Having orbited around one another in the LA music scene for a short while, Derek Ted and Braden Lawrence gradually began to collaborate, helping one another with solo work, producing other artists, then eventually writing original material as a duo. The product of the relationship is beaming, a brand new project which will release its debut self-titled EP this June via Rose Garden, and lead single ‘slow sinkin’ gives a flavour of what to expect from the outfit. With Field Medic adding guest vocals, the track possesses all of the earnestness fans of Ted and Lawrence’s solo work will know well, the bright rhythm and heartfelt tone the sonic equivalent of shaking clarity into a clouded mind. “Lyrically, it’s about looking back on the past and how easy it is to get caught up in your own BS,” the band explain. “It’s our most acoustic track on the EP, and we wanted it to feel more natural and organic.”

Watch the video directed by Olivia Alonso Gough with cinematography and colour by Michael Greenwood below:

Beaming EP is out on the 13th June via Rose Garden and you can pre-save it now.

Bouquet – Hold On

Almost a decade since their previous album was released, LA-based dream pop duo Bouquet are preparing to unveil a brand new full-length. Consisting of interdisciplinary artist, writer and composer Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and songwriter and producer Max Foreman, the project made a name with a rich and romantic style that championed restraint within a genre often prone to excesses, and new single ‘Hold On’ represents a continuation of the style. With Pennypacker Riggs providing vocals and guitar and Foreman vocals, synthesizer and drum machine, the song is a lesson in precision, not drowning the audience in reverb and haze but instead beckoning them into its ethereal, wistful world.

Course – Hue Mirror

Led by Jess Robbins, Chicago synth pop outfit Course formed in the months before the pandemic, so adapting to challenging conditions has always been part of the project’s DNA. Their third album Hue Mirror is no exception. After suffering with chronic pain for years, Robbins was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition ankylosing spondylitis, and wrote the record within the vertiginous early days of processing the news. The lead single and title track introduces the tone of the record, one delivered with equal doses of tenderness and fear. “I wrote this song during the confusion and uncertainty of my future,” Robbins explains. “The song touches on the idea of how a medicine for this disease comes at a price, the pain I had been having for so long, and the sneakiness of not knowing when the next flare will come.”

You find me again
And again
Driving fear
Comes over me
In the light of pain

Hue Mirror is out on the 25th April and you can pre-order it via the Spondylitis Association of America, with all proceeds being donated to research.

Jess Kerber – I Wonder If I’ll Forget This

Born to musician parents, and a guitarist herself since the age of twelve, Nashville’s Jess Kerber makes warm and timeless songs that feel like worthy entries to the American folk tradition. New single ‘I Wonder If I’ll Forget This’ is a case in point, a wonderfully understated track that aches with real emotion. Kerber’s vocals are flanked by acoustic guitar and the barely-there texture of organ drone, an arrangement that allows the songwriting to shine through. It’s impressively mature, particularly in the way it combines genuine vulnerability with a sense of steadfast tenacity, a sensation Kerber likens to “the feeling of being little and learning to swim, grabbing the edge of the pool.”

‘I Wonder If I’ll Forget This’ is out now via Felte Records and is available on streaming services.

JLJR – Arms For Eyes

With new EP The Rest of Your Life coming soon via Paper Moon Records, JLJR has shared new single ‘Arms For Eyes’. Building upon the mix of emotion and narrative which marked the JLJR debut, the track adopts a tone both reflective and defiant to chart the end of a distinctive kind of relationship. One troubled and difficult to live through, yet equally one whose closure takes something from you too. “It’s a reflection on the disintegration of a bad friendship,” as JLJR puts it, “and the struggle to be yourself after someone robs you of part of your identity.”

‘Arms For Eyes’ is out now via Paper Moon Records.

Luah – Wanting You

“Something like a memory, or rather several memories superimposed. A way in which to not so much return to the past as view it more vividly, somehow striking in both its intimacy and remove. That place we long for but can never return to.” So we wrote of ‘Ocean O. (home 4 the holidays)’ by Brendan Paul Sullivan’s Luah back in January. It was a song which embodied the sincerity and heart of the project, not to mention the gentle patience with with emotion is brought to life. With album Some Blue Heaven coming next month, latest new single ‘Wanting You’ takes this sense of patience even further. A layered, slow burning psych folk song that taps into the rhythms of the diurnal cycle, moving from day to night as it progresses and gradually coalescing into something almost cosmic.

