Scene Recap: Drook, Single Use, Palmyra

Countless great outlets, organizations, and individuals cover the music scene in Richmond, so many that it might be hard to keep up to date on all of them. We’ll try and collect some great articles, coverage, and news bits we’ve read each week here at The Auricular.

• Congratulations to Drook on winning the 2025 Newlin Music Prize for their record The Pure Joy Of Jumping! It’s a well-deserved honor, determined by the largest jury yet–150 members of the local arts and music community, and, of course, a public fan vote. There’s plenty more to say about Drook further down in this column (and in another article entirely), so for now, I want to take a moment to encourage you to check out the other 19 nominees if you haven’t already. The Newlin Music Prize isn’t just about celebrating the winner, it’s about raising awareness for the entire music scene. Give these nominees a listen–I promise you’ll walk away with at least one new favorite song. (Album links here.)

• Richmond Times-Dispatch had an above-the-fold spread this week with Deau Eyes planted on the cover asking “Is RVA a Music City?” Obviously I wanted to scream “Duh!” when seeing that, but Chelsea Jackson really went all in on this article, talking not only to Ali Thibodeau but also Torren Shanae from the record label POVERTY. It’s a great read so pick up a copy of the paper if you see Deau Eye’s poised in a chair with a guitar, or subscribe to RTD online and read it there. (Article link here.)

• Speaking of Deau Eyes, she kicked off the very first episode of Single Use, a new podcast airing on WRIR every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. The episode features a full interview as well as songs by Deau Eyes and a set of songs curated especially to align with her sound. Plus, there’s a shorter YouTube video with unaired moments from the conversation. Huge shoutout to Phil Shepard, Khadija Hassan, and Marshall Hanbury for bringing this to life. I’ll be tuning in every time. Be sure to give them a follow on social media so you don’t miss a thing! (Instagram link here.)

• From one podcast to the next: Ty Sorrell and Profound79 dropped by the Fairly Decent podcast to talk about their latest collaborative record, Return To Forever: A Profound Discovery. The album itself is a must-listen, but this interview is just as essential, offering insights that might change the way you hear the record. Definitely worth checking out. (YouTube link here.)

• On the topic of new releases, shout-out to Butcher Brown–last year’s Newlin Music Prize winner, keeping things full circle–for their latest record, Letters From The Atlantic. Local journalist Dash Lewis wrote a fantastic piece on it for Bandcamp Daily, so be sure to give that a read before, during, or after your first spin. (Article link here.)

• Also, shout-out to Palmyra for releasing Restless, an album that’s been generating some well-deserved buzz. They’ve had some solid coverage (including a great piece on No Depression), but my favorite so far is this interview they did with Uproxx. Give it a read, and be sure to add Restless to your queue. (Article link here.)

• In other interviews, Annie Parnell caught up with Strawberry Moon for VPM this past week ahead of their sold-out show at The Broadberry, opening for of Montreal. If you’ve followed our coverage over the years, you already know how much The Auricular loves the folks from Strawberry Moon so be sure to check this one out, whether you read or listen. (Interview link here.)

• Save these dates: 4/17 for our next Plan 9 showcase (artist announced Tuesday); Golden Fest on 4/10, 4/12, & 4/19; WRIR fund drive and anniversary events on 4/18 & 4/26; and 4/16 at The Altria.

• There was a great article in Style Weekly last week by Tim Abbondelo that covered a new book discussing the debt Elvis Presley owes to pioneering black musicians. The book author’s loose Richmond ties helped spark the article, but it’s a story everyone should know… before DEI erasure makes it even harder to learn about. (Article link here.)

• Griffin Smalley’s latest “Sound Check” column at RVA Magazine covered The Hurricane Party, Homey, and Gusher, the latter of which leads off a huge article I’ve yet to finish about a month’s worth of concerts condensed into one solitary week. Griffin’s take is better than mine though so give this a read. (Article link here.)

