Having recently signed to Nils Frahm‘s LEITER imprint, New York-based saxophonist and composer Alden Hellmuth has announced new full-length Tether. The album builds upon 2024’s punk-inflected jazz record Good Intentions to explore the creative potential of an ensemble embracing the tension between composition and improvisation. Tether is a fitting name for the release, speaking to both the connection between Hellmuth and her supporting cast—bassists Logan Kane and Miller Wrenn and drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat, Aja Monet)—and how group, and indeed the audience, act something like a leash within the spontaneity of improvisation. The musicians might play themselves out into unexpected territory, but there’s always a line to bring them back into the heart of the group. Lead single ‘Face The Wall’ is available now, and shows just how raucous and visionary the Alden Hellmuth sound can be.

Alice Bradley – Seismic

Per her bio, Asheville-based songwriter Alice Bradley “sees songwriting a way to grow words past the point of logic into catharsis,” and latest EP Seismic certainly lives up to this intention. Take the title track, woven from a layered, almost meditative arrangement of fingerpicked guitar, though one always led forwards by the underlying groove. The style is matched by Bradley’s vocals, both in tone and substance, the rhythmic ease of her delivery belying the difficult grapple presented in the lyrics. “There’s a face looking back / and a face looking forward / the space between that / i gotta move toward,” as she sings. “And the waves want to crash / to talk with the shore / future and past / converse at the door.” But by the close, something of a slow epiphany seems to have occurred. The acknowledgement that perhaps words aren’t best suited to pick at such complicated knots, and instead it is best to lean into the flow.

maybe this is something i cannot talk through
maybe this is something i must dance to

Atta Boy – Oh, Mama

Since their inception back in 2012, LA-based indie pop outfit Atta Boy have amassed a following with a sound that’s bright, sometimes whimsical and always compassionate, driven by a sense of curiosity shared by core members Dashel Thompson (piano), Eden Brolin (vocals), Freddy Reish (guitar), and Lewis Pullman (drums). The band are preparing to release their new album Lilt this June, and new single ‘Oh, Mama’ embodies the spirit of their work. A song which holds up the unique force that is motherly love as something as organic and ever-present as the natural world itself. “When I was growing up (and still today) my mom was so amazing at inspiring a sense of wonder at our natural world,” Brolin explains. “She is intensely nurturing and there for me, no matter what. I could say a billion things about why I think my mom is the shit, but as far as the song goes, I just wanted to paint a picture of how grand I see her love and her motherhood. This idea can be applied to anyone whose support feels like relief and respite when life is sideways. I think it’s a testament to how meaningful and necessary human connection is.” Watch the video for the track directed by Michael Rees with cinematography by Sarah Penson:

Silt will be released on the 26th June and you can pre-order it now.

Brenna Bruce – Something Gold

Brenna Bruce “brings to life a serene sound shadowed by a certain mournfulness,” we wrote of the Seattle-based songwriter when covering her 2024 EP Honest Bloom, “evoking the way even the most tranquil environment is in some way made poignant by the latent promise of its own end.” The release, put out via Ghost Mountain Records, placed emotional states within the context of the larger cycles of the natural world, and came to find beauty within an embrace of transience. Now Bruce is preparing to release Light Catcher, a brand new EP no less ambitious or emotionally astute, and latest single ‘Something Gold’ hints at what to expect. The song asks whether mourning is a strange form of alchemy, charting how moving through the end of a relationship can so often elevate the mundane into something precious, at least in one’s memories. Although, whether this process is legitimately capable of creating treasured material is open to interpretation. Every alchemist is shadowed by the possibility of their folly, coming to see (or wish for) cherished things which cannot, and never will, exist.

Light Catcher will be released on the 12th June via Ghost Mountain Records and you can pre-order it now.

Darren Hayman – Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart (Iris DeMent cover)

Way back in 2008, Darren Hayman (Hefner / New Starts), Dan May (Owl & Mouse / Field Glass), David Watkins and David Tattersall (The Wave Pictures) released a self-titled bluegrass album under the name Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee, winning acclaim with a mixture of originals and rearrangements of songs from the likes of Townes Van Zandt and The Mountain Goats. Now Hayman is re-releasing the album and has provided two new covers in support, including a take on Iris DeMent‘s ‘Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart’. Leaning into the playful side of the original, the song not only offers solid evidence for diving back into Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee, it also hints at the depth of Hayman’s back catalogue, which has remained more or less missing despite his position as one of the most creative and distinctive voices in UK music.

