The Indie Pea - Guy Verlinde - La Peste - Ben Chapman - Trippers & Askers

The Indie Pea - Staring At The Sun.

While some bands are content to evolve in the shadows, The Indie Pea has spent the last year chasing the light. Following the introspective depth of The Questions and the radiant growth of Reflected Hearts, the band returns with "Staring At The Sun", a sonic earthquake that redefines their boundaries.

"Staring At The Sun" is The Indie Pea magnified. It carries the band’s signature DNA, lush orchestral strings and melancholic undertones, but delivered with a newfound, panoramic intensity. The production is sharper, the mixing more immersive, and the emotional stakes higher than ever. It is a masterclass in "controlled grandiosity"; a track that teases the bombastic, yet masterfully pulls back at the precipice, maintaining that aching, intimate tension that has become their hallmark.

This single serves as the definitive prologue to their upcoming full-length album, "Life Lessons" (arriving December 18). The record promises to be the band’s most eclectic venture to date. Across its tracks, The Indie Pea navigates a vast musical landscape, shifting seamlessly from the rhythmic drive of Bombay Bicycle Club and the anthemic energy of The Killers to the atmospheric noir of The National and the psychedelic textures of MGMT.

Life Lessons is an album of beautiful contradictions: it is a collection that feels diverse yet singularly focused, exploring the complexities of experience with the wisdom of a band that has found its true voice. If their debut was about the search, Life Lessons is about the discovery.

============================================================================

Guy Verlinde - Best Of Blues (Album).

On March 22, Best Of Blues, the new album by Belgian blues artist Guy Verlinde, was released. The album celebrates his 50th birthday and crowns a career spanning seventeen albums and more than a thousand live shows. It is available on CD, vinyl and digital platforms.

Guy Verlinde is a mainstay of the Belgian blues scene and has built a strong international reputation. Over the years, he has appeared on the same bill as artists such as B.B. King, John Fogerty, Tony Joe White, Santana, John Hiatt, Canned Heat, and Jeff Beck.

Best Of Blues is not a classic compilation of old recordings. All twelve tracks were remixed and remastered; Do That Boogie and Gator Bop were partially re-recorded with a distinct old-school blues feel. Me & My Blues and Heaven Inside My Head were fully re-recorded. The album is also a tribute to Guy’s late blues brother Tiny Legs Tim, with whom he helped lay the foundations of the Ghent blues scene. Their collaboration lives on in the song Goin’ Down to Missy Sippy, which they wrote and recorded together.

============================================================================

La Peste - Color Scheme.

“Color Scheme” is the last advance single from La Peste’s forthcoming compilation, I Don’t Know Right From Wrong: Lost La Peste 1976 - 1979 Vol. 1 (out 4/17). Here is what guitarist / vocalist Peter Dayton has to say about the track: “Color Scheme”!! Mark and I wrote this together and, wow, we both love this song. To me it was a big step because it really sounded like a complete song with clear intent and great chord progressions ….I felt like it showed we could do a lot of different things. I still love it.

I Don’t Know Right From Wrong tells the full story of La Peste with a presentation of their unreleased studio recordings, demos and the two tracks that were officially released during the band’s run. 

The accompanying book features tons of newly uncovered photos, a long-form essay by music journalist Andy Cush & micro-essays by Greg Hawkes (The Cars), Roger Miller (Mission of Burma), Peter Prescott (Mission of Burma), Clint Conley (Mission of Burma), Pat Place (Bush Tetras, Contortions), Willie Loco Alexander (The Lost, Boom Boom Band), Richard Parsons (Unnatural Axe), Malcolm Travis (Human Sexual Response) and more.

============================================================================

Photo - Aubrey Wise

Ben Chapman - Feet On Fire.

Nashville-based roots rocker Ben Chapman announces that his upcoming album Feet On Fire will come out on May 22 via Soundly Music. His second collaboration with GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer Anderson East, Feet on Fire is an album about leaving old patterns behind, making room for new beginnings and searching for stability in an ever-changing world. Or, according to Chapman, this record is a snapshot of the year he became a man following a marriage to fellow singer/songwriter Meg McRee and the birth of their first child in September. He also shared the album’s title track, a sprawling psychedelia-drenched sonic journey that chronicles the life of a musician on the road. 

On the new song, Chapman shares: “This song hits you in the mouth from the first note. It’s a sonic adventure that reflects my growth as an artist and musician. It started out as a song about always being on the road and not feeling like yourself while sitting still, but as it took shape it gained a deeper meaning. It’s difficult to keep your feet planted in the moment sometimes in a world that places value on whatever comes next.” 

