Indie Rock

For Fans Of - PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Chelsea Wolfe, Mark Lanegan, Elliot Smith, Thurston Moore, Patti Smith. Acclaimed alternative alchemist's highly-anticipated debut LP. "Striking, black-shrouded songwriting" (Clash). A bold soundtrack to the apocalypse. "We Are The Plague" declares Suzie Stapleton over the anthemic, fuzzed-out bass that opens the acclaimed alternative alchemist's extraordinary debut album. It is a rallying cry, the defiant call of a generation sold down the river and acutely aware of its own imminent demise. The album centres around Stapleton's midnight vocal; raw, poetic lyrics; and expressive, unique guitar playing ranging from a light touch similar to Elliot Smith to effects-soaked riffs evoking Sonic Youth or Soundgarden. Backed by band feat members of The Stranglers and Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, and mixed by Dan Cox (Thurston Moore/Laura Marling). "Suzie has toured with Mick Harvey and Mark Lanegan - it won't be long before they're opening for her." (Uber Rock) // "Striking, black-shrouded songwriting" (Clash) // "Suzie Stapleton is gonna be huge.

For Fans Of: Neck Deep, State Champs, Paramore. Upon releasing their debut album "Skinny Dipping" with label Hopeless Records, pop punk meets alternative rock band Stand Atlantic have gone strength-to-strength. In 2018 they were nominated for "International Breakthrough Artist" of the Heavy Music Awards and received multiple nominations in the RockSound Awards. One of Australia's hottest prospects, they have played 150+ shows in the last 12 months, completely selling out their United Kingdom & Australian tours, and doing a highly successful headline tour in the US in the Fall of 2019. With new album Pink Elephant, which brings in more alternative and pop leaning influences, the band will continue their domination which will culminate with a world headline tour in 2021.

Spice's Self-Titled debut album offers a deliberate isolation of pain as interpreted through different vehicles. Less than 30-minutes in length, the record diverts from a singular mood, tempo, or delivery, instead focusing on orchestrating emotional drain as single impulses "fast, slow, driving, simple, and layered" that coalesce in their machinations. At its core, Spice's Self-Titled album is wired together by brawny and brittle guitars, lock-groove rhythms, and vocals announce each moment and mood. Formed in 2018 and based across California, each members' roots are in the North Bay of San Francisco. Comprised of Ross Farrar (vocals) and Jake Casarotti (drums), both of Ceremony, along with Cody Sullivan (bass), Ian Simpson (guitar), and Victoria Skudlarek (violin), Spice's sound pulls from the sense of melody and drive inherent to Bay Area pedigree, peppered with modernity and awash with an anthemic haze. The hook is in the connection as much as melody, with each song building its inner narrative and exploration of affliction. Traversing guitar-driven indie-pop and call-to-action impulse, Spice balances their urgency by interspersing violin melodies and layers, creating depth without oversaturating the heart of each song. Building complexity with laser focus, Spice shares the authoritative drive of Jawbreaker, J Church, The Horrors, and Fugazi, set in their own world of unrest. The treatment of each song is a statement that informs the whole - anecdotes that can bleed slowly or swirl quickly. In a sense, the Self-Titled album itself is an entire song, with each track becoming the verses, choruses, and interludes that narrate its intent. Ending with the final track they workshopped for the album titled "I Don't Wanna Die in New York," the album ends with a punch before winding back into meditation. Honed over late nights at Panda Studios in Fremont, California with producer Sam Pura (Basement, The Story So Far, Self Defense Family), Spice spent hours tweaking it until it became a little world formed by what they refer to as "the power of groupthink." Sprinkled with field recordings "audio snapshots from the member's every-day-lives" the record offers an intimate twist that builds on its theme of a single thread that connects everything with continuity, making it a single organism with as many depths as questions.

180g black vinyl. "Holding On / Letting Go" is the eighth studio album of SOPHIA and the first in full band line-up since "Fixed Water" in 1996.With this release, SOPHIA (2.0) once again climbs a new musical plateau of vocals, sound and creativity.

