Agent blå – Shapes
After the success of 2024 full-length Stab!—an album which, as we described, combined “shoegaze textures and post-punk energy into something as immersive as it is momentous”— Gothenburg outfit Agent blå are back with new single ‘Shapes’. Energised by the positive experience of releasing the previous record, the band attacked the new material with fresh vigour, the song coming exactly a decade after their debut release but sounding as committed and impassioned as ever. The result, which offers a picture of a person navigating the choppy waters of trauma with Agent blå’s signature mix of intensity and ethereality, also represents their first step into the future, laying the groundwork for the next stage in their evolution.
Cameron Knowler – La Paz
Writing back in March, we previewed Cameron Knowler new album CRK with single ‘Secret Water’. “Imagine the guitar work of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn combined with the older string band tradition from Appalachia and you’d be getting somewhere close,” as we put it. “But true to the CRK spirit, the result is also specific to Arizona, working to conjure the landscape in both fine detail and broad strokes.” With the album now out via Worried Songs, Knowler has shared another single ‘La Paz’. Set around a ghost town north of Yuma, Arizona, the track is mournful but never hopeless, twin acoustic guitars painting a wistful reflection on the passing of time.
The Convenience – Western Pepsi Cola Town
“The immediate sense of the track is one of bright confidence, though something else moves beneath the surface,” we wrote of ‘Dub Vultures’ from The Convenience‘s upcoming LP Like Cartoon Vampires on Winspear. “A counter force of sharp angles and acerbic attitude which lends an undeniably dark undercurrent […] As though the momentum isn’t some dependable force but rather an unstable chain of motion.” With the release of the album fast approaching, the New Orleans duo has unveiled new single ‘Western Pepsi Cola Town’ to ramp up the excitement. A track no less momentous or changeable in style, typifying The Convenience’s metamorphosis from whimsical indie pop act into something between post-punk and art rock, a transformation which nevertheless retains the sense of playfulness which marked their previous releases.
Like Cartoon Vampires is out on the 18th April via Winspear and you can pre-order it now.
Foxtails Brigade – Gimme A Sign
“A poignant ode to those who exist at some kind of angle to the conventional modes of living, too often shunned by the cultural and political gatekeepers of their time.” So we wrote of ‘Forevermore’, the lead single from forthcoming full-length Red Album by Foxtails Brigade last month. Latest track ‘Gimme A Sign’ further introduces the style of a record which sees the San Francisco project push further into pop than ever before. The band say “clockwork nylon guitar riffs and unconventional kitchenware percussion” remains at the core of their sound, but the new single shows how retaining such signature features does not preclude a pivot towards anthemic pop. “Gimme a sign, something I could recognize,” Laura Weinbach demands in the chorus, her words embodying the underlying urgency which propels the track forward.
‘Gimme A Sign’ is out now. You can sign up for early access of Red Album on the Foxtails Brigade website.
Larum – O Choruscans
We covered a couple of singles from Larum‘s The Music of Hildegard von Bingen, Part Two, an album on Puremagnetik which sees Chet Doxas and Micah Frank reimagine the work of abbess, theologian, mystic and composer Hildegard von Bingen to demonstrate, as we put it in a preview “how the techniques and conventions of the twelfth century can used to create novel sounds within the contemporary moment.” Latest single ‘O Choruscans’ furthers this style with a subtle blend of woodwind and electronics, its layered approach drawing the listener into its almost spiritual world. The result is neither medieval nor futuristic but instead collapses the distinction between the two. Not old, not new, but timeless.
Neighbourly – Thread Count
“The concept of this EP was simply to have fun together making it.” So describe Vancouver Island psych rock outfit Neighbourly of their new release Get In, coming this summer on Earth Libraries. A release which promises to champion the possibilities when a group of friends get together and create without pressure or expectation. If lead single ‘Thread Count’ is anything to go by, the enjoyment and spontaneity of the process bled into the music itself. Built around a central bassline and Lauren Giorgio’s sardonic vocal style, the song combines post-punk attitude with an altogether more mischievous air, bending the aloof cool so typical of the genre with a tongue-in-cheek playfulness.
Nymphlord – Call Me Up
Back in 2023 we reviewed Mothers Cry And Then We Die. by Nymphlord on Lauren Records. “If the opening track is a representation of falling into a dream,” we wrote, “then the entire EP is a larger recreation of the feeling. A descent into a memory of a past generation which nevertheless works through the pressing issues of the present.” Now Nymphlord is back with new EP Rough Blue Blanket, and lead single ‘Call Me Up’ introduces the release’s intimate tone. Taking inspiration from sources as diverse as sixties folk and nineties grunge, the song celebrates the small moments within the everyday which together add up to form the fondest of memories.
Rainwater – Shadows
The first single of what promises to be a busy year for Blake Luley’s Rainwater, ‘Shadows’ sees the project lean further towards post-punk than ever before. The song originated as Luley observed his long early morning shadow one day and soon shifted into a wider exploration of associated themes. Namely what Luley labels his ‘shadow self’, which houses the buried parts of his identity. “As I’ve become more and more of a ‘real adult’, I’ve had to strategically bury so many aspects of my identity in the service of productivity and responsibility” he explains. “Having a child and being a teacher both reinforces keeping that shadow hidden, while also allowing little moments of my child-like shadow self to be tall and proud.” With equal parts lightness and weight, the result traces the fluctuations of this shadow as it shifts across days and circumstances—sometimes scary, sometimes shameful, sometimes the small secret that keeps you going through the day.
Tom Lark – Dive On In
With a number of singles in recent months, Tom Lark has gradually introduced the diverse tone of new album Moonlight Hotel. Be it ‘Rock & Roll Baby’ “using a laidback brand of psych folk to take on the rollercoaster ride that is life,” as we put it, or the altgether darker ‘Fuselage’, a song “all shadowy attitude and brooding edge,” as we wrote, “where the [previous] carefree spirit falters, change suddenly something dangerous and daunting.” With the full album now out, Tom Lark has shared final single and focus track ‘Dive On In’. With a languid rhythm that might be read as relaxed or melancholic, the song takes on climate anxiety with Shannon Fowler’s signature sense of juxtaposition. Pay no attention to the lyrics and you might enjoy a calm if slightly wistful sound, but dig any deeper and you’ll discover a dizzying dread beneath the surface. How do we live in a world on fire? How do we live with ourselves when there seems to be nothing we can do?
Triathalon – Down
Funeral Music, the new album from Triathalon upcoming on Lex Records, aims to provide exactly what its title promises. “It is not every day you come across an album built around the maxim ‘play this at my funeral’,” as we wrote back in February. But after single ‘RIP’ heralding what might be the NYC project’s “darkest and most unguarded collection of songs to date,” Triathalon are back with new single ‘Down’. Fans will recognise the spirit of previous releases persisting on the new track, but the extra layers of gloom and grit twist the languid pop into something altogether new. If Triathalon are known for sunny tones then we’ve hit the dusk period, where the light is failing and a long nocturnal dark stretches out ahead.
Funeral Music will be released on the 16th May via Lex Records and you can pre-order it now.