This is the weekly deep dive into new music recommendations as well as an interview with singer/songwriter Patrick Droney.
Up and coming recommendations
Recommended electronic: Pikoe
Recommended chill: Tep No - “Who We Are”
Recommended rock: Thrillchaser
Recommended singer/songwriter: Chasing Ella - “Run”
Recommended pop/R&B: Diana Gordon - Pure EP
Playlist: August Mix
Typically monthly playlists will be limited to music released each month, but this being the first one, I’m taking more liberties with the playlist to include music from the last couple of months.
Listen to the 10 song playlist on Apple Music
.
Upcoming releases
LANY has been cryptic about the actual release date of the next album, but it’s coming soon. It’ll be a breakup album through and through, but the band’s ‘80’s chill meets 2000’s emo lyrics’ style is low-key infectious.
Hellogoodbye has reinvented itself on nearly every release to-date and the upcoming EP in October is no exception. You can hear “S’only Natural” and “Let it Burn” which exude rich thick disco bass. As a bassist myself, the music is impressive, but it lacks the authenticity most of the previous albums displayed proudly.
If hard rock makes your ears perk up, you should know Thrice has the album Palms coming in September. “Only Us” and “The Grey” hint at a replay of 2016’s To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere. The worst that can be said is it’s predictable music from the veteran band.
Always slightly unpredictable band, St. Lucia has Hyperion coming soon. The singles “Bigger” and “A Brighter Love” show a sunny and melodic release on the horizon, while “Paradise Waiting” reveals to the experimental nature the band exercises on each album.
Artist interview: Patrick Droney
Can you give a brief overview of the new EP and what you want people to come away with after listening?This EP is a 5 song introduction. These songs were written over the course of the last two years living in Nashville. Being in such a song-centric town gave me the opportunity to articulate my story and reflect upon my time living in both New York and Los Angeles within the past 8 years.
So much life happened in this “coming of age” era and I feel like each song is a nod to the various pillars of finding my way through the first half of my 20’s. I tried to take a snapshot of a moment and to leave room for imperfections, honesty and grit.
My hope in this music is that people will be able to find comfort in their own stories through mine. Often times people can’t articulate their experiences and that can be alienating - if these songs can make one person feel like they are not alone in a feeling I’m doing my job correctly. I produced the record alongside my friend Ian Fitchuk, who has been a part of so many great records and we put sweat and blood into it. I hope people feel something familiar, yet new.
What’s the common thread running through these songs on the EP and how do you see it as a whole?
I’m fascinated by how much life has been lived before we were here and how much will be lived once we are gone. That sentiment inspires me to document my journey in life through my writing. I am a 26-year-old living in 2018 and these are my field logs.
I believe that every generation is responsible for documenting and putting into stone what challenged them, inspired them and changed them. My favorite artists throughout time have been those who faced the human condition head-on and traded in emotional currency for the greater good.
“Always Been The End of the World” is the best example of that I could imagine. Now more than ever there’s an invitation to be cynical, pessimistic and depressed. While those are all valid emotions it’s important to remember every generation felt the same push towards those feelings, for different reasons, yet continued onward. I walked into the writing room that day and had just texted “it’s always been the end of the world, huh?” to a friend of mine, and it just exploded into this bigger concept that has brought me comfort and hopefully others in complicated times.
On that note, go listen to Charlie Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator - he said it best.
What’s the last album you added to your music library?
Toulouse’s record, Extended Plea
Who is an artist you wish more people would listen to?
I’m addicted to Leif Vollebekk’s record Twin Solitude. If you haven’t heard it, you should. He reminds me of Jeff Buckley in a stream of consciousness lyrical way and musically the piano centric bed he creates for his stories pull you in. Everything feels intentional.