new music – Page 440 – Get In Her Ears

Introducing Interview: MIPSO

Having played shows extensively across the world, North Carolina band Mipso have recently released their latest album Edges Run.

Taken from the album, new single ‘People Change’ is a beautifully poignant offering. Reflecting on themes of loss, it oozes a twinkling charm, flowing folk-fused melodies and lush harmonies.

We caught up with Libby from the band to find out more…

Hi Mipso, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about the band?
We are a group of four college friends from North Carolina, along with our wayward Wisconsonite drummer Yan. We play about 150 shows a year across the United States and the planet Earth.

How did you initially all get together and start creating music?
We met when we were about eighteen and looking forward to bright futures in politics, science, academia, etc. Instead, we began playing weekend gigs at local bars and eventually decided to do it full time. Harmony singing was one of the first things we really liked doing together. We also all enjoyed songwriting and song arranging, so we tried to make a band where everyone could contribute to the creation of songs.

Your new video for ‘People Change’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about?
The video is intentionally open-ended in terms of its narrative. In a general sense, it’s about looking back on a relationship of some kind that has ended, quietly rather than with a bang. We wanted a series of images that would evoke that particular dull heartache of nostalgia — the smoky haze that’s left over after the flames of love and rupture have burned away. Jacob had the original song idea about a friend he grew apart from after college, but we wanted the video to be vaguer, because I think one of the strengths of that song is how it feels relevant to range of types of relationships. It has some vivid specificity – “that night in Carrboro”, “I hate when people bring me flowers”, etc – but it calls to mind all the forms that follow that type of memory. Jake McBride’s video takes your mind into all those corners.

You’ve been compared to the likes of Local Natives and Fleet Foxes, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
I’m very bad at these kinds of questions. The thing is that we all listen to different music, so our influences are more of a melting pot than a single through-line. We were born in the early ’90s, so we had Destiny’s Child, Blink 182 and Third Eye Blind in our ears during some very formative years. Joseph grew up listening to his dad’s Bob Marley and James Taylor records, Jacob got into jam bands via String Cheese Incident, Wood picked up a lot of jazz love from his dad, several of us sang in church choir. I have spent some time trying to play old time and Celtic fiddle, and as a band we have definitely studied harmony singing and arrangements for acoustic instruments via old bluegrass records. These days some artists at the intersection of our music appreciation Venn diagram are Buck Meek, Phish, Joni Mitchell, Wilco, Sandro Perri, Bedouine.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
Our local music scene is so wonderful it has made it virtually impossible for me to leave this area, even though I’ve been here for about a million years and sometimes I’m so sick of it thatt I don’t want to leave my house. Most of my hometown friends play music around here, and most of my music friends who live elsewhere play here on their tours. I do see a lot of live music, even though sometimes my instincts tell me to stay away from music venues after I get home from tour where I feel like I’ve spent several lifetimes in music venues. Generally though, if I can get over that mental block, I enjoy pretty much every show I go to. And then I get a lot of FOMO when we’re out on the road and I miss the great stuff that comes through; just this past week, Les Filles de Illighadad, who are an incredible Tuareg band from Niger, were here playing a free show in a park in downtown Durham. The week before that we had a great festival called Hopscotch in Raleigh, and I was luckily home to see some of my old favourites like Dirty Projectors and newer favorites like Mega Bog, not to mention an 8-hour series of purely improvisational sets in one of my favourite venues, Neptune’s, which is down in a basement with red lighting and no stage.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
I don’t totally know what falls into that category (like remember when the Grammys gave best new artist to Arcade Fire?), but I will take a swing: I really love the debut record by my friend Molly Sarlé, who is also a member of Mountain Man. It’s produced by Sam Evian, whose music I also recommend very hard if you haven’t heard it. Emma Louise’s ‘Lilac Everything’ is a gut punch. T. Gold, some more pals from around here, have the perfect soundtrack for your lazy morning or your late-night porch sit. And probably a bunch of artists I will remember as soon as I finish this!

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
Probably not much more difficult than it was in 1969 or whatever. Or, who knows? Certainly not me. It feels difficult to get noticed these days just as a human being, and it feels like getting noticed is at a premium. Basically everybody knows what it’s like to want more likes on your picture and simultaneously feel like an absolute piece of trash for wanting that. At least these days you don’t have to wait for a big radio DJ on his high horse to pick your record out of the stack. It does seem more difficult now to get people to listen to your music without first hearing some story about you via social media. They’re like, you want me to LISTEN to this record before I even know where you were born and how many times you’ve been to rehab and how your band name is an anagram of your bank robber uncle’s middle name??

Finally, what does the rest of 2019 have in store for Mipso?
We’re finishing a new record next month. Then this Europe tour is sort of the capstone on 2019 for us. I’ve never been to about 75% of the countries we’re playing, so I’m excited to at least wave to the scenery as we drive by.

Big thanks to Libby for answering our questions!

‘People Change’ is taken from Mipso’s recently released album Edges Run. Catch Mipso live in the UK this month:

26th October – Broadcast, Glasgow
27th October – Castle Hotel, Manchester
28th October – Thousand Island, London

October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

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WATCH: Ellen Krauss – ‘Criminal To Love’

Tender vocals and raw guitar sounds underscore Swedish artist Ellen Krauss‘ poignant message about heartbreak on her latest single ‘Criminal To Love’. The track is accompanied by a dramatic new video, which shows Ellen and her friends executing elaborate acts of vandalism on the sunny streets of LA.

