Kevin Bronson on November 8th, 2020

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The We-Were-Paralyzed-By-Election-Drama Edition of our singles roundup, as we catch up with notable releases from Joyeur, Chris Pierce, Lavender Diamond and Seahaven. Abundant variety here:

JOYEUR, “Motion”

The electro-pop duo of Anna Feller and Joelle Corey have released their first single since 2018, a sampling from an EP they are releasing next year. Where have Joyeur been hiding? Maybe they’ve been making caffeine runs — this one’s snappy and smart. “‘Motion’ is the articulation of the modern human experience,” Corey says. “We dull our senses with digital binges and stacked schedules leaving us feeling stark, vacuous. I wanted to capture the moment where we break free from that, where we find stillness within ourselves, within nature, to then gain clarity in motion.”

CHRIS PIERCE, “American Silence”

The follow-up to this summer’s “It’s Been Burning for a While” (and, also notably, the August single “The Map” as one-half of the duo War & Pierce), Pierce continues the folk tradition of chronicling the times and speaking truth to power. He will release a new album next year. (And he recently did an acoustic session as part of the summer series “The Autry Presents: The Best of Los Angeles.”)

LAVENDER DIAMOND, “In the Garden” (feat. Nate Walcott)

On the heels of September’s “This Is How We Rise,” Lavender Diamond brings another dose of the sky-blue orchestral pop from their forthcoming album “Now Is the Time” (out Dec. 4). It’s the first album in eight years from Becky Stark, Steve Gregoropoulos and Ron Regé, Jr., and among their collaborators is Bright Eyes’ Nate Walcott, adding some sweet horn to this track. “This song is a battle cry for heaven on earth!” Stark says. “It’s a song for dancing! In these days of grave transformations, it helps me to experience the true heaven of the beauty of earth in the garden and to remember that we can choose to create heaven on earth if we dare.”

SEAHAVEN, “Bait” and “Harbor”

In early October, Torrance rockers Seahaven stoked anticipation for their first album in six years, “Halo of Hurt,” by unveiling the song “Moon.” Now they’re back with not one, but two more singles. “‘Bait’ was one of the first ideas I had floating around since we had taken a break back in 2016,” Kyle Soto says. “I held onto it for awhile as a ‘what if.’ Once we all got back in a room again, we sort of took it as the first step into what would shape the sound of the new project. ‘Harbor’ stemmed from just an urge to get in the room and make a lot of noise.” As has mostly been the case with Seahaven, it’s beautiful noise.