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Dragon Inn 3

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Led by Philip Dickey, co-founder of Midwestern early aughts indie-pop phenomenon Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Dragon Inn 3 began as an experiment more than a decade ago. In 2012, Dickey wrote the theme song for a short film, Ghoul School, a teen horror-comedy hybrid told through an ’80s look and feel. This synth-centric instrumental eventually doubled as a jumping-off point for the infectious, pulsating sound heard throughout Dragon Inn 3’s stellar 2018 debut on American Laundromat Records, Double Line.

Enlisting his sister, Sharon Hamm, and his wife, Grace Bentley, for vocals and co-writing, the group took a DIY approach to tracking, recording in fits and starts over six years amid busy work-life schedules spread across Los Angeles, Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri. Double Line flew quietly under the radar, nonetheless earning heaps of praise from critics, music supervisors, and devoted fans who considered it one of the best synth-pop albums of the decade.

The band returns with Trade Secrets, a striking sophomore effort, in 2023. Not only does Dragon Inn 3 not suffer from the infamous sophomore slump on its second album, but the band delivers some of its best songwriting and studio craft to date. Like Double Line, Trade Secrets is a lovingly-crafted take on the sultry, mysterious and rhythmical sound heard in 2011 action-drama Drive, and the soundtrack of television’s breakout cultural phenomena “Stranger Things,” at once nostalgic and futuristic, familiar and foreign, a pleasing amalgam of foxy Italo disco, sidelong experimentalism and commercial ’80s pop.

Ellis Paul

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When the world was shut down by Covid-19 in 2020, Ellis Paul, like many musicians, turned to the internet as a safety net to catch the fall of his tumbling livelihood. He set up microphones and lights in a spare bedroom and started performing livestream shows, hosting songwriter sessions, and playing one-on-one concerts for fans. He relied on the good will of a devoted audience that he had built over three decades. He was able to cobble together enough to keep his family fed, and he did it all from his home.

He also began to write. Before the pandemic, he’d never had the luxury of so much time at home. Songs and recordings had often been created on the fly, on open calendar dates during intense stretches of over two hundred nights per year on the road. Rushing to studios, rushing to shows, writing on airplanes. But now Ellis was home, with time on his hands.

He was turning 55, and not struggling with the idea of the age, but the consequences of it. Dupuytren’s contracture, a disease that tightly closes the fingers into a fist, had settled into both of his hands. He was wondering how long he had left as a guitarist and a pianist before it rendered playing and writing almost impossible. It eventually would.

So he just began. Song by song. While he had the time and still had the use of his fingers. Eventually, his journals had over 40 new songs etched into them.

He wrote about turning 55 during a pandemic, about the catharsis of outliving the things he’d grown up with—milkmen delivering to the door, 8-track tapes, fax machines—while at the same time losing his hero John Prine to Covid-19.

From the song “55”:

I can’t remember where I got the call

Might’ve been St. Louis, might’ve been St. Paul

They’ve canceled every show through fall

“Turn the bus ‘round, boys, it’s over"

This virus don’t care if you’ve got mouths to feed

Or about songs you’re singing while the whole world’s bleeding

But you get to stay and John Prine’s leaving

Who’s in charge of the order?

He also wrote with an uplifting voice of gratitude and awe for the life he’s been given—a life of following his musical calling—in the simple prayer of “Cosmos”:

I used my hands

’Til they turned to sand

I tasted sweet wine

I heard all the songs

And I played along

’Til the last words were sung by me

He recalls the love of old friends in “The Gift”, telling the story about the day songwriter Patty Griffin handed him a present—random items in a shoebox—to help him during a rough patch in Nashville:

She put a ribbon ‘round an old shoebox

Inside I heard the tick of a pocket watch

She said, “All the time you need’s in your hands”

There was a matchbox

“To burn away all of the ghosts

And sage for the ones that haunt you the most

And a cocktail umbrella for a rainy day

And a bluebird’s feather if you need to fly away”

The isolation of the pandemic—writing alone, recording at home, producing himself—all came with a restless madness. But Ellis found inspiration in Peter Jackson’s brilliant Beatles’ documentary “Get Back”. He’d repeatedly watch the show for hours until he felt a unique electric inspiration, and then he’d run downstairs to his studio to record into the wee hours of the morning.

You can still hear the wake of the British Invasion 60 years later in these songs. The Easter eggs are everywhere: the George Harrison-style guitar and backing vocals on “The Gift”, the lyrics in “Everyone Knows it Now”, the ringmaster and circus crowd noise in “Tattoo Lady”, and of course, the harmonies. He brought in Laurie MacAllister and Abbie Gardner of the beloved Americana trio Red Molly, alongside Grammy-nominated Seth Glier for background vocals. And though many of the instruments were played by Ellis at home, he traveled up to the Woodstock, NY studio of engineer Mark Dann, enlisting the talents of studio veterans Eric Parker on drums (Bonnie Raitt, Orleans, John Hall), Radoslav Lorković on piano (Odetta, Jimmy LaFave), and Mark Dann himself on extra electric guitars and bass.

Ellis took inspiration from closer to home, with a father’s song to his daughters in “Be the Fire”. Co-written with Nashville hitmakers Jon Mabe and Kristian Bush, the song is a plea for putting forth your best effort in the difficult things life throws at you. It was a hard couple of years on his kids. The cloud of the virus seemed to only magnify the intensity of the country’s other challenging issues. Three times during 2021, his daughters’ high school was shut down by threats of gun violence. Then there was Uvalde. Ellis wrote “When Angel’s Fall” in the aftermath, and the demo version became the #1 song on folk radio in July 2022. It’s here on the album, in full studio form.

I’ve got a gun, I’ve got a message

I’ll let the bullets speak for me

And when I’m done, I’ll leave you the wreckage

You’ll put my face up on TV

Ellis also adds to his long history of poignant love songs, with soaring melodies in an ode to his partner, Red Molly vocalist Laurie MacAllister, in “Everyone Knows It Now”, and to a love long past, in “A Song to Say Goodbye”.

And, there are songs of escape—to his favorite places that the shutdown wouldn’t allow him to go. Listeners are gently dropped on the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean in “Gold in California” and on a steam train racing through Ireland, for passage across the ocean on the Titanic, in the historical fiction of “Holy”. There’s also a contemplative walk of solitude, in the empty desert of “Who You Are”.

The album is reflective, adult, and joyous.

In December 2022, when he could play guitar and piano no longer, Ellis underwent successful surgery to free the fingers of his left hand. He could form chords again. His right hand remains affected, but less so. He’s soldiering on, performing shows with the newfound thrill of being able to play again. He plans on surgery for the right hand in 2024.

Both the world and Ellis’ hands are opening up now, and he’s packing for a year full of shows, celebrating his 30th anniversary as a touring musician. What better way than with a release of a new album? With “55”, his 23rd recording, the award-winning songwriter will be connecting with his fans around the country, in person, at last.

Toad the Wet Sprocket

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Toad the Wet Sprocket is still making new music and touring with the same spirit of independence that started it all over three decades ago and credit their success to the unwavering support of their fans. In their most recent music releases and live performances, the band has continued to stay true to their roots while evolving their sound. And now, in 2023, they are happy to announce their 2023 ALL YOU WANT Headline Tour, which will take them to cities across the country to once again reconnect with their fans and share their music.

