FIVE FAVOURITES: Jouska

Using her music to break the cycles of self-doubt and anxiety, Norwegian songwriter and producer Jouska creates shape-shifting alt-pop with deep emotional resonance. Her latest album, How Did I Wind Up Here?, is a thoughtful extrapolation of grief, distance and time; showcasing her ability to move through heavy emotions with impressive charm and grace.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Jouska to ask about her “Five Favourites” – and she picked five albums by an eclectic range of artists who have inspired her songwriting techniques.

Check out her choices below and scroll down to watch the official lyric video for Jouska’s tentative single ‘California’ too…

1. The Books – Lost and Safe
I discovered this album when I was around sixteen, and listening to it now immediately takes me back to high school. I would listen when I was heartbroken, when I felt alien and alone, and I used to dream about leaving the small town in Norway I was from, about going to New York or somewhere far away. It kind of feels like the soundtrack to a version of myself I don’t really remember clearly anymore, but still feel connected to. It’s full of imperfections and warmth and I love the little details, the humour and the sadness underneath. It has this strange calmness to it, even when it’s chaotic. It was a big inspiration for me long before I even started producing my own songs, and their use of sampling, spoken word and cello has always been especially inspiring for my own music.

2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
I first heard this album in high school. I would sit in class with my headphones on, zoning out, trying not to cry. It was the first time I heard something that sounded so big yet so fragile. Everything about it felt like winter. I think that’s why it resonated so much with me at the time. I was so fragile myself, so unsure of who I was or what I wanted. This album held me through some rough years when I was trying to find myself and also through a horrible teenage heartbreak. Even now, when I listen to the Bon Iver album, I get that same knot in my stomach. It’s like an old memory that never fades. It still feels like something to return to when I don’t know where else to go.

3. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief
I started listening to The Radio Dept. in high school, mostly songs from Clinging to a Scheme, but Pet Grief became really important to me later on. For the last few years, it’s been one of those albums I keep coming back to. There’s something about its world that feels endless. Everything sounds soft, distant, and nostalgic, like it’s covered in a thin layer of fog. It’s been a huge inspiration on my album. It’s melancholic but comforting. I love the vocals and how they’re processed – that hazy, detached sound that somehow makes everything feel even more emotional. They’re Swedish and I’m Norwegian, and somehow it feels like we’re connected in a way, like the same kind of melancholy runs through the songs and through where we’re from, haha! There’s something familiar about it that I can’t really explain, but I always feel at home when I listen.

4. ML Buch – Suntub
I discovered Suntub last year, and it completely blew me away. It’s rare for me, as an adult, to find something that makes me feel the way music did when I was a teenager. ML Buch’s songwriting and guitar playing is intricate,and the sound is just otherworldly. This album reminded me what it feels like to be obsessed with music again. Every time I listen, I notice something new: a texture, a chord change, a detail I missed. It’s so fluid and detailed, like a dream world that keeps shifting. It gave me a sense of creative hunger I hadn’t felt in a long time. It’s one of those albums that just makes me want to go home and make more music.

5. Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch
In 2020, when I was struggling a lot, this album became my soundtrack. I would walk around in the Norwegian winter, completely wrapped up in it, feeling sorry for myself. Blood Bitch is dark, mysterious and ethereal; it feels like being inside a dream that’s both beautiful and unsettling. Seeing her perform this album live was one of those moments I’ll never forget. I remember standing there, completely stunned. I love how she mixes the personal and the abstract, how she makes something so strange feel so familiar. At the time, I think I needed something that matched the chaos in my head. This album did that – it was sad but also comforting. It made me feel seen in a weird, indirect way.

Thanks to Jouska for sharing her favourites with us!
Watch the lyric video for her track ‘California’ below.

Follow Jouska on bandcamp, YouTube & Instagram

Photo Credit: Hans Olav Settem

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Me Lost Me

By exploring the binary oppositions of hope and despair, experimental Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent aka Me Lost Me pushes herself to her emotional limits. On her most recent album, This Material Moment, released in June via Upset the Rhythm, she examines the power of “words as a material”, how we interpret them and their contrasting abilities to physically soothe or sting us in life’s rawest moments.

