Press Releases From June 2020: Here Are The Artists

Tom Petty among the press releases from June (photo credit: Martyn Atkins)

A new Tom Petty demo, two hot female rappers, and plenty of pop songs among these press releases from June.

Delilah Montagu – ‘Version of Me’: A breezy romantic ballad with youthful and mellow vocals by the 22-year-old critically acclaimed London-based artist Delilah Montag. It’s a plaintive, piano-led lament with strings, filled with nostalgia but it’s also her debut single that she explains herself: ‘It’s about wanting to be your true self, but not knowing who that is, or what that looks like. I’ve been trying for so long to find the right words, the right time, and the right way to say how I feel, but when you’re questioning yourself that can be a terrifying reality to articulate. I’m so proud of this song and hope that maybe it can bring others the solace it’s given me.’ The song comes with a video.

Kacy Hill – ‘Everybody’s Mother’: Kacy Hill’s crystalline voice floats delicately above sparse bell-like notes for this new single from ‘Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again,’ her forthcoming second album slated for release on July 10. Hill, who collaborated with Bon Iver on his latest track ‘PDLIF’,  describes the song: ‘’Everybody’s Mother’ is about taking care of others and wishing I had someone to read my mind and take care of me the way that I want. I know there are people who care for me, but sometimes I don’t even want to put in the effort into communicating what I want or need—I just want them to take care of me without asking.’

Joshua Speers – ‘Bad Night’: A swirl of harmonica launches the acoustic song filled with heartfelt vocals and an intimacy à la Bright Eyes. This is a song from Speers’ ‘Human Now Acoustic today,’ an EP featuring acoustic renditions of three tracks ‘Bad Night,’ ‘Happy Birthday You’re Alone’, and ‘Can I Fall In Love With A Broken Heart.’ Joshua Speers explains, ‘I guess you can call them ‘acoustic versions’ or ‘alternate versions’ but I like to think of them as slightly different songs. When you change the instrumentation or adjust the key you’re singing in it’s like changing the narrator in a novel. It’s the same story but told from a different perspective and even without changing the words, you can emotionally tell a new story. I think these versions might tell the story better than the original recordings.’

Secret Machines – ‘Talos’ Corpse’: A somber track with raucous and morose vocals driven by ‘80s synth, a song from ‘Awake in the Brain Chamber,’ the band’s fourth LP and first new release in nearly 12 years, out August 21 on TSM Recordings. Their ‘space-rock’ opera sound has become a symbol of rebirth, especially after the death of Brandon Curtis’ brother and former band member, Benjamin Curtis, in 2013, whose sonic fingerprints are all over the record.

Love Ghost – ‘Outer Space’: After a symphonic intro with ghostly voices, the bulk of the song grows into grungy inspiration. ‘When I was younger I would lay on our roof at night and look at the stars, thinking about escaping my problems,’ explained lead singer and guitarist Finn Bell. ‘The vastness of space can humble and inspire you at the same time.’ Produced by Danny Saber (The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper,  the Charlatans, Public Enemy) the song will be featured on one of the two full EPs to be released this fall.

Day Sulan – ‘BIG’ (featuring Rubi Rose): A hot female rapper who is having a ‘BIG’ vision for everything, with the help of young rapper Rubi Rose. The anthemic song comes fully alive with the video directed by Austin Simkins, and featuring the two female performers wearing matching bathing suits, leaning out of pricey whips and dancing poolside. There’s no doubt these bold and sexy women know what they want and their confidence is contagious. Day Sulan has an almost-Cinderella story as her days at a LA strip club led to her standout feature on ‘Her Story’ from YG’s 4REAL 4REAL album, which shot to #7 on Billboard’s Top 200.

Steven Moses – ‘Lose It’: The 20-year-old rapper from Blair County, Pennsylvania, transforms his rap into a sad pop ballad with plenty of emotions and a melodious chorus while channeling his real-life struggles and put it all in the music. Getting his inspiration from punk rock, Moses is determined to make the most of his legacy at a time when music about the darker sides of life is especially appealing to young fans, ‘I was really sad and I was just singing and rapping about being fucking sad,’ he admits. His forthcoming album, ‘99’, is an exercise in building the bridge between a past filled with drug use, promiscuity, depression and nihilism, and a more optimistic and positive future. ‘Lose It’ is his debut single.

Tom Petty – ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels’: This is the first song from long-awaited Tom Petty release coming later in 2020. The Petty Family has released Tom Petty’s 8 track demo of his classic song which will be part of a forthcoming Wildflowers project on Warner Records. The demo, recorded in his home studio, sounds very intimate, and the song, well known for the lyric ‘Let’s Get To The Point, and Let’s Roll Another Joint’ has slightly different lyrics. It shows an insight to Petty’s writing process and introduces a line from another favorite Wildflowers track ‘Crawling Back To You’ stating, ‘most things I worry about never happen anyway.’ A humorous, animated video created and directed by Ben ‘Blaze’ Brooks and Aaron Hymes comes with the song.

Weathers – ‘C’est la Vie’: An anxious delivery over nervous beats and an original glitchy soundscape turning in a clap-along catchy chorus with echoes of Spoon. The song, both sad and joyous is a new single by Southern California based quartet Weathers, showing that the band has the intention to process its personal struggles through songwriting.

Rence – ‘Something Things Just Fall Apart’: A sweet and wide-eyed sound easily turning into a pop anthem with multi-layered vocals. The new single by Rence (which comes with a water-bound video directed by Daniel Jordan K ) manages to combine delicate delivery with a soft solo acoustic guitar. Rence had this to say about ‘Something Things Just Fall Apart’: ‘This song is about coming to terms with what is out of your control. I’d been trying so desperately to figure out why one thing or another didn’t go my way, and I was struggling with these big questions of purpose and fulfillment. This song is the remedy—sometimes, things are just gonna fall apart no matter how hard you try, and that is OK.’