Back in March we introduced the self-titled debut EP from beaming, the new project of Derek Ted and Braden Lawrence, sharing single ‘slow sinkin’. “With Field Medic adding guest vocals, the track possesses all of the earnestness fans of Ted and Lawrence’s solo work will know well,” we wrote, “the bright rhythm and heartfelt tone the sonic equivalent of shaking clarity into a clouded mind.” With the EP out now via Rose Garden, beaming have unveiled new single ‘4U’. “This song is about falling in love and needing to confess how you feel,” Ted explains. “We wanted it to live in a space between glitchy digital sounds and acoustic moments. The chorus is meant to feel like an avalanche of relief—like everything just opens up once you finally say what’s been on your mind.” Watch the video directed by Olivia Alonso Gough and edited along with Braden Lawrence below:

Beaming EP is out now via Rose Garden and you can buy it now.

Don’t Worry – This Time

We’ve been building up to the release of Don’t Worry‘s new album Idealism in recent months, sharing a number of singles which suggest the record will find the Essex punks exploring new sonic ground while furthering their signature blend of sincerity and playfulness. Taking inspiration of the 90s/00s alt golden age, latest single ‘This Time’ sees the outfit reach towards the likes of Smashing Pumpkins in its sense of scale and weight. The result is as cathartic as anything in the Don’t Worry catalogue to date. “‘This Time’ is a song about learning from bad experiences and making sure you don’t make the same mistakes again,” explains songwriter Ronan Van Kehoe. “It’s about growing as a person and coming out of a rough period into a better time.”

DUG – Livelong Day

Having signed to legendary Irish label Claddagh Records, folk duo DUG have shared a new single ‘Livelong Day’ in preparation for their much anticipated debut full-length. Comprised of Jonny Pickett and Lorkin O’Reilly, the project has quickly risen to prominence in the contemporary folk scene, seeing them earn two Grammy nominations and support slots for the likes of Willie Carlisle and Iron & Wine. Though the new track offers a glimpse at a so far unseen darker dimension of DUG, it is easy to see why they have earned such acclaim. A reimagining of the old folk tale ‘The Legend of Knockgrafton’, the song finds its protagonist sobering up amid a drunken dance in a faerie ring. And while the tone might be slightly heavier than previous tracks, it is one nevertheless leavened by its playful spirit.

‘Livelong Day’ is out now via Claddagh Records.

Kaycie Satterfield – ford falcon

Following on from 2024 album Rosie, a release with Earth Libraries we described as “a record which sets out to explore large themes through a personal lens,” Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Kaycie Satterfield is back with brand new single, ‘ford falcon’. A song full of attitude and honest truths which faces down the expectations placed upon women with a mix of sardonic humour and steely defiance. “I’m not your fucking mother,” as Satterfield says in the opening lines. “I can’t come tuck you in.” She’s not your daughter either, nor your lover, just a woman in the same room. And she’s here to make sure you realise the fact, even if it is the last thing you do.

kissing other ppl – Ashes of American Flags

Last month we introduced the self-titled covers record from kissing other ppl, the new project that brings together folk duo Viv & Riley and singer songwriter Rachel Baiman. The lead single was a take on Dr Dog’s ‘Where’d all The Time Go’, adding a timeless folk style to the original, and now the trio are back with their version of Wilco classic ‘Ashes of American Flags’. It’s illustrative of the outfit’s experimental sense of collaboration, as Viv jumps behind the drum kit to play a “no holds barred snare smash,” while Riley adds distorted fiddle and Baiman gives her all with the vocals. Altogether, it’s a worthy homage to the original, which is no mean feat. “Growing up in Chicago, Wilco were royalty,” Baiman describes of the source material. “The line at the end about fallen leaves in shopping bags brings up such strong childhood imagery for me.”

kissing other ppl is available now from Bandcamp.

Old Man of the Woods – Meditation

“With a languorous, enveloping sound, again the mood is undeniably ghostly, though its eeriness carries not so much fright or unease as a sense of possibility,” we wrote of ‘Amber‘ from the new Old Man of the Woods full-length Tendrils last month. “As though in connecting the long-dawned past with a gesture towards the future, [Miranda] Elliott invites us to consider just how interconnected the stages of so-called linear time might be.” With the album now out, Elliott has shared latest single ‘Meditation’, a self-described  “breathy, minimal ritual” which performs its own form of transubstantiation, taking a desire which might otherwise appear absurd and changing it into something charged and devotional. Built on strangely hypnotic percussion that wobbles and clatters throughout, it’s almost a dance track, but Elliott’s vocals remain ethereal as ever, drifting in and out like curtains of mist.

