Kevin Bronson on January 11th, 2023

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Volume up: Here’s a roundup of new rock singles, from Widows Gold, Motive Black and Taleen Kali …

WIDOWS GOLD, “Never Had You at All”

The follow-up to singles such as “Holy Rollers,” “Little by Little” and “Inside,” “Never Had You at All” is the latest from L.A. quartet’s debut album “Love Drops” (out Jan. 27). The song’s bold guitar licks and drums belie singer Madeline Star’s pleading vocals, which lament both inner turmoil and the vice one turns to for comfort. “You can take away my pain / but numb can seem just the same.” The indie-rock quartet performs at a benefit for Ukraine on Feb. 4, and also has a gig on March 2 at the Wayfarer in Costa Mesa.

MOTIVE BLACK, “Auburn” and “Caged”

Motive Black is the hard rock outfit fronted by New York expat Elana Justin, who moved to L.A. in 2018 and has been working with guitarist-producer-songwriter Nick Rowe. The band’s brawny, melodic metal highlights Justin’s tenacious vocals, which streak from sweet to siren-like to a scream. Last year, Motive Black started rolling out singles for their debut album, “Auburn,” arriving Feb. 10, and fans of bands such as Evanescence and Halestorm might want to crank up the volume. Lead track “Lift Me Up” features Carla Harvey of Butcher Babies; Ray Luzier (of Korn) plays on “Fight Alone;” and Marcos Curiel (of P.O.D) appears on “Broken.” “Caged” and the title track are the latest two singles to be released — the latter proving exceptionally personal. “‘Auburn’ is a song that means a lot to me … so much that I was almost hesitant to put it out,” Justin says. “I lost my sister to her battle with addiction. She was one of the smartest women I will ever know. She was a straight-A student who aspired to be a doctor. Addiction does not discriminate. I am angry that she will never realize her dreams. This song is about loss, struggle, rage, but mostly it’s about missing my sister and all of her potential.”

TALEEN KALI, “Tomorrow Girl”

Post-punk/shoegaze siren Taleen Kali releases her album “Flower of Life” on March 3, and the dark, relentless single “Tomorrow Girl” is the latest taste. Kali introduced the title track almost a year ago, whetting appetites since with highlights such as “Fine Line” and “Only Lovers Left Alive.” If there were a locals-only stage on Goldenvoice’s Cruel World Festival, Kali oughta be on it. Kali says the new single “is about finding your future self when the present isn’t cutting it. I wrote this song when I desperately wanted change. Sometimes when we want change we seek the wrong kind of love, we take drastic measures, we make dumb mistakes. This song is my dumb mistake. There are so many punk songs titled ‘____ Girl’ and I wanted to write a song in that tradition from a female POV. So, it’s a song about a girl, but we don’t know if the subject of the song is a love interest, or if it’s the narrator having an inner conflict, which I wanted to leave purposefully vague; an inherently queer song.” Kali plays the early show on March 3 at the Moroccan Lounge.