WATCH: Shana Cleveland – ‘Don’t Let Me Sleep’

For me, Shana Cleveland’s new single is something from another time in an alternate universe. ‘Don’t Let Me Sleep’, from her upcoming album, has shimmering guitar licks reminiscent of a desert wanderer. Layer that over Cleveland’s effervescent vocals and it’s a sterling performance of futurist folklore; a psychedelic vision explored in the music video that accompanies the track’s release.

With the vast palm-scattered soundscapes of her other project La Luz to influence her sound, Cleveland’s ‘Don’t Let Me Sleep’ is a sonic homage to the great guitar-wielding crooners of days gone by, with distinct shades of the likes of ‘Moon River’ and ‘Wichita Lineman’.

With this exquisite track as our first taste, it seems that Shana Cleveland’s first foray into a full-length LP is less of a dipping of toes into new waters, and more of a full body submersion into a warm oasis pool, the waves rippling into an infinite sea of ethereal sound and peaceful refrains. Night of the Worm Moon is already looking to be a serene reverie, and with influences rooted in the Afro-futurism of Sun Ra and cosmic consciousness, it may be the perfect score for a midnight journey through starlit desert.

Night Of The Worm Moon, the upcoming album from Shana Cleveland, is out 5th April via Hardly Art.

Luke Janke
@jankeleg

Photo Credit: Eleanor Petry

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Track Of The Day: HAVVK – ‘If I Don’t Tell You’

Starting with a naggingly hypnotic but spiky guitar riff, ‘If I Don’t Tell You’ from London/Ireland/Berlin grunge three piece HAVVK is a perfectly taut, tension-fuelled track, which signals just how far the band have travelled in the past couple of years. With a post punk energy and urgency that is reminiscent of the likes of Charlotte Hatherley and Ex Hex at their immaculate best, this latest offering also echoes the likes of power pop bands such as The Go-Go’s.

The track dangles the potential of the live show at the listener like a promise, and is definitely one you can jump around your bedroom to. In terms of their forthcoming debut album, Cause and Effect, it promises great things, and if you are tempted to see the band live, they will be touring the UK throughout May so do check them out.

 

Cause And Effect, the debut album from HAVVK, is out 22nd November. Catch HAVVK live at the following dates:

2nd May – Oh yeah Music Centre, Belfast
3rd May – The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle
4th May – HATCH, Sheffield
8th May – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
9th May – Broadcast, Glasgow
11th May – Castle and Falcon, Birmingham
12th May – Magic Teapot, Leicester
16th May – Paper Dress Vintage, London
17th May – Zed Ally, Bristol
18th May – The Den, Bath

Cazz Blase
@CazzBlase

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Track Of The Day: Ida Wenøe – ‘Another Kind Of Love’

‘Another Kind of Love’ is the new single by Danish Music Award nominee Ida Wenøe. She is a singer-songwriter blending spectral folk sounds with Nordic Noir, conjuring up a surreal landscape where the inner ghosts sing haunting tales of love and loss.  

The song has a simple arrangement with finger-plucked guitar, subtle harmonies and percussion. Its magic is in Wenøe’s clear cut voice, as sharp as a diamond, which to my ears is an instrument in itself, carrying the music with it. The harmonies and dreamy guitar pick up pace as she sings, complementing the song but not overpowering it.

“I have given all I had just to fall” – the loneliness is articulated and resolved as the song unfolds and the memories are left behind. Wenøe’s voice soars with emotion at the turning point, as echoing vocals reverberate on the contrast between hate and love; “I hate to hate, I’d rather wait on love.

“Which will we choose…? Trust me, this captivating song will have you in tears by the end. Tears of love, tears of joy; tears at the sheer beauty of it. 

The Things We Don’t Know Yet, the upcoming album from Ida Wenøe, is out 12th April via Integrity Records. 

Fi Ni Aicead
@gotnomoniker

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ALBUM: The Coathangers – ‘The Devil You Know’

Let’s face it, the human mind is a complex thing. It can be difficult to have more than one thing going on, and half of the time you don’t even know what’s happening up there… Some things just can’t co-exist. Expelling this rule in a fantastically riotous half-hour are The Coathangers with their seventh album, The Devil You Know.

Pre-released single, ’Bimbo’, is the infectiously upbeat opener. Completely innocently, the track opens with a straight bassline, with quintessentially on beat, twinkling top notes of a keyboard. This is later ripped apart and kicked into overdrive with raucous thrashes of fuzzy guitar and a semi-sung chorus. The rest of the album follows suit with an angst-infused collective of fiery ditties, ‘5 Farms’ and ‘Crimson Telephone’.

Then I have an epiphany. This ain’t no ordinary album. This lot have an agenda. Political and social commentary bursts through the foundations of the album like a balloon on a cactus. This is most evident in the fourth and seventh tracks, ‘Hey Buddy’ and ‘F the NRA’. In ‘Hey Buddy’ a guttural and hoarse voice croaks through the song laced with simple yet powerful twangs of guitar, proving less is more as they growl “Hey buddy are you looking at me? You call me a faggot and you call me a sleaze”. ‘F The NRA’ does just what it says on the tin; a poignant, impassioned plea against gun violence, propelled by a gritty, punk-driven energy. 

The album winds to a close with quieter and melancholy, but nonetheless badass, tracks ‘Last Call’ and ‘Lithium’. Both include a gentle and heavily reverberated vocal resonating the sound of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval. The guitars sound like they’re crying. And now I’m crying.

The Devil You Know takes you from wanting to go out, make some noise and paint the town red, to staying in bed and never getting up again. And we love every second of its racing thirty minutes. 

The Devil You Know is out now via Suicide Squeeze. Catch The Coathangers live on their upcoming tour:

24th April – The Latest Music Bar, Brighton
25th April – Studio 9294, London
27th April – The Cookie, Leicester
28th April – SWG Poetry Club, Glasgow
29th April – Soup Kitchen, Manchester
30th April – Arts Club (Loft), Liverpool
1st May – The Key Club, Leeds

Megan Berridge
@noisygal_

 

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