Kevin Figueroa, nowandformerly, teases new album, "Everyday is a Lifetime"

Also, Coarsegold composer Chase Hagerman offers up "The Rainbow Opus."

This was a good week to tease new music, apparently.

Fresno’s Ultra Diamonds (ex- Fierce Creatures, Light Thieves, etc.) gave us a second tease for its upcoming single “Marigolds,” which is out with a full video May 3.

The song promises to be full of the synth-laden goodness we’ve come to expect from the band.

Then, Kevin Figueroa released new two tracks from his experimental ambient indie-pop project nowandformerly. The songs are available now in advance of a full album, “Everyday is a Lifetime,” which is set to release May 7.

The songs are laid back and dreamy in a put-it-on-and-let-it-wash-over-you kind of way.

So, headphones on, I’d say.

Figueroa is a Central Valley ex-pat “currently creating and sleeping in San Francisco,” according to his bio. The multi-instrumentalist (also a rad artist and photographer) has long split his time between here and there. He’s known around Fresno for playing with his band Conversation and doing fill in gigs with the likes of Le Wolves.

He played on their Daytrotter Sessions in 2014.

Chase Hagerman, “The Rainbow Opus”

There is a lesson in Chase Hagerman’s “The Rainbow Opus” that has nothing to do with the music.

Technology can be unpredictable. Save your work.

The album, available on April 20 (or 4/20 for those who celebrate), was almost lost completely when Hagerman’s computer hard drive crashed a few months back. He lost the bulk of the work he’s ever done as a composer, but the final 13 tracks that make up “The Rainbow Opus” had already been saved as backup.

“So, I was still able to put my songs into the album when the time came,” says Hagerman, a Los Angeles composer, who returned home to Coarsegold during the pandemic.

“Tragedy befell me, but the triumph was still born.”

“The Rainbow Opus” happens in two acts with a 33 second intermission and “The William Tell Overture” as a finale. As one might expect from a composer, the songs are heavily orchestrated with strong retro vibes (think psychedelic stage Beatles or Pink Floyd or even Queen, whose influence can certainly be heard on the guitar solo of the album’s first single “Wildflowers”).

That’s it for this week. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com