Netherlands artist Robin Kester is set to release her most spellbinding creation to date, the forthcoming mini album This Is Not A Democracy. Created with producer Marien Dorleijn (of Dutch band Moss) in his studio set deep within a vacant former psychiatric institution, the album’s seven songs combine Kester’s gentle beguiling vocals with the duo’s experimentations with retro guitars, vintage synthesizers and an antique vibraphonette. The result is a dreamy luscious production drawing inspiration from 70’s pop, with touches of Sufjan Stevens’ enigmatic heartbreak lullabies, the chamber-pop of Cate Le Bon, the dreampop of Beach House, and the enveloping, ethereal and otherworldly beauty of Weyes Blood. 

Kester cites Westworld (TV series) as a heavy influence on This Is Not A Democracy, with both exploring themes of freewill and self-determination (or the lack thereof).  This theme is most explicit on Empty Head’s musing of, as Kester explains, “The feeling that our thoughts and behavioural patterns are the unfolding effects of our genetic material and not the result of self-determinism and self-awareness.”

On the beautifully hazy Cigarette Song, which features brass arrangement courtesy of Conor O’Brien of Villagers,  the more personal matter of a broken marriage is tackled.  Although preferring her music to take on the subjective interpretations and re-imaginings of the listener,  much of This Is Not A Democracy plays with more abstract concepts mirroring the album’s often majestic multi-instrumental dream-like soundscapes, and Kester’s own bewitching delivery. Nightmares, escapism, and shifting mental states are explored, such as in the ghostly Portals which sonically captures the feeling of a looming depression with its mysterious strings. On the tracks Sweat and Fright and Day Is Done two sides of the same sleepless coin are explored, the synthesised melody of Sweat and Fright, which recalls the soulful psych-tinged electronica of Broadcast, is an ode to nightmares, whilst the kaleidoscopic Day Is Done is described by Kester as “a lullaby for insomniacs.” 

Robin Kester hails from Utrecht, Netherlands. In 2018 she released a series of singles and her debut ‘Peel The Skin’ EP. Her debut single ‘Lost For A Day’  was included on Spotify’s Viral Chart and was named ‘Track of the Week’ in de Volkskrant.  Appearances on high-profile TV and radio shows in the Netherlands  followed, including a session for TV show Vrije Geluiden, and interviews and sessions for the country’s lead radio shows 2 Meter Sessies (NPO 2 Extra), Nooit Meer Slapen (Radio 1) and 3voor12 Radio (3fm). Culminating in 2019, in Dutch journalist Gijsbert Kamer (Volkskrant, Radio 1) naming Kester a ‘Talent to Watch’. 

Throughout this period Kester was invited to support the likes of Villagers, Bent Van Looy, Alela Diane, Laura Gibson, The Bony King of Nowhere and Haley Heynderickx on their Netherlands tours,  as well as being invited to perform at leading Netherlands festivals such as Here Comes The Summer, Motel Mozaique and Tweetakt.

Earlier in 2020, Kester teased out two tracks from the forthcoming mini album This Is Not A Democracy, Remove and Delete, which American DJ and tastemaker Chris Douridas included in the KCRW playlist and got plays by Elbow's Guy Garvey on BBC 6 Music. Another track, Day Is Done, was chosen to feature in upcoming American indie film Press Play later this year.

This Is Not A Democracy will be the first release on new independent label AT EASE, released on 11th September on vinyl, CD and digitally. 

It is written by Robin Kester, and recorded and produced by Marien Dorleijn in his studio, located in a former psychiatric institution. It was mixed by Pieter Vonk and mastered by Darius van Helfteren. It features Maarten Vos on cello and modular synths on Sweat and Fright, Day Is Done and Portals. With Conor O’Brien of Villagers performing the brass section on Cigarette Song.

Robin Kester - This Is Not A Democracy

Titanic Risen

Indiana Goth 4 Track

From the metaphorical ashes of a breakup to the literal ashes of a house fire, western Mass. folk rocker Wallace Field rises “like a phoenix from the ashes” (The Recorder) with her debut album “All Costs,” out March 27. The album features nine original songs, took four years to make, and was released on the fifth anniversary of the house fire.

-Written by Chelsie Field
-Recorded by Andrew Oedel @ Ghost Hit Recording & Nate Mondschein @ Echo Base Production
-Produced by Best Mann
-Mixed by Nate Mondschein @ Echo Base Production
-Mastered by Hans DeKline
-Cover photo by Paul Franz
-Funded with help from Club Passim's PEAR Fund

All Costs

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow

Who Do You Want to Be?

