Further Listening:

5. You Won’t Want To Miss A Rendezvous With Lola Wild

Ever since Lola Wild performed a fantastic gig for us at our monthly showcase back in 2021, I’ve been intrigued to hear what her recorded output might sound like, thankfully this week that wait is over. Freshly signed to Tip Top Recordings, the enigmatic London-based songwriter this week shared Rendezvous the first taster of an EP, scheduled to arrive at the start of 2024.

Rendezvous is an intriguing mixture of retro-flair and modern lyricism, while the excellent Bob Fosse-inspired video and vintage stylings might hark back to a strain of retro-Americana crooning, thematically Rendezvous is a more poignant and personal ode to pansexuality and sexual fluidity. The track tells the story of two friends falling in love and the fear that came with it, as Lola explains, “I never thought that ‘Rendezvous’ would end up turning into a queer love song. It’s loosely based on my own experiences and the stereotypes I faced when exploring my own sexuality“. Musically, the track is a swirling shimmy of a track reminiscent of Martha Ffion or Faye Webster, as luxurious keyboards, are cut through with the almost Bossa Nova rhythm track and Lola’s layered crooning vocal as the lyrics hint at missed opportunities and changing circumstances, “Madeline why don’t you come by, come sway with me tonight, we could rendezvous the way we use to, I’ll always be there for you”. As statements of musical intent go Rendezvous is a mighty impressive one, a little glimpse of an artist who could just be onto something very special.

Lola Wild’s debut EP will be out early 2024 via Tip Top Recordings. For more information on Lola Wild visit https://linktr.ee/lolawild.

4. Who Doesn’t Love an Office Dog?

In one of those lovely coincidences the universe throws up from time to time, I was only listening to Two Hearts and No Brain, the second album by New Zealand’s favourite lo-fi songwriter prodigy Kane Strang the other day and wondering what he was up to now, and then the answer landed in my inbox, he’s formed a band! Based out of their current home of Auckland, the band features Kane, alongside drummer Mitchell Innes and bassist Rassani Tolovaa. Although both have previously performed with Kane as his backing band, the desire for a more collaborative approach necessitated a new name and the birth of Office Dog. The band have set about practising and writing wherever they can, from the back of a barbershop to the basement of a church, the various sessions leading to their debut album, Spiel, which will see the light of day next year via New West Records. Ahead of the release, this week the band shared the video for the debut Office Dog single, Big Air.

Described by the band as being, “inspired by life’s triumphant turbulence”, Kane explains Big Air is, “about life’s peaks and troughs and how sometimes with a big high there’s a heavy low that follows“. The sense of turbulence is certainly evident in the music, as driving melodic sections The Strokes would be proud of are punctuated by moments of darker, grungier collapse in the mould of Nine Black Alps or Blood Red Shoes. Lyrically, the song is both a reminder to enjoy the good times, “sunshine on your face, grab some while you wait”, and to know that a crash landing could be around the corner, “I got big air, flew and landed strange, now even though the noise is gone, still the echo stays”. Spiel is a record that traces the origins of Office Dog, a band formed from a moment of personal struggle when Kane found himself constantly shifting city due to a series of significant personal events, and one that ultimately became, “a ladder out of a pretty rough spot”, in that sense Office Dog are already a triumph and the fact that they sound this good, well that’s a lovely bonus we can all enjoy.

Spiel is out January 26th via New West Records. For more information on Office Dog visit https://officedog.bandcamp.com/.

3. Meagre Martin Scale New Heights

One of my favourite discoveries of the year to date, Meagre Martin are the Berlin-based trio of band leader Sarah Martin, drummer Federico “Freddy” Corazzini and bassist Max Hirtz-Wolf, the Americans brought to the German capital by music in one way or another. The band are set to continue to breakout year with a string of European dates, their debut American tour supporting Alt-J, and most intriguingly of all, the release of their debut album Gut Punch. The album will arrive in November via Mansions & Millions, and this week they shared the latest single from it, Mountain.

