“This project was a lot of, just like songs about waking up to the reality we’re in, coping with that and seeing ourselves as victims of it, but then also as participants in it,” explain Georgia‘s Bayou Princess of their fittingly titled new album Dance Tunes for the End of the World upcoming via Indecent Artistry. “And navigating that as a band, rethinking what does a band mean? Or what can it mean, back to that silliness. I don’t want to be a business or a brand. Just an expression of daily living.” The style is introduced perfectly by latest single ‘He Keeps Talking’, a track which seems to barrel towards the encroaching apocalypse and embrace the entropic movement which results, sounding neither ironic nor flippant in the process, but attuned to the reality of a world in turmoil.

Big Warm Bed – June Bug

The new recording project of Leeds-based musician Jacob Andrews, Big Warm Bed has been long in the making. Having cut his teeth with years in the local scene, playing in projects with members of Adult DVD and English Teacher, as well as touring the US with Far Caspian frontman Joel Johnston, Andrews has slowly stepped out and introduced his own work. A long-awaited debut full-length is currently pencilled in for the early months of 2027, but for now we have single ‘June Bug’ to tide us over. Moving away from the post-punk snarl of his collaborators, Big Warm Bed slots into the wistful corner of indie rock, weaving a compassionate picture of friendship and the importance of being there for the ones you love. True to the theme, a full band join Andrews to bring the sound to life, with Niall Summerton (drums), Meg Lama (vocals/synth), Tom Kettleton (saxophone), Jacob Cracknell (bass/vocals), Chris Aitchison (guitar/vocals) and Connal Doo (guitar/vocals) all lending their talents. Watch a live session recorded at The Calm Farm and directed by Andy Little below:

‘June Bug’ is out now via Dance To The Radio and available from the usual places.

Cameron Keiber – Haunted Castles

Back in 2025, Cameron Keiber released full-length Nurser via Midriff Records, an album which confronted the modern world with the scathing eye it deserves. “There’s no hesitance or lily-livered attempts at peace here,” as we concluded in our review, “just a clear fuck you to all those who try to impose their own will upon innocent others.” Fast forward two years and Keiber is back with The Tide, a follow-up which pushes further than its predecessor, embracing the beauty of imperfection both stylistically and thematically and championing the power of the human in a world quickly tipping towards digital oblivion. Opener and single ‘Haunted Castles’ welcomes the listener into the release, opening with a poignant sense of reflection but soon kicking into gear and building into something urgent and cathartic. You’ll notice the beats of Nurser have been replaced by real drums, the guitars have doubled in size, and most importantly Keiber stands atop of if all fervent and compassionate as ever.

Cloudbelly – Phantom Lung

“Holy gods inside me / Why can no one love me / Without running aground?” So ask Cloudbelly on their latest single ‘Phantom Lung’.  The latest track to be unveiled from the project’s forthcoming full-length Throwing the Game, the single is a love song but not in the traditional sense, detailing the slow disintegration of a friendship as it moved from closeness to distance. A warm arrangement foregrounds the intimacy that is being lost, and there is no questioning the fondness which underpins the entire endeavour, though as the sound swells at the conclusion of the track, the answer to the initial question is ultimately fatalistic. “Maybe no one should come in / Nobody, now.”

Throwing The Game will be released on the 13th November and you can pre-order it now.

Darren Hayman – Darling, All the Time

If you’ve been reading VSF over recent months, chances are you know that cult UK songwriter Darren Hayman has been undergoing the mammoth task of making his vast back catalogue available online for the first time (a project you can read about in more depth here). All manner of rarities and deep cuts are being unveiled in the process, with some gems saved from obscurity along the way, but latest release I’m Your Team is one of the most notable to date. The full-length album had been sitting incomplete for a number of years, Hayman prioritising other musical commitments and dealing with artistic insecurities, though came to be viewed in a fonder light by its creator as time passed by. Inspired by the success of the aforementioned re-release project, Hayman has now decided to put out the album in full via Audio Antihero. Recorded in the wake of 2022 album You Will Not Die, I’m Your Team digs further into the same ground to perfect the contemplative, emotive style. “Sometimes after making an album you don’t want to go into a different direction,” Hayman explains. “You want to go deeper into it, and I felt I was just getting the hang of this stripped, slow, emotional music.” Listen to the title track now:

Eliza Edens – Old Home Video

Continuing to pave the way for full-length Death Drive, coming later this month via First City Artists, Eliza Edens has shared new single ‘Old Home Video’. While previous track ‘Hot & Mean‘ was certainly personal (“turning its attention to the queer experience in the contemporary moment, especially the rollercoaster of dopamine highs and lows facilitated by the access we’re granted into the lives of others by social media”) ‘Old Home Video’ takes things even further. A song Edens wrote while their mother was living with dementia which not only struggles with the cruelty of that present but also begins grieving in anticipation for the inevitable loss. As you might expect, the result is the most poignant and unguarded track on a release full of them, the very sound marbled with a combination of fondness and sorrow.