She was inspired to write her fourth record after she attended a workshop with Julia Holter, where she explored the catharsis of automatic writing techniques and “chance-based writing strategies,” resulting in her most personal and vulnerable offering to date.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Me Lost Me to ask about her “Five Favourites” – and she picked five albums by an eclectic range of artists who have inspired her songwriting techniques.

Check out her choices below and scroll down to watch the official video for Me Lost Me’s single ‘A Painting of The Wind’ too…

 

A note from Me Lost Me: I’m an album listener through and through. I love being lost in another world for 30-60 minutes, popping my headphones on, going for a walk and being whisked away. I chose these 5 album specifically because of the lasting impact they’ve had on the music I make as Me Lost Me, from when I was a teenager to just after I’d released my first record, when I was figuring out where I wanted to go with my music.

1. Patrick Wolf – Lycanthropy
Patrick Wolf has a lot to answer for! I grew up with the folk music my parents loved and then suddenly, here was someone drawing on that tradition and screwing with it. Crunchy intense pop electronics with these melodic motifs that felt so rooted in the music I knew and loved, but fresher, weirder and darker.

When I was a teenager I had a ukulele that got accidentally smashed to the point of it being unplayable. Later that year, I won tickets to a gig and meet ’n’ greet in London. A friend and I travelled down from Chesterfield, and I took what was left of this ukulele for him to sign (I didn’t have a record player at the time so I figured there was no point getting a vinyl for the signing). When we spoke, I told him I wanted to write music and remember him saying basically, “well, do it then, start right now”, and on the ukulele he wrote “Jayne, follow the star” (quoting some of his lyrics). I still have it.

I think I needed the permission, perhaps, to just go for it. His first few albums really presented me with the idea that you can play with older forms and ignore genre boundaries. I think that was massive for me then, and clearly stuck with me.

2. Bjork – Homogenic
I struggled to pick a Bjork album, but Homogenic was probably the first one I really fell in love with. In the end, I also had to choose this one because the “emotional landscapes” line in ‘Joga’ is something I’ve held onto as a conceptual ideal of the music I want to make – emotional landscapes – and I still go back to this idea when I write and arrange stuff.

The blend of organic and electronic sounds is so well done, it’s a proper cyborg album, fleshy and robotic in equal parts. Its hard to pick a stand out track, they are all amazing for different reasons and speak to me differently on each listen through. You have songs like ‘Unravel’, so intimate and vast at the same time and the simple visual metaphor in the lyrics is beautiful. Then tracks like ‘Bachlorette’ so full of this angry feral beauty, not as many belt-along tunes as other Bjork albums but they still get me going.

She manages to express this messy, tangled web of emotions and make me feel them along with her. I’ve always thought if I could ever make someone feel that way with my own music, I’d be so happy.

3. Einsturzende neubauten – Ende Neu
There’s a theme emerging here perhaps, artists that capture a multitude of things at once. The reason I love this album isn’t how well knitted together these different elements are, however, the thing I love most about Ende Neu is how the different flavours clash up against each other, it’s delightfully jarring. Its got that classic Einsturzende Neubauten intensity, but it manifests differently in each track. It’s got chant-along tracks like ‘Was Ist Ist’ and the creeping menace of ‘The Garden’, industrial moments, classical moments, and Blixa’s voice – super sweet one moment and pig squealing the next.

I love this album because it’s proof that you can lean into different feelings and flit around. You can be extremely serious and intense and then also be daft, give people whiplash if you like – an album doesn’t need to be a vibe-monolith. ‘The Garden’ is the stand out track for me. It’s the track that made me fall for Einsturzende Neubauten in the first place, it’s so simple but insistent. The lyrics are almost amusingly mundane “you will find me if you want me in the garden / unless its pouring down with rain” but then suddenly expanded out into this abstracted, time-stretching poem.

