Common Holly returns with two new singles!

"Preoccupy" is the new single from Brigitte Naggar, the Montreal-based musician known as Common Holly. It starts as a simple acoustic folk lullaby but soon ascends into an uncanny duet between Naggar's guitar and an analog modem attempting to connect. Although the song was recorded before the pandemic ("It's about listlessness, and the particular anxiety that makes you turn in on—and turn against—yourself," says Naggar) it's impossible to hear that searching modem or the chorus "Preoccupy me darling, when are you coming back? In search of something certain, my eyes are going black" without thinking of our recent and ongoing collective experience with isolation. The single and its B-side "The Moon" were recorded in Toronto with Paul Vroom and Kenny Boothby of the Canadian band Little Kid. Common Holly is reemerging from isolation to play the Calgary Folk Music Festival on July 25. 23 Jul 2021

Yellow Ostrich Soft

The gorgeous new Yellow Ostrich album Soft is available digitally everywhere today! It's the first new album that the quietly brilliant musician, producer and songwriter Alex Schaaf has released under the Yellow Ostrich name in seven years, and it's full of sublime lyrics, a perfect balance of experimental and classic sounds, great hooks, and elegant playing, featuring an outstanding group of assembled musicians borrowed from La Luz, Lissie, Bon Iver, and The War on Drugs, and engineered and mixed by Zach Hanson (Bon Iver, Gordi, Whitney, Waxahatchee, Hand Habits).

Check out charming videos for two of the singles off Soft, "Julia" and "Last Summer" — each captures aspects of the album's thematic concerns around the pitfalls and pressures of traditional masculinity, and human nature's complex simultaneous aversions and drives toward connection, vulnerability and tenderness. 23 Apr 2021

New single from upcoming Yellow Ostrich album

"'Birds'" is about realizing that desire can be fluid and that it doesn't follow strict rules and patterns the way you might expect it to," says band leader and songwriter Alex Schaff about the new Yellow Ostrich single. "And generally it's about continuing to learn more about yourself and others as you get older, that it's not a process that stops when you reach a certain age."

Hear Yellow Ostrich's "Birds" The new album Soft is out April 23. 09 Apr 2021

Yellow Ostrich returns with Soft, new video “Julia”

We're excited to announce Soft, the new album from Yellow Ostrich out April 23rd, and today the band has released a new video for the song "Julia".

"Julia" features Schaaf's crystal-clear vocal melodies as he analyzes the ongoing struggle against an ever-present 'separator' antagonist determined to make maintaining human relationships challenging. The song is the first single from Soft, and also appears on the stellar Like a Bird: An Alex Schaaf Anthology (2010-2021) available digitally tomorrow, March 26th. 25 Mar 2021

Yellow Ostrich announces anthology and releases new track

Barsuk is excited to announce the release of Yellow Ostrich track "River '93" from the forthcoming Like A Bird: An Alex Schaaf Anthology (2010-2021). The compilation spans the career (so far) of quietly brilliant songwriter/producer Alex Schaaf, including some of the best material from his Yellow Ostrich albums on Barsuk and from his self-released solo projects under his own name and under the name Human Heat. It will also include previously unreleased material, including new single "River '93" (listen/pre-save here).

"I wrote River '93 after moving across the country to Minneapolis while trying to figure out how to settle into a new place, something I've done a few times in my life," says Schaaf of the new song. "It's about trying not to worry about the future too much and to just let things unfold as they will. Which is easier said than done." The trance-like sparse ballad, punctuated by a minimalist piano arrangement and a retro drum machine, fits perfectly with Schaaf's introspective recent solo work (mostly recorded by longtime Bon Iver engineer Zach Hanson) and which is highlighted on the upcoming Like a Bird compilation. 26 Feb 2021

Sunset Valley release final single, "Amped"

Sunset Valley, a band who started in Portland in the late 90's and spread across the land with a cult-like following in the years since, are proud to release their final song and accompanying video "Amped".

Recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Amped" puts a capstone on their career from their debut The New Speed (1998), to follow-ups Boyscout Superhero (1999), Icepond (2001), Goldbank 78 Stack (2003), which are all available now for the first time on Bandcamp. Barsuk previously released Tropic of Candycorn in 2014, a career-spanning anthology that includes all four Sunset Valley albums and a collection of unreleased rarities, demos and covers, available digitally everywhere. 16 Apr 2021