Lucky Number Music

When the plague struck and the yearlong winter began, HMLTD left their home and went into the mountains. There, they enjoyed spirit and solitude, and for the yearlong winter did not weary of it. But at last, the winter thawed, and with it their hearts,—and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, they went before the sun, and said: ‘I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that has gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to take it.’ And HMLTD descended the mountain. We are proud to share their first piece of new music since West of Eden. ‘Don’t Leave Me’ is born into the world.

‘Don’t Leave Me’ is just one version of the 6400 unique compositions – not trivially different, but each one its very own song – made possible by the band’s dynamic musical artwork, ‘Leaving’. The different layers which make up the composition will go up for auction in collaboration with Async, tomorrow, Thursday 29th April, 4pm UK. Layer owners have the power to change their part of the song, and decide which of the 6400 unique forms it takes. The master song will respond in real time to these inputs, existing as a permanently ever-changing song in a constant state of flux. This song, the first ever of its kind, will be hosted on the Async gallery website for everyone to listen to, as it passes through its metamorphic life. Learn more at Async.art

Plus, on 16th November 2021, HMLTD will be playing their one and only live show of 2021 at Heaven in London: ‘The Order’. The Order is not just a live performance – it is an interactive piece of performance art with audience participation and immersive theatre built into it. Henry Spychalski writes “We have always believed that the orders and systems we live within are purely imagined – on 16 November, we will create our very own imagined order inside the walls of Heaven.” What role you occupy within The Order depends on what ticket you buy for the event – the higher-tier tickets will give you a special ‘authority’ status on the night, complete with an expanded list of rights, privileges and powers within The Order, and a special one-off piece of merchandise to signal your authority.

Palehound’s Ellen Kempner and Jay Som’s Melina Duterte recently announced new collaborative project Bachelor and shared their acclaimed first single “Anything At All”. Now, the duo announce their debut album – Doomin’ Sun due out May 28 – alongside brand new track “Stay in the Car” with a music video directed by Haoyan of America, watch below.

On the bass-heavy rock song, the duo paint a yearning portrait of a woman in a supermarket parking lot, a barely-contained desire oozing out of cotidian descriptions like: “She burns out of the market / Plastic bags digging into wrists / Blood stuck in her fingertips.”

Kempner explains, “I wrote the lyrics to ‘Stay In the Car’ back in December of 2019 when I was in Florida for my partner’s top surgery. I had run out one afternoon, post op, while he was healing to grab lunch for us and as I was gathering my stuff in the parking lot, a big car pulled up and this absolutely beautiful woman got out. She was dressed all in red, dripping with jewelry and had the most wild fiery mane I’d ever seen. She was yelling at the man behind the wheel asking him what he wanted from the store and I wished I was that man. I wanted to be a part of her life, her best friend, her driver, whatever she wanted me to be. I was completely mesmerized.” Duterte continues, “We wanted this song to be a visceral listening experience, inspired by The Pixies and The Breeders”.

Kempner and Duterte hybridized their individual songwriting talents, producing a collection that slips between moods with ease and showcases their lyrical prowess. While the album features collaborations with the likes of Big Thief’s Buck Meek and James Krivchenia, as well as Duterte’s partner Annie Truscott of Chastity Belt, the record was largely made by the two musicians in isolation as a fitting precursor to the forthcoming year. Creating the space to explore significant themes from queerness to climate change, the collection also finds Bachelor experiencing pure, unadulterated joy: the kind of joy that can only come from creating, laughing, and having a ridiculous amount of fun with a close friend.

Written and recorded in Topanga, California over the course of two weeks in January of 2020, pre-pandemic, Doomin’ Sun is a record steeped in friendship. Pre-order it now.

The Sydney-based three-piece Middle Kids (Hannah Joy, Tim Fitz and Harry Day) have released “Today We’re The Greatest”, the cinematic title track from their hotly anticipated second album, out this Friday March 19th 2021.

“Today We’re The Greatest” features a heartachingly beautiful performance from lead singer Hannah Joy and showcases the juxtaposition of her compelling songwriting. The grandiose and romantic notion of the song’s title is offset by the repeated refrain “life is gory and boring sometimes” which both closes the song and also the album – reveling equally in the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.

About the song, Hannah explains:
“This is a simple song of people being TINY and our lives being FLEETING but in that we are EPIC and GREAT. It’s finding the beauty and majesty of the every day. Therein lies life and meaning.

