The point in time where I wrote this, I was recognizing for the first time that if I continued to fit myself into other peoples lives and sacrifice my own values in order to make them happy I would end up giving up everything. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt those I care about, but sometimes it is necessary if your own integrity is at stake. I wrote this song knowing the decisions I needed to make, knowing I needed to leave a place that felt difficult to exist, and how this decision would hurt those I loved. This song is about wishing someone would just tell you what your life will look like so that the guilt and hurt you feel along the way might not feel so heavy.

The song itself wears these difficult emotions lightly, existing in a dreamy pastel-coloured world that feels warm and tranquil. Sedate percussion beats steadily behind woozy guitar and soft, gauzy atmospherics, Brokenshire’s vocals coming through smooth and syrupy. But that’s not to say it downplays the anxiety and turmoil that inspired it. Rather, it’s a moment of pure vulnerability, seeing Rose Brokenshire find the courage to open up completely, to wilfully ignore the constant nagging doubt and share the soft, squishy core of her innermost feelings. As she put it in an Instagram post to unveil the single, “Nothing is perfect except the present moment and being brave and creating art regardless of the mountain of fear that comes with doing something vulnerable.”

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With an EP scheduled for release later this year, Rose Brokenshire has now shared a new single ‘type two’. Based around “all the truly sweet, steep and deep days backcountry skiing in the beautiful Canadian mountains of British Columbia with friends,” the track represents an effort to preserve special moments and celebrate the ways in which they reinvigorate us. But thanks to the quirks specific to these memories in particular, the track also works in the opposite direction. A reminder that while moments of peace and release are what we long for, you can only enjoy descending the slopes after you have climbed the mountain in the first place. The title, a reference to the skiing term ‘type two fun’ is a nod to this idea—an unpleasant or difficult moment which comes to be all the more fondly remembered in hindsight. “More often than not, the majority of the fun is held in the memories of the struggle hiking up,” as Brokenshire explains, “and I wouldn’t want it any other way. This song is for all of the friends that make the uphill journey so much more rewarding than the actual ski out.”

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Perhaps best known as a founding member of legendary left-field hip hop act Anti-Pop Consortium, Beans has been making abstract and poetic rap music since the mid nineties. His latest release is ZWAARD comes out next month, a collaboration with Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti (aka Vladislav Delay and Luomo) that sees a fusion of the pair’s singular and uncompromising styles. Latest single ‘ZWAARD 2’ is a great introduction, Beans hitting his formidable flow over Ripatti’s plinky and ramshackle backdrop which has all the homebrew complexity of a Rube Goldberg machine.

ZWAARD will be released on 13th March and is available to order via the Beans Bandcamp page.

Casters – Lines In The Sand

We last wrote about Casters back in 2023, describing how single ‘Memory’ saw Andrew Strader and a rotating cast of musicians create “a dreamy drift that marbles fondness and regret into sound so rich you could suspend yourself within it.” Latest single ‘Lines in the Sand’, again released via  Like You Mean It Records, sees Casters invoke a trip from Santa Fe to Great Sand Dunes National Park to weave another rich soundscape, this time coupled with a sweeping wistfulness fit for the vast environment in which the first seeds of the track took hold.

‘Lines In The Sand’ is out now via Like You Mean It Records.

 Dinah – Winter Black Lake (Stripped)

Released at the end of last week, Dinah! is the almost self-titled sixth album from Toronto‘s Dinah (FKA Dinah Thorpe). It’s comprised of 17 short sharp jabs of raw emotion, possessing a tactility that you can almost feel sock you around the head. This is thanks in no small part to Dinah’s distinctive voice, full of smoky feeling and tender physicality. Much of the album is made up of restrained electronic pop songs, but my favourite is ‘Winter Black Lake (Stripped)’, a reworking of an early track that comes towards the end. Here, the staccato, mechanical rhythms of the original give way to clear air, allowing the vulnerable side of Dinah’s music to flow in and fill the space.

Dinah! is out now and available from the Dinah Bandcamp page.

