With the release of the album now only a month away, Fortunato Durutti Marinetti has returned with brand new single ‘A Perfect Pair’. Another track as fun as it is assured, encapsulating the cool spirit of the Poetic Jazz Rock aesthetic. A richly languid groove is matched by FDM’s near-spoken vocals, leading to something uber smooth and a little tongue-in-cheek. The song is inspired by Joan Didion’s Democracy, and takes its title from a line in the novel. “Everyone hates Joan Didion right now but that doesn’t matter to me because I love her sentences,” as Marinetti explains. “I also love baroque pop in the Brigitte Fontain/John Cale/Teho Teardo mold. The warm horns that enter midway through make me feel like I’m taking a magic carpet ride.”

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“There’s something of Kraftwerk in the sound, a smidge of Suicide and no small amount of Lou Reed, though the blend of digital and organic tones is clearly the product of a singular imagination.” That’s how we described the work of Turin-born, Toronto-based ‘poetic jazz rock’ songwriter Fortunato Durutti Marinetti back in 2023, writing about the album Eight Waves In Search Of An Ocean. Now FDM is returning with new album Bitter Sweet, Sweet Bitter, what label Quindi Records describe as “his most sweeping, absurd, and emotionally acute statement to date,” and lead single ‘Full of Fire’ hints at the maximalist style at its heart. A song which takes inspiration from iconoclasts like Annette Peacock, Rickie Lee Jones, Donald Byrd, Brigitte Fontaine and Fabrizio De André to paint love as something equal parts fond and fatal.

Green Gardens – Stroom

Leeds ‘feudal indie rock’ outfit Green Gardens have been sharing new material in recent weeks, with singles ‘Year of Love’ (which saw the band, as we wrote, “swapping out some of the grand scale in favour of increased intimacy”) and ‘Ghost of a Tree’ (a song “embodying the spirit of a band who make no distinction between the intimate and the sublime,” as we put it, “positioning an individual’s loves and losses within an almost geolgical span of time”) introducing a slightly new direction for the outfit. The releases have been building up to the announcement of Thistlesifting, a brand new full-length coming later this simmer via Tiny Library Records, and now Green Gardens have unveiled latest single ‘Stroom’ to further whet appetites.

Watch the video made by Joel Johnston and Chris Aitchison below:

Thistlesifting will be released via Tiny Library Records on the 25th August and you can pre-order it now.

Greg Freeman – Curtain

Later this summer, Burlington, Vermont songwriter Greg Freeman is returning with Burnover, a brand new full-length via Transgressive Records and Canvasback Music. It’s a record which pairs laidback country twang with indie rock momentum, furthering the singular style Freeman introduced back in 2022 with previous LP I Look Out. New single ‘Curtain’ captures the mix of playful lyricism and charged energy which makes up the release, Sam Atallah’s piano driving proceedings but Freeman’s vocals stealing the stage. Assured and surprising verbose, like a stream of consciousness unfurling with equal parts conversational immediacy and poetic grace.

My thoughts die out slowly on the blood swept plains where I see you every night
And to the lonely hours, it’s like burning the furniture to keep the house bright at night

The night is getting late and the horns have all been blown
And the drummer’s looking cock-eyed on his rusty metal throne
And I’m somewhere in the distance and you’re somewhere at home

Watch the video directed by Carl Elsaesser below:

Burnover will be released on the 22nd August via Transgressive Records and Canvasback Music and you can pre-order it now.

John Also Bennett – Easter Daydream

His first album for Shelter Press since 2019 solo debut Erg Herbe, John Also Bennett returns this July with new full-length Ston Elaióna. The record—titled ‘in the olive grove’ in Greek—sees the US-born, Athens, Greece-based composer, flautist and multi-instrumentalist blur the lines between the ancient and the contemporary, the physical and metaphysical, with electroacoustic compositions every bit as precise and spacious as fans of JAB will have come to expect. Lead single ‘Easter Daydream’ welcomes the audience into the world of the record, a soundscape built from subtle bass flute and synth which allows the real world to bleed in. Namely the bells from a procession captured during Orthodox Holy Week down the road from Bennett’s apartment in Athens, sounds which have a strangely dualistic effect on the mood, both haunting the track and charging it with immediacy.

