With new EP Tendermen’s Tales coming later this spring, Molly Murphy has returned with new single, ‘Lackawanna’. Contining the prior style of melding traditional folk and contemporary indie sensibilities, the song possesses both twang and heft, continuing a line which traces back through Waxahatchee, Jason Molina and further. Sam Roller and Van Isaacson add electric banjo to the track, Evan Alexander Moore drums and Esteban Cajigas bass, an arrangement which buoys Murphy’s soprano vocals and matches their manifold tones. Because this is a track of fine detail and charged momentum, its nostalgic longing matched only by its forward-facing gaze that holds hope in the unspecified years to come.

Tendermen’s Tales will be released in May.

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Back in May we wrote about Turn Around For Me / See You Soon, the new double single from Glasgow‘s Constant Follower ahead of their anticipated second album The Smile You Send Out Returns To You, coming early next year via Last Night From Glasgow. “[Stephen] McAll and co. breathe extra life into the arrangement,” we wrote of ‘Turn Around For Me’, “and the song swells with an affirming rhythm which tips it towards indie rock territory.” The follow-up ‘See You Soon’ is no different. A continuation of the band’s exploration of memory which draws on the concept of saudade—the nostalgic longing for some absent person or thing—the song captures a picture of everyday life as haunted by a missing piece. Something which can never be resolved, a wound which will go on hurting.

Jordan Whitlock, Memory Spells – Heaven and Here

Back in February, we wrote about the collaboration between songwriter/producer Jordan Whitlock and Matt Bauer‘s Memory Spells, describing single ‘Take My Hand’ as “Suffused with the lush, shadowy grandeur of Lynch at his most romantic.” Now the duo have returned with a brand new single ‘ Heaven and Here’, another impressively atmospheric piece of cinematic pop music. Combining ambient and classical elements with Whitlock’s piercingly poignant vocals, it has all the drama and aching emotion of a tragedy. Sombre strings ache and sway over glitchy atmospherics and the muted thump of percussion as Whitlock delivers lyrics that possess a spare and opaque poetry.

Wildflowers bloom
Bend toward the sun
I follow you out through the waves
Nothing between
Heaven and here
Only the words I couldn’t say

‘Heaven and Here’ is out now via streaming services.

Lutalo – Ocean Swallows Him Whole

Following on from 2023’s AGAIN, a record which explored the various forms of oppression woven through our societies, Lutalo is returning this September with debut full-length The Academy on Winspear. Described as a time capsule of lessons learnt in their first chapter of life, the album sees the Vermont-based singer-songwriter delve into their past and invite the audience along for the ride. Single ‘Ocean Swallows Him Whole’ uses the doomed figure of Icarus to capture the peaks and troughs of this journey, drawing an energizing momentum from adrenaline rush, even if it comes from a fall.

Watch the video by director, cinematographer and editor Rich Smith below:

The Academy is out on the 20th September via Winspear and you can pre-order it now.

 Melanie MacLaren – Heaven Is

A song she says is “about a lot of the myths and imagery we’re fed about the afterlife,” ‘Heaven Is’ is the latest single from Nashville singer songwriter Melanie MacLaren. Delivered in an easy country-pop style and with equal helpings of bittersweet feeling and wry humour, it combines existential musings with observations altogether more terrestrial. So heaven becomes both “a place up in the air” filled with lost loved ones and something in the here and now, like “sipping beer in folding chairs,” or “eating fruit straight off the vine.” “[‘Heaven Is’] is about the experience of how deconstructing those myths leads to reality check that we really have no idea what happens,” MacLaren describes, “besides that we leave, and everyone else does too.”

Heaven is the place where the dead girls go
Heaven is the place up in the air
Heaven is a place i don’t think about much
But I’ll have to one day I’m aware

‘Heaven Is’ is out now via streaming services.

