Following on from EP Closer to the Bugs, Ava McCoy‘s first release with Acrophase Records, the Brooklyn-based songwriter has returned with brand new single, ‘Young Girl’. Recalling childhood trips back to her Oregon roots, the track represents “a love letter to my younger self and all of the dreams she had,” as McCoy describes. “There have been many iterations of my creative self, and this song ties all of the varied versions of me into one. I sing about mistakes, breakthroughs, disappointments, and my core music memories as a kid.” But, while the lyrics offer a layered picture of a personal, the sound itself opts for simple clarity. An arrangement which allows the vocals, and the narrative picture they evoke, to take centre stage, and thus highlight McCoy’s growing talents as both a songwriter and storyteller. Watch the video by director, videographer, editor, producer and colorist Aidan Millroy below:

‘Young Girl’ is out now via Acrophase Records and you can get it from the usual places.

Avery Friedman – Photo Booth

“Seems to sit in the interstitial space between trauma and growth. That lull between the ceasing of decline and visible signs of recovery, where improvement exists only as a nascent understanding of the possibilities which lay ahead in time.” So we wrote of ‘Flowers Fell’ back in January, the lead single from Avery Friedman‘s debut album New Thing, forthcoming on Audio Antihero this spring. With the release fast approaching, Friedman has returned with new track ‘Photo Booth’ to continue to develop this picture. The song leans into a spontaneous space to unveil the latent playfulness which sits inside a person, waiting to be activated under specific conditions. “Something about the novelty, containment and ephemerality of a photo booth just invites a sort of flirtatious mischief,” she explains. “This night out in particular felt like an encapsulation of spin-the-bottle-type ‘second adolescence’ that many queer people experience when coming into themselves after their adolescent years pass.”

Califone – the bullet b4 the sound

Led by Tim Rutili and brought to life by a rotating cast of collaborators, Califone have been creating idiosyncratic and emotionally charged songs for going on thirty years now, rising from the ashes of Chicago indie rock outfit Red Red Meat and pushing the envelope of folk music through all manner of experimental sensibilities. Out via Jealous Butcher Records, new album The Villager’s Companion continue this mission. Rutili pairs his singularly abstract, poetic lyricism with arrangements full of reverb and electronic whirring to create the signature Califone blend of compassionate and haunting.  Single ‘the bullet b4 the sound’ is the ideal point to jump in, full of loaded imagery and opaque meaning yet ringing true with human emotion, the kind of track that has you returning in search of its elusive truths. “You never were a magazine / the bullet will hit you before the sound / before the sound / before the sound,” Rutili sings in the opening lines. “the atom’s been split / teeth marks in soft metal / throw the knife at the candle come back as a bug / come back as a snowdrift in a streetlight // sin eaters rest their eyes / too dumb to be afraid / crawl inside a warmer simulation.”

Eliana Glass – Shrine

Later this spring, New York-based songwriter and pianist Eliana Glass is releasing her debut full length album E with Shelter Press. It’s an introduction to a finely crafted yet often improvisational style which blurs the border between ethereality and the everyday. Glass adds a variety of electronic flourishes to the piano-led arrangements in a way which both deepens their impact and complicates their meaning. Lead single ‘Shrine’ is the first step into this world, presenting a level of abstraction which functions beyond simple narrative to get to the heart of memory as it is experienced. “This song is more a series of images than a clear story,” as Glass puts it. “It’s about people that you encounter in life and parts of them that live in you, unbeknownst to them. It’s also about feelings of isolation; feeling secluded or remote.”

Watch the video below, filmed, directed and edited by Jules Muir with the video concept by Costa Colachis Glass and typography by Sid Zach:

E is out on the 25th April via Sheltered Press and you can pre-order it now.

Fine Food Market – Sometimes

Fine Food Market, the recording project of Montréal-based musician Sophie Perras, takes its name from the grocery store that sat below the apartment where its initial demos were written, and something of the fact makes its way into I’m afraid to be in love with someone who crashes their car that much, the new EP coming soon on Arbutus Records. Because while Perras’s country sensibilities contain a sense of authenticity, as well as emotional immediacy, there’s also a certain playfulness, as though in writing and recording in a sincere, conversational voice, an incidental whimsy bled into the songs too. Built on pedal steel by Benjamin Vallée, lead single ‘Sometimes’ captures the tone perfectly, lifting its melancholy heart with a theatrical richness to achieve something both heartfelt and wry.