The band consists of founding members Glen Phillips, Todd Nichols, and Dean Dinning. Throughout their career, Toad the Wet Sprocket has remained committed to creating music that is both meaningful and accessible. Their songs are filled with introspective lyrics and catchy melodies that have resonated with fans for decades. As part of their 2023 ALL YOU WANT Tour, audiences can expect to hear classic hits as well as deep cut favorites from the band's extensive catalog.

Toad the Wet Sprocket first gained attention in the late 1980s with their debut album, Bread and Circus, originally self-released on cassette in 1988. Their sophomore release, Pale, was recorded independently in 1989. Both records were released by Columbia Records, in 1989 and 1990 respectively.

Toad’s third studio album, "Fear," followed in 1991 and included their multi-format iconic hit singles “All I Want” and "Walk on the Ocean", was certified RIAA Platinum and further solidified the band's popularity and mainstream success.

In 1994 the band released "Dulcinea," which included songs "Something's Always Wrong," and "Fall Down," both staples at alternative and mainstream radio, that helped Toad to earn their second RIAA certified Platinum Album and make Toad the Wet Sprocket a household name. In 1995 Toad released In Light Syrup, a collection of rarities that included the hit “Good Intentions”, which was featured on the Platinum-selling Friends soundtrack.

The band took a break in the late 1990s, with the members pursuing solo projects. However, they reunited in 2006 and have continued to perform together ever since. In 2013, they released their first album in 16 years, "New Constellation," which was funded by their fans as one of the most successful music Kickstarter campaigns in history. The album includes fan-favorite tracks “The Moment”, “California Wasted” and “Enough” that showcase the bands growth and versatility. The album received critical acclaim and was followed by a successful tour.

Toad's most recent studio album "Starting Now" (2021) marked a return to form for the band, with its catchy melodies, introspective lyrics, and signature harmonies. It well-received and showcased the band's signature sound while also exploring new sonic territories. Songs like “Transient Whales”, “Starting Now” and “Hold On” serve as core performance tracks at live shows and as fan favorites.

Throughout their career, Toad the Wet Sprocket has remained humble and grateful for the support of their fans. Lead vocalist Glen Phillips has stated in interviews that the band is amazed by the loyalty of their audience and is honored to continue creating music that resonates with them.

Speelburg

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Since releasing his debut album ‘Porsche’ and planting a colorful flag in the ground after a string of beloved EPs, Noah Sacré has been distracted and busy. “I loved making the music but doing all the promos and music videos for Porsche myself was basically like going through film school....maybe a little bit cheaper” says Noah about his burgeoning career as a director and animator.

Following up the record with a few singles and getting featured in a Samsung commercial is great, but directing videos for artists like John Legend and The National has helped open up his creative work to other avenues. “For me directing is a perfect palette cleanser. Just when you’re starting to repeat yourself or aren’t sure where you’re going with your own music, someone comes along and asks you to commit a few weeks to their project. So you do a hard pause and dig in to their thing and when you get to the end of that, you honestly can’t wait to come back and rewrite that second verse. It’s like having creative ADHD and someone gives you some deadline Ritalin. You just get hyper focused and then bring all of that back to your own record.”

And his new single ‘Invitation’ is just that. It knows exactly where it’s coming from and hopefully surprises you with where it’sgoing. A fast-paced celebration of youth and the excitement of being in the eye of a hurricane watching it all fly by, Speelburg uses loud explosive trumpets and a galloping string section to achieve something beautiful, chaotic and fun.

The song itself sees Speelburg once again working with mix engineer Joe Visciano (Action Bronson, Beck, Doja Cat, Joy Again, Wet etc...) as well as string arranger and composer Haydn Wynn (Calathea Quartet, Catherine Called Birdy Soundtrack).

“The orchestral parts on this, like the brass and the strings...they’re so so good. I think I actually might have to release a version of the album that’s only vocals and strings and brass at some point in the future because I’m obsessed. The players and arrangers on this one are some of my favorite all-time collaborators. It feels like they’ve given it this whole new shape and depth that I just wasn’t getting on my own. It’s like I’ve been watching a movie on a tiny phone with a broken screen and suddenly i’m seeing it in an IMAX theatre.”

And no release would be complete without a video directed by Sacré. He explains “the idea here is to make 10 videos. One for each song on the album. And they’re all the same video. Except for the wardrobe and background and actors. Like you're lookingat 10 paintings in a series ina gallery. But yeah, it’s all the same video. I think I’m trying to get to a point where the videos are so absent of any kind of narrative and so performance based,that it’s all style and emotion and no story. And really what I want is for it to be like you’re watching a 720p CAM version of 2OO1: A Space Odyssey overdubbed with the audio from Beavis & Butthead: Do America. That’s really the only way I can describe it.”

She Rocks Awards

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Founded in 2012 by the Women’s International Music Network, the She Rocks Awards honors trailblazing women from all areas of the industry– from educators, to label execs, manufacturers, non-profits, media, performers, engineers, and more. Past honorees include Melissa Etheridge, Gloria Gaynor, Tal Wilkenfeld, Nita Strauss, Pat Benatar, The Bangles, Suzi Quatro, The B-52s, Colbie Caillat, Sheila E., Linda Perry, Chaka Khan, Ronnie Spector, Lita Ford, Esperanza Spalding, Shirley Manson and many others. A complete list of previous honorees is here.

Each year, the She Rocks Awards attracts music icons, artists, industry professionals, fans and media for a one-of-a-kind event that shines the spotlight on women who stand out in the industry, and offers a high energy evening of performances, networking opportunities, giveaways, a silent auction and more.

Glen Phillips

photo credit: Chris Orwig

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During his years as lead singer and main songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, Glen Phillips helped to create the band’s elegant folk/pop sound with honest, introspective lyrics that forged a close bond with their fans. When Toad went on hiatus, he launched a solo career with Abulum, and stayed busy collaborating with other artists on various projects including Mutual Admiration Society, with members of Nickel Creek and Remote Tree Children, an experimental outing with John Morgan Askew.  

“Until recently, I’ve seldom allowed myself to stay in one place for very long,” Phillips says, explaining the genesis of his new album, There Is So Much Here. “I was lucky during the Covid lockdown to move in with my girlfriend, now fiancée, and to stay home for the longest stretch I’ve had since the birth of my youngest daughter, 20 years ago. I began noticing the little things. After a life of travel and seeking out peak experiences, I began to appreciate the subtle beauty of sitting still.” 

“For about ten years, I’ve been playing a songwriting game with Texas folksinger Matt The Electrician. He sends out a prompt every Friday and we have a week to write a song that includes it. I end up with songs I wouldn’t have written on my own. When my friend John [Morgan Askew] asked me to come up to his studio and make a record, I said, ‘Yes!’ I collected a bunch of the game songs and headed up to Bocce Studios, in Vancouver, WA. John invited drummer Ji Tanzer and bass player/multi-instrumentalist Dave Depper along. When we started recording, I wasn’t sure we were headed, but as the process unfolded, the songs began to fit together into something that made sense.”  