Michael Beach – Poison Dart

We’ve long followed the work of Naarm/Melbourne-based songwriter Michael Beach, with 2021 record Dream Violence winning a place among our favourite albums of the year. “Beach reaches into the grab bag of rock history and fashions what he finds into something timely and unique,” we wrote. “Imagine Neil Young meeting The Velvet Underground on a dark and hopeless night in our late-capitalist hellscape to muse on the meaninglessness of existence.” Such a description might have captured the record’s searing heart, though does a disservice to the overall tone of Beach’s work. Because while there is an undeniable darkness, it is often sublime in nature, and certainly anything but nihilistic in its intentions. A fact made clear by new record Big Black Plume, coming soon via Poison City and Goner Records, which works with perhaps the only form of optimism left.  “I was wrestling with the beauty and intensity of the natural world and coming to grips with the human destruction of it,” as Beach explains. “I have an overwhelming sense that humans will come and go, and the world we depend on will outlast us.” Listen to new single ‘Poison Dart’ now:

Watch the video below, directed by Alexandra Millen with cinematography from Claire Giuffre:

Big Black Plume will be released on the 25th July via Poison City and Goner Records and you can pre-order it now.

Omo Cloud – Ultimate Love

Later this month sees the release of Mausoleum, the debut album from Cole De La Isla’s Omo Cloud on Dusty Mars Records. The album sees the San Diego songwriter reckon with their past with the intention, as per the title, of burying it and moving on. The result, as shown by lead single ‘Ultimate Love’, is every inch as bittersweet as that might sound. Enduring the painful process of returning to old traumas in order to redefine the present and future. “I feel like I spent a lot of my teenhood being very angsty and existential and cynical in a lot of ways, but I don’t want that to be the takeaway of the record at all,” De La Isla explains. “I feel the takeaway is actually a very optimistic one. We’re all capable of growth and change, and it is a lot of work, but it is worth it. I want people to trust their gut. I want to help people connect with hard emotions—and I want people to be inspired.”

Mausoleum is out on the 27th June via Dusty Mars Records and available to pre-order now.

Pacing – Nothing! (I wanna do)

Led by Katie McTigue, Pacing has been catching our eye for a number of years with a sound at once fun, idiosyncratic and deceptively heartfelt. “[Pacing] follows in the playful, tongue-in-cheek tradition of the likes of Kimya Dawson,” as we put it back in 2023, “yet always nudges the ideas further to be more than mere twee humour or sardonic fun.” After a number of successful collaborations and a high profile tour with Cheekface, this summer sees McTigue return with PL*NET F*TNESS, a new album on Asian Man Records, and latest single ‘Nothing! (I wanna do)’ suggests Pacing is firing on all cylinders. Inspired by a brain-numbing commute along Highway 85, the song is described as “a classic upbeat depression banger” (“we are all entitled to one per album, and I’m using mine now,” as McTigue says), and embodies the mission which has long lurked beneath the surface of the project. Because, when you peel back the wry humour and off-the-wall personality, it becomes clear Pacing is asking how we are supposed to live beneath the weight of all that is asked of us. How might we find meaning in a banal world?

Watch a live video for the single below, with gig footage by Hali Tauxe and b-roll by errbody:

PL*NET F*TNESS is out on the 25th July via Asian Man Records.

R&D – Everything Becomes a Sign

We’ve long followed the work of Dan Knishkowy (Adeline Hotel) and Rebecca El-Saleh (Kitba) in their own respective projects, with the latest Adeline Hotel full-length Whodunnit making our list of favourites from 2024 and the Kitba’s exceptional self-titled record winning our praise in 2023 (“Proof that art can offer a picture of identity more nuanced than simple labels,” we wrote of the latter. “A deeper understanding reached via an embrace of confusion. Identity as an ongoing thing”). So it is most welcome news the pair have teamed up under the moniker R&D to create improvised, instrumental songs which further delve into the themes they have explored individually. Because while upcoming album I’ll Send You a Sign marks something of a departure from what we might expect from Knishkowy and El-Saleh in terms of style, its thematic concerns feel more like a continuation or deepening. Take the spare, probing single ‘Everything Becomes a Sign’, which mines patience and sensitivity for all of their exploratory potential.

