17 New Artists To Love in 2017

Kelsey Lu is a North Carolinian cellist and singer/songwriter who has released an EP (Church) of orchestrally-arranged ambient folk music on True Panther last year.Comparisons to Alice Coltrane and Bat For Lashes, Lu’s music leans into the avant-garde spectrum yet she has collaborated with artists in the field of pop and R&B like Blood Orange, Kelela and Wet. Church was recorded in one take at the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with Kelsey singing, playing cello and utilising a loop pedal. ‘Dreams’, from the EP is a highlight from the EP and a spectacular intro to Kelsey Lu. The Alix Brown-directed desert video heightens the song’s unique daydream quality and marks Lu out as a visual artist too.

Morgan MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty’s Saint Sister music project marries folk textures with Celtic harp and a dusky shade of atmosphere for a genre theyve named “atmosfolk”. You’d be hard pressed to find any more beautiful music than what these two have concocted. They finished 2016 by releasing their best song yet ‘Tin Man’ on English label Communion, so I expect more from them as 2017 progresses. If you don’t know, get to know. They were included last year, but so what? Theyre brilliant)

The first thing that hits you about the music of Danish trio IRAH is their lush soundscapes, not far behind are the vocals of Stine Grøn. A mini-debut alum called Into Dimensions just dropped too.

Diolmhain Ingram Roche is a young experimental electronic producer and singer who I feel is only getting started. He has collaborated with Bobby Basil and remixed Ruth. Live, his shows are developing into something unique and worthy of further exploration. Check out his trippy video and track for Wonder.

St. Francis Hotel are a new Irish act/producers who met in London after emigrating to Dublin during the recession. They have released three songs thus far but have done enough to be noticed by the wider world via KCRW, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, BBC Six Music and Spotify.

They previously featured here as producers of the song ‘Writer’s Block’ with Lixo and Trim but their own music is much more band-based, psychedelic rock, synth atmosphere with pop tones. ‘You’d Gotta Be Alive’ is the best of the three: a soulful psychedelic groove with falsetto and laid-back atmospheric vibes. A two-part EP arrives on January 27th.

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