“Destructive love is strangely attractive and before you know it, you are in the middle of it” laments Ellen about the concept behind her latest release. It’s a familiar feeling for many who feel they are tangled up in an unequal relationship, but Ellen somehow manages to turn these feelings of inadequacy and weakness in to captivating songs that show her strength as both a songwriter, and a young woman.

The video for the new track is also another example of how Ellen takes a difficult situation, and turns it in to something more manageable. Ellen explains further: “Making the video for ‘Criminal to Love’ was a cool new experience. We shot it in the suburbs of LA, in a torn down liquor store and a staged trailer park. I like the way the film gives the audience behind the scenes footage and an honest view of film-making. Someone’s powdering my nose, and then it cuts to me robbing the cashier. I had lots of fun making this. Throwing eggs at people is not an everyday thing, nor is spray painting for me.”

Ellen will be releasing more music throughout the year, with her first EP currently in the pipeline. For now, we’re content to sit with her new video. Watch the visuals for ‘Criminal To Love’ below, and follow Ellen Krauss on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

October 20, 2019October 21, 2019

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FIVE FAVOURITES: SHHE

Sparse, searching, and sincere; Scottish-Portuguese artist and producer Su Shaw – aka SHHE – creates captivating electronic sounds based around the concepts of identity, empathy, and intense personal change. She recently released her debut self-titled album via One Little Indian Records, and it’s an understated, yet dramatic gem that lingers in the memory long after the first listen.

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 Su to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – five tracks that have influenced her song writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to her debut album at the end of this post.

1. Jenny Hval – ‘Conceptual Romance’
Jenny Hval is not just one thing, she is many things. If you are not already familiar with some of those things, take a five minute intermission and read her recent ‘Hi I’m Jenny Hval and you can ask me anything’ interview on Reddit. ‘Conceptual Romance’ from Blood Bitch was the first track I heard, but all of her projects are worthy of your eyes/ears/time. My girlfriend and I went to see her a few years ago, and it was one of my favourite gigs. Half-way through she admitted that most of the set had been improvised because the airline had lost their instruments the day before.

When I listened to ‘Lions’ for the first time [from her recent album The Practice Of Love] it made me want to cry and go for a very fast run. Those are strange things to feel simultaneously. She is open and honest and writes about the things that other people don’t write about, and I have a dream that one day we will be great friends.

2. Land of Talk – ‘Some Are Lakes’
I was 20 when I heard Land of Talk for the first time. I can’t tell you where or how I made the discovery, but I listened to this album [of the same name] on repeat that whole year. I was in a bunch of bands at school, I was always the only girl. At a school with more than 100 other people in my year, that always made me kind of sad. I didn’t pick up an electric guitar until I was 17, even then I never had confidence to play it on stage. I was the singer. Liz Powell did both. I wish we’d gone to school together.

3. Boards of Canada – ‘Music is Math’
‘Music is Math’ is taken from the Boards of Canada album, Geogaddi. It was released in 2002. I did not find Boards of Canada until they released Tomorrow’s Harvest in 2013. No one has found them since. In fact, no one knows much about them. It’s a useful reminder, at a time when everyone is obsessed with knowing everything, that the music is the only thing we need. If you’re not satisfied by that, there’s patterns and messages and codes that they’ve hidden throughout their albums to keep you busy. I like listening to Boards of Canada when I’m feeling confused and I need a break.

4. Jon Hopkins – ‘Luminous Beings’
The first time I saw Jon perform was in a village hall at a festival called Homegame in Fife. It was the most relaxed I’ve ever felt in a room packed full of people. There’s a great Song Exploder interview with Jon where he talks about some of the influences behind ‘Luminous Beings’ – meditation and altered states and psychedelics and ice baths. His Asleep Versions album is also a special record and has been the soundtrack to many late night/early morning drives.

5. Caterina Barbieri – ‘SOTRS’
Patterns of Consciousness is one of my favourite albums from the last few years. ‘SOTRS’ is perfect for riding a bike with no hands, if you’re able to do that somewhere safely.

Thank you to Su for sharing her favourites with us. Follow SHHE on Facebook for more updates.

October 20, 2019

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VIDEO PREMIERE: Scrounge – ‘Badoom’

Savage guitar licks, driving beats and karaoke inspired visuals combine in the new footage for London duo Scrounge‘s latest single ‘Badoom’. Taken from their debut EP Ideal, released today via Fierce Panda, the track showcases the band’s ability to take relatable concepts (such as feeling burned out), and turn them in to punchy, cathartic sounds.

Formed of guitarist & vocalist Lucy, and drummer Luke; Scrounge have been on GIHE’s radar for a while, playing shows for us at The Finsbury Pub and gigging across London with the likes of Italia 90, Great Dad, and Hussy. ‘Badoom’ is the pair’s first video, shot and directed by Amanda Tooke who they’ve been collaborating with artistically since they met at Goldsmiths.

Lucy takes centre stage in the new footage, performing a stellar karaoke routine to ‘Badoom’. As the track escalates, so do the visuals; resulting in multiple manic versions of Lucy shouting the eponymous lyric in furious style. This is reflective of the track’s context, which the band explain further: “’Badoom’ represents the release of the underlying tension caused by the stress and mundanity of everyday life.”

Scrounge’s music is far from mundane, and we’re thrilled to have them play live for us again at Notting Hill Arts Club on 30th November, supporting ESYA (event details here). Watch the video for ‘Badoom’ below, and listen to their new EP Ideal on Spotify here.