Parabola West is releasing her new single ‘Calling Your Name’ and, along with that, a new video inspired by the deep woods of New Zealand, which this American singer-songwriter now calls home. Directed by Chris Lane for Bigkid Productions, Felicity Cawood’s art direction for the new video brings this sonic lushness into a forested landscape fit for the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.
Parabola West is the artist persona of Amy Tucker West. Drawing inspiration from Celtic and Nordic folk roots, electronica, and organic sounds, her music is a lush soundscape of layered melodies.
“Calling Your Name’ expresses the torment of loving someone who has become emotionally numb. Ask anyone on a significant dose of anti-depressants and they’ll tell you about the numbing – that slow, subtle nothingness that keeps life ticking over without incident but turns down all the color,” says Parabola West.
“The lyrics “you are a wilderness frozen from me” kind of sum up the bad times when you just can’t reach the heart until the ice melts. We wanted to create a curious, beautiful, and dark fairytale feeling with the video. The goal was to make it feel both otherworldly and relatable – to express the isolation, hope, and madness of holding an unreachable heart.”
This new release follows up Parabola West’s 2017 EP ‘Purity of Weakness’ and lead single ‘Fire’, which was released both digitally and on CD. Her debut EP ‘Did You Hear?’ was released in 2014. Often piano-driven, her music is laced with hints of Celtic and Scandinavian influences and a dash of fantasy.
Originally from Springfield, MA (near Boston) on the U.S. east coast and currently based in Raglan, New Zealand, Amy began songwriting on the piano as a teenager and, at age 21, she was recruited into the London-based trip-hop band Dreamfield during their recording sessions in Boston. With two critically acclaimed releases to their credit, the band split in 2003 and West relocated to New Zealand.
The self-confessed ‘math & science nerd’ then took a 10-year break from the music industry to work in IT and engineering recruitment, returning to her musical roots in 2013 as solo artist Parabola West.
“I came to a point where I needed to fully immerse myself again in the creative,” says Amy Tucker West. To achieve that she took the extreme step of moving completely off-the-grid to a rural spot on New Zealand’s rugged West Coast. West has since released two successful EPs and continues to call Raglan home.
This song was recorded at 432Hz instead of the standard 440Hz due to Parabola West’s experimentation with healing frequencies in her music.
‘Calling Your Name’ is available everywhere via online stores like iTunes and Apple Music, and streaming platforms, such as Spotify. Also, her many releases can also be found on Bandcamp.
CREDITS
Written and performed by Amy Tucker West
Produced by Andrew Newth, Scott Newth & Parabola West
Mixed by Andrew Newth and Scott Newth
Recorded in The Porch recording studio in Hamilton and various home studios
Mastered by Oliver Harmer at The Lab recording studio in Auckland
Main vocals and keys by Parabola West
Backing vocals by David West
Flute by Alexandra Slap
Video by Bigkid Productions
Directed by Chris Lane
Art director: Felicity Cawood
LINKS:
http://www.parabolawest.com
https://www.facebook.com/parabola.west
https://www.youtube.com/c/parabolawest
https://parabolawest.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/parabolawest
https://twitter.com/ParabolaWest
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2gT8TsfEV1uoLQhFOFNMaX
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MIS+RESS – The History Of Fishes
MIS+RESS, the solo ambient project of Brian Wenckebach, best known as a member of Brooklyn shoegaze darlings Elika and experimental electronica outfit Thee Koukouvaya, is releasing his debut album via Somewherecold Records. This album has also become a 2017 favorite of electronic mastermind and radio host Ulrich Schnauss.
This self-titled 10-track offering is quite remarkable, oscillating between the atmospheric opaque reverie of such bands as Land Observations, the mysterious edge of Michael Brook and Daniel Lanois, and fantastic imagined music boxes for grown-ups.