Death Drive will be released on the 30rd October via First City Artists and you can pre-order it now.

Fleur Geurl – stone in the stew

Back in September, Brooklyn-based songwriter Danielle Sorokin, AKA Fleur Geurl, released full-length 11:11, a collection of chamber folk songs which allow the personal and the mystical to blend together into something with real weight. It is not uncommon for recent folk music to bare its vulnerable heart in order to communicate more authentically, and there’s certainly an open, confessional dimension to Sorokin’s work, but where Fleur Geurl stands apart from its contemporaries is its willingness to play with the tension between display and concealment, clarity and opacity. Take single ‘stone in the stew’, a track indicative of the headspace of a record caught between cold reality and portentous dreams.

soon, I’ll sink into the stew
I’ll let it be true, I am too
a hue of geranium blue
soaks every room
every room

Generifus – Bird Beak

We last wrote about Spencer Sult’s Generifus back in 2024 with the release of Summerberrys, an album which provided “a welcome expansion of the Generifus universe,” as we put it, “again using Sult’s eye for the seemingly mundane details of day to day living to explore themes of growing up in the Pacific Northwest amid the wider backdrop of a hostile world.” Now Sult is set to return with brand new record Pulling on the Seam, and lead single ‘Bird Beak’ hints at the direction of the album. A meditation on hard truths and dashed dreams that comes to accept that moving on doesn’t always mean a clean break, the shrapnel of the past destined to remain embedded no matter how far we might run towards the horizon.

Good Wild Gods – Breathe It In

After meeting on tour in 2017, Luke Sital-Singh and Ben Cramer (AKA Old Sea Brigade) quickly developed a strong creative rapport, working together under the moniker Good Wild Gods and releasing the EP All The Ways You Sing In The Dark in 2020. Both artists returned to the successful solo careers thereafter, though a reunion at Cramer’s Swedish home studio rekindled the project once again, the duo this time pushing things further than before to embrace something closer to a full band richness. Sometimes I Go Missing is the result, a full-length album which builds upon what All The Ways… established yet reaches much further. “‘Sometimes I Go Missing’ is the culmination of many years we could have never seen coming,” as Sital-Singh explains. “We made the music we wanted to make.” Listen to latest single ‘Breathe It In’ now:

Sometimes I Go Missing will be released on the 19th March 2027 via Nettwerk Music Group and you can pre-order it now.

Kin Hana – Shōmetsu / Kodō

“Manages to locate the yearning for connection and community which has persisted from our first days, and will persist to the last,” we wrote of ‘Earthrise’ from Kin Hana‘s new LP Howling World forthcoming via Black Meadow. “The result centers the mythic presence of both the past and the future, twin otherworlds which loom large over the present, warping the material of our existence with equal parts pessimism and possibility.” The track embodied the spirit of an album concerned with how we engage with a world at once woeful and wondrous, moving with equal parts curiosity and dread in the hope of making sense of our irrational present. With the album just days away, Kin Hana has unveiled new single ‘Shōmetsu / Kodō’ to further tease the release. A mighty, haunting track which extends over eight minutes, Aaron Hodges joined by Jared Ashdown (Open Head), Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker) and Otto Hauser (Vetiver, Espers) to push the sound from a mournful piano piece into a cataclysmic doom metal number.

Left Tracks – Popcorn Lung

We last wrote about Left Tracks back in 2023 with the release of their EP End Times Hauling, describing how the collaboration saw Phil Di Leo (DI LEO) and Kabir Kumar (Sun Kin) use group together to imagine a new future in the wake of COVID and the adjacent catastrophes. “[The EP] sits on the precipice of disaster but makes a decision to envisage a different world,” we wrote, “working on the logic that no significant change can occur without first rekindling a sense of imagination.” The project has expanded and evolved in the interim, not least with last year’s record LT2, and now Di Leo and Kumar are back with brand new single ‘Popcorn Lung’ to further mark the direction of travel. A new, heftier version of Left Tracks bolstered by Sam Thorne (bass guitar) and Mark Edwards (drums, percussion) which is capable of both intricate detail and sweeping energy, playing with the tension between lightness and weight to evoke the strange physics of a codependent relationship.