Phillips’ previous solo record, Swallowed by the New, was a post-divorce outing about grief, while There Is So Much Here finds Phillips writing love songs again focusing on gratitude, beauty and staying present. “Looking at this batch of songs, I realized I’d turned a corner. I noticed that I was in a state of being that wasn’t all about loss. Things felt doable and hopeful again. There’s no pure happy ending - the world is a mess, the future is uncertain - but I started to internalize poet Mary Oliver’s words: ‘Attention is the beginning of devotion.’ I’m paying better attention. I’m getting more devoted.” 

The 11 tracks on the album move between quiet love songs and outright rockers that consider the multi-faceted meanings hidden in our everyday lives. “Stone Throat” is a midtempo rocker that looks at a couple in a new relationship, trying to find the balance between desire and responsibility, or as Phillips sings, “trying to find the balance, between the sacred and the street.” There’s a hint of new wave ska in the rhythm of “I Was a Riot,” a song that casts a compassionate eye on the end of a relationship. “The arrangement nods to Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp,” Phillips says. “Graham Maby is one of the greatest bass players of all time, so we had him in mind when laying down the bass part.”  

The COVID lockdown-inspired “The Sound of Drinking,” is an appreciation of the familiar things in life, like drinking a glass of water on your back porch. Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) plays soft acoustic guitar and Glen sighs a lyric of gratitude for simple pleasures. 

“Call The Moondust” is the most metaphysical song in the set. There’s a dash of secular gospel in Depper’s piano, and ambient effects that suggest the vastness of the cosmos. Phillips delivers an emotional performance over a tense arrangement that hints at the wonders of the universe. “The beauty of life is in its mystery,” Phillips states. “If we think we have an answer, we’re deluding ourselves. My dad was a physicist and was reading about string theory on his death bed. He found God in all those extra folded dimensions, and left this world with a sense of wonder. I hope I can do the same.” 

“As I sat still during the lockdown, I began to notice how much is always here – in the space around me, in the sensations of my body, in the sounds and smells and tastes and thoughts that emerge and drift away. It’s not a new concept, but it is a novel experience when you’ve spent your life running from one thing to another.” 

Ultimately, as Phillips reflects on the album, he shares: “This is an album about showing up for what is and letting it be enough.” 

Amazon Amp

The Amp music library is stacked with tens of millions of licensed songs to curate for your audience — the throwbacks, the obscure, and today’s newest. It’s easy to share your voice and favorite songs with the world on Amp. Decide on a show title, create a playlist, and you’re just seconds away from streaming your own radio show to live audiences, and taking callers.

Play music. Riff on sports, or pop culture. Share your hot takes and playlists with like-minded listeners. Or call in to live shows and talk with hosts in real-time. Create endless show formats – sports recaps, themed song countdowns, pop culture news reactions, and more. The mic is yours.

Not ready to host a show? Amp is home to some of the world’s best entertainers. Tune in to top creators, athletes and artists to experience radio your way. Discover new creators before they’re famous.

Amazon’s roadmap is robust, and focused on introducing interactive features to build communities and help everyone’s voice, big or small, be heard. Amazon is working towards things like chat, creator monetization, and equitable discovery – to help small creators get found. Android and desktop are coming, too.

ABOUT THE UPSIDE WITH LINDSEY STIRLING

The Upside With Lindsey Stirling features interviews and idea exchanges, all with the intention to put more light and positivity out into the world. The show airs live on Amazon Amp on Wednesdays at 5pm PT. Current guests for "The Upside" include Sofi Tukker, LAUV, AJ McLean (Backstreet Boys), actor Ben Barnes, Taylor Momsen, Harvard professor and NYT Best Selling Author Shawn Achor, author, environmental and social justice advocate Leah Thomas and more.

Imogen Clark

photo by Michelle Grace Hunder

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“4.5/5 stars. This EP will become a landmark.” - Rolling Stone

”Imogen Clark may not have tailored her record to this era but her vibrant, bracing songs – kind of like a dip in a cold September sea – might just be one of the things to carry us through it.” - Sydney Morning Herald

“A searing, soaring anthem full of fire and fervor.” - Atwood Magazine

Imogen Clark is an AIR Award nominated indie artist from Western Sydney. Her music ranges from intimate to arena-ready, anthems with the soul of a confessional singer-songwriter.

“My whole life has been a struggle to stand up for who I am and what I’m worth, in life, in relationships and as an artist,” says Imogen. “That’s what my music is about in one way or another. With Nonchalant, I got angry with a guy who used me and kept me dangling on his hook, and now with Compensating, I’m getting even. When I got with Xavier Dunn to write this song, I wanted to take my heartbreak and make it something fun and cathartic, something that would make me feel powerful when I’m singing it and all the single girlies can listen to all summer by the pool with some margaritas in hand”.

Indeed, Despite the subject matter, ‘Compensating’ is one of Imogen’s frothiest songs to date – a swinging kiss off to a an ex who ‘social climb[s] in skinny jeans ripped with a knife’, co-written with and produced by Xavier Dunn (Jack River, CXLOE).

An artist who has always been compelled to create and connect with her audience, even at the nadir of the pandemic, 2022 has been a busy year even for her.

Barrelling into the year collaborating with Mo’Ju, Ali Barter, I Know Leopard and more on her 2nd Annual Holiday Hootenanny show in Melbourne, she followed that up by assembling a supergroup featuring Adam Newling and members of Middle Kids and Egoism to record a new version of live favorite ‘Enemy’ to kick off her epic 100 Shows in 100 Days tour.

A sprawling trek across Australia that saw her play everywhere from Newcastle to Cowra, Melbourne to Mudgee, Brisbane to Gippsland and many more places besides, mixing high octane full band sets with intimate solo performances and a sprinkling of surprise pop-up shows (like a protest set outside Kirribilli House in the lead up to the Federal Election) and full production online gigs for her international fans. The tour powered through obstacles including visa issues, a COVID-induced week off, floods and more to wrap up triumphantly in Adelaide the night before the AIR Awards, where Imogen was nominated for Best Pop Album/EP for her 2021 release ‘Bastards’. She also managed to release her cathartic single ‘Nonchalant’, described by Atwood magazine as “a searing, soaring anthem full of fire and fervor”.

It has been the most ambitious year yet from an artist who has spent the most challenging two years the music industry has ever faced refusing to rest on her laurels, releasing critically acclaimed EPs The Making of Me and Bastards, two Christmas singles, a live record and even touring, including sold out EP launch shows in Sydney and the first two editions of her now annual Holiday Hootenanny shows, featuring guests including Ali Barter, I Know Leopard, Mo’Ju and Montaigne.

The 26-year-old started 2020 in LA, recording with producer Mike Bloom (Julian Casablancas, Jenny Lewis) and a cast of rock legends, recording The Making of Me and what would become Bastards, which was later finished across the globe from Sydney over Zoom. The EPs form two halves of an artistic rebirth for Clark, featuring her most raw and intense music to date, covering addiction, suicide, misogyny and doomed romance.

Amongst the murderer’s row of collaborators on the records include Men at Work’s Colin Hay, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel and Melbourne indie-pop artist Eilish Gilligan as co-writers, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and Elvis Costello and the Attractions drummer Pete Thomas lending their legendary chops to the recordings.

