Artist shared about this song:

” This is a true story about a pivotal moment in my life. When I was 4 years old, my Dad and I build a rocket from old cardboard boxes and tape. I sat in it cross-legged on the floor and put on my Dad’s huge headphones. He dropped the vinyl of the “2001: A Space Odyssey” soundtrack – this was the first time I’d heard music on headphones – amazing…it blew me away!! I shut my eyes and was transported to another world! I believe that was the moment I decided I wanted to be a composer…that feeling of wonder and passion has never left me. “

The track had an unlikely birth. du0 tells the story: “The three of us were among nine musicians invited to attend AMPLIFY, QMusic’s Songwriting Retreat at Heliport Studios in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Australia. It was amazing and incredibly hectic. We were rotated in groups of three and had to come up with a song from scratch, and produce and record it in 4 hours. We did this five times in three days.”

The result, Come Home, has had 1,107,000 streams on Spotify, but little radio play so far. And now the acoustic video is going off on YouTube. There may be something in this, we don’t know. Hopefully you can help us find out what it is.

https://www.instagram.com/du0_music

Artist shared with us few words about this song:

Running is the first single of of my debut album “Revelation Never Came”, that releases October 8th 2021. The album (and this song) was recorded during the lock-down period of mid 2020, during which I took it upon myself to do the production and play all instruments except drums and bass on the record.

I wrote this song last March at the start of this crisis. At that point it still partly felt surreal and I couldn’t help but think about the weirdness of this world. Change came so suddenly and there was nothing to do about it.

After a bit of lockdown I started feeling a bit sore because of lack of activity, so I decided to buy these sneakers and start running in the morning. *Note that I previously regarded sports as not for me, since I’d prefer to spend that time making music*. This song has become a discription of that first run after six years of no real exercise, and the rapidly changing world that forced this event.

http://www.instagram.com/aidanandthewild

Taking a cue from heroes such as Ben Howard, John Butler, John Smith and the Tallest Man On Earth and a profound love for ancient myths and stories about lost times come together in the distinct sound of Aidan & the Wild’s music.

Aidan, a.k.a. Diederik van den Brandt, takes his listeners away on a musical journey through his interpretation of folk and americana music. Spending most of his days practicing his instruments results in a singer-songwriter who clearly knows his way around the guitar. Open-tuning finger picking alternated with slide and percussive style techniques produce a saturated and captivating sound. The big blueprint of his songwriting is folk music, but within the spectrum all corners are explored. From groovy americana and uplifting songs about Jesus to enchanting melodies that transport the listener to another world, from personal stories about love to epic works about myths and dragons. Combined with his raw and honest voice and occasional foot percussion he delivers a one-man show that keeps captivating every second along the way as well as an energetic and enchanting performance backed up by his band.

http://www.instagram.com/aidanandthewild

Aperol is a tribute to being unapologetically yourself even when your world is falling apart. I wrote this song while feeling very abandoned at the beginning of the pandemic. I was going through a rough breakup and had unexpectedly ended up quarantining alone in a foreign country, which gave me a lot of time to think about what it means to love someone, and what it means to stand your ground in the face of heartbreak. I remember walking home from the grocery store one night and being stopped by a couple who had spotted a line of strange lights in the sky. It was surreal, just standing there with two strangers and staring up at the sky in silence, wondering if the world was about to end and realizing it wouldn’t surprise me at all. The guy had his arms wrapped around his girlfriend as if he wanted to be as close to her as possible, just in case. Turns it was only some satellites, but in that moment it hit me, “yes, I deserve to be with someone who would stay by my side for the end of the world.” I think having this sense of self advocacy makes it easier to embrace the absurdity of your pain when things get bad. It’s kind of like looking in the mirror and saying “I see you, and you are absolutely ridiculous, but I love you anyway.”

https://www.instagram.com/emeeno_acid/

Emina Sonnad is an American singer-songwriter who stumbled upon her musical identity after unexpectedly losing her job teaching English in Madrid. In an effort to find her place in an unfamiliar city, she attended her first open stage night at Sala Alive. Her soft, melancholic voice cut through the chaos of the bar, captivating the crowd, and she was quickly swept away by the vibrancy of the Spanish music scene. Mentored by a tight-knit community of indie musicians, Emina spent the year songwriting, performing in small venues and recording her first single, “Pretending to See Stars,” a dark, introspective ballad self released in 2018. The song’s distinctively wistful vocals caught the attention of Germany’s emerging deep house artist Pretty Pink, who invited Emina to co-write and feature on her next project. The resulting collaboration, “Overrated” was released through Found Frequencies and streamed by millions, bringing Emina to Berlin with a newly acquired taste for electronic music and an unapologetic desire to grow as an artist. Splitting her time between writing techno toplines, hosting open-mic nights in Berlin’s trendy Space Meduza Bar, and releasing an acoustic EP with folk-pop project Half a Disaster, Emina gained a small but dedicated local fanbase, whose support encouraged her to spend the entirety of the 2020 lockdown creating something more personal. Teaming up with Berlin producer Edgar Möller, she recorded six of her original songs, culminating in a record deal with UK based label At Swim Music. Emina’s upcoming releases invite listeners to pause and take comfort in the bleakness, the beauty and the absurdity of everyday life.

https://www.facebook.com/emina

At the intersection of slow melodic techno and psychedelic rock is where Konchord takes the listeners on a flight with soulful electronic music. Sometimes soft and tender, sometimes dark and deep, sometimes as bright as the sun, always with an inner compass for harmony and balance. With driving basslines, atmospheres as deep as space, synth melodies for the mind to fly high, and a hint of playful weirdness, Konchord’s music can evoke feelings of travelling through far distant galaxies in a neon light disco-spaceship.

