Listen: Everybody Wants To Rule The World — Pr0files

Hands down, one of my favourite acts of the 80s is Tears For Fears. Songs From The Big Chair is one of those albums I just always go back to. A lot of 80s music appeals specifically because of the age and period it exudes. In the case of Tears For Fears, and in particular Big Chair and The Seeds Of Love, the music doesn’t show its age in the same way as most of their contemporaries.

Take a listen to the big chords of The Working Hour, ticking back and forth like a clock before they are embellished by that luxurious saxophone. Or the sparse opening of Woman In Chains, a song that is both full of space and full of detail. These are songs that don’t feel old — instead they evoke a feeling of “they don’t make ‘em like this any more”. These are songs that feel expensive.

But it’s 2021 now. I haven’t featured LA duo Pr0files since their début album, Jurassic Technologie, came out in early 2016. The world has literally changed pretty much in those intervening years, but it feels a little like Lauren Pardini and Danny Sternbaum never went away.

Back with a cover of Tears For Fears’ career-defining Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Pr0files draw on the feelings of luxury that the song evokes. In contrast to the feeling of an ostentatious getaway retreat that the original conveys, the technical and mechanical feeling conveyed through the duo’s use of synths and drums gives this a more urbane aesthetic. It’s less “on a yacht” and more “at a beach bar”. Or at the very least, “on the underground, dreaming of being on a yacht”. But hey, it’s a pandemic — right now being on the underground seems less accessible than a yacht. So maybe the underground IS luxury.

Pr0files: welcome back, what took you so long?

Listen: Rebel — Ormiston

Hailing from Montreal, Ormiston is a singer, songwriter, musician and producer focused on making music that channels disco, indie chillwave and yacht rock. It’s the latter sound that I feel sets Rebel, Ormiston’s debut single apart. There is a frisson at play at the interplay between Rebel’s indie scratchiness and the laid back, sun-baked feel of the bass work.

Having been born into a bilingual family, Ormiston grew up surrounded by female musicians. Having produced a tracks for a number of other musicians, he is now looking to release his own music, working on an album set to be released in spring 2021.

Rebel is an infectious piece full of taught and urgent instrumentation. Together, the layered guitars, bass and drums surround Ormiston’s vocal in a way that feels deliberately opaque - aloof yet dreamlike. It’s the sort of thing I could imagine feeling at home in a Sofia Coppola movie. Check it out below;

Ormiston - Rebel (Audio) 1st single off my upcoming album coming in 2021 on Lisbon Lux Records. Follow me: Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ormistonmusic​ Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/ormistonmusic​ Lyrics I tried to be right I’m afraid it might be the wrong choice It’s always the same thing Broken mirrors on the floor Help me girl I’m sorry ‘bout the things I said Ah, ah You need to know I’m not trying to pretend no more I’m a rebel sometimes I know Oh I know I’m a rebel sometimes I know Yeah I know That’s right I must have been mad Found myself again on the wrong side You can see all around you Broken mirrors on the floor Help me girl I’m sorry ‘bout the things I said Ah, ah You need to know I’m not trying to pretend no more I’m a rebel sometimes Oh I know Oh I know I’m a rebel sometimes I know Yeah I know That’s right When I cross the line And you can’t think twice And I cross the line Can’t you see it’s fine I’m a rebel sometimes Oh I know Oh I know I’m a rebel sometimes Oh I know Yeah I know That’s right Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Yeah ah…

Listen: Are You Thinking About Me?? — Sophie Blair

One of the universal truths of being human is the fact that we can only truly know our own experience. An implication of that is that we only really know ourselves from the inside — we can hazard a guess at how others see us, but never fully know. I sometimes find myself trapped in that thought, and as a result pondering how odd it is that I can know another person better than anyone, and yet I still can’t know them the way they know themselves. The fact that we can’t see us through the eyes of others, even those that love us, is one of the magical tragedies of our existence.

Sophie Blair’s new single, entitled Are You Thinking About Me??, buzzes with the nervous urgency that comes from becoming so fixated on someone that they take on an otherworldly quality in your mind. It is the experience of asking, “How can this other person who has left an indelible mark on me possibly feel anything close to that about me?”

When you are madly hooked on someone, the very knowledge that they could be thinking about you is thrilling, and it is that sensation that fuels this song. Blair successfully leans into that feeling with a breathless vocal set against a pulse-quickening backing track that channels Carly Rae-esque pop hooks combined with classical flourishes.

The classical components in Are You Thinking are subtle, but reflect Sophie Blair’s upbringing and introduction to music. Blair grew up as a Mormon in Provo, Utah, a small town with an unusually vibrant music scene. As a violist, she attended a Mormon university planning to major in classical music. Whilst, in time, she left her college and her faith behind, music continued to be a major passion for her.

