In making their new record, Hex Key, Mamalarky spent entire seasons hunched over guitars and obscure synthesizers, their hair sweeping over strings or covering concentrated eyes. The band recorded takes in between the sounds of passing ice cream trucks and yowling stray cats in their Los Angeles home studio, a tight but prolific living room. Hex Key is a document of perseverance, of going for the gold while somehow remaining totally aware of one’s own vulnerabilities. These effervescent, swirling songs chronicle vivid desires crashing against real-life limitations but finding a way to keep burning anyway. That tension between anguish and resilience, between performed aloofness and brutal honesty, drives the music, imbues it with a compelling intensity.

The band recently shared two Hex Key cuts, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ and ‘Feels So Wrong,’ and they share lead single ‘#1 Best Of All Time’ along with a new video. “Through a lot of games of UNO I’ve discovered I’m actually a pretty competitive person. And somehow, the feeling of losing has become highly motivating to me. I always feel like I’m competing against myself, trying to best my last attempt at whatever I’ve set out to do. Like, you probably can’t be the best of all time, but you’ll always be the best you of all time–no one can dispute that,” Livvy Bennett explains. “I wanted to write something that felt powerful but funny, too, like laughing in the face of doubt. Cause betting on yourself even when you feel like a losing horse pays off in big ways! If you can make yourself feel like you’re winning right at the moment of failure and only measure yourself against your own barometers, you’re gonna be a lot happier.

When we recorded this, we asked Dylan to just play something ‘crazy’ on the drums and worked backwards from there. He powered through this insane performance and the song came together autonomously from there.”

Hex Key:

1. Broken Bones
2. Won’t Give Up
3. The Quiet
4. Hex Key
5. Anhedonia
6. #1 Best of All Time
7. Take Me
8. MF
9. Blow Up
10. Blush
11. Nothing Lasts Forever
12. Feels So Wrong
13. Here’s Everything

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“We were in the dead of the summer experiencing another climate-crisis heatwave in LA with no AC. This song kind of sizzled out as our brain cells were struggling to fire. Everyone started dancing. We were supposed to be writing songs for someone else but we liked this one too much so we never sent it in,” Livvy Bennett explains. “We wanted to write about how it feels to not entirely know where you stand with someone. To think that you can see the future but ultimately surrender to uncertainty. The lyrics are obviously a little contradiction. Maybe not knowing is part of the fun?”

Of the video Bennett says “The music video got shot in a trashed office complex by LAX. My friends drove out for the occasion, g’bless <3. I’m really not a dancer, I actually almost failed out of dance class in highschool because I was perpetually high and untalented and my teachers hated me. Anyway doing this weird liminal space dance competition felt redemptive and terrifying. I still can’t believe I won.”

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BIBI has unveiled the music video for ‘Animal Farm’, from her upcoming studio debut Noir: Lowlife Princess. The release also marks the musician’s 24th birthday. In the blood-soaked new visual, BIBI shows up at a lavish party attended by masked elites. Brandishing a katana, she begins to behead each partygoer, revealed to all have pig snouts in the place of noses, one by one. “Sing the song of lies to death / Dance like the devil / Under the big guillotine at the centre of the grand feast / Whose neck is that?,” she sings in the chorus. ‘Animal Farm”s music video also introduces a figure named Oh Geum-ji, inspired by the character Lee Geum-ja from famed film director Park Chan-wook’s 2005 revenge-thriller Lady Vengeance, who the narrative of BIBI’s album will be based upon. [via NME]

Weyes Blood has shared the music video for ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,’ the first single from her anticipated new album And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow. Directed by Charlotte Ercoli, the video casts Natalie Mering in a post-apocalyptic musical where, Omega Man-style, she is the last person alive on earth, though she does dance amid the debris and the dead with an animated smartphone. Natalie herself calls this video “demented” and you can watch it above. [via Brooklyn Vegan]

Baby Queen has shared her much teased new single ‘Lazy’. Following on from her stint supporting Olivia Rodrigo on the European leg of her ‘SOUR’ world tour, and coming ahead of another support slot with fellow icon Conan Gray on his US dates throughout October, you can check out the track above. A press release claims Baby Queen – aka Bella Latham – “was asked to elaborate on the track but, in line with the sentiment expressed, she’s too f*g lazy.” [via Dork]

