Tag: indie

WATCH: Natalie Jane Hill, “Plants and Flowers That Do Not Grow Here”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Natalie Jane Hill
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Plants and Flowers That Do Not Grow Here”
Album: Solely
Release Date: October 29, 2021
Label: Dear Life Records

In Their Words: “‘Plants and Flowers That Do Not Grow Here’ is one of my more personal songs on the album. It’s about trying to navigate through a time of addiction while in a disassociated state. I had spent some time trying to distinguish reality from illusion, and I wanted this song to capture the dreamlike quality I was lost in. This video was captured in places that are very familiar to me. It’s based around my neighborhood in San Marcos, Texas. And it ends in the town where I grew up, in Wimberley, Texas. I wanted there to be more of an urban feel to this video while still intertwining some natural aspects. The opening scene is actually footage from a house show I played. It’s meant to portray the idea of me continuing on into the night after the show. I do a lot of aimless walking when I need to clear my head and I felt like this song needed that to be the essence. I love how Jordan Moser captured the early light as dawn approached. There’s definitely a dreamlike quality to this song as these revelations sort of unveil with the morning sunrise. ” — Natalie Jane Hill

Photo credit: Julian Neel

WATCH: Brooke Law, “Millionaires” (Feat. Andy Jordan)

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Artist: Brooke Law
Hometown: London, England
Song: “Millionaires” (featuring Andy Jordan)
Release Date: September 24, 2021
Label: Archetypes Music

In Their Words: “‘Millionaires’ is really special to me. It’s also my dad’s favourite song of mine. I wrote it with the first person I ever fell in love with and we were best friends. We always wished we’d be playing the song to millions of people. 🤣 ‘Millionaires’ is about a couple who are struggling to make things work without having a lot of security, but as long as they have each other and have love they can still dream.” — Brooke Law

Photo credit: Lou Morris Photography

LISTEN: Kris Gruen, “Pictures Of”

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Artist: Kris Gruen
Hometown: Worcester, Vermont
Song: “Pictures Of”
Album: Welcome Farewell
Release Date: September 24, 2021
Label: Mother West

In Their Words: “My firstborn has started a list of her first choices for college. I’m gonna look past how stereotypical I sound and just say it… Feels like yesterday that I was swinging her to sleep in her detachable car seat and spinning her favorite episodic bedtime story, Stanley the Friendly Whale. I’ve written her songs, and into songs, in the past. One of them was about a deep nostalgia for her younger years, but ‘Pictures Of’ is a tribute to her maturation and readiness for the world. It’s a Woody Guthrie-esque declaration of belief in her courage and her right to be in love with the world, recognizing that we, her elders, spend hours every day filling her ears with reasons to fear it. ‘Pictures Of’ says, ‘Yes, be excited for and in love with the world! Regardless of our collective fear in the unknown, I can tell you want to be! And you’re right to be! And I’m glad you are!'” — Kris Gruen

Photo credit: Jeff Forney

WATCH: The Connells, “Stars”

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Artist: The Connells
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Song: “Stars”
Album: Steadman’s Wake
Release Date: September 24, 2021
Label: Black Park/Missing Piece Records

In Their Words: “I find the lyrics to be the hardest aspect of songwriting, which is why it is not uncommon for me to come up with the basic idea for a song well before the lyrics are finalized — months and months in some cases. That’s the way it went with ‘Stars.’ It is the tongue-in-cheek lament of someone who feels as though the stars are aligned against him, and who is asking ‘When it’s over, tell me….’ There’s been a lot going on in the world — global pandemic, political turmoil, global warming — that make the ‘When it’s over, tell me’ refrain a bit more resonant.” — Mike Connell, The Connells

Photo credit: Bryan Regan

WATCH: Single Girl, Married Girl, “Wreck Cut Loose”

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Artist: Single Girl, Married Girl
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Wreck Cut Loose”
Album: Three Generations of Leaving
Release Date: November 19, 2021
Label: Head Bitch Music

In Their Words: “I’ve always loved torch songs and big weepy ballads, especially country ones. ‘Wreck Cut Loose’ lets me belt and sing like the incomparable voices I grew up listening to and have tried to emulate countless times — Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Tammy Wynette, and Patsy Cline, but in a contemporary musical setting. We didn’t want to sound like an old country or pop vocal song, but the lineage should be obvious.

“Lyrically, it’s about something most people have gone through in their lives — a breakup, but Dan Morosi, our friend and former drummer, who wrote the song, manages to portray the emotional intensity we feel in the aftermath of being dumped through simple, direct language. It sort of fixates on mundane elements that belie the complex feelings being expressed and examined, all the while building to this heartbreaking crescendo.

