Seattle‘s Corespondents have been together for over two decades now, honing and evolving an idiosyncratic, endlessly inventive sound that blends post-rock, psych and surf sensibilities. With little interest in playing the game demanded by the music industry (the in-joke that is the apparently misspelled band name is just the start of it), the outfit have intsead ploughed their own furrow, embracing a playful humour and uncategorisable style even if it condemns them to something of a cult, underground act. New album Exploding House, coming soon via Antiquated Future Records, does not betray any of these ideals, though might nevertheless just break Corespondents into the wider consciousness. Because, as single ‘Queen Nut’ shows, this is a release from a band at the height of their powers. An album clearly full of craft, vision and daring, but one which wears its ambition lightly. Corespondents are not here to bamboozle the listener into appreciation, but beckon with a laidback, oddball charm.

Erik Hall – Strumming Music (Charlemagne Palestine)

We’ve shared a couple of tracks from Erik Hall‘s Solo Three in recent months, the third and final part of a sequence of albums on which the Michigan-based composer and multi-instrumentalist reimagines contemporary classical pieces within his own minimalist vision. After ‘Music for a Large Ensemble‘ by Steve Reich and ‘A Folk Study‘ by Laura Spiegel, Hall has now shared a final single to celebrate the album’s release via Western Vinyl. ‘Strumming Music’ softens the idiosyncratic intensity of Charlemagne Palestine’s original without losing its spirit, blurring the edges into something meditative and enveloping.

Jackie West – Course of Action

Silent Century, the new album from Jackie West coming this February on Ruination Records, plays as something of a covnversation. A dialogue most personal, held between the West the artist and West herself, but also something wider. A polyphony featuring an untold number of perspectives which exists in defiance of years of gendered silencing, elevating the voices of those too often unheard to emerge as a kind of portrait of the feminine experience. Latest single ‘Course of Action’ embodies both the curiosity and ferocity which makes such a project possible. West not only fills the enforced gaps within the collective voice, but points to its enduring power. A warm tangle of guitars form the track’s texture, though it is driven forward by a kraut-adjacent beat, and together with the reharmonised chord which emerges in the back half, the sound gives the impression of something perpetual. As though Jackie West has not created a discrete song but tapped into something ever-present and without end.

June Swoon – Denver

“June Swoon is a true outlaw” explains the bio of the cult LA-based songwriter, an apt description for someone who fled the confines of a fundamentalist sect as a teen, escaping into the Southwestern desert and moonlighting as a touring musician while steadily building her own catalogue of work. After two self-produced albums, new EP Big Truck offers the new chapter of this burgeoning career, embracing the circumstances of its creation and channelling the sensation of being on the run, fighting the desire to look over your shoulder at everything you’ve left behind. Opening track ‘Denver’ is the ideal introduction to the spirit of the release, a track of equal parts wistful emotion and windows-down attitude which embraces it classic country roots unapologetically while also carving out a space for itself within the contemporary alt-country movement too.

Sluice – Beadie

Formed by lead Justin Morris after becoming discouraged pursuing indie rock in New York, North Carolina‘s Sluice have made a name with a pair of celebrated albums, most recently 2023’s Radial Gate which we described as “follow[ing] the project name and doubles down on the imagery of water.” As we continued: “whether Morris is skimming along the surface or submerging himself in plunge pools, the lasting sense is that of control. For if life is a flowing river, Radial Gate represents an attempt to apply structures along its course so that we might more fully engage with the power and potential to be found therein.” Now Sluice are back with new album Companion on Mtn Laurel Recording Co., solidifying into a four piece with with Morris joined by Oliver Child-Lanning (bass, various other instruments), Avery Sullivan (drums) and Libby Rodenbough (fiddle). Lead single and album opener ‘Beadie’ sets the tone, a song about love and self-care which treats such subjects with an almost spiritual air, while still possessing an earnest, unguarded personability.

Watch the video filmed by Avery Sullivan & Charlie Boss and edited by Sullivan & Libby Rodenbough below:

Companion will be released on the 27th March via Mtn Laurel Recording Co. and you can pre-order it now.

