Atwood Journal is happy to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Each week, Mitch will share a group of songs, albums, and artists who’ve caught his ears, eyes, and coronary heart. There’s a lot unbelievable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to hear. Via our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a lightweight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of recent and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options Merpire, Dangerous Suns, Mushy Loft, milk., Housewife, and Ruby Gill!
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“Premonition”
by Merpire
Talk about basking within the warmth of the second – Merpire herself may as nicely be emanating flames. The Naarm/Melbourne-based artist’s first track in three years will get sizzling and heavy with that humorous feeling, channeling want and intimacy into an intoxicating musical sweat. Launched on Valentine’s Day (due to course it was), “Premonition” aches with the depth of affection’s first brush – when every part is contemporary, new, and thrilling, and our coronary heart just about takes up everlasting residency in our stomachs.
“Might as nicely begin off with a bang, huh?” Merpire – aka Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt – tells Atwood Journal. “I used to be studying my first fantasy novel on the time, ‘The Identify of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. The lyrics and scene-building of this track have been impressed by the main-character within the novel and the way in which they felt about one other character. The trustworthy element is achingly relatable. It bought me serious about probably the most intense moments of a crush. The lyrics simply flowed from there.”
I’m within the backyard buzzing you in
I’ll overlook it in per week or two
I can’t think about dropping you now
I maintain you nearer than I actually ought to
There’s a pull in my pores and skin
To present you the place you’ve not been
It’s all I take into consideration
“I wrote the lyrics and music individually,” she explains. “I like it when a author doesn’t select the obvious chord to go to subsequent or will change a few notes in a chord to strengthen the emotion meant behind a lyric. I attempt to write equally. It challenges me to continue to grow as a author. I’m not an ideal guitarist, I don’t know a lot idea – I do know perhaps 5 chord names and the remaining is making shapes and sounds. Although typically irritating, the shortage of idea helps me mess around within the unknown and comply with what I just like the sound of first.”
“I do know that I wrote ‘Premonition’ in open D with a excessive e string, a standard apply for me. The shapes are simpler to play when wanting to include dissonant notes and 7ths and 9ths that I so love. I used to be studying to sing and play riffs on the similar time. Studying to do this introduced this track to life. I can’t let you know how or why I wrote the run-down vocal melodies within the refrain, they only got here out. I like how playful the phrase ‘f*’ is within the refrain.”
Merpire rises to a really cathartic climax within the refrain, her efficiency echoing these lovely and uncooked emotions inside:
When we hug it out
I get a premonition we’re alone
And we f* round
I get a premonition
I get a premonition
What makes “Premonition” such an distinctive love track – as a result of it is, in truth, a love track – is how Merpire so candidly and colorfully engages along with her emotions, placing the highlight on these feelings, fairly than the connection itself. “I’m at a celebration making a scene present solely within me,” she confesses within the second verse. There’s an entire world proper in these twelve phrases, simply ready to be unpacked and understood. We’ve all been there; we’ve all felt that uncertainty, the insecurity of a crush, the ‘not realizing’ that amps up our anxiousness and drives us towards paranoia. “Nervous to even have a look at you now, in case you see your self inside my head.”
I’m at a celebration making a scene
Current solely within me
Nervous to even have a look at you now
In case you see your self inside my head
There’s a pull in my pores and skin
To present you the place you’ve not been
It’s all I take into consideration
The “Premonition” music video provides additional gasoline to the artist’s interior (and outer) hearth.
“In the case of creating visuals for my music, every track exists at a time of day to me,” Merpire provides. “The lighting for every track in my thoughts units the temper. ‘Premonition’ sits at mid-evening when at midnight, pure surroundings turns into dream-like and otherworldly. This video was filmed on my cellphone by my associate Dom at my Mum’s place who lives in tropical Queensland. I’d had this concept brewing in my head for some time to movie me strolling round Mum’s property which is thick with tropical wilderness and for the backyard to signify the age previous symbolism of feminine anatomy, blooming of want. That is additionally the primary lyric of the track, ‘I’m within the backyard buzzing you in,’ which I’ll go away listeners to interpret as they want.”
The primary of rather more to come back, “Premonition” is a welcome return from one in every of Melbourne’s most interesting, and a provocative, totally enchanting show of Merpire’s musical, lyrical, and storytelling abilities.