Explosive and energetic femme nu punk/grunge-rockers DOWNGIRL have doused stages around their hometown in Gadigal land in their highly flammable sonic kerosene and are kicking things up a notch with the release of their track, ‘Manic’. Bursting onto the scene with the dynamite ‘Beauty Queen’, this epic second track, ‘Manic’, off the group’s upcoming EP is 4 and a half minutes of powerful punk goodness. The gradual build of gritty riffs and fury-driven drums match the energy of the lyrical confessions that escalate with a fight or flight intensity. By the time it gets there, it fervently begs for relief with a euphoric, wall-to-wall noise-filled chorus and its refrain, ‘Manic’. The song hits like shots of cinnamon whisky – hard, fast and to dizzying effect, with a sweet but spicy aftertaste. Each member gives it their all, and collectively let go like an unrelenting force of nature. The enthralling track begs your worst enemy, ‘Do I have to keep reminding you I’m not too much for you?’. DOWNGIRL on the track’s origin: “‘Manic’ was written during Sydney’s last pandemic lockdown as a back and forth via the WWW. It explores mental health issues and the responsibility we must take for them during a time which is insular and introspective.” Filmed and directed by Stackhat, the music video for ‘Manic’ reflects a distorted reality with scenes of the band members at home, but flipped upside down. Things progressively get weirder. One band member draws a widening circle of smudged pink lipstick in repeated motions while forcing an unconvincing smile. Another beats drumsticks against a box of Froot Loops, while a third screams into the bathroom toilet. It’s disorienting and uncomfortable to watch, much like experiencing the timewarp of lockdown and getting caught in the mental battlefield of too much time spent alone. The mania-fuelled chorus is emphasised with DOWNGIRL piling into the car for a head-banging / scream-along drive down a tree-lined road.

‘Repeat After Me,’ the new single from Cornish singer-songwriter Nell Davies, is a witty indie pop song about being replaced in someone’s affections. Like all Nell’s songs, it’s a completely DIY production, recorded in a converted pigsty in the garden of her house near Penzance. The video, which features Nell’s evil twin, and was inspired by equal parts The Parent Trap, Twin Peaks and Fight Club, was filmed guerrilla-style at a remote Victorian folly in the early hours of the morning, before the tourists turned up. Nell says, “’Repeat After Me’ is about people going through life stubbornly refusing to learn from their mistakes, so making the same ones over and over again. It’s a trait I find extremely irritating, especially in myself.”

flowerovlove has shared a video for her most recent track, ‘I Gotta I Gotta’. Following up on recent singles ‘Get With You’ and ‘Hannah Montana’, she explains: “‘I Gotta I Gotta’ is fueled by searching for where you want to go in life and not knowing where that is, but needing to go now, fearing a lack of time.” [via Dork]

Now that Paramore have returned, it makes cosmic sense that Florida pop-punk trio Meet Me @ The Altar should release a new song too. In the midst of their tour supporting MUNA, Meet Me @ The Altar are back with a brand-new song, ‘Say It (To My Face),’ and it’s a banger. Built on a foundation of soaring, shout-along choruses and chunky guitar, ‘Say It (To My Face)’ is about shutting down anonymous social-media haters and is set to appear on the band’s forthcoming debut album, coming early next year. [via Stereogum]

Sam Smith unveils the official video for their new single, ‘Unholy’ ft. Kim Petras. Directed by the inimitable Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways film, David Bowie, Christina Aguilera) and choreographed by French dance collective (LA)HORDE, the provocative film is set in ‘The Body Shop’, a debauched show-world of wonder and danger. Leading a diverse and Queer cast, Sam Smith stars as the singing MC and Kim Petras as a dancer in a lustful extravaganza of costume, dance, and sexual power. Marrying the spectacle of Bob Fosse rubbing up against the unrestrained nihilism of A Clockwork Orange with a touch of vaudeville thrown in, ‘Unholy’ is a visual feast. Cameos include Gottmik and Violet Chachki (RuPaul’s Drag Race) and adult film star Paddy O’Brian.

