“Rise in the west, set in the east / do what I want, go where I please / just gravity keep holding me.” So sings Abbey Blackwell on ‘Rise and Set’, the lead single from the Seattle-based artist’s forthcoming album Dream a Day. Emerging from the aftermath of a relationship, the song is at once playful and heartbroken, existing in that disorienting space where everything you thought you knew is upended and you are left to hope at least physics will hold true. The arrangement is built to support Blackwell’s distinctive vocals, building from acoustic beginnings into something far richer with the help of Norman Robbins (electric guitar, lap steel) and Evan Woodle (drums, percussion). The result transforms a decidedly personal experience into something universal.

DoYeon Kim – The Beats of Distant Thunder

It is telling that Brooklyn-based composer, improvisor and vocalist DoYeon Kim is one of, if not the only, Gayageum player within contemporary music. Her embrace of the centuries-old Korean zither within her boundary-pushing work is indicative of Kim’s willingness to harness both cultural traditions and cutting edge vision in order to bring to life her singular sound. Her first release as a bandleader, forthcoming album Wellspring is an encapsulation of this spirit and sign of its radical potential. Because, with Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Henry Fraser (double bass) and Mat Maneri (viola) in support, the record sees Kim utilise these sensibilities to create something of a sonic manifesto. A desperate, timely plea for humanist connection within an otherwise fractured world. “This is the first time I open my hand to the world, a first greeting,” Kim explains. “I wish people hearing this music [receive] energy and comfort. I want to be there with them.” Listen to first single ‘The Beats of Distant Thunder’ now:

Mudgoose – Yum Cha Takeover

The recording project of Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington-based songwriter Fletcher Ng, Mudgoose put out album Chasing Horse a few weeks ago, introducing a sound that sits somewhere in the middle grounded between slowcore, bedroom pop and alt-country, with sprinklings of a slacker vibe thrown in for good measure. Recorded to tape with a Tascam 4-track, the songs are textured, hazy and patient, delivered as though through the fog of memory and further clouded by a drink or two. Single ‘Yum Cha Takeover’ is a good place to dive in, the opening so slow its almost sedated, the vocals emerging from beneath these rhythms with what might be resignation or desperation. “[The] lyrics are loosely based on an embarrassing moment in which I screamed at a group of strangers to get out of my kitchen during a party,” Ng explains, though the resulting track is by no means a funny anecdote. More a murmured plea from the end of a rope, one last attempt to communicate something before fatalism settles for good.

Otracami – Perfect Reach

We’ve featured a couple of singles from Otracami‘s new album Runoff in recent months, first ‘Please‘ back in January then ‘Sirens’ a few weeks later.  Taking the story of Persephone from Greek myth, the latter saw Camila Ortiz weave “mythic elements with personal reflection,” we wrote, asking “How far do the obligations of loyalty extend? […] When you are linked to a person involved with something bad, how much responsibility are you expected to take?” With the album coming this week via Figure & Ground, Otracami is back with ‘Perfect Reach’. A song written during a winter School of Song class with Adrianne Lenker and partly inspired by the novel Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, it sees Ortiz lean into a darker, almost threatening atmosphere. “I was writing in a way that was less directly narrative and more vibes-based, using images, feelings, textures,” she explains, though a narrative thrust is implied by the very mood. A certain sense of guilt, even villainy marks the shadowed sound. The sensation of having committed a regretful act and having to acknowledge the fact.

Ramsey Thornton – Rocking

Back in October, we featured ‘Riverside’, a single by Tulsa-based songwriter, banjoist, and drummer Ramsey Thornton. It was released to announce his signing with the good folks at Gar Hole Records, and at the time we mentioned how a full-length record was in the pipeline. Well that time has now come. Titled I Called It! and set for release in May, the album collects 13 songs that perfectly introduce Thornton’s warm, down-to-earth sound. “I like my music to sound natural,” he describes. “These are songs that I wrote around my kitchen table. I recorded them with my friends. I hope they just sound like me.” New single ‘Rocking’ is a great example, Thornton’s fingerpicked guitar backed with drums, bass and lap steel to conjure something that feels both understated and emotionally deep.

runo plum – butterflies

Following on from 2025 full-length patching, an album we described as “equipped to elucidate the highs and lows of life,” Minneapolis songwriter runo plum is sharing brand new EP Bloom Again this May via Winspear. Released in support of an upcoming West Coast tour and SXSW, the EP sees plum expand upon her diaristic, emotionally-charged style, as introduced by lead single ‘butterflies’. “I showed you butterflies / You took ‘em in and burned them alive / In a house buried in smoke,” she sings in the song’s opening verse, “shoved myself to the ground to lay low.” The blunt, bleak lyricism is juxtaposed with the warm richness of the sound itself, the track playing like a confession or unburdening, runo plum unveiling all of her doubts and disappointments as though the only path to new growth is by clearing the ground.

