Atwood Journal is worked up to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Each week, Mitch will share a set of songs, albums, and artists who’ve caught his ears, eyes, and coronary heart. There may be a lot unbelievable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to pay attention. By means of our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a light-weight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of latest and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options Vienna Vienna, Petey USA, Tennis, Felly, Self Esteem, and JERUB!
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“God Save the Queens”
by Vienna Vienna
“How can Heaven be higher if we’re not becoming collectively?” Vienna Vienna sings scorching on the mic, his charged voice rising to a fever pitch alongside pounding drums. “Any individual go inform the priest – God save the Queens!” And identical to that, the self-proclaimed “glimmer rock” artist from Clovis, California – a relative newcomer, by each respect – establishes himself as a voice not only for his neighborhood, however for his era and all those that consider in going daring, residing unapologetically, and embracing our true, genuine selves.
I noticed a person out in Hollywood, he carried an indication
That mentioned he hated me, I mentioned, “Please, get in line”
He begins to ask me a query,
he mentioned, “Are you aware Christ?”
I informed him, “Perhaps I do, does she work the nights?”
He mentioned, “No, I imply Jesus, ”
I mentioned, “That man was tight
However I’m not residing in a metropolis constructed upon your lies”
He tried to avoid wasting me,
however anyone already did final night time
They mentioned their identify was Alex,
child, they usually confirmed me the sunshine
Launched in January through PULSE Data and Pete Wentz’s DCD2 label, “God Save the Queens” is a hovering, spirited, and totally seductive queer anthem: The sort of dynamic, all-consuming rally cry you need to scream out loud on the prime of your lungs, that performs on repeat (and rent-free) in your head for months on finish, and that lights a hearth within the depths of your very soul. With a hanging beat and references to among the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood’s legends – together with a cheeky nod to expensive previous President Abraham Lincoln (whose relationships are well-documented) – Vienna Vienna delivers a timeless, catchy, and immediately memorable barnburner that hits arduous and guarantees to go away an enduring mark.
For the artist – who launched his debut EP Wonderland simply final 12 months on Nationwide Coming Out Day (October 11th) – “God Save the Queens” is an expression of pure ardour and unadulterated happiness.
How can Heaven be higher
if we’re not becoming collectively?
Any individual go inform the priest
God save the Queens
And all of the in-betweens
Why you afraid of the love, love, love?
God save the Queens
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
““JOY!! DO YOU HEAR ME??? JOY!!!!” Vienna Vienna’s James Barre tells Atwood Journal. “There are too many unhappy tales about us Queens. We deserve an opportunity to smile. F**okay subtlety – I need it daring and I need it now! The quantity of people that died preventing for the appropriate to be themselves is uncountable. I’m sick of ready round for the respect they’re by no means going to provide us. I’m over being afraid of lust and life. I’m finished holding my arms as much as the sky, and asking the man-made model of Christ to like me. I’m pissed.”
“However in all of this, in all of my worn-out grievances, the one which churns probably the most unrest is realizing how they snigger at us, all whereas sporting these f**king cargo shorts. With no apology, ‘God Save The Queens’ factors the finger proper again at them. Corny bitches.”
I had a imaginative and prescient of Heaven by way of the pearly gates
I noticed Freddie kissing Bowie, sporting curler skates
Mr. Lincoln rocking leather-based, even he was homosexual
Princess Di regarded in my eyes and mentioned,
“Go present them the way in which”
Little Richard within the choir, there with Marsha P
All the ladies loving ladies standing subsequent to me
Then I awakened in a haze
pondering that was actually bizarre
With a message on the mirror
saying, “Want you had been right here”
Barre holds nothing again in belting the track’s refrain, pouring himself right into a message of empowerment and revelry. “God Save the Queens” isn’t only a queer anthem; it’s a name to arms and a celebration of visibility – a searing, glowing center finger to disgrace, and a sacred tribute to the dreamers, the fighters, the icons, and the on a regular basis heroes who dared to dwell out loud.
How can Heaven be higher
if we’re not becoming collectively?
Any individual go inform the priest
God save the Queens
And all of the in-betweens
Why you afraid of the love, love, love?
God save the Queens!
With its tongue-in-cheek jabs, heartfelt affirmations, and unapologetic exaltation of queer pleasure, Vienna Vienna’s single is a glitter-drenched gospel for the outcasts and the in-betweens – these too typically pushed to the margins, however who proceed to shine regardless. It’s fearless. It’s enjoyable. It’s fury wrapped in glam. And it’s precisely the sort of radiant, rebellious power this world wants extra of.