With taut rhythms of 70s punk and the freak-outs of NYC no-wave, Silverbacks craft a signature sound spiked with triple guitar riffs and on-the-pulse lyrics. Silverbacks are a 5-piece band from Dublin, Ireland. Taking their cues from the taut rhythms and urgent drive of late 70s punk and the discordant, unpredictable freak-outs of NYC no wave, they craft a signature sound spiked with triple guitar riffs, a motorik rhythm section and on-the-pulse lyrics. The band have independently released a string of singles produced by Girl Band bassist Daniel Fox, beginning in 2018 with Dunkirk and Just In The Band, each of which drew support on both sides of the Atlantic. 2019 saw the arrival of follow-up tracks Pink Tide, and then Sirens, which was part of a double A side 7-inch released with second single Drool by UK independent label Nice Swan Records in January 2020. These single releases were backed by festival appearances at Simple Things, Swn, Eurosonic and Electric Picnic, headline shows in the UK and Ireland and supporting Girl Band on their sold-out UK tour dates. Debut album Fad represents the sound of a band trying to make sense of a noisy and disjointed world - one that competes for your attention at every turn. For them, it has come to be a symbol of what it feels like to try and absorb the world through both fleeting moments in front of screens, and prolonged obsessive periods filled with focus. They pull apart pop-culture in search of new meaning, whether it's a nod to The Simpsons (Fad 95), imagining a lost John Hughes film (Klub Silberrücken), spiralling downwards into youtube deep-dives (Pink Tide), or making sense of youth culture through The Urban Dictionary (Grinning At The Lid). Much in the same way that modern life can be defined by its unpredictability, Silverbacks colourful, vivid and exuberant songs dismantle their source material and end up in places that you don't think they will. It can be heard in the spidering guitar lines of opening track Dunkirk, or Pink Tide's Thin Lizzy-aping riffery, Fad 95's overt Pavement influence, Up The Nurses' Blondie injection or Last Orders' The Fall-inspired tale of escapism. Grinning At The Lid's huge gang vocal chorus even recalls New Fellas-era The Cribs. Elsewhere Just In The Band draws on tales of Bowie and Iggy Pop's friendship, and Muted Gold - having sprouted from a time spent practising Afrobeat and highlife guitar techniques - shines a light on situations in which women are continually inundated with unsolicited advice. All over Fad are the fingerprints of a band clawing their way through the remains of the day, seeing what there is to uncover.

For fans of Dirty Honey, Aerosmith, Great White, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Moore and Rock and Blues! Tony Cardenas-Montana: Lead Vocals, All Guitars, Bass, Harmonica (Great White, Slash, TwentyTwo Hundred, Jack Russell's Great White) - Brentt James Arcement: Drums, Percussion, Keys, B3 Organ (Fiona Apple, LIVE, Bullet Boys, Black Mollys, The New Black Seven, Scarlet Crush) - Shadow & The Thrill is a modern blues infused, groove laden, hook filled melodic rock band that comes from the streets of Los Angeles and New Orleans bringing you songs of salvation to soothe the soul! Their debut album, SUGARBOWL, was mixed by the certified multi-platinum, and Grammy Award winning, Sylvia Massy (Grammy: Johnny Cash). Shadow & The Thrill's future is largely dictated by the past of the two men behind the band. Tony, as a Grammy Nominated (Great White), certified multi-platinum, Billboard charting writer and musician, and Brentt as a tireless and sought-after touring and session drummer and producer. Together they have created an album experience that rivals their iconic rock and pop influence

