Lucky Number Music

Middle Kids today announce their new album, Faith Crisis Pt 1, set for release on February 16th 2024 and available to pre-order NOW.

Faith Crisis Pt 1 is the Sydney three-piece’s most ambitious work to date; over 13 propulsive and ecstatic tracks, the band explore lyrical and musical territory inspired by lead singer Hannah Joy’s search for meaning and identity after personal crisis. Joy attempts to tease out the question of belief; the breaking of it, and how it is rebuilt.

Recorded in Eastbourne in the UK and co-produced by Tim Fitz and Jonathan Gilmore (The 1975, Beabadoobee), Faith Crisis Pt 1 sees Joy and bandmates Fitz and Harry Day masterfully express the sensation of being overwhelmed, swept up and dragged down in songs brimming with yearning, angst, pop brightness, belief in love and reassurance that, from the bottom, it is possible to believe in beautiful things.

This is illustrated in new single “Dramamine”, which makes a case for believing not in something bigger than yourself, but in the person by your side. “You are the only reason I believe in anything / I hope you don’t take this the wrong way / I wanna be your Mary Magdalene,” Joy sings on the bright, melodic pop track. It was co-written with Fitz, who is not only her bandmate but also her husband. “It feels like a song about the connection between belief and love.”

The track is accompanied by an extraordinary video created by notable director Nick McKinley (Julia Jacklin, Spacey Jane) and Tim Fitz and follows the release of singles “Bootleg Firecracker” and “Highlands”.

Faith Crisis Pt 1 reminds us that even in the darkest moments, belief can flourish.

Today Samantha Urbani shares “Time Keeps Slipping“, the final single to be revealed from her forthcoming debut album Showing Up which releases this Friday 22nd September.

The Santigold-esque funk-pop of “Time Keeps Slipping” pairs glassy midi strings with a satisfyingly squelching bassline and features an ethereal sample of London based 80s pop duo Rexy’s cult track “Running Out of Time“. This fierce and self-referential ode is the perfect lead-in for Urbani’s long-awaited debut album release and follows recent singles “Showing Up”, “One Day at a Time” and “More Than a Feeling”, further revealing the shades and depths of Urbani’s impeccably crafted LP.

The lyrics see Urbani wryly reflecting on her early experiences in music, especially with her band Friends: “I was on a quest of anarchy, to rip apart success and pedigree… I became the hot commodity, with no way to avoid hypocrisy”.

Samantha says “This is my autobiography of my music career, the loopholes of being an anti-capitalist professional artist. To be the underdog but gain popularity. What do you do when your integrity mission has run its course? Because it’s crossed the line into hypocrisy. This may cause paralysis and the feeling of time passing in suspended animation hurts. Friends the band was a punk band, it’s paradoxical for something pure, resistant, radical, and anti-establishment to last in success in this world”.

A stunning piano-led rendition of “Bootleg Firecracker“, stripped down by Middle Kids lead singer and songwriter Hannah Joy, who describes the track as a song “about the power, magic and risk of intimacy. Sometimes it is easier to hide ourselves away from others. We’ve all experienced rejection. But sometimes we put ourselves out there and are received, loved, delighted in.”

Dream Wife released their electrifying third album, Social Lubrication, earlier this Summer to critical acclaim. Known for their explosive live shows, Dream Wife go stateside later this week with a string of dates kicking off in NYC at Brooklyn Made. To celebrate their forthcoming run of live shows, they today share brand new track “Love You More”, recorded during the Social Lubrication album sessions. Drawing from the likes of Pixies and Hole for inspiration, the band says, “‘Love You More’ is not your typical love song, but a love song to the self and choosing to love perfectly imperfect bodies. It has a gritty underbelly, dealing with self-acceptance, body dysmorphia, disaster capitalism, climate collapse and depression. From the micro to the macro, the song explores the relationship between the self and both the body and the earth as experiences of home, as a vessel for feeling.”

The band have also today announced a handful of new European shows and festival appearances, and five further UK headline dates for early 2024. This October and November they will be touring widely across the UK and Europe, including performing at Pitchfork Paris and their biggest London show to date, at Electric Brixton. See all their tour dates and get your tickets on their website here.

Today Samantha Urbani unveils “Showing Up“, the title track, and Prince-inspired opener, of her forthcoming debut album (out September 22nd).

“Showing Up” follows the release of recent singles “One Day at a Time” and “More Than a Feeling” and introduces the album’s prevailing lyrical preoccupation: the fraying of personal and professional relationships – often leading to unequal power dynamics – and her continued commitment to showing up when it matters. “I’ve always been the tough one, to take care when you’re tired / Suck it up and hold your trembling hand when you’re out there being admired,” she coos over tubular bell effects and raspy bass guitar, later confessing, “Sometimes I wish I had more of a taste for vengeance / Sometimes I wish I’d been born more of a capitalist.”

For Urbani, it was crucial to emphasise the importance of being emotionally present, be that by showing up for a romantic partner or by rejecting the toxic individualism of capitalist society to help affect positive change. Samantha says of the single:

“It took many iterations to find its most final form of power, just like me and anyone else who’s been thrashed around again and again. I always believed in it though, and finally re-recorded the intro verse during mixing, just as we were considering scrapping it. Counted it in like Prince, and cranked up the backbeat. Pretty simple and classic formula: power in vulnerability.”

The accompanying self-directed music video follows Samantha on a tender, near melancholic solo travel day from LA to NY- seemingly unsure of what or who awaits her. Filled with easter eggs that call back to Friends’ 2011 “I’m His Girl” music video and style choices reminiscent of ‘90s New York City music culture (including Samantha’s Coogi sweater, a nod to Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighbourhood and the Notorious B.I.G. – and an original bomber jacket from Madonna’s ‘Blonde Ambition’ tour), the DIY video is a multi-layered testament to the deep intentionality and razor sharp creative vision that shapes every facet of Samantha’s artistry.

Watch the video below, listen to the track here and pre-order the Showing Up album here.

To celebrate the release of Showing Up, Samantha has announced an album launch show at The Market Hotel in Brooklyn, NYC, on Friday 20th October. Tickets are available now.