Rebecca Schiffman – Bubble of Love

“The record sees the LA-based songwriter grapple with what it means to live a moral life within a society that can appear hellbent on compromising our personal values.” So we wrote of Before the Future, the new album from Rebecca Schiffman coming later this summer with Lost Sound Tapes. No stone is left unturned across the songs, with everything from motherhood, grief, family vacations and the ethics of the pet-owner relationship explored. Latest single ‘Bubble of Love’ employs a peppy rhythm and sweet vocals to turn its attention to the familiar arc of romantic love. The song “traces a relationship from the honeymoon phase when you could spend all your time with someone and anything is possible,” as Schiffman explains, “to a time when it feels claustrophobic and you want to pop the bubble.”

Watch the video by Renata Zeiguer below:

Before the Future will be released on the 25th July, including a cassette via Lost Sound Tapes, and you can pre-order it now.

Snake Orange Cake – Stitch

When covering the work of Berlin-based artist Julia Carlsson in the past, it has been for leoblu, a project we’ve described as making “ambiguous and atmospheric music which situates intimate emotion against the more mysterious forces at work around us.” But now Carlsson has branched out towards a new sound, and has thus adopted a brand new moniker. Snake Orange Cake sees Carlsson elevate her experimental electronic style with spoken-word poetry and extra narrative thrust. The first tase of a forthcoming EP, new single ‘Stitch’ offers a glimpse of the invention and playfulness which underpins the new project, weaving a detailed, rhythmic sound over which Carlsson’s spoken vocals play with disarming closeness.

Star Moles – Fate

“The oeuvre is a lesson in the potential of bedroom pop, refusing to settle for genre conventions to push the style in new directions.” So we wrote of the work of Emily Moales’s Star Moles back in May, describing how single ‘Key Change’ embodied Moales’s “growing boredom with idealised romance of polished pop, choosing to instead get its hands dirty and dig into the messy guts of what love really means.” Now Star Moles has announced full-length album Snack Monster, coming later this summer on Earth Libraries, and opener and latest single ‘Fate’ serves as a mission statement for the release. A song which looks to address contemporary neuroses via traditional styles, looking to break free from the strictures of established narratives and reclaim agency from the impression of predetermination.

Xol Meissner – Hunt [97]

The recording alias of Swiss-born, NYC-based composer Mauro Hertig, Xol Meissner pairs baritone vocals with a singular hammered lap-steel style to create soundscapes as evocative as they are otherworldly. New album Excess of Loss might be Hertig’s debut under this moniker but arrives fully formed, each track functioning with the eerie, unnerving logic of a dream. Take single ‘Hunt [97]’, a song sedate in rhythm, drifting within its own textured arrangement, yet shot through with imagery both violent and strange. “Open field vision / we access the graveyards / ancestors aim / at the holes in our hearts,” he sings in one such typically striking verse. Or elsewhere: “The bodies pile up / to a sculpture of justice / fathers are holding / the hands of their sons.” The result is mythic. Oddly timeless yet sonically unique. Weighted with a meaning slightly beyond our understanding. Something which lingers at the edges of our reality. Alluring, terrifying and sublime.

Watch the video by Camille Henrot (director), Ben Scofield (director of photography and colourist), Mauro Hertig, Camille Henrot (editors), Marie-Christine Statz and Gauchère (costume) below:

Excess of Loss is out now and available from Bandcamp.

The post Weekly Listening: June 2025 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Having orbited around one another in the LA music scene for a short while, Derek Ted and Braden Lawrence gradually began to collaborate, helping one another with solo work, producing other artists, then eventually writing original material as a duo. The product of the relationship is beaming, a brand new project which will release its debut self-titled EP this June via Rose Garden, and lead single ‘slow sinkin’ gives a flavour of what to expect from the outfit. With Field Medic adding guest vocals, the track possesses all of the earnestness fans of Ted and Lawrence’s solo work will know well, the bright rhythm and heartfelt tone the sonic equivalent of shaking clarity into a clouded mind. “Lyrically, it’s about looking back on the past and how easy it is to get caught up in your own BS,” the band explain. “It’s our most acoustic track on the EP, and we wanted it to feel more natural and organic.”

