Reminding us to truly take in your local town but to keep your mindset away from the torturous trenches that can hide away your shine, Taylor Clarke Bennett is on top form with a gloriously honest new single that will have you singing loudly on, ‘Love Where You’re From‘.
Taylor Clarke Bennett is an NYC-based indie-pop singer-songwriter who performs with a fresh voice that seems to ease the pain of modern life away.
”After studying music at the Poly Prep high school and attending the School of Rock in Manhattan, Taylor went on to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.” ~ Taylor Clarke Bennett
Lathering our intrigued ears with a terrific vocal performance, Taylor Clarke Bennett represents his city in the best way possible and breathes new life into a time that has witnessed so much despair and evil. He sings with a kind heart and skills aplenty, to brighten up the mood of a planet that needs so much love and harmony. With stories about seeing smart souls turn upside down due to the seductions that can break you down, this is an important message of staying self-aware and keeping your eyes on the long-term vision.
”He has since sharpened his singer-songwriter skills and currently studies voice under ’90s vocal Pop sensation, Samantha Cole.” ~ Taylor Clarke Bennett
‘Love Where You’re From‘ from NYC-based indie-pop singer-songwriter Taylor Clarke Bennett, is a tremendous effort from a young artist who is surely on the road to greatness. His vocals are polished and pure, the lyrics dynamic and the energy real, as he shows us the right way to blaze the troubles away as we all work on ourselves and stay accountable through the process. Life is about learning and growing, not moaning and blaming others after all.
Listen to his new single on Spotify and see more on his IG.
As she connects deeply into the ocean while the sound in her mind grows stronger by the day, Annie Sea sends us something so genuine that is written from the perspective of a mother Orca that needs our help on, ‘Save Me‘ (feat. The Colin Trio).
Annie Sea is a Portland, Oregon-based indie folk-rock singer-songwriter who has an inspiring eco-conscious life that keeps in beautiful alignment with her message to the world.
”A random vintage store find, a vinyl record of Humpback whale songs, planted the lyrical seed, “Would you save me if you understood my song – would you save me?”. As she walked home, she wondered how we would change our actions if we could communicate with other creatures and truly understand what they might have to say.” ~ Annie Sea
Annie Sea sings from the heart and is a role model to us all. Each lyric is kind and with meaning, as she urges the world to think about the extraordinary creatures below who are taking strain from the selfishness of humanity.
”Once a secretive songwriter, Annie began sharing her music after partial vision loss derailed her career as an environmental microbiologist.” ~ Annie Sea
‘Save Me‘ (feat. The Colin Trio) from Portland, Oregon-based indie singer-songwriter Annie Sea is such a glorious single that might put shivers all over your body. This is a peaceful entry to help us open our eyes again, to what is going on right before our eyes. There is a supremely inspiring message for us to listen to, as we are taken underwater to see what is needed for these majestic creatures, to thrive as they deserve.
Sung with an elegant grace that should get your mind alive with ideas on how to help nature, this is a special single that should resonate in our deepest souls.
Hear this message for common sense to prevail on Spotify and follow her incredible story on IG.
Welsh singer-songwriter M’ Donwaite has released his achingly beautiful, orchestrally-scored indie folk pop single Watering Can. Its delicate intensity creates a beguiling paradox which may as well be pandora’s box for the way Watering Can unpredictably unravels.
With the naturalistic elements brought up against M’ Donwaite’s Tenor vocal notes and the contrastingly lamenting finger-picked guitar strings that bring a little lo-fi intimacy to the release, it is an artful triumph. Yet, it never dares to come close to the same air of pretension often affixed to the neo-classic Avant-Garde. To say M’ Donwaite is the most exciting act from Wales since the Anchoress wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Watering Can officially released on April 17th; it is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.
With his full-length album on the way in the next few months, Jacob Cullum asks to be caught if he falls into the wrong places on the honest new single about keeping faith with the journey on, ‘Something To Believe In‘.
Jacob Cullum is a Kansas City, Missouri-based indie folk/pop singer-songwriter who is also a worship leader at Church of the Resurrection.
”I’m figuring out how to tell my story one song at a time. I make music to restore my soul; and if anyone can resonate with something I’ve created, I think that’s really cool.” ~ Jacob Cullum
With smooth vocals and an unpretentious style, Jacob Cullum is the kind of role model that the world needs more of. There is so much to love about such a wonderfully calm appearance, that sends your mentality into a happier cloud of promise, away from all the current soul-sucking storms of destruction.
‘Something To Believe In‘ from Kansas City, Missouri-based indie folk/pop singer-songwriter/worship leader Jacob Cullum, takes you to a thoughtful location where you know that you might fall, but hope that you will find that special spirit who shall assist you when you need it most. With intricate guitar-playing of the very finest order – this is one of those dreamy tracks to certainly learn from – as you just close your eyes and imagine when you are in that content place, you have been seeking all these years.
Life is about making sure that you have that safety net, that is there for when you go too far without realizing it.
Listen up to this new single on Spotify and see more via the IG page.
