MAISON HALL SHARE NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO MONTREUX ALONGSIDE EAST COAST SHOWS
Indie Aus rockers Maison Hall have today shared their new rambler Montreux, a love letter to the connection between the left and the right sides of the brain. The duo, made up of Ben Byron and Joe Kneipp, have also announced a colourful, eccentric video to accompany the track. This is Maison Hall’s first release since their 2017 debut album It Was Never About Me, and will be celebrated with an east coast tour playing Black Bear Lodge Brisbane on February 3, The Retreat Hotel Melbourne on February 11 and Gang Gang Café Canberra on February 13.
Contemplative and upbeat, Montreux is classic indie rock evocative of The Kooks and Catfish and the Bottlemen, with sparks of innovation unique to Maison Hall throughout. Guitars thrash amongst steady, driving drums; lead vocalist Joe Kneipp’s voice feels right at home amongst the chaos, commanding attention with thoughtful lyrics and strong melodic hooks. Speaking on the inspiration behind the anticipated return single for the duo, Joe reflects, “Montreux is celebratory. Not just because we’re still doing this, but because we’re still doing this despite our ‘real-life’ obligations, the distance between us, the total absence of pecuniary success, etc. We are so divorced from any external validations – the simple fact is, I love making music, and I love making music with Ben. And we’re gonna keep fucking doing it!”
The video clip for Montreux is as considered as it is amusing – a never-ending, ever-cycling job interview is consistently interrupted by a vigorous visual artist, determined to be acknowledged by the two men in their meeting. It’s a clever commentary on the push and pull of a working artist’s time and headspace, caught between creation and survival in capitalist society, as Joe sums up the video, “The concept of the clip is pretty on the nose – the juxtaposition between the left and right brain, the creative and the pragmatist, the poetic and the prosaic. If you’re a musician, or any creative for that matter, who’s not lucky enough to make all their money from creative endeavours, you’ll understand these tensions. I workshopped it with Ben and then James Cooney, who stars in the clip as the ‘right-brain’ and is part of our live lineup.”
After almost six years since their last live show together – during which time the two members of the group have been exploring other musical projects – Maison Hall are thrilled to return to the stage to celebrate the launch of Montreux in Brisbane and Melbourne and Canberra. Despite both moving through several different cities since the guys met and formed Maison Hall back in college in Brisbane, the band are stronger and sharper in their songwriting than ever before, as demonstrated in the tight brilliance of Montreux.
Maison Hall is Ben Byron (Drums, Backing Vocals) and Joe Kneipp (Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboard)
Montreux is out today.
THUR 3 FEB | BLACK BEAR LODGE, BRISBANE QLD | 18+
Tickets available from https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/maison-hall-montreux-single-launch-tickets-219745323177 | All Eventbrite Outlets
FRI 11 FEB | THE RETREAT HOTEL, MELBOURNE VIC | 18+
Tickets available from https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/maison-hall-tickets-242537585447 | All Eventbrite Outlets
SUN 13 FEB | GANG GANG CAFE, CANBERRA ACT | 18+
Tickets available from Oztix | All Oztix Outlets
COYLE GIRELLI SHARES NEW SINGLE HERE COMES MY BABY + ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM FUNLAND SET FOR FEBRUARY 25 RELEASE
NYC-based English troubadour Coyle Girelli is back with a breathtaking new single Here Comes My Baby, a song filled with sweet longing amidst a strange and confusing world, out now. Here Comes My Baby is accompanied by a stunning visualiser, perfectly tailored to suit the yearning at the heart of the song. The new single precedes Coyle Girelli’s new album Funland, written in isolation and set for release on February 25 – the album is available for pre-order now. Australian fans will be familiar with Coyle’s one-of-a-kind vocals as his collaboration with Peking Duk member Keli Holiday, Song Goes On, has been on high rotation on triple j throughout the year.
Here Comes My Baby is one for the shoegaze fans – evocative of masters of the genre Mazzy Star, ingénue Hatchie and rockers The War On Drugs, this song would feel at home nestled amongst the tracks on the Big Little Lies original soundtrack; gentle guitars sway, Coyle’s unique, dreamy vocals lead confidently, like magic, amongst whirling reverb. There’s even a little Lana Del Rey influence amongst the bed of sound – in other words, every fan of alternative pop, guitar-led slow dancing, and genuine, classic songwriting will find something to love here. Reflecting on the meaning behind the song, and the influences behind its conception, Coyle says, “Here Comes My Baby has a dreamy indie vibe that I loved living in as I created it. Lyrically, it’s pretty simple… it’s about craving the body of a lover in an uncertain moment of strangeness. I had a running playlist that I listened to pretty much every day while I was writing and I think a lot of them influenced this track, and the album. Some of the main ones on there were Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, Hamilton Leithauser, Cigarettes After Sex, The War on Drugs, Big Thief and Bruce Springsteen.”