Discussing Mountain, Sarah suggests that, “the best word to describe this song is Saudade”, which the dictionary informs me is an untranslatable Portuguese term that refers to the melancholic longing or yearning. As Sarah further explains, it is a song, “in remembrance of things that were once so familiar but whose significance has become unrecognizable“, reflecting on the passing of time and how things that were once so important, “no longer hold the same emotional ties”. It’s a song that seems to exist in the waking hour, the strange visions of the half-awake mind, where Sarah can see the past, and yet, whether she wants to or not, never reach it, “I saw your face, as I’m lying awake, I can never run fast enough, to outrun my brain”. The lyrical sense of longing is mirrored in a song that seems to shimmer with a certain nostalgia, Sarah’s vocal and easy meandering guitar line nodding to Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, yet presenting it not with clarity but a hazy instability, as if the whole thing might just disappear from in front of your eyes. Another illustration of the growing body of evidence that Gut Punch might just be one of the year’s most exciting debut albums.

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

2. Wicketkeeper Have All The Answers

An instrument-swapping trio based between London and Margate, Wicketkeeper came to the world’s attention as just about the most difficult time for a band imaginable with their 2020 debut, Shonk, which at the time felt like it might be their last. Vocalist Simon Morley moved to the coast, two of the three members became fathers and navigating lockdowns made getting together to play almost impossible. The band were given two options, give in to circumstances or adapt, thankfully for everyone they chose the latter. They taught themselves how to record, they found a way to work remotely, and they embraced the joys of multi-track recording rather than playing live, as Simon puts it, “we had no idea what we were doing, but tbf that’s always been a running theme for this band”. The result is their fantastic new record, Zambroni, which is out today, and which they premiered this week via their new single, Answers.

Answers comes from a less-than-obvious source material as Simon explains the lyrics, “are comprised entirely from quiz answers I found in the back of my notebook“. The notebook, the front of which was used for lyrics, “I flicked through the notepad and found all these answers to loads of Zoom quizzes that we’d done during lockdown. There were so many, it was pretty easy finding the ones that rhymed with each other. So in one way it’s the most meaningless song we’ve ever written. But in another it’s the most relatable!” Musically, the track seems to tap into the same Autumnal drifting pop perfected by the much missed Ultimate Painting, it manages to feel at once weightless and surprisingly driving, the wiry guitar drifting throughout as the patchwork of words take in everything from the University of Sunderland to Hemmingway’s The Old Man And The Sea. Now sit back, enjoy and try not to spend the whole time trying to work out what the quiz questions were, or you might just miss out on enjoying Wicketkeeper’s finest track to date.

Zambroni is out today via Umpire Records. For more information on Wicketkeeper visit https://linktr.ee/wicketkeeper.

1. A Shiny Trinket Of A Figure Skating Career

A trio of New York-based Anglophiles, Trinket grew up on a diet of The Beatles and The Kinks, before the chance lockdown discovery of Sarah Records changed everything as songwriter Madison Kate Proffitt explains, “during the pandemic when I was hungry to find music to keep me company during that time. Finding out that this sound that I have loved my whole life had a hub of activity and life in the 90’s through Sarah Records was so inspiring to me”. Fittingly the band are now signed to the UK-based tastemaker label Sad Club Records, and this week they shared the first fruits of that collaboration in the shape of Trinket’s new single, Figure Skater.

A song about, “recognizing patterns in yourself and people”, Figure Skater is a song about struggling to enjoy the moment when things are going well and learning to live with the fears when they’re not. The track opens with a distorted tumbling vocal line that’s straight out of the Alvvays-playbook, before the sugar-sweet melodies are adorned with a contrastingly crisp drum clatter and walls of hazy guitars that’s distinctly early-90s in its origins, with a touch of a Wednesday-like modern makeover. The result is a track with all the dizzying flow of an ice skater, yet the lyrics seem altogether more static, as Madison sings, “I’m laying on the floor in favorite spot, just to try and feel anything”, it’s a track that seems to be searching for something, a momentary spark to ignite a momentous change and send our protagonist, “gliding to a smoother surface”. Like their namesake, Trinket are a band that make you feel something that you can’t quite put your finger on, yet they keep you coming back, keep you looking for meaning in the unexplainable, a treasured possession that once in your heart you’re never going to want to let go of.

Figure Skater is out now via Sad Club Records. For more information on Trinket visit https://linktr.ee/triiinket.

Header photo is Trinket by Michelle LoBianco, Brooklyn Elitist