Taken off their 14-track studio-made album that was released on the 18th of March and is called ‘Heart over Head‘, Cassie Jean and the Fireflies get our fingers clicking with their new single that was created with so much love on ‘Mrs Mavis‘.
Cassie Jean and the Fireflies is an indie Americana, folk-rock, and retro country duo that was formed by Cassie Jean Barbaresi and Rich Odato.
”Partners in life and music, they made a fateful decision in 2020 to completely forgo cover gigs and ride out the pandemic in their home studio.” ~ Cassie Jean and the Fireflies
Sending our smiles into a place of delight with a song that has you feeling like you are in a peaceful town where you don’t have to lock your doors and all the neighbours say hello, Cassie Jean and the Fireflies brighten up our lives with an enchanting single made with a catchy ambience, that shall take your heart and embrace it while holding your hand at the same time.
‘Mrs Mavis‘ from the indie Americana, folk-rock, and retro country duo Cassie Jean and the Fireflies, is a wonderful new release that brings you back to the innocence of music made with that loving natural energy. There are only excellent soundscapes and glorious vocals on offer, with lyrics that shall get you feeling alright again. Pure music for the soul, is exactly what you will find here and for that, we are truly thankful.
Listen in to this lovely new release on Spotify and see more via the IG page.
Gliding high over the smokey clouds like a majestic eagle who is quietly spotting where the better lands are hidden, Taupe is quite marvellous on this fantastic new single to make your ears shudder in delight with, ‘Fruitless‘.
Taupe is a Los Angeles, California-based indie-folk solo singer-songwriter who makes that dreamy type of music to take you back to that place you forgot existed.
”Taupe attempts to take contemporary indie folk songs and layer them with 70’s rock inspired guitars.” ~ Taupe
Sending a real jewel into the world when it needed it most, Taupe is the kind of artist who grabs your attention with a soaring delivery that sends you into a much better place. He sends us into a reflective mindset and sings with that ultimate gusto, from a true underdog who is in peak form here.
‘Fruitless‘ from Los Angeles, California-based indie-folk solo singer-songwriter Taupe, is a wonderful single that will have you closing your eyes and looking deeply within. As the world burns before our scared eyes and with the harvest yielding only seemingly destruction and carnage, this is the type of inspirational soundtrack that we needed. Vocally incredible and featuring smartly-penned lyrics – that will force a re-think about the way you see the planet around you – this is a quality effort from an artist who is a timeless soul and who could be from another era completely.
Hear this new single on Spotify and see more via the IG.
After picking up a nomination for the IMPALA Album of the Year and 5 Porin Awards with his 2019 debut LP, Dangerous Waters,the mystically eloquent Croatian singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and composer, J.R. August, has released his sophomore LP, Still Waters.
When we first heard his arresting originality back in 2018, we scarcely imagined room for improvement in his naturalistically narrative style. With Still Waters, he’s moved even more dauntlessly into his expressive diction and sonic depictions of biblical iconography, which intersect with artful constructs, dreamlike epiphany, and profound consideration of the elements of nature that we’ve crawled away from.
Still Waters, which was penned in late 2020, captures our adrift and enraged distrust and disinterest in others, where the most pertinent goal is the next drip of dopamine – by any means necessary. The panic attack-inspired opening single, Dealing with the Pain, achieves what so many of us fail to do. – artistically or otherwise. It digs up the raw emotions that follow the reality-warping panic attacks that draw each breath from the atmosphere with the paralysing spikes of cortisol.
Subversively, it forces you to consider the paradoxical nature of our fear that cows us into silence on the subject of it. Especially when the disjointed sense of connection is one of the main reasons for our primal fear and despondence. The asphyxiated breath at the outro jaggedly hammers home just how much Dealing with the Pain was a personal reality.
Track 2, I Forgive Her, carries a similar celestial pull that many became enamoured with when J.R. August became the best-selling artist in Croatia with his debut LP. Yet as a contrast to the gospel-Esque timbre, there’s the unremitting turbulence that becomes a signifying shadow across the expanse of the album.
Goddess of The Flame runs through as an impassioned proclamation of the kind of affection and devotion that leaves you pious to the sheer all-encompassing emotional gravity while the instrumentals scintillate on the very same frequency as those unfalteringly unconditional feelings.
Hope acts as a reflective instrumental divide between the preceding singles and the following five that reveal the progressively candid nature of Still Waters. The tender piano score becomes both a testament to the compositional tenacity of J.R. August and the perfect meditative break before you’re thrown into the Radiohead-reminiscent desert folk single, Divine Intervention.
Track 8, Release Me from My Sin, is a sorrowfully profound confession that exposes more of JR August’s soul than you have seen before, but every piece of the portrait draws you in through the urgency in the plea for salvation. If any song can show you the true universality of human suffering and affirm that those shamefully all-encompassing emotions should never be affixed to shame, it’s Release Me From My Sin.
For the concluding single, Lonely, J.R. August leans even deeper into a sense of mysticism while teasing a new salaciously poetic side as he carries the same daringly revealing tone on from Release Me From My Sin. The lyrics are beyond cathartic to hear; I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt to verse them into such a phenomenally ethereal piece.