The new LP puts East’s Alabama roots on full display, in combination with the inspiration Chapman takes from R&B grooves, Stax-sized soul, psych-rock experimentation and Allman Brothers-worthy jams. With Feet On Fire, Chapman set out to capture the energy of one of his live shows – free-wheeling, electric and exploratory. Backed by a band of A-list instrumentalists, Chapman and East focused on live-in-the-studio performances, capturing each song with two or three takes. They experimented with fuzz pedals and overdriven guitar tones, too. It was a move that nodded not only to the soundtrack of Chapman's childhood, but to his willingness to step outside the box.  

“I grew up on the Grateful Dead and Dark Side of the Moon, so I wanted to pour some of that inspiration into these tracks,” Chapman shares. “This record asks you to let your hair down. It takes some fun sonic risks. It's cohesive but it's all over the place, too, in the best way possible.” 

============================================================================

Trippers & Askers - No Coming No Going.

Trippers & Askers today share "No Coming No Going" featuring Chessa Rich from their forthcoming LP Tried To Do's due May 8 via Sleepy Cat Records.  "No Coming, No Going," is the second offering (third on Bandcamp) from Trippers & Askers' forthcoming release. Drawing sonically from Emmylou Harris and lyrically from Thich Nhat Hanh, this gorgeous duet with longtime collaborator Chessa Rich is a trance-inducing meditation on impermanence. 

Hammond and Rich open the track with a shared breath, singing, "When I breathe, I don't breathe; there is no breather," and in that moment, they set the intention for everything that follows. 

I love the way their voices pull my ear in opposite directions—blending perfectly while still remaining distinctly their own. The effect reminds me of the shape-note tradition, where individuality and harmony coexist in the same breath. Rich with meticulously crafted soundscapes, this record is a deep listen that rewards.

============================================================================

Carrie Clark - Crow and Gazelle - Serafima and The Shakedowns - Sunnan

Carrie Clark - Resistor (EP).

Since the late 1990s, Carrie Clark has been a familiar presence within the Hamilton, Ontario music scene, contributing her bass and vocal talents to myriad albums and live performances by local artists. Most recently, Clark has become a full-fledged member of alt-country outfit Matt Paxton & The Pintos [now simply The Pintos], whose 2023 EP Tornado received international acclaim. However, since 2020 Clark has been creating her own music, and subsequently released her debut EP, Roll Me Up Integrity, two years later. She has now followed it up with Resistor, a six-track collection that highlights her expansive musical range. 

Working with Marco Bressette at Hamilton’s Deadquarters Studio, Clark called upon many colleagues to contribute to the sessions, but despite the variety of musical voices, Resistor adheres to Clark’s distinct creative vision.“I feel fortunate to have so many stellar musician friends,” she says. “We have all played together in so many unique situations, so recording is quite a natural and meditative experience. Marco and I have been friends since we were 16, rocking out in our early original bands.”

Resistor lifts off seductively with the atmospheric and semi-spoken “What Is Water,” which contains hints of the Hamilton scene’s patron saint Daniel Lanois. However, the song’s main inspiration, as Carrie explains, came from a Bruce Lee quote, “be water, my friend.” “The choices we make in any given moment define us, regardless of the choices made in the past, much like the fluidity of water. The calm lake after a storm doesn’t reveal a trace of the waves. You have to look at the surrounding land to discover its effects. The water itself can only be what it is at that moment.”

============================================================================

Photo - Myriam Riand

Crow and Gazelle - Fall How It Will.

Texas-based duo Crow and Gazelle announce their forthcoming album Truth Be Told, out May 15, with the release of its lead single “Fall How It Will.” A sweeping, spiritually charged concept album, Truth Be Told explores love, power, survival, and the truths buried beneath generations of fear. Across its songs, the duo tells the story of a woman and a man navigating a collapsing world, reckoning with inherited harm, confronting patriarchal control, and searching for a more liberated way to live and love.

“Fall How It Will” is a haunting meditation on religious trauma and return. Framed as a moment of care between the record’s two central characters, the song rejects the lie of original sin in favor of something more expansive: original love. With imagery of a boundless garden and the well of knowledge alive within us all, it becomes a quiet call to recognize one’s own worthiness - to lie down somewhere easy and let the night “fall how it will.”

“We live in a world shaped by shame that was never truly ours to carry,” Lawrence explains. “When you’re taught to believe you are inherently unworthy, that love only counts if it looks a certain way, it creates fear and separation. But love, real love, draws us back to the truth. It reminds us there was never anything wrong with us to begin with.”

