Kate Crudgington

LISTEN: Sans Soucis – ‘I’m On’

An uplifting blend of lush vocals, warm synth textures and smooth beats that radiate with a new found artistic confidence, songwriter & producer Sans Soucis has shared her latest single ‘I’m On’. Released via AWAL in collaboration with The Young Guns Network and co-produced by Cid Rim, the track is a genre-bending reflection on the artist’s own experiences of recovering from an extended period of depression, finding joy and freedom when she was able to re-connect with herself.

“When I wrote this song, I wanted to express the fact that I am honestly ‘on’, like how people turn on a TV. I am awake,” Sans Soucis explains. “I’m ready to experience the world and enjoy my career path. A big part of my depression was that I felt less able to enjoy music, but after healing, I finally feel alive. My artist name is a nickname given by my Congolese family meaning ‘care-free’. The irony is that, for a time, I was making music as Sans Soucis, but I wasn’t really feeling like Sans Soucis. Now I am, and this song came to me in a flash; I needed to sing my heart out and put together all these harmonies, to express the joyousness and happiness I was feeling.”

Through her considered lyrics, exquisite vocal layering and tentative beats, Sans Soucis beautifully captures the relief of coming back to yourself after an inexplicably difficult mental health struggle. She hopes that her new offering will inspire others to reach a similar level of peace. “The biggest lyrical takeaway from this song is ‘Stop everything and set yourself free, I’m telling you just follow what you need’,” she continues. “I feel like joy and creativity should be recycled, and I want to inspire others to feel creative in life, whatever that means for them.”

Sans Soucis will be releasing her new 6-track EP, On Time For Her, later this year and has a London showcase performance penned for September.

Watch the video for ‘I’m On’ below.

Follow Sans Soucis on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

April 16, 2021

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Track Of The Day: Errunhrd – ‘Rain (Sun Is Gone)’

An evocative electronic soundscape that deals with emotional burnout, Niagara Falls based multi-instrumentalist and producer Errunhrd has shared her latest single ‘Rain (Sun Is Gone)’. Laced with melancholy vocals, cinematic synths and sparse, clicking percussion, the track embraces a difficult topic but is underscored by Errunhrd’s hope that things will eventually improve.

“‘Rain (Sun is Gone)’ is about being emotionally overwhelmed during the pandemic while my grandma got diagnosed with colon cancer and is still going through treatment,” Errunhrd aka Shirin Ghoujalou explains. “It’s also my way of letting everyone out there struggling right now know that I hope we’ll be okay and get through this, while keeping the anger and frustration of the situation in there.”

Influenced by the likes of New Order, Grimes, Daughter and London Grammar, Errunhrd creates music that has “some kind of melancholy hope” and writes lyrics directly from her life experiences. ‘Rain (Sun Is Gone)’ epitomises her creative outlook, diving deep into her vulnerabilities and fears about her own well-being, as well as extending an olive branch to her Grandmother and to her listeners who are struggling to tread water in these testing times.

Watch the video for ‘Rain (Sun Is Gone)’ below.

Follow Errunhrd on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

April 15, 2021April 16, 2021

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LISTEN: Evan Greer – ‘Surveillance Capitalism’

A rallying cry against the un-nerving nature of Spotify’s increasingly pervasive developments in user-monitoring technologies, Boston-based indie-punk artist Evan Greer has shared her latest single ‘Surveillance Capitalism’. Taken from her new album Spotify is Surveillance, released via Don Giovanni Records and queer-run independent label Get Better Records, the track also marks the launch of Greer’s StopSpotifySurveillance.org campaign with digital rights platform Fight for the Future.

The campaign calls on Spotify to drop reported plans to use artificial intelligence and voice recognition software to spy on listeners’ conversations, conducting emotional surveillance and manipulation to target music and advertising. Greer, who is also a journalist & a pro-active voice for trans rights and equality, will be donating all the profits from her single to the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) to support their #JusticeAtSpotify campaign.

“We all want to be seen / but behind the screen / there’s a nightmare dressed up as a dream,” Greer sings, a sentiment that will resonate deeper with listeners who have endured a year of increased screen-time due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic’s on-going lockdowns. The idea that Spotify could be spying on and profiting from people’s privacy via new technologies is abhorrent to Greer, and she wants listeners to push back against the platform’s plans too.

“The fact that Spotify filed a patent for this type of emotional surveillance and manipulation is beyond chilling,” she explains. “It’s not enough for them to say that they have no plans to use this technology right now, they should publicly commit to never conducting this type of surveillance on music listeners. Surveillance capitalism as a business model is fundamentally incompatible with basic human rights and democracy, regardless of whether it’s being employed by Facebook, Amazon, or Spotify.

The song and video highlight the fact that the Internet has the potential to profoundly transform our society for the better, abolishing false scarcity and enabling universal access to human knowledge and creativity, while ensuring marginalized and independent artists and creators are fairly compensated for our labour. But if we allow a small handful of companies to dominate the web and the music industry with a parasitic business model based on surveillance and exploitation, we’re headed for the opposite: a dystopian future where algorithms decide what we see and hear based on profit, rather than artistry.”

Listen to ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ below.

Follow Evan Greer on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter & Instagram

Photo Credit: Kayana Szymczak

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

April 14, 2021

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VIDEO PREMIERE: Maud – ‘Nobody’

A shadowy electro-pop gem that champions personal growth and self-autonomy, Norwegian producer & songwriter Maud has shared her a new video to accompany her latest single ‘Nobody’. Directed by Danish video artist Signe Dige (Chinah), the visuals combine acidic colours with surreal photo-negative-style close ups to reflect the track’s themes of emotional resilience and finding your inner strength.

“Signe and I had one short phone call before we started working together and the rest of our communication was through WhatsApp,” Maud explains about the video. “The threshold for collaborating with people digitally is so low right now, and I love how I can just find inspiring artists in other countries through Instagram and instantly be able to connect with them.”

“The idea behind the video was to portray the intimate and sincere self-love described in ‘Nobody’ by combining playful close-ups of me in a dark visual landscape,” Maud continues. “I shot some videos on my phone in my apartment in Kristiansand, sent it to Signe in Denmark and then she edited it together with some crazy good animations that she made. The result is dreamy and organic, but also a raw and dramatic video which fits my single perfectly.”