NYC Scene Report – Grace May, Figure Eight, & more


This week’s NYC Scene Report features R&B songstress Grace May not keeping “Quiet,” punk rock act Figure Eight finding “True Love,” electro-pop artist Car Astor rocking out in a retro style, and hip-hop artist Joey Golden embracing Retrograde.

* NYC, by way of Toronto, R&B artist Grace May recently released a single titled “Quiet,” and it’s something you won’t want to keep quiet about.

With a theme of not wanting to saddle your loved ones with your own personal struggles, May says that musically, “I wanted the instrumentation to be as raw as the lyrics.”

Hoping the song will inspire those going through tough times to not be afraid to talk to someone, “Quiet” speaks loudly, and May’s vocals can create a feeling of ease in even the most uneasy of times


* True love can be difficult to find. That is, unless you’re listening to the latest from Long Island-based punk rock act Figure Eight. Their recently released single, “True Love,” is off the Ryan Meyers-led band’s upcoming full length debut, Any Given Flower, due out May 24th.

Meyers explained the inspiration for the song in a statement, saying, “I was listening to a lot of Counting Crows, and singer/songwriter stuff, at the time, so that’s kind of the head space I was in. It’s definitely the first song that really differs from previous music that we’ve put out, although the rest of the record will have more questionable sonic choices.”

He added that “True Love” “(is) not a song that asks much of the listener, and doesn’t need to be read into that much, and that’s OK sometimes. It feels good to not have every song be an emotional mess, and sometimes it’s OK to have fun and be a little cheesy.”

Give the song a spin, and feel the love from Figure Eight.


* Over the past few years Car Astor has become a column favorite around here, and one reason why is she’s unafraid to go in just about any direction, creatively. Her latest is a ’90s alt-rock inspired standalone single titled “Don’t Stop, Don’t Speak.”

The video for “Don’t Stop, Don’t Speak” features just as much ‘90s alt-rock goodness as the song (can we all just admit the fisheye lens was f*cking awesome?). Astor, who directed the video herself, explains, “I was able to look to many of my earliest musical influences and nod my head to them with the performance aspect of the video. It was such a blast. I really wanted to pull on the tension and desire that surrounds the lyrics of the song, and execute that in a symbolic, dark, ‘me’ way.”

Check out the clip, and rock out with Car Astor.


* NYC hip-hop veteran Joey Golden – who many of you know as a member of O.I.S.D., and one half of thaJoint – released a solo EP this past month titled Retrograde.

Golden explained the inspiration for the project in a statement, saying, “It was mostly written while Mercury was in retrograde. People go crazy and blame everything on (Mercury being in retrograde). (They also) say you shouldn't really try to do certain things because of how blurry communications can get.”

Golden notes retrograde can also mean “to move backwards,” which plays into the concept of the EP. “A big theme in my music is looking back to go forward,” he explains, “so on this project I'm looking back and questioning/reaffirming things to myself, and addressing lessons I picked up through the bullshit.”

The entire Retrograde EP was produced by teedotEinsof, and you can listen to it in full below.

For more Joey Golden, check out our recent Stacking The Deck interview.


For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.

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