“As inventive as it is relaxed, the whole thing buoyed by a sense of patience and curiosity as it explores whatever avenue seems appropriate.” So we wrote of Open Door Policy, the recent release by Brooklyn songwriter Alexei Shishkin, back in June. If the album typified Shishkin’s sense of invention, then it is fitting that new release Greenwich Mean EP is something different altogether. A collection of jazz-adjacent (mostly) instrumentals which takes the patience and curiosity of ODP and applies them in another manner. Only opener and title track ‘Greenwich Mean’ has vocals. The portal through which listeners are invited into the album. The abstract lyrics might sound foreboding on first listen, but take the time to listen and you come to realise there’s no substance behind the mood. As though Shiskin is working to prove how even the most nonsensical strings of words might come to take on a certain feel if presented with a particular soundscape.

Casper Skulls – Spindletop

New single ‘Spindletop’ represents something of a fresh start for indie rock band Casper Skulls. It is the first taste of the band in their new three-piece setup, and also sees guitarist Neil Bednis take on vocal duties for the first time since the band’s debut record. The song explores the Texas oil boom of the early 20th Century, and Bednis describes how he “tried to capture the ominous atmosphere and avarice” of Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood while writing it. In contrast, the music video is a lighthearted one, what guitarist and vocalist Melanie St-Pierre calls “a funny lil take on me being annoying and late to jam,” following her journey to band practice through the local Sudbury scene, amp in tow.

‘Spindletop’ is out now and available from the Casper Skulls Bandcamp page.

Casual Technicians – This Emotion

Catching “the ache and yearn of a lonesome night under the stars” as we described in a preview, single ‘Midnight Moon’ by Casual Technicians introduced their new album, Deeply Unworthy on Repeating Cloud. The record “sees the three songwriters cross the beams of their creativity once more and embrace the loveable strangeness of the result,” we continued, with everything from Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch to Smile-era Beach Boys and Steely Dan listed as influences. With the album now out, the trio have shared single ‘This Emotion’, the album’s closing track which at least partially turns away from the overtly western sensibilities of the previous songs but lacks none of the heartfelt reflection or idiosyncratic charm.

Ciao Malz – Two Feet Tall

Having caught the attention of Audio Antihero with a cover of Frog’s ‘You Know I’m Down‘, Connecticut-born, Brooklyn-based Filipino-American Ciao Malz (Malia DelaCruz) is teaming up with the label to release their debut EP, Safe Then Sorry. The Ciao Malz sound pairs equal parts upbeat energy and probing introspection to explore themes of identity and love in young life. “These stories and characters came to me subconsciously and asked to be spoken into existence,” DelaCruz explains. “These songs are about the unlikely connections we make, how they’re simultaneously inexplicable and meaningful.” Lead single ‘Two Feet Tall’ introduces the project to the uninitiated, embodying the release’s unguarded nature with lush textures and a binding sense of forward motion.

I’ve been feeling two, two feet tall
I’ve already heard, heard it all
I’ve been meaning to, call your bluff
But I can never tell, quite tell you stuff

Clover County – Under These Conditions

Growing up in Florida and now based in Athens, Georgia, Clover County is a songwriter inspired by the greats in the genre—from Stevie Nicks and Carol King to Ella Fitzgerald and Dolly Parton. With new EP Porch Lights out now via Thirty Tigers, new single ‘Under These Conditions’ introduces the artist as a continuation of this lineage, with vulnerability and strength marbling into something as assured as it is heartfelt. “[The single] was the ‘kick-in-the-ass-come-to-Jesus’ talk I needed to have with myself,” she explains. “A reminder not to sacrifice the life I wanted while people pleasing the generational expectations placed on me by the town I was living in, the church I grew up in, or the people I was raised by.”

Porch Lights is out now via Thirty Tigers and available from the usual places.