Cutting her teeth playing in Western Sydney bars during her teen years before touring and recording around the world, from the US to Europe to the UK, Imogen brings the depth and confidence of a seasoned rocker to the stage despite her youth. Taking inspiration from legends like Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell as much as contemporary heroes Maggie Rogers and Gang of Youths, Imogen’s music continues to dissolve the barriers between her emotions and her audience, even as her music and shows get bigger in size and scope.   

Lauren Monroe

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MESSAGES FROM APHRODITE, Lauren Monroe’s third album—and her second in collaboration with acclaimed producer Jim Scott—widens the aperture opened by its predecessor, 2021’s Under the Wolf Moon, bringing her musical and spiritual vision into even sharper focus. The title, which references the ancient Greek goddess of love in its myriad aspects, signifies the emotional expanse of Monroe’s songs, to which she brings a rarefied degree of insight and compassion, enabling her to nimbly plumb the depths and scale the heights of the human condition in her songwriting.

That may sound like a tall order, but Monroe is singularly well-equipped to handle it. The New York-born, California-based polymath conducts parallel careers as a gifted singer-songwriter and a renowned mental-health advocate. She approaches these intertwined roles with equal passion, her nuanced understanding of human behavior informing her music, which she sees as “a heart-based experience” that is “not just about listening—it’s about feeling and connecting.”

Scott, who’s worked with more than his share of legends over the years, bears witness to Monroe’s alchemy. “Lauren is a special artist,” he asserts. “She’s tuned in to the spiritual workings of the heart and the mystical nature of the universe. She’s an empath, a healer, a teacher, visual artist, producer and songwriter; I also think she’s a time-traveler. Her songs guide, direct and uplift and are sonically beautiful.”

Monroe draws on her deep well of accrued knowledge in her songs, which she delivers in a luminous alto that resonates with empathy. Her experiential lyrics, emotionally authentic and free of pretense, are embedded in vibrant folk-rock settings, immediate in their impact and timeless in their sound.

The buoyant roots rockers “Kiss Me Now” and “Dream Again,” the lilting shuffle “Beautiful World” and “If You Want,” with its old-school Americana groove and splash of Southern soul, would slide seamlessly into a 1970s playlist featuring Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt. The unmistakable parallels between rock’s halcyon days and Monroe’s music are rooted in her neoclassic songcraft, replete with ecstatic, harmony-laden chorus hooks and imbued with the unfettered joy of being alive and in the moment.

Monroe wrote “Kiss Me Now,” the lead single, in a matter of minutes, as if it had been beamed down to her gift-wrapped. “The message of the song,” says Lauren, “is kiss the person you love now, because as we all know, life is very unpredictable and there’s no guarantee that they’ll always be there. So it’s a celebratory song that reminds us to be grateful and to never take our time together for granted.”

“Big Love Lullaby,” a gentle reimagining of one of Under the Wolf Moon’s linchpin songs, serves as a bridge between the companion-piece LPs. “A ballad version of ‘Big Love’ wasn’t something I premeditated,” Monroe acknowledges, “but a whisper can sometimes reach into the heart deeper than an exclamation. This new version has the same words and meaning as the original, but it’s a more intimate expression that came from a moment of reflection, as I sang the words to myself: ‘Everybody’s fine living in anger/From sunset to dawn, we’re taking it home.’”

The songs are enlivened by Scott’s deft sonic sculpting of song-serving performances from a stable of thoroughbreds. These simpatico players include guitarists Greg Leisz (k.d. lang, Matthew Sweet, Bill Frisell), Tyler Bryant (Larkin Poe, Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown), Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam), Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams, Nora Jones, Keith Richards, John Mayer) and David Garza (Fiona Apple, Watkins Family Hour), who also plays vibes on one track; bassists Bob Glaub (Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon), Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple) and Mai Leisz (David Crosby), keyboardist John Ginty (Neal Casal, the Allman Betts Band); and backing vocalist Tammi Brown (Bobby McFerrin, Quincy Jones). Def Leppard’s Rick Allen—Monroe’s husband and frequent collaborator—the Heartbreakers’ Steve Ferrone and young dynamo Beth Goodfellow (Iron and Wine, Allison Russell) anchor the proceedings from behind their drumkits.

Scott is proud of what they’ve accomplished together. “All the incredible musicians on the project brought our vision to life and helped create wonderful pieces of music that speak to the heart and soul,” he says.

Monroe and Scott met in 2018, after the manager of one of the producer’s clients caught her performing at Hollywood’s Hotel Café. Impressed by her songs and singing, she approached Monroe after the set and offered to hook her up with Scott. Monroe was aware of Scott from his work with Tom Petty, one of her favorite artists, and when they met, they immediately clicked.

Their ongoing studio collaboration has been—and continues to be—enormously fruitful, yielding not only the two albums but a number of additional tracks too inviting to be categorized as mere outtakes. “Since we first got together, I’ve been sending Jim iPhone demos of songs as I write them. So now we have an abundance of tracks, and I’m thinking of releasing some of them as singles in 2023—songs that didn’t fit on the new album because they’re so rocking or outside of the box that they’d throw off the balance.”

Those outtakes must really kick ass, given the visceral impact of the hardest-hitting tracks on Messages From Aphrodite, notably an electrifying rendition of Lucinda Williams’ “Can’t Let Go” and Monroe’s smoldering “Void of Course”; both are powered by Allmans-style double drumming from Allen and Goodfellow and topped off by Monroe’s urgent vocals. The latter track derives its Physical Graffiti-like exoticism from the droning of a djembe played by Monroe, further deepened by the bowed cello and upright bass of Steve Uccello and lightning-flash guitar riffs of Tyler Bryant. These sounds deepen the mood of the astrology-inspired lyric—“void of course” is a term that refers to the moon’s transition away from one planet and toward another, functioning as a metaphor for disconnection.

Interestingly, each of these songs examines the push-and-pull of a romantic relationship turned toxic that nonetheless continues to hold a seductive grip on its protagonist. Indeed, the need to let go of what Monroe describes as “unhealthy narratives about ourselves” in a quest to “see ourselves clearly, accepting our imperfections and humanness” is one of the album’s overarching themes.

Another is easing the pain of loss, which Monroe addresses directly in the elegiac ballads “Sparrow” and “Gold.” “Most of the songs I write are empathetic, but ‘Sparrow’ specifically concerns dealing with grief,” she says. “That’s also what ‘Gold’ is about. During the pandemic, I kept hearing about families unable to be with their loved ones—husbands and wives, parents and siblings—as they spent their last days on a ventilator and died in a hospital bed, completely alone. In those horrible circumstances, the pain is overwhelming. So when I wrote this song, I cried with them—every person who had to say goodbye over the phone. Because from my experience the only way to get through the pain of loss is to experience it deeply with love and support, not run away from it. To me, music has always been a way through, a guide, a messenger from the other side.”

When Monroe and Scott were brainstorming outside material that echoed the messages of her own songs, she immediately thought of Jane Siberry’s “Calling All Angels,” whose narrator seeks divine intervention in hopes of coming to terms with heartbreak. “If you could/Do you think you would trade it all/All the pain and suffering?” Siberry asks. “But then you’d miss the beauty of the light upon this earth/And the sweetness of the leaving.”

