Today, Wednesday, January 24th, marks the release of brand new Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 8 contributions from Mary Jane Dunphe and Vanishing Twin – both available now on all DSPs and as limited-edition vinyl 7” singles.
Mary Jane Dunphe is a solo artist and poet based in New York City. She released a few singles during 2023, culminating in the fall release of her debut album, Stage of Love, on Pop Wig (The title track was included in Pitchfork’s 100 Best Songs of 2023 list). Mary Jane is originally from Washington State and sang for the great Olympia punk band Vexx from 2010 to 2016. She’s been involved in several other musical projects, including CCFX, CC Dust, and The County Liners.
Dunphe says, “Both of these songs were written and recorded by me in my bedroom (except for a day when I had to record in my friend Luke’s room (Free Advice) to get out of my own head.) They’re made with what I had lying around; a bass, some chimes, a single maraca, some breaks I had been messing with, and a soft synth. ‘Fix Me’ is an internal stutter of feeling that there is something wrong inside, and all you can do is feel it out with a song. ‘Seasons’ goes outside and finds that in the face of societal and environmental collapse, the dissolving of seasons and our connection to the earth, that love for love’s sake of everything is a tether keeping me on the ground.”
Vanishing Twin was initially formed by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas in 2015 and is now the tightly honed, London-based collective of Lucas, the drummer Valentina Magaletti, and the bassist Susumu Mukai. Harnessing the diverse backgrounds and touchstones of its members—Lucas’ left-field songcraft, Magaletti’s singular approaches to experimental percussion, and Mukai’s long history in the production of electronic music—over nearly a dozen releases since 2016, the band has refined a hypnotic sound at the juncture of minimalism, kosmische, post-punk, and dream-laden, psychedelic pop. The lyrics for the song “Life Drummer” are adapted from a chapter from The Listening Book by W.A. Mathieu, also called “Life Drummer.”
You can still subscribe to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 8 now to get twelve super-limited 7” vinyl records featuring exclusive music by today’s finest musicians! It’s limited to a mere 835 subscriptions because it’s volume 8, and 2023 marked Sub Pop’s 35th birthday! You’ll get the aforementioned 7”s from Mary Jane Dunphe and Vanishing Twin, along with singles from SUNN O))), Telehealth, Thrash Palace (feat. EMA, Vice Cooler, Sarah Register), Gaye Su Akyol, Jessica Winter & Jonathan Snipes, Margaritas Podridas, Brontez Purnell, and Suki Waterhouse (which includes her collaboration with Belle & Sebastian). The final two singles for Volume 8 will be from the Parisian band En Attendant Ana (who released one of the best albums of 2023, according to TIME Magazine), and haha same (the new collaboration between Greta Kline of Frankie Cosmos and Cody Fitzgerald of Stolen Jars), both of which are due in February. And, to top it all off, you’ll get a lavish storage box, with art by @oldsweaty, to keep the records together.
Computer users: fear not! You will also get digital downloads of the tracks through your Sub Pop Mega Mart account. Hear music from the series via the Singles Club playlist, and subscribe here.
Lastly, fans of the band Telehealth can watch their new video for “Mindtrap,” the official video from their installment of Sub Pop Singles Club, Vol. 8, tomorrow, Thursday, January 25th, on YouTube.