LISTEN: Amaroun – ‘Alive’

Having received acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music and The Line Of Best Fit, upcoming artist Amaroun’s second single, ‘Alive’, featuring Mansa, is a banger that uplifts.

In the very first strains of the tune, Amaroun’s propulsive vocals chant “I feel alive!”, whilst later, they sing about letting go and persevering through storms and fears; celebrating every moment in life. Set to glitchy and trippy clave-like rhythms, ‘Alive’ creates a majestic soundscape, pulsing with simple bass drum hits, before Mansa sends us out of the song with a rap on his own come-up. A stirring, uplifting accompaniment to these strange times.

Amaroun is a project by producer and songwriter Jay Brown. They have worked with Charlie Andrew (Alt-J/London Grammar/Marika Hackman) and collaborate with Charles Watson, Benin City, Francobollo, Boris Labant and Adam Betts.

 

‘Alive’ is out now. Listen on Spotify.

Aisha Kasmir
@aisha_vocal

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Track Of The Day: Tamara – ‘Colours’

Oxford-based Singer-songwriter, Tamara Parsons-Baker has now shared the first single from her upcoming debut solo album. When she isn’t performing solo, Tamara fronts her band Death of the Maiden whose musical style is described as post-punk/baroque-pop. Her new solo single, ‘Colours’, however, is a step in a lighter direction.

Tamara’s storytelling skills are just as well utilised in a folk-pop song. ‘Colours’ has a slow acoustic start, where she asks the lover/friend to “paint a happy picture”, before suggesting a journey by car.

The song is setting up happy memories for the couple. The male backing vocal coming in on the second verse complements the idea that they need each other to “…fill our palettes up.” The metaphor of painting suggests depression, “I stopped seeing colours”, where yellow turned into black. The only way back is the happy memory of the journey together, singing Grey Reverend songs.

This song is gentle, romantic, and hopeful. The mood is light and uplifting, but the lyrics tell a slightly darker tale, where hope is lost and found. The voices, like the colours, blend into a lovely musical painting creating a truly spellbinding canvas of sounds; the perfect song to carry us into summer.

 

Fi Ni Aicead
@gotnomoniker

 

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Track Of The Day: NAVA – ‘Sarabe’

A beguiling mix of measured vocals and commanding beats; NAVA have shared their latest single, ‘Sarabe’. Lifted from their upcoming EP of the same name (which is set for release on 12th June via Nettwerk), the track’s brooding electronic instrumentation creates a sound as cinematic as the visuals that accompany it.

Originally from Tehran but now based in Milan, NAVA are formed of frontwoman Nava Golchini and producer/writer Francesco Fugazza. They blend Persian-dance inspired beats, industrial elements and hypnotic vocals to create their intoxicating sounds, and ‘Sarabe’ is a shining example of this.

“I see ‘Sarabe’ in shades of red, white and black, in blue skies, sand and rocks.” explains Golchini about the track. “I think of a vast monotonous landscape much greater than our control, like “Kavir e Lut”, a majestic desert in the heart of Iran. The song expresses that melancholic and homesick feeling I live with. ‘Sarabe’ is warm and familiar, a positive feeling but by nightfall, all of those sentiments are stripped away. Just like the meaning of ‘Sarabe’, which is a mirage, an illusion, a deja-vu which lets you consecutively lose the sense of reality”.

The video for ‘Sarabe’ reflects many of Golchini’s notions about the track. Directed by Simone Rovellini, it was shot in a quarry just hours before Northern Italy’s first Covid-19 lockdown. Watch the visuals for ‘Sarabe’ below and follow NAVA on Spotify & Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Maggie Gently – ‘Every Night’

In a cathartic unravelling of her desires, San Francisco’s Maggie Grabmeier is unapologetically candid in her debut single ‘Every Night’, released under her all-new project Maggie Gently.

With a pop-punk past, Maggie embarks on her current writing with a more delicate, indie-like lens that adds a sense of intimacy and simplicity to her emotional illustrations. What is compelling about ‘Every Night’ is its genre complexity exactly. The concoction of Maggie’s strong sense of melody is reminiscent of mid-west emo/punk and provides an undeniable anthemic feel that is nostalgically comforting and perfectly familiar.

Up against a compartmentalised indie mix, Maggie places her emotional story in a bedroom-pop habitat that allows the guitar’s transparent overdrive to sit just right and allows her lyrics the space they deserve: “I wanna learn how to be alone without feeling a panic in my bones…” sets the scene for her entire upcoming EP Good Cry that was written during a complex and reflective time for Maggie.

With the raw and relatable stream of consciousness that Maggie has hosted in ‘Every Night’, she has earnestly invited her listeners into her current universe of understanding inner turmoil and its request for a breakthrough. Maggie Gently is all of us at one time or another, a vulnerable and stunning work in progress.

Watch the new video for ‘Every Night’ here:

‘Every Night’ is out now, listen on Spotify. And Maggie Gently’s debut EP Good Cry is set for release 29th May.

Jill Goyeau
@jillybxxn

Photo Credit: Amayah Harrison

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