Jack Demeo makes a big statement on his new song Coyotes.
The new single sits somewhere between indie folk and alternative country. The trademark is Jack’s signature guitar licks. When he’s sitting at his lap steel or harnessing the electric, Jack knows how to work his way around a chart. He plays with an abundance of feeling and a hint of aggression. He can be unhinged like Nels Cline or graceful like Mayer.
Jack’s stylistic guitar playing is featured all over Coyotes, as it works its way around a solid backbeat full of presence and boom. The full mix brings a big sound to his laid back groove.
As a songwriter he drips Springsteen and Neil Young esque nostalgia, and when paired with a touch of Nashville production and an indie sensibility recalls Kathleen Edwards hit album Voyageur.
Coyotes comes complete with a reflective music video release. Slowing moving suburban LA scenes provide a portrait of the artist in his natural habitat. A humble man of patience who appreciates the companionship of his dog, Jack’s an old soul who appears wise beyond his years.
“Tell your story,” Jack pleads before ending Coyote. Though he’s been dropping single releases for a few years, Jack admits that he spends a lot of time providing his guitar talents to other projects. With lyrics like ‘I don’t want to make good friends mad, we’ve got so many good times in the bag, trying to be thankful for the things I have, let go of memories that I can’t get back,” it sounds like Jack is trying to convince himself that its okay for him to bet on himself this time.
Fans of Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, and Brandi Carlisle will love Jack’s genuine southern indie flare.
Hear Coyotes now on our Emerging folk playlist.
Canadian songwriting shapeshifter Littleuniverses creates her own multiverse of worlds on her new EP Corners.
She brings sincerity and intense emotion to every track, whether she’s basking in an ethereal pop glow or strumming her acoustic guitar.
The introspective Isolation explores her dreamy folk side, as she documents the insanity of the last couple of years. The artist captures the chaos of the when your home sanctuary becomes your prison. She poetically dissects our grotesque modern perils in Orwellian prose.
“And if I die alone, with no mouth to feed, I still feel the warmth of my computer screen…”
Littleuniverses digs deep to exalt the pain of this tragedy. She sings beautifully, but from a place of agony and heartache, like she knows what we’ve lost and is tired of everyone denying it. The highlight of Isolation is when she gives herself completely to the moment, in the bridge section when she expels every inhibition and dispels the demons, the fears, the terror of this experience. This moment serves to release you, and Littleuniverses holds your hand and walks you back to the life you once knew, the one you have forgotten.
Littleuniverses has crossover appeal, appealing to both fans of dark contemporary acts like Tori Amos and the alt-indie-pop of Billie Eilish.
Hear Isolation now on our Emerging Folk playlist.
Australian songwriter Tom Harrington shines on his new EP Be There Soon. The five song EP showcases Tom’s affinity for feel good indie folk vibes and catchy songwriting. He’s a wonderful acoustic guitar player, and accents his melodies with precise picking and expressive plucks. To top it off, he croons with the authentic draw of a back country boy who’s spent some time in the city. It’s that indie folk feel that propelled acts like The Lumineers and George Ezra, hipster troubadours a bit too rough to be teen pop sensations but ripe with mainstream appeal. On songs like Unexplainable Things, you can trace some harmonious influence from 90s greats Rusted Root, as the tribal rhythms of Africa and the islands blends with country and folk.
Harrington has the vocal chops to bring it full circle. He can alternate between a strained vibrato and a cracking falsetto, or softy dictate his lyrical poetry like on the pensive Walls.
Harrington draws obvious comparisons to fellow Aussie writer Vance Joy. Fans of Joy and Ben Howard will enjoy Harrington’s fresh take on roots folk, bringing it in to the indie world with big beats and dreamy production. Harrington possesses traits of both writers, like Joy he can be fun and catchy, like on the title track Be There Soon, and like Howard he can be more deep and introspective like on the slow picking Moving In.
He can also dig deep into the annals of traditional music as a playful fiddle dances around the melody on Turqouise. The Celtic style fiddle paired with the hand percussion and the soulful sax solo reveals a melting pot of influence. Traditions blending together in a new harmonious package, a homage to world folk, rooted in his own legacy of acoustic music but allowed to appreciate all the colors that have graced his palette.
Enjoy Be There Soon, now on our Emerging Folk playlist.
San Antonio based songwriter Charlie Weathersby is preparing to release their new album In The Light of Dawn, and released the new single When I Dream About Dying to announce the release. The non-binary artist brings dark bedroom pop vibes, recalling Phoebe Bridgers acoustic works and the sad kid vibes of Elliot Smith. Charlie wrote the song after experiencing a heavy dream where they found out the world was coming to an end. That bleak sentiment is painfully relatable as the last couple years felt hopeless at times. Charlie relates it to one of the greatest tragedies in history, as she asks “would we hold each other clear as day, frozen in time like lovers in Pompeii.” It evokes Jennifer’s Lawrences last moments in the controversial new film Don’t Look Up, as Charlie wonders “after the screaming and the crying are the last words you say to break the silence, ‘can you hold my hand?”
Like the character in song who seeks comfort in a familiar touch, Charlie dresses the track with a classic droning organ. The vintage instrument transports you into the living room of our hearts, nestled by the fireplace to take in the warmth of Charlie’s slow strummed guitar.
Hear When I Dream About Dying now on our Emerging Folk playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 