Release Radar: November 2021

The ICMP community never stops surprising us and, once again, they have provided the best monthly soundtrack we could ever wish for!

Here is a great selection of tracks being released this month. Follow our playlist to not miss out on any new tracks by our students and alumni.

PAUL USHER • Don't Show me Heaven

BA (Hons) Songwriting student Paul Usher’s ‘Don’t Show Me Heaven’ is a classic soulful singer-songwriter ballad reminiscent of Carole King and Motown torch songs. It both celebrates the magnitude of love's first bold embrace and culminates by lamenting its loss.

Tinged with doo-wop backing vocals and gospel-style piano, vulnerabilities are laid bare. This production would not be out of place on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, the famous Phil Spector style wall-of-sound updated with a modern twist, complete with lashings of reverb and baritone voice.

Giving us a look behind the curtains, Paul said:

“In many ways this song saved my life. My first and greatest love was on the rocks and I didn’t know what to do. I was so enraptured by this relationship and yet I didn’t know what to do to save it. I wanted to just scream ‘I love you’ in the hope that the depth of feeling I had could be heard and felt and understood and returned by him; but I was also scared it may break with the weight of those words. I was lost.”

“At times I wished I’d never experienced this love if it wasn’t going to last, hence the title ‘Don’t Show Me Heaven’ - but at the same time it had changed my life and opened me up to a new way of seeing and experiencing the world that I would never wish to escape from. My piano and the song were my solace.”

The track was produced with the multitalented Takooree and mixed & mastered by Krzysztof Kessler, both of which are ICMP alumni.

LISTEN HERE

ARIN • Rome

Arin is an Electro-Pop artist from Portsmouth and a student of ICMP’s BA (Hons) Songwriting course. First and foremost, Arin has a passion for writing songs about falling in love.

Explaining this passion Arin said:

“Some would say it’s overrated and cliche but there are so many unexpected and beautiful moments that transpire when a relationship unfolds in an unexpected way, even if those things don’t stand the test of time.”

What started as a two-chord guitar loop became Rome in less than a day when Arin sat down with his producer and the song came to life almost effortlessly. As the final single before the release of his debut EP, Arin is incredibly proud of this song and can’t wait to play it live and dance his heart out to it.

'Rome' was written and produced with two other ICMP students called Noah and Hugo. We work very closely together to create music and it's so nice to know we have found a great musical circle to create within.

LISTEN HERE

DUST IN SUNLIGHT • Blueprints

As one half of musical duo Dust in Sunlight, Annie Rew-Shaw is an artist, producer, songwriter, piano teacher, and MA Creative Music Production student at ICMP. Growing up in a very musical household whilst learning classical piano led to Annie experimenting with songwriting from the age of 12.

Moving to London at the age of 19 Annie started playing in multiple different bands, gaining an extensive amount of live and studio experience.

Dust In The Sunlight is an indie-pop duo based in London signed to indie label Project Melody in 2020 and has since released their debut EP that summer. The EP received plaudits from the likes of CLASH, BBC Introducing and Record Of The Day.

The duo have just released their new single 'Blueprints' - the first track from their forthcoming second EP, 'Same World, Different Eyes'. Written just before the UK’s first 2020 lockdown, ‘Blueprints’’ lyrics resonate particularly poignantly - dwelling on all that could have been in an alternate universe:

“That life we’ll never know, blueprinted plans, holding back an ocean, all we said unspoken.”

LISTEN HERE

HARILD • Fear of Falling

Harild is an up-and-coming pop artist and songwriter, born and raised on the Danish island Bornholm, where they immersed themself in music and songwriting as a way of coping with mental health issues and feelings of not belonging.

After finishing their secondary education, Harild followed their passion for music and moved to London to study BA (Hons) Songwriting at ICMP. It was here that they developed a love for lo-fi and alt-pop, which has inspired the sound of their musical stylings today.

Harild’s debut single ‘Fear of Falling’ was written as part of a songwriting brief focusing on the central theme of ‘dreams’.

Giving us an insight into the track’s inspiration, Harild said:

“I had a dream that really stuck with me. I dreamt that I had released my debut single and it was being played on the radio, but then halfway through the song, they cut it to announce the news. When I woke up, I was sad and relieved at the same time because as much as I wanted to release music, it also revealed my biggest fear when it comes to sharing my songs with the world; that they will not be heard.”

" I think this song captures a feeling that many up-and-coming artists can relate to because the fear of failing (or falling) is the downside of sharing your work and being a musician.”