“I’ve taught hundreds of healing workshops over the years, and ‘Calling All Angels’ is one of the songs I always use,” Monroe points out. “Jane Siberry is a very theatrical singer, and I wanted to put my own spin on it—give it a more rootsy feel. But by putting it on the record, I also wanted to show people what an incredible songwriter she is.”

“My Love” dates back to Monroe’s debut album, 2008’s The Freedom Sessions, a family affair produced by Allen five years after they married. Americana mainstay Stoll Vaughan, who co-wrote the song with Lauren, plays acoustic and electric guitar on this shimmering new take, which features evocative pedal steel accents from Greg Leisz. She was inspired to write the lyric after Rick went on tour. “He’d left his boots by the front door,” she recalls. “I sat on the stairway taking in the feeling and questioned what I would do if he didn’t come home.

“My mind then went to the hearts of military spouses and families of soldiers who are in combat far away from home; how strong they need to be to live without certainty of the person they love coming back to them. The lyrics came with a strong sense of the silent strength that nature gives me, the connection to something greater, so that I can carry on and move forward in the face of tragedy with openness and purpose.”

Monroe brings increased awareness of issues like this one not only with her words but with her actions. Earlier this year, she and Allen played some intimate East Coast club dates during which they also displayed their mixed-media art, which was then auctioned online to benefit the couple’s Raven Drum Foundation, whose mission is to serve, educate and empower veterans dealing with PTSD and combat trauma, people in crisis and other at-risk individuals.

And in 2021, she staged the first Big Love Benefit Concert, which featured performances by Billy Idol, Wynonna Judd and the Allman Betts Band, among others. Proceeds from the event, which brought financial and mental-health support to music-industry professionals affected by the pandemic, were donated to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

“Being of service is a way of helping yourself as well,” she reflects. “And the healing power of music is profound. Everything I do is part of a journey of healing.”

Isaac Watters

photo by Isabella Behravan

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Residing on the Eastside of Los Angles and deeply embedded in a community of like-minded musicians and artists, Isaac Watters has long been busy dreaming up new ideas. Sure, he’s forever been a creator — using his mind to bring his ideas to life, whether via the visual or musical mediums. But in recent times, the soft-spoken innovator’s output has blossomed in a new and exciting way. “This feels like the record I was always trying to make,” Watters says of his forthcoming debut release, set to be unveiled via hi-res records as a pair of EPs beginning this fall. Funky, minimal and brooding in the most inviting way possible, Watters’ music stops you in your tracks. Armed with a booming baritone that recalls one of his greatest influences, Tom Waits, the singer injects his music with a loose and enticing aura — it immediately draws you in with its moving melodies and sensual grooves.  

As Watters admits, in today’s crowded musical landscape, it sometimes requires drawing outside the lines to grab a listener’s ear. “So yeah, it’s definitely kind of weird,” he says with a laugh of his forthcoming new single, “Listen to the Wind,” a stunning, spacey tale of exhilarating escape. “I’m alone in the parking lot burning my tires,” Watters sings with a thick reverb enveloping his already fluid vocals. The song, Watters explains, was born out of a free-flowing writing and recording session with his producer, Matt Linesch, that found them blasting Weezer songs on Linesch’s studio speakers and dovetailing into a conversation about “getting out of the city and trying to be alone and away from everybody.”  Adds Watters, “It’ll grab people’s attention.”  

Talking to Watters on a recent summer morning, there’s almost a sense of relief in the musician’s voice. Like so many of us, the pandemic threw his creative plans into disarray. But now, having weathered the storm and arrived on the other side with some of his most thrilling music yet, he’s feeling a sense of calm. “I’m ready to see what lies ahead,” says Watters, speaking not only to the impending release of a plethora of music but also to the potential to hit the road and play his music for audiences. “Recording is fun,” he explains, “but it's not really where my heart is. If it were up to me, I would love to just be playing a show every night. That's really what I enjoy the most about music — performing it.” 

Lucky for Watters, he’s now amassed a collection of songs tailor-made for the live setting, what with their shifting dynamics paired with his enticing voice. From “Sadness,” which he describes as “maybe one of my favorites because I feel like it sums up the record in the least amount of words,” to “Coconut in the Street,” the first time he feels he’s truly put an “LA song” to wax, Watters’ new music transports you to a world where life might be messy but it’s never not entertaining.  

“It changes day to day,” he says when describing which of his new songs most resonates with him. Watters stops to explain how, for example, “My Heart Is An Ocean” — arguably the album’s clever centerpiece with its sumptuous island grooves — is nearly a decade old but had never been properly recorded. Now, he says, those fans who had been clamoring for him to give the song a proper release will get their wish.  

Lucky for Watters and his growing legion of listeners, the musician found a wonderful partner in hi-res records to help bring his creative vision to life. With a focus on putting out music recorded, mixed and mastered all in analog, the label is an audiophile’s dream. When Watters found out that the label’s clientele consisted of audio-heads, he couldn’t have been more psyched. “Oh yeah, it’s great if the album is going to people that really care about how it was made,” he explains. Furthermore, in today’s streaming age, where singles are plentiful and truly engaging with a full-length album is a rarity, Watters believes those that truly care about the process behind an album’s creation are more likely to give the entire thing a spin. “All I can hope for is that someone will sit down and listen to the entire record,” he says. “That’s the goal.” 

As for what lies ahead, Watters is filled with a sense of nervous excitement, a feeling only a musician on the precipice of his big moment can truly understand. “This has been a long time coming and now it’s the time to see what this music does,” Watters says proudly. “I can’t wait.”   

Kasey Chambers

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Kasey Chambers is an Australian country singer-songwriter and musician born in Mount Gambier. She is the daughter of fellow musicians, Diane and Bill Chambers, and the younger sister of musician and producer, Nash Chambers. All four were members of a family country music group in Dead Ringer Band, in Bowral, New South Wales, from 1992 to 1998, with Chambers starting her solo career thereafter. Five of her twelve studio albums have reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Barricades & Brickwalls (September 2001), Wayward Angel (May 2004), Carnival (August 2006) Rattlin’ Bones (April 2008) and Dragonfly (January 2017). In November 2018 she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and has won an additional fourteen ARIA Music Awards with nine for Best Country Album. Her autobiography, A Little Bird Told Me..., which was co-authored with music journalist, Jeff Apter, was released in 2011.

Aarktica

photo by Joelle Hannah

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"A beautiful and dynamic ride between ambient electric symphony and intimate human song." 

 - Alan Sparhawk, Low.  

Aarktica is the brainchild of Jon DeRosa, who has been releasing a diverse catalog of music under this name since 1999. Beginning with the ambient guitar opus No Solace in Sleep (Silber), DeRosa has spent the last two decades charting his way across cosmic sonic terrains and ambient soundscapes through patient songwriting and a starry-eyed curiosity in experimentation. It's a journey that began with DeRosa recording guitar experiments on a four-track cassette recorder in his college dorm after going permanently deaf in his right ear. 