Julia Graye – Telephone

Working within a pop-inflected brand of indie folk, New York-based songwriter Julia Graye uses music as a vehicle through which to locate humanity within the contemporary experience. To make sense of a world which seems to be constantly shifting around us. New single ‘Telephone’ explores such themes with a melancholic yet compassionate tone, looking not only at all the ways in which we are altered as the years roll by, but also how we might keep the channels of communication open between the person we are and the people we have been. A track born in a specific moment of vertigo upon realising the speed and scale of change. Graye explains:

A couple of years ago I was watching old camcorder videos my aunt kept of me as a child. There I was, sitting on a plastic-covered couch reading a book aloud. I flipped the pages and told a story about a girl alone in the woods. But as the video played on, it became clear I couldn’t actually read. I was making it all up. A wave of intense grief washed over me and I started to cry. I was her, yet I felt so distant from her. I had an overwhelming sense of dread about the quickness of it all, of my childhood and of time.

‘Telephone’ is out now and available from the usual places.

Nona Invie – Called a Fool

“Its slow-building style beginning with mournful quiet but blooming into something warm and affirming, as though quite literally stepping out from beneath a shadow and into the light.” So we wrote of ‘Last of Our Shadow’ from Nona Invie‘s Self-soothing back in December, a track which embodied the spirit of the Minneapolis songwriter’s new full-length. With the album out now via Boiled Records, Invie has shared final single, ‘Called a Fool’. With its delicate piano lines, harp harmonies and Cole Pulice’s saxophone, the track continues this process of healing in the face of drastic change. “This song is about new beginnings, a hopefulness for the future,” as Invie explains. “The fool is unafraid to try new things, to fail. They are at peace with their desires.”

Watch the video by director/lead videographer Connor Lynch and videographer Zoe Prinds-Flash below:

Self-soothing is out now via Boiled Records and you can get it from Bandcamp.

Robert Ascroft – Vagabond (feat. Tess Parks)

After Ruth Radalet (on ‘Faded Photographs’), Zumi Rosow of The Black Lips (‘Empty Pages’), Britta Phillips (‘Where Did You Go?’), Kid Congo Powers (‘Devil Opens The Door‘) and Christopher Owens (‘Echo Still Remains‘), it is now the turn of Tess Parks to collaborate with Robert Ascroft on the latest single from his full-length Echo Still Remains on Hand Drawn Dracula. Complete with a moody monochrome video Ascroft made with Luz Gallardo, the song possesses all of the nocturnal allure and ambiguity which has so far marked the record. A slow, midnight sashay full of sultry longing which nevertheless bristles with a hostile edge.

Echo Still Remains is out now via Hand Drawn Dracula and you get it now from the Robert Ascroft Bandcamp page.

Uwade – (I Wonder) What We’re Made Of

Hailing from Nigeria and now based in North Carolina, Uwade is a musician and academic scholar who has so far made a name helping others—be that providing the vocals at the beginning of Shores by Fleet Foxes or opening for the likes of Jamila Woods, Sylvan Esso and The Strokes—but this spring sees the release of her debut solo album, Florilegium. Latest single ‘(I Wonder) What We’re Made Of’ highlights the tender, assured style of the Uwade sound, where a warm and rich arrangement supports vocals loaded with an authentic sense of heart. “Romantic love gets a lot of attention so when I was workshopping the project that would turn into ‘I Wonder,’ I wanted it to take on a different shade,” she explains of the track. “It was about affection, gratitude, and devotion. Who better to dedicate it to than the people who have carried me through my life: my friends.” Watch the video by director Jason Wishnow and director of photography Marco Fargnoli below:

Florilegium is out on the 25th April via Ehiose Records/Thirty Tigers and you can pre-order it now.

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“This song revolves around the ending of a years-long relationship,” Nona Invie explains. “I felt self-conscious in my small community and spent too many years dampening my presence, not playing music out, hiding my joy and new love for fear of hurting my ex. Some communication finally happened and it was like a cloud lifted and I just felt totally free to be myself and exist in the world.” ‘Last Of Our Shadow’ details this process across its runtime, its slow-building style beginning with mournful quiet but blooming into something warm and affirming, as though quite literally stepping out from beneath a shadow and into the light. “I realized how I had been totally dogged by these feelings of guilt and shame and I needed to move on from the black hole of ruminating I had been living in,” as Invie continues. “I wrote this in a day and never looked back.”

It was the last of our shadow
Loose the hold it had on me
It was the last of our shadow

Found a release today
It’s been five years never too late
Because there’s nothing left to say

Watch the video by Shawna Lee below:

Self-soothing will be released on the 28th February via Boiled Records and you can pre-order it now.

