Ninth album by I Was A King — out now — called “melancholy,” “brooding,” and “harmony-laden… catchy indie rock.” — Brooklyn Vegan

Hear album’s latest focus track “Sweet Things” now; See “impeccable,” “abrasively beautiful” video for “Growing Wild” single via  MAGNET.

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I Was A King (L-R Anne Lise Frøkedal, Frode Strømstad) as photographed by Donald Milne

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PLAY, POST & SHARE

I Was A King | “Growing Wild”

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uuhetcfyBQ
[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/IWasAKing-GrowingWild
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See the video for “Growing Wild” by I Was A King at MAGNET here or listen at Brooklyn Vegan here or at the links above.
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“The more time I spend with this song, the more I’m almost frightened by how incredible it is.” — Austin Town Hall
“We used a couple of more traditional folk instruments on ‘Growing Wild,’” says Frode Strømstad of I Was A King about the Norwegian duo’s latest single. “The song describes living alongside darkness and chaos, but also summoning the courage to face it. There is an element of comfort in the phrase: ‘just like you I’m not afraid.’”
About the video for the song, Strømstad explains, “Back in August we played a small show in a biker garage in our hometown, and our good friend Donald Milne came over from Scotland to film the show. The idea of making this video came out of a happy accident, as a lightning storm hit us toward end of the night, and the lamps and power at the garage started flickering before it went all black.
“Donald made us go back there early next morning when the power was back on, and he got some more shots of us that blended in nicely with the clips he made night before. One of the bikers was there, too, and helped with swinging the ceiling lamp back and forth while Donald was filming.”
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I Was A King

Follow Me Home LP

(Coastal Town Recordings)

Out Now

Streaming Link:

STREAM FULL LP

 

Track Listing:

01. All This Time

02. Down

03. Follow Me Home (STREAM)

04. Growing Wild (STREAM | VIDEO)

05. Here At Last (STREAM)

06. Know The Way

07. Flag

08. Leave

09. Lo Pressure (STREAM)

10. Getting Colder

11. Sweet Things (STREAM)

12. Wood & Stone

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I Was A King | About
 

The front cover art for Follow Me Home, the ninth album by Oslo, Norway’s I Was A King (Out Now, Coastal Town Recordings) displays dotted lines that correspond to colorful cutouts on the back cover, one for each of the album’s twelve songs.

This is an innocent, childlike prompt to play it like a puzzle, literally, but on a more figurative note, this bit of fun also feels like a suggestion to fill in the blanks on what these songs mean to the listener.

Album opener “All This Time” is a just shy of two-minute prologue, foreshadowing the bits of melancholy carried throughout the album, fully realized on the following cut “Down.”

Gentle whispers

from the ground

you’re awake

but you’re still dreaming of the sound

when the shadow calls

breathing down your neck

awaiting a response

The feelings these lyrics evoke are moving, delivered with the insistent, singular-sounding combined voices of the band’s co-writers Frode Strømstad and Anne Lise Frøkedal, and bringing about that deep understanding of shared human condition that, even when packaged in the few minutes of a pop-rock song, is powerful enough to move mountains (and navigate fjords!)

In the case of I Was A King, the band has been around long enough to navigate without a map. Follow Me Home is clearly the sound of hard-won confidence.

Formed by Strømstad in 2006, with its debut album released in 2007, I Was A King continued at a steady pace for the next seven years, appearing on almost as many record labels throughout. Some may say the band’s sound went through just as many iterations during this time.

2009’s self-titled sophomore album featured contributions from Sufjan Stevens and Gary Olson of The Ladybug Transistor (on the Follow Me Home single “Growing Wild” you’ll be reminded of Sufjan’s banjo flourishes mixed with the opening notes of a Sonic Youth tune.)

2010’s Old Friends brought elements of Big Star and The Stooges into the mix and in 2012 indie rock icons Robyn Hitchcock and Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub) came on board to co-produce and perform on the band’s major label debut You Love It Here.

Following 2014’s Isle of Yours, I Was A King finally took a respite before returning for 2018’s Slow Century. 2020’s Grand Hotel followed.

2022’s Follow Me Home is perfectly titled. The album feels like kicking up your feet in front of the fire after a long journey that was trying, but filled with experience.

In reality, that warm fire would have likely been welcomed during the Follow Me Home recording sessions.

“We recorded Follow Me Home in December of 2021 in a building that had been a very important hub for Norwegian music over the last 20 years,” Strømstad explains. “While we were making the album, the building was emptied, and the heat and water shut off. It has since been demolished.”

Even under these considerably less-than-ideal circumstances, Strømstad and Frøkedal managed to make another reality of the time – producing these recordings during a lockdown – work to their advantage. The minimal take on the sound that I Was A King had been traveling towards all this time is its strongest asset on Follow Me Home.

“The previous two records were very band-oriented,” Strømstad says. “We felt that doing it as a two-piece this time would be a fresh approach, playing instruments we normally don’t play just to get some different ideas and textures and keeping it as simple and organic as possible.”