"I was having aural hallucinations. Everything I knew as sonically 'normal' suddenly changed. When I started Aarktica, it was a bit like a sonic journal, trying to recreate and reinterpret sounds as I was hearing them." DeRosa had studied classical guitar since he was 10 years old. These new recordings, which would become No Solace in Sleep, translated those classical musical forms to electric guitar, stretched them into infinity, soaked them in reverb and delay, and created an entirely new sound identity that would evolve over the years. 

It was also around this time that DeRosa began studying Indian classical music with minimalist pioneer, composer La Monte Young. This relationship would greatly influence all of DeRosa’s music in the years to follow, as well as how he learned to "hear" again.  

DeRosa finds himself traversing through the valleys of atmospheric ambient and wide-eyed folk on his upcoming album, We Will Find the Light, out September 30th, 2022 via Darla Records. For this release, DeRosa returns to his roots, crafting many of these songs on classical guitar, an approach he's never taken before as Aarktica. "It is the instrument most natural to me, the instrument that I play for comfort. And working with it again allowed a much more intimate flow of words and music. It allowed me to be more open, to share a bit more of myself than I normally would." 

We Will Find the Light presents an image of DeRosa at ease with himself, finding peace in not needing to separate the various tributaries of his artistry as he had done in the past, and embracing the river each stream leads to. “It started to feel like this convergence of the folkier music I’d write under my own name, and the atmospheric sound of Aarktica,” says DeRosa. “After 20 years or so these two styles came together, it doesn’t need to be compartmentalized anymore. It was freeing.” 

DeRosa finds a balance between vocal and instrumental songs throughout We Will Find the Light. Covering two songs known and celebrated in shamanic circles, including “Olha o Sol Que Vai Nascendo” by Portuguese singer Mariana Root, and "Sirenita Bobinsana” by Peruvian songwriter Artur Mena, DeRosa celebrates and champions themes that run through the album: healing, growth, resolution, and the beauty in the connecting fibers between trauma and peace. Songs like “A Quiet Place” and “Celestial Transmission” create gorgeous space for shimmering sonics to resonate, while “Goodnight” and “Delicate Waltz of Shadows” finds DeRosa opening himself and his voice to meditative reflection within himself, and in his interpersonal relationships. 

The album is the intersection of influences and experiences and moves seamlessly through both melancholia and optimism.  Within these songs influences of Leonard Cohen, This Mortal Coil and Nick Cave shine through, intermingling with those of minimalist composers like Ingram Marshall, and ambient artists like Juliana Barwick and Steve Roach. The album is Aarktica's most ambitious and sublime album to date and marks his first collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Lewis Pesacov. Notable contributors also include cellist/violist Henrik Meierkord, keyboardist Charles Newman and vocalist Nicole LaLiberté. 

After No Solace in Sleep, Aarktica's evolution began to incorporate other musicians and collaborators, as DeRosa had the fortune of being part of a very creative circle of talented musicians in late-90's Brooklyn.  

"I would put together a new incarnation of Aarktica each time, depending on what type of album I wanted to make," says DeRosa on Aarktica's eclectic catalog. "Some albums have more orchestral elements, some had more rock elements, and others were more ambient and experimental. At some point we had 8 people in the band, playing horns, strings, harmoniums..." 

But no matter what the lineup, Aarktica's uniqueness in the genre has been for using primarily processed guitars – along with organic instruments like brass, strings and horns -- to create its unique textural sound.  

We Will Find the Light is the first physical release since 2009's In Sea and the first full-length since 2019's Mareación. It follows Aarktica's three full length albums on Darla: Matchless Years (2007), Bleeding Light (2005), ...Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life and Be Happy Anyway: Bliss Out Vol. 18 (2002) and albums No Solace in Sleep (2000) and Pure Tone Audiometry (2003), released on Silber Records. 

In addition to his work in Aarktica, DeRosa is also currently the vocalist for veteran ethereal-goth band Black Tape for a Blue Girl.   

Teddy Grossman

Credit: Steph Port

Credit: Steph Port

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“I’m finally feeling like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” says Teddy Grossman, and the forthright, ever-soulful singer-songwriter speaks like a man who has been down many paths only to arrive back definitively where he’s forever belonged. Adds Grossman, a palpable determination and resolve in his voice: “I need to be able to look back at my life and say I gave it every ounce of energy.”  This steady perseverance, this take-no-prisoners passion of Grossman’s— it all goes a long way in explaining why the multi-talented artist has finally arrived at this moment, his moment, the moment he’s been winding and weaving his way towards in life until this very time. That’s because for years, the lifelong music lover had kept music on the back burner, forever wondering if he’d ever take the leap and make it his principal career. Only recently however has he moved to Los Angeles and at last embarked on that long-gestating journey. And, Grossman says, he’s never felt more self-assured than he does right now. “It’s the happiest I’ve been in my life,” the shaggy-haired old soul says of the rich and inspired sessions for Soon Come, the musician’s highly-anticipated debut album out on November 19th.

Grossman spent much of his life getting his mind around what it meant to fully commit to a life in music.  He’d always been a lifer at heart — his childhood was spent ingesting Otis Redding and Steve Wonder and Dylan and The Band— but upon graduating from the University of Michigan in 2009, he took the road often traveled and got a 9-5 job in the tech world. A few years back, however, after a near-decade living in Chicago and New York City, all the while working for the Man, in 2018, Grossman was finally ready to take the plunge. “It was all about taking that leap,” he says looking back at his decision to break out on his own and transform his passion into his livelihood.

All that time spent wondering what a music career — his music career — would look like now comes pouring forth via his cerebral and sublimely centered songs— the sort that speak to years of hard-won wisdom and, well, maybe a bit of luck. “There’s something about this music that feels modern,” Grossman says of the 12 songs that comprise Soon Come. “It feels organic and homemade.”

The album is highlighted by lead single “What I Owe” — a punchy pop song that fell out of Grossman in a single day and lyrically encapsulates the journey he’s been on…and one that’s still ongoing. “I’ll take my time/Wait my place in line/To make it shine like gold/till I pay down what I owe,” he sings on the hook, and there’s the sense that the musician has made amends with himself for all those years he waited to get right here. “It’s all about this feeling of despite having taken a decade to get here I still have this feeling of the iron being hot,” he says of the song, which was featured on the soundtrack for the documentary film “Maybe Next Year.”

But if there’s a song that perhaps best captures where Grossman is coming from — at least, sonically — it’s undoubtedly “Leave It On The Line.” Not only was it the first song he recorded for the project with producer Ryan Pauley — a childhood friend he reconnected with in Los Angeles and with whom he recorded the entirety of Soon Come — but “Leave It On The Line” is pure Grossman at his core: rootsy and soulful, infected with a dash of pop panache. “I had this vision in my head of taking Music From Big Pink meets Voodoo as the central heart to the approach of what I wanted this record to sound and feel like,” Grossman explains. Part gospel and blues and rock and folk and Appalachia and soul and R&B... “As a vocalist, those are equal-parts my influences,” Grossman continues.  “And ”Leave It On The Line” executes on that lofty aim.”

