Atwood Journal is worked up 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 unimaginable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to hear. By way of 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, Unhealthy Suns, Gentle Loft, milk., Housewife, and Ruby Gill!
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“Premonition”
by Merpire
Talk about basking within the warmth of the second – Merpire herself would possibly as effectively be emanating flames. The Naarm/Melbourne-based artist’s first tune in three years will get sizzling and heavy with that humorous feeling, channeling need 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 little thing is contemporary, new, and thrilling, and our coronary heart just about takes up everlasting residency in our stomachs.
“Might as effectively 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 Title of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. The lyrics and scene-building of this tune had been impressed by the main-character within the novel and the best way they felt about one other character. The sincere element is achingly relatable. It bought me excited 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 every 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 supposed behind a lyric. I attempt to write equally. It challenges me to continue to grow as a author. I’m not an important guitarist, I don’t know a lot principle – I do know possibly 5 chord names and the remaining is making shapes and sounds. Although generally irritating, the dearth of principle 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 observe 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 tune 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 stunning 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 tune – as a result of it is, in reality, a love tune – is how Merpire so candidly and colorfully engages together with her emotions, placing the highlight on these feelings, moderately than the connection itself. “I’m at a celebration making a scene present solely inside 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 figuring out’ that amps up our nervousness 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 inside 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 gas to the artist’s interior (and outer) fireplace.
“Relating to creating visuals for my music, every tune exists at a time of day to me,” Merpire provides. “The lighting for every tune 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 telephone 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 need. That is additionally the primary lyric of the tune, ‘I’m within the backyard buzzing you in,’ which I’ll go away listeners to interpret as they need.”
The primary of far more to come back, “Premonition” is a welcome return from one in every of Melbourne’s best, and a provocative, completely 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 Unhealthy Suns
The fireplace Unhealthy Suns lit 13 years in the past continues to burn shiny, 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.
Test my telephone
Am I dreaming?
New message
“Are you doing something this night?”
I’ve bought a while and a bottle of wine
Researching your signal
Choose you up at 9
Late night time displaying
Take you residence and
Frontman Christo Bowman explains how he used the early days of his relationship together with his fiancée as an inspiration or template for the tune, “reminiscing on these first dates and preliminary conversations that would supply the inspiration of his relationship at present.” The pair lately celebrated 12-plus years collectively, however as effectively know, such stability solely comes from navigating a wealth of unknowns and unstated expectations.
“Lyrically, I used to be impressed to mirror and sift by way of my recollections of our earliest occasions collectively, again after 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 very humorous method of
Speaking
Would you like me to go?
It’s like I by no means actually know
In case 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 very
humorous method of speaking
Musically, the band appear to have homed in on their newest EP’s title, searching for to convey extra Infinite Pleasure to life of their sounds and elegance selections. “It had been a chilly and wet couple of weeks in February however that morning, the clouds parted, and the solar emerged for a gorgeous, sunny day in Los Angeles,” Bowman explains. “There have been palm timber throughout me and I simply wished to jot down a tune that captured that essence.”
He describes it as a “quintessential SoCal second,” and the shoe, unsurprisingly, suits: By way of its candy ebbs and sweaty flows, “Speaking” provides a colourful, cathartic exhale of sunshine and love, heat and marvel to all who hear. It’s a smile-inducing anthem beckoning us to bounce, dream, and bask within the glow of one thing higher than ourselves.
“Depart the Mild On”
by Gentle Loft
It’s the fragility and tenderness of Jorina Stamm’s voice that hits first; sizzling on the mic, Gentle Loft’s lead singer and songwriting aches inside and outside 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], “Depart the Mild On” is a superbly 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 allergic reactions
you’re cleansing your carpet
subsequent to my room
the place is the timing off
Your house stuffed all of my afternoon
you allow 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 preserve falling again to one another, however by no means actually in a great way,” Jorina Stamm explains. “There’s at all times slightly 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 only flip the mild off.”
