LA-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Nailah Hunter has been on our radar for a couple of years. And this Friday, the artist, who draws inspiration from mystical folk and ambient music, will finally unveil her debut album. She began crafting Lovegaze with a Celtic harp during a trip to a small coastal city along the English Channel. A year later, she traveled back to England to finish the songs with the assistance of London-based producer Cicely Goulder.

“While I was writing Lovegaze, I was thinking about humanity’s propensity to destroy the things we love,” she says. “I was thinking about ancient ruins and structures that once provided shelter but no longer do. There’s beauty to be found in ruins, too.”

Before the album, Hunter just shared the video for “Bleed,” starring dancer Kearian Giertz. “I wrote ‘Bleed’ in Southsea with the Celtic harp,” she stated. “The song was born of a heartbreaking moment that I hadn’t had time to process until then. I let myself wallow and explore heartbreak tropes and clichés that I hadn’t engaged in since I was a teenager singing with my acoustic guitar in coffee shops. It felt really nice to reconnect to that part of myself with everything I’ve learned since then.”

Revisit Lovegaze lead single, “Finding Mirrors”

Sick of staying inside to avoid getting sick? One of our favourite LA-natives, Cassowary (aka Miles Shannon), just came through with a fresh batch of ever-jazzy, effortlessly funky cosmic R&B, and it’s the perfect spice for any bland quarantine. “Cyclical” shows further improvements in the areas where he already excelled, while also showing that he still has a few tricks left up his sleeve.

The video for “Cyclical” captures the track’s vibe better than words can. Something about a vintage Cadillac cruising through beachy L.A. – shot on film of course – really seems to sum up the spirit of this one’s sound. A punchy piano line reminiscent of Kendrick’s “Humble” lays the foundation for his ghostly falsettos, along with the sort of evolving melange of keys and bass he always does so well. And, just when you think you’ve settled into a groove, Tyler Cole comes in to finish things off with some quickfire bars and pretty melodies that wrap up the track ever-so-nicely.

Today’s drop of “Cyclical” also marks the release of his self-titled debut LP on Fat Possum Records. If you’re in it for the vibes and looking for a smooth sonic ride, give “Cyclical” a spin and dive into his new album head first. Watch and support the artist via Bandcamp below.

After releasing her debut EP The Fuzz back in 2018, Ontario based artist Ellis has been steadily working on her full-length debut, which was produced by Jake Aron. “Into The Trees” is the final single taken from her debut album, born again, which also dropped today.

Stepping away from the confines of the dream-pop genre that tinged The Fuzz, “Into The Trees” displays a more nuanced edge, a calm assurance to take its time. There’s a haunting melancholic edge born from the echoing of the guitars, accompanied by yearning lyrics such as “I’m not sure I’m what you bargained for”.

This pining is also displayed in the multiple shifts in the song, this ever-changing beast that is “Into The Trees”. It’s almost as if the structure of the song itself is mirroring what the lyrics describe as trying to strike the balance between being yourself and also metamorphosing to fit in with what the other person “bargained for”.

Ellis has crafted a kind of magic. The one minute thirty mark sees a lilting guitar riff appear, the bass turns up and it becomes more reflective and less moping in tone. The change in tempo then confers the song an oddly uplifting air. Each minute of the song thereafter reveals another layer, a swirling mass that astonishingly creates movement and textures, turning the track from a straight-up emo dream-pop ballad into something living and transformative.

Then, in the final thirty seconds, the stakes are raised into an explosion of pure catharsis, offering an epiphanic ending. It’s both ecstatic and heartbreaking, it’s pure drive and anger and heartache.

“Into The Trees” is a track of pure buildup. The momentum it gathers as it progresses is just as delightful as the climax itself. Whilst it’s serpentine in its delivery and it meanders with precision, it’s not until you’re amidst the clattering drums and the shock of the heavy guitars that you realise you were floating along, completely under Ellis’s spell.

Watch the accompanying animation, courtesy of director Andrew Friesen, and get the album via Bandcamp below.

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Following up to the swooning title track, their fuzzy new offering, “Athlete,” deals with “the frustration of not being able to keep up with the “team” and learning to laugh when you fumble.” The track also comes with an Alex Winker-directed video of which the band said: “‘Athlete’ is the most “rock and roll” track on the EP so we wanted to make a video that embodied that, but also felt like casual, day-in-the-life footage. Kind of like watching a home movie that you found in a box in your parents’ attic, but instead of you as a three-year-old on the soccer field, you’re a grown adult with about the same skill level.” Watch and pre-order the EP below.

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Ontario’s singer-songwriter Linnea Siggelkow, better known as Ellis, have unveiled a video for her dreamy, forlorn single “Something Blue”. The hauntingly beautiful visuals were directed by Toronto’s artist Justin Singer. About the track, Ellis explained to i-D where the video was premiered:

[su_quote]It’s a nostalgic song written in reflection of the first time I met somebody really significant in my life, thinking about all the things that went wrong after that first meeting. Sometimes I think back on things that should or could have happened differently. We [also] got a bit more experimental — there’s horns in it — trumpet and saxophone played by my friends Aaron and Connor. They’re pretty subtle, but they’re in there.[/su_quote]

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The enchanting singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music wizard Kadhja Bonet released her album “Childqueen” earlier this year and, like it is often the case, some tracks did not make the final cut. Luckily, the Californian artist is gracing us with three outtakes, three songs that were – maybe – too minimalist and sparse for the bewitching psychedelia of “Childqueen”. You can discover them below.

Kadhja Bonet is about to play a few gigs in Europe and we can’t wait to see her in Istanbul next week.

10.20.18 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy (as part of Strange Waves IV)

10.21.18 – London, UK – The Borderline

10.22.18 – Paris, France – Café De La Danse

10.23.18 – Istanbul, Turkey – Salon ISKV

10.24.18 – Istanbul, Turkey – Salon ISKV

10.26.18 – Madrid, Spain – Primavera Club

10.27.18 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Club

10.28.18 – Gent, Belgium – De Centrale

11. 09.18 – Brooklyn, NY – National Sawdust w/ Little Kruta

Following up on the amazing “Mother Maybe” and “Delphine,” Los Angeles-based multi-talented artist Kadhja Bonet has just unveiled a third track off of her sophomore album and as she sings it, it brings us into “another time and another space” with its festival of flutes, violins, guitars, drums, and bells. About the track, she said: “Bored with your partner? Escape to a fantasy. 104% guaranteed to be better than the real thing.” Listen to Kadhja Bonet‘s “Another Time Lover” below.

Following up on “Breathe In, Breathe Out” and “Cross My Heart“, French singer-songwriter Melody Prochet aka Melody’s Echo Chamber is unveiling a third single off of her upcoming sophomore album “Bon Voyage”. About this particularly lush new single, the artist stated:

[su_quote]It embodies my difficult life journey these last few years through my own personal desert of heartaches, thirst, mirages, moving sands, disillusionment and of becoming an adult woman in a mad world. It’s a little punk to me somehow.[/su_quote]

Listen to “Desert Horse” and check the Dr D Foothead-directed video that comes with it below.

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