Kaycie Satterfield – Jetsam

Following debut EP Sweet Tooth and last year’s single ‘Dog Year’, LA-based songwriter Kaycie Satterfield is back with a new single, ‘Jetsam’. Released via Earth Libraries, the song is at once dreamy and punchy, shifting from bendy elastic guitar and peppy percussion to a soaring, shimmering chorus. Satterfield says it’s a track “for the girls. Specifically, the girls who always stay a little messy, who could never quite get their hair to fall neat.” A duality which shows up in the very sound itself as it shifts from attitude to sweetness and back again, refusing to settle into any tidy box.

I hope somebody on this airplane’s talking to God because
I lost touch, it would be impolite
to show up asking favors after all this time

Minor Moon – Under Beyond

“Well they found us / We were fresh off the bridge / With strange new lives / Oh! and in strangers tongues / They sang a new sound into our minds.” So sings Sam Cantor of Minor Moon on ‘Under Beyond’, the latest single from upcoming album The Light Up Waltz on Ruination Record Co. The title refers to a fictional band who tour the bleak landscape at the end of the world, and the song paints the act in a mythic light as a wider comment on the strange magic of being on tour. “Most of the time, for me at least, traveling around playing music tends to be comically unglamorous and humbling,” Cantor explains, “but within that experience there can be a feeling of intense, private freedom, like you’ve tapped into some collective secret that allows you to transcend the mundane. There’s something endlessly romantic about all of that to me, even if it’s kind of untethered to reality.”

Rose Brokenshire – Habit To Help

Canadian songwriter Rose Brokenshire makes warm and gentle music that is suffused with kindness and patience. Drawing on folk and dream pop, her songs convey powerful messages of healing and self-belief in a whisper rather than a shout. Latest single ‘Habit To Help’ is no different. “This song is about learning to be there for yourself in difficult times,” Brokenshire describes, “the way it is easy to be there for your friends.” The track unfurls with a hushed intimacy, though beneath the hazy croon lies something firmer and fierce. As though under the surface sits an unyielding conviction in the value of empathy, even if we sometimes need to run our hands over it in order to remind ourselves of its presence.

Could you tell me again
what you felt when I said
it would get easier
I know I said it myself
It’s just a habit to help
a friend feel better

Rose Hotel – Not Like That

A Pawn Surrender, the forthcoming album by Rose Hotel (Atlanta songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Reynolds) on Strolling Bones Records, is an album concerned with relationships in all of their guises. Across the ten tracks which combine folk and indie rock with psych sensibilities, Reynolds considers romantic, platonic and even environmental relations, not to mention the relationship one holds with their own internal self. Single ‘Not Like That’ explores the dissolution of a friendship in a way which attempts to make personal opinions clear while acknowledging the other person’s feelings too. “I’m calling them on their bullshit, but also trying to have empathy for how hard it is for them to see it themselves,” Reynolds explains. “Wishing they could be honest with themselves and the people who love them about who they really are, but knowing that they don’t have the capacity to do so.”

 Scott Lippitt X Josaleigh Pollett – Is This a Good Time?

Across a series of albums and EPs, Salt Lake City‘s Scott Lippitt has made a name with a bittersweet brand indie pop, combining bright sincerity with pensive reflection to produce songs which possess tangible feeling. Upcoming album Me, You, and the Avenues sees Lippitt evolve this style with the help of a whole host of other musicians, with each of the twelve songs a collaboration with a Utah-based artist. The likes of Rachael Jenkins, Yuccas and Maren Gayle are involved, but single ‘Is This a Good Time?’ is the turn of Josaleigh Pollett, whose stellar album In the Garden, By The Weeds won our attention last year with what we described as “an excavation of the present which inevitably tends pastward, tracing a presiding cynicism back to its roots in search of a cause.” The combination is a strong one, with Pollett’s talent for nuanced emotion the perfect foil for Lippitt’s own heartfelt style.

Shaina Hayes – Kindergarten Heart

Following advance singles ‘New Favorite’ and ‘Sun and Time’, which we said “combine whimsy and serious emotion,”  Montreal songwriter Shaina Hayes has released her second album, Kindergarten Heart via Bonsound. As its title suggests, the record explores life’s ups and downs with childlike wonder, its fresh and vibrant sound a reminder that one need not grow cynical and world-weary with age. This message is delivered most directly on the title track, a song of soft piano and bubbling acoustic guitar which captures childhood’s fizzy sense of curiosity and excitement. Its message is clear, these feelings and ways of approaching the world can and should be preserved into adulthood, and in fact are one of the few true paths to meaning and joy.