Taroug – 1995

The solo project of German–Tunisian drummer and electronic music producer Tarek Zarroug, Taroug blends digital and organic sounds to create conceptual soundscapes able to evoke the full richness of personal history. Named after the Chott El Djerid, a vast salt lake in southern Tunisia, latest album Chott is the perfect example of the style, blending a nostalgic, melancholic minimalism with moments of bright intensity. As single ‘1995’ highlights, Zarroug weaves personal features into these arrangements to further ground the themes of identity and memory. A song which reflects on his early childhood in Tunisia that is able to capture both the intimacy of fond experience and the expansive landscape within which it took place.

Van Chamberlain – Running Through the World

We’ve featured two singles from Van Chamberlain‘s new full-length As Far As the Eye Can See in recent months, the New York outfit scheduling the album as a waterfall release with a new song unveiled each month. First came ‘Miracle Drug‘, a track we called “decidedly bittersweet in nature, a nascent crush brought to life in all of its longing and shimmering potential. Where the line between melancholy and possibility is porous and the world itself feels new.” Then the more ruminative ‘Solutions‘, what we described as “a song delivered from the mire of the present, dreaming of a fresh start that’s not yet quite in reach and all the more alluring for it.” Now Van Chamberlain have returned with ‘Running Through the World’, and again the sense of possibility imbued with the sound is tangible. What the band call “an anthem of nonconformity” which chooses to pursue love and optimism regardless of how intent the world seems to be on erasing such things.

Where’s Beth – White Ants

Back in December we featured ‘Overtime Waltz‘, a single from Sarabeth Weszely’s Where’s Beth we described as “a festive offering that uses the pressures of the period to highlight chronic struggles and loneliness.” It turns out the single was the first from forthcoming new Where’s Beth album Ache Is A Cricket In The Night, and now Weszely has returned with opening track ‘White Ants’ to further introduce the release. Released in 2024, predecessor Bone Bone offered “a picture of domesticity in the weeks and days around marriage,” we wrote in our review, a sincere album which nevertheless still found “room for the peculiar and idiosyncratic details too.” The new album builds upon this style and expands its focus, drawing on apparently mundane moments from every day life to chart the universal experiences of love, grief and longing.

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

Wasting no time, Van Chamberlain are already back with the album’s second single, ‘Solutions’, and the song highlights a slightly different dimension to their sound. Where the freshness and promise of ‘Miracle Drug’ carried an inherently hopeful, forward-looking vibe, ‘Solutions’ is more languid and ruminative. A song delivered from the mire of the present, dreaming of a fresh start that’s not yet quite in reach and all the more alluring for it. “I only need a chance to change / a thing or two,” as Chamberlain sings in the opening verse, “and I’ll be on my way driving / back to you.” A romantic vision of a possible future that’s so compelling it carries an urge to scrunch up your life and begin anew.

the more it takes
one more and i might break
the less it makes
solutions for anything
control alt & delete up til now

Watch the video below, directed, filmed and edited by Dinah Deming, featuring art by Michael Powers and further creative input from Ricky Lewis:

‘Solutions’ is out now and available from Bandcamp. As Far As the Eye Can See is coming soon.

The post Van Chamberlain – Solutions appeared first on Various Small Flames.

You might know Jude Lilley as part of London-based psych-pop outfit Moreish Idols, but after a strange experience during the pandemic lockdown, he is now setting out solo for brand new project Crook Decker. Debut full-length Graffiti Lagoon will be released later this month via Seb Wildblood’s acclaimed label all my thoughts, and Lilley has put out single ‘Beacon’ to give a taste of the unexpectedly humid, tropical tones of a release which reimagines Bermondsey as a bayou. “It was during an insanely hot, pandemic summer in 2020 that my astro-turfed terrace became an oasis,” as Lilley explains. “The world was getting sick, Peckham was a desert, and London was a swamp, but somehow, up there, I was protected from it all. I began to write through the eyes of Crook Decker, a lonesome swamp dweller who swears by the superficial mantra ‘ignorance is bliss’ as he trots through his environment, refusing to take in the real world around him.”

