by Jane Lambert

Havilah Tower’s “Open Wide” Shines a Light on Quiet Courage

An emotional folk-pop reflection on the moment your life begins to shift.

Havilah Tower’s latest single Open Wide captures something elusive. That subtle turning point when you realize the life you’ve built no longer fits the shape of your heart.

Wrapped in a warm folk pop instrumentation, “Open Wide” is something of a softly unfolding meditation on self-honesty, transformation and the beauty of rediscovering what truly matters.

Built around a graceful acoustic guitar line and anchored by Havilah’s soulful and expressive vocals, the song opens like a journal entry. It’s private, deliberate and fully human. As she sings of a dream life slipping from her grasp, the listener is drawn into that universal threshold where illusion gives way to truth, not with drama, but with clarity. This is the sound of someone who is choosing alignment over image and heart over habit.

What takes “Open Wide” to the next level though is its arrangement – the cello swells, the ambient textures and the thoughtful percussion surrounds the lyrics without ever overwhelming them. Each instrumental choice seems to lean into the song’s emotional arc, and echoes the idea that shedding old narratives can work to make space for something more honest and grounded.

Lyrically, Havilah strikes a balance between a sense of vulnerability and control. Lines like “the dream that I had, it’s not what I thought” carry both disappointment and empowerment. There is maturity in her writing, as each verse is anchored in lived experience.

Listeners who are familiar with artist like Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile or even the more introspective moments of Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” will feel at home here. But “Open Wide” is not derivative – it is distinctly Havilah.

What makes the track even more especially resonant is how it reframes letting go not as failure, but as a grace.

It’s a song for anyone who has ever paused in the middle of their own story and asked: “Is this still true for me?”

In that way, “Open Wide” becomes more than a single, but also an invitation. One that asks you to step into your life with your own eyes – and heart – fully open.

Keep up with Havilah Tower on her Website

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music

06.30.25

by Jane Lambert

VIDEO VOYAGEUR: 3 Q’s WITH REEYA BANERJEE

Get ready to hit the ground running with Reeya Banerjee’s brand new music video for her punchy new single “Runner.”

This visually dynamic video brings to life the hectic, high energy pace of Reeya’s NYC corporate commute days. All complete with high heels, crowded platforms and a barefoot dash through Grand Central Station.

Directed by Reeya herself and edited by Khalifa Cyrus, the video captures the raw, scrappy energy of city life and the relentless rhythm of chasing deadlines, trains, and moments of breathless motion. It’s a candid and kinetic snapshot of a uniquely New York experience, set to a soundtrack that’s as urgent and unrelenting as the story it tells.

Watch “Runner” now and feel the pulse of the city through Reeya’s eyes:

1. Tell us the story of this song. Why did you choose to visualize it this way?

“Runner” is a punky, breathless tribute to my NYC corporate commute era — all high heels, Metro-North mayhem, and motion without pause. I was constantly running: to the train, to the office, back to the platform, across the Mid-Hudson Bridge after work… lather rinse repeat five days a week.

This song captures that manic rhythm. I wanted to visualize it literally — because I really did run barefoot through Grand Central to catch my train. So we shot that. It felt right to put my actual memories on screen.

2. What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

This is my first traditional narrative music video — and it’s rooted in one of the most absurd and real parts of my 20s. The storyline recreates my daily commute: barrelling through the streets of midtown Manhattan, dodging crowds in Grand Central, racing across the platform in heels (or not), and finally collapsing into a train seat as the Hudson River goes by. Khalifa Cyrus brought the pacing to life by blending live footage, timelapses, and performance moments that channel the song’s urgency. It’s scrappy, sweaty, and deeply New York.

3. What was the process of making the video?

We shot on location in Manhattan and Brooklyn — no permits, just sneakers (and high heels!), friends, and phones. Guntas Singh and Jack Quigley helped film the Grand Central and street scenes while I directed and hoped no one would kick us out of the concourse. Khalifa Cyrus handled the edit, cutting between candid footage and the video’s climactic barefoot sprint. This was a deeply DIY process that mirrors the energy of the song: raw, real, and running on fumes.

Keep up with Reeya Banerjee on her Website

06.30.25

by Jane Lambert

VIDEO VOYAGEUR: 3 Q’s WITH CLEMENTINE MOSS

As a founding member of the all female Led Zeppelin tribute band ZEPPARELLA, and the force behind introspective solo projects like Nothing Will Keep Us Apart and Clem & Clearlight, Clementine Moss has long balanced raw rock power with a spiritual depth.

Her latest work continues this exploration, blending poetic songwriting with personal transformation.

In this exclusive interview, Clementine opens up about the emotional and spiritual shifts that inspired one of her most evocative songs called “Coming to Meet The Blues”.

Created during her journey toward sobriety, the track and its accompanying music video captures the ache of existential questioning and the haunting beauty of roads not taken. Working closely with visual artist Luigi Florente of Blackstars Studio, Clementine brings to life a narrative of romantic memory, longing and awakening. All framed through a vintage lens that echoes the soul of the song.

