Baroque-Pop

Today’s Track: Dana Gavanski – ‘Indigo Highway’

April 19, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Dana Gavinski in the official music video for ‘Yesterday Is Gone’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Tess Roby)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to settle my own nerves like a calming pill for a playful addition to my catalogue with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Inspired by the live performance aspects of David Bowie, Art-Rock singer-songwriter Dana Gavanski – a Canadian-Serbian musician based in London – almost followed in her father’s footsteps for a career in the film industry, but she developed her skills in music for a year and decided to release her first record back in 2017. Following that time, she has received acclaim for her work from sources like Exclaim, Monkeybiz and BBC Radio 6 Music, with the latter naming 2020’s ‘Yesterday Is Gone’ as their album of the week. She has recorded two live sessions for Marc Riley’s show, she has supported Damien Jurado on a tour across Europe and she has worked with Tuung’s Mike Lindsay as her producer. More recently, she recorded a cover version of King Crimson’s ‘I Talk To The Wind’ as a charity single. In the near future, she will be releasing her second full-length studio album – ‘When It Comes’ – as she gears up to add another release to her impressive resume for an artist who’s only been active since 2017. Set to release through Full Time Hobby on April 29th, she describes the release with “In many ways, this record feels like it is my first. When I could use my voice, I had to focus so there is an urgency and greater emotional trajectory than before. It’s very connected to vocal presence, which extended into an existential questioning of my connection to music. It felt like a battle at times, which I frequently lost”, in her own words. The new LP was recorded between Montreal and Belgrade, finally being mixed at London’s Total Refreshment centre by Mike Lindsay. Check out Dana’s single ‘Indigo Highway’ below.

Gavanski pitches ‘Indigo Highway’ as an unguarded Moog-built track that captures the loss of childhood relationships with sincerity and absurdity in her press release, as she explains, “From the beginning of my interest in songwriting, I’d tried many times to write about this relationship and never could. It felt too fragile, too fraught with experience and distant in many ways. However faraway the time feels, no matter what came next, ‘Indigo Highway’ endeavors to return to what made the relationship special. This song is like a prayer, or a way back, temporarily, to innocence and silliness and sunshine on a field”, in her words. The fun starts off with an idiosyncratic arpeggio groove and a distinctly retro kick drum beat that paves the way for Gavanski’s abstract vocals to find their mark, as lyrics like “I think I’ve found my way back home, Wandering out” and “When you come over and visit me, We’ll sit by the willow tree” offer pastoral and peaceful reflections on plunging yourself back through time to return to your innocence before the times that followed in adolescence. A Piano drops in rather whimsically, at a later point, to a jaunting set of verses where Gavanski passionately projects her voice with lyrics like “I’ll find your face, it’s changing in different ways/And I’m looking around to see” to contemplate the platonic friendships that she has been finding and declining, or naturally progressed away from, during her lifetime. Propelled by an obscure Synth hook and pierced Keyboard melodies that are locked together frenetically by a consistently no-frills drum kit, Gavanski conjures up a presence that feels highly original in the way that she mixes her playful musicality with youthful personality. Her warm crooning feels both familiar and otherworldly when paired to the otherwise percussive arrangement that feels reasonably melodic, but textured by the eccentric instrumentation and the transcendant qualities of her child-like lyricism. There’s shades of Nico and Cate Le Bon in here, as well as more Folk-costumed nods to Aldous Harding or Weyes Blood’s material, and so it should appeal nicely to a decent range of Alt-Folk and Country-Rock fans with it’s bright, yet widescreen brand of quirky atmospherics and whimsical daydreaming although it feels slightly faster in tempo than most of the music by the aforementioned influences. A joyful and cinematic piece that we could all connect to.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘When It Comes’ (LP/Album) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Full Time Hobby)

That brings us swiftly round to the end of the Indigo Highway for today! Thank you for coming along for the ride, and I honestly can’t believe how short this week feels because it’s almost time for a fresh new entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ that will be arriving on the site tomorrow. This time, we’re looking back at a very influential Swedish Prog-Pop duo with a cult following who have been celebrating their 20th anniversary with a number of re-issues since 2021. They are also known for wearing Venetian masks in their public appearances, and managing their Rabid Records label.

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Today’s Track: Sinead O’Brien – ‘Holy Country’

March 3, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a publicity shoot to promote a DIYMag.com feature (2020) (Photo Credit: Louise Mason)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for you to push your worries aside for a few minutes while we get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I am delighted to write about Sinead O’Brien once again today, who topped my list of ‘The Best EP’s Of 2020’ with her debut extended play ‘Drowning In Blessings’. An incredibly unique talent from Limerick who I describe as the “Post-Punk Poet”, I caught wind of O’Brien when ‘Taking On Time’ was offered for free on KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast in early 2020, a valuable resource when it comes to seeking out and sampling new music. Since then, her star power has risen. She has supported cult artists John Cooper Clarke and The Brian Jonestown Massacre on sold-out theatre shows across the UK and Ireland, she has performed at Eurosonic Festival and SXSW, and she has collaborated with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey (Foals, Black Midi, Squid, Fontaines DC) on singles like ‘Girlkind’ and ‘Kid Stuff’ that she dropped throughout 2021. I’m excited to report that O’Brien has announced that her debut solo full-length album – ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’ – will release on June 10th via Chess Club Records. Once again co-produced by Carey, the LP’s release has been accompanied by a long string of tour dates across the UK and Ireland for September and October 2022. Irish fans can visit her in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and more – while UK natives can catch her playing at venues in Nottingham, Brighton, Glasgow, Ramsgate, Bristol and more. Once again produced by Carey, her highly-anticipated LP was recorded in South London, and she teases, “The story of the album is built up in layers: One song giving context to the next. I thought about becoming undressed: testing my ideas, my voice. Working myself out across themes of identity, curiosity, creative process. Experimenting with the form and shape of language, using tone and delivery to get to the immediate centre of what I am saying”, Sinead explains in a press release. Let’s give her latest promotional single – ‘Holy Country’ – a listen below.