4. Laurie Anderson – Big Science
When I was studying fine art as an undergrad, I was playing around with musical forms, making sound art and performance art. In a tutorial, I was advised to listen to Laurie Anderson. This album completely blew apart my idea of art and music as separate entities, and rightly so – why would they need to be separate? Why did I ever think they were?

It changed how I framed my work completely and the whole Me Lost Me project came out of this desire to blur art and music – folk and electronic, past and future – and this album was so important for that. It’s a delirious dizzying and surreal experiment in storytelling. It gives snapshots into these strange narratives that are just out of the reach of reality, echoed by the combination of her voice and vocoder, such an uncanny valley feeling. It still gives me goosebumps.

5. Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch
I heard this album after I’d released my first record, Arcana, while I was putting The Good Noise together. It was the first of Jenny Hval’s work I’d come across and it instantly hooked me. It has everything I love: surprising twists, moments of jarring collage, of softness, of raw emotion, moments of addictive, euphoric pop choruses, lyrics I want to investigate, to know intimately. It’s a journey through so many emotional states, it’s the kind of album you want to crawl inside of.

I’ve been a huge fan of her work since and every record is stunning in different ways. I appreciate an approach to album-making that is almost like a collection of related art pieces, not necessarily the same medium, but linked with a through line. It’s like a concept album, I guess, but not in a classic “this has a linear narrative” way. Jenny Hval’s albums instead feel like explorations of an idea and an investigation into something, asking questions that are too messy for a simple answer.

Thanks to Me Lost Me for sharing her favourites with us!

Follow her on bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Amelia Read

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PLAYLIST: March 2022

The Get In Her Ears team have put together an eclectic mix of guitar tunes, post punk anthems, indie gems & immersive electronic sounds for your listening pleasure. Take some time to scroll through our track choices below and make sure you hit play on the Spotify playlist at the end of this post.

Follow GIHE on Spotify to hear all of our previous playlists too.

Charlotte Adigery x Bolis Pupul – ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliché’
‘Ceci n’est pas un cliche’ by Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul, whose debut album Topical Dancer came out earlier this month. I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Charlotte, where we talked about the new album, the therapeutic process of making music and the use of laughter to tackle complex topics and her lovely little baby Rocko also joined us for the chat. You can listen back to that interview on our latest Soho Radio show. (Tash Walker)

Julia-Sophie – ‘Dial Your Number’
The latest single from one of our favourites Julia-Sophie, whose new EP, it feels like thunder, has just dropped and it doesn’t disappoint. It comes as part of a trilogy of releases through Beat Palace Records, the new label set up by Anna Prior of Metronomy which has a heavy focus on championing women artists. Julia-Sophie will also be headlining our gig at The Shacklewell Arms on 1st June with support from Dewey and Maria Uzor. Grab your ticket via DICE here. (TW)

Ethel Cain – ‘Gibson Girl’
Since I heard her single ‘Crush’ last year, I have been compulsively listening to American songwriter Ethel Cain. Her heady, devastating tunes throw me off-kilter whenever I hear them and this track is no exception. Taken from her highly anticipated debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, which is set for release on 12th May, ‘Gibson Girl’ is a lustful, deeply provocative offering inspired by American model Evelyn Nesbit. Cain offers some more perspective on the track: “Being a woman is about never quite reaching a goal that someone else set for you. Under pressure to fit an impossible standard, I find myself daydreaming about what it would be like to be perfect in a way I can’t ever possibly achieve. I’ve always been in love with Evelyn Nesbit, the Gibson Girl, and thought she was the absolute pinnacle of feminine poise and grace. Whenever I start to lose myself and forget what I’m capable of, I just turn to her and she’s the greatest reminder.” (Kate Crudgington)

Ailsa Tully – ‘Salt Glaze’
The latest single from Welsh artist Ailsa Tully, ‘Salt Glaze’ offers a poignant reflection on the time that Tully and her partner spent in her late Grandmother’s house during the January lockdown last year. A truly immersive soundscape emanating a comforting warmth and exquisite captivating grace. You can watch the very cute video for ‘Salt Glaze’ here. (ML)