Watch the video directed by Olivia Alonso Gough with cinematography and colour by Michael Greenwood below:

Beaming EP is out on the 13th June via Rose Garden and you can pre-save it now.

Bouquet – Hold On

Almost a decade since their previous album was released, LA-based dream pop duo Bouquet are preparing to unveil a brand new full-length. Consisting of interdisciplinary artist, writer and composer Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and songwriter and producer Max Foreman, the project made a name with a rich and romantic style that championed restraint within a genre often prone to excesses, and new single ‘Hold On’ represents a continuation of the style. With Pennypacker Riggs providing vocals and guitar and Foreman vocals, synthesizer and drum machine, the song is a lesson in precision, not drowning the audience in reverb and haze but instead beckoning them into its ethereal, wistful world.

Course – Hue Mirror

Led by Jess Robbins, Chicago synth pop outfit Course formed in the months before the pandemic, so adapting to challenging conditions has always been part of the project’s DNA. Their third album Hue Mirror is no exception. After suffering with chronic pain for years, Robbins was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition ankylosing spondylitis, and wrote the record within the vertiginous early days of processing the news. The lead single and title track introduces the tone of the record, one delivered with equal doses of tenderness and fear. “I wrote this song during the confusion and uncertainty of my future,” Robbins explains. “The song touches on the idea of how a medicine for this disease comes at a price, the pain I had been having for so long, and the sneakiness of not knowing when the next flare will come.”

You find me again
And again
Driving fear
Comes over me
In the light of pain

Hue Mirror is out on the 25th April and you can pre-order it via the Spondylitis Association of America, with all proceeds being donated to research.

Jess Kerber – I Wonder If I’ll Forget This

Born to musician parents, and a guitarist herself since the age of twelve, Nashville’s Jess Kerber makes warm and timeless songs that feel like worthy entries to the American folk tradition. New single ‘I Wonder If I’ll Forget This’ is a case in point, a wonderfully understated track that aches with real emotion. Kerber’s vocals are flanked by acoustic guitar and the barely-there texture of organ drone, an arrangement that allows the songwriting to shine through. It’s impressively mature, particularly in the way it combines genuine vulnerability with a sense of steadfast tenacity, a sensation Kerber likens to “the feeling of being little and learning to swim, grabbing the edge of the pool.”

‘I Wonder If I’ll Forget This’ is out now via Felte Records and is available on streaming services.

JLJR – Arms For Eyes

With new EP The Rest of Your Life coming soon via Paper Moon Records, JLJR has shared new single ‘Arms For Eyes’. Building upon the mix of emotion and narrative which marked the JLJR debut, the track adopts a tone both reflective and defiant to chart the end of a distinctive kind of relationship. One troubled and difficult to live through, yet equally one whose closure takes something from you too. “It’s a reflection on the disintegration of a bad friendship,” as JLJR puts it, “and the struggle to be yourself after someone robs you of part of your identity.”

‘Arms For Eyes’ is out now via Paper Moon Records.

Luah – Wanting You

“Something like a memory, or rather several memories superimposed. A way in which to not so much return to the past as view it more vividly, somehow striking in both its intimacy and remove. That place we long for but can never return to.” So we wrote of ‘Ocean O. (home 4 the holidays)’ by Brendan Paul Sullivan’s Luah back in January. It was a song which embodied the sincerity and heart of the project, not to mention the gentle patience with with emotion is brought to life. With album Some Blue Heaven coming next month, latest new single ‘Wanting You’ takes this sense of patience even further. A layered, slow burning psych folk song that taps into the rhythms of the diurnal cycle, moving from day to night as it progresses and gradually coalescing into something almost cosmic.

