Music

Alvvays make their return with new single Pharmacist

12th Jul 2022 — Leave a comment
ALVVAYS

Made up of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keyboards), Alec O’Hanley (guitars), Abbey Blackwell (bass), and Sheridan Riley (drums), has been making moves in the indie genre since 2011.

2018 proved a successful year for the band after they received a SOCAN Songwriting prize for their song”Dreams Tonite”,at the Juno awards they were nominated as Group of the Year and their second album, Antisocialites, won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year.After these accolades the band took a well deserved hiatus before being impeded by the pandemic.

Pharmacist by ALVVAYS

Perhaps it is unfair to pigeonhole this group into the indie genre as their instrumentals bleed into sub-genres as well as incorporating main stream pop/punk elements it is no wonder the success of this band continues despite their absence. Their latest release, Pharmacist is a ballad of unrequited love, trying to get to your destination by following misdirections and working to make peace with it all.If anything this single is closest to shoegazey with its distorted affects, emphasising the disorientation you feel on coming back to a familiar place to find most things have changed.

“…I know you’re back,

I saw your sister at the pharmacy

Picking up, said you had that new love glow…”

Lyrics to Pharmacist.

Blue Rev cover art

The lyrics call out to those of us who have faith we have moved on until we return home and focus more on the people in our peripheral vision than those in front due to the lingering hope that we may see our old love, see if they still hold on to the piece of ourselves we feel we have lost. But it is not because of them we are lost, because we are never really lost, we have merely changed, filled out in places that weren’t there before, read different books and look at different website. We are different and so are they. So even when we travel back home, on the look out for old love if we do find them, we must know they are not the memory we have of them, they are someone new.

Pharmacist has been hailed by fans as a supersonic comeback, tears of joy and revelation flooding down their cheeks. The single is a sneak peak into the bands new album “Blue Rev” which will be released October 7 of this year. It may have been a long wait before we heard them again but my god has it been worth it.

ALVVAYS on Spotify.

Meet Marika Rauscher, award winning Opera singer and Vocal coach.

18th May 2022 — Leave a comment
Marika Rauscher

Being a singer is so much more than having a stable voice. It takes drive, it takes soul searching and sacrifice. Sometimes you have to delay your dreams to be capable of chasing them. Marika was brought up to understand classical training but was exposed to all sorts of music adding to her extensive list of musical experience. But this wasn’t enough for prestigious establishments to recognize her.

After a lot of arduous work doing hours temping and feeling over worked, she would pick up auditions, rehearsing lines in a language she didn’t understand on her lunch break. Rejection pained her, she believed she was good enough, she had the talent she had trained. She then realized she had to make a choice, choose practicality or fantasy. A sacrifice had to be made. She settled on a compromise; she would work until she had enough to afford a year of rent without working. This allowed her to leave the corporate world and focus on her singing, making her fantasy an achievable reality. This mindset has landed her roles singing for the Royal opera house, the Royal Albert hall, and the Barbican.

Marika’s Youtube channel

Her story shows if you have the drive and the patience you can make it. Too many people quit something because they do not feel instantly validated by it. Things take time. If you have a more direct role in your hobby you will make it work for you, you will make yourself work for it. Play the trumpet for an hour a day and at the end of the week play it as though you are trying to teach it to somebody else, sing to yourself in the mirror, record it, sing to your friends get their reactions. Each day expand your comfort zone. It will be hard, there will be struggle but sometimes you have to fight with your demons to dance with the angels.

It was inspiring to speak to her in my podcast episode where Marika shares her story as well as answering your questions and sharing some tips on how to improve your vocal range.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2llj5u818r1K9SuZGgeZmu?si=5fa318d529474018

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Chrissy Lemonte releases new single Remember My Name?

1st Apr 2022 — Leave a comment

Chrissy Lemonte is a London born independent singer-songwriter who came to prominence in the UK top 40 Charts with the MOBO nominee girl band ‘Asia Blue’, with one single being the Radio 1 Breakfast Show track of the week. 

Chrissy became a solo artist opening at Ronnie Scotts for Beverley Knight.  Her singing career began in her family home when at the age of 7 she would write songs to then sing wand perform with her five sisters. This talented family became known as ‘The Mohabir Sisters’ internationally. 

Her musical style is primarily NeoSoul/R&B with strong harmonies this track particularly echoes her Jazz, Soul and Gospel influences.  Chrissy has worked with world renowned producers such as George Duke, Mike Peden, Sheridan Tongue, Andrew Franklin and many others,  She was signed by A&M Records in the UK and PRA Records for the USA.  

Remember My Name

With this latest single release, “Remember My Name?” from the upcoming EP, written by Chrissy Lemonte and produced by her and Carlton Romillie, Chrissy challenges prejudice with powerful lyrics like ‘see past my hair, my skin my dress, believe my words and praise my intellect’. “Remember My Name?” demands a response and stirs emotions and memories of ones who may have done us wrong in the past. in this raw bluesy ballad Chrissy tells it how to as with brutal lyricism wrapped up in soulful licks and rich harmonies.

The sound embraces past pain, warping into armor, empowered by the scars of the past, reminding us that through reflection and resolution we can all be stronger.