Nicky Weinbach - lead and background vocals, vocal harmonies, rhythm guitar, piano, saxophones, organ, claves, rainstick, shaker, vibraphone, sound effects
Max Weinbach - background vocals, vocal harmonies, lead and rhythm guitars, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, trumpets
Anton Patzner - violins, cello
Mike Sanders - bass
Yannick Sabarots - drums

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Nicky and Max Weinbach in Brooklyn, NY*
Mastered by JJ Golden of Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA
*Drums engineered and recorded by Eva Lawitts and Chris Krasnow at Wonderpark Studios in Brooklyn, NY
*Mixing on "Hey, You" by Brian Scherman and Nicky Weinbach

Album Photography by Tom Armstrong

Special Thanks: Brent Weinbach, Clay Cooper, Anton Patzner, Derrick Soares, Laura Weinbach, Adam Schary, Gabe Castro, Mike Krems, Trevor Ames, Michael Beaumonte, and Brian Scherman.

Who Do You Want to Be?

Portable Radio are back with more harmony pop and hooks galore
with their second album, ‘Counting To Three’.
This follows their eponymous LP which garnered wonderful reviews,
with Shindig praising the “uplifting stellar pop songs” and Piccadilly
Records saying “Superb!” and “wonderfully listenable.”
‘Counting To Three’ continues apace, adding more magic and every
bit a love letter to ‘70s pop and rock.
There’s sharp pop and baroque and jangling guitars, and their
trademark harmonies and gear-changes, but now, you’ll also find
Philly orchestrations and Dexy’s brass too! Portable Radio took their
time and produced the songs themselves to make for a real gem of
an album.
You'll find 13 tracks of West Coast cool, melancholy ballads,
bubblegum bangers, and echoes of Wings, 10cc, Lemon Twigs, Of
Montreal, Weyes Blood, Nick Lowe, Carole King and more!
'Counting To Three' will be released on wiaiwya records on limited
and lovely vinyl, download and of course, over on Bandcamp and
your favourite streaming service.

treat yourself

wia116 - Portable Radio - Counting To Three

Produced and mixed by Ryder Houston
Co-produced by Davis M. Shubs
Recorded by Eric Bogacz at Spice House Sound, Philadelphia, PA
Mastered by Dan Harfield at Metropolis Studios, London

Photography by Joshua Chang
Design by Ryder Houston

Special Thanks: Daniel Ash, Weyes Blood, Eric Bogacz, Michael Briggs, Bush, Guillermo Caceres, G. A. Carafelli, Albie Chambers, CMJK, Ross Craig, Ashley Crowder, Will DeJessa, Lana Del Rey, Brian De Palma, Brandon Gordon, Nellee Hooper, Ariana Kelly, Nick Lenker, David Lynch, Madonna, Shirley Manson & Garbage, George Michael, Ryan Neumeister, POiSON GiRL FRiEND, Michael Payne, Eric Scattareggia, Shep Pettibone, Sneaker Pimps, Trent Reznor, Alex Santilli, DeShawn Seymore, Davis M. Shubs, Sissy Spacek, Ronnie Stone, Jacob Symbol, Tricky, Ciaran Wall, Alan Wilder, Rob Zombie, everyone who continues to support me, and lastly (but not leastly), all the boys who made me feel the feelings I made this music about.

Total Reciprocity

Another song has arrived from that already famous album that Soleá Morente is making with Guille Milkyway (LA CASA AZUL), and everything is pointing to another leap of faith, a new exploration in unknown territory, another sharp turn in a career called unexpected and improvised globetrotting. After “Vamos A Olvidar” and “Gitana María”, we now have “Mi Vida Es Para Mí”, a song that gives us a sneak peak into the more intimate part of this collaboration. It is also very special for both of them, since it was the first song that wrote together in Guille’s studio, a space where sparks fly every time they get together. On “Mi Vida Es Para Mí” we can clearly recognize Soleá, who shows herself and opens her heart with no hesitation, where she gathers strength to reaffirm herself, where she shows her insecurities with ease (“And it’s funny, all the stupid things you said / That it wasn’t star material at all / Not indie, not pop, not flamenco”), where she looks for that turning point, that support that changes everything. “I feel so empty / And drinking doesn’t work / And Valium fucks me up / I’m going to annihilate the time I wasted / My life is for me”. To do so she uses vertiginous references; “Mi Vida Es Para Mí” navigates between the nebulous terrain of WEYES BLOOD, the sonic confidence of ST. VINCENT, the intimate epic-ness of Lorde, the introspective melancholy of BEACH HOUSE and the dense landscapes of TAME IMPALA. Electrifying, high voltage, emotions right on the surface in every sense. Right down to the cover photo by Pablo Hoyos. It’s all so wonderful.