Crow and Gazelle is Oklahoma Red Dirt pioneer Mike McClure and multidisciplinary artist Chrislyn Lawrence, whose creative partnership sits at the center of the album’s force. McClure, a founding member of The Great Divide and an Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee, is also a widely respected producer whose work has helped shape artists including Cross Canadian Ragweed, Turnpike Troubadours, and Kaitlin Butts. Lawrence brings an equally vital perspective as a poet, filmmaker, community organizer, and trauma-informed healer. Together, they create work that confronts difficult questions about belief, belonging, grief, and the myths that govern our lives.

============================================================================

Serafima and The Shakedowns - I’ll Be Around / The Slender Rowan.

BWGiBWGAN just released “I’ll Be Around / The Slender Rowan,” the new double A-side single from Serafima and the Shakedowns. It’s the second single to be taken from the band’s debut album Ride Easy, on May 1.

Clocking in at under two minutes, “I’ll Be Around” is a life-affirming burst of pure joy - a heart-skipping showdown of warmth, colour, and bright-eyed promise that leaves you beaming. Serafima delivers it with a splash of old-time golden charm, kicking up a little dust and letting the good times lead the way. It’s the thrill of catching a face across the room your heart can’t quite forget, and that playful little thought drifting through your mind - “maybe I’ll let you take me out!!”. Cowboy boots filled with swagger, a melody that grins from ear to ear, and the Shakedowns riding an easy, buoyant groove make the whole thing feel like a two-step you didn’t know you needed.

On the flip side, “The Slender Rowan” reveals another shade of the band’s world. An arrangement of the traditional Russian folk song, it finds Serafima singing in fluent Russian while the Shakedowns lean into the melody’s old-world sway. The result feels both playful and timeless - a reminder that the band’s roots run wide, and that tradition can still feel alive on a dance floor.

Serafima’s songwriting sits somewhere between classic storytelling and left-field pop instinct. You can hear echoes of Johnny and June Carter Cash, Joni Mitchell, and Cake - not as pastiche, but as shared DNA. Her lyrics hit you in the heart and stick in your head - wry, time-twisting verses as deceptively complex as the lives they describe.

============================================================================

Sunnan - Longing To Miss You.

Following their Swedish Grammy–nominated debut, the success of the Cinema Sound System EP, and their latest single “Sail (Lady In Waiting),” critically acclaimed cinematic soul outfit Sunnan recently returned with “Longing To Miss You” — the second single from their forthcoming sophomore album Spaghetti Soul, set for release in Autumn 2026.

According to the band, “Longing To Miss You” was the true spark behind Spaghetti Soul — the melody and emotional core that ignited the vision for the entire record. Written and recorded inside Fårö Church, with Ingmar Bergman resting just beyond its walls, the song was born in a setting deeply intertwined with the band’s cinematic identity.

The band explains: “Longing To Miss You emerged through questions of life, death, and how we all must learn to cope with the fact that loving also means losing.” With their signature Western-inspired sound — arpeggiated guitars, sweeping strings, and expansive arrangements — Sunnan explore loss not as inevitable doom, but as something that gives love its meaning. The result is a cinematic soundscape woven with melancholic lyricism — a testament to the strength, fragility, and enduring vitality of human emotion.

That vision carries into Spaghetti Soul, an album that deepens Sunnan’s cinematic exploration while expanding their sonic palette. If debut album Cinema was the feature film and Cinema Sound System the after party, Spaghetti Soul is their most immersive statement yet: a bold fusion of Italian Western grandeur and classic soul, filtered through a modern lens. The album positions Sunnan at the forefront of their self-defined genre, where orchestral drama meets raw emotional immediacy.

============================================================================

Office Dog - A Place To Bury Strangers - Sandhouse - Danny George Wilson - Dirk Powell

Photo - Hamish Morgan

Office Dog - Front Row Seat.

Office Dog and Flying Nun Records are pleased to share the indie rock band’s brand new single ‘Front Row Seat’. ‘Front Row Seat’ finds Office Dog confronting the numbing weight of the 24-hour news cycle, a state of quiet paralysis where the sheer volume of bad news makes even the smallest decisions feel impossible. 

The song explores the feeling of being stuck “in the front row” as the world unravels — absorbing everything while feeling increasingly powerless to act. ‘Front Row Seat’ finds the band leaning into that uneasy tension, turning overwhelm and uncertainty into something quietly cathartic.

The music video, directed by Sophie Black and made with the support of NZ on Air Music, applies these feelings of someone's world boiling over to corporate team bonding activities. About the video concept, Office Dog’s front-person Kane Strang says “I could instantly picture it in my head, which is always a good sign.”

