NYC Scene Report – Rebecca Haviland and Whiskey Heart, PANIK FLOWER, & Strange Neighbors

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Rebecca Haviland and Whiskey Heart enjoying some Early Mornings, PANIK FLOWER hitting the road in support of their new EP, and Strange Neighbors with a post-breakup power pop song.

* When Rebecca Haviland and Whiskey Heart released their Late Nights EP this past winter they already had the follow up, Early Mornings ready to go, and now the sun has risen on that collection of songs.

While Late Nights was an after hours affair, Early Mornings has a pre-dawn vibe. The lead single is, appropriately enough, “Late Nights and Early Mornings.”

A blues infused rock song that was inspired by everything from The Black Crowes, to ‘70s rock n roll, Haviland says of “Late Nights and Early Mornings,” “To me, this song is where the worlds of late nights and early mornings truly intersect. It’s those suspended hours, when the world is asleep, and musicians are still chasing the magic.”

This is the type of song that would inspire an artist’s heroes to raise a glass to them, because it totally embodies the spirit Haviland and crew were going for. Give it a spin, because no matter the time of day, “Late Nights and Early Mornings” sounds fantastic.

* NYC dream-pop shoegaze band PANIK FLOWER just released their sophomore EP, rearview, and according to bassist Max Baird, it’s a bit of a coming of age project for them.

“This EP felt like a lot of us finding ourselves as a band — our sound, and how we perform. Sage’s spoken word has become such an important part of that, and we really wanted to explore it in this project. It contributes a lot to the push-pull dynamic of our music, often adding another rhythmic element on top of an already lush, sonic landscape. Many of the bones of these tracks were brought to us by our drummer Marco, who was our missing piece up until early last year.”

PANIK FLOWER will be hitting the road for a quick run of tour dates from June 12th through the 21st, but before they packed their bags they released a video for the title track to rearview. 

Check out the clip, and then check out PANIK FLOWER if they’re coming to a city near you.

* Power pop foursome Strange Neighbors released an incredible album titled People Pleasers Pleasing People last month, the latest single off of which is the post-breakup song “Hate Me Less.”

If anyone’s ever gone through a breakup – and I think it’s safe to assume most everyone has – two lyrics which are repeated throughout the song will be both incredibly relatable, and potentially hit like a ton of bricks

“I think I’m trying my best.”

“I hope you hate me less.”

Does it get any more to the heart of the matter than that?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pretend I’m not emotional over here. Strong like bull … or something like that.

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