The Same Sky – Sad Songs

Montreal ‘outsider pop’ band The Same Sky have a new record, Haunting in the Mountains, on the way via Casa Joven. Following lead single ‘What’s Left’, which we described previously as “a track where dreamy textures meet an almost mechanical sense of forward motion,” the four-piece have now unveiled a second preview, titled ‘Sad Songs’. Existing at the heavier end of the post punk / shoegaze spectrum, the song is soaked in fuzz and noise, siren-like guitar riffs and violent percussion carrying the minimal lyrics toward something almost ritualistic. “The track moves through hypnotic repetition like a ritual, closer to a chant than a traditional song,” describes lead Joseph Simon. “Unless ‘traditional’ means a psychotic monk howling through a wall of distortion.”

This Lonesome Paradise – Unending

When previewing This Lonesome Paradise‘s upcoming release Death Motels back in January, we described how the album “position[s] the project as one working slightly outside of time with a sound that conjures a mythic past while always facing forwards.” Following on from single ‘Changelings’, what we called a “brooding, Lynchian number as dark as the night itself,” This Lonesome Paradise have shared new single ‘Unending’ to celebrate the release of the record. Another shadowy slice of desert rock which plays as something both stark and romantic, the cinematic sound and E Ray Béchard’s pathos-filled vocals combining into an evocative picture of America. A landscape littered with broken dreams and unrealised futures, dark and dangerous and haunted by the ghosts of all that was sacrificed to establish itself upon the world.

Watch the video directed, shot and edited by David Lampley on Super 8 film below:

Death Motels is out now and available from the This Lonesome Paradise Bandcamp page.

Thomas Dollbaum – Dozen Roses

Born in Tampa and now based in New Orleans, songwriter Thomas Dollbaum has put out several releases in recent years, 2022 LP Wellswood and 2025 EP Drive All Night, though grew frustrated with the slow process as recording was hampered by a variety of factors. For latest album Birds of Paradise, coming this May on Dear Life Records, Dollbaum was determined to buck this trend. After writing for no more than three months, he enlisted the help of most trusted collaborators Nick Corson, Josh Halper and MJ Lenderman and travelled to Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi to work with producer/engineer Clay Jones. There, the album came to life in a handful of days, the recording process finally matching the urgency and charge that Dollbaum’s style of music demands. Lead single ‘Dozen Roses’ serves as a window into the album and its themes, tapping into the magic and beauty of the natural world to enliven personal memories, and ultimately displaying the lightning-in-a-bottle intensity these songs promise to bring.

Watch the video by ALLUVIAL below:

Birds of Paradise is set for release on 22nd May via Dear Life Records. Order it now from the Thomas Dollbaum Bandcamp page.

The post Weekly Listening: March 2026 #3 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“An introspective view on shame,” was how we described ‘Wave’ from Annie Schultz‘s It Bends Until It Breaks, released via Trailing Twelve Records back in 2023. A song which paired Catholic guilt with a more ecstatic aspect of religious imagery to rise through darkness towards something almost triumphant. Now Schultz is back with ‘MIS’, a similarly evocative track that picks through self-destructive tendencies in something like a lament, swapping guitar for organ to further amplify the sorrowful atmosphere of the Minneapolis-based songwriter’s work. “With ‘MIS,’ I wanted to move away from the guitar-based formula I’m used to,” as Schultz explains. “I filled the song out with Casio organ patches, layered harmonies, and a double bass arrangement, which I later realized was a subconscious influence from songs like ‘Oh Well, OK’ by Elliott Smith.”

‘MIS’ is out now via Trailing Twelve Records and available from the usual places.

Bleary – bug

If Bleary‘s new single ‘bug’ seems to carry a notable sense of depth, then it is with good reason. Featuring on the Nashville group’s full-length Little Brain, coming this May via yk records, the track is part of a larger body of work that was first developed prior to the pandemic. Callan Dwan, Peter Mercer, Taro Yamazaki and Luke Fedorko pushed these songs further in their home studio during lockdowns, before taking them to Joshua Ditty and Mike Purcell to record them in their final, sumptuous form. As ‘bug’ attests, this long gestation period bears real fruit. The Bleary sound packs an emotional punch with its combination of soaring energy and considerable heft. A wall of sound in the truest sense, yet one which boosts the listener up so that they might see further over its height.