Grandmas House – Screw It Up

Following last year’s EP Who I Am, which garnered attention from all corners with its anarchic energy, Bristol post-punks Grandmas House are back with new single, ‘Screw It Up’. The band say the song is about “having to walk on eggshells in a relationship and feeling like you have to keep you emotions bottled up in order to be liked,” but there’s nothing held back in the sound that twitches and snarls with furious frustration. It’s a loud one, even from a band who have made a name for it, moody guitars and stomping percussion jostle for space behind brash and cathartic vocals. Watch the video by the band themselves below:

‘Screw It Up’ is out now via streaming services.

mary in the junkyard – this is my california

Back in May, London group mary in the junkyard released their debut EP, this old house, to much fanfare and critical acclaim. The record’s unique style of experimental rock and unsettling visual imagery saw the trio’s (that’s Clari Freeman-Taylor, Saya Barbaglia and David Addison) reputation skyrocket. Now the band have returned with a new single, ‘this is my california’. What Freeman-Taylor describes as “a nostalgic song about finding my own dreams,” the song dials back the unpredictability and intensity that made the EP so startling, opting instead for a laidback vibe that lands somewhere between Sun June’s twilit dreamy grooves and the knotty emotion of Big Thief.

naya mö – wanderlust

Recorded in Baltimore with help from Bartees Strange, ‘wanderlust’ is the new single from French alternative artist naya mö. The song draws on the grunge and alt-pop of the nineties and the soaring indie rock of the mid 00s, resulting in something that sparkles with possibility despite being coated in gritty fuzz and shadowy reverb. “The lyrics explore the bittersweet journey of longing and letting go,” naya mö describes. “It captures the feeling of being caught in a loop of memories while hoping to find a way forward.” With a new EP scheduled for release early in 2025, the single marks mö as an artist to keep an eye on moving into 2025 and beyond.

‘wanderlust’ is out now via streaming services.

Niall Summerton – No One

When we last featured Yorkshire artist Niall Summerton back in September, we mentioned he had a new EP, Tread Water, on the way via Tiny Library Records. The title track represented both “an ode to friendship and an antidote to our busy world,” we wrote, “brought to life by the patient guitar and soothing delivery, a spacious arrangement which allows the surrounding world to bleeds into the gaps.” Latest single ‘No One’ is no less unhurried in style, though here the languid rhythm brings to life a different shade of character. An almost slacker-style sound which lands somewhere between downbeat lethargy and calming respite. “No one’s coming in,” Summerton repeats to capture this mood, a statement which carries inherent loneliness but also a clear thread of relief.

Tread Water is out now on Tiny Library Records and available via streaming services.

Sunny War – Walking Contradiction

After releasing critically acclaimed record Anarchist Gospel in early 2023, Sunny War moved into her late father’s Chattanooga home and began obsessively working on new material save she slip back into the substance abuse that almost killed her in the past. These long hours of crafting elaborate demos allowed her to experiment, trading her acoustic guitar for an electric one. “I definitely wanted to make this album for a badass five-piece band,” she says of the resulting record, Armageddon In A Summer Dress, which comes out next year on New West Records. Our first glimpse of this new, louder direction is ‘Walking Contradiction’, a duet with Crass’s Steve Ignorant which brings elements of punk rock into her usual folk and Blues stylings, a blend which actually makes a lot of sense. As Sunny War explains “Folk used to be very anti-establishment. Pete Seeger, union songs, Woody Guthrie—that’s punk rock shit. It’s all about being an outsider.”

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Unhurried in tone, ‘Tread Water’ is both an ode to friendship and an antidote to our busy world. “This song was inspired by a trip to London to see my best friend,” as Niall Summerton explains. “It was a really blissful weekend, as it always is when we’re together. We had no money to do anything particularly nice, had no plans, so just floated around—not a care in the world. “It’s testament to the friendship that we don’t have to be busy to enjoy each other’s company.”

The mood is brought to life by the patient guitar and soothing delivery, a spacious arrangement which allows the surrounding world to bleeds into the gaps. “I’d been hammering Hana Stretton’s debut album Soon and it moulded the sound of this song completely,” as Summerton continues. “There are two field recordings in this song, one from a Wednesday morning in Manchester city centre and one towards the end of the track from the Yorkshire dales. You hear the toot of a tram’s horn and a suitcase pulled across cobbles if you listen closely. It ends with the running water of a river and wind in trees.”

Tread Water will be released on the 13th November via Tiny Library Records.

