Sanguine indie pop artist Clark Twain has announced his debut single ‘Fly High (Like Richard Branson)’, a fun and upbeat track that is infectious with high positivity. Hailing from Austin, Texas, this song is the first single off his coming debut album ‘Life is Wonderful’.
The fun, high-flying accompanying video was directed by Vanessa Pla, who also co-produced it with Clark Nowlin. His music is influenced by Death Cab for Cutie, the Flaming Lips, Ben Kweller, and John Mayer. Thematically, for this single and the accompanying video, he also took inspiration from an unlikely, but intrepid source – Richard Branson.
‘Fly High’, which features a soundbite of Richard Branson speaking excitedly about flight at high speeds, is dedicated to the Virgin mogul and is timed to release on July 18, Branson’s birthday. With an ardent sense of optimism, he looks forward to a “world with color; a journey with many turns”, asserting “where we’re going, it’s going to be one hell of a ride”.
“I want to live a life like my biggest hero Sir Richard Branson, so I figured the best way to start was to do things that terrified me. I got my hands on a houseboat (Branson lived on one until he was 30) and then a private jet, and the vision for reenacting his life story in a music video was born. Making this music video terrified me. With it behind me, I learned that fear is always smaller when it’s behind you! Thanks for the inspiration Richard to challenge me and push my own boundaries,” says Clark Twain.
“Fun, adventure, and business as a force for good – these are the ingredients of Branson’s life and my own. We both love rock n’ roll and shaking things up for good. That’s what this video is all about it. It honors Sir Branson and I hope it inspires others to take this on!”
Clark Twain is the solo moniker of Clark Nowlin, who began playing guitar at 10, cutting his teeth on Metallica and Nirvana covers with friends in the attic and starting his first band a few years later. He eventually quit his day job to fully immerse himself in the world of music “because the gig money put enough gas in my tank”. After touring and recording with Tim Halperin and Marshall Young for a few years and supporting various artists, he amassed recording gear, learned the ropes, and began producing various musical projects.
“I knew that if I didn’t make a solo album and put out my own music, it would haunt me. That’s what I’m doing now. In an honest state of writing about what’s real for me – a song that embodies my own aspirations – that’s how this single was born,” says Clark Twain.
“Last November, I went to Cozumel for 11 days. The only book I brought with me was Richard Branson’s autobiography ‘Losing My Virginity’, which inspired me to write this song and make a music video re-enacting the big pieces of his story: adventure, business as a force for good, and of course fun. I decided to throw myself into all of these situations… a lifelike Sir Richard’s is one of great fun and chaos!”
Clark dedicated a solid 6-month block of time to working on his new material, beginning in January of this year, and splitting time between Elmwood Studios in Dallas, Clark’s home studio in Austin, and in Denton, Texas with Brack Cantrell, one of Clark’s all-time favorite producers, who also mixed his new material. Mastering was performed by Jon Törnblom.
“If music is to serve any purpose, it’s to remind us that we’re alive and that we’re not alone. For me, making it is a sign that I’m alive. Connecting with it is a sign that this big mysterious journey called life isn’t new territory and that whatever situation we’re in – someone’s already been there and has made it through,” says Clark Twain.
“I’m an eternal optimist and truly believe the best is yet to come in our experiences here on Earth. If there’s a shred of this hope embodied in this music, I’ve achieved my goal. I hope that these sounds put a little wind-in-your-sails when needed on a still day.”
The song eventually meshes into Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ – the first album released on Virgin Records. In fact, this label was created for the purpose of putting out this record. It quickly became an international sensation, selling tens of millions of records and becoming the theme for “The Exorcist”. This success allowed Virgin Records to sign the Sex Pistols, XTC, and many groundbreaking artists and eventually artists such as The Rolling Stones and Janet Jackson. ‘Tubular Bells’ was the initial snowball that got enough momentum to create the avalanche we know as the Virgin empire today.
