Kevin Bronson on June 6th, 2023

0

Catching up with new songs from four artists who have albums or EPs on the horizon: Mirrorball, Alaska Reid, SWIMM and Derde Verde …

MIRRORBALL, “Red Hot Dust”

Easy does it. That’s what you get when settling into “Red Hot Dust,” the latest from L.A. duo Mirrorball (Alexandra Johnstone and Scott Watson). The follow-up to “Tinsel to a Tear,” it’s the second single from a forthcoming EP produced by Chris Coady (Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). The song, Johnstone says, was written “during difficult times as a way of forcing some light to the surface, and because I wanted to feel like I could go home again at a time when I could not physically go home.” Catch Mirrorball on June 24 at Permanent Records Roadhouse and Aug. 15 at Gold-Diggers.

ALASKA REID, “Palomino”

On “Palomino,” the follow-up to “Back to This” and “She Wonders,” Alaska Reid mines the experience of her mother, who in the 1980s worked at the legendary North Hollywood club the Palomino. “She told me and my sisters all these crazy stories from those days,” Reid says. “I wrote this song imagining I was her, working at a club like that.” It’s the third single from Reid’s album, “Disenchanter,” co-produced by A.G. Cook and out July 14. Reid plays the Moroccan Lounge on Sept. 9.

SWIMM, “Used to Saying Yes”

Boasting a groove that will loosen your limbs, if not your inhibitions, “Used to Saying Yes” is the follow-up to “No Ties” and “Talk to Me” — and the third single off SWIMM’s sophomore album “Best Comedown Ever,” out Aug. 10. Frontman Chris Hess says: “Hoping to usher in my ‘no’ era with this one. Not in a negative or pessimistic way, but I think being a ‘yes person’ is an exhausting trope. ‘Used To Saying Yes’ is my reaction to an addiction I’ve had to the pace of Los Angeles. By all means, if a summer of toxic fun is what you’re craving — go to your friend’s show, hit the clurrrb on a Tuesday, get on the apps, or scope out that weird sex party in the Hills. Just remember you might feel happier and more like yourself if you say no sometimes.”

DERDE VERDE, “Timelapse”

Derde Verde’s sophomore album “Tug of War” is out June 16 and it finds the trio — Dylan McKenzie, Jonathan Schwarz and Colin Woodford — on a distant horizon melding folk and indie-rock into songs that come with everything except the actual view. (For that, you have your imagination.) Nostalgia is the overarching theme of “Timelapse,” as the slow-building song traces a conversation between two people caught between their past selves and who they have become. It’s the third single from the album, following “Don’t Look Away” and “Child of Spring.” See the band live June 16 at Gold-Diggers.