This is fine.
We are still standing after a full week of tunes with one, maybe two, more days left to go amongst the craziness in Austin. The ATH crew was once again spread out all over town yesterday and into the night, so expect a huge variety of bands on our highlight’s list. Hopefully we will catch ya’ll out there today if we’ve missed you so far! Full highlights, thoughts and fancy photos from Friday can be found after the jump.
Well, the year’s fully in swing, as evidenced by the ridiculous amount of music we got to listen to, though we only managed to write about a mere 25+ tracks and albums. I’ll cop to the fact that the end of the week was the highlight, hitting with a new Lone Striker single on the same day we got The Laughing Chimes album out there. Buffet Lunch continued to flex their musicianship, while the Rishis offered a brand single from their next LP. New Tunde Adebimpe and La Securite had us on the trends, but in the end, I was just glad to hear new stuff from our friends in Seasonal Falls. What will be your favorite jam of last week?
Chicago based Sofia Jensen and their musical work under the moniker Free Range has been some of my favorite music to go back to again and again over the last couple of years. Since the release of Practice almost two years ago, I have been eagerly looking forward to more jams as they come our way. Today the wait is over, as Sofia has just hit us with this emotive stunner called “Hardly.” It’s hard to truly put enough words of praise on to Free Range, as I think the songwriting is without compare – at least in the singer/songwriter genre as it currently stands. Outstanding stuff from a promising new musical talent.
This track is on the new album entitled Lost & Found which is due out on March 28th via Mick Music. Pre-orders are live now.
It may not have been a week covered in big names, but there were tons of ridiculously quality tunes dropped this last week. We had tons of ATX stuff, from Daily Worker to Wet Dip to S.L. Houser to Voxtrot, so we were all over that. I fell in love with Dumb Things, which is the Aussie outfit opening up this week’s playlist. But, it’s probably a toss up for me whether the new track from The Witching Waves got more plays than that new Weakened Friends. A ripper of a week with some new names we hadn’t come across before like Amelia Coburn, so give the whole mix a Monday morning spin.
Chicago based musician Sofia Jensen, who records under the moniker Free Range, has very quickly become one of my favorite new songwriters and composers over the last year. The construction of each song seems so effortless with complicated structures, poetic lyrics, and tons of emotional crescendos throughout. If you haven’t checked out Practice from earlier this year, well I suggest you do that before going any further. Once you’re done there, come on back and check out this new single called “The Moon” from the recently recorded, and soon to be released Loft Sessions EP. The EP features this beauty along with 2 re-recorded tunes from Practice and three other brand new tracks, all recorded in Jeff Tweedy’s famous Chicago recording studio The Loft. You can pre-save the EP now ahead of the release date on November 17th.
We’re not sure if you’re off or not for President’s Day, so we wanted to make sure those stuck in an office, or just browsing the Internet at home caught on to what we dished out last week! Ryan premiered a fresh track from Slow Fiction, plus he was able to get some SXSW coverage up via interviews with Dream, Ivory and Free Range. I was stoked to hear our friends Lola Tried return, plus I loved that new track from Ghosts on TV; the new stuff from Dry Cleaning and Lunar Vacation wasn’t bad either. Plus, there were lots of weirdo bits in between like Monde UFO and Swim Camp too! Oh, and did you see the IT Department was back on the grind with some Orbital coverage? Yep, stream away friends.
As we closed out the year and wrapped coverage in December, one artist hit me with several memorable songs and left a lasting impression going into 2023. Chicago based Sofia Jensen, and her recording project Free Range, really struck a chord with me and will likely be a top new artist to push in the coming year. After three incredible singles to serve as an introduction to the project, Sofia is releasing a full, debut LP this week entitled Practice and I am here to push this gem of a record however I can. I was fortunate enough to send along a few questions to Free Range and I’m pumped to share this intimate look into Sofia’s process and musical tastes. Full interview with some song links and LP streaming/buying options after the jump.
The end is near my friends, at least for 2022. We’ll likely be popping in and out over the holidays, but songs (and motivation) will be minimal, so don’t expect too much from us on our end. That said, we do have one last Last Week’s Jams to run for you, with a solid amount of hits. I left out all the Best Of lists…but do check out RayRay’s Best Songs and my Top 50 Albums, if you’re so inclined. I made sure to cover the new Galore EP and Fine. LP, plus we got lots of all around jams from the likes of Classic and Packs and more. Browse, listen to it all. Do you. See ya with more jams in 2023!
Friday was a bit of a whirlwind in the ATH offices so I missed this absolutely stunning new tune from Chicago based artist Free Range. The song, “Want to Know,” is the second piece of work from Free Range mastermind Sofia Jensen which shows a songwriting skill and knack for beautiful progressions comparable to some of the best in the genre. This song can break your heart and possibly mend it all in the span of four and a half minutes.
This new video and single comes as with an announcement of a debut album entitled Practice due out on February 17th via Mick Music.
As I’m poking around the webs this morning looking for tunes and reading some news, I stumbled upon this lovely tune called “All My Thoughts” from Chicago based artist Sofia Jensen. Jensen goes by the moniker Free Range and writes these super intimate, emotion driven tunes which are at times light, but also incredibly impactful. Her debut single “All My Thoughts” is just a downright stunning song with a beautiful progression. Hopefully this is the start of a truly promising foray into the career of Free Range.