Fox Run Sounds – Shake a Shoe

“But I don’t think you’re hearing me / I don’t think you’re hearing me / If I don’t feel you here with me.” So sings Fox Run Sounds on ‘Shake a Shoe’, a short verse indicative of the mood and tone of the new track. The project’s previous EP Yuh, O! probed at the tension between interior feelings and exterior appearances, utilising a bright sound to explore dark themes so that the form mirrored the duality of the content, and the new single is no less thoughtful in execution. More downbeat on the surface yet leavened by the hope that’s inherent within any sense of longing, the track ebbs and flows between hushed despondency and naked yearning, that latter marked by a lift in the instrumentation as though towards some promised epiphany. The enlightenment might never quite be granted, but the very act of continually reaching towards it seems to hold some wisdom of its own.

The Hobknobs – Easier Listening

“Helmets Off can be described as an honest attempt at honesty.” So describes the press release for the debut album of The Hobknobs, a new project featuring Arie van Vliet (Lewsberg) and Yaël Dekker (The Klittens), though anyone expecting something earnest and sentimental will quickly find they have misunderstood. Because the honesty of The Hobknobs is something purer than the usual meaning of the word. Purer and therefore stranger. Honesty as delivered by a pair of songwriters who aren’t overly convinced by the goodness of humanity or even the meaning of language. Lead single ‘Easier Listening’ might be the poppiest track on the album, and on the surface gestures towards a nostalgic sort of twee, but is in fact very much its own animal. “’Easier Listening’ is about people who consciously choose to be less intelligent, in order to be able to understand so much more” Dekker explains. People who are faithful yet have no faith, enlightened and underestimated, presented here without judgement. Should we surrender and join their ranks?

The Huntress and Holder of Hands – Doctrine

Rising from the ashes of folk duo Brown Bird after the death of creative partner and husband Dave Lamb, MorganEve Swain’s The Huntress and Holder of Hands is both a vehicle to explore grief in its full spectrum of emotions and a way to continue the spirit of its predecessor. The result is a sound that holds space for anger, confusion, sadness and compassion, as well as an inherent sense of hope that’s built into the very fact of its existence. Set for release next month, new album Babylon is the perfect example of this nuanced style, confronting the corrupt and violent present without forgetting ideas of redemption and sanctuary too. Single ‘Doctrine’ was written in 2017 but is more relevant than ever, a taut and haunting slice of country rock which simmers with fury even it is quietest moments. “Honestly I was hoping it would be obsolete by now,” Swain explains, “but instead these words now feel like an incantation we need more than ever.”

Babylon will be released on the 5th June and you can pre-order it now.

lots of hands – grapevine

Newcastle upon Tyne duo lots of hands (that’s Billy Woodhouse and Elliot Dryden) last released new music at the beginning of 2025 with Fire Talk debut into a pretty room. Since then, the band have gone from strength to strength, finding lots of new fans and going on tour across the US in support of Lala Lala. Now they are back with a new single ‘grapevine’, a song which harks back to their nostalgia-laced lo-fi roots with a stark, stripped-back atmosphere. It’s dark and shadowy, squealing guitar and repetitive loops undulating over electronic percussion, Woodhouse and Dryden both contributing soft, understated vocals that deliver lyrics both opaque and suggestive. “Oh I feel it pulling me away, some sort of magnetic wave,” Woodhouse sings, “I’m finding myself upstate.”

Scott C Park – Marlene

Last year, Stornoway-based songwriter Scott C Park released his debut album Crossing The Line, establishing a rich and introspective brand of folk rock able to probe deep into the uncertainties of young adult life. Not one to rest on his laurels, Park is preparing another full-length for later this year, and has unveiled lead single ‘Marlene’ to whet appetites in the meantime. A track which again possesses the authenticity of its predecessor, pairing an almost twee level of sincerity with a rougher edge, resulting in something heartfelt but never cloying. This is achieved in no small part via the wry humour which runs through its heart, a feature which ultimately grants an affirming conclusion. “The song spends a whole lot of time where the protagonist is like, ‘Woe is me’… his world is kind of grey and drab,” Park explains. “And then in the last half he just rips the piss out of himself for being such a depressed guy.”