Rival Consoles – Jupiter

We’ve featured a number of tracks from Rival Consoles‘ forthcoming album Landscape from Memory in recent weeks, with tracks like ‘Catherine‘ and ‘Known Shape‘ finding Ryan Lee West working at the intersection of the human and the digital, crafting soundscapes full of euphoria, melancholy and restless motion. With the release approaching via Erased Tapes, West has shared latest single ‘Jupiter’. A song which embodies the album’s spirit in its combination of repetition and variation, its intricate detail and overarching brightness. “At the heart of this piece is a call and response,” as he explains. “The main idea is changing but the response is always the same, this is connected to life and nature. I wanted the music to feel like materials, bending, distorting, shimmering, colourful shards of glass and metal. To me it feels like the sun touching objects with its warmth and power.”

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Last May, Toronto songwriter  and multi-instrumentalist Abigail Lapell released Anniversary, an album of love songs that explored the L-word in a variety of its many guises. Now, almost a year on, Lapell has announced More Songs About Love, an extended version of the record that adds eight extra tracks, including acoustic versions and French translations of some of Anniversary‘s standouts. Lapell made the album with the help of Tony Dekker (of Great Lake Swimmers), and he lends his vocals to the lead single, an acoustic duet version of ‘Wait Up’. “I feel like it brings out such a different, more intimate side of the song,” Lapell describes, “and was super fun to play and sing live together.”

Amiture Music – Mountain

Jack Whitescarver’s Amiture might be a thing of the past, but a new project has risen from the ashes. Amiture Music sees Whitescarver enlist drummer Justin Fossella, bassist Max Berine Shafer and multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Allie Wrubel to push into a style of experimental rock unreachable to a solo artist. “As musicians, the four of us are able to access an unspoken knowing, a shared voice,” Whitescarver says, “and this intimate understanding has allowed us to blend and mold our distinct approaches and styles into a unified, total sound.” The first taste of this new beginning, single ‘Mountain’ embodies the deep sincerity which underpins Amiture Music, forgoing any conceits or flashy gimmicks in favour of open collaboration and good old fashioned craft.

Domino Lewis – Do It All

Described as a songwriter “born in France but raised on Gordon Lightfoot and Joan Baez,” Domino Lewis crafts a timeless style of folk which owes equal debts to the classics and contemporaries of the genre. Ahead of a new EP scheduled for release sometime later this year, Lewis has shared brand new single, ‘Do It All’. A song which draws on a quote by Sylvia Plath—”I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations possible in my life. And I am horribly limited”—to form a sound at once affirming and shot through by melancholy. An apparent contradiction embraced throughout the track, as though to fully inhabit one’s life is to grasp both sides of the coin with identical curiousity. “I wanna see a morning /and moonlight just the same,” as the opening lines assert. “I wanna burn the sunshine / wanna drown the rain.”

Lewis joined up with Western AF on their European tour to record a version of the track. Watch the video recorded and mixed by Will Ross and edited by Manuel Deakins below:

‘Do It All’ is out now and available from the Domino Lewis Bandcamp page.

Foxtails Brigade – Forevermore

Described as “a lonely, bedroom anthem for the lost and forgotten,” ‘Forevermore’ is the latest single from San Francisco‘s Foxtails Brigade, and the first taste of their upcoming new full-length Red Album. Led by Laura Weinbach, the project has long made what we’ve called previously “a peculiar brand of Gothic folk-pop which embraces the weirder side of life,” and the new single is no exception. A poignant ode to those who exist at some kind of angle to the conventional modes of living, too often shunned by the cultural and political gatekeepers of their time.

‘Forevermore’ is out now. You can sign up for early access of Red Album on the Foxtails Brigade website.

Hectorine – Is Love An Illusion?

Bay Area-based songwriter Sarah Gagnon, AKA Hectorine, is preparing to release thrid album Arrow of Love later this spring with Take a Turn Records, an album which invoked the Sumerian goddess Inanna in its conception. Mesopotamian myth tells of Inanna descending into the underworld, giving up clothing and possessions at each of the gates of hell to finally arrive naked, and Gagnon followed the analogy to trace a path through a period of intense change during the pandemic, stripping away all protections to confront demons unguarded. Single and opener ‘Is Love An Illusion’ signals the start of this journey, with flitting marimba and dramatic vocals drawing the listener into dark, alluring netherworld.