LINKS:
http://clarktwain.com
https://www.facebook.com/Clark-Twain-1563597527101436
http://www.instagram.com/clarkin
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvpeieaYohK7OkHgeyk82KQ/videos
https://soundcloud.com/clarktwain
https://clarktwain.bandcamp.com
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Social Station – Try (Cross My Heart)
With a passion for analog synths, hypnotic guitar, and undeniable melancholic vocals, the band originally started as a solo project in 2013 by singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist Paul Todd, debuting with the single ‘The Sun and The Air’, followed by their ‘With a Smile’ EP.
“The song ‘Try’ has been evolving for close to two years with its start as a slow and deep staccato guitar riff along the lines of early Chelsea Wolfe or PJ Harvey, and just the first verse. Moving the song to an arrangement for piano completed the verses but still did not have the Cross My Heart chorus and up-tempo pace. Still pretty gloomy,” says Paul Todd.
“Experimenting with an Akai MPC 100, the song took off with a life of its own. The guitar melodies and string arrangements just fell into place. Two words always come to mind when working on a Social Station song, yearning, and melancholy. The perspectives or lens may change but longing or struggling and feeling overwhelmed drives the writing process. This song in particular frames the challenge of feeling comfortable in your own skin while trying to have a meaningful and significant relationship.”
Their live show and distinct sound took shape through Paul Todd’s collaboration with Spenser Kydd. Their common music sensibility for distinct melodies and themes led Social Station to release their debut single ‘Awfully Pretty’ in 2015. That track received immediate attention and was hand-picked for Orkus Music and Culture Magazine’s monthly music compilation.
With the addition of Alexander Minx on drums, Social Station spent a summer in an industrial space in Baltimore, writing and recording their debut full-length album ‘Our Pleasure of Solitude’. This effort earned them inclusion in the NPR-affiliated WAMU Capital Soundtrack and Stereo Embers Magazine’s ‘Next Twenty Post-Punk Bands You Should Know About’.
With a renewed commitment to touring and recording and the departure of Spenser Kydd and Alexander Minx, this release marks a new chapter for Social Station. The extensive use of midi sequencing and the addition of classical musician Jacob Sebastian on bass has opened a whole new world of possibilities for the duo, both in the studio and on stage.
The two of them will kick off an extensive tour in support of their new single ‘Try (Cross My Heart’ and their back catalog. Catch them at one of the dates lined up their summer.
LINKS:
http://socialstation.com
https://www.facebook.com/socialstationmusic
https://socialstation.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC01nErg_F6csXIF08HBNt8w/videos -
Submotile – Eastern Sky Sundown
Dublin-based dream-gaze noiseniks Submotile present their debut album ‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’. Released digitally on April 16, the Midsummer Madness label will also be issuing the album in a limited edition run this summer.
On this 9-track offering, the duo blurs the lines between shoegaze, pop, noise-rock, ambient and post-rock, Submotile delivers a unique brand of layered, atmospheric and immersive indie rock.
Submotile are Michael Farren and Daniela Angione, an Italian-Irish couple who call the Irish capital their home. Now full-on hybrid in their sounds, defying genre pigeonholing, Submotile were initially conceived as an ambient, experimental project.
The duo evolved its sound considerably once Daniela began to add vocals to Michael’s guitar experiments, yielding their first proper collaborative track ‘Signs of My Melody’. The well-received debut EP ‘We’re Losing The Light’ followed, gaining the band significant interest in the shoegaze community. This encouraged them to pursue their dream of recording a proper album. ‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’ is the culmination of nine months of recording – from August 2018 to March 2019.
“We wanted an album that ebbed and flowed, with nine diverse songs that complimented each other without being too different from each other. The idea behind the music is to express the dualism of warmth over hostility, passion over frustration, all these dynamics projected onto a sense of hope and renaissance. I’m not sure if we succeeded, but hopefully it works,” says Daniela Angione.
Recorded and produced by Submotile in their home studio, this album was mastered by Brian Lucey from Magic Garden Mastering, well known for his work with Ringo Deathstarr, Sigur Ros, Liam Gallager, Marilyn Manson, Neko Case and The Black Keys, among others.