Tomberlin – ‘Tap’
I haven’t been able to stop listening to American songwriter Tomberlin since her single ‘Happy Accident‘ dropped into my inbox last month. Her poetic lyrics are so simple, yet they feel so profound and graceful when she sings them. This track is taken from her upcoming album, I Don’t Know Wo Needs To Hear This, set for release on 29th April via Saddle Creek, and it’s a beautiful musing on trying to disconnect from the digital world and focus on genuine human interaction – something we’ve all been craving since 2020. I think her opening line about over-using Instagram is superb: “Tap the heart until I hate myself / Hit the square, and rearrange myself / I don’t like it what it does to me / Never makes me want to laugh, or sing.” I can’t wait to hear Tomberlin’s songs live at St Matthias Church on 5th April. (KC)

Fears – ’16’
Transforming her ruminations on a troubled past relationship into an elegant, exquisitely raw offering, ’16’ is the latest release from Irish musician & producer Constance Keane aka Fears. Released via her own imprint TULLE, the track is a combination of meditative synth loops, tentative beats and the instrumentals of her late friend, classically trained cellist and trans rights activist Sophie Gwen Williams. These elements mesh together to create a truly soothing, magnetic soundscape. Accompanied by a beautiful video, shot & directed by Zoe Greenway – who performs alongside Keane in punk band M(h)aol – the visuals are a poignant tribute to Williams too. (KC)

Hannah Schneider – ‘Mirror Sphere’ (ML)
‘Mirror Sphere’ is the new single from Danish artist Hannah Schneider, who is also one half of GIHE faves AyOwA. Whilst more stripped back than we’ve come to expect from Ayowa, this solo venture maintains all the glistening majestic splendour and cinematic grace that we associate with Schneider, creating an enchanting hybrid of sounds. (ML)

Real Big Sky – ‘Long Lost’
A brooding, atmospheric musing on feelings of loneliness and isolation, Gothenburg four-piece Real Big Sky have shared their debut single ‘Long Lost’. Full of moody guitar sounds, shiver-inducing cymbal smashes and melancholic vocals, the track is a captivating slice of dark indie noise. I can’t wait to hear the band’s self-titled debut album, which is set for release on the 13th of May. (KC)

Scrounge – ‘This Summer’s Been Lethal’ (ML)
South London duo Lucy and Luke aka Scrounge have now announced the release of their upcoming debut album, and we couldn’t be more excited. Taken from the album, ‘This Summer’s Been Lethal’ builds with a bewitching tension and potent beats, creating a stark soundscape. Oozing the duo’s trademark deep stirring allure and dark, compelling energy, an added uptempo edge propels the track, inciting a small glimmer of hope in these uncertain times. A swirling, immersive wall of sound, here Scrounge have showcased how they are consistently honing their sound; adding innovative layers to create resonant, cathartic anthems for the present day. (ML)

Oceanator – ‘Stuck’
I’m a big fan of this new single from Brooklyn artist Oceantor, taken from her excellently titled new album, Nothing’s Ever Fine, set for release on 8th April via Big Scary Monsters. I love the charging rhythms and doomy riffs on ‘Stuck’, which as Oceanator explains, is “about that feeling of all your collective traumas, disappointments, and general sadness just accumulating over the years and weighing you down more and more.” (KC)

Francis Of Delirium – ‘The Fun House’
“This is a call to arms” sings Jana Bahrich aka Francis Of Delirium in the opening to this single, instantly commanding listeners with her grungy riffs and clear vocals. A reflection on the manic and disorientating mindset that’s been accepted as “the new normal” over the past two years, Bahrich’s track is a cathartic rush of angst that questions what’s “left to believe” in such an overwhelming world. (KC)

Horsegirl – ‘Anti-glory’
I love this playful, rumbling cacophony from Chicago post-punk outfit Horsegirl. Taken from their debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, which is set for release on 3rd June, the band – formed of best friends Penelope Lowenstein, Nora Cheng and Gigi Reece – wrote ‘Anti-Glory’ “almost by accident” whilst messing around with an old song during rehearsals. When speaking about the track, the band say: “As always, this song and album are for Chicago, our friends, our friend’s bands, everyone who can play the guitar, and everyone who can’t play the guitar.” I like that! (KC)