Arrow of Love is out on the 23rd May on Take a Turn Records and you can pre-order it now.

IE – Simplify

Later this spring, Minneapolis quintet IE are releasing their latest album Reverse Earth on Quindi Records. The release draws upon kosmische, lounge pop and psychedelica in its sound, though with an intentional style which prioritises intuitive flow. There’s sizeable variation across the five songs, but lead single and centrepiece ‘Simplfy’ shows off the evocative patience of the outfit. A song which seems to raise itself from minimal beginnings, stirring with an almost organic logic, like the mysterious mechanical movements of subcellular particules, or else the heavenly bodies burning bright through outer space.

Mae Powell – Rope You In

Having signed with Karma Chief and Colemine Records, self-described “songstress and rainbow entity” Mae Powell is preparing to release a second album this summer, and latest single ‘Rope You In’ introduces the audience to the ethereal atmosphere and emotional clarity of the Bay Area artist’s work. The song was essentially the origin point of the record, the first steps of a challenging journey through a myriad of emotions, though step into the lush sound and crooned vocals and you’ll soon discover the experience to be one which places comfort front and centre. “I feel grateful for the way writing songs helps me make sense of and process emotions while I’m in the thick of them,” as Powell explains, and now the songs exist as something which might help listeners too.

Mourning [A] BLKstar – Stop Lion 2

Following on from 2024’s stellar Ancient//Future, Mourning [A] BLKstar are already on their way back with Flowers of the Living, a brand new full-length to be released by Don Giovanni Records to coincide with the Afrofuturist collective’s ten-year anniversary. And, if lead single ‘Stop Lion 2’ is indicative of the album in its entirety, MAB draw on the full breadth of creativity and expertise gained across this decade, bringing to life a sound packed with detail yet unafraid to spread its wings and take its time. Indeed, this is a song where space is given equal footing next to any instrument or vocal. “Not only does space represent stillness, contentment, and mindfulness, it’s also the fulcrum of collectivism and free expression, and a key tenet of the Black ecstatic lineage,” as the press release puts it. “Space has always been politicized, and to view it from a place of abundance rather than scarcity, even in a conceptual sense, is a rebuke of fascist oppressors and an affirmation of love and self-belief.” The result is every bit as defiant, moody and assured as this suggests, and primes the canvas ready for a blockbuster album. Watch the video below:

Flowers of the Living is coming soon via Don Giovanni Records and you can pre-order it now.

nina gala – honey

Back in 2022 we wrote about swan heart by Baltimore-based songwriter nina gala, an album we described as “reflecting on what was and what might have been with an almost reverent tone. One which explores feelings of longing, anger and despair yet descends fully into none, instead suspended in the strange wonder that things such as love could ever happen at all.” Now nina gala is back with ‘honey’, a brand new single which further descends into a shimmering world of romance and fear. “do you still wanna taste my honey? / do you miss my touch? / do you love my body?” as the opening lines ask, gala’s vocals soaring over a sparse arrangement like concerned thoughts filling an empty room at the dead of night.

Penny & the Pits – Montenegro on Ice

Penelope Stevens is perhaps best known as part of New Brunswick alt-rock outfit Motherhood, but is now ready to introduce a new project to the world—Penny & the Pits. Out via Forward Music Group, first single ‘Montenegro on Ice’ lacks none of the mood or bite of the Motherhood sound, Stevens matching head-banging heft with an abstract, poetic lyricism which plays like a personal journey into the strange currents and slacks of this thing we call life. A song “about letting your memories overwhelm your life,” as Stevens explains, “and about using any ol’ thing to avoid confronting your trauma.”

Laps like milk, with my mind like silt,
I underwent the kind of thing you can’t forget,
Unbroken, but not unbent
full eclipse
I was held up, transfixed
I was looking for some kind of sign I can’t ignore
But I found no sign I can’t ignore.

‘Montenegro on Ice’ is out now via Forward Music Group.