Miserable chillers – Great American Turn Off

Miserable chillers has made a name with an idiosyncratic, constantly inventive sound, following a myriad of creative directions from Kate Bush-esque art pop to SNES soundtracks and field recordings. A mixtape featuring recordings made between 2018 and 2024, Great American Turn Off not only personifies the spirit of Miguel Gallego’s work, but serves as the ideal introduction for those looking to dive in for the first time. The release functions best as a full entity, rewarding those who take forty minutes to lose themselves in its easy rhythms, but we recommended single ‘The Shaft’ for anyone who needs a quicker dose.

Great American Turn Off is out now and available to hear in full here.

Molly Murphy – Seabird

Specializing in what she calls “lo-fi folk tunes summoned from the Blue Ridge and set loose in New York City,” Molly Murphy makes bright and emotionally resonant folk music. Her latest single is a cover of  The Alessi Brothers 1976 song ‘Seabird’. Complete with vocal harmonies, subtle mandolin and slide guitar, it’s a lush and laidback take on the original. Murphy’s vocals take centre stage, confidently but vulnerably delivering lyrics that use the imagery of the titular bird covering vast distances of remote ocean as a metaphor for distances altogether more human. “Like a lonely seabird,” Murphy sings, “you’ve been away from land too long / Oh, too long.”

Old Amica – Tiden far

Described as a release about time, Old Amica‘s ‘Tiden far’ sees the Swedish project turn their attention memory, looking to invoke how we experience the past, where the amorphous drift comes to form strange patterns and meanings. As such, the single is suitably hazy and slow-moving, its drama arising from a concealed hand as though always masked by something. Familiar sights and sensations as experienced through a gauze curtain. Old voices coming through a crackling radio, messages moving through the accumulated years with something to offer us yet.

Shady Baby – Feel It

Following a couple of singles in 2023, Brighton garage rockers Shady Baby are back with a brand new single, ‘Feel It’. Comprising of Sam Leaver (vocals, guitar), Nick Varnava (bass) and Tom Jackson (drums), Shady Baby draw on late 90s and early 00s alternative rock, and ‘Feel It’ is no different. A rich,  enveloping wall of sound is punctured by energizing electric guitar and crisp percussion, with enough hooks to appeal to the radio and festival circuit and enough grunge to bring in the rock-heads. All this raw energy is used to explore feelings of agitation and doubt. “‘Feel It’ started off as a song about grappling with impatience,” says Leaver, “but along the way it evolved into exploring the uncertainties of new relationships.”

‘Feel It’ is out now on streaming services.

Special World – Cloak in the Attic

This month saw Special World, that’s the solo recording project of Philly‘s Andy Molholt (who you might know from Speedy Ortiz), released their debut physical release with a self-titled collection. Described as ‘early’ songs, the cassette provides a peek into the inventive and often idiosyncratic style of the Special World sound, something demonstrated by the single and opener ‘Cloak in the Attic’. Starting with a glass smash but progressing with a lethargic rhythm, the song slowly crawls over the listener and absorbs them into its peculiar world. A place often strange and always colourful, where the light bends in odd shapes and everything takes on the loaded, abstract logic of dreams.

the cloak in the attic is hidden
obscured by a flowering gem
where is the proof?
no fumes left to reduce
cannot refuse a bargain which i cannot lose

night after night we misconstrue

Stelth Ulvang and the Tigernips – Dissolve

Described as “a visceral journey through the late-night mental crumblings of summer, capturing the essence of spontaneity and sincerity,” ‘Dissolve’ is the first single from Stelth Ulvang’s upcoming self-titled album, Stelth Ulvang and the Tigernips. Ulvang might be best known as the pianist for folk sensation The Lumineers, but has long pursued a variety of creative outlets, and the new album is something of an antidote to radio-friendly anthemic polish which has come to mark The Lumineers sound. ‘Dissolve’ is our first glimpse of a collection of songs which instead leans into the vulnerable and raw side of things, allowing Ulvang to show a slightly stranger but altogether more authentic side to his work.