“‘Depart the Mild 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 recently, 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 house to experiment once more – to easily make the music we felt impressed to create in that second. This tune is the primary glimpse into these contemporary concepts. It’s the one that almost all 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 seems like a second of launch
I by no means wanna go away
however in spite of everything I swear that is my plea
you allow the sunshine on
you retain the sunshine on
with the water within the pot
hu hu hu hu hu
“Lyrically, ‘Depart The Mild On’ explores the issue of letting go and the load of what’s left behind when somebody leaves. It may be about how annoying it may be when your roommate leaves the mild on; you select the place the tune 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
smooth 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 desires
Whether or not we take it at face worth or dig slightly deeper, there’s no denying the concurrently charming and churning nature of this achingly enchanting indie rock tune. “Depart the Mild On” is a name for closure, a name for connection, and a name for catharsis multi functional. Whether or not we get there or not is a narrative for an additional time, however right here, Gentle Loft are no doubt 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 allow me dropping
you retain me shifting
with the water within the pot
you allow me dropping
you retain me shifting
with the water within the pot
you allow the sunshine on
you retain the sunshine on
with the water within the pot
“Do not Miss It.”
by milk.
The tune is named “Don’t Miss It” – and but, I very almost 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 working 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 tune for us and a fixture of our dwell present of late,” drummer Morgan Wilson tells Atwood Journal. “We have now 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 at all times remind me of our dwell present, and we sought to hold as a lot of that tangible power into this recording as we might.”
I’ve been going through 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 a giant, daring method. With their long-awaited debut album supposedly within the works (after three unimaginable 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, actually 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 functional, Housewife’s “Work Music” reckons brazenly and actually 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 stuffed 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 tune, however an anthem for us all.
I solely put on glasses once I journey
Can’t even see the road indicators
Hole speak about you for an hour
Break down your points
so I don’t need to 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 quite a lot of large objectives I need to obtain whereas additionally being somebody with govt functioning points, who’s a little bit of a multitude quite a lot of the time,” Fry tells Atwood Journal. “It’s about making an attempt to determine find out how to really feel like I’m doing what I have to do whereas additionally respecting my well being and never burning myself out.”
“I’ve quite a lot of ongoing well being points and was recognized this 12 months with autism and ADHD, and I feel with non-visible disabilities it will probably usually really feel such as you’re making an excuse for not performing on the identical stage as different individuals when it isn’t actually one thing you possibly can assist. I wrote this tune earlier than being formally recognized and so I feel I used to be grappling with these emotions in a extra not sure and self-deprecating method. That being stated, it was necessary to me that the tune not really feel like a downer, so I additionally selected to type of poke enjoyable at myself for possibly not at all times doing the issues I have to 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 tune and the making of the video, however I nonetheless did my finest, which is typically all we will do!”
What’s the purpose of getting all of the solutions
In case 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 explicit 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 tune that jogs my memory of my value, all whereas lighting a hearth deep inside.
Awoke, 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 tune of the 12 months – simply probably the most 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, dwell 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 arduous 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 offer the entire world a window into what’s presumably probably the most susceptible, and private, second they are going to 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 principally they’re nonsense
I’ve heard myself mendacity
like I don’t like ladies
like I don’t really feel something
besides once I’m ingesting
“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 tune – all that sitting by a river ready for the reality to come back out led to me being sincere for the primary time about who I used to be drawn to and what sort of intercourse I wished in my life.”
“It took nearly two years of zero kissing to get to that time of self-knowledge. Not deliberately – every little thing simply felt so improper 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 could have 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 possibly can’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 considering that I’m an issue, that that is the kiss that may get me in hassle,” Gill confides in tune, “however I need to love you proper right here on the carpet, need somebody to know what I like once I’m drained.” Slowly, steadily, they unravel, coming into themself in parallel with their tune’s personal seductive slow-burn. In the end, they rise to a spellbinding, stunning fever pitch, repeating the road “I haven’t been kissing the individuals I need to” as a mantra of empowerment, absolutely 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 load is lifted as soon as and for all.
The newest single off Ruby Gill’s upcoming sophomore album Some Type 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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