“When I’m on tour, I get to surround myself with the most accepting and welcoming people on earth,” vocalist Sally Shaar explains. “I feel so heard, so supported. ‘Hear Me Out’ explores how difficult it is for me to live without that outlet.”

Their new single is “classic MONOWHALES evolved,” guitarist Zach Zanardo adds. “Emotional, proud, explosive.”

The post MONOWHALES share explosive new single ‘Hear Me Out’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Björk has released ‘atopos,’ the lead single from her upcoming album Fossora, which is out at the end of the month. “it is a good intro …. kinda like fossora´s passport,” she wrote in a tweet. “sonically a heavy bottom-ended bass world we have 6 bass clarinets,punchy sub drilling,nesting and digging us into the ground.” She officially announced Fossora last week, revealing that she worked on the album with Indonesian duo Gabber Modus Operandi and had contributions from serpentwithfeet and El Guincho. Prior to that, she teased that the album would sound like “clubbing in the living room.” [via Stereogum]

Sorry are about a month out from releasing their sophomore album, Anywhere But Here. They’ve shared two singles from it so far, ‘There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved’ and ‘Let The Lights On’ and now they’re back with another great track, ‘Key To The City.’ It’s gloomily groovy and gloriously bitter and sad. “I know that you’re somewhere out there, out there, getting fucked in someone else’s bed,” Asha Lorenz sings on it. “You said I always looked like a deer in the headlights in the headlights/ I still look lost in this city, in this city.” “‘Key to the City’ is a song that stemmed from a very specific situation in my life but that I hope has a more universal resonance,” Lorenz said in a statement, continuing: “It’s meant as a kind of tender ‘fuck you’ at the dying moment of a relationship you don’t necessarily want to end – when it’s hard to reconcile feelings of anger, jealousy, resentment etc. with the undeniable love you still have for that person. That crossover of pride and vulnerability led me to an image of a deer in the headlights. It’s about trying your hardest to retain control when you know you’re exposed emotionally, sexually, spiritually, everything. In the nude of the headlights, in the nude of someone’s love. The song came together after the original recording session and stemmed from Louis experimenting with new tunings to give us a bit of a push. This one has a Nick Drake feel. We wanted it to sound cinematic and lonely.” [via Stereogum]

Sudan Archives’ Natural Brown Prom Queen is out now. She’s also shared one more single , which joins previously released tracks ‘Home Maker,’ ‘Selfish Soul,’ ‘NBPQ (Topless).’ This one’s called ‘OMG BRITT,’ and it’s hard-hitting and concise, a celebration of what happens when you let loose. [via Stereogum]

Em Beihold takes viewers on a tour of the museum of anxiety and offers advice on how to overcome a panic attach in new video for ‘12345’ directed by Scott Felix. The singer says: “In writing ‘12345,’ my co-writers Dallas Caton, Alex Veltri and I wanted to bring attention to the 54321 method used to help ground you during a panic attack. The method involves naming 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. Panic attacks are scary, but the point of this song is to remind people of ways to help stop them and to also remind everyone that they’re not alone.”

France based pop/rock trio, OAKMAN is thrilled to announce their upcoming EP, SCP, will be out September 30 via Rude Records. SCP, an acronym for “sugar-coated pill,” is the band’s third EP which follows up their sophomore EP, Plastic World, released back in 2018. The EP shines a light on the trio’s growth through the addition of 80’s style synths, punchy drums and a groovy bass, all the while keeping their core pop-punk energetic guitars .Alongside the EP announcement, the band has also shared the title track of the EP. The pastel-soaked video for ‘SCP’ goes hand-in-hand with the nostalgic instrumentals and vocals as OAKMAN brings a taste of the 1980’s to the modern day while infusing it with their own unique brand of indie-pop/rock. About the song, the band says, “Marine was watching a show during lockdown called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The main character reminded her of a character she had played when she was doing theater. After the foundation of ‘SCP’ was written, she wrote the lyrics about these two characters. ‘SCP’ is a sarcastic and second degree track about the fear of loneliness and not being loved at all costs with a neurotic side.”