God save the queens, certainly – and should their gentle by no means dim.
“Mannequin Practice City”
by Petey USA
Petey USA’s “Mannequin Practice City” is an explosive, cathartic fever dream of a track. I’ve had it caught in my head for months – and I imply that in the easiest way potential.
Launched in January, the lead single off the midwestern singer/songwriter’s upcoming album The Yips (out July 11th) is a masterclass in uncooked, visceral emotional launch: As catchy as it’s cathartic, this track blends feral power with uncooked introspection and simply the correct amount of existential dread.
I noticed this city, quiet like a mannequin practice city
It was picturesque and delightful
And I couldn’t wait to point out you
Once we got here round you didn’t really feel the identical
You mentioned I don’t actually perceive this place
I felt embarrassed that I ever favored the city
I stomped my ft into the bottom
Produced by Chris Walla (of Loss of life Cab for Cutie fame), “Mannequin Practice City” captures the unusual rigidity of loving one thing – or somebody – that the individuals round you simply don’t perceive. It’s a jagged, tender, and wildly infectious outpouring that hits like a panic assault and a hug on the identical time.
Heard you met some man,
at a celebration the opposite night time
He was the best man you’d ever met
He made you snigger and he smoked cigarettes
Once we all frolicked I didn’t really feel thе identical
He was self-involvеd and performing kinda lame
And I mentioned I don’t actually
f*** round with guys like him
You rolled your eyes and turned your chin
I had a f**ked up dream
The entire world ended violently
The one individuals left had been you and me
I felt relaxed and I felt responsible
When Petey screams that refrain, it’s like he’s exorcising a decade’s price of repressed emotion. The phrases ship shivers down the backbone – not simply because they’re haunting, however as a result of they’re true. There’s one thing deeply unsettling and weirdly comforting in the way in which he sings about apocalypse as intimacy, destruction as aid.
After seeing Petey carry out this track and others dwell at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock earlier this week – at an unforgettable unplugged present with Medium Construct – I knew it was time to lastly give “Mannequin Practice City” the highlight it deserves. Reside, its influence was seismic. Watching him tear into the refrain with nothing however a guitar, a mic, and uncooked conviction made the room really feel prefer it would possibly crack open.
Petey USA’s mix of angst, humor, and sincerity has earned him a cult following, and with this single, he’s carved out an area that feels each wildly unhinged and unmistakably honest. “Mannequin Practice City” is greater than only a track; it’s a heart-wrenching scream into the void – and a reminder that typically, the one solution to really feel okay is to sing your guts out.
And I noticed that you simply had been all I want
Let’s purchase a cell residence and promote all of our issues
I’m nonetheless overwhelmed however this appears like a begin
I laid my head upon your beating coronary heart
I laid my head upon your beating coronary heart
I laid my head upon your beating coronary heart
I laid my head upon your beating coronary heart
“12 Blown Tires”
by Tennis
Some songs simply really feel like goodbyes. Tender and heartfelt, lush and loving, brooding and bittersweet, Tennis’ “12 Blown Tires” aches unapologetically, inside and outside. It’s a standout second on Face Down within the Backyard, the band’s seventh and remaining studio album – and it captures the spirit of departure with cinematic grace and emotional depth.
I’ve been a fan of Tennis since 2013 – their track “Petition,” off Younger & Outdated, nonetheless holds a close to and expensive place in my coronary heart. 2014’s Ritual in Repeat was one of many first albums I ever reviewed (positively, I would add!) for Atwood Journal, and 2017’s Yours Conditionally stays certainly one of my favourite albums of all time: A masterpiece, a triumph, and a masterclass in musical and emotional storytelling, filled with timeless gems that sound simply as recent and tender right this moment as they did eight years in the past.
Making excuses wanting again
I’m getting good at ignoring the previous
Looks like our luck was all we had
Maintain me so lengthy with out having to ask
For me once more, I am going on counting
Press my need to the margins
I’ve been face down within the backyard
You’re fast however time strikes quicker
Love like a pure catastrophe
Once I stroll I’m barely touching the pavement
You smile and snigger whilst you’re waving
To me once more, I am going on counting
No flower withers
No flower withers in your hand, in your hand
Up there with the perfect Tennis songs, “12 Blown Tires” feels just like the closing of a chapter that’s been written lovingly, rigorously, and fully. Impressed by a surreal second on tour – 4 blown tires, a excessive from an ideal present in Houston, and a roadside graveyard of shredded rubber – the track is, in Alaina Moore’s phrases, “a constellation of recollections from the highway, and of our marriage, two endeavors which can be fully, hopelessly entangled.”