============================================================================

Photo - Holger Nitschke

A Place To Bury Strangers - Where Are We Now.

New-York based band A Place To Bury Strangers release “Where Are We Now,” the third single/video from their new rarities album, Rare And Deadly, out April 3rd via Dedstrange. Following the “full-on sonic attack” (Consequence) of “Acid Rain,” on which “frontman Oliver Ackermann delivers deadpan, near-chanted lyrics about systemic cruelty,” (Consequence)  “Where Are We Now” finds A Place To Bury Strangers reflecting on the past: “Where are we now // Is it too late // Should I reach out // Where we are now // caught in our lives //did our dreams fade.” Ackermann says the song is about “looking back at friends you lost touch with. Wondering where they ended up. Remembering when everything felt possible.” The accompanying video was put together by Ackermann with footage from the Library of Congress National Archives. Ackermann says he made the video because “I think we need to look at people more and see the value and wonder of life so we can be compassionate towards others."

Rare and Deadly cracks open a decade-long vault of raw nerve and sonic chaos from A Place To Bury Strangers. Spanning 2015–2025, this collection of demos, B-sides, abandoned experiments, and forgotten fragments reveals the band at their most unfiltered—caught between breakthrough ideas and beautiful mistakes. Pulled from Ackermann’s personal archive of late-night recordings, blown-out tapes, and half-finished sessions, here the interference is closer, the electricity more dangerous, the edges left jagged on purpose.

What makes Rare and Deadly truly unprecedented is that every format tells a different story. The CD, cassette, vinyl, and digital editions each feature their own unique tracklisting, a fractured release strategy that is almost unheard of. No single version contains the “complete” album. Instead, each format becomes its own window into the archive, revealing alternate paths, missing links, and parallel versions of the band’s inner life. It’s a deliberately unstable document: the album shifts depending on how you choose to hear it, mirroring the chaos of its creation.

============================================================================

Photo - Hannah Murrell

Sandhouse - Snapdragon.

South London duo Sandhouse just shared the new single 'Snapdragon' and become the first UK act to sign to US label Broke Records. 'Snapdragon' follows the release of their debut EP 'Circus' last year. Consisting of Anna Sutherland and Caspar Holloway, Sandhouse have spent the past year refining a sound that threads together alt-rock bite, 60s psychedelia, trip-hop atmosphere and electronic textures.

Working with renowned producer Ben Hillier (Blur, Depeche Mode), Sandhouse lean into a more direct, guitar-driven sound on new single 'Snapdragon', its lyrics exploring the idea of wilful self-deception: "shark eyes glistened in our bed / licked your lips and kissed me good / you smelt blood and I wanted you." Built around gently chugging guitars and a steady rhythmic drive, the track is anchored by Anna’s distinctive vocal delivery and cool-headed melodic hooks, balancing sweetness with a subtle sense of unease.

Speaking about the track, the band say: "'Snapdragon' flowers symbolise deception, due to the skull-like shape that appears when their petals fall away. This is a song about the excitement of recognising a lie and choosing to believe it, rather than turn away."

============================================================================

Danny George Wilson - Arcade (Album).

Danny George Wilson has just released his new album 'Arcade' via Loose Music. Wilson, who has been confirmed as special guest on The Handsome Family's forthcoming UK tour, has unveiled his latest single 'Before September'. 

"‘Before September’ is a song about some of the fleeting random moments of pure joy that have stayed with me my whole life," explains Wilson. "Smoking a fag out of my teenage bedroom window at my mum and dad’s house in the summer holidays whilst listening to ‘Astral Weeks’ and watching the sun catch the smoke hanging in the air, free wheeling down a hill on a beautiful spring morning on my red Royal Mail bike when I was a Postman whilst Nick Drake played on the headphones, finally catching a wave body surfing with my dad and brothers, a first feeling of real love on the long walk home from a teenage party. Musically it’s inspired by the wonderful Tony Bennett & Bill Evans album and Sinatra’s genius ‘Watertown’. The stunning string arrangement by Hamish Benjamin and incredible piano by Henry Garratt perfectly capture these feelings. One of the songs and recordings I’m most proud of in all my years of making music."
 
'Arcade' finds Danny George Wilson returning to Hamish Benjamin’s studio in East Sussex - five years on from his startling, post-lockdown solo album Another Place – to construct its sequel. With Lewes-based Benjamin and right-hand man Henry Garratt, again given free rein, 'Arcade' presents a fresh collection of sonically inventive, deeply romantic songs, with atmosphere taking primacy over meaning, and narrative dissolving. As Wilson tells it: 

“The songs are about the ways we deal with losing people, time, place, or don’t deal with it… Looking back, we discover what was always there, or things that are just easier to ignore - different and contradictory perspectives. And I wanted a chance to work with Hamish and Henry again, and this seemed like their thing, and it was”.