Mi Vida Es Para Mí

2011 was an incredible year. Philly’s music scene was exploding. In an effort to help cultivate this rising tide the Dream Oven was formed. Found in the basement of a storefront space located at 2311 Frankford Avenue (now Little Baby’s Ice Cream), the oven kept us all warm. In one year, over 75 bands from all over the country played in this safe haven for dream punk, as well as performances by dozens of anti-djs, poets, artists, and et cetera. This was the year dream punk broke. The fall out continues to be magical.

If you like the bands on this tape, please look them up and buy their music. Most of them are still kicking it and their records are easily found online. Or you could just see them live the next time they pass through Philadelphia! I hope you enjoy the sounds of 2011, the first year.

Side A
1. Daniel Bachman & Ryley Walker  - “The Bridge of Flowers”
2. Quilt - ”Penobska Oakwalk”
3. Happy Jawbone Family Band - “D-R-E-A-M-I-N-”
4. Carnivores - “Planet Dream”
5. The Great Valley - “Hollywood”
6. Netherfriends - “Nunya”
7. Moon King - “Old”
8. Hott Tubb - “Distance”
9. Primary Colors - “Animals”
10. Void Vision - “Black and White”
11. Horsebladder - “Fountain”

Side B
1. Weyes Blood - “Candy Song”
2. Creepoid - “Dream Out”
3. Odonis Odonis - “Hollandaze”
4. Mood Rings - “Exercised Painting”
5. Party Photographers - “Penn Treaty”
6. Far-Out Fangtooth - “Occasion of Sin”
7. Hot Guts - “The Ballad of John Simon”
8. MMOSS - “Marianne Rising”
9. Wisdom Tooth - Indian’s Dreamcatcher”
10. Veedon Fleece - “Golden Nature / Colour Fade(s)”

The First Year - a mix for 2011

The Innocents

Cardamom Times

The performance of Tortoise was curated by Wilco for Le Guess Who? Festival 2016.

Recorded by Marc Broer for VPRO Vrije Geluiden (vpro.nl/vrije-geluiden), 13 November 2016 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. 
Photography by Jan Rijk.

Le Guess Who? 2017 takes place November 9-12 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The program features a.o. Perfume Genius, Grouper, James Holden, and Shabazz Palaces as curators + performances by a.o. Pharoah Sanders, Oumou Sangaré, Mount Eerie, Sun Kil Moon, Aldous Harding, Liars, Weyes Blood and many more.  
For more info, see www.leguesswho.com.

Tortoise - Live at Le Guess Who? 2016

Front Row Seat to Earth

Lonesome Leash - "Delicate Art"
out November 2 via Cruisin Records

Walt McClements has often been at the center of other people's drama. For more than a decade, he has made a name and a living, as the party responsible for some of the most compelling emotional flourishes on a variety of records and stages. From his hands come the plaintive piano over which Natalie Mering’s voice soars throughout the past few years Weyes Blood tours. Dark Dark Dark fans often swooned over McClements’ sometimes simultaneous accordion and trumpet swells. And from their New Orleanian beginnings, Hurray for the Riff Raff’s alt-country balladeering has often been bolstered by McClements’ multi-instrumental wizardry.

But even among the members of those groups, there has long been shared the lighthearted half-joke: “Walt is fiercely independent.” 

Both this independence and its apparently contrary collaborative spirit are at play on Delicate Art, McClement’s latest solo release under the Lonesome Leash moniker. Indeed, the balance of such opposing modes is a delicate art, clearly on display from the record’s earliest moments. 

McClements is joined on “Driving,” by indie-folk godmother Mirah. It plays as a duet about solitude, a conceptually tense but soothing tangle of pulsing drum machine and accordion and synth arpeggiations. The song weaves its way like a car through L.A. traffic, in and out of lines like “I can almost see the faces of the people next to me / oh but the light blinds me.” But there is something more than the celebration of solitude here: “I have never felt as much a part of something larger than myself as when I'm on the highway.” Eventually the weaving poetic vehicle hits an open stretch of road and Mirah’s voice joins McClements to sing “we are a river made of light and made of metal / made of skin and bone.” It isn’t quite a celebration of collective spirit that animates this statement, but it’s far from a lament of the solitary. 

