Chantel Van T singer-songwriter, actress and poet from Cape Town marks 2020 as the year she gives life to her solo career. Her second single, Come To Me, from her debut album Nicalochan released on the 14th of August.
Marked with the slow, low, roomy rolling guitar, Come To Me continues to embody the question of being seen in one’s entirety. This is the second single off the album but the 1st track of the album if listened in order – so its importance introduces the album that is to come. There is a bold statement in this song made every time she sings ‘Come To Me‘ and a deep intimacy in each vocal line of this song.
Chantel has carved out a spectacular album that announces the arrival of an independent artist with a fervent intention to both haunt and uplift the listener. Chantel is no stranger to the stage, already a familiar and renowned persona as the lead vocalist for South African, Space Rock band Diamond Thug.
Directed by Matthew Nelson, the video for MAR V is as surreal and chaotic as the world that we’re living in at the moment, reflecting the pulsating energy of the song itself – wall-to-wall with everything from flashes of a latex-clad gas-masked dancer to tour and lockdown antics.
Discussing the video, director Matthew Nelson explains: “The concept behind the video was a glorified tour vlog turned nightmare. I took influences from directors like Darren Aronofsky and the 90s dance track “Killer” by ADAMSKI.”
Some of the footage used in the video was from the last show that the band played just before lockdown, which was in front of a 1,000-strong crowd at MaNo-Musikfestival in Germany. Drummer, Sam Thorne says “I’d say that the video sort of represents our experience over the last 5 months. The craziness of MaNo and those amazing gigs, all the people and parties, and then a different kind of craziness once we crash landed into lockdown straight after.”
Lead singer and guitarist, Peter Marchant continues: “We had all this footage of us on tour, in the studio etc. which is all well and good, but we wanted to throw some kind of bizarre fly in the ointment. So Matthew suggested we film lots of extra footage in our flat, and use whatever bonkers ideas that came into our heads. We had a lot of hilarious moments shooting these ideas all night.”
Consisting of hypnotic synth lines, goosebump-inducing rhythm and a hint of dark and mysterious atmosphere, Phantom Isle’s latest release, ‘MAR V’ sees the band stray from their art-pop roots with great success; highlighting their effortless capability to blend genres and moods for maximum effect – think LCD Soundsystem/Hot Chip style indie-house.
Keyboard player, Joshua Pullen who took the lead with writing the music says: “The song started as a remix of our previous single ‘I Am Urs’ but became a very different beast when I was messing about with a new drum machine I bought. I was listening to a lot of Soulwax and Simian Mobile Disco at the time and loved how they would produce songs with a pounding single-note loop throughout.”
Despite its upbeat and energetic feel, there’s a dark side to ‘MAR V’. Lyricist and drummer, Sam Thorne explains: “The lyrics were actually written about feeling anxious and alone” comparing that feeling to an old friend that follows you through life, saying “you almost miss it when you leave it behind”. Singer and guitarist, Peter Marchant adds, “the song pretty much became the soundtrack of MaNo-Musikfestival in Marburg, Germany, where we headlined in March this year”. 2,000 fans jumped and danced frantically to MAR V’s hypnotic pulse at the festival’s closing show, seen in the single’s official video along with a montage of mischievous and surreal footage from the band’s journey so far. The band arrived in Marburg on March 5th (hence the romanised title, ‘MAR V’), they saw and conquered.
Milo Gore, a musician on a mission to make mental health a more widely discussed topic, has released the music video for ‘Noise Gone Dancing’ via Red Van Records (RVR). The single is taken from his upcoming album, How Do You Cope While Grieving For The Living? which will be released in a few short days.
On the album, listeners will be able to find some his known works such as ‘Green Eyes’ and ‘Jerry Can’ (a song filled with tiny easter eggs for the upcoming album). However, there are a few more songs on there that will resonate with everyone. Hot tip: we’ve been specifically instructed to keep our eyes (and ears) open for ‘I Hear You’.
Keen to learn more? Here’s the full tracklisting for the album:
1. Noise Gone Dancing
2. Green Eyes
3. Jade
4. FARE
5. A Collaboration Of Our Grief – feat RMC
6. Jerry Can
7. MEDS
8. I Hear You
9. Homegrown
10. Eyeliner
11. Complete Peace
12.The Endless War
Be prepared: the music video below will take you through the five stages of grief as you’ve never seen them before.
Andy Martin is an Australian indie-rock musician that is currently making waves with his latest single ‘Heat Of It All’, which is now accompanied by an official music video. The single premiered via the renowned CLOUT Magazine. Andy only began his solo career at the beginning of 2020, and has already seen a flood of support from radio station Triple J as well stream rate spiking over 80 000 streams with his previous singles.
Andy adds his thoughts on his latest single release, “Most of the songs I write come together in a matter of hours. ‘Heat of it All’ was not one of those. I actually wrote the hook/chorus for this around 3/4 years ago. I had been playing around with progressions and some of the verse lyrics. That is why I am so proud of this song. It shows how I have evolved as a songwriter of the last few years. If you want to dance, cry, laugh or hold somebody, this ones for you (so everyone!).”
Inspired by a varied range of musicians, including Sam Fender, John Mayer and beloved Australian musician Gretta Ray. Andy provides similar invigorating energy like his inspirations in the new single.