Royal & the Serpent has returned with the music video for ‘Death of Me,’ the second chapter of a five-part series. The latest installment from the Los Angeles artist (born Ryan Santiago) is a somber electropop train of thought, and the accompanying visual sees the singer-songwriter thrown into her own version of A Clockwork Orange. Santiago has been releasing a track and video each week as a part of a project dubbed happiness is an inside job, an effort that will allow listeners to join her in pursuit of happiness. ‘Death of Me’ marks the followup to last week’s chapter, ‘IM FINE.’ “It’s kind of like a journey through my thoughts on figuring out how the fuck to be happy (which you would think would be simpler, but they really don’t spell just it out for you!),” Santiago tells Consequence. “This week’s chapter is a song particularly referencing the notion that we’re all losing touch with ourselves and with one another — even though seemingly we’re more connected than ever,” she adds. Indeed, ‘Death of Me’ epitomizes the idea of harsh reality. In a world consumed by technology, Santiago realizes that screens and machines do the inverse of what they were intended for — keeping people connected. The despair of the track is matched by its video, thanks in part to its Kubrick-esque brainwashing sequence and cuts to an empty room colored by dark organs spewing out of Santiago.“The internet killed conversation, personality, and friends/ We’re all depressed and self-obsessed,” she sings over a soft, dragged guitar before shifting to an intense sound with drums to match. For Santiago, this track is sonically “a ride” — one that she is especially satisfied with. “I honestly very rarely am excited to listen to the music I make, but there really is something so special about this one,” Santiago notes. “It somehow still gives me chills and that really never happens if I’m listening to my own stuff. I feel like it’s a little piece of my heart and brain in song form.” [via Consequence]

Upcoming Welsh artist Thallo shares new Welsh language single ‘Pluo’ (transl. Feathering) and announces details of her forthcoming bilingual Crescent EP, inspired by a unique subject matter and one deeply personal to Thallo – immobility. On new single ‘Pluo,’ Thallo showcases her unique sound, one that is enveloping, otherworldly, and multi-instrumented, spanning bedroom and dream-pop with subtle, textured jazz infusions and contemporary classic touches, both ethereal and utterly enthralling. Pluo translates as ‘feathering’ in English, meaning ‘lightly snowing’ which relates to the song’s poignant opening line “I gather dust which is feathering stillness.” Inspired by the effects of a sudden condition that Thallo suffered in 2020 which caused chronic knee pain and debilitating mobility issues, Pluo touches on the peculiar pain of watching the world return to normal following lockdown, whilst Thallo was trapped in what she describes as “My own personal lockdown.” As she expands “I felt so stuck, unable to return to my normal life. But most of all, the song is a cry of fear for the loneliness and hopelessness of being left behind whilst everyone else moves forward.” ‘Pluo’s accompanying video, a collaboration with Welsh channel Lŵp (S4C) produced and co-directed by Aled Wyn Jones and Andy Pritchard, takes inspiration from psychological horror and is filmed at the popular ghost-hunting spot Bron y Garth Hospital – a former 1800s workhouse/hospital now abandoned and frozen in-time. As Thallo explains “The setting perfectly mirrors Pluo’s lyrics of feeling stuck and deteriorating.” It sees Thallo wake to find herself in a blood-filled bath on the decaying hospital floor, what ensues is a struggle to escape the derelict building peppered with eerie imagery and horrifying flashbacks that lead to the chilling conclusion – that Thallo is in fact dead and trapped in purgatory.

