Meres are leaping into 2021 - albeit belatedly - with the world’s eyes on them, and the song that's going to make them all fans is 'Stomach'. 'Stomach' is a noisy and riveting track that encapsulates Meres and all their twisted brilliance, heavily layering grunge-y guitar and thick-cut percussion with vocals that teeter between intimate and anthemic; personal and opening, but strong-armed and tall-standing in their deliverance. The end result is dark and indulgently rich, witnessing Meres soar to new heights as they continue to level up with every release. "When I look at it from a personal perspective, I know that I’d like to be a confident and brazen type of person who believes in myself easily. But truthfully, I really struggle with feeling like I don’t belong on the stage, or anywhere for that matter. I’m working on it though, and one day I hope to believe in myself the way that I believe in those around me," says Mary Shannon on the single, which also arrives alongside a video clip created by Cameron Jones. "The film clip’s original plan (I think) may have had a slightly more structured message, but when we got there on the day it just made more sense to cut loose a little, and let everyone decide what they wanted to contribute," she says, talking about the video. "It was just a great, fun and wacky day with lots of laughing and I was very happy to include so many of the talented women in my life that I admire and respect. And big thanks to Arts Tasmania who covered the costs for making this film clip, simply wouldn’t have happened without that funding." In the end, 'Stomach' showcases the peaks of Meres as they head to the studio to recording their forthcoming debut album this October - with help from Anna Laverty and Ben Simms of A. Swayze and the Ghosts, no less - and with plenty more on the horizon, it's a good time to jump on board the Meres train if you're yet to already. [via Pilerats]
Kat Cunning’s latest single 'Boys' might’ve arrived just in time for Pride, but its message is one that’s perpetually relevant. Released at the end of May, the breezy and strident pop anthem is a bold and affirming love letter to the transmasculine friends, lovers, and strangers in Cunning’s life after they noticed a lack of representation in mainstream and even LGBTQ+ media. “Don't feel alone, don't be ashamed,” they sing on the track, because you’re welcome and seen here. It’s the musician and actor’s third single to be released this year, and on Monday, Cunning unveiled its tender accompanying music video. Directed by Tee Vaden, the simple visual radiates as much heart and warmth as you’d hope. Featuring Cunning and a crew of their friends (all non-binary or trans), the video is nothing more complicated than friends hanging out, cutting each others’ hair, exercising, or laughing with each other — and it says all the more for it. “Representation of our stories can so often be about death and adversity, but it can be just as radical to show joy,” Cunning says of the video and song over a recent phone call. “The lyrics ‘We're the last ones,’ my gut really wanted to sing it, and at the end of the day it feels like [we’re] the last ones in a small town and the last ones on the dance floor in a place that we found.” 'Boys' precedes a forthcoming fuller project expected sometime later this year. [via NYLON]
Wet Leg have arrived fully formed as one of the most exciting bands in the country. The Isle of Wight duo have just signed to Domino, and with the ink still damp on their contract they've shared a brand new single. Their debut single, 'Chaise Longue' is an incredible opening gambit, matching precocious songwriting to some daring, tongue-in-cheek lyricism. A group who feel as though they are in complete control of their artistry, Wet Leg's confidence is rooted in a mutual trust is one another's abilities. Two close friends, the band worked alongside producer Jon McMullen on the single, with the legendary Alan Moulder handling mixing duties. Crisp, potent, and carefully distilled, 'Chaise Longue' is an instantly infectious document, while the self-directed visuals are a joy. [via Clash]
Toronto’s Giulia. has unveiled the video for ‘Baby D*ke’. The title of the song is about the welcome Guilia. felt from the LBTQ+ community when she came out, while clearly stating it’s not a term to be used freely by everyone. “It recognizes that – hey, you’re new to this, you’re a ‘baby’ in our eyes, but we’re happy to have you. So yes, I’m just a baby dyke, and I may be self-conscious and unsure of how to navigate this, but at least I’m here, and I can finally say that much, which is better than saying nothing at all.” [via Loud Women]
Singer, writer, and rapper Dessa has shared her new video and single 'I Already Like You.' The upbeat summer jam is the sixth and final installment of Dessa’s IDES single series — the project saw Dessa dropping new music on the 15th of each month. “It’s been a long year, man,” says Dessa. “Never wrote one before, but 2021 called for a sexy summer driving song. Windows down, volume up, and maybe a wave for the cute driver one lane over.”
West London-based genre hybrid Hope Tala reveals her stunning new single, 'MAD.' Her first new music since the release of her hotly-received recent EP, Girl Eats Sun, 'MAD' sees Hope Tala build on the bossa nova-inspired R&B that has seen her cement herself as one of 2021’s artists to watch. Premiered by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, produced by the multi-Grammy award winning Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence and the Machine), and accompanied by a stunning video directed by Millicent Hailes, the song serves as a stellar entry point for what promises to be a breakthrough year for Hope Tala. Speaking on the release, Hope states, “I wrote ‘MAD’ about having feelings of frustration and hysteria in a long-distance relationship. It’s about being unable to communicate properly and feeling lost in loneliness—so it’s ironic that I wrote most of the song a week or two before the first lockdown started in the UK. Foreshadowing, almost.”
