LT ANNOUNCES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘ROLLERCOASTER’
Renowned as one of Queensland’s hardest working independent artists, enigmatic pop dreamweaver LT returns in joyful and theatrical fashion via her brand new single Rollercoaster out today. Also armed with a hard-hitting accompanying music video, Rollercoaster is a shimmering blast of polished dreamy pop with stirring thematics that you’ll fall in love with over and over again.
Helmed by LT’s vibrant vocals and an effervescent sonic coating, Rollercoaster deals in bouncy beats, shimmering strings and swooning harmonies. A fun, deep and explosive outing, Rollercoaster brings together LT with an all-star team, including co-writing and producing courtesy via Joel Quartermain and Edwin White, mixing by Tony Buchen, and mastering by Leon Zervos. Drawing from a variety of personal influences in the writing process, Rollercoaster may, on its surface, present as a bright and bubbly pop gem, but this utter earworm also comes brandishing significantly personal and hard-hitting thematics, as LT explains, “Rollercoaster is about caring for someone who battles with bipolar disorder. It’s about navigating through sleepless nights and uncontrollable highs, and keeping afloat during days of slumber and sweeping lows. It’s about love, perseverance, and riding that rollercoaster until you next see light.”
The music video for Rollercoaster painstakingly and respectfully reflects the mental health undertones of the accompanying single, with LT working alongside Brendan Shoenmaker, an emerging Brisbane creator, to bring the captivating clip to life. Featuring dancers and actors Katie Woods and Ellie Bankowski front-and-centre in a modern twist on vintage arthouse cinema, and filmed at Smoke Creative in Brisbane, the video for Rollercoaster showcases duality in its many forms, presented in realistic yet optimistic fashion. Marrying the many modes of mental health, manic depression, love and perseverance with a sharp, circular spotlight alongside the glimmering track itself, the clip elegantly embodies darker thematics while also paying visual homage to a filmmaking great, as LT elaborates, “Due to the sensitive subject matter of Rollercoaster, it was really important we created something beautiful that in no way added to the stigma that people battling mental health issues can experience. Brendan used inspiration from filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s persona, creating a film depicting inner duality. The story demonstrates a study of yin and yang told through the cat and mouse relationship of two dancers, representing not just the duality of bipolar but the togetherness of the relationship as well as a healthy dose of self-love. It explores the relationship of duality from a perspective of absence and presence, with the dance built around two characters slipping in and out of each other’s space. It is the tug of war between these moments that we wanted to showcase along with connection, endurance and the will to push on through.”
No stranger to the Aussie musical landscape, LT has continually charmed with her refreshing take on the indie, pop and electronic realms. With her previous single Hold Ya appearing as Song You Need To Know on Rolling Stone Australia in 2021, LT is also a multi-award winning powerhouse, with three Queensland Music Award wins under her belt as well as taking out 2018’s Carol Lloyd Award. Proudly flying the flag for her hometown in Cairns, LT has also snagged international acclaim, with her track How Would It Feel picked up on BBC Radio in the UK as well as being remixed by London artist JHustl3 earlier this year. And while her releases continue to delight and enamour at every turn, creating new music is LT’s ultimate happy place, with 2022 offering a renewed chance to continue her passion and deliver some new tunes along the way, as LT concludes, ‘My favourite thing to do in the world is to write and record music, so I feel very fortunate that I still have the opportunity to release new work after such a tricky time. Happy days!”.
Rollercoaster is out today, Wednesday July 20.
COYLE GIRELLI RELEASES NEW ALBUM ‘STRIPPED’
Welding an amalgamation of new and familiar sonic swoon reimagined acoustically, the brand new album Stripped out today from the acclaimed New York-based English singer-songwriter Coyle Girelli boasts two stunning cover songs alongside, aptly, multiple stripped-back versions of tracks taken from Coyle’s previous full length albums Funland, released earlier in 2022, and Love Kills, unveiled back in 2018. Most recently, Funland’s very own Modern Noir scored an acoustic makeover, hauntingly detailing the binary opposites of everyday life while sowing the seeds for the lush new album’s ultimate release.
