Beach House Become was initially released as a Record Store Day exclusive on crystal clear vinyl in April and was followed by a DSP release later that month. This Friday, May 19th it sees an even wider physical release on black vinyl/CD/CS worldwide from
Once Twice Melody earned “Best Albums of 2022” placement from the likes of The New Yorker, Variety, The Ringer, Under the Radar, Brooklyn Vegan, The AV Club, Stereogum, PAPER, PASTE, All Music, PopMatters, Pitchfork “Readers Poll,” Gorilla vs. Bear, Treble, Magnet, No Ripcord, Uncut, Uproxx “Critics Poll,” and more.
Once Twice Melody also peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Albums Sales Chart, the band’s first-ever record to do so. It also debuted at #1 on the Top Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Tastemaker Albums, and Top Current Album Sales charts (see Billboard’s March 1st news story). The album also spent six weeks at #1 on the NACC 200 College Charts. Beach House also performed Once Twice Melody standout “Superstar” on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Earlier this month, Beach House’s “Space Song,” from their 2015 album Depression Cherry, was certified as a Double Platinum digital single. Meanwhile, “Myth” from 2012’s Bloom also saw certification as a Gold digital single.
“Once Twice Melody is one of the best records of the year and a testament to the virtue of constancy” (“The Best Music of 2022”) - The New Yorker
“Once Twice Melody is their most definitive and probably best work — and even more remarkably in these ADD-addled times, they’ve done it with a sprawling, 18-song album that is around 80 minutes long (#5/”The Best Albums of 2022, Jem Aswad”) - Variety
“Melody is mesmerizing, and it raises exciting possibilities of how Beach House’s sound could evolve in the next decade-plus (#18/”The 33 Best Albums of 2022”) - The Ringer
“Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally doled out four perfectly sweeping segments for their eighth full-length; taken together, they represent the pinnacle of the band’s craft. There are far too many highlights to single just one or two out: Once Twice Melody is an album that keeps on giving, immersive and rewarding, a marvel to get lost in.” (#23/”The 50 Best Albums of 2022”) - Stereogum
“From the majestic opening notes of the title track to the last electronic flourish of closer “Modern Love Stories,” Once Twice Melody is the culmination of everything Beach House do best.” (#45/”The 50 Best Albums of 2022”) - PASTE
On Friday, June 2nd, Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno) will release Lucky For You, her kaleidoscopic new full-length worldwide from Sub Pop. On the heels of the previously released singles “Lose You (Feat. Soccer Mommy),” “Days Move Slow,” and “Hard to Love,” comes the tenacious new single “Change Your Mind.”
Bully’s international tour schedule for 2023 in support of Lucky For You resumes May 20th in Amsterdam at London Calling and runs through September 24th in Washington, DC, at Black Cat. Highlights include a headlining and festival date run in the UK/EU (May 20th-28th), the US (August 10th-Septembr 24th), and will be preceded by a 13-date main support slot opening for the Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (June 8th-25th). See below for a current list of Bully live shows.
