February 8, 2019 Liz Harris (Grouper) releases new music as NIVHEK
The inimitable and enigmatic Liz Harris just released an acutely moving, meditative surprise double-album under the moniker NIVHEK. According to the release, After Its Own Death / Walking In A Spiral Towards The House, is described as “opaque assemblages of Mellotron, guitar, field recordings, tapes, and broken FX pedals,” combining recordings made during and after stints in Russia and Porugal, in addition to pieces made at Harris’ home city in Oregon. Harris goes on to call the record “a requiem, a ritual, to unlock and release feelings … a toxic concentrated reduction of something much darker bubbling beneath … wraithlike and ethereal, their existence in the mist questionable.” The record, out today, feels like some of the most immersive and rapturous material she’s ever created. Listen below:
February 6, 2019 Barrie announce debut LP “Happy To Be Here”; share lead single “Clovers”
As just premiered on Beats 1 and coming off a string of undeniable singles, Barrie share the first song of 2019, taken from their debut record Happy To Be Here, out in May on Winspear. Undoubtedly the biggest thing the band has done to date, listen to lush, sophisti-pop jam “Clovers” below + pre-order the cherry red vinyl here:
February 6, 2019 video: Anna Of The North – Leaning On Myself
Oslo’s Anna Of The North returns with a happy/sad and liberating new single/video, the first since her excellent LP Lovers, one of our favorite records of 2017. Anna says this of the song:
“I’ve been writing a lot of music the past year. “Leaning On Myself” is one of the songs that came out of it, maybe one of my favourite songs. I remember flying home from the States where we wrote it and I started crying. I kind of realized I’d written the soundtrack of my life one year ago. There was a point in where I went through a lot of shit and I wasn’t feeling very well. I had one big break down where I called my mom and just knew I had to change my ways. I had to cut some people out of my life, people I loved but I knew weren’t really good for me. It was tough. But I’m good now. Every time I listen to this song it takes me back to that moment. It’s fucking sad but also powerful. I’m very grateful for where I am today. In the end you only have yourself, you know, and I guess that’s ok.”
Listen/watch the surreal Noah Lee-directed video below, download “Leaning On Myself” here + look our for Anna on her debut U.S. tour beginning in April.