New music to listen to this week: Parlour Tricks and Channel D

Now Hear This

(Parlour Tricks/Press Image)

To kick off the first Now Hear This column of 2016 I've put together a double bill featuring two very different artists, along with premieres for their new material.

First up is the sextet Parlour Tricks, who received the honour of 2015's Best Pop Band in the Village Voice thanks to beautiful harmonies and great rhythm.

Their debut album Broken Hearts/Bones is perfect for the radio in summer; think Marina and the Diamond's bold, ironic lyrics melded with cutesy pop beats and a belter of a chorus.

Listen if you like: Sylvan Esso, The Naked And Famous, Temples

Listen to the UK premiere of their catchy new track "Storm" below:

Q&A with Parlour Tricks

What have you all been listening to recently?

Temples, Neon Indian, BOY, Hop Along, Cousin Stizz.

What was it like recording with Emery Dobyns in Nashville?

Serendipitous. We had been hungry for guidance and focus right at the time when he was introduced to us. The connection was instantaneous; almost weirdly so. We took our time experimenting together, and we learned a lot. And it's pretty hard not to fall in love with Nashville, so traveling there frequently wasn't exactly a chore...

Lily Cato, you’ve said previously you write a story for a song in the same way as a novel – have you been reading anything recently that’s inspired your lyrics?

"Walk In The Park" (on the album) is inspired by The Goldfinch by Donna Tart, which slayed me. When it ended I missed it, actually missed it, like you miss a friend who moves away. More recently I've been reading a lot of non-fiction and criminal case studies, which I have a feeling will heavily influence our next album.

Do you think the media/audience’s attitudes towards pop as a genre have changed at all, for better or worse?

For better, overall. We have mixed feelings about pop music too, because like any genre there's the good stuff, the questionable stuff, and the inevitable bad stuff. But I think it's very telling at this juncture that the definition of “pop” is blurry - so many different kinds of music are identified as pop, perhaps because it's easier than stringing together a list of different genres and identifiers. We call this album “pop” because it's the broadest umbrella to settle ourselves under. But we know the music we make actually embodies a lot of genres in one. We have to remember that “pop” just comes from “popular”. At the end of the day, all the media and the audiences want are songs they can sing along to. Tale as old as time.

What are you excited about for 2016?

2016 is gonna be fun and full. A North American tour with Electric Six in March has us very excited indeed. We've begun writing and arranging for our second album. Lots of good things percolating.

What was the first gig you played and what’s been the best so far?

The first was a Sunday night at 7PM in the upstairs room of a venue on the Lower East Side. Morgane and DeeDee hadn't joined the band yet, it was just four of us and only one or two original songs. And only one or two audience members. I think we played some jazz standards? I just shuddered thinking about it.

The best is hard to pinpoint. 2015 had a lot of crazy moments. Opening Bonnaroo was surreal. Playing in London for the first time was awesome and nerve-wracking. My favorite I think was playing in Toronto a few months ago, for the second time ever, and hearing people in the audience sing along, dancing, knowing all the words... that feeling. You remember: oh yeah, this is why we do what we do.

Parlour Tricks are on tour in the US with Electric Six from 4 March 2016

Now Hear This: Channel D

Next up is Channel D who unveiled his new project just before Christmas ahead of his forthcoming album Unravelling. "Derelict" features a pleasingly low-slung bass and his bleak, emotionally intellectual vocals.

Listen if you like: Eels, Sparklehorse

Watch the premiere for his new video below:

Q&A with Channel D

What have you been listening to recently?

Kurt Vile, Jib Kidder (Teaspoon), Destroyer(Poison Season), Stornoway (Bonxie), Frazey Ford, and a great cd called Next Stop Soweto, first Mariachi el Bronx album

Who are your main influences?

Warren Zevon, Lambchop, Eels,The Go Betweens,early Van Morrison

What are you most looking forward to in 2016?

The sun, if it is still there, writing and singing with my son who’s a great musician

‘Derelict’ is released on 11th March 2016