Sparkle. Sunny days. I get older
In every way that won’t matter
Kindergarten heart in me
Magic. Green and blue. I am wilder
In every way that I choose

Kindergarten Heart is out now via Bonsound. Get it from the Shaina Hayes Bandcamp page.

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Writing of single ‘Better Now‘ back in April, we described how Brokenshire has pushed her folk style into more ambient directions, accepting the larger rhythms of life to create something more grounded and compassionate. A sound which sits patiently with difficulties. “As though,” we wrote in our piece, “embracing the emotional volatility of life can provide its own balm.”

New single ‘Dreamer’ continues this development, living up to its title with a mellow dream pop style. From within this welcoming space, Rose Brokenshire’s vocals lift and lilt with genuine compassion, lending the track a sense of kindness which permeates its every facet. Indeed it was written with such intentions in mind, offered as a reminder to anyone struggling of the simple value within their continued presence. “Even during difficult times where you feel stuck and your head may be spinning with regret,” Brokenshire says, “you are still moving forward softly and are on the right path, no matter how hard it might be to see or follow.” ‘Dreamer’ takes your hand and helps you see the path before your feet.

I want to take you in my arms
let you feel love, all that you are
you’re a dreamer
a wonder
the lightning
and the thunder

Artwork by Sarah Godfrey

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Back in February, we wrote about Dana Gavanski‘s forthcoming album When It Comes on Full Time Hobby, describing the record as “more unguarded and ambitious than its predecessors.” With its delicately eerie tones, latest single ‘I Kiss The Night’ is another example of Gavanski’s commitment to sitting with vulnerability on the new record, practising an instinctive and honest examination which roots itself in the voice. It possesses a sense of hushed, late-night seclusion, that unique lonely feeling experienced only when it feels like the rest of the world has gone to bed. But far from an ominous experience, the song is “an ode to the night,” as Gavanski explains, “learning to lean into its magic, and the magic and spookiness of solitude in a winter storm.”

Fresh – Babyface

Writing of the single ‘Morgan & Joanne‘ back in December, we described a new positive side to London punx Fresh. The track, which displayed a willingness to subvert “traditional narratives to develop a truer picture of the queer experience,” held a distinctively upbeat, celebratory tone. The vibe might not always be so sunny and playful on new record Raise Hell, to be released this summer on Specialist Subject Records, but something of the brightness is retained on latest single ‘Babyface’. A song described by lead Kathryn Woods as “a cry for help masquerading as a pop song.”

FonFon Ru – Fatty Tissue Thorn

Ahead of their fourth record Collapse Of The Silver Bridge, out next week on Repeating Cloud, Maine trio FonFon Ru have shared latest single, ‘Fatty Tissue Thorn’. Barrelling headlong into the spiralling chaos of a hypochondriac mind, the track spikes its indie rock energy with an anxious post-punk needle, the building momentum falling somewhere between catharsis and catastrophe as it gathers its volatile motion. Check out the video directed by drummer Wes Sterrs below:

Collapse Of The Silver Bridge is out on the 15th April via Repeating Cloud and you can pre-order it now from the FonFon Ru Bandcamp page.

JoJo Worthington – The Divide

Based in Montreal, songwriter, composer and producer JoJo Worthington works at the intersection of pop, folk and ambient styles. Utilising an array of technological techniques to conjure songs both mysterious and intimate. Soundscapes as a kind of emotional geography. Latest single ‘The Divide’ turns its attention to the partisan nature of contemporary society, and how between the fervour and bombast of its extremes stretches a deep and lonely canyon. “You know in movies when there’s an earthquake and the earth splits open and it separates the protagonist and the love interest and then sometimes you see people fall in the gap?” Worthington asks. “[The song is] kinda about the people in the gap and trying to find a home there.”