An apparent tension between solitude and connection is what animates that line and indeed much of the record. But tension is not necessarily strife, and McClements looks repeatedly at that fine and delicate balance between being alone and being in congress. “Ghosts in the Garden” sees McClements laying with his lover, but with shoes muddied from “walking in that park again.” And when day breaks, he says, “I’ll pretend that I got a bit of sleep / It’s easier that way.” The song is not a simple ode to cruising, but it is an ode to the space between cruising and not. His doubtful lover asks him what did he dream, and McClements replies to him “I was naked almost formless and beauty had no context.”

None of this is without the drama that McClements has so often brought to his past collaborations, and which he tirelessly brings to his solo performances. Onstage, McClements often stuns. While he is many highway miles away from his once adopted home of New Orleans, it was there he cut his teeth as a solo performer, diving head-first into drums, trumpet, and accordion, playing them all at once. Onstage and on record, organic textures are reined and metered and meted out, syncopated. Narrative is the driving force but pulsation is the vehicle. And while it would be wrong to say that Delicate Art celebrates dysfunction or conflict, there is an undeniable sense of empowerment in acknowledgment, an exultant aura, in exploring moments of tension, even heartbreak. And it is via a certain flippancy, as though in authoring these decidedly queer love songs, McClements offers a critique, even an invalidation of many of the love song tropes which have come before.

Lonesome Leash "Delicate Art"

A Certain Kind b/w Everybody's Talkin'

Titanic Rising

Rough Trade Session

To Be Infected 2

Mother Fucker

Slowboat To China (Blaze Foley)

Piano Casette Intro

Our Summer Dream

Track Listing:
1. Daniel Bachman & Ryley Walker - "The Bridge of Flowers"
2. Quilt - "Penobska Oakwalk"
3. Happy Jawbone Family Band - "D-R-E-A-M-I-N-"
4. Carnivores - "Planet Dream"
5. The Great Valley - "Hollywood"
6. Netherfriends - "Nunya"
7. Moon King - "Old"
8. Hott Tubb - "Distance"
9. Primary Colors - "Animals"
10. Void Vision - "Black and White"
11. Horsebladder - "Fountain"

SIDE A

Tracklisting:
1. Weyes Blood - "Candy Song"
2. Creepoid - "Dream Out"
3. Odonis Odonis - "Hollandaze"
4. Mood Rings - "Exercised Painting"
5. Party Photographers - "Penn Treaty"
6. Far-out Fangtooth - "Occasion of Sin"
7. Hot Guts - "The Ballad of John Simon"
8. MMOSS - "Marianne Rising"
9. Wisdom Tooth - "Indian's Dreamcatcher"
10. Veedon Fleece - "Golden Nature / Colour Fade(s)"

SIDE B

Children of the Empire

God Turn Me Into a Flower

It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody

Grapevine

Hearts Aglow

Vamos A Olvidar

Vamos A Olvidar (Feat. La Casa Azul)

Nicky Weinbach - lead and background vocals, vocal harmonies, piano, saxophones
Max Weinbach - background vocals, vocal harmonies, lead and rhythm guitars, trumpets
Anton Patzner - cello
Mike Sanders - bass
Yannick Sabarots - drums

Written by Nicky Weinbach

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Nicky and Max Weinbach in Brooklyn, NY*
Mastered by JJ Golden of Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA
*Drums engineered and recorded by Eva Lawitts and Chris Krasnow at Wonderpark Studios in Brooklyn, NY

Nicky Weinbach - lead and background vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, organ, claves, rainstick, shaker, vibraphone
Max Weinbach - lead harmonies and background vocals, lead guitars
Mike Sanders - bass
Yannick Sabarots - drums
Anton Patzner - violins

Written by Nicky Weinbach

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Nicky and Max Weinbach in Brooklyn, NY*
Mastered by JJ Golden of Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA
*Drums engineered and recorded by Eva Lawitts and Chris Krasnow at Wonderpark Studios in Brooklyn, NY
*Mixing on "Hey, You" by Brian Scherman and Nicky Weinbach