Molly Ganley – Comparisons

Last week saw the release of Eldest Daughter, the debut album from NYC indie folk artist Molly Ganley. Described as “a nostalgic and honest account of finding your way,” it’s a very human record about growth and change and navigating life’s strange turns with as much grace as is possible. One standout is ‘Comparisons’, a track that sits at the centre of the album and proves the perfect introduction to what Ganley does so well. Backed by pedal steel, piano and backing vocals from country folk duo Raising Daughters, the song confronts the futile and needless woes that result from comparing oneself to others.

Monnone Alone – Dry Doubt

Eighteen months ago, Melbourne‘s Monnone Alone released single ‘Loose Terrain’, a stellar slice of jangle pop where bright playfulness was shadowed by the slightest mark of wistful longing. With three albums already under their belt, the track seemed to be a culmination of their talents and experience, only for the project to settle into a prolonged period of radio silence. Such quiet can go one of two ways in the music industry—positive or negative—but luckily for us, in Monnone Alone’s case, the answer is the former. Because while they might have have appeared inactive from the outside, the truth was they were hard at work on brand new full-length, Here Comes the Afternoon. Pencilled for early May, the release is a joint endeavour, with Lost And Lonesome (Aus), Meritorio (EU), Safe Suburban Home (UK) and Repeating Cloud (US) teaming up to spread the record far and wide. Album opener and new single ‘Dry Doubt’ suggests ‘Loose Terrain’ was anything but a flash in the pan, so the date can’t arrive soon enough.

Orchid Mantis – Spirit Circle

Over the years, Atlanta, Georgia-based artist Thomas Howard has used the Orchid Mantis project as a space in which to explore a host of musical styles, each release responding to and building upon that which came before it so that the work was always in flux. Coming this spring on Daydream Records and Start-Track, the latest Orchid Mantis full-length Possession Pact pivots towards a nineties slowcore style, channeling forebears like Low, Bedhead and Codeine to offer a new dimension to the project. Opener and lead single ‘Spirit Circle’ typifies the understated brooding atmosphere. A song bathed in shadowy textures and melancholic quiet, always threatening to rise into something more intense but for the most part maintaining its muted darkness.

Steven van Betten & Andrew Rowan – Cloud Behind the Sun

Back in 2023 we wrote about Friends and Family, the debut solo full-length by Steven van Betten on Future Gods which highlighted the LA songwriter’s distinctively compassionate, humane style. Now van Betten has returned with brand new EP Cloud Behind the Sun, though has parked the solo venture in favour of continuing a collaboration with composer Andrew Rowan which stretches back more than a decade. The lead single title track shows the three-song release to be every bit as thoughtful and heartfelt as its predecessor, taking the ostensibly ordinary experience of passing an ex on the street and mining the moment for all of its depth and weight. Something made possible not least thanks to Rowan’s almost cinematic arrangement, its intricacy revealing itself as slowly yet decisively as spring through a thawing winter ground.

Wryn – Only Thing

We’ve covered a couple of singles by Californian songwriter Wryn in recent weeks, with both ‘Snake‘ and ‘Slow Down‘ introducing the themes of change and self-actualisation which run through their upcoming full-length, Shapes. The record’s release is fast approaching on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, and Wryn has returned with new single ‘Only Thing’ to further expand upon these ideas. The song opens with a spare, almost hesitant tone, but gradually builds in momentum, as though deciding to embrace life’s inevitable forward motion. “Life is always shifting and evolving,” as Wryn puts it, “and that’s a good thing. Change is the only constant.”

Watch the suitably literal video directed by DanTroon-Sazani below:

Shapes will be released on the 28th March via Righteous Babe Records and you can pre-order it now.

Zoya Zafar – I don’t love you

Writing of release Spring Songs in April of last year, we described how Lahore-born, Orlando-based songwriter Zoya Zafar utilised a controlled, unadorned style to communicate a considerable depth of feeling. “Zafar uses minimalism not as an austere stylistic choice but as a tool to hone her music’s emotional weight,” as we put it, “suffusing it with warmth despite its direct and unfussy arrangement.” New single ‘i don’t love you’ is no less charged in its mood, beginning life with no accompaniment other than acoustic guitar before Max Helgemo helped evolve it into something richer without sacrificing the poignant spareness.

