Further Listening:

5. The Klittens Are Going To Need An Atlas Where They’re Going

The Klittens caught my ear back in 2022 when I named them one of my ones to watch for that year. Since then the Amsterdam-based quintet have been on a steady upward trajectory, courtesy of their acclaimed debut EP, Citrus, which propelled the band towards their first-ever UK tour, as well as dates with the likes of Alex G, SASAMI and Otoboke Beaver. Last month saw the band return with their first new material of 2023, the single Universal Experience and this week confirmed news of a new EP, Butter, set to arrive in March next year. Marking the EPs announcement the band also shared the latest taster of it, their new single Atlas.

Atlas is a reflection on, “the strange nature of lifelong promises”, as vocalist Yaël Dekker explains, “Is a promise a feeling or a thought? Then what is more important in life, taking vows or keeping them?” Nodding to the likes of Sonic Youth or Metric, on Atlas it’s very much bass to the fore, the instrument carrying much of the propulsion, atop a lithe, almost jazzy drum rhythm and the wiry jangle of the electric guitars. Amidst it all, Yaël’s vocals pour out, a flurry of questions and ideas, “what’s a vow when I pretend? If I want it now, will I then?” With the band set to embark on a UK tour with Personal Trainer early next year, The Klittens are going to be kicking off the year with a bang, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they end it on top of the musical world.

Butter is out March 8th. For more information on The Klittens visit https://www.bit.ly/theklittens-links

4. Daudi Matsiko’s New Hymn Would Certainly Live Up Songs Of Praise

A British-Ugandan songwriter hailing from Nottingham, Daudi Matsiko may only have a couple of independently released EPs to his name, but he’s already making quite the impact, winning praise from an array of tastemakers from Lauren Laverne to Giles Peterson. Having caught my attention with the brilliant recent single, I Am Grateful For My Friend, 

Daudi, who also performs in the Do Nothing live band, returned this week with a new single, Hymn, the latest teaser of his hotly anticipated debut album, The King Of Misery, out next month via his own Really Good label.

Described by Daudi as a song of both, “hope and hopelessness”, Hymn lives up to its name, as it features a choir of guest vocalists with everyone from members of Divorce and Catmilk, through to Daudi’s mum, dad, brother, and sister. The penultimate track on The King Of Misery, Daudi suggests it fits into the arc of the record as a whole noting, “the song was inspired by my friends and family, particularly my parents who have loved me unconditionally throughout the toughest of times”. It’s not just in the swelling ranks of vocalists that Hymn feels reverential, the whole thing has both a grandeur and sedateness that feels entirely organic and human, take the warm buzz of organs, and the way each chord change is punctuated by a click and a pop, as if we’ve just walked into an empty church and found Daudi at some grand skyward facing instrument, working out his truth. Lyrically, the track is moving in its stunning simplicity, a human trying to make sense of it all, “am I too broken to believe, there’s any hope inside of me, lay your weary head on me”. Discussing his hopes for this record Daudi has spoken of wanting to create something life-affirming, and he’s done exactly that, there’s a gravitas to his performance, without raising his voice or overcomplicating his musical backing, he just draws you in and demands you listen – in the way that only music this honest, heartfelt, and beautiful truly can.

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

3. Who Knew Oysters Were A Normal Part Of Bats Diet?

The musical moniker of Nashville-based songwriter Jess Awh, Bats emerged back in 2022 when Jess teamed up with Citrus City Records for the release of her well received debut, Blue Cabinet. An intriguing blend of bedroom-pop and alt-country, it was a record that saw everything from pedal steel to lo-fi drum machines, and voicemail recordings to violins. For her next move, Jess set up a space to record in her, “sunlight and hardwood-filled home”, last summer, and recorded a string of, “excruciatingly bare songs pulled from real life experiences”. The result is her upcoming album Good Game Baby, which will arrive next year and was previewed this week via Jess’ new single, Going For Oysters.

