molly drag – “out like a light”

– featured image courtesy of the artist –

molly drag, the performing moniker of montreal’s michael charles hansford, embodies a homespun aesthetic, tinged with folk tendencies and saturated with collages of ambiance.

hansford is readying his latest release, touchstone; at the helm is its lead single, “out like a light,” a glacial centerpiece populated by meandering guitar arpeggios and the hushed echo of a lead vocal. adding to its intimacy is an accompanying music video, with arresting animations compiled by elijah zimmerman.

touchstone is out october 4th via egghunt records. watch the music video for “out like a light” below.

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esther rose – “don’t blame it on the moon”

– featured image courtesy of jen squires –

the new orleans transplant esther rose draws from a childhood of gospel and folk music when sculpting her unique brand of timeless songwriting, peaks and sighs of each instrumental arrangement contoured around pliable and pristine vocal stylings.

on “don’t blame it on the moon,” rose’s first offering since her 2017 debut this time last night, time seemingly stands still, a gentle acoustic guitar lilting in tandem with her lead vocal. it’s a wonderful nod towards – and embracement – of her country forebears and also serves as a sneak peek of her sophomore full-length, due out later this year.

“don’t blame it on the moon” is out now via rose’s new label home, the ever-reliable father/daughter records. take a listen below.

premiere – muldue

– featured image courtesy of zac bowen –

max ramsden makes music that sounds like exploring a forest at twilight. as muldue, ramsden has spent the past handful of years recording loosely ambient music, pulling liberally from other genres while honing a rather hypnotic aesthetic.

on march 1st, muldue will release a place both foreign and familiar, his debut effort with the seattle-based label hush hush records and his third overall; the extended play’s five tracks together are sprawling, traversing the haunted terrain of ramsden’s inner mechanisms while bathing his voice in a distant sea of reverb.

a wide tremolo pulsates across the stereo fields of the EP‘s lead single, “i tried,” a five-minute meditation deserving of its status as centerpiece. coupled with an eerie, dissonant ostinato and anchored by a hushed but confident lead vocal, “i tried” is an enticing glimpse of things to come for muldue, comfort food for the dead of winter.

“i tried” premieres here today on the dimestore. listen in below.

reddening west – deltas

– featured image courtesy of nicola gell –

the diligence of reddening west cannot be overstated.  the austin-based quartet has toiled for the past couple of years over their self-released debut full-length, deltas, its vibrant swaths of americana a sprawling, existential treatise on the inherently transitory nature of life, honing a particularly fastidious approach to their songwriting and cinematic arrangements in the process.

anchored by the lead single, “even if” and its opening number, “marjorie,” deltas finds reddening west picking right up where their 2016 extended play, where we started, left off, with spacious vistas punctuated by niamh fahey’s swooning fiddle textures and matt evans’ soaring vocal melodies.  on the early standout “holding hours,” evans paints a bucolic backdrop for his pondering, with syncopated guitar lines and back-beats rolled together, in search of an apex never quite discovered.  “different now” finds evans waist-deep in reverb, again weaving observations of personal change through pristine turns of phrase and beautiful imagery.

the majesty of deltas is contained in its sweeping gestures as much as it is in its most minute intricacies; the palate-cleansing instrumental “inverness” is doused in nuance and contrapuntal wonders, a perfect segue to the album’s extended third act.  the penultimate cut “diffuse” is especially affecting and tender, its propulsive nature the perfect foil for the album’s finale, “late summer grass,” itself a vivid and measured punctuation mark on reddening west’s rich, slow-burning debut.  full of nooks and crannies ripe for exploration and vast canyons of elegiac introspection, deltas is a perfect autumnal vessel, a fine companion for changing times.

deltas is out tomorrow, available via reddening west’s bandcamp page, but you can experience it in its entirety a bit early right here on the dimestore.  tuck in below.