“The album title ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’, from the song, ‘Multitudes’, came into my head and made its demands, an idea that pressed on me throughout the record”, Sinead continues to explain about her solo album, concluding, “The clock symbol is enlarged, it looms like a moon over my activity watching, counting me down to zero. Dripping with self-sabotage and the feeling of being chased: it pulls and pushes against the verses which talk of ‘Multitudes’; the things that faithfully come back – the images, the words, creativity. It is creativity itself”, in her expressive press notes. Opening with a sultry acoustic-driven guitar riff akin to the ‘Country’ genre in reference to the track’s title, ‘Holy Country’ finds O’Brien being the architect of vocabulary that makes her really stand out in terms of lyrics, with O’Brien giving us a clear insight into her thought process as sequences like “I stare at the walls when I feel hollow/I stare straight down the hall and I follow the thoughts” swell above a Post-Punk crescendo of sounds that crash, thump and stutter beneath the more abstract, lyrical surface. Her vocal presence is commanding and demanding, as she exclaims the likes of “Take me to the secrets of the Saints” and she points out “The giants of time turning tunes” as she continues to flip the switch, disregarding the warm and folk-ish opening guitar riff at the start in favour of warped synths and rapid percussion that creates a more glitched-out sound. It is very unique and unimitable music from O’Brien once again, although the way that the sharp guitar riffs merge with O’Brien’s more free-form lyricism where she points out mental processes as we traverse her mind isn’t far from the well of Dry Cleaning’s Spoken-sung waxings, but the tone is clearly more serious while retaining an abstract nature. In conclusion, ‘Holy Country’ is another vivid stand-out from Sinead, who continues to convince me that she is one of the most creative human beings on the UK’s live music circuit. A very articulate and talented individual, her album has me hyped to a high amount that is often quite unusual for somebody as obsessive as me who listens to almost anything anyways. It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster and a totally refreshing record.

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a PR shot for her ‘Drowning In Blessings’ EP (2020) (Photo via Chess Club Records)

As I have mentioned, Sinead O’Brien has been one of our ‘regulars’ on the blog since I began the project actively in the summer of 2019. If you enjoyed ‘Holy Country’, you can check out some more of her sounds below:

‘Taking On Time’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/20/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-taking-on-time/

‘Strangers In Danger’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/03/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-strangers-in-danger/

‘Kid Stuff’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/15/todays-track-sinead-obrien-kid-stuff/

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a press shoot to promote ‘A Thing You Call Joy’ (2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Mahrouche)

That brings us to the end of another day of music coverage on One Track At A Time! Thank you for giving a few minutes of your day to me today, as your support is always highly appreciated, and I will be back tomorrow for another iteration of ‘New Album Release Fridays’. We’ll be previewing the third studio album from a West London-based indie rock singer-songwriter who recently stated “It’s a shame when you’re at a festival, and all you see is white guys” in a very candid interview for The Independent.

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Today’s Track: Mitski – ‘Love Me More’

February 28, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Laurel Hell’ (LP) (Released on February 4th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get down to business as we leave the shortest month of the winter for a warmer March as we head into Spring by covering one of the most crucial releases of February for yet another daily track on the blog, given how it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Dubbed as the “best young songwriter” of the US by The Guardian earlier in the past month, the Japanese-American singer-songwriter and producer Mitski has been raging up a storm domestically and internationally with her sixth studio album – ‘Laurel Hell’ – which she released to a healthy buzz and a positive reception on February 4th via the Dead Oceans label. Taking its title from a Folk term for being trapped in thickets of Laurel, an English name for common trees and plants of the Laurel family, that grow in the Southern Appalachian Mountains region of North-Eastern America. Her new album peaked in the top ten of the albums charts in the UK, Australia and Ireland, and it was the best-selling album in the US during its first week on sale, meaning that a wide variety of listeners heard Mitski’s dynamic take on nostalgic Disco, Synth-Pop, Indie Pop and Electronic Rock styles. I read a fascinating story that Mitski had to quit music to love it, as the record was originally reportedly going to be a stinker on deliberate purpose so that Mitski could finalise her current record contract and leave music peacefully, but that thankfully, didn’t turn out to be the case, and her vulnerable songwriting regarding topics like insomnia and mental weight went through many iterations over the last three years, with the record originally designed to be some form of an Avant-Garde Industrial Punk album, later becoming a softer Country album, before Mitski experimented with electronic production and the record was conceived in the final form that you can hear now. The final pre-release single was ‘Love Me More’ that you can preview below.

“Love Me More went through the most iterations out of all the songs on the album. It’s been too fast, too slow, and at some point, it was even an old style Country song”, Mitski said of the single, which has been accompanied by an official music video that was directed by Christopher Good, re-uniting Mitski with the creative behind her ‘Nobody’ video from three years ago, and she concludes, “Finally, I think because we had watched The Exorcist, we thought of Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ and experimented with floating an ostinato over the chorus. As we steadily evolved the ostinato to fit over the chord progressions, we began to hear how the track was meant to sound”, in her press statement. Starting off with “If I keep myself at home, I won’t make the same mistake/That I made for 15 years” in the opening verse, Mitski begins to croon about her own experiences with finding a fulfilling relationship while embracing a bright stadium-friendly Synth-Pop sound that feels so futuristic yet nostalgic in its tone and delivery, and so a similar collaboration with The Weeknd or La Roux wouldn’t feel out of place for her at some point in the future. A glistening sequence of piercing, self-reflective lyrics like “I wish this would go away/But when I’m done singing this song/I will have to find something else, to do to keep me here” complements a scattered soundscape of early 80’s New Wave synths and skittering up-tempo drum machine melodies that fit the musical ballad style of the lyrics that find Mitski crooning dramatic lyrics like “I could be a new girl/I will be a new girl” and “Here’s my hand, There’s the itch/But I’m not supposed to scratch” as the harshness of the impending Synths see a melodic increase, while never quite exploding into a full-blown club anthem, and so I thought that Mitski paced her instrumentation nicely here. The chorus has a more commanding presence, as she frantically pleads lyrics like “Drown it out/Drown me out” with a demanding atmosphere as the gauzy Synths soundtrack her way to finding nourishment. The end product feels a little scattered to me, but the production is attentively polished for what counts as a fully independent release and she does a great job of valuing her personality above a strive to ‘just have’ a commercial hit, with thoughtful lyrics that maintain the 80’s Pop influences of the track while avoiding the more recycled tropes of the genre. ‘Laurel Heaven’ more like.

