Listen: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - "Billions of Eyes"

While Maine export Lady Lamb the Beekeeper has been a welcome addition to the New York music scene for years, I hadn't had the pleasure of even sampling her music until she opened up a very special early show at Webster Hall for Typhoon earlier this year along with Wild Ones. It was impressive enough to make me instantaneously regret having slept on her 2013 full length debut Ripely Pine despite her set consisting of a number of new songs.

Thankfully now that I am in the know, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's upcoming sophomore record After is already on my release calendar. One of the things that struck me the most about Lady Lamb the Beekeeper was Aly Spaltro's songwriting chops - her knack for visceral, highly sensory lyricism. Songs like "Aubergine" and "You Are the Apple" get so much of their punch from Spaltro's visual-invoking lyrics. While "Billions of Eyes", the first single from Spaltro's sophomore record and Mom + Pop debut, finds her leaning more into her pop conventions than her folk rock growl, Spaltro's words still contain that same bite despite it's smoother delivery.

"When gravity's a palm pushing down on your head/like the devil's got a paw dug in your shoulder and the other is rubbing your back" Spaltro begins and you're already along for the rest of her tale regardless of where it's going. And it goes a lot of different places - part tour travelogue, part post-tour sentiments, "Billions of Eyes" zigs when you expect it to zag and Spaltro only briefly lingers on the most interesting parts of her song - the billions of eyes from which the track gets it's title is presented as an almost throwaway line despite it having the most narrative potential and an off-the-cuff reference to a saintly great grandmother is a fleeting drive-by. Instead of focusing on any of these Spaltro instead turns her attentions to the sort of camaraderie from shared experience before offering the briefest hint of a love song. It's not a totally new lyrical direction for Spaltro - she's transitioned songwriting subjects before but where the transitions were handled with lyrical sleight-of-hand before, Spaltro aims for a more anxious delivery - like the twist in an action movie.

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's sophomore record After is out March 3rd on Mom + Pop Records.

Listen: Night Beds - "Me, Liquor & God"

It seems like Nashville based singer/songwriter Winston Yellen aka Night Beds is ending this year very similarly to the way he began it - with a single. While "Head For the Hills" was entrenched in the similar sounds and delivery of Night Beds' 2013 Dead Oceans full length debut Country Sleep, "Me, Liquor & God" sees Yellen returning to the electronic-infused tapestries of his Colorado Springs roots with an updated twist.

Rather than the soft-focus dream pop of the Every Fire; Every Joy EP, "Me, Liquor & God" is hard-hitting pop. Yellen has been no stranger to pop music but where the pop previously diluted/supported by other elements like folk rock on Country Sleep standout "Ramona", "Me, Liquor & God" is a radical step for Yellen's more subdued delivery. Make no mistake - the Night Beds' frontman is hopping on the R&B inspired bandwagon but the trendiness of the tune is subverted by the strength of Yellen's songwriting. It's easy to miss it given how catchy and cool the track is but Yellen's voice is not unlike that of his more folk rooted efforts - despite the obvious vocal processing.

It's a surprising step for Night Beds but one in which the effects can't be seen - in stepping out of his comfort zone, Yellen continues to flex his songwriting chops in a  remarkably effective way. It remains to be seen if Yellen will continue in this vein, that of earlier release "Head For the Hills", or if he's pursuing a sound all together different but it a treat to hear something new from the Night Beds camp especially when it demonstrates Yellen's desire to play around with his sound. If nothing else, that'll serve to make sure the next Night Beds record is different than the last.

Incan Abraham - Tolerance (2014)

Sometimes a band's greatest strength is time. Some bands utilize this instinctually, some make a conscious effort to give themselves as much as necessary to let the ideas really gestate. It's not always a surefire option for crafting a masterpiece of an album but it's an excellent start and it certainly doesn't hurt. Los Angeles quartet Incan Abraham are one of those rare bands that seemed to realize early in their career that time would be their greatest ally. Maybe it's due to the fact that the core trio of Guiliano Pizzulo,Teddy Cafaro, and Spencer Mandel have known each other for virtually forever or at least since kindergarten which seems like forever ago when you're twentysomething but since putting their first ever EP out in the very beginning of 2011, the band hasn't been in any particular rush to record their debut full length, settling for small but strong releases.

Coming into their own on their Ancient Vacation EP, each subsequent release - namely their "Springhouse" 10" seemed to expand on the world pop infusion cemented in earnest on Ancient Vacation. So it was certainly unexpected when "Concorde" the first single from Incan Abraham's much anticipated full length debut Tolerance arrived anthemic and energetic as ever but a much more straightforward rock pop jam. While it didn't herald quite the shift in sound that it might've led one to expect, it did at least demonstrate that the foursome were equally comfortable with much more standard instrumentation - that what truly made the band unique wasn't their fondness for tropical percussion but their talented songcraft and musicianship. That's essentially what's on display on Tolerance. Incan Abraham are at peak performance - Pizzulo and Cafaro's vocals dexterous with a fullness that's impressive for the oft-high registers they inhabit while the band as a whole displays the type of interconnectedness earned from their five years of existence. The complex rhythms are still a prevalent force on Tolerance but used in a way that doesn't just echo the band's past releases. The album builds on the band's previously established strengths - namely their pristine vocal harmonies and knack of radiant melodies and tight-knit grooves by providing them a new context. 