Hey, You

Max Weinbach - vocals, acoustic guitar
Nicky Weinbach - vocals, sound effects

Written by Max Weinbach and Nicky Weinbach

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Nicky and Max Weinbach in Brooklyn, NY*
Mastered by JJ Golden of Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA

Wishing Well

Nicky Weinbach - lead and background vocals, vocal harmonies, rhythm guitar
Max Weinbach - background vocals, vocal harmonies, lead and rhythm guitars, synthesizer
Anton Patzner - violins, cello
Mike Sanders - bass
Yannick Sabarots - drums

Music and Lyrics written by Nicky Weinbach
Additional Lyrics written by Max Weinbach

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Nicky and Max Weinbach in Brooklyn, NY*
Mastered by JJ Golden of Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA
*Drums engineered and recorded by Eva Lawitts and Chris Krasnow at Wonderpark Studios in Brooklyn, NY

Oh, Alison

Gitana María

Gitana María

Written by Pino Donaggio & Merrit Malloy
Originally Performed by Katie Irving
Transcribed by Furkan Barut
Arranged by Ryder Houston
Bass Guitar, Electric Piano, Add'l Synth: Samuel Nobles
Acoustic & Electric Guitars: Ciaran Wall
Pedal Steel Guitar: Burton Lee
Backing Vocals: Ariana Kelly

I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me

Written by Ryder Houston
Bass Guitar: Samuel Nobles
Electric Guitar: Ciaran Wall
Add'l Electric Guitar: Davis M. Shubs
Add'l Loops: Guillermo Caceres

Knows No Bounds

Written by Ryder Houston
Bass Guitar, Grand Piano, Add'l Synth: Samuel Nobles
Electric Guitar: Ciaran Wall & Davis M. Shubs

Mi Vida Es Para Mí

Summer

Hang On

Land of Broken Dreams

Maybe Love

Some Winters

Cardamom

Take You There

In the Beginning

Requiem for Forgiveness

Be Free

Generation Why

Do You Need My Love

Used to Be

Diary

Recorded by Marc Broer for VPRO Vrije Geluiden (vpro.nl/vrije-geluiden) at Le Guess Who?, 13 November 2016 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. 
Photography by Jan Rijk.

Le Guess Who? 2017 takes place November 9-12 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. For more info, see www.leguesswho.com.

Tortoise - Monica

Tortoise - Gesceap

Tortoise - Eros

Tortoise - The Suspensions Bridge At Iguazú Falls

Tortoise - The Catastrophist

Gallery Floor

Delicate Art (featuring Nona Marie Invie)

Ghosts in the Garden

Driving (featuring Mirah)

Permanence

Andromeda

Everyday

A Certain Kind

Everybody's Talkin

Something to Believe

A Lot's Gonna Change

Wild Time (Rough Trade Session)

A Lot Has Changed (Rough Trade Session)

Everyday (Rough Trade Session)

Something to Believe (Rough Trade Session)

The Dirt

Robin Kester - The Dirt

Robin Kester - Remove And Delete

Netherlands artist Robin Kester returns with new single Sweat And Fright, a rhythmic, soulful slice of spectral psych-tinged electronica recalling Broadcast which she describes as “an ode to nightmares.”

The single’s subject matter is indicative of Kester’s forthcoming mini album This Is Not A Democracy  (11th Sept, AT EASE) as a whole, with its abstract exploration of nightmares, escapism, free will, and shifting mental states. 

Kester’s sound is equally as dream-like with its blending of her gentle beguiling vocal and experimentations with retro guitars, vintage synthesizers and an antique vibraphonette. Produced by Marien Dorleijn (of Dutch band Moss) in his studio set deep within an old psychiatric institute, the production style draws on inspiration from luscious  70’s pop, with touches of the dream-pop of Beach House, the otherworldly, ethereal qualities of artists such as Weyes Blood and Sufjan Stevens and a nod to the chamber-pop of Cate Le Bon.

Sweat And Fright is the fourth single taken from This Is Not A Democracy, following last month’s Cigarette Song, a dreamy collaboration with Conor O’Brien (Villagers), Remove And Delete which is currently being championed by Guy Garvey (BBC 6 Music) and was included in American DJ and tastemaker Chris Douridas’ KCRW playlist, and Day Is Done which will feature in upcoming American indie film Press Play out later this year.