When we hug it out
I get a premonition we’re alone
And we f* round
I get a premonition
I get a premonition
“Speaking”
by Dangerous Suns
The hearth Dangerous Suns lit 13 years in the past continues to burn vibrant, as evidenced by the indie rock band’s newest, luminescent single. A glistening, golden-hued reverie, “Speaking” is a seductive and sun-kissed expression of affection. It’s euphoria manifest in sound – a dreamy, feel-good embrace of that one that lights up our lives, and the way the extra we get to know them (and so they us), the extra we come to understand their eccentricities.
Examine my cellphone
Am I dreaming?
New message
“Are you doing something this night?”
I’ve bought a while and a bottle of wine
Researching your signal
Decide you up at 9
Late evening displaying
Take you dwelling and
Frontman Christo Bowman explains how he used the early days of his relationship along with his fiancée as an inspiration or template for the track, “reminiscing on these first dates and preliminary conversations that would supply the muse of his relationship right this moment.” The pair lately celebrated 12-plus years collectively, however as nicely know, such stability solely comes from navigating a wealth of unknowns and unstated expectations.
“Lyrically, I used to be impressed to mirror and sift via my reminiscences of our earliest instances collectively, again once we couldn’t have presumably predicted what the long run held in retailer for us,” Bowman tells Atwood Journal.
Would you like me to remain?
You’ve bought a extremely humorous manner of
Speaking
Would you like me to go?
It’s like I by no means actually know
Should you love or hate me
Tongue in cheek, I’m anxious
Now you’re talking my language
Would you like me to remain?
You’ve bought a extremely
humorous manner of speaking
Musically, the band appear to have homed in on their newest EP’s title, looking for to deliver extra Infinite Pleasure to life of their sounds and magnificence decisions. “It had been a chilly and wet couple of weeks in February however that morning, the clouds parted, and the solar emerged for a fantastic, sunny day in Los Angeles,” Bowman explains. “There have been palm bushes throughout me and I simply needed to jot down a track that captured that essence.”
He describes it as a “quintessential SoCal second,” and the shoe, unsurprisingly, suits: Via its candy ebbs and sweaty flows, “Speaking” presents a colourful, cathartic exhale of sunshine and love, heat and surprise to all who hear. It’s a smile-inducing anthem beckoning us to bounce, dream, and bask within the glow of one thing better than ourselves.
“Go away the Gentle On”
by Mushy Loft
It’s the fragility and tenderness of Jorina Stamm’s voice that hits first; sizzling on the mic, Mushy Loft’s lead singer and songwriting aches in and out as she elegantly dances between the brutal and exquisite, the highs and lows of a love story that ought to finish, however seemingly by no means does.
Launched January 8th by way of [PIAS], “Go away the Gentle On” is a fantastically dramatic reverie – a supply of consolation and catharsis, ardour and ache that finds the Swiss indie rock collective channeling the intimate warmth of a fractious relationship right into a sweaty, spellbinding, and soul-stirring seduction.
I’ve bought allergy symptoms
you’re cleansing your carpet
subsequent to my room
the place is the timing off
Your area crammed all of my afternoon
you permit the sunshine on
you retain the sunshine on
with the water within the pot
hu hu hu hu hu
“The mild is rarely actually out, and so they hold falling again to one another, however by no means actually in a great way,” Jorina Stamm explains. “There’s all the time somewhat little bit of water left within the kettle to maintain it boiling. It’s that high quality line between one thing good and one thing you by no means need to return to. And you retain on wishing for that particular person to simply flip the mild off.”
“‘Go away the Gentle On” is the primary of six new songs we recorded a while in the past in a studio in Germany, throughout our first tour taking part in worldwide exhibits,” she continues. “Only in the near past, we mirrored on what these new tracks imply to us, and all of us agreed that the method felt extremely releasing. Having already launched our debut album, it was as if we got the area to experiment once more – to easily make the music we felt impressed to create in that second. This track is the primary glimpse into these contemporary concepts. It’s the one that the majority intently resembles the sound of our debut album, for us type of constructing a bridge between our earlier work and our upcoming EP, Trendy Roses.”
palms on cheeks
this appears like a second of launch
I by no means wanna go away
however in spite of everything I swear that is my plea
you permit the sunshine on
you retain the sunshine on
with the water within the pot
hu hu hu hu hu
“Lyrically, ‘Go away The Gentle On’ explores the issue of letting go and the burden of what’s left behind when somebody leaves. It is also about how annoying it may be when your roommate leaves the mild on; you select the place the track takes you!”