Pictured: Mitski Miyawaka in promotional artwork for ‘Laurel Hell’ (2022) (Photo by Ebru Yildiz/Yahoo.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for tuning into One Track At A Time today, because your support is always very highly appreciated, and I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through a refreshing single by a group of San Francisco-based shoe-gazers who will release their first new album in a long break of 10 years in March via Fire Talk Records.

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New Album Release Fridays: Hembree (feat. Bodye) – ‘Operators’

February 4, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘It’s A Dream!’ (LP) (Released on February 4th, 2022) (via Oread Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to take a quick peek at one of the weekend’s most compelling album releases for yet another weekly entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! With new LP’s coming out from the likes of Black Country, New Road (Whose frontman Isaac Wood has just decided to leave the band), Mitski, The Animal Collective, Bastille, Cate Le Bon, Rolo Tomassi and Hippo Campus coming from left, right, front and center of the release spectrum today, it looks to be the first truly stacked week of the year from where I’m standing. However, there is also the sophomore album release from Hembree, a Kansas-based indie rock band whose music has been featured in a variety of ad sync placements for Bose, NFL and Apple ever since they gained national attention in the US with ‘Holy Water’ in 2018. Since then, Hembree have supported higher profile names like Phoenix, Cold War Kids, Joywave and Vance Joy on the live touring circuit. You may have also heard their material on the soundtracks of ’13 Reasons Why’ and ‘Outer Banks’ on streaming television. ‘It’s A Dream’ arrives today from Hembree, who were named one of NPR’s Slingshot Artists To Watch in 2018, and the band describe the LP as a record about getting freaky even while you’re freaking out, a quotable sentiment that is relatable to everyone who was left down in the doldrums while the album was written during the pandemic in 2020. A Funk-led single, ‘Operators’ owes a featured credit to Bodye. The band were also joined on a Saxophone section by Henry Solomon, who has previously linked up with Haim. Let’s hear their final results below.

Lead vocalist Isaac Flynn explains, “I wrote it right when all of the protests started in the summer, and the chorus in particular is about when the officers, national guard and even some of the city officials would act like they were with the protesters in solidarity, and then turn around and gas and attack them”, when he spoke about ‘Operators’ in a press release, adding, “They were acting like they were there to help, but it was all for show. It all felt almost cartoonishly villainous to me. I wanted to reflect that in the lyrics and in the dark, dance heavy groove of the song”, to his press statement. Starting off with the headstrong lyric of “Maybe, this time we’ll open our eyes”, ‘Operators’ quickly establishes itself as a track that is directly about 2020, which is fitting given how it was written in Hembree’s hometown in Missouri and recorded remotely from home studios during lockdown. It rolls along with a chirping Saxophone-led groove that is decorated by light percussion that ticks along at a brisk pace, while overtly political lyrics like “What do they want and who are they trying to please” emerge in the chorus. The drums kick along in the uptempo verses, although lyrics like “Overcalculated villains/They’re tying up, What everyone wants” and “Sundown to sunrise, we see the antithesis” find Flynn crooning with a subtle brutality that carries the point across. The rhythms come to life with the Baritone-style saxophone riffs by Solomon, while a more Hip-Hop led verse by Bodye continues to add some variety to the recording in terms of mixing the Funk influences with some Post-Disco vibes and making the lyrics feel as violent or aggressive as they should, given the subject matter of the songwriting. Overall, it’s pretty fantastic as a complete package. The chorus feels punchy and upbeat, but the verses have a tone of brutality to them which make them stand out among more light-hearted Pop offerings. The instrumentation sounds fresh and diverse, yet the Saxophone riffs are constant but not tedious. It feels like a mature pop song overall that offers something fresh to the market, with the lyrical messages about duplicitous law enforcement agents never feeling at odds with the brisk, snappy rhythms of the saxophone and the percussion since the instrumentation has a heavy edge to it as well. Full of violence and vibrancy.

Pictured: Isaac Flynn (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Garrett Childers (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Alex Ward (Lead Guitar), Eric Davis (Keyboard/Synths) and Austin Ward (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (Photo by Jonny Marlow)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day, and I’ve got to go to work now. Thank you, as always, for taking a moment out of your day to visit the site, however. I’ll be back tomorrow, just like I always am, with something nice and easy since it is Saturday. We’ll be listening to the brand new single from a rock band from Oxford in the UK who have toured internationally for a decade. They told us ‘What Went Down’ in 2015 and had a UK #1 album with ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2’ in late 2019. They also performed a surprise set at Glastonbury Festival in 2019.

