Sister Gemini materialized within LA’s rock scene back in 2022 with a pair of singles that saw the project’s creator Remy Jean testing the waters of indie-rock songwriting. Now, she returns with her first new recording in two years, ‘One Room Apartment,’ alongside murmurs of a debut album cooked up while enrolled in the School of Song program, taking on assignments from modern indie icons Phil Elverum and Robin Pecknold. The first taste of these songs sees Jean spreading her wings significantly beyond what she accomplished on those prior tracks while, ironically, singing about the cooped-up feeling we all experienced at the height of COVID. “‘One Room Apartment’ is about attempting to rely on external comforts to pull you out when you’re in a funk,” she explains of the tune, which is an amplified version of her previous work that recalls the grunge-pop compositions of Bully or Palehound. “I start by calling my friends but when they aren’t available, I turn to casual sex to try to numb the loneliness. I wrote this song during the pandemic, when the world really did feel as small as my apartment at times. It’s a pretty vulnerable song for how upbeat it sounds, I love that contrast.” Check out the music video below, which reconfigures the track’s titular studio unit as an eerily lit tent as Jean ultimately finds a more healthy companion to ease her loneliness. [via FLOOD]

Matilda Mann fans are sure to rejoice, as the London born and raised singer-songwriter unveils two brand new songs that showcase her diverse musical talents. The lead single, ‘Meet Cute,’ features sultry pop hooks layered over soulful, groove-infused drum beats and captivating melodies. Her other offering, ‘Tell Me That I’m Wrong’ is a folky track woven with delicate guitar patterns, telling the story of two souls tentatively taking the leap into love. These tracks mark Matilda Mann’s first new releases of the year, with the promise of a body of work to come. Speaking about ‘Meet Cute’, Matilda muses “You know how you love your favourite book so much when you give it to someone, you say, “I wish I could read it again for the first time”…this song is about wanting to meet your favourite person, over and over again.” The song is accompanied by an enchanting video, directed by the talented young UK director Ben Harris, who specialises in conceptual music videos, commercials, and narrative films. The video features Matilda and her love interest experiencing various first encounters, all set within the confines of a tiny dollhouse. Matilda shares, “Meeting someone for the first time is such an adrenaline rush. The possibilities of what could happen run around your head like crazy. You wish you could meet them over and over again. So we made a video where you do! You meet them at a party, a train station and then in the style of classic movie “meet cutes”, all carefully set and orchestrated by… yourself”

Ascendant alt-rock/pop artist Towa Bird debuts the playful video for her latest single, ‘Deep Cut.’ The visual goes a long way to capture the singer, songwriter, and guitarist’s one-of-one personality and talent, both of which are on full display in Towa’s just out debut album, American Hero. Powered by driving punk-pop and nonchalant vocals, ‘Deep Cut’ is a scathing kiss-off that begs to be blasted from car windows. The video comes courtesy of director Haley Appell (Remi Wolf, Blu DeTiger, Tyler, the Creator), who places Towa in a series of overtly green-screened scenes. Towa appears in an oversized pinstripe suit — running through the suburbs, in a bathroom stall, being harassed by a twister, fishing a lagoon, and fronting a band full of Towas.

Portland indie rock artist MAITA has released a devastating new album called want via Fluff & Gravy Records. Led by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Maria Maita-Keppeler, the band’s third full-length release is their most crystallized work thus far. With the album’s release, the band also shares the official music video for ‘waking up at night,’ a tender anti-lullaby about depression and self-improvement. As Maita-Keppeler says, “Sometimes all you can do is research every vitamin, tackle every deficiency, gain control of some aspect of your life that perhaps might be improved upon.”