Atlanta-based art-rock band Mamalarky release their second full-length album, Pocket Fantasy, on Fire Talk Records. Along with the album release, the band have shared a new video for album track ‘Frog 2’, along with a video directed by Spencer Ford. “I don’t know if I’ve better synthesized the way I feel with words than in this song,” says singer/guitarist Livvy Bennett. “I think I successfully collaged what I feel every day. I was going through a majorly introverted time in my life, but I was feeling hopeful and grounded in that. I was feeling less and less alone in my own little musical world. Michael was bullied into writing this song honestly. We were sitting at this dinky Casio and I said WRITE SOMETHING, and he did somewhat begrudgingly. I wrote the words and harmonies over it on on a series of desert drives between Austin and LA, trying to make something materialize.”

girli is back, but not as you once knew her – she releases her very relatable single, ‘I Really Fked It Up’ via AllPoints/Believe. It is led by a thumping melody and culminates in an urgent chorus, showcasing girli’s soaring vocals. The artist has entered her most unapologetically pop era yet, and ‘I Really Fked It Up’ is just the beginning of the next long-awaited chapter. girli’s new era-defining glam and wardrobe complement a stunning creative directed by the inspirational Fiona Garden (Wet Leg, Years & Years, Grimes and more). Milly Toomey (AKA girli) has been on an explorative journey of self-discovery, only to conclude that she can’t be boxed in. The singer-songwriter had been questioning who she was and had put so much pressure on knowing the answer, but soon realised it’s okay to not always know. To mark this epiphany, girli wrote the music she has always wanted to release, and one of the outcomes is ‘I Really F**ked It Up’. girli explains, “I wrote this song about doing destructive things to feel excitement, and absolutely hating myself for it. Writing this song made the whole project fall into place; why am I like this? Who is controlling my puppet strings when I do things I don’t want to do?”

Alternative artist Molly Moore has released ‘Hate Myself,’ the latest single from her forthcoming album, Miserably Sublime, expected early 2023. The single, co-written with Nevin Sastry (Phem, PRETTYMUCH) and Josh Murty (Maggie Lindemann), is injected with anthemic energy as Molly speaks to the mental turmoil she faced while falling victim to depression and self-sabotage. Amplified by a blend of steady drum beats and searing guitar licks, the track features a sing-along chorus full of self-deprecating dry humor about coming to terms with how you see yourself and those around you. The accompanying music video was directed by Molly and Francesca Maldonado (Justin Bieber, Dixie D’Amelio, Ashley Graham) and leans into the track’s lyrical playfulness as Molly comes face-to-face with herself. “I wrote the song during a very transitional period of my life. I’d been going to therapy and becoming aware that I tend to have a negative narrative happening with myself in my head,” shares Molly. “I was feeling pressure seeing all of my friends living more stable lives than me, getting married and having kids, while I’m in LA writing songs every day. I was also falling in love with someone that was emotionally unavailable, so I wrote this song with a bit of a sarcastic tone to try and process all of this. My goal with this song is to create a conversation that allows people to face their negative internal battles and challenge those perceived truths with another, kinder perspective that we can be nice to ourselves and still be radically honest.” [via Broadway World]

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Atlanta-based four-piece Mamalarky have shared a third track and accompanying video taken from their forthcoming new album, Pocket Fantasy which is set for release on September 30 through Fire Talk Records. Following the album’s debut single and ode to friendship ‘Mythical Bonds’, and the more introspective, meandering track ‘It Hurts,’ the band up the ante with latest track ‘Shining Armor.’ Accompanied by a video animated by Alex Futtersak, who is known for several striking visuals he has created for Cautious Clay and Crumb, the track is the kind only Mamalarky could have created. It delivers a tightly-wound blend of jazz-inflected, woozy, intricate math-rock and indie-pop – somehow at once both angular and heady – seeing the band strike a chord somewhere between both their most jubilant and abrasive. Guitarist/vocalist Live Bennett comments: “This one goes out to conveniently anonymous YouTube haters. ‘Shining Armor’ is an invitation for anyone who has shit to say about how I play guitar to go ahead and reveal themselves and play a little song for us! When I wrote this I was getting a bunch of comments about my gender and appearance and how that corresponds with how I play guitar. The only response was to covert that anger into something that’s genuinely so fun to play. Alex Futtersak (@chippy_zone) took this idea and crafted a whole world around it, where our music is essentially breaking a curse over these angry knights in armor. I actually sent him some DIY motion capture from my room so some of the moves are true to form.”