Slake – Bonecollector

Written to christen their new project, Mary Claire has just released the single ‘Bonecollector’ under the moniker Slake via Cherub Dream Records. Produced by Ryan Albert (Babehoven) and mixed by Melina Duterte (Jay Som), the song is both a window into the singular vision of the Californian artist and an embodiment of the collaborative spirit which brings their work to life. Bridge Gamble (bass), Ryan Albert (additional guitar), Lil Spakoski (synth/theremin), Oona Albertson (drums) and Maya Bon (additional vocals) all lend their talents, as too do a whole crew of directors, editors, camera crew and performers for the track’s accompanying, suitably commited, video filmed at the Padma Yoga Studio and Kilowatt Bar. Watch below:

‘Bonecollector’ is out now via Cherub Dream Records.

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The guitar again sits front and centre, Swan and Schimpl’s use of the instrument seemingly endless in its variety. The record has country-inflected twangs and post-rock complexities, fuzzed out guitar drones and razor sharp melodies. The result is something of a landscape. One rural in tone which seems at once physical and emotional. Often stark and severe in its loneliness, a kind of haunted prairie or steppe, yet often possessing some kind of yearning fondness for the wide open space.

Lead tracks ‘Glass’ and ‘Half Smoked Cigarette’ serve as an introduction to this world. The former is a smoky, ambiguous number which seems to hover all around the listener. A memory of some old barroom ballad suspended in the air. And while the latter possesses more clarity with its motorik beat, there’s gloom to the sound which feels unending. An overcast sky as viewed from the flattest place on Earth. Grey stretching from one horizon to the next. But for all the tracks’ moodiness and portent, that sense of fondness is never far away. As though within the melancholy lies some inherent fear of loss, and with it a desire to hold on to that which is fragile, or else mourn it prematurely.

Dead Bandit will be released on the 14th March via Quindi Records and you can pre-order it now from Bandcamp.

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“Moves through sounds and emotions like scenes in a dream, seemingly disparate thoughts and feeling united by an uncanny common thread.” So we wrote of Water Words, an album by Bay Area artist Asha Wells which combined a number of genres to “sit in the strange space at the heart of any new relationship,” as we continued, “the period where nothing is decided in any one direction, the potential of both promise and regret latent within every detail.” Next year, Wells is releasing a brand new EP Tears of a Clown on Anxiety Blanket Records and first single ‘Impermanent I’ shows a clear evolution of this style. A piece of idiosyncratic pop which melds the experience of classical training with a willingness to push beyond conventions to mine the fertile ground outside.

Cloudbelly – November

Last year we featured ‘Leavened‘ by Montague, Massachusetts‘s Cloudbelly, introducing Corey Laitman’s expansive yet personal style which “[found] assurance in their contemplation of identity and relationships.” New single ‘November’ is no less heartfelt and confident, taking the melancholy of the titular month and infusing it with a marching rhythm to evoke the precious fragility of love. “Say my love’s marked ‘return to sender’ / Teach me mercy, cold November,” as Laitman sings. “Hungry lungs, my love’s the space between the notes / I meant them, every word I ever spoke.” Here, the onset of winter is both a threat and a reminder, as well as something which might yet be outrun.

Daphne’s Demise – Bedroom Window

The solo project of Sarnia, Ontario’s Zoë L, Daphne’s Demise has made a name with a home-recorded blend of indie pop, folk and ambient sensibilities. However, the new ‘Bedroom Window’ represents something of a change, with the track seeing Daphne’s Demise take to the studio with a full band. What emerges is a country-inflected labour of love which taps into the dreamy richness of the seventies. But within the enveloping wistfulness and languid drift lies something more direct. “No more can I be / The one that you keep inside your head,” as the opening lines play, “Looming over me is a thing I just won’t see / Can’t watch it spin.”

Through the bedroom window
See it light up green
And fly away

Dead Bandit – Staircase

The recording project of Ellis Swan and James Schimpl, the music of Dead Bandit might be instrumental, but it is decidedly lyrical in spirit. Swan is known for haunting murder ballads within his solo work, while multi-instrumentalist Schimpl weaves expansive soundscapes. So it followed that the debut Dead Bandit album From the Basement combined these sensibilities into a raw, shadowy sound which merged Southern Gothic needle and hauntological strangeness. Again on Quindi Records, new album Memory Thirteen is no less evocative, with single ‘Staircase’ presenting a cryptic mood. Is the past returning to haunt the present? Or is that the future we glimpse breaking through the clouds?

