Listen: Richard Prince — Lex Helgerson Rides Again

Lex Helgerson Rides Again is the musical project of Portland, Oregon resident Lex. Having been born in Oakland, California, Lex was raised in Portland and now lives there together with her husband and collaborator Dean Vivirito, and her dog Tour Okada.

Lex’s dog lays some claim to the song, Richard Prince, because it was written during the fallow period following a cancelled trip to New Orleans. The cancellation was triggered by Toru’s escape from Lex’s mum’s house, effectively keeping her at home whilst she created the record. A chance near-tragedy from which a creation was born…

Inspired by Lex’s time living in New York, Richard Prince is titled in reference to the artist, and a point in her life where she was just realising her sexuality as a young woman. In her words:

“Richard Prince is inspired by my life in New York City. I lived there twelve years ago, yet writing recently it's like everything from that time has been synthesized; my life then is crystal clear now. Every street corner, every kiss. At the time I was just coming into my sexuality as a young woman, feeling powerful but not really sure how to use and handle that power. It was confusing. Experience has taught me that one's sexuality is something to delight in, and to share, to care for, in a way.”

There is a glassy-eyed emotional weight to Richard Prince, Lex’s over-dubbed vocal betraying some sort of duality, as it sways, alluring and threatening, amidst the slow-keyed melody. There is a jazz-like looseness to the performance, both instrumentation and space coming together to create a sound that is full of tense drama.

Check out Richard Prince below:

Listen: Antidote — Murmur Tooth & Lars Moston

Opening with a simple chord progression and yearning vocals, Antidote has an emotional immediacy that skewered me. The production on Murmur Tooth & Lars Moston’s song evokes electronic pop with Balearic undertones — snappy percussion, sunny bass notes and little textural elements evoke the setting sun on your perfect day… The feeling of a beautiful moment ebbing away, the fear of loss intruding upon a moment of joy, whilst it still unfolds.

Antidote is the result of an unusual pairing. Murmur Tooth is Leah Hinton, who played classical piano, oboe and cello growing up in New Zealand before discovering Nirvana and forming an avant-metal band, El Schlong. Following a second band, Kibosh, she settled in Berlin, built a studio started her “doom pop” project, Murmur Tooth.

Lars Boston, in contrast, is a British-German DJ and producer, who has played dance floors from Fusion Festival to Tomorrowland. His musical productions span a range of influences, and he has seen music released through a variety of labels.

Having met during the pandemic, Moston and Hinton began exploring what their contrasting styles could unlock if brought together. Since collaborating, they have released an instrumental (You, Me, Us, Spines) and a remix of Claptone’s latest single Beautiful. Antidote, which has already received positive responses at Pacha in Ibiza and Paintwork’s in London, is the first single to be released from the pair’s forthcoming LP, No Time To Explain.

Check out Antidote below, or on the streaming service of your choice:

Listen: Easier — Vorsen

Vorsen’s Easier is the sort of feeling that starts softly, a gentle nagging that eventually becomes all you can think about. Vorsen’s delicate vocal manoeuvering its way sympathetically around layered guitar melodies and ambience, before a chorus kicks the song up a notch, propulsive drums and pulsing bass injecting an energy into the performance.

Yet_Easier_ doesn’t let up there. It builds and builds, synths and distortion joining the instrumentation. And then it drops out for a bar where, for just a moment, it feels as if Vorsen has lost his confidence… Only to slam his foot back onto the gas again, the desire for something a little less painful seemingly manifested into song, through sheer will alone.

Vorsen is the musical project of London-based, British/Australian product Oliver Halvorsen. Having moved to Western Australia when he was young, Halverson got into music-making in his teenage years, before being invited to study at the Western Academy of Performing Arts. Having initially got experience working in studios with some of Perth’s best known producers, Oliver returned to his town of birth, London, and joined the act Night Flight. From there, Halverson started producing solo material, getting picked up on Triple J for his debut single, Say All The Right Things.

Easier is talent from Vorsen’s debut EP, Real Life, which Oliver started working on in 2020 following the dissolution of a significant relationship. Check it out below.