Last year, the Los Angeles electro-pop duo Magdalena Bay released their much-acclaimed debut album Mercurial World. Next month, they’ll release a deluxe edition of that album that’ll feature a bunch of unreleased tracks. Magdalena Bay have shared the squelchy stop-start pop song ‘Unconditional.’ In a press release, the band describes ‘Unconditional’ as the “weird little cousin” of their Mercurial World single ‘Secrets (Your Fire),’ and they say that the ‘Unconditional’ video is their “dream birthday party.” [via Stereogum]

Ghost Car, the London-based international punk quartet, announced their debut album Truly Trash following their signing to One Little Independent Records. The riotous, quick-witted collection of 11 garage-rock bangers will be released on October 28. The album provides Ghost Car with a platform to rage against political injustices, as their unified harmonies attack patriarchal inequality, homophobia, racism and toxic relationships. Truly Trash is a call to reclaim autonomy and to revolt against the powers that uphold an archaic nationalist system. Of biting new single ‘Selfish, Spoiled’ they told us that “we’d definitely found our groove writing together collectively, this one’s about that person in the creative industry (I’m sure everyone knows someone) who is so overly privileged getting pay outs from their mega rich parents, while other artists from working class backgrounds have to work so much harder for any type of ‘exposure’ while doing their day job. 16% of people in creative jobs come from working class backgrounds according to PEC”. Ghost Car worked closely in the making of the satirical video with art director Claudia Torán who tells us; “The story behind the video is that dinner guests played by the band represent ‘the system’ itself, (politicians, bourgeoisie, etc. portrayed in an exaggerated, ironic, sarcastic way) whilst ‘enjoying’ what appears to be a lavish dinner party. With fake attitudes and ungrateful behaviour. They don’t want to face any problems or injustices. Only interested in their egos. It’s later revealed that the dinner party, like ‘the system’, is rotten. Nothing is what it appears to be. Everything is now chaotic and the characters destroy everything, transforming into crazed guests, challenging the camera, trying to get the message through “will you ever open your eyes?” They continue; “This feels particularly relevant in the current climate, in recent times what feels like a nationalistic fervour has been unleashed. An oppressive media imposes its own narrative, and doesn’t reflect a country where millions of people are not able to eat and heat their homes.” The video also sees them teaming up again with videographer Simon Eaves and artist Maria De La O Garrido who created the extravagant props and set design.

Anna B Savage is sharing her new single ‘The Ghost’, which is out now via City Slang Records and was produced by Mercury Prize winning producer Mike Lindsay (Lump, Tunng). Speaking about new single ‘The Ghost’, Savage said “Exhausted from years of being haunted by an ex-partner, this song is a plea to let go, or be let go of. Exploring the particular cruelty of the human brain, that love can be felt so deeply, hurt so essentially and so much, and still feel so present many years later.” The video for ‘The Ghost’ was directed by Savage with creative direction from Sophie Hurley-Walker. It was shot by Katie Silvester & Sophie Hurley-Walker over multiple days on location in North Yorkshire and was then edited by Louis Hemming-Lowe. On the visuals, Savage offered “We wanted to explore a narrative where uncomfortable meets beautiful, and everything is alternately comforting and immediately strange and uncanny, like the tendrils of old love, once so joyous turned sour and frightening.”

It’s been five years since we’ve gotten a new Alvvays album, but we won’t have to wait much longer now. Next month, the great Toronto indie-pop crew will follow their 2017 LP Antisocialites with their new long-player Blue Rev. Thus far, Alvvays have shared two early singles, ‘Pharmacist’ and ‘Easy On Your Own?’. Now, they’ve broken us off with two more tracks at the same time. ‘Very Online Guy,’ the first of the new Alvvays songs, is a chilly, rigid synth-rocker with its vocals artfully blurred. The sound matches the subject matter, since ‘Very Online Guy’ is a song about the whole culture of reply guys. (If you don’t know what a reply guy is, you might be one! Don’t be one!) The song has an extremely pixelated music video, and Alvvays members Molly Rankin and Alec O’Hanley co-directed it with Colby Richardson. “We directed a mosaic-mode vid for ‘V.O.G.’ with our videoguru friend Colby,” say the band. “This was easily the funnest thing we’ve ever shot. Enjoy our clunky low-bit collage of aliased key clacking and step-dance scramble on your CRTs.” [via Stereogum]