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“An album born of travel and distance, pieced together from segments of other places, but ending up very much unique.” That’s how we described Bato Mato by Carmarthen’s Adwaith released by Libertino Records back in 2022. The record was an ambitious one, drawing upon “any number of psych, grunge and dream pop influences to realise its sound,” as we wrote, but follow-up Solas goes even further. A twenty-three track double album which serves as the closing part of a coming-of-age trilogy, tracing the arc of the band’s progression which sees them drawn back to their West Walian roots at the height of their powers. “I feel like we’re confident in ourselves as musicians, and our sound, and the world that we want to create,” as Hollie Singer explains. “We feel fully realised.”

Watch the video shot and edited by Rhys Grail below:

Solas will be released on the 7th February via Libertino Records.

Anna Arboles – By Any Means Necessary

LA-based songwriter Anna Arboles is gearing up to release Pure Fanfiction, a brand new album on Anxiety Blanket Records which fictionalises the personal in order to edge closer to the truth. “These songs are about passing into adulthood and clarifying who I wanted to be,” Arboles explains, “but are not necessarily about my life. I wrote these songs as soundtracks to movies, TV shows, books, or photographs that catalyzed introspection. They’re like fanfiction for my life.” Taking inspiration from seminal queer film By Hook or By Crook by Harry Dodge and Silas Howard, first single ‘By Any Means Necessary’ serves as an ode to friendship and its supportive power. Hence how the doubt of the repeated refrain—”I don’t know if I can do it”—is slowly conquered, the uneasy movement towards self-actualisation made easier by those there along the way.

Pure Fanfiction will be released on the 14th February via Anxiety Blanket Records

Dead Gowns – In the Haze

Early next year, Dead Gowns (that’s the project of Portland, Maine’s Genevieve Beaudoin) will release their debut album, It’s Summer, I Love You, and I’m Surrounded by Snow on New York label Mtn Laurel Recording Co. Second single ‘In the Haze’ is a beautiful introduction, a patient and spacious country-tinged indie rock song that put’s Beaudoin’s incredible vocals front and centre, shifting from a quiet hush to a quivering wail as she explores the complex emotions of dealing with a then-undiagnosed illness. It’s indicative of a record that takes real-life experiences and then stretches their edges, probing at possibilities and straying from fact into fiction. “There’s a sense of freedom by starting in an autobiographical place and then expanding into fiction,” Beaudoin describes. “I learn so much about what has happened by exploring what could have been.”

It’s Summer, I Love You, and I’m Surrounded by Snow will be released via Mtn Laurel Recording Co. on 14^th February. Pre-order it now from the Dead Gowns Bandcamp page.

georgie – 2d

Serving as a celebration to a specific corner of the DIY scene in Rochester, New York, spit takes and split tapes is a four-band split release by raincoated records. Featured artists include Bugcatcher (whose album Go! we covered last year), Home Videos and Kitchen (who we first mentioned way back in 2016), as well as georgie, the project led by Claire G. McClusky who “combin[ed] ecological, personal and political sensibilities” for the excellent album Intimacy Hangover in 2023. One of the latter’s contributions to the split release, ‘2d’ sees McClusky and co. push the georgie sound through its usual airy folk style until it disintegrates into a noisy crescendo.

Meagre Martin – Frankie

After a fantastic 12 months which has included appearance at the Reeperbahn Festival, Pop Montreal and Pitchfork London, as well as successful singles ‘Never Thought‘ and ‘Malcolm‘, Berlin-based indie rockers Meagre Martin are closing out the year with one final, celebratory single, ‘Frankie’, which also serves as the first preview of EP Up To Snuff coming next February on Mansions and Millions. Pairing gauzy shoegaze textures with a persistent rhythm, the track embraces a bright spirit of playfulness and curiosity. “I can’t help / But smile / I look at you like a child,” as the opening lines go, submitting to the thrilling sensation of falling for someone and letting the current move in whatever direction it sees fit.

Watch the video directed by Federico Corazzini and Meagre Martin below:

‘Frankie’ is out now via Mansions and Millions and available from Bandcamp.

Nona Invie – Forget My Name

Created as an antidote to ubiquitous feelings of anxiety and fear, Nona Invie‘s appropriately titled new album Self-soothing sees the Minneapolis songwriter aim to provide a safe haven of calm within an often terrible contemporary world. “These songs are a weighted blanket that comforted and supported me in a lonely time,” as Invie explains. “I hope that they can be supportive, comforting to others.” Opener and lead single ‘Forget My Name’ offers a glimpse of the meditative sound which brings this mission to life. A lesson in the necessity of loosening our grip and letting go those things which do us no good in order to more fully inhabit a healthy sense of self.

Watch the video by Ingrid Weise below:

Self-soothing will be released on the 28th February via Boiled Records and you can pre-order it now.

