Premiere: Scrounge – ‘Crimson’

As any regular readers/listeners of GIHE will be aware, we’ve been huge fans of South London duo Luke and Lucy – aka Scrounge – for a while now. Ever since they completely blew us away with their epically energy-fuelled set at one of our gigs at The Windmill last summer, we’ve been struggling to put into words just how impressive we find their refreshingly original sound. Now, following last year’s edgy single ‘Etch’ and sharing stages with the likes of Desperate Journalist and Phobophobes, Scrounge return to blast into our ears with the furious power of a brand new offering.

Propelled by Luke’s intense pummelling beats and Lucy’s trademark gritty snarl, ‘Crimson’ creates a frenzied swirl of sound that’ll wrap itself around you with a racing sense of urgency. With shades of the soaring majesty of Sonic Youth, whilst retaining the duo’s utterly unique and colossal genre-blending sound, ‘Crimson’ offers a wonderfully discordant whirring cacophony that builds with an immense power at break-neck force to a truly breathtaking climax. Of the track, the band explain:

“‘Crimson’ is about the mythologies that one builds up around oneself, and what happens when those mythologies rub up against reality and their flaws are exposed. We recorded it in an afternoon with our mate Mark in South Bermondsey, writing and rewriting the lyrics as we played, and worked hard to channel the disorientating feelings. Confusion and loss are at the heart of the enterprise…”

Produced and mixed by Mark Estall at Marketstall Recording, listen to ‘Crimson’ for the first time here:

 

‘Crimson’ is out now and you can catch Scrounge live (which we STRONGLY RECOMMEND!) at the following dates:

13th February – The Waiting Room, Stoke Newington (with Unhappybirthday)
21st February – Hare & Hounds, Brighton (Club Fugly with Currls)
8th March – The Finsbury, London (for yours truly Get In Her Ears!)
30th March – Bang On Fest, Berlin

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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Interview and Playlist: Amahla

Having played legendary venues such as The Jazz Cafe and The Roundhouse, and garnered support from the likes of BBC Radio 1 Extra and 6Music’s Tom Robinson, Hackney native Amahla was also been a recipient of the second ever MOBO Awards X Help Musicians Grant for her exceptional voice. Following the lush sounds of last year’s ‘Old Soul’, she’s now returned to grace our ears with poignant new single ‘Dorothy’s Verses’.

We had a little chat with Amahla to find out more, and asked her to pick a few of her favourite songs for a special guest playlist…

Hi Amahla, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do
Hey, I’m Amahla! I’m 22 and I’m a soul singer-songwriter from Hackney. Some of my music branches into folk because I write primarily with guitar but it’s definitely in the bracket of soul. I’ve been lucky enough to play some amazing venues so far, like the Jazz Cafe and Roundhouse main stages. Usually I play with my band but I’ve also been doing more intimate acoustic shows recently.

Your new single ‘Dorothy’s Verses’ is out on Friday, can you tell us what it’s all about?
‘Dorothy’s Verses’ is a story inspired by my grandmother. She came to the UK with my mum and Grandad in the early ’60s from Guyana. She’s always been super independent but three years ago she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had to change her lifestyle. Since then my family and I have had to learn to see her world through this new lens. ‘Dorothy’s Verses’ is about her reflecting on her life, but also about the need to push women’s stories to the forefront into all of our collective memories more generally.

You’ve been compared to the likes of Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse, but who would you say are you main musical influences?
Have I? That’s nice! It’s hard to say who my main influences are, but here are a few on my mind at the moment… Amy is a huge one, I was 11 when Back to Black came out and she showed me that I could sing soul but still retain everything that makes me a London girl – the accent, the honesty – and not compromise my identity. Listening to Etta James taught me how to sing with conviction, plus the phrasing of lots of the early Jazz pioneers like Ella and Nat King Cole is just exquisite and has fed into the way I now write my melodies – it’s all about intention.

You graduated university with a first in Anthropology, how would you say what you’ve learnt about this feeds into your music?
I wrote my final thesis about the impact technology (particularly camera phones) has in recreating an archive of violence against the black body – one that the US government sought to repress after the civil rights movement. I think this thesis broadened my mind in terms of how I think about social movements, how they occur and why. These topics consumed my life for a year and I think you can hear its impact on my upcoming EP Consider This – thematically I explore similar themes of memory, justice and using one story to tell many.

And how important do you think it is for musicians to use their creative platform to address issues of politics and race?
At the moment it’s important for me to address issues of politics; I’ve always wanted in some way to impact social change in my lifetime. I don’t know how yet, but for me putting my thoughts into my music is a start. But, as much as music is a place to dissect these issues, it’s also a place to escape from them. Having the freedom to create and innovate is the most important thing.

And would you say movements such as Me Too have allowed more musicians to be more honest in their songwriting?
It’s an interesting question, I don’t know how anyone would go about quantifying its impact yet. I think that the impact of Me Too as a movement won’t really be felt on a broad level for a few years still.

 

We’ve asked you to pick some songs by artists and bands you admire for a special playlist, can you tell us a bit about each of your choices?

