Category Archives: Blog

Black Flower preview upcoming album with title track ‘Magma’

27 November 2021

After sharing ‘O Fogo’, Black Flower are giving us another excellent reason to be excited for their upcoming album, Magma, with its title track unveiled as the second single. They comment:

“We present this latest single as a metaphor for what is to come – moments in time when music comes to the surface taking a concrete form, shared and used to amplify the beauty of life. Being the title track of the upcoming album it reflects a boiling, churning, silent energy. It is the core, the source. It is a state between solid and liquid and represents ancient energy and new potential. The track. An arching melody from the cornet gives way to an eruptive solo on baritone sax.”

Listen to ‘Magma’ below and grab the album when it’s out on January 28th through Sdban Ultra.

Keeley Forsyth set to release second full-length album, Limbs, in February

22 November 2021

Debris, the phenomenal debut album English actress and musician Keeley Forsyth, was one of our Album Picks of 2020 and we’re thrilled to know a follow-up is on the way. Entitled Limbs, the forthcoming album will see the light of day on February 25th through The Leaf Label. Along with news, Forsyth has also revealed the first otherworldly and arresting single, ‘Bring Me Water’. “The song picks up where ‘Start Again’, the final track on Debris, left off,” Forsyth explained. “It comes from a similar place, approached at a different angle, with the line ‘let me begin again’ central to that. It plots a journey from a place of darkness, but marks the point at which we choose to grow. Bring me water. Give me light. These are the basic things required to start that process.”

‘Bring Me Water’ comes with a monochrome video directed by Ross Downes and featuring dancer and choreographer Calvin Richardson of the Royal Ballet. Watch it below.

Elena Setién previews upcoming album with new single ‘In This Short Life’

13 November 2021

Following the beautiful and delicate ‘Situation’ and the celestial ‘Unfamiliar Minds‘, Elena Setién is enticing us again with a new single called ‘In This Short Life’. The track is lifted from her much anticipated new album, Unfamiliar Minds, and is inspired and named after a poem by Emily Dickinson. ‘In This Short Life’ “embodies the duality of being both deeply rooted in the past and yet remarkably of the moment,” as the press release describes. “Stately melodies that gradually bloom over clouds of organ and hallucinatory embellishments from otherworldly instruments refracted into familiar shapes.” Take a listen now.

Unfamiliar Minds is out on January 28th through Thrill Jockey.

Black Flower announce new album, Magma, and share first single ‘O Fogo’

11 November 2021

Black Flower are a Belgian collective captained by brilliant saxophonist, flutist and composer Nathan Daems, a musician who has shown his style and versatility in various projects like Ragini Trio, the Karsilama Quintet, Dijf Sanders and Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra. Exploring everything from Ethio jazz and afrobeat to psychedelia, western musical traditions and oriental influences, the quintet comprises four other adventurous musicians of the highest calibre, Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, MDCIII) on drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas) on bass, and as of recently Karel Cuelenaere (John Ghost) on keys.

With a new full length on the way, there’s reason to celebrate. Entitled Magma, the album arrives on January 28th through Sdban Ultra and along with the news, Black Flower have shared the first thrilling single, ‘O Fogo’. The band comments:

“Organ and flute move like a dancing flame to the almost naive groove, giving the track a feeling of lightness and positivity. We imagine us to be crossing nature, slightly unprepared, excited to go on an adventure and eager to be stunned by everything we see. The track is named after the Capeverdian volcano and translates as ‘The Fire’.”

‘O Fogo’ comes with an accompanying video made by Philippe Werkers. Watch it now.

Watch Jerusalem In My Heart’s short film for ‘Tanto’ featuring Lucrecia Dalt

10 November 2021

Hot on the heels of the release of Qalaq, Jerusalem In My Heart shared last week a short film to accompany album track ‘Tanto’ featuring guest Lucrecia Dalt. Speaking about this collaboration, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh has this to say:

“Lucrecia Dalt and I have shared much music with one another, and over the course of the many years of knowing each other and sharing stages, we decided to collaborate on the track “Tanto” for Qalaq. We discussed a few ideas and wanted to keep it minimal, but maintain the form of a ‘duet’. We exchanged some music and she came up with a beautiful tape loop for the backbone of the track, through which we were able to find our vocal identities. It was a haunting, eerie, out-of-time tape loop, which she proposed after I had sent her the (Arabic) lyrics and a translation of them—and most importantly, their intention. The song is meant to evoke the feeling of ‘envy’ familiar to many people in developing nations.”

The accompanying film was shot on 16mm by new member Erin Weisgerber with concept and performance by dancer/choreographer Stacey Desilier. Radwan comments:

“Erin Weisgerber and I decided to make a small film for this song. I had wanted to work with the incredible Stacey Desilier as a choreographer and dancer. We exchanged some ideas and I sent everyone some film references, to which everyone echoed back others, and from there we settled on a setting and imagery and actions and shot this film in the forests north of Tiohtia:ke / Montréal.”

Watch the film below.

Qalaq is out now through Constellation

Poppy Ackroyd releases new single ‘Murmurations’; new album Pause out this Friday

09 November 2021

With just a few days to go until the release of Pause, the new album from talented multi-instrumentalist and composer Poppy Ackroyd, she has shared another gorgeous single called ‘Murmurations’. The track is based on the flocking behaviour of starlings and “focusses on big, sweeping migrations, until it fixes on a singular bird’s journey”. ‘Murmurations’ comes with an accompanying video filmed at Rak Studios by Sound Network. Watch it below and grab the below when it’s out on Friday through One Little Independent Records.