Upon hearing Coyle’s recent stripped back take on his own sublime track Modern Noir prior to the release of Stripped, it comes as little surprise that the single was originally conceived as an acoustic song, with Coyle’s vocals oozing over glittering guitars and melancholic melodics throughout the raw and intimate journey. But Modern Noir wasn’t the only one of Coyle’s masterpieces that was originally intended to be ‘naked’, with singles Funland, Here Comes My Baby and Flake from the 2022 stunner Funland, aka Coyle’s most recent full-length, also originally conceived as austere and unadorned arrangements. But where the album Funland, released back in February this year, still packed an emphatic punch via heart-warming feels and exquisite instrumentation, it’s on Stripped that each and every song takes on new life, granting listeners a transcendental moment of intimacy, as if Coyle himself is pouring his heart out directly in front of you throughout the album’s seven songs. And for Coyle, it’s been an equally enjoyable experience to bring this new album to fruition, as he shares, “I’m excited to be releasing an album in this form. I have a tendency to throw a lot into my productions so releasing something raw like this feels freeing. This is how the songs were written. Just me and an acoustic guitar. It really brings out aspects of the songs that maybe get missed when there’s more layers on top of them. It’s raw and honest and intimate”.
Atop Coyle’s new masterpiece Stripped is none other than a heart-wrenching cover of Leonard Cohen’s emotive ballad Famous Blue Raincoat. Delivered in Coyle’s trademark honeyed, wavering vocals and boasting intimate guitarwork, Coyle simultaneously honours the 1971 folk classic while elegantly administering his own take on the iconic melody and phrasing from Leonard’s original. Bookending Stripped is the only other cover on the album, with Coyle gifting a swaying version of Fireworks by Swedish duo First Aid Kit. Sitting poignantly between these two covers on Stripped are acoustic takes on previous Coyle fare, including the single Naked Soul from Coyle’s 2018 album Love Kills, as well as the aforementioned Funland tracks Modern Noir, Here Comes My Baby, Flake and the titular track Funland itself. Intending from the get-go to begin and end Stripped with a cover, the ultimate selection and slight tweaking of the two tracks to suit the album’s tone came easily for Coyle, as he explains, “Famous Blue Raincoat is one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite artists Leonard Cohen. I love this song so much and loved throwing my mind and voice into it. As always with Cohen, incredible lyrics and storytelling. And it seemed a perfect song to add to the stripped collection. First Aid Kits’ Fireworks is another beauty that I enjoyed stripping down to fit the vibe of the album. It’s one of my favorite melodies written in recent years. I love how it floats”.
Self-produced while intertwining some of Coyle’s most beloved releases as well as some of his own personal favourites, Stripped presents a unique and unforgettable chance for fans to re-immerse themselves in a new-yet-familiar setting, with Coyle’s unparalleled vocals front and centre at the beating heart of this entrancing new album. Also boasting glimmering guitarwork on the album provided by Simon Kafka, engineering and mixing by Phil Joly, and mastering by John Davis at Metropolis in London, Stripped is ultimately Coyle at his most genuine; and it’s this carefully curated simplicity that showcases the beloved troubadour’s staggering expertise and craftsmanship. Put more simply, as Coyle himself perfectly summates, “On Stripped I literally stripped the songs back to their truest form. It’s just me and two acoustic guitars”.
A multi-platinum selling artist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Coyle is the living and breathing epitome of a jack of all trades, having previously written songs for the likes of Peking Duk, Macklemore, Robin Schulz, Westlife and K-Pop marvels BTS, while his sumptuous tracks also continue to be in hot demand on the airwaves, with previous singles Fun and Do You Wanna Dance? snagging radio additions in the UK and North America. Recently returning to a live performance setting touring with legendary English post-punks Psychedelic Furs in North America, Coyle has also been relishing reconnecting with fans in person and busting out some new material along the way, as he enthuses, “It was fantastic to see Psychedelic Furs and be back out on the road. And I loved seeing lots of familiar faces and fans that I’ve not seen in a few years enjoying the new music! Performing at the Apollo in Harlem, New York City was a real treat. So much history and magic in that space. We got given Ray Charles’ old dressing room which was special. Magical musical ghosts all over the place!”.
