LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio with Circe (24.07.23)

Tash and Kate were back on Soho Radio’s airwaves playing loads of new music from some of their favourite female, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists! Mari offered some of her “musical musings” too. Tash talked about their excitement for upcoming East London festival Field Day and Kate shared memories of the recent GIHE gig that Mari organised at The Shacklewell Arms, featuring STRAIGHT GIRL, ALT BLK ERA and The Dead Zoo. Artists featured on the eclectic playlist included Maria Uzor, Sweeping Promises, Um, Jennifer?, congratulations, Divide and Dissolve and Nora Kelly Band.

Kate also caught up with London-based dark-pop sensation Circe to talk about her new EP, Drawing Wings From The Light. Inspired by personal epiphanies, unfiltered heartbreaks, precious teenage secrets and cell-shaping theatrical experiences, the record is a passionate, rapturous collection of slickly produced tracks. Circe spoke about the context behind her new songs, the loyalty of her fans, having FEELINGS about EVERYTHING, and her upcoming headline show at The Windmill in Brixton on 21st September. Tickets are available now on DICE.

Listen back to the show below:

 

We’ll be back on Soho Radio on Monday 21st August from 12-2pm!

Tracklist
Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl
Mary Lovett – Drive
Fever Ray – What They Call Us (Nifra Remix)
TSHA ft. Ell Murphy – Bloom
Maria Uzor – Ventolin
cumgirl8 – gothgirl1
ALT BLK ERA – I’m Normally Like This
congratulations – Zeitgeist
Jock – Spoilsport
Separatr – Directionless
Sweeping Promises – Eraser
Um, Jennifer? – Girl Class
afromerm – held
And Is Phi – Double Pink
AVR – Confirm Humanity
Sea Lemon – Vaporized
Circe – My Boy Aphrodite
**Interview with Circe**
Penguin Cafe – Galahad
1000 Beasts ft. Zeenie Summers Sà.Rù.Mí – Sun Valley Drive
Coolgirl – Silverlight
Joanna Sternberg – I’ve Got Me
Nora Kelly Band – Rodeo Clown
FOX GUNN – POTTERY
Divide and Dissolve – Want
Taylor Swift – Blank Space

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NEW TRACK: Coolgirl – ‘Silverlight’

A synth-soaked exploration of the intense, transitory nature of infatuation, Dublin-based artist and producer Lizzie Fitzpatrick aka Coolgirl has shared her latest single ‘Silverlight’. Taken from her upcoming EP, which is set for release later this year via VETA Records (HAVVK, Sive, DYVR, Maria Kelly, St. Bishop), the track is a mesmeric blend of whirring synth textures, glitchy beats and a subtle, jagged vocal.

GIHE fans will recognise Fitzpatrick as the front person of grunge trio Bitch Falcon, but under her new moniker she uses electronics and synths to create vivid, sometimes ambient, sometimes upbeat sounds. After releasing a handful of singles over the past few years and performing live alongside the likes of HAVVK, Alyxis and Plus One, Coolgirl is preparing to share a new EP, with ‘Silverlight’ being the first hint of what listeners can expect from the upcoming release.

“‘Silverlight’ is a deep synth-wave track that encapsulates the feeling of being sucked into another person, another world, completely devoid of outside life,” Fitzpatrick explains. “Heavy synth lines swirl around in a pit of muddy bass and relentless rhythm. I used vocals chopped up in a sequence that portray lost bits of conversations remembered suddenly and swiftly forgotten.” Curious, experimental and ambient are all words that lend themselves to Fitzpatrick’s sound, but ultimately, her new music is as cool as her namesake and we look forward to hearing more of her thrilling creations in the near future.

Catch Coolgirl playing live in Ireland at Limerick City’s annual Feile na Greine music festival on 18th and 19th August.

Listen to ‘Silverlight’ below.

Follow Coolgirl on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter & Instagram

Follow VETA Records on bandcamp, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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EP: Circe – ‘Drawing Wings From The Light’

Inspired by the collision of her past and present, Drawing Wings From The Light, the new EP from London-based artist Circe is a passionate, rapturous collection of slickly produced dark pop tracks.

On her debut record, She’s Made Of Saints (2020), Circe lingered in the shadowy, dystopian ether of cult leaders (‘Dancer’), Stranger Things (‘Steve Harrington’) and The Handmaid’s Tale (‘Ten Girls’), but on her latest offering, she willingly shares personal epiphanies, unfiltered heartbreaks, precious teenage secrets and cell-shaping theatrical experiences with her listeners.

Circe celebrates the lust, frustration and chaos that comes with being a woman who refuses to be scorned, blending pop melodies with poetic lyrics, seraphic vocals and cinematic synths to celebrate the power of these unfiltered feelings. “Take my blood instead of wine” she offers on opening track ‘Riot Of Sunlight’, a disorientating blend of reverb-heavy riffs and dizzying electronics. Originally written when she was a teenager after she saw Jez Butterworth and Mark Rylance’s critically acclaimed play Jerusalem at the theatre, the song has evolved into a euphoric rush of atmospheric sound that becomes more addictive each time it’s listened to.

