Courtesy Loic Zimmermann
Audio By Carbonatix
The cool evenings and start of a new school year officially mark the end of summer. But Colorado musicians are still busy busting out new tunes. From a flurry of singles by acts such as jamgrass group Morsel and solo electronic project Mersiv to the first look at David Eugene Edwards’s upcoming solo material (local audiences know him best as the frontman of Wovenhand and 16 Horsepower) and more, we’ve got you covered when it comes to the best new releases in August. Find the latest to put on your playlist below:
Iglu & Hartly
“Swayze”
To kick off the month, Colorado-born pop-rock group Iglu & Hartly ended a fifteen-year sonic silence by releasing new single “Swayze” on August 1 and embarking on a three-date mini-tour in the U.K., the trio’s home away from home. Now based in L.A., the band still has an affinity for synth-heavy songs, after rising to popularity throughout the mid-2000s, including gaining acclaim across the pond with 2009 Top 10 hit “In This City.” “Swayze” picks up where Iglu & Hartly left off, with an upbeat song as well as a music video inspired by iconic actor Patrick Swayze and his role in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing.
Silver & Gold
“Hell Yeah?”
After releasing six-song EP Saving Face in January, Greeley’s dreamy Silver & Gold dropped new single “Hell Yeah?” on August 2. The recent activity follows a few fallow years since the indie-rock band shared its previous six-song EP, Color, in 2019. But Silver & Gold is back in a big way. Like Saving Face, “Hell Yeah?” features the group’s trademark melancholic melodies and soothing vocals, courtesy of guitarist and vocalist Devon Hildebrandt, with equal soft and loud parts.
David Eugene Edwards
“Lionisis”
David Eugene Edwards is already a local legend, thanks to his previous work as lead man of Denver alt-country rock bands Wovenhand and 16 Horsepower, which created what many consider the “Denver sound” throughout the 1990s and 2000s (Wovenhand is still active). So the announcement of his first-ever solo album, Hyacinth (out on September 29 via Sargent House), teased by the new single “Lionisis” on August 3, was naturally met with excitement. The song is a haunting mix of distorted Americana and Gothic folk that only Edwards can create with a beat-up wooden banjo and nylon-string guitar.
Morsel
“‘Scuse Me Miss”
Denver jam band Morsel is eager to build on the momentum of its 2021 self-titled debut album by releasing a pair of singles this summer, including “‘Scuse Me Miss” on August 16. The song will appear on upcoming album On a Bee Line (out on September 29 via Americana Vibes and produced by Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters). The new tune showcases what the five-piece does best, which is seamlessly mixing a bit of blues, country, traditional bluegrass and rock sensibilities to create a more nuanced, and danceable, sound.
Gregory Alan Isakov
Appaloosa Bones
One of Colorado’s favorite adopted sons, Boulder-based singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov, released new record Appaloosa Bones on August 18, the much-anticipated followup to his Grammy-nominated 2018 album, Evening Machines. And it does not disappoint. The eleven-song collection of lo-fi, folksy rock featuring tracks such as “The Fall” and “Before the Sun” is just what you’d expect from a well-traveled road warrior and accomplished storyteller like Isakov, who was born in South Africa and raised in Philadelphia. For him, the record was about “writing something that reminded me of starting out writing songs in the first place – that curiosity that happens when you’re first writing songs,” he told Westword.
Mersiv
“I Like It When You Move”
In anticipation of his sophomore album, Out of Bounds, solo electronic act Mersiv dropped single “I Like It When You Move” on August 18. Anderson Benoit Gallegos, the mastermind and Denver DJ/producer behind the project, has more of a free-flow approach to traditional EDM and loves turning up the bass.
“I Like It When You Move” isn’t completely instrumental – the song title repeatedly serves as the lone lyrics throughout – but it’s sure to get festival and club crowds alike moving with its infectious beat and barrage of bass drops.
Broken Record
Nothing Moves Me
Given the recent resurgence of emo rock, bands of the subgenre’s heyday such as Hawthorne Heights and Taking Back Sunday are now regularly filling up stadiums. Denver four-piece Broken Record aimed to capture that big, “stadium emo” sound on its new album, Nothing Moves Me, which the group released independently on August 22.
Following 2020’s I Died Laughing, the ten sophomore songs, including “See It Through” and “Blueprinting,” are full of “really big, dynamic guitars, anthemic vocals, drums and bass that groove when they’re supposed to and just shred when they’re supposed to,” guitarist/vocalist Lauren Beecher told Westword, even though they were recorded almost entirely in a basement studio.
No Signal
Distorted Reality
Speaking of stadium-ready rock, Distorted Reality, the latest album by Boulder-based alternative rockers No Signal, released on August 25 via No Label Productions, would probably sound just as good filling up an arena as it does blasting through headphones.
Across the sixteen tracks that make up the record, songs such as album opener “entropele” and “C&B” are reminiscent of British veteran stadium acts Muse and Coldplay, while “Jane” is a heavier, grunge-inspired banger. The band views each tune as a “chapter” in its immersive “musical journey.” Led by 21-year-old frontman Riley Schmelzer, it’s safe to say that No Signal is far from finishing its audial pilgrimage. If anything, the group sounds like it’s just getting started.
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