New Music Friday 11/12/2020

We are slowly getting back in the flow of ‘semi normal’ life, we can actually go Christmas shopping and for a Sunday roast in the pub. While we know is not over yet, a glimpse of hope is on the horizon. So, while you are spending hours and hours on getting your family and friends amazing Christmas presents, we picked out a few new releases to listen to in the shops, waiting in que or on the tube while struggling to hold all of your bags.

Editor: Megan Hofman

Taylor Swift – Evermore (Republic)

We were all surprised back in July when Taylor Swift dropped ‘folklore’ out of nowhere, since then Taylor’s eighth studio album has been hailed as one of the best albums of the year and has even received 2 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. So when Taylor announced yesterday that she will be releasing “folklore’s sister record” at midnight, there was an obvious excitement.

As expected, Taylor’s song writing is as dazzling as ever but there definitely seems to be more of an earnest intention in the stories that she paints in these tracks, a stand-out track for this is ‘tolerate it’. With ‘evermore’ there is a more familiar pop influence and more colour to this record with plucky banjo, glowing synths with the addition of heartfelt piano ballads and feels like it could be the younger sister of ‘folklore’.

This album gives off very ‘1989’ vibes which for me personally was a pleasant surprise. Taylor even begins to bring back some of her country flair on the romantic ‘cowboy like me’ and the chilling ‘no body, no crime’ which features another group who have had an excellent year – HAIM. There is a nice variety within this album between the sadder and heavier tracks to the more upbeat songs that make you want to dance like ‘long story short’.

In the Instagram post that announced the release of ‘evermore’ Taylor explained that she wrote these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB (William Bowery aka Joe Alwyn) and Justin Vernon and that they could not stop writing songs and Taylor described it as if they “were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music,” and then says they “chose to wander deeper in.” and this album definitely feels as though they did just that.

https://www.instagram.com/taylorswift/

Words: Hollie Sackett

Gracie Abrams – Brush Fire (Interscope)

The 21-year-old Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams is back with a new single ‘Brush Fire’, this is the first release after her EP ‘Minor’. Gracie Abrams fits perfectly in the whole bedroom pop star generation. From the start she has been a DIY artist, writing music in her bedroom to later share on sound cloud and social media. Doing this made sure Gracie has a big following and loyal fanbase across all social media platforms. Although, she is definitely not the only bedroom pop star out there, she graces her music with a unique vulnerable sound that has a nostalgic feel to it, kind of like getting a handwritten letter in this digital time. ‘Brush Fire’ beautifully shows off Gracie’s vocals, but melodically and sound wise it’s not very interesting. However, a song like this can still be great while staying quite simple. Sometimes less is more, adding more instruments and different melodies would have definitely made this an entirely different song. One thing is sure, we can expect great things from Gracie Abrams.

You can listen to the single here

https://www.instagram.com/gracieabrams/

Words: Megan Hofman

Maggie Lindemann – Loner (Swixxzaudio)

‘Loner’ is the name of Maggie Lindemann’s most recent release. It’s the fourth single she released this year after ‘Knife Under My Pillow’, ‘Gaslight’ and ‘Scissorhands’. Although, all of them share a certain punk-rock tone Loner is a heartfelt ballad about “feeling alone even when there’s people around you. It’s about coming to terms with it and being comfortable in your lonely-ness and giving yourself permission to feel sad if that’s how you feel. Everyone has those moments, especially this year and even more so around holidays” as Lindemann describes it herself. Her new punk era will also mark the release of her debut EP ‘Paranoia’, coming January 22nd. Compared to the mainstream singles she put out in the previous years, such as the radio favourite ‘Pretty Girl’, we are sure that with ‘Paranoia’ she will prove the perfect transition from young pop princess to mature punk rock queen – and we definitely can‘t wait to hear more of her in the future.

You can listen to the song here

https://www.instagram.com/maggielindemann/

Words: Victoria Madzak

Steve Lacy- The Lo-Fis (L-M records)

Last Friday The Internet member Steve Lacy released his new album ‘The Lo-Fis’ consisting of 15 demos, unreleased tracks, leaks and instrumentals. Like the title suggests, the record consists of some starts with some extremely funky lo-fi right off the bat with the opening track ‘atomic vomit’. Every other song is very short lasting no longer than a minute, giving this release a very spontaneous and D.I.Y vibe. One of those songs is ‘Cocky Girl’ which seems to flow seamlessly into the next track ‘uuuu’. Then the cut to the next track ‘Jars of It’ is abrupt and features some swingy drums. This rough around the edge type vibe seems to be the one unifying theme of this compilation album but that’s precisely what makes this album such a beauty. A must Listen!