I do know you’re the golden son
And the place you stroll new lifе has begun
Ready for destiny to make it quick
Maintain mе so lengthy with out having to ask
Twelve blown tires in beneath a mile
Twelve blown tires in beneath a mile
On the lookout for a stone in a mud pile
Counted twelve blown tires in beneath a mile
It’s a vignette of magnificence and breakdown, of affection and loss and time’s gradual, unstoppable motion. Alaina Moore and her husband and Tennis bandmate Patrick Riley distill the chaos, the connection, and the passage of years into 4 haunting minutes of music that handle to sound each expansive and deeply intimate.
“Once we recorded ‘12 Blown Tires’ a couple of months later, I had the sense of distilling the previous 15 years into 4 minutes of music,” Moore says. “It felt like the tip of one thing, although I wasn’t positive what.”
Now we all know what. With Face Down within the Backyard, Tennis have chosen to shut the e book on their mission – not less than “on this configuration,” as they put it – and transfer towards new artistic endeavors. “Patrick and I spent most of our 20s and all of our 30s centered on Tennis. It has been probably the most joyous, bewildering, difficult, and humbling expertise. After ending Face Down In The Backyard, it grew to become clear that we had mentioned the whole lot we wished to say and achieved the whole lot we wished to attain with our band,” Moore displays. “This will probably be our final studio album… We’re able to pursue different artistic tasks and to create space in our lives for brand spanking new issues.”
Swaying backstage at Terminal 5
Fleshed out kissed up I’m feeling alive
On the lookout for a storm on this climate
Couldn’t even rub two dimes collectively
Once I stroll I’m barely touching the pavement
We smile and snigger whereas we’re waving
Biking down the drain to the basement
Hold on to the time that I wasted
For me once more, I am going on counting
I see our fates go on colliding
And so, Face Down within the Backyard turns into a full-circle second: The farewell after the voyage, the ultimate ideas earlier than the curtain name. “12 Blown Tires” is Tennis’ love letter to the highway, to the music, to at least one one other, and to us. It’s a shocking and stirring reminder of the whole lot Tennis gave us – and the whole lot they made us really feel.
Let it play loud. Let it linger.
A
There’s a quiet sort of magic to Felly’s “Ambroxyde” – a dreamy, mild indie people meditation that stirs the soul in methods I nonetheless can’t fairly articulate. This track strikes in phases. For a very long time, I didn’t know what I wished to say about it, as a result of I didn’t absolutely perceive it. And in some ways, I nonetheless don’t. However I understand how it makes me really feel. I do know I smile each time I pay attention. I do know it sends shivers down my backbone.
The title observe to his upcoming fourth studio album, “Ambroxyde” captures one thing each cosmic and deeply grounded: A religious stillness wrapped in flickering reminiscence and stressed emotion. “Coming residence late on the flight / Swimming by way of house, feeling oceanic,” Felly sings softly, his voice floating above heat acoustics and delicate textures. It’s an environment greater than a story, but the emotion rings loud and clear: Tenderness, love, uncertainty, marvel.
Coming residence late on the flight
Swimming by way of house feeling oceanic
How will I do know when it’s proper?
Cowl my face off the north atlantic
I can keep in mind
Listening to your voice for the primary time
Within the cool of December
Retaining you shut by way of the night time
gentle up the ambroxyde
kiss in your lips feeling oceanic
Absolutely there’s time I may purchase
See the way it goes once I simply don’t plan it
Isn’t it apparent?
We’re just a few particles, yea
And the concerns they hardly come
Haven’t you had sufficient?
“Once we completed recording the album – ‘Ambroxyde’ was a track that felt prefer it bled by way of with plenty of the colours/moods that come up all through the album,” Felly tells Atwood Journal. “So I wished that to be the primary single. Nearly like a palette cleanser for the previous and a touch at what may come. When making the track it felt how I’d think about constructing a home feels. You’ve a blueprint – however every new part or half would give solution to a unique half, and form of inform what could be becoming. It took plenty of trial and error. I all the time knew I wished it to have a storyline arch, and a full circle feeling. However making it work is an entire different factor. Fortunately, I had time to strive plenty of concepts, throw so much away, and simply create totally different foundations. It was a enjoyable one to crack.”
