New Music Weekly #41 | Snail Mail, Twin Shadow, Let’s Eat Grandma
New Music Weekly is your one stop shop for new releases in the world of music each and every week. From the best of the best, to some of the rest, Mark Conroy is here to give you the low down on what you might have missed. This week: Snail Mail, Twin Shadow, Let’s Eat Grandma & More
Twin Shadow ‘Brace (Ft.Rainsford)’
Tom Petty’s death elicited a lot of emotions but few musical tributes. Enter Twin Shadow’s semi-elegiac ‘Brace’ which not only references Petty and one the man’s biggest hits but even slyly makes us of the same chord progression heard on ‘Free Falllin’. Twin Shadow has noticeably diverted into more pop-centric territory recently and It mostly pays off this latest single. Like a less hyperactive version of a Bleachers track, ‘Brace’ is sweet, soulful and perhaps most daringly of all, rather sincere. It’s hard to fault any of it, and it’s even harder not to get swept up in the gospel-driven good vibes of it all.
Snail Mail ‘Pristine’
The annoyingly young (she’s just 18) and disgustingly talented Lindsey Jordan is living proof that indie rock is not an extinct genre for anyone under the age of 20. As Snail Mail, she announced her debut album ‘Lush’ will be dropping later this year. Lead single ‘Pristine’ is an earnest ode to self-acceptance during your teenage years, a time in your life when such a concept probably seems the most out of reach. Jordan has the tricky emotional landscape of adolescence but also the lyrical maturity to distil those specific emotions into words. It’s something few artists older than her could do, simply because Jordan is still living it.
Cinema ‘Caught up’
The Kildare based producer Peter Fleming, who records under the name Cinema, drops a neon splattered, sensitive doozy. The track is a placid and patient journey but it glides along with enough authority that you never bored. He is just one of the fantastic acts on 045 Recordings, featuring Phare, Conor C, Super Extra Bonus Party and more.
Let’s Eat Grandma ‘Falling into Me’
The second teenage act to feature in this week’s batch of new music, the endearingly yet gorily named Let’s Eat Grandma gives us expansive pop tunes that are equal parts ambitious and alluring. ‘Falling into Me’ is prog pop perfection and lifelong friends Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth sound like the perfect fit for each other in this listenable sonic universe that never rests on its laurels.
DENA ‘Imaginary Friends’
Denitza Todorova is DENA, an artist who ropes in several contemporary genres—pop, R&B, house—to create a musical space that has mood to burn. ‘Imaginary Friends’ is slow moving but satisfying, the synth stab with authority as if to jolt the laid-back groove into life. Safe to say that it works.
Iceage ‘Take it All’
The Danish group started out as a more straightforward punk act but gradually moved more and more into the post-punk territory with each album. New track ‘Take it All’ is a beautiful piece of ethereal rock with an edge, all propelled forward by a devilish, driving drum beat. It will feature on a new collection of songs entitled Beyondless, out in May.
Speedy Ortiz ‘Lean In When I Suffer’
The second single to be released for the band’s upcoming Twerp Verse, ‘Lean in When I Suffer’ is stop-start stomp that does what one would expect but little else. It’s a sweet little number with some strong lyrical content but the band are already starting to show the limits of their sonic capabilities.
