Track Of The Day: HANYA – ‘Texas’

Having charmed us on more than one occasion playing for us live, and with acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music’s Steve LaMacq and The Quietus, Brighton band HANYA return with a beautiful new single.

Propelled by a dreamy haze, ‘Texas’ flows with twinkling hooks and the soaring, effervescent vocals of front person Heather Sheret. With shades of the lush surf-pop of Real Estate or Best Coast, it’s a shimmering slice of exquisite indie-pop oozing a blissful tranquility and spellbinding ethereal splendour. The perfect soundtrack to soothe these post-summer blues. Of the track, the band explain:

“‘Texas’ was entirely written and recorded during lockdown, experimenting with working remotely as a group. The track explores the startings of a relationship – the head-over-heels uncertainty, the self-doubt and the desire to know each other entirely.”

 

‘Texas’ is out now. Listen here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: Jessie Morgan

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Decolonise Fest Moves Online For Week-Long Series Of Events

Established in 2017, Decolonise Fest is an annual non-profit DIY festival, collectively organised by, and dedicated to promoting, punx of colour; something we fully support here at Get In Her Ears. This year, as with most large events in this current situation, they’ve been forced to cancel and so have moved online to create a Covid-friendly version of the festival.

This week, from the 1st to 6th September, they will be hosting a series of workshops, panel events and performances.

Workshops will include a Shadow Sistxrs Fight Club workshop involving tantric breathwork, self-care and martial arts, as well as a workshop on Black and Brown queer world building led by Screaming Toenail vocalist and celebrated artist Jacob V Joyce. They will also host a panel on Global Punx of Colour featuring punks from around the world talking about their local scenes and communities.

In addition to these super insightful workshops, live performances will come from New Orleans no wave glam punks Special Interest, anti-colonial Kenyan punk band Crystal Axis, “South Asian” “American” “Punks” (est. 2006) The Kominas, London-based alt-americana act DeLila Black, electronic synth punk artist PRNCSS and post-punk Netherlands-based act Lifeless Past.

Tickets are free, but donations encouraged. Find more information about tickets and the festival here.

In the absence of any ‘proper’ indoor events at the moment, this online extravaganza from Decolonise Fest sounds too good to miss! We feel that organisations like Decolonise Fest are vital right now; creating spaces that advocate for emerging artists of colour, foster a community of like-minded people, connect punx of colour to global struggles against the legacy of colonialism and indulge in a love of punk together.

Full online Decolonise Fest schedule below:

Tuesday 1st September

Shadow Sistxrs presents: Entering into the Serpent: Dialoguing with Kali

Clem leads us through a journey of Tantric breathwork, bringing us into contact with the Goddess of Revolution, our Divine Mother, Kali. Monique will then teach a few simple martial arts techniques that will allow us to physically embody the principles of power, protection and pleasure.

Wednesday 2nd September

Black and Brown Queer World Building

Join Jacob V Joyce for a workshop mapping the future through collaborative poetry and writing exercises. This workshop draws on speculative fiction writing techniques to facilitate collaborative envisioning of a queer decolonial future.

Thursday 3rd September

Crystal Axis + The Kominas + DeLila Black

Join us for sessions from:

Crystal Axis: Anti-colonial Kenyan punk band

The Kominas: “South Asian” “American” “Punks” (est. 2006)

DeLila Black: London-based alt-americana act

Friday 4th September

Special Interest + Lifeless Past + PRNCSS

Join us for sessions from:

Special Interest: New Orleans no wave glam punks

Lifeless Past: Post-punk Netherlands-based act

PRNCSS: Electronic synth punk artist based in London

Sunday 6th September

Global Punx of Colour Panel

Join Decolonise Fest for a panel event with punx of colour around the world discussing their local scenes, how punk relates to their identity, how BLM has affected their activism and scene and how to create a global punx of colour community.

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LISTEN: Susanna – ‘The Dancing Snake’

In a stunning and sorrowfully emotional unfolding it seems unjust to describe ‘The Dancing Snake’ the latest offering from Norwegian artist Susanna, as anything but a treasure.