Back in the Netherlands Kester is a much-acclaimed emerging artist, last month she recorded a legendary 2 Meter Session following in the footsteps of the likes of Radiohead and Nirvana. This follows a series of accolades following the release of early singles and her debut ‘Peel The Skin’ EP (2018),  including a spot on Spotify’s Viral Chart, appearances on high profile TV and radio shows including Vrije Geluiden, Nooit Meer Slapen (Radio 1) and 3voor12 Radio (3fm), a ‘Track of the Week’  slot in de Volkskrant, and the kudos of being named ‘Talent to Watch’ by Dutch journalist Gijsbert Kamer (Volkskrant, Radio 1). 

Kester has toured with the likes of  Villagers, Bent Van Looy, Alela Diane, Laura Gibson, The Bony King of Nowhere and Haley Haley Heynderickx in the Netherlands,  and  has performed at leading national festivals such as Here Comes The Summer, Motel Mozaique and Tweetakt.

Sweat And Fright was written by Robin Kester, recorded and produced by Marien Dorleijn, mixed by Pieter Vonk, and mastered by Darius van Helfteren. It features Maarten Vos on cello and modular synths. It is released as a digital single on 28th August, with Kester’s min-album This Is Not A Democracy following on 11th September via AT EASE.

Robin Kester- Sweat and Fright

Robin Kester - Portals

Robin Kester - Cigarette Song

Silhouette City is a Brooklyn-based indie pop rock band fronted by twin brothers Nicky and Max Weinbach. They like to rock out to extremely catchy songs that evoke sounds from the 60s and 80s.

Ryder Harrison Houston is an American filmmaker, musician, and performer born just outside of Dallas, Texas. At age 19, he premiered his debut feature film 'Rapture in Blue', a noir-ish ode to the ubiquitous gothic zeitgeist of the late 20th century. Included on the eponymous soundtrack is the haunting theme 'Wine (A Sea Of Future) - From "Rapture in Blue"' performed by frequent collaborator Ariana Kelly and it was this very release which would catalyze the future of Houston's musical endeavors. As much has is evocative sound dotes on alternative pop acts Depeche Mode, Garbage, and even Madonna at her most subversive, it also seems to suggest something greater operating on the periphery: a dark, omnipresent melodrama not unlike the crooning music of David Lynch composer Angelo Badalamenti or the baroque sensibilities of Lana Del Rey. Nevertheless, his eclectic body of work remains adhered to a certain groovy allusion to opium-den electricians the likes of Portishead and Massive Attack with his spidery vocals weaving clichés of lust and rock ‘n’ roll menace anew. It is within this blasphemous little slipstream that Ryder Houston’s unique brand of sonic nostalgia exists — a sullen musical seduction echoing back from a liminal moment in time where downtempo music and freeze-dried hip-hop beats managed to infiltrate every hot artist’s discography, mutating genre ties and birthing something wholly itself.

Technological fatigue. Narcissism anxiety. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop Records). 

The album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019’s best.)  Where Titanic was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. “We’re in a fully functional shit show,” Mering says. “My heart is a glow stick that’s been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness.”

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome “It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody” — about the interconnectivity of all beings, but also the fraying of society around us. “I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper isolation kept coming up,” Mering says. “Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal.”

Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like “Grapevine” chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge “God Turn Me into a Flower” serves as an allegory about our collective hubris. “The Worst Is Done” is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. 

“Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order,” she says. “These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment.”

It's real, it's a label, it's artist management, it's a platform, it's complicated, as always... but it's going to be fun. It's AT EASE.

Join the mailing list: wallacefieldmusic.com

A Celebration of Sound in Utrecht, Netherlands.

"Le Guess Who? proves: music & art can bring us together into a more hopeful future" – The Line of Best Fit

www.leguesswho.com

To talk about Soleá Morente is to talk about a crossroads. A place where different paths meet: some come from pop, others from flamenco, others from rock, electronic, shoegaze… And just at the point where all these paths come together, she is born. Territory that, until now, no one had ever covered before. Mysterious, unknown. That, among so many other things, is what is so exciting about her journey.

Born in Madrid, but with roots in Granada (where she lives), daughter of the maestro Enrique Morente and the flamenco dancer Aurora Carbonell. Sister of Estrella Morente and Kiki Morente.

Soleá Morente is a unique character on the Spanish music scene because she has always been permeable to other musical references and styles. For this reason, is really difficult to talk about an artist that is so rich in references, styles and nuances, capable of bringing together musical parameters that would normally be thousands of miles apart, and that come together with excitement and brilliance, emotion and intelligence.