Proper. – ‘Huerta’
Happy album release day to Brooklyn trio Proper.! The band have shared their new album, The Great American Novel, which is a punk infused concept record about how black genius is routinely overlooked and ignored. On this track ‘Huerta’, lead vocalist Erik Garlington evaluates his thoughts about his Mexican heritage, offering listeners an insight into what it means to censor or ignore parts of yourself and the impact this can have on your own identity, as well as the wider perception of this identity in predominantly white spaces. “If these audiences are going to be a voyeur to the Black experience, I want them to hear this record and learn about our identity crises,” Garlington continues about the band’s new album. Proper.’s unfiltered approach on ‘Huerta’ and The Great American Novel is a cathartic and necessary antidote to this voyeurism. (KC)

Petrol Girls – ‘Baby I Had An Abortion’
Highlighting the truth that everyone should have access to an abortion, without shame, ‘Baby, I Had An Abortion‘ oozes a brutal, unapologetic honesty, propelled by the gritty, seething force of Ren Aldridge’s vocals. An immense, empowering statement reflecting on Aldridge’s own experiences of having an abortion in 2018, it offers a poignant ode to bodily autonomy. A raging cacophony fuelled by a riotous catharsis that emits both joy and anger. (ML)

Problem Patterns – ‘Y.A.W’
A powerful, necessary anthem for women and girls who have spoken out against violent misogyny only to be told they’re “just a bitch who can’t take a joke,” it was a privilege to premiere Belfast Punks Problem Patterns video for their poignant new single ‘Y.A.W’ earlier this month. An acronym for ‘Yes All Women’ – antagonising the social media excuse ‘Not All Men’ – the track seethes with a righteous fury, underscored by Ciara’s King’s buzzing basslines, Beverley Boal’s striking guitar riffs, Bethany Crooks’ thudding beats and Alanah Smith’s crystalline vocals. It’s a visceral rumination on the universal rage and despair that permeates our consciousness in the wake of public violence towards women, in particular, the misogynist killings of Sarah Everard and Aisling Murphy. Watch the video here. (KC)

LibraLibra – ‘Here’s To You Mr Robinson’ (ML)
GIHE faves LibraLibra today release their second EP, Modern Millenial. Taken from the EP, latest single ‘Here’s To You Mr Robinson’ offers a satirical FU to the UK Government and any other right wing cretins. Initially inspired by the Tommy Robinson milkshake-in-face incident, it’s driven by a frenzied electro-driven whirr as the impassioned vocal prowess of front-person Beth Cannon soars. Another colossal cacophony showcasing the immense genre-defying power of this band on the rise. (ML)

Projector – ‘Play Along’
A brooding exploration on “the cognitive dissonance that allows you to feel like you are god’s gift, whilst simultaneously feeling like a piece of shit,” I love this new track from Brighton trio Projector. Splicing the dual vocals of Edward Ensbury and Lucy Sheehan with angular riffs, restless rhythms and ominous synths, the track marks new sonic territory for the band and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next. (KC)

Body Type – ‘Buoyancy’
A rousing, energetic slice of indie punk, this fun new single from Australian trio Body Type is taken from their debut album, Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising, which is set for release on 20th May 20th. Inspired by a text exchange between bandmates Annabel Blackman and Georgia Wilkinson, ‘Buoyancy’ lives up to its namesake and is all about “grappling with internal inconsistencies and moral ambiguities in an incoherent style.” The band also say it’s “a personal reminder that when certain things are rendered uncertain, those you love are an eternal rudder.” C.U.T.E. (KC)

