I don't think any song captures Stella Donnelly's unique blend of indie rock, folk, and pop as much as "How Was Your Day?" This new song has a charmingly upbeat sound with verses mostly spoken and verses sung. It's a little too quirky and occasionally noisy to be pop, far too dance friendly to be folk, but too pop to be indie rock. "How Was Your Day?" sits right in the middle of those genres refusing to decisively choose any particular one. This is a really lovely and fun song that anyone not afraid to enjoy a joyful song is going to love.
Stella Donnelly says of the new song:
“This is my attempt at building a song out of a very specific dynamic between two monogamously involved people. The verses are just excerpts from real conversations, fragments of what two people talk about when they both know they need to have a real talk but neither wants to be the one to bring it up. This song came out of lockdown and seeing a lot of friends break up or get married.”
You can watch the video for "How Was Your Day?" below. Flood is due out August 26 on Secretly Canadian. The album can be pre-ordered and pre-saved here. For more on Stella Donnelly, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Sun. Sept. 11 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah Mon. Sept. 12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy Theatre Tue. Sept. 13 - San Francisco, CA @ Independent Thu. Sept. 15 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios Fri. Sept. 16 - Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret Sat. Sept. 17 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos Wed. Sept. 21 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe Thu. Sept. 22 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall Fri. Sept. 23 - Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary Sat. Sept. 24 - Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall Mon. Sept. 26 - Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom Wed. Sept. 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Fri. Sept. 30 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live Sat. Oct. 1 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd Tue. Nov. 1 - Leeds, UK @ Wardrobe Wed. Nov. 2 - Glasgow @ Mono Thu. Nov. 3 - Manchester @ Band On The Wall Fri. Nov. 4 - Dublin, IE @ Whelan's Sun. Nov. 6 - Liverpool, UK @ Zanzibar Tue. Nov. 8 Nottingham, UK @ Metronome Wed. Nov. 9 - Bristol, UK @ Thekla Thu. Nov. 10 - London, UK @ Electric Brixton Sat. Nov. 12 - Cardiff, UK @ The Gate Sun. Nov. 13 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds Mon. Nov. 14 - Brighton, UK @ Komedia Wed. Nov. 16 - Paris, FR @ FMR Thu. Nov. 17 - Cologne, DE @ Artheatre Fri. Nov. 18 - Brussels, BE @ Rotonde - Botanique Sun. Nov. 20 - Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet Mon. Nov. 21 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow Skybar Tue. Nov. 22 - Copenhagen, DK @ Hotel Cecil Thu. Nov. 24 - Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Fri. Nov. 25 - Munich, DE @ Strom ! ! w/ Julia Jacklin
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.
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....
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.