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

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The first glimpse of her debut full-length Swirl which is coming later this year on 22Twenty, ‘Auto Icon’ is the latest single from London-born, Paris-based songwriter Flora Hibberd. Recorded at the Bungaleau in Eau Claire, WI with Shane Leonard, the track pairs assured confidence with a certain ambiguity, Hibberd’s assured composed guiding the listener beyond the bright rhythm towards something more uncanny. Indeed, the album has been described as “a cycle of songs about codes and decoding,” with Hibberd drawing on her background as a translator of art history texts to seek out those instances where errors and happenstance come to take on a deeper level of meaning.

Watch the video by Victor Claass and Hibberd herself below, with cinematography by Lola Hewison:

‘Auto Icon’ is out now and available from Bandcamp. Swirl will be released via 22TWENTY on the 15th November.

Guidon Bear – Animal Child

Back in 2022 we wrote about Unravel, an album by Olympia-based folk pop duo Guidon Bear on Antiquated Future which saw Mary Water (Little Red Car Wreck) and Pat Maley (Lois, Courtney Love) continue a collaboration now in its third decade. The album offered a realistic, refreshing take on time passing and everyday suffering, “striving forward not out of some misplaced romanticism,” as we put it, “but the mundane and often painful process of simply continuing on.” Now the pair are back with Internal Systems as if to prove the determination of this spirit, an album “about trying to stay well in an unwell world,” as the label put it. Single ‘Animal Child’ taps into this spirit with all the invention and heart we’ve come to expect from Guidon Bear, capturing the experience of real life with a unique sound somewhere between twee folk and indie pop.

Kishi Bashi – Make Believe (feat. Linqua Franqa)

“This song started as a beat that reminded me of that proto-funk-rap from the early ‘80s,” explains Kishi Bashi‘s Kaoru Ishibashi of ‘Make Believe’, the latest single from upcoming LP Kantos. “The only way the verse vocals sounded appropriate was if there was that kind of rapping, so I gave it a go!” Inviting friend and collaborator Mariah Parker, AKA Linqua Franqa, to help, Ishibashi set to creating a song which combines hip hop and psych rock sensibilities to hint at the stylistic depth of the album. Because Kantos is an ambitious release, drawing on both cult sci-fi series Hyperion Cantos and the work of Immanuel Kant to produce something of an apocalyptic party album. When so many threats appear to be coalescing over humanity’s head, Kishi Bashi has returned with a timely reminder of how good old fashioned fun might be the key to fostering the kind of connection we need to escape intact.

Watch the video directed by Ryan Hover below:

Kantos is out on the 23rd August via Joyful Noise Recordings and you can pre-order it now.

knitting – Sleeper

This September, Montreal‘s knitting will release their debut album Some Kind of Heaven via Mint Records, the outfit working with Scott Munro of Preoccupations to bring their nineties-inflected alt-rock sound to life. The result is every bit as dense and noisy as you might expect from such an arrangement, but latest single ‘Sleeper’ offers a more restrained cut from the record. A meditation on Mischa Dempsey’s experience growing into their trans identity, the song maintains a hazy style but swaps out some of the usual knitting intensity to offer more intimate, earnest emotion.

Lia Kohl – Car Alarm, Turn Signal

Chicago-based cellist, composer and multidisciplinary artist Lia Kohl has made a name blurring the borders between music and sound art, utilising an array of media and styles to create soundscapes able to evoke existence in all of its magic and mundanity. Which is to say, new record Normal Sounds is at once normal and very much not, or else it is extraordinarily normal—with Kohl turning her attention to the acoustics of everyday living and presenting them back to the listener as something as something new. The titles give a clue as to what each track offers (‘Tennis Court Light, Snow’, ‘Ice Cream Truck, Tornado Siren,’ ‘Airport Fridge, Self Checkout’) but the first single turns towards the road. ‘Car Alarm, Turn Signal’ represents “an attempt to capture the overlapping polyrhythms of the streets around my house,” as Kohl explains, with Ka Baird joining on flute to bring the soundscape to life.

