Press Releases For January: Here Are The Artists
Bakar, Lily Donat, Joe Kenkel, Michael J Woodard, Natalia M. King, TWÏNS, Yot Club are among the press releases for this beginning of 2022.
Bakar – “Build Me A Way”: A simple melody with real human touch and a rap verse, Bakar’s work has been called inexplicably vibrant, soul-inflected, genre-smashing, blisteringly honest, and profoundly creative. This London’s next-gen Rockstar has released a video for the track, while his debut album is already announced. The young artist, who was christened as a rising star by an elite fan club ranging from Sir Elton John to Skepta, Dominic Fike, Virgil Abloh and beyond, sent shockwaves through the culture with 2018’s “Badkid” project, stitching together rock, smooth R&B, hip-hop, and experimental indie with a punk edge. He has packed venues around the world while amassing nearly 30 million streams in less than a year’s time, while being named a major artist to watch by many publications. He also became a face of the Louis Vuitton SS19 Campaign and has collaborated with the likes of Prada, Topman and more. Defying creative boundaries, Bakar unassumingly incites a movement of his own.
Lily Donat – “Most Important Man”: A catchy soaring pop song, refreshingly honest in tone, with dreamy keys and vaporous vocals. The tune carries raw emotions, a bit reminiscent of the work of Florence and the Machine. “’Most Important Man’ is a song about the addictive kind of dark love,” says the press release. “The lyrics are meant to encapsulate the experience of being fully enmeshed in a romantic relationship with a narcissist, and finding yourself a willing participant in dysfunction, while also feeling stuck. Lily wrote this song in an effort to release the mental obsession with willing light into shadowed places and making the impossible true. Stefan Mac produced the track, and the goal was to make the production to be dark without dipping too deep into sadness. Because the lyrics are heavy, it was important to Lily that the production contain compelling, rhythmic elements to keep the listener somewhat elevated throughout the story that is ‘Most Important Man.’” Laden with symbols, images of nature, personal narrative, themes of darkness and hope, her songs are the pages of her diary she’s willing to share. Inspired by pain, growth, nostalgia, love, heartbreak, and all things human, Lily likes to write the messy truth.
Joe Kenkel – “Sweeping”: An intimate, very fluid and layered late summer track (watch the video) filled with a collection of original sonic details and Joe Kenkel’s airy to dragging to soaring vocals. The inviting song, which somewhat reminds me of Kevin Morby, is a track from his album “Naturale,” due on January 13 via Earth Libraries. Speaking on the single, Joe wrote: “‘Sweeping’ is one of five love songs on ‘Naturale’. It’s one of the oldest on the album. Originally, it was written and performed as an electric-heavy rock song. It found a new meaning with this nylon-led version, surrounded with electronic elements. Once Ross and I stumbled upon the feel of this song, we chased that direction for the remainder of the album. ‘Sweeping’ is inspired by the mundane acts of kindness that we perform, without huffing and puffing, for those we care for. Acts of friendship and love don’t have to be some grand gesture. They are most often: sharing a meal, giving a ride to the airport, lending a book, sweeping the cat hair from the floor, etc. It’s an oddball love song inspired by small acts of kindness performed gladly for the ones you love. Love inserts itself into unconscious, mundane acts and can transform even household chores into deep expressions of affection. This expression can be felt in the repetition of the song’s chord progression and expansion of its atmospheric elements.”
Michael J Woodard – “hope full”: A R&B tone with helium vocals and a hooky chorus performed by one of the top 5 finalists on American Idol, who was championed by and signed to Katy Perry’s imprint Unsub Records. Woodard explains: “‘hope full’ is a song that encourages you to try and stay optimistic and focused on reaching your goals. Especially when you’re hit with obstacles or when things aren’t going quite as you expected. I’ve had to remind myself to keep moving forward over the years, and as I’m now starting to share my music with the world, I feel like I’ve really began to see the results of that determination.” The song comes with a video.
Natalia M. King – “Pink House”: A captivating country voice (it’s actually a duet) with a music occupying several territories between blues, R&B, and American roots music. Paris-based, Brooklyn-bred singer-songcrafter Natalia M. King will release her latest LP, “Woman Mind Of My Own,” on February 18th via Dixiefrog Records. “One of the most interesting things about this album is that we really expect to hear and believe that this type of music can only be homegrown in the United States because it’s truly got that blues/Americana/pop feel, but amazingly, it was all done by French men all from Paris!” she explains. “Goes to show that the blues is not a land, or a race, or a place…but a Spirit, an existential feeling.” On “Woman Mind Of My Own,” King searches her soul and bares it all. Through its nine tracks, all either composed by King or borrowed from others, there is a marvelous feeling of rediscovery of that magical style, unaffected by the wear and tear of time.
TWÏNS – “Peace”: A melancholic song with acute chords mimicking the vocals, while the result is a strange combination that has been compared to “a blend of musical inspirations that includes Can and The Beatles.” This is the first single off “The Human Jazz,” the forthcoming album of Berlin-based artist TWÏNS (the musical project of Miro Denck), due in April via Earth Libraries. Speaking on “Peace,” Miro wrote: “To be honest, this is one of the most intimate songs on the record which generally is one revolving around break-up and trying to tackle impermanence, and as such it’s certainly the one where I felt most vulnerable recording it. It’s really nothing else than self-therapy, and other than that me trying to communicate with someone through the means of a song when I couldn’t in real life. And thus actually postponing said communication. In a way maybe like writing someone a letter, putting all your effort into trying to make it as beautiful and honest as possible and then never sending it. It already takes a lot of weight of your shoulders — and it kept doing so every time I listened to it, repeating my lament, my excuses and my hopes like a mantra. Like all the other songs on the record, I recorded and produced it all by myself. In that sense it was to me what recording music alone has always been to me, retreating to a safe space and opening up completely. Experimentation, trial and error until I found the language I was looking for to say the things I wanted to say, but for most part it’s sort of a cleansing, spiritual experience in which I feel closer to the world around me as well as within me, closer to love, closer to life. Whatever it may be is what it is. I don’t believe in telling people how they should perceive art. It’s a very subjective experience. In any way I hope that they can connect and that it gives them something that makes them feel alive.”
Yot Club – “Deer Island”: A percussive sun-kissed pop song with upbeat chords and a touch of haziness and morosity in the vocals. The track is Yot Club’s (the project of Ryan Kaiser) third and final single off the band’s forthcoming EP, “Santolina,” due January 14, 2022 via Nice Guys Records. Speaking on the track, Ryan Kaiser wrote: “Deer Island is a tiny island with no residents. You can see it from the coast, and I’ve always thought it looked super creepy and liminal. One night I read about a guy that used to live there alone in a shack. He would paddle out to fisherman and tourist and sing for them, and they would throw him tips. Everyone referred to him as the hermit of Deer Island and he was apparently very well liked throughout town. I just thought it was a cool story and it shows that if you do what you love, people will almost always be supportive even if it’s weird.” Ryan’s lo-fi indie pop project Yot Club stems from a diverse array of influences, and offers a unique and recognizable brand of vibrant, sunny pop rock. On “Santolina, Kaiser presents a record not avoidant of but rather in conversation with all those things that make modern America a hulking, unsustainable—but somehow still beautiful—weirdo wasteland: TikTok, corporatism, beige sandstone homes, private desert communities, manicured lawns, suburban surrealism. All in between are the people trying to make sense of it all. Yot Club is right there with you.
