Brooklyn-based artist Frances Chang has signed to RVNG Intl, the label that launched Julia Holter and supported Cate Le Bon, marking a significant step in her career trajectory. The signing comes as Chang releases new material that strips back the noise for a limpid setting that lets her idiosyncratic lyricism shine, following her debut album proper Psychedelic Anxiety released two years ago.
Building a Career Through Independent Labels
Chang released her debut cassette, Support Your Local Nihilist, four years ago, demonstrating the kind of gradual, organic artist development that independent labels have traditionally supported. Her new single No Avatar is described as conversational and serene against little whorls of piano, skittish drum fizz and softly flaring synths. Her songs are described as hard to pin down, mirroring the single's desire to avoid outward definition, and as working to an internal logic that evokes an uncanny domesticity, with casual piano refrains, rainy percussion, the melty haze of a horizon at dusk, and grooves slinking in at the end of a song like next door's cat making itself at home.
The sound is said to share a lot with the modern Copenhagen scene, of which Astrid Sonne is a key fixture, but with more welcoming softness and warmth. Chang's January single I Can Feel the Waves is described as a six-minute suite that starts out a little edgy, then yields with gorgeous warped piano and disarmingly intimate focus. The track is also described as being about remaining unknowable, and cherishing the ever-renewing mysteries of relating to oneself and others.
This Week's New Releases
The week's best new tracks include Lambchop's Weakened, backed by guitar, choir and Justin Vernon on banjo, described as one of the most simple and beautiful ballads in Kurt Wagner's 40-odd years of music, as he sings of the threshold between life and death. Silvana Estrada and PabloPablo's Antes de Ti features Estrada's elegant music and PabloPablo's lilt around her cuatro's light strings before a liquid, orchestral pivot opens up a cosmic portal.
Josh da Costa's Proving Me Right sees the former member of unfairly overlooked duo CMON and former drummer for Drugdealer and MGMT summoning the spirit of Sparks for a new wave anthem with a chorus pitching like a ship in a storm. Martin Brugger's Knees, Hands, Shoulders, Teeth features the head of the Squama label releasing ambient music that is softly clanking, mournful, with traces of Kentucky post-rock.
Bedouine's On My Own includes contributions from the Lemon Twigs and classic piano-driven MOR backing offset by affecting vocals. Resonant Bodies' Failed Hornpipe for Jacken, by Rob Bentall and Zebedee Budworth of Sheffield cabaret-doom-folk ensemble Slug Milk, is described as a refined and hopeful 10-minute blossoming of nyckelharpa and hammered dulcimer that pelts to a heart-stopping finish.
Liz Lawrence's Exploded Into Flowers addresses the abundant floral tributes at her sister's funeral after her sister died aged 35 two years ago, rooted in a robust repeating melody and described as a powerful tribute.
Why This Matters:
The independent music sector continues to demonstrate its ability to develop artists over multiple years and releases, with Chang's progression from cassette to full album to major label signing illustrating the ecosystem's functionality. RVNG Intl's track record with artists like Julia Holter and Cate Le Bon suggests the label operates as a viable alternative to major label infrastructure, allowing artists to build audiences through gradual exposure rather than immediate commercial pressure. The diversity of this week's releases, from established artists like Lambchop's Kurt Wagner to emerging talent, reflects a music marketplace where niche audiences can sustain professional careers outside mainstream commercial channels. This model relies on consumer willingness to seek out and support independent releases rather than depending on government subsidies or intervention in cultural markets.