As for the most personal songs on the LP? Grossman points to both “Crowned” and “Why Should I Pretend?” — both with their own respectively rich backstory. The former, “Crowned,” sprang forth from an unlikely friendship Grossman struck up with the iconic singer-songwriter Bill Withers near the end of the legend’s life. After a chance meeting one night, in 2018, at a small Bill Withers tribute concert in Los Angeles, Grossman and his drummer friend, Josh Teitelbaum, wound up going over to Withers’ house for a few inspired sessions. “I’m crowned in glory,” Withers kept saying as he’d run his fingers through his hair during their time together. To that end, Grossman calls the song “almost as an autobiography about Bill’s life.”

“Why Should I Pretend?” however might be the most touching song on the LP. First written by Grossman’s grandfather back in the 1930’s, and recorded later that decade by jazz icon Louis Prima & his New Orleans Gang, Grossman covers the song on Soon Come and even plays trumpet, his childhood instrument, as a tribute to his late grandfather. While his grandfather was an attorney by day, and only played music in his spare time — much like his Grossman’s own father who never took the leap and pursued a career in music — Grossman feels he’s in some ways he’s taking his family legacy to the next level. “It feels fortuitous,” he says of reinterpreting his grandfather’s tune.” And of taking the leap into music, he adds, “It’s like I’m breaking the chain of a third-generation creative of actually going for it.”

For Grossman, where things head from here is the exciting part. He’s eager to hit the live stage — “I really intend to get on the road and get out in front of people and perform these songs,” he says. “I’m excited to see how it translates” — and says no matter how his music career unfolds he knows he’s reached his proper destination.

“For a long time in my life, I felt this low-grade hum in the background that I wasn’t really where I was supposed to be,” he admits. Soon Come, then, he says, “is about hope and transformation. And I feel deeply spiritual and connected to some higher power at my arrival in this place.”

 

The Loyal Seas

Credit: Ann Sullivan-Cross

For the last decade, trailblazing alternative rock figurehead Tanya Donelly —  co-founder of Belly, Throwing Muses and The Breeders — has pursued meaningful collaborations with favorite artists and friends. The resulting work is by turns poignant, delightful and entirely surprising, melding folk, rock, pop and orchestral sounds. Her latest, The Loyal Seas, pairs Donelly with New England cult-favorite Brian Sullivan, who’s worked under the moniker Dylan in the Movies since the mid ’00s. A skilled singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Sullivan’s debut, Feel the Pull (2005), and follow-up full-length, Sweet Rebel Thee (2014), are each teeming with a lush, discrete form of alt-pop, Sullivan’s private mind garden translated as cinematic vignettes.  

Donelly and Sullivan first met in the mid ’90s at Fort Apache Studios, the famed New England recording studio that has produced legions of beloved albums. They were friends almost instantly and have collaborated over years, appearing on two of American Laundromat’s most popular tribute compilations. The pair contributed a sparkling cover of “The Lovecats” for Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to The Cure (2009), where Donelly’s honeyed rasp is brightened by the contrast of Sullivan’s lower-register growls. Their take on “Shoplifters of the World Unite,” from Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths (2011), glimmers with melancholic wonder, Donelly’s silken lead vocals textured by an orchestral scythe and Sullivan’s backing anchor.  

The Loyal Seas’ dynamic debut single, “Strange Mornings in the Garden” b/w “Last of the Great Machines,” released in December 2020, was a label exclusive that sold-out instantly. Each side was an individualistic statement showcasing a particular side of the pair’s personality, one a luxuriant, sweeping ballad, and the other tightly-knit, kinetic alt-pop. The group’s full-length debut “Strange Mornings In the Garden” will be released on May 20, 2022. 

JAMIE MCDELL

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When she was just age 7, McDell’s father left a high paying job at an elite Auckland law firm to shift her mother, younger sister and Jamie onto the high seas and began living aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean. It’s here Jamie wrote her first song, a sea shanty to the dolphins. Also on that yacht lived a small collection of her parents’ favourite cassette tapes, which luckily included albums by Jimmy Buffett, John Denver and James Taylor. The young artist quickly formed a particularly strong bond with these records and she fondly remembers watching her parents perform Buffett duets - and occasionally chiming in, learning how to harmonise with her mother. An eager learner, Jamie then picked up the guitar after studying her fathers’ John Denver chord book collection and has never looked back. Now at age 28, New Zealand singer/songwriter Jamie McDell has achieved a prolific amount in her formative years. Being signed to EMI at age 16 sparked the beginning of a successful musical journey, making her a household name across the nation. With the release of her debut album ‘Six Strings and a Sailboat’, she went on to achieve Gold album sales, receive three NZ Music Award nominations, winning Best Pop Album of 2013. Then her sophomore record ‘Ask Me Anything’ gained global attention, seeing album track ‘Moon Shines Red’ featured on American TV series Pretty Little Liars. In March 2017 Jamie made trip to Nashville, looking for a change of scenery and to connect with the environment that birthed much of the music throughout her youth. It’s here she wrote the songs that would make up the fabric for her third record “Extraordinary Girl”. She met with expat Australian producer Nash Chambers for coffee one day and decided they shared the same musical values. Not long after that meeting McDell arranged to fund her first independent record “Extraordinary Girl”, which was recorded over the space of two days later in 2017 at House of Blues studio in Nashville. She then returned home for the albums’ release, promotion and supporting tours throughout New Zealand and Australia. 2 Then in early 2019 Jamie relocated to Toronto, Ontario for a new chapter and to be closer to Nashville. It’s here she found herself sitting on the floor of her tiny apartment, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with a friend in a troubled relationship, and out came the powerful song, Botox. “It’s a story depicting the dangers of silencing our instincts and compromising our values, just because a significant other has you convinced that you need fixing” Jamie says. This track would then fuel a new era of unapologetic honesty in McDell’s songwriting, and the release of The Botox EP. After opening a US tour for Robert Ellis (Texas Piano Man) in early 2020, she would then visit Nashville once again, team with Nash in his eastside studio and gathered the amazing musical talents of Dan Dugmore, Jedd Hughes, Dennis Crouch, Shawn Fichter, Jerry Roe, Jimmy Wallace, Tony Lucido and Ross Holmes, along with guests such as the McCrary Sisters, Robert Ellis, Erin Rae and Tom Busby (Busby Marou). This new album (yet to be released) contains Jamie’s most brutally honest moments, in both writing and performance, while the musicians and production take you on modern journey through 70s folk and country, blended with a healthy dose of roots and rock.

“...but the true stunner is McDell’s unforced voice” Rolling Stone

“The New Zealander enchants with airy vocals and confessional lyrics” Bllboard

“McDell’s voice carries such weight with you feeling every poignant word...honestly, she’s a modern day Stevie Nicks” New Music Collection

3Sirens

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Founded in 2018 by lifelong partners and musicians The Grahams, who were seeking to build a utopian artistic community, 3Sirens is a unique collective of producers, songwriters, musicians and artists of all kinds. 3Sirens Music Group is a record label, an exclusive recording studio, a vision and an artistic mission.

Headquartered in a secret gem of a studio located somewhere in East Nashville, TN, 3Sirens exists to provide superior recording capabilities for select artists, from superstars traveling incognito (Margo Price, JD McPherson, Hayes Carll, etc.), to up and comers you wouldn’t recognize, yet.

