The Underground Forest - Vol 11
Welcome to The Underground Forest! This month's edition features dreampop that sounds like a cassette tape you came across in the car in the 90s; nourishing Neo-Soul with organic sound fx that will soothe you inside and out; synthpop that takes place in a dystopian concrete landscape that oozes magazine glamor; infectious cherry flavored synthpop with a cool DIY feel; an azure oceanic soundscape that gives 2000s Pure Shores vibes, and more.
Featuring: LEATHERS, Danny Kuttner, David Kitt, India Sky, Laveda,Moon King, Visors, Avey Tare and Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters.
Follow The Underground Forest on Spotify
Highrise - LEATHERS
There is a slightly dystopian, sci-fi flavor to the world Leathers’ creates with her lyrics and music; drawing you into a vast, foreboding industrial landscape. The opening lyrics ‘You live in a highrise/ No birds or butterflies’ are spoken over a gorgeously uneasy drone style pad, with glitchy vocals coming in and out, this oozes glamor and imagination and is thoroughly hypnotic. Listen to this at night.
Connect with LEATHERS
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Chasing Myself - Danny Kuttner
Sometimes you hear a song; and you know that listening to it will thoroughly soothe and nourish your mind. The newest release from the Tel Aviv based artist is one of these songs; the artwork giving Melancholia vibes. The music has an organic quality, with gentle neo-soul Rhodes chords shimmering in the background against the vocals that have a beautifully rich jazz flavoring.
Talking about the track Danny explains: “Chasing Myself was written when I was in a loving relationship and knowing how important it is to have my time alone. There was a point where I lost myself and got a harsh mirror, and I wanted to write about that experience.
I feel there are so many love songs, where I wanted to create a song about a different side of loving someone. About being alone inside of a relationship, bringing myself time of nourishments and self love. It brought me back the ability to truly give love to somebody else”
Connect with Danny Kuttner
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Bandcamp
Wishing Well - David Kitt
Sometimes you hear something that is unlike anything you have heard before; there is no element of it that you can predict; so you are drawn into a dark and mysterious landscape, to venture across terrain you are unfamiliar with, making listening to music like this all the more enjoyable, as it ignites a sense of exploration and imagination. Irish artist David Kitt’s new song Wishing Well is simultaneously beautiful and macabre; opening with unsettling distorted electronic textures, before a beautiful lofi guitar comes in, mixed with the metallic unease. The lyrics draw you into what feels like a memory, everything saturated with blue and the haze of a flashback.
Of the new track Kitt explains: “Wishing Well” relates to the void left by the decline of religious institutions and what we turn to in the absence of faith and superstition. These are the themes that recur throughout the record on both micro, personal levels and macro, societal levels.” The song is about being on the run from your memories and your past, and those memories fading, morphing and appearing in dreams. Are you running from yourself or something other than yourself? Some ghostly spectre that you can’t really pinpoint?”
Connect with David Kitt
Spotify / Twitter / Website / Facebook
Bottom Of The Sea - India Sky
Get drawn into this azure, oceanic underworld. I am getting Pure Shores vibes (specifically with the warm pads and aquatic sound fx) Dive into this phantasmagoric, relaxing soundscape and let yourself just be, between the sun dappled waves and blue,taken from the artist's new album, Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon. This will allow you to swim and explore in an underwater paradise, no matter where you are.
Connect with India Sky
Spotify / Instagram / Website / Bandcamp / Twitter
Clean - Laveda
Clean has the quiet, nostalgic and gentle quality of a cassette tape you came across in the car in the 90s - the song having a slightly muted feel, inviting you to contemplate alongside it and just be still. The song escalates into an achingly beautiful dream-pop and shoegaze finale - this will allow you to sit with the thoughts you maybe try to avoid, but this song will allow you to embrace these thoughts and sit with them.
On the track vocalist Ali Genevich says; “I think for the first time I truly realized that growing up was an inevitable fate. It’s such a strange thing, knowing you’re only to grow further and further from innocence as life goes on. I never wanted to think about getting older as a kid, I wanted to stay eight years old forever. I think there’s a part of that feeling that will always stay with me.”
Connect with Laveda
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Out of Control - Moon King, Visors
This is fun. Infectious synthpop with a cherry flavored 70/80s feel; with rhythm guitars keeping a solid groove behind the electronics, this is one to get pizza to, under the saturated neon skyline of a small town on a Friday night.
Connect with Moon King
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
The Musical - Avey Tare
This has the quality of a Sunday afternoon, where you get to do something fun and creative like crafting - the results being a blast of citrusy freshness. Taken from the artist’s new album 7s, sunshine runs throughout this song and may help ignite your imagination and joy for life.
Connect with Avey Tare
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Kawmélito - Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters
Drawing inspiration from the heart of the tropical forest, the opening song of the album opens with glimmering keys, beautifully organic sounds and instrumentation, as the mystical character of Polobi draws you into the lush, ancient world of the forest. This is wonderful.
Connect with Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Bandcamp / Twitter
Spotify Playlist
Want to be featured in next month’s volume of The Underground Forest? Send your press release and links to <eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com>
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.
Interested in a music feature, writing a story as a guest or joining the Musicngear team as a Contributing Author? Contact us at info+blog@musicngear.com