Los Angeles’ Girl Friday released a new video and single 'I’m Impossible,' the first song from their forthcoming double A-side single release, with second track 'You’re Getting a Dog' available on July 7. Girl Friday’s Vera Ellen and Libby Hsieh shared their unique experience collaborating on the release: “we wrote these songs in the confines of our bedrooms divided by the great Pacific Ocean. We passed them back and forth from New Zealand to Los Angeles, like love letters. They binded us when all of our strings felt loose. They are the place where we met and danced with our shoes on the wrong feet. They like you and we hope you like them. From our bedrooms to yours.”
What do you do when you’ve fallen so deep in love that you’ve lost your sense of self? Make your way through the fog to find yourself on the other side. Or, at least, that’s the journey artist Jayli Wolf goes through in the music video for 'Would You Die,' off her new EP Wild Whisper. “I wrote this song after feeling true unconditional love for the first time,” Wolf said of the track. “After that, I learned that conditions and boundaries are very different. I used to be so fearful of love, of the power I thought another soul could have over me. My definition of love used to be more of a tragedy than anything else. As if I would have to die for it. As if love could swallow me whole. Now I understand, it’s not love that breaks a heart, it is the conditions I used to put on love,” she explained. “The music video for ‘Would You Die’ is a visual representation of me learning this lesson. Taking off my armor and bearing everything. Following an idea of love through dangerous places, and ultimately being completely swallowed up by it. When I wake up at the end, I realize that I put myself there in that darkness. I buried who I truly was to be loved in return. This song is about finding self love. Realizing that ‘the stars were never mine.’ That I could let go, that no one belonged to me. That true love is freedom. Freedom from conditions.” [via NYLON]
Offering transportive sounds and serene summer feels is the Dutch Caribbean-hailing artist Naomi Sharon with her new sun-soaked track 'Daughter of The Sun'. The artist’s jazzy vocals instantly set the sensual tone as bluesy guitars and rippling production add to the song’s overall lounge sound. With lyrics embedded in the singer’s devotion to promoting body positivity and self-love, the track is an ode to sexuality and the power of women all the while allowing the listeners to transcend their physical surroundings and experience Sharon’s musical paradise. Accompanied by flesh-flaunting visuals, sunset hues wash over ethereal and underwear-clad women as they contort their bodies in a true celebration of the female form. With the self-taught director Calvin Pausania spearheading the project, the artist’s empowerment-driven ethos and the creative’s experimental approach to directing result in a capturing of the anthem’s sexy and positivity-infused essence. [via Wonderland]
Breaking into summer with a thunderous new single Freya Beer is back with new single: 'The Calm Before The Storm'. Directly following on from 'The Siren', this is the inevitable destiny. A swirling maelstrom of feedback-fried guitars and ground-splitting percussion, the South Coast singer stands amidst it all with a towering vocal performance that hooks and haunts with perilous intent. Said to draw its inspiration from “the association of feminine energy and the phases of the moon”, Freya’s enthralling new release also offers cultish reference to one of her own breakthrough moments. As Freya says: “The song embodies the essence of my earlier single 'Dear Sweet Rosie', but it’s more like Rosie’s older, more mature sister… I wanted it to be a ceremonial ‘esque’ experience.” With all the brooding intensity of stone-grey clouds amassing over a choppy sea, 'The Calm Before The Storm' adeptly captures the ominous expectation and intrepid excitement of a storm brewing. Produced by Peter Hobbs (The Boy Least Likely To) with Owain Hanford on drums, the outcome offers another captivating glimpse of her long awaited debut album: Beast - expected Autumn 2021.
Pop singer BANKS has shared the epic new single 'The Devil,' which aims to be every bit as haunting and provocative as the title suggests. Written and co-produced by the artist, the song is the first of many to come, per a press release, with more independently released (via AWAL) music on the way. Of 'The Devil,' BANKS says in a statement, “The devil is about being stronger than the demons that haunt you. About rebirth and transformation into the forces of nature we were born to be.” Alongside the single is an equally demonic-themed video, co-directed by BANKS. Inspired by classic horror films like Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula and the 1992 film Death Becomes Her, the video “represents the twisted, surreal, and playful world that I exist in as the devil,” BANKS explains. “No demon can touch me as I am not tempted by their charm. Give me a rose and I’ll eat it. In this world, I hypnotize and stuff every demon in a box while I dance, fly, and play with my devil sisters. Someone write my new name down.” [via Paste Magazine]
Sweden's Tove Styrke pays tribute to her "best and worst sides" on her first single of 2021 'Mood Swings'. 'Mood Swings' is Styrke's first official release since teaming up with RITUAL in 2019 on 'Love Me Back', and is a song, according to Styrke, that pays tribute to her "best and worst sides". Styrke explains, "'Mood swings' is insane. It’s paying tribute to my best and worst sides. I really hate myself sometimes. But I’m trying really hard not to. These past three years I’ve been through depression, fell hard in love, survived a Swedish music reality TV-show, I got a car, I got stuck with millennial blues, I feel like an adult sometimes, I feel like I did as a child. I feel kinda free." The Swedish singer-songwriter is yet to follow up 2018's Sway album, but does reveal there's a project in the works, "This new project is musically like a fun puke! It’s all over the place, every song tells a story on its own and has its own mood. I got epic love songs that sound like the 60's next to tracks like 'Mood Swings' and crazy bangers. I’M not even ready. I’m obsessed with it." [via Line Of Best Fit]
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Catie Turner has released her latest single 'Therapy'. Catie invites you into a therapy session with her in the official video. 'Therapy' heralds the eagerly awaited arrival of Turner's label debut EP, Heartbroken and Milking It, due on July 16. [via Broadway World]
