Kevin Bronson on July 27th, 2022

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Midweek energy boost: Check out new singles from Beginners, Milly and Reckling …

BEGINNERS, “I Hate That I Love Brooklyn” (feat. Matias Mora)

Samantha Barbera, who’s been making noise as part of L.A. Exes (who this week wound up a raucous residency at the Echo), is back to work at the helm of Beginners. Today, they announced the fall arrival of a new EP, “If the World Is Ending,” the follow-up to 2021’s “Ooey Gooey.” In the punchy new single “I Hate That I Love Brooklyn” (which features Matias Mora), the borough stands in as “a giant metaphor for my manic addiction to someone I used to love,” Barbera says. “The same way that a city like Brooklyn makes you feel alive but can also completely drain you. Passion can be so invigorating but costly. … One day when I got to Matias’ house he had this amazing blinged-out Brooklyn hat sitting on the piano. My guitarist in Beginners, Posey, was there with us as well, and we couldn’t stop taking ridiculous photos in the hat and editing them into mock ’90s rap album covers. After wasting two hours on Brooklyn hat rap photos, we finally sat down to work on music. And we all agreed that the song had to be about Brooklyn.

MILLY, “Ring True”

The follow-up to singles “Illuminate” and “Nullify,” “Ring True” is the latest taste of L.A. quartet Milly’s debut album, “Eternal Ring,” out Sept. 30 via Dangerbird Records. As we’ve suggested before, the ’90s are in good hands with Brendan Dyer. “‘Ring True’ came to life initially as a short poem I had written,” he explains. “I wanted to feel alive and feel free and the words just flowed out of my system. When I began putting down music to the words, I was thinking about the freedom I’ve always felt while listening to bands like Death Cab for Cutie and the Smiths. There was also an intentional nod to some of my alt-country heroes, a la Kurt Vile, Lucinda Williams in some of the twang I was chasing with my guitar.” See Milly on Friday night, supporting Launder, at the Moroccan Lounge (tickets).

RECKLING, “Verbalize”

“I think this is my favorite song I’ve ever written,” proclaims Kelsey Reckling, namesake of the punk four-piece Reckling, of “Verbalize.” It’s a relentlessly driving rocker that feels as immediate as the moment it was created. She adds: “Most of my songs are written retrospectively, often reflecting back on a specific time or feeling. But with ‘Verbalize,’ it was written in real time during the actual moment, in the middle of all the feelings — and was written as a way of sorting through things. It’s kind of like vomiting … when you have that bad feeling in your stomach but you’re not at the point of having to throw up yet, but you know that when you do throw up, you’re gonna feel so much better. Sometimes, you have to exorcise feelings from your body by way of song.” The song, the follow-up to “In My Hair,” appears on Reckling’s forthcoming EP, “Human Nature” (out Aug. 12). Reckling plays in support of Death Lens on Aug. 25 at the Echo (tickets).