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Artist Spotlight: Matilda Mann

Matilda Mann is a 20-year-old singer hailing from London. Earlier this year, she put out an EP called If That Makes Sense – a lovely, often beguiling indie folk project with a unique jazz flair punctuated by hypnotic rhythms, ethereal vocals, and enchanting lyrics – and she’s already gearing up for the release of another EP later this year. The first taste from that project, ‘As It Is’, suggests a slight shift towards a more stripped-back acoustic sound, one that enhances Mann’s evocative songwriting and beautifully layered, intimate vocal harmonies, which are strongly reminiscent of Billie Eilish. The second single, ‘Robbed’, was one of our favourite songs of the week; even more spare in its instrumentation, Mann’s heart-rending lyrics build to a wrenching chorus: “You know the saying, “Love makes you blind”?/ Well, it robbed all my senses/ It robbed my whole mind/ And I am left with no fire.” But her music is still teeming with emotion; it captures the all-consuming nature of desire with little need for an elaborate set up, then pulls you in just the same. Make no mistake: there’s definitely a fire in it.

We caught up with Matilda Mann 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.

Was there a particular point when you decided to start making music?

If you count terrible songs I wrote about the green straw in my smoothie when I was 7 ahah. I’ve always been drawn to lyrics and writing songs about things. I guess they just got better as I got more influenced by new artists and started to properly work on them.

You’ve named Laura Marling, Big Thief, and the soundtrack for Juno as some of your inspirations – what is it about them that resonates with you?

I think it’s the simplicity they use but in such an effective way. It’s mainly the lyrics they write. It’s always very vague as to what it’s about but somehow feels more personal to you as the listener.

What was the inspiration for ‘As It Is’?

A song called “Old Bone” by Wet was definitely a big inspiration in terms of the sound we were going for. We wanted it to seem simple but with lots of layers. Kinda like people.

How was the process of writing and recording it?

Laura Welsh, Rich Cooper and I sat and spoke about music we loved and I brought up that my boyfriend was in America at the time and how I missed him. I don’t usually miss people that much and I took it as a sign of how much I wanted him around. I feel like some couples, when it’s not right, lose that want of being next to their partner, and you’re holding onto the relationship, simply because you’re too sentimental to let go.

You’re about to release new EP later this year – was your approach in any way different from If That Makes Sense?

Not massively. I always want to have an EP full of different types of songs. I don’t want one particular sound. The only musical elements I keep the same are lots of harmonies and interesting lyrics.

Aside from the release of the EP, what are some things you’re looking forward to this year?

GLASTONBURY (but next year ahah) I magically won a slot performing at Glastonbury next year, so I’m very excited about that!! Also I have a headline show in December, which I’ll have a band playing with me for the first time and I’m so excited to meet new people!!!

Playa de Cofete by Paweł Franik

Playa de Cofete is a fantastic photography series by Polish photographer Paweł Franik. The series is from 2018 and explores the secluded beach Playa de Cofete in Fuerteventura, Spain. Franik utilises long shots to bring out sense of observation, calmness and earthly atmosphere.

Find more work by Paweł Franik here.

The Paul Institute Releases ‘Summer 2020’ EP

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The Paul Institute, the musical project founded by brothers Jai and A. K. Paul, have released an EP titled Summer 2020. The new collection of experimental pop and R&B songs includes A. K. Paul’s previously released ‘Be Honest’ – which was one of our favourite tracks of the week – as well as a batch of new songs from Paul associates. Listen to the EP below, and scroll for the visuals for three of the songs and invividual statements for each track.

In addition to ‘Be Honest’, the EP features songs by Hira, REINEN, Ruthven, Fabiana Palladino, and Pen Pals. The Paul Institute also aired a special on Beats 1 today (August 4) called ‘Magical Thinking’.

The project is also prompting fans to register once again at their site for updates: “welcome to the paul institute,” a message reads. “previous enrolees must re-enrol due to new privacy laws.”

