With the record out next month, Ruby Gill has returned with ‘Touch Me There’. Another single which examines the body in ways both intimate and political, embracing the queer experience both as a means of personal fulfilment and as a wider radical force. This duality is evoked by the interplay between Gill’s searching delivery and the communal backing chorus which sees the likes of Annie-Rose Maloney, Hannah McKittrick, Angie McMahon, Hannah Cameron, Jess Ellwood and Olivia Hally (of Oh Pep!) all lend their voices. The result is the sense of a call being answered. A single voice echoing back as a community. “During the longest dry spell of my life, I came out to myself,” Gill explains:

The first time I said it out loud was in this song—all that sitting by a river waiting for the truth to come out led to me being honest for the first time about who I was attracted to and what kind of sex I wanted in my life. It took almost two years of zero kissing to get to that point of self-knowledge. Not intentionally, haha – everything just felt so wrong and scary after being touched in really unsafe ways before that. I was numb for years, but I finally felt sensation in my body again after writing ‘Touch Me There’. It broke me open. I hope it breaks other people open too, whether it’s about queerness or otherwise. You have a say over your love and pleasure

The track comes complete with a video—filmed, directed and edited by Bridgette Winten, with shoot and lighting assistance by Sophie Christopher—staged within Naarm’s queer workout and community space Pony Club Gym.

Some Kind of Control is out on the 28th March and you can pre-order it now.

Photo by Kira Puru

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Lily of the Valley, the timely new album from 22° Halo, might centre on something intensely personal and difficult, but it’s more widely relevant too as it actively works to fight off despair and let light in on an otherwise dark time. As we described when writing of previous single ‘Virtual You’, the sound is “wistful, yes, and not immune from a certain sense of longing, but always with an overarching gratitude that such times happened at all.” With the album now out via Tiny Library Records, Will Kennedy has unveiled final single, ‘Cobwebs’. A fittingly introspective track which tracks the early days of the diagnosis which sits at the heart of the album, looking to preserve ordinary life while wrestling with an all-encompassing uncertainty.

I’m trying to believe that you’re good
I’m trying to believe that I’m good
I’m trying to believe that we’re good
I’m trying to believe

Clara Mann – Stadiums

UK singer-songwriter Clara Mann has announced her debut album, Rift, the follow up to 2021 EP Consolations (Sad Club Records). A culmination of her young career so far, label The state51 Conspiracy call the record “a tangible expression of Clara’s entire world—a snow globe raised in her palms for the world to see, in all its layers and complexities, containing all her love, relationships, memories, and experiences.” Mann describes her music as “almost-folk”, and the album’s two lead singles introduce this perfectly. Finely wrought and patient, minimal percussion lapping at the edges of the impressive vocals. ‘Stadiums’ is perhaps the standout, precise and emotive in equal measure, swaying around a still and poised centre.

Decant – Rest

Bay Area trio Decant are this month releasing two singles, both in preview of an upcoming EP set for release early next year and to celebrate the fact the tracks appear in the film credits for the movie Rust. The first single ‘Rest’ introduces the band’s evocative style, something folky that splits the difference between shadow and warmth. The result is at once poignant and moody, aching with a nocturnal longing yet holding on to a sense of light.

German Error Message – Lilt

Two decades since the project’s conception, the latest release from Paul Kintzing’s German Error Message is a self-titled collection of songs written and recorded since 2020. First released digitally earlier this year, the album is now getting a cassette release from Lily Tapes & Discs as part of their Fall ’24 batch. It’s both reassuringly familiar and somehow fresh, the warm and hushed lo-fi songs reaching out toward a newfound sense of brightness. As Lily Tapes put it: “Where previous albums may have built insular and hermetic worlds with their hushed delivery, German Error Message sprawls outwards, unfolding as a series of nested home-recording experiments disguised as folk songs.” Check out ‘Lilt’ as a taster.

Hamburger – Frankenstein

Bristol six-piece Hamburger are gearing up for the release of their new EP Beat Back the Ghouls via Specialist Subject Records later this month, and latest single ‘Frankenstein’ shows how the collection both builds upon their previous work and pushes the sound in new directions. Where debut EP Teenage Terrified offered equal parts rawness and invention, Hamburger use the new release to show off a more sophisticated, layered sound without sacrificing any of the personality that fans have come to love. ‘Frankenstein’ is the ideal introduction. A richly wistful track which pines for summers past with equal parts soaring energy and enveloping fuzz.