Exploding out of their hometown of Toronto, MONOWHALES have been putting a new lease on the alt rock genre. ‘Change###’ sets the tone for their brand new record, Tunnel Vision, produced by Dave Schiffman (Vampire Weekend, PUP). Hook-heavy, but more groove-based, ‘Change###’ pushes the boundaries of what a rock song can be. The focus track features an explosive rhythm-section in the guitar solo and lead vocalist Sally Shaar’s Robert Plant-esque wailing of emotion carries into the final chorus. Drummer Jordan Circosta explains, “We wrote’ Change###’ at a time when it felt like the world was spinning out of control. I’ve never seen so much division in my life. People were in a lot of pain, and the media was taking advantage of that, pitting people against each other like caged animals. Some of it was valid, some of it wasn’t, and at a certain point it became almost impossible to tell the difference.” He continues, “The Tunnel Vision mindset had us staring into the void through our phones, trapped in the echo chamber. But that same focus, when pointed towards music and our love for each other, helped us navigate hopelessness, nervous breakdowns, and worse. Like we say in the song, all we could do was focus on ‘keeping it straight, under the weight of all this ‘Change###’.'”

Iconic singer-songwriter-rapper-artist Brooke Candy embarks on her next musical era with her first new single in more than three years. ‘Flip Phone’ is available now at all DSPs and streaming services. The uncompromising electro-powered new track is joined by an official self-directed music video, produced by PAPER Magazine – the NYC-based magazine’s first ever foray into music video production – with South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster. “I wanted this to be the first song I came back with because I had the most fun making it, and I’m just having fun right now,” Brooke Candy shares exclusively with PAPER. “The video was a challenge to make because I wanted it to come out so perfect. And it did. We rented a rain room in LA and just went all out with the help of PAPER and Gentle Monster. Some parts were inspired by Pamela Anderson in Barbed Wire.”

Rising artist LUCI (pronounced Loo Chē) will release her debut EP Juvenilia on September 23 via UK label Don’t Sleep. Across the EP LUCI’s incomparable vocal dexterity and incredibly self aware and reflective mindset are on display as she explores everything from empowerment, self reflection, pride and completely unfiltered self expression. Written over the course of 2 years, it was brought to life through collaborations with a number of artists and producers including Glass Animals’ Edmund Irwin-Singer, who mixed the entire EP. Now fans can experience another taste of Juvenilia via LUCI’s new single ‘Gnarly’ which was recorded with Tickle Torture (Elliott Kozel) and and Safe Jazz (Jesse Schuster). Of the song she notes, “This song is just about being in your bag. Poppin yo s and backin it up! My music is about digging deeper inside to find your gold. You don’t have to bury or tame anything. You need to be diligent and sure – people love to be struck with striking authenticity. The video feels a lot like I am lighting the world up from the sunken place.” [via Broadway World]

Petite Meller hopes to influence the world through music she dubs “peace pop”. The French-Israeli pop singer advocates for peace among nations through music. Sporting her signature porcelain doll makeup complete with rouge cheeks and bleached hair Petite Meller takes the spotlight in the music video for her new single ‘The Drummer’ where she dances, marches and gallavants in a world completely occupied by children. Petite says the peace she is advocating for is for children, “In this song I’m shouting for peace. Piece of existence. Peace of mind. That’s why I call it “peace pop.” Particularly children brought up in countries like her native Israel that are often defined by violence, “Having grown up with war around, I like to give a stage to kids who come from tough backgrounds. So they can navigate it by wandering into and getting involved with art.” Those who know Petite’s music adore her, her fans are devoted and enjoy the fantastical elements she brings to her videos paired with shots of Petite embracing the dress and scenery in various countries. Many of the moments in ‘The Drummer’ were shot in Russia during 2021. The song is inspired by and takes its name from the book The Tin Drum by Günter Grass published in 1959. It seems like an obscure book for a twentysomething-pop singer to reference but not to Petite. The singer holds a Masters in Philosophy and utilizes her education when conceptualizing new projects that comment on global issues through her creative work, “Music videos allow me to create realities I can live in. Realities where I can cry out and sing at the same time and meet real people all over the world. Discover their culture and folklore. And together we create a new public movement in moments that raise us up, as we dance our pain away. ‘The Drummer’ is the pop singer’s first video in a year, her new album is set to be release in 2023. Petite Meller will also be selling her outfits worn in the video via Instagram and is donating the proceeds to raise money for scholarships for children of the Rockwell Dance Center who danced alongside her in ‘The Drummer’. [via V Magazine]

Don’t let the facial piercings and D.I.Y. snarl fool you, carolesdaughter (née Thea Taylor) has the power to transmute turbulence into strangely soothing alternative pop anthems awash in lo-fi glitch, bedroom acoustics, and gutter goth elegance as heard on her newest single ‘sunshine and roses.’ The trailblazing alt-pop artist’s haunting track has been paired with an ethereal music video companion piece showcasing carolesdaughter’s love for the dramatic and cinematic.

