Promoting and Supporting Women in Music
Kate was back in the Hoxton Radio studio this week with loads of new tunes from the likes of Sister Ghost, Luna Neptune, The Skints, BABii, and VOK.
She was joined by LA-based electronic artist/producer Death Hags, who chatted about her upcoming gig on 2nd Feb at new Hackney venue The Glove That Fits.
Tune in next week when Hazel Iris will be in the studio!
Listen back here:
Elegant and intricate, Berlin based avant-pop artist ANNAVR has shared her new single ‘Under The Sand’. The track is taken from her debut EP I: Hallucination, which is the first of a 3-part EP trilogy the artist is planning – II: Vibration and III: Salvation – which are due to be released later this year.
Recorded in both Berlin and London, I: Hallucination is ANNAVR’s musical exploration of past romance in a futuristic musical context. “The title is an acknowledgement for a state that describes somewhere between the biggest possible relief, and the most terrible unfulfilled longing,” ANNAVR explains. “I don’t mean it in any way associated to drugs. It’s more like I am so open to things, my senses are so overwhelmingly awake, that most of the time I can feel like a battery that is overcharged.”
Praised by Lauren Laverne, Don Letts, The Fader, i-D Magazine and Interview Magazine, it’s easy to see why tracks like ‘Under The Sand’ are seeping in to a variety of musical consciences.
Listen to the lo-fi, piano-led tune below and follow ANNAVR on Facebook for more updates.
Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut
A contemplative, carefully crafted record which schools listeners in how to come undone: Hilary Woods‘ debut album Colt is an exquisitely painful exploration of grief, separation, and abandonment. The Dublin-based artist signed to altruistic label Sacred Bones to release her first full-length record, and the partnership is one we wholly approve of.
Written and recorded at her home in Dublin, Colt was later mixed by and co-produced with James Kelly (WIFE, Altar of Plagues) in Berlin in the winter of 2017. The dynamics of the production and Woods’ layering of multiple elements – including piano, synth, tape machine, field recordings, vocals, and old string instruments – has culminated in a record which comfortably overlaps both the acoustic and electronic genres.
Opening track ‘Inhaler’ is a delicate example of this. It’s a pensive, melancholy song born from Woods’ struggle with homesickness. She explores her grief through tentative electronics and orchestral sounds, with her mysterious vocals floating calmly above. Following track ‘Prodigal Dog’ is a mesmeric examination of emotional claustrophobia: a disarming fusion of strings, understated synths, and hushed vocals.
There is a gentle urgency that permeates each of the eight tracks on Colt, and on ‘Take Him In’ Woods’ reflective lyrics and cautious keys instill this delicate unease further. Poetic track ‘Kith’ bleeds in after, with it’s divine, yet somber themes of “running on empty” in what feels like emotional purgatory. The persistent, steady beats and fluttering keys on the remarkable ‘Jesus Said’ mark a brief change in tempo on the record, as Woods laments a sincere disconnection and a search for absolution for almost six minutes. ‘Sever’ is equally as affecting with its heartbeat-like percussion, and more of Woods’ measured, poignant vocals.
Penultimate track ‘Black Rainbow’ though bleakly named, is an enchanting listen, and closing track ‘Limbs’ is a captivating collection of distant, alluring keys. Under all of the melancholy lurks a quiet power: a power that comes from being open and honest about genuine pain and how to deal with it.
To call Hilary Woods’ work on Colt siren-like is to do her a disservice; her music has a far wider, more disarming reach. Her emotional articulation and manipulation of sounds makes the record a dizzying but rewarding lesson, and we are grateful to have been allowed to endure this aural exploration of grief with her.
Colt is released via Sacred Bones on 8th June. Pre-order your copy here.
Hilary Woods headlines St Pancras Old Church on 11th June. Grab a ticket here.
Photo Credit: Joshua Wright
Kate Crugington
@KCBobCut
A mesmeric, gentle exploration of emotional claustrophobia, Hilary Woods‘ new single ‘Prodigal Dog’ is a disarming fusion of orchestral strings, understated synths and hushed vocals. It’s the second track she’s shared from her upcoming debut album Colt, which is set for release via Sacred Bones Records on 8th June.
Based in Dublin, the multi-talented artist has also shared a monochrome video to accompany ‘Prodigal Dog’. “I set out to make a video that was slightly claustrophobic,” Woods explains about the visuals. “Cyclical, predominantly black in colour, one that traced the internal feeling from where the song was written.” It’s this tender, yet uncomfortable context that makes the footage such a captivating watch.
Woods has described the songs on her debut album Colt as “a way to process and make sense of the everyday. A means to speak with inner voices, explore aloneness, and understand the complexities of desire.” With this in mind, we can’t wait to listen to the record and to hear her exquisite pain live at St. Pancras Church on 11th June.
Watch the video for ‘Prodigal Dog’ below and follow Hilary Woods on Facebook for more updates.
Pre-order your copy of Colt from Sacred Bones here.
Hilary Woods UK 2018 Live Dates
11th June – St Pancras Church, London UK
20th June – Meltdown Festival, London UK w/ Moon Duo
14th Sept – The Sugar Club, Dublin IRL
Photo credit: Joshua Wright
Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut
Get In Her Ears 