Fresh To Death: Best New Alt Pop and Electronic Music This Friday
Fresh To Death is a series where I write about some of my favourite new music!
Featuring Coco & Clair Clair, Anna Kozonína, Ivana June, Maddie Regent, Savannah Pope, The Music Of Sound, Martha Rose, GRIP TIGHT & Fleur Electra.
This edition features: a song with an ominous chant that sounds like it is from the vast, unfamiliar planet Winter in Urusla le Guin’s ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’; a song that feels like it takes place within the luxurious walls of the Plaza hotel in NYC (à la ‘Eloise’); a song that serves as a clear and accurate indictment of the ugliness at the heart of America at the moment; a song that has a music video that unfolds is like an ornate, Rococo painting; a song with easy breezy summery harmonies in the chorus that could be from a plush 1970s arrangement; a song that I picture being performed in full glam on a pink microphone and drum machine acquired from a charity shop, in a tea shop on a street from an Edgar Wright movie, and more!
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Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
Lone feat. Merry Lamb Lamb - Home
There is something that happens to my mind when I watch science fiction with ornate visuals and sound design: this song had a similar effect on me. This is the newly released music video for ‘Home’ , which is taken from the album ‘Hyperphantasia’. It opens with waves of celestial, glittering electronic textures rising to your ears like an enchanted ocean on another planet. Something about the melting together of the music video and the electronics gives the whole thing an almost botanical quality, like it is shimmering with sentient life, an effect that calms your mind and alights the senses.
Connect with Lone
Bandcamp | Instagram | X
Connect with Merry Lamb Lamb
Website / Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook
Anna Kozonína - Saturn, After All
I came across this as part of the EP ‘All Dark Things’ on Bandcamp. I was entranced by the eerie pitched down vocals, which swooped into an ominous synthetic choir, sounding like a chant from the vast, unfamiliar planet Winter in Urusla le Guin’s ‘The Left Hand of Darkness.’
The vocals are spellbinding, the tapestry against which they unfold unfamiliar, almost ancient, giving you the sensation of being on a strange planet you are wholly unfamiliar with. ‘Saturn, After All’ is one of the most interesting releases of the year.
Connect with Anna Kozonína
Website | Instagram
Coco & Clair Clair - One One
This song feels like it takes place within the luxurious walls of the Plaza hotel in NYC (à la ‘Eloise’). It makes me think of the duo writing and recording this song at night, surrounded by the pastel velour glamor of one of the rooms; a quality which lends the song an intimate diary entry quality that I love. The production is delightfully, refreshingly strange.
Connect with Coco & Clair Clair
Instagram
Ivana June - Verano!
The only good thing to come from Instagram lately is this song.
I accidentally stumbled across the blue-skied visualizer for this while scrolling, and, like hundreds of others, was bewitched.
Thισ opens with sunkissed bossa nova, hinting at blissful zoobee zoo bee zoo territory, before ascending into a plush, creamy, dreamy Neo-Soul-laced beat with touches of jazz here and there. This will make you want to put on ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2 and instead of Italy pretend that you are on a luxury trip in Spain for the rest of the summer. Why not?
This has given me hope that sharing your art on social media can actually lead to something.
Connect with Ivana June
Website | Instagram
Maddie Regent - Schoolbags
Photo Credit: Cade Hoppe
This has the dark, dreamy, addictive quality found at the heart of the best modern pop music; with vocals that remind me of Audrey Hobert. Opening with the lines “Child-proof with a gun in the home” (which, if I’m being honest seems to be the contradictory belief system at the core of America at the moment). The song “mourns a world where childhood no longer feels as carefree as it once did”.
On the song, the artist shares, “I didn’t want to write an angry song, so I wrote it from a place of grief. I grieve my whimsical childhood knowing I might never be able to give that to my own kids.”
I know some of these issues detailed in this song are happening everywhere, but the clear back-packs and the gun related aspects are a clear and accurate indictment and exposition of the ugliness at the heart of America at the moment. The looming threats of violence that children have to prepare for and potentially face every day, at school, during childhood, because of guns being so heavily available, and what’s worse is the fact that vast lobbying groups and millions of people fight for this.
Connect with Maddie Regent
Website | Instagram
Savannah Pope - Panopticon
The opening trills of this paired with the plush visuals of the music video initially brought to mind ‘Poor Things’ and its off-kilter soundtrack. The music video that unfolds is like an ornate, Rococo painting. The operatic vocals soar, delivering razor sharp vocals - Savannah Pope was born to do this.
Connect with Savannah Pope
Instagram | Facebook
The Music Of Sound - Shimmer
The music video for this made me pine to have a crew to make music with. I am breaking my own rules here as this technically came out last week, but I loved it so much that I had to include it.
‘The Music Of Sound is a London UK-Indian dream-pop group, made up of musicians Sherin and Elena, alongside veteran composer, producer and radio broadcaster Neil March.
The easy breezy summery harmonies in the chorus could be from a plush 1970s arrangement - aside from this, there isn’t really anything else I can compare this too - it is just pure joy.
On the song, vocalist Sherin: "We wanted the song to send a clear message of hope and belief in kindness and unity over hate and division. There's a line that says 'Cowards victimise / but the brave always are kind' which sums up how we feel."
Connect with The Music Of Sound
Instagram | X
Fleur Electra - Cutting Corners
This song and music video are both a testament to the unbridled creativity of art on the internet at the moment if you know where to look.
I love the rather surreal, almost phantasmagoric vibe of this - it kind of feels like someone from the 18th century time-travelled, got their hands on a synthesizer, wrote some dreamy pop music, travelled back in time and made a high-fashion music video starring plenty of glamorous headpieces. ‘Cutting Corners’ is a treat for your eyes and ears.
Connect with Fleur Electra
Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | X
Engle - Save U
This is taken from the EP ‘Save U’ out today via label Southpoint.
This is a fantastic time - the wave of warm melodic textures that come at the 00:28 mark are some of the plushest I have heard in a long time, being joined by a Korg M1 organ sound and exploding into the chorus - what's not to like?
Connect with Engle
Instagram
Martha Rose & GRIP TIGHT - You Take Me To
I love how dreamy this is. For some reason, I picture this being performed in full glam on a pink microphone and drum machine acquired from a charity shop, in a tea shop on a street from an Edgar Wright movie.
There is something spellbinding about this that will draw you in immediately, something you can’t quite put your finger on.
Connect with Martha Rose
Instagram | Facebook | Χ
Connect with GRIP TIGHT
Instagram | Facebook
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About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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