 

little kid – might as well with my soul

– featured image courtesy of the artist –

the discography and creative trajectory of the toronto-based trio little kid is all but woven into the fabric of this site’s existence.  the band’s landmark 2013 sophomore full-length river of blood coincided with our first full year of operations, and frontman kenny boothby took the time to discuss both that record and its 2016 follow-up, flowers, in great detail.  with last year’s sun milk and now its successor, might as well with my soul, self-released in the twilight of august, little kid have cemented their legacy as a pillar of this past decade’s vibrant online independent music community, their impressive catalogue providing the soundtrack to hours of existential contemplation.

for the majority of the band’s existence, boothby has been joined by the multi-instrumentalists paul vroom and brodie germain, who primarily staff the rhythm section while also contributing more textural parts, and, in vroom’s case, handle engineering, production, and post-production.  this well-established collaborative ecosystem allows little kid to thrive effortlessly across might as well with my soul; the loose one-two punch of “two invitations” and “love minus seven / no livin'” is at turns both raucous and meandering, steady pulses segueing to the next while supplemental timbres fade in and out of the texture.

boothby’s lyrical and vocal stylings have long been the principal hallmarks of little kid’s aesthetic, and might as well with my soul fares no different.  his wavering tenor is as comfortable against the syncopated drive of “in the red” as it is laid bare on “the only light,” with intricate narratives resonating amidst rather sparse word counts, sentiments punctuated by slight turns of phrase or unexpected confessions.  dialogue is also a strong constant; the aforementioned “two invitations” turns on repetitions of old adages, while “the fifth” is anchored by two successive questions, its soundscape swaying gently in the breeze.

if weighted lyrics are one central tenet of little kid’s core, then the other is, arguably, sprawling compositions not always interested in reaching their final destination, instead content to move laterally and explore nuances in the space presently occupied.  the standout cut “receiver” makes good use of every second in its six-minute run-time, boothby’s lead vocal as pensive as the piano that threads through it, while the penultimate number “your orange and blues” marinates in its ruminative melancholy, quickly becoming one of the year’s best country tunes.  as the final chord of “easy or free” (itself a powerful meditation delivered via mournful slide guitar) dissipates, one feels the weight momentarily lift off of one’s shoulders, and then presses play again.

might as well with my soul is out now.  stream the album in its entirety below.

premiere – benjamin shaw

– featured image courtesy of aisha latosski – 

benjamin shaw has been making bedroom pop for much longer than the term has enjoyed a certain ubiquity.  a chameleon of genres, the melbourne-based shaw has drifted through washes of shoegaze and fields of electronica, melding dissonant drones and folk affectations into an incredibly singular and raw brand of confessional music, its ennui palpable.  shaw’s latest album, megadead, marks a return to work that is decidedly more vocal-centric, although certainly not devoid of the desolate soundscapes he’s wont to create and inhabit.

after the release of “terrible feelings!” last week, a track that atwood magazine aptly described as “visceral and frantic,” shaw has down-shifted into the more ruminative “a brand new day,” a six-minute odyssey populated by found sounds and a lovely guitar loop.  a lengthy voyage through the track’s aural architecture leads shaw to its precipice, where, instead of a steep drop into the void, he’s treated to a sonic sunrise of soaring brass, a moment of respite that arguably marks the true arrival of “a brand new day” and informs its final stages.

megadead is due august 31st via audio antihero and kirigirisu recordings.  listen to “a brand new day,” premiering right here on the dimestore, below.

adeline hotel – “habits”

– featured image courtesy of chris bernabeo –

dan knishkowy’s adeline hotel project has long had a collaborative air surrounding it, and his latest album is no exception.  away together, due later this fall, features a robust ensemble of familiar faces and first-time contributors all working in concert to flesh out knishkowy’s sketches of melancholic americana.