Nick Bellerose – baby

“Paint[s] the experience of falling in love in all of its overwhelming glory with Bellerose’s trademark style, where cinematic richness meets the intimacy of DIY folk.” So we wrote of ‘About Us‘ by Nick Bellerose back in the summer, the DC-based songwriter channelling the likes of Elliot Smith, Sparklehorse and Nebraska-era Springsteen in his authentic style. With EP maybe, someday now announced, Bellerose has shared latest single ‘baby’, and the result is no less sincere. Based within the liminal space between the end of a relationship and the kindling of another, the track “is less about knowing where love might lead than allowing yourself to feel something again” as the press release explains, and possesses all the earnest, homespun charm you want from such a song.

young friend – michael wakes up

Next month Vancouver-based songwriter Drew Tarves, AKA young friend, will release brand full-length New Entertainment via Nettwerk, and single ‘michael wakes up’ highlights how the records signals an ambitious new era for the artist. Foregoing the simplicity of a single narrative arc, the track instead presents a series of vignettes in order to paint a larger picture, each adding up to a mosaic of the human experience in all of its wonders and heartache. “’michael wakes up’ follows a number of characters that are all experiencing different realities in their lives,” Tarves explains. “Michael being told by Shelly that she doesn’t love him any longer, John winning the lottery with his daughter’s birthday as his numbers, Damien being let go from his company but continuing to do what he loves. These people are all experiencing their own beautiful stories.” Watch the video directed by Zachary Vague & Drew Tarves below:

New Entertainment will be released on the 6th November via Nettwerk and you can pre-order it now.

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

Lead single ‘Waking Winter’ introduces the country-inflected rock through which this is delivered. A song of easygoing rhythm and dappled brightness which finds the wistfulness in dissatisfaction. “I don’t enjoy this,” as he sings in the opening line. “I should talk to someone, I should get it fixed.” Such emotions never puncture the track’s languid tone, nor is any solution offered. Instead we’re left with that sense of drift, the gap between knowing something is wrong and being able to set it right. The waking winter where no new growth is forthcoming, and all that is left to do is wait.

Cover photo by David Hoekje

The post Generifus – Waking Winter appeared first on Various Small Flames.

First making a name as part of indie pop outfit Au Revoir Simone, Annie Hart‘s solo work has branched out in a number of directions, most recently Eno-inspired ambient as seen on Everything Pale Blue released via Orindal Records in 2021. With new album The Weight of a Wave coming later this summer on Uninhabitable Mansions, Hart is back with brand new single ‘What Makes Me Me’, and the song suggests some degree of return towards ARS-esque pop. A song which attempts to work through sadness by choosing to smile, as though by calling attention to your own dark moods allows for a certain irony, and with it a sense of distance. “I felt like the only thing I was good at was feeling gratitude—but, paradoxically, I was so melancholy about it,” Hart explains. “I pulled a trick from Belle and Sebastian’s hat and made a song about it as cute, sing-alongable, and folky as I could. If I was going to feel bad about myself, why not have fun with it?” Check out the video shot and edited by Emily James with art direction from Jenna Gribbon:

The Weight of A Wave comes out August 4th on Uninhabitable Mansions. Order a copy now from the Annie Hart Bandcamp page.

Austin Cash – Franklin, King of the Beers

Written over the course of a year but recorded in a single night, Hello, Franklin is the latest release of Fayetteville, Arkansas songwriter Austin Cash. Coming next month via Gar Hole Records, the EP mines a deep history of American Primitive and minimalist styles to paint late-pandemic life in all of its strangeness. A collision of dissonance and harmony which looks to conjure not only the needling dread of the contemporary moment but its small joys too. Single ‘Franklin, King of the Beers’ is the perfect introduction to the record’s tensions, a song which nods to the wide-open landscapes so often painted by the genre while evoking the insular claustrophobia of pandemic living, looping on itself like the anxious motion of a restless mind.

Christopher Tignor – Ritual of a Thousand Limbs

Brooklyn-based composer and violinist Christopher Tignor has won acclaim across classical and experimental music scenes with his evocative electroacoustic arrangements. Latest album The Art of Surrender, coming this September on Western Vinyl, sees Tignor explore instinctive territory, pushing the violin towards an almost atavistic sound which foregoes too much planning or intention to instead embrace raw movement. Single ‘Ritual of a Thousand Limbs’ encapsulates this style, tapping into primal urges to which are brought to life in a video directed by Jason Akira Somma and starring Rachelle Nidra Somma:

The Art of Surrender will be release on the 29th September via Western Vinyl.

