• Delicate fury: An interview with Maija Sofia

    November 25, 2019 - By 

    The simple, private act of bathing links generations of women, from pre-Raphaelite models of the 1850s to Chelsea Hotel socialites in the 1960s. A solitary, domestic act – baths are a safe refuge from the other side of the door. It is a strange thing – to lock ourselves inside a room in our own homes.  Part inspiration from a daily bathing ritual, part reflection on a Tori Amos lyric – your apocalypse was fab for a girl who couldn’t choose between the shower or the bath – Maija Sofia’s debut LP Bath Time is a nuanced and vital exploration…

  • 65daysofstatic – replicr, 2019

    October 7, 2019 - By 

    65daysofstatic make music that speaks to our most elemental, human concerns. Anxious, urgent and vital, their sound narrows on a space between post-rock, cinematic and electronic worlds. replicr, 2019 arrives as a focused expedition into a dark and uneasy present. On this, their sixth album proper, the band collate their experimental interests – they soundtracked the 2016 videogame No Man’s Sky through algorithmic composition – with the feverish immediacy of their early records. Ultimately, the world of replicr, 2019 is unsettling in its realism. From the opening bars, we’re prepared for a bleak, industrial landscape – one which is built…

  • Bon Iver – i,i

    August 22, 2019 - By 

    Justin Vernon has written his most personal work in isolation, secluded in a cabin in Northern Wisconsin. In the span of 13 years, the Bon Iver project has empowered him to map his personal growth, archive periods of stress, and mediate addiction and trauma. The fourth iteration of this journey, i,i, reflects on the duality of the self as it navigates a turbulent political landscape. The inner and outer worlds communicate here, and seek to find peace. The band embraced a dramatic move towards experimentation on 2016’s 22 A Million, producing some of their most urgent and effective work. Here,…

  • Thom Yorke – ANIMA

    July 12, 2019 - By 

    A potent side-effect of modernity is the prevalent disconnection we experience from our inner selves; Freud identified the basic, instinctual drive of humans as the ‘id’, Jung was interested in the ‘anima’ of man — the ‘feminine’ aspect of the brain underlying the conscious self. These concepts of double identities had been prevalent in psychology before the mass subsumption of digital technology, but have since gained a new and increasingly urgent significance. With OK Computer in 1997, Radiohead developed a seminal text reflecting on modern technological anxiety. 22 years later, Thom Yorke’s perspective has shifted from the potentiality of the…

  • The National – I Am Easy To Find

    May 23, 2019 - By 

    In recent years, The National have shifted towards a communal approach in music making, altering their compositional practices to be more inclusive, and concerned with offering new perspectives. With Aaron and Bryce Dessner’s involvement in PEOPLE – a collective of creatives collaborating on music projects, live performances and podcasts – The National have embraced a collaborative space, and I Am Easy To Find may be the absolute embodiment of this new form. Maintaining some of the gloomy aura of 2016’s highly acclaimed Sleep Well Beast, the record avoids burden, chiefly due to the addition of vocals from artists like Lisa…

  • Foxygen – Seeing Other People

    April 27, 2019 - By 

    Accompanying the announcement of Foxygen’s fifth album Seeing Other People, frontman Sam France penned a letter to fans assuring them that this isn’t the end. “We’re never breaking up. We’re not a band and never were”. Right, then.  We’re told to “read between the lines” on Seeing Other People, but unfortunately the album offers little more than superficial gripes – a tepid and weak account of a public parting that feels, now, like it’s been a long time coming. Opener ‘Work’, with lyrics attuned to the petty stirring of doubt in relationships, sees France play the genius-nightmare creative partner up…

  • Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    Escapism has never been more vital, or available. We turn to art, film, and music for distraction, transportation, and if we’re lucky, a temporary sense of freedom. It’s more difficult than ever to switch off the effect of the 24-hour news cycle, but Titanic Rising, the fourth studio album from Weyes Blood, reminds us that there is always solace to be found on the big screen and beyond. Natalie Mering offers an unprecedented defence of escapism, at the core of which lives a propensity for romance. Named for the 1997 blockbuster – not the 1912 voyage – Titanic Rising is…