YEYEY - Last Blush

Stumbled across this album 'Last Blush' from YEYEY (Ben Shepard), knowing nothing of the artist (Utah to New York) but was pulled in from the album art.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear a solid album from start to finish -- a very soulful R&B/indie hybrid that has a lot of interesting/experimental instrumentation taking place in the background.  Most songs have a light/airy composition propelled by his falsetto vocals, while also having a very dense framework; the synths and percussion especially stand out, even at times when subtle in the overall mix.  I played all ten tracks then gave it a repeat listen, and it grew on me fast -- picking up a lot of things I missed initially.  As I understand it he is a one-man band (aside violin and flute by Meg Webb), which I think helps explain the fluid cohesion of all the different instruments/styles he blends.

'Last Blush' is his second full-length album, the first being 'The Vision' in 2015, which I'm excited to check out.

Bandcamp

Billy Nomates - Metalhorse

Billy Nomates (Victoria Ann "Tor" Maries) is a U.K. punk/indie/new wave/pop songwriter, whom I first became aware of with her feature on Sleaford Mods' "Mork n Mindy".  I became a quick-fan, and have enjoyed everything she has released so far.  Today marks the release of her 3rd full-length album, 'Metalhorse', which is in large part a concept album/theme about the "carnival", and more metaphorically the carnival of life itself.  

Her sound is often compared to a whirlpool of 80's influences, with my overall opinion that she is a glorious pairing of (mostly post) punk and pop.  And this is coming from someone who would rather listen to myself falling down stairs than most anything dubbed 'pop punk'; the difference here is that Nomates does an amazing job of never leaning too far in either direction, often leading you on a detour of synthy new wave (notably Hugh Cornwell contributes on "Dark Horse Friend") or moody ballad.

Definitely check out the rest of her discography if you like what you hear.  Her debut album is probably the most punk prevalent of the three, with an overall dynamic range exhibited across/within all her releases.  She also recently did the soundtrack to the theater play of Mary & The Hyenas.

Bandcamp

Stranded Horse - The Warmth You Deserve (with Boubacar Cissokho)

Yann Tambour / Boubacar Cissokho

I was perusing new music releases when I came across a new album from 'Stranded Horse', reminding me of Yann Tambour's folk project 'Thee, Stranded Horse' from 2007 ('Churning Strides') and by extension his earlier project 'Encre', quickly realizing it is the same artist just dropping the 'Thee'.

Clearly I haven't kept up with his work since his debut, but it was nonetheless exciting to see that Tambour has released a steady output of releases for me to catch up on.  His second album (reworked songs of his debut) was a collaboration with renowned kora player Ballaké Sissoko, the last album of which before re-naming himself/the project to 'Stranded Horse'.

His most recent album 'The Warmth You Deserve' features another Sissoko (or Cissokho), Ballaké's younger cousin Boubacar, likewise a kora player.  The pair initially collaborated on the 2016 album 'Luxe'.

Have only had a chance to listen to this once, but the sound and style from his debut 18 years ago still seems largely intact, with the added accompaniment from Boubacar Cissokho's kora playing.  Tambour seems to be the sole provider of the vocals, alongside his other instrumentation output, namely as a kora duo.  The last three of his/their releases are available on vinyl.

Bandcamp