Eat My Butterfly – Dolé

With EP Esperar El Sol coming in a few weeks via FPE Records, producer Eat My Butterfly has unveiled new single ‘Dolé’. The EP is described as “a celebration of La Réunion’s folklore,” and the song serves as an encapsulation of this style. A mix of traditional instruments and synthesizers, united by Dilo’s passion for percussion and rhythm which conjures an organic soundscape. Vocals from Romane Mana (of Romane & Gaël) lift the track further, aligning it within the catchy indie pop bracket alongside the likes of Sylvan Esso and more importantly drawing the listening into a living, breathing world of its own.

‘Dolé’ is out now & available on streaming services.

Generifus – Didn’t Even Look at the Mountain

The recording project of Olympia‘s Spencer Sult and assorted friends, Generifus has carved out a space within the independent scene with a steady stream of albums dating back over a decade. A joint release between Anything Bagel and Bud Tapes, latest record Rearrangel sees Generifus back after a hiatus and looking to capture the duality of any journey, where banal details and deep, almost spiritual meaning intermingle along a single road. With live band members Wilson Caicedo, Andrew Dorsett and Henry Wilson joined by the likes of Lee Baggett, the result is brought to life with a rich and often wistful mood, as typified by single ‘Didn’t Even Look at the Mountain’, where regret meets an unfailing fondness.

His His – Underdogs

We’ve written about Toronto‘s His His several times in recent years, most recently back in February with ‘People, Places, Changes’, a “bittersweet” song “both pining for what has now gone and determined to capture the fondness which persists all the same.” Latest single ‘Underdogs’ is similarly concerned with change and the passing of time, though this time the focus is on the gentrification of familiar places. A picture of incremental loss which worsens on every visit, the past slowly changed by multi-millionaires, tree by tree, brick by brick.

Steven van Betten – Yosemite

Though fronting Fell Runner and co-founding School of Song, where he teaches alongside the likes of Phil Elverum, Miya Folick, Luke Temple, Lomelda and Meg Duffy of Hand Habits, it is only now Nevada-born, LA-based songwriter Steven van Betten is releasing his debut EP. Family & Friends sits at the intersection of traditional and contemporary styles, with new single ‘Yosemite’ highlighting van Betten’s ability to evoke both the timeless folk narratives of Townes van Zandt and the ethereality of Sufjan Stevens. The song was written after a close friend lost a parent at the national park, which in turn made van Betten reflect on his own childhood memories of a space where human life gets as close as it might to a sense of something larger. Watch the video shot and directed by Marcus Högsta below:

Hike with your wife
to the top of the falls
and sit in the shade of the afternoon
Your favourite places in the United States
tangible proof that there is a God

Friends & Family will be released on the 27th October via Future Gods.

Tremolo Fields – Stumble On Out

The recording project of Iowa-raised, Portland-based artist David T. Rogers, Tremolo Fields combines folk sensibilities with rock and electronic styles to weave its evocative sounds. With debut album still as can be out now, latest single ‘Stumble On Out’ serves as the perfect introduction to the project. A song where heartfelt romance meets brooding drama, strung on a drum machine rhythm though prone to drifts upward, capturing a balance between physical and ethereal sensations. The rhythm builds as the track develops, eventually descending into an overwhelming crescendo which carries both passion and desperation—love as a kind of longing, even in the present moment.

I once heard the drum
deep in your chest
pulsating blood below
our hands pressed
and we held each other so close
counting down til the sun rose
six, five, four, three, two, one
I’ll always feel
the beating of your drum

still as can be is out now and available via the Tremolo Fields Bandcamp page.

Zeus – Air I Walk

Almost a decade since their last record (2014’s Classic Zeus), Toronto indie rock band Zeus return this September with their fourth album, Credo, via Arts & Crafts. Inspired by equal parts classic rock and 80s synth pop, the record promises to see a continuation of the Zeus M.O., indie rock at once fresh and timeless and full of hooks and harmonies. Lead single ‘Air I Walk’ is our first taste of the new material, a song that’s been a fixture of live sets for a while and serves as a stepping stone from past to present Zeus. What lead Neil Quinn calls “lovesick cowboy music,” there’s a slight dusty folk influence amidst the guitars and electronics, a niggling ache beneath the catchy chorus. Watch the video, directed by 1TruR, below:

Credo releases 8th September via Arts & Crafts. Pre-order a copy now via Bandcamp.

The post Weekly Listening: July 2023 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

And, of course, being comprehensive is impossible these days, so let us know if we missed your favourite and maybe we’ll add it to the collection.