oh inform me the place did time go my pricey
is that this proper I concern
the place did time go my pricey
is that this proper I concern
gentle and candy
you‘re waving from afar
so I can’t attain
a style of pine my love
simply shut sufficient
to hang-out me in my goals
Whether or not we take it at face worth or dig somewhat deeper, there’s no denying the concurrently charming and churning nature of this achingly enchanting indie rock track. “Go away the Gentle On” is a name for closure, a name for connection, and a name for catharsis multi function. Whether or not we get there or not is a narrative for one more time, however right here, Mushy Loft are indubitably laying a powerful basis not only for their upcoming EP, however for his or her id as a band and a purveyor of human feelings.
you permit me dropping
you retain me transferring
with the water within the pot
you permit me dropping
you retain me transferring
with the water within the pot
you permit the sunshine on
you retain the sunshine on
with the water within the pot
“Do not Miss It.”
by milk.
The track known as “Don’t Miss It” – and but, I very practically did. Milk’s one and solely single of 2024 (following 2023’s acclaimed 3, the EP., is a spectacular sonically and emotionally charged fever dream reckoning with unresolved feelings. The Dublin band hit the bottom operating with a swift, tight, and catchy dramatic upheaval of these turbulent, aching feelings that eat us up from the within out; the emotions we have to set free, lest they devour us complete:
I’ve been coping with this sense.
That I’m egocentric.
However I can’t assist it.
I’ve been holding out on hope.
And I really feel silly.
Trigger I don’t do that.
I don’t miss it,
no I simply miss you///
“‘Don’t Miss It’ has already turn into an necessary track for us and a fixture of our stay present of late,” drummer Morgan Wilson tells Atwood Journal. “We’ve closed the present with it throughout the final tour purely due to how enjoyable it was to play, and it has turn into very intently linked with an actual feeling of togetherness and pleasure for us. It’ll all the time remind me of our stay present, and we sought to hold as a lot of that tangible power into this recording as we might.”
I’ve been dealing with my errors.
And don’t make me say it.
Trigger I’ll simply faux it.
I’ve been drooling over you.
Don’t simply say it.
Please show it.
I don’t miss it,
no I simply miss you…
Candid lyrics and a cathartic, fiery soundbite of a refrain herald milk.’s comeback in an enormous, daring manner. With their long-awaited debut album supposedly within the works (after three unbelievable EPs) and, there has by no means been a greater time to hop on the bandwagon and get to know one in every of my private favourite bands – a gaggle who tells it like it’s, really holding nothing again once they declare, “I’ve been coping with this sense.“
Oof. Pour your self a tall glass of milk. and put together for an unforgettable onslaught of white-hot sound.
I simply stated I need to be alone to see if I’d imagine it.
Take the time to determine the issues that I’m not seeing.
I’ve been coping with this sense.
That I’m helpless.
And I can’t assist it.
“Work Music”
by Housewife
A spirited anthem and a soul-stirring give up multi function, Housewife’s “Work Music” reckons brazenly and truthfully with our personal humanity. The Canadian indie alt-pop artist channels emotions of full saturation and emotional burnout right into a cathartic and energetic upheaval filled with wealthy vocal harmonies, raging guitars, and heat, lush melodies aching with feeling. The scene is uncooked, but redemptive, expressive and exhilarating, and altogether unapologetic.
In spite of everything, why ought to sharing our truths, heavy or in any other case, be something however celebratory? Even while acknowledging her personal limits, Housewife – aka Brighid Fry – embraces all these particular elements that make up her distinctive self. To that finish, “Work Music” is not only her personal intimate track, however an anthem for us all.
I solely put on glasses after I journey
Can’t even see the road indicators
Hole speak about you for an hour
Break down your points
so I don’t should really feel mine
Gradual me down
I’m dying to work a miracle
Bail me out
I’ve bought all my playing cards on the desk
My sleeves are unraveling now
“‘Work Music’ is about making an attempt to stability having actually excessive expectations for myself and having a number of massive targets I need to obtain whereas additionally being somebody with govt functioning points, who’s a little bit of a multitude a number of the time,” Fry tells Atwood Journal. “It’s about making an attempt to determine learn how to really feel like I’m doing what I must do whereas additionally respecting my well being and never burning myself out.”
