Further Listening:

5. Don’t Sleep On Ava Mirzadegan

It was only at the end of last month that Ava Mirzadegan last appeared on these pages. That was around the release of Book Song, the first taster of Ava’s upcoming debut album, Dark Dark Blue, an album largely written in Ava’s childhood bedroom, and one which will arrive next month via Team Love Records. Ahead of the release, this week Ava shared the latest single from it, Sleeping Through The Afternoon.

Discussing her new single, Ava suggests that Sleeping Through The Afternoon, “encapsulates the themes of Dark Dark Blue – specifically the hurt and internal transformation needed to walk away from a relationship“. The track seems to chart Ava’s relationship from the, “early days of eager frenetic infatuation“, through to, “an obsessive insatiable plea for healing that couldn’t be met on either end“. That sense of inevitability plays out to a soundtrack of stripped-back nylon-sting guitars and rich, hushed vocals, bringing to mind the intimate picture painting perfected by the likes of Lisa/Liza or early Strawberry Runners. For a breakup song Sleeping Through The Afternoon is fairly blameless, a song that owns up to its creator’s own flaws, and knows it was doomed to fail until all parties did the healing required to truly give themselves to one another, the lyrics moving from the upbeat past to a sighing conclusion, “wanna hold you, make you better but we’re sleeping through the afternoon, staying up to fight”. There’s pain here certainly, but it feels ingrained rather than dramatic, as if Ava knows for all the symptoms present the cause is deeper rooted, the marks left by history that can no longer be ignored, to move forward sometimes, you’ve got to look back.

Dark Dark Blue is out November 3rd via Team Love Records. For more information on Ava Mirzadegan visit https://linktr.ee/avamirzadegan.

4. The Klittens Are Soon To Be Enjoyed Universally

A quintet based out of Amsterdam, The Klittens previously appeared on these pages as one of my top tips to make a splash in 2022. They certainly did that with the acclaimed debut EP Citrus, a word-of-mouth sensation that led to support shows with the likes of Alex G, Otoboke Beaver and SASAMI, as well as seeing the band head out on their first-ever headline UK tour earlier this year. With the band set to return to UK shores next year supporting their friends in Personal Trainer, this week The Klittens shared their first new material since Citrus, in the shape of their new single, Universal Experience.

Drummer Laurie Zantinge recalls the track came together quickly when the band were working on other things, “Yaël walked into the room, randomly sang the chorus of Universal Experience and we were immediately hooked. I think it took us less than two hours before we had the whole song finished”. The lyrics seem to chart a relationship running on empty, going through the motions out of habit more than desire as Yaël Dekker sings weerily, “you don’t want to ask about my day but you should, so you do anyway”. That sense of drab acceptance is perfectly contrasted with a musical backing that’s conversely joyous, from the bounding opening rhythm through to the jagged guitars, it is a song that leaps and twirls, recalling the likes of Foyer Red or The Orielles in its merging of poppy melodies and just the right amount of intriguing angular experimentation. With the promise of more to come in the months ahead, The Klittens are continuing to march to the beat of their own drum, a band unafraid to do it their own way and all the more intriguing as a result.

Universal Experience is out now. For more information on The Klittens visit www.bit.ly/theklittens-links.

3. Raveloe Hits The Beach

An artist on my radar since I first heard her brilliant single Abalone back in 2020, Raveloe is the project of fast-rising Scottish songwriter Kim Grant. After releasing one of 2021’s finest EPs, Notes And Dreams, Kim has largely been squirrelled away writing music, working on the tracks that would become her debut album, Exit Light, which is set for release next month via Olive Grove Recordings. Ahead of the release, this week Kim shared her latest single, Ghost Beach, which features another favourite of mine, Simon Liddell of Frightened Rabbit and Poster Paints.

Ghost Beach is the track that lends Exit Lights its title in the lyric, “keep seeing the exit light above every turn“, and Kim suggests it’s a theme she returns to throughout the album, “of running away or instead learning to sit or move through difficulties that come”. Another theme present here, and in much of Kim’s songwriting is the idea of nature, leaves and clouds were present in the titles of previous singles, and here it’s the life-giving quality of trees that’s to the fore, “I had been learning about trees, how the trees surrounding an older dead tree will continue to send nutrients to the stump as within it lies information that can be sent to the surrounding tree community through a web of roots and mycelium”. It was something Kim brought into her own thinking about human relationships, how they, “can ‘die’ and then shift into something else, or still nurture, perhaps in a different way”. Musically, Ghost Beach is something of a departure from the urgency of the record’s previous singles, it takes a more traditional folk path, as a tumble of acoustic guitar strings is adorned by slow pulses of piano keys and a particularly lovely blast of harmonium, which ties neatly into the organic feel of the lyrics as Kim sings of, “dead wood in the garden paled to the colour of Saturn, stark in the open field, evidence of what once flourished here”. Some artists just seem to suit a season, and Raveloe couldn’t be more perfectly Autumnal, a soundtrack for turning leaves, pulling out your favourite knitwear and heading out into the woods to bask in the auburn glow – now if it ever stops raining, I might just see you there.

