The Canadian indie-pop act Van Damsel has caught my attention with their latest ‘Sophia’, a 80’s inspired upbeat song. The track which comes off their 2016 full-length release is a well crafted potential pop hit with a memorable chorus:
She said come home with me
I wanna make you see
I wanna help you understand
The stars and galaxies
Nestled between the sheets
Sophia
They broke on the scene with their 2013 EP which earned them a top 20 spot at The Peak Performance Project. This could be a big year for the band who is named after a track by Dillinger Escape Plan.
conner.m@mihent.com

Kings favorite XPLOR, the synth-pop duo, released the new song ‘Recover’, the first offering in 2016. They built a solid following off of the debut single “Heartbreak“, and decided to switch directions a bit with the new song. The duo notes, “I released recover in 2015 in an attempt to ride the wave of “Heartbreak” which brought some attention towards the project. I decided to take the song down because I felt it was not the right time and I wanted to give it new life. The song comes a place of disappointment in a relationship but hoping things would still work even though deep inside you know it wont.
reachxplormusic@gmail.com

Brisbane trio Landings has hooked me with the track “My Bones“. The song was mixed by producer Jean Paul Fung (Silverchair, Birds Of Tokyo) and has a big indie pop sound layered in electro, a big beat, and mesmerizing melodies. The video for the song will have a March release and will be filmed in various locations including Czech Republic, Germany and Iceland. Liam Quinn notes, “My Bones is about moving on, starting anew and avoiding the temptation of a past relationship, influenced by relationships where someone feels trapped and wants to experience more of the World, but becomes too used to the comfort of their situation.”

The band is receiving lots of love from indie blogs and is set to perform Brisbane’s 2high Festival.
zac@viceroyalty.com.au, landingsbrisbane@gmail.com

Kings favorite Zara Kershaw is back with a new song release titled “Landslides”. It will get stuck in your head with a first listen with its haunting melody and slick electro production. Zara has seen early signs of success with the most recent collaboration with Hospital Records producer Etherwood on the single ‘Souvenirs‘, which landed on #9 on the iTunes Electronic Chart and spins from KISS FM and XFM.

Kershaw notes, “We recorded the drums and keys at a studio in South East London, but the majority of Landslides was made at home in Brighton, where I wrote the whole song on piano first. I worked alone on producing the track for months and months, playing with percussive elements and synths before getting anyone else involved. It was my baby that I kept to myself, whilst I figured out what the song needed to be. Then eventually I called some friends in to help me record it. There are so many songs out there about wanting and loving another person. Landslides experiments with the heaviness and the electricity that comes with someone you know wanting you instead. It also deals with the realisation that this person has now become both the problem and the cure for you too.”

I’m convinced Z. Kershaw will make splash in 2016.
contact@zarakershaw.co.uk

Although well known in the UK, I wanted to note that Mystery Jets will release their fifth album ‘Curve Of The Earth‘ on January 15th. The band released the lead-off song ‘Telomere’, a fantastic spacey and atmospheric indie rock track. Blaine Harrison explained he came up with the idea for the song after reading Patti Smith’s book, Just Kids. “There’s this great line in there where she said “the victories and the plights of your ancestors live through you in your blood”. I started thinking about ancestry and I wonder if, all the people who’ve come before you in your bloodline, if part of them does live on in your essence.” The new album will have a release via Caroline International and the album was recorded in east London.
info@urokmanagement.com

info@urokmanagement.com