Music
Our Violet Transports Fans to Romantic Hideaway With New Folk Single “Secrets”
Denver artist Our Violet Room – aka Matthew Birch – is preparing to release his next single “Secrets” on September 24. Filled with gentle acoustic strumming and hauntingly beautiful harmonies, the song pairs perfectly beside Birch’s previous single, “Winter,” which is featured on FreeForm’s popular show Good Trouble. “Secrets” was inspired by Bon Iver and early Coldplay records, two artists who Birch is commonly compared to because of his alternative folk sound that reveals raw emotion through vocal and lyrical presentation. New Zealand pop artist Estella Dawn also features on the single, bringing in her delicate vocals to complement Birch’s tones. As a talented musician with a unique and melodic command, subtlety, and range, the multi-genre artist remains driven to shed light on the conversations that matter in today’s time and age. Often compared to icons such as Adele, Billie Eilish, Pink, and Hayley Williams, to name a few, Estella continues to impress listeners with unique musical compositions and stunning vocals, crafting her own position in the world of music.
A blend of romance and adventure, “Secrets” feels like the touch of wholesome love that the world is desperately craving. The song at its core is about “being with someone you love, and knowing secrets that only you two share,” says Birch. While a listener’s first thought may be to escape on a jet to a secluded island with their lover, the underlying essence of the single reminds them that their relationship – late dinners, walking the dog, sitting on the couch together – is the real prize. As the seasons change and the world faces new challenges, people turn to music for relief. Birch has poured genuineness and graciousness into “Secrets” to make it not only a relief, but also an escape for fans looking for the magic in music.
Fans can stream “Secrets” everywhere on September 24.
A deep love of movie scores and the composers that made them alongside an admiration and passion for folk music is the base of the music that Birch creates under the moniker Our Violet Room. An “indie singer-songwriter with a cinematic twist”, Birch got his musical start in 2018 by playing SoFar Sound shows – first in Denver but soon all over the world. A humble story of overcoming depression, working hard, and diving headfirst into his dream, Birch only has one goal…. to make thoughtful, well-made, emotional art that inspires his listeners and causes them to feel. His music has been compared to the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, and Coldplay for its lush atmosphere, emotional lyrics, and cinematic arrangements and has quickly launched his music career with two songs featured on FreeForm’s Good Trouble series and two songs featured in a Magnolia feature film. “Making movie scores has been a dream of mine and to look at each song as a little movie score has been a great way of creating,” says Birch. Thus far in his career, Birch has released two EPs – Our Violet Room and the live EP Loss and Death in Winter – alongside a handful of singles. Mixing folk and cinematic soundscapes seem to be working for the emerging artist as his songs have a combined 80K+ streams. “ I don’t go for cool or hip, I go for what moves me.”
Artist Spotlight
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama
Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.
This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.
Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.
Artist Spotlight
“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival
“NO MORE“ carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.
“NO MORE“ is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.
Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.
“NO MORE“ is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.
Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina
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