With ongoing and overwhelming critical acclaim at every step, including his earlier 2022 album Funland finding itself in contention for album of the year for Rolling Stone Australia, Coyle’s reputation to make any listener weak at the knees and ears like a modern-day Roy Orbison is only set to intensify following the release of Stripped today.
Stripped is out today, Friday July 22.
ELLERY COHEN SHARES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘DEMONS’
Forever heartfelt and extraordinarily sincere, Melbourne alt-pop artist Ellery Cohen has continued his impressive rise to the top, pairing vulnerability with admirable earnestness on new track Demons, which officially releases today. As captivating and catchy as it is effective, Demons is another victorious step in Ellery’s majestic career, serving as his first new single for the year, and arriving alongside a resonant video clip which contextualises the track’s message of facing the inner turmoils of life head-on.
Bathed in the nostalgic sheen of retro-inspired synths, and bolstered by Ellery’s syrupy smooth vocals, Demons is a standout moment for the Melbourne artist, showcasing a powerful and relatable message after some difficult years, while underlining his electric artistry that makes him stand out from the rest. With a compelling songwriting style reminiscent of musical icons John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and an enveloping approach to sonics that evokes names such as Ben Rector and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, Demons is a triumphant undertaking for Ellery, who has emerged from the “hell on earth” of Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns with not only a newfound approach to life, but to his music as well. As Elleryexplains, “Demons is a step above what I’ve released before, both musically and lyrically, and it’s more vulnerable than anything I’ve done previously. It’s a song about accepting the things in life we can’t change. We all face struggles and battle addictions and we wanted to write a song about there being comfort in knowing that all humans struggle and although we are different, we are all the same.” Working on the track over a lengthy period of time, the composition of Demons was aided by the talents of No Frills Twins’ Arna and Vanessa Rogers, before harnessing the talents of ENTENTE’s Ezekiel Fenn and Michael Best in the studio. As Ellery recalls, “I wrote this song in three sections. I flew up and had a writing session with Arna and Vanessa of the No Frill Twins and we wrote part of the song, and I finished off part of the Zoom session with Vanessa, before finalising the song with my producers in the studio. I worked with my friends Michael & Zeke in ENTENTE who have produced my last few singles and they smashed this one too.”
The stunning video for Demons serves as a masterful contextualisation of the track’s heartfelt message. Harnessing the directorial talents of Clique Films’ producer-turned-filmmaker Daniel Kelaart (The Paper Kites, Simple Plan, Guy Sebastian), Ellery and the team worked over three nights to craft a clip that fully realises his vision, fusing intimate performance footage with shots of two people who are urged not to lose faith as they await the sunshine after the rain. As Ellery elaborates, “We really wanted a video that showed the message of the song. Demons is all about the struggles we all face in life. The video follows the stories of two people just trying to work through their ‘demons’ in life. One is a lady trying desperately to be in a body she loves and the other is someone who is working a job he hates and hoping to get away. I wanted to make a video that hits emotions that we have all experienced in life.”
Having first emerged onto Melbourne’s diverse music scene close to a decade ago, Ellery Cohen has continued to push the boundaries of artistry at every opportunity, crafting anthemic choruses that allow an accessible and relatable insight into the human condition. With a remarkable run of singles appearing throughout 2018 and 2020, and garnering support from the likes of Hit Network, KIIS Network, and Southern Cross Austereo, his gathering momentum was temporarily halted as Ellery was forced inside as part of the world’s most stringent lockdown. However, armed with a history of using music therapy in his line of disability support service work, creativity served as a much-needed saviour, with new music bubbling away all the while, resulting in the likes of 2021’s Waiting and the newly-released Demons. With new music under his belt and the Australian music scene looking far more positive than it has in recent years, Ellery is set to return to the stage in his native Melbourne at The Toff In Town on July 22 with good friends Kodah and Sarah Kabbani. Eager to share the likes of Demons before an adoring crowd, and to get back into the groove of providing raw and powerful live performances, Ellery says he’s planning to ensure his upcoming show is one to remember. “You can expect new songs, high energy, and some very, very bad jokes,” he quips.
Demons is out today, July 14.