Traditional instrumentation meets technology; the majority of tracks feature a string quartet, while Benjamin and Garratt employ synthesiser and mellotron along with a plethora of guitars. Gerry Love again provides backing vocals with cameos from Emma Tricca and Annie Dressner. Fragile, tender, full of uncertainty, ultimately 'Arcade' is a song-cycle in which the premise of each track subverts the previous, and demonstrates most assuredly, we still move in doubt.


============================================================================

Photo - Karen Cox

Dirk Powell - Down The Line.

Internationally acclaimed fiddler, banjoist, and singer Dirk Powell will release Wake, his first solo album since 2020, on April 17, 2026 via The Last Music Company. A singular presence in American roots music, Powell is widely regarded as a “musician’s musician.” His artistry is grounded in the hills of Appalachia and the bayous of Louisiana, where he learned banjo, fiddle, and accordion from his grandfather and community elders.  Guest appearances include Amelia Powell, Sophie Powell, Rhiannon Giddens, Darrell Scott, Kai Welch, and others. 

The first single, "Down the Line" was shared this weekend. Powell says, “…Softly rolling banjos, stark guitars, and distant fiddles paint pictures of journeys from my home in Louisiana through places that have inspired me to lay everything on the line — and given me settings in which to do so. West. South. I’ll take either one, but both at once makes the blood rise in my chest. To feel the moisture of the Gulf give way to chaparral, then to scrubby plains, and finally to the bright desert. Danger and its opposite.”

Over the course of his career, Powell has toured extensively with artists such as Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Rhiannon Giddens, Loretta Lynn, Irma Thomas, Jack White, Buddy Miller, and Steve Earle. In film, he has collaborated with directors Anthony Minghella, Ang Lee, and Spike Lee. He has contributed to many Grammy-winning projects across Folk, Country, Blues, and Rock. Since the 1990s, his own recordings have continued to shape a new generation of traditional musicians and songwriters. He remains a sought-after producer and composer. His best-known composition, “Waterbound,” has been recorded over 100 times. 

============================================================================

Rosscoe Frantz - Serena Rose - Eidetic Dreams - Hrishikesh Hirway - Kyle Morgan - bauhofer

Photo - Emily Preston

Rosscoe Frantz - Raw and Bitter.

There is something acutely uncomfortable in being human, in loving and learning to let go, and WA-based indie folk-rock artist Rosscoe Frantz masterfully captures those sentiments in his latest single, ‘Raw and Bitter’, out yesterday Friday, March 20. In 2025, Rosscoe Frantz released his debut EP 'Share House', adding another notch to his belt. He has supported the likes of Sarah Blasko, Boy and Bear, and Pete Murray, performed at Blues at Bridgetown Festival, sold out his EP launch at 459 Bar in Perth, and landed on Spotify and Apple Music playlists.

Building on that momentum, ‘Raw and Bitter’ sees Rosscoe Frantz further the terrain he has already begun to map out. Softly strummed guitar with a healthy dose of reverb and grit open the track, as the sleepy arrangement wakes up, bringing in elements of percussion and lead guitar. Rich vocals cut daggers with Frantz’s emotive lyrics; the refrain ‘everything turned raw and bitter’ sings out across the musical room, breaking like a teenage heart losing their first lover. 

Elaborating on the meaning behind the tune, Rosscoe Frantz says: "‘Raw and Bitter' is a stark, intimate reflection on the parts of love people rarely talk about. The moment when a relationship is strong, the feeling is real, but the future isn’t necessarily aligned. The song explores the tension between deep affection and quiet doubt, where love coexists with confusion, and staying means asking the hardest questions. It’s a song about holding something precious in your hands and not knowing whether to fight for it or let it go."

============================================================================

Serena Rose - Wild One.

Australian cinematic-psychedelic artist Serena Rose shares her new single “Wild One.” Drawing on her background in film scoring and composition, Serena’s music is led by mood and texture rather than conventional narrative, focusing on atmosphere, stillness and emotional detail.

Before launching her solo project in 2021, Serena studied Music and Audio and began working within film and screen composition — an influence that continues to shape her sound. Her recordings favour space and tone over density, combining slow-burn guitar work with restrained arrangements and a strong visual sensibility. Often compared to Mazzy Star, her work also reflects the expansive dynamics of artists such as Radiohead, John Frusciante and All Them Witches.

