Described as “an interdisciplinary artist and practitioner of earth-reverent skills and philosophies,” Fletcher Tucker is an artist looking to further his connection to the natural world, and new album Kin takes this as far as ever. Tucker’s distinctive animistic verse is supported by an array of breathing instruments (Swedish bagpipes, pump organ, elder and bamboo flutes, Mellotron saxophone and flute tapes), as well as guests including Chuck Johnson (Western Vinyl), Mariam Wallentin (Fire! Orchestra), Spencer Owen and Sean Smith (LFZ). Together they conjure soundscapes able to summon the spirit of the natural world and rekindle its latent magic. Following the lineage of Hildegard von Bingen and inspired by the experience of a white-out blizzard in the Northern Sierra mountains, latest single ‘To Light a Fire’ is the perfect example. The one and only Phil Elverum adds percussion to a song which embodies the stratified layers of time and place which constitute the record.

Watch the video shot by Fletcher Tucker on Esselen land in Big Sur, California below:

Kin will be released on the 15th August via Gnome Life Records and you can pre-order it now.

Fortitude Valley – Oceans Apart

“A track which finds [Laura] Kovac addressing her younger self, delving into the person she was before and during her move from Brisbane to the UK, and how the competing desires for home and escape never really go away.” So we wrote of ‘Sunshine State‘, the lead single from Fortitude Valley‘s forthcoming album Part Of The Problem, Baby later this summer on Specialist Subject Records. Following subsequent single ‘Video (Right There With You)‘, Fortitude Valley are back with ‘Oceans Apart’. Taking its title from Brisbane rock royalty The Go-Betweens, the song again confronts the move from Australia and the conflicted emotions which accompanied it. “Crossing my heart / Oceans apart,” as Kovac sings in the refrain. “Trying to make it on my own,”

Laughter Lines – The Right Way To Pray

Laughter Lines, the recording moniker of South California musician David Giali, has just released a new split with neighbour and collaborator Jimmy Brown, AKA JIMMERS. Appropriately titled Shared Spaces, the EP not only introduces the two projects but the underlying friendship which bolsters their sounds, and single ‘The Right Way To Pray’ shows the kind of earnest, impassioned music which results. A song which confronts the interplay between doubt and conviction which surrounds a person’s faith, and how this is liable to create unbridgeable gaps between people. “I worked for a church for about decade and now I don’t,” Giali explains. “This song is about a handful of conversations I had with the many church goers who had never questioned their faith and their reactions to my questioning of theology and faith-based logic.”

Mappe Of – A Scourge Laid Upon The Earth

The recording project of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Tom Meikle, Mappe Of first appeared back in 2017 with debut album A Northern Star, A Perfect Stone on Paper Bag Records. The record introduced a decidedly ethereal sound which pushed folk with the spirit of the avant garde. Concept album The Isle of Ailynn followed in 2019, further cementing Meikle’s ability to break boundaries, and while a pandemic-enforced hiatus delayed the continuation of the project, forthcoming album Afterglades shows the break has had no detrimental effect on the ambition or execution of the Mappe Of style. With the album again set for release via Paper Bag in September, Meikle has unveiled new single ‘A Scourge Laid Upon The Earth’. “It felt like there needed to be a sense of weight to this chapter of the story, there needed to be some chaos as a payoff for all of this reflection,” he explains. “This is in many ways the extinction level event. It needed to be heavy and raucous, retribution for all of our mistakes. It’s a bit of my dormant heavy metal energy emerging from me.”

Minus The Bear – The Pig War (Demo)

Twenty years ago Seattle math rock royalty Minus The Bear released seminal album Menos el Oso, a record which not only saw them fully inhabit the spirit of the project for perhaps the first time but also claim a place among the notable acts of the late 90s/early 00s scene. Aside from a big US tour to celebrate the anniversary, Suicide Squeeze Records are releasing a special deluxe edition this August, featuring not only the original album but also five previously unreleased demo versions to give fans an indication of where their favourite tracks started out. “We came into our sound on this record, the band explain. “Excited people get to hear these demos for the first time! Revisiting demos and hearing the evolution of some of these tracks puts me right back in our early 2000s practice space. And now we’re literally back in that same practice space for rehearsals. It’s wild!” Listen to the demo for ‘The Pig War’ now:

Perish – Cool Guys

Originating as the solo project Florida-born songwriter Katie Callihan, Perish blossomed into a full band in Brooklyn when Callihan met Sam Lopane, Austin (Chappie) Chappell and John Dockery and welcomed them into the fold. The chemistry was apparent from the off, and the quartet headed up to Lincoln, Rhode Island, to record with Bradford Krieger at Big Nice Studio after only two practice sessions. The result, a self-titled debut EP, will be released this autumn on Rue Defense, and lead single ‘Cool Guys’ gives an initial taste. A vivid slice of folk-inflected rock which sounds at once wistful and affirming, a combination which looks to be a signature of the Perish sound. Because while Callihan’s delivery is thoughtful, her lyrics probing beneath the surface of things, the sound retains an upbeat, exultant air. As though there’s some energy to be found in the act of being open and honest to the point of vulnerability.

Tan Cologne – In Resin (Trentemøller Rework)

We’ve featured a number of singles from Tan Cologne‘s new LP Unknown Beyond in recent weeks, with songs like ‘Cool Star‘ and ‘In Resin‘ embodying the atmosphere of the record. The former possessed “a vibe again ambivalent in its meaning,” as we wrote, “sounding at once like an otherworldly escape from our terrestrial suffering and some mournful elegy delivered in its aftermath,” while the latter used “gauzy layers to present the various lives we live simultaneously, a series of selves superimposed.” To further the dreamy depths of this sound, Danish producer and multi-instrumentalist Trentemøller has reworked the track, taking the vocals further out into mysterious ethereality. “When I heard [Tan Cologne] had a new album coming, I immediately asked if I could work with one of their beautiful songs,” Trentemøller explains. “I chose the magical “In Resin”. For my rework, I only used their vocals, which I also had a lot of fun experimenting with.”

Unknown Beyond is out now via Labrador Records and you can get it now from the Tan Cologne Bandcamp page.

The Tines – Ozone

We first wrote about New Haven, Connecticut project The Tines a few years ago upon the release of their self-titled debut, describing single ‘Collarbone‘ as “a track which combines shimmering dream pop with a more pressing indie rock rhythm, the reverbed vocals drifting above it all to give the whole thing a sunny if enigmatic vibe, drawing the listener into its psych-inflected world.” Now the outfit are preparing to release a brand new album Barrows via Funnybone Records, and have unveiled single ‘Ozone’ as a preview. A rich slice of indie rock which combines heartfelt emotion with a certain understatement, building upon the previous record with a more assured, controlled sensibility, and sounding all the more evocative as a result.

‘Ozone’ is out now via Funnybone Records.

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Climbing a rung up the mainstream ladder with every new release, The National’s rise in popularity continues unabated. But regardless of your opinion of the band’s more recent output, Pembrokeshire-born, London-based artist Bryde‘s cover of ‘Brainy’ is a timely reminder of what they were before the lyrics grew increasingly literal and they become the kind of outfit which casually enlists the help of Taylor Swift. A sparse, cryptic track which seethes with an underlying intensity, as though the subtext the moment comes unspooling as the song develops. Bryde pulls this tautness ever tighter, capturing every inch of the crackling energy while making the song her own.

Griffin Moyer – Like No One Else

“If you’re going to say something, you might as well be honest.” That’s the maxim under which Nashville-based songwriter Griffin Moyer works. Having left a career in geological survey to pursue music, Moyer is about to release the LP Liar’s Disguise via Like You Mean It Records, and new single ‘Like No One Else’ invites the listener into the straight-talking emotion of his sound. A track where longing is accompanied by a nostalgic sixties warmth, lifting the ache at its centre into its own kind of romance.

Liar’s Disguise is coming soon via Like You Mean It Records.

Jess Kallen – Ink

LA-based musician Jess Kallen has been a staple of the local scene for a while, touring and recording with numerous bands, including the likes of Rosie Tucker and Alex Lahey. Next month, they will release their debut album Exotherm on New Professor Music and to celebrate they have released a brand new single. Titled ‘Ink’, it combines crunchy guitar and a springy sense of momentum. “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday / the time flies when nothing changes,” Kallen sings in what begins as a frustrated ode to everyday monotony, before the big chorus arrives to shake things up. Which is fitting, as Kallen describes ‘Ink’ as a song “about being stuck in a rut, and escaping by surrendering to an impulse.”

Exotherm will be released on 21st June via New Professor Music. Pre-order it now on Bandcamp.