MIS+RESS is the solo project of musician, artist, mixing and mastering engineer, father, and educator Brian Wenckebach. He has worked with a number of established artists and labels including Showtime Television Networks, Polyvinyl Records, Ulrich Schnauss, Asobi Seksu, Noveller, Thisquietarmy, Dead Leaf Echo and Nadja, and also re-mastered Blind Mr. Jones’ classic album ‘Tatooine’.
Wenckebach first began recording music to analog tape in 1995 and, by the end of the decade, had started to move towards computer sequencing. The Durutti Column, Land Observations, Daniel Lanois and Harold Budd number among his musical influences, along with Loscil, Nils Frahm, William Basinski, Noveller, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Susumu Yokota, and Tim Hecker.
A long-term professional used to the comforts of his work with Electric Blue Studios in Brooklyn, this album marks a departure from the studio setting. It was recorded in Toms River, New Jersey with an electric guitar and four effects pedals in a make-shift studio he set up in his sister-in-law’s abandoned childhood bedroom.
Rather than relying solely on atmosphere and texture, MIS+RESS creates songs with genuine emotional content. They are clever and intricate, dreamy yet broken. They paint a sonic canvas full of gorgeous landscapes, littered with machines languishing in obsolescence. This debut album evokes memories of a past/future you didn’t/won’t have. This is post ambient, instrumental guitar. No frills and no hiding.
“This is much simpler and more direct in the sense that I utilized a very limited palette (simply guitar with a few effects). My other projects have emphasized vocals and electronics and had hundreds of layers,” explains Brian Wenckebach. “Electronics used to feel rebellious to superimpose on shoegaze/dreampop. Now, it is commonplace. The danger is gone. I figured I would go in the opposite direction.”
MIS+RESS’ album is the latest release on Somewherecold Records, whose blossoming collection of dreampop, nugaze and ambient offerings includes albums from Ummagma (Canada-Ukraine) with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins and Dean Garcia of Curve, The Corrupting Sea (Fort Worth, Texas), The Beremy Jets (Malmo, Sweden), and Yellow6 (Leicester, UK.
This MIS+RESS album is a limited edition with only 100 copies available on CD and 50 on cassette, available exclusively through Somewherecold. They are available for pre-order now via the label’s Bandcamp.
“It’s like opening the gates of heaven, and getting lost in its circular ‘trippyness’ – its optimism, haziness and watery imagery”
– Last Day Deaf“Looking for that late summer ambient guitar album – delivering not only a generous range of delicate tones and scapes, but also a rich palette of actually hummable melodies and sequences? Brian Wenckebach’s new solo record provides exactly that and may establish him as a Chicagoan Vini Reilly- highly recommended!”
– Ulrich Schnauss“Like distant clarion calls hailing through the twilight fog”
– The Sunday Experience“Waves of joy and bubbles of bliss, winds of hope and breaths of truth. MIS+RESS is our new best find. Calming, chakra aligning enlightenment as far as music goes and the fact that it is just a few minutes shows that Wenckebach doesn’t require much time to show that he’s capable of delivering a masterpiece”
– The Record StacheLINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/mis.plus.ress
http://soundcloud.com/misplusress
http://twitter.com/MisPlusRess
http://misplusressswc.bandcamp.com
http://vimeo.com/misplusress -
Herman Dune – Dreamin’ is Over, Callifornia
Herman Dune is David Ivar’s musical project. It was started in 1998 in Paris, France. David is a French/Swedish citizen who began playing antifolk in Paris at a time when no DIY scene existed, let alone with songs performed in English. In 2001 he started the MOFO music festival in Paris which featured acts like Daniel Johnston, Bonnie Prince Billie, The Silver Jews, Dinosaur Jr., and The Moldy Peaches.
After spending years in a Lo-Fi territory with the label Shrimper (The Mountain Goats), 2006 found Herman Dune signing to EMI/Source (UK Virgin) and releasing two albums. The album “Giant,” was certified Gold in France and both records had Herman Dune touring non-stop for the next two years. Herman Dune played 42 States in the USA and many festivals including; SXSW, End of the Road, Green Man, Benicassim, Primavera Sound Festival, All Tomorrow’s Parties, and Central Park Summer Stage festivals.