Here Comes My Baby is just a taste of what is to come upon the release of Funland. Years of experience within the music industry – upon performing on David Letterman, Letterman himself said, “If I had a voice like that I’d run for President!” – have helped Coyle hone his craft to perfection, and he is in brilliant form on this new record, as Coyle says, “I’m so proud of Funland as a follow-up to my debut solo album Love Kills. It takes you on a ride of hope, debauchery, lust and love. I hope Aussies can turn it up and escape into Funland for 45 mins whenever they need it.”
A prolific, in-demand artist, Coyle Girelli has also written with global K-pop sensation BTS (their collaboration Heartbeat has a cool 97 million streams on Spotify), Macklemore and Robin Schulz, not to mention Australia’s own Keli Holiday, as he enthuses, “I’ve known and worked with Adam and Rueben of Peking Duk for a few years now. I’ve written a bunch of songs with them both and even toured with them as guest vocalist in the US and in Europe shortly before COVID lockdown. Song Goes On came out of one of those writing sessions and Adam and I continued to work on it for his Keli Holiday project. I love how it came out and am thrilled that it’s getting love in Australia and from triple j. Adam and I have been busy writing a lot more for Keli Holiday in the last few months. Some right tunes to come!”
Here Comes My Baby is out now.
Funland is out February 25.
BOO SEEKA ANNOUNCES HYPNOTIC NEW SINGLE ‘DREAM’
Aussie festival fave Boo Seeka has just dropped another perfect, sun-soaked new track, Dream, a song for escapists, for daydreamers, for those hoping, wishing for a different world, out today, December 2. Dream is a stunning return to Boo Seeka’s electro-pop roots, and follows the versatile artist’s most recent single, the affecting, melancholy, acoustic track Tripwire. Both singles are set to appear on the new Boo Seeka LP, scheduled for release in 2022. Boo Seeka will be hitting the road to play Byron Bay Beach Hotel, Queens Wharf Hotel Newcastle and Beyond The City in Melbourne through December, and will be jumping on the For The Love lineup that’ll take in Gold Coast, Wollongong, Melbourne and Perth in Feb and March 2022.
Dream sparkles, glistens; it demonstrates such a nuanced and impressive knowledge of pop songwriting paired with classic electronic production – Boo Seeka quite literally has it all. His soft, assured vocals offer hook after hook atop a sharp, shining bed of metallic beats. It’s easy to imagine this track going off at a summer festival, crowd heaving, moving in sync towards the drop. Speaking on the conception of the track, Boo reflects on some of his influences: “Given that the world is now stranger than it probably ever has been, indulging in the obscurities of life has been super important for my writing process. A world created by my imagination whilst sleeping is what inspired Dream, and was something that felt very easy to write down on paper. Also, I don’t usually listen to a lot of music when I’m creating, but for this song it was different. Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap was playing when I first started putting pen to paper, and I found myself putting the song on repeat while I wrote the whole track. This was the start of everything for this track.”
There certainly is a clear nod to Imogen Heap and her iconic production in Dream, but it also evokes the likes of James Blake, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Glass Animals, even fans of Tame Impala will find something to like in this beauty. It’s the kind of chill, hooky electro pop that feels universally appealing – irresistible, impossible not to tap your feet along to. It’s just another example of Boo Seeka’s uncanny ability to capture emotion – whether it’s an acoustic, guitar-driven song or a pumping electro hit, he hits the nail on the head every time. Reflecting on his own versatility, Boo says, “I love the fact that people can recognise a previous Boo Seeka track as soon as it’s being spun. However, I think the development of my songwriting has been exploring different ideas, different emotions that are created with different sounds. The diversity in the production of the record that is coming in 2022 is something we are really proud of, and can’t wait to share it.”
Lucky fans will be able to hear Dream live at Boo Seeka’s December shows in NSW, as Boo gives audiences a taste of what to expect from the tour: “Typical of a Boo show, there is a whole lot of energy on stage, and we just hope that we can provide the best time possible for people that pay their hard-earned money to be there. SHOWS ARE BACK!!! LET’S GO!!!”
Dream is out now on Disrupt Music Group.