Molly Ganley – Comparisons

Last week saw the release of Eldest Daughter, the debut album from NYC indie folk artist Molly Ganley. Described as “a nostalgic and honest account of finding your way,” it’s a very human record about growth and change and navigating life’s strange turns with as much grace as is possible. One standout is ‘Comparisons’, a track that sits at the centre of the album and proves the perfect introduction to what Ganley does so well. Backed by pedal steel, piano and backing vocals from country folk duo Raising Daughters, the song confronts the futile and needless woes that result from comparing oneself to others.

Monnone Alone – Dry Doubt

Eighteen months ago, Melbourne‘s Monnone Alone released single ‘Loose Terrain’, a stellar slice of jangle pop where bright playfulness was shadowed by the slightest mark of wistful longing. With three albums already under their belt, the track seemed to be a culmination of their talents and experience, only for the project to settle into a prolonged period of radio silence. Such quiet can go one of two ways in the music industry—positive or negative—but luckily for us, in Monnone Alone’s case, the answer is the former. Because while they might have have appeared inactive from the outside, the truth was they were hard at work on brand new full-length, Here Comes the Afternoon. Pencilled for early May, the release is a joint endeavour, with Lost And Lonesome (Aus), Meritorio (EU), Safe Suburban Home (UK) and Repeating Cloud (US) teaming up to spread the record far and wide. Album opener and new single ‘Dry Doubt’ suggests ‘Loose Terrain’ was anything but a flash in the pan, so the date can’t arrive soon enough.

Orchid Mantis – Spirit Circle

Over the years, Atlanta, Georgia-based artist Thomas Howard has used the Orchid Mantis project as a space in which to explore a host of musical styles, each release responding to and building upon that which came before it so that the work was always in flux. Coming this spring on Daydream Records and Start-Track, the latest Orchid Mantis full-length Possession Pact pivots towards a nineties slowcore style, channeling forebears like Low, Bedhead and Codeine to offer a new dimension to the project. Opener and lead single ‘Spirit Circle’ typifies the understated brooding atmosphere. A song bathed in shadowy textures and melancholic quiet, always threatening to rise into something more intense but for the most part maintaining its muted darkness.

Steven van Betten & Andrew Rowan – Cloud Behind the Sun

Back in 2023 we wrote about Friends and Family, the debut solo full-length by Steven van Betten on Future Gods which highlighted the LA songwriter’s distinctively compassionate, humane style. Now van Betten has returned with brand new EP Cloud Behind the Sun, though has parked the solo venture in favour of continuing a collaboration with composer Andrew Rowan which stretches back more than a decade. The lead single title track shows the three-song release to be every bit as thoughtful and heartfelt as its predecessor, taking the ostensibly ordinary experience of passing an ex on the street and mining the moment for all of its depth and weight. Something made possible not least thanks to Rowan’s almost cinematic arrangement, its intricacy revealing itself as slowly yet decisively as spring through a thawing winter ground.

Wryn – Only Thing

We’ve covered a couple of singles by Californian songwriter Wryn in recent weeks, with both ‘Snake‘ and ‘Slow Down‘ introducing the themes of change and self-actualisation which run through their upcoming full-length, Shapes. The record’s release is fast approaching on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, and Wryn has returned with new single ‘Only Thing’ to further expand upon these ideas. The song opens with a spare, almost hesitant tone, but gradually builds in momentum, as though deciding to embrace life’s inevitable forward motion. “Life is always shifting and evolving,” as Wryn puts it, “and that’s a good thing. Change is the only constant.”

Watch the suitably literal video directed by DanTroon-Sazani below:

Shapes will be released on the 28th March via Righteous Babe Records and you can pre-order it now.

Zoya Zafar – I don’t love you

Writing of release Spring Songs in April of last year, we described how Lahore-born, Orlando-based songwriter Zoya Zafar utilised a controlled, unadorned style to communicate a considerable depth of feeling. “Zafar uses minimalism not as an austere stylistic choice but as a tool to hone her music’s emotional weight,” as we put it, “suffusing it with warmth despite its direct and unfussy arrangement.” New single ‘i don’t love you’ is no less charged in its mood, beginning life with no accompaniment other than acoustic guitar before Max Helgemo helped evolve it into something richer without sacrificing the poignant spareness.

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Then came ‘Yosemite‘, which saw Steven van Betten push further into this tender, honest sound to explore the line between loss and transcendence. “The song was written after a close friend lost a parent at the national park,” we wrote back in July, “which in turn made van Betten reflect on his own childhood memories of a space where human life gets as close as it might to a sense of something larger.” An almost Sufjan-esque sound which enveloped the listener like an embrace.