Humbird – Child of Violence

“Another blue sky morning,” sings Humbird’s Siri Undlin on new single ‘Child of Violence’, “In the land of the free to believe / Lies on the Internet and the glamor of money / Missing the real thing.” The Minnesota artist has been releasing a number of singles via Nettwerk in recent months, channelling the politically charged folk rock of yesteryear, and the new track is perhaps the most direct and cutting yet. A song which refuses to treat acts of violence within the US as tragedies or aberrations, but rather a cornerstone of the entire national project. And perhaps most importantly, it identifies how honesty around this fact is central to any hope of change.

I could be a break in the chain
I could be a piece of the change
When I talk about it
I’ll call it by its name

Little Kid – Something to Say

Back in 2020, Toronto‘s Little Kid released Transfiguration Highway, an album “at least in part inspired by an enduring interest in Christian mysticism,” as we described, “and themes of epiphany and revelation allow [lead Kenny] Boothby to explore his own growth.” Next year will see Little Kid return with A Million Easy Payments, a new full-length on Orindal Records, which finds Boothby and co. again probing at the line between the corporeal and the spiritual. Lead single ‘Something to Say’ offers a picture of reality so keenly observed that a sense of latent mystery begins to suggest itself, and with it the possibility of transcendence.

Nora Roy – No Steppy Snik

“Sometimes I want to pull my teeth out / unzip my skin / start over.” So sings Nora Roy on ‘No Steppy Snik’, a new single which pairs surreal detachment and forthright confession to welcome the listener deep into its heart. Joined by Julian Fader (guitar) Brett Nash (bass) and Daniel Siles (drums), Roy follows this dreamlike thread through murmured quiet and towering peaks, though for all of the song’s unreal qualities, the parting sense is that of having been told something true which might not have been communicable any other way. “You love / Like a snake I saw,” as Roy continues, “in a magazine / some time.”

‘No Steppy Snik’ is out now and you can find Nora Roy on streaming services.

Parademaker – Utah

The recording project of Houston‘s Shaun Clarkson, Parademaker creates folk in the mould of John Prine, where heartfelt emotion and wry humour intertwine to form a picture of a specific period and place. New album Good Shit is full of such songs, but single ‘Utah’ encapsulates the spirit perfectly. A story of the second coming where Jesus is kicking about America, looking for somewhere to settle down. “This time he came to live and not to die,” as the lyrics offer. But that’s not to say Christ has no standards when it comes to potential homes. “You won’t find me in Utah / the Latter-day Saints and the petite bourgeoisie ain’t seen a cage they didn’t want to climb inside.”

You won’t find me in U-hecking-tah
the worst damn state that you ever saw
along with Texas, Florida, most of Indiana
and the whole goddam Bible Belt

Prism Bitch – City Nights

Albuquerque’s Prism Bitch originated when Lauren Poole and Chris Walsh met at a small theatre group and imagined creating a band as a piece of performance art. But upon adding Lilah Rose and Teresa Cruces to the line-up, they found themselves shedding the performance aspect and becoming the real deal. Establishing their rambunctious and often flamboyant brand of garage rock, debut full-length Perla showed the switch was more than justified, and it is fitting that new single ‘City Nights’ sees the outfit return to their theatrical roots. A sleek, sensual eighties bop which comes complete with a delightfully tongue-in-cheek video filmed at the Albuquerque public access studio, directed by Lauren Poole with cinematography by Colemar Nichols:

‘City Nights’ is out now and available from Bandcamp.

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A joint release by Quindi Records and Soft Abuse, Eight Waves In Search Of An Ocean is Fortunato Durutti Marinetti’s third full-length album and perhaps the most confident expression of this style to date. Drum machines and synths form the foundations, a layered bedrock across which everything from saxophone, flute, vibraphone and violin play, not to mention Marinetti’s almost spoken vocals. There’s something of Kraftwerk in the sound, a smidge of Suicide and no small amount of Lou Reed, though the blend of digital and organic tones is clearly the product of a singular imagination.

