Emerging Part 2

Small Pond Vinyl is back with a new release, Emerging Part 2 small pond’s new vinyl. Their first vinyl has been selling quickly ever since then. Vinyl records are coming back in style for many reasons, but the main thing that sets records apart from CDs or digital downloads is their sound quality. Vinyl has always had an analog sound to them that cannot be replicated digitally. In addition to being high-quality, Small Pond Vinyl releases have been very well received by critics as well as fans alike!

Small Pond is a band that reflects the diverse and exciting range of genres in which they work, so all forms of music will be considered for this project—from electronic pop to alt-rock to experimental prog and everything in between—so musicians shouldn’t be discouraged if their stuff is strange and wonderful. The team can’t wait to hear this year’s submissions!

Support Independent Musician

An independent musician is someone who creates and releases music independently of the major record labels. The independent musicians may create and sell their own music with limited distribution, or they may release free online albums that are available to anyone with an internet connection.

Independent musicians often rely more on direct fan support than on radio airplay because there are no big-buck interests to promote them. However, in order for independent musicians to survive in this industry, they have to have a good reputation for their music.

EMERGING Project Leader Liam McMillan

Small Pond Studios label manager and EMERGING project leader Liam McMillan says: “I’m really over the moon that we can work with a new group of talented young artists on our ‘Emerging’ project this year. We have been working really hard behind the scenes at Small Pond to create a host of new projects that support our local scene and beyond. It’s been an extremely challenging year, but delivering a project of this nature will undoubtedly have an immediate positive impact on our creative community.”

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The project, which has been funded by the Arts Council England, focuses on giving promising artists, talented young acts, up-and-coming artists a chance to go through the entire recording, mixing, receive support, account, and marketing process – and the end access to a record label. The process will culminate in the pressing and distribution of a compilation album on 12-inch vinyl and digital platforms in a spring 2021 release. The record will feature a track from each of the acts selected.

The scheme focuses on providing up-and-coming artists with the chance to go through all phases of a record’s creation and marketing. The process culminates and end result is the pressing and distribution of a vinyl album as a collection.

Support for Musicians

Musicians will get support and industry guidance in the form of workshops, pre-production meetings, and mentoring throughout the process, along with a custom-built marketing and PR campaign for the release. Each act will also receive an allocation of the finished vinyl to selling as merchandise, getting them on the way to earning a tangible income from their music.

The project was launched in 2020 with the resulting 8 track compilation Small Pond Presents Emerging featuring singles from MY-HI, CLT DRP, PLACID, El Moono, KING BEE, San Dingo, BADLAWS, and The Subtracks, with CLT DRP going on to sign a full album deal with Small Pond for the release of theirs.

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releases November 26, 2021

More Than Anything by Varsity Star

An expansive yet concise exploration in a synth- and sample-based songwriting, ‘More Than Anything’ is the new Mini-LP by Brooklyn-based electronic musician and audiovisual artist Varsity Star. Featuring lofi electro 808 drums and neon synths on “Summer”, precise and pristine sound design on “Pipes”, and futuristic synthetic four-on-the-floor beats on “LED”, this release spans a wide sonic palette unified by a focus on deeply personal songwriting.

Varsity Star explains, “For me, it’s about making emotional, encapsulated experiences that hit physically from the speakers. From Aphex Twin and the Miles Quintet, I learned a lot about exploring the tensions between those things, tearing music apart and putting it back together in one take. I found music that spoke to me in a real-life, non-theatrical, emotional way is something I’m always trying to get back to.”

releases November 5, 2021

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Live from Dead Tuesdays

Danniel ‘God Damn’ Byrom is back with a new 4-track EP titled ‘Live from Dead Tuesday’s’, out 12th March on Small Pond. The EP is another collection of low-fi indie-folk gems, both heartfelt and melancholic in equal measure.

Following on from his debut EP ‘Live from Sad Claire’s Apartment’, which was released in October last year, ‘Live from Dead Tuesday’s’ picks up where the debut left off, existing in the same semi-fictional town created by Byrom: “I wanted ‘Live from Sad Claire’s Apartment’ to sound like a low-fi bedroom recording from the house of ‘Claire’; full of hope and wonder. ‘Live from Dead Tuesday’s’ is based on a dive bar (taken from the Cat Stevens song ‘Tuesday’s Dead’), very dusty and loud and rough around the edges. It sounds ropier and closer to breaking point, full of the harsh reality of the wild world”.

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Enamoured by the low-fi charm of early Bright Eyes and Daniel Johnstone records, Byrom recorded all 4-tracks on a borrowed Tascam 8-track tape recorder, using an old Ampex mic, along with a host of second-hand instruments, including his beloved J. Busilacchio electric reef organ. This process imbues a sense of humble honesty in the recordings, as Byrom elaborates: “There is no glitz and glamour to hide behind, you have to rely entirely on the song and the performance. It was all recorded in my living room, with the loud whirring of the tape and the outside world adding an element of ambient noise. I find that unpolished sound really endearing”. The result is authentic and palpable, drawing the listener in to Byrom’s fictionalised world.

As the frontman and lead songwriter for alternative rock outfit Wild Cat Strike, Byrom often finds inspiration in both projects: “Struggling with writing for one often inspires me to write for the other, a different style and different arrangements”. Writing more out of compulsion than a hobby, his lyrical themes often revolve around patterns of words, using stream-of-consciousness to develop his meaning. Lead single ‘Michelle Was a Handsome Boy’ – out February 9th – is half a love song wrapped up in a narrative of cults and mass suicide, written almost entirely the first time Byrom played it. ‘Apple Bobbing’, on the other hand, is a self-reflective musing on amelioration and striving to be better. These somewhat disparate themes are deftly woven into an EP that retains a strong sense of place and identity, culminating in a collection of songs that meander charmingly between each other.

Both sad Claire and the rough and tumble dive bar Dead Tuesday’s conjure lonely images dripping with melancholia. However, it is Byrom’s ability to find hope within the darkness that give credence to his creations. His fictionalised world may be a dark and often unforgiving place, but it is full of people and places that truly feel real, existential explorations of what it means to be human. 

About Small Pond

Small Pond is a young music company centered on a thriving recording and rehearsal studio complex in Brighton, which is becoming a favorite haunt for rising bands and renowned acts. 

Turning a hand to all aspects of the modern independent music industry, Small Pond also offers filming/photography, touring services, and live promotions, as well as being home to a rapidly expanding record label

Pricing and Availability

Pre-order of Live from Dead Tuesdays. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC, and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released. Releases March 12, 2021

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