Exam Season – Dreaming of a Dog

Ringwood indie pop band Exam Season formed in 2016 and, despite releasing a series of singles and EPs, have never put out a full-length record. That is, until now. The four-piece, Ed Watson (guitar/vocals), Jack Laurilla (guitar), Louis Kneale (bass) and Toby Matthews (drums), have unveiled their first new song in over five years, and with it the promise of a debut record sometime in 2026. You will have to be patient for news on the record, but single ‘Dreaming of a Dog’ should tide you over just fine. It’s a love song, though not exactly a saccharine one. Instead the narrator addresses his significant other and their lives together with all the imperfections left in. “We’re two shards of glass, with a key piece missing,” as he puts it in the final line, “We both feel like dying and that’s what keeps us living.”

The Foot & Leg Clinic – Where did all the fruit go?

Glasgow-based self-described ‘wonk-rockers’ The Foot & Leg Clinic (FKA The Wife Guys of Reddit) are gearing up to release new album Sit Down for Rock and Roll via Bingo Records next month, and the album promises to be something of an inflection point for the band. After a difficult few years of illness, bereavement and general unpleasantness, the quartet (Niamh R MacPhail, Arion Xenos, Angus Fernie and Elise Atkinson) saw the opportunity to re-examine their methods of working and lean into the constraints brought about by change. “We were kind of forced to work at a slower pace, but probably for the better of the final product,” MacPhail explains. And Xenos agrees: “It still feels eclectic, but it’s a little bit more focused. We definitely thought about this as an album project when working on it, as opposed to other things before.” Any fans worried something might be lost in the process need not worry, because lead single ‘Where did all the fruit go?’ finds the band as idiosyncratic as ever. Although the song perhaps represents a newfound sincerity for The Foot & Leg Clinic, some earnest attempt to communicate fighting through the chaotic energy to make itself heard.

GREBE – Insurance

A melting pot of slowcore, shoegaze, alternative and indie rock influences, GREBE‘s 2025 debut EP If You Squint It’s All Soup established the dynamism and versatility of the Atlanta outfit, and now a year later they are ready to let loose full-length Hell Diver to build upon these beginnings and capitalise on the momentum. Coming in April via Indecent Artistry and Rope Bridge, the album sees Kade Whitlark (vocals, rhythm guitar) Logan Neely (guitar) and William Gunnin (drums) match attention to detail with raw energy, practising a tried and tested quiet-loud dynamic to achieve songs of considerable size and cathartic potential. Take ingle ‘Insurance’, a track which simmers with promise before sparking to life periodically, a sound which matches the radical conflagration that’s suggested in the lyrics.

Hell Diver will be released on the 17th April via Indecent Artistry and Rope Bridge.

Hockitay – over/over

Born in Guatemala and now based in Montreal, Hockitay won serious attention with the EP slo mach back in 2025, the release straddling bedroom pop, slowcore, R&B and electronic styles to explore a present moment marked by exhaustion and alienation. Out via Future Gods, latest single ‘over/over’ builds upon these foundations to conjure another very contemporary sound. One where loneliness and restlessness overlap, that curiously digital phenomenon where even an empty room can now be overwhelming. The lyrics dig further into this online world, probing at questions of performance and authenticity (“I haven’t had an opinion / Since high school,” Hockitay sings on one verse. “I wear the jersey / But I’ve never seen them play”), and the result plays like an urgent plea from an otherwise numb persona.

‘over/over’ is out now via Future Gods and available from Bandcamp.

The Montvales – Carolina

Touring in the wake of their successful 2024 album Born Strangers, Knoxville folk duo The Montvales (songwriters Sally Buice and Molly Rochelson) found their journey coincidentally align with the path of a solar eclipse, every stop filled with people gathered for the once-in-a-lifetime event. But that was not the only notable event unfolding at that time—genocide was taking place in Gaza, student protests were being violently quelled in the US, war dragged on in Europe and the cost of living kept on climbing. New album Path of Totality emerged from this period, a picture of an America seized by a variety of spectacles, and haunted by the possibility of a second term Trump. Ahead of release new month via Free Dirt Records, The Montvales have shared single ‘Carolina’, and the single is indicative of the compassionate, unapologetically political brand of songwriting which marks the record. “Written in the wake of Hurricane Helene, ‘Carolina’ explores the creeping feeling that late-stage capitalism has left us with very few places that still feel safe,” Buice explains. “A testament to the folks who forge ahead in beauty.”