When there’s so many delusions
When there are so many truths
Maybe I’m confused
Sometimes I don’t know what to think or do

Nancy Mounir – Khafif Khafif

Described as “a remarkable communion with ghosts,” the debut record of Egyptian composer Nancy Mounir juxtaposes its microtonal and non-metered arrangements with recordings of artists from back in history. Titled Nozhet El Nofous (‘Promenade of the Souls’), the release is in dialogue with a different era of Arabic music, one before the dominant maqam (modal systems) were established and creativity reigned. First single ‘Khafif Khafif’ highlights the blend of haunting emotion and steely defiance which underpins Mounir’s work.

Nozhet El Nofous is out on the 3rd June via Simsara Records and you can order it now from the Nancy Mounir Bandcamp page.

Panda Riot – E.S.P.

This summer sees the return of Chicago‘s Panda Riot with a brand new album, Extra Cosmic, and lead single ‘E.S.P.’ throws listeners head first into their detailed yet immediate sound. After a period of experimenting with increasingly complex guitar pedal work, the song finds the band at their most intricate, but everything is tied together by an intuitive forward motion, a sense of release which lines up with the cathartic epiphany of the themes. “‘E.S.P.’ is a song about trying to connect with someone and never quite getting there,” the band explain. “Every time you think you’ve got it, you realize you’re still passing one another by and not quite syncing up.”

Extra Cosmic is out on the 10th June and you can pre-order it from the Panda Riot Bandcamp page.

Party of the Sun – Hymns Forgot

Despite having released new EP Capsule I barely a month ago, New Hampshire‘s psychedelic folk outfit Party of the Sun are not ones to rest on their laurels. Out via Trailing Twelve Records, latest single ‘Hymns Forgot’ is the most recent in a series of monthly releases, a self-described ‘nylon boogie’ which stitches together layers of bright guitars, shuffling percussion and lush harmonies to evoke an easy springtime warmth. Lyrically, the track explores an urban life removed from the peace of the natural world, and charts this disconnect through historic cultural violence. “Was it mine to take or yours to find?” they ask, “Maybe the one who chose to give it.”

Sailing down
Never would I have come
To the land devotion lost
Giving power to a sun

‘Hymns Forgot’ is out now via Trailing Twelve and available via streaming services.

Pet Deaths – swingtime

Following their acclaimed 2019 album to the top of the hill and roll…, London duo Pet Deaths return this spring with a brand new record, unhappy ending. The release takes inspiration from the likes of Alice Coltrane and Miles Davis to conjure an exploratory and colourful sound, a kind of spiritual freedom which carries the highly personal lyricism of lead Liam Karima beyond its immediate resonance. The result, as single ‘swingtime’ shows, is often intimate and surreal, something captured in the video by photographer Kulbir Thandi and Karima himself.

unhappy ending is out on the 27th May and available to per-order from the Pet Deaths Bandcamp page.

Rose Brokenshire – Better Now

Splitting the year into summers as a firefighter and winters making music, BC‘s Rose Brokenshire has learned to embrace larger rhythms within her work. The path has seen her develop her folk style into a more ambient-based sound, something patient and compassionate gained only through experience. Looking to accept the past in all its nuanced truth, latest single ‘Better Now’ utilises this wisdom to offer a salve against suffering. As though embracing the emotional volatility of life can provide its own balm. “I wanted to make something that honoured the journey of growth,” Brokenshire explains. “Something that expressed love for both the ups and downs, the light days and dark days, and the tools I found most healing during a more desolate chapter of my life.”

‘Better Now’ is available from the Rose Brokenshire Bandcamp page.

WILDES – Woman In Love

The first new release since 2020 EP Let You Go, London-based singer-songwriter WILDES has returned with single, ‘Woman in Love’. Taking inspiration from the defiant work of artists like PJ Harvey and Patti Smith, the track confronts suppressed emotions with an unerring eye. The vocals emerge through smoky layers of the sound with a searing honesty, what begins stripped-back and taut eventually blossoming into something lush and soulful. “‘Woman In Love’ is a song of anger,” she explains. “It’s all about the façade presented by someone who isn’t all that happy, and the rage that lies under the glassy exterior.” WILDES is here to crack the glass, to feel the empowerment of release.

Bitter memories, digging up the treasure I sunk
Love your enemy, maybe you can keep them infront
How would you know what I’ve seen, what I’ve done?
How would you know I’m a woman in love?

‘Woman in Love’ is out now and available on streaming services.

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