Music can make your day.
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One song playing at the right moment, perhaps with the right cup of coffee in your favorite mug, and the sun coming through the window, can really make life worth living.
We here at American Songwriter think that songs are the oxygen for your spiritual lungs.
To that end, we wanted to share 12 new works of music to brighten your day and share the good word of composition. So, with that in mind, here are 12 songs for you today.
1. Shana Cleveland
The standout California-based songwriter and performer released her newest single and accompanying video for the track, “Ghost,” earlier this week. (See more from Shana in our piece about musicians and pregnancy here.) Cleveland has a new album set to drop on March 10 and this work leaves us anticipating more.
2. Death Valley Girls
The unique and blissfully harmonious LA-based band, Death Valley Girls, has announced a new record, Islands in the Sky, which is set to drop on February 24. Ahead of that, the group shared a new single this week, “Magic Powers,” which you can check out below. The group is stunning, lush and like a spell of antidotes for what ails you.
3. The Black Tones
The Seattle-based blues rockers released a new single, “Blue Matrimony.” The song is (sadly) based on real-life events during which an Emerald City man took his wife’s life. He was 89, she was 83. The haunting guitar-focused song is below for you to dive into.
4. Terrace Martin
The standout producer is known for his knack for bridging hip-hop and jazz. On his new single, “Chucks,” which features the artist Channel Tres, Martin extends even further with a beat that is befitting of a movie soundtrack or even a dark, wild night in your favorite dancing establishment. For Martin, who has worked with Kendrick Lamar and is part of the Dinner Party quartet, the sky is the limit.
5. John Oates
Legendary songwriter and guitar player John Oates released a new track, “Disconnected.” The new song is the second single from his series of tracks that he will release each month.“There are always times in our lives when we all feel ‘disconnected’ from something or someone …emotionally, physically, spiritually, or any of the above…but the important thing is to never give up hope and strive to find a way to pull it all back together,” Oates says of the song.
6. Emily James
The rising songwriter released her latest single and accompanying music video for “Happy for Me.” The track is both bubbly and melancholy. Why can’t we be happy for ourselves? James has the ability to cut through the noise and get to the meat of an idea and in this song, she does just that. Check it out below.
7. Black Belt Eagle Scout
The skilled Pacific Northwest songwriter has a new album on the way. She released her latest single from the LP, “Spaces.” With skill on the guitar as well as in blending her ethereal voice with the six-string, the project’s front person, KP, knows how to ring and roar. Check out her new song below.
8. Death Cab for Cutie
The acclaimed group from the Pacific Northwest announced an acoustic version of its 10th studio album, Asphalt Meadows, and with it came the acoustic rendition of the song “Pepper.” The new acoustic album is out on March 10 and the band is on tour with The Postal Service later this year.
9. Y La Bamba
Standout Portland, Oregon-based band Y La Bamba announced a new tour and album set for 2023. With the news also came the debut single, “Dibujos de Mi Alma,” from the new album, Lucha. It’s the first new album since 2019 for Y La Bamba.
10. Neutral Milk Hotel
The work of psych-folk, cirque rock project Neutral Milk Hotel is getting a box set release for the ages. Arriving February 24, The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel will be a discography-spanning compilation of the band’s musical universe. The group dropped the song “Unborn,” which comes from a tape made for musician Bill Doss while the band’s Jeff Mangum was living in Georgia. The two traded cassettes like letters.
11. Moby
The legendary music producer Moby released a new video for the single “transit,” which features the artist Gaidaa. “One of the most exciting parts of my creative life is sending an instrumental 5,000 miles across the globe to an amazing singer and writer like Gaidaa, and seeing what magic she creates,” Moby says of the collab. “In the case of ‘transit’, she created something really remarkable.”
12. Aliyah Good
Aliyah Good, daughter of country singer Jamie O’Neal (“There Is No Arizona”) and husband Rodney Good, released her latest song, “Ending of a First Love.” Good follows in her mom’s footsteps with her emotive vocals on the country release—a tender ballad, written solely by Good, that has her singing about a breakup. First you trust him / and trust gets broken / a hole in your heart starts to open / a few months later and now you’re jaded / you feel like love’s only made for breaking /. but that’s not your fault and it never was / it’s the ending of a first love, she sings in the chorus.
In addition to the single, Good shared a new video for the track, in which she stars. Check it out below.
Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