Here, she walks us through the heart of the piece, the vision behind the visuals and how art continues to help her meet life without the veil:

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

I wrote the album, and this song in particular, as my life was shifting and I was becoming sober. The songs on the record ended up being a kind of love letter to the life I was leaving behind, the late nights in bars, substance-induced hazy moments where judgment was maybe not present. Those moments could be beautiful and creative, but also illusory and over time I began to be more excited by meeting life without a veil.

This song is about that feeling of longing that is existential, when alcohol takes over and you begin to question all the choices that brought you to this point. The narrator of the song sees someone across the bar and paths not taken come into view and amplify the question… have I made the right choices? Is this where I thought I was going? Is the uncertainty I feel about myself truth or mistake?

2. What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

I work with Luigi Florente of Blackstars Studio in Spain to do the videos for the album. I ask that he work with clips and footage without AI generation, and he has a wonderful way of getting inside the song and telling the story. He chose to tell the story of lost love here, and we loved the romantic visuals.

3. What was the process of making the video?

Luigi finds the clips and puts the story together, and then I bring the video into Wondershare and add some lighting and texture. I love working in that program, as there are so many options to use so easily. I love things to look vintage, and the various options of light leak filters really add to the romance.

06.20.25

by Jane Lambert

Slow Burn Elegance – Lil’ Red & The Rooster Shine on Latest Single “Melancholy Mood”

Lil’ Red & The Rooster slow the pace and turn up the elegance on “Melancholy Mood,” the fourth single from their forthcoming album 7.

With a tip of the hat to blues greats T-Bone Walker and Dinah Washington, this track is a smoky and slow burning gem dripping with class, control and emotional finesse.

Jennifer “Lil’ Red” Milligan delivers the vocals with a velvet gloved hand, allowing every word linger in the air like perfume in a dimly lit club. There’s pain here for sure, but it’s the kind of pain worn like a tailored dress – graceful, knowing and timeless. Her phrasing moves with the same unhurried confidence as a singer who understands what it means to have restrain.

Pascal Fouquet’s guitar work is pure vintage cool. His tone is warm and articulate, never showy. It’s just the right bends, the right space and the kind of touch that makes the blues feel intimate and eternal.

Bobby Floyd’s B3 organ swells beneath the track with a soulful subtlety, while Jean Marc Despeignes (bass) and Pascal Mucci (drums) keep things locked in with a hushed, heartbeat rhythm section that lets the emotion breathe.

As part of 7, “Melancholy Mood” feels a lot like a candlelit centerpiece. A moment of reflection that invites listeners to lean in closer. It’s not just a love letter to classic blues, but a confident entry in that lineage, re-imagined with the Rooster’s signature “retro modern” touch.

In a world that often moves too fast, “Melancholy Mood” is a reminder that sometimes the deepest feeling comes in the quietest swing.

Lil’ Red & The Rooster’s upcoming album 7 is a rich blend of gospel, blues, retro soul, and pop jazz rooted in a distinctly 1960’s vibe. Featuring seven original tracks, including an instrumental and a gospel blues opener, the album explores themes of freedom and soulful transformation. With Grammy-nominated Bobby Floyd on B3 and piano, 7 is both elegant and gritty, nostalgic and fresh.

The full album drops August 22, 2025, with singles released every three weeks along the way!

Find out all about Lil’ Red & The Rooster on their Website

06.19.25

by Jane Lambert

The Allure and Honesty of Gun-Shy Butterfly’s Debut Single “Dark Side”

On their debut single, Philadelphia duo Gun-Shy Butterfly – the collaborative force of Julie Exter and Andrea Tarka White – make an unforgettable entrance.

With “Dark Side,” they summon the ghosts of ‘90s alt-rock and grunge not as a nostalgia act, but as a vehicle for urgent and lived truth. It’s gritty, melodic and emotionally unfiltered – a track for anyone who has been dismissed, diminished or erased and decided, finally, to stop apologizing.

Listen here:

From the opening bars, “Dark Side” makes its mission clear. A thick wall of fuzzed out guitar crashes forward, underscored by relentless pounding rhythms. Exter and White keep the structure lean, the parts tight, but the sound feels much bigger. Their vocals cut through the distortion with sharp, melodic urgency, the kind that makes you sit up and pay attention. Harmonies buzz, crackle and scorch and linger like smoke in the wake of a personal firestorm.

But what elevates “Dark Side” beyond a well-executed homage to Veruca Salt, The Breeders, or early Hole is the emotional precision. There is no coyness or artifice. Just clarity. And rage. And the slow burning strength that emerges when you finally accept that sometimes the only way forward is straight through your own wreckage.