YULLOLA – Silk Nightdress

At the end of last month, Maine songwriter and producer YULLOLA released Zen Maiden, a brand new record that exists in an unreal world of its own. Direct, pop-inflected indie rock songs sit next to cinematic spiritual jazz segues and dreamy spoken word sections. All of which makes sense when you understand where the album came from. “This year I truly was considering becoming a nun whilst getting obsessed with vocal inflections of kulning and female Bulgarian choirs,” YULLOLA describes, “spending hours in the forests of Maine just making sounds.” Opener ‘Silk Nightdress’ is the perfect introduction, a spoken word track with all the shimmering unreality and dark cinematic romance of Twin Peaks at its most melodramatic.

Zen Maiden is out now and available via the YULLOLA Bandcamp page.

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Arlo Sun is the moniker of Canadian Erin Bolton, whose music draws on powers both astral and spiritual, as well as the deep ancient energy of the natural world. The Arlo part of the project’s name is a Gaelic word meaning “between two hills,” a reference to the valley of peace and perspective that Bolton creates with her music. Latest single ‘Forwards Motion’ is no different. An emotive song that feels at once weightless and quietly substantial, offering no empty platitudes but instead preaching a steadfast belief in the importance of hanging on through difficult times and putting one foot in front of the other no matter what. “Written while floating just above the relentless undercurrent of hope, this song is more applicable to me now than it was when I wrote it,” Bolton describes. “‘Forwards Motion’ begs you to look at yourself and the path you’ve taken, forks and all.”

‘Forwards Motion’ is out now and available from the Arlo Sun Bandcamp page.

Ellen Soffe x Aodhan – Tomb of the Prince

Ellen Soffe is a songwriter from Sydney whose work feels like the next step in the rich lineage of fellow Antipodean artists (i.e. Julia Jacklin, Aldous Harding, Tiny Ruins). A skilled guitarist, she played her first gig while still at school, and since then developed a distinctive vocal style and the knack for capturing raw emotion. Described as “a dreamy, meditative journey through lost love and the mythology of a fallen prince,” her debut single ‘Tomb of the Prince’ sees Soffe joined by young Dhawaral artist Aodhan. It’s a languid and tender folk-tinged pop song which captures the warm golden hour glow of a summer evening perfectly. Watch the video below:

‘Tomb of the Prince’ is out now and available via streaming services.

Fairy Tales In Yoghourt – Mania

Fairy Tales in Yoghourt is the solo recording project of Nantes-based Benoît Guchet. A self-confessed control freak, Guchet took his time to create Shape Mistakes, the project’s debut album which came out earlier this month. He has spent the last twelve years playing in other bands (such as Bantam Lyons, Yes Basketball, Classe Mannequin), and struggled to find the time to make his own release as perfect as he wanted. But he eventually managed it, and it’s fair to say it was worth the wait. A distinctive blend of psych folk and chilled-out indie rock, the record feels very much the product of one creative mind, unshackled by limitations or the expectations of others. Lead single ‘Mania’ kicks things off, an off-kilter folk pop song that features layers of guitars, beguiling melodies and a sense of brave forward motion.

Hannah Frances – Honey, Hear Me

Back in 2021, Chicago-based songwriter Hannah Frances released her fifth record Bedrock, an album of raw emotion and considerable storytelling. Next month, Ghost Mountain Records are re-releasing the album on cassette, giving anyone who missed it first time around another chance to put that right. Single ‘Honey, Hear Me’ is as good an introduction as any, showing off Frances’ signature guitar work and vehement songwriting. As the opening track of a record Frances describes as “a fountain of intentionality,” which “offer[s] rawness with reverence,” ‘Honey, Hear Me’ feels like something of a mission statement, a bold pledge towards directness and honesty.

learning to not be alone
to be known and sewn with a thread
other than my own
singing with the birds who know
of bravery

Madi Diaz, S.G. Goodman & Joy Oladokun – Be Careful

When Roe Vs Wade was overturned earlier this year, LA songwriter Madi Diaz found herself thinking of Patty Griffin’s song ‘Be Careful’. “It became a mantra of strength that was playing consistently in the back of my heart and mind day in and day out, gently encouraging me to keep putting one foot in front of the other,” she describes. “It became a sort of battle cry directed toward anyone that wants to take away my rights to my own body and my reproductive freedom.” Diaz got together with her friend Morgan Elizabeth Peirce and the pair wrote a new final verse, bringing the song right into the present.