With Follow Me Home, Strømstad and Frøkedal had to fill in the blank spots in their process, just like the art that adorns the album cover. When the audience places the pieces, a colorful image emerges.

Follow Me Home, the ninth album by Oslo, Norway’s I Was A King, is out now via their own label Coastal Town Recordings. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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I Was A King | Links

ASSETS : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE

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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact

WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL

Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico addresses crippling depression with “an impressive array of unassailable hooks” on “Don’t Play Dead” single, out now.

Atlanta band’s upcoming “Self Care” album — its first in five years — features all-stars such as Peter Randall (bassist with The Kooks, Adele, Seal).

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Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico as photographed by Mike Dunn for Rust + Rebel

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PLAY, POST & SHARE

Pacifico | “Don’t Play Dead”

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGQ5OhOQH64
[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/Pacifico-DontPlayDead
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“Punchy and driving pop-rock... An impressive array of unassailable hooks,” says Immersive Atlanta in its premiere coverage of “Don’t Play Dead,” the first single from the first album in five years by Pacifico. Read about it here and check out the song and video at the links above!
“‘Don’t Play Dead’ was written as a letter of encouragement to my wife,” says Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico. “Sometimes she suffers from near-crippling depression, which I suffer from sometimes, too. She retreats to the couch and ‘plays dead.’
“In this song, I’m letting her know that she isn’t alone, that I’m always by her side, and that she has got this! So many people deal with anxiety and sometimes it can become so big that even the most simple tasks seem difficult.
“So, ‘Don’t Play Dead’ is also for anyone who becomes stuck or can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want them to know that this won’t last forever, and as I sing in the song, ‘none of this matters anyway.”
For the song’s music video, Director Dustin Jacobs picks up on this theme, while still managing to keep the mood light.
“At the center is this couple. She’s depressed, but he’s an eternal optimist, so he finds the joy and tries to share it with her. That’s what is at the core of the song, as well.”
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
Pacifico | “Feel Alive”

[YOUTUBE]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5hxvLb_WAo

[SOUNDCLOUD]: https://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/pacifico-feel-alive

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“This song is about addiction,” Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico says of “Feel Alive,” the lead track from Self Care, his first album in five years (scheduled for release via Pacifirecords on Feb. 10, 2023.)

Owing to the album’s candor and blunt honesty, Schwartz reveals, “It’s me trying to imagine what it’s like to lead my first AA meeting.”

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Pacifico | About

 

When we last heard from Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico on his early 2022 EP release “‘05/‘22,” we were hearing the Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico from 17 years earlier.

True to the title, much of that explosive batch of songs was recorded in 2005, misplaced via hard drive in the pre-cloud era, then eventually found, completed, and released.

On the upcoming full-length Self Care (Pacifirecords, Feb. 10, 2023), now sounds like NOW.

Schwartz’s first full-length in five years comes with all of the pent-up emotion one would expect from meticulously composing a statement under the veil of cleaning out a desk drawer of old material (literally, in this case.)

“Wait

Hold my beer

There’s so many things I’d love to say if I don’t just walk away from here”

The lyrics, from one of the album’s upcoming singles “Comatose,” shares an energy with early-2000s skate punk, but from the wise perspective of a now mature voice who would naturally follow-up the above lyric with:

“You used to be such a good friend

So I’ve taken it upon myself to grab things and call this the end”

That’s what self-care is about.

“The lyrics on this album all center on self-care,” Schwartz confirms. “This is the most diverse and most vulnerable group of songs I have ever created.”

The album isn’t called Self Help for a reason. It’s Self Care, and there’s a difference.

From songs about not giving up, to going for your goals, to being a present listener and creating healthy boundaries, Self Care reflects a willingness to enjoy the journey, come what may.

“It’s also about encouraging and loving others,” Schwartz says.

“It’s ok

None of this matters anyway

We all make mistakes

Hell I just made more than three today”

A song written for his wife, these lyrics come from the so-catchy-it’s-criminal “Don’t Play Dead,” the lead single from Self Care.

“It’s my letter of encouragement to her,” Schwartz explains. “I also want this song to encourage anyone who becomes stuck.”

That’s what self-care is about.

Self Care, the album, however, isn’t all about straight up the middle earworms.

The various styles that Schwartz and his world-class collaborators stich seamlessly include genres from 1950s to tomorrow.

Some of the artists and musicians who worked on Self Care include Peter Randall (bassist with Seal, Adele, and The Kooks) and Shane Tutmarc of Dolour (featured on the track “Haunt You,” in addition to providing backing vocals, keys, and percussion.) Self Care was mixed by Aaron Sprinkle, best known as a platinum record-earning and chart-topping producer, with artwork is by Adult Swim’s Trey Wadsworth.

“There are fast punk songs, slow acoustic ballads, strings, piano, horns, and everything in-between,” Schwartz says.

