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“Leave your preconceptions at home,” begins one London critic’s assessment of sensual singersongwriter Sarah Jane Morris, who straddles rock, blues, jazz and soul with a goosebump-raising
four octave range that rumbles from the heels of her size eight shoes to the tips of her flame-red mane. Famed for her association with the Communards in the mid-80s and infamous for a banned rendition of the classic Me and Mrs Jones, Sarah Jane Morris has always attracted as much attention for her politics as for her soul-driven, seismic voice. Many solo albums later, pop stardom on the continent, and a diverse set of musical collaborations on record, film and stage, Morris continues to steer her unorthodox career to greater heights. Its popularity in Italy definitely took off in 1991 after winning the San Remo Festival paired with Riccardo Cocciante. Since that moment her
live activity in our country has become more and more accentuated and she has started collaborating with Italian artists and labels including IRMA records with which she has released 6 albums since 1996, and making her become one of the most frequent guests at the Blue Note in Milan. Following some previous collaborations with the Italian producer Papik which had excellent results, Sarah Jane Morris and Papik decided to produce a full album, mostly covers of well
known songs with some original compositions written together. The album is inspired by the great Pop culture of both musicians, combining soul, jazz and bossanova, linked to the particular sound
of the Roman producer's team. After the release of the singles "Missing", (which was a great success in the early 90s of "Everything but the Girl") and "Hold On To Love" written by Sarah Jane and Nerio Poggi, comes the album: " Let The Music play ”a concentration of good musical taste in which the mastery of producer Papik and his team combined with the enchanting but also unique timbre of Sarah Jane Morris's voice, brings together 11 songs of great intensity.

If one always looks at the sky, he will end up with wings, a wise French man once declared. Halifax, Nova Scotia based musician Jeremy Costello had wings, long before he looked up. Wings of imagination. Brandishing in his head, transforming deep-rooted emotions into poetry and sound. Since 2012 the Canadian self-releases music as Special Costello, a moniker under which he records solo or with local friends like Saxophone player Nick Dourado or guitarist Dave Burns. His lyrics are sincerely woven poetic enunciations that balance between introspective emotions and existential philosophical demands. Lyrics from a spirit that is in love without an object, unconditional, mirroring his very own subconscious inner being. The music reflects his tempers in many colours. Glimpses of Synth-Pop, psychedelic rock nuances, traces of new romantic utopia, infantile Casio minimalism, Shoegaze haze, drama wave: Special Costello blends many styles, uniting all in his very own musing grandeur of pop music.

After an array of digital releases, Berlin based label Marmo Music now publishes the Special Costello touch for the first time physically fabricated on vinyl. Seven songs featuring the longing voice of Jeremy Costello, sometimes in correlation with spoken words and dialogues by noted artists, poets, and scientists. All creations have been recorded by himself between Spring 2017 and winter 2020, using the extrasomatic help of instruments and machines like Farfisa Combo Compact transistor organ, Roland JX3P polyphonic analog synthesizer, Roland D50 linear synthesizer, Roland Rhythm Composer TR-08, Arturia Microbrute monophonic analog synthesizer or a Gibson Thunderbird IV bass guitar. In communication with his sensitive inner blues, they created an atmospheric voyage into the heart of Special Costello, that fulfils Arthur Russel’s sapient declaration: being sad is not a crime! Seven musical paintings full of intimate, vibrant feelings and existential thoughts, veiled in an antidepressant neo new romantic glam. An epic tune like “The Next Day”, in which Costello’s singing links with thought-provoking spoken word samples, sounds like Robert Ashley is meeting Hans-Joachim Roedelius in a psychic séance with Brian Ferry. In comparison, a song like “If Not Depression, Then What?” grooves with a pulsating wave bass figure and an overall gently floating electronic majesty, while Costello’s voice takes deep listeners to an unknown higher ground. On the other hand, a composition like “Unsetting” offers a nonchalant graceful funk drift with reverberant hand claps, minimal guitar strains and a chromatic synth pop grace. Above all the music Costello’s voice cries, screams, whispers, and weeps with a compelling introspective elegancy, that invites to associate intensely with the nonpareil Special Costello touch.

Written, composed, and recorded by Jeremy Costello between 2016 to 2020 in Halifax, Scotch Village and Toronto (Canada).

