ALBUM: Ioanna Gika – ‘Thalassa’

Ioanna Gika is a Greek American artist whose debut solo album Thalassa is out today. The album is named in honour of the Greek spirit of the sea, which I mention if only to highlight the sense of aural vastness and awe that Gika is establishing here. The epic opening track ‘Roseate’, in all its sophistication and variety, complexity and beauty, acts as a sonic manifesto. It points the way towards what Gika intends to do with the rest of the album. The sound is both expansive and complex, atmospheric and soundscape-y. It is all absorbing and overwhelming.

Within this piece of work there are industrial percussion elements set against soaring ethereal vocals and electro atmospherics, while at the same time light and dark sonic elements wrap themselves around each other in tendrils. From the eerie piano of the title track, to the exhilarating giddiness and elemental wildness of ‘Messenger’, with its fast electronic percussion and soaring vocals, it feels primal in nature. There are jagged string sections, layers of reverb, and passages of dark, sonic foreboding alongside ethereal beauty.

The single ‘Swan’ is an atmospheric and minimalistic piece, complex and poignantly raw in its emotional palette. Whereas ‘Weathervane’ has a ghostly, wistful element to it which is underpinned by industrial style percussion. Gika sounds like a mournful siren, standing on the rocks and looking out to sea during ‘No Matter What’, but ‘Ammonite’ is a dark pop song with solid foundations. Closing track ‘Drifting’ is simply elegant in its concept, the aural equivalent of a dragonfly flitting across a lake lit by sunshine; its motif is what sounds like a high speed harp, twinkling magically in the sunshine.

This is a tremendous album, one that is awe inspiring in scale and haunting in quality. Not to be missed.

Thalassa, the debut album from Ioanna Gika, is out now via Sargent House.

Cazz Blase
@CazzBlase

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Five Favourites: Panic Pocket

Having stolen our hearts playing live for us at The Five Bells last year, London duo Sophie Peacock and Natalie Healey – aka Panic Pocket – create luscious slices of shimmering indie-pop with a twinkling charm and impeccable tongue-in-cheek wit.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a new artist is by asking them what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with the duo to ask about their “Five Favourites” – five albums that have influenced their songwriting techniques. Check out their choices below, and make sure you watch their new video ‘Pizza In My Pants’ at the end of this post.

Aimee Mann – Bachelor No. 2 (Or, the Last Remains of the Dodo)
Nat: I picked up this record in an HMV bargain bin in Crawley when I was about fifteen, because I thought the cover looked cool, and I’ve been obsessed with Aimee Mann ever since. Bachelor No.2 was the perfect soundtrack to typical suburban teenage angst and it makes me nostalgic for my boombox every time I listen to it. Mann’s sad, darkly funny lyrics and deadpan vocals are a big influence for us. She also uses a lot of jazzy chords in her songs, which I steal because they sound cool and I still suck at barre chords!

Rilo Kiley – The Execution of All Things
Nat: I discovered Rilo Kiley when I was going through my Bright Eyes phase way too late in life, in about 2010. I was working for a medical research company in the middle of nowhere at the time. I hated my job and I was lonely and pretty sad. This bleak as fuck but triumphant album really helped me through the multiple work disasters, toxic relationships and emotional turmoil of that period. Jenny Lewis is an incredible songwriter and conjures such powerful imagery in her music. Just try and listen to ‘A Better Son, Daughter’ without feeling something. And then, check out Lewis’ new record On the Line too – it’s a masterpiece.

Dar Williams – Mortal City
Sophie: Before I hit peak Tori Amos fan, I had Dar Williams. After hearing her on a Lilith Fair compilation sing impassionately and wrly about therapy sessions, my angsty teenage heart was desperate to track her down. I listened to 30 second extracts of her songs on Amazon (the only access I had to the rest of her work in a pre-Youtube world), and then finally took the plunge and ordered Mortal City. Her confessional, folk-story, sometimes-sea-shanty songwriting had me rapt. ‘The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis Of A Co-Ed’ and the title track ‘Mortal City’ showed that sometimes less is more, and putting some witty sass in your songs can go a long way – it’s now the Panic Pocket standard.

PJ Harvey – Dry
Sophie: I saw Dry in my local library at age 15 and took it home on a whim, and quickly became obsessed. It marked several milestones in my puny white-girl teenage rebellion: my mum finally asked “what the hell are you listening to?”, and I realised that feminist rage and unrequited lust could go musically hand in hand to cathartic results. I felt like a mysterious vengeful witch was singing everything I wished I could have heard up until that first playthrough, and I still return to it on the reg.

Best Coast – ‘Crazy For You’
Nat: When we started Panic Pocket, we probably cited lo-fi surf rock duo Best Coast as our biggest influence – up-beat, bratty, lo-fi songs about darker, more complex situations. Sophie introduced me to this album when it first came out, and we were living hundreds of miles from each other. Whenever I hear it, it makes me think of how grateful I am that we get to hang out with each other every day right now. And just like Bethany Cosentino sings on ‘Goodbye’, we too wish our cat could talk. Nine years on, it’s still the perfect soundtrack to your summer.

Massive thanks to Panic Pocket for sharing their Five Favourites! Check out their new video for ‘Pizza In My Pants’ below:

Never Gonna Happen, the new EP from Panic Pocket is out 12th April via Reckless Yes. Catch Panic Pocket live at the following dates:

10th April – The Victoria (EP Launch)
10th May – The Finsbury (for Get In Her Ears w/ Crumb!)

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Track Of The Day: The Astronots – ‘Settle Down’

‘Settle Down’ is the next release from LA rock trio, The Astronots, which succeeds their 2018 single, ‘How Much Pain’.

Kicking off with a hair-raising, spine-tingling sense of urgency, a floor tom thumps ominously and a bass rumbles, as together they sound like an army marching in unison, before a discordant guitar wavers in with menacing graveyard charm.

Spearhead of the West Coast group, Allee Futterer, graces the track with her feather soft, ghostly vocals. Her voice drifts weightlessly, yet is grounded by the droning bass and tremolo guitar; then, as the sinister guitar riff returns, plunging us into the chorus, an electrifying space of heavenly vocals laced with fizzy synth, pounded by fierce guitar, fills your ears. Meandering between Earth and the cosmic realms, the track becomes a force to be reckoned with, experimenting with ethereal buzzes and muffled radio commentary, all the while rooted by wailing guitar.

 

Megan Berridge
@noisygal_

 

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Get In Her Ears w/ Hattie Whitehead, 28.03.19

Tash was flying solo in the studio this evening with a show jam-packed full of new music from the likes of Soap&Skin, CIEL, Amaal and Gulls.

She was also joined in the studio by Hattie Whitehead who kicked things off with a breathtakingly beautiful rendition of ‘More Than That’. They talked about her upcoming EP Old Soul, which is out in May, as well as her next gig at The Old Blue Last on April 17th – a date for the diary.

Listen back:

 

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