Track Of The Day: Yawners – ‘Please Please Please’

Influenced by the sounds of 90s grunge and garage pop-punk, Madrid-based duo Yawners have shared their single ‘Please Please Please’. The track is taken from their debut album Just Calm Down, which is set for release on 22nd March via La Castanya.

Formed of vocalist & guitarist Elena Nieto and drummer Martin Muñoz, Yawners began life in Elena’s home town of Salamanca, survived a move to Germany, and have now settled in Madrid. Fluent in Spanish, German and English, Elena is a translator by day and Yawners’ talented frontwoman by night.

‘Please Please Please’ is filled with Elena & Martin’s overlapping dual melodies, with elevating guitar parts underscoring themes of being lost and lovelorn. It’s an impressive lead single from the Spanish duo who will playing in the US for the first time at 2019’s SXSW, with further dates in Europe to follow later in the year.

Listen to ‘Please Please Please’ below and follow Yawners on Facebook more more updates.

Yawners’ debut album Just Calm Down is vailable to pre-order here.

Photo Credit: Mariano Regidor

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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WATCH: Northwest – ‘London’

Although duo Northwest physically released their debut album – simply titled I – in June 2018, they only recently decided to publish it online. Why? well, it was part of the band’s manifesto (which they published on their website) where they decided to give away the digital version of their record to who anybody who personally requested it.

Since then, Northwest have sent 460 hand-written postcards all over the world, each one with an individual code to access the record online. It’s a bold approach to take for a DIY band in the age of the internet, but it’s one that has clearly paid off for the pair. They’ve now shared a music video for ‘London’ their “favourite” track on the album as a celebration of their efforts.

Directed by Ignacio Simón (one half of Northwest) and featuring images from photographer & artist Álvaro Gómez-Pidal, ‘London’ is a beautifully executed, intriguing set of visuals. “This is probably the hardest we’ve ever worked on a song and in a video, and we hope you like it as much as we do” explain the duo, and we’re sure their fans certainly will. Watch the video below…

Photo Credit: Ignacio Hergueta

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Merely – ‘Mystery Garden’

She’s often billed as synth pop, but Merely’s latest release, ‘Mystery Garden’, shows that she doesn’t easily fit inside the pop box. Instead, the single would be better described as romantic electronica – like William Blake has got hold of an interface and downloaded Ableton Live.

The track renders an organic landscape using digital sounds and is equal parts soothing and unsettling: contradictions held together by Merely’s ear for melody and clever production. Fans of Bjork’s Utopia will enjoy this – though it has a mellower, more synthesised feel.

‘Mystery Garden’ is romantic in the sense of Coleridge wandering through a woodland after eating some opium, rather than romantic in the sense of a Hallmark card, but perhaps fittingly, it’s out on Valentine’s day.

Merely is the moniker of classically-trained instrumentalist and vocalist Kristina Florrell, who is based in Sweden. Should you happen to be in Göteborg this week, you can catch her playing on Friday 15th, at the launch show for the new album, Hatching the Egg.

 

Hatching The Egg, the new album from Merely, is out 14th February via YEAR0001.

Frances Salter
@goodcanarymusic

Photo Credit: David Chocron

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ALBUM: Queen Zee – ‘Queen Zee’

Making weirdness in to wonderful, inclusive, explosive new tunes; GIHEs favourites Queen Zee have shared their debut self-titled album and it’s every bit as glorious as we’d hoped. Released via their own label Sasstone Records, the group have created ten tracks that gleefully cut down any of the forces that attempt to stand in the way of equality.

The tongue-in-cheek ‘Loner’ opens the record, and it’s an in-your-face anthem taking the piss out of being a solitary, socially inept loser. Zee’s vocals dominate the track as swirling guitar and non-stop percussion keep the riot going. It’s followed by the equally punchy ‘Lucy Fur’ and ‘Sissy Fists’, which are belting fusions of grunge & punk. The latter smashes apart any associations of weakness and is a proper hardcore two minutes of pure adrenaline.

‘Idle Crown’ is a riotously executed piece of Marilyn Manson-esque pop sleaze. The narrative centers around two LGBTQ+ characters trapped in a toxic heteronormative relationship, who are unable to live as their true selves. It’s hard to resist screaming along to the chorus of ‘Porno’ and ‘Victim Age’, both of which will have you kicking and screeching around a dance floor.

The album’s standout track is undoubtedly ‘Boy’. It’s an anthem for trans-gender rockers and their allies who refuse to be ignored, or oppressed by transphobic or homophobic attitudes. “You can try and bury my head in the sand, but that won’t make the body at the surface a man’s” sings Zee, as manic guitar and heart-pounding drums smash out for just shy of five minutes. ‘Hunger Pains’ follows with Zee’s ravenous screeching and more trademark corkscrew guitar riffs, whereas the brief interlude ‘Anxiety’ is a mellow yet candid admission to not feeling well.

Whether you admit to it or not, we can all relate to closing track ‘I Hate Your New Boyfriend’. It’s a hilariously vicious take-down of a misogynistic partner who drains your friend and by default drains you too. Turn it up extra loud anytime you know said antagonist is in the vicinity. With their punk attitude and ability to write abrasive and infectious tracks, there’s no danger of Queen Zee being melted in to a “masculine mould” – and we’re rejoicing in support of this “whipping girl born into a big man’s world”. What a debut, invest immediately.

Photo Credit: Jon Mo Photography

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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