Miss Jacqui – ‘These Walls’
I’ve known Miss Jacqui for a while now, she is a songwriter and poet. She performed at the 2012 Paralympics ceremony but hasn’t released anything officially ’til this year. She’s exceptional. We need more voices like hers in the music industry.

Hejira – ‘I Don’t Belong To Anyone’
One of the most underrated bands in my opinion, their sound and visuals are so unique – every single is fire. The rhythm of this one particularly, captures you from the beginning.

Cosima – ‘Hymns For Him’
Cosima is uncompromising in her sound and has such a cutting tone to her voice, she reminds me of Prince. I love this song!

Fatima – ‘Westside’
The bassline in this track is something else and Fatima’s low register is gorgeous. I was lucky enough to support her at her Roundhouse show last month, she’s even more magical live. Her music came alive and her voice and presence filled the room, I haven’t been able to switch it off since.

Nai Palm – ‘Crossfire/ So Into You’
Her voice of course is out of this world, but there is nothing conventional about her songwriting. The way she uses guitar as harmony and percussion to complement her vocal lines is something I’ve admired for years.

Shae Universe – ‘Tell Me The Truth’
Shae’s voice is simply incredible. I’d love to write a song for her catalogue, the range and melodic possibilities with her voice are just gorge.

Massive thanks to Amahla for answering our questions! Listen to her guest playlist here:

 

And you can catch Amahla live at The Roundhouse on 19th February.

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Lily & Madeleine

American sister duo Lily & Madeleine are set to release their new album Canterbury Girls on 22nd February via New West. It was recorded in Nashville and produced by the team behind Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour, Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. Their record takes its name from Canterbury Park, located in the sisters hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Despite the album’s poppy veneer, the record boasts some of Lily & Madeline’s most intense lyrics to date – all written or co-written by the sisters – exploring relationships, power imbalances, and the weight of expectation.

We asked Lily & Madeleine to name their “Five Favourites” – five artists or albums that have influenced their songwriting techniques. Check out their choices below, and make sure you watch their new video for ‘Analog Love’ at the end of this post!

1. Charlotte Day Wilson – Stone Woman 
Madeleine: I started listening to Charlotte Day Wilson this past summer at the suggestion of a boy I had a crush on. Feeling swept up in the giddy anticipation of a summer fling, I immediately fell in love with her music and listened all summer long. Her voice is like velvet and her songs are so mellow and warm, perfect on a summer evening. She could really sing over any backing beat and I’d love it, but I always go back to my favorite song on the record ‘Funeral’ because it’s so cathartic to sing along to.

2. Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour
Madeleine: This is my #1 album of 2018 and will forever be a favorite because the songs are so fun yet poignant. Produced by the amazing Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, who we worked with on Canterbury Girls, this record just makes you wanna sing along and cry at the same time. I wasn’t familiar with Kacey until this record and I think Golden Hour changed how I see country music to be more of a spectrum of influences. My favorite song is the first track ‘Slow Burn’. The imagery in that song makes me feel like I’m driving through the country without a real destination, just a sense of freedom and serenity.

3. Solange – A Seat at the Table
Madeleine: This record by Solange is honestly pure artistry. It has catchy hooks and emotional interludes, all wrapped into a soulful pop package. Every song tells a story about being a woman, being black in America, being an artist. I feel like I can see into Solange’s mind with this record and I relate as a young female artist. As Beyonce’s sister, you’d think that Solange might have a difficult time finding her own voice, yet this record is so unique from anything else. I hope she continues to make music this powerful. It inspires me to have a voice in this industry and sing about things that matter to me, like owning your power as a woman.

4. The Killers – Hot Fuss
Lily: Hot Fuss was the first record put out by the Killers in 2004, and although I was only 7 years old when it debuted, it became one of the defining records of my adolescence. The production of the songs is in-your-face with loud bass lines, fast drums, and interesting synths. But to me, the songwriting is the best part of this album. Songs like ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ and ‘Andy You’re A Star’ unfold themselves in such an unexpected and theatrical way, it reminds me of Queen and Muse mixed together. The Killers have released a ton of awesome and popular songs since 2007, but I think Hot Fuss will always remain my favorite record of theirs: it’s got everything an angsty midwestern teenager needs!

5. JoJo – The High Road
Lily: I had some of my best car sing-along moments driving around in my sister’s rickety 1986 Mercedes and listening to this album by JoJo. The High Road was her sophomore album, and in my opinion it’s one of the best pop/R&B crossover albums there is. JoJo has absolutely amazing vocal performances all over this album and I think the production of it, with steady beats and subtle synths, is surprisingly timeless! Madge and I used to yell along to the title track and her hit ‘Too Little Too Late’ while we drove around running errands, never hitting the notes but having a great time trying! The only unfortunate thing about this album is that it’s not on Spotify!! JoJo released a remake of the album pretty recently but us die hard fans need to hear the original. Help me out, Spotify!

