European Phonographic continues its missions in bringing you special music from different corners of Europe, and this Friday 26th of June is a great example: AKA Neomi from Ljubljana, Slovenia, release a brand new lockdown single, “The View”, following their latest album Beautiful Disasters. Meanwhile, from one of the opposite ends of the compass comes the very first offering from Norwegian band Trees Up North with “For the Greater Good”.
Stay safe, stay health, and stay together.
TREES UP NORTH: “For the Greater Good”
Out of the sheer will for communicating that is born from solitude and displacement comes Trees Up North, Norwegian musical project led by Hans Stop. Nordic melancholic vibes meets the warmth and organic atmospheres of American and British alt-indie songwriters. “For The Greater Good” is the musical equivalent of an Astronaut floating on Earth, experiencing and (embracing?) the loneliness and alienation modern society has brought upon mankind. It’s like we’ve lost the sense of life, and the message seems to be: It all happens “for the greater good”!
AKA Neomi: “The View”
AKA Neomi make electronic indie music you can think to: music with a message. The View is a new single recorded during the quarantine. It’s a song about moving on and leaving the past behind. “Bad choices make us feel bad about ourselves, but sometimes we need to gain a new perspective in life. We might regret it at some point, but we can at least enjoy the view for a while.” explains Sasa Vipotnik. The View follows the band’s latest album, Beautiful Disasters, released in January 2020.
Slovenian Psyche-Pop Indie Darlings Unveil New Album for the New Decade
Known in their home country of Slovenia simply as Neomi, AKA Neomi kick-off 2020 with the release of their brand new album after a long hiatus. Beautiful Disasters is a creation of songwriter Saša Vipotnik and producer and arranger Mario Babojelić. They both say they would categorize the album as their brand of psychedelic pop. Despite catchy melodies, Saša’s dreamy vocals and Mario’s unique guitar playing, the soundscapes occasionally and gradually disintegrate into almost unrecognizable noise. The whole album takes the listener on a journey into polarizing soundscapes of beauty and ugliness, through loyalty and debauchery, sometimes torn between love and ambivalence, emotional coldness. In her lyrics Saša speaks both to her loved ones as well as people in general; and like the ancient Greek poet Sappho, often addresses her muse. The album cover depicts how we currently live: a dream-like state of nonsense, on the edge of a potential catastrophe, however within the current mood of this new decade AKA Neomi still wish for people not to fall into downheartedness – let hope prevail! One way or the other, life flies by with an indecent haste.
AKA Neomi live at Kino Siska, Ljubljana, release party for “Beautiful Disasters” by Urska Boljkovac.
Old News…
This Friday November 8th marks the release of AKA Neomi’s very first single “Family”!
“Very first single”, you say? Indeed… that is not quite true! But fulfilling European Phonograhic’s mission, it is in fact the first international single for Slovenia’s indie icons Neomi.
Outside their own domestic market of Slovenia, Neomi will take on the new artist name AKA Neomi so as to not be confused with other non-Slovenian artists by the same name.
AKA Neomi’s first single, “Family”, is out November 8th via European Phonographic’s digital distribution partner, Level:UP:
Neomi proudly presents a new single called Family and a supporting music video, now available in retro-mono sound on YouTube. The stereo version will be on Apple Music and other Premium channels to coincide with the album release, coming in early 2020. Producer Mario Babojelić is again excelling at his audio perfectionism, attention to detail and brilliant guitar skills.
About “Family” (the single): Before singing this song at their concert at Siti Theatre, in their home town of Ljubljana, in May 2019, vocalist and songwriter Saša Vipotnik said something in Slovenian that is a fair description of this song: »a normal family, an abnormal family, a kind family, a mean family. I want to form a family someday and my family will be a kind one. Let’s start opposing the expression »normal family«, after all it’s all for our children’s sake!« She was playing with the words of Slovenia’s most conservative politicians.
Neomi Biography:
Neomi features electronic indie pop, through trip-hop rhythms, to more downtempo acoustic feel sonic landscapes, with lyrical texts surrounding the familiar soothing vocals coming from Slovenian singer-author Saša Vipotnik; in the company of producer-engineer Mario Babojelić. Supporting them are some very talented musicians – Dejan Slak (bass guitar, bass synth), Marko Grubar (drums), Erik Marenče (keyboard, piano, rhodes). Neomi’s sounds are not clear-cut, but always bold – complemented with Babojelić’s precise guitar skills, reverbs and delays, leading to a unique and almost other-worldly sound.
Formed in 2012 in Ljubljana, it has already been a while since Neomi’s first album came out. In the meantime, a few people went out, some new people came in and the front lady came out… Now they’re back. Sharper, louder and recording their second album, which will be released in January 2020 on the new European Phonographic label. They have been active supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and its rights from their very beginning. They used to have an acoustic jazzy feel, but are now evolving into a bolder genre.
Our 100% independent record label is built on several principles and concepts that we would like to share with you:
– Europe is (still) a fractured space. There is great music – obscure and popular – from all four corners of Europe, not just the UK, France, Germany and Sweden. We will be releasing music from the North to the South, from the East to the West, across borders and into the centre of it all.
– It is our goal to feature and release great music from these four corners – to use Peter Jenner’s term, the so-called “Musika Periphérika” of Europe… the good things you don’t hear about everyday, no matter what genre… the best kept secrets… quality not quantity.
– Artist singles, EP’s, albums, special releases, OST’s, field recordings, instrumental music, new and old instruments… European musical culture, new and old.
– We believe Artists should have something to say; they must be creating music that is worth creating, it must be original and have something special in order to interest us. No clones! (Sorry, Dolly.)
– Especially now that we are in the digital age, artists should benefit from 50/50 royalty splits with labels. EP as a label champions transparency, subscribing whole-heartedly to the WIN (World Independent Network) Fair Digital Deals Declaration. We are distributed by Level:UP Distribution, a MERLIN member.
– Also, we don’t believe in traditional recouping. Any investment we make on promo (for example via our partners EU Radio Plugging and other freelance PR) comes strictly out of our 50%, not the artist’s.
– We love proper recording studios. We love analogue. We love vinyl.
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