My selections for March 2020. Hear the full playlist at http://www.birp.fm/playlist/2020/march-2020

BIRP! March 2020

Motorboat

Leeds quartet Crake have today announced their debut album, ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’. It arrives via Fika Recordings on April 8th. The band have also shared the album’s lead single, ‘Winter’s Song’. 

Led by enigmatic songwriter Rowan Sandle, Crake is driven by her endless curiosity. Armed with her gently cracking vocal, and inspiration from writers like Shirley Jackson and Nan Shepherd, she sings of crinoids, slime mould and pussy willow. When they supported Buck Meek at Brudenell Social Club, Buck found himself so beguiled by Sandle and her band that he invited them to support Big Thief on their UK and EU tour in 2019. Crake duly obliged and have been building towards their debut full-length ever since. 

Much of the forthcoming album revolves around the death of Sandle’s friend Anna, who died in Syria after being hit by a Turkish air strike. Anna was working for a woman’s liberation group in the war-stricken country when the tragedy took place. ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ explores the grief that followed and the lessons learnt from dealing with such a significant loss. 

Sandle does, however, find space to explore more themes alongside this grief, such as cruelty and queer nature. On lead single ‘Winter’s Song’ she acknowledges the cruelty and coldness that exists within us all, and questions how we can continue to grow and love whilst remaining true to that. 

Speaking about the track, she said: “Winter’s Song is about the absolute mundane beauty of being fallible. It's a true story, I saw the moon rise but swore it was the sun setting. I think about this line a lot: “keep a little coldness in you, just wear it soft and gentle” Be soft, be kind, be honest. Being unremarkable has its own beauty.” 

Sandle’s love for queer nature is so fervent that it makes the experience of listening to Crake akin to that of stumbling on an entirely new world. Sandle believes that life isn’t as black and white as we’ve been taught, and thinks nature holds the key to revealing the true nature of human experience. The appearances of things like slime mould - single-celled organisms that form a single body when in search of food  - brittle starfish - a type of starfish whose awareness isn’t concentrated in one place - and other such oddities furnish ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ with a folklore all of its own. 

‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ will send you down multiple rabbit holes and you’ll emerge from each with a newfound appreciation for the complexities of the world. Perhaps even more important than this though is the humanity that lies at the very heart of this debut full-length. Whether it’s in the sensitivity in how she portrays the loss of her friend, the depiction of our most base instincts - namely cruelty, passion and love - or the sincere, pure quality of the songwriting itself, it’s this that makes ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ essential, and invaluable listening.

Winter's Song

Crake - Winter's Song

i was too scared 
to fall in love 
to feel someone else’s touch 

all i heard 
wasn’t enough 
for you i fell so hard 

and that is why you’re so amazing
and that is why i feel frustrated 
and after all is set stone we’ll 
go on and regret nothing more

here i go now on my own
feeling lost and so alone it’s
what it is and was before 
nothings changed it’s you i’m leaning on

now it’s too late
to conjure up
the courage i felt so tough

i’m right there 
when you’re not
i shouldn’t have fell so hard
 
and that is why you’re so amazing
and that is why i feel frustrated 
and after all is set stone we’ll 
go on and regret nothing more

here i go now on my own
feeling lost and so alone it’s
what it is and was before 
nothings changed it’s you i’m leaning on

Nothings Changed

Click play for a strange tale of casino woes and social media coding. The rush of addiction, the thrill of the chase, a comedic look at the big shot feeling. Place your bets and get ready to spin the wheel…

Tickets for our headline show at The Lexington, London 26/02/22: bit.ly/3t3rbiO

Brooklyn-based artists Leslie Graves and Toby Goodshank  have joined creative forces on their album Between Worlds (BB*ISLAND),  

Toby Goodshank (The Moldy Peaches, The Pizza Underground) of the OG New York Antifolk scene, is known for his precise and acrobatic vocals over nuanced acoustic guitar in songs that have been described as “a zesty thumb of the nose at domesticated bullshit.” (Myles Manley)

Leslie Graves (GOLD, Endless Arrows) is a performing songwriter and recording artist who takes folk subgenres into evocative and intriguing directions, including “sounding like something you could hear Donna Hayward dancing to at the Bang Bang Bar.” (Ronan Conroy, “Hidden In the Days” album review)  Her voice has been described as “darkwave-meets-folk” with comparisons to Lana Del Rey, Cat Powers, Mazzy Star and Julee Cruise.

Acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies make up the core of their music. a slightly psychedelic, at times dream pop-like folkrock. It just draws from a variety of folk and rock. You might hear hints of Sybil Baer, Judee Sill, REM, Linda Perhacs, and Jessica Pratt, but the intersection of Toby and Leslie is truly a place of its own, warm and enchanting, or perhaps a glimmer from the spaces in between worlds. 

Many instrumental threads are interwoven throughout with the invaluable skills of Jake Nicoll (The Burning Hell) who lovingly engineered and embellished the recordings. Ariel Sharrat of The Burning Hell assisted him and is also featured on saxophone or bass or on some songs here.   

Speaking to their process, Leslie writes, "Toby is great at composing song structures quickly. It was fun to feel into the emotion of the chords and write from there. The process was like chiseling away at a stone to reveal the sculpture underneath. I like when songs come like that - when it feels that they are teaching us as they are revealed." 


LESLIE GRAVES and TOBY GOODSHANK - Stay Long Enough

lunar vacation

grace's daydream

see u tn

Early Bird

Ainda É Cedo

Tenth song off "Calendar", out on October 31st!
Artwork by Eli Wengrin
--
Powdered sugar feet move so light and sweet
You float towards me every night in my dreams
Please don’t go away, you make me feel ok
I hope one day that you’ll love me this way

Powdered sugar heart, you live life like an art
Stay a while because you make me smile
I am too shy to say that you make me feel this way
Please don’t go away cuz to me your everything.

You're everything, everything to me
Now I’m so afraid why can’t these feelings go away
You're everything, everything to me
Because you have made me see the kind of person I want to be

Powdered sugar feet move so light and sweet
You float towards me every night in my dreams
Please don’t go away, you make me feel ok
I hope one day that you’ll love me this way

Powdered Sugar (feat. Boy Romeo)

You got all that weight on your shoulders
Take a breath, have a laugh, think it over
It ain’t all bad that you're older

You got all that ache in your temple
Stop losing your mind like you’re mental
It ain't all bad with the candle burning out

And may all these things that concern you fly
In time you won’t be here and that’s all right

You got all that life in the mirror
If you look real close you can see her
Waiting in line at the theatre

She’s got all that look in a smile
And something that says just stay a while
A flicker in the kitchen tile

And may all these things that allure you fly
In time they won’t be here and that’s all right

You got all the time in the whole world
Just you and me and our little girl
Looking at those little curls

All That Weight

All Mine

hey been a minute this is a 4 track demo of some shit I've been working on love ya x

afternoon (demo)

"Life In Outer Space" is a cosmic love story in which life and love are safer in space than on earth.

Written by Phil Danyew and Hannah Leder
Produced by Phil Danyew
Drums by Mark Pontius
Mixed By Carlos de la Garza
Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters

Life In Outer Space (lyrics)

She took me to the park
The one next to the flower shop
People dress the same
You make it feel ok
She puts me on the train
She’s dancing in the dining car
The chaos in your brain
I knew you were special

Lately lately
Baby baby
Takes me takes me
Wherever she wants
I know always
I know nothing
I’ll be I’ll be
Wherever you are

She turned on the news
They say it’s a catastrophe
We’ll be under water
Too bad for our daughters
She took me by the hand
Got us on a satellite
It’s life in outer space
I knew you were special

Chorus

We’ll land safely
Someday maybe
Drifting deeper
Into the dark
To a random planet
Like she planned it
Safe from humans
Where we can suvive

Lately lately
Baby baby
Takes me takes me
Wherever she wants
I know always
I know one thing
I’ll be I’ll be 
Wherever you are

Life In Outer Space

Waltz

Fairly Close

'Gardenia' out now
david@altadoremusic.com

All That Weight

Altadore

Recent comments

Scloot_Yeetus

Related tracks