“Wild One” was written while living in the Byron Bay hinterland of eastern Australia and reflects the physical environment that surrounds her. Built around drifting guitar lines and minimal percussion, the track captures a quiet moment of reflection rather than a traditional song structure, prioritising feeling and place. Serena explains: “For this song I kept seeing the same setting — creeks, wet forest, fog after rain. It’s a calm, solitary space and I feel the music as being inside that landscape rather than describing it.”.

Written in a single burst of inspiration, the recording leans into natural space and restraint. Guitars stretch across the stereo field while subtle rhythmic movement anchors the arrangement, allowing the production to create a sense of physical environment rather than performance. With “Wild One,” Serena Rose continues to develop a sound that sits between psychedelic songwriting and cinematic composition, positioning her as a quietly distinctive voice within Australia’s emerging atmospheric and dream-leaning alternative scene.

============================================================================

Eidetic Dreams - Eidetic Dreams.

Helsinki-based dreampop duo Eidetic Dreams released their fifth single “Eidetic Dream” yesterday March 20 via All That Plazz. Building steadily from the Nordic indie underground, the band has gained traction through YleX support (including Nosteessa), praise from Soundi, and growing streaming visibility — their previous single “The Truth About My Fall”was featured on Spotify’s Breakthrough 2025 playlist and the global Fresh Finds editorial playlist.

Over the past year, Eidetic Dreams have performed at Finland’s leading showcase festivals, including Lost In Music and Mars Festival, while expanding their live audience beyond Helsinki. The new single further marks the band’s upward trajectory as they move towards their debut album, set for release in 2026.

“Eidetic Dream” is also a defining moment for the duo by name and intent — a song that reflects the band’s core themes of memory, desire and uncertainty, captured in the line: “Was it all a dream, just an eidetic dream?” The track was mastered by two-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum mastering engineer Ryan Schwabe. Eidetic Dreams will next perform live at Kult, Kulttuuritalo Helsinki, on March 27 with Tinyhawk & Bizzarro.

============================================================================

Photo - Elisha Christian

Hrishikesh Hirway - Rollercoaster feat. Fenne Lily & Uwade.

Songwriter and podcast host Hrishikesh Hirway releases second single "Rollercoaster" (ft. Uwade, Fenne Lily) from his upcoming record In the Last Hour of Light, due out April 24 on Keeled Scales. The album is his first full-length release under his own name, marking his return to making records after more than a decade focused on audio storytelling through his acclaimed podcast Song Exploder. 

“Rollercoaster” is a meditation on longing and displacement, built from two images that lodged themselves in Hirway’s imagination: the buffalo of Catalina Island, brought there by ship in the early 20th century and stranded ever since, and the vision of someone riding a rollercoaster alone. Co-written with Fenne Lily and Uwade, the track finds Hirway placing himself back in Massachusetts, feeling out of place and full of dreams he can’t yet name, asking whether you can miss somewhere you’ve never been. Both Lily and Uwade contribute vocals, as does Ken Pomeroy, their combined voices lifting the song toward a feeling of lightness and air, a counterpoint to the loneliness at its center.

“I started to think of the image of a person riding a rollercoaster on their own,” says Hirway. “It struck me as terribly lonely because of its juxtaposition against a supposedly fun thing, and that juxtaposition felt deeply, painfully familiar.” Hirway has also confirmed the special guests who will join him on a set of upcoming tour dates, including Adam Scott in New York, Jason Mantzoukas in Los Angeles, Samin Nosrat in San Francisco, Josh Malina in Chicago, Min Jin Lee in Boston, and more. 

============================================================================

Kyle Morgan - Where To Start.

"I never stopped to think it through / I just got into the car"... Opens "Where to Start" - the first single from Kyle Morgan's upcoming LP Ghost of a Problem and drops us right into the uncertainty of and resignation to a fate largely out of our control. Morgan imbues his characters, even when sung in first person, with a lived in familiarity that reminds me of some the best instincts of John Prine and Tom Waits. The relatively slow back beat builds in an unhurried pace, stopping to luxuriate on the baritone sturdiness of Morgan's main guitar melody.  It's a beautiful intro to the record. Would love to hear your thoughts and coordinate coverage of the single or the album out 22 May. 

""Where to Start" is an expression of resignation in the face of the uncertainty of life and what the future holds.  When your longing for clarity is met with complete silence, but for the whining of tires on mile after mile of an empty highway.  And when having come to a dead end, the only choice is to keep driving, hoping this time the road will lead somewhere new."