PAULINST0009DS _ A. K. Paul – ‘Be Honest’
“This is a song about giving up control for a moment, allowing yourself to feel something beyond what you’ve known. It’s a song about liking something you didn’t think you would like, feeling something you didn’t think you would feel – and as you come to your senses being faced with the prospect you’ve only half lived…”

PAULINST0012DS _ Hira – ‘Unreal’
“The winter of 2018 gave the ice to this song. Lighted in the glow of a person who no longer shines inward, this song was composed in the hashish of an individual who becomes abstract in search of some superficial superstition…”

PAULINST0013DS _ REINEN – ‘Shadow Knight”
“Shadow Knight is a ritual ceremony, a synchronic chorus of chaos; It’s a twisted night odyssey as seen through the cat’s eye, with his ability to transmute in body and mind for the prowl. The groove surreptitiously moves with his stealth mission through the supernatural, from the back streets to the eTHERjUNGLE. This ominous opera is an homage to my majestic Chartreux, Bluey Dragon Twist via the freaky lens of CatLady3020.”

PAULINST0011DS _ Ruthven – ‘Have You Decided?’
“It’s narrated in the form of a heart-on-your-sleeve kind of romantic gesture. The narrator doesn’t feel like they deserve love, but in this case, believes they’ve found the real thing. The other is very present throughout the song but stays silent despite giving ‘affection’. Though the song has a romantic feel, the declaration of love remains unanswered.”

PAULINST0010DS _ Fabiana Palladino – ‘Waiting’
“I wrote Waiting a few years back. I was playing my old Teisco shark-fin guitar a lot and wanted to write my own version of a new-wave guitar tune. I was listening to Joe Jackson, Squeeze, early Police… and then I heard ‘When You Were Mine’ by Prince – a perfect mix of that new-wave sound with the funk he brought to it. Prince’s song is about a love triangle but mine is from the perspective of a broken android left behind in a destroyed city. She’s sick of waiting for her human lover to come back for her. She’s the voice of my own real-life frustrations with that feeling of endlessly waiting for things, both mundane & extraordinary, to happen…  for work to pick up, for boys to text back, for life to start!”

PAULINST0014DS _ Pen Pals – ‘Dynasty’
“When rival values create rivals. Contempt is rising, delusions charge anger, and jealousy is in denial. Dynasty is simple, and its voice preaches against exceeding simplicity”. Pen Pals is the newest recruit to the Paul Institute, a culture fusion between the jungles of Bermuda and streets of Heathrow; a duo comprising Keen Collard and Mahir Mistry. Recorded in its entirety over video conference software, ‘Dynasty’ celebrates the origins of both artists, their fibre optic friendship, and the international sound clash.”

Arcade Fire Unveil ‘Sprawl II’ Performance to Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of ‘The Suburbs’

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Arcade Fire have unveiled a new performance of their track ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’, in celebration of The Suburbs‘ 10th anniversary. Régine Chassagne and Win Butler played the track during a livestream hosted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, where they also performed ‘The Suburbs’ and ‘Haiti’ off 2004’s Funeral. Watch their performance below.

“The Suburbs is 10 years old now. Can’t wait to all play music together again. Until then, stay safe and well,” they wrote on Instagram.

Back in April, Butler revealed that the band is working on their follow-up to 2017’s Everything Now. “We had been exploring a lot of lyrical and musical themes that feel almost eerily related to what is happening now,” he wrote.

Bill Callahan Reworks Smog’s Classic ‘Let’s Move to the Country’

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In 1999, Bill Callahan released the album Knock Knock under the moniker Smog. It opens with the track ‘Let’s Move to the Country’, which was presumably about his residence in a South Carolina farmhouse with Cat Power’s Chan Marshall at a time when their relationship was falling apart. Now, Callahan has reworked the track for his upcoming album Gold Record. Listen to the new version and revisit the original below.

“Let’s pretend it’s a new song. Please. I have nothing else,” Callahan said on social media when sharing the track. It certainly sounds different: more stripped-back, intimate, and warm, it’s more in line with the overall mood of the new album.

