Any artist is welcome to send us a track via freshonthenet.co.uk anytime between Monday lunchtime and Wednesday evening (or when we receive 200 submissions, whichever is sooner) - and all our moderators, including Tom Robinson, will listen to every track. This is our full inbox from the week beginning Mon 9th January 2023: from Friday afternoon you'll be able to hear our shortlist and pick your favourites on this week's Listening Post which will appear at freshonthenet.co.uk/batch472

If a track you submitted does not appear in this list, it’s probably because another of your tracks appeared in our Fresh Faves or on the BBC Music Introducing Mixtape during the last three months — we ask that artists featured on either wait three months before resubmitting to give others a chance. 

We also don’t accept short previews or SoundCloud Go tracks that can only be heard as 30 second previews, and tracks made private after submission, which cannot be included in playlists. You will be able to resubmit the track in future. Tracks (and remixes of tracks) that have been previously submitted, and tracks from banned artists will also be removed.

ENTIRE INBOX: Batch 472

You & I

Loop mode is out on all platforms: ffm.to/loopmodesingle

Watch the music video: https://youtu.be/6B9djwPwxTk

I made Loop mode 3 years ago in my bedroom in London. I found a cool synth loop on Garageband and used it to lay down all my thoughts. This is a song about overthinking and being stuck in your head. It took me 3 years to release it and I know some of you have been waiting that long for it, thank you.

Mixed by @a-charles-music
Pic by @ josscreative

LYRICS: 
My thoughts are on loop mode
Guess I'll just stop
Cause I'm way too out of focus on my way to the top
To the top (to the top to the top) to the top
It's not meant to be it's not effortless
I'm going with the flow no second-guessing myself
My back on the wall I trust the process
I'm growing like a flower trying to find a place on earth

On earth on earth
On earth on earth

I want to be perfect but I gotta let go
Cause emotions are imperfect that's how I keep you close
I'm here to reconcile the woman and the child
I'm here to lift you up with one foot on the ground
With one foot on the ground
One foot on the ground

I'm just trying to find my place on earth
I'm just trying to find my place on earth
On earth

Loop Mode

Venn Smyth live gigs
3 May / 7.30pm / Pride's Got Talent Semifinals, Phoenix Art Club: https://phoenixartsclub.com/book/?instanceid=130001
12 May / 7pm / Babel Art House: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/14069/venn-smyth-hermes-gig-live-at-babel-art-house

Can we do this sober? That's the question behind this track. Is there a way to live life and hold love sober? I've got more questions than answers, but they are important ones. Find them wrapped up in this poppy synthy bop, with added saxophone thrown in for good measure!

Sober

Nightfall

The first single from my new EP 'Greens and Blues' which comes out in April 2023.

Written and performed by march (Kitty O'Neal) 
Recorded, produced, mixed by Dan Keen
Mastered by Katie Tavini

Lyrics:

Someday I'll be weightless
I'll be waterfalls and mountain ranges
Someday I won't be afraid to leave this space that we made

I remember what she said, everything is relative
I believe we'll meet again, I believe in everything

And in some way we'll stay
Like fault-lines and I
I don't really mind

Cause now I know this is how it goes
Round and round 'til something blows
You didn't believe me when I told you though
That often in the night I fuss and fight
And find that nothing's right
So I will fold the words and open up my eyes
And I'll look outside more
And I'll talk with strangers 
And I'll tell their stories
And I'll paint their faces 
I'll be everything you want
Everything you need
Just hold onto that thought

Everything you want 
Everything you need
Hold onto that thought

[I remember what she said, everything is relative
I believe we'll meet again, I believe in everything
I believe in animals, mythical and magical
I believe in stupid dreams, angels and Hesperides]

Hesperides

It's been 7 years since the first song for the album was written, the first in my life. 3 years since we started recording these songs. It's a long way to go. And complicated. It led me to where I am now. I am convinced that everything happens when it should. Now is the time when I became ready to present the pieces of my soul, made into music, to the whole world. 

5 songs are like 5 fragments from a personal diary: naive and overly romanticizing and dramatizing events. But that's how I am, that's how I feel. In my own world, everything was exactly as described in the songs. 

But these are only fragments. The full diary is an album of 12 songs that make up a complete story, called Worlds Apart, I'm sure it won't take so long to wait this time.

The opening track - Light - embodies a bright beginning in every sense. The first affection, the first song, the first guitar, the first step into a new life. It's still special to me, and in fact, I probably like it most of all these songs in terms of sound. When we started recording it, it turned out to be quite melancholic and unhurried, and as for me, it sounded cool, but I was prompted and also guessing myself, that it would be good to make it kind of more up-tempo, I wanted to find a balance, and I am very pleased with the way we made it.

As part of this EP, Circles is a sharp rewind of events forward. This is no longer "Now I finally see the light", but "You will only make me suffer, whether you want it or not." There was no doubt about how this song should sound: definitely more rock and expressive compared to the others.

