Seven New Songs -Better Oblivion Community Center, Vampire Weekend, Wild Rivers, Island, Susto, Lady Lamb, and Foals

Surprise Surprise! Last week we were gifted with the collaboration of Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst. Not only did they release a new song, but dropped their entire album, as Better Oblivion Community Center. So many questions about this project, the name, and how it all came about just months after Phoebe Bridgers collaboration with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker (boygenius). I am assuming they felt a serious need for our oblivion to be better? Thus, the hotline phone number 1-785-433-5534 in their promo material and on their website.

Enter… the video directed by Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner. It begins with a twilight zone-like intro where Oberst and Bridgers find a brochure of the community center and go to check it out. Weirdly, the center has a creepy cultish atmosphere that they participate in for only the duration of the song. Anybody else see comparisons to American politics today? Hmmm.

Better Oblivion Community Center-Dylan Thomas

If it’s advertised, we’ll try i
And buy some peace and quiet
And shut up at the silent retreat
They say you’ve gotta fake it
At least until you make it
That ghost is just a kid in a sheetI’m getting used to these dizzy spells
I’m taking a shower at the Bates Motel
I’m getting greedy with this private helI’ll go it alone, but that’s just as well

Better Oblivion Community Center‘s music marketing scheme is quite clever, much like a home shopping network promo. They have tickets to sell for their US tour where you can experience all the bliss and of course, better oblivion!

“As promised, in the coming months Better Oblivion Community Center will hold meetings across the US and Europe.  We welcome you to experience a healing sound bath – live in concert.  Let the vibrations wash you clean, realigning and resonating in your journey toward serene healing and true bliss.  Come together with fellow Community Center members Conor and Phoebe to celebrate the common path toward ultimate relaxation.  More news on Chosen Family Therapy forthcoming.”

Check their website for all the deets, HERE 

I don’t know about you but it seems like it has been forever since we heard new music from Vampire Weekend. They have been talking about writing and working on new music for a while now, but it just never seemed to surface, until this past week. After placing major hints on their Instagram page, leaving us curious and wondering…we now have new music from the band, a promise of an album, as well as concert commitments. “Harmony Hall” is classic Vampire Weekend and I am overjoyed! From the dueling acoustic guitars, and the soft airy vocals of Koenig, the song is a wondrous flower of a sound that warms the winter’s gray days and brings hope that spring and its abundant blooms are right around the corner. 

Vampire Weekend-Harmony Hall

I am smitten by this Toronto foursome because of their well written music, soaring vocals, and lively stage presence. After an extensive tour of the US, they have graced us with new music. They were testing “Moving Target” on tour, but now we have a recorded version. Warning, it’s a song full of romantic conflict, yet delicately gorgeous.

Wild Rivers-Moving Target

From the first complicated picks of the guitar and the ensuing dreamy wall of sound that follows, “All In My Head” is a sure pick this week. The raw aching vocals are almost in direct contrast with its atmospheric instrumental sound, but it captures a captivating balance. Excited the London based band, Island, will put out an EP this Spring. I will be listening.

Island-All In My Head

The Charleston alt-country band, Susto, is the project of singer and songwriter, Justin Osborne. Each album release has a genuine appeal and touches on difficult subjects that we might struggle with while adding a bit of wit. As they tour, they continue to draw more followers and supporters loving their anthemic songs and raucous stage presence. Even with their thriving fame, you have a sense that Osborne is totally approachable and deals honestly with serious, difficult subjects. “Weather Balloons” expresses this genuine heartbreaking vulnerability. It leans into pop more than southern rock/alt-country and might suggest Osborne is experimenting and growing. Be prepared to swoon when the harmonica finishes the song brilliantly. The new album, Ever Since I Lost My Mind, will be released February 22.

Susto-Weather Balloons

Lady Lamb is Aly Spaltro known for her changing tempos and swinging rhythms. In her title track release from her upcoming album, Even In The Tremor, the compositions have her distinct signature, but are grounded in the steady pounding of the drums. Spaltro has explained,

“This whole album is about facing who you are and fighting your way toward self- acceptance.” 

Which explains her repeated lines, “cause the past will kill the present, if I let it” and “the future kills the present, if I let it.”  Listen.

Lady Lamb-Even In The Tremor

I am a huge Foals fan, so I get psyched when I know there is new music. It has been way too long! Their last album was in 2015. Their latest song, “Exits”, is a bit of  a departure for the band, but it takes on weighty subject matter in metaphors and lyrical phrases while blasting their swirling music around it. Yannis explained the track,

“There’s a definite idea about the world being no longer habitable in the way that it was. A kind of perilousness lack of predictability and a feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitudes of the problems we face. What’s the response? And what’s the purpose of any response that one individual can have?”

Exits is the first track release from the upcoming album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Part 1 and believe it or not there will be a second album released later in the year….Part 2. 

Check out the video, which stars Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark from Game of Thrones) and French actress, Christa Théret.

Foals-Exits