Sat. May 20 - Amsterdam, NL - London Calling (@ Paradiso) Mon. May 22 - Manchester, UK - Yes (Pink Room) Tue. May 23 - Bristol, UK - THEKLA Thu. May 25 - Birmingham, UK - Dead Wax Fri. May 26 - London, UK - Moth Club Sat. May 27- Leeds, UK - Live At Leeds In The Park Sat. Jun. 03 - Lexington, KY - Railbird Festival Sun. Jun. 04 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern Tue. Jun. 06 - New York, NY - Racket Thu. Jun. 08 - Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway * Fri. Jun. 09 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met Philadelphia * Sat. Jun. 10 - Washington, DC - The Anthem * Mon. Jun. 12 - Columbus, OH - KEMBA Live! * Tue. Jun. 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE * Wed. Jun. 14 - Cincinnati, OH - The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center * Fri. Jun. 16 - Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheater * Sat. Jun. 17 - Asheville, NC - Rabbit Rabbit * Tue. Jun. 20 - Atlanta, GA - Coca-Cola Roxy * Wed. Jun. 21 - New Orleans, LA - The Fillmore * Fri. Jun. 23 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center * Sat. Jun. 24 - Dallas, TX - Southside Ballroom * Sun. Jun. 25 - Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater * Thu. Aug. 10 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Fri. Aug. 11 - St. Louis, MO - Off-Broadway Sat. Aug. 12 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck Mon. Aug. 14 - Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre Tue. Aug. 15 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge Wed. Aug. 16 - Boise, ID - TBD Fri. Aug. 18th - Seattle, WA - Neptune Sat. Aug. 19 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret Sun. Aug. 20 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theatre Tue. Aug. 22 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent Wed. Aug. 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom Thu. Aug. 24 - Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction Fri. Aug. 25 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar Sat. Aug. 26 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress Mon. Aug. 28 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf Tue. Aug. 29 - Oklahoma City, OK - Beer City Music Hall Thu. Aug. 31 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl Thu. Sep. 14 - Davenport, IA - Raccoon Motel Fri. Sep. 15 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave Sat. Sep. 16 - Milwaukee, WI - X-Ray Arcade Sun. Sep. 17 - Detroit, MI - Loving Touch Tue. Sep. 19 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace Wed. Sep. 20 - Albany, NY - Lark Hall Thu. Sep. 21 - Boston, MA - Crystal Ballroom Fri. Sep. 22 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom Sat. Sep. 23 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Sun. Sep. 24 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
* w/ Pixies and Franz Ferdinand
What people are saying about Bully: “‘Days Move Slow’ is a punchy but poignant tune, an energetic and honest exploration of grief that Bully’s Alicia Bognanno wrote after the death of her dog, Mezzi.” - [“Days Move Slow”] RollingStone
“‘Days Move Slow,’ from Alicia Bognanno’s grungy indie-rock project Bully, is a song about being caught in the muck of grief — she wrote it after the death of her beloved dog, Mezzi — but it also has a propulsive, bouncy energy that promises eventual forward motion. “There’s flowers on your grave that grow,” Bognanno sings in her signature holler, battling her buzzing guitar. “Something’s gotta change, I know.” [“Days Move Slow”] - New York Times
“It meets in the midpoint between the two bands’ aesthetics, trading out Bully’s usual rapid-speed intensity for an ambling ’90s alt-rock vibes while holding onto the raw power. It might be the most purely catchy Bully song to date.” [“Lose You”] - Stereogum
“‘Days Move Slow’ is pristine Bully – sparking pop, but also working with a seismic edge… Retaining the anthemic bite she’s become known for, the sessions adding aspects of shoegaze, punk, and late 90s British guitar pop.” - [“Days Move Slow”] Clash
“‘Lose You’ attempts to reckon with the idea that even a love that seems like it’ll last forever isn’t necessarily immortal. Taking cues from late ’80s and ’90s shoegaze pioneers, the track is driven by a steadily, thumping beat that backdrops Bognanno’s fuzzed-out guitars: “Either way I’m gonna lose you,” she and Allison lament in harmony, before a ripper of a guitar solo near the song’s end.” [“Lose You”] - Consequence
“The rasp in Alicia Bognanno’s voice makes everything she sings engaging and she uses the pain inherent in that croak to great effect on ‘Lose You’” - [“Lose You”] The Fader
“With lashings of scuzz and slacker fire, it’s a guaranteed hit with Gen X and Z alike.” - Guitar World
“Her most close-to-the-bone record yet.” [“Lose You”] - Rough Trade
“‘Lose You’ is a succinct grunge-pop tune woven with stark realizations.” [“Lose You”] - FLOOD
“Featuring fellow fuzz-rocker Sophie Allison, AKA Soccer Mommy, ‘Lose You’ is one of those tracks that is filled to the brim with pop hooks and crunchy guitar riffs. As Bully and Soccer Mommy trade harmonies, the banging backing track that supports them continuously ebbs and flows through different dynamics. The sound is always ecstatic, especially when a trippy guitar solo bubbles up from the ether.” [“Lose You”] - Far Out
Bully Lucky For You
Tracklisting: 1. All I Do 2. Days Move Slow 3. A Wonderful Life 4. Hard to Love 5. Change Your Mind 6. How Will I Know 7. A Love Profound 8. Lose You 9. Ms. America 10. All This Noise
This Friday, May 19th, Hannah Jadagu (pron. juh-dah-goo) will release Aperture, her debut album, worldwide through Sub Pop. The full-length features 12 tracks, including “Say it Now,” “What You Did,” “Warning Sign,” “Admit it,” and today’s offering, “Lose” (Lyric Video), and was co-produced by Jadagu and Max Robert Baby at Greasy Studios Paris, mixed by Marcus Linon, and mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Mastering.