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“An embrace of contradiction,” was how we described Wins Above Replacement, last year’s sports-themed full-length by the amazing Lorenzo Landini. “Because, like sports, life can feel like a whole lot of suffering until those moments where it’s suddenly wonderful.” What he calls “a piece about hungering to belong in an increasingly disconnected and brutalizing culture,” new single ‘Leave No Trace’ sees Landini adopt a newly polished style without sacrificing the immediacy and charm which made the previous album so striking. Again the mood splits the difference between playfulness and sincerity, the vocals full of searching questions and wry humour, with a rock energy coming to drive the track forward and towards its cathartic conclusion.

Braden Lawrence – Gary

A song “told through the lens of an elderly man who’s looking for love after a tragic loss,” ‘Gary’ is the lead single and title track from a forthcoming EP by Braden Lawrence. Perhaps best known as a founding member of Philly rock band The Districts, Lawrence also previously recorded under the moniker Haggert Mctaggert, but has switched to his real name for last year’s album When You Lose the Light, released via Anxiety Blanket Records. Again on Anxiety Blanket, the Gary EP promises to continue the record’s blend of folk songwriting and contemporary indie pop. ‘Gary’ the single is a good introduction, a downbeat but sincere song full of wistful longing for things past, all hushed vocals and gently poignant instrumentation.

When you lose something you find something new
That’s what they said and then I met you

‘Gary’ is out now via streaming services.

Hatis Noit – Aura (Laraaji Rework)

The latest “rework” of a track from their acclaimed album Aura on Erased Tapes, London-based, Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit has teamed up with “multi-instrumentalist, laughter meditation practitioner and ambient godfather” Laraaji to reinterpret the album’s opener and title track. Previous reworkings have seen the likes of Preservation and Armand Hammer push Noit’s work towards hip hop, whereas Laraaji uses open tune zither, kalimba and vocals to lead it further out into ambient landscapes, leading to a multi-timbral sound which reaches the for the horizon.

Hemlock Ernst – Raised in the South

Hemlock Ernst, the rap project of Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring, has announced a new album, Studying Absence in collaboration with Icky Reels. Released via Beans‘ Tygr Rawwk Rcrds this coming October, the record sees Herring swap the typical jazz and soul beats of the Hemlock Ernst sound for Icky Reels’s industrial sensibilities and forces his most ambitious record to date. One loaded with all the history and ghosts of the South, that which happened and what might have been. “Studying Absence is what I see when I look in the mirror,” as Herring explains. “The record explores the magic that can arise when people are brought together by fate, and the poignant absence that underlines the human experience.” Check out lead single ‘Raised in the South’ now:

Studying Absence is out on the 16th October via Tygr Rawwk Rcrds.

Julia-Sophie – i was only

With new full-length forgive too slow, out now via Ba Da Bing Records, Julia-Sophie “uses her danceable electro pop sound to present something messier but more authentic,” we wrote in a preview. “As though the album is not a straight line towards a final goal but an orbit around an elusive answer.” Closer ‘telephone‘ offered what we described as “a lush song of love, loneliness and longing, where the brightness on the horizon might be some emergent hope or just the neon smudge of the last place still open so late at night,” whereas final single ‘i was only’ invites Noah Yorke to paint the romantic yearning underpinning the entire release. “I was only falling in love with you,” Julia-Sophie sings, and the swirling soundscape comes to mimic such an overwhelming descent.

ladylike – Horse’s Mouth

Taking equal doses of folk, shoegaze and post-rock to form their distinctive sound, Brighton‘s ladylike sit somewhere between caroline and Big Thief, conjuring expansive soundscapes populated with intricate details. Following on from the success of debut single ‘Southbound’ and slots at Glastonbury and Green Man, new track ‘Horse’s Mouth’ is the ideal starting point for those looking to get on board before ladylike really take off. An ever-shifting song which seems at once intimate and sprawling, as though in delving so deep in its introspection it inverts to find a vast internal landscape, one as majestic and melancholic as anything you might find in the wild.