Opener and lead single ‘Lightning On A Sunny Day’ serves as the introduction to the record. An epic track that manages to weave real drama into its lazy sprawl, evoking the titular image in its dreamlike blend of space and intensity. “Don’t ask me to explain the spirit of the thing,” as Marinetti sings, “the quality of light / or the distorted logic of dreams / or the chances of extreme possibilities / such as lightning on a sunny day.”

Photography by Kevin Schmidt, layout and design by Jenifer Papararo

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The two songs showed the invention of the Monde UFO sound, what the label describe as a blend “dream pop vignettes and outer rim punk exotica” which draws on everything from dub and bossa nova to contemporary indie rock. But they also displayed how such diverse styles are tied together by something less tangible. Call it spirit, call it vibe. A willingness to confront mysteries wherever they might appear on this earth, and even turn an eye towards the cosmos too.

Latest single ‘Garden of Agony’ continues this mood. A more subdued, intimate track which takes the dreaminess of previous singles and condenses it into something intimate. A mystery this time unfurling not from some Martian apparition or exotic conspiracy but rather the languid unspooling of a daydream in an empty room.

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“Thriving on a diversity of influences and intentions and underpinned by the constant desire to invent new things.” That’s how we described Hybrid Dimension II by The Allegorist, an album which highlighted the visionary style of Berlin-based artist Anna Jordan. One so committed to the world it created, it was performed in an entirely fictional language. Forthcoming album TEKHENU promises to be no less ambitious, again using narrative-based compositions to conjure a mythical world at least partly inspired by ancient Egyptian imagery and shaped by metaphors for human connection. Latest single ‘Howling With The Wolf’ finds such common bond in the animalistic drivers at the heart of every human, re-establishing our connection to the natural world and embracing the wilderness as a plane of interconnection.

TEKHENU is out on the 5th May via Awaken Chronicles and you can pre-order it now.

American Grandma – Stone Cross

The slowcore project of Denver‘s Jensen Keller and Caden Marchese, American Grandma is prepping to release their brand new album Rare Knives of Light later this spring, and single ‘Stone Cross’ finds the outfit at their shimmering best. Positioning itself at the ambient end of the spectrum, the song does not eliminate the dark heft of the genre so much as leaven it, the ascending tones lifting the entire weight of the sound, shadows and all. So as Keller asks a series of cryptic questions, what emerges is curious blend of the physical and intangible—a mirage you can feel between your fingers, a dream or prayer brought to life.

Does the sun shine bright forever?
Will I commemorate you with a painted sign?

Constant Follower & Scott William Urquhart – Waves Crash Here

Last summer we featured Constant Follower and their beautiful record Neither Is, Nor Ever Was. As we described, the project represents “a struggle between calmness and distress, between the real and imaginary, and indeed between the desire for and fear of such clear boundaries.” But ultimately “embraces this turmoil, and in doing so offers a fundamental reimagining of memory, of the past and future, the real and not.” The band are now gearing up to release Even Days Dissolve, a new album in collaboration with Scott William Urquhart, and lead single ‘Waves Crash Here’ shows a continued engagement with both memory and the natural world. With its evocative sweeps and fine detail, Urquhart’s guitar evokes the duality of permanence and ephemerality of the environment which inspired it, and Constant Follower’s Stephen McAll again turns to the poetry of Norman MacCaig to guide his moving, precise writing. Watch the video by animator George Farrow-Hawkins below:

Even Days Dissolve is out on the 14th April and you can pre-order it now.

Eyesore & The Jinx – An Ideas Man

Liverpool post-punk trio Eyesore & The Jinx return this May with a new double-single 7″ An Ideas Man / Do What You Love. We’ve previously described the outfit’s work as “cutting and hysterical, as though the banality of society has pushed them over the edge,” and ‘An Ideas Man’ finds them no less enraged with the world unfolding around them. It’s a twitchy song about “cult of landlordism and a parasitic ideology which has become pervasive in its wake,” as Josh Miller explains, taking on the voice of the titular figure in all of its self-congratulatory smarm. The sound’s taut angles threaten to spill over into some violent climax, and in a world in which men will kick you repeatedly on a punctual monthly rota and pretend they are doing you a favour, how else should our songs sound? As Miller concludes: “In short, it’s about how much I fucking hate landlords.”

