Further Listening:

5. What A Lovely Silver Trinket

A trio of jangle-pop enthusiasts based in New York, Trinket last appeared on these pages back in September when they shared Figure Skater, the first offering from their transatlantic collaboration with the London-based independent label, Sad Club Records. This week the band announced the February release of their debut EP, New Hobby, a self-deprecating title the band came up with as an antidote to how seriously they take their musical endeavours. Alongside news of the EP’s release, this week the band also shared the latest snippet of the record, in the shape of their new single, Silver Thread.

The band have spoken of Silver Thread as a song about, “idealization, getting to a point with someone important in your life who sends you mixed messages”, as Madison Kate Proffitt from the band further explains, “you’re giving them a certain level of time and energy that they can’t or don’t want to reciprocate. It’s about stopping that cycle and letting yourself move forward”. Musically, Silver Thread taps into the band’s love of all things indie-pop, channelling both the 1980s trailblazers like The Sundays or Heavenly, as well as contemporary artists like Alvvays or Hazel English. The track is propelled forward by the cyclical flowing guitar lines, Wall Of Sound-like drum beat and Madison’s wistful lilting vocals, as she seems to audibly inflate into this relationship’s end, “no one’s gonna make you, I can’t and I don’t want to, Circle yes or circle no, while you see what sticks I will go”. Silver Thread is a song about a relationship, but more so it’s a song about choosing yourself, of casting off the things that hold you down, a celebration of cutting the thread and embracing the opportunity of an ending as a chance to soar, and on this evidence, Trinket are more than ready to take flight.

New Hobby is out February 29th via Sad Club Records. For more information on Trinket visit https://linktr.ee/triiinket.

4. Coco Are Ready To Do This Right

Coco are a band that have been on my radar for a while now, following a string of anonymously released singles and their self-titled 2021 debut alum. Containing members with a musical history including work with Dirty Projectors, Lucius and Pavo Pavo, the band are a supergroup of sorts, although they seem a little too understated to ever consider using such a term themselves. In March next year, the band will team up with First City Artists for the release of their much anticipated second record, the fittingly titled 2, and this week shared the latest single from it, Do This Right.

The album’s closing track, Do This Right was written on a bit of a whim, after Olive Hill, who takes lead vocal duties on this track, was struck down by a cold at a recording session, and took to his bed to rest, and found the inspiration to write the verses to tie into a chorus Dan Molad had crafted earlier. The resultant track is a wonderfully subtle affair, it seems to almost sigh its way through nearly six minutes of slow-motion aching, nodding to the likes of Low or Advance Base, as subtle details drift in and out of intricate songwriter masterclass. Far more than just something to admire though, Do This Right also packs an emotive punch, it feels like a wordless argument, a repetition of old conflicts, nothing changes, nobody grows, “we fight, we fight, are we ever going to do this right? You cave, I win, but nothing is satisfying”. Despite that hopelessness, there’s still a flickering hope, it feels like an aimless long ball in the dying seconds, a final attempt to compromise, pull down the walls of old pain and truly communicate again, “the moon flickers like a ray, like water on a desert highway, just reach out and place a hand, steady on me”. There’s something almost voyeuristic about Do This Right, the way it draws you into Coco’s world and lays it all bare, invites you to hear the words that in reality perhaps were left unspoken. The song may be weary, as they sing at one point, “this winter coat feels like the weight of the world, heavy on me”, yet it sounds so real you almost feel like you could reach out and take that burden for just long enough they can rediscover the spark. Now if I can just read their band name without getting Stellastarr* stuck in my head, I think I might really fall for this band.

2 is out March 1st via First City Artists. For more information on Coco visit https://songofcoco.com/.

3. I’m All About Raavi

Raavi are a band based out of Brooklyn, with Boston-roots who originally formed back in 2017 as Raavi & The Houseplants, before parting way with their indoor greenery. Last year saw the band share the excellent EP, It Grows On Trees, before teaming up with Hardly Art to share the track No Bodies as part of the label’s singles series. While the band works on new material, this week the band’s songwriter Raavi Sita has shared a new standalone solo track, About It.

