Track Of The Day: Lunar Vacation – ‘Gears’

With acclaim from the likes of The Fader and Clash, and having previously charmed our ears with the luscious sounds of previous single ‘Mold‘, Atlanta-based Lunar Vacation are now set to release their debut album, Inside Every Fig Is A Dead Wasp, next month. Ahead of the album’s release, the band have shared a poignant new single.

Reflecting on the deterioration of a relationship, ‘Gears‘ oozes a dreamy, shimmering allure. Against the backdrop of a scuzzy, whirring musicality, Grace Repasky’s honey-sweet crystalline vocals float seamlessly with an ethereal splendour – bringing to mind favourites such as Best Coast or Alvvays. Building with a sweeping, sparkling emotion to a heartfelt slice of irresistibly effervescent indie-pop, ‘Gears’ flows with a glistening, cinematic grace as droplets of stirring melancholy ripple on the seemingly serene surface. Of the track, Repasky comments:

“When I look back on any kind of relationship, it’s usually through rose-coloured glasses. I guess this song tells me that although this happened, you just gotta keep going because this isn’t the end of the world. But the last lines are a reflection of how inner-me feels… I’ll probably always be a little sad about the loss. I feel like most, if not all, of my songs are future-me giving past-me advice and insight on specific situations that evoked heavy feelings.”

The stark sentiment of ‘Gears’ is captured perfectly in the dark beauty of its Nosferatu-inspired new video. Watch it here:

Produced by Daniel Gleason of Grouplove, Inside Every Fig Is A Dead Wasp – the upcoming debut album from Lunar Vacation – is set for release on 29th October via Keeled Scales. Pre-order here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: Hudson McNeese

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Track Of The Day: Tape Runs Out – ‘Ode To Barry’

Having previously charmed us live at one of our GIHE nights at The Finsbury, multi-instrumental collective Tape Runs Out have now announced the release of their debut album, due out sometime in 2022. And, to celebrate the news, they have now shared a brand new single, via one of our favourite labels, Trapped Animal Records.

A song dedicated to, and inspired by, lead singer and producer Liam Goodrum-Bell’s beloved bearded dragon, ‘Ode To Barry‘ drifts into the ears with its luscious, twinkling folk-strewn hooks and a shimmering effervescent splendour. As a soaring, glistening musicality provides the backdrop for its delicate harmonies, an ethereal dreamscape is created, oozing a beautifully blissful aura as rich, textured layers of eclectic instrumentation (yes, that is a hammered dulcimer you hear) are interwoven seamlessly together. A delightful ode to a much-loved pet, ‘Ode To Barry’ ripples with a sparkling joyous energy as it caresses the senses with a much-needed sense of hope and tranquility as its exquisite melodies flow with a heartfelt emotion.

‘Ode To Barry’ is accompanied by a utterly unique online experience dubbed ‘Barry Quest’ – a choose-your-own-adventure style game featuring the titular lizard, with the video for the new song hidden as one of several different endings to the game. Computer games AND lizards… What more could you possibly want?! Explaining the concept, Liam comments:

“The game came about from my love of puzzles, and my fascination with trying to figure out how Barry’s mind works. As I watch him wander around the house, bumping into doors and licking walls, I often wonder if he feels like he is on an adventure, or if he even thinks at all. Aside from the more dreamlike eventualities, the game represents both the frolics and nonsense of a day in the life of Barry, albeit with added intentions and considerations that he almost certainly does not experience.“

Guide Barry to find the video here! And if you’d just to like to get straight to watching the video, here it is:

‘Ode To Barry’ is out now via Trapped Animal Records.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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LISTEN: LIINES – ‘Keep On Going’

With their last single ‘Sorry‘ reaching over 100,000 streams on Spotify and with acclaim from the likes of Sleaford Mods, Radio X’s John Kennedy and BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, longterm GIHE faves LIINES seem to be consistently going from strength. Now, ahead of a few tour dates coming up this month, the Manchester trio – comprising of Zoe McVeigh, Leila Sullivan and Anna Donigan – have shared a potent new offering.

Propelled by a frenetic sense of urgency as Leila’s emphatic beats set the tone, ‘Keep On Going‘ gradually builds with intricate musical layers as gritty, whirring hooks kick in alongside Donigan’s deep, throbbing bass. Resulting in a sublime, post-punk force of nature, it’s driven by a swirling, frenzied energy, exuding a fierce, unrelenting power as the seething ferocity of Zoe’s distinctive raw vocals soar. A short, sharp two minute sonic explosion that’ll grab you by the ears and instantly awaken your senses with its relentless, impassioned allure. Of the track, Zoe explains:

“‘Keep On Going’ is a call to arms. The song is almost like a mantra – a chant. A reminder to put one foot in front of the other because that’s all you really can do. It’s a two minute blast of energy that signifies the need to just ‘keep on going, keep with me’.“

Watch the new video for ‘Keep On Going’ here:


Produced by Paul Tipler (Elastica, Placebo), ‘Keep On Going’ is out now. Catch LIINES live at The Grace in London this Thursday 9th September with stellar support from GENN and Anna Vincent, and in Manchester on Saturday with the equally awesome Desperate Journalist – details here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: asupremeshot

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INTERVIEW: Bad Waitress

Having just released their debut album, No Taste, Toronto band Bad Waitress have been become firm favourites over the last few months with the riotous, raging power of singles such as ‘Strawberry Milkshake‘ and their playful recent video for album track ‘Rabbit Hole‘. With scuzzy, pulsating hooks and immense, seething vocals, we just can’t get enough of their frenzied, empowering drive and dark, swirling energy.