Gold Record is due September 4 via Drag City. Every Monday since its announcement, the singer-songwriter has shared a new song from the album. Previously, he unveiled the tracks  ’35’‘Pigeons’‘Another Song’, ‘Protest Song’, and ‘The Mackenzies’.

Big Joanie Cover Solange’s ‘Cranes in the Sky’

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British punk trio Big Joanie have released a cover of Solange’s ‘Cranes in the Sky’, from her critically acclaimed 2016 album A Seat At The Table. It appears alongside an original composition titled ‘It’s You’ as part of a 7″ that’s set to arrive on August 14 via Third Man Records. Check out the cover below.

To celebrate the release of the 7″, the band will perform a socially-distanced release concert at London’s Ecstatic Peace Library Record Store at BOLT on August 15. Entry will be free, with proceeds from donations going to Girls Rock London and Decolonise Fest.

Big Joanie put out their debut album, Sistahs, in 2018, and are gearing up for the release of its follow-up, to be released via legendary punk label Kill Rock Stars.

Listen to ANOHNI Cover Bob Dylan and Nina Simone

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ANOHNI has shared a new single featuring a pair of covers: Bob Dylan ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ and a live rendition of Nina Simone’s ‘Be My Husband’. The single will be released as a 7″ arrives on October 2 via Secretly Canadian, and is available to stream online now. Listen to the covers below, and scroll for the artist’s statements on the tracks.

ANOHNI’s last studio album, Hopelessness, was released in 2016; it was followed by the 2017 companion EP, Paradise. More recently, she collaborated with Jade Bell and J. Ralph for the 2019 track ‘KARMA’.

‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’:

I recorded “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” with Kevin Barker one afternoon a few years ago. I listened to it recently and it reminded me of Now, a nausea of nostalgia for the suffering of the present, or even the future. I did a couple of songs by Bob Dylan at that time, encouraged by Hal Willner, the producer who we lost to COVID-19 in April. I hope that this period, and this repugnant presidency, will be over soon, and that these bigots and apocalyptic capitalists and evangelicals will crawl back into their rotten little holes. But how can this happen unless the American media and social media are forced to tell the truth? I am glad to see the mobilization of Black Lives Matter and the re-emergence of the Occupy movement. When Biden said “Americans don’t want revolution, they want a return to decency,” he was wrong. We all know deep down that the continuation of our civilizations for much longer will require seismic change.

‘Be My Husband’:

I saw Nina Simone perform at Carnegie Hall in 1991 while I was still in college. The concert was not properly publicized, and the theater was only half full. I think it may have been her first time back in NYC in many years. She was rumored to be volatile and unpredictable. That night she sang and played with such dignity, so incredibly, and she did five or six encores. For me, she was the greatest musician of the 20th Century. She didn’t write many songs, but the ones she wrote were among the most profound of the era. “Be My Husband” was one such song. The lyrics spin a paradox of romantic assertion and submission. This live version of the song was recorded at an Antony and the Johnsons concert at the Knitting Factory in NYC in 1999.

How The Hamilton Musical Teaches You About America’s Financial History

If you haven’t watched the recently released filmed version of Hamilton on Disney+, you should. The hip-hop/rap based Broadway musical which follows the life of Alexander Hamilton, the man who aided the foundations of the United States of America, became a cultural sensation back in 2015. Now, in 2020, a film of the musical has been released, featuring filmed live performances from the original Broadway cast.

Alexander Hamilton was a complicated man. A genius orphan from the Caribbean who sailed to New York in search of a life, who wound up writing fifty-one out of the eighty-five federalist papers, creating America’s financial system and having eight children in the process? Now that’s a Broadway storyline! But other than catchy tunes and a heartbreaking storyline, how can Hamilton teach you about financial history?

The Constitutional Convention

In the final song of Act I, ‘Non Stop’, Hamilton squeals, ‘I was chosen for the constitutional convention!’ There, Hamilton lays out his new plan for a financial system which would change America forever. This convention wrote the Constitution of America over five months in 1787, creating a bankruptcy compact which essentially stands.

