Plus essential new releases from Pip Blom, PARTICLS, Rose Io, The Glowworms and Winter McQuinn.
Cardinals by Emilyn Cardona | Words: Donovan Livesey, Hazel Blacher, Brad Sked, Elvis Thirlwell, Lloyd Bolton
Cardinals – 'Big Empty Heart'
Rising Cork five-piece Cardinals return with their first release of the year - and it might be their boldest, most emotionally resonant to date. Stepping in darker territory, the track moves with quiet intent, steeped in a Cure-esque atmosphere of gothic romance and introspection. It opens with the imposing combination of crushing fuzz guitar and mournful accordion, weaving Irish traditional textures with echoing shoegaze and 1960s pop flair. The result is a sprawling, slow-burning lament, elegantly crafted and emotionally unguarded. Frontman Euan Manning calls it "a love song written from beyond the grave," and his voice delivers accordingly - raw and quivering, it leans into the song's aching core, leaving behind a quiet intensity that lingers long after the final note. (Donovan Livesey)
wing! – 'Out From Outer'
Following their standout inclusion in the annual Slow Dance compilation earlier this year, we've been waiting patiently to hear more from wing!, fresh-faced London newcomers and brainchild of Bexleyheath born producer Adam Swan. Since then, the Windmill regulars have gone on to sign with tastemaker label Memorials of Distinction and win the coveted Green Man Rising competition with only two released tracks to their name, and new single 'Out From Outer' serves as the first taster from the trio's debut EP 'Missed It Just The Once', due for release this September. Plunging us into a spacey, low-lit fog of reverb-laden Ableton loops and pads, here slackened beats marinate in an ethereal, aquatic wooze that melts away your cortisol and swathes you like soft velvet. Yet more evidence of a burgeoning underground revival of Trip Hop's leisurely, meditative pulse, 'Out From Outer' sees wing! expertly fuse the intoxicating reverie of pioneers like Massive Attack with an introspective post-rock ambience and a simultaneous nod to hip-hop's greats. (Hazel Blacher)
Goat Girl – 'sleep talk (chamber ensemble)'
A year after the release of their acclaimed third album 'Below The Waste', Goat Girl are back with an EP containing four orchestral reworkings of songs from the record, set for release on June 18th. The trio lead with single 'sleep talk - chamber ensemble', a track that shines an expansive, cinematic light on the original, fit for sorrow filled spring days. Through its beguiling orchestral arrangement, brought to life by collaborations with a group of young artists and musicians, Goat Girl draw stylistic parallels to fellow contemporaries caroline, along with the more tender side of Angel Olsen's 'Mirrors', making for a melancholic, ethereal marvel. Lovely stuff for sure. (Brad Sked)
Pip Blom – 'Temporary Love'
Taken from their independently released new EP 'Grip', 'Temporary Love' sees Amsterdam's Pip Blom lay down some seriously catchy and deftly crafted synth-pop wizardry, demonstrating Blom's continued growth as a songwriter and ability to craft pop-adjacent hooks within newly explored genres. The track centres around one broad, raspy synth line adorned with intermittent, iridescent arpeggios, and a clock-like pulse ticks away beneath it, almost like a timebomb seconds away from exploding into shimmering jubilation. Blom's vocal melodies imbue the track's coarse, plucky instrumental exterior like a sweet, plushy marmalade soaking into crusty bread, and like the name of the EP suggests, there is a vibrancy and grandness to 'Temporary Love' feels so robust, it really is as if a firm, tenacious grasp girds its dense sawtooth walls. (Hazel Blacher)
PARTICLS - 'Mr Mezze'
Languishing with a soulful, sultry longing, 'Mr Mezze' sees PARTICLS draw the curtains and seize the night in a candle lit slow dance, shrouding their rosy, psych pop sound in a newfound shadowy mystique and amplified emotional intensity. The new single from the London sextet, made up of full-time gardeners, is said to be inspired by a Persian restaurant that the band often frequent when rehearsing in South West London. Originally meant as a "kind thank you" to the eatery, it subsequently developed into a harrowing tale about "a man struggling with insecurity" and "failing to hide it in the way he'd like to". Serving up a nourishing package of soulful psych, where spacious, balladlike vocals melt into grandiose violin sections like butter searing into liquid on high heat, 'Mr. Mezze' sees PARTICLS revel in the dramatics of dynamic contrast with flair and feeling. (Hazel Blacher)
Rose Io – 'Angel's Trumpet' / 'Little Mountain Flower'
Releasing via excellent Brighton Indie MIOHMI Records (big long sun), Brighton's Rose Io frolics and hallucinates around that vaunted late 60s-axis where pristine English folk fucks with freakish psychedelia. Offering up a pair of tunes from forthcoming album 'Autumn Automaton', each song here from their sophomore release is a veritable pocket odyssey, where rich orchestration and colourful arrangements fold into a shape small and delicate enough to fit into a golden locket, hang around your neck and hold against your heart. Lifted by disarmingly simple and elegant melodies that veer from subject matters as varied as the apocalyptic Book of Revelation ('Angel's Trumpet) or nostalgic Mediterranean retreats ('Little Mountain Flower') - Rose Io's world-building is instantly enamouring, terrifically special. (Elvis Thirlwell)
The Glowworms – 'trench coat' / 'you do not matter'
'trench coat' is a shambling, sun-kissed treat from The Glowworms. The band straddle both sides of the Atlantic, led by London-based but LA-born Dov Sikowitz, and their sound bears the mark of a feted American indie lineage, particularly the sphere of influence around Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. Sikowitz' vocals are a little softer, however, taking on a tender huskiness more closely related to Elliot Smith, and this is drawn out particularly well on the new single's flipside 'you do not matter', a minute-and-a-half cut that feels perfect in its raw simplicity. (Lloyd Bolton)
Winter McQuinn – 'Walkin' Through That Door'
Ever-prolific Melbourne native Winter McQuinn has returned with the sanguine-sweet new cut 'Walkin' Through That Door' in collaboration with Feign Jima and Dylan Young, alongside news of his third album 'Where Are We Now?'. Marrying psych-pop and 70s rock influences, the track evokes the late Margo Guryan's baroque-pop stylings, interwoven with tinges of The Lemon Twigs, making for a joy-filled, sun-kissed delight. We'll have to wait all the way until September for the release of the new record, but in the meantime, during this little heatwave, McQuinn's latest offering is a truly glorious taster of what's to come. (Brad Sked)
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