Langkamer – At the Lake

Last month we introduced Langzamer, the forthcoming album by Langkamer on Breakfast Records, with lead single ‘Richard E. Grant’. Indicating something of a change of tone for the outfit, the song displayed a slower, more considered pace to house its confessional exploration of grief. Latest single ‘At the Lake’ invites The Gold Dregs to help Langkamer further this sound, reaching for something as close to Americana as anything they have released to date. “‘At The Lake’ is a song about the fallout of binge drinking culture,” says drummer/lead vocalist Josh Jarman, “and the prestige that we attach to the idea of the poète maudit. The way we romanticise unhealthy behaviour in the name of creativity.” Hence references to Janis Joplin and James Joyce in the almost mournful sound, the track unfurling with all the slow, soul-searching regret of the worst day after.

Langzamer will be released on Breakfast Records on 16th October and is available to pre-order via the Langkamer Bandcamp.

Madam Sad – Exs

Earlier in the month shared Madam Sad‘s ‘Hope For You’, a single which introduced Maddison Schreiber and Evelyn Charlotte Joe’s “willingness,” as we put it, “to confront difficult things with a compassionate face.” With its depiction of relationships and their inevitable end, latest single ‘Exs’ is no different. A song which looks to utilise a sense of personal growth in order to face such breaks with a more neutral, or even positive, attitude. “The song title is a way of holding myself accountable to make sure I am always hoping for the happiness of those who have hurt me,” Schreiber explains. “I also do get to a more genuine place where I feel compassion for an ex-lover’s success, and that’s a nice kind of sad.”

Exs is out now via streaming services.

Niall Summerton – Train

If Niall Summerton‘s previous album What Am I Made Of? presented “easygoing pop […] packed with lo-fi charm,” as we wrote last year, then new single ‘Train’ offers an altogether more shadowy side to his work. Again released via Tiny Library Records, the single pairs prominent drums and almost grungy guitar into a more conflicted atmosphere, the skipping rhythm faltering on occasion as though to evoke the apprehension at the track’s heart before rising into the squally climax. “It’s going to get harder,” Summerton sings, and amid the tumult of the closing seconds, you get the sense the prophecy has already arrived.

‘Train’ is out now via streaming services.

Nick Zanka – Softshoe

Described as “one part intervention, one part pep talk,” ‘Softshoe is the latest single from Nick Zanca ahead of his forthcoming LP, Hindsight. Recent singles ‘Little Professor’ and ‘You Two’ took on neurodivergence and open relationships respectively, and ‘Softshoe’ feels like it meets both tracks halfway. “I wrote this song for a dear friend and longtime collaborator during a period where we were struggling to communicate,” Zanca explains. “When zoomed out, it is a love song to a friend and a promise to persist and keep the faith.”

Slark Moan – Dollhouse Heart

The first glimpse of forthcoming EP The Return of Guitar Music, ‘Dollhouse Heart’ is the new single from Slark Moan, alter ego of New York multi-instrumentalist Mark Sloan. “[The song] is about feeling small amidst the enormity of life, and the overwhelming sadness and beauty of living an ephemeral existence within an infinite universe,” Sloan explains, illustrating both the scope and inspiring nature of the record. “I recognize that I’ve gained an unabashed realism,” they continue, “creative empowerment, and gratitude that my younger self just couldn’t access.” Sloan is joined by Nashville songwriter and visual artist Meg Elsier, and together they conjure something that oozes calm confidence and newfound wisdom as life’s many emotions threaten to burst from the seams. Watch Diego Molina’s video below:

‘Dollhouse Heart’ is out now on streaming services.

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Now Summerton is back with another single from the record, another easygoing pop song that’s packed with lo-fi charm. Recorded on a beat-up homemade guitar he bought from a man in Barnsley during lockdown (an MDF Gibson Les Paul copy built from a kit ordered on eBay that Summerton has christened “The Fibson”), ‘Wish You Could Speak’ is an ode to a canine companion. “‘Wish You Could Speak’ is a ditty-for-the-dog,” Niall Summerton describes. “I think we’d be great friends if we could chat. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to spend time with dogs, they’re less hassle.” As lighthearted as that sounds, as usual with Summerton, the track gently probes at deeper emotions, finding something wistful in life’s small, odd moments.

I only want to be his friend
so I don’t have to pretend
that he knows what’s on my mind

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