by Jane Lambert

Reeya Banerjee Looks Back with Latest Single “For the First Time”

Reeya Banerjee’s latest single For the First Time is a quietly stunning ballad that peels back the layers of love, memory and selfhood with grace and vulnerability.

As the second release from her upcoming album called This Place, the track stands apart as the emotional anchor of the record – a moment of stillness and clarity that reflects on a transformative chapter in the artist’s life.

The song unravels like a letter written years after the fact, soaked in the bittersweet glow of hindsight. At its center, For the First Time is a love song – not only to a partner, but to the version of oneself that emerges in the right place at the right time.

That place, in Banerjee’s case, is the Hudson Valley’s Mohonk Mountain House. It’s a historic and slightly surreal resort tucked high into the Shawangunk Ridge. It’s not just the setting, but a kind of co-star in the story, embodying both the eccentricity and emotional grounding that shaped her early adulthood.

Banerjee’s vocals are tender and unadorned, and she sings each line with clarity. With a warmth in her tone that balances out the melancholy of memories and the comfort of knowing just how far she’s come.

For the First Time is co-written and produced by Luke Folger, and it is an outlier on This Place. It’s a ballad amid more uptempo tracks, and yet it feels like the heart of the album. Folger’s instrumentation is rich in texture – shimmering guitar lines, subtle background harmonies and open, airy production that evokes starlit nights in the Catskills.

Lyrically, this song is packed with subtle emotion. It evokes the quiet revelations that define young adulthood: learning to love someone while still figuring out how to love yourself, finding home in a place you never expected, discovering a new version of your voice in the midst of gravel paths and gossip filled dining halls. It’s a coming-of-age story told not in big moments, but in the slow accumulation of small, meaningful ones.

In many ways, For the First Time feels like the spiritual successor to “Need You There,” a fan favorite from Banerjee’s debut The Way Up. But where that track reached upward with longing, this one looks inwards with a calm recognition. It hums softly in the background of thoughts, reminding you of the place and people who shaped you and the person you were brave enough to become.

Find out more about Reeya Banerjee on her Website

Stream music on Spotify and YouTube Music

05.12.25

by Jane Lambert

“Save the World” by Madame Z – A Hymn of Hope in the Face of Planetary Despair

In a world overwhelmed by environmental catastrophe, humanitarian crises and collective heartbreak, Madame Z emerges with a brand new single that’s as musically gripping as it is emotionally necessary.

Called “Save the World,” the single was released intentionally on Earth Day, 20th April, and it’s a powerful, aching anthem that channels personal grief into a global plea for unity, compassion and action.

Listen here:

It opens with a haunting and sparse arrangement that immediately places the listener in a contemplative space.

There’s a steady, pulsing undercurrent, like a a heartbeat, that anchors the track from the start, a subtle metaphor for the planet’s own fragile rhythm. Madame Z’s voice enters with clarity and conviction, rich with emotional texture. And it’s the vocals that elevate everything – a soulful delivery, blending vulnerability and strength into each line. This is not performative pain, but a lived experience transformed into melody.

Written during a time of profound personal overwhelm, the song grapples with the heavy realities of genocide, war, famine, ecological collapse and the slow poisoning of the earth’s most basic life sources: air, water and soil.

But rather than becoming mired in despair, Madame Z creates something rare. It’s a protest song that is simultaneously a mantra for survival. “Save the World” is steeped in sorrow, yes, but it is also a vessel for change.

The song strikes a good balance between introspection and uplift – its layered instrumentation with guitar, atmospheric keys and percussion has a tribal feel and builds gradually, creating a sense of momentum. By the time the chorus fully blooms, the listener is immersed.

But “Save the World” is not just a general statement. It is also intimate. Madame Z is able to make something deeply political feel personal. It’s as if you are listening in on a whispered conversation between her and the earth, or between her and her own soul.

For those who know Madame Z’s earlier work, particularly her debut album ”Down the Rabbit Hole”, this track continues her signature style – unflinching emotional honesty, poetic lyrics and a commitment to turning lived experience into a form of healing.

Her background as a fierce advocate for women’s stories, especially through deeply personal tracks like “Unwanted”, is present here as well reminding us that caring for the earth and caring for each other are deeply connected acts.

In an intense political and cultural moment filled, “Save the World” is a song that cuts through the noise.

Keep up with Madame Z on her Website

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music

07.31.14

by viktorsha

Oklahoma’s Trio Psychotic Reaction Out and About in Brooklyn

At a time when it is challenging to seek out bands hailing from regions outside of the musical mecca of NYC, Oklahoma-based group Psychotic Reaction bring forward progressive and mind-numbing sounds. The band crosses the traditional barriers of garage rock and psychedelic tunes and reintroduces subcultural drones of Lou Reed and the Stooges. While their instruments aggregate a concoction of multi-layered guitar snarls, the group constructs a type of narcotic energy that makes the listeners believe and remember the power of rock and roll.

Find them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/psychoticreactionband?ref=br_tf

11.13.12

by viktorsha

The Life and Times Play Bell House

The following are additional visual nibblers of the rockers The Life and Times who jammed at the Bell House alongside Local H’s frontman Scott Lucas.

All photos by Skyler Smith

11.13.12

by viktorsha

Scott Lucas Slams Down During His Solo Show

It’s been a long haul with Hurricane Sandy hitting New York, disconnecting electricity and internet for many residents, including the editors here, at Modern Mystery. However, we have prepared some pulsating images from Scott Lucas’s October show at Brooklyn’s Bell House, check them out below!