We spoke to the band to find out more about the new album, what inspires them, and their feelings about how the music scene is for women and non binary people at the moment… Have a read!

Hi Bad Waitress, welcome to Get In Her Ears – thanks so much for joining us! How are you doing today?
We’re doing real good thanks! Thanks for speaking with us. 

How did you all initially meet and start creating music together? 
Kali came down from the big white north and met Moon, they started jamming occasionally and Katelyn dropped some heavy hints that they wanted in on the jams too. Kali messaged Nicole on Facebook a couple years later when they needed a new bassist… And the rest is history!

We big fans of your raging, energy-fuelled sound, but who would you say are your main musical influences? 
Sonic Youth, Idles, PJ Harvey, The Birthday Party, Gang of Four! 

You’ve just released your debut album No Taste, which is super exciting! Are you able to tell us a bit about the album? Are there any particular themes or inspirations running throughout it? And how does the writing process normally work within the band?
A lot of the stuff discussed in the songs is reflective of turbulent childhoods, political unrest, complicated relationships and uncomfortable expectations being forced on you. The band is definitely a place to air out our frustrations and make sense of the world around us. Sometimes Kali will bring lyrics and a structure and the rest of us will work off of that, other times we just start jamming and latch on to a certain riff or beat and it turns into a song somehow. It’s very much a collaborative process – each of us brings something unique to the mix.

How have you found recording and promoting an album during these strange times? Have you had to adjust the way that you’d normally do things? 
We actually recorded this album in the summer of 2019 – it was originally going to be released in 2020, but we decided to hold on to it until we figured out what the heck was going on with the world. We’ve definitely had to work on our online presence more; we did some weird variety show type stuff on our Instagram live, we did a Twitch stream, we’ve done a couple livestream shows. It’s been a lot more internet based stuff, but it seems like live-in-the-flesh type situations are on the horizon, so maybe we won’t have to figure out how to get big on tiktok just yet. 

We love your latest vibrant Mad Hatters-esque video for album track ‘Rabbit Hole’ – are you able to tell us a bit about the inspiration behind this song and its magnificent visuals? 
We just really like having fun with the videos we make. We’re all into weird horror movies, Kali and Katelyn especially, so we draw from that a lot. It’s a chance for us to live out whatever crazy fantasies we dream up that day. ‘Rabbit Hole’ is a pretty dark song about being trapped in the comfort of depression – we didn’t want to have a drab depressing video for it though, so we went the complete opposite direction visually. 

You’ve previously described the main premise of forming the band as being that you “…just wanted to get together and play music with people who weren’t old men” (which sounds like a great reason to me!). How do you feel the music scene is generally for women and non binary folk at the moment? Do you feel that much has changed or improved over the last few years? 
We love seeing how many more bands there are nowadays made up of women, trans people and non binary people. Honestly though, there’s still a long way to go. We still get backhanded compliments, or weird micro aggressions about how impressed people are that we can actually play our instruments, or people assuming we’re finding some success because we’re not men, or people telling us what we should do with our music or stage presence, as though they know better. There’s also a lot of misgendering (Moon and Katelyn are non binary, Kali and Nicole are women) and that’s exhausting. But there’s also a beautifully supportive community that we’re a part of, full of people that are constantly learning and lifting each other up. There’s lots of work still to do, but there’s also lots of people willing to put in that work and make the scene a better place for everyone. 

The last year has obviously been difficult for everyone in different ways, but has there been anything or anyone specific that has been inspiring you, or helping to motivate you, recently?
Our local music scene is really inspiring. There’s been so many cool things coming out of the pandemic. Houndstooth is a bar that’s been hosting shows safely, with a band playing inside behind windows and people can watch from the street. Our friend Danny Alexander made a short film about local musicians and how they were dealing with quarantine. Ultra is a Toronto-based zine that creatives can contribute anything to – poetry, music, photography, interviews. Lootbag Records put out a few compilation albums, and there’s been a bunch of bands releasing new music. Everything our friends have been making inspires us to keep creating!

And it’s obviously quite difficult organising anything right now, but – in addition to the release of the new album – what else does the rest of 2021 have in store for Bad Waitress?
We’ve got a tour coming up with Kills Birds in December, which we’re really stoked about! We can’t wait to tear it up on stage again; that’s where we’re really at home. Hopefully 2022 is the time for music to really be able to come back full force. 

Finally, as we’re a new music focused site, are there any other new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
The Effens, Wine Lips, Your Grandad, Burner, Piper Maru, Animatist, Kali Horse, Hot Garbage, Mother Tongues… Just to name a few!

Massive thanks to Bad Waitress for answering our questions! Watch their latest video for ‘Manners’ here:


No Taste, the debut album from Bad Waitress, is out now via Royal Mountain Records.

Photo Credit: Kate Dockeray 

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