For his live performances he plays with live synths, keys and vocals, while keeping the space for improvising on the fly.

https://www.instagram.com/konchord/
https://www.facebook.com/konchord/

Four Hands – this is Alex and Marcel.

​When Alex and Marcel met a few years ago they soon figured that they are sharing a huge joy and passion for electronic sounds. This was the beginning of a very special friendship and the reason for starting to engage in music intensely together.

Just like the two guys themselves, also their music style has developed over the years and went from a deep sound into a melodic techno style with a focus on massive synth parts.

During the times the two DJs got supported by various famous artists like SOLOMUN, Kevin de Vries and lately Nicole Moudaber who played their tracks on big events like BPM Mexico, United We Stream ARTE concert, ReConnect – Together for Beirut and on Nicole’s legendary radio show IN THE MOOD.

Another important passion project in Four Hands’ career is the launch of their own record label VERSPIELT Musik based in Frankfurt am Main / Germany. It focuses on tracks with a sound from melodic to techno. Part of the label is the VERSPIELT show case, which was welcoming amazing artists like ARTBAT, Musumeci and starlet Carla Casanova so far.

https://www.fourhandsmusic.de/

On the new video:

Mississippi-bred, Nashville-based artist Chelsea Lovitt has a familiar 2020 tale – and has a video she wants to release around Valentine’s Day for her song “State Of Denial.” There’s a pretty funny story here…”State Of Denial” is about being distanced from loved ones when you’re a touring artist, and the message still applies since distance is mandated and viruses are in the way.

Chelsea got a great deal from video guru Joshua Shoemaker (Nicole Atkins, Marcus King Band, Vanessa Carlton, and more), to shoot the music video for “State Of Denial” – he filmed her while she drove her band van around Nashville delivering flowers, making people happy while she’s singing about being separated from her loved ones. Then, two weeks before lockdown, Chelsea put out an album in what was supposed to be “her year,” with a tour planned that had to be canceled, like so many other artists. To add fuel to the dumpster fire that was 2020, Chelsea had arranged to sell her rustbucket van to help pay for this music video. On the way to the airport to meet the guy who’d bought it from her (who had flown in to drive back to his home state), it died. For good.

Chelsea Lovitt’s music is a fantastic blend of sass, swagger, and hip-shaking defiance..rock n’ roll and rockabilly, psychedelic country with the underlying lyrical rebellion of 60s folk. Every song on her latest record, You Had Your Cake, So Lie In It, is a sparkling gem – whether it’s sifting through the emotional storage facility of emerging adulthood or red wine-fueled philosophizing, Lovitt’s got the goods, and she’s got it in spades.

https://www.instagram.com/chelsealovitt/

Quote from Chelsea:

I wrote this song on a harmonica in a field in Delaware the month before going in the studio. It was 5 in the morning and I’d been listening to Dylan. I had ambitions and ideas for this record to be influenced by Blonde on Blonde of course, and since we were doing it on tape and in Nashville I’d been listening to that and Nashville Skyline obsessively. I wrote this when I was in love, after not ever really being in it. It examines psychological issues that maybe stem from being from Mississippi because for some reason we’re prone to be emotional hoarders and it’s hard to “sift through that pile” when it comes to letting go and living in the moment or especially being in love. The song reflects on what wasn’t love and what is and why sometimes it’s a bittersweet “can’t be,” because distance and/or your own neuroses get in the way.

Now distance is mandated and viruses are in the way.

And it’s kind of like the predicament we have on Valentines this year when we have to socially distance ourselves and a lot of lovers can’t be together, and maybe this year has been a soul distancing folks like me have actually needed to figure out and “sift through” our own internal crap and be better people. When else could we have done that in this fast-paced world? It’s also been a test of what it means to really love somebody, especially when you can’t physically be with them.

https://www.facebook.com/chelsealovitt

STATE OF DENIAL

Well I wasnʼt quite ready to live

I wasnʼt quite ready to live,

I wasnʼt quite ready to give,

You a try.

And I ainʼt never been ready to sift

Through that pile.

Cause baby I was born in a state that dug the ditch for denial.

I wasnʼt quite natural to give,

I wasnʼt quite certain Iʼd leave

or care if I died

But now Iʼd pay for your time if cost me every nickel or dime.

And I ainʼt never been ready to sift

Through that pile,

Cause baby I was born in a state that dug the ditch for denial.