Jadagu will celebrate the release of Aperture with a hometown release show at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right this Saturday, May 20th. Later this summer, she will also appear at Salt Lake City’s Mind The Gap Festival on August 26th. Jadagu has also announced a 19-date, headlining US tour for the fall of 2023 in support of Aperture, which begins Wednesday, September 6th in Philadelphia, PA at PhilaMOCA and ends Sunday, October 1st in Chicago, IL at Schubas. A current list of dates is below.
Sat. May 20 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right Sat. Aug. 26 - Salt Lake City, UT - Mind The Gap Festival Wed. Sep. 06 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA Thu. Sep. 07 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd Fri. Sep. 08 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle (Back Room) Sat. Sep. 09 - Nashville, TN - DRKMTTR Sun. Sep. 10 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade (Purgatory) Tue. Sep. 12 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall - Upstairs Wed. Sep. 13 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada Thu. Sep. 14 - Austin, TX - Ballroom Sat. Sep. 16 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar Sun. Sep. 17 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues Voodoo Room Tue. Sep. 19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo Wed. Sep. 20 - San Francisco, CA - Popscene at Brick & Mortar Thu. Sep. 21 - Sacramento, CA - The Starlet Room Sat. Sep. 23 - Seattle, WA - Barboza Sun. Sep. 24 - Portland, OR - Polaris Mon. Sep. 25 - Boise, ID - El - Korah Shrine Basement Wed. Sep. 27 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge Fri. Sep. 29 - Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck Sun. Oct. 01 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
What people are saying about Hannah Jadagu’s Aperture: “Her debut full-length retains the intimacy of those bedroom recordings while making good on their promise, with cleaner melodies and production texture pulled from the pop, hip-hop and indie music that soundtracked a suburban Texan childhood. Aperture is Jadagu’s coming-of-age mixtape, chronicling bad breakups (scuzzy garage rocker “What You Did”), sibling allyship (the glitchy “Admit It”) and leaving behind a religious upbringing (distorted diary entry “Letter To Myself”); while opener “Explanation*s hazy vocals and synthesized strings is Mazzy Star updated for the TikTok generation.” - UNCUT
“Hannah Jadagu has mastered a new kind of coming-of-age album…The Sub Pop signee’s debut broadens her range beyond its DIY origins, and mirrors the way that change can heighten emotions.” “Next Noise Interview”- NME
“Hannah Jadugu’s sun-kissed, whimsical DIY sound brings something new to the table… Jadugu’s youthful indie-pop soothes like a summer afternoon – a much-needed antidote to those January blues. Last year, she took on her first UK shows, no doubt leaving them hungry for more. Her debut album, due out next spring, should keep them satisfied.” “The 10 New Music Acts To Watch In 2023” - THE INDEPENDENT
“Aperture is a captivatingly atmospheric debut from Hannah Jadagu. As indie, bedroom pop, and shoegaze entwine, her softly powerful vocals guide us as her lyrics span dreamy reverie to longing; love to liminality…Understated but never dreary, on Aperture Jadagu invites us into her inner world with refreshing vulnerability - to feel as she feels, dream as she dreams, and ultimately, to hold hope at the end of it all.” ★★★★ - THE SKINNY
“A hushed, hazy song that maps interpersonal tensions onto musical contrasts: quiet and loud, sustained and rhythmic, dulcet and distorted… ‘Warning Sign’ could have been an easygoing R&B vamp, but Jadagu has other imperatives; the song coos with keyboard chords and airborne harmonies, then crashes or glitches. What she hears goes with what she feels: “I can’t stand to hear your voice when it’s oh so loud/Could you quiet down?” “The Playlist” - THE NEW YORK TIMES
