This segment features artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to helen@shemakesmusic.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you!

Yvonne Ambrée
Yvonne Ambrée (also known as Panteon) writes, records, produces, and performs songs that bridge time and space, earth and sky, analog and electronic, introspection and observation. Ambrée’s latest project, set for an early 2023 release, is a collaboration with Brooklyn-based producer Jeremy Page. Ambrée and Page have together generated an eclectic sound that is as ample as it is elegant and as tender as it is tenacious. Voluptuous vocal harmonies abide by vividly arranged synth and analog instrumentals, creating a rhythmic current for the listener to drop into. Shaped by the slow return to social enmeshment after two years of pandemic life, these songs explore dimensions of desire, longing, non-attachment, and letting go. The first single, ‘Anyone Someone’ is out now with an an EP slated for releases in mid-2023. Yvonne had this to say about the track and project: “‘Anyone Someone’ was the first song I wrote with producer Jeremy Page in late 2021. After spending most of the pandemic months in Berlin and working alone on my solo project Panteon I was really excited to finally collaborate with other musicians in the same space and location again. The song plays with the idea of longing – any kind of longing no matter if for a person, a place or a feeling. Once you are aware of that longing and have no way to feed it it can sometimes turn into a free fall or you think you are loosing your mind slowly along the way ( 2nd verse “the rebel inside of you is confused and what and what not to do…”). Sometimes it is nice to remember that patience and learning from failure goes a long way in understanding who you are and who you might want to be even if it means to “try again and fail again, waking up to see the hurricane…”. It feels easy to say but so hard to forget. I most likely wrote the song as a reminder to myself and maybe I can remind some listeners along the way.” Listen below.

Ophelia Ray
London-based rock singer-songwriter, Ophelia Ray, makes her solo debut with an evocatively retro, yet distinctively fresh female rock anthem, ‘Unnatural Loving;. Whilst possessing a real love and reverence for the retro Queens of Rock, Ophelia also draws upon a profound interest in mythology and mysticism-as well as a contrasting appreciation for Gaelic folklore and music. This lends a subtle ethereal and poetic undercurrent to Ophelia’s otherwise boldly rebellious style of writing and performance. The result is a deeply original yet nostalgic brand of sultry rock’n’roll with femme-fatale delivery. Ophelia’s writing is wholly autobiographical yet steeped in metaphor. All her releases are accompanied by high-drama photo shoots and detailed hand-drawn artworks in an elaborate gothic/folklore style. For this artist, the audio and the visual arts are very much intertwined. Ophelia’s aim for this release is to honour her influences in the world of classic rock’n’roll, but to do so with a radically contemporary originality. Listen to ‘Unnatural Loving’ below.

kat candace
Rising singer-songwriter and producer Katelene Sevilla, known as kat candace, proudly releases her newest single ‘Grenades & Guillotines’. In this single, Candace reveals a bouquet of red tulips with intertwining red string representing the confusion and the frustrations of her own experiences. Candace wrote an produced the song herself. In the process of writing, Candace reflects on her past as she shares: “When creating this song, I had to reminisce on my younger self to be able to write of how I felt. Initially I did not realize how much I’ve changed and grown as a person. I used to be very self-deprecating, especially when I was blaming myself of another’s actions. I finished the song knowing that I am speaking up and sharing my side of the story. Ultimately, I’m proud of myself. I was reading ‘A Manual for Heartache’ by Cathy Retzenbrink. She had a chapter called ‘Grenades & Guillotines’ and it talked about how we all had a ‘grenade’ moment in life. I loved it and immediately put it as my song title. How anger explodes like a grenade and words can cut you like guillotines.” Listen below.

