Ink19 Praises The “Evocative and Meaningful” New Release From the innocence mission
According to Ink19, the new album from the innocence mission is “an insular, slightly lo-fi album of vaporous quiet-core musings on absence and memory as evocative and meaningful as its title [Midwinter Swimmers]… Like walking in on a small book club of introverts in a closed library, experiencing Midwinter Swimmers feels intrusive and yet, it’s also welcoming, even […]
Post-Punk Digs The Pomp and Pretense-Free Sounds of Sun Atoms
Sun Atoms’ new LP Everything Forever, writes Post-Punk.com, “suggests horizons just out of reach, merging shadowed rhythms, hushed tones, brooding bass lines, and guitars that oscillate between abrasive bursts and chiming clarity. Its strength lies in its architecture, transcending familiar fragments to become something wholly alive and innovative. On tracks like ‘Mandatory,’ echoes of David Bowie’s Blackstar emerge in forlorn, sax-laden […]
New Release From Leif Vollebekk
Multi-instrumentalist Leif Vollebekk has released a new radio edit of “Rock and Roll,” the opening track on his new album Revelation and a “song you need to know” according to Rolling Stone. Revelation has been raved about by critics and fans alike since its release on September 27. Bedroom Disco has called it “by far the best work by this talented singer-songwriter to […]
KLOF Lauds the innocence mission’s “Sparkling Clarity”
Of the innocence mission, KLOF Mag writes, “they have certainly made the most of their time, creating thirteen albums of sparkling clarity and coherent vision since their 1989 debut, and they show no sign of slowing up. Picking a favourite Innocence Mission album is something of a fool’s errand, given the way in which all of their music […]
Jsun Atoms Chats With Wildfire Music
Wildfire Music recently interviewed Jsun Atoms of Portland’s Sun Atoms, who just released their sophomore album Everything Forever. The interview gets into the nuts and bolts of the band’s process, including a story about tacos in Joshua Tree’s Pioneertown and a discussion about how vinyl can impact song length. Get at it here. Everything Forever is at radio now from Little […]
New Release From Springhouse
Independent Project Records (IPR) and the New York City three-piece Springhouse have announced that they will reissue the band’s 2008 12-track album, From Now to OK, on March 14. Springhouse may be best remembered as the first major-signed, nationally-touring US shoegaze band of the original era; a 1991 MTV video, “Layers,” a Rolling Stone feature and copious airplay brought notice […]
The Arts Desk Compares the innocence mission To Claude Monet’s Paintings
According to The Arts Desk, new innocence mission LP “Midwinter Swimmers is the musical analogue of Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (Water Lilies) series of paintings, where the familiar is depicted in a way which brings new meaning. Imagery where detail which might be missed brings a fresh understanding of a recognisable setting, and where connections are made between the everyday and the imagined. Or, […]
The Ringmaster Review Digs Sun Atoms’ Sound
The Ringmaster Review says that Sun Atoms’ new album “Everything Forever is an encounter that should not be passed by especially by those with adventurous psychedelic/dark wave/electro pop nurtured appetites… a sound that embraces light rich flavours beyond that psychedelic/dark wave base with Everything Forever finding within and bringing a more spiritual at times almost ritual, certainly rhythmically, beauty.” Check out […]
Goldmine Honors Westbound Records
Goldmine honored ORG Music’s Westbound Records reissue series on its list of “best soul & r&b reissue series” of 2024. “ORG Music is primarily a high-quality reissue record label who plays ball with the best of them,” writes Goldmine. “The reputation of the label, for years, has preceded itself to attracting not just the average music fan, but as […]
For Folk’s Sake Calls the innocence mission “Miraculous”
“With love and optimism at its core, the innocence mission perform the miraculous,” writes For Folk’s Sake about the long-running trio’s new album Midwinter Swimmers. “From the myriads of moments, they have found the way to stitch together the hopes and dreams that make every day experiences unique.” Read the full review here. The album is at radio currently […]