Greg Mendez – Goodbye / Trouble

Later this year, Philadelphia‘s Greg Mendez will return with a self-titled full-length via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes. Following on from 2020’s Cherry Hell, a record we described as “taking the themes of Townes Van Zandt, Connie Converse and Elliott Smith and casting them in the bedroom pop spirit of today,” the new album sees Mendez continue this honest reflection, digging into the past to re-examine painful experiences while never losing a wry edge too. “There’s a lot of pretty bleak memories in the songs,” he explains, “but one thing that I hope comes through is that nothing is ever fully dark.” Lead single ‘Goodbye / Trouble’ captures the style perfectly, a lo-fi pop number rooted in memories while waiting for some present transcendence. Watch the video by Video by Doug Dulgarian (of they are gutting a body of water) below:

Greg Mendez is out on the 5th May via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes.

Kassi Valazza – Corners

Back in January we introuduced Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, the forthcoming album by Portland artist Kassi Valazza on Fluff and Gravy Records (US) and Loose Music (UK). Writing of lead single ‘Watching Planes Go By’ we described how her timeless country singer-songwriter style “bears all the hallmarks of the best retro tracks while refusing to fall for nostalgic imitation.” Now Valazza has unveiled the record’s second single. Titled ‘Corners’, it’s a tender but tentative love song that again draws on psych-styled folk as much as it does from Americana, unfurling with an easy emotional ache as though from a decades-old dusty radio. Valazza’s voice sits at the sweet spot between soft and strong, tired and heartsick but holding onto a golden romantic hope.

I wonder if I called you
would it be alright
to say I loved you

Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing will be released by Fluff & Gravy Records / Loose Music on 12th May. Pre-order it now from the Kassi Valazza Bandcamp page.

Monde UFO – Government Employee

As their name might suggest, there’s something otherworldly about the work of LA‘s Monde UFO, but new album Vandalized Statue To Be Replaced With Shrine, out next month via Quindi Records, shows just how varied this ethereal mood can be. First single ‘Visions of Fatima’ led the listener into a decidedly downbeat mystery, channelling the miracle of its title to speak of shifting wonders and cloaked truths. But described as “a sun-kissed trip of low-key lounge surrealism, bizarro storytelling and shuffling exotica splendour,” latest track ‘Government Employee’ shows off a different dimension to the record. One where the laidback rhythms evoke an alternate version of visitation, the lyrics playing with an almost Pynchon-esque restlessness beneath the languorous surface.

Nyokabi Kariũki – fire head

Last week, Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki released FEELING BODY, her debut full-length album on New York label cmntx records. Combining everything from experimental electronic, contemporary classical and East African traditional music, the album explores Kariũki’s experience of living with long-COVID for the entirety of 2021. The record is built around a central motif of the voice, utilizing Kariũki’s full vocal range as well as spoken word recordings and text-to-speech software, what she describes as “a way to express visceral feelings and noisy thoughts.” It also features contributions from violinst Yaz Lancaster and trumpet player Michael Denis Ó Callaghan, their playing manipulated to echo symptoms of the persistent illness. Nowhere is this clearer that on standout track, ‘fire head’, a genuinely unsettling piece which layers a field recording of Ó Callaghan disassembling then reassembling his trumpet with a cacophony of automated voices repeating the line “They stopped asking if I was ok.”

Shalom – Lighter

Later this week, Brooklyn-based Shalom will release her debut album Sublimation on Saddle Creek. We wrote a preview of the album last month, describing it as “a bracingly honest exploration of a young life,” that “combin[es] stories of partying and trauma, love and breakups and feelings of disaffection,” and admiring its mixture of bold, direct indie pop and emotional nuance. Ahead of the record’s release, Shalom has unveiled the final single ‘Lighter’. It’s probably the most pop-oriented song on the album, the carefree atmosphere masking its themes of discontent. “So done with being myself,” Shalom sings in the chorus, “I’d rather be anyone else, I’m tired of being a fighter.” Watch the animated video by Rory Alene below:

Sublimation releases 10th March via Saddle Creek. Order a copy now from the Shalom Bandcamp page.

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