Simon Merle comes from Annonay, the largest city in the north of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. He used to play in a band called The Bankees. Ten years and one hundred songs later, he decided to play and record solo under his real identity. Now he is a philosophy teacher and musician, with three album under his belt: Brain Man – a psychedelic journey discovering the most mysterious and erotic organ: the brain – Vissenty – dedicated to the district of Annonay where his grandparents and his parents lived, and where he lives today – and Simon Merle, which was out in novembre 2021. His new album Simon Merle And Friends was out in September on Petrol Chips label based in Paris, born out of a collaboration with the musicians Noel Bingo-Belmondo on bass and backing vocals and Ray Borneo on guitars, keyboards and drums.
Continua a leggereArchivi categoria: Season 2
(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 96: Logan Farmer
Logan Farmer is a singer-songwriter and producer based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Combining elements of traditional folk, psychedelic, and ambient music, Farmer has released five full length albums since 2013, under the moniker Monarch Mtn., slowly earning him a devoted cult following. Still No Mother, out in 2020 on Western Vinyl, was the first record under his own name: eight magnificent songs, expression of his personal and evolved folk and the result of a deep sound research and refined arrangements. Farmer’s vision of folk is decidedly peculiar and modern. His second album, A Mold For The Bell is out now, again on Western Vinyl.
Continua a leggere(Make Me a) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 95: Dylan Mondegreen
Dylan Mondegreen is the alias of Børge Sildnes (“Mondegreen means misheard lyrics, and well, a Dylan mondegreen refers to misheard Bob Dylan lyrics. It wasn’t my intention that people should believe it’s a person’s name, but it seems like most do. I think the name says something about the beauty of pop music; that it doesn’t need to be understood or analyzed.“), Norwegian singer and songwriter whose debut album, While I Walk You Home, was released 2007. The second album, The World Spins On, was released in 2009 and in 2012 Mondegreen released a third, self-titled album on Shelflife Records, co-produced and mixed by Ian Catt, best known for his work with Saint Etienne, The Field Mice and other bands on the Sarah Records label. Every Little Step was released in April 2016, again for Shelflife Records, while his latest album, A Place In The Sun, came out in 2018, also produced by Ian Catt. After almost four years of silence, in 2022 remixes of Keeper of Secrets (by Ian Catt) and The Heart is a Muscle (by Invisible Twin/Shoestrings) saw the light and two new singles came out, A Sound Rings True and To Change Your Heart, both of which could be included in a new album coming out next year.
Continua a leggere(Make Me a) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 94: Sophie Jamieson
Sophie Jamieson comes from London and writes intimate, fragile, visceral and painfully honest songs. She explores pain, addiction and loneliness with courage and brutal sincerity as it is the only way to face her demons and to emerge victorious from the struggle.
Her first EP, Where was released in 2013. A single, Stain / Other, followed one year later, but personal issues kept her out from the scene for four years.
It was only in 2019, that she started writing songs again. Since then, Sophie Jamieson has released two EPs, Hammer and Release, dealing, starkly and without self-pity, depression and isolation, and the struggles it takes to get out of it. Her debut album is called Choosing and will be out tomorrow December 2nd on Bella Union. On the new record Jamieson explicitly addresses self-destructive behavior in an attempt to pull herself out of a downward spiral and making choices, however difficult and painful they may be.
(Make Me a) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 93: Cloth
Cloth is a minimal, alternative rock band made up of twins Rachael and Paul Swinton from Glasgow, Scotland. Playing shows since around 2018, their first record Cloth came out in Novembre 2019 on Last Night From Glasgow.
Recently signing to Mogwai’s legendary Rock Action record label (whose roster includes The Twilight Sad, Kathryn Joseph and Arab Strap), their new EP Low Sun was released in October, 2022 and was accompanied by a UK tour. Having been previously shortlisted for the prestigious SAY Award for their debut album, they wanted to explore new sonic textures and grander arrangements with Low Sun.
Cloth wrote the EP mostly during lockdown and feel that the tracks are at once bleak and beautiful, communicating both displacement and hope – emotions felt keenly by so many during that time.