Olivia Penalva is typically the sort of songwriter to write from deeply personal experiences, but with “Ex’s,” she stretches her wings to tell a seductive story about lust and betrayal. “I know so many people who have been in...
“I need West Virginia like a daily vitamin in a way. If I don’t take it for too long, I get funky and I gotta go and refresh,” reflects Christian Lopez. Born and raised in Martinsburg, Lopez still owns...
Meghan Kreidler is an acrobat — or at least she feels like one most days. “I teeter back and forth between feeling very empowered and then just being totally thrown off by little things that happen in everyday life,”...
The pandemic was particularly hard for The Blue Iris. “It left me without a job, afraid to go outside, and generally scared for the future,” they confide. Feeling tremendously “stressed about too many things to name and depressed past...
Life has put Sweetlove through the wringer. In the span of a year, she lost three of the most important people in her life; with her new EP, Goodnight, Lover, out Friday March 26, she sifts through the craggy,...
Scaling up a mountain, either on-foot or in a vehicle, can feel as if you’re teetering between this world and the next. That’s what chamber-folk storyteller Raine Hamilton experienced, at least, as she began ruminating on “the beauty of...
Brijean Murphy’s life was already under great emotional renovation when she began recording a new album. Working toward greater self-love and self-nurturing, she turned the smaller, foundational building blocks of that practice into songs – alongside collaborator Doug Stuart...
Like any music scene, the Emo Revival of the early 2010s was littered with problematic men wielding power over others. Durham, North Carolina-based singer-songwriter al Riggs returns to that era, not to wallow upon those treacherous slopes, but rather...
There are few albums that capture such an array of the queer experience quite like Cast Iron Pansexual, the new LP from Adeem the Artist. Officially out Friday but premiering via Audiofemme today, the record bursts with personality, marked...
There’s a powerful scene in The Haunting of Hill House when Nellie (played by Victoria Pedretti) talks about how time is not like dominoes, tumbling in linear fashion, but rather like confetti falling down around us as rain or...
TOLEDO didn’t plan on recording a new EP. “It just happened,” admits band member Jordan Dunn-Pilz. “It kept us busy, and we were able to have fun together. I’m thankful for this opportunity to come back into our own.”...
“Purpose is a feeling. It’s not a goal,” stresses Jocelyn Mackenzie. The New York singer-songwriter, formerly of acclaimed indie-folk trio Pearl and the Beard, speaks emphatically about her solo work and the long, winding road it took to get...
Bel Holiday needed to heal. While “dealing with insufferable loss and depression for ages,” the singer-songwriter hopped on a plane bound for Arizona, hoping to find solace within its rugged landscape. She soon “not only fell in love with,...
Jessye DeSilva never intended for religion to emerge as a thread in their songwriting. With their new record, Hover, a five-track project bubbling with witchy incantations and soul, DeSilva was able to “channel some of that hurt” born out...
Cari Hutson is stepping out into the world as her most authentic self. Her new EP, Salvation & Soul Restoration, arrives next month (Feb. 12) and captures her grit, resilience, and tremendous growth since the release of 2018’s Don’t...
“Who am I without touring?” That was the question most on Raye Zaragoza’s mind last year. Pre-pandemic, the folk musician had been on the road for three years, nonstop ─ and like many, coping with suffocating isolation in lockdown...
Vice Versa was a safe haven in my college years. Nestled among the rolling hills of West Virginia, and situated snuggly in downtown Morgantown, interwoven with the WVU campus, the gay club offered safety, glitter, and endless midnight thrills....
Angelo Gambatesa conceptualizes his work through a poetic lens. Even the name of his new creative endeavor, cherishes ( a self-described “synonym for keepsakes”) relishes in such grandeur, as a mechanism for him to remain grounded. “The name is...
Nainnoh (pronounced nine-oh) knows what it means to run. Originally from Georgia, formerly a USSR-held territory, she came to America nearly 20 years ago ─ to not only escape a restrictive government but to fulfill her childhood dream. Her...
Earlier this year, That Brunette stepped into a spotlight of her own creation. She finally shed her past, discarding a previous stage name, and has since flourished in her craft. Her new song “Platonic,” premiering today, displays an artist...
Emily Weisband believes there’s a difference between honesty and truth. A prolific songwriter whose cuts include Camila Cabello’s “Consequences” and “Boy with Luv” by BTS & Halsey, she knows what she’s talking about. But in song, one person’s honesty...
“Fight for your rights, and dance your socks off,” proclaims Ashli St. Armant, who has been performing – mostly under the stage name Jazzy Ash – for more than two decades. The singer-songwriter and arts educator has always been...
“Why does love telling a lie sound so sincere?” Dorothy Daniel asks on “Undertow,” a song lifted from folk duo The Danberrys’ latest record, Shine. The singer-songwriter sifts through the wreckage of a now-dead toxic relationship. She must do...
Tallia Storm has always been fascinated by duality, a concept depicted in one of her favorite gothic novellas, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. “It’s the fact that we never truly know a person,” she says. The...