Described by Raavi as, “an attempt at writing a break up song with love and respect for the relationship”, About It is designed as, “a song without any villains or wrongdoing, that acknowledges that things are not working and change needs to be made”. Musically, the track shows a more stripped-back side to Raavi’s songwriting, nodding to the likes of Skirts or Raveloe, as Raavi’s vocals are accompanied by fluttering acoustic guitars and the meander of a keyboard line so subtle you almost don’t notice its there at all until it drifts away. What really lifts the song is how perfectly the music seems to mirror the lyrics, while Raavi’s vocal is poised and calm, frustration at a lack of progress is writ large in the cyclical guitar patterns, like the relationship they depict they seem to be going through the motions, going back over and over old ground, as Raavi sings, “I’m so sick of talking about it, talking about it, talking about it, what are we gonna do about it? Do about it, do about it, what are we supposed to do about this?” This is one of those wonderful occasions where a song seems to perfectly capture a moment, not just in its word but in its entire essence, a song of frustration and inertia, becoming something beautifully, unquestionably honest.

About It is out now. For more information on Raavi visit https://linktr.ee/raavi.band.

2. Vashti & Devendra Just Refuse To Let Go

Based out of Seattle, Light in the Attic is a record label with a big reputation and a simple mission, “put out great music, wherever it may be found, however it may sound”. A big part of the label’s story is their archival projects, digging out unique, and often forgotten, voices and sharing them with a modern audience. Part of that mission is their Cover Series, where contemporary acts pay homage to the artists the labels have discovered along the way. Until now these were largely available only online or as exclusive 7″ vinyl, but for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event this year, they’re collecting these covers, alongside some brand new tracks, into the collection, Light In The Attic And Friends, which features everyone from Angel Olsen to Iggy Pop covering their favourite LITA moments.

Ahead of the release, the label recently shared the rather brilliant collaboration between forgotten folk royalty, Vashti Bunyan and American-Venezuelan superstar, Devendra Banhart, the duo covering Madelynn Von Ritz aka Lynn Castle’s track, How Could I Let You Go. Vashti and Devendra are two artists with increasingly entwined histories, going back to 2001 when on hearing a re-issue of Vashti’s album Just Another Diamond Day, Devendra wrote to her asking for advice. Since then the pair have gone on to become regular collaborators performing on each other’s records. Here they lean into the original song’s inherent melancholic qualities, foregoing their folk roots for a dreamy whisper of a song, nodding to Atmosphere-era Joy Division, as Devendra’s hushed, half-spoken vocals meet, Vashti’s more playful melodies as the rhythmic hum of electric-guitar is adorned with waves of textural synth. As a young songwriter in the 1960s Lynn Castle had a premonition, that years down the line, “one day I would be this old woman, and young people would come find me and tell me that my music meant something to them“, and now in the 2020’s in the same way Devendra found Vashti, a raft of new ears will surely turn their ears to Lynn Castle, and turn an old prediction into a delightfully deserved truth.

Light In The Attic And Friends is out November 24th via Light In The Attic. For more information on Vashti Bunyan visit http://anotherday.co.uk/. For more information on Devendra Banhart visit https://devendrabanhart.com/.

1. h.pruz Is Shining Despite The Dark

Based out of Brooklyn, h. pruz is the musical project of songwriter and sister. member, Hannah Pruzinsky. The world last heard from h. pruz back in 2022, around the release of the excellent EP, Again, There, which crashed into my favourite records of that year. Since then Hannah’s life has had something of an upheaval, throwing themself into new music, quitting their job and deciding to focus on and spend most of their time making music. This week Hannah shared the first new music from this period, in the shape of the new single, Dark Sun.

The song is Hannah’s attempt to, “capture the delirium that comes with a new love”, a song about, “getting wrapped up in the idolization of someone you probably barely know”. Dark Sun is the first part of a wider story as Hannah explains, “it’s exciting to show the shimmery frenzied side of that before I get to tell the rest”. The track, which was co-produced by Felix Walworth of Florist, while it might depict a lyrical frenzy, musically it’s contrastingly subtle, the Nick Drake-like guitars that lead the song, accompanied by echo-drenched backing vocals, and the quietly complex drum patterns, as Hannah sits amongst it, leaning into the gluttonous quality of new infatuation, “take my hand, leave a mark and, forget everthing else is real, we’re here in the sun”. Like so many of my favourite singers, there’s an engaging quality to Hannah’s voice the way they dance between the notes, lending hidden meanings to their words, reminiscent of the brilliance of Kristine Leschper or Emily Cross, even though the music they all make is very different. A song of infatuation, I can only hope Dark Sun isn’t a cautionary tale, because a few listen to this magical song and a lot of people might just be falling head-over-heels for the music of h. pruz.

Dark Sun is out now via Mtn Laurel Recording Co. For more information on h. pruz visit https://hpruz.com/

Header photo is h. pruz by Felix Walworth.