You possibly can hear that course of within the track’s evolution — the way it blooms and folds again in on itself. The second half shifts tempo and tone, a hushed storm of nostalgia and emotional readability: “Fell on somebody who loves me / She prettiest factor that I’ve ever seen.” It’s a second that feels each intimate and infinite.
Rising up quick I maintain
to issues i by no means may catch, let go
they are saying dont ever get connected
okay i bought connected
Loro on my again
That’s French, that’s suede
mentioned child Dress, Lets depart this place
know the Youngsters gonna Play (ooo)
The scars gonna fade (oo)
swimming up towards the solar beams
that vertigo wipe my compass clear
fell on somebody who loves me
She prettiest factor that I’ve ever seen
we took Sol he had no ID
spin three or 4 instances across the nation
Took me some time to search for
Now I see the place I’m certain
gentle up the ambroxyde
(Kiss in your lips feeling oceanic)
How will I do know when it’s proper?
See the way it goes once I simply don’t plan it
coming residence late on the flight
my love is yours child don’t you panic
certainly there’s time i may purchase
see how the way it goes for the night time…
Born out of a interval of reflection and reinvention in Iceland’s distant Flóki Studios, “Ambroxyde” marks a brand new period for the Connecticut-born artist recognized for his genre-blending work throughout hip-hop, rock, and indie. This time, Felly leans into subtlety. The result’s a track that appears like reminiscence in movement — mild, soul-stirring, and someway everlasting.
As a timestamp of the place he’s now, “Ambroxyde” doesn’t simply sign change; it embraces it. It’s not a loud announcement. It’s a gentle, radiant unfolding.
Ambroxyde (the LP) is out June 27th.
“Focus Is Energy”
by Self Esteem
“And now I see it clear with each passing of every 12 months: I should be right here.” Some songs don’t simply communicate to you – they affirm you. Self Esteem’s “Focus Is Energy” will eternally and all the time take my breath away: A galvanizing, gospel-backed anthem of self-worth and survival, the lead single and second observe off A Difficult Lady, Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s third studio album as Self Esteem, radiates reclamation from the within out. One in every of many standouts off the LP, this observe appears like each a battle cry and a blessing.
I by no means may’ve informed you something I lengthy for
Whereas I used to be within the water
swimming ‘gainst tides we’re taught to
Take it in our stride, snigger it off,
take it on the chin excellent
Don’t be too loud or too quiet,
however I bought all this combat
And now I see it clear
with each passing of every 12 months
I should be right here
And each time I fall,
I crawl again like an animal
My focus is highly effective
It’s arduous to overstate how highly effective these phrases really feel when sung not simply by Taylor, however by a jubilant, all-female gospel choir that lifts them skyward – making them not only a private reality, however a communal one. “Focus Is Energy” is a mantra wrapped in melody, rooted in resilience, and steeped within the hard-earned knowledge that comes from refusing to shrink your self any longer.
In a private word on Instagram, Taylor wrote: “I’ve struggled so much with emotions of giving up. The world is getting tougher until you’re that kind of particular individual. I really feel an increasing number of dejected as logic repeatedly reveals me that it is a shedding recreation. So the place does that depart us? ‘Focus is Energy’ is about simply that. When you’ve got focus, you’ve energy. The facility to vary, be taught, educate, combat. Even when it’s simply within the tiniest approach. Discover the small pockets of defiance, focus and preserve present.”
We by no means had it higher,
my head and coronary heart collectively
Earlier than the pushing and the pulling,
the shape-shifting I’m doing
To provide them what they need,
whether or not it’s what I need or not
You see it wasn’t as much as me,
however now it might be
And now I see it clear
with each passing of every 12 months
I should be right here
And each time I fall,
I crawl again like an animal
My focus is highly effective
It’s a sentiment that pulses by way of the track’s each beat. From the opening traces (“I by no means may’ve informed you something I lengthy for…”) to the ultimate, repeated declaration – “My focus is highly effective” – that is music for anybody who’s been informed to remain small, to attend their flip, to pipe down. Taylor sings not only for herself, however for everybody navigating the pressures, contradictions, and impossibilities of being a “difficult lady” in an oversimplified world.
And now, I do know you’re feeling prepared in your bowHowever the world is in your arms, you took it downSo what are you gonna do with it now?Preserve singing, singing, singing now
And now I see it clear
with each passing of every 12 monthsI should be right hereAnd each time I fall,
I crawl again like an animalMy focus is highly effective
In some ways, “Focus Is Energy” encapsulates the spirit of the album it comes from: Daring, courageous, and uncompromising in its conviction. A Difficult Lady is Self Esteem’s brightest, most expansive report but – a celebration of complexity and contradiction, elevated by a refrain of feminine voices that make you’re feeling seen, heard, and held.
If “Prioritise Pleasure” was the assertion, “Focus Is Energy” is the embodiment. A rallying cry. A reminder. A purpose to maintain going. And although I is probably not this track’s target market, I really feel its message in my bones.
To love somebody absolutely is to satisfy them of their mess, to carry house for his or her flaws, and to remain when it could be simpler to stroll away. It’s about presence, persistence, and a deep, unwavering dedication – particularly within the moments when that love is examined most.
JERUB’s “Deeper” is the sort of track that holds you shut and doesn’t let go. A soul-stirring, emotionally charged love track that aches in all the appropriate methods, it immediately calls to thoughts the emotional heat and weight of Sam Smith’s now-timeless “I’m Not the Solely One” – not simply in sound, however in spirit. JERUB sings scorching on the mic with devastating sincerity, pouring his complete coronary heart right into a ballad about loving somebody fully: At their highest highs, their lowest lows, and in all places in between.
A former Atwood Editor’s Choose for his gorgeous 2023 single “Chilly,” JERUB continues to show his energy as a storyteller with “Deeper” – a observe that radiates compassion, braveness, and care in equal measure.
Lay your head on my shoulder
Put on your coronary heart in your sleeve
Even whenever you really feel the ache working
By means of you
And wanna really feel the way in which used to
Know that you simply’re not alone
Everytime you want me most
I’ll love you deeper
The additional you fall
Maintain you until your demons
Gained’t harm you no extra
While you’re falling to items
And your coronary heart wants a healer
I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper
I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper
It’s a promise wrapped in melody, a quiet anthem of unconditional love that builds and blooms with every verse. JERUB’s voice melts like butter as he croons by way of hovering choruses and tender confessions, every line extra susceptible than the final. There’s power in his softness; resolve in his restraint.
“Deeper is a track about exhibiting up for somebody, not simply when issues are good, however after they’re at their lowest,” JERUB shares. “It’s about loving with out situations–by way of the mess, the doubt, the times after they don’t even really feel worthy of it. I wrote this as a result of that’s the sort of love I consider in, the sort I attempt to give. However actually, it’s additionally the sort of love I wish to obtain.”
“All of us have moments once we really feel like we’re an excessive amount of, too damaged, or too far gone. This track is a reminder that we’re not. That actual love – whether or not from a buddy, a companion, or anybody who really sees us – doesn’t waver when issues get heavy. It goes deeper.”
No you don’t want a savior
However typically you want a buddy
While you wanna run and conceal within the darkness
They’re the times I’ll love you the toughest
Simply know that you simply’re not alone
Everytime you want me most
I’ll love you deeper
The additional you fall
Maintain you until your demons
Gained’t harm you no extra
While you’re falling to items
And your coronary heart wants a healer
I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper
I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper
Born in Nigeria and raised in Nottingham, JERUB has carved out an area for himself by mixing pop and soul in a approach that feels each deeply private and wildly cinematic. “Deeper” is not any exception: Backed by a powerhouse association and produced by Edd Holloway (Tom Grennan, Lewis Capaldi), it captures the magic of a fleeting voice memo turned fully-formed track – the sort of lightning-in-a-bottle second that may’t be faked.
From its swelling choruses to the ultimate, tear-streaked chorus – “I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper…” – this track isn’t nearly love. It’s love. Actual, flawed, dedicated, therapeutic love. The type all of us want. The type all of us deserve.
I can’t stroll on water
Or make winter hotter
However I, I’ll love you deeper
Can’t promise tomorrow
Or life with out sorrow
However I, I’ll love you deeper
I’ll love you deeper
The additional you fall
Maintain you until your demons
Gained’t harm you no extra
While you’re falling to items
And your coronary heart wants a healer
I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper
I’ll love you deeper, deeper, deeper
— — — —
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