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Songwriter Blog

Cenzontle’s fusionist sound is sweeter than ‘Nectar’ in their latest seminal Latin folk release.

Posted on 18 November 2023

After enchanting audiences under the GlowStone Leaf Orchestra banner and producing 13 albums that weave a tapestry of profound narratives and complex harmonies, the delectably talented Berlin-based artist, Jorge Hernandez, who has been honing his rhythmic and raconteurial crafts for over a decade stepped into a new ensemble when he assembled the three-piece Cenzontle with Lucie Nana and Kim Kong in 2019.

Monikers don’t come much more apt than Cenzontle, which translates to “400 voices”; it is a nod to the Mexican heritage of Hernandez and the multi-layered essence of his work, which breaks the monocultural mould while proving music is a universal language.

The eponymous LP, which hit the airwaves earlier this year is an opportunity for immersion in a captivating fusion of traditional Latin American Folk and electrifying Rock, delivered with a digital twist. Whether you delve into the vibrant recording or witness the emotional and innovative depth via the live performance of the standout single, ‘Nectar’, you’re sure to be stirred by the spiritually transcendent experience which solidifies Cenzontle’s position at the forefront of genre-bending music exploration.

Stream the Cenzontle LP on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jake Speikers captured a daydream of longing with his 80s-swathed new wave single, Nostalgic.

Posted on 17 November 2023

With music fans clinging to nostalgia like there’s no tomorrow, the Minnesota singer-songwriter Jake Speikers has shown them the future of 80s-integrated pop with his choral dream of a new wave single, Nostalgic.

With Phil Collin-esque drum fills punctuating the dreamy atmosphere of the release which finds the middle ground between The Midnight and Cigarettes After Sex, the nostalgic pop wheel wasn’t reinvented, but it was creatively reimagined in this impassioned earworm that captures a daydream of longing in panoramic picture that you’ll want to expose yourself to time after time.

If you can’t get enough of the DIY pop artist’s achingly sweet sonic signature, you won’t have long to wait for the release of his debut, which traverses his experiences of coming out, heartache and coming of age. We’re already invested.

Nostalgic will hit the airwaves on November 17; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shashaa Tirupati & Elephant Gym orchestrated an Eastern art-rock masterpiece with Jhalleyaa

Posted on 16 November 2023

With almost 8 million monthly listeners and endless internationally revered accolades behind her, the Indo-Canadian singer-songwriter and music producer Shashaa Tirupati is one of the biggest artists of this era; her recent collaboration with Elephant Gym on ‘Jhalleyaa’ is set to cement her legacy into the world music arena.

The richly vibrant instrumental arrangement evolves from a soulfully quiescent score of pure artful beguile into an Eastern rock earworm with ever-ascending rhythmics. It is effortless for your rhythmic pulses to get in sync with the sublime sonics delivered by Shashaa Tirupati and Elephant Gym who conjured alchemy while aurally exploring unchartered ground. The celestial timbre of Shashaa Tirupati’s signature Bollywood-esque vocals against the progressively intricate instrumentals is a one-way ticket to transcendence.

Jhalleyaa was officially released on November 3rd; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hanley showed us the future of the pop ballad with ‘So Much for Being Real’

Posted on 16 November 2023

After the success of the 2022 EP, ALIVE, the up-and-coming artist Hanley has shown us the future of pop ballads with the celestial timbres within their latest piano pop score, So Much for Being Real. Through the sequence of crescendos which punctuate the plaintive piano keys beneath the pure yearning within the vocals, you’ll feel your soul stir as much as the instrumental arrangement which emanates the kind of radiant enlightenment which only comes via acceptance and emotional intelligence.

Promises becoming little more than empty platitudes is one of the greatest betrayals we will ever experience in life, there’s little solace to be found in the bitterness of naivety after being swept up in an idea of perpetuity, but Hanley’s latest composition which was delivered with superlatively spacey compassion hits the mark of solace with perfect precision.

So Much for Being Real was officially released on October 27; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Drift into a higher dimension with the latest interstellar single from Rae Larz, ORACLE

Posted on 15 November 2023

Back in February, Rae Larz invited us to a tea party with a cosmic difference via her single, Tea in the Stratosphere, going by her latest release, ORACLE, she’s still reigning interstellar supreme.

After a sequence of moody stabbing synth lines, the Brooklyn-based artist’s demurely magnetic vocal lines start drawing you into the gravity of the release by transitioning between the high vocal harmonies and sermonic spoken word utterances which command with sublime conviction.

ORACLE may be more niche than your average synth pop release, but the singer, songwriter, and producer never compromises with her deep emotional expression and visualises soundscapes that are infinitely more enriching for the heart, body, soul and rhythmic pulses. Freedom emanates through every progression within ORACLE; unshackle yourselves, especially if you’re a fan of Black Honey, She Draws the Gun and Warpaint.

If you can’t get enough of Rae Larz after hearing ORACLE, you won’t have long to wait before her vibration-raising EP hits the airwaves.

ORACLE dropped on November 3rd; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

You will want Doller on speed dial after feeling the heat of the fusionist fire in his EP, Call Me

Posted on 14 November 2023

On November 3rd, UK’s fieriest genre fusionist Doller dropped his dynamic three-track EP, Call Me, to prove he’s lost none of the flair, flow, or finesse that has seen his audience stretch across the globe during his storming 15-year music career.

After track one unravels as an infectiously hooked garage hip-hop anthem, which efficaciously gets you in the groove and hot under the collar, Doller dips into a pseudo-trap iteration of dancehall before bringing in a smooth and steamy session of trap-soul. Achieving that feat of sonic eclecticism with three separate tracks would be one thing, but Doller exhibited his superlative versatility by reworking the same track while ensuring that each track stands by the volition of its own merit.

