Constant Follower – Turn Around For Me (single release)

Constant Follower is the alias of songwriter Stephen McAll, whose instantly compelling and moving debut album, the Kramer co-produced, Neither is Nor Ever Was (Shimmy Disc), was shortlisted for the SAY Award (Scottish Album of the Year) in 2022. Turn Around For Me is his new single. Available from May 9, 2024, the track was co-produced and mixed in Austin, Texas by Dan Duszynski, known for his work with Loma, Cross Records and Brian Eno.
Retaining the lyrical depth and intricate melodies Constant Follower is celebrated for, Turn Around For Me also features compelling hooks and an unexpected gentle rhythmic pulse packed into its 2.30mins running time. This combination is compulsively addictive, ensuring the song will remain on repeat. With echoes of icons The Go-Betweens and The National, Constant Follower crafts a sound that’s equally suited to the bright start of morning radio or the reflective hours of late-night listening. In addition to the digital release, an exclusive 7” vinyl version is available only on Bandcamp, featuring the amazing AA-side See You Soon.
The single is accompanied by a stunning stop animation video by Japanese animator Tsumugi Yagi, whom they’ve worked with before for Space Between Stars, whose video was premiered here. 

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Herself – Spoken Unsaid

Gioele Valenti, polistrumentista palermitano attivo musicalmente dai primi anni duemila, è un esempio più unico che raro di outsider di qualità che non scende a compromessi e ha più seguito all’estero che in Italia. Già protagonista con i Lay Llamas, negli ultimi tempi si è rivelato al pubblico con due distinti alter-ego, il primo di impronta indie-folk a tocchi noir (Herself) e l’altro maggiormente psychedelic-rock e kraut (Juju).

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Lila Tristram – Sound Like Easter (Single Premiere)

After two years hidden in a remote countryside studio, Lila Tristram, musician, fiction writer, artist and teacher based in East London, opens a new chapter.
Having spent four years crafting a name for herself with her atmospheric, bucolic folk releases (Our Friends pt. I & II were released in 2020; Black and White Memories Ignited by the Scent of Springtime Explode in Colour -a collaborative project with The Last Dinosaur’s Jamie Cameron- was released on December 2022; the EP home was released in May 2023) she put together a 5-piece band and emerged with an elegiac indie-rock record, described by Annie Needham as “a masterpiece.”
The first single from the album, Sounds Like Easter, will be available on all major streaming platforms tomorrow, 9th May 2024, but we have the honour and opportunity to have it on TRISTE© as an exclusive premiere.

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Jackie West – Close To The Mystery (Exclusive Album Premiere)

The eponymous lyric from Jackie West’s debut album has been running through her head throughout most of her life: “Only the wind can pull my body/close to the mystery.” Before it found a home in her hazy, Julee-Cruise-like ballad Ethereal Nature the line functioned as a mantra for the Brooklyn singer-songwriter. It seemed to point her towards inspiration and clarity just out of reach. The breathtaking Close to the Mystery (out May 10 via Ruination Record Co.) threads together many moments of searching and reaching out—pulled from a variety of relationships and settings, articulated through a range of musical points. Its masterful baroque-pop songs form abstract scenes in a larger story about a self and worldview taking shape; in each, West assesses different, transient versions of herself, making revisions and absorbing the changes into a fuller, more finite draft. 
Today –after having her on our TRISTE© MIXTAPE feature– we have the great honour to host the exclusive premiere of her debut album!
Scroll on down below to listen to Close To The Mystery and don’t forget to click on through to the band’s Bandcamp page to pre-order it before it releases on May 10th. Do yourself a favor and don’t sleep on this one; it’s going to be one of the best album of the year.

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(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 152: Lightheaded

Lightheaded

New Jersey’s Lightheaded are, simply, a great pop group. Their songs are full of melody and harmony, are bittersweet and memorable, familiar yet original. Their sound is a perfect mix of jangling guitars — featuring Sara Abdelbarry’s exquisite, tasteful, but punchy Gretsch lead played over Stephen Stec’s Rickenbacker chime — anchored to singer Cynthia Rickenbach’s Hofner Violin bass. Cynthia and Stephen write pop songs in the classic sense, and though they are young they’re already familiar with the good stuff. Cynthia wears a Gene Clark tee shirt and is a fan of Dusty Springfield, The Aislers Set, and Joan Jett. Stephen worships at the altar of Big Star, The Clientele, and The Go-Betweens. As with bands like The Aislers Set and Belle & Sebastian, you hear an aural kaleidoscope, the history pop music and the best rock and roll, in the music of Lightheaded. Good Good Great! EP was their first record for Sulmberland record, out in 2023. The band’s debut album, Combustible Gems, will be out 17th May 2024, again on Slumberland Records.

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