LISTEN: Susanna – ‘City Of Hope’

Norwegian artist Susanna has shared her new single ‘City Of Hope’ alongside the news she’ll be releasing her new album Garden of Earthly Delights on 22nd February via her own label, SusannaSonata. The track is inspired by the works of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.

Bosch was hailed as an incredible “ahead-of-his-time artist”, and his artwork bears strong comparison with Susanna’s music. Bosch’s iconic images range from the panoramic to the intimate, and express bliss, torment and tortuous inner conflicts. Visionary, disturbing, spiritual; vivid images of darkness and light, good and evil, heaven and hell and the folly of mankind – Susanna uses Bosch as a template to construct her own art.

On her new record, she has enlisted the help of a team of musicians called The Brotherhood of Our Lady. Together, Susanna and her band have crafted minimal but meaningful sounds, and ‘City Of Hope’ is an exciting taste of what’s to come. Speaking about the track, Susanna explains: “‘City of Hope’ is a manic chant for guiding in love and life, with hints of ecstasy in the horizon even though something’s lurking in the undertow.”

Listen to ‘City Of Hope’ below and follow Susanna on Facebook for more updates.

Photo credit: Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: SPELLLING – ‘Haunted Water’

Sacred Bones signee SPELLLING has shared her new single, the aptly named ‘Haunted Water’ alongside the news she’ll be releasing her new album Mazy Fly on 22nd February in 2019. The track is a spell-binding listen with a sinister context; recounting memories of colonial violence that haunt the historical slave ship routes of the Middle Passage.

SPELLLING (aka Chrystia Cabral) began experimenting with music production in 2015 in an effort to continue the creative legacy of a lost loved one, and released her first record Pantheon of Me, in September 2017 via Bandcamp. Inspired by the messages in her dreams, her sound breaches the void between clarity and obscurity – and latest single ‘Haunted Water’ is a perfect example of this.

Despite the track’s painful but important context, SPELLLING’s soft vocals give the song a softer quality, amidst slow, intense synths and steady beats. She embraces the negative side of human nature, and explores it by blending R&B sensibilities with intriguing electronics.  Listen to ‘Haunted Water’ below and follow SPELLLING on Facebook for more updates.

Pre-order your copy of Mazy Fly here.

Photo credit: Catalina Xavlena

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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LIVE: Wolf Girl, Charmpit & Sex Jokes @ Rough Trade Nottingham, 15.11.18

A Fan Club show is always a treat not only for being brilliantly curated, but for its ‘everyone welcome’ party vibe. Tonight we’re getting three acts who give out summer-esque sounds about winter-cold feelings, and back up that sense of belonging by adding to a tribe made of those who don’t comfortably fit.

Opening tonight is Derby’s Sex Jokes – one of the many musical guises of Shelley Jane Newman (also of Mighty Kids) – who has been one of my favourite acts to debut this year, and with each performance I’m a little more deeply in love. The set opens with ‘Talk’, the only track available online, a power pop anthem with voluminous guitar and “bored-of-your-bullshit” vocals. It brings in influences from Rilo Kiley to Jucifer, Tacocat to Pillow Queens, but the result is recognisable as being very much Sex Jokes’ own sound.

Charmpit are, well, charming. With laid-back chat between songs and a definite surf-pop vibe, they bring the sunshine and some gorgeous dual-harmonies which evoke the best of ‘60s sound. Recent single ‘Squirrel Vision’ and ‘Summer Up My Skirt’ mix the rough-edged guitar with the back and forth mid-song chat of The Shangri-Las, before the chants break back in. It’s the mix of the punk attitude of The Slits with the harmonies and sing-a-long hooks of The Ronettes which make Charmpit instantly recognisable and irresistibly catchy.

Charmpit

Headlining are Wolf Girl – and while the two opening acts have set the bar high, they vault it with ease with a set consisting of the best from new album Every Now and Then. These songs are full of determination and vulnerability, intelligent lyrics that are relatable, not aloof, and melodies that cut through you in the best possible way.

There’s plenty of West Coast surf-pop here too, and the sort of wistful melancholy wrapped in jangling melody that Upset and The Muffs have, but it’s the lyricism which sticks with you. Lines like, “Don’t want to get to thirty without learning to drive / Don’t want to look back having felt barely alive” become visceral through their resonance rather than through the words themselves, and while slacker-pop and problematic adulting are dealt with, so are themes of identity and love; making this a set of songs unafraid of the big and small details of life.

Most of all, Wolf Girl, like Charmpit and Sex Jokes before them tonight, are about belonging even when you feel you don’t belong. All three bands are suave and scrappy, giving a night full of 60’s pop-influenced hooks with the sweetness razor-edged by grating guitars, and wry but honest lyrics sung in dual-vocals to amplify the personal and political. These are our experiences echoed back from the stage, these are our thoughts and feelings honed into three minute punk pop chunks that make the heart soar and the feet dance. This gig, these bands, are the sound of the new underground and the real punk spirit and tonight they delivered in style.

Words: Sarah Lay
Photo Credit: Sarah Lay

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PREMIERE: Noise Noir – ‘I Don’t Need You’

Defiant vocals and devious, fuzzy guitar riffs combine with slick style on Noise Noir‘s debut single ‘I Don’t Need You’. The London-based band have shared the track ahead of their release show at Dalston’s Rocksteady this Friday 23rd November with We Can Do It Records.

The garage rockers have been cutting their teeth on the live circuit since January, playing gigs alongside Saint Agnes, Table Scraps & Ms Mohammed, as well as performing for us at our GIHEs live night at The Finsbury Pub too. Speaking about the new single, vocalist Kelly Chard explains: “‘I Don’t Need You’ is about realizing that you’re strong enough to be on your own without a partner, and that you shouldn’t settle for anything less than amazing. As a romantic, I had always yearned for the feeling of being in love and although it’s something I really wanted, it wasn’t something I needed to be who I am and to get through the life experiences I’ve had.”

Noise Noir’s statement-making debut is made all the more biting with the help of Hermitage Works Studios Producers Margo Broom and Nathan Ridley, and the mixing & mastering skills of Sit Down’s Greg Burns. Bassist Elis Sarv, Guitarist Anthony Hill & Drummer Davide Marini provide the perfect grunge-fueled back-drop for Kelly to dismantle the crowd’s perceptions with her fiery vocals.

You can buy your copy of ‘I Don’t Need You’ (with b/side ‘Creeping’) on limited edition glitter cassette at Noise Noir’s free launch show this Friday (RSVP here). We’ll be there supporting and spinning some excellent Riot Grrrl tunes on the decks. Listen to the single below and follow Noise Noir on Facebook for more updates.

Noise Noir 2018 Live Dates
23rd November – The Rocksteady, Dalston (London)
30th November – Sticky Mikes Frog Bar (Brighton)


Photo Credit: Jessie Morgan

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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