Get In Her Ears w/ Piney Gir 21.11.19

Kate was back in the studio this week with guest co-host Beth White. They played a plethora of new music; featuring highlights from ARXX, Bitch Falcon, PONY, Polly Money, The Menstrual Cramps, The Baby Seals, Nomke & Fightmilk.

Piney Gir joined them in the studio to perform acoustic versions of her tracks ‘Dream Catcher’ & ‘Great Pretend’ and for a chat about her recent album, You Are Here. We can’t wait to have her headline our FREE GIHE gig at The Finsbury Pub on Fri 14th Feb 2020 (event details here).

Listen back:

Tracklist
TLC – No Scrubs
Grimes – So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth
Bitch Falcon – Damp Breath
ARXX – You Got What You Want
REWS – Birdsong
Jemma Freeman – Hard Times
PONY – Limerence
Honeymoan – Still Here
Fightmilk – Four Star Hotel
Glacier Veins – Not Gonna Stay
Eilis Frawley – Illusions
Phlake – Baby Steps
Dutch Mustard – Get What You Want
Scrounge – Purpose
Pongo – Quem manda No Mic
Ren Harvieu – Teenage Mascara
Polly Money – Twntys
The Menstrual Cramps – Idols
Deux Furieuses – Let Them Burn
Nomke – Ended (by the morning)
Claire Foxx & The Antisocial Justice Warriors – Problem Child
Breakup Haircut – I Don’t Wanna Do Things
The Baby Seals – My Labia’s Lop-sided But I Don’t Mind
Berries – Written In Paint
Nao – In The Morning
Amy Fitz Doyley – Ears
Avril Lavigne – I’m With You

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ALBUM: Sea Change – ‘Inside’

Peel away your inhibitions and join Norwegian electronic artist Ellen Sunde aka Sea Change as she navigates a personal metamorphosis on her new album, Inside. Alongside co-producer and mixer Andrew Murray, Sunde has crafted seven ethereal sounding, club-inspired tracks that make her sound like she could be the introverted distant relation of Fever Ray.

Eponymous track ‘Inside’ may be brief, but in the space of two minutes Sunde outlines the direction of her album. Sparse synth sounds and hyper-conscious, introverted lyrics – “Come with me inside / my skin feels too tight” – alert listeners to the beginning of her journey towards breaking out of her shell. This idea is taken to a different level on following track ‘Stepping Out’. Through a fusion of disjointed beats and atmospheric synth textures, Sunde navigates the idea of transforming into an animal.

“Let me possess you / Let me destroy you” she delicately threatens on ‘Something Else’, a captivating four minutes of altruistic synth patterns and soft, reverb-strewn vocals. A quiet anger permeates following track ‘Scratch That Itch’, with the opening percussive clicks acting as a subtle nod to the itch in the song’s title. Sunde softly sings “I have a white hot anger / I’m slowly setting it free” over mellow synth textures and looping beats that sit in contrast to the emotion she’s expressing. This contradiction in sound and lyricism is what makes Sunde’s music so compelling.

The intimate ‘What Makes’ is truly intoxicating. “I wear my body inside out for you” she muses, over drifting beats and ambient synths. ‘The Bed’ is an emotive lament about the “skin and dirt” that sullies the sheets and the memories of stale love. Closing track ‘Flown’ is a breath of fresh air, a four minute rumination on freedom and letting go.

“When I made this record I tried to channel the same state of mind I have when I go clubbing” Sunde explains. “Not overthinking everything, like I usually do, but instead embracing my impulses; working intuitively, almost anti-intellectual.” This approach has resulted in an impressive collection of instinctive, immensely enjoyable sounds that could fill busy dancefloors, or soundtrack private moments of introspection in dimly lit bedrooms.

Photo credit: Fotini Chora

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: Bishop Briggs – ‘Champion’

“I hope you like it. And if you don’t, please don’t tell me. I’m far too sensitive to hear that” jests Bishop Briggs about her single ‘Jekyl & Hide’, lifted from her sophomore album Champion. Whilst she’s speaking about a specific track, her sentiment is one that can easily be applied to her new record, which explores her strength and vulnerability as an artist, and as a woman, across ten vibrant tracks.

