Today is New Music Friday, which means there’s loads of new songs in the world.
Here are the 10 single songs released today I loved the most.
See the New Music section for all the of tracks and albums featured this week.
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1.
Flume, Panda Bear
One Step Closer
The Australian producer Flume put out some unreleased music from the last ten years packaged as Things Don’t Always Go The Way You Plan, and along with a track featuring Injury Reserve, the reliable collaborative voice of Animal Collective’s Panda Bear adds a gorgeous counterweight to ‘One Step Closer’.
2.
Cinder Well
Two Heads, Grey Mare
Beautiful Americana folk in the vein of Alela Diane from California via Clare artist Amelia Baker, who collaborates with Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum on the string arrangement for ‘Two Heads, Grey Mare’ (he also contributes to the album).
The song is from a forthcoming album entitled Cadence, out April 21st on on Free Dirt Records, and is inspired by folklore tales of the selkie.
Cinder Well has some live Irish dates in May:
MAY 18 – Kilkenny, IE – Cleere’s
MAY 19 – Dublin, IE – The Cobblestone
MAY 20 – Dublin, IE – The Cobblestone
MAY 26 – Cork, IE – Coughlan’s
MAY 27 – Waterford, IE – Phil Grimes
3.
SOMOH
My Body Is A Friend
The third feature for London singer-songwriter of alt-pop songs SOMOH, bringing the alt-American indie pop style on a song about body image.
“I wrote this song while going through a rough patch with how I was viewing and treating myself. More than anything, this song is a reminder that your body does so much to carry you through each day. And for that, it deserves to be treated with the kindness and respect you’d show to a friend.”
A debut EP A Plan To Get Home will be released on March 30th.
4.
Kate Davis
Call Home
From American artist Kate Davis’ second album Fish Bowl (due March 24th on ANTI-Records), ‘Call Home’ is a song that holds experiences of isolation, escaped through fantasy, in other words her “big pandemic feelings song.”
“The song felt to me like writing my own little sci-fi tale — an apocalyptic romance of these unknown characters. It was a dialogue between me — or FiBo — and another figure who represents an escape from purgatory.”
Kate Davis tour dates:
Mar 14-18 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
May 15 – London, UK @ The Lexington
May 15 – Manchester, UK @ The Lodge
May 17 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
May 19 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ London Calling
May 20 – Paris, France @ Supersonic
May 21 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
May 22 – Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain w/ Lael Neale
5.
Indigo De Souza
Younger & Dumber
North Carolina musician Indigo De Souza has announced a new album All of This Will End, out April 28th on Saddle Creek.
‘Younger & Dumber’ is a slow-burner that turns to quiet devastation. Says De Souza:
My growing up defeated by a world brutally littered with trash, violence, and grief, and somehow finding beauty, purpose, and boundless love existing in the same place. This song felt really emotionally intense for me when I wrote it. I was sitting in my house and it kind of flowed right to me as if it had already been written by some other force. A lot of the lyrics are a nod to the idea that your experiences make you who you are. I endured some heavy darkness and dysfunction when I was a teenager. But if I hadn’t been through those things, I wouldn’t be who I am now. When you’re young, you don’t know any better, but you learn from your experiences, and then you become somebody who’s been alive and learning. It’s also about how heartbreaking that is; to start as a child with vivid curiosity, innocent imagination and joy, and for the world to end up being kind of brutal to be a part of. This song is a love letter to everyone’s inner child. No one can prepare us for how insane it is to be alive. How many times we will have to rise from the ashes and what courage it will take.
6.
Soundspeed
Rúin
Irish indie-pop project artist Hazel Doupe aka Soundspeed impressed me with her debut single ‘Honey’ a while ago, and the followup has the same effect, creating memorable music out of minimal melodies and arrangements.
The song title comes from the Irish for secrets, and ” invites you to reflect on moments that have shaped the connection you may have felt with someone special at a point in time.”
Dublin-based producer, Mark Allidine also worked on the song.
7.
Two Shell
Love Him
A new 5-track EP from the enigmatic duo Two Shell came out today. Billed as an audio journey into the core of shell.tech, it came with this fizzy number.
8.
Erica-Cody
Cry Baby
“This one’s dedicated to the time wasters that like to make you feel like you’re the problem and then cry about it, when in fact you just know your worth stood up for yourself. Never be afraid to find your voice and cut toxicity out of your life without any guilt.”
9.
Jessie Ware
Pearls
Jessie Ware has been teasing ther fifth album That! Feels Good! is out April 28th.
The song and some tour dates to come, are preceded by the single ‘Pearls’, a song co-written with Stuart Price, Future Nostalgia-writer Coffee Clarence Jr and Sarah Hudson.
“Pearls is a record that doesn’t take itself too seriously but demands you to have a dance. It’s inspired by divas like Donna Summer, Evelyn Champagne King, Teena Marie and Chaka Lhan and I guess attempts to show – in lightness – all the hats I try to wear (usually at the same time).”
10.
Sleaford Mods, Florence Shaw
Force 10 From Navarone
Sleaford Mods’ ‘Force 10 From Navarone’, features Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw.
It’s from the Nottingham duo’s forthcoming release UK Grim, out March 10th, and is suitably menacing and caustic.
“The track is a conversation with myself coming to terms with happiness and whether it is in fact a darker space than my negativity and depression. Coupled with that it explores the myth of activism and inaction of the majority in the UK in the presence of a corrupt government.”Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson
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For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
