RECENT ARTICLES

If you ask the co-founding members, Pat Via and Mitch Mitchell, of the New York City-based pop group, January Jane, they’ll tell you their first session together was like an “arranged play date.” The two met at a gallery opening in the Big Apple, introduced by mutual friends. Via, who sang, was looking for a guitar player. And Mitchell, who played guitar, was looking for a singer. Kismet. From there, they hunkered down to work and, as Mitchell says, “write, write, write.” The two then took opportunity after opportunity, setting out to “say yes” to whatever chance came their way. From there, came a gig at a renovated adult theater and a friendship and partnership with famed music journalist, Matt Pinfield. Now, the pop outfit is poised to release its debut EP, Your Drug, on September 17 via BMG.

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When blues artist, Adia Victoria, was first introduced to music in earnest, it felt for her like a religious experience. This, though, was at least somewhat tragically ironic for the future songwriter. At the time, Victoria was part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in her then-hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was also enrolled in the adjoining Christian school. For Christmas, the students would perform concerts for the congregation. For Victoria, learning the songs and performing with her friends in front of an audience felt like an epiphany. More than any Bible verse or bit of scripture, this is what actually felt divine to her. “That for me was a revelation,” she tells American Songwriter.

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Like high school sweethearts who say they’ll stay together forever but rarely do, it’s hard to maintain bonds—especially deep ones—to those you’ve grown up with. But that’s exactly what the members of the U.K. rock band, Don Broco, have done. From prior band names that now seem comical (Club Sex) to sticking together through sonic evolutions and experimentations, the members of the hard-rocking band are tight. So much so that it provides the space—the freedom—to try something new, to become different creative people, and to know that they will have each other’s backs. In an age where bickering is often more common than conversation, it’s a breath of fresh air amidst their shattering, thrashing tracks.

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At 18 years old, the Parisian-born singer-songwriter, Adeline, moved from the City of Lights to the Big Apple. For her whole life, the artist believed she would be a singer. She knew the reality was stitched into her DNA. But the journey didn’t wrap up overnight. It took some time.

In New York, she tended bar and worked as a model. She hustled and struggled. Eventually, a career began. As a kid, Adeline had acquired some experience as a performer, singing in children’s choirs for French Mickey Mouse Showequivalents across the Atlantic. It was a start but not a dream fulfilled. Eventually, however, she began to dig into her newfound love for the bass guitar. Later, as a result, she got a job playing and singing backup in CeeLo Green’s soul group. Now, after all that, Adeline has come to both an end of the road and a new beginning, both of which are marked by the release of her newest EP, Adi Oasis, out today (September 10).

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Kristian Matsson, aka the Tallest Man on Earth, can’t put his heels down. Literally, on stage, Matsson is always moving, leaping over amps, shuffling his boots, making facial expressions like an actor. Metaphorically, Matsson is curious. His mind remains interested in what else could be out there, whether it’s a new song lyric or some discovery concerning the human race’s relationship to planet earth.

There’s hope in movement, for Matsson. In a way, movement is what defines living. Which is why the songwriter can feel so forlorn when considering the considerable absence of touring in his life (and understandably so) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, as the world begins to open up, the artist and nuanced songwriter will have more chances to connect with fans, to move on stage, beginning in the U.S. this October.

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It’s often said that when you’re performing, you should play like a million people are in the room and as if everyone there, no matter the number, is important (because they are). Yet, not every artist follows this. Sometimes performers, especially if they’re famous, can treat others disrespectfully. Or even those few listeners in the bar can be arrogant or obnoxious to people just starting out. This is a dynamic that Irish singer-songwriter, Dermot Kennedy, is acutely aware of and one he tries to keep in mind always.

For Kennedy, who comes from a tiny hometown and who came up in Ireland through busking and open mics, he knows how hard it can be. But Kennedy, who has gone on to earn thousands of fans and millions of streams, also knows there are better days. In fact, that’s the title of his newest single, out now.

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For 20-year-old rising pop sensation AJ Mitchell, songwriting began when he was young —really young; like, five years old. It began at the foot of his father, whose prized possession was an old keyboard. While Mitchell’s parents would “blast” Stevie Wonder, KISS, Enya, classical music, and other varieties around the house, it was listening to his dad write and play that sparked everything. In fact, Mitchell says, he wanted to compete with his pops at the effort, even then. Now, all of that work has paid off and Mitchell, who has already garnered tens of millions of song streams, is set to release his debut LP, SKYVIEW, this fall.

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Grantham, U.K.-born singer-songwriter, Holly Humberstone, grew up in an old, rickety wonderland of a house. It was her childhood home and the place where she was raised by her art-loving parents, encouraged to pursue music as much as any other subject, and where Humberstone wrote many of her first songs. That old home was also the primary subject of Humberstone’s debut EP, Falling Asleep at the Wheel, which the artist released in 2020. Today, after she’s moved from the house and felt the sting and surprise of the world beyond her original borders, Humberstone has become steeled by what she’s exposed herself to, while still maintaining affection for her first home. Now, the songwriter is set on a new journey, which begins today with the release of her latest single, “Scarlett,” and her forthcoming sophomore EP, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, out on November 5.

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