New York City/Los Angeles-based alt-pop group MisterWives finally share Nosebleeds: Encore, the highly anticipated deluxe version of their 2023 album, Nosebleeds, out everywhere now. Alongside the full project, the band shares the cathartic, empowering female rage anthem and official video ‘Vultures’ featuring PVRIS. The 17 track album is complete with an astonishing list of all-female collaborators and reworked tracks, including appearances by Betty Who, Pom Pom Squad, Meet Me @ The Altar, Against The Current and more, and a remix by The Aces. The powerful ‘Vultures’ featuring PVRIS channels the spirit of Nosebleeds–high energy, unapologetic feminine rage. The cathartic collaboration sees two friends put their strong female bond on full display. When writing, lead singer Mandy Lee says, “I knew we needed someone with as much teeth as the music and there was no one better to do the job than the iconic Lynn Gunn–who didn’t just bring the energy but took the song to a whole new level!” Gushing over Gunn’s artistry, Lee continues, “Her talent is genuinely one of a kind and having been a fan of her killer voice, songwriting, production, creative vision and love for cats for years finally getting to create together was such a privilege! Bonding over our experiences as women in this industry and getting to channel that divine feminine rage into ‘Vultures’ was as cathartic and empowering as it gets.” On the video, director Matty Vogel says, “The video for Vultures centers on the crux of the song, being “stuck inside of a game” where we encounter Mandy, Lynn and the audience all lulled or hypnotized into normalcy, falling in line, and becoming part of a system. We shot most of this video in an endless white cyc with clinical overhead lighting and combined it with rotating and moving shots to make you lose your bearings and feel ungrounded. The beat of the Newton’s cradle suspends reality from the first shot, and the viewer is invited to be entranced into an environment where the ground’s not always beneath your feet!”

Kate Pierson has been busy with the B-52s and selling her airstream compound. Now, the legendary musician is announcing a new solo album, Radio And Rainbows, and sharing the lead single ‘Evil Love.’ “Sometimes evil love is the only love you need,” Pierson said in a statement. “A not so true tale of obsessive possessiveness and righteous revenge. I started out writing a song with the amazing Bleu McCauley with the idea of a song about forgiveness; but when our creative chemistries collided, the result was a noir thriller of a song set on the coast of Maine. And it’s one hell of a storm — so hang onto your hats for Evil Love !” About the album, she continued, “It’s an eclectic group of songs, anthems, dance things, a disco song… Overall, the album has an upbeat vibe because I wanted to put out something positive in these dark times. I wanted to make it fun!” She added that for a while she felt like “it would’ve been a betrayal if I’d done something on my own outside the B-52s,” she said. “It was a prison created by my own mind.” During the band’s brief hiatus in the late ‘90s, she wrote and recorded enough songs for a solo album. “But our manager put the kibosh on it,” she explained, “because he worried that our label Warner Bros. would object.” Radio And Rainbows features Sia, Chris Braide, Jimmy Harry, Tim Andersen, Bleu, and Sam Dixon. [via Stereogum]

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Elea Calvet
Elea Calvet has shared her new single ‘Sinuous ways’ via Hyssop & Victoria Records. Set to tug at your heartstrings in its ponderous exploration of the fleeting nature of all things good or un-good, it dwells on the ambiguous with hope and gravity. After years of musical hoarding and machinations tucked away from the limelight, Elea’s melodic creatures are finally ready to emerge and captivate your mind. She says,”This song is not new, not to me at least, but its nature is in stark contrast to what you have heard from me to date. Raw, intimate and slightly foreboding, it sits in a space more intrinsic to my being than anything I have shared so far. To this effect, I composed, wrote and mixed all of it by myself in my lengthy and eagerly cultivated seclusion. I did however hire a handful of wonderful musicians to play the strings and clarinet. Initially written by demand of a music supervisor for a film, I fortuitously seized a note I had not intended to, it radically diverging in style from the one called for (this version is nothing like its original form) and captured the intangible poignancy that draws me to the songs I adore. My taste is idiosyncratic and abstract but always relies on this elusive but necessary element that moves and gnaws at one’s heart in its sometimes fatalistic earnestness.” Listen below.

Erin Astra
Irish Alt-Pop prodigy Erin Astra announces her debut EP Homesick and unveils lead single ‘Closed Doors’. Erin Astra embodies an unwavering sense of self. Her magnetic sound, a fusion of alt-pop melodies tinged with grungy undertones, draws inspiration from her Irish roots, infusing a cheeky Irish slang into her lyrics. Astra’s sound has been influenced by artists such as Avril Lavigne, Pale Waves and Melanie Martinez. ‘Closed Doors,’ offers a glimpse into Erin’s transformative journey, as she fearlessly navigated the challenges of pursuing her dreams in London. “‘Closed Doors’ recounts my initial experience upon arriving in London – a fairy tale gone wrong. It captures the realisation that the life I envisioned was far from easy, this EP is my survival guide,” she says. Listen below.

Twin Headed Wolf
Julie and Branwen Kavanagh are Twin Headed Wolf, a pair of twin sisters from Lahinch, Co. Clare in Ireland, specialising in eccentric, theatrical, ritual-imbued, folklore. Having disappeared from the Irish music scene in 2017, the twins return to share news of an album, Altarwise, due for release February 29. It is an album lost in time. A lost treasure for the archives, this album illustrates the first creative impulse of Branwen and Julie. Indeed, it is the first album they ever made. All of their dreams, ideals and ideas are contained within the ritual worlds of each song. Listen to ‘The Black Keys’ below.

