The mononymous creative moniker of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Allie Cuva, allie has served as a vehicle through which to explore personal relationships, from the study of a break-up on debut album Maybe Next Time to the perspicuous details of connection seen on 2022 single cast iron // infinite jesters. With new album Every Dog coming this September via Snack Shack Tracks and Anxiety Blanket Records, allie has shared new single ‘Radio Shower’. With its compassionate vocals and ache of longing, the track is every bit as heartfelt as anything allie has so far released, with Cuva matching a romantic present against the sense of loss always looming, as though to love is to anticipate the absence of love, and loneliness is always approaching from some distance to reclaim you under its grip.

Arbes – Impasse

Anne Carson once wrote that “perfect desire is perfect impasse,” an idea Naarm/Melbourne indie pop outfit Arbes explore on ‘Impasse’, the lead single from the debut full-length Counterways, coming later this year on Third Eye Stimuli Records and Earth Libraries. “I picture this unruly character, going back and forth on an ultimatum,” lead Jess Zanoni explains of the single, “trying to toy with the emotional limits of a situation—weighing up permanence vs non-existence.” This indecisive spirit is brought to life with a sound caught between angular post-punk twitch and smooth pop grooves, and Zanoni’s vocals evoke a personality full of contradiction too. Where a certain arrogance sits alongside vulnerability, the sense of a person in competition with themselves, their two halves struggling for dominance.

Haley Heynderickx – Seed of a Seed

Her first new music since 2018’s debut album I Need to Start a Garden, ‘Seed of a Seed’ is the new single from Portland singer-songwriter Haley Heynderickx. Again released via the good folk as Mama Bird Recording Co., it’s a direct and sincere folk song that strips back  contemporary life’s complications to get at the heart of what really matters. With a wisdom that may be intentional or incidental, what this entails to Heynderickx is not lofty or grandiose, but small and mundane. “It’s so simple, but I didn’t realize how much angst I’d woven into it,” she describes of the song. “A desire for simplicity, and how far away that felt.” What’s remarkable is how, from a few spare lines on modest hopes and dreams, emerges something of a self-portrait. As Heynderickx concludes: “It seems I accidentally pressed my story—the last four years of my life—into a tiny little tune.”

Macro/micro – Balaclava

Having worked as an audio engineer for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for soundtracks such as Watchmen, Mank and Waves, as well as Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts V & IV, Tommy Simpson cut his teeth among some of the best. Now recording his own music as Macro/micro, Simpson works across various fields with his dark electronic soundscapes, the latest of which being the soundtrack for Streets Loud With Echoes, a documentary by Katerina Suvorova. Made on the ground with activists amid unrest in Kazakhstan, the film follows the fallout after the murder of Olympic figure skater Denis Ten and a population’s attempt to instigate political change. Macro/micro’s score is every bit as shadowy and charged as you might expect, with single ‘Balaclava’ introducing the use of field recordings and building rhythm to bring to life the paranoia of the moment.

The Streets Loud With Echoes OST will be released later this year.

Maripool – Twist

“The ostensibly frolicsome nature of the song is undermined by a shadowy edge. Something sinister lurking just beneath the surface.” So we wrote of ‘This Time Again’ by Lisbon-born, London-based artist Natasha Simões, AKA Maripool back in 2022. Now Simões is back with a day that feels like nothing, a brand new EP which builds upon this ambiguous style. The Maripool sound blends bedroom pop emotion with a punk personality to fall between the sincerity of Frankie Cosmos and the deadpan charm of the likes of Patio. Single ‘Twist’ is a great place to dive in, its lo-fi textures ebbing and flowing as the vocals switch between yearning and embittered defiance.

Tape/Off – Paris, Texas, Queensland

With an album slated for release early in 2025, Australian rockers Tape/Off have shared brand new single ‘Paris, Texas, Queensland’ via Coolin’ By Sound. Half love letter, half furious screed, the track does for the band’s home of Meeanjin/Brisbane what Last Quokka’s Red Dirt did for Kimberley, caught between the nostalgic fondness for the familiar and a simmering anger at its many downfalls. Hence sunnies, ciggies, singlets and footy shorts worn by Alfie Langer are matched with images of gentrification and colonisation. More proof the current crop of Aussie punk rock is ahead of other countries in its willingness to confront the imperialistic violence which underpins contemporary society.