Lone Striker – Dunno

You might know Tom Brown as part of bands like Rural France and Teenage Tom Petties, but new project Lone Striker moves away from the fuzzy jangle of those projects towards something more akin to Americana, albeit one with an off-kilter wobble. With a self-titled album coming next year Repeating Cloud, Safe Suburban Home and Hidden Bay Records, Brown has shared the title track to introduce the project. Something of a theme song for Lone Striker which doubles as an ode to those old school number nines.

Mumble Tide – The Rails

Consisting of singer Gina Leonard and composer Ryan Rogers, Mumble Tide is a Bristol-based project which has made a name with a maximalist amalgamation of synth pop and country. But new single ‘The Rails’, out now on Breakfast Records, sees the outfit pivot towards a different direction. With help from producer Stew Jackson (Massive Attack), Mumble Tide worked with newfound patience, crafting a slow and careful arrangement in which Leonard’s vocals can be heard in all their nuance and depth. The result draws heavily on sixties folk but elevates such sensibilities with an almost cinematic sheen, and the emotive, assured mood which results is central to the track’s themes. “’The Rails’ is like an angry kiss, or throwing stones at a mirror,” Leonard explains. “It’s about leaning into all the things that hold me back and in the process realising that they’re not as solid as they seem.”

Otala – Patchwork

With a sound that combines jazz, math and post-rock with ambient and spoken word, Nottingham’s Otala are not ones to be held to genre conventions. Having recently signed to London’s Lil Chop Record Shop, the band are preparing to release new EP Fire! To The River next February, and single ‘Patchwork’ gives listeners a chance to immerse themselves within the evocative and inventive Otala sound. A song that has been part of the outfit’s repertoire for a long while now reimagined as something fitting their current level. “’Patchwork’ is a song we have been performing since we began playing as Otala, but one that we’d originally planned to let fade into our history,” the band explain. “After seeing a live video from an old set we decided to put the time in to adapt and reanimate it into something we’re proud to release.”

Watch the video by Rory Allen below:

‘Patchwork’ is out now via Lil Chop Record Shop and available from Bandcamp. Fire! To The River will be released in February.

Ruby Gill – Some Kind Of Control

We’ve previously described the work of  South Africa-born, Melbourne/Naarm-based pianist, guitarist and singer-songwriter Ruby Gill as “setting its sights on the overbearing, patronising force of male entitlement,” and “aris[ing] from a very personal situation but end[ing] up speaking to a far wider experience.” New single ‘Some Kind of Control’ follows in the same vein to explore the strange blend of agency and restriction experienced during the lockdown period of the pandemic. “I had been grappling with what it meant to have all and no control over my time and body—all at once,” Gill explains:

In a big way, the world was in charge, but also in a day-to-day way, I had all the power: I could move freely through my kitchen and clothes and kindness however I wished—it was a new experience for me after feeling quite trapped in some difficult spaces and systems for a long time—“always babysitting other people’s arguments instead of my own” as the lyrics say. I feel like this song encompasses so much of what I’ve learnt and reclaimed in the past few years, and feels very reflective musically of my true, silly, powerful self and community.

Watch the video filmed, directed and edited by Bridgette Winten, with shoot and lighting assistance by Sophie Christopher below:

‘Some Kind of Control’ is out now and available from the usual places.

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Hailing from Iran and now based in Paris, 9T Antiope has served as a vehicle for duo Nima Aghiani and Sara Bigdeli Shamloo to explore the unique difficulties of the expatriate experience. New album Horror Vacui lives up to its title to go further still. To live between two cultures is to never quite belong to either, to perpetually seek firmer roots in the present while fighting the fear of forgetting where you have come from, or even that place forgetting you. 9T Antiope address such dualities with a concept album almost cinematic in scope, and single ‘Shapeshift’ offers a compelling mix of haunting and alluring tones to welcome the listener through its doors.

Beti Masenqo – better than before

Following last summer’s debut single ‘much of anything’, which we described as a “delicate [and] often reflective folk [song] which ties together melancholy and joy with a wistful thread,” California songwriter Beti Masenqo is back with a new song, ‘better than before’. What she describes as “a nostalgic tune about loving someone who is plagued with uncertainty,” the track pairs an upbeat rhythm with another reflective tone, capturing a bittersweet mood which looks to shake free of doubt and look towards something brighter.

‘better than before’ is out now via streaming services.