I didnʼt cry cause I missed you

Itʼs cause I knew youʼd hurt me when youʼre gone.

When I have you in my arms it seems youʼd never cause any harm.

Baby I know you love me but your heart gets harder when your far.

And I ainʼt never been ready to sift,

Through that pile.

Cause baby I was born in a state that dug the ditch for denial.

Instrumental

Buy a house for a hundred dollars

50/50 make some kinda start.

For the first time Iʼd plant flowers and have some kinda yard.

But whatʼs in paying taxes on land when youʼre both so far?

And I ainʼt never been ready to sift,

Through that pile.

Cause baby I was born in a state that dug the ditch for denial,

Yeah baby I was born in a state that dug the ditch for denial.

https://twitter.com/chelseaolovitt

Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay release the brand-new album OUTSIDER today on ¡Ya Basta! Records. Listen HERE.
http://smarturl.it/outsiderdarger

Ten astonishing, heart-soaked pop songs, inspired by America’s most celebrated Outsider artist Henry Darger. The album release is accompanied by an official video for the track ‘Scattering the fierce foeman’ – directed by Gabriel Jacquel – watch HERE.

https://youtu.be/G8h12wI1tDc

OUTSIDER, an album of lush, twisted 1950s/60s Americana with stunning, vintage analogue instrumentation transports the listener into panoramic realms, gifting incredible instant-classic songs such as ‘Who Will Follow Angelinia’, ‘Hark Hark’, ‘Bring Them In’, ‘Can A Boy Forget His Mother?’, ‘851 Webster Avenue’ and ‘Scattering The Fierce Foeman’.

The album is a musical and visual extrapolation of Darger, his obsession with the weather, his tormented Christian faith, deceptively naive paintings and lyrics to songs, that have never before been set to music, written over 50 years ago. Darger was a reclusive hospital janitor, whose epic fantasy novels and visual artwork set the art world aflame upon its posthumous discovery. Darger’s work now exhibits around the world, changes hands for close to a million dollars and has admirers among artists including Grayson Perry, the Chapman brothers and musicians like Nick Cave, David Byrne, Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart.

OUTSIDER has been five years in the making and the brainchild of Philippe Cohen Solal, the million-selling artist, producer and composer who co-founded Gotan Project. Solal has been given exclusive, unprecedented access to Henry Darger’s estate comprising lyrics, poems and visual art and has brought together an epic collaboration with Mike Lindsay from acid folk group Tunng, Hannah Peel and the vocals of Adam Glover.

The songs shimmer around the edges of altered states, luxuriously swelling through classic 1950s microphones, like Scott Walker at a pagan festival, music textured with mid-century Americana, under-the-radar found sound and hard weather. It’s PJ Harvey’s ‘Let England Shake’ orchestrated by Ennio Morricone in an illustrated world peopled by angels, valiant children, marching battalions, and vast, colourful landscapes depicting all of the above.

Solal and Lindsay co-wrote and co-produced all the tracks, with acclaimed solo artist and composer Hannah Peel on brass, strings and backing vocals to portray Darger’s child characters, the Vivian girls, and Adam Glover bringing the lush, crooning lead vocals, that conjur up Scott Walker and reflect the inner voice of Darger himself through the original lyrics. Mixed by Grammy-award winning Andrew Scheps (Adele, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey).

Speaking about the album, creator Philippe Cohen Solal said “I first came across Henry Darger’s work in 2003, and it has stayed with me ever since. I feel I know Darger. So many years I’ve been reading his books and living with his work and words. I feel connected because of the kind of child he was. The outside world was pretty mean to him when he was young and I relate it to what is happening to the world now: with autocrats and mean people We call him an ‘outsider artist’ but he was very inside himself – and he created a whole world inside. OUTSIDER has been five years in the making and it’s been a real labour of love. I imagined Adam’s luxurious, fantastically powerful and beautiful voice being the voice inside Henry’s head, the projection of himself to be stronger, more powerful.”

Mike Lindsay said “The music we created for OUTSIDER sounds like a late 1950s and early 1960s production, with this contemporary twisted, textured edge to it, somehow making it sound quite timelessI don’t know where it fits into contemporary music but it’s classic, it’s beautiful and it’s experimental.”

Hannah Peel said “You’d think the way he was writing; he’d gone to Woodstock on a crazy trip and then gone to church to cleanse his soul. He was a janitor but it’s like he had about ten different past lives, and ten future lives. Musically, it’s more resonant than ever. It’s really energetic and full and so full of hope and beauty and I think that’s really important with what we’ve all been through over this last year.”

OUTSIDER’s reflection of what it means to make art, isolated in one room has taken on extra relevance when so many of us are living in small spaces under lockdown. Philippe and his band of musicians have taken Darger’s questions of isolation, imagination and a David and Goliath fight against evil and turned them into the strangest, yet most beautiful lullabies you’ll ever hear.

Melodic ode to reminding people about the work you’ve put in and who you are.

https://www.instagram.com/romneylewis/