Sharing new music during times like this feel like a relief. Some kind of tangible proof that the world keeps spinning amidst the ongoing insanity of the first 2 full months of 2026. I am happy to share the newest album by Kyle Morgan - a record that after a single spin feels thoroughly lived in. The first solo follow up after 2022's Younger at Most Everything (Team Love Records) and on the heels of the well-received 2025 collaboration with Tamar Korn ("pitch-perfect acoustic performances" - Bandcamp Daily). 

Kyle Morgan's world-weary delivery imbues the characters, missed connections and snaphots of uncertainty with a ghost of a possible optimism - even in the midst of an OCD spiral. Baroque strings, straight-forward rock and sturdy folk are replete Ghost of a Problem - haunting bathrooms, dive bars and close calls that populate this record.

============================================================================

bauhofer - Move Mountains. 

“Move Mountains,” is the new single by bauhofer from Wollerau, Switzerland. On this track, the singer/songwriter embraces a more melancholic and gospel-inspired tone.

With the EP “The River Seine,” released last autumn, and his distinctive Southern-rock blend of rock, blues, and country, bauhofer achieved international success. The title track reached a top position in the Euro Indie Music Charts—the charts of Europe’s most played and most popular indie music—and was broadcast for weeks by radio stations across Europe, the UK, the USA, and as far as Brazil.

With his latest release, “Move Mountains,” an emotionally charged track, the artist returns to piano and vocals alone. The song expresses the longing for a loved one who is far away, and the determination to overcome all obstacles to reach that person. The single was produced by Slade Templeton (Crimer, Crying Vessel) at Influx Studios in Bern.

============================================================================

Empire Child - Thomas Csorba - Kenny Shore - Special Friend - Fine Night Elements - Jeniffer Lima

Empire Child - Negativity Be Gone.

Empire Child is the new musical project of Ruth Rothwell. Having spent decades shaping music culture from the inside out, Ruth—formerly a senior A&R manager at MCA/Universal—was a key figure in the UK dance music explosion of the 90s, starting out as a club promoter before becoming label manager at BCM Records, the most successful UK dance label of the era. During this time, she helped launch Digital Underground in the UK, worked closely with Andrew Weatherall, and later went on to manage and develop artists including Dina Carroll, Carleen Anderson, and Juan Atkins. At MCA Publishing, she signed and nurtured globally influential acts such as Zero 7, Basement Jaxx, and Air. Alongside artists, Ruth also nurtured key songwriters, most notably Rob Davis, during whose time with her he went on to co-write era-defining hits including Spiller’s “If This Ain’t Love” and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”. While looking after Eg White she put him forward for a co-write with newly signed Adele. This resulted in the song “Chasing Pavements”.

Despite her success behind the scenes, songwriting was always her true calling. “Songwriting is really my calling and I could no longer ignore that fact,” Ruth says. That pull eventually led to Empire Child, her long-form artist project, with the forthcoming record produced by Madrid-based jazz professor and producer Mariano Diaz.

Her debut single “Trace the Race” introduced the project with a deeply personal reflection on identity, ancestry, and belonging. Inspired by her heritage—her mother Indo-Jamaican, part of the Windrush generation, and her father from Cape Town, South Africa, who fled apartheid—the song explored migration, legacy, and the reminder that “your ancestors were immigrants once.”

Now Empire Child returns with her new single “Negativity Be Gone”, a song about reclaiming control over the thoughts and influences that shape our lives. Rooted in the idea that what we think every day affects our mood and outlook, the track is a call to push away self-doubt and destructive thinking. “I’m trying to get the message across that we have choices,” Ruth explains. “Choices about what we think and who we surround ourselves with. There are so many wonderful people in the world that you’ve yet to meet. Find the good people.” 


============================================================================

Photo - Alex Csorba

Thomas Csorba - You Think You Know Someone.

Texas singer-songwriter Thomas Csorba has shared "You Think You Know Someone," a heart-on-your-sleeve-style song detailing the never ending discovery of a lasting love. From sweet notes tucked into jean pockets to a deep unspoken understanding, there’s always a layer to peel back and new ways of loving to uncover. This is the latest single from Csorba's new album Tender Country, which is out May 22 as the first release on the newly-launched Turtlebox Records. 

“If there is anything I have learned in five years of marriage, it is that someone you know so intimately can still genuinely surprise you," says Csorba. "Growing old alongside someone is not for the faint of heart; it requires a tender spirit to recognize that, while our lives are intertwined, we are still individuals evolving along the way.” 

He continues, "This song documents that perspective. It acknowledges that neither my wife nor I are the same people we were when we met about a decade ago. Over the past year, I have been moved by her depth and thoughtfulness as I watched her become a mother to our two boys, build her art business from the ground up, and navigate being married to a (sometimes-neurotic) artist of a husband. I am grateful to have a front-row seat to watch her life unfold, and I'm even more grateful to be a part of it." 

