Further Listening:

5. Edwin R Stevens Writes The Anthem For An Only Child

Although newly releasing under his own name, Edwin R Stevens has appeared previously under his Irma Vep moniker. A former member of Klaus Kinski, Edwin’s records as Irma Vep involved a lot of noise, angles and “gnarly edges”, none of which quite fitted where Edwin’s music was headed next, a new album, God On All Fours, that he describes as his, “straightest” record yet. He promises a storyteller’s record, a world builder’s record, an honest and very human record, and all the weird dark wonder that encompasses. All this exciting promise is showcased in his new single, Only Child, shared this week ahead of the album’s November release on Anktsmusik.

Described as, “a meditation on family and the frailty of its structures”, Only Child is both undeniably sad and in the same way Bill Callahan or Richard Dawson can be, really quite funny. Edwin is cast as a step-dad figure, with a deeply inappropriate child, “I step out the shower, and he grabs my hand, says, “you’re not my real dad, but you’re the best sex my mother has ever had, and I wish you all the best, good luck with whoever comes next”. There’s a similar strain of sweetness and filth throughout, a world of wavering commitments, mindless one-night stands and the slightly weird, only child who rolls with whatever characters drift in and out of his life along the way. It puts me in mind of the distinct British oddness of Submarine or The End of the Fucking World as it does any musical reference point, Edwin’s stripped-back minimalism allowing the vividness of the images he creates to shine through and bore their way inside your mind. A very special return from one of music’s most underappreciated visionaries, Edwin R Stevens’ straightest record yet, might just end up being his most interesting.

God On All Fours is out November 10th via Ankstmusik. For more information on Edwin R Stevens visit https://edwinrstevens.com/.

4. Friends, Romans, Countrymen Lend Lewsberg Your Ears

One a number of really exciting guitar bands to emerge from the Netherlands in recent years, Lewsberg are a Rotterdam four-piece who formed back in 2016 and have been going from strength to strength ever since. This September the band will release their fourth album Out And About, the first to feature drummer and vocalist Marrit Meinema, who joined the band in the Autumn of 2021. Recorded in Amsterdam this Spring, Ari Van Vliet from the band notes that Out And About was inspired, “by how I saw the personalities in the band when we became a quartet again”, brought to life in their most collaborativly spirited record to date. Ahead of the release, this week Lewsberg shared the latest offering from the record, in the shape of new single, An Ear To The Chest.

While not keen on speaking about the meaning behind his lyrics, Ari makes an exception for An Ear To The Chest, or more precisely for its final four words, “it is a reaction on the adage “Show, don’t tell”. A classic writing technique, used by authors to make a story more interesting. To let people experience a story, rather than just read (or hear) it. But what is so good about having your ‘experience’ spelled out by someone else? Let me just tell you a story the way I prefer it: descriptive, a little detached. “Don’t show, tell ’em”. Musically, An Ear To The Chest is typical of Lewsberg’s take on strutting proto-punk, the influence of Television and The Velvet Underground writ large, alongside more subtle nods to Jonathan Richman and Yo La Tengo. There’s a wonderful repetitiveness to the guitars throughout, they just hit a spot and drive on from there, a chugging subtlety that Lewsberg always do so well taken to new levels of glorious minimalism as they support Ari’s rhythmic, near-spoken word vocals. Hitting that sweet spot of progression and familiarity, Lewsberg’s return is a subtly triumphant moment for the band, without diluting their initial charm they’ve found a way to sound better than ever.

Out And About is out September 15th. For more information on Lewsberg visit https://lewsberg.net/.

3. Squirrel Flower Is A Light In The Darkest Of Alleys

As regular readers will probably be well aware Squirrel Flower is the moniker of Chicago-based songwriter Ella Williams, the songwriter behind some of my favourite albums of recent years. After the success of the apocalyptically brilliant Planet (i), for her next move, Ella decided to do things a little differently. Decamping to the new musical mecca of Asheville, North Carolina, Ella installed herself as the producer, working with engineer Alex Farrar and a crack studio band, who between them have previously played with the likes of Angel Olsen, Bon Iver and Wednesday, to name a but a few. The result is the upcoming Squirrel Flower album, Tomorrow’s Fire, which she further previewed this week with a new single, Alley Light.