The most beautiful thing that an artist can do is dare say what creeps around the most private corners of our mind to give that blissful feeling of hearing vocalised what has only been whispered in staunch psychological silence. That’s exactly where J.R August triumphed in Still Waters. Between each of the nine tracks, all the most innately beautiful phenomena in our 21st-century-choked reality appear; it’s enough to restore your faith in humanity.
Still Waters was officially released on April 15th. You can check it out for yourselves on all platforms via this link.
With a full album on the way and an unassuming style that has earnt them authentic respect from the UK underground, Mike Blue and The Ghosts of Santa Monica have made 6 minutes and 19 seconds of pristine excellence on ‘Battles We Have Won‘.
Mike Blue is a Liverpool, UK-based indie folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is joined by The Ghosts of Santa Monica on this soul-healing effort.
”He started playing professionally at 16 years of age in various bands and has since toured his own music around the U.K, completing his debut solo tour in late 2021.” ~ Mike Blue
With stunning vocals, intricately performed guitar brilliance, that sweet violin sound and well-made lyrics that might have you stop whatever you were up to before, Mike Blue and The Ghosts of Santa Monica join together as one to show unity when there is so much butchery brewing all over the planet. With a peaceful single that seems to glow so beautifully and take your tired heart into a better place, this is that rare track that will change your mood and bring a ray of sunshine to make everything okay again.
”He is currently embarking on his next full-length studio album with the help of his backing and touring band ‘The Ghosts of Santa Monica” which should be completed in early 2023.” ~ Mike Blue
‘Battles We Have Won‘ from Liverpool, UK-based indie-folk singer-songwriter Mike Blue and The Ghosts of Santa Monica, drops one of the most peacefully intelligent singles you might ever hear. There is nothing flashy here, no tricks and no big egos, only a single assembled by a tight-knit group who are clearly in sync with what the intentions are. The message here? To remind us that finding your tribe is absolutely vital, as you wish for a day when you can feel that true peace in your heart when you meet that special human who somehow takes all your worries away.
You’ll only know when you feel it deep inside your bones.
See this superb track come to life on YouTube and follow Mike’s voyage on IG.
With her full album ‘Dance with Danger‘ that is due for release in September 2022 almost ready for us to swim lovingly into, Dora Gola is quite sublime on her latest single that shall set you free on ‘Jestem‘.
Dora Gola is an incomparable Poland-born, Lahinch, Western Ireland-based dancer and electro-pop/folk singer-songwriter who makes that sensually stimulating and classy soundscape that will send you into a much better natural world.
”Jestem, meaning ‘I am’ in Polish, demonstrates the dark moon aspect of Dora Gola’s musicality.” ~ Dora Gola
After transmitting us into a beautiful forest to heal again on ‘Flying Tree‘, the supremely authentic Dora Gola is quite mesmerizing on her latest release that will have you floating freely away from any negative noise. Her graceful charm is rather special yet again, as she shows us that natural energy created with only honest intentions, is the most attractive thing you can ever experience.
‘Jestem‘ from Poland-born, Lahinch, Western Ireland-based dancer and electro-pop/folk artist Dora Gola, is one of the most outstanding singles of 2022 so far. There is so much to lather calmly into here, as we are taken into a delightful trance that sends us into a galaxy that was previously incomprehensible. She is like a kind angel that has been sent from another world, to lead us into a space that is safe and filled with only that sweet and innocent love.
This is a stupendous track that will have you pausing whatever you were doing before, to close your stressed eyes so that you may feel reinvigorated again.
Hear this enchanting new single on Spotify and see her vision on IG.
With a wistful look at something so special that has stood the test of time despite the missiles that could have broken it in half forever, Drakes Island is in scintillating form with a nostalgic single to truly embrace closely with the human of your dreams on, ‘Last‘.
Drakes Island is a Plymouth, UK-based 4-piece indie psychedelic folk band that makes a wholesomely delightful sound that puts you into a better state of mind from whatever challenges you are facing.
”Their sound has been compared to artists such as A Blaze of Feather, Pink Floyd and Bears Den.” ~ Drakes Island
Drakes Island might be your new favourite band to look forward to after a long day of mind-numbing work. They remind us that it is actually possible to love like you deserve if two souls may connect as one and vow to be real with each other always no matter what. Soaring gracefully with only uncorrupted goodness and sweet butterfly kisses, this is a gorgeous single and one fit to be revered in any era.
‘Last‘ from Plymouth, UK-based 4-piece indie psychedelic folk band Drakes Island is a memoir about how a relationship that you hoped would be what you would be looking for, actually was better than you even comprehended. There is a serene daydream on offer here that will possibly find you smiling so calmly, as you close your exhausted eyes and feel so grateful for anything you have that has actually lasted the test of time. Sung with a tranquil style that has you moving your tired head slowly, this is a superb single made with that hygienic love to truly savour.
Hear this lovely new release on Soundcloud and see their vibe evolve on IG.