“For the music video, we wanted a concept that was not gimmicky but a little tongue-in-cheek. It’s literally one shot once the music starts; I’m walking home from being dumped and encounter multiple friends along the way who try to cheer me up, when all I want to do is go home, be alone, and have a really good cry. It’s all to say that we need a little support in our lives during hard times, that we are stronger together. We hope the video feels like a big group hug.” — Chelsey Coy, Single Girl, Married Girl

Photo credit: Anna Azarov

LISTEN: Rod Gator, “Out Here in Echo Park”

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Artist: Rod Gator (aka Rod Melancon)
Hometown: Wright, Louisiana
Song: “Out Here in Echo Park”
Album: For Louisiana
Release Date: September 17, 2021
Label: Blue Élan Records

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Out Here in Echo Park’ during my last year living in Echo Park. Every evening I’d walk five miles down to the L.A. River and sit along the bank. It was one of the most peaceful times of my life. During the walk I’d hear Spanish music playing from windows and watch the sun slowly set. East L.A. means a lot to me. It’s where I go in my mind when I feel overwhelmed. I picture myself sitting along the L.A. River. I miss Echo Park everyday. It’s the place where I finally began to feel comfortable in my own skin.” — Rod Gator

Photo credit: David McClister

WATCH: Abby Posner, “Low Low Low” (Featuring Constellation Quartet)

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Artist: Abby Posner featuring Constellation Quartet
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Low Low Low”
Album: Kisbee Ring
Release Date: November 12, 2021

In Their Words: “Whenever I have an opportunity to collaborate with a string quartet, the experience is transformative. Strings take you to a zen-like space where everything feels just right, perfect for the song, and what I wanted to convey. ‘Low Low Low’ is about depression, anxiety, and learning how to be kinder to the darkness within, so working with Constellation Quartet was the sonic hug this song so desperately needed to feel complete. Constellation Quartet are currently making a name for themselves as both performers and collaborators, working with the best of the Los Angeles musician scene through their residency at the Garden Concert Series in Redondo Beach. The video was shot live during sunset deep in the Malibu hills with a battery-powered setup, hikers passing by, and a reverence for the creative process.” — Abby Posner

String arrangements: Max Mueller (cello). Cinematography: Ian McIntire.
Photo credit: Rollence Patugan

LISTEN: Chris Robley, “Love Is a Four-Letter Word”

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Artist: Chris Robley
Hometown: Lewiston, Maine
Song: “Love Is a Four-Letter Word”
Album: A Filament in the Wilderness of What Comes Next
Release Date: September 14, 2021
Label: Cutthroat Pop Records

In Their Words: “Bob Dylan wrote a song called ‘Love Is a Four-Letter Word.’ I didn’t know that until I was on stage announcing my new song and someone shouted, ‘I LOVE Dylan!’ Anyway, you can’t copyright titles and I didn’t borrow any other lyrics — so we’re not in Darius Rucker or Old Crow Medicine Show territory here. It’s all mine, Bob! I don’t know if there’s much to explain except the obvious: love can be a double-edged sword. We can build beautiful things inspired by love. Or we can build walls, reactionary political movements, or just act like selfish shitheads, all because of the same basic force. One word, different outcomes.” — Chris Robley

Photo credit: Lauren Breau

WATCH: Birdtalker, “Better Days” (Live in Nashville)

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Artist: Birdtalker
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Better Days”
Album: Birdtalker
Release Date: October 8, 2021
Label: AntiFragile Music

In Their Words: “This song captures a sober moment of realization and the choice to grasp at hope rather than drown in the breakdown. Musically, it’s lush and flowing, as if you’re floating through the experience in a dream state, lulled into acceptance and moving forward but not grounded. This atmosphere is created by the lilting, at times questioning, bass line and the fluttering and tactile percussion which both give the song an intimate feeling of humanity, as if they represent the wanderings of a questioning heart and its fluttering uncertainty. The flesh surrounding the song’s heart is the regular thrum of the acoustic guitars and the layered harmonies that build throughout. We went through a bit of a journey in the studio figuring out the instrumentation and tone of the song. It began with a more straightforward and confident presentation which we eventually scaled back to this more organic approach, leaning into the song’s uncertainty and delicacy.” — Birdtalker

Photo credit: Jeremy Cowart

WATCH: Field Guide, “Tupperware” (Live at Monarch Studios)

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Artist: Field Guide
Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba; now Toronto
Song: “Tupperware” (Live at Monarch Studios)
Album: Make Peace With That
Release Date: September 17, 2021
Label: Birthday Cake

In Their Words: “Once in a while if you’re open to it, the universe may use you as a vehicle. This was the case with ‘Tupperware’ which came bursting out of me in a cool 20 minutes. I love that feeling and I really love this song. It’s about my early days living in Winnipeg; it’s about Tuesday nights in Osborne Village where a couple of wicked soul bands play weekly; it’s about my favourite restaurant which has since closed its doors; it’s about the beautiful parts of life that aren’t meant to last forever, and that’s okay.

“I wrote this album while swimming through a sea of change. ‘Tupperware’ came to be as my life in Winnipeg was coming to a close. I’d just moved out of my house, ended a relationship and was set to move to Toronto as soon as a cheap sublet surfaced. In September 2019 I finished mixing my previous release You Were just outside of Vancouver. I jumped on a plane and flew straight to Toronto to move into a little basement apartment at Crawford and Harbord St. in Toronto’s West End. For the next few months I wrote songs, put together a band and started to play around town, and then I met someone who made the songs come out even faster than before. The world shut down and I started looking inward, writing and writing some more. In the summer of 2020 I rented a van and drove back to Manitoba to make this album with my dear friends. I hope you like it!” — Dylan MacDonald, Field Guide

Photo credit: Joseph Visser