The track casts Ella as something of a down-on-his-luck guy, with a knackered car and a girl who just wants to get away, even if Ella isn’t quite sure how she relates to him, “this song is about the man in me, or a man who I love, or a man who is a stranger to me“. Ella has spoken of the influence of Bruce Springsteen on Tomorrow’s Fire, and there’s certainly a sprinkling of that here, a blue-collar anthem for 21st-century living, with gutsy guitars and pounding drums, playing off against the rich tones of the layered vocals. The lyrics are an intriguing portrait, while as an observer it’s obvious things aren’t playing out for our unreliable narrator, there’s a sadness to just how confident he sounds, whether it’s the unwavering belief in his partner’s love or, his faith in fate, “I’m taping scratch tickets up, flying in the evening wind, she says I’m wasting my time, but she knows one day I’ll win”. With its title lifted from a poem by her great-grandfather, Tomorrow’s Fire is shaping up to burn bright and warm, a balm for the ages, a torch to fear and doubts, a light to lead the way on whatever fascinating path Squirrel Flower wants to take us.

Tomorrow’s Fire is out October 13th via Full Time Hobby / Polyvinyl. For more information on Squirrel Flower visit https://www.squirrelflower.net/.

2. Steven Adams Is A Local Arist For Local People

A South Wales native based out of East London, Steven Adams made his name as the frontman of the Broken Family Band, before at the height of their critical acclaim they decided to call it a day. Since then he’s released music under various guises and monikers, while always keeping trademark wit and way with a slick pop melody to the fore. For his latest project, he’s back to just Steven Adams, as he teams up with Fika Recordings for the November release of his latest album, DROPS, which he previewed this week via a new single, Living In The Local Void.

Written in the Welsh countryside with former The Drink members Daniel Fordham and David Stewart, DROPS is Steven’s first album under his own name since 2016’s Old Magick, and the first one he hasn’t made in some sort of a hurry, “with this one I took my time”. Taking his time involved sessions everywhere from Ramsgate to the French Countryside, while check-ins from the label were met with a regular reply, “it’s taking ages but it’ll sound like it was recorded in an afternoon”. That certainly seems to be evident listening to Living In The Local Void, a track that, “felt like a banger as soon as we started playing it“, even if it does explore ideas of inertia and not rushing, “It’s about time and having ridiculous thoughts about GETTING THINGS DONE“. Musically, it brings to mind the likes of Ultimate Painting or Pete Astor, bands who know that when you’re onto a good thing, you’re welcome to just keep on doing it, as Steven puts it, “the temptation to stay on the same chord can be overwhelming, but the chorus brought out the best in all of us”. And what a chorus it is, the sort of chugging monolith that has you moving wherever it reaches you, be it a darkened dance floor, or a swivelling office chair, “we’ll never get tired of living in the local void, how could we ever get tired of living in the local void?” Fitting really, for with this earworm of a pop song, Steven Adams has created a musical world that I’d quite happily live in for a long while yet.

DROPS is out this November via Fika Recordings. For more information on Steven Adams visit https://fikarecordings.com/steven-adams.

1. A Warm Round Of Applause Please For Meagre Martin

A trio of Americans plying their trade in Berlin, Meagre Martin were started in 2021 as the project of songwriter, Sarah Martin. In one way or another, it was music that brought the band members to Berlin, Sarah was priced out of New York by rising rents, bassist Max Hirtz-Wolf moved there after completing his degree in Psychology and Music, while drummer Federico “Freddy” Corazzini took a circuitous route via a spell as a musician in Spain. After a chance meeting at Butterama Studios in Neukölln, the band formed on the back of a gig offer – the show never happened but thankfully the band did. After releasing their debut single, All My Thoughts, earlier this year, this week saw the band confirm details of their debut album, Gut Punch. With the record set for a November release via Mansions & Millions, the band celebrated the news by sharing their latest single, Please Clap.

A somewhat satirical take on, “feelings of inadequacy”, Please Clap was inspired by the somewhat unusual source of a Jeb Bush campaign speech, where his speech was so “rousing”, that he had to ask the gathered crowd to, “please clap”. While Sarah is quick to stress she has no time for the Bush family’s politics she felt sympathy for the eldest and largely overlooked Bush son, an unseen second choice she could oddly relate to. Musically, the track is another fine example of Meagre Martin’s, “faux country”, soundscape, where classic twanging Americana meets influences of shoegaze and the indie-rock of the 1990s. There’s something intangible about the music Meagre Martin make, it seems to almost waft in on the breeze, vaporous layers of melodic charm, grounded by the lurching drum rhythms and prominent rolling bass lines, it sounds like it could just drift away, yet lingers long in the memory, like a half-remembered dream in the waking hour. At its core the song seems to be about self-doubt, Sarah is seeking a sense of adequacy wherever it can be found, “things can’t be any clearer. Now I’m not much and I’m a sinner. But trace my palms, and see I’m a winner. I just wanna be wanted, please clap now”. We may only be two tracks into Meagre Martin’s musical output, yet already it feels like Gut Punch is a record that’s going to more than live up to its impactful title.

Gut Punch is out November 10th via Mansions & Millions. For more information on Meagre Martin visit https://linktr.ee/meagremartin.

Header photo is Meagre Martin by Andrea Rojas