Thanks to Lily & Madeleine for sharing their favourites! Pre-order their new album Canterbury Girls here. Follow the girls on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Coral Rose (The Silver Field)

The Silver Field – aka Coral Rose – shared her debut album Rooms on Tim Burgess’ O Genesis Recordings on 18th January. It was recorded in Coral’s bedroom using loops & layers generated by a plethora of instruments – including; the double bass, cello, guitar, mandolin, harmonium, harmonica and a bagpipe chanter – with her father’s old SPX-90 saturating her sounds in delays and reverts.

Rooms is a delicate but formidable accomplishment, and we wanted to know what inspired Coral to create such textured sounds. We asked her to name her “Five Favourites” – five artists or albums that have influenced her songwriting technique – and her eclectic responses are listed below… 

1. Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
I have listened to this album more than any other and I still hear new things in it. The place she got to with arranging and producing and songwriting on this album… It’s an amazing record of a musician at the peak of her career. I hate that phrase because it makes it seem like everything she made after it wasn’t as good, which isn’t true (I’m looking at you lovingly, Sky of Honey). But it really feels that with Hounds of Love she was able to say what she wanted to say in the ways she wanted to say it. She had everything she needed and she focused on her vision and the result is this bloody masterpiece – a vivid dream, so abundant in imagery, each song like a scene in a play almost, a story of some place and time, and often connected somehow to the landscape. I think it’s quite a pastoral record in a way, a romantic, an environmental record. It really feels like each song is a journey somewhere new, from trees to hill to sky to shipwrecked at sea, to under the ice, until finally we’re looking down at the whole earth, and the storms and the sailors and – deeper, deeper, somewhere in the depth there is a light! – and then the dream ends and she leaves us held safe in the calm of the morning fog (a hyperballad moment!)

2. Arthur Russell – World of Echo
‘A Little Lost’ got me into Arthur Russell – I even remember where I was when I first heard it – but World of Echo is what got me hooked. In Wild Combination (the film about his life and work) it shows his apartment where he recorded with this big fish tank in it, and – ok, it gets said a lot – this record really is underwater music. Underwater in a way that my body just needs, the same way it needs the soft fog of Grouper’s Ruins or the sparks and screeches of Shaking the Habitual – some records just make your inner world make sense, and I feel most at home in this one. Sea creatures fly around, plants flow in the current, the wet tapes and the lisping cello and bubbling drum machines, it’s such a cohesive world of half-light and playful melody; I can spend a lot of time in these fish tanks of his! I love his other songs, his disco music and his country music, but this album is a very special place to me. I trust it, and I know that’s an odd thing to say about music, but that’s what the feeling is!

3. Massive Attack – Protection
This album has been with me for a long time. I remember my parents playing it when I was a kid and I remember rediscovering it as a teenager. And then it came back to me again another 10 years later, and those roots reached right back and it became something very central to me, it sits right in my musical core. I was talking to my Dad about it and saying about how full of warmth I felt it was, and he said “yes, and cold at the same time”, and I get what he means. There’s a lot in this record, so many different styles, instruments, voices, egos; that there ends up being quite a lot of contradictions, but for me it’s this tension, collaboration in action, that makes it so beautiful. They all put a lot into this record, and I feel like you can hear where the clashes happened and people had to compromise and temper their vision, and I think that’s where they made something really special. It has a kind of balance and grace, which feels like a rare, precious thing.

4. Aïsha Devi – Of Matter and Spirit
If Protection is warmth and cold at the same time, this record turns that up til it’s sharpened and crystalline; it’s all ice and fire and lead-weight beats deep underground; burning, primal mountain music. It’s intense listening, it’s a real trip, but it feels ceremonial, in that it breaks you down but holds the pieces, and keeps them safe, and all the grit and dirt fall out of the gaps and you come out the other side of it put back together again, cleaner, more whole, despite what you’ve lost. That’s a kind of alchemy, I think. I saw her live and it was that experience taken even further, at times it was almost too much, almost distressing, but by the end of the night the feeling it left me with was a kind of clarity and freedom that I don’t think I’ve ever got from live music in the same way before. It was something very physical, almost like it was a by-product of listening to the music, rather than the direct emotional effect. She also collaborated with some designers to make a computer game for this album, which I really loved!

5. Muna – About U
This is just such a perfect pop record. I had to stop listening to it for a while because the songs took over my head and for weeks they were all I could listen to. For me it’s on a similar kind of feels channel as Carly Rae Jepsen or Tegan and Sara but it brings those teenage-era fears and vulnerabilities out into the day, sits them down, gives them a drink, dries off their clothes, and you sit around talking with each other and making friends and the fears fall away and you end up dancing until the morning. It’s very fun but very wholesome and it feels like there’s a lot of kindness and wisdom in it. I don’t really understand why they’re not at superstar-levels of fame! When I listen to it I just want to keep turning it up louder and louder, the production is so satisfyingly thick and to mix that with the level of raw emotion that is underpinning it is really intoxicating, and, ok, I’m going to be hooked again…

Huge thanks to Coral Rose for sharing her favourites. You can buy a copy of The Silver Field’s Rooms here.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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