Graffiti Lagoon will be released on the 12th November via all my thoughts and you can pre-order it now.

G1rldad – Biter

“kissing on the bruise / that reminds me of you / and where you left your love,” sings G1rldad on new single ‘Biter’. Based in San Luis Obispo, California, the project makes an emotive style of indie rock in the vein of Sadurn, and the new track is the ideal introduction to their work. A song delivered with a certain level of restraint, built from a tender hush that is never quite punctured, but not lacking any force of feeling as a result. Because within the intimate style the vocals emerge with a confessional conviction, speaking to the private intimacies of queer love as though to reinforce their joy and meaning.

Honey I’m Home – Insecure

“Operating at the intersection of shoegaze, indie rock and post-punk” was how we described the work of Dutch band Honey I’m Home back in March, with single ‘Wishful Thinking‘ using shadowy textures and visceral energy to tap “into ethereal moods without sacrificing a certain emotional immediacy to achieve a cathartic sound.” Described by the band as a song “about the notion that carefree innocence doesn’t exist,” new single ‘Insecure’ dials up this cathartic element even further. A song which rallies against the patriarchal structures of society with both fury and something more hopeful, its soaring crescendos playing like a wish for a better version of the present, where everyone is free to live and move the world without fear.

‘Insecure’ is out now and available from the usual places.

Joyer – Favorite

Joyer‘s new album On the Other End of the Line… was created in novel conditions for the duo, siblings Nick and Shane Sullivan working through separation, loneliness, post-tour blues and the perpetual uncertainty around the purpose of making music. Previous singles like ‘Glare of the Beer Can‘ and ‘At the Movies‘ suggested potential escapes from this slow crush of life, but with the album now out via Julia’s War Recordings, the Sullivans have returned with new single ‘Favorite’ which takes a slightly different approach. Because instead of distracting themselves or dreaming of different worlds, the song sees the pair confront the frustrations of making art in a world of short attention spans and a thousand new acts a minute, emerging not with dismay but instead a regained conviction. Because, as the title suggests, making music is their favourite thing to do despite all the associated baggage, and On the Other End of the Line… is a testament to that undying passion.

Watch the visualizer by Nara Avakian below:

On the Other End of the Line… is out on the 24th October via Julia’s War Recordings and you can pre-order it now from the Joyer Bandcamp page.

Lia Kohl – Voting Line, Downtown Chicago

Back in October we introduced Various Small Whistles and a Song, the new album from Chicago-based composer Lia Kohl which takes inspiration from the Ed Ruscha work of a similar name to use a series of ostensibly humble tracks to evoke larger social situations and spaces. “The result is an attempt to convey the subtle textures of life in a way that feels at once incidental and carefully curated,” we wrote, “and one that ultimately adds up to something far greater than the sum of its parts.” With the record coming in a couple of weeks via Dauw, Kohl has shared new track ‘Voting Line, Downtown Chicago’, which, as the title suggests, was recorded while waiting to vote in 2024. “The person in front of me began whistling, and the sound carried through the marble lobby, adding levity to our collective anxious solemnity.” A track only a minute long but loaded with all the context of society and history, the sonic equivalent of Frederick Wiseman’s Cinéma vérité.

Lydia Luce – Belly

We’ve covered a couple of singles from Lydia Luce‘s new album Mammoth in recent months, establishing both the style and thematic concerns of a record all about pain and recovery. First ‘Quiet‘, a song, as we wrote, “all about the slow process of learning to not only tolerate silence but embrace its power within a noisy world.” Then ‘Ephemeral‘, a duet with Luke Sital-Singh which used strings, winds, piano, viola and cello to create a sound which rises towards almost classical peaks. With the album out now, Luce has shared a new single ‘Belly’. The first song written for the album, it is a fitting choice to celebrate the release. A track which originated in the depths of a period of suffering yet nevertheless asserted the potential of recovery, as though in some way instigating not only the rest of the record but also the path back to health Luce’s life would take. “This song is about being more than the state of my physical body,” she explains, as well as “being patient with ourselves as we heal.” Watch the video by by Jason Lee Denton and Aliegh Shields below:

