Track Of The Day: Nun Habit – ‘Marigolds’

A song about eczema, ‘marigolds’ by London five-piece nun habit packs way more of a punch than that description might lead you to expect.

It comes in hard and fast, leaping immediately into a big sound – there’s no gradual build up. Instead, this tightly-structured song is the kind of atmospheric track designed for speakers that make the floor throb. Rich growling bass balances out the shriek of the guitars, interweaving the strings to form an excellent platform for trippy burbling keys.

The low, aching vocals give the song a sense of vulnerability. The lyrics themselves are simple and self-aware, with a lot of feeling in every line and the emotion behind the words is clear. The song drips with anxiety, with exhaustion with toxic-masculine culture; with the resolve to stop caring about the ignorant, judgemental things people say. The vocals draw their power from the lyrics and their grounded tone is uplifted by the roaring music behind them.

There’s a sharp drop part way through; a great use of silence that trips you up, but quickly sweeps you back into the intoxicating sound. This, followed by the abrupt ending, reinforces how well ‘marigolds’ lures you into an entirely different headspace. It sucks you in and spits you out and leaves you wondering where to go for more. (The Kickstarter for their new album hedge fun is a good place to start.)

‘marigolds’ comes with a B-side consisting of a moody house edit by producer Josh Albiston. This version is lighter and slower-paced. It’s spaced out so you can feel more of the texture in the piece. Whilst it’s almost twice as long, it doesn’t feel it. The bright, popping sounds are softer, with gentler drums and vocals that are stripped right back. There’s still a chirpy rhythm to it, but it feels more house party than club dance floor. It fades away until just the throbbing bass line is left; until everything eventually drifts away into silence leaving you, still, eyeing that Kickstarter page.

‘marigolds‘ is out now, ahead of the release of nun habit’s debut album, hedge fun, set for release in August.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

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Track Of The Day: Piney Gir – ‘Voice Of The Ages’

Following 2019’s seventh album You Are Here, London-based, Kansas-raised GIHE fave Piney Gir has now announced a new EP, Astral Spectra, which is set for release later this month. And now, ahead of the EP, she has just shared a characteristically uplifting new single.

Flowing with the jangle of twinkling hooks and an immersive sunny energy, ‘Voice Of The Ages’ reflects on the necessity of facing your demons to come out stronger in the end. As the distinctive shimmer of Piney’s luscious celestial vocals soar with an effervescent splendour alongside the striking grandeur of the track’s almost orchestral sounding musicality, a wonderfully majestic indie-pop anthem is created.

Oozing a swirling, psychedelic sense of nostalgia, ‘Voice Of The Ages’ retains its own unique sparkling grace, showcasing Piney Gir’s trademark honey-sweet and harmonious uplifting pop-sensibilities. Of the track, she explains:

“This song simply flowed, it was like a message from the subconscious mind or a force of the universe channelling through me. I couldn’t get it out of my head quickly enough; it couldn’t have been written any faster.” 

‘Voice Of The Ages’ is out now via Reckless Yes. Astral Spectra, the upcoming EP and the first part of a set of concept EPs, is set for release 25th June. Pre-order here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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Track Of The Day: Riotmiloo – ‘4 Women’ (Nina Simone Cover)

A jagged, heavy re-working of an iconic Nina Simone song, London-based industrial riot grrrl Riotmiloo has shared her latest single ‘4 Women’. The opening track to Furnace Record’s new charity album Black is the New Black: The Power & Privilege Industrial Culture Compilation, Riotmiloo has kept Simone’s powerful observational lyrics at the centre, but she’s twisted the jazzy score to further reflect the insidious nature of the racial stereotypes Simone originally sang about.

“Simply put, Nina Simone was a very talented, feminist and political artist. She sang stories filled with pain and racism with eloquence and exquisitely well,” Riotmiloo explains. “Someone highlighted the similarities between the theme of her song ‘Four Women’ and the stories in my album, La Pierre Soudée. From there I fell in love with this particular song. I cry each time I listen to her renditions.”

“When Darryl Montgomery-Hell from Furnace Records called on artists to give one track for his fundraiser for the Radical Monarchs, it had to be this song. I am so glad it found a home in this varied compilation for such a noble cause. I am so honoured to open the album. Proceeds will be donated to the Radical Monarchs, an organisation that empowers young girls of colour.”

Listen to ‘4 Women’ below.

 

Follow Riotmiloo on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Listen to, download & donate to Black is the New Black: The Power & Privilege Industrial Culture Compilation on bandcamp

Photo Credit: Blauerosen

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Desperate Journalist – ‘Personality Girlfriend’

Having been charming us for a number of years now with their hypnotic, ’80s-reminiscent indie soundscapes, London’s Desperate Journalist have now announced a new album, set for release next month. Ahead of the album, the band recently shared new single ‘Personality Girlfriend‘.

Reflecting on society’s obsession with “putting women into boxes/on pedestals...”, ‘Personality Girlfriend’ flows with jangly, scuzzed-out hooks and a swirling, shoegaze-tinged allure. Building with a fizzing energy as the distinctive, honey-sweet vocals of Jo Bevan soar with a subtle power, it glistens with a shimmering anthemic grace and reverb-strewn splendour. Whilst harking back to the grittier Britpop of the early ’90s, here Desperate Journalist once again manage to create something that is entirely their own – exquisitely fusing together their influences, whilst adding their own unique, captivating majesty and immersing the listener in the track’s poignant subject matter. Expanding on the song’s meaning, Bevan explains:

“The stupid idea that we are either gorgeous airheads with no inner life, or Plain Janes ‘with a great personality’, is exhaustingly pervasive in the way people talk about relationships, and both ‘categories’ are negging, nasty excuses for not granting respect to the person in question… The song is also a riposte to the tired old cultural trope that in order to be worthwhile or interesting a woman has to be incredibly strong and some kind of paragon of virtue and/or intrigue, when men are rarely held to the same standard… I’m a real person with needs and desires and interests and I fucking dare you to discount me.”

Watch the new video for ‘Personality Girlfriend’ here:

Recorded entirely in Crouch End during lockdown, Maximum Sorrow – the upcoming album from Desperate Journalist – is set for release on 2nd July via Fierce Panda Records. Pre-order here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: Nick JS Thompson

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