• Mason Rowley is back this past week with the second edition of his “Kill All Hippies” column for Ink Magazine. Nothing local in the song round-up, but considering the countless Friday mornings I’ve spent spamming people’s phones with Rebecca Black gifs over the years., I think this local piece deserves a read. (Article link here.)

• Shockoe Sessions Live wrapped up International Women’s Month in synth style with IONNA this past Tuesday. I’m really excited to see what she has in store for us in 2025. Up next from In Your Ear: guitar hero REIN, whose name you might spot below. In the meantime, don’t miss out on watching IONNA’s performance! (YouTube link here.)

• Another busy week here at The Auricular as 2025 keeps rolling on. Rapid-fire recap time: premieres of new singles from Poems For Dead People, Bri Bevan, and Squeeze The Squid, plus an album premiere from Camp Werewolf; an overview of REIN’s new REINCHECK video series; and then recaps of new music videos from Young Tapp & Lil Rhaa, Keymari, zee !!, Traptize Ky, VF Shaolin, Ko’Kane Stompin’ & Luh Guttah, URFAVGRANNIE, and Charli Ra. Add in the show column, last week’s scene recap, and a quick one about the Newlin Prize and that’s 16 articles last week. I need sleep. More coming soon.

• Marilyn Drew Necci’s show column definitely didn’t disappoint this week, especially with the awesome Camel residency flyer for Oh Devil that I got to share. I’m sure it turned a few eyes, especially since it was the lead in our weekly newsletter. If you haven’t checked it out yet, give it a read and take a look at some of the upcoming shows for tonight, Monday, and Tuesday. New show column every Wednesday! (Article link here.)

• Here’s your weekly reminder to sign-up to our weekly newsletter, the best way to stay up-to-date with all things Auricular and Richmond music. It hits inboxes every Wednesday afternoon! (Newsletter link here.)

• Another weekly reminder for you–follow RestlessRVA and SoundtrackRVA on Instagram for a solid rundown of all the week’s shows (Soundtrack) and a daily guide to each weekend day’s events (Restless).

• As always, we’re closing out with a local song, and in honor of their win, why not go with a track from Drook’s The Pure Joy of Jumping? It’s a record that I’ve tried to review several times now, but I never reach a point where I feel confident enough to hit publish. It’s tricky. I want to cover as much Richmond music as possible on this site: new, old, loud, quiet, familiar, peculiar. But I never will. Still, I do my best, which often just looks like a messy juggling act–dozens of balls thrown at me once and I’m scrambling to catch them all, expecting four hands when I only have two. Some I grab with style, others just barely. Others slip just beyond my reach, and some hit the ground before I even realize they were in play, noticing only when my eye catches them lying there, weeks later. Then there are the ones I see coming, track their arc, watch them descend right into the sweet spot… but still: splat. On the floor. My hand nowhere near. Those are what really haunt me and Drook’s record is one of those.

By no means are they alone. There have been several albums over the years that I was over-the-moon about but never ended up writing a full review on. Memory Of A Mirror Image by Hotspit. I Know Who I Am by Ant The Symbol. Into The Fray by Tyler Meacham. Every Butcher Brown record after Camden Sessions (hey, at least I got that one). Live At The Camel by Pollen Bomb. Any cybercrashers record. Alex Jonestown Massacre. Shagg Carpet. Pink Window. Logos The Poetic. The Great Beforetimes. Zach Benson. Qing Richy. Billy Bacci. BlackLiq. On and on and on the list goes. Sure, I’ve gushed about these records in quick sound bites here and there, but none have gotten my full, undivided attention in 1,200 words. Of course, I feel like I’m letting these artists down when I don’t finish reviews on their work, but the truth is, I’m letting myself down the most. How can I honestly say I “try” to cover everything here when I can’t even review the stuff I love the most?

What’s most frustrating is that it all comes down to intimidation, not lack of time. I connect so deeply with these records, but I can’t seem to find a way to express that connection clearly enough for an article that I’d feel comfortable publishing. (As if this block of text is readable, anyway… good luck below.) That’s not to say the records I do review don’t resonate with me. I spent all of 2025 raving about Doll Baby’s Heirloom and managed to crank out a review on that one. It’s just that some of these thoughts seem to coalesce into something that feels structured enough for an article, while others remain fragments in my mind–things I can pull together for quick conversations or blurbs on social media, but not enough for something I’d feel content enough to hit publish on.