Raybody – Puddle

Then recording under her own name, Katy Rea released full-length The Urge That Saves You back in 2022, an album which, as we put it, “explor[ed] her life not directly but through imagined characters and metaphorical stories that feel something like modern fables.” Now having adopted the moniker Raybody, Rea has returned with ‘Puddle’, the first taste of a new era for an artist currently at work on her second album. “[The new name] allows me to step into a braver and more honest part of myself,” Rea explains. “I’m after a truth that requires me to unattach from my given name—which has always felt sweet, well mannered, and more feminine than I am.” The new single introduces this new spirit, combining classic singer-songwriter sensibilities with something more singular and strange, resulting in a sound able to paint an intimate picture of a blossoming relationship and the self-reflection inherent within the process of learning to love another person.

Watch the video shot by Sawyer Gaunt and directed by Nicole Townsend and Rea herself below:

‘Puddle’ is out now and available from the Raybody Bandcamp page.

Robert Ascroft – Where Did You Go feat. Britta Phillips (Luna, Dean & Britta)

With album Echo Still Remains coming in January via Hand Drawn Dracula, producer and artist Robert Ascroft has been releasing a series of collaborative singles in recent months, including ‘Faded Photographs’ with Ruth Radelet and ‘Empty Pages’ with Zumi Rosow of The Black Lips. The latter offered “a beguilingly ambiguous interplay between rhythm and fuzz” as we put it, complete with a cinematic video, and now Ascroft has enlisted vocalist and actress Britta Phillips (who you might know as part of Luna and Dean & Britta) for another dark and filmic track. With rhythmic percussion, sensual vocals and an enveloping night-time mood, ‘Where Did You Go’ channels a sultry Lynchian aesthetic full of nocturnal weight. The full record promises to feature the likes of Ora Cogan and Christopher Owens too, so is certainly one to watch out for in 2025.

Watch the video starring Phillips and directed by Ascroft himself below:

Echo Still Remains is out January 31st via Hand Drawn Dracula and you can pre-order it now.

Sun June – 41 Dollars

Described as a song about “listening to men talk,” Sun June‘s new single ’41 Dollars’ is the Austin band’s first proper release since last year’s Bad Dream Jaguar—a record we described as “painting impressionistic pictures of love and longing in quiet dusk-hued pastels, as though in effort to preserve that which might otherwise fade out into nothing. The single is every bit as emotive and assured as we’ve come to expect from the outfit, the sound holding reflection and longing within the same moment, and what results is a sound placid on the surface yet roiling with a myriad of unseen currents and pressures below. Released via Run For Cover Records, the single comes complete with a demo version of ’16 Riders’ as well as a remix of ‘Easy Violence’ by Porches.

Wasn’t it all in my head?
Wanted you
Fighting off all that I can
Watching the horizon waul
Trying my best in the cool water
Watching it rise and fall
Listening to you talk

Watch the video below:

’41 Dollars’ is out now via Run For Cover Records and available from Bandcamp.

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This sense of rebirth is explored from a multitude of angles and viewpoints, a kaleidoscopic fusion of fact and fiction, memories of the past and imaginings of the future. From the vision of being the last person alive on opener ‘Sun’ (a slow-dawning meditation on place stripped of its history or context), to the anxious thoughts on the monotony of the present on ‘Cigapple’, Nat Harvie gathers handfuls of disparate threads and ties them together in intimate but widescreen pieces of electronic art pop. The result is something of a self portrait, a sonic and narrative collage that reveals a meta-story of personal evolution and queer personhood. ‘Shovel’ is perhaps the perfect example, a song which delves back further into Harvie’s past and grapples with childhood fears and their eventual defeat in order to summon up the courage to overcome more recent hurdles.

I was a child sleeping with a shovel in my bed
I was lining up Mom’s earrings on the floor
I was a germaphobe I could’ve been a murderer
Always stepping back letting anything unfold

The other standout is ‘Cheap’, which adds an air of elegiac Americana to its electronic foundations. Encapsulating the album as a whole, it’s a song that feels both fresh and bruised, sounding somehow at once intro- and extroverted, its visceral vulnerability delivered with carefree candour. Like when Harvie gets wistful when cutting their hair, lies about their age to impress potential suitors (“I tell strangers still I’m only 19 years old /  So I can seem a little smarter than my age”), or admits to past cruelties, it’s all in search of that new start, that clean slate. “It’s not regressive, not revisionist,” Harvie concludes. “I am not winding back the clock of my life, I am bringing a *new* virginity to myself.”

New Virginity is out now via Boiled Records and is available from the Nat Harvie Bandcamp page.

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