For all the reasons that are ours to know
It’s my choice and I’m not alone

For every man who’s standing next to me
For queer and trans and non-binary
For everybody with their own body
I will meet you all out in the street

Diaz is joined on the track by S.G. Goodman and Joy Oladokun, who each sing a verse, and Courtney Marie Andrews and Savana Santos also provide backing vocals. You can listen to the cover below:

‘Be Careful’ is out now and available from the Madi Diaz Bandcamp page.

Molly Murphy – Salt for Witches

Now based in New York, songwriter Molly Murphy evokes the Blue Ridge Mountains with her homespun folk music. Her latest single ‘Salt For Witches’ is equal parts catchy and emotive, adding lush pop details to a timeless folk skeleton. Drawing on imagery of folklore and superstition, it’s a song about coping with difficult circumstances and wishing simple actions like knocking on wood or a circle of salt could solve them. “They say a circle of salt can keep evil forces at bay,” Molly Murphy describes. “‘Salt for Witches’ is about wishing you could do just that for bad vibes and people.”

Like salt for witches
Salt for witches
It is simple and strong
Find it in the cabinet
and keep the demons gone

Morena Leraba – Morea-rea

Morena Leraba is a musician/band from Lesotho, who for the last few years has steadily become of the figureheads of a reinvention of the country’s musical heritage. The music draws heavily on Sesotho culture and aims to preserve the language which is declining due to the spread of colonial languages such as English. Morena Leraba achieves this by taking Famo, a sub-genre of traditional Sesotho music, and updating it with contemporary flourishes inspired by hip hop and electronic music. “Because we also have influences from elsewhere musically,” he describes, “I’ve always re-imagined Famo. I’ve always re-imagined Sesotho traditional music.” Latest single ‘Morea-rea’ is a great example, emphasising Sesotho phrases and idioms in a style that feels both modern and timeless.

‘Morea-rea’ is taken from a forthcoming EP called Fela sa Ha Mojela. Until then, listen to the single via streaming services.

The Veils – Undertow

It’s been six years since the release of Total Depravity, the last album from London/Auckland-based outfit The Veils, a gap largely explained by an injury suffered by lead Finn Andrews. A freak accident on stage left him with a fractured wrist, and the decision to continue the tour further aggravated the situation. “The scaphoid bone in my wrist had died,” Andrews explains, “which I didn’t know was possible. My sister said that at least it was a really ‘on brand’ injury for me.” With the process of making music now “profoundly annoying,” it seemed to be the end of his days writing albums, but as is the way of such things new songs started to bubble up regardless. What eventually emerged was …And Out Of The Void Came Love, a new double album coming via Ba Da Bing Records. A release intended to experienced in one sitting, albeit with an intermission in the middle, which throws itself headlong into themes of isolation, healing and creation itself. The latter is brought into relief by single ‘Undertow’, tracing the compulsion to write through genetics, like some cursed blessing that holds tight in spite of intention or circumstance.

Wesley – Sugar Free

This month saw Wesley, AKA Louisville, Kentucky‘s Jacob Weaver, release Glows in the Dark on Earth Libraries. An album we described in an earlier preview as “a hazy dreamworld… all pleasantly surreal imagery and twinkling atmospherics,” with the title track “folding the syrupy dream-like quality of meeting your true love into the almost paradoxical emotion of awakening.” Latest single ‘Sugar Free’ might open with a more mournful, reflective tone, but as soon as Weaver’s vocals kick in the uber smooth style returns. A mood perhaps a tad starker than the previous track but no less ethereal. Some nocturnal vision caught between reality and dreams.

Glows in the Dark is out now and available via the Earth Libraries Bandcamp page.

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