Premieres

What happens if one takes the tradition-heavy folk music, adds avant-garde and mystical flavours, and just runs with it? It might very well sound like Gold Flowers by Jessie Monk.

The song, releasing tomorrow, celebrates its premiere today with Negative White.—alongside a stunning video directed by Christy Chudosnik and choreographed by Lily Harding.

Although born in Canada, Jessie Monk grew up on the other side of the planet: in Australia‘s southeast, the land of the indigenous Gunaikurnai people. There, Monk discovered her passion for music and dance. In 2020, she then moved again and settled in Berlin.

Both, the very foundational, rural, even primordial, and the cosmopolitan, global, and progressive meet in Gold Flowers. However, there is no brutal collision, no stark contrast, but a symbiotic nurturing.

Death, Dream, and Trauma

Inspired by Gabriel García Márquez‘s 100 Years of Solitude, Monk tells the story of the Celtic goddess Mis, who‘s trying to bring back her dead father‘s soul but is ultimately overwhelmed by the terminal nature of death.

Evoked by the ethereal avant-garde folk composition, Gold Flowers creates a dream-like atmosphere, yet the lyrics infuse mighty metaphors that hint at the trauma of loss and grief.

Despite the song‘s heavy imagery, the lyrics remain cryptic and mysterious enough to facilitate a personal relationship uninterrupted by specificities.

And that is a testament to Monk‘s songwriting prowess; both in sound and story, Gold Flowers feels unquestionably human, grounded deeply in our emotions.

Some things seem light and breezy on the surface. But underneath, unexpected depth is waiting to be uncovered. Coquillage by Barrio Colette is a perfect illustration.

After their 2023 album, Rouge Rose, the Geneva-based quartet Barrio Colette are back with their new single, Coquillage, which will be released officially tomorrow. However, we already celebrate the track’s premiere alongside an intriguing video.

At first glance, Coquillage is a garage pop track, energetic and thrilling, though not denying its tendency to dream. No doubt: the track packs a punch, a jovial freshness.

And yet, composed by Luca Celetta and penned by Anissa Cadelli, Coquillage is more than an indie party anthem. Instead, the song explores the frustration of being unable to stick to a plan. When your intentions fall victim to the distractions of everyday life.

But ultimately, Coquillage (English: seashell) turns into a hymn to find strength within. «J’ai vue l’avenir dans une coquillage,» sings Cadelli. I saw the future in a seashell. Interpretation: Hold a seashell to your ear and listen to yourself.

Cadelli elaborates: «There are the movements of the brain and the soul, and then there is the world. We must not confuse the two, or we risk walking over our own destiny.» And it’s easy to agree: There is constant noise around us that quickly shifts our attention away from our heart’s desires.

In this light, the music’s ravish nature becomes the soundtrack of the liberation from outside influence—a bursting plea to reflection, authenticity, and self-fulfilment.

Into the brightness of the day. Neumatic Parlo's latest single shifts between light and dark, between optimism and despair, between tenderness and exclamation.

After the single carnage, released in July, the German band ups the anticipation for their debut album, play it as it lays, once again. But while carnage was a whirling-wild affair, brightness shines a different light on their musical prowess.

You can‘t kill the flame with water
When the oily ground is burning

These lines indicate that brightness is, at its core, a love song. However, the smouldering desire does come with an eery feeling of despair—maybe even pain. If you want an overly romanticised concept, this song will disappoint you.

But Neumatic Parlo's urging ode to love has its own raw beauty, meandering between soft melancholy and heavy post-rock, hailing back to 90s alternative.

Today, we proudly host the video premiere for brightness:

When dreams and gritty reality collide, it may actually sound something like The Sarandons: the sprawling colours layered over a rumbling guitar. Shining bells welcome a dirty groove.

The Sarandons are a Toronto-based band, constructing an indie rock hailing back to the 2000s but constantly leaning into an emotional, even vulnerable, side.

«It boasts compact guitar reminiscent of Albert Hammond Jr.’s solo work, and vocalist Suchon also seemingly follows in the footsteps of Canadian countrymen Wolf Parade—the effect is refreshing and yet ever-so-slightly nostalgic,» wrote Beau Heyhoe about Sightlines, the namesake title track of their 2023 debut album.

On July 12, the Canadians followed up their record with the urging single Dream Machine. Today, we proudly host the video premiere for The Sarandons' latest song:

Exploring the ethereal nature of dreams, Dream Machine celebrates the unconscious journeys to long forgotten memories and the emotional connections they represent.

The Sarandons sound raw, energetic yet somehow preserve a sense of nostalgia and bittersweetness in the song's refined composition. Child-like and innocent curiousity grabs the hand of the wild teen. It's all happening right before our ears, and still Dream Machine withstands all pull, doesn't fall apart in its stretch, and remains a beautifully crafted piece of retro-styled indie-rock.

The sound is like a hellish abyss—noisy, loud, and chaotic. A swirl of sound, a dance of two devilish violins whipped by an unforgiving drum.

Demon Lover by French trio RAVAGE is an experiment exploring the wild, sometimes dark underbelly of noise and doom. And, frankly, it is not for everyone.

Bastien Pelenc and Mathieu Werchowski extract a range of haunting sounds from their violins that sound as loud and bulldozing as a post-rock band. Adding Anthony Laguerre's daring extended drums, their song becomes the soundtrack of an ungodly ceremony. Archaic, blasphemous, but highly intriguing.

The track celebrates its premiere today with Negative White:

The video, recorded in May 2023 by Pierre Veyser at the band's first residency at La Fonderie du Mans in France, feels like uncovered footage of a ritual where the band conjures these extreme sounds—growing more unstable with the musician's relentless escalation.

But as contemporary and maybe weird Demon Lover seems, it is nothing but captivating in its ferocious delivery—and an appropriate teaser for what might come in the future of RAVAGE.