Mark Rolfe is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist from Nottingham. Playing in the bands Lorna and The Slow Return he is inspired by everything from The Aphex Twin to Elgar and Sonic Youth to Arvo Part. He loves animals and being by the sea. Lorna formed in the late 1990’s and release music on the US-based label Words On Music. They have been compared to the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Stereolab, Yo La Tengo and The Velvet Underground. Lorna have released six full length albums and several singles. Mark Rolfe started his solo career in 2014 and made seven (very diverse in style and production) records so far. Every Setting Sun is his latest record, recorded with a little help form his Lorna friends, and will be out on August 5th.
Wilder Maker is a Brooklyn band which features a dynamic roster of musicians, including singer-songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum, accompanied byNick Jost and Sean Mullins. Band members play regularly with Debo Band, Mutual Benefit, Baroness, Kevin Garrett, Johanna Samuels, and Hannah Cohen. After a series of self-releases and home recordings, Wilder Maker came to national attention via their Saddle Creek 7” New Streets in 2017 and subsequently released their label debut Zion with Northern Spy Records in 2018. Their new album is Male Models and it will be out July 29th via Western Vinyl. Male Models is a crystallization of the more sprawling style of the 2018 LP, knocking the corners off the more extended songs and packing them into bite size forms that revolve heavily around the live studio performance and kinetic energy of the core trio, who have been making music together for nearly a decade. Male Models features guest lead vocalists: Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), Katie Von Schleicher, Felicia Douglass (Dirty Projectors, Ava Luna), Alex Schaaf (Yellow Ostrich), V.V. Lightbody, and Mutual Benefit.
Tan Cologne is the duo of Lauren Green and Marissa Macias based in Northern New Mexico. The two artists work in sonic and tactile modalities inspired by both Earthly and otherworldly landscapes. Tan Cologne released their debut album entitled Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico on Labrador Records in 2020. Green and Macias write, perform, and record everything as the entity Tan Cologne. The duo cites an appreciation for Jessica Pratt, Amen Dunes, Bitchin’ Bajas and Sade, and are as likely to engage in conversation about UFOs as about recipes, plants, textiles, and wood sculpting. Green and Macias began recording their second album in the summer of 2021 at their home, a relatively remote location. Swimming became an important daily ritual, as did gardening and visiting a nearby dry river bed. The rest of each day was spent writing and recording. Tan Cologne are an entirely self-contained unit, responsible for every sound on the record, sharing vocal, guitar, lap steel, synths and percussion duties, with Green adding drums, bass, autoharp, and melodica and Macias keyboards as well as bouzouki, not to mention the artwork’s photography. At all times, however, their proximity to nature and the ferocity of its elements made its own crucial contribution to the record’s development. With the likes of Mazzy Star and Grouper echoing across the plains, the ghosts of Cocteau Twins tracing patterns amid night-time stars and Verve’s oft-overlooked A Storm In Heaven drifting down dried riverbeds in the surrounding barren landscape, Earth Visions of Water Spaces is the perfect vessel for such lofty considerations.
Silver Biplanes are a melodic indie band based in Bedfordshire, England. The band features wife-and-husband team Vanessa Vass and Tim Vass alongside drummer Rob Scott. They declare they’re all lifelong fans of the highways and bi-ways of music and their recordings draw upon a wide range of influences. You’ll hear traces of psychedelia, post-punk, C86, krautrock and more. Their first single, Parallel World was released on 8 July 2022 on the Where It’s At Is Where You Are label. The debut album, A Moment in the Sun will follow. Tim was previously bassist and lyricist in cult indie band Razorcuts, co-writing all of their songs. The entire Razorcuts back catalogue was reissued in deluxe vinyl editions in 2020, featuring songs originally recorded for the famous Creation, Sarah, Subway and Flying Nun labels. Tim has also played in Red Chair Fadeaway, Dandelion Wine and the Forever People. Vanessa was the singer in 90’s indie band The Melons who are probably best remembered for their two legendary live sessions on Mark Radcliffe’s Radio 1 show. The Melons released 6 singles on a range of cool indie labels.
Tony Jay is the solo project of Michael Ramos, known as member ofFlowertown, April Magazine and Al Harper. He’s releasing music under this stage name for almost fifteen years now, but his latest efforts, 2020’s A Wave In The Dark and 2021’s Hey There Flower, both out for Paisley Shirt Records on cassette, are definitely his most accomplished sets of songs. The latter, fourteen songs mostly recorded between Christmas 2020 and New Year’s during a window of isolation at home, “preserves Tony Jay’s prowess at making beautifully eerie lo-fi pop; like a hazy memory where your favorite Sixties girl-group melody is perpetually slowed down“. Without a band to practice with, Tony Jay recorded the music alone, but recruited a slew of friends to remotely record backing vocals: Karina Gill (Cindy), Griffin Jones (Galore), Kati Mashikian (Mister Baby), Alexis Harper (Al Harper), & Hannah Lew (Cold Beat). The vinyl version of Hey There Flower is out now via Mt. St. Mtn..
Indie Sunset in Rome 