The title of latest single ‘Surrounded By All These Beautiful People I Love’ suggests this tone carries on through, and sure enough the song offers an ode to the comfort and joy of friendship. Sincerity pushes what might seem like a simple encounter into something magic. “After your set we were sitting on the patio / I told you how much I enjoyed the show,” van Betten sings, “you said thanks so much for being here, it means a lot / I know it’s late on a Tuesday night.”

I felt this warm feeling deep inside
an overwhelming joy to be alive
and be surrounded by all these beautiful people I love

The track comes complete with a video directed by Logan Hone, which is fitting seeing as the track was written for him.

Friends & Family is out on the 27th October via Future Gods.

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First making a name as part of indie pop outfit Au Revoir Simone, Annie Hart‘s solo work has branched out in a number of directions, most recently Eno-inspired ambient as seen on Everything Pale Blue released via Orindal Records in 2021. With new album The Weight of a Wave coming later this summer on Uninhabitable Mansions, Hart is back with brand new single ‘What Makes Me Me’, and the song suggests some degree of return towards ARS-esque pop. A song which attempts to work through sadness by choosing to smile, as though by calling attention to your own dark moods allows for a certain irony, and with it a sense of distance. “I felt like the only thing I was good at was feeling gratitude—but, paradoxically, I was so melancholy about it,” Hart explains. “I pulled a trick from Belle and Sebastian’s hat and made a song about it as cute, sing-alongable, and folky as I could. If I was going to feel bad about myself, why not have fun with it?” Check out the video shot and edited by Emily James with art direction from Jenna Gribbon:

The Weight of A Wave comes out August 4th on Uninhabitable Mansions. Order a copy now from the Annie Hart Bandcamp page.

Austin Cash – Franklin, King of the Beers

Written over the course of a year but recorded in a single night, Hello, Franklin is the latest release of Fayetteville, Arkansas songwriter Austin Cash. Coming next month via Gar Hole Records, the EP mines a deep history of American Primitive and minimalist styles to paint late-pandemic life in all of its strangeness. A collision of dissonance and harmony which looks to conjure not only the needling dread of the contemporary moment but its small joys too. Single ‘Franklin, King of the Beers’ is the perfect introduction to the record’s tensions, a song which nods to the wide-open landscapes so often painted by the genre while evoking the insular claustrophobia of pandemic living, looping on itself like the anxious motion of a restless mind.

Christopher Tignor – Ritual of a Thousand Limbs

Brooklyn-based composer and violinist Christopher Tignor has won acclaim across classical and experimental music scenes with his evocative electroacoustic arrangements. Latest album The Art of Surrender, coming this September on Western Vinyl, sees Tignor explore instinctive territory, pushing the violin towards an almost atavistic sound which foregoes too much planning or intention to instead embrace raw movement. Single ‘Ritual of a Thousand Limbs’ encapsulates this style, tapping into primal urges to which are brought to life in a video directed by Jason Akira Somma and starring Rachelle Nidra Somma:

The Art of Surrender will be release on the 29th September via Western Vinyl.

Eat My Butterfly – Dolé

With EP Esperar El Sol coming in a few weeks via FPE Records, producer Eat My Butterfly has unveiled new single ‘Dolé’. The EP is described as “a celebration of La Réunion’s folklore,” and the song serves as an encapsulation of this style. A mix of traditional instruments and synthesizers, united by Dilo’s passion for percussion and rhythm which conjures an organic soundscape. Vocals from Romane Mana (of Romane & Gaël) lift the track further, aligning it within the catchy indie pop bracket alongside the likes of Sylvan Esso and more importantly drawing the listening into a living, breathing world of its own.

‘Dolé’ is out now & available on streaming services.

Generifus – Didn’t Even Look at the Mountain

The recording project of Olympia‘s Spencer Sult and assorted friends, Generifus has carved out a space within the independent scene with a steady stream of albums dating back over a decade. A joint release between Anything Bagel and Bud Tapes, latest record Rearrangel sees Generifus back after a hiatus and looking to capture the duality of any journey, where banal details and deep, almost spiritual meaning intermingle along a single road. With live band members Wilson Caicedo, Andrew Dorsett and Henry Wilson joined by the likes of Lee Baggett, the result is brought to life with a rich and often wistful mood, as typified by single ‘Didn’t Even Look at the Mountain’, where regret meets an unfailing fondness.

His His – Underdogs

We’ve written about Toronto‘s His His several times in recent years, most recently back in February with ‘People, Places, Changes’, a “bittersweet” song “both pining for what has now gone and determined to capture the fondness which persists all the same.” Latest single ‘Underdogs’ is similarly concerned with change and the passing of time, though this time the focus is on the gentrification of familiar places. A picture of incremental loss which worsens on every visit, the past slowly changed by multi-millionaires, tree by tree, brick by brick.

