Arms That Fit Like Legs, an electronic-instrumental trio from Dublin, Ireland, have presented a magnificent groovy track named What It Is Is. The song comes from their forthcoming album which due to be released next year.
According to Arms That Fit Like Legs, the song was recorded during “a couple of socially-distanced Zoom session” — making it even more relevant to the times.
What It Is Is is available to be streamed via Spotify.
Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has unveiled a new song called ‘Close My Eyes’, the latest single from his upcoming solo LP, Generations. It arrives with a self-directed music video featuring Butler rowing around in a boat built by his grandfather. Check it out below.
“I tried to make the lyrics a straightforward and honest description of an emotion I feel often—a drive for change coupled with despair,” Butler said in a statement about the track. “‘I’m tired of waiting for a better day. But I’m scared and I’m lazy and nothing’s gonna change.’ Kind of a sad song. Trying to tap into some Smokey Robinson/Motown feeling—‘I’ve got to dance to keep from crying.’”
Generations comes out September 25 via Merge. It follows Butler’s debut solo album, 2015’s Policy. Last month, Butler shared the lead single from the record, ‘Surrender’.
Dirty Projectors have announced a new EP titled Super João. It marks the third instalment of their five-EP run this year and arrives September 4 via Domino. The band have also unveiled a new single called ‘Holy Mackerel’, alongside an accompanying music video. Check it out below.
Each EP in the series will be fronted by a different member of the band, and Super João was written, produced, and performed by leader Dave Longstreth. The EP was recorded straight to tape in Los Angeles alongside Kyle Thomas (aka King Tuff), while Little Wings’ Kyle Field collaborated on the lyrics. As hinted at by its title, it’s partly inspired by João Gilberto, the Brazilian bossa nova pioneer who passed away last year.
The band have also announced that the sequence of five EPs will come out in one continuous, 20-track anthology called 5EPs upon the release of the final instalment. Previously, Dirty Projectors released Maia Friedman’s Windows Open and Felicia Douglass’ Flight Tower. Last month, they performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.
Oslo-based singer-songwriter Siv Jakobsen makes ambient folk that swaddles you in its haunting yet gentle beauty. She released her first EP The Lingering back in 2015 and went on to tour alongside the likes of Benjamin Franciss Leftwich and Bear’s Den, following it up two years later with her stunning full-length debut The Nordic Mellow. After taking necessary break from touring and recording in 2018, she’s now back with the aptly titled A Temporary Soothing, out this Friday via U OK?, a cathartic release that couldn’t have come at a better time. Produced by Chris Bond (Ben Howard, Nick Mulvey) and mixed by Zach Hanson (Bon Iver, Tallest Man on Earth), the album sees Jakobsen refining her sound while retaining the intimately evocative qualities of her past work. Opener ‘Fear the Fear’ creates a stirring atmosphere with its lush cinematic strings and slow-burning outro, the pristine echo of the snare drum a testament to the attention placed on each element of the mix. There are even hints of The War on the Drugs’ driving electro-folk on ‘Island’, while tender closer ‘I Call it Love’ centers on a delicate piano arrangement and Jakobsen’s raw, vulnerable vocals. On the dazzling highlight ‘A Feeling Felt or a Feeling Made’, she presents us with a question that’s both poignant and timely: “I wonder if loneliness is a feeling felt or a feeling made/ Do we make it up as we go along/ To feed our poetic lines?”
We caught up with Siv Jakobsen for this edition of our Artist Spotlight series, where we showcase up-and-coming artists and give them a chance to talk about their music.
What inspired you to start making music?
I’ve been into music for as long as I remember, I can’t remember a time where I didn’t feel a need to sing. As far as writing music, I started playing around with it a tiny bit in high-school, but didn’t get properly into it until my early 20’s. I had started listening to more and more music in the indie-folk and singer-songwriter genres, and a good friend of mine who is also a songwriter suggested I take a songwriting class in our college to try it out. It only took about a half a lesson for me to be completely hooked, and I’ve never looked back.
Who are some artists you look up to, and why?
There are many. Two that come to mind right now are Gregory Alan Isakov and Ane Brun – both incredible songwriters that have been able to stay independent with their music. I look to both of them for inspiration both musically and in how they manage themselves and their careers in the industry.
What were some of the ideas that went into the making of A Temporary Soothing?
At this point the record feels like a big melting pot of ideas, hunches, thoughts, dreams and emotions. A sort of guideline I gave myself when going into the writing process with this record was that I wanted to be less critical and nit-picky in regard to the songwriting. I tend to slave over lyrics for a really long time, but I wanted to let myself go a little to see what would happen. As far as the recording goes it was important to me that everyone involved felt free to try whatever ideas they had, no matter how crazy, no matter how weird. I wanted an atmosphere of absolute creative freedom, where we could have fun with the process. I think we were able to do that, and I feel it’s made the album feel creatively free as well. I also wanted to go in without too many set ideas of how I wished it to sound, to see what would happened if I let go a little more of controlling everything.
How was your approach different to The Nordic Mellow?
On The Nordic Mellow I definitely went in with a more set idea of what I wanted the record to sound like. I love that record a lot and definitely think that’s a good way to work, but I like to challenge myself, so it felt natural to take myself out of my controlled comfort zone and let someone else take the reins a bit more on A Temporary Soothing.
What was it like working with Chris Bond?
Chris is a fantastic producer and a really lovely person, it was a real treat to work with him. For most of the recording process it was just Chris, Bear Bond, and myself (Bear is the assistant producer and engineer on the record). That meant that we could all experiment more freely, there wasn’t really anyone else coming in, disturbing our little recording bubble.