Sultry vocals, an alluring cadence and a velvet-coated soundscape: the very components that coax us into Tristan’s brand new single, ‘Human Allergy’. It’s “about a break-up where several people are hurt,” explains the Belgian artist. Mimicking the watery movement of her spellbinding production, the accompanying visual for ‘Human Allergy’ shows Tristan performing routines of fluid contemporary dance — allowing her lyrics to soak deep into the skin of whoever bears witness. “There is a You, She and He, and I always speak from an omniscient perspective about how they think, what they feel when these are just ideas I impose on myself. For example, the voice in the pre-chorus is a kind of ‘devil on the shoulder’ that only whispers negative things in my ear,” says Tristan. Touching on sentiments that resonate with anyone who has been unlucky in love, the lyrics unfold stories of deceit and adulterous thoughts while the devil-like pre-chorus continues to hold the melody hostage — eventually causing Tristan to cave into temptation and become the object of her initial despise. Elaborating further on the concept, she explains, “The video is a kind of translation of all the voices in your head, which are all projections. I chose a kind of dream-like atmosphere that feels very unnatural, so I also wanted to work in scenes where only very small details sometimes return from previous scenes because in dreams nothing actually seems logical and yet everything can feel very realistic.” Plunging us into an almost dreamlike state, it is safe to say Tristan has made us all succumb to the aftereffects of a ‘Human Allergy’. [via Wonderland]

The post appeared first on She Makes Music.

Distributed by Warner Canada and internationally through LAB Records, vocalist Sally Shaar, guitarist Zach Zanardo and drummer Jordan Circosta bring the heat with their signature super-pop, hooky chorus combined with the track’s fierce guitar, bass and raging synths. After a year of pouring their hearts out in some intense and at times dark songs, the band are shifting gears and sharing their fun summer banger about how much they love their friends.

Speaking on the track, Sally says: “Between all the darkness and introspectiveness of all the last few songs you’ve heard on this upcoming album so far, ‘RICH$$$’ is a breath of fresh air on a sunny day in the park with your friends. This one goes out to all your ride or die’s. What feels richer than a solid connection with a loved one. Nothin’.”

The post MONOWHALES are back with new single ‘RICH$$$’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Portland’s Jessica Boudreaux — known as the creative force behind indie-punk band Summer Cannibals (Tiny Engines, Kill Rock Stars) — has released her brand new I Think My Heart Loves to Break EP. She also shared the final single from the collection, ‘Loves to Break.’ Backed by rolling bass and infectious electronic elements, the noir-pop track details the cycle of being drawn to someone despite persistent heartbreak. The punk energy that defined Summer Cannibals still resonates in a form of direct intent, as she contemplates surrender, asking: “Wonder if I drop it all, I’ll stop hitting the same old fucking walls.” But in place of the massive distorted guitars, the song’s intensity comes from a careful and considered orchestration of sounds flowing over a steady beat and allowing Boudreaux’s signature vocals to shine.

Last month, Stella Donnelly announced her sophomore album Flood. So far we’ve heard lead single ‘Lungs,’ and today she’s back with the title track. “This song feels like a sad little adventure,” Donnelly said in a statement. “I wrote it in the dark depths of a Melbourne winter lockdown where it had been raining for consecutive weeks. Everyone around me was falling into their own version of depression at different times. It felt like a flood of trauma yet at the same time, we were given an opportunity of time to work through stuff that weʼd been distracting ourselves with for so long prior to the pandemic.” ‘Flood’ also comes with a video directed by Donnelly, Nick McKk, and Grace Goodwin. “This clip is pure ridiculous play, like going to your grandparents’ house where you and your cousins would get up to the most elaborate film projects,” Donnelly said. “We always ran around the house making home movies that tried to re-enact other films and much like this clip here, they always ended in some sort of minor catastrophe. With this video for ʻFloodʼ we have made a very feeble attempt at recreating the legendary OK GO video clip for ʻHere it Goes Againʼ and we failed gloriously.” [via Stereogum]

With her debut album Doomed set for release on September 21, Jesse Jo Stark is sharing new single ‘Modern Love’. “’modern love’ is a song that came in a moment, out in the world watching a new kind of love happen all around me,” she explains. “Something in my guts told me we’ve crept away from the pure love I have always wanted. People making friends as accessories. climbing people like ladders. It made me feel like a stranger in my own body.” [via DIY]