Since writing the last Sergeant Buzfuz album, 2015's "Balloons For Thin Linda", songwriter Joe Murphy has lost both parents, got married, been a victim of a smear campaign (as a whistleblowing union rep), co-founded charity QQF (a theatre company for adults with special needs) and relocated to his native Sheffield. Joe has also continued to co-run Blang, the label he started in 2005 (including working on the first album from ex-Fall members Brix & The Extricated) and has worked part-time in special needs schools in London and Sheffield to fund the recording of "Fox Pop". It's the seventh Buzfuz album. It's got tunes bursting out all over the place, lyrics from the head, heart and fist and is rich in variety with two-minute pop songs, ballads, post-punk, freakbeat and strands of the band's Celtic DNA. Opening track 'There's Idiots, Then There's Idiots With Money' is a stomping working class anthem that quickly gets under the skin with intricately woven shuffling guitars and percussion that make way for a psychedelic flute solo. Second track 'Theresa McKee' is a refreshing lively blast of pop peppered with mandolin and acoustic guitar, showing off the band's more folky roots with finesse. The album, with its Squeeze & Kinks like anti-folk chant singalongs and storytelling is a perfectly crafted antidote to chart pop, Brexit and the current state of the world. It's fun and meaningful and a constantly surprising delight.

Aleph is often defined as the "oneness of God", and Cardiff, UK indie pop outfit Private World thematically embrace the sentiment on their debut album for Dais while eschewing pop conventions, simultaneously navigating and subverting its context. Rather than individual tracks that inform a greater narrative, Aleph finds members Harry Jowett and Tom Sanders weaving in and out of a space they call the "pop psyche," where songs become scenes in a collective exploration of sentimentality and melody. In a sense, the songs that comprise Aleph are soothing vehicles that dart about pop history, stopping at touchpoints throughout the '80s to borrow from jazztinged synth, ambient music, and even cinéma-vérité. The plot twist is while weaving this tapestry, they omit the familiarity of chorus-driven song, allowing space and mood to build melancholy transitions that feel whole and floaty. As much as their single "On the Run," released with DAIS in 2019, touched on this hushed world of memory, Aleph retains Private World's DNA but tames the dynamics of pop with Eno-esque intention. Aleph is an album you can pick up at any entry point and loop into its conscious nostalgia. Rather than singular statements, each song on the album nods to Roxy Music, Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Spandau Ballet in tandem. In a sense, it's a rolling piece that spans ten movements, each informing a sphere of culture. Though it's not forward-facing lyrically, Aleph is a culture driven work, as the duo offers it as an equalizer that transcends social boundaries or divisions - united passages meant to be heard and immersed by all. On its own, "Blue Spirit," is very much the album's mission statement, as vocal unapologetically indebted to Brian Ferry leads the way over a gated beat as instruments pulse in and out, punctuating the rhythm before disappearing into the echoes of the next moment. One second over five minutes in length, "Magic Lens," is Aleph's most direct and authoritative, without disrupting its tonality. As Tom Sanders delivers a syncopated vocal, the track lightly sprinkles synth washes and prominent bass accents that plod out atmospheric pattern. Embracing the overarching north star for their sound to be a return to sophistication, Aleph embodies the sentiment by redefining it. Yes, the album's sounds work back to the masters of synth-pop but the actual journey bounds forward with vivid personality and contemporary control. Private World offers a singular embrace of the pop psyche -- and a startlingly refreshing debut.

Post-indie par excellence: Portmonee and their debut album "404" ! With their debut album "404", the Berlin scene boys from Portmonee document the contemporary suffering of the German trend twen. Where do I come from, where am I going and why am I drunk on a Wednesday morning. That sounds banal, but "404" is clearly better in this than most albums. Produced by ex-Muff Potter singer/guitarist Jens Schneider, Portmonee musically break up their indie socialization consequently. The sound of the Berliners reminds of the longing musical playfulness of artists like Bilderbuch or Falco. Portmonee's music lives from a beguiling diversity. The six guys skilfully create the postindie sounds of the next decade.