Our purpose and passion is to bring together beautiful minds and offer an inspired space and community for creativity and exploration, and to help bring the raw, unmolested experience of art and performance to our city and to art lovers around the world.

Calling Cadence

Fronted by Oscar Bugarin and Rae Cole, Calling Cadence is a band rooted in harmony — harmony between voices, between songwriters, and between genres like rock, country, swampy blues and Southern soul. 

The result is a sound that's as warm and diverse as the duo's native California, where Oscar and Rae first crossed paths. He was an ace guitarist from L.A. who'd grown up listening to old-school rock and roll pioneers like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, only to discover country music while serving in the U.S. Army in Kansas. She was a lifelong vocalist who'd grown up onstage, starring in countless theater productions in her hometown of Huntington Beach before exploring her interests in classic rock, folk and modern pop as an adult. Together, they began writing songs that blended their vintage influences — the dreamy pop of Fleetwood Mac, the sunny soul of Stevie Wonder, the rootsy rock and roll of the Eagles — with modern melodies. 

Calling Cadence, the band's self-titled debut album, showcases a group whose songs nod to the past while resolutely pushing forward. It's a classic-sounding record (recorded, mixed and mastered straight to analog tape) for the contemporary world. Computers were only employed for streaming prep and CD replication. Produced by David Swartz and Matt Linesch, the album is being released on their own hi-res records label. Producers and band thought long and hard about diving into the all-analog domain but came to the conclusion that the final product would benefit in a way that digital would not allow. All are pleased with the end results. These 15 songs shine a light on Calling Cadence's strength as a live act, blending Oscar and Rae's entwined voices with vintage keyboards, guitar heroics and plenty of percussive and low-end stomp. Josh Adams (Norah Jones, Beck, Fruit Bats): drums, Elijah Thomson (Father John Misty, Nathaniel Rateliff): bass, and Mitchell Yoshida (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros): keyboards, round out the core band.

"Before I met Rae, I played with two different projects: a blues-rock band and a band like Crosby, Stills & Nash," says Oscar, who co-wrote the bulk of the album's material with Rae and collaborator Coby Ryan McLaughlin. "When we began writing songs together, our styles meshed and it was like my two dream bands became this one thing. Our music was harmony-based from the very start, and it was all about storytelling, too. A lot of these songs are about our real lives."

From the dark, descending riffs of the album's anthemic opener, "Throw My Body,” to the folksy acoustics of the closing track, "Wasn't It Good," Calling Cadence offers a mix of love songs, breakup ballads and character studies. Along the way, the songwriters make room for '70s funk ("Good Day"), atmospheric Americana ("California Bartender") and country-soul ("Took a Chance"), shining a light on the full reach of their musical range. 

"It's a lot of lessons in love, along with songs about self-realization, self-confidence and knowing your worth," says Rae. "There's so much authenticity in the music — not only because we're singing about our own experiences, but because we're singing without Auto-Tune. What you hear on the album is what you'd hear at our shows. It's raw. It's real."

For Calling Cadence (whose name nods to Oscar's time in the army), recording to analog tape wasn't just a production choice; it was a way of maintaining honesty with themselves and their audience. Like the classic albums that inspired Calling Cadence's layered vocal arrangements and warm, guitar-driven sound, the record is a genuine snapshot of a band on the rise. And, once again, it all comes back to harmony. 

"When you're playing live and people know your songs, it's like you're calling cadence in the military," Oscar says. "There's that connection — that call and response with your audience — that brings everyone together. And that's what we hope to do with these songs."

Hi-Res Records

Matt Linesch - Matt Linesch, aka Linny, is a born and raised Angelino. At a young age, Linesch knew he would be part of the music industry in some capacity. Looking back, it makes sense he’s found his place leading musicians in their productions, owning and operating a full service recording studio, and in recent times, building a record label with his label partner, Dave Swartz. Much of Linesch’s approach to making music falls in the realm of a classic production process. His work is rooted heavily in the collaboration of musicians, identifying the key players for a production, and then creating an environment to cultivate the best possible performances out of the musicians. A large emphasis that Linesch holds true to is the approach of high quality productions. Whether Linesch is recording a full analog production, or working in high resolution digital, building a production that’s pushing the envelope of high fidelity quality is the baseline for all of his productions.

The Grahams

Credit: Alex Berger

Credit: Alex Berger

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The Grahams’ Alyssa and Doug Graham are New Jersey raised, New York bred, but Nashville based — a cross-section of regional influences that allows them to slip in and out of genres like they’re changing clothes. Their unique sound landed them at the top of the Americana charts when their first album, Riverman’s Daughter, was released in 2013, led to the critically acclaimed Glory Bound in 2016, and their affair with a more alt-pop sound on 2020’s Kids Like Us (co-produced by the late Richard Swift and Lucious’ Dan Molad). Their music has landed them in every major music publication and grown them a legion of dedicated fans around the world. In 2021 their music has evolved again into a nostalgia-inducing mellow gold sound with a nod to mid-century soul and classic UK pop. If that sounds like a mouthful, it’s by design. Consider their upcoming three song EP Sha La La a moment of bliss before the duo’s next full album, due in 2022.

A tongue-in-cheek reference to a laissez-faire approach to life, Sha La La is The Grahams’ attempt to exorcise the pains and disappointments of the last 14 months. Rather than writhing in self pity and judgement, or aspirations driven by narcissism, they decided to simply let go of trying to control or overcome the situation, liberating themselves of their anger and who they thought they were, while embracing who they may become.

Their 2020 LP Kids Like Us — four years in the making — was considered their best work to-date. Released in March of the year of our lord COVID, they were devastated as their tour plans and other promotional opportunities were slowly picked off one by one. While this is a familiar story by now, The Grahams’ specific experience was compounded by a perfect storm of difficult situations. New parents with a one year-old when the pandemic broke out (and without any family nearby), they found themselves isolated with their child while Alyssa struggled with postpartum depression. She also discovered that she needed surgery on her wrist, and simultaneously suffered a painful and debilitating vocal hemorrhage, and therefore couldn’t speak (let alone sing) or play guitar for weeks — followed by many months of vocal therapy. While it was an extremely difficult time, the couple’s bond only grew stronger.

When The Grahams decided to pick up their spirits by making new music, they headed to 3 Sirens Studio — a hidden, invite-only East Nashville space which they own and operate. The duo had a deep desire to experiment with new sounds, let go of structure and their normal methods, and “just get really high and make art for art’s sake with friends.” They decided that “sha la la,” a recurring vocal run on the EP’s focus track “Love Collector”, was a fitting name for letting go of everything you once thought made sense, but doesn’t anymore.

Taking influence from nostalgic love songs that test the boundaries of life and death, the concept of eternal love has always been important to The Grahams as they’ve been together since childhood. The three songs on Sha La La, from the chaotic hooks of “Love Collector,” the teary blue-eyed soul of “Beyond The Palisades,” and the brooding musings of the ultra-stylized “Pilgrims and Punks,” are The Grahams’ serendipitous contribution to the notion that even when the world is turned upside down, if you can’t make plans, make art.