Independent Australian-Swiss singer-songwriter and producer Dave Curl releases his iconic single & video ’Don’t Talk Anymore’. He recently released a unique sophomore LP, Lockdown – Seven Nations,on February 23, 2024. Boasting over 1.5 million streams on Spotify, airplay on numerous indie radio stations in Germany and abroad. With performances in the respected Kulturkoller Club and around 20 other locations, Dave Curl has shown no signs of slowing down. The prolific performer has released nearly two dozen singles, two EPs, and the 2021 full-length album, Introducing. His newest project promises listeners an infectious and thought-provoking concoction of rock and roll.
With a glitchy introduction ‘Don’t Talk Anymore’ beckons the listener with bluesy guitar and an edgy bass line with a syncopated drum groove in a classic tone. Dave Curl offers up an electrifying rock track connected to the times. In the animated lyric video we are introduced to Dave in stillness, observing reality through virtually reality goggles. With scenes of life unfolding behind him, he identifies the indifference a tech-infused lifestyle creates.
Dave Curl shared: ‘Don’t Talk Anymore’ captures the modern epidemic of disconnection, as people immerse themselves in smartphones rather than meaningful conversation. Inspired by a train journey through the Italian part of Switzerland, Dave Curl was struck by the eerie silence of fellow passengers glued to their screens. Expecting lively chatter, he instead found an irritating scene of silence. This moment sparked the idea of ‘Don’t Talk Anymore’. The song serves as an ironic reminder of the importance of meaningful communication in an increasingly virtual world.
UK-based singer Mikyla Cara released her latest single, ‘If U Don’t Mind’, on April 26, 2024. With influences like Alicia Keys and Aretha Franklin, she’s firmly rooted in the neosoul/R&B genre. Since her debut EP Grown in January 2017, she’s built a notable career, including recent releases like ‘Thank You, Thank Me’ (2023) and the EP Feels Like A Break Up… (2023), featuring tracks supported by BBCIntroducing and BBC 1Xtra. Mikyla collaborates with producer Scarz and performs internationally at venues like The Apollo Theatre in New York City and Studio 88 London.
Mikyla Cara taps into her neo soul and R&B inspirations to infuse ‘If You Don’t Mind’ with a classic feel, transporting listeners to the golden age of R&B, reminiscent of Alicia Keys at her peak. With its captivating melody and relatable lyrics, the song creates an immersive experience, inviting listeners to explore themes of love, self-discovery, and pure happiness.
Reflecting on her inspiration for the song, Mikyla shares: “I wanted to create a feel-good song that was reminiscent of old school R&B. The type of song you could vibe to on the way to get your morning coffee or sing along to at the top of your lungs at the nightclub“.
We spent five minutes with multi-modal artist Jeannel (Jeanne Amiens), who shared a new single, ‘Blue’, and its equally breathtaking video on 03 May 2024 via Unfelt Recordings. The video premiered on the notable tastemaker NOTION. The song was produced by Jeannel herself and oh.no.ty (Tory Lanez, Belly, Moses Yoofee Trio), mixed by oh.no.ty, and mastered by 4x Grammy-nominated engineer Zino Mikorey (Hans Zimmer, Thom Yorke, Metronomy, Parcels, The Kooks, Fred Again). The Berlin-based songwriter and producer has garnered 1.5 million streams across platforms, earning praises from likes of Resident Advisor, Vice Mag, CLASH Mag, Earmilk, The Line of Best Fit, Kaltblut Mag and more, as well as landing placements on various Spotify playlists and earning spins on radio stations such as NTS Radio. Jeannel has graced the stages of Red Bull Music Festival, Clouds Hill Festival and Reeperbahn Festival NYC Edition, in addition to performances at art galleries and museums, and artist residencies (such as one in Havana, Cuba) abroad to boot. These are but a few of the host of achievements under her belt, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down. Jeannel’s musicdelicately dancing between the borders of alt-R&B, avant-pop, trip-hop, neo-classical and beyond, has been compared to feminine luminaries such as FKA Twigs, Solange, Lana del Rey, Sevdaliza and Charlotte Day Wilson.
Walk us through your creative process? It’s always a bit different, but usually it starts with the music. I am always on the look for sounds that inspire me when I start working on a piece, I scroll through my plugins and go from there. Or it’s a chord progression on the piano, or a cello phrase, or just soundscapes that I catch somewhere. Then vocal melodies come up that I record on the phone, and the lyrics come in bits and pieces. Over the years I learned to let my subconscious guide me and let it provide bits and pieces of lyrics. From there the pieces unfold, really like a puzzle piece most of the time.
