Fenne Lily has relocated from the UK to New York, and her upcoming album was written over the course of a relationship. The first single off that album, "Lights Light Up," was written during the better part of a relationship but recorded after the relationship ended. It gives the song this odd melancholy that you normally don't get in a love song. Fenne Lily has created a song that is a lovely and insightful singer/songwriter track. It's mostly straightforward and mainstream, but Lily gives it this unique quality with these quiet and kinda sorta twangy guitar licks over her intimately sung vocals. We've been fans of hers for a while, but something feels special about this particular release.
Fenne Lily says of her new single:
“I’d never really written about love in the present tense before this, but even though I was still in love and not thinking about the end, there was something else going on subconsciously that led to a song about moving on before the moving on had begun. When it came time to record, the band and I had been playing it live for a while and it’d become something joyful and positive, but when I started recording vocals, the lyrics made me cry. By that point the song was over a year old and I thought those wounds had healed but I guess it hurt to admit I’d been letting go of something while still trying to hold on."
You can watch the video for "Lights Light Up" below. Big Picture is due out April 14 on Dead Oceans. The album can be pre-ordered here. For more on Fenne Lily, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Sat. Apr. 15 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Sun. Apr. 16 - Dublin, IE @ Workman’s Club Tue. Apr. 18 - Glasgow, UK @ St Luke’s Wed. Apr. 19 - Manchester, UK @ YES Thu. Apr. 20 - London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall Fri. Apr. 21 - Bristol, UK @ Trinity Sun. Apr. 23 - Brighton, UK @ Patterns Mon. Apr. 24 - Brussels, BE @ AB Club Tue. Apr. 25 - Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet Thu. Apr. 27 - Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher Fri. Apr. 28 - Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Ideal Bar Sat. Apr. 29 - Berlin, DE @ Frannz Mon. May 1 - Munich, DE @ Ampere Tue. May 2 - Cologne, DE @ Stadtgarten Wed. May 3 - Paris, FR @ FMR Thu. May 11 - Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room * Fri. May 12 - Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall * Sat. May 13 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall * Mon. May 15 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos * Tue. May 16 - Portland, Oregon @ Aladdin Theater * Wed. May 17 - Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre * Fri. May 19 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court * Sat. May 20 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater * Mon. May 22 - Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck * Tue. May 23 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line * Wed. May 24- Milwaukee, WI @ Back Room at Colectivo Coffee * Thu. May 25 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * Fri. May 26 - Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe * Sat. May 27 - Toronto, ON @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern * Tue. May 30 - Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace * Wed. May 31 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair * Fri. Jun. 2 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg * Sat. Jun. 3 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer * Sun. Jun. 4 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat * Mon. Jun. 5 - Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall * Tue. Jun. 6 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West * Wed. Jun. 7 - Nashville, TN @ The Basement East * Fri. Jun. 9 - Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge * Sat. Jun. 10 - Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips * Sun. Jun. 11 - Austin, TX @ The Parish * Tue. Jun. 13 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf * Thu. Jun. 15 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge * Fri. Jun. 16 - West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour * * = co-headline with Christian Lee Hutson
Somehow Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma and Volcano Suns has another band that I never knew about. Minibeast already released an album that I completely missed back in 2012, and they are currently at work on the follow up, Free Will. Based on a track from the upcoming album, "High Sea," Minibeast shares some common sonic ground with Mission of Burma, but with an added emphasis on the groovy side of things. It's basically the noise and dissonance of Burma but heard through a 60s surf groove, as if Frankie and Annette were punks. You can listen to "High Sea" below. Minibeast currently have a Kickstarter to help fund the final production of Free Will. You can get more information on that here . It should be out sometime in June.
Earlier this week I was expressing sympathy for Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit just don't seem to be riding that surge of 90s nostalgia that all sorts of other terrible bands from that era are. Sure, they're terrible. But are they really that much worse than Filter, Alien Ant Farm, and other bands on those 90s nostalgia packages. And then this video is released. The first lyrics to the song are literally "Go fuck yourself." It then features Fred Durst sitting on a toilet, bikini clad chicks pretending to fellate garden hoses and leaf blowers, and Fred Durst talking about fucking bitches, all while wearing a hoodie and a backwards red baseball hat. Then Lil Wayne comes out. Please keep in mind Fred Durst is a 42 year old man.
Photo by Annabel Kean For their latest single, New Zealand's The Beths have released "Mother, Pray for Me." This is a heartbreaking ballad consisting of Elizabeth Stokes' vocals and guitar with just the slightest hint of organ. It's a deeply personal song for Stokes, made obvious with how intimately the song comes across. It truly feels almost confessional, and it's quite simply beautiful. The Beths are most known for huge little indie rock gems perfect for bopping along to, but "Mother, Pray for Me" is quite the opposite. Stokes' vocals and lyrics are right up front on this one, and I can't imagine it any other way. Elizabeth Stokes says of her latest single: “I cried the whole time writing it. It's not really about my mother, it's about me — what I hope our relationship is, what I think it is, what it maybe actually is, and what I can or can't expect out of it. “My mother is a first gen Indonesian immigrant, and very Catholic....