Singer songwriter Bellah has once again delivered with her brand new track ‘Garden.’ The mesmerising track was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Jonah Christian and serves as the lead single of her new EP Adultsville. Opening up on the project on social media, the performer told fans, “Adultsville is place I’ve found myself in without remembering how I got here or what to do now that I am here.” Watch the enchanting visuals Ray Fiasco-directed visuals above. [via GRM Daily]

Not just an affectionate pet name to call someone but also an acronym for ‘Break Up Band’, Tāmaki Makaurau’s BUB tackle the hurly-burly world of relationships head-on in their fuzz-pop anthem ‘Dreams’, out now with news of a nationwide single release tour. The project of Priya Sami (The Sami Sisters, Trip Pony, Dateline) with bandmates Daniel Barrett, Alex Freer (the mastermind behind A.C. Freazy) and Jana Te Nahu-Owen, BUB’s super catchy song is more than a little bittersweet, as Sami opens up about yearning for a soulmate but feeling a mite unlovable, coming to the conclusion “let’s blame society.” Bleakly relatable yet wryly fun and upbeat, the single’s spiralling new wave melodies operate on the earworm level of their 2021 debut tune ‘King Of Wands’, rammed home in director Liv McClymont’s video starring the group fishing for love off the sunny coastline of Maraetai — but do their fresh catches measure up? [via Under The Radar]

Five-time GRAMMY Award-winning legend and the best-selling female artist in country music history Shania Twain has unveiled her first new single since 2017, ‘Waking Up Dreaming’. The single serves as her first release with her new label partner Republic Nashville, a division of Republic Records. Shania also released a video for the single, which was directed by Isaac Rentz.

Izzy and the Black Trees bring raw punk energy with their noisy psych guitar riffs, strong beat, and feisty melodies: we hear the likes of Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, and PJ Harvey channeled through the lyrics and delivery of this passionate political anthem. “‘Kick Out the Damned’ is a simple message for those who long overstayed their unwanted welcome, for those who unrightfully claim what’s theirs, particularly authoritarian leaders whose golden statues will tumble and fall eventually,” says Izabela “Izzy” Rekowska. It calls for a shift change in society; an uprising of the suppressed, oppressed, and depressed. Mariusz Dojs animated the gorgeously-nightmarish Tim Burton-esque stop-motion video, whereupon we witness the toppling of historic statues in a frenetic run-for-your-life chase. Izzy and The Black Trees blast through the spiritual veil with an infectious, fuzz-ridden punk soundtrack. [via Post Punk]

Art-Pop trio, Stealing Sheep, have just released a mesmerizing video for ‘Never Gonna Live Up’ alongside new UK tour dates for November. Mixing electronic pop, disco, Italo, 80’s synths and ethereal vocals, the single is featured on their latest LP Wow Machine, an esoteric collection of ‘computer based’ compositions inspired by female electronic pioneers. The tracks include a ghost member, the legendary electronic trailblazer Delia Derbyshire, as her sci-fi samples weave their way through the audio landscapes of the LP. Most of us will know Delia Derbyshire from the Dr Who theme tune. Stealing Sheep’s album is threaded together with concepts such as ‘invisible women’ and ‘humans vs machines.’ Emily said, “It’s about the overwhelming feeling of wanting to give up and the anger and frustration that arises as you keep striving but never get anywhere, wading through the mud pushing against the machine”. Their new video depicts floating human heads lost in the ether, malfunctioning, glitching out and losing their humanity. “Synthetic everything’ surrounds us, face filters, virtual realities, perfected avatars…we’re living in the deep fake. How is this affecting our mental state? How does it control our next move? How will our mortal imperfections ever live up to that of the machines?” said Bex. Although the depiction is dystopian, the overriding feeling is of empowerment and that nothing can replace the idiosyncrasies of humanity. True beauty lies in imperfection. “We released this LP with a femme ran label called Both Sides Records, it felt like the perfect pairing for this music. The label manifesto for rebalancing gender in the music industry rang true to the messages we’re writing about,” said Bex. [via God Is in the TV]

