# Fresh Tracks Mix – The Davenports with ’69 Love Songs’ Singer Shirley Simms, plus Chasing Colors, Hillary Bratton, Eight Belles

- Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2015/12/fresh-tracks-davenports-shirley-simms-chasing-colors-hillary-bratton/
- Published: 2015-12-13T12:41:51-05:00
- Author: flytrap

Brooklyn band **The Davenports** have released their new single, “Miranda in Her
Room,” featuring **Shirley Simms** of one our favorite indie bands, **The Magnetic
Fields**. The track is the latest in a string of singles the band has released since
the beginning of the year.

[https://soundcloud.com/motherwest/the-davenports-miranda-in-her-room-2/s-vB7OP](https://soundcloud.com/motherwest/the-davenports-miranda-in-her-room-2/s-vB7OP)

Klass has a wonderful knack for crafting heavily melodic songs that are memorable
and poignant, and Simms vocals are, as always, touching and perfectly on key.

Simms, a Boston vocalist well known for her work on The Magnetic Fields’ _69 Love
Songs_, and all of their releases since then, duets on the new single, “Miranda 
In Her Room,” with Brooklyn band The Davenports’ singer/songwriter **Scott Klass**.
Klass is best known for “Five Steps,” the theme song to A&E’s Emmy-nominated _Intervention_.

The song, a country waltz infused with McCartney-esque medlodies, and lyrics reminiscent
of Emily Dickenson, had been dormant as a demo for a long time, waiting for the 
right vocal pairing to bring it to life.

Klass and producer **Charles Newman**, who has worked with The Magnetic Fields and
The Davenports for over a decade, considered an array of singers until choosing 
Simms.

![chasingcolors](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/chasingcolors-
624x416.jpg)

The next track, “Airplanes” from the reunited Minneapolis band Chasing Colors’ new,
self-titled EP, has been on regular rotation in the cafe for at least a week now.

The band members, that include singer/songwriter **Louie Paretta**, **Scott Patton**
on guitar, **Dave Paquette** on drums, and **Dave Wagner** on bass, grew up listening
to The Beatles, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, among other classic rock bands,
as well as the 1980s new wave sound, with bands like The Cars, and indie bands like
Death Cab For Cutie.

Related Post:  Fresh Tracks from Grizzly Bear, Poor Moon, Balmorhea, The Luyas, 
Sera Cahoone

Chasing Colors has opened for bands like Crow, Badfinger, Johnny Rey and the Reaction,
and Urban Guerillas. Check out the [“Airplanes” music video](https://youtube.com/watch?v=wS96JwRvHZQ)
via YouTube.

[Airplanes](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/Chasing%20Colors%20-%20Airplanes.mp3?dl=0)–**
Chasing Colors** from _Chasing Colors_

[Heartbeats](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/Chasing%20Colors%20-%20Heartbeats.mp3?dl=0)–**
Chasing Colors** from _Chasing Colors_

Chasing Colors official website

[Chasing Colors on Facebook](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/chasingcolorsband)

![HillaryBW](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/HillaryBW-624x416.
jpeg)

#### Hillary Bratton – “Fuck It’s Cold Outside”

Hillary Bratton is a talented **Los Angeles** singer/songwriter who is increasingly
on the rise, as demonstrated by her new album, _Tears On My Pillow But The Rest 
Of The Bed’s OK_, featuring the

This haunting work is a carefully-chosen collection of songs written by the legendary**
Barry Reynolds**, best known for his work with artists such as Marianne Faithful,
Grace Jones, Antony & the Johnsons, Brazilian Girls, and many others.

Bratton’s newest stylistic endeavors are more relaxed and stoic – she’s picked up
a few tricks in the eight years she lived in New York City and the two years she
spent in Paris. She was inspired to record the album after seeing Marianne Faithful
in concert; when she heard the song “Guilt” she was determined to work with Reynolds.

“I wanted to make an album but it was Barry’s songs that were the impetus,” says
Bratton. “I wanted to share these songs that I had fallen in love with and for people
to know what a great songwriter he is. It’s the only album comprised entirely of
his songs”.

Listen to the ironic track, “Fuck It’s Cold”. Ironic because it’s one of the warmest
Decembers in the northeast anyone can remember.

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Plus, Norwood, Alx Kawakami & More

![eightbelles](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/eightbelles-
624x414.jpg)

#### Eight Belles – “Darkness In Me”

Three years after the release of its debut album, _Girls Underground_, **Oakland**
indie folk duo _Eight Belles_ just dropped a self-titled sophomore album.

Vocalist **Jessi Phillips**, guitarist Henry **Aloysius Nagle**, and engineer **
Ross Harris **(Emily Jane White) tracked the album over three years, enlisting a
cadre of prominent Bay Area musicians, including singer/pianist **Joel Robinow**(
Once and Future Band, Howlin’ Rain); drummer **Shaun Lowecki** (Painted Palms); 
bassist **Jonathan Kirchner** (Con Brio); and singer **Katie Colver** (Cave Clove).

The duo has arranged an album brimming with intricately woven, almost earthy, folk
music, and a variety of other styles and flavors, set against lyrics of a highly
personal nature. The backup musicians really fill out the songs and the album as
a whole.

The first single “Darkness in Me” tells the “mostly true but somewhat metaphorical”
story of Phillips’ return to her native Michigan in an ill-fated attempt to reconnect
with a past lover.