“Having quit music in 2009 due to the frustration of never having been able to translate the sounds in my head to tape, ‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’ was recorded during a wonderful period of rebirth and rejuvenation, a period where I was discovering all the great new music that was out there, whilst simultaneously finding out just how far music production technology had evolved,” explains Michael Farren.
“This evolution allowed us to come that bit closer to the sound in our heads, enabling us to labor over songs, adding hundreds of tracks and experimenting with samples, guitar pedals and tones – many a happy hour was whiled away tracking this music. If someone out there enjoys listening to it a fraction as much as we enjoyed making it, then to me it’ll be a success.”
Submotile’s music is influenced by numerous artists, including My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Warpaint, Smashing Pumpkins, Massive Attack, Swans, Spiritualized, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Stars of the Lid.
Michael Farren adds: “It’s not an understatement to say that we obsessively labored over this album, with most songs having well in excess of 120 tracks (with ‘Winter Storm Sequence’ having 167). The vocal mixing alone on some songs took over six days. We wanted something that lent itself well to headphone listening, creating an immersive experience that reveals new layers on repeat listens, yet hopefully without sounding like an overblown, excessive mess.”
‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’ is available now for streaming via Spotify and from stores such as iTunes, as well as the duo’s own Bandcamp.
LINKS:
https://submotile.com
https://www.facebook.com/submotile
https://twitter.com/submotile
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_EuA0D1DTO2nz0GcfvqeyA/videos
https://www.instagram.com/submotile16
https://open.spotify.com/artist/28aLk8jR0vvmYWJnPL8Q66
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/submotile/1369284602 -
Sunstack Jones – How It All Went Down
Initially conceived by Chrisy, Lorcan, and Richy as a songwriting project – self-releasing two homespun LP’s and receiving airplay from BBC Radio 2 courtesy of Mark Radcliffe. Following a few singles with Liverpool’s Eighties Vinyl Records (The La’s/The Stairs/The Sand Band), 2016 saw Dave and Jules complete the lineup, evolving into a fully fledged live band.
An EP later that year was followed by a third self-titled LP, produced by long time collaborator Paul Den Heyer and mastered by Nick McCabe (The Verve), released in 2018 on Deltasonic Records (The Coral/The Zutons). This LP received a glowing 4 Star review in Mojo Magazine and featured on the Steve Lamacq BBC Radio 6 playlist with the single ‘By The By’.
Golden Repair is the band’s fourth LP & the first to be released by Mai 68 Records. Formed from sprawling jams during soundchecks & rehearsals, lyrics & harmonies worked out during long van journeys whilst on tour with US Alt-rock stalwarts Buffalo Tom, the result is a record that is more than the sum of its parts; five friends as a collective, playing in a room, together.
In order to capture this vibe effectively, the band decided to record live at Faktory Studios, standing in a circle facing each other was key. You can hear it in every note of the album; no mixing out creaks & coughs, with just the right amount of bleed. Recorded beautifully by Simon Jones (The Verve), the final mixes from longtime collaborator Paul Den Heyer sound exactly like the band envisaged, a moment in time captured like a sonic photograph.
‘Nowhere Near an Ocean’ started as an enveloping riff thrown out on the fly, the band easing into a groove & crashing into simultaneous changes on the day in the studio. It was quickly committed to tape in a couple of takes with improvised lyrics & instinctive harmonies. Proof that the first idea is often the best idea.
‘Where You Gonna Go’ is the first Sunstack Jones track to feature a three-part harmony, devised on a long drive to Holland for a festival performance & introducing a new dynamic to the band.
The two singles preceding the LP release introduce the recurring lyrical themes visited throughout the album. Living in the here & now rather than being caught up in nostalgia for times that have passed, yet longing to be far away from the unavoidable frustration & anger of living in an unfair & unjust society.
LINKS
http://www.sunstackjones.com
https://www.facebook.com/SunstackJones
https://sunstackjones.bandcamp.com