Seven Fresh Songs #217
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Yvonne Ambrée is originally from Germany and has, among other projects, sung for Disney. Now she lives in New York City and does very different music. “Thieves” is a dark electronic track about heavy thoughts that steal your sleep in the middle of the night. She also has good advice for coping with such situations: “I thought of all the people that might be awake just like me trying to fight their personal battles and it gave me a strange sense of comfort knowing that I’m not alone.”
“Waiting for Your Love” is an unpretentious, elegantly produced pop song, so it does not come as a surprise that Kerri Martin does all the creative work herself. “Making this song was the first instance of me reclaiming my space as a producer. I’m super proud of it,” she says.
The Californian band La Luz has been around since the early 2010s and is about to release their fifth album, News of the Universe, by the end of this month. Shana Cleveland, singer and primary songwriter, took their latest single, “I’ll Go With You,” from a dream. “Lyrically, this song is a retelling of a dream I had one night when I had gone to bed with the melody of this song in my head. I had some different words in mind, but this sweet little romance dream took over,” she says.
“Just Us” is about “longing for love, longing to dance, longing to forget about your troubles.” The Norwegian neighbor duo Rinjin’s debut single is a loungy pop gem, perfect for kicking off a Friday summer night in the city.
Jeanne Amiens, aka Jeannel, is a Berlin-based artist experimenting with R&B-inspired pop music. Her new song “BLUE” evolves around a picked cello line — an instrument she plays herself — and fades in and out other subtle sound elements. “’Blue’ is an homage to the multitudes of love’s stages, to the blissful and soul crushing faces of love, and a tribute to a love I lost, that really shattered me and brought me to the very edge of my own humanness, my sanity and fragility,” Jeanne says.
Neutrals is a Bay Area trio that perfectly nails English post-punk. Elke and I discussed several reference points until we settled for Fischer-Z. Their new song, “That’s Him On The Daft Stuff Again,” was inspired by an overheard quote. “The songs write themselves don’t you know,” singer Allan McNaughton offers.
Blair Howerton, the singer and songwriter of Why Bonnie, was “broke as hell” and tempted to give in to get-rich-fast schemes. With “Dotted Line,” she reminds us that they rarely (or never?) work. Why Bonnie also signed to Fire Talk, which involves a few consequential dotted lines. We wish them the best for their label deal.