First Aid Kit have returned with their first piece of original music since 2019. The Swedish sister duo share their single ‘Angel,’ along with an accompanying music video. Lyrically, ‘Angel’ seems to document a relationship on the brink of collapse, as First Aid Kit square up their narrator’s anxieties with their love interest’s hostility: “What has that fear ever done for me but hold me back?/ What has jealousy and hate ever done for you but remind you of what you think you lack?” Klara Söderberg sings in the first verse over a fingerpicked guitar. Then, in the bombastic chorus, the sisters stand their ground by listing their demands: “Give me love and give me compassion/ Self-forgiveness and give me some passion/ I love you even though you can’t love me,” they sing in their trademark harmony. Watch the Mats Udd-directed music video for ‘Angel’ above. [via Consequence]

With the first single. ‘Anything But Time’, from their new EP, Beach Baby, Baby, Nick & June float in a glittering fog of trilling synthesizers, gentle beat and drum pulses and vibrating organ sounds. Embedded in dark reverb guitars, the bitter-sweet paired voices of Suzie-Lou Kraft and Nick Wolf lead the way through euphorically orchestrated restraint and meditative ramifications of thought. Where parallels were once drawn to artists like Bon Iver, Damien Rice, and Angus & Julia Stone, now also Beach House, Mazzy Star, and Lana Del Rey, peer through the reverb-veil. “The song was written really fast, very stream-of-consciousness, really really fast. It’s a brief song, with simple sounds, in fact just an old Casio keyboard and a drum machine, with lots of ideas in it. We don’t do too much talking about the lyrics so people can interpret them in their own way. Besides, sometimes even we don’t know one hundred percent what they mean.“ The band shot the accompanying video in an old hotel in Berlin, a late 19th-century tenement house that was once home to silent movie star Asta Nielsen. “We have watched many classics of film history and all time favorites in Pandemic – maybe that’s why the overall concept of the EP has a cinematic touch. With these impressions absorbed, we quickly had a firm idea of what the video should look like. The Hotel Funk in Berlin, as an already stunning location, was adapted even more to our wishes by Lillie Ceben, who was responsible for the set design, and Jeanette Friedrich then captured them and shortened them to two minutes thirty – which was really hard with such beautiful material. I believe that with Maja Bons as the actress, we have found the one person who can make this video fun from head to toe.“

Crawlers have shared a new video for ‘Fuck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say)’. The recently-dropped track follows the band’s absolute mega-hit ‘Come Over (Again)’. Speaking about the song, Crawler’s Holly says: “‘Fuck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say)’ is a song that’s very personal to us as a band. The song covers two ideas behind sex. First the trauma and disgust after sexual assault, and then the idea of how at the time of writing it I haven’t felt loved and only used for my body and for sex rather than the love I really wanted at the time.” [via Dork]

Alt-pop iconoclast Layke has released her new single and music video, ‘XOXO,’ the latest offering from her forthcoming EP, Frequency, out July 29. Co-written with multi-platinum Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, and artist Adrian Gurvitz (Andra Day, The Bodyguard Soundtrack, Stevie Wonder) and Transviolet’s Sarah McTaggart, the dance-club bop celebrates Layke’s journey of finding her voice within the LGBTQIA+ community and is a love letter to those who have embraced and supported her along the way. ‘XOXO’ is accompanied by a neon-clad music video that welcomes viewers into Layke’s vivid, candy-coated world featuring a diverse group of dancers meant to mirror the dazzling celebration of acceptance associated with Pride month. “It’s really an ode to the LGBTQIA+ community. This song makes you wanna move, makes you wanna dance,” Layke shares about the track. “It paints a vivid picture with lyrics like ‘prisms dripping light,’ ‘shining neon bright,’ and ‘we make the sun come out at night.’ It’s a true reflection of how enigmatic and beautiful each part of the community is.” Speaking about the music video, she adds, “It opens with a fierce choreo moment to welcome you into a vivid pastel neon rainbow candy coated world of all things fun. You’ll see familiar faces from my previous video, ‘No One Can Stop Us,’ who each represent a different aspect of the amazingly diverse queer community. We wanted to really highlight the brightness and love of Pride month and encourage everyone to keep that energy and Pride going 24/7 365. This is my dance love letter to the queer community!”