“The latest single from the 20-year-old indie-pop singer-songwriter Hannah Jadagu is suffused with a dreamy atmosphere, but her lyrics pierce right through the haze: “I know what you did,” she sings, repeatedly, to the object of her disappointment…‘What You Did’ showcases Jadagu’s easy aptitude with lilting melodies and her love of deliciously crunchy texture.” “The Playlist” - THE NEW YORK TIMES
“‘What You Did’ is crunchy and satisfying, a blast of fuzz accompanying Jadagu insistent chorus of “I know what you did.” - STEREOGUM
“Confident, propulsive and armed with one hell of a groove, ‘Warning Sign’ sounds like the future..” - GUITAR WORLD
“At first, ‘Warning Sign’… sounds sparse and soft, but then it transforms with surprising instrumentation. Abrupt percussion, gentle keys and spatial strings turn the indie-pop song into a textured listen. It’s yet another sublime, melodious track from the Texas-born singer, songwriter, producer and student.” - COOL HUNTING
“Finding a song that encapsulates the anxiety and overstimulation of pushing forward is not an easy feat. Luckily, we have talented singer Hannah Jadagu to express it well. She’s just like you — she can’t see the ‘Warning Sign’ when it matters most. Relatably, on top of her artistry, she’s a college student grinding her way to stardom, showing it takes more than beauty and a bold voice to tackle the music industry. Her latest hit’s honest lyrics and groovy bassline exhibit her undeniable potential.” “Bop Shop” - MTV NEWS
“[‘Say It Now’ is] a lucid slice of indie pop, the hazy guitars wrap themselves around a lyric that refuses to shy away from difficult questions, most notably aimed at its narrator.” - CLASH
“If the emotions are wrought, then Jadagu’s music is a balm: soft yet with enough punch to underscore the feeling at the center of the song.” [“Say It Now”] - THE FADER
“‘Say It Now’ remains a triumphantly dreamlike stitching together of smooth R&B tones and spacious indie instrumentation, with pop elements bleeding through the seams. Each line of the track escapes into the next, like meat falling away from the bone.”- THE LINE OF BEST FIT
Hannah Jadagu Aperture
Tracklisting: 1. Explanation 2. Say It Now 3. Six Months 4. What You Did 5. Lose 6. Admit It 7. Dreaming 8. Shut Down 9. Warning Sign 10. Scratch The Surface 11. Letter To Myself
On Friday, June 30th, Sub Pop will release the 30th-anniversary edition of Six Finger Satellite’s The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird, the group’s underground classic and debut full-length from 1993, with a brand new, fully remastered CD and double-LP reissue.
Formed in 1990 in Providence, Rhode Island by J. Ryan (singer/keyboards), John MacLean (guitar), Peter Phillips (guitar), Chris Dixon (bass), and Rick Pelletier (drums), Six Finger Satellite quickly signed to Sub Pop and released the band’s first demo tape as the Weapon EP.
Following Weapon, Dixon left the group and was replaced by Kurt Niemand, and the band quickly jumped into making their debut full-length with Bob Weston (of Shellac, who later named a single The Bird Is the Most Popular Finger in honor of Six Finger Satellite). Released in 1993, The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird was the first release to truly capture the adventurous, biting spirit and sound of Six Finger Satellite.
The album is a landmark of noisy, distressing post-punk, drawing influence from Gang of Four, The Birthday Party, and Wire while adding a healthy dose of the band’s own, unique sonic antagonism. Amongst the brittle rock tracks, The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird has dashes of ahead-of-their-time keyboard and studio experiments that became more prominent on the band’s later albums, presaging LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records, and much of the early-2000s post-punk revival.