Blitzen Trapper – Cosmic Backseat Education

Portland, Oregon‘s Blizten Trapper have been a significant force in indie rock for over twenty years now, and new album 100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions, coming this spring on Yep Roc Records, returns to the ideals which first fired the project into being to explore ideas of freedom and rebirth. With guests including Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats/Bonny Light Horseman) and Anna Tivel, the album melds earnest folk/psych rock with something more metaphysical. Lead single ‘Cosmic Backseat Education’ returns to the childhood experience of listening to the radio in the car, when music was nothing more than a source of joy. The video, directed by Mychal Sargent, offers a playful dimension, riffing off Mr Rogers and ultimately questioning just who is in control of the puppet/puppeteer relationship.

100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions is out on the 17th May via Yep Roc Records.

Crow Baby – Pity Party

Having both been raised in Johannesburg multi-instrumentalists Cherilyn MacNeil and Jean-Louise Parker formed Crow Baby upon being reunited in Berlin. Debut album Get Yourself Together will be released this spring, and if single ‘Pity Party’ is anything to go by, it’s going to be quite the ride. An ever-shifting track which never quite settles in any one shape, creating and undermining a number of moods and meanings, and ultimately leaving the listener to question the very ground beneath their feet. The result is something as clever as it is infectious, and as the triumphant chorus comes around, the self-pity is proven to be anything but.

Get Yourself Together will be released this spring via Duchess Box Records.

Grocer – Packrat

We’ve covered Philadelphia‘s Grocer several times in recent years, always appreciating the unapologetic chaos of their sound. Recent EP Scatter Plot felt like a band exploring the possible new directions such a style might take, and this spring sees Grocer return with their second full-length on Grind Select to capitalise on these gains. Evoking the sensation of “feeling stricken with the inability to make decisions and the procrastination paralysis of anxiety,” single ‘Packrat’ finds Grocer at their most collaborative, trusting in the bonds which have now developed between the members to make something far greater than the sum of its parts.

Hot Wheels – August

What do you get if you mix equal parts Brian Eno, Julee Cruise and Link Wray? LA-based painter and musician Dan Bruinooge, AKA Hot Wheels, has the answer with ‘August’, a new single on Earth Libraries. The song looks to add sixties surf and ambient sensibilities to nostalgic dream pop in order to bring to life a sonic representation of the culture and climate of California. But far from being a blissed-out image of Western sun and sea, ‘August’ sees Hot Wheels mine the landscape for all of its complexities and contradictions, where every instance of natural beauty is countered by gridlocked traffic, and apparently carefree summers are stalked by worsening wild fires.

‘August’ is out now via Earth Libraries.

Little Wings – Bubbles Go Pop

Kyle Field has recorded under the moniker Little Wings since the late nineties, pushing and pulling his folk rock sound into every shape imaginable while leaning into the joy of the ephemeral moment. A few years ago Antiquated Future tried to capture this ever-shifting style in one album with Sing Wide (Selected Songs 2002​-​2019), though true to the spirit of the project, Field has since taken the Little Wings sound onwards. New full-length High On The Glade will be released this spring on Perpetual Doom, and single ‘Bubbles Go Pop’ is every bit as idiosyncratic and inventive as you’d hope. With its ramshackle percussion and sing-song melody, it tells the story of a wild party in a zany vaudevillian procession befitting of a Pynchon novel. “The bubbles go pop,” as Field sings, “the laughter doesn’t stop / Effervescence grows into a roar.”

Night Hawk – Bedroom Waltz

Back in February we featured Night Hawk, the Brunswick, Maine-based project led by Colter Adams and Peyton Semjen. As we wrote previously, the pair work alongside “a rotating cast of band members […] to create a sound which evokes the Edward Hopper painting after which they are named.” After a slew of singles, the band are readying their debut EP, Everything Good Ends, and have just unveiled lead single ‘Bedroom Waltz’ as a taster of what to expect. It’s a picture of a relationship curdled by overdependence, depicted with both raw feeling and poetic grace. Cello and guitar weave across each other in somber patterns, while the percussion drives things forward towards the eventual cathartic climax.

In love with an addict
He works fighting fires
He gets paid in forgiveness
And he never gets tired

Trailer Dust – Sunday Morning (feat. Kelley Swindall) (The Velvet Underground Cover)

Taking inspiration from the likes of Sparklehorse and Sonic Youth and adding a country inflection, Trailer Dust is the new project of songwriter/producer, Greg Griffith. As if to highlight the success of such a marriage, Griffith has enlisted Kelley Swindall for a take on The Velvet Underground’s ‘Sunday Morning’. A version which swaps the dreamy drift of the original for something with more dirt on its boots. Griffith and Swindall’s chemistry is clear in the playful, carefree atmosphere, the song lifting towards its affirming conclusion as though gambolling in childlike wonder.

‘Sunday Morning’ is out now via streaming services.

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