The video by Kohl herself performs the same action as the song itself, focusing on a seemingly mundane aspect of a street with such attention that its strange beauty is revealed.

Normal Sounds is out on the 30th August via Moon Glyph and available to pre-order from Bandcamp.

lots of hands – rosie

lots of hands have kept audiences on their toes since their inception in 2019, releasing a string of albums, EPs and singles which float between rock, folk and electronic sensibilities without a care for typical genre conventions. The inventive, shapeshifting style has led to tour slots with the likes of Deerhoof, Cola and Claire Rousay, and live shows only see them push their sound further with sax and flute elevating it towards almost orchestral territory. Which is to say, it can be difficult to know what to expect from a new lots of hands release in the best way possible, and latest single ‘rosie’ is every bit as idiosyncratic and interesting as you might anticipate. Released via Fire Talk Records, the single opens as an intimate bedroom pop with melancholic textures and acoustic guitar before lifting towards something altogether more charged and weighty.

rosie walks in from the rain
with her lips she said
i don’t want no pain
i don’t mean any harm
i just wanna know
where i’m from

‘rosie’ is out now via Fire Talk and you can get it from Bandcamp.

MF Tomlinson – Mary (Big Thief Cover)

We’ve covered the work of MF Tomlinson several times in recent years, with album We Are Still Wild Horses winning us over with its attention to detail and bittersweet emotional landscapes. A style which makes the songwriter the ideal candidate to cover something like ‘Mary’ by Big Thief, a song which feels very much in line with the tone and themes Tomlinson and his band reach for. “I first heard Big Thief’s ‘Mary’ whilst on tour with Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever,” Tomlinson explains. “Late night driving, hyperfocused on the road appearing and disappearing in the narrow headlights, I was swallowed up by the quiet and immense power of the piece—an enormous turning wheel of emotion that summons your earliest and most fundamental places. It just felt fucking huge and at the same time incredibly close and tender. That feeling never left me, and so here we are with this recording.”

Silverware – No Expectations

The recording project of San Francisco-based artist, producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ainsley Wagoner, Silverware has long been something of a shapeshifting entity. Previous LP No Plans might have been best described as art pop, though drew from an array of different genres. Follow-up One True Light, coming later this summer on Ghost Mountain Records, appears equally uninterested in simple stylistic conventions. The result is fluid, unpredictable yet always finely crafted, with fittingly titled lead single ‘No Expectations’ introducing the spirit of the record. A vivid pop soundscape precisely mapped but intuitive in style, all anchored around the rich depth of Wagoner’s delivery.

Talk Bazaar – quiet yr mind

Talk Bazaar is the recording project of Brooklyn‘s Alex DeSimine, self confessed “multi-instrumentalist, big pillowy softie, film composer, collaborator [and] confidante.” Upcoming album WHATSPACE? takes all of these facets to capture what DeSimine describes as “the frenetic feeling of both isolation and community, of always trying to slow down and not knowing how to stop.” A whole host of guest musicians lend their talents to better achieve this aim, the wide collaboration a fitting feature of an artist always reaching for new sounds. The record’s closing track, latest single ‘quiet yr mind’ winds things down with an air of soft and smoky contemplation, with contributions from Rebecca El-Saleh (aka Kitba) and Mike Haldeman (Moses Sumney, altopalo, Mk.gee) encapsulating the richness of an album crafted with the kind of care and invention only possible with equal doses of isolation and community.

This Frontier Needs Heroes – Carolina Peaches

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, but having spent time in Nashville and Jacksonville, FL and Barcelona among other places, Brad Lauretti of This Frontier Needs Heroes has written, recorded and performed music quite literally all over the world. A folk artist in the traditional sense, wandering and entertaining audiences with equal parts playfulness, protest and heartbreak while always pining for places left in the rear view mirror. Latest single ‘Carolina Peaches’ charts such an experience directly, portraying a life on the move in all of its ups and downs, and always haunted by that old love never quite bettered no matter how many miles of road pass beneath the wheels.

I want to live 1000 lives, but where do I want to die?
Somewhere where the peaches are falling from the sky
When I got back on that train lord I knew I wanted to cry
Was that my biggest mistake I guess i’ll always wonder why

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