The debut solo al bum by Mike Polizze finds the erstwhile Purling Hiss frontman and Birds of Maya shredder stepping out from behind the wall of guitar noise into the bright sunshine. Performed entirely by Polizze with longtime friend Kurt Vile (largely live and acoustic) and recorded by War on Drugs engineer Jeff Zeigler, this intimate Philadelphia affair clarifies the bittersweet earworm melodicism of Dizzy Polizzy's songwriting, revealing bona fide folk-pop chops. Long Lost Solace Find finally harvests the wild local honey from the buzzing hive of Hiss.The debut solo al bum by Mike Polizze finds the erstwhile Purling Hiss frontman and Birds of Maya shredder stepping out from behind the wall of guitar noise into the bright sunshine. "Beautifully melancholic_ A craftsman whose easy mastery hides the years of work it took to get there. The hooks seem to never stop." - Pitchfork "Idiosyncratic and remarkable _ unwashed, long-haired pop strum." - NPR Music

RIYL : Can, Broadcast, Nico, Kate Bush. Spacious, psychedelic electronica meets desert rock, laced with lyrical other-worldliness from a collective of iconic musicians led by this Warsaw born/London raised artist living full time in the Mojave Deser

Fantasize Your Ghost is the stunning and muscular follow-up to their 2018 debut Parts. Following intensive tours with acts like Wilco, Iron & Wine, Twin Peaks, and more, Fantasize Your Ghost is the direct result of the band spending more time on the road than in Chicago. It’s deeply concerned with questions of the self, the future, and what home means when you’re traveling all the time. Though Parts showcased their wildly burgeoning influences and talents, Fantasize Your Ghost captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show. Anyone who has seen Ohmme live over the past couple years can attest – they’re fuckin’ incredible performers. Check out their NPR Tiny Desk Concert for a taste. At times they reference simpler times, like summertime hotdogs and wandering the city, and in others, they are explosive, dystopian dance rockers. It encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going. This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, they’re really coming into their own in the studio. Fantasize Your Ghost is produced by Chris Cohen, who has helped the band sound more purposeful, more subtle, and more comfortable.

Summer 2020, and No Age are back out on the street! Effortlessly raw and extravagant in one practiced swoop, they set their live/bedroom internal clock and get out early into a glorious windtunnel of naked beats and sunbaked guitars, forming a wave from which they hang eleven tunes. A perfectly balanced set, ranging from their classic punk and indie to ever-evolving soundscapes, in maybe their most direct statement yet. A guitar/drums duo (Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt) with a penchant for self-recorded samples, No Age are mostly unconcerned with things like space or pause, and Goons Be Gone is gorgeously thick-- a hazy, delirious expanse that's both comforting and disorienting. Listening to Goons Be Gone, it's hard to comprehend how just two people can manage to make so much noise while still sounding so subdued and mysterious-- it's easier to imagine Randall and Spunt spewing these songs underwater, bursting forth from some colossal California quarry rather than a tiny, stuffy art space a few blocks from L.A.'s skid row. Ultimately, it's part of No Age's allure that Goons Be Gone is so difficult to figure out, that it manages to be so big while coming from a place so small: All you'll know for sure is that you want to listen longer. Maybe forever.

