EP STREAM: TABS – ‘Love Like This’

“It’s so powerful for butch women to take that feeling of hate and being ‘incorrect’, and turn it into something amazing.”
(‘Why I Love My Butch Lesbian Identity‘ – Cosmopolitan)

TABS (previously writing and releasing under the name Detour City) tells her story of being a butch lesbian in an increasingly hostile world in new EP Love Like This.

A singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer based in East London, TABS has written, recorded and produced the EP herself. Inspired by the soundscapes of Massive Attack and Bjork, as well as the storytelling songs of Joni Mitchell and k.d lang, it’s a poignant and powerful collection.

Whilst signed to major labels (Polydor, BMG) TABS felt misunderstood. As a club promoter of Butch, Please! – an amazing lesbian club night which we love – she connected with butch lesbians all over the world and began the journey of making the EP. Seeking authenticity, she self-releases this EP with the support of her queer community.

Speaking about the EP, TABS explains:

“My story. My way. As a woman and a butch lesbian trying to write music I found the industry difficult and I found it hard to be heard. It took guts to walk away and choose a different path. I can’t help but write music. I’ve done it since I was two years old and singing has saved me over and over again. So, in these turbulent and unsettling times, I want this music to tell my story.” 

Dealing with themes of family rejection, the struggle to be herself and the violence she has suffered – Love Like This is a deeply personal exploration of hopes and fears in these turbulent times. Go listen, we love it!

 

Love Like This is out now. Buy a digital or hard copy over on TABS’ Bandcamp. To hear more from TABS check out her Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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Premiere: Dani Sylvia – ‘Lithium’

Having won the award for Best Songwriter at the Unsigned Music Awards back in 2016, and supported the likes of Craig David and The Feeling live, alt-pop artist Dani Sylvia is now ready to share her catchy new single.

Propelled by glitchy beats and sweeping groove-filled hooks, ‘Lithium’ perfectly showcases Sylvia’s majestic, swooning vocals in an utterly infectious slice of sparkling electro pop. Of the track, she explains:

“‘Lithium’ is about many things; self-sabotage, self-destruction, fear…  But ultimately, hope and knowing that feelings are never permanent. It is about the secrets we keep, bad coping-strategies and the lies we tell to those around us so that they don’t worry about us, preferring to learn how to heal yourself rather than leaning on others. It’s about the place we go to in our minds to face ourselves head-on and fully feel the pain/shame/loneliness/fear. It’s only by doing this alone that we can be ‘found’.”

 

‘Lithium’ is out 27th September via Little Misery Records.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Esmé

Australian singer and songwriter Esmé recently released her single ‘Ella’ which I fell for on first listen. The track was named after one of her biggest inspirations and has Esmé’s golden vocals laid over the top of samples of Ella Fitzgerald, broken hip hop beats and textured electronic synths. Esmé is looking to release her debut EP which is expected at the end of 2019 – looking forward to that a lot!

In the wake of the release of ‘Ella’, we asked Esmé to share her ‘Five Favourites’ – five artists or albums that have influenced her songwriting techniques. Check out her choices below, and make sure you give ‘Ella’ a listen at the end of this post!

Amy Winehouse – FRANK
I love this album so much and can listen to it over and over again. This album taught me how to use the simple jazz harmonies I knew and write my own lyrics and melodies to them. Amy uses the most beautiful chord progressions like you hear in ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ and her rendition of ‘No Greater Love’ is just incredible too. I feel like Amy made vocal jazz new again. She is completely honest and raw in her lyrics and storytelling. This album is also characterised by beautiful strings, beat-less guitar dominant in between songs and one thing that I always love in an album is its connectedness. It’s not a series of singles – it’s a body of work, you go on a journey when you listen from start to finish.

Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough
I discovered this artist and album at the most perfect time. I was writing only with a guitarist (Sean Harlor) and we were both influenced by her honest singing/songwriting, yet drenched in soul style. I love this album for the finger picking guitar elements, interesting phrasing and rhythmically entrancing melodies. There is a song on it called ‘Forget’: it really stretches the overall sound of the album to a darker, more aggressive side and it really inspired me to venture outside of my quietness as a musician too. The most amazing thing though is her voice and lyrics. Listening to Lianne makes you feel like you’re in the same room as her, her voice speaks to your soul. I think it means she is so in tune with her voice and the story she is telling.

Erykah Badu – Mama’s Gun
This album for me is a lesson in groove, performance, using jazz in your own way, feeling your lyrics and owning your sound (voice). I’ve been inspired by Erykah for a very long time, I love her last song on this ‘Green eyes’ – it just grows and grows sonically. Her voice is mesmerising. It sounds like she is giving it her all. I think what you hear, is what you would get live. I always think that about Erykah, it’s like she knows how to transmit her energy from live performance into her recorded work. I think that is a really hard thing to do!

Radiohead
I can’t ever really get over Radiohead – their melodies are actually so beautiful, I love all of their songs and I listened to them a lot when I wrote my second release ‘I wonder’. I think there aren’t many artists that have the same harmonic structure an entire song through but make you feel the shift from verse to chorus so much and so emotionally. I think another artist that does that well is Pharrell Williams… You know, 2 chords or at the most 4, and you’re completely transported when you hit the bridge or chorus. That’s always been amazing to me and Radiohead is a master at it! Their song ‘Creep’ is a stunning example. But I’m not going to list my favourites from them because there’s multiple from each album.

Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass
Ella actually had a really girly sounding voice for a long time, it was still beautiful and entrancing, but it was sort of thinner in resonance and tone. Each album of Ella’s witness her growth as a singer, tonally. Her music with just Joe Pass shows her voice to me in its most beautiful state, full and warm, velvety and husky at the same time. Nowadays we don’t get to witness the journey of an artist as much – we are presented with polished things in every medium. Listening to Ella with Joe Pass, or Gershwin, reminds me of the journey you take to really be good, to develop and grow and eventually sit down with just a guitar and not need anything else. Ella has helped me embrace the journey of my voice as a woman and appreciate each stage.

Thanks to Esmé for sharing her Five Favourites! Follow Esmé for more updates via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Listen to her single ‘Ella’ below:

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Five Favourites: Like A Villain

Offering glistening electronics and a hypnotic, haunting grace, New York artist Holland Andrews – aka Like A Villain – creates poignant, ethereal soundscapes on her new album What Makes Vulnerability Good. 

We think one of the best ways to get to know a new band/artist is by asking them what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Holland to talk about her ‘Five Favourites’ – five songs that have influenced her songwriting techniques, or that she simply loves listening to. Check out her choices below, and make sure you watch her latest video for ‘Daughters’ at the end of this post.

CupcakKe – ‘PetsMart’
I really like this song because the beat is sick. I strongly believe CupcakKe is one of the most creative, clever, and badass rappers of all time.

OOIOO – ‘UMO’ 
This song makes me feel good.

Jennifer Rush – ‘Power Of Love’
This is my favourite rendition of this song, mostly because of the intense synths and Jennifer’s vocal quality. Bless Celine Dion, though, she’s a shredder.

Arvo Pärt – ‘Fur Alina’
This is probably my favourite Arvo Pärd solo piano work. It’s just so subtle and emotional.

Claude Debussy (sung by Barbra Streisand from the album Classical Barbra) – ‘Beau Soir’
What better musical combination than Debussy and Streisand. I could listen to her sing in French all day.

 

Huge thanks to Like A Villain for sharing her ‘Five Favourites’ with us! Check out her new video for ‘Daughters’ below: 

What Makes Vulnerability Good, the new album from Like A Villain, is out now via Accidental Records.

 

Photo Credit: Emily Krause

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