Surfacing: Pyra [New Act]

Words: Saam Das // Photo: Luka McGhie

Pyra is the latest in a growing new wave of exciting young female artists, such as Shura and Lapsley. Latin for funeral pyre, today's emergence of Pyra appears to have unfortunately consigned London duo Paper Crows to a metaphorical death, as singer Emma Panas steps out on her own. At least she's opened up her account in impressive fashion, with synth-laden debut track 'Saviour'.

Listen: Paper Crows - When Friends Survive

Words: Saam Das

Well, well, well. It turns out Paper Crows' new single sounds almost nothing like the old atmospheric Paper Crows recorded material. But having mentioned their "club beats" after seeing them live almost a year ago, perhaps it's surprisingly unsurprisingly that 'When Friends Survive' is almost Paper Crows gone europop.

Singles: March 2011

Words: Saam Das

At the end of March, I checked the "March singles" folder in my inbox. 66 messages. Oh boy. A new record. It means that (for this month at least) I'm including an extra list of singles that I think are worth checking out. Before that come ten of my favourite/the "best" singles from March, which I heartily recommend. Listen to them all below.

Surfacing: Paper Crows

Words: Saam Das

I wrote about Paper Crows in November, after seeing them support Clock Opera but they haven't had the Surfacing treatment so as a reward for unleashing an ace new song, here we go.

Debut single 'Stand Alight' is available to listen to in that post where I reviewed them live. I felt it was them "bringing Kate Bush into the 21st century with some style" and also compared the duo to something approaching a "dubstep version of Bat For Lashes".