The Wind and The Wave: Keep Your Head Down
Racing Hearts is TW+TW's first album since 2018's Human Beings Let You Down. The duo of Dwight Baker and Patty Lynn unveiled it at the very end of 2022 (although Patreon supporters had early previews). "Here’s the album we created during the pandi, half of it from within a closet during lockdown," they posted, adding that the music "uplifted us then, and we hope it brings some joy your way now."
Driven Snow: Flickers Of You
Irish musicians Kieran McGuinness and Emily Aylmer debuted as a duo in 2022. By then, they'd known each other more than 15 years, married and had three children. When the pandemic interrupted their other musical pursuits, they started writing and recording together. "It all happened quite naturally, and it wasn’t in any way a career step," McGuinness told The Irish Times. "In fact, it was the opposite, we were just playing songs to each other and seeing what we thought of them.” This song is described as "a musical exploration of the quieter parts of a long-term relationship."
Glen Phillips: Stone Throat
Here's a single from the There Is So Much Here, the new solo album by Toad the Wet Sprocket's frontman. American Songwriter says the collection is "similar in style to the music made with that band, save for the fact that the arrangements are somewhat leaner at times, the product of no more than two or three musicians playing per track. Nevertheless, the songs maintain an emphatic embrace, which, without exception, ensures instant appeal." This song looks at a couple in a new relationship: “The push and pull between longing to run away and wanting a strong home base can be a heavy tide," says Phillips.
The Mandevilles: Wasn't Always
This five-piece band from Welland, Ontario, plays straightforward rock-and-roll featuring Serena Pryne's vocals. Their new EP, Junkie, includes that previously released single and four new tracks, including this one. Pryne says of the track: "The idea is that you can be changed into something you no longer recognize as yourself. By a person or circumstance. It’s an introspective soliloquy – a plea to yourself. The rhythmic drum pattern hypnotizes.”
Automatic: On the Edge
Excess, the sophomore album from this LA trio, came out severan months ago, and we previously featured "New Beginning." The LP has been landing on some Best-of-2022 lists, prompting us to dip back into its "retrofuturist motorik pop" and include this track in our New Music bin for the start of 2023.