I'll admit when I first listened to Tolerance, I didn't immediately jive with the album as a whole - a lingering adoration for the balanced intricacies of Ancient Vacation making the full length's subtler music moments not really register but Tolerance is an album that much like the band who made it - grows with time. Each subsequent listen reveals not only an additional layer of awe-inspiring but a new moment to fawn over - from the sparse majesty of "Desert Hold" to the a capella harmonies in  the finale of "Springhouse". Tolerance may have been a long time coming but it offers more than the occasional peek at Incan Abraham's potential. It's a solid album from a band more than capable of surpassing the benchmark. 

Listen to/buy Incan Abraham's full length debut Tolerance via White Iris Records.

Listen: Seismograph - "In Holy Abyss"

Considering the immersive quality of his music and assisting on the new Cemeteries album, it's hard to imagine Seismograph's Jonathan Ioviero can put out music with the frequency of which he is currently and yet here we are. With his debut album Azure Drift out last year, and not one but two tracks on the annual Halloween label for which he is a cofounder, the fact that Ioviero managed to record and release a sophomore record so quickly is, well, rather impressive.

With "In Holy Abyss", the first single from the sophomore record Tundra Divine, Seismograph is leaning more in a distinctly folkier directio or at least that's the impression the fingerstyle intro would have you believe. Seismograph continues not only to excel at making his form of longform songwriting engaging and interesting but also in sidestepping easy genre classification. Seismograph has always managed to take the scenic route in regards to genre - a pop momentum functioning as the vehicle but post-rock and chillwave elements like hills and trees are reoccurring parts of the scenery.

The most charming thing about Seismograph's "In Holy Abyss" however is how he manages to manipulate it's main melody into the very fabric of it. Throughout the song's 9 minute sprawl, there's frequent callbacks to its initial presentation and it rises in intensity and immediacy until it's eventually the only thing left - there some time before Ioviero's wispy vocals enter and present long after they fade.



Seismograph's sophomore album Tundra Divine is out now and available on limited edition cassette via Ioverio's own Snowbeast Records.

Listen: Johnny Flynn - "Detectorists"

After releasing and touring behind his third studio album Country Mile last year English singer/songwriter Johnny Flynn has more or less settled down for a spell in Britain to focus a bit on his growing family and log in more acting credits (Flynn starred as Dylan in BBC4's Scrotal Recall). But music doesn't seem to be quite on the backburner for Johnny Flynn as Detectorists, a six-part series written and directed by Mackenzie Cook of The Office fame, not only makes extensive use of Flynn's music but features a brand new song as its theme and Flynn in a cameo appearance to perform it.

"Detectorists", which shares it name and subject matter with the metal detector club of the series' main characters, is pretty much standard Flynn: featuring a melodic guitar line reminiscent of "The Box" and a less growling "The Lady is Risen". While shorter than your typical Johnny Flynn tune most likely due to it being the series' opening theme it's longer than you might expect and no less affecting as Flynn delivers understated, beautiful lyrics amid swelling horns and delicate finger plucking.  It's a pitch perfect fit for the series which tends to aim not for gut-busting guffaws but quieter chuckles and pleasant smile-cracking.

Listen to "Detectorists" which is also available for download here.

Listen: Jessica Pratt - "Back, Baby"

It wasn't that long ago when the news broke that San Francisco singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt's follow up to her starkly beauty solo debut was in fact a real thing coming soon and today she finally delivers another taste of what the album, On Your Own Love Again, will sound like.

On "Back, Baby", Jessica Pratt resembles not the dusty rambles of folk troubadours but more closely resembles that of a Bacharachian chanteuse but instead of the typical lush orchestrations to which they're more characteristically paired, Pratt stays true to her guitar allowing the layering of her vocals to fill much of the space. Jessica Pratt has been doggedly pursued by Summer of Love/Summer of 69 vibe comparisons and "Back, Baby" manages the impressive feat of both leaning into them and poking the necessary holes in them. Jessica Pratt's "Back, Baby" is soft-focus folk song with a nascent trace of pop.



Jessica Pratt's sophomore record On Your Own Love Again is out January 27th on Drag City.

Listen: The Dodos - "Competition"

There's no denying that Bay area duo The Dodos have settled into a comfortable groove and with their sixth full length on the way it makes a hell of a lot of sense that they would. While no longer experiencing any of the growing pains that marked the transition between their first three albums, The Dodos are still game to explore different avenues for their sound which has arguably resulted in some of the most unexpected and enjoyable parts of their latest albums. The addition of Neko Case on No Color, expansion of their tonal pallet on Carrier, and even their continued collaborations with the Magik*Magik Orchestra have resulted in refreshing changes of pace.

While there's no telling just yet what The Dodos have up their sleeve for their most recent follow up Individ, their latest single "Competition" reintroduces listeners to The Dodos they've known and loved all these years - just Meric Long and Logan Kroeber's percussive rock pop sans any flashy accouterments. The duo start at jogger's pace and show no signs of slowing down even with a shuffling B section. "Competition" shows that even without a lot of the experimentation they've engaged in over the years that the duo are still enjoyable on their own. Kroeber's drumming is still driving and articulate while never overtaking Long. Meanwhile Long pulls a sort of impressive double duty as he pairs his usual winding lyrics with some rather aggressive guitar growls and competing guitar lines. Essentially Long is still enjoying his ongoing exploration of guitar tones which results in moments that are a lot more subtly engaging. But that's more or less always been The Dodos' style - the technical hidden beneath an ever present forward momentum. "Competition" is a song with an obscured intricacy that's surprisingly easy to miss and in that way is rather reflective of The Dodos themselves. There's always a lot more going on than the duo draw attention to - you just have to listen.  



The Dodos' sixth full length album Individ is out January 27th on Polyvinyl. Pre-order is available now and includes an option for a limited edition early bird LP in red.