Anchor Thieves recently unveiled a new track entitled “Psychopomp” for a live Q Session Performance. WTF is a “Psychopomp” you may ask? The band is kind enough to oblige with a direct definition and some background on the track:

A psychopomp is a deity who’s responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife…. The lyrics play with indistinct phrases and double entendre to lighten the theme to match the more optimistic feel of the tune; and ultimately leave the meaning up to the listener. The juxtaposition of darker concepts and lighter tunes has been a running motif for us going back to our first LP Malefactors. It’s always a fun angle to try and romanticize maleficence and the supernatural. — Cayce Keller

Aside from being a bit of an education on a fun new word to use in casual conversation, it’s also the first new music we’ve got from the band since the release of their excellent EP, The Havoc Siren. Sonically, the track goes in yet a new direction for the band; continuing to push the boundaries of styles that the band is comfortable in. What started as an impressively enjoyable rock band has flourished into an outfit that doesn’t shy from a gentler take, albeit one about a deity escorting you to the other side.

The band has always churned out enjoyable dance-y, keyboard driven, electro-pop songs but “Expectations” amps things up by a considerable factor. The production is noticeably shinier in all respects; deeper bass, chirpier keyboards and plenty more entrancement in the guitars. The Scene (and the band themselves) made comparisons to the work of U2’s The Edge and Athens, GA Maserati as touchpoints of reference and influence, respectively, and they’re certainly apt. Where U2 may leave a bitter taste in your brain, rest assured that this is more Ladytron than “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

Megan Johnson Rox’s vocals have also received a significant tweak; particularly in her delivery style. While we’ve seen glimpses of this kind of emphatic performance in the past, it really shines through here. She’s leading the listener along, rather than lost her lamentations.

This is likely just a taste of plenty more to come from Scale Model. If they can keep up this pace for an entire album (or EP, I’d accept an EP), we’re in for a sweaty good time.

Hear the track on your favorite streaming service right here

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For full transparency, this album is part of yk Records, of which I own and operate; so my bias is clear cut. With that out of the way…

There’s plenty to say about Rollum Haas as a Nashville musician. He’s a member of Coupler and lylas, plays with Tristen, Soccer Mommy and has even toured with Brendan Benson. Oh, and he was a member of The Features for over a decade. Not one to rest on his laurels, Haas has a solo endeavor called The Robe. On record, it’s just him in the studio writing and recording everything. Live, he and his wife Katie play a combination of samples, loops and guitars.

The lead track from the forthcoming album debuted over on The Cream awhile back but now we’ve got the official video for the same song. Directed by Cody Newman and featuring a pleasing combination of performance shots of Haas and slow motion face punching.

The track is nearly 5-minutes in length, which may seem like an odd choice for a debut single but it sets the stage for the contents within the forthcoming, June 21st, full-length record. More on that later but, in the meantime, enjoy this video.

There’s something invasive about hearing song demos. It gives a contextual look at the minimal scaffolding of a particular song but it also provides a stripped down, bare bones, version that often emphasizes the emotion of a song better than the final version. That’s a subjective take of course, most songs get fleshed out and detailed in a way that makes them more enjoyable than a bedroom take but that’s an argument for another day.

Erin Rae’s Putting on Airs was released back in June of 2018 and is a layered and emotive hybrid of classic country with a twinge of psychedelia. In May of 2019 she released the The 4-Track Demos, a collection of early takes done as acoustic, bedroom demos. As you’d suspect, they are more lo-fi in production and missing most of the flourishes of their ultimate counterparts but there’s a shocking amount of depth here for a demo. There are plenty of harmonies in place and the emotional intent behind the songs is front and center. Much to their credit, these recordings are enjoyable on their own; not just as comparative material.

Plenty of starting musicians post their demos when they’re starting out as it may be the only recordings that they have to represent themselves at the time but Rae makes a case here that giving fans insight into your process, even once you’re established, can be downright delightful.