PRIESTESS, the alt-pop artist hailing from London, releases her bewitching new single ‘Holy Flesh’. An evocative music video lands also, co-directed by fellow artist and friend Ana Lemos in the vast isolated British coastal setting of Fairlight Glen. ‘Holy Flesh’ is the first track to be released from PRIESTESS’ debut EP set for release before the year closes out. ‘Holy Flesh’ draws us in from the outset, with haunting piano melodies and the artist’s rich alluring vocal. The atmosphere builds with woozy electronics and finally explodes with an epic instrumental to striking effect, reminiscent of something akin to Nine Inch Nails. Kate said about the single “’Holy Flesh’ is about the sanctity within the feminine and the rage felt when violence in words and actions are inflicted against a person, when at the core they are a sacred being. It was written at a time when I felt ‘weak’ and undermined for showing emotion. For centuries, women have been made to feel like this and I wanted to write a song about that silent anger, which can often be left without anywhere to be released or placed within society. For the video concept. I wanted to create something similar to a Gothic Folk Horror short, using witchcraft and murder as the main themes.”

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Following the album’s debut single and ode to friendship ‘Mythical Bonds’, new track ‘It Hurts’ has a delicate, introspective warmth. It shows a softer side to the album in contrast to the angular melodies and off-kilter pop moments, with Livvy Bennett’s plaintive vocal performance wrapped in a building whirl of keyboards.

“Writing about this song in this context feels extremely meta because the song itself picks at what it’s like as a musician to essentially be careerizing your own experiences and emotions,” Bennett explains. “It’s pretty bizarre to put out shit that is so personal – like, when someone loves a sad song you wrote it’s like…I’m sorry we’ve been down in the same way? Or, I’m glad you enjoy listening to something that was essentially an intervention that I needed to have, haha.

“‘It Hurts’ is also a bit about the one-sided narrative of songwriters writing about their lives and relationships, for that to exist out there forever and to be consumed by people who only know the song. I’m always left wondering about the other side of the story when I hear those epic heartbreak songs, we’ll just never know.

“There’s one line about being ‘a poorly drawn caricature,’ which is what it can feel like having any of your music deciphered by anyone. The goal is to draw a really moving, poignant portrait though and I feel closer to doing that with every song we put out.”

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Six months into the pandemic, three-fourths of art-rock band Mamalarky plunged into a new experiment and moved in together. Guitarist-vocalist Livvy Bennett and keyboardist Michael Hunter drove across the country, decamping from Los Angeles to bassist Noor Khan’s hometown, Atlanta. In September 2020, the trio rented a giant old house with vaulted ceilings, a tire swing, and a bare-bones little studio room. There, the band made its largely home-recorded new album.

The resulting album, Pocket Fantasy is a perfect sunny-day record – imaginative and introspective, an enveloping listen of sky-high hooks and keyboards that soar with joyful abandon. Its twelve kaleidoscopic tracks shape-shift aesthetically and thematically, through ideas about death and impermanence; love and gratitude; nature and technology; humour and hope.

The band share a playful ode to their friendship with new single ‘Mythical Bonds’, which comes alongside a video directed by Ambar Navarro (Soccer Mommy, Cuco, Moaning).

“I really needed to write something to accurately show Noor how much her friendship means to me, and our journey as musicians and friends,” Bennett reflects. “We need more songs about friendship. In peak album-making mode we were churning out songs, at times to the point of delirium. So we decided to shake ourselves loose and make this serotonin rock song about how much we love each other–to push past all those hunched-over studio hours and create this little summer memento. At the time we were having a lot of pond, lake and pool-side hangs, laughter under the beating heat. At the end of those days all we wanted to do was come home and synthesize those feelings in our studio.”

Pocket Fantasy:

1. Frog 2
2. Mythical Bonds
3. Little Robot
4. You Know I Know
5. It Hurts
6. July
7. Building Castles
8. Dance Together
9. Shining Armor
10. The Hour
11. Mote Controller
12. Now

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