From the luxe high vibes that reverberate around the rhythmically arresting first single, which features MC Neat and Zara W, to the scintillating atmosphere in track two to the wavy, dreamy tonal hues within track three, which pays an intimate ode to intimacy with a little help from Aleisha Lee and Terry Trill, there’s something for everyone in the Call Me EP, which has established Doller as the baller of originality.

Before the release of Call Me, the Edmonton-originating artist who was born the roots reggae icon Kush Tafari and shares blood with the Jamaican rapper Flash earned endorsements from the likes of Ghetts, Tion Wayne, DJ Target, Charlie Sloth, Sian Anderson, Sir Spyro, Wiley, and Logan Sama. His music has also been synced into an MTV Base advert and the critically acclaimed film Sket. Over the years, he’s flitted between rap, dancehall, and trap-soul as his musical influences diversified. If one thing has remained a constant, it is the renown that has stemmed from his versatile style and impressive lyrical prowess. While some artists out there gas themselves up as a triple threat, Doller is asserting himself as the ultimate threat and one to watch throughout 2024.

Stream the Call Me EP on Spotify & SoundCloud.

Follow Doller on Facebook & Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emilie Thorsby drenched her latest single ‘Ocean’ in a sea of artful tranquillity

Posted on 12 November 2023
Emilie Thorsby

Capturing the calmingly vast natural beauty of the ocean which allows us to feel part of something bigger than ourselves within a soundscape couldn’t have been an easy feat, but the Danish singer-songwriter, Emilie Thorsby, resoundingly succeeded in her artfully alternative single, Ocean.

Through saturated almost shoegaze-y guitars, an electronica arrangement that breaks down cultural barriers as fluidly as the ocean moves without constraint, and vocal lines that resound with a sense of serenity and spirituality, Emilie Thorsby lived up to the hype that her countless accolades signify.

After releasing six singles, Emilie Thorsby has been recognised by EGW Magazine, several of her singles have gone into rotation on US radio stations, including NBC, and she was also nominated as the female artist of the year in 2022. We can’t wait to see the strides she makes in 2024.

Ocean will be available to stream on Spotify from November 11; stream the scintillating single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Laura Loh illuminated the airwaves with her latest installation of alt-pop, City Lights

Posted on 9 November 2023

Laura Loh’s latest alt-pop single, City Lights, co-produced with MUNBOI, has already been picked up by BBC Introducing; given the earworm appeal of the release from the Hampshire, UK-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, the question is, can they put it down?

With nuances of ambient leftfield electronica oscillating in the atmosphere of the scintillating single which pays an ode to the magnetism of metropolises and their tendency to keep pulling us back with the promise of limitless potential, City Lights is a compellingly immersive release, which stands as a testament to how honed Laura Loh has become since making her debut. Synthesising instrumentals which stand a chance of complimenting her naturally compelling vocal range is discernibly no easy feat.

As she’s veered away from her classical vocal, piano, and violin training and jazz music background, Laura Loh has audibly moved towards commercial appeal while never letting her folky alt-pop edge betray her authenticity.

City Lights will illuminate the airwaves on November 9th; stream the single on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

J.MYSTERY granted the permission to ‘Breakdown’ in the ethereal catharsis of his artfully raw alt-electronica score.

Posted on 9 November 2023

‘Breakdown’ is the latest innovatively polished and artfully raw electronica score by the Portuguese virtuoso and genre-melding alchemist, J.MYSTERY, who has garnered an accoladed reputation over the last few years with his command over ethereal ingenuity.

After a strong yet wavy reminiscence of John Grant in the intro which puts J.MYSTERY’s honey-timbered croons atop oscillating synthesised turbulence, echoes of the darkest Arctic Monkeys album start to manifest in the reverberance before the single veers into intersections of atmospheric soul, which will captivate any fans of Hozier and George Ezra.

Given the strength of his discography, crafting his most powerful single to date was no easy feat, but inspired by the grief shared with his wife following the sorrow of a miscarriage, J.MYSTERY found the necessity to extol the virtues of breaking down and refusing to listen to ‘be strong’ commands. Unless your soul is cast in stone, you’ll find tears to shed over this overwhelmingly vulnerable release.

Breakdown was officially released on September 29; sink into the soulful avant-garde electronica by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Xther opened Pandora’s Box with the bloodlust in his experimental debut EP, A Disaster at Last

Posted on 8 November 2023

Pandora’s Box opened when Xther unveiled his seductively macabre standout single, Delicacy, taken from his debut release, which came in the form of his inaugural EP, A Disaster at the Least.

With bloodlust in place of the banality of lust, Xther, envisioned by the inventive Davin Casey, created the ultimate protest to the cultural quietude of Southwest Missouri; Davin’s musical metamorphosis stands as a vivid declaration of artistic tenacity and fervour.

After the stabbing piano keys tease a pop ballad, the throbbing synth lines send ravines of reverberance through the synthesis of dark electronic pop progressions and alt-rock manifestations of visceralism. If Deftones make you horny, I don’t even want to know what delicacy will do to you. The sultrily dark magnetism of She Wants Revenge creating friction against the future-ready production which highlights the dust on IAMX hits is a potent aural cocktail which will intoxicate you to Xther’s sonic reawakening which follows the dissolution of Davin Casey’s former hard-rock project, Story of a Ghost.

Stream Delicacy with the A Disaster at the Least EP via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast