Songs To Brush Your Teeth To (1st June)
Songs To Brush Your Teeth To is our regular new music update where we bring you five songs to listen to each week – our suggestion is to do that while brushing your teeth so you make new music a good daily habit, but honestly, you can listen whenever you like. We won’t judge.
You can check out the playlist here.
Or Click here to see all of our recent new music recommendations
Or read on for this week’s recommendations
Another surprisingly easy list to put together this week (which of course means I left actually writing this to the last minute). A couple of familiar faces made the cut, along with a peak into a great EP release and a couple of first time discoveries.
Mia Wray – Isn’t It Funny
Starting out with a clear favourite of mine Mia released Isn’t It Funny this week. In some ways it doesn’t sound like a Mia Wray track at all, it’s got a haunting quality to it that I haven’t heard in her past music. It’s about two best friends slowly outgrowing each other and the sadness that comes with someone you used to be so close to now feeling like a stranger, and how you reach a point where you can’t really repair that.
Mia describes the song as “a kind of telepathic hug” to past friends, a message of: “hi, I hope you’re well and all your dreams are coming true, I still think about you a lot and I wonder if you think of me too.”
Find out more about Mia Wray here.
Jean Elliot – Hole In Her Head
Jean released her debut EP Butcher, Lover, Runner just over a week ago. The concept EP journeys through country, folk, grunge and alt rock as its continuing narrative follows three main protagonists. I particularly enjoyed Hole In Her Head which combines big country sounds with delicate vocals. It’s one of the softer tracks on the record, but that allows the haunting aspect of the storytelling to be more central which I was particularly taken with. (I promise this week’s theme isn’t haunting).
Find out more about Jean Elliot here.
Queenie – Whirlwind
Actually maybe this week’s theme is haunting. Queenie’s Whirlwind has a calmness to it that definitely gives haunting at times. It’s almost like after a storm has passed through and you’re just left with this quietness that you don’t quite know what to do with, which parallels what I think the song is about – finding the peace that comes with true acceptance. Dominated by her powerful vocals against a soft synth backdrop, I actually think Queenie is at her finest on these slower more stripped back numbers that allow her voice to linger in the spaces and Whirlwind is no exception. Another excellent release.
Find our more about Queenie here.
mischa and the bear – Bleach
Dublin-based mischa and the bear return with their latest single Bleach. I’ll let you decide if it’s haunting, but it’s certainly gritty and discomforting, combining elements of punk and dance atop clashing textures that symbolise the anger of the song. Bleach is a satirical takedown of hyper-capitalism that doesn’t pull its punches. Where many of the other tracks make a quiet impact, this one is an invasion of noise.
Speaking on the track Mischa shared:
‘Bleach captures a mindset that feels increasingly unavoidable. I think we all know people like this and have been affected personally by selfish self-serving people, whether it’s an ignorant manager at work or the corrupt politicians and billionaire corporations at the top, orchestrating their master plans for optimal profit.’
Find out more about mischa and the bear here.
Amber Farnan – When I Get Better
Our final track this week is a soft pop/folk release from far North Queensland based Amber Farnan – When I Get Better. I love the way the vocals ebb and flow throughout, adding additional dynamics to the already emotional storytelling.
Speaking on the track Amber shares:
“There’s a kind of loneliness that doesn’t come from being alone, but from watching life move without you. ‘When I Get Better’ is a song born from that space. ‘When I Get Better’ sits inside a kind of grief that’s harder to name, the feeling of growing up while also being held back. Written from the experience of living with chronic illness, the song reflects on years spent in and out of hospital, stretches of time bed-bound, and the quiet realisation that parts of adolescence weren’t just missed, but taken. Not postponed. Not waiting. Gone.”
Which makes me think this week’s theme might actually have been loneliness.
Find out more about Amber Farnan here.