CBC Shares Leif Vollebekk Concert
Have you ever wondered what Leif Vollebekk is like as a live performer? We’ve seen him a couple of times, and he’s the real deal: a true musical talent who is impressively fluid with his vocals and instrumentation. The CBC has filmographic evidence of this, in the form of a 2022 concert film of Vollebekk’s debut at Toronto’s Massey […]
Alison Clancy Goes To Church
In a recent Creative Process feature, Alison Clancy describes the inspiration behind her EP Mutant Gifts. She says, “I, like so many artists through the ages, found creative refuge in a Church when I was invited to be an artist in residence on the beautiful campus of St. John’s Church in the West Village of New York City. I am not a […]
New Music From Dennis Coffey
Detroit’s legendary Westbound Records has teamed with vinyl specialist label Org Music to re-launch with a series of remastered, celebrated funk and soul albums. Next up is Dennis Coffey’s long overdue reissue of his 1975 funk guitar treasure, Finger Pickin Good (retitled from Finger Lickin Good). Remastered by Dave Gardner, the album includes the previously unissued bonus song “What It […]
Pitchfork Gives the innocence mission A Glowing Review
In a glowing 8.0 review, Pitchfork writes that the new album from the innocence mission, Midwinter Swimmers, is “an invitation to reclaim the assured and commonplace language of awe. This is what ‘beautiful’ was meant to describe… From the retro mellotron to the band’s steadfast use of tambourines with a cold echo, Midwinter Swimmers sounds like a forgotten folk album from the […]
The Big Takeover Cheers The “Mercurial And Inventive” PDX Band Sun Atoms
On new LP Everything Forever, The Big Takeover writes, Sun Atoms have cultivated a “mercurial and inventive sonic world. It is easy to throw around genre tags such as psychedelic, shoegaze, alt-pop, and indie, but none quite tell the whole story…yet all of them sort of fit, too. But such is their ever-shifting sound and fluid music-making world that even […]
Silent Radio Hails The “Poetic Precision” of the innocence mission
Silent Radio writes that “There is a great sense of detail in The Innocence Mission’s latest album, Midwinter Swimmers. It is apparent in lyrics that have a poetic precision… The music is imbued with a fragility reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan and mingles lo-fi charm with subtle shifts to create a cinematic palette. It is a minor key delight […]
Sun Atoms Get Real Gone
Real Gone has a glowing review of the new album from Sun Atoms, Everything Forever. “There’s a wealth of experimentation at the heart of the record’s eight songs; a willingness to try absolutely anything,” the site writes. “It’s to Sun Atoms’ eternal credit – and talent – that despite a variety of styles and a whole world of […]
ABC Puts Leif Vollebekk On Its Year-End List
“The richness of Revelation by Leif Vollebekk is in its simplicity,” according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which placed the album at #34 on its Top 50 albums of 2024 list. The site continues, “Vignettes of everyday experiences are brought to life with a vivid, emotional heft — speaking to the truth that sometimes the quietest moments speak the loudest.” […]
Laurie Anderson Tops Marraccini’s List
Laurie Anderson‘s Amelia was Albumism’s Mark J. Marraccini’s 2024 album of the year. Marraccini writes, “In the middle of an incredibly brash and super fun Brat Summer, Laurie Anderson’s tender Amelia album caught me by surprise. Backed by a Czech orchestra on the recording, Anderson softly unspools a narrative retelling of pilot Amelia Earhart’s final flight before she disappeared forever… […]
The Guardian Awards Four Stars To the innocence mission
The Guardian has a review of the innocence mission’s new album Midwinter Swimmers, which “is full of rich sensory songwriting… Sufjan Stevens once described his enduring love of Pennsylvania’s the Innocence Mission by explaining that for all his awe at big songs, Broadway musicals and all, he would always return to ‘small songs which make careful observations about everyday life.’” […]
