A few weeks ago we introduced The Temptation of Thieves, a new album by LA-based songwriter Alex Gardner. “As the title of the record and single ‘Robin Hood’ suggest, the story of everyone’s favourite outlaw is central to the record,” we wrote, “though English and German romanticism, ancient Greece, modernist poetry, fairy tales and folkloric traditions all hold an influence, as well as the conventions and myths of classic folk and blues.” The album was released last week, and so we thought we would share opener ‘Mule Song’ to give a further taste of what to expect. A calm and composed song that sees backing band the Golden Apples (that’s Lauren Slusser, Dan Komin, Karter AKA and Jason Wyman) joined by Graham Jacobson on clarinet, it reference a whole host of different stories, from the Biblical burning bush to the Grimm fairy tale of The Seven Ravens. The perfect introduction to a record built on the foundation of hundreds of years of literary tradition.

Blond in Car – Shaky Day (feat. Jay Som)

Robin Schorr’s Blond in Car has experienced a stratospheric 2026, touring with Two Lips and CMAT and winning widespread acclaim with singles like ‘Bad Day’. So it is fitting that she’s capping off the year with the release of her brand new full-length GLIDER, both to celebrate prior achievements and set the scene for an even bigger 2027. Brought to life with equals parts lush nostalgia and forward thinking freshness, the dream pop of GLIDER really stands apart for its emotional honesty, something clearly apparent on standout track ‘Shaky Day’. Featuring Jay Som, who also produced the record, the single is an ode to the person who helps us negotiate those moments when panic starts to spiral and darkness closes in. “If you are lucky, you have that person in your life who will talk you down when you’re crashing out,” Schorr explains. “For me, that person is most often my older sister Lynn, who knows me and my ups and downs. She knows just how to remind me that whatever mood is running rampant is nothing we haven’t seen before. And just knowing I can get her on the phone, gives me immediate peace and perspective – she’s my rescue remedy.” The result is a welcome expansion of the view of mental health, pushing beyond the familiar messages of self-empowerment to give thanks to those who are there for us when we need them most. Watch the video directed by Gabriel Fuller-Rodriguez below:

GLIDER is out now and available from the usual places.

The Burning Hell – Never Work / Sarah Connor

Across recent years, The Burning Hell has established themselves as one of the premier bards of our apocalyptic age, be it 2023’s Garbage Island (what we called “a bright and mischievous ode to a pre-apocalyptic world”) or 2025’s Ghost Palace. “Mathias Kom, Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll in a familiarly impish mood,” as we wrote:

pouring scorn on materialist bourgeois distractions with an oddball lyrical journey. Strangers named Jason, collectors of medieval swords, a Buddhist book club in the sky frequented by long-haired former tennis pros and part-time Rabbis. No, it’s not a new Pynchon novel. The Burning Hell are back.

With a vast North American tour just finishing and a substantial set of Australian dates already pencilled in for 2027, now is as good a time as any to get familiar with The Burning Hell, and considering the current situation, we suggest pairing the title track from 2020s Never Work with more recent single ‘Sarah Connor Was Right’. The first is an enlivening rejoinder to our exploitative age of productivity, while the latter offers a similarly acerbic and witty take on the rise of the robots. Because while technological developments in recent years might have made the freedom of ‘Never Work’ possible, capitalist reality bends in a different direction.

You can find The Burning Hell on Bandcamp.

Hayden – Outta Nashville

Last month, we featured the song ‘Time Has Been More Kind’ by Toronto‘s Hayden (calling it “what might be the most country-adjacent Hayden song to date”). It was the lead single from The Recent Past, his tenth album, released on his own newly-revived label Hardwood Records, originally set up back in 1994. The album was released last week, and we couldn’t resist sharing another track to celebrate. Perhaps the standout is ‘Outta Nashville’, a song inspired by a legend about country rock songwriter Charlie Daniels, who apparently approached record producer Bob Johnston “to preemptively bail him out of jail before he got himself into trouble.” “I’ve always been interested in the lore of my favourite musicians, especially from the golden era of the mid 50’s to the mid 70’s,” Hayden explains. “This particular story struck a chord, it’s both amusing and heartbreaking.” Which as it turns out, is a pretty good description of the song too.