Instruments used by the artist: Farfisa Combo Compact transistor organ, Roland JX3P Programmable Preset Polyphonic Synthesizer, Roland D50 linear synthesizer, Yamaha DX7 Frequency Modulation/Programmable Algorithm Synthesizer and TX7 FM Expander, Roland Computer Controlled Rhythm Composer TR-08, Arturia Microbrute Analog Synthesizer, Gibson Thunderbird IV bass guitar, MicroKorg Synthesizer/Vocoder, Electro Harmonix Small Stone Phaser, Memory Boy Analog Delay, Alesis Quadraverb, and finally, their voice was recorded using Shure Beta57A and AKG D 330 BT dynamic microphones.

Rhapsodia (2018), 17'

(2 movements and 1 interlude)

Dedicated to Marceline Lartigue

Created in the composer's own studio. T

echnical collaboration: Jonathan Prager


Battements solaires (2008), 17'35

Music for Patrick Bokanowski's film.

Produced in the Kira BM Films studios

Production: Kira BM Films with ARTE France and CNC contributions

Best Film Award, 2009 EXiS Festival Seoul (South Korea)

Michèle Bokanowski's art is one of densities, much like the density of a given colour, a given depth. Her sound textures are, indeed, profound, both in the space occupied by their frequencies and the sharp temporal trail they leave behind. Here lies the composer's immense talent that finds the right development for each sound, letting it blossom before altering it, adapting the musical structure to let the sounds "be", even if it sometimes means returning to the most basic form, such as a loop. This is a sign of great honesty and artistic sensitivity; able to stand back and let the music become music. It is the most radical, the most accurate gesture of composition. The two pieces on this record, dissociated in time, both in their approach and destination, nevertheless reflect, each in its own way, Michèle Bokanowski's highly singular and insightful musical intuition.

François Bonnet, Paris, 2020

In the afterglow of her acclaimed 2020 album Silver Ladders, Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore returns with a culminating counterpart release, Collected Pieces: 2015- 2020. The limited-edition LP features new and previously unreleased material, Bandcamp-only singles, and other obscurities alongside standouts from her 2017 tape Collected Pieces. Beyond the vinyl compendium, an expanded tracklist on the cassette/digital version brings more of Lattimore's archives together for the first time. Lattimore has described the process of arranging these releases as akin to "opening a box filled with memories," and here that box continues to populate, accessible for both the artist and fans. Evocative material separated by years, framed as a portrait of an instrumental storyteller who rarely pauses, recording and often sharing music as soon as it strikes her. Seemingly in constant forward motion for the last five years since her Ghostly debut, Lattimore glances back for a breath, inviting new chances to live in these fleeting moments and emotions; all the beauty, sorrow, sunshine, and darkness housed within. Opening the cassette version is "Mary, You Were Wrong," which mirrors an author's bout with a broken heart. "It's about how you have to keep on going even if you make some mistakes," she says. The bittersweet refrain cycles throughout, a little brighter every time, slowly, like the way time tends to heal. Unreleased track "Sleeping Deer" came together during Lattimore's artist residency on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. She remembers, "a small deer whose mother I think had been run over by a car would hang out in the yard. I called him Lollipop and would leave vegetable scraps out." Lollipop returned daily to eat, rest, and wait for more. The music this vision inspired is patient and droning, with light plucks giving way to deeper, vibrating tones, permeating with a sense of anticipation. Next is a newer single, "We Wave From Our Boats," which she improvised after walking her neighborhood during the early days of lockdown in 2020, and shared on her Bandcamp. "I would just wave at neighbors I didn't know in a gesture of solidarity and it reminded me of how you're compelled to wave at people on the other boat when you're on a boat yourself, or on a bridge or something. The pull to wave feels very innate and natural." The heart of the track is a somber loop, over top which Lattimore's synth notes ruminate, each a gentle shimmer of optimism in the most anxious and absurd of days. Also recorded in 2020, "What The Living Do" is inspired by Marie Howe's poem of the same name, which reflects on loss through an appreciation for the mundane messiness of being human. The echoed, slow-marching track has a distant feel to it, as if the listener is outside of it, watching life play out as a film. "Princess Nicotine (1909)" scores actual footage, a dream sequence Lattimore imagined for J. Stuart Blackton's surreal silent film Princess Nicotine; or, the Smoke Fairy. She adopted the same approach for "Polly of the Circus," explaining it was the name of one of the old silent films discovered in permafrost in the Yukon featured in the documentary Dawson City: Frozen Time, "the only copy that survived and it kind of warped in the aging process." A trove of pieces are collected here, most recorded in the moment, just Lattimore and her Lyon and Healy Concert Grand Harp, contact mics, and pedals. Like her most affecting work, these songs showcase Lattimore's gifts as an observer, able to shape her craft around emotional frequencies and scenes. Her power as a musician is rooted in how she sees the world: in vivid detail, profoundly empathic, with deep gratitude for nature and nuance.