Much has been written about Young Marble Giants' small, perfect catalogue, which contained roughly two-dozen songs, nearly each one a perfect gem. Less is known about his long wilderness years after the break-up of his first professional band. His next project, The Gist, chopped YMG's minimalism into a new sound. This Is Love, Public Girls and Fool For A Valentine showed his songs to be razor-sharp, but the album's fragmented pieces were a step too far for some, though even the strangest, Carnival Headache, when cast in sunlight by Alison Statton's combo Weekend, was as fine a song as any he'd written - and Love At First Sight became a million-seller when covered by Etienne Daho. Then Stuart disappeared. A rmid-90s resurgence led to fine albums done on low budgets, before more silence followed. The Gist's 2018's release Holding Pattern - unexpected and then quickly followed by YMG singer Alison Statton's first new album with her accompanist Spike in two decades, adding fuel to public interest. The Devil Laughs, recorded a few years back, is a compelling addition to the canon of the 21st century songwriting. Stuart's generally unadorned musical presentation does not hinder his appreciation for the skills of Louis Philippe, whose iconic arrangements across an array of Él label albums inspire the fierce devotion of aficionados around the world. Nor does the unvarnished solidity of Stuart's arrangements deter Louis from hearing possibilities for their presentation in styles which take inspiration from the perfection of 1960's studio technology that led to the rise of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, along with less-recognised names such as Bones Howe and Roy Halee. Tidy Away is Young Marble Giants redux, though the backing vocals hint at maturity which band didn't live to see. Fighting To Lose, written with producer Ken Brake, would pass as a worthy b-side to Bridge Over Troubled Water, and although the songs are otherwise Stuart's, Louis fans will delight at several, like Love Hangover and Sky Over Water, which display his style and production genius as succinctly as anything on his own albums. The Devil Laughs is as out of its time as Colossal Youth was - its subtle but immediate beauty, devoid of "rock", is a recording best understood in the light of those obscure groundbreakers who inspired it - the faux barbershop vocals of Smile-era Beach Boys, the studio lustre of Tom Wilson's work with Simon & Garfunkel, a dash of The Swingle Sisters and French chanson - along with enough hints of Young Marble Giant's modernist folk abstraction to satisfy longtime fans. The Devil Laughs is a small masterpiece of pure expression.

NEW MASTERED !!! Originally released in 2007 This was Thurston's first solo outing since 1995's Psychic Hearts. It's Thurston's first solo outing since 1995's Psychic Hearts. It's 12 songs long. Thurston recorded primarily on acoustic guitar and bass, laying down the core of the tunes with drummer compatriot Sonic Youth's Steve Shelly and violinist Samara Lubelski, a noted player from MV/EE and The Golden Road, Hall of Fame and other awesome gatherings as well as solo artiste. Thurston grabbed John Agnello to record and mix the sucker after having a helluva good time with the bro from working on Sonic Youth's 2006 killer Rather Ripped. They decided to work in Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis' Bisquiteen studio (the top floor in J's Amherst house actually) where Dino did their Beyond album. This worked out very nicely as it allowed Thurston to yell down the stairs every time he needed a shredding guitar solo and J would trundle up, plug in and BURN. Other guests on "trees outside..." are Christina Carter, she of Charalambides, and she of the most beatific, beautific voice on land, sea and air. Most of the tunes are lyric driven but there are a couple of majestic instrumentals like Trees Outside The Academy, which brings the album to a musical and breathless close. There's also some weird cassette tape that Thurston found at his mom's of him at 13 years old in the early 70s making some kind of sound-theatre. It's kinda nuts, and it's the last "hidden" track. Tracks like Frozen Gtr, The Shape Is In A Trance, Silver>Blue, Never Day and Fri/end (a theme song to the hippest TV show yet to be broadcast) will lead you in to a sparkling and heavy new world of Thurston's heart, mind and soul.