JoJo Worthington – Dig A Bone

Back in September we previewed BAPTIZED II, the new EP from Montreal-based songwriter JoJo Worthington leading up to eventual full-length ARMOUR OF GOD, with single ‘Ever Ender Star Infinity‘. “Turning its attention to the heavens, the track mines everything from Magic: The Gathering to astrophysics to synthesise its own spirituality,” we wrote, “not least the latter’s idea that we consist of stardust which dates right back to the Big Bang […] and allows celestial magic to once again colour reality.” With the EP now out in full, Worthington has shared latest track ‘Dig A Bone’ to set the tone for the release. This time the song finds inspiration closer to home, drawing on an experience of sneaking out of home as a child on a school night and the guilt on being caught, though it is more about Worthington’s mother. “My mom has always been a reflection of God’s character,” she says. “It’s about seeing all the good in her and wrestling with my own spiritual beliefs and working through these childhood events as an adult in romantic relationships.” To complete the track, Worthington’s mother actually plays harp on the song, sealing the themes and form of the release.

LAPÊCHE – Double Knotted

We’ve featured a number of tracks from LAPÊCHE‘s new full-length Autotelic in recent months, with songs like ‘Phantom of Cinder’ and ‘Parallel Park‘ displaying the how the project “channels a nineties sensibility without ever descending to cheap nostalgia,” as we wrote, “not least thanks to the committed, complex style in which they work.” With the album out now via Tiny Engines, LAPÊCHE have shared a video for the track ‘Double Knotted’. Another beguiling example of their nuanced style, the song juxtaposes the calm exterior and turbulent interior to explore the strange nature of experience and the resilience required to navigate it successfully. “This song is about grounding yourself in the midst of chaos, finding balance amid uncertainty and motion,” Krista Holly Diem describes. “It’s not about achieving perfection or gaining control, it’s about persistence and presence.”

Autotelic is out now via Tiny Engines and available via the LAPÊCHE Bandcamp page.

lots of hands – anything for now

“A song which harks back to their nostalgia-laced lo-fi roots with a stark, stripped-back atmosphere […] dark and shadowy, squealing guitar and repetitive loops undulating over electronic percussion, [Billy] Woodhouse and [Elliot] Dryden both contributing soft, understated vocals that deliver lyrics both opaque and suggestive.” So we wrote of ‘grapevine‘ by lots of hands back in May, the Newcastle upon Tyne duo building upon the foundations of their 2025 debut into a pretty room. Again released via Fire Talk, latest single ‘anything for now’ continues this evolution, Woodhouse and Dryden welcoming outside collaboration into the recording process for the first time in the shape of Mike O’Malley (caroline, My New Band Believe) who co-produced the sound and contributed guitar, creating their most polished style to date. One imbued with a newfound clarity, even if the lyrics still carry the cryptic dimension which has become part of the lots of hands spirit. “This song has been through about 4 stages,” Woodhouse explains. “It started as 3 different tracks me and Elliot worked on individually, before combining them. We recorded this version down in London next to the best pastry shop we’ve ever been to. Such a luxury to have this experience, and meet Mike from caroline who really took this song to a different level.”

thieves of a nation
listen to the pennies shaking
ships out on the water
no one gives but someone’s taking
she tried to warn you
but you’re so sick that you ignored her
you’ll find in the morning
you’re just a good boy who takes his orders

Pale Ramon – The Nose

“Building with admirable patience [and] a lush atmosphere gradually tipping towards something more urgent,” we wrote of opener ‘The Mirror’ from Pale Ramon‘s new LP The Yawn back in June, the single offered “a picture of something like desperation, told with both the immediacy of the moment and the fondness of personal history.” The Brooklyn outfit, founded by Kevin Plessner and Emanuel Ayvas, have now unveiled the record in full, and the result only furthers this balance, triangulating a sweet spot between art rock invention, post-punk cool and something more emotionally earnest. Take latest single ‘The Nose’, a song which draws on all of the above to explore the seductions and contradictions of a life led online, where one’s existence can be curated into fictional ideals and outrage fuels the perpetual posting motion. Pairing sleek rhythms with jarring angles, not to mention a twitchy, almost nervous tempo, the result perfectly captures the duality of social media, where a slick polished surface hides a frantic, many tentacled monster squirming underneath, a beast created by all of our fears and desires.

Westhead – Alright Now, Right Now

Westhead is the recording project of Chicago songwriter, producer and engineer Max DiFrisco, whose work combines folk songwriting with lo-fi indie pop. After a three album hot streak between 2021 and 2023, Westhead returns with a brand new single, ‘Alright Now, Right Now’. Produced by Jack Henry (Free Range, Friko, Post Animal) and recorded in the countryside in Morgantown, Indiana, the song features contributions from a host of friends who provide the usual instruments (guitar, bass, drums) as well as mandolin, dulcimer and sax. The result is densely layered and wrapped in a warm droning fuzz, glowing with an intensity that lights up the spare but emotive lyrics. “Guess I’m doing alright now,” DiFrisco sings at the end, as if suddenly coming to in a moment of perspective, “Yes I’m doing alright now, right now.”

The post Weekly Listening: November 2026 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.