All Music offers this, “This is the band’s rawest record, featuring the least amount of studio gadgetry and manipulation. J. Ryan’s voice bears no effects or bizarrely buried/contorted trickery, sounding hoarse and anxious throughout. Nonetheless, it certainly sets the table for the band’s love of noise and lunacy, combined with a healthy splash of bizarre humor. Hardly any other indie band at the time was doing this.”
In 2008, Pitchfork rightly called The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird “one of the best noise-rock records of the ‘90s,” writing that “the transitions from silly to searing highlight Six Finger Satellite’s unpredictable and caustic approach… this was the first of several examples of them spurning underground trends, and their most exhilaratingly bitter pill to swallow.”
The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird is now available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America, and the UK and EU, will receive the limited Loser edition on Red and Blue vinyl. The album will also feature a new cover design.
Six Finger Satellite The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird
Tracklisting: 1. [Untitled] 2. Home for the Holy Day 3. [Untitled] 4. Laughing Larry 5. [Untitled] 6. Funny Like a Clown 7. [Untitled] 8. Deadpan 9. [Untitled] 10. Hi-Lo Jerk 11. [Untitled] 12. Love (via Satellite) 13.[Untitled] 14. Save the Last Dance for Larry 15. [Untitled] 16. Solitary Hiro 17. [Untitled] 18. Neuro-Harmonic Conspiracy 19. [Untitled] 20. Takes One to Know One 21. [Untitled] 22. [Untitled] 23. Takes One To Know One 24. [Untitled]
In March, vocalist and songwriter Suki Waterhouse released the intimate “To Love,” a new single, and her contribution to the Sub Pop Singles Club, Vol. 8. Rolling Stone says, “the British musician exchanges her signature sad girl heartbreak songwriting for a warmer and more optimistic take on romance.”
Today, watch the premiere of the shimmering official video for “To Love,” which stars Suki and her sister Immy, features choreography from Sharon June, and is helmed by award-winning Black Dog Films director, screenwriter, and arts editor Sophie Edelstein.
Suki says of the video, “Love is a powerful force that deserves to be celebrated in all its forms, and when Sophie and I were discussing the creative, we wanted to use this video to capture that sentiment and hint at a hidden meaning, inviting you to embrace the full experience of being in love. It’s coordinated yet impulsive and raw, reflecting the complexity and beauty of human relationships.”
Edelstein shares this of the visual, “Suki sent me ‘To Love’ in December, and I was immediately moved by the sensuality, the honesty, and the romance of the song. It felt both nostalgic and modern, fresh and iconic in one breath. I couldn’t get the song out of my head! I was immediately inspired and liked the idea of moving between black and white and color, using color as the basis of the emotional journey of the song …We started exchanging images and ideas, which we found we were both drawn to. We kept it simple and true, and the idea of “the twin” blossomed from our discussions about love. It was very organic. The ‘To Love’ video reflects both the song and Suki as an artist. Confident. Simple. Iconic. Deeply romantic and sensual.”
“To Love” will also be released in June on a 7” single that will be available exclusively via the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 8, the label’s limited edition singles series, with only 835 subscriptions available—subscribe to the series here.
Suki Waterhouse has been winning over audiences across the globe with her live show, touring in support of the Milk Teeth EP—which features songs from Suki’s early career—and her Brad Cook-produced (The War On Drugs, Bon Iver) debut album, I Can’t Let Go, both released in 2022 via Sub Pop.
Earlier this year, Suki wrapped the “Coolest Place in the World Tour,” her sold-out, North American headline run with stops in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and more. More recently, she played to the largest crowds of her career at Lollapalooza’s South America stops in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.
Suki Waterhouse’s upcoming tour schedule for 2023 will resume this Saturday, May 6th, with a performance at Atlanta’s Shaky Knees Festival. Additional highlights include New York City’s Governors Ball, and Manchester, TN’s Bonnaroo in June; Chicago’s Lollapalooza in August; Maryland’s All Things Go in September; and Southern California’s Ohana Festival in October. She will also headline Minneapolis’ First Avenue in early August.
