EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Take a Starlit Walk with Fripp on Debut EP 'Body Work'

Photos by Kevin Russell Poole, Watercolor by Lydia Campbell, Design by Eliana Mullins

“Come walk with me,” beckons E.B. Hinnant in the opening line of “Orion,” the first song on his debut EP, Body Work. Its warbling synth feels as if the constellation’s stars have come down to swirl around you as they guide.

Appropriately, Hinnant’s moniker Fripp is shared with the surname of a girl said to haunt another navigational aid, a lighthouse in his native South Carolina. (And Orion isn’t the only Greek influence at work, with more than one nod to Mike Hadreas.)

Body Work was written over several years between there and his current home of Brooklyn, where he recorded the tracks alongside Ron Shalom who handled engineering, mixing, and mastering.

Hinnant tells Transverso,

“This record is about queer love, romantic and platonic bonds, body dysmorphia, and my relationship with myself. These are diary entries from the past few years, initially written just for myself to process the joys and turmoils in my mind. They’re all yours, now. I hope you enjoy them.”

Wandering again, we’re brought to the tranquil breath of the sea and the woodwind flurry of the title track before highlight “Cypress” closes. If its hopeful nature calls are any indication, the journey was never about finding your way out of the forest, but rather making peace with the vessel you’ve been given, even if it takes a “fresh coat of paint.”

Then, as fleeting as the love it pines after, Body Work fades gently back into the starlit night.

Body Work is out today (a Bandcamp Friday!), with a cassette release featuring an additional single and two stripped versions coming soon via Garden Kiln. Listen and browse through additional photos below.

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EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Enter 'The Fairy House' with Indigo Daze’s Debut EP

Not to be confused with Purple Haze, which is both a cannabis strain and a Jimi Hendrix song inspired by a dream in which he walked under the sea, Indigo Daze is a similarly colorful project self-described as “kitchen pop” (the best kind of K-Pop?). Transverso is proud to exclusively premiere their debut EP, The Fairy House.

The shoebox art project cover image is appropriate, as Indigo Daze is self-released by students who, after meeting in grade school in the Chicago suburbs, are now scattered across the country: Jack Maiolo in Boston (Guitar, Vocals, Songwriting, Production), Connor Teske in Nashville (Guitar, Vocals, Songwriting, Production), Rafa Swerdlin in Brooklyn (Vocals, Songwriting), Austin McGreevy in Miami (Vocals, Songwriting), and Will Johnson in Lansing, Michigan (Vocals). The Fairy House was written in just two weeks and recorded in Teske’s parents’ basement over summer break.

With Maiolo and Teske enrolled in Berklee College of Music and Belmont University, respectively, the playful Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared aesthetic and ironic detachment do little to belie a seriousness for the craft that comes with such trained musicians. With no true frontman, songwriting and vocal duties are split almost evenly, culminating in a diverse yet cohesive collection of tunes spanning from psychedelia to elements of chill/vaporwave and R&B.

“Turquoise Yawn,” the glittering lead single and first track ever released by the band, first peeks over the horizon, driven by the obscured incantation of a chorus swirling just out of reach. With lush hints of Tame Impala and the entrancing synthetic creep of Yeasayer, the EP goes on to maturely flesh out a sound that nods to indie canon through the smoke while still carving out a unique voice of its own.

Its supremely listenable softened edges and non sequiturs feel neither vapid nor self-serious, comfortably occupying a dreamy yet stimulating trajectory held together by steady drum machine locomotion. “Life’s one strange game / Surprises arise / It’s never mundane” it offers, matter-of-factly.

When the haze eventually lifts after just under 20 minutes, you’re left wondering just how long you’ve been suspended in The Fairy House. With the end of the final track wrapping nearly perfectly into the start of the first, you never really have to leave at all.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Norway's Martinus Shares Jangly Love Story on New 'Holly' EP

Martinus, the Stavanger-bred, Leeds-based project fronted by its Norwegian namesake Martinus Bjerga, has self-released a second EP titled Holly, and Transverso is proud to premiere it here.

Holly's jangly, nimble guitar can easily evoke Mac DeMarco comparisons, though Martinus' softer side is also reminiscent of Norwegian compatriots Kings of Convenience. Sweetly melodic but with a capable rock punch, the four tracks delightfully combine some sunlit hooks and subtle vocal harmonies with odds and ends like a vintage cigarette ad sample.