John Hollywood – Leavings

Houston-born, California-based songwriter John Hollywood might draw his main inspiration from the likes of John Prine, Guy Clark and Bob Dylan, but new album Beauty Sleep shows his focus is very much on the present. Take ‘Leavings’, a song about the ever-deepening climate catastrophe delivered with the stark fervour of an old-time Bible preacher, where a father picks through the ashes a failed society for something which might outlast the oncoming violence. “What can I give to my son to help him? / What can I leave him after I’m gone?” Hollywood asks in the opening lines. “I’d leave him my land but the land is forsaken / I’d leave him my house, but the house has burned down.” The song gathers around itself with tumultuous foreboding, the sound of a society reaching its dead-end with no time to turn around.

Nathan Xander – Drive My Car

“He’s a big man, got no feeling below the knee,” opens ‘Drive My Car’, the latest single from Nathan Xander’s Three Waltzes. “When he goes down, getting back up sure ain’t easy.” The track is indicative of New York songwriter’s ability to paint such vivid portraits with so little, each song an elegant slice of life as lived within an uncertain present, be it Xander’s own quest for sobriety or the mind-bending experience of living with twenty-four hour news. As ‘Drive My Car’ highlights, this is delivered with equal parts sincerity and knowing humour, resulting in a wisdom that might not know how life is going to shake out, but is sure enough along for the ride.

Some folks drink, some folks smoke
Tonight, we’ll do a little of both
And if we die, at heaven’s door,
Please don’t tell them I let you drive my car

Nymphlord – Stinks 4 Lyfe

Raised in the forested foothills of Northern California, singer-songwriter and producer Nymphlord says her music was influenced by everything from “90’s alt rock [and] misty bush-whacked trail walks” to “Britney Spears crop tops, dog bites turned scars, and dust-covered pom poms.” This goes some way to explaining the distinctive Nymphlord style, which combines radio-ready pop hooks with a ferocious feminist punk energy and an ethereal experimentalism that sees acoustic guitar become otherwordly. Written in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, ‘Stinks 4 Lyfe’ channels every ounce of fury, frustration and vulnerability into three minutes of catharsis.

Don’t tell me you want it
Don’t tell me you need it
Do you think it’s worth it
Do you think I’m worth shit, hey

‘Stinks 4 Lyfe’ is out now via Lauren Records and available from the Nymphlord Bandcamp page.

Rain Gregorio – Myrtle on Holiday

Having previously recorded under the moniker Mount Rainier, LA’s Rain Gregorio decided to revert to his own name for new EP, Myrtle on Holiday, coming soon via Anxiety Blanket Records, and the switch sees the sound push into newly personal territory too. “It gave me the confidence to excavate part of myself using the observational side of songwriting,” as Gregorio explains. “This is the first time I’ve made something that is true to myself as a songwriter.” The title track is the perfect introduction, its lush yet controlled beat ebbing and flowing as Lexi Vega (Mini Trees) lends backing vocals, all resulting in a sense of closeness which only amplifies the overall emotional resonance.

Sweetbreads – Chaos Is

Led by Brooklyn singer-songwriter Melody Stolpp, Sweetbreads make country-inflected indie pop that they say “will bend your ear, twist your pretty little heart, and get your hips swaying.” Following last year’s EP Out Of Range, Stolpp has again worked with long-time collaborator Nick Watt to write a new song, ‘Chaos Is’. “[It’s] a song about teenage life in the suburbs,” Stolpp describes, “with all the boredom, recklessness, and soul searching that come with it.” The track’s slow build captures the direction of such days, building from seemingly mundane beginnings into something with real emotional charge, and in doing so manages to recreate some of the heightened magic of those formative years.

The Tines – Collarbone

Formed in 2019 from members of acts such as Ports of Spain, Laundry Day, Quiet Giant and Ryxno, The Tines is an indie rock outfit based in New Haven, Connecticut. Back in 2022 they released their self-titled album on Funnybone Records, and latest single ‘Collarbone’ is the ideal entry point for those who let the initial release slip past their radar. A track which combines shimmering dream pop with a more pressing indie rock rhythm, the reverbed vocals drifting above it all to give the whole thing a sunny if enigmatic vibe, drawing the listener into its psych-inflected world.

The Tines is out now via Funnybone Records and is available from Bandcamp.

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