Fucking hardcore music fever !

Once again CC Atom explores the extrem acid limits... Frequencies frontiers are Vinyl only possible...

Written, programmed, recorded and produced throughout 2019/20 by Ed Wynne in ‘Blue Bubble Studios’ by the sea, this exploratory and diverse musical adventure comprises seven new tracks spanning 45 minutes.

Inspired by the Scottish hills, valleys and beaches surrounding his studio, Wynne feels that lockdown in a strange kind of way has provided ‘Space For The Earth’ to breathe for a while and for people to rediscover its resonant healing frequency. ‘This is space music for people from the Earth to enjoy’.

Ozrics’ synth player Silas Neptune and drummer Bal zs Szende join forces again with Wynne on the album which also features special guest appearances from former members synth player Joie Hinton, drummer Nick Van Gelder, flautist Champignon and percussionist Paul Hankin. Psychedelic voyager Gracerooms also contributes additional synth layers.

The album ebbs and flows through blissed-out soundscapes featuring incendiary guitar solos, space grooves and ambient atmospheres. Wynne plays his recently revived Ibanez Jem, a new 8-string guitar, all kinds of synths and bass. Van Gelder uses the original snare he played on the first six cassette albums and early live Ozric performances. One tune features Champignon playing kaval, a traditional wooden Balkan flute.

The album artwork was inspired directly by these seven tracks and realised by arboreal artist Kitty (Twisty-Trees) with help from Ed and cosmic artist Ivy.

One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, Ozric Tentacles formed during the solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 going on to become psychedelic staples at Glastonbury and other festivals. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, the Ozrics’ uniquely trippy soundscapes connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and dance music culture.
‘Space For The Earth’ represents the next harmonic step in the unfolding Ozric
journey.

Following the release of their debut album Crocodiles and the subsequent EP Shine So Hard, Echo & The Bunnymen returned with their second studio album Heaven Up Here. The album spawned the single A Promise as well as Over The Wall in Australia. The album artwork was shot by frequent collaborator Brian Griffin, on a beach in the South Wales town of Porthcawl and won the Best Dressed LP at the 1981 NME Awards.



Seen as a darker album to their debut Crocodiles, the album was well-received by fans and press alike, cementing their cult status in the UK. Heaven Up Here went on to peak at #10 in the UK album charts, being certified Gold in the process, as well as being the band’s first album to chart in the USA. It won the 1981 NME Best Album award and ranks amongst Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time.

Part of the Optic Sevens 3.0 Reissue Series.
“Take the Skinheads Bowling” The signature song of Camper Van Beethoven. Taken from their 1985 album Telephone Free Landslide Victory.
Their classic debut single became an indie top 10 hit and featured in John Peel's festive 50. On it’s release it picked up substantial airplay and is still played frequently on radio shows across the globe.
Later covered by Teenage Fanclub & Manic Street Preachers and featured in the Michael Moore film ‘Bowling For Columbine’

‘Different Frequencies’ is a compilation album,
pressed on transparent blue vinyl and released on
National Album Day 2021.
 With each track a standout record in its own right,
this compilation album showcases a new
generation of exciting artists at the start of their
journeys.
 The album features Different Recordings artists
such as Greentea Peng, p-rallel, NAYANA IZ,
Kojaque and many more, with genres ranging from
UK Rap, R&B and Electronic.
 ‘Different Frequencies’ brings together some of the
highlight releases over the last couple of years
from the label, this being some artists’ first tracks
cut to vinyl.

Danny George Wilson (Bennett Wilson Poole, Danny & The Champions Of The World, Grand Drive) unveils a radically surprising new solo album Another Place to a world coming up for air. Celebrating the future returning with a vibrant and diverse collection of startling, impressionistic songs produced in tandem with Sussex-based, studio-wizard Hamish Benjamin and his frequent collaborator Henry Garratt, helped along by pedal steel maestro Iain Sloan (Peter Bruntnell, Wynntown Marshals), and with memorable guest appearances from Emma Swift (Blonde On The Tracks), Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub), and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco).