In 2008, Funny Or Die-produced the video for the song “Tell Me Something I Don’t’ Know,” featuring John Hamm and a puppet made by Jim Henson’s Studio.
Through a “Never-ending” life on the road, Herman Dune has toured with Arcade Fire, Jolie Holland, Kimya Dawson, Of Montreal, and opened for Sleater Kinney and Wanda Jackson. Whenever in the UK, he was always welcome at BBC1 to record exclusive sessions and holds a record for tracking 10 John Peel Sessions with the mythical British DJ.
David Ivar has also been recognized as a visual artist and his work has been seen in Playboy, Flaunt, and Spray magazines. His art has been shown at the FIAC in Paris, Art Basel in Miami, Triennale in Milano. He’s had multiple exhibitions in galleries in Paris (Nivet-Carzon, Agnes B), New York City (Cinders Gallery), Los Angeles (Small World Books), and institutions and galleries in Europe. David Ivar has written and recorded the soundtracks for theatrical movies like Mariage A Mendoza (Edouard Deluc), Blockbuster (July Hygrek, a NETFLIX film), and Chasing Bonnie & Clyde (Olivier Lambert).
David Ivar – On writing the album:
“Sweet Thursday” is the third volume of the Cannery Row trilogy by John Steinbeck. After leaving France in all kinds of clashes and hurries, I felt that in my new home in San Pedro, California, I had found my own Cannery Row. I moved to Santa Cruz Street, by the harbor, where life starts at 4 AM. The nine songs of “Sweet Thursday” were recorded live with my band (Kyle McNeill & Lewis Pullman) and produced by myself and Kyle. It was then mixed by Adam Selzer (M.Ward, Langhorne Slim).”Now an Immigrant in California, I set up a studio in my backyard, gave up my phone, stopped touring and started working intensely on music and art. I also drove around the South Bay in my 1992 Toyota with its old cassette deck. Most songs on “Sweet Thursday” are inspired by this new life and the doubts and fears of being an alien resident in the shift of the US during this current administration.
At a recent show of Mike Watt & The Missing Men in a warehouse on the docks near my house, Mike shouted out to the audience, “Release your own stuff! Put out your own music!”. I felt like the King of the San Pedro Punk Scene was pointing at me to inspire me in my process of going back to doing things myself, my own label, my own everything!
The album has strong visual themes to me and I decided to work with video artist Brett Sullivan of the NYC antifolk band American Anymen to help realize music videos for the entire album. I really dug his editing style in connection to music, so when he came up with the idea of a video campaign for “Sweet Thursday”, almost a movie, I really jumped on the idea and we got to work filming music videos about San Pedro that inspired the album so much.
LINKS:
http://www.davidivar.com
https://www.facebook.com/HermanDuneYeah -
The Colour You – Set Me Free
Alternative Rock Band The Colour You has released the official music video for their single, “Set Me Free.” “Set Me Free” was filmed and directed by Sidney Lee Lopez.
“Essentially, ‘Set Me Free’ is about questioning whether or not someone could/should be a means of escape from the hell in your head. On one side you’ve got this damaged soul looking for an escape, and on the other, there is this beautiful angel-like figure who’s intrigued by the danger of this damaged “bad boy” image, but not quite brave enough to be that escape.”
– Julian Comeau (Vocals)The Colour You is an American rock band from Baton Rouge, LA. Formed in 2016, TCY puts an interesting twist on the genre by blending hard-hitting, energetic guitar riffs, huge anthemic choruses with melodic vocal melodies, and infusing them with dark modern pop elements.
LINKS:
https://thecolouryou.com
https://www.facebook.com/thecolouryou
https://twitter.com/thecolouryou
https://www.instagram.com/thecolouryou