I had this dream, you see?
I was holding a lump of coal in my hand
And it exploded in a spray of dead Coral
That covered all of Queensland

Watch the video filmed by Luke Henery and edited by Branko Cosic below:

‘Paris, Texas, Queensland’ is out now via Coolin’ By Sound and available from the Tape/Off Bandcamp page.

Trace Mountains – In A Dream

“You’re in a dream,” sings Dave Benton on ‘In a Dream’, the first single from the latest Trace Mountains full-length, Into The Burning Blue, coming next month via Lame-O Records. “You’re in a dream you feel the world busting at its seams you’re coming clean but you don’t know what the fuck it means.” In an album which sees Trace Mountains explore the whole range of the colour blue, the single and opener finds Benton very much at the darker end of the spectrum. A dispatch from whatever stage of capitalism we’re calling contemporary America as delivered from a breathless nighttime bike ride. The effect is passing through a dark passage full of eerie shadow without quite knowing if there’s an exit at the other end.

Into The Burning Blue is out on the 27th September via Lame-O Records and you can pre-order it now.

Video Age x Esther Rose – Out In The Country

A reworking of the title track from their 2023 LP Away From the Castle, ‘Out In The Country’ is the new single from New Orleans duo Video Age. Except, for this song at least, Video Age are no longer a duo. Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli are joined by alt-country singer-songwriter Esther Rose, who brings her signature vocals to a stripped-back take on the track that dials back the technicolor psych of the original in favour of something soft and swaying. The collaboration was inspired by a live performance of the song Farbe and Rose played in Nashville, a moment captured on video and shared as an added bonus with the proper studio-recorded version. Check out both below:

‘Out In The Country’ is out now via Winspear and available from the Video Age Bandcamp page.

Vince Nudo – Everyone Here Reminds Me of You

Having started out as a drummer, founding Priestess and touring and recording as part of Kurt Vile’s backing band The Violators, Vince Nudo has since turned his attention to composing, with films he’s scored having premiered at Cannes and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). His latest score is for Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads & Hallucinations, Matt Creed’s intimate chronicle of the New York artist renowned for her abstract geometric forms and use of colour. Nudo’s ambient soundtrack is suitably lush and fluid, drawing on Heilmann’s minimalist sensibilities and overarching playfulness to create something which matches her daydream ethos of creativity.

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Following on from the exquisite Skulls Example back in 2018, Dear Nora returns with new record human futures this autumn on Orindal Records. Lead single ‘Scrolls of Doom’ is every bit as idiosyncratic and inventive as the rest of Katy Davidson’s work. A view of the world from an oblique angle which somehow better portrays its folly and wonder. “I make billions in seconds flat / and I stuff it under my cowboy hat,” Davidson sings, deadpan. “Yeah, you punk me and I’m perplexed / but we all know what happens next.” A time capsule of a specific period, a prophecy of what’s to come. The human futures, here and now.

Eliza Edens – Westlawn Cemetery

Back in August we wrote about ‘I Needed You‘, the lead single from Eliza Edens‘s forthcoming release, We’ll Become the Flowers. “A meditation on the strangeness of an aftermath,” as we put it, “when nothing is as it used to feel and anger and longing are impossible split.” The latest track from the album, ‘Westlawn Cemetery’ balances fond visions of the past and concerns about the future through its titular location. A scene of familiarity from childhood nevertheless loaded with themes of death and change. The permanence of the headstones representing the ephemeral nature of life.

Hallelujah The Hills – God Is So Lonely Tonight

Back in July, Boston favourites Hallelujah The Hills released their first single since 2019’s I’m You with ‘Superglued to You’, a track of open hearts and racing momentum bound together by Ryan Walsh’s ever-inventive lyricism. Brand new single ‘God Is So Lonely Tonight’ pushes further onto this ground, albeit this time concerning a different relationship and with a more reflective, wry tone. But as the song develops so too does the energy underpinning it, contemplation transformed into conviction as another shout-a-long chorus arrives. “And you know he don’t even know my name / But he needs me, he needs me, he needs me all just the same,” Walsh sings. “You know that God is / God is / God is / so lonely tonight.”