Exit Light is out November 10th via Olive Grove Recordings. For more information on Raveloe visit https://www.instagram.com/raveloemusic/.

2. Vera Sola Walks The Line

Back in 2018, I was quite happily screaming from the rooftops about Vera Sola, and her stunning debut album, Shades, a record she made in secret to the point she had barely let anyone hear her sing before it was released. At that point, I didn’t think it would be the best part of six years before we heard another Vera Sola record, and from Vera’s perspective, it probably wasn’t meant to be that long either. In the Autumn of 2019, Vera went into the studio in Nashville with co-producer Kenneth Pattengale and began work on album number two, only for circumstances to conspire to leave it in a state of limbo, as its creator, “moved through the heart of the rage”. While she considered not releasing the record, asking, “whether it was wise to open that door again”, Vera ultimately decided to let it burn, “we can’t move beyond anger without expressing it. The only way out is through”. The album, Peacemaker, will arrive in February via City Slang, and this week Vera shared the second single from it, The Line.

The Line was inspired by a conversation with a friend when Vera was out on tour, “about how experiences with dying and death…prompted him to radically change the course of his life“. Despite the traditionally heavy theme, Vera is quick to point out The Line is actually a hopeful song, “the prevailing emotion/message is one of liberation. We have such a twisted, tortured, disconnected relationship to death in the West. I think it’s one of the reasons we’re fucking everything up so royally”. Musically, this feels like a shift of tone from Shades; where that record felt cloaked in the personal, here Vera is knocking down all her walls, the racing drums and almost fairground-like quality of The Walkmen-esque guitars, scything into your ears like a cobweb blowing breeze. Atop all the clatter and crescendo, Vera’s vocals command attention, recalling the likes of Nadine Shah or Anna Calvi, as she stands tall among the noise, a lightning rod in the storm as she sings, “day is return to the looping of the line, dying is only a passing thing, we’ll be back again sometime, we’ll be back again when it’s right”. A bristling and lively affair, it is fittingly about energy, as Vera explains, “we are all but energy and energy cannot be destroyed, it only changes form. We’ll meet again”. And let’s not leave it so long next time please Vera, the world’s a better place with your musical spirit in it.

Peacemaker is out February 2nd via City Slang. For more information on Vera Sola visit https://www.verasola.com/.

1. Please Show Some Gratitude For Daudi Matsiko

Based out of Nottingham, Daudi Matsiko is a British-Ugandan musician who despite only having two independently released EPs under his belt has already shared stages with the likes of GoGo Penguin and Portico Quartet and found fans in everyone from Lauren Laverne to Adam Buxton. In January, Daudi will release his debut album, The King Of Misery, an album that explores themes of mental health, racial trauma and, “moving from guilt to gratitude“, and features collaborations with the likes of Keaton Henson, Divorce’s Felix Mackenzie-Barrow and Nick Blacka. Marking the album announcement, this week Daudi shared the latest single from it, I Am Grateful For My Friends.

I Am Grateful For My Friends is a track that grapples openly with Daudi’s mental health struggles, specifically depression and bipolar affective disorder. Despite the heaviness of those conditions, present in the throwaway devastation of the lyric, “disappear into thin air, all my hope there’s not much there”, the track, as its title suggests, also comes with plenty of gratitude. The song progresses from its initial darkness into a place of quiet thankfulness, as Daudi accompanies the chiming, minimal Adem-like guitars with the repeated refrain, “my palms they are full of dread, but I am grateful for my friends”, before the words give way to whistling, perhaps not quite the classic workman’s jaunty tune, but it certainly suggests a certain hope for brighter days to come. In the same way, the song seems to look both forward and back, Daudi’s music hints at both a respect for the past and a flash of the future, which for this talented musician looks very bright indeed.

The King Of Misery is out January 19th via Really Good. For more information on Daudi Matsiko visit https://linktr.ee/daudimatsiko.

Header photo is Daudi Matsiko by Felix Mackenzie-Barrow