10.26.12

by viktorsha

Drowning with Ghost Wave!

Over the CMJ week, Modern Mystery got to catch up to the pulsating 60’s sounds of Ghost Wave.Based out of Auckland, New Zealand, the band projects unconcealed and organic reverberations, while administering room for pioneering layers of new age rock-n- roll. With this being their first-time tour in the states, Ghost Wave discuss the fluidity of their sound, getting hassled by panhandlers in Venice Beach, and continuously expanding their musical grounds.

***Due to an immense amount of city noise and static during the initial interview, the recording underwent a few transcribing errors. This article has been modified and re-edited since it’s first published version. ***

How did you initially come up with your band’s name?

Matt: We don’t actually know how it came up or what’s behind it, it kind of just eventuated. It has not specific meaning, maybe just holds a vibe.We came up with one song first, and then we needed a name, and then we needed a band after that!

How was your project formed? Were you all friends prior to the formation of Ghost Wave?

Matt: Well Eammon is from Wellington,, and he was making a ton of music, so he decided to move up to Auckland.I’d seen him play a couple times, and I was interested if we could collaborate and create similar sounds to the music that I was familiar and interested in. We had about four bass players before Mike came along.

Mike: I lived in the south part of New Zealand, and I used to be friends with another bandmate of Ghost Wave. I then ended up taking his place, and started playing with these guys.I didn’t really know them before I joined, we became friends after we started creating together.

Eammon: Yeah, I didn’t know Matt at all. We were just always going to each other’s shows.

Matt: I bugged Eammon quiete a lot to be my friend, haha!

When did you first begin writing music?

Matt: I was always interested in developing my own sound, and with our band we put our vibes together, mixing different intros and creating from that base. Mike’s parents are very musical. My Dad introduced me to records at a young age

Mike: I’ve been playing bass since I was about 11. My first band was called The Weeds.

Where did you get that idea from?

It was a band that was put together by our music teacher, when I was about 12 years old. I followed through and played in bands while I attended high school, and just kept kicking at it.

Eammon: I didn’t actually play drums until I came to be a part of Ghost Wave, and started jamming with Matt at his house. I’ve been playing instruments since I was really young.My first instrument was a keyboard, I jammed on casiotone quiet a lot.

This is your first time performing in America, have any of you visited New York before?

Mike:This is our first time performing outside of New Zealand.Eammon visited the states a few times before, but this is my first time being here!

Matt:I’ve never left New Zealand, this is my first time exploring.

How long was your flight and what did you mostly jam to on the plane?

Mike: It was a pretty exhausting because we had to fly through Melvin,and then back over New Zealand, and then finally to Los Angeles. It was about a 16-hour flight. I watched a bunch of movies.

Matt: I downloaded a pile of psychedic sitar rock jams, just something to keep me interested for such a long way.

Eammon: I got into this new age meditational music. There was this thing on the plane with a video and music, that helped you go to sleep. It kept repeating, just take a deep breath, just relax! I guess sometimes being on a plane can get pretty gnarly.

Mike: They also had skycam on the tail of the plane, and I watched the flight for a lot of the time.

Judging from your recent shows and first impressions, how would you say the NYC music scene differs from that of Auckland?

Matt: Haha, well the difference is that in New York there IS a scene.

Mike: Also, when we play in New Zealand there’s not a huge communication between us and the crowd.A lot of times it’s bands playing to each other.

Eammon:It’s nice to have a different audience here, and have people be a lot more forthcoming. It’s refreshing to be here.

So how does most of the promoting for bands work back home?

Matt:We’ve always taken the responsibility for the way our band is perceived and putting ourselves outwards.There are not a whole lot of outlets. There is a couple of websites where you can put your band’s poster up.It’s a lot more limited and restricted.

Prior to your arrival to New York City, you played two shows in Los Angeles, how did your first U.S. show with The Golden Awesome turn out?

Mike: Those guys are also from New Zealand.The show felt really natural and organic, it was really fun playing together, we truly enjoyed it.

Matt: A stage is a stage, haha!

Did you have enough time to venture out around Los Angeles?

Mike: We got hassled by some guy down in Venice Beach. He just started asking me to check out his music and buy his albums. He kept telling me “Check it out man, I’ll give it to you. Just give me a donation”. And then another guy came along, and I don’t even know how I ended up talking to all of them in the first place. I guess I can’t always be a nice guy.

Can you expand on central processes of making recently released self-titled debut EP?

Matt: There’s no formula to it, we come together and it sort of just evolves naturally. We can write parts with one-piece, two-piece, three-pieces fragments and then combine everything. It’s all very unstructured, but that’s what we’re going for. We also practiced a ton in this space which used to be a huge weed plantation. There were fake walls in the building when we initially arrived there. I’m pretty sure those people got raided by the police, and then the spot was converted for practice purposes.We have a new rehearsal space now though, we usually practice a couple of times a week. It’s at a place that was prior used for brewing whiskey.

Eammon: It’s nice not to have any noise restrictions, we can play as loud as we want, which is awesome.

What is the most exciting part about playing CMJ?

Matt: Well, we’ve always wanted to come to New York, whether it was for CMJ or not, so having the chance to play our music in the city has been great. We wanted to go explore festivals like SXSW and CMJ, and we’re glad to be a part of it.We’ve done shows before, but not for such a prolonged period as with this festival. New Zealand is so small, it’s refreshing to be able to check out different music scenes and get out of the comfort zone.