Sometime in 2006 or 2007, Jason Molina moved from the midwest to London. Separated from his bandmates and friends and never one for idleness, Molina explored his new home with fervor. Sometimes he'd head out on foot, often with no destination in mind. Other times, he'd pick a random tube stop and find his way back home. He'd pick up on arcane trivia about London's rich history, and if the historical factoids weren't available - or weren't quite to his liking - Molina was quite comfortable conjuring his own history. His adoration of The Great American Tall Tales like John Henry and Paul Bunyan's blue ox Babe stretched across the Atlantic, where he created his own personal Tall Tales. And when he learned of the London Wall's seven gates (itself a misconception), Molina went ahead and called it eight, carving out a gate just for himself. The eighth gate was Molina's way into London, a gate only passable in the mind. Fast forward to 2008, Molina set off on an experimental solo tour through Europe. While in Northern Italy, Molina claimed to have been bitten by a rare, poisonous spider. A debilitating bout of illness ensued. "I was in the hospital here in London," Molina wrote in a letter. "Saw six doctors and a Dr. House-type guy. They are all mystified by it, but I am allowed to be at home, where I am taking a dozen scary Hantavirus type pills a day that are all to supposedly help - but they make me feel like shit." There is no record of a single doctor visit, not any prescription record for these medications. It is entirely plausible there was no spider and that whatever was keeping him indoors during this time was entirely self-induced. While at home, he of course wrote songs. Molina also claimed that during this time, he fed several bright green parrots that would gather in his yard. While often associated with a greyscale sensibility, Molina was oft-clad in a Hawaiian shirt and had, at least in part, selected the name Songs: Ohia for his first project as a nod to Hawaii's 'Ohi'a lehua flower. Which is all to say, the tropical element the parakeets brought to those sick days delighted Molina. He made short, crude field recordings of them with his trusty four-track. Only once Molina was officially on the mend and re-exploring the streets of London would he learn that those parrots had their own fabled tale. Back in the 60s, Jimi Hendrix - in a moment of psychedelic clarity - released his pair of lime green ring-necked parakeets from their cage, setting them free into the London sky. Now, their decendents are spotted regularly around certain parts of the city. Or so we're told. Eight Gates is the last collection of solo studio recordings Molina made before he passed from complications related to alcoholism in 2013. Recorded in London around the time of the supposed spider bite and Jimi's supposed parakeets, some of the songs ("Whispered Away," "Thistle Blue") are fully-realized - dark, moody textures that call to mind his earlier work on The Lioness. Knowing what we know about those parakeets and their peppered presence on the recordings, one can't help but think of that colorful tree of birds on Talk Talk's classic Laughing Stock, certainly a spiritual guide for much of the set. Other songs ("She Says," "The Crossroads and The Emptiness") lay in a more unfinished states, acoustic takes that call to mind Molina's Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go, and still tethered to Molina's humorous studio banter. You remember how young Molina was, and how weighty this art was for such a young man. On the closer, "The Crossroads and The Emptiness," Molina snaps at the engineer before tearing into a song in which he sings of his birthday (December 30), a palm reading and the great emptiness with which he always wrestled. It is a perfect closer and, in many ways, the eighth gate incarnate: mythical, passable only in the mind, built for himself and partway imaginary but shared, thankfully, with us

Oakland artist Madeline Kenney bounds toward the unknown on her third album, Sucker’s Lunch, expanding on the idea of what a love song could be – a little more cautious than exuberant, more nuanced than blazing devotion. Sonically, the album expands upon Kenney’s earlier, guitar-driven sound – a definitive step forward from an artist adept at communicating universal sentiments in a voice unmistakably her own. To help realize her vision, Kenney once again enlisted Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, previous collaborators and friends. Together, the trio carefully constructed the songs in a few compact sessions in Oakland, San Francisco, and Durham. Stack and Wasner’s rhythm section trace circles around Kenney’s off-kilter guitar, with verdant curls of synths, saxophone, and complex harmonies. Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner lends his distinctive tenor to lead single Sucker. The resulting songs are immediate and deeply moving, somehow feeling familiar while they defy expectations at every turn. Thematically, Sucker’s Lunch sees Kenney soberly contrasting the risks and rewards of falling in love, eventually deciding to dive headfirst into her own foolishness and relish in the unknowing. The tracks explore new love from every angle – Picture of You is a soundtrack- worthy lamentation of never truly knowing what someone has been through (“growing up is so hard, I don’t know why”) while tender vulnerability shines on Tell You Everything (“When your eyes say ‘we’ve had a day, love’, I get to fall in”). Kenney audibly loses her mind on Double Hearted, where the playful arrangement and lyrics spark a firestorm of heartache and wild abandon. Cut The Real pairs synth drones with syncopated lyrics to work through a depressive mind state, and the near-devotional White Window Light accepts uncertainty as a beautiful gift