Sat. May 06 - Atlanta, GA - Shaky Knees Music Festival Sat. Jun. 10 - New York, NY - The Governors Ball Music Festival Thu. Jun. 15 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival Thu. Aug. 03 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue Sat. Aug. 05 - Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza Sat. Sep. 30 - Columbia, MD - All Things Go Festival Sun. Oct. 01 - Dana Point, CA - Ohana Festival
Suki Waterhouse signed to Sub Pop in 2021 and released her first single, “Moves,” that September. Nylon said of the song, “Sounds like what a Lana Del Rey deep cut mixed with Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now” would sound like.”
In 2022, Suki unveiled her debut album, I Can’t Let Go, to critical acclaim. That spring, her 2017 single “Good Looking” went viral on TikTok and peaked at #1 on Spotify’s Viral USA Chart. The song amassed more than 150 million streams and led to 5 million monthly listeners at Spotify, to date. She released the official video for “Nostalgia,” directed by Émilie Richard-Froozan, and the follow-up EP of earlier material, Milk Teeth, later that fall.
Suki also supported Father John Misty on his North American tour, which included stops at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater, Los Angeles’ Hollywood Forever Cemetery, New York’s Radio City Music Hall, and more. Suki also starred as Karen Sirko in “Daisy Jones & The Six,” the hit Amazon television miniseries based on the popular book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Earlier this week, Suki attended the Met Gala in New York.
What People Have Said About Suki Waterhouse: “Waterhouse’s first full-length effort embraces the peaks and troughs of life, turning even its ugly, dark sides into beautiful songs to help carry you through your own turmoil…I Can’t Let Go was well worth the wait.” ★★★★ - NME
“Melodic and melancholy, the album evokes vintage movie scores, Sixties girl bands and the dusty plains of Americana.” - The Independent
“Suki Waterhouse delivers a collection of songs dripping with soul-searing honesty and a dissection of her own anxiety battles.” [I Can’t Let Go] - Rolling Stone (UK)
“Suki Waterhouse’s debut album is a shimmering soft-pop opus that revels in its self-indulgence, and shines all the more for it. Led by her soulful delivery and musically arranged only ever as much as it needs to be, ethereal atmosphere-weaving is the star quality of I Can’t Let Go.” 8/10 - The Line of Best Fit
“The album has a rose-tinted energy, with restrained backdrops that marry 60s girl-group sentiments with dreamy modern pop and lyrics that would be at home on early 2010s Tumblr” - The Guardian
Each song on “I Can’t Let Go” tells a distinct story, from confidently seducing a lover on album opener “Moves” to lamenting about the modern-day struggles of being perpetually online on “Bullshit on the Internet.” - Variety
“I Can’t Let Go shimmers with Waterhouse’s lyrical poignance. Her music is gritty and cinematic…“Waterhouse’s croon and identifiable storytelling, as evidenced on the standout tracks “Melrose Meltdown” and “Moves,” are her signatures on the album.” - Elite Daily
Following the well-received single and official video for “Airforce blue,” Stockholm-based artist waterbaby is announcing the release of the Foam EP, out June 14th on all DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop.
Foam’s five tracks were written by waterbaby and Marcus White, executive produced and mixed by White, and mastered by Johan Åkerström at Cosmos Mastering, all in Stockholm, Sweden.
Foam’s new single “911” – with the whee-oo whee-oos – moves with a doleful indulgence. “Call me when you need someone / I could be your 911,” she sings, like a lovelorn operator on the other end of the line. She gets it: loneliness and love aren’t mutually exclusive ideas– they’re sometimes part of the same thrust of feeling.
The “911” single is accompanied by a visualizer edited by Erik Pousette, with skateboarding footage from Love Ohling and Sean Christensen, here.
waterbaby’s “Airforce blue,” and its charming, firework-laden video, which introduced her hypnotic and evocative approach to music, led to coverage internationally from the likes of The FADER, The Guardian, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and CLASH, and radio support in the UK from BBC6 Music and Sweden’s P3.