The post Weekly Listening: March 2025 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“An embrace of contradiction,” was how we described Wins Above Replacement, last year’s sports-themed full-length by the amazing Lorenzo Landini. “Because, like sports, life can feel like a whole lot of suffering until those moments where it’s suddenly wonderful.” What he calls “a piece about hungering to belong in an increasingly disconnected and brutalizing culture,” new single ‘Leave No Trace’ sees Landini adopt a newly polished style without sacrificing the immediacy and charm which made the previous album so striking. Again the mood splits the difference between playfulness and sincerity, the vocals full of searching questions and wry humour, with a rock energy coming to drive the track forward and towards its cathartic conclusion.

Braden Lawrence – Gary

A song “told through the lens of an elderly man who’s looking for love after a tragic loss,” ‘Gary’ is the lead single and title track from a forthcoming EP by Braden Lawrence. Perhaps best known as a founding member of Philly rock band The Districts, Lawrence also previously recorded under the moniker Haggert Mctaggert, but has switched to his real name for last year’s album When You Lose the Light, released via Anxiety Blanket Records. Again on Anxiety Blanket, the Gary EP promises to continue the record’s blend of folk songwriting and contemporary indie pop. ‘Gary’ the single is a good introduction, a downbeat but sincere song full of wistful longing for things past, all hushed vocals and gently poignant instrumentation.

When you lose something you find something new
That’s what they said and then I met you

‘Gary’ is out now via streaming services.

Hatis Noit – Aura (Laraaji Rework)

The latest “rework” of a track from their acclaimed album Aura on Erased Tapes, London-based, Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit has teamed up with “multi-instrumentalist, laughter meditation practitioner and ambient godfather” Laraaji to reinterpret the album’s opener and title track. Previous reworkings have seen the likes of Preservation and Armand Hammer push Noit’s work towards hip hop, whereas Laraaji uses open tune zither, kalimba and vocals to lead it further out into ambient landscapes, leading to a multi-timbral sound which reaches the for the horizon.

Hemlock Ernst – Raised in the South

Hemlock Ernst, the rap project of Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring, has announced a new album, Studying Absence in collaboration with Icky Reels. Released via Beans‘ Tygr Rawwk Rcrds this coming October, the record sees Herring swap the typical jazz and soul beats of the Hemlock Ernst sound for Icky Reels’s industrial sensibilities and forces his most ambitious record to date. One loaded with all the history and ghosts of the South, that which happened and what might have been. “Studying Absence is what I see when I look in the mirror,” as Herring explains. “The record explores the magic that can arise when people are brought together by fate, and the poignant absence that underlines the human experience.” Check out lead single ‘Raised in the South’ now:

Studying Absence is out on the 16th October via Tygr Rawwk Rcrds.

Julia-Sophie – i was only

With new full-length forgive too slow, out now via Ba Da Bing Records, Julia-Sophie “uses her danceable electro pop sound to present something messier but more authentic,” we wrote in a preview. “As though the album is not a straight line towards a final goal but an orbit around an elusive answer.” Closer ‘telephone‘ offered what we described as “a lush song of love, loneliness and longing, where the brightness on the horizon might be some emergent hope or just the neon smudge of the last place still open so late at night,” whereas final single ‘i was only’ invites Noah Yorke to paint the romantic yearning underpinning the entire release. “I was only falling in love with you,” Julia-Sophie sings, and the swirling soundscape comes to mimic such an overwhelming descent.

ladylike – Horse’s Mouth

Taking equal doses of folk, shoegaze and post-rock to form their distinctive sound, Brighton‘s ladylike sit somewhere between caroline and Big Thief, conjuring expansive soundscapes populated with intricate details. Following on from the success of debut single ‘Southbound’ and slots at Glastonbury and Green Man, new track ‘Horse’s Mouth’ is the ideal starting point for those looking to get on board before ladylike really take off. An ever-shifting song which seems at once intimate and sprawling, as though in delving so deep in its introspection it inverts to find a vast internal landscape, one as majestic and melancholic as anything you might find in the wild.

Langkamer – At the Lake

Last month we introduced Langzamer, the forthcoming album by Langkamer on Breakfast Records, with lead single ‘Richard E. Grant’. Indicating something of a change of tone for the outfit, the song displayed a slower, more considered pace to house its confessional exploration of grief. Latest single ‘At the Lake’ invites The Gold Dregs to help Langkamer further this sound, reaching for something as close to Americana as anything they have released to date. “‘At The Lake’ is a song about the fallout of binge drinking culture,” says drummer/lead vocalist Josh Jarman, “and the prestige that we attach to the idea of the poète maudit. The way we romanticise unhealthy behaviour in the name of creativity.” Hence references to Janis Joplin and James Joyce in the almost mournful sound, the track unfurling with all the slow, soul-searching regret of the worst day after.