”Neon Dust describes the essence of a world just beyond reach, one we often glimpse but can’t sustain. An Ocean in which we rarely dip our feet. When writing this album, I felt in tune with something special, an energy I hadn’t previously known. I was submerged and engulfed in its creation. For me, it’s a journey beyond; into that dancing,
shimmering glow of neon dust.” - Etherwood Melodic master and drum & bass extraordinaire Etherwood makes his album
debut on Hospital Records with his fourth long player, ‘Neon Dust’, following on from the successes of his Med School works ‘In Stillness’, ‘Blue Leaves’, and ‘Etherwood’.

Across twenty tracks, expect signature liquid drum & bass and Etherwood’s own vocal performances with a fusion of folk, rock, indie-pop, techno, downtempo and ambient delights. Alongside his vast range of musical inspiration, Etherwood’s creativity is evoked through his free spirited mindset, exploring the world in his converted van, dedicated to mindfulness and meditation.

With frequent radio support from top-end tastemakers including Annie Mac, MistaJam and Charlie Tee, as well as countless club spins from the likes of Netsky, Sub Focus, Makoto, Degs and Lens, Etherwood’s hugely popular sound takes another step forward in 2021 with his most recent body of work. From topping the iTunes Electronic chart with his second album ‘Blue Leaves’ to performing his very own live session at the prestigious Maida Vale studios, you’ll also be able to find Etherwood at Hospitality Weekend In The Woods, Sundown Festival 2021, ADE Hospitality and Hospitality Bristol this yea

It was the mid 80s. A musical revolution was already steamrolling throughout the French West Indies when the band Kassav' produced what was to become the sound of the decade. With a now wider use of synthetic and digital tones, the "zouk" wave literally swept away to sea the biguine and cadence from the West Indian musical landscape. While this took place, some musicians chose to make an alternative use of the new techniques brought on by the advent of synthesizers. Musicians like Serge Fabriano.

It was back in 1980 that Serge, a talented young musician from Guadeloupe, while studying for a degree in 'Arts & Informatique' (Computers & Arts Cycle) at the Université De Vincennes near Paris, discovered early computer-generated digital music (MAO in French) thanks to his roommates, who both taught computer-generated graphic arts. In 1982 Fabriano and his Fabriano Unité Zion project recorded, with the help of Alain-Jean Marie, Mario Canonge and Pierre Labor, Cosmik Syndika*, which to this day remains a masterpiece of made-in-Guadeloupe Caribbean jazz.

The following years saw him tour the US and Canada as well as several other countries. By 1986 he was back in Guadeloupe, teaching music in the secondary schools of Point-à -Pître and Sainte-Rose. While doing this, his ongoing passion for the budding MAO led him to kit himself out: the Yamaha CX5M (MSX Music Computer), the Macintosh Plus, the legendary synthesizers DX7 and DX11 and several other early rhythm machines became his new toys.

Him and his partner at the time, Marie-Reine Lamoureux, who was also both a teacher and a musician, as well as a member of the Fabriano Fuzion project, decided to involve their pupils in his electronic musical experimentations. They recorded an album, composed of five tracks deliberately titled Demain, under the name 'Digital Caresse' (the idea behind this was that instead of hitting the percussions to make music, one stroked the computer keyboard to coax a sound). The combination of the children's choir, enchanting wonky flutes, saturated electronic beat and cosmic atmosphere perfectly outline the purity of this rough diamond.

Grains is the debut album by Numinos on Mille Plateaux. The Cologne-based producer, DJ, author and lecturer has been writing the tech-reviews in "Groove" for many years, tests equipment for various specialist magazines and teaches at the Institute for Pop Music (IFPOM) and Institute for Computer Music and Electronic Media (ICEM) of the Folkwang University.In his current creative phase, he conceptually deals with the topic of "granular synthesis".
A "grain" is thus, to a certain extent, a tiny spectral snapshot from a larger musical context - an infinitely expandable, flowing intermediate state. This is also where the connection to the cover motif is found that shows the negative of a photograph of a wild field and has been taken Bernd Adamek-Schyma: The negative as an eternal intermediate state between the motif and the developed image. And despite the fact that "Numinos" has a fully equipped studio with a wide range of instruments, the 20 Euro iPad app "Borderlands Granular" turned out to be the creative catalyst that enabled the trained pianist to implement his sound ideas with direct haptic influence.The app gives the Cologne-based sound artist the opportunity to extract tiny fragments from the sample based on their specific tonality, to recontextualize them and thus work out structures that are not audible at the original tempo.
The results are polyrhythmic sound scenes that appear harsh, artificial and strange in a moment, only to transform into contemplative, warm and familiar frequency stratification minutes later. Numinos deceives the listener in many ways. Above all with the supposed rhythm that does not exist. Because in fact almost all granular clusters within the pieces run in completely asynchronous loops. The addition of a simple kick drum then forces the brain to suddenly hear apparent triplets, quintoles or dotted eighths in these mathematically completely chaotic structures, which are purely fallacy.