The Drook record went through several drafts that never quite seemed to land in a place I was comfortable with. Too loose. Too fragmented. Too labored. Basically, what you’ve thought as you’ve read the last few paragraphs. But it resonated so strongly that I can confidently say it tied for my 2024 album of the year, along with the aforementioned Doll Baby record and Charly Bliss’ Forever. What’s wild is that those two albums seem like polar opposites of each other, while Drook’s is the happy medium. Doll Baby’s album is a plea for and rally against nihilism, bouncing back and forth against the rollercoaster temperature of the socio-political landscape over the past five years. Agitated and grounded, it stands in firm contrast to the swooning, abstract emotions of Charly Bliss, where heartache is made triumphant and trust falls are plenty. For Drook, both of those emotions can be felt on The Pure Joy of Jumping, the reverb reverie aligning with Charly Bliss’ intent while the electronic current underneath sparks in the same way Doll Baby’s energy does. I still can’t say which of these records stands out the most to me. Some days, I want to rage alongside Julie Storey’s voice, while others, I want to lose myself in the passionate world of Eva Hendricks. On those wavering days, Liza Grishaeva’s voice beckons me into its rapturous world. There have been some lucky days over the past six months that I’ve been able to take in all three records at once, with the order ultimately irrelevant. I can’t say they made the day easier or better, but for some reason, those days stick out in my mind, as if all three made the day feel more vivid, my mind attuned to absorb it all.

So yeah, these records are pretty special to me, and it’s a shame I never wrote a proper review about Drook.

Or is it?

Writing all this led me to revisit the two drafts that got closest to my vision, and somehow, something clicked inside. Finally. I could see not just what I wanted to say but what I needed to say about this record… so, there’s now a review of it up on the site. I’d like to say that I feel better having finished that, that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, or blah blah blah. But, one, I’ve been rambling at the end of this column far too long. Two, it’s 2 in the morning. And, most importantly, three–I still have all those other records above still hanging over my head. So, less of a victory lap for myself and more of one for Drook, especially in a week where they were handed a huge honor from their music community, right on the cusp of one of their biggest tours.

I was supposed to close this with a song. Well, I voted “Humdrum” as my song of the year for Uproxx‘s 2024 critic’s poll, but the more I listen, the more I see that and “Sprinter” as a combined force on the record (read the review for more). So, I’ll go with the other clear gem of the album: “All Of Your Thoughts.” This song is immense, and I expounded upon it in the review, but here, I’ll share a quick anecdote that sums up my appreciation. (“Quick anecdote,” he says, “after closing this silly column with a 1000-word journal entry.”).

Last fall, I had an interaction between sets at a Révéler concert that still lingers in the back of my mind. I was talking with a local musician I respect highly, and they told me about a band from out of town they had opened for that was amazing. Of course, I asked what they sounded like, and they gave a cool breakdown before saying, “Not sad songs like you love.” It wasn’t said with any malice; just a friend being very open about their perception. The words have replayed in my mind so many times now that they’ve become warped, like an internal game of telephone, but the meaning stays the same, hanging in the back of my consciousness, resurfacing every time I write about a somber song. And yeah, I do love sad songs. I can be an old grump and quote that opening speech from High Fidelity to justify it.

But then a song like “All Of Your Thoughts” comes along, and I think, “If this is being sad, then why would we ever shy away from it?” The heartache in this song is so affecting and so lush, it’s a dream I want to have myself. I want to be haunted by this feeling; I want to be consumed by this sensation. It’s brilliant in every sense: despite its sadness, because of its sadness. So yeah, I love sad songs… because they can evoke music that sounds this marvelous.

Congrats again to Drook on winning the Newlin Music Prize. Much deserved. Here’s “All Of Your Thoughts” and if you like it, listen to the whole album yourself and read my full review.