New Chapter: "And after all this time and songs, it’s the first one about something real that you and me feel." It’s true that a lot of songs had already been written at the time of writing this one. The first reciprocity. At least for a while. I had thoughts that maybe a lot of repeatings in the song would seem boring to a listener, but I no longer think so about what it turned out, especially thanks to Ruzel's backing vocals, which really enlivened it.

In the process of keeping a diary, one page was torn out. This is You Make Me Feel (Higher), the third song I wrote. At one point, it began to seem not good enough to me, and I excluded it from tracklist of the future album. However, later, while recording this EP, I decided to give it a new life, changing it a little, and the missing link was found, becoming such a bonus track. Someone even liked it the most.

Affection is the track that has already become landmark. The last song on this EP and on the upcoming longplay. At the same time, it was the first one that we began to rehearse, record and play in public. Someone has already had enough of it, but not me, I still consider it one of the best songs I ever wrote. "I made everyone believe in a perfect explanation. Now I don’t know how to feel, cause it seems like it is real, but I have the same affection." Thus, we return to the same place from where we started, but with a new awareness: love, suffering - all for the sake of art.

It was decided to make an acoustic version of the song, different from the version on the future album, as in the case of the previous song - for a change. But not only for that. I really like how this melody is combined with a tambourine. And in general, I'm glad that at least one song became more or less minimalistic, because the rest are too full of sounds, one might say noisy. At least we got what we did, due to the first experience and the tendency of both musicians to complicate everything:) And it's funny that now, with more experience, I’m going to move in the direction of simplification.

Anyway, I'm very happy to finally share the music of my heart with you and hope it will resonate with someone!

Light

Days of Rome relapse with their explosive fifth single - Tungsten Afterburner. Birthed in an underpass at 3am from an impromptu drum session, the song began to take form as a candid, satirical look at the modern day world. Exploring humanity's potentially apocalyptic future, the track takes on a raw, powerful character with callbacks to the riffs of the early 2000s, albeit with heavier undertones. A grungy black and white  music video will accompany this track, to be released after the new year.

Tungsten Afterburner

Rising Tide

Life is for Living

....mkay

sorry for the quality, left my mic at home so recorded through my laptop

Mr Mackey

mr mackey

I Held a Flame

A short synthwave, synthpop, dreamwave number from my latest album "In Vast Inner Oceans".
I watched a load of David Lynch films and bought a vintage 80s poly synth along with a new sampler/drummachine thing and this was the result.

Through Blue Woods

“Time passes, spaces convert. Nothing can stop the Changes."

Silvano Pagliuca-Mena

Changes

Jamie Boyd - Vocals, Guitar, Keys 
Matt Adkins - Bass 
Kees Toft - Guitar

Ditch Witch

Sit With Your Back To The Engine

This months POWA Artist is Somerset based, award winning singer songwriter Sharon Lazibyrd. 

Influenced by her experiences, musicals, music hall and everything from Julian Cope to English folk, Sharon writes striking and melodic songs and makes music that matters. Her debut solo album, Half Shame and Half Glory, was critically acclaimed and played across independent and community radio, BBC folk and acoustic shows, BBC Introducing and on BBC 6 Music. She was BBC Introducing Artist of the week in 2018. She has performed across the UK and in Ireland including Glastonbury and Tolpuddle and as half of the duo Lazibyrd winning the South West Music Awards Best Folk Act of 2013.

“This song started life as a writing prompt I tried out in the Sunday Songwriting Facebook group run by songwriter and producer Rosie Bans. The task that week was to write something about the year of your birth. I was born in 1970 so I looked to see what events were important for women that year, as that was something I thought would be interesting to write about. I came across the Leeds textile workers strike, which I hadn't known about beforehand, which was actually one of the precursors to the Equal Pay Act. I started to read news stories and archive material about the strike and this inspired the lyrics. For example, the first line, ‘angry women shook a city’, came from a newspaper headline. As I was writing the song I also started to reflect on my own experience as a woman and the inequalities that persist, such as the gender pay gap, so I included references to some of them as well.”

Angry Women

A sneak peek into the upcoming EP " Death of the Kings", this new double A-side features the new singles " Hollywood" and "Lovers Lane" from Liam Somerville and The Streetlight Band.

FULL EP AVAILABLE SOON ON BANDCAMP

Death Of The Kings

Hollywood

‘Drowning’ is the second single from Cross Wires upcoming second album ‘Yesterday In Mourning’ 

Recorded at Unit 24, E9. Produced/Mixed/Mastered by Rory Attwell.

Drowning

Floaty verses contrast with an impassioned chorus, featuring Doug Wimbish on bass and Josh Magill on drums.

Let Down

Slow Boat To China

Fresh On The Net is a music blog hosted by Tom Robinson and Team Freshnet, offering independent artists an open door and a level playing field for their music. Our inbox is open at http://freshonthenet.co.uk every Monday to Thursday morning - if you share a track with us there it will be heard by every member of our moderation team.

IMPORTANT: 
Only send ONE track, and make sure the dropbox says "OPEN".  Sorry, but tracks sent while the dropbox is closed - or shared drectly with this Soundcloud account - will not get heard.

ENTIRE INBOX: Batch 472

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