New Music Releases: PJ Harvey, Beach House, Calvin Johnson and More

PJ Harvey – “A Child’s Question, August”

PJ Harvey is one of those rare artists who, no matter how well known, will always maintain an aura of mystery and inscrutability around her. The pastoral single “A Child’s Question, August” is a precursor to the upcoming album “I Inside the Old Year Dying” on July 7. This will be the artist’s tenth solo studio album and the first album since “The Hope Six Demolition Project” released in 2016. For those who have followed PJ Harvey more closely, it will come as no surprise that John Parish was one of the producers of the album. The main inspiration of the album is PJ Harvey’s book of magical realism “Orlam” written in poetry. The owner of the hypnotizing voice herself comments that, in her opinion, “the album is about searching, looking for the intensity of first love and striving for the meaning of existence. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a message, but this album gives me feelings similar to love – it has a shade of sadness and loss, but it’s loving. I think that’s what makes it so inviting, so open.”

“Beach House” – “Holiday House”

It seems like only yesterday that “Beach House” released the unfathomably vast and captivating “Once Twice Melody”. The double album reached listeners already last February, and it consisted of 18 tracks, which were released in four “chapters”. Whatever the opinions about this album, it cannot be disputed that a lot of work, time and talent was invested in the creation of the record, so that “Once Twice Melody” is a respectable follow-up to “7” released in 2018. It is not surprising that a couple of the compositions created by the association were not included in the musically rich record at the time of the album’s writing. Dream/indie the pop group announced the short album “Become” in February of this year, which was released on April 29 and “isn’t really where we [“Beach House”] we’re going now, but there’s definitely something where we’ve been”. The EP contains five songs, including “Holiday House”, which Victoria and Alex didn’t think fit on last year’s studio album, but deserved to reach the listeners’ ears.

Calvin Johnson – “Gallows Wine”

“Rock ‘n’ roll is dead. ‘Gallows Wine’ is a reawakening of its glowing ashes,” says Calvin Johnson of his new album. The singer’s latest release is primitive rock and roll, rockabilly pastiche with a touch of western and blues. The paralyzing baritone and mysterious intensity insistently draw parallels with our own singer Imantas Daksi. The hazy atmosphere is present not only in the sound of the album’s songs, but also in their descriptions. For example, the title track of the record, included in the “Radio Naba” chart, is described by its author as “predatory psycho psychedelia with an intact poetic license”.

“Ty Roxy” – “Agnes”

“Ty Roxy” or real name Titi Roto is a musician from Helsinki who also works in such indie in associations such as “Kissa”, “Tamara Luonto” and “Modem & Rosettes”. Titi conquered the Finnish experimental music scene in 2021 with her debut album “音楽 (Music)”. The following year, the young artist was specially highlighted by “Radio Helsinki” at the “Indieco Awards” award ceremony. The debut record was a solo work of “Ty Roxy”, but on the new material the musician works together with the group, being responsible for vocals and synthesizers. Guitarist Ville Valavuo, backing vocalist Henna Hietameki, bassist Rosīta Ahola and drummer Onni Nīminens have also joined Titi.

“Agnes” is a song about growing up and searching for identity. A “coming-of-age” film masquerading as a horror story or vice versa. Or the moment in Ingmar Bergman’s Persona where two women’s faces merge into one – beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Dreamy, airy pop that turns into a nightmare ,” Roto comments on the song.

Waterflower – “Dawning”

After a tour in Indonesia and Germany, with the fourth and final single from the album “Balta vysma”, the artist “Waterflower” returns to the “Radio Naba” chart. As “Waterflower” herself writes, real name Sabīne Moore, the song “Dawning” tells about the dawn and resurrection of nature, as well as about nature’s roaring desire to communicate and be understood in its own language – the language of water. Using capacitive differences measured in plants and fungi, these silent, living creatures have been given a voice. The music video of the song was filmed in various locations in Latvia, Sweden and Finland. Using the stunning landscape of the Baltic and Nordic region, the music video tackles themes of nature’s awakening. The live premiere of the “Dawning” video took place at the international short film festival “2Annas”.

“All Day Long” – “Divas ielas”

Ska-punk the association “All Day Long” releases the single “Divas ielas” from the album of the same name, which will be released on May 20. In this album, the group departs from the long-standing tradition of singing only in English – several songs, including the latest single, are in Latvian. The artistic design of the album was created by the artist Kaspars Groševs, the post-processing of the record was done in Valmiera, in the “Hodila” studio by Ęirtas “Lomika” Laumans. The “All Day Long” album presentation concerts will take place on May 20 in Riga, “Tu jau zini kur”, and on June 3 in Liepāja, at the “Wiktorija” cultural house. “Two Streets” will also be available in physical format.

“Oghre” – “Mill”

The metal group “Oghre” returns to the “Radio Naba” chart with the latest track “Dzirnavas”. The song is the first harbinger of their upcoming third studio album, which the band says will continue the series of life-creating elements with the chemical element carbon as the protagonist. The source of inspiration for the piece “Mill” is the phenomenon of the death spiral of ants. “I am interested in this phenomenon as a kind of death dance or ritual that resonates on a larger scale: in the habits inherited from generation to generation, in the inertia of action and the pressure of the crowd. Just as ants, following one another, march to death, so does life in general, circling the sun like gravity in a wind-turned mill, grinds itself for food for future generations,” says vocalist Oskars Dregis. “Also instrumentally, we have tried to achieve that there is one specific rhythm that appears at the beginning of the song and is constantly present throughout the composition like an unstoppable train or a death spiral. One of us keeps it in shifts all the time, while the others try to stubbornly separate from it and stand out . In the end, one by one, everyone returns to the beaten path and dies, becoming fertilizer in the soil from which they came. All that remains is an unrealized dream of swimming against the current, being different from others and eternal life,” adds guitarist Toms Galinauskis. The piece was recorded and mixed by Jānis Kalvāns in the studio “Gateris”, where the group’s previous album “Grimt” was also recorded. The song was mastered by Magnus Lindberg, the founder and producer of the legendary Swedish post-metal group “Cult of Luna” in his studio “Redmount Studios” in Stockholm. The author of the visual design of the single is the artist Aigars Opincāns, with whom the group has been closely cooperating for almost ten years.

Amanito – “Dakters Dums” (feat. Horens & Kapteinis Reinis)

In the composition “Dakters Dūms” three generations of artists have united – Amanito, Kapteinis Reinis and Horens Stalbe. Amanito, or Mushmire, is a 20-year-old young rapper and singer, who gained wider recognition in the “371 Battle” rap battles, where he also met the musician and producer Kapteini Reini. “Dakters Dums” combines elements from country, rap, reggae and hit bass. Horen Stalbe, the soloist and leader of “Riga Reggae”, also sings in the song.

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