LIFE IS GORY AND BORING SOMETIMES: it’s both hectic and mundane and we have to accept both.”

“Today We’re The Greatest” is accompanied by the stunning music video, watch below, directed by W.A.M. Bleakley and filmed on the Kiama costal path in Australia.

Critically acclaimed, indie-rock powerhouses Jay Som (Melina Duterte) and Palehound (Ellen Kempner) have joined forces to form a new project called Bachelor. Today, they release their debut single “Anything At All”. The two musicians came together in pre-quarantine 2020, recording in California during what was then a rare break from touring. Written, performed, and produced entirely by the pair, the new single starts with a heavy, funky bass line followed by a chorus so playful it could be a schoolyard taunt.

The duo explains, “We’re so excited to finally share this song and announce our new band! We’ve been dear friends and huge fans of each other for years and were lucky enough to get to work together before quarantine in January 2020. One morning Melina was showering and this bass line idea just stuck in her head. She went downstairs to play it, waking Ellen who then came down and joined in on drums and started recording. After we got the basic track down we wrote lyrics about queerness, lust, and longing.Writing and recording “Anything At All” was a really natural process and releasing it now feels very hopeful and joyous to us.”

Stay tuned for more Bachelor news coming soon in 2021!

The Sydney-based three-piece Middle Kids, formed of lead singer and songwriter Hannah Joy, multi-instrumentalist Tim Fitz and drummer, Harry Day, today announce the release of their second album, Today We’re The Greatest, out on March 19th 2021.

Recorded and produced in Los Angeles by Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mummy, Purity Ring), the follow-up to the band’s award-winning 2018 debut, Lost Friends, is their most personal and courageous effort to date. Moving away from lyrics of a more conceptual nature, Today We’re The Greatest is the open, uninhibited product of fearless collaboration. Showing a real vulnerability, Joy is pulling directly from her own experiences and breaking down barriers she had previously set for herself. About the new record, she said: “I want to make music that loves its listener. Music that makes people feel seen, seen in the tiny little places that hide away in their hearts. I want people to hear our music, and feel a sense of love. And when I say love, it can be challenging, intense and tough. But it’s in the guts.” She added: “It can be easier to live dualistically, splitting the world in two. We want to be able say it’s this or it’s that, but sometimes it’s both — and can we hold both? Can we hold the brokenness? Can we hold the beauty? That has definitely been a defining bit of this album, the fragility in that dance.”

To coincide with the announcement, Middle Kids today share their monumental new single, “Questions”, a charged three-minute odyssey which sees Joy struggle poetically with concepts of honesty and intimacy over an explosive rhythm section and a stunningly orchestrated brass-filled climax. As Joy explains, “Questions” is about the fallacies of intimate relationships; “I used to drink a lot and most of my previous relationships revolved around this. I don’t think I ever really knew them or they me as a result. Questions is about people being around each other but not being close. People who are in intimate relationships can stop asking questions of each other because they are uncomfortable and confusing.” The single is accompanied by a one-take video directed by the band’s cinematic collaborator, W.A.M Bleakley. Watch it below.

“Questions” follows the release of the album’s first single, “R U 4 Me?”, which was the lead track of the week in The Guardian Guide who described it as “a nervy, Strokes-esque floorfiller about flailing around in search of emotional connection that still manages to be a sunny delight.” Other tracks on the album include “Run With You”, written when Joy was a few months into pregnancy with her and Tim Fitz, her husband and bandmate’s, first child. They recorded her 20-week sonogram, and wove the gentle, rapid thump of their baby boy’s beating heart into the last 20 seconds of the track — an exuberant declaration of devotion. Joy’s journey to motherhood and her marriage with Fitz has imbued her songs with a vibrancy that’s unabashedly romantic yet free of clichés. “Stacking Chairs,” with its unique allegories and Joy’s sunny vocals, strikes this delicate balance beautifully: it’s a testament to her deep connection with Fitz and the new, “infinitesimal” love that transformed their lives with their son’s arrival.

Today We’re The Greatest follows the release of Middle Kids’ critically acclaimed 2018 debut, Lost Friends, which was awarded Album of the Year by Triple J Radio and was also nominated for Best Rock Album at the ARIA Awards. The record also earned them support slots with the likes of Bloc Party, War on Drugs and Cold War Kids as well as several US TV show performances including Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and The Late, Late Show with James Corden.