Thomas Csorba · You Think You Know Someone

============================================================================

Kenny Shore - Happiness & Misery (Album).

North Carolina’s Kenny Shore is back with a new full length album, Happiness & Misery The album runs the gamut of emotions and sounds and once again focuses on Shore’s ability to distill the human experience into song.

Happiness & Misery is an album of ups and downs, thus the title. As they were finishing the recording, Jerry Brown and Kenny reflected on the themes brought forth on this album and realized that the title from the song "Happiness & Misery" fit perfectly. It captures the back and forth throughout... from the fun bounce of "Roller Coaster Ride" to the grieve- filled angst of Nail It To the Wall. This didn't happen as planned. It was through looking back at what had happened organically, that made them sure of the album title.

As in the case of Kenny’s last album with Jerry, they had a real blast recording this. Maybe it's the "requirement" that was established with recording the last album, Time Stands Still - to start things off with a well told joke. This helped set the tone for each session. They tried (and succeeded) not to take each other, or this whole process, too seriously. Kenny says, “I think it worked and helped us make sure we were having a good time, doing what we love.”

============================================================================

Special Friend - Clipping (Album).

Paris-based duo Special Friend release their third album “Clipping” today. Special Friend have become the masters of weaving elegant and sophisticated pop musical webs while staying true to their DIY roots.  The French/American duo (Guillaume Siracusa on guitar and vocals, Erica Ashleson on drums and vocals) manage to create a sound like no other band.  When they play live, audiences marvel at the huge, intricate structures the band construct, while falling in love with the crystal-clear vocal melodies that are threaded in between the shards of guitar and the rattle of the drums.  How can a duo achieve so much?  UK audiences will be able to ponder this question in March: Special Friend are coming over from France to do a substantial tour of the UK. 

The new album is more diverse that the last, with the high-tempo indiepop of first single ‘Breakfast’, the majestic, Yo La Tengo-like dreampop of ‘Clipping’ and the country-ish, gentle, homesick melancholy of ‘Isolation’.  Final track ‘OOO’ is a bold piece of Krautrock-inspired experimentation; ‘Mold’ is a beautiful slice of slowcore and opener ‘Paint A Picture’ is modern pop at its catchiest and most direct.  

‘Clipping’, the album title, refers to the discipline of pruning growth back, removing dead wood to create a perfectly shaped tree with abundant blossoms: an accurate description of the album, and of the songs that hang from its elegant branches.  The album artwork is by Erica: Special Friend are in control of every aspect of this elegant artefact.

============================================================================

Fine Night Elements - Around This Sun.

Who are Fine Night Elements? Fine Night Elements are a working-class band from the North East of England, formed in 2021. Blending alt-rock energy with electronic textures, melodic hooks, and cinematic atmosphere, the band refuse to sit neatly in one genre. Fine Night Elements make music that feels grounded, ambitious, and unmistakably their own.

Around This Sun began as a simple, sombre acoustic idea that reflected on the state of the world with themes of war, homelessness and addiction. It steadily builds in intensity, each section lifting higher into atmospheric and reflective choruses, a soaring bridge and guitar solo, before closing on an expansive, ethereal, crescendo.

Commenting on the new single the band say "We’re so proud of this one, and it’s a song that feels so relevant in today’s world." 

============================================================================

Jeniffer Lima - Pour Me A Drink.

A promising new voice in Swiss pop music is emerging from the vibrant heart of Winterthur: Jeniffer Lima. With her new single “Pour Me A Drink,” the multilingual musician ushers in a new era. She has turned away from Swiss-German pop and instead discovered modern English-language country pop. It is no surprise that the rising artist has been discovered by renowned producers. Together with Manuel Egger and Dave Demuth, she created her first songs, which quickly found their way onto Swiss radio. Her single “90s Vibe” has already secured a coveted spot on the rotation playlist of Radio TOP.

As a songwriter, Jeniffer Lima tells autobiographical stories that resonate far beyond a young audience. With catchy melodies and honest, profound lyrics, she creates music that touches listeners across generations. After her first releases in an acoustic singer-songwriter style, Jeniffer Lima quickly evolved under the guidance of producer Dave Demuth and found her place in the modern pop genre. Despite this musical development, one thing remains central: authenticity on stage. 

With “Pour Me A Drink,” Jeniffer Lima once again shows her instinct for contemporary pop and emotional storytelling—confirming her potential as one of the exciting new voices from Winterthur (Switzerland).

============================================================================