Ainsley last appeared on these pages back in 2018, when she shared the fabulous single, Walls, the first new material since her acclaimed debut EP, Dark Hours. Īlthough originally from the United States, Ainsley Farrell now calls New South Wales’ biggest city, Sydney, home. An intriguing prospect, Divorce seem to have tapped into a sound entirely their own, a compelling prospect who feel like they’re only just getting started. To the fore throughout the track are the twin vocals of Felix and bandmate Tiger Cohen-Towell, a sonic clash in the best way possible as they part and recombine atop the backing of clattering drums and angular guitar-thrash, and sing of forced compromise, “I met the love the of my life, he ain’t pretty but he’s alright”. Despite their band name suggesting a cracking relationship, there’s a sense throughout of two souls bonded together, “holding onto each other despite scrutiny and humiliation”. Gerber and Wyldest, this week the band returned with their second single, Pretty.ĭiscussing the inspiration behind the track, vocalist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow suggests Divorce is, “a portrait of two tortured people set inside a makeshift ballad about preserving one pure thing in an insane world”. Citing influences from LCD Soundsystem to Tom Waits, and having already supported the likes of A.O. The latest signings to the vibrant Hand In Hive label, Nottingham quartet Divorce emerged back in February with their alt-country tinged debut single, Services. For more information on Slack Times visit. This is musical simplicity at its finest, no bells, no whistles, just effortlessly excellent songwriting, and if that’s not a reason to get carried away about Slack Times, I’m not sure what is.Ĭarried Away is out June 24th via Meritorio Records. Clocking in just seconds over two minutes, Carried Away is also delightfully simple, the guitar line runs almost throughout, the drums hit an easy rhythm and barely stray from it, and atop it all Chris McCauley bemoans his own inaction, wistfully noting, “I didn’t put up a fight”. Opening with a beautiful country-licked guitar line, Carried Away is a track that seems to teeter between genres, equal parts Good Looks’ like widescreen Americana and West Coast jangle. Ahead of the record’s end of June release date, this week the band shared Carried Away’s fabulous title track. After releasing two EPs in 2021, Up Here and At The Blue Melon Rendezvous, the band are teaming up with Meritorio Records to combine both those releases with six new songs in a vinyl compilation, Carried Away. I’m Getting Carried Away About Slack Timesīased out of Birmingham, Alabama, Slack Times are a trio of musicians who cite shared influence from the likes of Yo La Tengo, R.E.M., and The Feelies. For more information on Field Guides visit. Ginkgo is out June 24th via Whatever’s Clever. Literature, mythology, the natural world, somehow Benedict Kupstas takes these disparate threads and weaves them into a tapestry that not only makes sense, it tells us something about its creator, the human centre piece at Ginkgo’s musical banquet, which is just waiting for us all to dive in. The song is a fascinating amalgam of sounds, there’s a touch of Matt Berninger in both Benedict’s delivery and oblique lyricism, “it seems I just cannot help but to genuflect at the altar of your allergy to love”, yet it’s adorned not by The National’s rockier tones, but instead by rich clarinets, fluttering waves of harp and a sprightly drum-beat, which sits in perfect contrast to the song’s slow-folk origins. As ever with Field Guides’ though, Benedict seems to find in the natural an explanation for personal experience, “ I’m reaching for allegories onto which I might tether the grief of failed relationships and mental illness“, here he tackles a panic attack experienced in Helsinki, so dramatic it left him suffering with temporary aphasia. The follow up to 2019’s This Is Just A Place, Ginkgo will see the light of day later this month via Whatever’s Clever, and this week Benedict shared the latest single from it, Cicadas In The Lemon Trees.Ĭicadas In The Lemon Trees was inspired by the time Benedict spent in Crete, and “ the constant din of the titular bugs, absorbing the landscapes haunted by all those centuries of Greek mythology: from Hades and Persephone to Joni Mitchell’s Matala“. Field Guides, aka Brooklyn-based songwriter Benedict Kupstas, appeared on these pages back in April when he shared Salmon Skin, the first taste of his upcoming third record, Ginkgo.