on the album’s lead single, “habits,” knishkowy is at the helm of a loping acoustic foundation, yearning in gorgeous harmony with fellow new york songwriter cassandra jenkins for an ever-elusive state of contentedness.  with well-placed pedal steel swoons throughout and a contemplative guitar solo commandeering its final minute, “habits” feels like the sonic embodiment of leaves changing color, a perfect record for a moment of pause within an ongoing transitory period.

away together is due october 26th via ruination record co.  take a listen to “habits” below.

premiere – ryan von gonten

– featured image courtesy of the artist – 

a change of scenery can prove to be a powerful catalyst for inspiration.  after logging years of work alongside treasured artists like lomelda and molly burch, ryan von gonten departed texas on a coastal venture, arriving in oakland in time for the seeds of his solo debut to germinate.  truthlikeness is a fully-realized inaugural outing, its eight songs a synthesis of the loneliness that can transpire upon arrival in an unfamiliar place.

as a primer to von gonten’s forthcoming full-length, bear witness to “anthem.”  slow tremolo pulses are driven from their cavernous expanses by a soft but persistent keyboard line, blooming into a consonance of dream-pop and folk, the former twinkling in the latter’s gentle breeze.  von gonten’s instantly memorable falsetto is an enduring force throughout, commandeering the track with a hushed tenor that sounds like it was delivered crouched over a microphone in utter secrecy.  a compelling glimpse of things to come, “anthem” embodies its title in its own singular way, harnessing an inherent intimacy and doling out salient components for maximum effect.

truthlikeness arrives at the tail-end of summer via glasgow’s human noise records and features contributions from lomelda’s hannah read and andrew stevens, who also lends his percussive talents to the live rendition of hovvdy.  the album’s lead single, “anthem,” premieres today, right here on the dimestore.  listen in below.

premiere – reddening west

– featured image courtesy of nicola gell – 

a well-received debut project can be both reaffirming and a motivating tool to expand on its most resonant features.  the austin quartet reddening west latched onto this philosophy, using the framework of their 2016 extended play where we started as a reference point as they meticulously crafted their saturated, sprawling debut full-length, deltas, an intimate album preoccupied with existential thoughts on transition and change.

matt evans wrestles with the aforementioned themes throughout “even if,” the first preview of deltas, a reflective narrative couched in hesitation, reservation, and self-doubt.  enveloping evans’ sometimes-desolate imagery is the bucolic warmth so recognizable in reddening west’s arrangements.  a loose, organic heartbeat is a comfortable foundation for niamh fahy’s cinematic string counter-melodies, an affecting punctuation to the track’s lyrical sentiments.

taken as a cohesive unit, “even if” is a sonic embodiment of the wide-open vistas the mind’s eye occupies in a contemplative state such as this, a powerful rumination on complacency and vigilance indicative of reddening west’s slow-burn approach to songwriting.

deltas arrives september 21st; it is currently available for pre-order and can be pre-saved on spotify.  its lead single, “even if,” premieres today on the dimestore.  listen in below.

premiere – honyock

– featured image courtesy of the artist – 

sacramento four-piece honyock makes vaguely psychedelic pop music, steeped in the tenets of yesteryear but firmly rooted in their collective present-day experiences.  after toiling away on their debut full-length for over two years, the band is gearing up to release el castillo at the end of the month via friendship fever.

“heather,” the second single honyock has offered up off of their album, is decidedly breezy in comparison to its straight-ahead predecessor, “patron.”  the former relies on a momentary acoustic foundation to harness its enduring aesthetic, while a suspended bass line is soon co-opted into the song’s recurring, horn-powered motif.  from there, “heather” progresses as a soulful layering exercise, alternately relying on swirling organs and consonant vocal harmonies to underscore its sentiments.

a wistful recollection of its titular character dictated by a wayfaring narrator, “heather” is a summertime odyssey of sorts, its intricate guitar work a guide back to some semblance of home, of familiarity.  we’re pleased to premiere “heather” right here today on the dimestore; take a listen to the track below.