“I’ve a number of ongoing well being points and was identified this yr with autism and ADHD, and I feel with non-visible disabilities it may well usually really feel such as you’re making an excuse for not performing on the identical degree as different individuals when it isn’t actually one thing you may assist. I wrote this track earlier than being formally identified and so I feel I used to be grappling with these emotions in a extra not sure and self-deprecating manner. That being stated, it was necessary to me that the track not really feel like a downer, so I additionally selected to type of poke enjoyable at myself for perhaps not all the time doing the issues I must do to be performing at my finest.”
“‘Work Music’ was written and produced with the very proficient Toronto producer Derek Hoffman, and the video was made with Carly Boomer. Funnily sufficient, I feel I used to be each sick for the recording of the track and the making of the video, however I nonetheless did my finest, which is typically all we are able to do!”
What’s the purpose of getting all of the solutions
Should you don’t wanna hear em
Climbing out of the holes that I made
Now it’s getting cliched to fall in once more
Gradual me down
I’m dying to work a miracle
Bail me out
I’ve bought all my playing cards on the desk
My sleeves are unraveling now
It’s all too becoming that this specific Editor’s Picks arrives because the clock strikes 5 PM, and I finish what has been an particularly lengthy and arduous work week. There’ll little doubt be many extra of these sorts of weeks forward, solely this time, I’ll be armed with an additional particular track that jogs my memory of my value, all whereas lighting a fireplace deep inside.
Wakened, bought scared
Ghosted my therapist
Choked up, not honest
Don’t care, I’m over it
Gradual me down
I’m dying to work a miracle
Bail me out
I’ve bought all my playing cards on the desk
My sleeves are unraveling now
“Contact Me There”
by Ruby Gill
The weight of the world come and goes on Ruby Gill’s first track of the yr – simply one of the crucial intimate items of music I’ve ever heard. Launched February 5th, “Contact Me There” is the Naarm/Melbourne-based singer/songwriter’s private popping out – not simply to the world, however to theirself. It’s a cathartic, diaristic confession, stay and in actual time, stated aloud in order that it may be felt – and accepted – inside.
I do know few songs which are as uncooked, or as actual, as “Contact Me There”; that hit as onerous as Ruby Gill does once they sing these phrases, softly, over a mattress of light acoustic guitar strums. That is their life, in spite of everything – and over the course of 4 soul-stirring minutes, they provide the entire world a window into what’s presumably probably the most susceptible, and private, second they may ever expertise.
contact me there
the place I don’t let anybody go
you know I prefer it gradual
say a prayer
over me from down beneath
I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to
been making excuses
however largely they’re nonsense
I’ve heard myself mendacity
like I don’t like ladies
like I don’t really feel something
besides after I’m consuming
“Through the longest dry spell of my life, I got here out to myself,” Gill tells Atwood Journal. “The primary time I stated it out loud was on this track – all that sitting by a river ready for the reality to come back out led to me being trustworthy for the primary time about who I used to be interested in and how much intercourse I needed in my life.”
“It took nearly two years of zero kissing to get to that time of self-knowledge. Not deliberately – every part simply felt so flawed and scary after being touched in actually unsafe methods earlier than that. I used to be numb for years, however I lastly felt sensation in my physique once more after writing ‘Contact Me There.’ It broke me open. I hope it breaks different individuals open too, whether or not it’s about queerness or in any other case. You have got a say over your love and pleasure.”
I don’t need to be indignant
with you there above me
I need to really feel energy on this little physique
I need to get bare
go swimming within the river
need you to look over
like you may’t wait any longer
I don’t need to be simply right here
alone on this pleasure
I need to really feel braver
need to style and to savour
“I’ve spent all my life pondering that I’m an issue, that that is the kiss that may get me in bother,” Gill confides in track, “however I need to love you proper right here on the carpet, need somebody to know what I like after I’m drained.” Slowly, steadily, they unravel, coming into themself in parallel with their track’s personal seductive slow-burn. Finally, they rise to a spellbinding, lovely fever pitch, repeating the road “I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to” as a mantra of empowerment, totally embracing their sexuality for the very first time.
I’m doing my finest to let go to recover from
to silence the satan that sits on my shoulder
who tries to persuade me that I’m an angel
when I simply need you to f* me on the desk
I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to
I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to
I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to
I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to
They’re not shouting into the depths; they’re singing to themselves, and looking out up towards a brighter, sweeter, and extra confident future forward.
And identical to that, the burden is lifted as soon as and for all.
The most recent single off Ruby Gill’s upcoming sophomore album Some Sort of Management (out March 28th), “Contact Me There” is really one-of-a-kind.
contact me there
the place I don’t let anybody go
you know I prefer it gradual
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