More on waterbaby: Artists have always had a knack for understanding the strange psychological sorcery that comes with crushing on someone. Stockholm-based artist waterbaby - intimately knows the tiny nuances between love – which is to say, the bond between two people – and the one-sided, up-and-down feelings of infatuation: the plaintive longing, the shifty wanting and the not-wanting, and all the luxuriously intrusive thoughts that come with them. If you’re at all familiar with the patterns of this (il)logic, you’ll find a welcome home in the world of waterbaby’s rhapsodic, technopastoral crush songs.
With the Foam EP, her Sub Pop debut, waterbaby’s auto-tunelets work like this: there’s the confessional of sisterly, guitar-assisted warmth infused with humane, sticky lyrics that surface in your head like bubbles floating to the top of an aquarium. Along with producer and collaborator Marcus White, waterbaby creates a mystic sort of blend – the songs feel spell-like, but they honor the feelings of what it’s like to love, or at least to want to feel loved.
The chief love in waterbaby’s life has always been music, of course. It’s infused in her blood: her great-grandad was a jazz pianist; her uncle worked in clubs and arranged concerts, and that Stockholmian syndrome of preternaturally knowing how to craft the perfect song – it’s a part of her that’s palpable in everything she writes or touches.
It could be because she’s got a choir-school upbringing that’s done something to her voice – made it familiar with Pythagorean melodies and spare, delicate ideas that sound simple at first but really get into the spiritual in their own way. “My parents hated the music I listened to,” she laughs, talking about her private love of the megastars of R&B that she’d sainted as paragons of sounds and feelings that accessed the full range of emotions that she was getting familiar with.
On Foam, those emotions range from sad to empathetic, from hopeful to cocky, from doleful to ecstatic. “Airforce blue,” with its tones as liquidly bright as a fish whipping through the ocean, gives form to the feel of the latter sort of pain. “I still miss you” goes the chorus over and over again, if that’s any help. Crushes and longing seem to map her life over with meaning and joy.
“911” – with the whee-oo whee-oos – moves with an even more doleful indulgence. “Call me when you need someone / I could be your 911,” she sings, like a lovelorn operator on the other end of the line.
On the glistening “Wishing well,” swirling vocal effects, and lyrics of unrequited love – “Yeah, we tried to feel it all, wanted to see it all / Wanted to be it all / So why don’t you need my love? / I-want-you-to-need-my-love” – ride waves of piano arpeggios that swell and break and crash into themselves.
With Foam, waterbaby gets it: loneliness and love aren’t mutually exclusive ideas– they’re sometimes part of the same thrust of feeling. Believing in that idea seems to be her governing motive. Because like faith, like a crush, her music is a quick and deep way of reaching beyond yourself.
---------------------------------------
Foam, featuring the singles “911,” “Airforce blue,” and “Wishing well,” was written by waterbaby and Marcus White, executive produced and mixed by White, and mastered by Johan Åkerström at Cosmos Mastering, all in Stockholm, Sweden.
What people are saying about waterbaby: “‘Airforce blue,’ waterbaby’s first single for Sub Pop, wouldn’t sound out of place on SZA’s genre-jumping S.O.S., but like many SZA songs it doesn’t really scan as R&B. It’s like a more lo-fi, chillwavey cousin to Post Malone’s soft-rocking ‘Circles,’ as if filtered through Clairo’s bedroom indie-pop, with a trace of hyperpop in her Auto-Tuned voice. The result is something slightly uncanny yet tender and personal. Good song.” - Stereogum
“Bedroom pop at a cosmic scale: documenting the aftermath of a breakup, the Stockholm artist’s Sub Pop debut has the offbeat and genre-warped charm of Frank Ocean and SZA.” “Playlist” - The Guardian
“Airforce blue” flips waterbaby’s indie R&B into an electrified, auto-tuned collage with an easy intimacy.” - Brooklyn Vegan
“…a real jewel, a thrilling and evocative slice of future-facing pop.” “Track of the Day” - CLASH
“Thick layers of autotune do little to disguise the sweetness of her voice as she sings about first kisses and taking big risks. The overriding emotion is not excitement but vulnerability. “Do you remember?” she asks her crush over the preppy beat, caught somewhere between synth pop and R&B, “Because I do.” - The FADER