Inspirited by the ghost of the late poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-67), Susanna brings the cynical gaze of a wandering civilian reflecting upon the universe around him to her majestic songwriting. With a captivating performance of dark, velvet-like piano, ‘The Dancing Snake’ and its shivering essence seems to rotate through the soreness of Baudelaire’s historic perspective.

Floating above the instrumental, Susanna’s voice emerges ‘The Dancing Snake’ to move in modern times with a fluttering vocal dreamscape that is anchored to the earth by its ringing chords and escapist lyrical content. Images from “I breathe the tang of the ocean / in the deeps of your hair”, to “my dreaming soul casts off and sets its course for distant skies”, take Susanna’s listeners on this strange fantastical journey where they are whisked away to hear the harmonious marriage between immaculate musicianship and storytelling.

‘The Dancing Snake’ is a skeletal arrangement of a tune that needs no more than itself. With early influences, from the earnest Bob Dylan to the more contemporary Mothers, Susanna has thrown her work into a blender – derived only from the best of folk, classical and art – and created an exquisite soundscape. ‘The Dancing Snake’ is an exhibition in itself, of impressionism and the pondering experience of being alive.

Baudelaire & Piano, the upcoming album from Susanna, is set for release 11th September via SusannaSonata.

Jill Goyeau
@jillybxxn

Photo Credit: Martin Rustad Johansen

 

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Track Of The Day: Nuha Ruby Ra – ‘Cruel’

As part of the promotion for her latest track, Nuha Ruby Ra was asked by the PRS Foundation to put together a playlist which featured, amongst others, such diverse names as Billy Fury, Nina Simone, Thee Headcoatees and The Birthday Party. Reading between the lines, if there’s one thing that links these artists (and the many other acts cited as influences by Ra in past interviews) and her latest single, ‘Cruel’, it’s an ability to craft narrative in song form, typically with a dark tinge. ‘Cruel’, the latest cut from forthcoming EP How to Move,  is perhaps even more darkly hypnotic than debut ‘Erase Me’, and sees Ra morph multiple genres into a singular whole.

Opening with a bass sound and vocalisation that most recalls the dark Swedish psych of GOAT, the track’s opening two minutes are compelling, if belying in what is to come. A middle eight bass breakdown, of sorts, breaks off the song’s first half, before Ra opens up her singing style in Siouxsie fashion and sax murmurings creep more prominently into the mix.  By the time the whole thing has simmered and come to a boil, its instrumentation, replete with drum rattles and guitar riffs, has moved closer to free jazz. Ra’s backing band – Ian Wilson (guitar) and Julie Hair (percussion) of the similarly dreamy Isolation Society, Interpol’s bassist Brad Truax, and Vestments saxophonist Nikki D’Agostino – are an ideal ensemble to accompany her voice, which is by turns eerie, insistent and direct, overlaying itself with whispered incantations that pre-empt or echo lyrics and give the song the hallucinogenic feel of fantasy and nightmare. Its lyrics are clearly deeply personal to Ra, confirmed in social media posts which discuss the topics cited, with the imagery of isolation, bondage, self-sabotage and self-consciousness perfectly evoked by her unique vocal style.

Credit has to be given for Ra too for the accompanying video which, due to recent restrictions, was filmed, directed and edited by the singer in her warehouse workspace.  Similar to the video for ‘Erase Me’, with its deliberately simple colour scheme, and holographic style of overlapping, its raw and (literally) stripped back styling reflects its creator’s willingness to lay bare her soul and her body for her art. Even just by her two singles, Ra is the breakout multi-hyphenate of the year: an artist, a performer, a musician, whose work is both self-reflective and self-reflexive, boundary-pushing yet relatable enough to carry along its listener. What follows will, no doubt, be fascinating.

Watch the new video for ‘Cruel’ here:

‘Cruel’ is out now. Listen on Spotify.

John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego

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