Her 2018 debut album, Church of Scars, was featured in the Top 10 on the Billboard Album Chart in the same year. Following up that success can be tricky, but Briggs has kept things simple on Champion, focusing on emotive lyrics and catchy beats to get her message of self-empowerment across.

The brief, confessional ‘I Still Love You’ acknowledges the fight between the heart and the head. Briggs’ struggle to let it go is explored through gentle piano sounds and slow atmospheric percussion. ‘Can You Hear Me Now?’ follows, with its buoyant beats and Briggs’ defiant vocals breaking through in the chorus. Briggs sets a solitary scene in the opening verse to eponymous track ‘Champion’ – “alone in my car / I’m in a parking lot” – but she offsets this with an empowering chorus of extended vocals and foot-stomping beats.

Disappointment and heartache permeate ‘Tattooed On My Heart’, as Briggs laments about a relationship full of fake promises and lacking in closure. It’s a relatable listen filled with more of her clear vocals, supported by a backing choir which makes the song an unexpectedly uplifting listen. The melancholy ‘Someone Else’ follows, with Briggs expressing a desire for space and solitude over tentative piano.

Co-written with K. Flay and produced by Joel Little, ‘Jekyll & Hide’ (incorrectly spelled for a reason) coins a new dating phrase – “Are you Jekyll & Hide-ing me?” – as a way to describe the chaotic feeling of dating someone who appears to be two-faced. It’s followed by the revealing ‘Lonely’, which flows in the same vulnerable vein as previous track ‘Someone Else’.

On ‘Wild’ Briggs finds solace in running full pelt in to the unknown, her voice races across layers of sharp beats and powerful backing vocals. The funky ‘My Shine’ spotlight’s Briggs’ breakthrough in the aftermath of a relationship that dimmed her light and dulled her confidence. ‘I Tried’ closes the record, a demo that documents the exhaustion and the relief of leaving behind someone who drained you of your energy and efforts.

Acknowledging the many ways in which a woman can be strong, even when tangled up in a bad romantic relationship seems to be Briggs forte. At times times repetitive, but always relatable; Champion is an uplifting record fueled by the desire to overcome the forces that hold us down.

Listen to Champion on Spotify below. Follow Bishop Briggs on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: Mamiffer – ‘The Brilliant Tabernacle’

An ode to life and light; Mamiffer‘s latest album The Brilliant Tabernacle is a quiet affair, but it speaks volumes about the patience and tenacity of the human heart. Based in Seattle, Mamiffer (formed of Faith Coloccia, her partner and collaborator Aaron Turner, and a string of auxiliary musicians) have crafted seven tracks that exude genuine warmth and gentility over a series of diverse, electronic-acoustic soundscapes.

Opening track ‘All That is Beautiful’ brims with tentative piano, steady drums and Coloccia’s soft vocals. It sounds equal parts vast and sparse, particularly when Turner’s distorted guitar sounds break through towards the end. The hymn-like ‘River of Light’ flows like its namesake, with more of Coloccia’s gentle vocals lilting above a captivating soundscape of flute, drones, pulses, and melodic fragments.

An exquisite instrumental floods the first three minutes of ‘So That The Heart May Be Known’. It’s a wonderful blend of strings and folk-tinged sounds, and is easily one of the highlights of the record. Coloccia’s voice comes back in to focus again on ‘Two Hands Together’, a lament to the light that shines through on the darkest of nights. Following track ‘To Receive’ gives similar treatment to themes of vulnerability and acceptance.

‘Hymn of Eros’ – Eros being the Greek God of love & sex – is an epic nine minute track. It’s a mythically themed, searching soundscape; a resurrection of hope and love spread across multiple layers of classical and folk-tinged instrumentation. The record closes with ‘To Be Seen’, with Coloccia’s welcoming lyric “you are one of us” becoming more reassuring each time she repeats it. This maternal element to her songwriting was inspired by the birth of her first child after her last album, The World Unseen, and it permeates the new release.

“So many problems in the world stem from people who do not love themselves, and have lost a fundamental gift that should be everyone’s birth right: to be loved unconditionally and completely” explains Coloccia. On The Brilliant Tabernacle, she has attempted to remedy this, and as a result, has created an uplifting and emotive record that will ease listeners out of the solitary shadows, and in to the unified light.

Listen to Mamiffer’s new album on Spotify below. Follow the band on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Photo Credit: Ethan DeLorenzo

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