New Signings & Team-ups: Native Tongue, UMPG, Our Golden Friend & more

NATIVE TONGUE ADDS VAN DUREN

Native Tongue is proud to announce the signing of Memphis based Van Duren.

Once hailed as the next Paul McCartney, his debut album Are You Serious? dropped through the cracks despite critical acclaim.

“Bad luck, poor decisions, con-men, lost love, greed, religion and health issues” saw the follow-up Idiot Optimism issued only in Japan.

His story is told in the documentary Waiting: The Van Duren Story which had its world premiere in the US this month.

Native Tongue managing director Jaime Gough said, “(Sydney artist manager) Greg Carey mentioned Van Duren to me in April 2017.

“I clearly remember listening to Are You Serious? on repeat for the remainder of that week.

“I couldn’t believe how such a great songwriter remained unknown today.”

BILLIE ELLISH STRIKES DEAL WITH UMPG

16-year old Billie Eilish signed a worldwide co-publishing deal with the Universal Music Publishing Group.

Ellish, who is touring Australia in January with Florence + The Machine, has generated a total of 2.5 billion streams.

Rising to prominence with 'ocean eyes' as a 13-year old, she's currently working on her debut album.

She dropped her latest single 'when the party’s over' on digital platforms, produced by her longtime collaborator and big brother Finneas O’Connell.

Her last single 'you should see me in a crown’” was championed by triple j in Australia. 'lovely' (with Khalid)’ is now officially certified twice platinum and breakout tracks ‘ocean eyes’ and ‘bellyache’ are also certified platinum in Australia, while both ‘watch’ and ‘idontwannabeyouanymore’ are gold accredited.

OUR GOLDEN FRIEND INTRODUCES CHITRA

The latest addition to Melbourne label Our Golden Friend’s label and management divisions is 21-year-old Melbourne based artist Chitra.

A genre-bending songwriter whose creative influences range from Alabama Shakes and Angel Olsen, Chitra’s music cuts rock, country and soul.

Growing up of the Bellarine Peninsula on the south coast of Victoria, her debut single 'Better Than Before' is just out, expected to be followed by an EP in early 2019.

123 AGENCY TURNS PINK

Hopping on 123 Agency’s roster are Adelaide-based sad-pop post-punk quartet Pinkish Blu.

They recently dropped their second single 'Capricorn' with a video shot by their own Luke Franceschini.

A blistering set at BIGSOUND scored them an opening slot on MANE’s dates, which kicked off in Adelaide on the weekend and this week weaves through NSW.

ICELANDIC ARTIST AT GLASSNOTE

Icelandic orchestral artist Júníus Meyvant has signed with Glassnote for Australia, New Zealand, North America, Japan and South America.

New single 'Across The Borders' will be released on January 25. It will be issued through the rest of the world by indie label Record Records, who signed Meyvant ahead of his 2016 debut.