Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason brings us her reviews of new singles from Gotts Street Park and The Beaches
Artist: The Beaches
Track: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid
The Beaches have released their latest single What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid taken from their second album Blame My Ex set for release on 15 September. Anthemic and full of attitude this is immediately attention grabbing with its strength of lead vocalist Jordan Miller. Layered with the guitars of Kylie Miller and Leandra Earl, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid continues to provide an emotive rock track, soaring and lung busting. Considering the trials of navigating self-doubt in relationships, Miller adds a twist to the classic phrase "what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger" instead singing: “what doesn’t kill you makes you paranoid what doesn’t kill you makes you feel like your love ain’t shit." The band shares the following about the track: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid is a song about feeling intense anxiety after a breakup. This had been my experience when my relationship had just ended. I wasn’t used to being on my own, so I found myself feeling really insecure in social situations - which was really surreal because I’m usually very confident and self-assured. However, the more people I’ve shown this song to, the more I’ve come to understand I'm not alone.
Named after the neighbourhood they lived in in Toronto, The Beaches is completed with drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel. Collectively they relinquished a typical university experience to pursue their careers in music, such is their passion.
Along with the new single comes the announcement of The Beaches' signing with AWAL Recordings. The band joins the independent label and distribution company's roster of genre-bending artists including Little Simz, Laufey, Disclosure and Jungle. The Beaches have opened for such iconic acts such as The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters, as well as many other critically acclaimed artists (Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morisette, The Aces, Passion Pit, and Eagles of Death Metal). Their last album was described by Elton John as “the best rock album of last year.”
Fresh off the festival circuit having recently played Lollapalooza, The Beaches will kick off their headlining North American tour in September to promote their upcoming album, Blame My Ex.
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Artist: Gotts Street Park
Track: Mountains feat. Enny
Rising Leeds collective Gotts Street Park have released their new single Mountains. It’s the latest song from their forthcoming debut album On The Inside released on 13 October via Blue Flowers. Mountains features Peng Black Girls hitmaker, ENNY. The resulting collaboration is a gorgeous honey dewed track, dripping with soul and yet with a gentle hip hop vibe. The instrumentation is a smooth blend of keys, guitars and rim shots.
Mountains is a mix of various genres with a touch of jazz also in the mix - one of the joys of Gotts Street Park.
Speaking about their new single the band describe how the track came to be: "The instrumental for Mountains is originally from a little batch of GSP jams that Joe had chopped up and made beats from a couple of years ago. Fast forward a year or so… Josh was in the studio working on songs with ENNY mainly for her solo stuff, and this was one of the beats she liked enough to write to. When we heard her demo vocal on the beat, we fell in love with the song. ENNY is an artist we all admire and it was obvious we needed to get this tune fully finished and have her guest on our album!”
Describing working with Gotts Street Park, ENNY comments: “I had a session with Josh last year around a time I was going through a bit of a down period. And, once he played the first few seconds everything just flowed. It was the first time in a long time that I’d written lyrics using a pen.” Continuing further ENNY mentions, “The guys are so cool and easy to vibe with and I'm grateful to be a part of this project.”
Gotts Street Park was formed in Leeds by Josh Crocker (bass, production), Tom Henry (keys) and Joe Harris (guitar). What began as an outlet for their shared love for sixties Motown, soon became a jewel in the Yorkshire scene’s creative crown, with over 69 million Spotify streams to their name and some of hip-hop and pop’s most exciting emerging voices requesting collaborations: Celeste, Kali Uchis, Yellow Days and Rachel Chinouriri are just a few of the acts the band have individually written/produced for.
In 2021, the trio dropped Diego, a cinematic EP inspired by The Godfather and the works of Japanese auteur Yasujirō Ozu.
Gotts Street Park will play a run of UK live dates this November including a headline show at London’s Bush Hall and culminating in a hometown show at Leeds, Belgrave.
Gotts Street Park Tour Dates
07/11 - Birmingham - Hare + Hounds
08/11 - Norwich - Norwich Arts Centre
10/11 - Manchester - YES
11/11 - Edinburgh - Mash House
12/11 - Newcastle - Cluny 1
14/11 - Bristol - Dareshack
15/11 - Bush Hall - In The Round - London
18/11 - Leeds - Belgrave
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