EX-VÖID, IN LOVE AGAIN

London-based band Ex-Vöid, led by former Joanna Gruesome members Lan McArdle (vocals) and Owen Williams (guitar and vocals), blend timeless guitar pop with a punk spirit. On their second LP, In Love Again, McArdle, Williams, Laurie Foster (bass), and George Rothman (drums) deliver concise, hook-laden tracks with jangly guitars and bittersweet melodies. The album captures the band's evolution from chaotic power punk to polished pop, weaving in elements of 90s indie rock, power pop, punk, country, and self-assured songwriting. Their sound is marked by energy and an undeniable sense of melody, with varied arrangements that showcase the band's growth as true students of perfect pop.

 

DEA MATRONA, FOR YOUR SINS

Childhood friends, Orláith Forsythe and Mollie McGinn began busking on the streets of Belfast when they were teenagers. This led to playing in some local pubs and music venues. Along the way they began performing under the name Dea Matrona which translates to "divine mother goddess"in Celtic mythology. As their popularity grew so did anticipating for a debut album. And now it has finally arrived to great fanfare in their home city and country of Ireland. Over 12 catchy songs the duo get to showcase their talent for all to hear...and there is a lot to hear. With so many great moments, For Your Sins is a great listen all the way through.

THE MOMMYHEADS, CONEY ISLAND KID

Every few years I 'discover' a band that seems to have been around for decades and I'm left scratching my head wondering how I'd never heard of them or heard their music. Such is the case with The Mommyheads. Reading reviews of the band's many albums, the common theme is that this is a band that has been getting better and better with time and age. I can't yet speak to that since I haven't listened to their back catalog of 14 albums that span 34 years going back to 1989. What I can say is that their 15th album, Coney Island Kid, is absolutely fantastic. 

Fusing pop, prog, indie and psychedelic rock, into a swirling kaleidoscope of curious and slightly idiosyncratic music, The Mommheads have similar underpinnings to XTC and Motorpycho (especially 2020's The All Is One). I was drawn into Coney Island Kid right from the ambient synth opening of title track which uses Coney Island as a backdrop to convey 'themes of desperation and soul-searching'. Honestly, it's been a minute since I was this intrigued with a band or album. 

Shelter Boy, Failure Familiar

After ten years as the guitarist for Still Trees, Simon Graupner, felt that it was time to step out on his own. Under the moniker Shelter Boy, Graupner releasing a few singles starting in 2018 and an EP in 2019. Now, Graupner has released his debut album, Failure Familiar.  

Graupner has said that his solo work draws on inspiration from the Beatles, Oasis, Stone Roses, and J Dilla. While I certainly can hear bits of these artists in Graupner's work, he certainly does not lean into them too much, which is a good thing. Interestingly enough, he has been compared more to artists like Mac DeMarco and King Krule. I suspect because of his vocal style.

On Failure Familiar, what Graupner does lean into is sharing his failures and insecurities. But almost as quickly, he embraces the notion of keeping going and not letting them get the better of himself. Set against a musical back drop that feels lighthearted and almost joyous, you can't help but want to get behind Graupner and help make Failure Familiar more....familiar to more people. I know that I will certainly will be....as I am right now.

Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee

Michelle Zauner and her band Little Big League had finished their second album when she learned that her mother had stage four cancer. Zauner immediately moved back home to Eugene, Oregon to care for her. During that time, she made a few lo-fi recordings under the name Japanese Breakfast. Zauner also started writing a memoir about her life as a half white, half Korean American and whether she could lay claim to that identity anymore.

Following her mother's passing in 2014, Zauner took on the Japanese Breakfast moniker in earnest and released two albums over the next few years. Both centered around  grief, loss, and identity. Both received wide spread attention and praise. For me, I appreciated them both, but never returned to them after a listen or two. 

Earlier this year, Zauner's memoir, Crying In H Mart, was published. It became a New York Times best seller. A few months later, Zauner followed it up with the release of her third album, Jubilee. And as the title implies, things are feeling quite different for Zauner these days. And you can sense it from the opener Paprika as the synthesizer kicks things off and then, as the song builds and the chorus rises, the horn section comes in. It's an '80's inspired synth-pop delight that Kate Bush would love. And then there's her lyrics. Drawing inspiration from sci-fi film maker Satoshi Kon's movie of the same name and its opening psychotic parade dream sequence, Zauner's lyrics paint a surreal world where real life and dreams blend together. It truly feels like a different artist at work here.

Jubilee is by far Zauner's best work to date and an album that should be celebrated.

The Antlers, Green To Gold

After seven long years, The Antlers are back with their sixth album, Green to Gold. It is a welcomed return. And a sunnier one? 

Unlike past Antlers albums, Peter Silberman has said that he didn’t feel compelled to turn a human experience into a circuitous mythology and all the eeriness that goes along with it. He chose a more direct approach, documenting two years in his life, without overthinking or obscuring what the songs were about. The shift in tone he said is the result of getting older. 

“It doesn’t make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I’m sure our audience does too. Green to Gold is about this idea of gradual change,” he sums up. “People changing over time, struggling to accept change in those they love, and struggling to change themselves. And yet despite all our difficulty with this, nature somehow makes it look easy.”

 

Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, Green To Gold shimmers like sunlight pouring through the kitchen window on a Sunday morning. It’s an album that I would not have expected from The Antlers, but one that I am grateful to have.

This Circus Life, The Vast and Endless Sea

For some, life's road traveled can be more winding and unimaginable than others. For a few it can boarder on the truly far-fetched. This is definitely the case for This Circus Life's Charlie Mear, if his life's story is believed to be true. Regardless, Mear is an image rich writer and storyteller.

On The Vast and Endless Sea, the second album by This Circus Life, Mear and this English Band don't so much tell stories as capture moments of reflection of life's big and little...moments. And they are image rich and emotionally full. With song-structures and musical arrangements that remind me of The Leisure Society and Crowded House, The Vast and Endless Sea is pure listening enjoyment.