Experimenting with a loop pedal and her viola, Blair began making pop music, soon getting the opportunity to collaborate with established local musicians before playing festivals and touring, performing with The Killers and Bruce Springsteen among others.

Are You Thinking is the lead single from Sophie Blair’s sophomore EP, Flatline. Describing the song, she says:

“Are You Thinking About Me?? was the culmination of my obsession with pop music after years of classical-music training. I realized how similar the symphonies I'd played were to the top 40 radio hits I was spinning. In both, there was an intricacy that fascinated me. With this song specifically, I was imagining my typical, compulsive, head-over-heels dive into relationship after relationship with a new backdrop -- a beach, champagne, and roses instead of porches, PBRs, and house parties. Articulating that idea: the psychotic, unending rush of a new romantic chase against the soundscape of the articulate hooks I was so in love with felt thrilling.”

Check out Are You Thinking About Me?? Below:

Watch: Technicolour Chandelier — Leebo Freeman

Technicolour Chandelier is the woozy-sounding new single from musician Leebo Freeman, and it combines elements of vintage 80s-sounding electronic pop with thick, psychedelic 70s sounds in a way that feels new. Overdubbed vocals give the feeling of layered, disorientated moments in time, a little like someone moving backwards and forwards in their own mind in search of something they can’t find.

Perhaps that feeling is no coincidence. Technicolour Chandelier was written back when Freeman was stuck in a toxic relationship that saw him seeking a way out of “dark state it put (his) mind in”. He goes on to say:

“The song was me speaking to myself about finding the courage to lift myself out and to start anew, finding light and solace in anything I could (like music and my imagination) … I felt myself not only speaking to myself in the lyrics but also wanting to extend a helping hand to anyone silently going through something by themselves no matter what the situation.”

A self-proclaimed American-Brit, Leebo hails from “the dynamic opposites of Sunny Florida and Rainy Manchester”… Those influences seemingly create some of the warm friction the gives Technicolour Chandelier its edge — the moody Manchester atmospherics draped in melting synths reminiscent of the Florida coast. Check out it comes to life below:

Listen: Who Blinks First (Electric Version) — Wooden Peak

Ahead of their forthcoming fifth album, Electric Vesions, Leipzig-based indie/electronica duo Wooden Peak have unveiled Who Blinks First. Originally released on their 2013 album Polar, here Who Blinks First appears in a slightly more minimal form. Trading off the earthy, folkiness of the song’s original version, here synthesisers mingle with brass and woodwind instruments.

The resulting song has a wintery, Scandinavian atmosphere — the warmth of your favourite coat, gloved hand-in-hand, a touching embrace. It will be interesting to hear the remaining versions when the album comes out. Describing the album, the duo say:

“The idea in the new album has been simplicity and reduction. Interpreting the original tracks sensitively and reinventing them with gentle beats, to play them live in a small ensemble. In the studio we decided to record synthesiser melodies as well as unison parts using real instruments. Our favourite orchestration has always been clarinet and trombone, as it was already evident on our polygon EP in 2015. Therefore, we reached out to Antonia and Wencke again. When we started arranging and recording we immediately realised we wanted to come together as an ensemble again.”

Check out Who Blinks First below, and look out for Electric Versions, due on 26 February 2021.

The Leipzig based Indie/Electronica Duo Wooden Peak is back, having grown into a quartet. Their fifth album "Electric Versions" will be released 26th February 2021 and the second glance into the material is named “Who Blinks First” (22.01.2021). “Electric Versions” combines newly arranged pieces in special realization with live electronics, guitar, bass clarinet, trombone and vocals. Wencke Wollny (Karl Die Große, Fatoni) and Antonia Hausmann (Karl Die Große, Suntje, Clueso) blend with Wooden Peak as if they were always meant to. Interweaving clever rhythms and minimalist electronics, they draw eccentric pictures with catchy shapes. “The idea in the new album has been simplicity and reduction. Interpreting the original tracks sensitively and reinventing them with gentle beats, to play them live in a small ensemble. In the studio we decided to record synthesizer melodies as well as unisono parts using real instruments. Our favourite orchestration has always been clarinet and trombone, as it was already evident on our polygon EP in 2015. Therefore, we reached out to Antonia and Wencke again. When we started arranging and recording we immediately realized we wanted to come together as an ensemble again.” The second single "Who Blinks First" was first released on Wooden Peak 's third album “Polar” (2013) and happens to be a slow burner between broken beats, minimalist arrangements and the quiet exuberance, that is so typical for Wooden Peak. The one who ́s lost the game, is the one who blinks first.