JUNO Award winning indie-rock juggernauts MONOWHALES return with another powerhouse release ‘StuckintheMiddle’. The Toronto based band, made up of vocalist Sally Shaar, guitarist Zach Zanardo and drummer Jordan Circosta, let rip a tiddle wave of catharsis on this explosive track exploring lead singer Sally’s complex relationship with self-identity. Through the unrelenting guitars and thumping drums, Sally screams out her spite, angst, and rage in hopes of growing self-aware enough to set herself free. In a statement about the single, Sally explained “Every day is a constant struggle, pushed and pulled around by my past, present and future. The deep seeded trauma from my upbringing can be so easily triggered it becomes unwelcomed habitual mannerisms, which I despise. Apparent and invisible expectations, instilled within me since the day I was born, are placed on every action I take. Do I choose to be a sweet, good girl, or an unapologetic rebel? It’s suffocating. ‘StuckintheMiddle’ is the caged-up embodiment of this unsteady confusion. At a certain point all this pressure starts to feel like a shaken-up bottle poised to explode. Singing the chorus, I feel like I am standing in the middle of a room screaming “What the fuck do you want from me?”. Accompanying the release is the new music video. The gruelling shoot sees Sally desperately fight against her restrains, set to the sterile setting of a classic 50s kitchen depicting what is expected of a woman in her position. “Those real (and heavy) chains were hooked to my arms for the entire shoot with folks on constantly pulling at them to get my real reaction of what it felt like to be pulled and dragged around. By the end the video, everything around me starts to crumble but I remain helpless no matter where I try to go. I had to pull up the deepest darkest places in my head to show this and by the end of this shoot I was physically and emotionally drained.”

Bay Area trio Rainbow Girls are currently on tour with revered singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco with upcoming California shows in Solana Beach and Los Angeles. In celebration of the appearances, they have released a new single, ‘Compassion to the Nth Degree,’ and an accompanying music video. The track is off a forthcoming full-length album of which few additional details have been revealed. Of the song, the group shares, “If you don’t like protest songs, you’ll love this. In a last-ditch effort to wrench up compassion for those we don’t see eye-to-eye with, we turn to love. This song names a kind of love previously undefined: love for the bigot, love for the thief, love for the destroyer. Infinite compassion. Only light can illuminate the darkness, so this is a sweet little love song for all the sh**heads out there.” Of making the music video, they add, “We made this video in our living room. We moved all our furniture outside, spent days taping aluminum foil to big pieces of plywood and hanging tinsel curtains. We bought gaudy cakes and donuts and covered them in glitter. We commissioned a custom eggplant emoji piñata from a woman in Oregon because we wanted a metaphor so blatant that even Party City couldn’t help us. We hired our dear friend Sam Chase to take a risk, take a test, and make this video with us (he also has a cameo in the video as our Donut Sommelier). We wanted to create a liminal zone lacking substance. A sugar-coated wonderland reflecting the vapid distractions and bulging vanity we were seeing all over social media, despite the very alarming reality of the world falling apart in every conceivable way. The thing is, we set out to make something airbrushed and fluffy and stupid in order to ridicule an internet culture that can be all of those things, and in doing so had the most fun ever filming a video. We got to makeout with glitter lollipops and roll around in cotton candy clouds- what’s not to love?????” [via Grateful Web]

A brilliant songwriting mind with a smooth, provocative voice, jena keating is turning heads with her new song, ‘Nobody Can Have Me’. The London-based Irish artist is an exciting creative who loves to explore genres which she chooses to align with, unafraid to break the mold. While her music could be considered alternative R&B, it also holds space for so many other musical genres such as jazz, rap, and pop. Her creative talents put her in a unique space that puts her a cut above. ‘Nobody Can Have Me’ is a personal song for jena, who describes the song by saying that it “encapsulates the painful detachment from a love not capable of lasting that long but did. It stores a solid truth that nobody ever will ‘have’ wholefully me, but it comes from a source deeply burrowed in fear. It is misfortune, longing, resentments. It holds the process of healing while also grasping the sound of no more.” [via Wordplay Mag]

Jessie Reyez is done putting up with a ‘Fraud’ in her first new solo music since the release of her debut album Before Love Came to Kill Us. Reyez makes her directorial debut in the single’s accompanying video alongside co-director Emma Higgins. The vivid clip features Reyez and a group of women who paint the walls red with blood while dealing with a couple of devilish men. They soon find themselves in a lush setting, where flowers bloom, making their own kind of Garden of Eden, free from the evil. “‘Oh, you’re such a fucking fraud,” she sings, calling out the betrayal. “Your lies they go on and on and on.” She laments the lack of loyalty and the pain of loving somebody who doesn’t love you back. [via Rolling Stone]

The post appeared first on She Makes Music.