Sarah Yagki
Fresh from touring with Eskimo Joe frontman Kev Temperly, Sydney / Eora indie-pop songstress Sarah Yagki is announcing her forthcoming sophomore EP (out March 3), with the release of heartfelt title-track ‘I Love You, I Lied’. Known for delivering intimate pop-edged stories, brimming with earworm melodies and powerful vocals, Sarah Yagki’s creative process is directly influenced by her own experiences with songwriting acting as a coping mechanism for her PTSD. “I generally have trouble remembering and reflecting on moments due to my PTSD, and songwriting helps me process and articulate moments that I can’t compartmentalise in life,” Sarah explains. “My EP’s central message is the process of loss, with the title-track exploring the sense of chaos that occurs after you lose people.” Listen to ‘I Love You, I Lied’ below.

Maz & The Phantasms
Glasgow’s freshest psych punk six-piece riot Maz & The Phantasms release one of the most prominent songs in their live repertoire, ‘Psychosomatic’: a surfy/krauty/noise-rock symphony of queer angst that has become a sing-along sensation in the Glasgow underground scene. The young band is the post-lockdown project of Catalan-Egyptian Mariam El Sadr and her musical accomplices based in Glasgow Southside. Maz & The Phantasms turned up with a bang in the Scottish live circuit in February 2022. Moody, restless and unconventional, ‘Psychosomatic’ crystalises Maz’s misadventures in love, creativity, and self-inquiry from a queer perspective; the anxiety that manifests in one’s body and the very last hour at the party that depletes us of all self-worth. Conjured by undulating synths and psych guitars over a machine-like drum beat, ‘Psychosomatic’ indulges in excess: an anti-minimalist production by Luigi Pasquini (Helicon, Lionadh, Alice Faye). The track borrows elements from dance music, with an uptempo beat and catchy melodic hooks propulsed by a punchy bass line. The lyrics are an amalgamation of cut-up poems that Maz voices in a raw and rocky performance. Her gang of Phantasms supports her through the song like a power choir. ‘Psychosomatic’ encapsulates Maz & The Phantasms’ ambitious first explorations as a new sound that stands out from conventional guitar bands; bringing the queer, bold, playful, and European to the party. Listen below.

Alyx Bell
Alyx Bell is reinventing herself. After spending the “pandemic years” being mentored in music production by London’s Jordan Rakei, in September 2022 the emerging alternative-soul artist left her job as a mechanical engineer in Portland, Oregon to grow her music career in London. Bell’s debut single ‘Man on My Mind’ is out now. ‘Man on My Mind’ is an honest exploration of solitude and self-love. Co-produced with indie singer-songwriter Austin Prince, the composition features dreamy three part harmony showcasing Bell’s rich vocal tone that is often compared to Sade.The song combines elements of soul, folk, and electronic music, and begins with the voice of Bell’s mother, who was a painter and passed away when Bell was 19. “I’ve been an artist for a long time” — Bell felt it only right to have these as the first words on her debut single. It’s taken years for the singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist to consider herself a “real” artist, having grown up playing and writing music behind closed doors as an extremely shy child. Bell explains, “The lyrics come from a poem I wrote in 2020, when there wasn’t much to do except go for long walks, contemplate existence, and fantasize about non-existent crushes. I was largely inspired by Joni Mitchell’s stream-of-consciousness style writing.” Listen below.

HARRIE DBL-U
HARRIE DBL-U is a singer-songwriter based in South Wales (Abertillery). ‘Lucifer’ is the first of a number of tracks she plans to release this year. She takes inspiration from artists such as Missy Elliot, The Weeknd, Raye, and BANKS and she enjoys experimenting with vocals similar to HAIM, Kate Bush, Susanne Sundfor and Annie Lennox. She says of the new single: “Lucifer – ‘a proud, rebellious archangel, identified with Satan, who fell from heaven.’ You can’t help who you fall in love with, it can be excruciating and in this case.. it was a passionate disaster. Makes for good music though. When I write, it is truly my life’s diary, and when this track was released, it felt like much needed closure for that chapter.” Listen below.

Check out more of our recent submissions via the playlist below.