Listen: 4X4 — Paige Bea

Paige Bea’s new single, 4x4, floats like a bee and and stings like a butterfly... Thick bass grinds your guts and bones to dust, whilst Bea’s vocals simmer and roar, the song’s production evoking like the titular 4x4 it is named after.

4X4 depicts what it is like to be bowled over by someone new, Paige’s vocal cursing her own infatuation, as she sings, “I could put you on a loop and I’d never get bored... You could run me over with a 4x4”. Describing the song’s inspiration in more detail, Bea says:

“It’s an ode to the twisted honeymoon period after you first meet someone mesmerising, when you feel yourself falling hard and fast for someone and have the dark realisation you’d probably be happy to lose large parts of yourself to be with them. I wrote this song to perfectly encapsulate the feelings of dread and excitement that accompany a late night journey to that new romantic obsession - while also riffing off the sensory assault that London can be. Drinking in the cold air, watching the street lamps flicker, glass glistening, couples arguing on the street.

Having originally trained as an opera singer, Bea realised that the world of classical music wasn’t for her at the point her singing teacher told her that if she wore a suit to an audition, people might think she is fat. Following a degree in Russian, Paige spent several years as a journalist in Moscow, Kyiv, Hong Kong and Reykjavik. Eventually music called her back, but this time to songwriting, and an ensuring role in growing the musical community, co-running Higher Ground. The latter is a monthly jam session hosted at 91 Living Room, founded by musician and vocalist Sofia Grant. Bea also documents the real life dating and music-making experiences using her honed craft for writing in the form of tell-all monthly newsletter The Beamail.

With a wonky alt-pop sound that recalls Caroline Polachek, Tirzah and James Blake all at once, there is a sophisticated emotional rawness to Paige Bea’s sound that is infectious. 4X4 is taken from her new forthcoming and self-released EP, Goodbye, Then!. You can check her out live on 10 November, when Paige will headline The Lexington in London, with tickets available here.

Listen: A New Life — Amy Stroup

With a gently plucked guitar and a shimmering vocal, Amy Stroup’s cover of Jim James’ A New Life glitters with the kind of pearlescent beauty that evokes thoughts of the Double R in my mind… Sweeping romance, an earnest sense of desire, and just a dash of magic and, dare I say it, doom.

For the unfamiliar, Jim James leads country-psyche outfit My Morning Jacket, a band whose music I have always admired from afar, despite never reaching a personal heavy-rotation status. His original of A New Life is a bluesy-country piece that gradually builds, a dash of rockabilly giving it a sense of movement. Stroup’s take is itself more aligned with James’ own Alt Version — stripped back, his vocal bruised, yearning and just a bit desperate.

Both James and Stroup just about bleed out the line, “Hey, let’s get one thing clear… There’s a bit more stardust when you’re near”. But it is Stroup’s version that feels like it floats amongst the stars. Her spectral vocal and the surrounding instrumentation seems to float in the air, unmoored from gravity, as she lays out her unvarnished desires for her audience. Her stomach is in her throat and heart in her hands, just waiting for some sort of response from the one she loves so completely.

The experience of giving oneself up to love is both terrifying, and yet completely fulfilling… The need to hide who you are or what you feel can vanish in an instant, and suddenly, it doesn’t seem like anything else matters. Of his song, Jim James told Rolling Stone,

“It’s about making a conscious choice to open a new door for oneself. To step forward out of safe stagnation or fear and into beauty or peace or whatever you would like to call truth in your heart in order to begin a new life in and of love.”

Based in Nashville, A New Life is Amy Stroup’s first song since her 2018 solo release, Helen of Memphis, and the first from her new album Since Frank. Following encouragement from friends, Stroup engaged with producer Chad Copelin (LANY, Broncho, Ben Rector). “You have to work with him, you guys would love each other,” said her friends, and yes, she did – she loved working with him. Amy claims A New Life as one of her all-time favourite songs, and it shows. This is a performance that hits me right in the gut – honest, raw and beautiful.