshape those feelings into something positive”. Although early in their career, Divorce are already carving out a sound entirely of their own, fusing alt-country influences to their take on clattering indie-rock. The track ebbs and flows from moments of muted minimalism to squealing crescendos as Felix and fellow vocalist Tiger Cohen-Towell come together in perfect unity, before their contrasting deliveries naturally part. Lyrically, the track feels initially cryptic, yet with repeat listens opens up, the seemingly disparate threads coming together into a picture of tension and hope, “I want to be beautiful, I want to be good to myself, I want to be good to you, but you’re so damn hard to follow, I believe, I believe, I believe in you”. Divorce’s rise seems set to continue unchecked, and crucially is being achieved without needing to blunt any of their angles, or dim any of their uniqueness, a band heading to the top entirely on their own terms, and it doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

Birds is out now via GRAVITY/EMI Records. For more information on Divorce visit https://linktr.ee/divorcehq.

1. Katie Von Schleicher Brews Up A Success

The world last heard from Katie Von Schleicher on her critically acclaimed 2020 album, Consummation. The subsequent years have seen Katie take creative writing classes, write poetry and go behind the mixing desk as an acclaimed engineer and producer for the likes of Frankie Cosmos and Dougie Poole. Returning to her own songwriting, this week Katie shared the first of the tracks she has been stockpiling since 2020, Elixir.

A duet with Lady Lamb’s Aly Spaltro, Elixir is Katie’s attempt to showcase some of the humour she felt has previously been missing from her music, rhetorically asking, “how can I reach out to the poems that I’ve loved, embrace plain speech more, and how, for just one goddamned time, can I bring my sense of humor into my music?” Musically, Elixir is Katie at her most playful, showcasing a lurching slacker-rock style reminiscent of the likes of Kane Strang or Savage Mansion. Atop it all, Katie’s vocals take on an almost sing-speak tone, adding a nod to The Velvet Underground as she looks to step away from seriousness and live a little, “tonight I’m a dancer, I wanna feel alright, there are a million worries, I know it’s worth it for a while”. While she’s been making waves bringing the best out of others, this is a timely reminder of what a potent talent Katie Von Schleicher is in her own right, her songs are far too good to become an afterthought.

Elixir is out now via Sipsman. For more information on Katie Von Schleicher visit https://www.k-v-s.net/.

Header photo is Katie Von Schleicher by Felix Walworth