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Today’s Track: Marissa Nadler – ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater’

December 20, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Marissa Nadler in a promo photoshoot for ‘For My Crimes’ (2018) (Photo via Sacred Bones Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to catch up on some great music from 2021 that may have skipped you by during the first time with yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you’ve been a regular follower of my site for a while, you may know that I love a bit of moody, bluesy and sometimes Folk-ish Americana, with artists such as Weyes Blood, Sharon Van Etten and Alexandra Savior being some of my favourites of this style, to name just a few. One of the genre’s most memorable offerings from the past year was ‘The Path Of The Clouds’, an album released in late October by the Boston-based and Washington-born singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler via Bella Union Records. She has managed to sustain a 20-year-plus career, and her latest record was her tenth mainline studio album. She typically swings for a Chamber Folk style of sound with elements of Gothic Rock and Dream-Pop mixed into the cauldron, but myself and a few online publications, such as Pitchfork and The Boston Globe, have each also noticed an underlying influence of Black Metal within her production too, an element of her mezzo-soprano vocals and dark instrumentation that sets her apart from other fine artists of the genre. Raised as Jewish, Nadler studied Painting at the Rhode Island School Of Design, where she learned artistic drawing techniques such as illustration, bookbinding, woodcarving and encaustic painting while singing at Open Mic Nights in the Providence area while she achieved a bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree a year later, and the hard effort that she puts into the visual storytelling of her music is evident through her unique background in Art Education, later touring with Drone Metal bands like Earth and the American primitive guitarist Jack Rose. Like many others, the origins of ‘The Path Of The Clouds’ were established during the Covid-19 pandemic, where she spent her time of self-isolation by watching repeats of the True Crime documentary series ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ and began writing songs about, and inspired by, the subjects of the series through their perspective. Receiving a wealth of positive reviews throughout NME, UNCUT, Record Collector, MOJO and more, Nadler fulfilled her goal of immortalizing the stories of people who deserve to be told on the recent LP. She also enlisted guests like Mercury Rev’s Jesse Chandler and multi-instrumentalist Milky Burgess. Her longtime friend Mary Littlemore, who plays the Cosmic Harp, features on Nadler’s wistful song ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater’ below.

Accompanied by an official music video directed and edited by Jenni Hensler with cinematography by Nick Fancher that depicts a preternatural world of fiction where Nadler changes the colour of the water and the sky, while floating effortlessly through a lake, becoming one with the colours and the ink, Nadler says, “When I wrote ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater’, I was contemplating the possibilities of possessing various superhuman powers: teleportation, aquatic breathing, extrasensory protection, and time travel to name a few. As a lyrical device, I married those powers with events in my life, wondering if and how they could change the past or predict the future”, in her press release. ‘Ethereal’ seems like an over-used word to me in the music press of today, but, really, there’s no better word to use for describing the textures of Nadler’s soundscape craftwork here, using a pulsating keyboard rhythm and a delicate, seductive bassline to create a light and flute-like series of sounds. Lyrics like “Shapeshifter, a cloud above your door/Late winter, like a storm” merge together with a poetic fluidity that conjures up a Shoegazing atmosphere and creates some menacing, but defiant, chords that feel as if they’re skipping weightlessly between a row of imaginary clouds while carrying an anchoring resonance through the zoned-out state of the subtle grooves of her rhythm guitar melodies. Lyrics like “If I could bring the moon down/So the day would never come/Would you fly, circle around the sun?” ponder something more philosophical and shore up against her vocals like the tide slowly coming in during a frosty morning at the seaside. Overall, it feels like perfect listening for the dry and icy December or January season of the year, as the melodies feel a bit ‘dreary’ in a way. That’s usually a derogatory statement, but what I really mean to state is that her sound is very cerebral while just about reaching some melodic heights that make it feel catchy enough to resonate. Moreover, the very layered and hallucinatory toolkit of Mary Littlemore’s cosmic harp echo the tone of the story nicely, as to bring the conceit of the song’s title to life in a fictional dream-state way when met with the consistency of the mildly anthemic guitar beats and the gradually paced Drum riffs. An intricate beauty with plenty of diverse inspiration to it.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Path Of The Clouds’ (LP) (Released on October 29, 2021) (via Bella Union Records)

That’s all for now! It is almost time to float away into the good times of Christmas in just a few days away, and so we will be soldiering on with our ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ series tomorrow with a brand new and original Christmas single that is also raising money for Feed The Homeless in Bristol. It comes from an equally talented female solo artist who released her debut self-titled LP on Invada Records last year with a follow-up EP releasing earlier this year. She also performed ‘Mork ‘N’ Mindy’ with Sleaford Mods on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ on BBC Two earlier this year.

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Santa’s Scuzz Sundays: The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Christmas Time’

December 19, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Pictured: Billy Corgan (Lead Vocals/Writer/Producer), James Iha (Bass Guitar), Jeff Schroeder (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar) & Jimmy Chamberlain (Drums/Percussion) in a press shot for ‘Cyr’ (2020) (Photo via PR)

Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays to you from me, Father Christmas, and – for a final time this year – I’ve got a new entry in my ‘Scuzz Sundays’ December takeover to give our regular writer Jacob Braybrooke (Who is almost the busiest man in the world, bar me) a little break, because it is his day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! My takeover has come and gone incredibly quickly, almost as quickly as the time it takes for one of my Elf’s to create a toy for the little children of the world, but it draws to a natural conclusion with a rare track from one of the most established alternative rock bands of the 1990’s, The Smashing Pumpkins. Best known for albums like ‘Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness’ and ‘Siamese Dream’, the name of the group probably has more to do with Halloween than Christmas. However, their blend of soft metal, dream rock, shoegaze, electronica and gothic rock has persisted throughout the ages, and their ambitious frontman Billy Corgan, who was also once a promoter for Total Nonstop Action wrestling, has ensured the project has sold its way to over 30 million records worldwide. It is also a solid achievement that the band are still going, having released a new album as recently as their eleventh LP outing – ‘Cyr’ – in 2020. Our good friend Jacob tells me that he is quite fond of The Smashing Pumpkins himself and that although their discography can be a little hit-or-miss, particularly in their dwindling late-00’s period and with some of their most recent material garnering mixed-negative receptions from him, they make music that is never inherently uninteresting and he appreciates all of the visual work that Corgan puts into their art, and so he still likes to make it clear that even his least favourite releases of The Pumpkins are not without merit. Believed to have been released in 1997 originally, their creative rendition of ‘Christmas Time’ was an original Christmas song that was a rare recording to come across since it was never formally released on one of Corgan’s albums. Instead, it was found on the compilation ‘A Very Special Christmas 3’ that was produced by the usual trio of Bobby Shriver, Al Cafaro & Linda Feder to benefit the Special Olympics via A&M Records. Let’s check it out below.