Steven van Betten – Yosemite

Though fronting Fell Runner and co-founding School of Song, where he teaches alongside the likes of Phil Elverum, Miya Folick, Luke Temple, Lomelda and Meg Duffy of Hand Habits, it is only now Nevada-born, LA-based songwriter Steven van Betten is releasing his debut EP. Family & Friends sits at the intersection of traditional and contemporary styles, with new single ‘Yosemite’ highlighting van Betten’s ability to evoke both the timeless folk narratives of Townes van Zandt and the ethereality of Sufjan Stevens. The song was written after a close friend lost a parent at the national park, which in turn made van Betten reflect on his own childhood memories of a space where human life gets as close as it might to a sense of something larger. Watch the video shot and directed by Marcus Högsta below:

Hike with your wife
to the top of the falls
and sit in the shade of the afternoon
Your favourite places in the United States
tangible proof that there is a God

Friends & Family will be released on the 27th October via Future Gods.

Tremolo Fields – Stumble On Out

The recording project of Iowa-raised, Portland-based artist David T. Rogers, Tremolo Fields combines folk sensibilities with rock and electronic styles to weave its evocative sounds. With debut album still as can be out now, latest single ‘Stumble On Out’ serves as the perfect introduction to the project. A song where heartfelt romance meets brooding drama, strung on a drum machine rhythm though prone to drifts upward, capturing a balance between physical and ethereal sensations. The rhythm builds as the track develops, eventually descending into an overwhelming crescendo which carries both passion and desperation—love as a kind of longing, even in the present moment.

I once heard the drum
deep in your chest
pulsating blood below
our hands pressed
and we held each other so close
counting down til the sun rose
six, five, four, three, two, one
I’ll always feel
the beating of your drum

still as can be is out now and available via the Tremolo Fields Bandcamp page.

Zeus – Air I Walk

Almost a decade since their last record (2014’s Classic Zeus), Toronto indie rock band Zeus return this September with their fourth album, Credo, via Arts & Crafts. Inspired by equal parts classic rock and 80s synth pop, the record promises to see a continuation of the Zeus M.O., indie rock at once fresh and timeless and full of hooks and harmonies. Lead single ‘Air I Walk’ is our first taste of the new material, a song that’s been a fixture of live sets for a while and serves as a stepping stone from past to present Zeus. What lead Neil Quinn calls “lovesick cowboy music,” there’s a slight dusty folk influence amidst the guitars and electronics, a niggling ache beneath the catchy chorus. Watch the video, directed by 1TruR, below:

Credo releases 8th September via Arts & Crafts. Pre-order a copy now via Bandcamp.

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ash tuesday is the bedroom pop project of Georgia-based Ashlynn Kilcrease, who has fostered a steady following over the last few years sharing her music on TikTok. Her latest single, ‘No Blood, No Needles, Nothing’ released last week and is the perfect introduction to her emotive songwriting. Whereas previous tracks have been built on electric guitar and percussion, ‘No Blood, No Needles, Nothing’ is stripped back to the bare bones, just acoustic guitar and Kilcrease’s vocals. The raw production values add to the turbulent atmosphere, as the lyrics paint images of broken glass, insecurities and a sense of latent violence. “Thinking you never were really safe,” Kilcrease repeats in the finale, her voice swirled with others that seemingly come from nowhere, like anxious thoughts rising to the surface.

Blue Yonder – Wise Blood

Retreating to an isolated cabin in the wilderness might be a tried and tested way to record a new album, but while the likes of Justin Vernon found romance in the solitude, Blue Yonder had a different experience. While in the woods of upstate New York, they were forced to contend with a variety of trials and hazards, from a potentially haunted tape machine and bad mushroom trips to the escape of their house cat (named, fittingly, Bigfoot). But these experience only furthered the emotional immediacy of singer and guitarist Karalena Fjortoft’s songwriting. The resulting record Wise Blood, out next February via Earth Libraries, is therefore charged with an energy difficult to replicate, the title track hinting at the intimate yet often cinematic style. Check out the Jodorowsky-inspired video below:

Wise Blood is out via Earth Libraries on the 24th February.

Corntuth – F-001

Described as a post-apocalyptic concept record, the forthcoming album Letters To My Robot Son by Brooklyn-based ambient musician Corntuth promises to be a lesson in world building. “Like the analog synthesizers of the mid-80s,” they explain, “robot children are programmed via sequenced sound on magnetic cassette tapes. These tapes, supposedly, can teach a machine to feel.” Lead single ‘F-001’ gives some indication of how such a detailed story can be brought to life in instrumental ambient songs. With slow washes supporting playful details, the track achieves both bright curiosity and meditative grace, with an underlying melancholy too.

