HAYBOY reflects on ambition with ‘Smartness & Dollars’
West Virginia songwriter Daniel Brown returns under his HAYBOY moniker with ‘Smartness & Dollars’, the first glimpse of a forthcoming album and a thoughtful exploration of the distance between achievement and fulfilment. Blending alternative rock with psychedelic and Americana influences, the single combines distorted guitars with drifting melodies and a subdued, immersive atmosphere.Continue Reading
OpCritical turn resistance into a rallying cry on ‘Parachute’
Since forming earlier this year, OpCritical have made their intentions unusually clear. This is a project built around confrontation, using music as a way to engage with political tension, social instability and the growing sense that many people are being pushed towards the edge. And on ‘Parachute’, their seventh releaseContinue Reading
Calico Sun finds clarity in motion on ‘Cosmic Revelations’
With his new collection Cosmic Revelations, Connecticut-based multi-instrumentalist Sam Bahman takes the sprawling instincts behind Calico Sun and gives them their most complete form yet. Built across several years, the record gradually reveals the shared emotional thread of the uneasy process of adjusting when life shifts beneath you. It’s an ideaContinue Reading
Danny McGuire looks back with a warm clarity on ‘Friends ’Til The End’
Following the release of ‘Won’t Let Nobody Hurt You’ earlier this summer, Danny McGuire returns with ‘Friends ’Til The End’, a thoughtful new single that finds him leaning further into the reflective side of his songwriting. Throughout his newest offering, the Scottish-born, London-based artist keeps things relatively understated, allowing theContinue Reading
Be My Wife finds euphoria in the darkness on ‘Miami Song’
Having already carved out a wonderfully distinctive identity through The Restless Pursuit To Deliver A Feeling, Paris-based artist Federico Nessi now looks to push his Be My Wife project into even more adventurous territory. With its mixture of theatricality, shadowy electronics and unabashed personality, the project has always felt built aroundContinue Reading
’60s Magic Now!: The Y-Verse Gives Familiar Songs Room to Answer Back
The most revealing moments on Lisa B’s ’60s Magic Now!: The Y-Verse often occur when a familiar song encounters a voice that its original version did not contain. Lisa uses spoken interjections, new poetic passages, and an original guest rap to create exchanges across time. Her eighth album, digitally availableContinue Reading
“AUTONOMATIC” Connects HOL1D4Y’s Psychedelia With an AI-Era Question
Photo credit: Rick Horn The possibility that machines might eventually want independence sits behind “AUTONOMATIC”, Scott Holiday’s second single under the HOL1D4Y name. Its subject arrives at a point when artificial intelligence is increasingly involved in work, creativity and social communication. Holiday follows that development to a speculative next stage,Continue Reading
Two Full Careers, One Musician: Kristina Aglinz Releases Her First Original Single
A master’s degree in piano performance is a career. A Gold Medal in Jazz Vocal at the World Championships of Performing Arts is a different career. Kristina Aglinz holds both, along with the Overall Grand Champion title from the same competition, and she has never treated them as separate lanes.Continue Reading
“The Grand Elsewhere” Finds Eric Hirshberg Taking Stock of a Distracted Life
A crowded restaurant can contain dozens of people and remarkably little eye contact. Eric Hirshberg builds “The Grand Elsewhere” around that recognizable picture, watching a room full of lowered heads and wondering where everyone has gone. His answer is the imaginary destination named in the title. The Grand Elsewhere isContinue Reading
INTERVIEW: Almost Alive
For Almost Alive, artificial intelligence isn’t intended to replace creativity; it’s another instrument in the toolbox. The modern rock project created by software engineer and video game developer Evan Kanter has spent recent years exploring the meeting point between emerging technology and traditional rock songwriting, accumulating more than one million streams along theContinue Reading