‘Christmas Time’ can also be found on The Smashing Pumpkins’ 2005 compilation, ‘Rarities and B-Sides’, that just does what it says on the tin. The original source, as mentioned, was ‘A Very Special Christmas 3’, the third in the titular of Christmas box sets released for charity. This iteration of the series also featured some appearances from Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews, No Doubt, Natalie Merchant, Sting, Enya, Hootie & The Blowfish and Steve Winwood, and the big release runs for over 66 minutes in its entirety. It reached #2 on the US Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart and it was certified as ‘Gold’ for shifting over 500,000 units by the RIAA. Keeping things short and sweet at a less daunting 3:17 however, was Corgan’s original track ‘Christmas Time’ which was second in the track listing, and it feels like a natural choice to warm you up for the more mellow or hard-hitting cuts later on. Reflecting on the fuzzy and kind-hearted memories of times gone by, Corgan uses nostalgic lyrics like “We watch the children playing, beside the Christmas tree/The presents are wrapped up, it’s beautiful and secretly” and “I remember dreaming, Wishing, hoping and praying for this day/Now I sit and watch them/The little ones I love” introduced a more mature theme of enjoying Christmas time as an adult, which feels like unique and relatively untapped subject matter in other yuletide anthems. There’s a delicate String section that dominates the backbeat, as well as some whimsical Horns that help to set the tone of a simple Christmas done right in the opening. The key hook of “Christmas time has come, toys for everyone” gets the simple message of ‘Christmas is finally here’ across in a sweet and pleasant way. Musically, this probably has the most in common with the band’s ‘infinite sadness’ era as it doesn’t really reflect harder rock archetypes, but it feels almost child-like in the way that it depicts Christmas in such an earnest way that is complemented by Corgan’s vulnerable vocals well. There’s a few Synth textures buried in here, but the track certainly has an eclectic air of rhyme and reason to it. As a complete package, this makes for a really gorgeous and subtle Dream-Pop release that wears its heart on its sleeve and conveys a basic message in a pleasant way. It plays to the softer side of The Smashing Pumpkins that is rarely seen, but is very appreciated when it does pull in an appearance, and it feels somewhat strange that it hasn’t really been given any cover versions or re-workings for John Lewis ads at Christmas in later years. At the time, it was a refreshing change of pace for a band who are known to release intimidating double albums and inter-connected albums to opt for something simpler and indulge in straightforward holiday cheer, and Corgan strikes a good balance between child-like joy and more adult-oriented nostalgia in his lyrics. I’m sure that Jacob would love for me to point out that Corgan could have easily just recorded a simple cover version of an already more established song for the record all of those years ago as it would have cost him nothing. However, he instead decided to write his own lyrics and chord sheets from scratch. This is testament to what makes Corgan’s project so appealing over the decades and why The Smashing Pumpkins have survived throughout the saturation of ‘Indie’ for so long. He never repeats himself and, as an artist, he always gives his all into everything what he does. That’s something that we can all deeply admire about Corgan. To conclude, this is an essential addition to your playlist as it has everything that you could want from a Christmas song since it feels traditionally festive as well as original.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Mellan Collie and The Infinite Sadness’ (LP) (Released in 1985) (via Virgin/EMI Records)

Jacob has also informed me that Corgan and his co-horts have made two previous appearances on the site. You can catch up on their recent material with ‘Wyttch’ from 2020’s ‘Cyr’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/27/todays-track-the-smashing-pumpkins-wyttch/. Or, you can relive their ‘Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness’ days with his take on ‘Tonight, Tonight’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/27/scuzz-sundays-the-smashing-pumpkins-tonight-tonight/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Cyr’ (LP/Album) (Released on November 27th, 2020) (via Sumerian Records)

I’ve got to give Rudolph’s nose a wipe – and so I’ll leave it there for today! Thank you very much for having me throughout December, and I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Jacob Braybrooke again tomorrow, who will be having a brief reset before Christmas to help you catch up on some music that you may have missed in 2021. The next pick comes from a Black Metal-influenced Art Folk and Country singer songwriter who issued her tenth studio LP via Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union in October.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: The Lathums – ‘Krampus’

December 15, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: The Lathums in a still image taken from the ‘I’ll Get By’ music video (2021) (Photo by James Slater)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time that you make sure to reach Santa’s nice list this year so you don’t anger the mean streak of our titular villain, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The title of ‘Krampus’ does not sound like very cheerful inspiration for a festive track at first glance, given that it was named after the ancient folklore of a Satanic version of Santa Claus who leaves children with lumps of Coal (or even worse, in some stories) on Christmas Eve night. However, it is an alternative addition to the Christmas canon that has been tackled by Wigan native indie rock band The Lathums, who earned a shout on the blog just two months ago ahead of the release of their debut album, ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’, which went straight to the top of the UK Albums Chart in September, and it is currently amongst the likes of LadBaby, Elton John & Ed Sheeran and George Ezra in the running to become the 70th Christmas #1 entry on the UK Singles Chart. Since meeting at The Music College in their local district of Pemberton, The Lathums have signed up to Island Records and recently finished a run of UK dates including The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen. They have also been selected as Radio X’s ‘Record Of The Week’ with ‘Krampus’, giving them national mainstream airplay in the UK. American audiences can find out what they’ve missed when the band play at South By Southwest Festival in Texas next March. Let’s listen before we get caught in the claws of ‘Krampus’ below.