Mammoth is out now and available from the usual places.

paer – Power Lines

LA duo paer have introduced themselves this year with a couple of singles, showing off a style which utilises layered vocals and shimmering guitars to evoke nostalgic soundscapes full of texture and light. To close out their debut year, paer have released ‘Power Lines’, the second track on a double single which does far more than establish the project’s tone. Delve into the hazy richness of the sound and you’ll find there’s an entire world beneath the surface, exploring ideas of grief and mourning with real nuance. The aftermath of loss, the song suggests, is a delicate balance. A push and pull between the past and the future where the seeming opposite desires to commemorate and move on must be handled with care. But far from championing one over the other, or indeed suggesting any sense of competition, paer instead paint a picture where apparent contradictions can coexist. “To be everything at once, to be nothing, in the same light.”

Rainwater – Bluebelly

Yesturday & Tamarlow, the new record from Rainwater sits at a crossroads between terror and wonder. Written following the birth of lead Blake Luley’s first daughter, the record explores both the anxieties and joys of parenthood, particularly its bewildering early days. All this is delivered in a style Luley sums up as “Arthur Russell fronting a 2000s era indie rock band,” proving the perfect vehicle as it slides from gently dreamy indie pop to taut indie rockers like single ‘Shadow’ which, as we described in a preview “sees the project lean further towards post-punk than ever before.” Today we’re focusing on ‘Bluebelly’, a lush and romantic look at the “devoured days” of a new baby which captures the record’s ethos perfectly. As Glen Boudin’s perceptive liner notes put it: “Becoming a parent is scary, a radical recontextualization of your entire life, but it’s also a beautiful, mysterious encounter with infinite love.”

Snocaps – Heathcliff

It can be easy to forget Katie and Allison Crutchfield started out their careers in collaboration, the Alabama twins winning acclaim in the beloved yet short-lived P.S. Eliot before going onto bigger things with Waxahatchee and Swearin’ respectively. So it is extra satisfying to see things come full circle with the surprise announcement of new project Snocaps. Comprised of the Crutchfields plus MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook, the project offers a new vehicle for them to explore the overlaps and divergences of their different solo paths. Their self-titled album shadow dropped via ANTI- on Halloween so there’s plenty to dig into, but where better to start than a track named after everyone’s favourite orange cat?

Tim Heidecker – Alone Until I’m Home

Last month we introduced Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers, coming this December via Western Vinyl in support of Texas-based organisations, American Gateways and Casa Marianella. Produced and organised by Emilie Rex and Rick Alverson in response to the precarity and cruelty of the present moment,” we wrote, “Passages is a new project which asked artists to write and record a song in a place that feels like home.” A huge range of artists are involved, with the offerings from Alan Sparhawk and Benjamin Booker released as early singles to hint at the compassion and solidarity of the release. Now Western Vinyl have unveiled Tim Heidecker‘s similarly heartfelt ‘Alone Until I’m Home’. The compilation’s closing track and in many ways an embodiment of its message, the song is a lucid, sincere ballad for all those travelling or displaced, be they hoping to return home or else find a new place which might, in time, come to feel like one.

Van Chamberlain – Miracle Drug

Over the coming months, Brooklyn‘s Van Chamberlain will be sharing their second album As Far As the Eye Can See, a planned ‘waterfall release’ where a new single is shared month by month until the entire thing is released. Oh and five two-song cassettes will drop in-sync with the singles and videos too. For now, we have our first taste of the record with ‘Miracle Drug’, a lush track pitched somewhere between the dreamy haze of dream pop and something more jangly and bright. The result is decidedly bittersweet in nature, a nascent crush brought to life in all of its longing and shimmering potential. Where the line between melancholy and possibility is porous and the world itself feels new.

Watch the video below, conceived, directed and edited by Ricky Lewis with cinematography and color by Tony Carter and production support by David Olmsted:

‘Miracle Drug’ is out now and available from Bandcamp. As Far As the Eye Can See is coming soon.

The post Weekly Listening: November 2025 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.