Whether Circe is finding inspiration in essays titles like Femininity Weaponised: A History Of Women With Swords In Art on the sensational ‘Undone’, vehemently celebrating female sexuality and romantic infatuation on ‘Going Down’, or ruminating on what happens when you surrender to lust on the glistening ‘Mess With Your Head’ – each track on Drawing Wings From The Light feels like a sonic manifestation of power.

She provides her listeners with a delicious head rush that feels akin to taking a bite of forbidden fruit. Her playful exploration of desire and experimentation with gender boundaries on ‘My Boy Aphrodite’ is equally as charming, underscored by her sultry vocals, dazzling electronics and a deeply relatable sense of longing for love and acceptance.

On first listen, ‘Glow (You Always Tell Me I Have This Glow)’ appears more subdued than her other vivid offerings, but it showcases the effervescent side of her song-writing superbly. Circe’s quiet anger smoulders across three minutes: “Move away / so I don’t tear you down too” she sings, her warnings enhanced by the Mach Richter-inspired ‘Nature of Daylight‘ violin parts (which Circe played herself) as well as the sampled sounds of scissors snipping through her own hair.

Blending the biblical story of Samson and Delilah with her own experiences of casual misogyny to create the narrative for ‘Glow’, Circe blurs the lines between myth and reality, exploring the murky territory that sits in between. Her hushed threat of “I am a hurricane” sees her defiantly reclaim her self autonomy in the face of this adversity.

Drawing Wings From The Light ends on a distinctively melancholic note in the form of ‘I’m Still Not Sorry For What I Said’. Unexpectedly recorded in one take in the studio whilst she was confiding in friend and producer Steven Ansell, it feels like a poetic voicenote from a lover intoxicated by heartbreak. It’s a glitchy, down-tempo confession that captures the raw truth of a moment of desire that still manages to retain Circe’s idiosyncratic charm.

Like her mythical Greek namesake – who was described as “a sorceress…able by means of drugs and incantations to change humans into wolves, lions, and swine” – Circe is a captivating force of nature who finds power and comfort in her dark pop fantasies. Drawing Wings From The Light is a total euphoric delight that highlights her potent, impressive songwriting talents.

Listen to Drawing Wings From The Light here

Follow Circe on Spotify, bandcamp, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter & Instagram

Photo Credit: Zak Watson

Kate Crudgington
@kate_crudge

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NEW TRACKS: AVR – ‘Confirm Humanity’ and ‘Nous Aimons on 80BPM’

Two tender, ambient musings on the complexities of human nature, multi-instrumentalist, producer and 4D pop artist AVR (formerly known as ANNAVR) has shared her new singles: ‘Confirm Humanity’ and ‘Nous Aimons on 80BPM’. The tracks are the first of three planed AA-side releases that are taken from AVR’s upcoming debut album, Salvation, which she will be sharing in October later this year.

On ‘Confirm Humanity’, AVR combines orchestral strings, dreamy electronics and the voices of a children’s choir alongside her own to explore a simple mantra: “How are we supposed to live with all the dark and doubt / inside of us / how can we let it out?” Her considered instrumentation and effortless blending of these human and digital elements reflects her belief that both can exist in harmony and enhance our connection with one another. The track acts as “a reminder to all of us, that in a more and more digitalised and fragmented world, we have the power to unite in our shared humanity and address the change we need to support the future of our planet and its inhabitants.”

Whilst ‘Confirm Humanity’ spans a wider, far-reaching concept, on her accompanying track ‘Nous Aimons on 80bpm’, AVR explores her more intimate thoughts. Described as “a love anthem for the ‘feeling everything all the time’ internet era, between lust and desperation, seeking for freedom but also for romance”, it’s a warm, sensual embrace. Both songs showcase the emotive, cinematic qualities of AVR’s sound, but on ‘Nous Aimons on 80bpm’ she revels in and celebrates her own vulnerabilities, mixing piano fragments from an unknown Debussy piece alongside high pop notes and glitchy 808 drum machine sounds to reflect the contradictions of romantic infatuation.

Following on from her previous EPs, Hallucination (2018) and Vibration (2019), AVR’s debut album Salvation will act as a bookend in this trilogy of her artistry. “I see myself in a tradition of artists who go all in for their artistic vision, owning the craft, with no compromises to playlist principles,” she explains about her process. “Everything I do is ultimately about freedom, and works musically in a landscape of references where Debussy, Rihanna and Bernini sculptures can freely collide.” We look forward to hearing more of her eclectic offerings later this year.

Listen to ‘Confirm Humanity’ here:

Listen to ‘Nous Aimons on 80BPM’ here:

Follow AVR on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Photo Credit: Alex de Brabant

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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