Who are your biggest artistic influences?
I won’t stop naming Jeff Buckley, as he just got under my skin the first time I heard him. His rawness, his expression, his honesty, his darkness, the lyrics, his voice and play. He truly was one in a million and I find his music still so timeless and inspiring. Sevdaliza definitely is an inspiration as well. She’s a brilliant artist and I find her boldness very inspiring.
What would you like to work with if you weren’t a musician? Definitely in the therapeutic field, which I am already doing. I have a deep urge to work with people. Archeology I’ve always found and still find very interesting as well. But if I needed to choose it would be the first named.
Tell us about the process of creating the stunning video for ‘Blue’. It was a long process with many obstacles. I’ve been meaning to make a video for the song since quite a while, spoke with different directors and things always got in between. At last the stars aligned and I gathered an incredible team of creatives that committed to making this project happen against so many odds, mostly financially. I can say that it was the most draining but most rewarding project I’ve ever made, as I didn’t have fundings or a production company in my back. So all of that was on my own shoulders this time, from gathering the team, to financing the project, to making the music and doing a super vulnerable and strong performance on camera. It’s a CRAZY thing to do, making music videos with low budgets and I am so grateful for the team for sticking with me and being so generous and helpful throughout the process.
From day 1 I had the vision for the video of telling a (my own) love story in its stages, from bliss to destruction and everything in between. I wrote the song for my ex partner during Covid when we were actually still together, and I knew I had to create this piece to somehow honour the relationship, to do something that I had control over meanwhile the relationship was crumbling uncontrollably. As it’s such a personal and vulnerable piece, my biggest concern was finding the right performance partner, with whom I’d feel comfortable enough and who would himself understand the project and could contribute his own emotionality, his own story, which luckily happened very easily. I made an Instagram post and Kelvin reached out. We had been following each other for a while and I already had him in the back of my head. We had a first phone call, met for a coffee and then started ‘rehearsing’, with my dear friend Marie, holding the space for us to explore and get to know each other. It was a super organic process, from first becoming acquainted with one another, losing inhibitions etc. It was important for me to be able to tell my own story, meanwhile giving Kelvin the space to tell his, so we could eventually merge them into a story of its own. It’s all improvised, bit by bit creating our language, images and tools to tell love’s stages.
Then Lauren, the director, joined the rehearsal and translated our performance into video language.
Last minute, the location we had initially counted on cancelled and I had to find a new one. It was so crazy stressful. But the stars aligned and the rest is history and I couldn’t be more content and touched by the piece we created.
What’s one piece of gear you can’t live without? What equipment are you using? TC Helicon Voice live touch.
If you could meet one performer/artist, living or passed, who would it be? Definitely Jeff.
What does the future hold for you as an artist?
I am in the middle of finishing my debut album, which I am quite excited about. Besides I’m working on a collaboration with Âme, also very exciting, but cannot reveal too much about it. I am planning a few collaborative projects which I’m very passionate about, more in the institutional field, galleries, museums etc.
Then hopefully playing a bunch of international shows in connection to the release of my album in 2025 and see where that takes me. But first and foremost finishing my album.
Emerging alt pop sensation Nastiya Kai shares another single and music video, ‘Demons’ via her imprint Nastiya Kai Music. The single offers a taste of what is to come with her debut album, Demon Era, slated for release on May 31st, 2024. Her recent singles garnered support from NOTION Magazine, CLASH Magazine, Wonderland Magazine and EARMILK as well as landing her an interview with Numéro and airplay on Flux FM. With her music accumulating more than 141 500 streams and counting, Nastiya Kai is carving a place for herself in pop’s prolific world, and she’s here to stay.
‘Demons’ is a glitchy and upbeat ode to the dizzying experience of bypassing somebody’s red flags as you fall in love with them. Nastiya Kai creates depth with catchy vocal layering coupled with an infectious dance pop beat, occasionally giving way to passages of haunting ambience. The accompanying video is a neon-clad chronicle of Nastiya and a lover, steamy yet tender and intimate, and at times painful.
Nastiya Kai shared: “’Demons’ is a love song, contrary to how it sounds. It’s about loving someone so
much you keep ignoring the red flags over and over again and at some point you stop fighting and just give in. It’s also about rushing into something without having the time to think things over so it’s a little more fast paced compared to most tracks on the album.”