Daisy the Great – Time Machine

Fronted by  Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker, Brooklyn pop ensemble Daisy the Great combine the sincerity of Bridgers/Dacus indie rock lineage with lush folk harmonies, and a sprinkling of bedroom pop vulnerability thrown in for good measure, though latest single ‘Time Machine’ shows off another dimension to their new album, All You Need Is Time. It’s the frantic and cutting tone which marks the Anthropocene, where the sense of impending doom is matched only by a desire to go back to better times, though one complicated by the nagging doubt we’d do things exactly the same over again, no matter how costly. Check out the video directed by Scott Felix below.

The sea is crying
The moon is sighing
It’s terrifying
It’s terrifying

It’s all around us
The end has crowned us
The star has found us

All You Need Is Time is out now and available from the usual places.

Dan Croll – How Close We Came

Following on from the success of LP Grand Plan and EP On Top in recent years, Dan Croll has returned with brand new single, ‘How Close We Came’. A stripped back and compassionate song about the immediate aftermath of a long-term relationship, Croll’s packing his belongings into boxes, kissing the cat goodbye. But far from the traditional picture of regret and longing, the song captures the break-up from an angle seldom offered. One of bright fondness, an appreciation any of it happened at all. “After the initial heartbreak, it was something I felt quite proud of,” Croll explains. “We’d been through so much together and really grew into much better people, and [the song] was about that period of looking back with pride on such a profound experience.”

‘How Close We Came’ is out now Communion Records.

Doom Flower – Telehealth

After the release of the self-titled album late in 2021, Doom Flower are set to open 2023 with a brand new record, Limestone Ritual. Again released via ‘record label’, the album sees Jess Price (Campdogzz), Bobby Burg (Joan of Arc, Make Believe, Love of Everything) and Matt Lemke (Wedding Dress) combine their sizeable experience into something new not out of necessity but the simple pleasure of creating. Latest single ‘Telehealth’ gives a view into the spirit of the record. A hazy, laid back shuffle which simmers beneath Price’s vocals, the words emerging with an almost disinterested gloom, though within the murmured rhythm stirs something hypnotic.

Ian Davies – Stubborn

Back in 2021 we wrote about The King of Bedroom Country by Ian Davies, an album which offered a sound “at once laid back and fatalistic”, capturing something of the classic country spirit in a more contemporary setting to convey how “no matter how painful or dispiriting, there’s some connection to be found within melancholy.” With new releases on the horizon, Davies has returned with a single ‘Stubborn’. It’s a track which delves into the overthinking mind and the illusions it is capable of conjuring, the easygoing seventies style juxtaposed against the torment of the narrator’s position, where various compulsions have obscured the truth of loss.

Kraków Loves Adana – When The Storm Comes (ft. Ruth Radelet & Adam Miller)

We’ve covered the work of Deniz Çiçek’s Kraków Loves Adana several times in the past, each time struck by their ability to weave atmospheric dream pop soundscapes at once human and digital. “A space,” as we described in a review of 2021’s Follow the Voice, “in which the boundaries between physical reality, virtual reality and dreams began to merge and blur.” Ahead of new record Oceanflower out early next year, Kraków Loves Adana has teamed up with Ruth Radelet and Adam Miller of dream pop icons The Chromatics for new single, ‘When the Storm Comes’. A song about finding some strange beauty in present turmoil while also looking forward to some better future. Check out Wesley Doloris’s video below.

Wake me up
When the storm comes
I wanna be impressed
At least for a second or two
Before everything ends

Oceanflower is out on the14th February and you can pre-order it now from the Kraków Loves Adana Bandcamp page.

Steven van Betten – I Didn’t Mean To Do That

Los Angeles-based Steven van Betten is gearing up to release his first solo record Friends and Family sometime in 2023 via Future Gods, and new single ‘I didn’t Mean To Do That’ serves as an introduction as to what to expect. It’s a gentle, warm song which explores mistakes in all of their guises. “Some mistakes (though painful at the time) can age quite well,” van Betten explains. “They become funny, entertaining, and even cherished memories; parables of personal growth shared openly with friends around the dinner table.” But of course there’s kind of mistake too. “The kind that hurt those we love most—can haunt us.” ‘I Didn’t Mean To Do That’ takes stock of both, recognising mistakes as a fundamentally human experience, and using this fact as a path toward forgiveness and compassion.

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