Talking about writing the horror-themed Christmas track in the blistering heat during summer 2020, the frontman Alex Moore said, “It was about halfway through the first lockdown when Johnny played the bass line in rehearsals and I thought it sounded like a Christmas song”, explaining, “Scott and I had been round at his house watching the ‘Inside No. 9’ christmas special, which is where I found out about the horror of Krampus. If we were to do a Christmas song, I wanted to do it with that dark side”, to the press. The band have been an unexpected hit with mainstream audiences this year, and so ‘Krampus’ feels like their final ‘Thank You’ to all of the fans who have supported the 4-piece through the period of breakthrough while also adding another feather or two to their cap. Beginning with a jaunting guitar line with a Brit-Pop vibe that reminds me of Supergrass and The Charlatans, the band sour the sherry trifle of Santa with lyrics like “No one can hear my call/Consuming all the voices” and “You’d better not cheat and you’d better not cry/and you’d better not lie, I’m telling you why/Santa ain’t coming this year” as they establish the tone as a track written from the perspective of the mythological character that ruins the season. Later lyrics like “Cause we live in Wigan where the carolers will be singing/And they’re sheltered by the rain” switches this viewpoint for something more sentimental and uplifting. Meanwhile, there’s a Baroque influence in how Moore performs his own backing vocals that reminded me of Panic! At The Disco, a comparison also made clear by the fast and rhythmic poetry of the lead vocals in most areas. Lyrics like “Your Christmas will be cancelled anyway/You might as well enjoy your time today” take small jabs at how Covid-19 has impacted the season too. As a complete package, it feels like The Lathums have got into the spirit of the season enough despite the faintly dark atmosphere of the subject matter, with some quick skiffle beats and some Jangle-Pop influences where the Acoustic guitars feel heightened and the drums were speedily produced. For me, It didn’t really capture the horror-centric essence of the ‘Krampus’ character as such, but it is pulled together by some neat guitar riffs and the nimble creativity of Moore’s quick and quintessentially British vocals and, lyrically, this is competent. I actually felt as though I enjoyed it more than some of the band’s more standard material because it stood apart from other popular UK indie acts more with the wordplay vocals and the old-school 60’s instrumentals. While associated with the darker side of Christmas, ‘Krampus’ is a fun and fast alternative to the light-hearted and commercial Christmas fare that we’re more used to that could be filed alongside ‘Sleigh Ride’ or ‘White Christmas’ with no trouble on UK radio. I just hope I won’t be hiding under the sofa from Krampus after pressing play on it, as to summon his wrath.

Pictured: Alex Moore (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter), Scott Concepcion (Multi-Instrumentalist), Johnny Cunliffe (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Ryan Durrans (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (Photo Credit: XSNoise.com)

If you liked reading about ‘Krampus’, here’s another track on the blog by The Lathums to tide you over by: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/09/09/todays-track-the-lathums-ill-get-by/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ (LP) (Available from September 24, 2021) (via Island Records)

That’s all for today! I hope that you receive a nice card and not a lump of coal from Krampus this year, and I’ll be back tomorrow to squeeze in another ‘Countdown To Christmas’ post before the moment has gone. My next pick was a great recent discovery, as the song comes from a multi-talented musician who is also a film and TV actress. You may have seen her in the role of Snakebite Andi in the recent ‘Doctor Sleep’ adaptation based on the book by Stephen King. She’s also appeared in Hulu’s ‘Future Man’ and ‘The Babysitter’ duology of films found on Netflix – as well as acting in the recent reboot of HBO’s ‘Gossip Girl’. She has two sisters who are also actresses.

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Santa’s Scuzz Sundays: LCD Soundsystem – ‘Christmas Will Break Your Heart’

December 12, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: James Murphy (Vocals/Synths), Nancy Whang (Keyboard/Synths) & Pat Mahoney (Drums) (2017) (via PR)

A Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays to you! This is Father Christmas himself, and it’s time for you to peel and chop down some carrot sticks to leave out for my brilliant Blitzen on Christmas Eve night, when you’ve finished reading my latest ‘Scuzz Sundays’ takeover from Jacob, whose day-to-day pleasure is to write up about a different piece of music every day! Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and IT IS my job. However, we all go through that patch like ‘Christmas With The Kranks’ where we all feel like simply not doing Christmas for one year because it is the busiest and most expensive time of the year and not just the most wonderful. One of my favourite Christmas songs to ever encapsulate that feeling of seeming down around the holiday season is ‘Christmas Will Break Your Heart’ by the well-established Brooklyn-based Synth Rock icons LCD Soundsystem. This was a standalone digital single that was released by the multi-time Grammy nominated group in 2015 when the rumor mill was circulating around the band’s core line-up reunion before they recorded their critically acclaimed comeback album, ‘American Dream’, for release in 2017. At the time, it marked their first new material in five years. Self-described by frontman and DFA Records co-founder James Murphy as a “depressing Christmas song” at the time of 2015, it was recorded when he found a window of opportunity to reunite with Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney and Tyler Pope (who agreed to fly in from Berlin (with the determination of my sled and my red-nosed Rudolph) for a few days in New York together during a break between guitarist Al Doyle’s tour dates with Hot Chip. Let’s give it a spin below.