In Cabinet Battle #1, Hamilton says, ‘If we assume the debts, the union gets a new line of credit, financial diuretic – how do you not get it?’ Here, Hamilton is saying that if America assumes the debt that it owed to France at the time, which figures such as Thomas Jefferson opposed, it will allow money to easily pass through the nation and build its wealth. This eventually passed, and supposedly formed an of the people by the people for the people constitution, although many people in contemporary society disagree with the constitution’s most controversial points, such as the right to bear arms.

One of Hamilton’s most controversial financial moves was to withdraw involvement from the French Revolution. As Jefferson asks Hamilton in the musical, ‘Did you forget Lafayette? Have you an ounce of regret?’ This refers to Marquis de Lafayette, a French revolutionary who helped free America from the British, but was subsequently abandoned by the Americans when his own French Revolution came along in 1789 – just two years after the constitutional convention.

The Straw-Man Theory

When Hamilton managed to ‘get my plan through congress’, as he insists he will do in Take A Break, the constitution became muddy and financially very ambiguous. Since then, theorists have devised a theory using the wording of Hamilton’s constitution which attempts to disprove the responsibility of the American citizen to pay any tax or owe money to the state. This is called the straw-man theory. In this theory, every human being has a straw-man, an imaginary counterpart, which is cited in all documents that use capital letters to state your name. For example, if your birth certificate says JOHN DOE instead of John Doe, your birth certificate is that of your straw-man. That means your straw-man is the one legally required to pay tax and contribute, whilst you, the real person, have none of these responsibilities. Spooky, huh?

This Week’s Best New Songs: Billie Eilish, Travis Barker ft. Run the Jewels, Angel Olsen, A. K. Paul, and More

Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this segment.

This week, Billie Eilish returned with a chillingly evocative new single, ‘my future’ the sheet music for which is now also available; blink-182’s Travis Barker linked up with Run the Jewels for a hard-hitting collab, following from their previous joint track ‘All Due Respect’ from RTJ2; London artist and Paul Institute co-founder A. K. Paul shared his third single, the groovy ‘Be Honest’, with the promise of new music soon; Angel Olsen unveiled a stunning, stripped-back song, ‘Whole New Mess’, the first teaser from her upcoming album; Touché Amore gave us the first taste from their first album in four years with the emotive ‘Limelight’; and Matilda Mann came through with an intimate, heartfelt ballad titled ‘Robbed’.

Best New Songs: August 3rd, 2020

A. K. Paul, ‘Be Honest’

Angel Olsen, ‘Whole New Mess’

Touché Amore, ‘Limelight’

Billie Eilish, ‘my future’

Travis Barker ft. Run the Jewels, ‘Forever’

Matilda Mann, ‘Robbed’

Spending VELUX Rewards

VELUX are back with their beloved rewards for the months of August, September, and October. If you haven’t heard of the VELUX Rewards before, here is a short breakdown. VELUX are offering £50 rewards on VELUX white-painted top-hung roof windows and £30 rewards on all other VELUX white-painted roof windows purchased this August, September and October. £30 offer excludes VELUX white-painted burglary-resistant roof windows (GGL 70Q). All rewards must be claimed by the 13th of November, 2020.

Where can you spend VELUX rewards?

VELUX rewards can be spent in Argos, Currys PC World, Costa, Tesco, M&S, John Lewis, TK Maxx, Adidas and H&M.

How do I claim my VELUX reward?

To claim, you need to sign up at velux.co.uk/rewards and upload an image of their invoice.

Where can I buy VELUX windows from?

VELUX windows can be bought online our store, we will provide options needed for any size and glazing you may need.

Find VELUX windows on ERoofing.

Where can I buy VELUX blinds from?

Like VELUX windows, the blinds for VELUX windows can also be bought on ERoofing.

Where can I find a VELUX certified installer?

If you’re looking to get a VELUX window or window balcony installed, then you’ll need a certified installer, to make sure you get a quality fitting.

To find a VELUX certified installer, you can browse through VELUX’s official website which has a directory for their certified installers.