Grace Calver
Grace Calver is a 20 year old singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Essex. Up until now she has been known for her tongue-in-cheek indie pop songs complaining about her love life but no more! She is about to enter her “CRUSH ERA”! ‘Will U Be Mine?’ is out now. “A song about instant attraction, catching someone’s eye across the room, wondering if they felt it too or just smiled at you out of politeness! Do you take the chance and ask them?” says Grace. “Tell me I am not the only one to crush on someone I’ve just met and imagine in detail how it could work out.” ‘Will U Be Mine?’ is an energetic and fun pop song with swirly guitars and lively synths. “When I started writing the synth part for the song I was taken back to the music in the video games I have played over the years and I leant into these for inspiration,” she continues. “This then led to the art work idea of me as my very own pop star video game character, drawn by the very talented El Locksmith who I met at college a couple of years ago.” Listen to ‘Will U Be Mine?’ below.

Sick Day
The band Sick Day was founded in 2019, right before the coronavirus made sick days perpetually relevant. The band is led by Olivia Wallace, a respected staple in the Chicago DIY scene. She writes infectiously catchy pop-rock tunes that don’t try too hard to conceal their disarming honesty. Both humble and charismatic, they tackle everyday thoughts about love and the general difficulties of being alive. In addition to Wallace, the band has grown to include Ryan Donlin, Kaity Szymborski, and cellist Chaepter. Working their way through the Chicago underground, they have opened for bands such as Friko and Winona Forever. Their clever lyrics and earworm riffs easily find a home with contemporaries such as Palehound, The Beths, and Illuminati Hotties while also nodding to classic 90s indie rock. ‘Overexposure’ sonically evokes feelings of anguish, turmoil, self-doubt. A reclusive state where everything feels bigger than usual and you begin to doubt your perception of the world around. “Is everything out to get me? Probably not. But in a death by a thousand cuts, you begin to pin yourself as the common denominator—and thus amorphously the cause of—your daily struggles. “Don’t make me laugh cause I’m feeling like a joke would turn me onto my head.” There’s nothing lyrically indicating a hurtful or mean joke. It makes me think of the state of mind when ordinary daily occurrences and minor inconveniences can topple you over because of your own inner turmoil. A sort of breaking point that sends you spiraling inwards, doubting yourself and your perception of reality,” say the band.

CECIE
CECIE, a Budapest-born UK-based pop artist, channels the essence of 2010s pop with influences from MARINA, Lady Gaga, and Tove Lo. Challenging stereotypes, she brands her infectious, uplifting tunes as PUMP (Pure Unapologetic Mainstream Pop), pushing back against the stigma surrounding mainstream pop artists. Starting her journey in Hungary with appearances on The Voice and Eurovision pre-competition, CECIE, armed with a degree in Songwriting and Music Production from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, is set to unveil her solo project to the world. Embracing diverse passions and talents, she takes charge of every creative aspect, including writing songs, capturing and editing photos, designing the logo, artwork, album covers, and marketing assets—treating her project as a platform to fully utilize and showcase all her creative skills. Step into CECIE’s debut, ‘Cry Baby,’ a lively fusion of catchy melodies, playful tones, and creative spirit. Born from a university songwriting task, this track delves into a toxic romance, capturing the thrill of the evil alter ego indulging in a partner’s longing. The lyric adds a deeper layer to the cheery melody, creating a dynamic blend of contrasting emotions within the song. Listen below.

Maita
Maita is an independent singer-songwriter from South-West London creating music that can be the soundtrack to everyday adventures. She describes her music as pop fused with cinematic arrangements which has been inspired by soundtracks andfilm scores. “I’ve always been a fan of soundtracks, so I love the idea of someone imagining they are in a movie when listening to my songs. After all, life is more exciting when you pretend you’re in a movie!” she says. ‘All I need’ is a cinematic love story in sound. Featuring a blend of heartbeat like drums and dreamy strings, it’s about the rush of falling in love and the rollercoaster of emotions, from anticipation to excitement, that follow. She says, “I would describe it as a magical sound, I smile listening to it every time. The chorus, especially the 2nd, emulates epic movie vibes, think Taylor Swift and Enya meet Hans Zimmer.” Listen below.

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

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