At the heart of “Dark Side” is a searing narrative of loss and self-assertion. Andrea Tarka White, who penned the lyrics, pulls no punches in describing the song’s origin. It was a time when she lost everything – friends, community, her social identity – all in the fallout of a betrayal that left her isolated and angry. But rather than shrink from that anger, she leaned into it. She chose the more honest choice:

“Dark Side is about a moment in time when I lost absolutely everything: my friends, my social life, and my sense of self. People had to choose between me and a lying, cheating man, and they chose him. I was so angry, not just that I lost everything, but that he somehow didn’t.

At that moment realizing how bifurcated everything felt, him or me, right or wrong, dark or light, it changed something in me. I realized that love isn’t about being positive all the time. Or being nice. It’s about embracing all of who I am and moving forward. Which sometimes means standing up for myself and leaving people behind.”

In that spirit, “Dark Side” becomes more than a breakup song. It’s kind of like a cultural exorcism. It speaks to a wider exhaustion shared by many women (and others) who’ve been told, explicitly or otherwise, that survival must come with a smile, that pain should be polite, and that rage is somehow unseemly.

Gun-Shy Butterfly torpedoes that notion. Here, darkness is not weakness – it is armor. It’s clarity. It’s the fuel for transformation.

The title alone is a challenge to binary thinking- good/bad, victim/villain, light/dark. A butterfly that flinches but never stops moving. That duality threads through the song’s DNA and defines the band’s ethos.

And the DIY ethic behind the track only deepens its impact. Much of “Dark Side” was recorded in Exter’s basement, where raw takes became the backbone of the song’s visceral sound. Guitar tones were captured on the first try. An impressive feat that speaks to both musicians’ instinctive command of their instruments and their refusal to over-process the realness out of their work. Final vocal tracking was completed at The Daisy Corner and The Gradwell House, with mixing by Dave Downham and mastering by Kim Rosen (Knack Mastering) providing a final sheen that never sacrifices grit.

Gun-Shy Butterfly also offers something refreshingly rare in the current music landscape: a voice of women in midlife who are still making, growing and loudly refusing to disappear. Both Exter and White are mothers in their 40’s, navigating parenthood, work and creative life in tandem.

“Dark Side” is a song for anyone who has been gaslit into silence. For anyone who has walked away from everything they knew in order to reclaim who they are. For anyone who has learned, sometimes too late, that self-respect isn’t always gentle. And that’s okay!

Keep up with everything Gun-Shy Butterfly on the Website

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music

06.06.25

by Jane Lambert

Stacked with Swagger – Lil’ Red & The Rooster Deal a Winning Hand with “Stack ‘Em Up Baby”

Lil’ Red & The Rooster’s latest single “Stack ‘Em Up Baby” is a whole vibe. A low-slung groove with a wink in its eye and a strut in its step, the track oozes vintage soul and playful cool while bringing something unmistakably fresh to the table.

From the opening piano flourish, you are unmistakably dropped into a smoke-filled jazz lounge where every note has purpose and every phrase is dressed to impress.

This is retro-modern blues at its finest. Jen “Lil’ Red” Milligan’s vocals glide with a feline style finesse – cheeky, sly and drenched in charisma. In this son, Lil Red is not just singing about stacking ’em up, she is the dealer, the mood-setter and the ringleader of this cinematic scene. Her delivery evokes the smoky sophistication of Rickie Lee Jones, with the soul deep phrasing of vintage jazz and blues greats, filtered through her own unique sass.

Pascal Fouquet, the “Rooster” in this bluesy power duo, brings his signature elegance on guitar.

His touch is tasteful and timeless, letting each note breathe and smolder, and skilled application of tone, groove and a deep understanding of the genre’s roots. His playing is the slow burn to Lil’ Red’s flickering flame, and together they create a dynamic that is impossible to fake.

And then there’s the not-so-secret weapon – Grammy-nominated keyboardist Bobby Floyd (Ray Charles, Count Basie Orchestra, Dr. John). His B3 and piano work provide that plush, cinematic backdrop for this slow-burner, anchoring the whole production in something rich and luxurious. His presence is testament to the band’s commitment to real musicianship, deep soul, and that indefinable thing we call “feel.”

“Stack ‘Em Up Baby” leans into a nostalgic groove dripping with class and intention, much like the theme song to a 1960’s detective film that never got made but should have. There’s drama, there’s flirtation and there is an undeniable joy in how the band navigates the space between blues, jazz and retro soul. It’s as much a mood as it is melody.

And this track kicks off off a waterfall release schedule, leading up to the release of the duo’s upcoming album called “7”. If this track is the opening move, consider us all-in.

“7″ promises to explore themes of freedom and rising from adversity – core values that have always quietly pulsed beneath the surface of Lil’ Red & The Rooster’s work. But here, with “Stack ‘Em Up Baby,” those themes get dressed up in velvet, high heels and attitude.

Lil’ Red & The Rooster have never been content to just rehash the blues. They really embody the blues. And with this new era, they are showing that the blues is thriving and ready to seduce a new generation.

So go ahead. Put it on. Stack ’em up, press play and let this tune swagger into your soul.

Listen to “Stack ‘Em Up Baby” here

Find out all about Lil’ Red & The Rooster on their Website.

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music