“Hearts on Fire” is a soulful detour near the end of the album’s first half that shows off the nimble dexterity of the writing and playing here. Calling Jeff Buckley, Lenny Kravitz, and Janelle Monae’s sounds as influences on the song, it fades with the glory of a choir.

“Complicated, Confiscated,” the album’s penultimate song, is clearly a nod to Elliott Smith. A plaintive acoustic number, it is rendered with as much respect as the legendary songwriter commands (and with as much beauty.) Schwartz’s empathetic connection to Smith runs deep.

“Complicated

This picture’s faded

I’m all but gone from here right now”

“‘Complicated, Confiscated’ expresses exactly how I feel when I am overcome with depression,” Schwartz confides. I have used this song by singing it like a mantra to help me work through tough times.”

And that’s what Self Care is about.

Self Care, the fourth full-length album by Atlanta-based Pacifico arrives Feb. 10, 2023 preceded by the singles “Don’t Play Dead” (Out Now), “Afterglow” (Nov. 11), “Comatose” (Jan. 6), and “Complicated, Confiscated” (Jan. 27).

Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Pacifico | Links

ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE : PACIFIRECORDS
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL

Love Muscles Getting Buff: “I'm Getting Better at Falling in Love” is emotional center of Alex Lilly’s “Repetition Is A Sin,” out now.

“I’m getting so good, gotta mind to do it full-time,” sings Lilly, “whose music is to the current plethora of pop what a Picasso is to a selfie.”

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Alex Lilly as photographed by Daiana Feuer

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PLAY, POST & SHARE

Alex Lilly | “I’m Getting Better at Falling in Love”

[YOUTUBE]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxAFYex_Ps
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“Alex Lilly, whose music is to the current plethora of pop what a Picasso is to a selfie.” — Buzz Bands
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“I’m Getting Better at Falling in Love” is a happy love song,” Alex Lilly says of the tune that serves as the emotional centerpiece of her new album Repetition Is A Sin (out now on Release Me Records). “It’s an anomaly for me.”
The song is confessional, vulnerable, optimistic, and hopeful. And of course, in keeping with Lilly’s sharp wit and wordplay, it’s humorous.
“I’m getting better at falling in love,” she sings. “I’m getting so good, gotta mind to do it full-time, love muscles getting buff, now it’s all that I can do.”
It’s also a tune that destined to become some tasteful couple’s future “our song.”
Listen to “I’m Getting Better at Falling in Love” by Alex Lilly here.
Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
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Alex Lilly | In The Press

“Alex Lilly’s songs keep their cool.” — The New York Times

“Alex Lilly is the genuine article.” — FLOOD

“Pretty freaking awesome.” —  FADER

“Alex Lilly is spellbinding. Album of The Week” — LA Weekly

“Alex Lilly steps into the spotlight.” — Flaunt

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Alex Lilly

Repetition Is A Sin

(Release Me Records)

Out Now

Streaming Link:

STREAM FULL LP

 

Track Listing:

01. Pure Drivel (STREAM | VIDEO)

02. Frank (STREAM)

03. I’m Getting Better At Falling In Love (STREAM)

04. Spirit

05. Rosalind

06. Delight Me

07. Human

08. Melinda (VIDEO)

09. Afternoon In Bloom

10. Bugs Bunny

11. Built For Chaos

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PLAY, POST & SHARE

Alex Lilly | “Melinda”

[YOUTUBE]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fli1vsB0xA

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“During the early pandemic days when I lost all my work, I started composing jingles and theme songs for people,” explains Alex Lilly of how “Melinda” came to be.

Lilly continues, “I have a hetero-girl crush on the supremely talented and unique, Melinda Sullivan. Melinda’s man asked me to write a jingle for her. Melinda’s jingle is a true story! We appeared in a music video together, pretended to kiss, and... oh, those lips! We also played at The Gardenia, so the song is a play-by-play! I was delighted when she agreed to give me a tap lesson for the ‘Melinda’ video.”

“Melinda” also features saxophone by James King from Fitz & The Tantrums, drums by Barbara Gruska from Belle Brigade, and bass by Gabe Noel.

“Melinda’s spirit of talent and hotness is all over this song,” Lilly says. “At first I was worried that the lyrics came on too strong but when you’re inspired, you’ve got to go for it!”

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PLAY, POST & SHARE

Alex Lilly | “Pure Drivel”

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQVtzFhSK9o

[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/AlexLilly-PureDrivel

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According to The New York Public Library, since 1982, libraries across the United States have observed Banned Books Week, a time to highlight titles that were targeted for removal from schools and libraries. In 2022, there has been a particularly aggressive wave of bans and challenges across America.

The American Library Association, which pioneered Banned Books Week, has reported a record amount of books banned in recent years—many of which center people of color and LGBTQ+ voices.

Alex Lilly’s “Pure Drivel” addresses the subject in song, in which she sings “I know you canceled all your plans, so come over, let’s read some books that got banned.”

The choreographed video for the tune, filmed in and around a Berlin library, is streaming now.

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Alex Lilly | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : RELEASE ME RECORDS
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL