As the sun is shining and weather starts to warm up, we’re delighted to see live music plans afoot for many of our members. This week’s New Music Monday is a collection of tunes we love from some of those artists who are planning on hitting the road later this year.
Tune in for tracks from Baby Queen, Rina Sawayama + Elton john, Charlotte Jane, Coach Party and O'Flynn.
Baby Queen - Dover Beach
We recently had the pleasure of seeing rising star Baby Queen performing for the British Music Embassy at SXSW Online.
Dover Beach is her latest pop-bop inspired by a trip to the Kent coast.
‘In school I was obsessed with this poem called Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold,” she says of the song, “and I always wanted to visit the Dover cliffs, so I went there alone on a writing trip in October last year. I actually wrote the melody and lyrics of this song while I was sitting on the beach. It’s about being infatuated with somebody and seeing them everywhere you look. I was kind of pissed that I went to look at the beach, all I could think about was this person, hence the lyric “you stole the view of Dover Beach.” It’s another internal struggle with my own insecurities and a sort of acceptance of the fact that I can’t escape my daydreams of this person, even if I go to a different place.’
Baby Queen is playing London’s Omeara on 9th November, sadly it’s already sold out.
Rina Sawayama & Elton John – Chosen Family
It’s been a remarkable year for PRS Foundation Momentum funded artist Rina. Her debut album Sawayama ranked third in The Guardian's Best Albums of 2020 and she bagged a Brit’s Rising Star nomination after pushing the competition to change it’s rules.
Just before lockdown last year Rina talked about sexuality, the industry and her journey at Annie Mac Presents so this re-release of Chosen Family with Elton John rings true to her words about queer writers ‘who can write about their lived experiences’, who better to illustrate the meaning of a chosen family and queer acceptance than Elton John.
Rina heads out on a UK tour this November.
O'Flynn - Talia
London based DJ/producer O’Flynn labelled ‘one of dance music’s most prosperous newcomers’ by Boiler Room is back with his first original single of 2021, Talia.
This emotive track was envisioned during lockdown, ‘Creating music has really helped keep me sane during this last year, the lack of human interaction. With this track I just kind of wanted to show my appreciation to everyone who made that time so special’ said O’Flynn.
Talia is out now via Panthus.
You can catch O’Flynn at Field Day this August.
Coach Party - i'm sad
The four-piece from the Isle of Wight have had a busy week, they've just announced their EP After Party, a UK headline tour and revealed the music video for i’m sad.
Speaking about the EP lead vocalist Jess Eastwood says: ‘Each song on the After Party EP came quite naturally to us, many of them are about difficult people, whether that be work colleagues, family members, and even ourselves (like in Everybody Hates Me). In other tracks we talk about whether we’d be okay on our own and dealing with self doubt and lack of trust – it’s self deprecating but in a positive therapeutic kind of way.
We wanted the sound of the band to come through in a more natural and raw way on this record, capturing a specific moment in time. It feels to us like a sequel which gets a bit more love than the original – like …Bogus Journey to …Excellent Adventure. We had a feeling that it might be a long time before we get to play live again so a part of us wanted to make this EP a bit like a gig and refrain from going mad with overdubs… face melting riffs over studio tricks. Rumour has it that Paul McCartney wanted to produce this one, but we told him we need a little longer to carve our own sound and told him to call back in 2021… he might have lost our number.’
After Party is out now via Chess Club Records and you can catch them on tour this October.
Charlotte Jane - Refuge
This talented singer songwriter from Hull has just released her EP Refuge with the melodic title track and music video to accompany it.
‘At its core Refuge is about the frustration of wanting to love and support someone through a tough time, but how you can’t force someone to open up to you’ Jane explains, ‘Especially when it’s a mental health struggle or aftershocks from a past trauma, supporting someone can feel like a spectator sport sometimes. You can see the pain playing out but you can’t get involved unless they invite you. I thought I was writing it about other people, then realised I could, subconsciously, be talking to myself.’
The single and EP is out now and you can catch Charlotte Jane at TRNSMT & Isle of Wight Festival later this year.