A feature of the Zoroastrian tradition of sky burial, the tower of silence is a raised circular structure used to offer the bodies of the dead to vultures and other scavengers without the remains contaminating the earth. A single from 2021 album Lain Prone, Belaver‘s ‘Tower of Silence’ mines this imagery for its themes of isolation and slow disintegration, not only referring to the process itself but also the manner in which such rituals are under threat in the contemporary age, as the bird populations are challenged by the unfolding breakdown of the climate. A new video directed, shot, and produced by A. Jung casts the track as a first-person horror story, leading the viewer through an assortment of corridors and rooms to discover a body, and then bending reality by replaying the journey on a projected screen.

Lain Prone is out now and available from the Belaver Bandcamp page.

Brake Run – Valid

The new project of Brianna Snider (half of duo Bexley Moms, and previously of saltlick), brake run combines slowcore and shoegaze influences into sound full of dark texture and pressing weight, as captured on new EP lift hill soundtrack. Single ‘valid’ is typical of the style, Snider’s vocals emerging from within a wall of gauzy guitars and pitch black atmospherics, transcending the gloom or else embracing the surroundings as the reality of things. Fans of the likes of Midwife take note.

without anything in my back pocket it feels very hard to cope

Expensive Music Band – Cool Aunty

Inspired by the birth of their daughter, Expensive Music Band’s Troon Lienad set out to write a song to celebrate the importance of aunties within the family structure. “A cultural exchange that is generational, witty and fun,” as the press release aptly describes it. Enter ‘Cool Aunty’, the latest single from the Cringila, Australia project’s forthcoming record Things to say at a barbecue, where Lienad looks forward to a potential future where his daughter is taken under the wing of the titular figure to become a person just as kind, stylish and effortlessly cool.

Kitba – My Words Don’t Work

“What’s my worth / If my words don’t work?” asks Brooklyn-based songwriter and harpist Rebecca Kitba Bryson El-Saleh, AKA Kitba, on the lead single from their upcoming self-titled debut. “Can’t get the meaning to hold / What’s the point / If my words don’t mean / What they’re supposed to mean?” Released via Ruination Records, the album sees El-Saleh look to conquer the barriers between interior and exterior worlds, and communicate the personal without the message becoming denatured in transit. ‘My Words Don’t Work’ starts this process by confronting the problem head on, and ultimately pushing beyond language to convey the meaning between or underneath words. Watch the video directed and edited by Robin Sessions below:

Kitba is out on the 21st July via Ruination Records and you can pre-order it now.

Requiem – Tired Hot and Bothered

Consisting of musician and multimedia artist Doug Kallmeyer, visual artist Monica Stroik and guitarist, soundscape designer and conceptualist Tristan Welch, DC-based outfit Requiem exists at the intersection of post-rock, pop and electronic sensibilities. A project which looks to combine the dramatic weight of Explosions in the Sky or GY!BE with the spacious qualities of ambient music, and further develop the result with visual accompaniments to their live shows so as to become a fully immersive experience. Debut POPulist Agendas is coming this summer on Mutineer Records, and lead single ‘Tired Hot and Bothered’ is the ideal introduction to the style, spanning the gamut of emotions and moods which feature in Requiem’s work and sounding altogether larger than its four minute runtime.

POPulist Agendas is out on the 7th August via Mutineer Records and you can pre-order it now.

Tiara Mustafa – Beyond the Shadow

Known primarily as one half of of Brunswick County, Virginia folk pop duo Tiara & Andrew, Tiara Mustafa recently released TRIBE, a solo EP on Grimalkin Records. Its two songs were born out of a very difficult period, which saw her mother diagnosed with cancer, the death of her cat and the loss of an album’s worth of Tiara & Andrew material. But rather than dwell on sadness and worry, Mustafa was able to find hope, something second track ‘Beyond the Shadow’ illustrates very well. “There’s a light in darkness, creeping up your spine,” Mustafa sings in what’s an ethereal and soothingly peaceful pop song, “Hide beyond the shadow, you will breathe in time.”

The Weather Holds – Five Roses

Producer and composer Devon Bate has worked behind the scenes on a number of Juno and Polaris award-winning albums, as well as equally stellar dance and theatre productions. But after giving so much to the Canadian arts in relative anonymity, at least to the general audience, his project The Weather Holds sees the favour repaid. Bate calls on the connections made over the years to create a supergroup which unites the indie and classical music scenes. An immense amount of talent features, including the likes of Common Holly, Jean-Michel Blais, Jeremy Dutcher and composer Beatrice Ferreira to name but a few, and resulting album You Couldn’t Ask For a More Beautiful Day is striking in its richness. Take single ‘Five Roses’, a celebration of the Montreal community brought to life by a dozen musicians.

Who Is She? – Thursday

With new record Goddess Energy coming this August on Father/Daughter Records, Seattle supergroup Who Is She? have unveiled lead single, ‘Thursday’. The album sees Robin Edwards (Lisa Prank), Julia Shapiro (Chastity Belt) and Bree Mckenna (Tacocat) joined by fellow Tacocat member Emily Nokes, and the new song hints at the harmonies the newly bolstered line-up will bring. An ode to the titular day which will be stuck in your head all week, andan excellent example of the goddess energy emanating from the project. Check out the video directed by Sébastien Deramat below:

Goddess Energy is out on the 25th August via Father/Daughter Records and you can pre-order it now.

Will Orchard – Simple Magic

Will Orchard is a songwriter from the East Bay of Rhode Island who we first wrote about back in 2019, describing the tone as “certainly nostalgic, and therefore focused on things now lost, though cast in a fond light—committed to bringing to life those moments, however mundane or ordinary, that help us become ourselves.” Taken from new album Learning to Stand, latest single ‘Simple Magic’ is the encapsulation of this style, unfurling with a careful tenderness and drawing the listener into a space of calm contemplation.

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