Bjerga explains,

“I try to write approachable indie pop - the kinda music you can put on in your backyard with your friends. Chill and easy to like, but with catchy melodies that sneak their way into your brain. The EP we just released, ‘Holly,’ is essentially about this girl. It’s a love story. But isn’t all music?

I think the greatest thing about this EP is that I found this tiny 4 watt Vox amplifier from the ‘70s that sound so rad. The recording process was so much fun. It’s partly recorded in Norway in three different locations, and the rest we did in Leeds after I moved to the UK. In other words, I have tons of friends on this record, all doing their part. It’s been a ride.”

You can buy Holly digitally here, on tape cassette if you're lucky enough to catch the band in person, or stream below.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Explore the Dark Side of Veneto in Zebra's "Blanco" Video

Venice-based trio Zebra have premiered a beautiful new music video to accompany "Blanco," the single from their debut EP Homo Habilis released late last year.

Opening with a steady firecracker of driving percussion the track then layers on some gentle harmonizations before delving into crunching guitar jabs as the lens flares over an odd dream sequence of events shot across Italy's Veneto region. Flirting with some math rock and grunge elements, Zebra prove sometimes the most dynamic developments in independent music don't always come from the most predictable of places.

The video itself, directed by Italian cinematographer Andrea Calvetti, was shot entirely on 16mm film with only available light and two neon bars. Combining a series of seemingly disjointed experiences from a lonely fairground jaunt to an eerie cave with strange inhabitants, the visuals form a captivating story companion to frontman Luca Zambelli's longing to "Turn this gray into gold."

Zambelli told Transverso,

“The video portrays our character as artists, emptied from creativity and lost in a world where time has no dimensionality, a world of passion and art, but also futility and melancholy.”

Check it out below.

You can buy Homo Habilis here.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Austinn Is Calling On "Answer Your Phone"

“Answer Your Phone” is Luxembourg pop-rock two piece Austinn’s newest single, following their debut track "Galaxy," produced by Matt Squire (One Direction, All Time Low, Ariana Grande) and directed by Cedric Letsch.

The duo of Jameses, Jimmy Braun and Jim Scheck, explained the backstory behind their curious name to Transverso, saying,

“Jimmy bought a leather jacket on Ebay and it came [all the way to Luxembourg] from Austin, Texas. The guy who sold the jacket wrote his address on the package as well, [but] he wrote Austin with two nn’s, [which] makes Austinn. Nobody knows how you can make such a mistake in spelling Austin, but Jimmy had a laugh while reading it and thought it looked pretty cool.”

This shiny new music video, reminiscent of The Virgins at their poppiest, comes hot off the heels of multiple sold out European tours and gives a modern take on the classic drama recounted by Blondie back in the day: getting left Hanging On the Telephone. Check it out below:

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Stream Cole Hamilton's Debut EP 'Afraid To Be Alone'

It’s hard to believe rising Tulane University sophomore Cole Hamilton didn’t begin writing music until his first year of college. It’s not that that’s too late in life, it’s just surprising considering the amount and quality of work he has already completed in such a short time when most of us were still trying to figure out which building our classes were in.

“I spent the whole year writing music and ended up with 20-plus songs,” Hamilton told us.  “From those 20 I took my favorite four and made the [Afraid To Be Alone] EP.” 

Hamilton recorded these tracks after returning to his hometown of Northbrook, IL where he reunited with high school friends Chris Neuhaus (drums), Paul Tisch (bass), Gracie Sands (guitar), Peter Roberson (trombone), Danny Neuson (trumpet), and Joseph Lee (saxophone) and worked with producer Craig Williams at Dr. Caw studios.

Afraid To Be Alone begins with catchy Two Door Cinema Club-inspired pop-rock tracks “(Just Between) Everyone You Know and Me” and "Louisiana" before descending into darker vocals evoking an Arctic Monkeys-esque swagger in “Crystal.” The EP ends with “Stay/Go,” a track adorned with a heavy horn section and an earnestness that will leave you wishing Hamilton would indeed stay instead of go. 

Afraid To Be Alone is out now and available on Spotify, which you can listen to below.