Grace Inspace - "Helium Balloon"

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Photo by Kate Garner

"Helium Balloon" is one of those songs that is nearly impossible to describe, but it's great, so we'll give it a shot. The latest from singer-songwriter Grace Inspace is probably mostly a pop song, but it's both far too complex and far too simple to truly be a pop song. The song is a lilting and stunning slice of modern music. Musically, it's fairly stripped back but also fairly complex, with multiple instruments and sounds wandering in and out at will. Grace Inspace's vocals are the true star of the song, and will instantly grab you as they progress and evolve throughout the track. The main genre would probably be indie pop, but there are elements of folk, indie rock, orchestral music, and maybe even ambient music within "Helium Balloon." Like I said, it's hard to define, but well worth listening to.

Grace Inspace says of her latest single:

"'Helium Balloon' is about the quiet collisions of emotion that make up the human experience. It’s loneliness in a crowded room, and the bittersweet hush that settles after a party ends. The image of a single balloon, an object designed to signal joy, drooping in the corner, became the perfect metaphor for that strange, tender space where happiness and sadness coexist. There’s a particular kind of melancholy in wilted decorations: glitter gone dull, streamers slumped, bright colors washed out in the morning light. That’s the feeling the song lives inside - fragile, reflective, and unexpectedly moving. I wrote it with my acoustic guitar and vocal loop pedal and then took it to the duo Mulherin for production."

You can watch the video for "Helium Balloon" below. Heavy Hair is due out February 27 on TODO, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Grace Inspace, check out the artist on Instagram.

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The Cairo Gang - "Be What You Are"

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Photo by Rachel Cassels The Cairo Gang is mostly Emmett Kelly, who recorded most of their upcoming album, Goes Missing,  on his own while travelling. "Be What You Are" is pure pop gold, reminiscent of British invasion bands like The Kinks and The Zombies. It features jangly guitars and some of the most infectious layered vocals you've heard in years. Luckily the beauty of this style of music is that it never quite sounds dated. It might sound like it's from a certain era that happened 50 years ago, but everything you've ever listened to since then borrows so heavily from it that it always sounds current. It's the kind of music you wish you hadn't missed, only now you haven't. Goes Missing  is due out June 23rd on God? Records. You can pre-order the album now, and be sure to check out The Cairo Gang's Facebook . Listen to "Be What You Are" below, and below that are tour dates, many opening for Mikal Cronin. Sat. Sept. 5 - Portlan...
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Photo by Ebru Yildiz Somehow TORRES keeps surprising us with her music. The musical project of Mackenzie Scott has released a new single that features her vocals and acoustic guitar that would feel at home in a neo-folk song over a pre-programmed drum beat with sounds that at times are either a light squall of guitar feedback and electronic noises. The song has this haunting and unsettling feeling to it, despite sounding like it's trying to be upbeat. I'd say art doesn't always have to be a pleasant experience, but "I got the fear" can be a pleasant listening experience, except for the times it's not. Mackenzie Scott says of her latest single: “A collective dread has been mounting. Everyone I know is having a brawl with the universe, with themselves…wars, climate catastrophe, a pandemic, the worldwide regression on human rights, the political hellscape — it affects everybody, and I know we’re all feeling it in waves of varying degree all the time. I think it’s...
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Yawn Mower - "Rascal"

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Photo by Mary Dorsi Asbury Park's Yawn Mower had two goals for their upcoming album. First, after playing their hometown's Sea.Hear.Now festival, they wanted to write songs that worked on a larger stage. Second, they wanted the album to be their Pinkerton , "A raw, rough around the edges, noisier follow up to [their] debut album." The first song from that album is "Rascal," a song partly about the kids of their friends and family. It's a fun track that includes lines like "Here he comes now what a little asshole." It's a quirky and noisy indie rock track that reminds me of an edgier Fountains of Wayne. As anti-kid as the song may seem, you can tell it's not done seriously and there is a ton of love behind the track. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Chick says of the band's upcoming album: “While Dana Yurcisin (bass), Rudy Meier (guitar),  and Nicole Scorsone (violin) have certainly helped fill out past releases, this was the first time that ...
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