Track Of The Day: Maya Lakhani – ‘Nightfall’

An invigorating haunt makes for a sonic thunderstorm in the latest from British-Indian artist, Maya Lakhani. In her highly anticipated third single, ‘Nightfall‘, Maya leads us through a forest of dark sounds at the guidance of her dynamic voice. Displaying an explosive level of capability in bedroom studio production, Lakhani makes her impressive mark.

With instrumentals reminiscent of PJ Harvey and Garbage, ‘Nightfall’ pairs grunge influences with Maya’s captivating and bewitching vocals, channelling inspiration from modern rock vocalists like Evanescence’s Amy Lee or Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante. Guitar tracks topped with modest layers of reverb elongate the soundscape and foster a thick, overdriven mix felt in the chest. Energetic yet washy drums perpetuate the urgency of the track and support Maya’s guitar leads in just the right way.

Inspired by bad habits and unexpected dark thoughts, Maya captures her vulnerability by embodying emotional experiences in her lyrics – “I am holding on when night falls, for my life.” With a commitment to endure even the darkest of ventures, ‘Nightfall’ creates its own city of hopeful lights, all from a single bedroom.

Jill Goyeau
@jillybxxn

jilliangoyeauLeave a comment

ALBUM: Los Bitchos – ‘Let the Festivities Begin!’

The first week of February. The deepest depths of winter. The coldest time of the year. A couple of weeks on from ‘Blue Monday,’ supposedly the most depressing day of the year. What better time to release an album full of summer party bangers? Enter Los Bitchos, wielding their debut record Let the Festivities Begin!, a bumper pack of the pan-continental band’s signature swashbuckling, psych-swirling instrumentals – the sound of the festival you are already impatiently looking forward to.

This is an album dedicated to joy. It is full of irresistible grooves and winding guitar lines and occasionally punctuated by yells of triumph overheard at the end of takes. The guitar line on ‘Pista (Great Start)’ is almost physically tangible, reaching out of the speaker to tickle your spine. Other tunes, particularly ‘Tropico’, move with the synth pulse and go-ahead danceability of a Tom Tom Club record. Half the song names sound like the captions of polaroids from a summer holiday – especially ‘Lindsay Goes to Mykonos’ and ‘Try the Circle!’ – a feeling heightened by the sunny flange guitars that lead most tunes. The group seem to stand for escape to faraway climes, from their pseudo-Spanish name through to the evident inspiration they’ve drawn from the music of warmer countries, from Turkish and Australian psych to Argentinian cumbia.

With Let the Festivities Begin!, Los Bitchos herald the arrival of summer with an album to thaw your soul. It’s playful and modestly epic, encapsulating the infectious spirit that has led the group to be one of the best loved acts on the scene.

Los Bitchos’ new album Let The Festivities Begin! will be released on 4th February.

Follow Los Bitchos on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Tom Mitchell

Lloyd Bolton
@lloyd_bolton

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

Track Of The Day: Ex-Vöid – ‘Churchyard’

A catchy, jaded slice of garage-pop inspired by an unusual past-time, UK power-pop punks Ex-Vöid have shared their latest single ‘Churchyard’. Taken from their debut album Bigger Than Before, which is set for release on 25th March via Prefect Records/Rough Trade, the track is a buoyant blend of melodic guitars, soft dual vocals and frustrated lyrics.

Formed by ex-Joanna Gruesome vocalists Lan McArdle and Owen Williams, along with Laurie Foster (bass) and Jonny Coddington (drums), Ex-Vöid are inspired by the sounds of The Byrds, Big Star and Teenage Fanclub. Whilst on the surface their music is infectiously upbeat, the band retain a sardonic, strung out wit through their lyrics, with ‘Churchyard’ being a prime example of this blend.

“I wrote ‘Churchyard’ when I was like 24 and living in Brighton,” guitarist Owen Williams explains. “My friend and I were unemployed and we used to spend a lot of time drinking cans of lager and taking legal highs in a pet graveyard. It was boring so at the end we sing ‘I get so bored’ over and over etc.”

This humourous apathy underscores the band’s debut record, Bigger Than Before. The album was recorded in just over an hour in a studio in Hackney, with minimal overdubs and no breaks. Bassist Laurie Foster was reported to have “kept on playing even though his belt came loose and his trousers fell down” – if that’s not incentive to listen, what is?

Listen to ‘Churchyard’ below.

Follow Ex-Vöid on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter & Facebook

Photo Credit: Max Warren

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Kate CrudgingtonLeave a comment

Track Of The Day: Kee Avil – ‘saf’

An intoxicating, claustrophobic listen that sharpens the senses, Montréal-based experimental artist and producer Vicky Mettler aka Kee Avil has shared her latest single ‘saf’. Taken from her debut album Crease, which is set for release on 11th March, the track unravels like a gratifying exhale, underscored by magnetic electronics and Avil’s intense, alluring vocals.

A guitarist, singer, producer and member of Sam Shalabi’s acclaimed Land Of Kush project, Mettler cut her teeth playing in various noise and improv outfits before fully fleshing out her new moniker Kee Avil. “Songwriting, to me, is like sculpting,” Mettler explains. “It stems from an initial word, emotion or sound, which I then build on, molding it into a more refined shape, glued into an artificial structure. Other times, my role is to peel it, scrape at its exterior, to reveal its natural state and its part within the whole.”

It’s this physicality behind the shaping of her sounds that makes Mettler’s music feel so visceral, especially in her new track ‘saf’. “Is this the same ache we all share? / can you feel it there under your ribs?” she probes over serpentine electronics, urging listeners to immerse themselves in the tense atmosphere she has created.

Following her self-titled EP released via Black Bough Records in 2018, Mettler’s debut album Crease was written over a period of three years, with each song representing “a certain moment in time, an emotion, exercise or spontaneous idea that creates its own world…built without consideration for the other.” With her razor sharp focus and disorientating blend of sounds and vocals, Mettler’s new full length offering looks set to be as spinetingling as her latest single.

Watch the video for ‘saf’ below.

Follow Kee Avil on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Lawrence Fafard (Mask by Ariane Paradis)

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Kate CrudgingtonLeave a comment