Breakup Haircut – ‘Out Of My Way (I’m Not Getting On The Nightbus’) (ML)
Having wowed us live with their scuzzy, joyous punk-pop at our January gig at The Victoria, Breakup Haircut have now shared a jangly new offering, dedicated to those of us who may not be too fond of big social gatherings. ‘Get Out Of My Way (I’m Not Getting On The Nightbus)’ flows with a jangly, uplifting energy and snarly wit as the band’s colourful charisma shines through. Breakup Haircut are set to release their debut album on 15th July via Reckless Yes. (ML)

girlhouse – ‘paul blart mall cop’
An honest musing about her experience of living with depression, this is a tender but buoyant new offering from US bedroom-pop artist Lauren Luiz aka girlhouse. Through her confessional lyrics and catchy melodies, she explores what she calls “the ultimate dilemma as a person that has dealt with depression for the majority of their life – not wanting to live but not wanting to die.” Despite its heavy context, girlhouse delivers her observations with earnest and cathartic flair. (KC)

BEORMA – ‘Without You’
A bittersweet reflection on losing someone you love and as a result a part of yourself, Birmingham-based band Beorma have shared their latest single ‘Without You’. Mixing R&B and indie pop sensibilities with a smooth heartfelt vocal, the track is an unexpectedly upbeat listen, brimming with emotion and a melody that warmly rushes the senses. (KC)

Amaroun – ‘Brown Skin Beauty’
A poignant offering reflecting on a personal journey of building in confidence to having the freedom to feel comfortable in your own black queer skin, this latest single from GIHE fave Amaroun flows into the ears with a sweeping ethereal soundscape. As her soaring, luscious vocals ripple atop the shimmering musicality, a truly blissful offering oozing a sparkling majestic grace is created. Mars, the upcoming debut album from Amaroun, is set for release on 3rd June. (ML)

King Hannah – ‘All Being Fine’
Having just released their debut album, I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me, Liverpool duo King Hannah have been firm favourites here at GIHE for a while now. Latest single ‘All Being Fine’ flows with an eerily captivating energy alongside Merrick’s trademark rich, sultry vocals. Building with a dark, iridescent splendour, it oozes a gritty, spellbinding allure, showcasing King Hannah’s unique, majestic grace and exquisite ability to create soundscapes with a truly compelling ethereal power. (ML)

Jenny Hval – ‘Year of Love’
In the run up to seeing Jenny Hval in April, I’ve been filling my ears with the fruits of her latest album Classic Objects, including this song ‘Year of Love’. It’s such a gentle song with those distantly haunting vocals of Hval swooping over like melodic drones, bliss. (TW)

Pongo – ‘Doudou’
‘Doudou’ is the latest release from Angolan-Portuguese artist Pongo who has often been described as the new diva of kuduro – and for good reason! Since her debut, Pongo has never stopped renewing the heritage of this genre by feeding it with sounds from all over the world. Just like this one. (TW)

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WATCH: Anna B Savage – ‘Dead Pursuit’

Tentative guitars, revealing lyrics and heartfelt vocals permeate ‘Dead Pursuit’, the latest single from London-based songwriter Anna B Savage. Taken from her upcoming album which is set for release later this year, the track is an affecting, defiant ballad that sees the artist tear herself “limb from limb”.

Savage penned ‘Dead Pursuit’ whilst grappling with imposter syndrome after the success of her 2015 debut EP, which caught the attention of Father John Misty and Jenny Hval, both of whom gave Savage support slots on their sold out tours. It’s humbling to hear Savage lay her insecurities bare on ‘Dead Pursuit’, and comforting to know they haven’t stopped from from creating her beguiling sounds.

The track is accompanied by a hand-drawn animated video by the artist Carolina Aguirre. “I’ve been a fan of Carolina’s style and output for many, many years” Savage explains. “When she sent me the treatment for this video I cried. Her allegorical tale so perfectly expresses that feeling of a loss of confidence, and a questioning of identity. I feel an incredible amount of catharsis to have made something so beautiful and emotive from such a low point, and for that song to have prompted such an incredible, affecting visual companion.”

Watch the video for ‘Dead Pursuits’ below and follow Anna B Savage on Facebook & Spotify for more updates.

Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Kate CrudgingtonLeave a comment