Further Listening:

5. Low Girl Leave The Handbrake On

Originally the solo project of frontwoman Sarah Cosgrove, Low Girl evolved alongside her ambitions during her time at Lincoln University, recruiting her brother Tom on drums, alongside bassist Bradley Taylor and keyboardist Toby Morgan. After a string of well-received EPs, the band are currently gearing up towards their debut long-player, Is It Too Late To Freak Out? With the record due at the end of October, this week the quartet shared the first single from it, Handbrake.

While it arrives in the heart of the Summer, Sarah advises the song is altogether more Autumnal, as it, “came about on a gloomy November evening”, when she was experiencing, “a case of the post-tour blues”. The result was a distinct drip of angst that percolates into a song that tackles, “themes of guilt and desperation” as Sarah finds herself, “expressing things I was too passive to articulate in the moment”. The track finds Low Girl leaning into their more shoegazey/dream-pop side, courtesy of shimmering lead guitar flourishes atop the churning bass and drums, bringing to mind the likes of Why Bonnie or Living Hour. Amidst the pretty chaos, Sarah’s voice is a swooping stand-out, bristling with angsty energy, as she sings of “the beginning of the end”, and embraces it with an offhand, “let’s go”. Familiar sounds, spun through Low Girl’s own world-view, this feels like a band who are only just cottoning on to how exciting they could turn out to be.

Is It Too Late To Freak Out? is out October 22nd via AWAL. For more information on Low Girl visit https://www.lowgirl.uk/.

4. BRNDA’s New Single Is A Real Peach

Hailing from Washington, BRNDA have been making gentle waves since the release of their 2018 debut album, Thanks for Playing. Since then, the quartet have gone on to share stages with plenty of my favourites, including the likes of Oceanator, Lewsburg and Shady Bug. This September, the band will share their latest offering, Total Pain, so named because when they reflected on the songs, “we couldn’t help but detect a little bit of sadness”. This week, the band shared the latest single from the album, Peach Pit.

A song rooted in a particular kind of grimy nostalgia, BRNDA suggest the titular venue, the Peach Pit is, “filthy, old and not even real anymore, though some might remember it”. The song harks back to those young adult moments so many of us will remember, “experiences when trying to fit in and exist was its own kind of pain”, and “when it was easy to escape and erase pain”. The song seems quite fitting for a sweaty reminiscence, all low-slung bassy rumble, chugging drum rhythms and languid guitar riffery that suggest a band with the same ’90s reference points as Horse Girl or Dehd. On this evidence, Total Pain is going to be a total pleasure.

Total Pain is out September 12th via Crafted Sounds. For more information on BRNDA visit https://brendatheband.com/.

3. Jeff Tweedy Is A Musical Triple Threat

Jeff Tweedy has been making music longer than I’ve been alive, something I always struggle to comprehend when I hear how excited by music he still sounds. There are four Uncle Tupelo records, four solo albums, an unfathomable thirteen Wilco records and god knows how many other oddities, one-offs and side projects, and he still seems full of music, full of songs and full of new ideas. Enough, it turns out, for his latest project, Twilight Override, a thirty-song, triple album, with the aim of showing that, “creativity eats darkness”. Jeff’s reaction against the overwhelming news cycle he describes as, “a bottomless basket of rock bottom”, he described Twilight Override as, “my effort to engulf this encroaching nighttime (nightmare) of the soul”. A lofty ambition, that I’m sure we can probably all get on board with.

While the behemoth of a record won’t arrive until September, Jeff isn’t really keeping us waiting as this week he shared not one single, but four. There’s the swirling, driving One Tiny Flower, the easy shuffle of Out In The Dark and the twangy Enough, which has a touch of The Kinks about it. However, my personal favourite is Stay Cats In Spain, an intimate slice of wistful Americana, full of muted guitar chords, layered vocals and not a whole lot else. It’s a master class in a slow build. As the song finally departs with the subtle addition of swirling strings, Jeff’s nostalgic reminiscence of beautiful days gone by lingers long after the song has moved on. Something new and beautiful from the ever-creative Jeff Tweedy might not be any surprise, but it’s still a delight to see someone this established pushing their boundaries and sounding as fresh and exciting as they ever have.

Twilight Override is out September 26th via dBpm Records. For more information on Jeff Tweedy visit https://jefftweedy.com/.

2. Jens Lekman’s Latest Is A Sweet Treat

Strap in because Jens Lekman’s latest album/madcap scheme takes a little explaining. It starts with the 2004 song If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing At Your Wedding). That song, and a fan who took it very literally, led to the internationally acclaimed artist, who was once voted Sweden’s fifteenth sexiest man, to forge a somewhat surprising side hustle as a wedding singer. From this Jens, alongside bestselling author David Levithan, decided to write a work of fiction, Songs For Other People’s Weddings, about, you guessed it, “an unlucky-in-love musician who moonlights as a wedding singer”. Then, because it just wasn’t circular enough, Jens decided to write an accompanying album of the same name. I hope you’re following at the back! With the book arriving at the start of August, and the album to follow in September, this week Jens shared the first single from the record, Candy From A Stranger.

As introductions go, Candy From A Strange is a delightful one, a stab of pure Swedish-pop, all air-punching choruses, spine-tingling melodies and just the right amount of weirdness bubbling under the surface. The song is set, unsurprisingly perhaps given the album’s themes, at a wedding, with Jens cast in the role of a guest at a Dress as a Song themed reception. Jens dons his best Raspberry Beret and plucks up the courage to get crazy in love with someone dressed, fittingly, as Beyonce’s Crazy In Love. From there, we’re taken on a wild ride of love, popping unidentified pills against your Mum’s advice and rekindling old flames, like the narrative of an entire rom-com in a sub-four-minute pop song. Frankly, if after four or five listens you’re not pulling a muscle high-kicking and yelling along with Jens as he sings, “I just remembered now, how much I love your face, your stupid smile, where have you been all this time”, then you might need to ask some serious questions about your life choices. Now, can someone I know go get married already? Jens Lekman’s just written the perfect soundtrack.

Songs For Other People’s Weddings is out September 12th via Secretly Canadian. For more information on Jens Lekman visit https://www.jenslekman.com/.

1. Free Oral Habit!

Hailing from the South Coast musical hotbed of Brighton, Oral Habit are a trio consisting of brothers Charlie and Felix Hales, and bassist Tippi Lewis. Their debut offerings last year saw them garner praise in all the right places, and for their next move this week, they shared a four-track EP, Garage Frock, with a self-released 7″ and cassette courtesy of Manchester label Sour Grapes. Ahead of the release, they shared the excellent lead track, I’m Free.

A step away from some of their regular garage rock bluster, I’m Free is their, “heart-on-sleeve missive”, described by Charlie as, “bittersweet simplicity with themes of backstabbing and betrayal, new found clarity in freedom from the poison“. The track opens with a jangle of almost country-tinged guitars before the driving rhythms lift the whole thing skyward, capturing a similar shambling euphoria to the likes of Here We Go Magic or Connan Mockasin. While the song might still be removing the blade from between its shoulder blades, it’s already revelling in the newfound freedom of knowing they were a snake all along, “the slash of the knife deep inside my back, but I’m free”. Particularly great is the way Charlie’s vocal screeches into the high note, pushing his register to its very limit, he sounds like his feet are about to leave the ground and soar skyward at any second. This feels like a big moment for Oral Habit, they always had energy and bite, yet here they seem to be channelling that into something more, a band growing into their sound and ready to make a real impact.

Garage Frock is out now. For more information on Oral Habit visit https://ffm.bio/oralhabit

Header photo is Oral Habit by Mya Shihabi