Somewhat unusually for a home-recorded project, Going For Oysters features a full band playing live, Jess recalling how band members were stationed in nearly every room of her house, “including outside on the front porch”. Thematically the song deals with “the realities of old age and death as you step into young adulthood”, in particular reflecting on a relationship with a man, “much older and more jaded about those things”. The track initially seems to mark a somewhat noisier side of Bats’ music, with the intro of clattering drums and grungy guitars nodding to the likes of Wednesday or Squirrel Flower, before it quickly resolves to a luxurious melding of honeyed vocal melodies and the mournful cry of the pedal steel. Amidst it all, Jess casts herself as the restlessly inquisitive youth, her partner’s barrel-aged cynicism gradually draining the energy from her, “we go down to the fun part of town, where you treat me to things I can’t afford. You’re a loser and I’m a pariah but I never liked to keep score”. Listening to Going For Oysters, Bats’ music instantly feels emboldened, as if she has cast off any doubts and just let her musical muscles flex for all they’re worth, this is the sound of a songwriter stepping up to a whole new level.

Going For Oysters is out now. For more information on Bats visit https://linktr.ee/bats.tn.

2. This Might Just be Hiding Places Crowning Glory

Based out of my current musical mecca, Asheville, North Carolina, Hiding Places are an alternative folk project, spearheaded by guitarist Audrey Keelin-Walsh and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Byrne, two musicians who put collaboration at the heart of everything they do. Formed in 2019 after they met while working on the Radio Station at the University of North Carolina, the band spent the pandemic recording remotely, with contributions arriving from everywhere from London to Athens, Georgia. For their upcoming EP, set to arrive next year, the band brought it back to a more traditional approach, working with producer, and excellent songwriter in his own right, Colin Miller. This week the band shared the first snapshot of that collaboration their new single, Crown of Tin.

A song originally shared in a demo form back in 2019, Crown of Tin was one of the first songs Audrey ever wrote when she was in her first year of college, “sitting in their dorm bunk bed figuring out what Garageband can do”. Audrey speaks of the track as a “diary entry”, a reminder of a time when they had no idea, “songwriting could be a shared experience”. The full circle moment comes with this freshly re-imagined version, while it still has the intimacy of that original demo, from the lightly distorted vocal to the choppy fuzz of the guitar chords, it feels fuller, the lo-fi quality more clearly a deliberate choice rather than a happenstance of a demo, and all that’s even before the surprisingly brutal outro where the drums come clattering and the guitars begin to howl. Where once Hiding Places music was insular, now it feels communal, a creative endeavour shared with friends and collaborators, and now that it’s ready and perfected, with the world at large, and listening to this there’s little doubt that the world’s going to love it.

Crown Of Tin is out now. For more information on Hiding Places visit https://linktr.ee/hidingplaces/.

1. I Can’t Lie I’m Rather Fond Of Vera Sola

Vera Sola appeared back in 2018 with her debut album Shades, a record made almost entirely in secret, which even for many of her nearest and dearest was the first time they’d ever heard her sing. Inevitably following up on that was going to come with a few more expectations, and in Vera’s case an unexpected five-year gestation, a lot longer than she had initially envisioned. Now signed to City Slang, the much-anticipated second record, Peacemaker was recorded predominantly in Nashville over the fall of 2019 with co-producer Kenneth Pattengale and the dozens of musicians they brought in to bring the songs to life. With the album due to arrive in February, this week Vera shared the latest single from the record, I’m Lying.

I’m Lying is a song that’s got the tongues wagging in Vera’s closest circles, as she explains, “nearly every person close to me has speculated about who or what this song is about. All of them have been wrong“. Written during a thunderstorm years before the final version came to be, and nearly scrapped until drummer Wyatt Bertz flagged it as worthwhile, Vera suggests the song should be taken however you find it, “whatever you might feel in it—sadness, humor, honesty, deception—it’s all in there“. As with all the material shared from Peacemaker so far, I’m Lying feels like a departure from the sound of Shades, while that record felt as shadowy as its title, here there’s a greater openness, songs as big as the grand vistas of the American south. Here we’re greeted by an earthquake of pattering drums, and lithe Latin-influenced guitars, like Radiohead if they’d grown up in New Mexico rather than rural Oxfordshire. Particularly wonderful are the skittering flighty choruses, Vera’s vocal sounding wonderfully mischievous, like a mouse creeping over a counter in pursuit of crumbs, “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I’m lying”. She’s correct to say it’s a song that gives back whatever you put into it, at times there are almost comical shows of strength, as she dismissively sings, “I don’t care”, yet elsewhere there’s rare vulnerability, “if you break me, make it quickly now, what makes me suffer makes me grow”. With tour dates already flooding into her diary, 2024 is shaping up to be a big year for Vera Sola, the return of a huge talent who might just be sounding better than ever.

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

Header photo is Vera Sola by Ebru Yildiz.