Starting from a place of pastel-soft fantasy, moving at times to hard-bitten reality, chanteuse Alexa Wilding paints an evocative and haunting self-portrait on new record 'Coral Dust.' Striking notes familiar to fans of Feist, songs 'Fire' and 'Movie' provide a churning momentum pulled over a whirlwind of detail supplied by producer Tim Foljahn's deft slide guitar and keyboard outlines. Check out her new video for first single 'Painter' below, where the singer play with balloons and swings in a loveseat in a world painted pink, and see her when she plays Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 on Monday, October 1st. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
Ambient and slightly androgynous, the duo Belle Mare released their dreamy debut EP “The Boat of the Fragile Mind” earlier this spring. The EP resonates with somber tones and almost whale-like howls, unraveling soft acoustic guitar, simple piano melodies, and occasional subtle drones. The title track features the quivering vocals of Amelia Bushell, one half of the Belle Mare duo with guitarist Thomas Servidone, painting a dreamscape portrait of longing. Charade (streaming below) gently develops an unexpected blue melody that can lull you into the deepest of sleeps - I've heard of people dreaming of sleeping, in NYC. The duo met at an open mic night in Brooklyn and recorded the album in Servidone’s apartment, but notwithstanding the DIY approach, the record is full of character and the sound mature. With their mix of rich surrealism and an almost gothic aura, these song sounds as if played through an antique phonograph inside a parlor room... located in the deepest of our subconscious. While “The Boat” could easily draw comparisons to other dream-poppers Beach House, Belle Mare’s subtleties and extreme sparsness create a stronger emotional drive and more nostalgic appeal. - Devon Antonetti