Jacob tells me that ‘Sound Of Silver’ is his favourite LCD Soundsystem album to date. He’s also a huge fan of KEXP, and the listeners of that Washington-based public radio station voted for ‘Sound Of Silver’ to be #23 in their 666 Best Albums Of All Time poll taken in 2019. Murphy had been singing the tune to himself for the past eight years, and the band says that after coming together they “reserved a pressing plant, and our friend Bob Weston was available to master it quickly – so that means, less than 2 weeks after recording it, there is actually a Christmas 7″, which feels like something that could only have happened a very, very long time ago” as December itself is far too late to record a Christmas song in most cases, but I know the feeling as my Little Helper’s head honcho has to rush around at the last minute like a headless turkey every year. A slow ballad along the same lines of 2007’s ‘New York, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down’ from ‘Sound Of Silver’, meaning that Jacob would probably like this track as well, ‘Christmas Will Break Your Heart’ is a reminder of the rarely heard vocal range of the Alternative Rock pioneers, in terms of their songwriting abilities and stylistic versatility in being able to record festive music, dance tunes, rock ballads, pop crooners and most things in-between. Lyrically, the song is an acceptance that the miracles of Christmas often touted in festive movies and TV perfume advertisements aren’t really things that truly exists. Instead, for Murphy and his co-horts, Christmas is a time more akin for loneliness, isolation, unrealistic expectation and expenses that are devoid of joy. Refrains like “Like that laid back rock ‘n’ roll, Your body’s getting old/It’s much too tired to be bold” talk about how Christmas feels less magical as you get older, while later lyrics like “Like the armies of the unrelenting dark/Once the peace falls apart” talk about the cycle of conflict that humans return to when the time has long gone. There’s enough variety in the lyrics to encompass a broad range of topics under the umbrella of Christmas time, and the gloomy gift of 2015 is a reminder that once you’re the parent paying for the meal and the presents that we share at Christmas and once you fail to believe in Santa Claus (Which, for me, frankly, is an absolutely preposterous idea), the tingling secrets of Christmas fade with diminishing returns across time. It is a bold and pessimistic song, but it is honest. There’s nothing quite like hearing Murphy’s lovesick croon in here, which feels like a bitter cross between David Bowie and Biffy Clyro’s vocalist Simon Neil. It is also a song that we can all relate to, and a subversive twist on the happy-go-lucky and “everything’s just the most amazing thing ever” tone of your typical Christmas single. Overall, while this probably isn’t for everyone due to it’s bleak nature, it is different and it wears its heart on its sleeve. The muted Piano is heartfelt and it meshes nicely with the resonant and steady drums that any self-respecting Christmas song has, and this structuring leads to a wonderful sequence of bass lines towards the final stretch. While it’s unlikely that it will ever be considered a staple at primary school choir recitals or on BBC Radio 2’s daytime programming, it is highly relatable, and it goes for a clear tone that succeeds well. A bittersweet bow of beauty.

Pictured: LCD Soundsystem performing two singles on ‘Saturday Night Live’ (2017) (Photo via Will Heath/NBC)

Jacob has posted about LCD Soundsystem in his early days, including ‘Get Innocuos!’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/23/todays-track-lcd-soundsystem-get-innocuous/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Sound Of Silver’ (LP) (Released on March 12th, 2007) (via DFA/EMI/Capitol Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out One Track At A Time today, and Jacob Braybrooke will be in the co-seat again tomorrow to start off another week’s round of daily music posts. I’ve got business to attend to, but he’s told me to tell you that we’ll be catching up on some music that you may have missed earlier in 2021. It comes from an indie folk duo from Bergen, Norway who were the inspiration for Indian duo Parekh & Singh and they topped MTV’s European list of the best music videos of 2004 with ‘I’d Rather Dance With You’. In June, they released their first LP record since 2009.

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Today’s Track: NoSo – ‘Suburbia’

December 9, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Suburbia’ (Single) (Released on September 28th, 2021) (via Partisan Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to introduce you to some music that I wish I had gotten around to writing about sooner, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! As we approach mid-December, the time has come for me to tell you about some music that I discovered earlier in the year that still deserves some praise on the blog. ‘Suburbia’ is certainly one of them, a melodic Art Pop track created by the Asian-American indie/alternative singer songwriter Abby Hwong – who releases her music under the alias of ‘No/So’ – who has recently signed to Partisan Records. She was also a finalist of NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2019 with her intimate and acoustic track ‘Abbie’. The 24-year-old musician says that she writes “from the perspective of a queer Asian-American navigating through different environments and relationships, and the confusion, pain and beauty that arises from it” in her music, citing everyone from Ben Howard and Blood Orange to Bruce Springsteen and 90’s K-Pop as her influences. Hwong also graduated from USC’s music department with fellow alumni including Remi Wolf, King Princess, MUNA and Jensen McRae. Even her name of ‘No/So’ is a nod to her Korean roots and the question of “What Korea are you from?” that she says many Americans have been said to ask people of her ethnicity. She is also aware of the lack of representation for her heritage across the entertainment industry, saying, “Growing up, I didn’t see many people who looked like me in music and TV and that was disheartening; I was worried the experiences I had were too uncomfortable and niche” in a very important interview with The Line Of Best Fit. Although now based in Los Angeles, Hwong grew up in the suburban outskirts of Chicago that the popular 2004 comedy drama film ‘Mean Girls’ was based upon, and ‘Suburbia’ – released back in September – reflects upon this upbringing. The Chantel Simpson-directed music video for the single was also inspired by a photograph of an 8-year-old Hwong dressed up for Halloween. ‘Suburbia’ is a diverse track that really cements her voice as one that needs hearing from her upcoming album. Give it a spin.

‘Suburbia’ is a personal and vulnerable document of the narrow-minded nature of a one-dimensional environment that Hwong grew up in, and she notes, “I was a very weird kid growing up because the environment was predominantly white and hetereonormative. I stood out like a sore thumb, even though I deeply wanted to conform”, in her conversation with The Line Of Best Fit. Regarding her sexuality, No/So also tells them, “Throughout middle school and early high school, I was teased for being Asian and Queer (even though I was closeted). I was called ‘lesbian’ as a slur, girls asked me out as a joke etc, it was heinous”, in the article. Thankfully, Hwong turned to writing music during her formative years with a keen interest in playing the guitar. Part indie rock ballad and part melodic Synth Pop diary entry, Hwong tries to accept the hardships of her past while holding on to the nostalgic times with her friends. She uses lyrics like “Rich kids and boutique drugs/And I miss you like it’s enough” to call back to the innocence of youth with her tongue slightly in her cheek. Small anecdotes like “We sit outside the pharmacy/Eating golden Oreo’s” recall the small but profound moments of her teenage years that you never quite register until you move forward in time. She also discusses the absurdities and the norms of her suburban life with lyrics about mum’s gossiping about their teenage children and the other laughing stock of those seasons. Her instrumentation is radiant and eminently listenable, with a hazy and spacious vibe coming off the back of some slacker rock guitar melodies. The different layers build quite slowly, but the tone is blissful and the vocals seem poetic throughout. Combining her unique experiences of growing up in a different environment that wasn’t immediately accessible to her with some quips about the indignities of reaching your adulthood after two decades of suburban life, ‘Suburbia’ feels like a well-proportioned slice of Desert Rock charm that features a rousing chorus and feels like a better fit for the title of the track than the Pet Shop Boys’ chart-topping recording of the same name from the late-80’s. Gorgeous vocals set against well-rounded production with a catchy chorus – ‘Suburbia’ feels essential.