It's hard to speak about unspeakable things - violence, abuse, addiction and abandonment; especially when these things rupture the innocence of childhood. But one of the merits of Luke Jenner's new solo project is that he not only speaks of these things but he does so in a way that wrests them from the dark, small cubicle of shame, placing them firmly in the light so that we, as listeners and fellow survivors, can start to maybe walk with our head high. In this moment of empty pop music séance, the scope and ends of this project - to try and help people - feels almost revelatory. Revelatory is the right word here in that it carries with it, of course, the sense of religious or spiritual insight. As front man for the legendary post-punk NYC band, The Rapture (a band name that already attests to Jenner's abiding faith and interest in the force of spiritual reckoning), Jenner has never shied away from his belief in God, community, family - all as a means of recovering the fractured x of y. How Deep is Your Love, Grace… But while those The Rapture records flirted with these themes, Jenner's album 1 fully embraces them. 1 is commanding yet generous in its vision. It follows Jenner's personal history - from the trauma of child abuse in his family to the happiness he seeks in his own family now and in the community of survivors that sustain him - within the context of rock history and the music that sustained him there as well. All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (also invested in spiritual belonging) comes to mind, as does Daniel Johnston, who literally heard voices which he put to music. Jenner's project too insists on polyvocality, from his own voice that splits between utter pain and despair to almost spiraling, nectarean harmonies, to the community of family, friends and sponsors that Jenner samples and adds to the record like a church choir.

Jaye Jayle was formed by Evan Patterson, founding member of iconic bands Young Widows and Breather Resist. Prisyn features a guest appearance by Emma Ruth Rundle and was created and produced by Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe, White Horse) and mastered by Dean Hurley (David Lynch, Lykke Li). Evan Patterson has always been a wanderer and an explorer. It's evident in the constant evolution of his music since his earliest days as a guitarist in left-of-center bands, but it's best exemplified by the constant creative shifts within the fever-dream blues of Jaye Jayle. On the newest Jaye Jayle album, "Prisyn" Patterson takes his boldest leap into unknown territories, capturing immediate moments in his ever-shifting surroundings with the most basic tool at his disposal: the GarageBand app on an iPhone. Instead of his usual backing band, he paired up with Ben Chisholm (White Horse, Revelator, Chelsea Wolfe) as collaborator and producer to create an electronic album completely unlike anything else from Jaye Jayle and an ambitious step from 2018's remarkable No Trail and Other Unholy Paths LP. The LP began with a request from couture designer Ashley Rose, when she proposed that Evan Patterson team up with Sargent House label mates Chelsea Wolfe and Ben Chisholm to create a soundtrack for one of her upcoming fashion shows. Patterson was in the early stages of a massive eleven-week stretch of touring and used his downtime in the van to flesh out ideas on his phone. "I sent a track to Ben and he sent it back the next day with additional instrumentation, sounds, and effects," Patterson recalls. "It was wild. He suggested we make a whole record that way." By the end of tour, Patterson and Chisholm had an LP's worth of songs waiting for vocal treatments. "I printed out all these poems, stories, and journal entries I'd made on my phone over the course of the year and went into the studio with my friend Warren (Christopher Gray). We'd find things that rhythmically worked, and that's how all the lyrics and singing happened. It was all gut instinct, improvisational," Patterson recalls. "The vocal approach isn't meant to be full of hooks and melody. The music is framed almost as a film score for my life. Instead of David Attenborough or William S. Burroughs as a narrator, I used this opportunity to narrate visuals from my reality," he continues. The record's title "Prisyn" is a play on the idea of a synthetic prison, and alludes to Patterson's desire for artistic freedom and the album's conflicted use of addictive technologies. But in the time of the pandemic, he also views it as an example of overcoming adversity in desperate times; this is a record that could have been made under the jail-like confines of quarantine, with Patterson and Chisholm having never been in the same room at the same time. Patterson comments, "These songs have a totally different energy, and that's the exciting thing about making art. Things have to progress. I don't want to draw the same picture for the rest of my life. Maybe that keeps you from being a master at it, but being a master isn't the key to art. It's having that constant expression, the constant outlet, the constant change."

Gum Country are a Canadian indie rock band brought to you by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Courtney Garvin (The Courtneys) and multi-instrumentalist Connor Mayer.