Sound Wonders: A Series of Epics is the second compilation from Touchtheplants, the imprint and multidisciplinary creative environment founded by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Sean Hellfritsch (aka Cool Maritime). Following 2020's Breathing Instruments, the new collection features sonic responses to a new prompt. Like its predecessor (which explored music as an extension of the human body and the natural world), the medium of focus here dates back to ancient civilizations. Smith invited artists to compose music based on the idea of epics: the long poems and narrative verse works that have detailed deeds and adventures since the dawn of storytelling. The musicians — some of today's most exciting practitioners of experimental sound design, instrumentation, and synthesis — took this directive loosely, realizing a series of vibrant and transportive songs evoking wondrous visions, subjects, and locales.
From Elori Saxl’s chamber piece to Olive Ardizoni’s ode to the strange and beautiful phenomenon of starling murmurations with synth and xylophone tones the album splays out like chapters in a panoramic account of all that surrounds us.

* Kamana is a multiformat release inspired by and channeling the cultu- re and traditions of the Aeta, an indigenous group from the Zambales region in the Philippines. One of the oldest inhabitants of the region the Aetas are also some of the most fascinating and ancient nomadic and hunter gathering cultures. The release goes from the realms of the
real to the imaginary, from transcription to syncretism, from concrete to abstract. An (un)real Sonic Exorcism filled with

*Ancestral Frequencies, Haunted Ghosts and other animistic spirits roaming the Pinatubo forests.
The release features a series of materials released in different formats from the Field recording digital only release, an LP and CD release to a special 7inch vinyl featuring an Interview with a bat hunter.

* Kamana is a long due homage to the Aeta community that hosted me a few years back, fascinated by the endurance of these people and their connection to their land, devastated by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991, they continued to go back to their ancestral lands surviving on basic agriculture and hunting bats and wild pigs. Living with them for weeks, I managed to capture some essential field recordings and sounds that form and com- pose the basis for this release, from the more reprocessed and interpreted LP release to the pure field recording documentation of the digital release. It is meant to be accessible to all and provide a window to the livelihoods of these unique communities. For this reason, this release serves as both an archival document and a syncretic one, trying to channel memories and feelings of living in these jungles whilst listening to their stories as well as witnessing their lifestyles.”
Carlos Casas, 2021

Melbourne's finest Katie Drover and Just Jack join forces for a split ep on We R The Aliens 003.

The newest aliens deliver 6 sweltering cuts ranging from delicate minimal tapestries to wonky breakbeat floor fillers and even a dnb jammer for good measure. Lock in and stay hip to the sweeping terrestrial frequencies of the underground from down under.

Session Victim and Erobique join forces once again for a beautiful cover version of Mark- Almond's "The City", starring Jamie Lloyd's enticing vocals and featuring Linnart Ebel's subtle rhythm guitar. Ever since Hauke Freer stumbled over Mark- Almond's final studio album Other People's Rooms at Montreal record store Death Of Vinyl a few years ago, the pair would regularily finish DJ nights with this 1978 recording of their hit single "The City" - and since then, the idea of recording their own rendition had been tossed around frequently. Carsten "Erobique" Meyer was not the first but really the duo's only choice to see this through and well, just listen to the impeccable Rhodes/Clavinet combination he came up with. However, it is Sydney's Jamie Lloyd who steals the show and takes the song into his realm, putting his very own stamp and character on this certified classic. Long time collaborator Linnart Ebel complete's the band with his ever subtle rhythm guitar. The two, three, four, five man house, not house band branches out for all the right reasons and this is the result.

one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a

book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.

Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.

The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.

Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).

Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?

one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a

book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.

Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.

The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.

Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).

Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?