What was your favourite track to record, and why?
Ask me every day of the week and I’ll likely have a different answer to this. I will say that Fear the Fear has a special place in my heart – that was the first track we did, it was a sort of tester to see if Chris, Bear and I were a good fit. We worked early AM to past midnight for two days on it, before I went straight to Spain for a gig. It was a bit of a whirlwind but I remember feeling so excited afterwards, knowing we had made something special.
What are your future plans?
My future plans are to just keep writing, recording and performing music, on repeat, for as long as I am able to. At the moment it’s hard to know how much of the performing aspect can happen, I guess we’ll just have to see.
Phoebe Bridgers has shared her performance of the Punisher tracks ‘ICU’ and ‘Halloween’ at the L.A. Coliseum. Filmed as part of Versus Creative’s new 50on50 series, the show took place in March of 2020, with just fifty fans in the audience. Check out both videos, directed by Tony Corella, below.
The performance marks the first episode in Versus Creative’s 50on50 series, which aims to showcase artists performing intimate shows in iconic stadium settings. “As an L.A. native, Phoebe Bridgers is the kind of artist that we want to see perform a hometown show for a packed Coliseum someday,” said Nate Auerbach, co-producer of 50on50, in a statement to The Fader.
He added: “I could not think of a better artist to launch this new series with us. We were so lucky to have filmed this right before everything locked down. For the people there, it was their first time hearing Phoebe’s new music, and probably their last time seeing a live show for a very long time.”
Punisher, which landed on our Best Albums of 2020 (So Far) list, was released in June. Recently, Phoebe Bridgers shared the video for the album’s closing track, ‘I Know the End’, which was also filmed at the L.A. Coliseum.
Oliver Coates, who played cello on Radiohead‘s latest album A Moon Shaped Pool as well as guitarist Jonny Greenwood Octatonic Volume 2 EP last year, has announced a new album. It’s called skins n slime and it’s set to arrive on October 16 via RVNG Intl. The composer has also shared a new track from the project titled ‘Butoh baby’, alongside a music video created by Leah Walker and Lewis Walker X. Check it out below, and scroll down for the album’s cover artwork and tracklist.
skins n slime will mark Coates’ first album under his own name since 2018’s Shelley’s on Zenn-La. It includes the track ‘Philomela Mutation’ from his score for Marianna Simnett’s short film The Bird Game, as well as the Malibu-featuring ‘Soaring X’. The eighth track on the LP, ‘Reunification 2018’, is a song Coates performed to close his support sets while touring with Thom Yorke.
skins n slime Cover Artwork:
skins n slime Tracklist:
Metz are back with a new single called ‘Hail Taxi’, taken from their recently announced new album Atlas Vending. The Toronto trio’s latest arrives with an accompanying black-and-white video directed by A.F. Cortés. Watch it below.
“‘Hail Taxi’ is about looking back,” frontman Alex Edkins said in a press release. “The lyrics deal with the idea of reconciling or coming to terms with who you were and who you’ve become.”
Speaking about the inspiration for the video, Cortés said: “I wanted to tell a simple story that captures the song’s overarching theme. The idea of longing for the past creates many visual motifs and I wanted to create a piece that feels timeless and conveys a sense of isolation, highlighting that while we can hide our feelings, we can’t run from them.”
Atlas Vending comes out October 9 via Sub Pop. Previously, the band shared the lead single from the album, ‘A Boat to Drown In’, which we named one of our favourite songs that week.
Aminé has linked up with Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steele for a new song called ‘Hello’. The track features production from Pasqué and the Stereotypes. Take a listen below.
‘Hello’ comes less than two weeks after the release of the Portland rapper’s latest full-length studio album, Limbo, which featured the Young Thug collaboration ‘Compensating’. Last week, he performed songs from that album with a full band live on his Youtube channel.
Empire of the Sun released their latest LP, Two Vines, in 2016.
Angel Olsen has shared new song called ‘Waving, Smiling’, taken from her upcoming project Whole New Mess. It comes with a visual directed by Ashley Connor, featuring her performance of the song in Asheville, North Carolina’s Masonic Temple. Check it out below.
“‘Waving, Smiling’ in my head is the last scene, a slow motion realization of love not lost but at peace somewhere within myself,” Olsen said in a statement. “It’s the bittersweet end of a chapter of my life—it is the final acceptance that despite coming to an end all of that time was not lost or wasted.”
Olsen previously shared the title track from Whole New Mess, which arrives August 28 via Jagjaguwar. The album is a companion piece to last year’s All Mirrors.
Carly Rae Jepsen has released a new song titled ‘Me and the Boys in the Band’. Featuring contributions from Jack Antonoff, Tavish Crowe, Jared Manerika, and Nik Pesut, the new track arrives with a music video directed by Jake Chamseddine. Check it out below.
“I miss travel and performing and my band mates who over the years have become my adopted brothers,” Jepsen said in a press release. “Here’s to all the shows we have played and have yet to play. The late-night dancers we turn into on the long bus drives and the tourists we become in the early mornings. Here’s to nostalgia city and keeping close the ones that know you best. Can’t wait for more. Till then a from home ‘pick me up’ song from all of us to you. Me and the boys and the band!”
Back in May, the singer said she had “already made an entire quarantine album”, but it’s unclear whether this song is a teaser for that project. That same month, she released Dedicated Side B, the companion album to last year’s Dedicated.
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