Langzamer will be released on Breakfast Records on 16th October and is available to pre-order via the Langkamer Bandcamp.

Madam Sad – Exs

Earlier in the month shared Madam Sad‘s ‘Hope For You’, a single which introduced Maddison Schreiber and Evelyn Charlotte Joe’s “willingness,” as we put it, “to confront difficult things with a compassionate face.” With its depiction of relationships and their inevitable end, latest single ‘Exs’ is no different. A song which looks to utilise a sense of personal growth in order to face such breaks with a more neutral, or even positive, attitude. “The song title is a way of holding myself accountable to make sure I am always hoping for the happiness of those who have hurt me,” Schreiber explains. “I also do get to a more genuine place where I feel compassion for an ex-lover’s success, and that’s a nice kind of sad.”

Exs is out now via streaming services.

Niall Summerton – Train

If Niall Summerton‘s previous album What Am I Made Of? presented “easygoing pop […] packed with lo-fi charm,” as we wrote last year, then new single ‘Train’ offers an altogether more shadowy side to his work. Again released via Tiny Library Records, the single pairs prominent drums and almost grungy guitar into a more conflicted atmosphere, the skipping rhythm faltering on occasion as though to evoke the apprehension at the track’s heart before rising into the squally climax. “It’s going to get harder,” Summerton sings, and amid the tumult of the closing seconds, you get the sense the prophecy has already arrived.

‘Train’ is out now via streaming services.

Nick Zanka – Softshoe

Described as “one part intervention, one part pep talk,” ‘Softshoe is the latest single from Nick Zanca ahead of his forthcoming LP, Hindsight. Recent singles ‘Little Professor’ and ‘You Two’ took on neurodivergence and open relationships respectively, and ‘Softshoe’ feels like it meets both tracks halfway. “I wrote this song for a dear friend and longtime collaborator during a period where we were struggling to communicate,” Zanca explains. “When zoomed out, it is a love song to a friend and a promise to persist and keep the faith.”

Slark Moan – Dollhouse Heart

The first glimpse of forthcoming EP The Return of Guitar Music, ‘Dollhouse Heart’ is the new single from Slark Moan, alter ego of New York multi-instrumentalist Mark Sloan. “[The song] is about feeling small amidst the enormity of life, and the overwhelming sadness and beauty of living an ephemeral existence within an infinite universe,” Sloan explains, illustrating both the scope and inspiring nature of the record. “I recognize that I’ve gained an unabashed realism,” they continue, “creative empowerment, and gratitude that my younger self just couldn’t access.” Sloan is joined by Nashville songwriter and visual artist Meg Elsier, and together they conjure something that oozes calm confidence and newfound wisdom as life’s many emotions threaten to burst from the seams. Watch Diego Molina’s video below:

‘Dollhouse Heart’ is out now on streaming services.

The post Weekly Listening: July 2024 #5 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Prine is a good reference point for the song. Because though the old American myths hang over the song—from classic country heartache to the LA’s promise of dreams—there’s a wryness which runs in opposition to this mood. As though Braden Lawrence is both subject to the romance of these tropes and aware of their absurdity. “A song to sway to through the strangeness of being alive,” as he describes it. And, like Prine before him, he manages to convey this duality without undermining the sincerity of the emotion on show. Because what is living in America if not drugs and God and Jar Jar Binks and a sense of unending longing?

and it’s so hard to mend a broken heart
and it was so weird seeing you by the mini mart
now there’s an angel singing in my ear
(that’s actually your tinnitus dear)

well I loved you like a Christian loves the bible
and I need you like your father needs his bottles

Watch the video directed and filmed by Dalton Pate below:

‘Living in America’ is out now and available from Bandcamp. Braden Lawrence’s debut album will be released later in the year via Anxiety Blanket Records.

The post Braden Lawrence – Living In America appeared first on Various Small Flames.