April + VISTA - Standing in Place (Single)
Photo Credit: Foster K. White
April + VISTA, the genre defying duo of Virginia raised singer/composer April George and Maryland raised composer/producer Matthew Thompson, have announced the release of their highly anticipated debut album,Traditional Noise, out April 22nd via Third & Hayden. Alongside the announcement, the duo has shared a new single “Standing in Place”, completing an arc of new releases that began with singles “Bless My Heart” and “Love Unspent” last year, and “Grotto” earlier this year. “Standing in Place” deepens their emotional and sonic world blending soul, alt-pop, rock, electronic, and R&B. It’s a sound they’ve honed on the Washington DC underground music circuit, and on tours with Little Dragon (with whom they crafted the 2023 collaborative EP Slipping Into Color), Mura Masa, and Little Simz, and serves as a clear thesis statement for Traditional Noise.
Speaking on “Standing In Place” April + VISTA share, “Disorder is as beautiful as it is terrifying. It’s a lesson every creative learns when journeying through the not-so-glamorous parts of their career: you have to get comfortable with walking confidently through the dark, doing it scared is the only way you will get to where you belong. This song is a final goodbye to our past selves as we evolve and transition into a new form.
Formed in Washington, D.C. in 2014, April + VISTA have spent over a decade refining a sound rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and emotional candor. Emerging with 2018’s You Are Here — which earned them a coveted COLORS session and early co-signs from BBC Radio 1Xtra and The FADER, the duo have continued to expand the limits of their own musicianship. A string composer, April taught herself viola and composed her own string arrangements across the album, while VISTA sharpened the physical architecture of their sound, leaning into textured guitar distortion, live drums, and tactile sonic weight, while incorporating collaborators such as producer Tony Kill and drummer Bradley “Foots” McDonald. By taking the reins of recording and performing much of their work themselves, they’ve turned the studio into the grounds for continued sonic evolution. Each release has become less about polish and more about risk, pushing their experimentation to rougher, darker edges and allowing the music to shapeshift in real time. Ultimately, their music remains as fluid as its creators, shifting freely between rock, soul, electronic, and R&B. Having the range is April + VISTA’s primary mode; their songs are calls to the beyond, operating as an archive of past selves and survival guides for pressing times and uncertain futures.
