NYC Scene Report – Carly Pearl, Laika Songs, & Camille Schmidt

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Carly Pearl being “Over the Influence,” Laika Songs applying some “SPF Infinity," and Camille Schmidt showing she’s a Good Person.

* Carly Pearl has been a longtime favorite here, because she has a wonderfully soulful voice, and she uses it to sing songs that are good for the soul. Her latest, “Over the Influence,” takes on influencer culture, and social media’s negative impact on people.

On the release of the “Over the Influence,” Pearl said, “The message of this song is so important to me. We’re living in a time where we are being fed information, and influence all day long. The impulse to pick up our phones, or put junk in our bodies for a quick hit of dopamine has become incessant for so many of us. I wrote this song to empower us to get intentional about what we are consuming. We get to decide what we allow into our energy – we get to decide to be Over the Influence.”

Click play, and get “Over the Influence” with Carly Pearl.

* Laika Songs – the latest project of Evan Brock, who’s also known for his indie rock band Neil Jung – released a full-length album titled Slowly Spiraling Towards The Light, last month, and one of the singles will have you applying “SPF Infinity” (which is actually what I need if there’s any chance of being in direct contact with sunlight).

Discussing “SPF Infinity” on Instagram, Brock wrote, “This is one of my favorite songs on the record. I absolutely love the harmonies by Chanele (McGuinness), and the horns Danny (T. Levin) added almost made me cry the first time I heard them.”

True to its name, “SPF Infinity” is a perfect summer indie rock song. Click play on the video, and apply liberally (which in this case means play it often)!

* Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Camille Schmidt just released her debut EP, Good Person, and it’s all about personal growth.

Discussing the project in a statement, she said, “This EP is very much about struggle, about process – specifically the process of becoming, and looking back at all the things you’ve been through in your childhood, looking back on the different versions of yourself you’ve been in friendships and relationships, the different fake versions of self you’ve presented to the world – as well as looking directly at the f*cked up things happening in the world – and then sort of asking with a real honest earnest hope, is there something else? And then betting with your life that there is.”

Give the standout single “Your Game” a listen, and I think you’ll find betting on Camille Schmidt is the safest of bets.

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