Emily Yacina – Nice Try
(RIYL: bedroom pop)

Evening River Band – EP5
(RIYL: country, folk, psych rock)

Ever – But I Am
(RIYL: bedroom pop, dark rooms)

Exam Season – Mostly Homely
(RIYL: indie rock, emo, Trust Fund)

Family Video – Places To Sleep
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, longing)

Field Medic – that beer called becks reminds me of a haiku i wrote
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, modern folk)

Fish Food – For Shadow Hurts
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, weird lyrics)

Folktale Records – Folktale Sampler (COMPILATION)
(RIYL: experimental, folk, indie pop)

Fossil Jane – will you?/you will.
(RIYL: bedroom pop, singer songwriter, )

Free Space – Ahead of Myself
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Trace Mountains)

Generifus – Peace Sign Rising
(RIYL: indie pop, indie rock)

Georgia Maq – Brain Studio Session
(RIYL: acoustic, bedroom pop, Camp Cope)

Ghost Camp – Great Lakes
(RIYL: indie rock, psych pop)

Glider – Demos
(RIYL: lo-fi, psych pop)

GoldFlakePaint – Too Far From Town To Learn
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, Gold Flake Paint)

Good Good Blood – O Belong / Motion Sickness
(RIYL: ambient, dream pop, folk)

Gorgeous Bully – Better Demons
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie rock, fuzz)

Govier – Predator
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, “alien folk”)

High Sunn – i will never learn
(RIYL: chillwave, lo-fi, dream pop)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2016: E – H appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. By My Side – Valley Maker
   2. Shadow Play – Tierpark
   3. West Texas – PWR BTTM
   4. Console – Joplin Rice
   5. Lightning Dream Shuffle – Will Stratton (for Genius Loci)
   6. Dazed By You – PINS
   7. Y U – Fanpage
   8. The Rest – Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
   9. I’m Not – Hoshifo
   10. Nothing, Just Looking at the Moment – Lejsovka & Freund
   11. Stole Ur Bike – Boosegumps
   12. Our Headache Years – Nudes
   13. Worry, Glory – The Silence Set
   14. Sand – Frankie Cosmos
   15. xplodineyez – Field Medic
   16. Walking The Line – Sam Moss
   17. Bedroom – Alanna McArdle
   18. Tired – Captain Samurai
   19. Birds – M Caridi & The Glow
   20. Gardensong – Funeral Advantage
   21. Snow Bird – Ama Moii
   22. So Long, Suzie (The Damage is Done) – Morning River Band
   23. Cracks in the Sidewalk – Naomi Pop
   24. Burn This – Mauno
   25. What Coast – Grubs
   26. Pulled Over – Generifus
   27. EZ River – Wilder Maker

The post September Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Things open with ‘Pulled Over’, a deadbeat brand of grunge which positions itself in a pissed off zone somewhere between defiance and acceptance (“They wanna know who you are / they really wanna know who you are”). The title track follows  similar style but ups the boldness, adopting the sort of rock-star posturing familiar to musicians of a byegone age (“Call me extra bad / well I don’t care I’m just doin me now”), while ‘Don’t Fall Down’ is more passive aggressive, warning a friend or lover through a series of situations.

“Don’t fall down
theres nobody here to catch you
and you’d make us sad too
and you wouldn’t want that would you?”

‘Small Stuff’ is a cocky rock number with vocals that sound almost like something from Oasis, ‘Uncurl’ unfurls (sorry) from downtempo melancholy into a rather hectic ending, while ‘No Surprise’ wanders near Coma Cinema/Elvis Depressedly territory. ‘The Park’ sees the pace pick up with tight 80s guitars and racing percussion, like The Police writing songs about wandering, defiant teens.

“We climbed a tree to see how far we could see
but the moon was blinding and the town was dark.
Then a worker came in a pickup truck
and he took me aside to remind me they’d be closing soon.
Well fuck that, we’ll stay here forever.”

The nostalgia doesn’t end there. ‘Wiped Out’ is Britpop meets US rock, as if The Stone Roses had gone through a plaid phase and taken up skating, while ‘Don’t Turn Away’ is again reminiscent of Oasis and ‘Outer Line’ is a washed out slow burning grunge hit:

“The whole wide world is waiting, they talk all the time.
Outer lines fading, so take all you want.
I’m hoping now time has gone, you’ll find out you can”

You can get Extra Bad right now on the Generifus Bandcamp page, including on some rather nice cassettes.

Cover art by Paul Williams

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