Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
Fresh To Death is a series where I hand-pick some of my favourite new music!
Featuring Liya Shapiro, A Brief Memoir, Aimée Fatale, Sandhouse, Zolita, Alex Amor, Amber Van Day and Dottie Andersson.
This edition features: a song that sounds like if Nancy Sinatra came back as a ghost; a song that sounds like it is being performed at a craft fair in the 1970s; a song that sounds like it was made in the cobwebbed basement of a funeral home on an October night; a dark electronic song that would have had me in a death grip in my late teens/early 20s; an alt-pop song that oozes sultry glamour, channelling deep pain through a barbed, smoky musical backdrop, all wrapped up with Lana Del Rey-style lyrics and vocals; a song that deals with the human experience head-on, leaving in the unclean, grey areas; a song that feels like it was part of the soundtrack of one of your favourite childhood movies; and more!
Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
If you have an upcoming release, email me at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com.
Another Woman - Liya Shapiro
Taken from the London-based artist’s debut EP of the same name, ‘Another Woman’ oozes sultry glamour, channelling deep pain through a barbed, smoky musical backdrop, exploding into cathartic alt-pop in the chorus. The vocals are haunting; they feel like a spectre floating over the soundscape; the whole song running with the sweet, bitter rage that comes with heartbreak, like the hot taste of blood in your mouth, all wrapped up with Lana Del Rey-style lyrics and vocals. It is also a clever subversion of the phrase ‘Another Woman’; as it is not about being the other woman, but instead focusing on watching someone you love be with another person.
On the song, the artist says, “Watching someone you once loved be with someone else when you never even got the chance… knowing it’s irrational, that you don’t even love them anymore, but feeling it anyway.” Its stark, direct lyricism and swelling chamber rock arrangement capture that contradiction without softening it.
On the name of the EP, the artist says “Another Woman” refers to the person at the centre of the title track — “the woman he ended up with, the one that cracked open a grief I thought I’d already finished with.” On another, it reflects something more personal: “it’s named after who I became on the other side of it”.
Connect with Liya Shapiro
Instagram | Facebook
A Brief Memoir - Acknowledgements
This is not a clean, neat album. This is an album that deals with the human experience head-on, leaving in the unclean, grey areas. For some reason, it reminded me of a video I watched by Isaac Marion, on his series on moving back to his hometown, ‘How to be happy in the Pacific Northwest’ detailing living in a place that rains so much to the point that you just have to accept that “we are wet slimy creatures living in the mud.”
This is the closing song from the album; the chords are achingly beautiful, the vocals far away, kind of like you are hearing them through the window of a cabin on a nighttime walk, like you are eavesdropping. It then explodes into a wall of sound; one saturated with memory, acceptance, gratitude, and something you can’t quite describe.
“I’ve wanted to kill myself for so long.
It feels so strange to have someone to live for.
When I die I’d like to say so long to
those whose love birthed this warmth,
and those who held me close in their arms.
The friends who’ve come and gone.”
Connect with A Brief Memoir
Instagram
Country Boy - Haylie Davis
Photo Credit: Sarah Ward
This is the opening song from the artist's debut album ‘Wandering Star’. It opens with sparkling guitars and a voice that sounds like it is from another time. In fact, ‘Country Boy’ sounds like a song that is being performed at a craft fair in the 1970s. This made me want to go out and go to a farmers market on a summer's day - lifting your spirits up, up and away.
On the album, the artist says, “Even though I feel like I am a part of something, I am doing things my own way. I’ve made friends, and I’ve made enemies; I’ve gotten lucky, and I’ve struck out. It’s important to remember who you are so you don’t get carried away in the era of algorithms and followers.
“I believe everyone has a calling, a whisper in their heart. Deciding to listen to it might feel like an impossible choice, or at least it did for me. It also takes a lot of courage to be a wandering star. To be lost and find the will to keep going is a very difficult thing to do.”
Connect with Haylie Davis
Instagram
Aimée Fatale - It Could Be Better (But It's Good Enough)
This was a YouTube discovery - and as someone who loves the aesthetics and fashion of the 1960s, I was immediately interested when I saw this pop up. ‘It Could Be Better (But It's Good Enough)’ is a bit eerie, kind of like if Nancy Sinatra came back as a ghost - the vocals fully sound like they are from another time, not just in the recording and production, but in the delivery. The musical interludes sound like they are from a haunted dollhouse.
Connect with Aimée Fatale
Instagram | Facebook
Sandhouse - Pollyanna
This is the kind of song that would have had me in a death grip in my late teens/early 20s. ‘Pollyanna’ opens with a dark, addictive vocal melody reminiscent of some of the best mid-00s electronic, flowing over a tense musical backdrop.
The song overall blends trip-hop and grunge elements in a fashion that pays homage to the twisted soundscapes of the 1990s. ‘Pollyanna’ is hypnotising; it sounds like something coming from the shadows within a sprawling concrete cityscape, enticing you into the darkness.
Connect with Sandhouse
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Zolita - HARDCORE
I get some serious Kesha vibes from this.
‘HARDCORE’ has the trashy recession pop quality of the mid-00s (the best kind in my opinion). There is a bit of Britney in here, too, in the processing of the vocals and in the opening synths, and how they all come together with some rock elements. It sounds like putting on a pair of knee-high stripper boots and embarking on a night of utter debauchery - I love it.
Connect with Zolita
Instagram | Facebook | Χ
Alex Amor - Avalanche
I love the Seussian/if ‘The Brady Bunch’ was a surreal arthouse movie quality to the visuals. The vocals are mournful, drawing you in with their melancholy. ‘Avalanche’ is dreamy, with a bit of a country folk vibe blended with alt-pop. This could be the song of an artist who was around when Dolly Parton was coming up, that you are only just hearing of now.
I was curious about who the artist was - it appears she is from Glasgow, and has an album coming out soon called ‘Heavenly Bodies’, describing her sound as ‘Cosmic Americana’.
Connect with Alex Amor
Instagram | Χ
Amber Van Day - Flying Cars and Sex Machines
This firmly belongs in the arena of the best alt-90s female artists - opening with the lyrics “I tried to touch grass/But the trees are all plastic.” The song was born from a period of time where the artist was unwell and trapped in a hotel room, doomscrolling (my idea of pure, utter hell). The chorus is an earworm, one with bite; there is a quality to this that makes it feel like it was part of the soundtrack of one of your favourite childhood movies.
On the track, the artist says, "Flying Cars and Sex Machines is my observation of the world we are all constantly trying to adjust to. Always being on the cusp of inventing something groundbreaking and yet ignoring some of our real basic needs as human beings. I landed on the title first, while I was on my first writing trip to Nashville, stuck in a hotel room, unwell and doom scrolling for five days. In America, everything seems so much more enhanced and futuristic, which I think led me to the title. It already says everything."
Connect with Amber Van Day
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Dottie Andersson - Marlow first
Dottie Andersson is like if the family from the HBO show ‘Six Feet Under’(which is one of the best written TV shows, ever, Alan Ball is a genius) had a previously unknown family member who is a gothic indie songwriter who revels in the macabre.
Although the artist is Swedish, this feels like it is from midwestern America, with its vast landscapes of flatlands, prairies, and dusty winds. This has a fun garage pop vibe to it, which makes it feel like it was made in the cobwebbed basement of a funeral home on an October night.
Connect with Dottie Andersson
Instagram | Facebook
Spotify Playlist
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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