Kayla Cohen, a.k.a. Itasca, is a folk guitarist and songwriter from New York State. She has released several small press CD-rs and cassettes over the past five years, and began recording as Itasca after a move to Los Angeles in 2012. She records at home, taking inspiration from the fringes of LA's open space and natural land.

On Itasca’s latest full-length, Unmoored By The Wind, Kayla Cohen achieves new levels of clarity and expansiveness. Where 2012’s Grace Riders on the Road reveled in homemade intimacy, Unmoored By The Wind opens to the world, reaching a timeless, near-baroque yearning; each of these eleven tracks burns with a unique vision. At once soft-spoken and virtuosic, Cohen’s fingerpicking mesmerizes, laying gauzy groundwork for vocal work David Keenan rightfully cited as “courtly…dazzling.” It’s a spacious set of songs, one you can wander into, flowing seamlessly between wistful interludes a la Bob Desper and fully-fledged verses of powerful, often beguiling imagery. “Two male shapes are standing/ Shrouded in white cloth” sings Cohen on “Nature’s Gift,” with a plaintive candidness that echoes Sibylle Baier. “They’re looking at me/ Sort of smiling/ Seems as if I’ve called them here.” Cohen’s voice has a windburnt quality reminiscent of Lal Waterson or Collie Ryan, but it’s tempered with sweetness, and on songs like “Colt In Hiding” she realizes an angelic luster. More than ever before, though, Cohen’s confident singing is laid bare; vocals ride on top of arrangements, taking their rightful place in the forefront. The effect is arresting. Cohen has achieved new levels of clarity, while staying true to the seductive ghostliness that has come to characterize her sound.

Pre-Order Here http://newimageslimited.com/catalog/itasca-unmoored-by-the-wind-pre-order

Itasca - After Dawn

Paradox

White Roses, My God

Get Still

Singer-songwriter Dora Morelenbaum is Rio’s most beguiling voice right now. As a member of Latin Grammy award-winning supergroup Bala Desejo, she has enamoured worldwide audiences – energising ecstatic dancefloors and concert halls with a particularly ebullient brand of MPB. On solo turns, meanwhile, Dora’s honeyed vocals and sophisticated compositions have drawn comparisons to Joyce Moreno – 2021’s gentle debut EP Vento De Beirada garnering international admirers, extolling its elegance and expansive beauty.

It is, then, as an already coveted member of Brazil’s new wave that the carioca announces her debut solo album Pique (Mr Bongo, 2024). On Pique, we hear an already accomplished Dora at her most emboldened.

Preserving the grace of her debut EP, but imbued with new-found groove and a gargantuan-sounding band, Pique is a vivid and exceedingly fun first full-length album. While there certainly remain moments of serenity here, Dora’s debut album finds her in a more dynamic mode – as a commanding bandleader, a curios composer and an exuberant performer. In her own words, “Pique was an album made in motion and ended up being about just that.”

Pique’s sophisticated compositions do indeed shift and swing – from sumptuous soul to evocative MPB, through jazz, funk and disco. And, at each dextrous turn, an animated Dora is a compelling frontwoman – buoyed by playful production, courtesy of fellow Rio star and co-producer Ana Frango Elétrico.

Release on Mr Bongo in partnership with Coala Records (Brazil) and Think! Records (Japan).


Dora Morelenbaum - Pique

Taken from La Plage upcoming EP 'Saint Antoine' 

Produced, Recorded & Mixed by La Plage
Mastered by J-F Hustin - Artwork by François Genot
© La Plage - 2016

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Saint Antoine

FREE DOWNLOAD

Future Islands - 09 As I Fall

Echo Radio Feat. Krissy Vanderwoude

Taken from the album "Songs You Make at Night" out now. Order here: http://tunng.co.uk/

Watch the video for previous single "ABOP": https://youtu.be/ovVOUeKjaNU

Songs You Make at Night

Tunng - Crow

Guidance

Calla

Gazelle Twin - Heartbeat (Wire cover)

Tephra - EP

Siren Call

Please send any demo submissions to info@fulltimehobby.co.uk

Full Time Hobby is a small independent label based in London.