Harild wrote the song on the piano, with the initial pass starting out as a ballad, but after working on it in the studio with friend and producer, Mo, it developed into the track we hear today!

LISTEN HERE

ALTI • Gone (Halo)

BA (Hons) Songwriting student Alti Stefansson grew up in a small town in Iceland with a population of around 3k people with aspirations of becoming a professional footballer. His discovery of music began in the summer of 2017 where he decided to buy himself a guitar and teach himself to play.

Quickly getting a hold of the basics, Alti spent hours playing guitar and singing, soon honing his skills by playing at parties for friends. There he realised that playing music was what he was meant to be doing. Since then, Alti has joined ICMP and has already released three tracks that are mostly in the indie/folk genre with influences from a range of other genres that he is interested in.

Talking about his new track Gone (Halo):

“The song was written in a time of manic loneliness back in 2020 after a bad breakup I went through. I was living with my parents trying to figure out where to go in life and felt like every path was closed. I wrote this song after a video chat with my friend, when after hanging up I was overcome with this unnerving feeling of loneliness.”

“The song quickly became one of my favourites and my producer Haukur Sindri Karlsson knew exactly what he wanted to do with the final mix of the track. It is still to this day one of the prettiest and saddest songs I’ve written.”

LISTEN HERE

LUCI CHOLOT • Now You're Gone

Lucie Cholot is a half French, half Australian singer-songwriter studying BA (Hons) Songwriting course at ICMP London. Lucie’s musical journey started when she fell in love with creating music at the age of 7 when she started playing piano.

Her brand new single Now You're Gone has just released and is the second track from her upcoming EP. Lucie wrote the song in collaboration with fellow Songwriting student Andrew Coggins during her second year of study at ICMP.

Talking about the creation of Now You’re Gone, Lucie said:

“It was really interesting, creating the track was part of an assignment brief where we had to pitch a song to artist Camila Cabello. The result of the project saw the track become closer to my style of music then Camila's. Since then I have worked alongside a selection of incredible talent to perfect the track. This included Audio Engineering tutor Wes Burton who played bass and produced/engineered the song, Robert D Carpenter who's drumming is exquisite and the amazing backing vocalist Ming Bouquette.”

LISTEN HERE

MONKEY'S CAN'T FLY • All that's Left to Blame

Monkey’s Can’t Fly is a Bangalore based Progressive/Hard Rock outfit, started by MA Popular Music Performance student Sarvesh Venkatesh, who are passionate about exploring new sounds and imbuing their musing with deep and meaningful lyrics.

Drawing influence from bands ranging all the way from Led Zeppelin to Tool, Monkey’s Can’t Fly aim to create music that is engaging and uses their lyrics to discuss deeply introspective topics.

Discussing their most recent release ‘All that’s Left to Blame’, Sarvesh said:

“This song is really special to our band because of the barriers we had to overcome during the process of writing, recording and mixing. Due to the restrictions of the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, travel and study plans of band members, we really had to come together in the end to make this happen!”

The band worked with Astral studios for the production and mix of the track.

LISTEN HERE

CONSTANÇA QUINTEIRO • Aventurina

Born in Sesimbra, Constança Quinteiro has been singing and writing songs since 2008. She has since launched her career both as a solo artist and one half of indie pop/rock duo MEDVSA who were a finalist on the EDP Live Bands 2018 contest.

Feeling unsatisfied professionally and personally, Constança decided to change her life for good. She quit her job, found love, focused on her music, and moved to London to study a Higher Diploma in Music Performance at ICMP where she found herself as an artist.

In the beginning of 2021, whilst pregnant, the Portuguese artist decided to release her first single ‘Miúda’. Three singles later, Constança presents her debut EP ‘Aventurina’, an ensemble of Pop songs heavily influenced by lusophone sounds (Bossa Nova, Axé, Semba, Pagode Baiano), R&B and Soul.

In this EP the singer-songwriter tells her story and reveals who she is as a person and as an artist. A true example of change, strength, motivation, and emancipation. The start of her artistic journey.

Explaining what the EP means to her, Constança said:

“This is my story. It reveals who I am as a person and an artist. Four years ago my life went through a big change as I found love and decided to chase my dream, always with an open heart and ready to navigate through unknown waters with calm, joy and positivity. I hope that my story and music inspire people to change, to dream, and to fight for what really matters.”

LISTEN HERE