‘God Is So Lonely Tonight’ is out now and available from the Hallelujah the Hills Bandcamp page.

Hunting – Piano Fire

Vancouver duo Hunting have announced their brand new LP, You’ve Got Love (But it Even Tears You Apart), will be released via Nevado Music this autumn, and have unveiled a cover of Sparklehorse‘s ‘Piano Fire’ by way of introduction. Released to coincide with Mark Linkous’s sixtieth birthday, their take captures both the energy and strangeness of the original, and the stop-motion video created by Hunting’s own Jessicka Lynne at Field and Glass Studio only pushes further into the track’s surreal nature.

You’ve Got Love (But it Even Tears You Apart) is out on the 11th November via Nevado Music.

JPW – Wealth of the Canyon

What better schooling can there be in music than consistently talking to the best? As the writer and host behind the ever-present Aquarium Drunkard, Jason Woodbury has had the opportunity to do just that, and his debut solo record Something Happening / Always Happening, out now on Fort Lowell Records, suggests he has been taking notes. Under the moniker JPW, Woodbury creates songs dialled in to both the surrounding landscape and the mystical dimensions above and beyond it. Classic cosmic folk rock which might well beam you up, if only to get a better look at the world below. Take single ‘Wealth of the Canyon’, its sound rich and enveloping, its easy rhythms so laidback as to be practically horizontal. But within the warmth lies something mysterious, something quite possibly sublime. A cloaked thing which you can only hope to catch in glances as time goes by.

Maripool – This Time Again

The moniker of Lisbon-born, London-based artist Natasha Simões, Maripool offers a brand of bedroom pop equal parts bright and moody. Released via Practice Music, new single ‘This Time Again’ captures the balance perfectly, with a certain tension between the easy-going instrumentation and Simões vocals. A juxtaposition caught in the lyrics, where the ostensibly frolicsome nature of the song is undermined by a shadowy edge. Something sinister lurking just beneath the surface.

And I get to see you when I see you
And I knew you were the one
To say I could see it in your eyes
With all of your lies

And I’d like to see you cry
And I’d like to see you die

Pony Girl – Running in Circles

Ahead of their new LP Enny One Will Love You on Paper Bag Records, Ottawa-Hull-based outfit Pony Girl have shared their latest offering, ‘Running in Circles’. A slow-burning pop number which slowly unravels into something more chaotic as another crushingly mundane day in work pushes the narrator to the brink. The song comes with a suitably cinematic video produced by K Collective in association with Dan Rascal & Cloud in the Sky, directed and edited by Dom Llanos with director of photography Santiago Trugeda. A flash horror movie which captures the enmeshed relationship between deadening boredom and overwhelming anger. Check it out below:

Enny One Wil Love You is out on the 14th October via Paper Bag Records and you can pre-order it now.

Sarah La Puerta – A Gun

Artist, musician and calligrapher Sarah La Puerta embraces the in-between. Be it the spaces between artforms, between places themselves, or the metaphysical gap between so-called reality and everything else. It’s fitting then that debut album Strange Paradise, released last year on Perpetual Doom, started in Austin and finished in upstate New York, and took on a whole world of inspiration to inform its search for paradise in the smallest, strangest gaps of life. La Puerta has recently unveiled a new video for single the ‘A Gun’, where director Christopher Michael Hefner further excavates the record’s surreal and elusive spirit, ensuring the search continues on.

Strange Paradise is out now and available via Bandcamp.

Shalom – DTAP

Ahead of a debut album scheduled for sometime in 2023 on Saddle Creek, Brooklyn‘s Shalom has unveiled new single, ‘DTAP’. Packaged together with a cover of Hovvdy‘s ‘True Love’, the single offers an unabashedly upbeat vision of love. A breathless and overwhelming experience unique to those early, giddy days. As Shalom explains, the song is about “dreaming of someone and the magic that happens when you don’t really care where or when as long as the who is right, the right person.” And it rings true even if real life experiences didn’t quite line up at the time of recording. “Even though I was in the midst of processing my big breakup, there’s something so pure about that song so the joy prevails,” Shalom continues. “Joy prevails, different time, any place.”

DTAP / True Love is out now via Saddle Creek.

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