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.

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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 TRACK: wormboys – ‘Mostly Still’

A light-hearted, endearing grunge-pop tune that acknowledges the awkwardness of social interactions, wormboys have shared their latest single ‘Mostly Still’. Released via non-profit Leeds-based label Come Play With Me, the Leeds four piece deliver their self described “queer moody creepy noise-pop” with joyful flair on this new offering, which forms part of a series of digital releases that Come Play With Me are supporting in order to showcase queer artists in the North.

Formed of vocalists and guitarists Sop Satchwell and Harry Tunnicliffe, bassist Ruth Pearce and drummer Jake Maiden, wormboys make fun, fuzzy, melodic tunes about the realities of everyday existence. On ‘Mostly Still’, the band gently explore the anxieties around interacting with others again in a post-lockdown world, and being unable to react spontaneously in the moment.

“We started collaborating on this song together just before the pandemic hit,” explains bassist Ruth about the track, “so this release has been a long while coming. The feel of the song is reflected somewhat in the story of its writing.” Guitarist Sop adds more: “It feels a little different to our previous releases, more tender and a bit more poppy. I brought the bones of this song to a practice and we worked out the rest together, it has something of all of us in it.”

You can catch wormboys live in London when they play for us at The Shacklewell Arms on Friday 8th September. They’ll be supporting Welsh rockers CHROMA, alongside new Brighton band UrgentSea. Tickets are cheaper in advance and available to buy on DICE here.

Listen to ‘Mostly Still’ below.

 

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Photo Credit: Sam Joyce

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Introducing Interview: Joanna Sternberg

With acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, New York based artist and multi-instrumentalist Joanna Sternberg has just released their second album, I’ve Got Me. Recorded with producer Matt Sweeney and engineer Daniel Schlett, Sternberg masterfully played every single instrument on the record, and solely wrote each and every song, showcasing their ability to create a truly exquisite, genre-spanning collection. With an education in Classical and Jazz music, throughout the album Sternberg weaves a rich tapestry of beautifully lilting folk-strewn sounds alongside reflective narrative lyricism; all brought together with their raw, impassioned vocals. A truly exquisite listen.

We caught up with Joanna to find out more about the album, their influences, the industry today and what’s next… Have a read!

Hi Joanna! Welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! My name is Joanna Sternberg. I’m a singer songwriter and visual artist, and I play a bunch of musical instruments too. I live in New York City and I just put out my second record.

Are you able to tell us a bit about how you initially started creating music? 
I initially started creating music because when I was little I would sing to myself and hum a lot, and so my parents sent me to piano lessons. And then in middle school I taught myself guitar and electric bass and then, in high school, I learned double bass and then I went to college for double bass. Then I wound up learning how to sing when I was twenty one. So, I guess that’s the full story! And then the songwriting came.

I really love your stirring folk-strewn musicality and reflective narrative lyricism, but who would you consider to be your main musical influences?
Thank you! Well, I really love Louis Armstrong, and I really love folk music. And I really love The Beatles, and blues. But, I guess in terms of influences that are people, I guess Louis Armstrong, Randy Newman, The Beatles, Elliott Smith, Billy Strayhorn. 

And how would you say your experience and training in Jazz and Classical music feeds into what you now create?
I would say it feeds into it a lot because I really go to Jazz and Classical for melodic and chordal ideas the most, probably, and I think they complement each other really well and can be interchangeable a lot of the time. I feel so lucky to have the Jazz and Classical background because it really enabled me to write songs.

You’ve just released your brand new album I’ve Got Me,  which is very exciting – congratulations! Are you able to tell us a bit about it? Are there any particular themes running throughout it? 
I’ve Got Me is a collection of songs I wrote just basically about the span of human emotions. All the songs are just autobiographical about me, but I think anyone can relate to them. I’m singing it about certain things, but that doesn’t mean the person listening has to know what that means. They can have their own thing. It’s for them. It’s just songs that I want to make people feel less alone. That’s the theme, I guess. 

You play all the instruments on the record and had a very large part in its production – what prompted this decision? And what was the recording process like for you? 
I really, really wanted to always play all the instruments on my own record – I just always had a dream of that. I thought it would be a magical experience and I wanted to try it, and I was right! It was the most fun thing, and everyone around me validated it – everyone in the studio told me that it sounded great, and as long as they said that, I was ready to keep going. It just was so fun and it allowed me to be myself as much as possible. The recording process was really great once we got into the studio. It was fantastic working with Matt Sweeney – everything was so easy and comfortable and meant to be, really. It was all very natural and awesome, and the best possible circumstances. 

You’ve played a lot of live shows in various forms across New York City, from playing bass in jazz bands to supporting Conor Oberst, but is there a particular show you’ve played over the years that stands out as a highlight? 
A show I was really proud of was my record release. I released it before the pandemic, and I had the record release show at this place called The Glove, which I really used to love to play at that has now closed. It was a DIY venue, and it was just a really special show and the place was packed with people I love. All my friends who played were great, and at the end we all jammed together, and it was just really special and I was really proud. I miss that place.

And are there any other current venues in New York that you really love too? 
Right now, I really love playing at Union Pool – it’s a great venue. And I also love playing at Sunny’s Bar when out on tour.

When out on tour, are there any particular essentials that you like to take with you to keep you going when away from home? 
I definitely like to take my art supplies, because then I can make merch while I’m travelling, as well as just draw for myself – so, it’s always good to have my sketchbooks and stuff. And I also have my Nintendo Switch to play Animal Crossing!

How do you feel the industry is for new artists at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the last few years in its treatment of female/gender non-conforming and queer artists? 
I think it’s been a lot more inclusive over the last few years for queer artists and non male artists, and that’s really great. And I think people are really bringing awareness to Inclusivity and making a big point to care about it. Regarding the industry for new artists at the moment, I guess it’s good, but can be a little scary. The internet is a little intimidating and can lead to a lot of bad things, but it can also be useful and nice if you’re careful on it. But it is hard not to come across really upsetting things of how badly people treat each other. So, I guess the internet could be a tool to use, but it could also be something that can be dangerous. So, it’s kind of complicated, but the internet is the thing really – it all seems to be based around that now!

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other upcoming artists you’re loving right now that you’d recommend we check out?
Oh my gosh, there’s so many upcoming artists that I recommend you check out! One of them is my friend Liam Kirby, who’s such an amazing songwriter. He’s on Instagram and he’s putting out a record, we’re just figuring out how to get that out there. And then my other friend, Jackie West, is another really amazing songwriter and she’s putting out a record soon that she is finishing up. She’s on Instagram, but she’s always playing shows. So I would say to check both of those two out ASAP if I was you! 

Finally, what does the rest of 2023 have in store for you? 
I get to go on two really exciting tours! One of them is opening for Kurt Vile – so exciting! Then I get to open for Angel Olsen – so amazing, that’s going to be great. And I think I might be coming to the UK too. So, all of that is so cool. And yeah, I’m just so happy with everything!

Massive thanks to Joanna for answering our questions!

Their exquisite new album, I’ve Got Me, is out now via Fat Possum records. Check it out here.

Photo Credit: Michael Leviton

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