Path of Totality will be released on the 20th March via Free Dirt Records and you can pre-order it from Bandcamp.

Nic Panken – Dear Companion

You might know Nic Panken as the lead of Brooklyn folk outfit Spirit Family Reunion, though he has also recorded solo under his own name in recent years, putting out a variety of singles. This spring sees the release of Near Divine or Merely Rhyme, Panken’s debut full-length which makes good on the promise of the initial releases. He enlisted an enviable ensemble of guests to bring the songs to life, with Mat Davidson (Big Thief, Twain), Ken Woodward (Buck Meek, Sam Evian), Austin Vaughn (Cassandra Jenkins, Cass McCombs) and David Christian (Karen O, Curtis Harding) all appearing, alongside others, and the result is every bit as rich as such a line-up suggests. Take the earthy warmth of lead single ‘Dear Companion’, the arrangement wrapping around Panken’s reflective, wistful vocals and elevating the cryptic lyricism into something stirring. “What began as an afterthought became a central part of this record,” Panken explains. “After working through the first batch of songs I brought in, more material was needed, and on a whim I shared an early sketch of an idea with my co-producer Jared Samuel. He grabbed a pair of scissors, directing me to cut out each line, shuffle them all up and piece together something new. In the end we added just a few lines to weave it together, and found a wonderfully mysterious place for it all to land.”

No Spinoza – Airport

The recording project of York-based musician, poet and artist Thomas Pearson, No Spinoza has made a name with an inventive, often conceptual style of music which is more than happy to jump between genres. After Maxim, an album of nursery rhymes recorded together with Drew Worthley, No Spinoza is now preparing to release brand new full-length Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, and lead single ‘Airport’ shows the record is no less ambitious or thought-provoking. “Before leaving for the airport I asked Saint Anthony: how then should I live my life?” Pearson sings in the opening lines over a brooding post-punk/art-rock sound. “He replied: Have no confidence in your own righteousness, your virtue.” The track takes off from this point, continuing its philosophical musings while transporting the listener high above a stark desert landscape via a combination of taut drums, shimmering synths and jazz-adjacent playfulness.

Jupiter’s Great Hurricane will be released soon.

The Same Sky – What’s Left

Based in Montreal and founded by Joseph Simon, The Same Sky is an indie rock outfit which takes elements of shoegaze and post-punk to create what they have labelled ‘outsider pop’. With full-length Haunting in the Mountains coming this April via Casa Joven, The Same Sky have shared new single ‘What’s Left’ to introduce this style. A track where dreamy textures meet an almost mechanical sense of forward motion, and the growing momentum is punctuated by intermittent squalls of noise. Thematically, the single borrows imagery from Greek myth, namely The Odyssey, to explore the experience of a break-up, and the result sits between the real and the fantastical. A voyage forward into the unknown which seems to be both emerging and sailing towards tragedy.

Wendy Eisenberg – Old Myth Dying

Last month we previewed Wendy Eisenberg‘s self-titled album, forthcoming this spring with Joyful Noise Recordings, noting the significance of an experienced, endlessly inventive artist deciding to put their own name as the title of the release, “as though for the first time willing or able to put forward a halfway static vision of themselves within the maelstrom of change.” Indeed, Eisenberg has said the album emerged from a period of self-confrontation, something they liken to “a personal exorcism,” and the result promises to be their most personal and daring record to date. Following the golden classic folk sound of ‘Will You Dare‘ and the Lynch-inspired ‘Meaning Business‘, Eisenberg has now shared new track, ‘Old Myth Dying’. “I wrote ‘Old Myth Dying’ in early 2024 during an insane fever,” they explain. “Although I knew I should have been trying to sleep it off, I wanted to see if I could do this polyrhythmic thing in my right hand and sing over it. Historically, practicing has allowed me to forget that I have a body that feels pain—I disappear into the action, in pursuit of becoming beauty. This time, my lyrics came out straightforward and wary, blunter than usual. They revealed a different pain I was feeling, the pain of actually knowing what you can and can’t control, and what inherited myths have been lies designed to control you all along.”

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