Pictured: NoSo (Abby Hwong) in a photoshoot for a We All Want Someone To Shout For interview (2018) (via PR)

That’s all for now! Thank you for supporting the blog and favoring independent creatives like No/So, and I’ll be back tomorrow to mark the return of one of our recurring favourites on the blog as we continue the ‘Countdown To Christmas’ as the festive season rolls along like a reindeer strapped up to a sleigh. The artist is a 90’s Alternative icon with several Grammy Award wins and nominations to his name. ‘Odelay’ and ‘Sea Change’ were both ranked on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All-Time and he co-created the amusing credits song for The LEGO Movie 2.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – ‘In This Home Of Ice’

December 8, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Alec Ounsworth (Lead Vocals/Synths/Drum Machine/Rhythm Guitar), Lee Sargent (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tyler Sargent (Bass Guitar), Robbie Guertin (Keyboard/Backing Vocals) & Sean Greenhalgh (Drums/Percussion) (2011) (Photo via TuneFind.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to get those jingle bells ringing as we carry on with our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ series of winter posts this year, not forgetting that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘In This Home On Ice’ arrives to your attention from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which used to be an indie rock collective of musicians based in Brooklyn and Pensylvania who were popular in the mid-00’s. However, as of 2012, it now exists as a solo project of their frontman, the multi-instrumentalist and producer Alec Ounsworth. The band never expected to find much commercial success when they were formed, but the demand for their rare debut album was so high they were required to reprint the CD following its release in 2005. The likes of David Bowie & David Byrne were also spotted in attendance within the crowd of their live shows around the time too, and so that certainly helped their case, with the band becoming a solid alternative to the more rowdy Brit-Pop movement of the 00’s indie scene that saw rock bands like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs finding overseas popularity with their more brash melodies, and the more cerebral style of production from Ounsworth was largely a refreshing change of pace, leading to strong word of mouth as a good, old-fashioned way for the group to set themselves apart. ‘In This Home On Ice’ remains to be a favourite of Ounsworth’s discography and it was released as a single from 2005’s self-titled debut LP. The album found fame on the back of buzz built up from various MP3 blogs and music publications like Pitchfork and songs from the record have appeared in wider popular culture like the 2011 teen drama film ‘The Art Of Getting By’ and an episode of ‘The Office’ in the US during 2005. The band themselves have appeared in the 2008 film ‘The Great Buck Howard’ and scored a track for the 2008 film ‘Woodpecker’ along with James Lavino. Released as a single in the UK in 2005 by the indie label Wichita Recordings, ‘In This Home On Ice’ peaked at #68 on the UK Singles Chart. This one is still a crowd favourite at live performances, and Ounsworth’s performed it as recently as 2015 for a ‘Live On KEXP’ gig seen below.

Although Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is now considered to be solo act, Alec Ounsworth remains to be as active as ever in releasing new material and keeping the fans that have stayed with him engaged. In fact, he self-released a new album – ‘New Fragility’ – as recently as February 2021 to favorable reviews from critics who enjoyed his dark expression of mature themes like divorce on the album. If you live locally to me, you can also get tickets to see him live at The Portland Arms on 7 June 2022. As for ‘In This Home On Ice’, however, Ounsworth presents a distinct flair of a mirror in small pieces as the production feels quite fragmented and documents a nervous breakdown to the beat of some barbarically styled post-grunge rock. It features lyrics that are hard to decipher at times, much akin to the work of Shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine in the early-90’s. Explicable as both a document of a tough breakup or a critique of how society treated romance in the early 00’s on the whole, he goes for some aural textures and some winter-themed lyrics that feel like a neat complement to the uptempo guitar melodies. It feels like he’s also borrowing from bands like RIDE and The Sundays as the contents lean more towards some bedroom pop production that wouldn’t feel out of place in the popularity of that genre nowadays, and the sweeping vocal whines of Ounsworth feels like a mixture of Stereophonics and Blur in terms of wider Brit-Pop influences. While not strictly a Christmas song, there’s an upbeat vibe to the tune and key refrains that compare frost and ice to the trials and tribulations of how “confusion becomes a philosophy”, in Alec’s lyrical words, when it comes to the fantasies that watching TV creates and how the memories that we salvage from a failed romantic partner can impact our expectations of what a successful partnership should look like, as well as touching upon the visual cues of love and he disfigures the illusionment from the perspective of a disjointed Circus fugue. I would have liked the melodies to feel a little more festive and the melancholic mood may become unsettling after a while, but it’s a good track that encourages me to let my guard down and enjoy some wholesome Pop music. There’s nothing that is intently very original about the songwriting or instrumentation as such, but it has an air of nostalgia and vibrancy to it that is more important to me. I also like how you can barely hear what Alex sings because it creates the kind of Shoegaze mood that encourages you to co-operate with the music to map more onto it, and it allows you to nurture a more personal connection with the fuzzy textures of the guitar and drums, as opposed to having too much of a clear-cut narrative that you are told to follow. While not technically a Christmas song by any means, this is pure 00’s indie that is lovely to associate with this frosty festive season.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’ (LP) (Released on June 28th, 2005) (via Wichita Recordings)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog and it is highly appreciated as always. Tomorrow, we’ll be catching up on a cracking new single that was originally released in September by an LA-based Asian-American singer songwriter who graduated from The University Of Southern California’s music department alongside fellow alumni including Remi Wolf and Jensen McRae. She cites everybody from Ben Howard to Blood Orange as her influences. On her excellent track, ‘Suburbia’, she reflects upon her personal experience of growing up in Chicago.

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