Just Pearls - Blank Instrument - The Music Of Sound - Cherry Vance

Just Pearls - Comes Love.

Just Pearls is the project of musician and author Kate Pearl, who grew up in Ohio, USA, and has been living in the Bernese region (Switzerland) since 2001. Her musical and literary biography is as diverse as it is impressive - it includes collaborations with Balts Nill and Ursula Hotz (Rodeo Ranchers; collaborations with Tammy Wynette, Brent Moyer, and Hans Holzherr, among others), as well as personal support from renowned songwriter Tom Paxton.

Just Pearls new single 'Comes Love' was released yesterday August 7th. The song is reminiscent of Tracy Chapman's striking directness, Patti Smith's poetic power, and Courtney Barnett's distinctive energy. At the same time, "Comes Love" is a first taste of the album "Flutterby," which will be released on October 23rd.

The new album features contributions from renowned musicians from the Swiss scene, including Serge Christen, Dave Jutzi ("Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack, collaborations with Joe Cocker, Nils Burri, and 4Accord), Tom Gisler (Bo Katzman, Nubya, Zia Lisa & Gattopardo, Mario Capitanio’s bands (formerly Polo Hofer)), and Phillip Bühlmann.

Particularly intriguing: "Comes Love" is part of the album "Flutterby” which is also the musical soundtrack to Kate Pearl's fairy tale and songbook of the same name, to be released in September. Music and literature combine to form a shared story about confidence, connection, and the power of imagination.

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Blank Instrument - Green and Blue.

Blank Instrument, the pen name for Boorloo/Perth-based singer-songwriter Kim Franklin, shares her second single of 2026, ’Green and Blue’, released (Friday, August 7). Following the June release of the single ‘Brand New’, ‘Green and Blue’ is the second single from her upcoming debut album, ‘Jumping at Ghosts’, due later this year. 

‘Green and Blue’ continues to expand the world within ‘Jumping at Ghosts’, acknowledging her late friend Julie while finding solace in recognising the need for emotional respite. The piano-fronted ballad encompasses the feeling of escape, both physical and emotional, with the song’s warm, lulling tones that encourage reflection and emotional openness.

‘Jumping at Ghosts’ is the product of Franklin's emotional vulnerability and Julie's immense generosity prior to her passing in 2023. Julie and Kim Franklin, long-time friends, brought together by work and sewn together by their mutual love of music, storytelling, and conversation, remained close after moving on to different careers, emphasising the connection between the two women. Prior to her passing, Julie bestowed a gift to Franklin, leaving her some money so Franklin could “pursue her dreams”, a gift that led to the funding of ‘Jumping at Ghosts’, Blank Instrument’s debut album.

Written during a visit to Byron Bay in the months following Julie’s passing, coinciding with what would have been Julie’s birthday, ‘Green and Blue’ weaves warm piano with a mantra of finding escape and “waiting in the blue” for the motions to come to you, accepting what is and what is to come. The track, harmonious and inviting, encapsulates the need for respite and finding emotional clarity, using the picturesque locale of Byron Bay’s grassy coast and rolling waves as motifs for reaching understanding and realigning your beliefs of the world. “Taking the coast road, city streets, a distant memory… Bare feet on a bush track… feel my tension ebb away, each step I’m whole again… my soul is at ease."

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The Music Of Sound - Shimmer.

London’s UK-Indian dream-pop group The Music Of Sound are pleased to unveil their powerful new single ‘Shimmer’, released August 7th 2026 via Monochrome Motif Records. Bringing together generations, cultures and musical backgrounds, The Music of Sound has developed a distinctive sound that blends dream pop, electronic music and cinematic songwriting. Comprised of Gen Z musicians Sherin and Elena alongside veteran composer, producer and radio broadcaster Neil March, the trio have drawn comparisons to Beach House, Saint Etienne, Chromatics and Future Islands while carving out a musical identity that defies comparison, and is unmistakably their own.

Originally formed by Neil March for a BBC Introducing performance at Latitude Festival, the band has evolved from their avant-garde and post-classical roots into the immersive electro dream-pop outfit they are today. The Music of Sound’s current incarnation began in 2024 when South Indian vocalist Sherin moved to the UK to pursue a career in music after growing up in a culture where opportunities for young women were heavily restricted. 

Meeting Neil March at London’s ICMP music college proved transformative for her, leading to an endorsement from Arts Council England as an ‘exceptional talent’ for a Global Talent Visa, her appointment as the band’s lead vocalist, which proved to be a pivotal role in shaping the band’s distinctive sound. Together with flautist Elena, the trio create music that explores empathy, identity, anti-fascism and social unity.

Following the acclaim surrounding recent singles ‘Tyche’, ‘Paradigm’ and ‘Ebbw Vale’, ‘Shimmer’ continues the band’s evolution through shimmering dream-pop textures, spacious electronic soundscapes and emotionally resonant songwriting. At its heart, the single delivers a message of hope and unity to an increasingly divided world, celebrating kindness, compassion and resilience over fear and hatred.

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Cherry Vance - better.

Nashville pop-punk band Cherry Vance officially kicks off a new chapter with the release of their single, "better," available everywhere now. Blending hard-hitting instrumentation and emotionally driven lyrics, the self-produced track introduces listeners to a band quickly gaining momentum in Nashville's alternative scene.
 
"'Better' is about loving someone through their darkest moments and holding onto hope that they'll choose to become the better person you know they can be. Even though the song opens with a breakup, it's really about not wanting that goodbye to be permanent," shares the band. "We self-produced the track and recorded it at East Iris Studios in Nashville, Tennessee."
 
Self-produced and recorded at Nashville's East Iris Studios, "better" pairs emotionally charged lyrics with infectious pop-punk energy, exploring the hope of reconciliation and believing in someone's ability to change.
 
Although "better" marks Cherry Vance's first official release, the band has already established itself as one of Nashville's rising alternative acts. Recently praised by the Nashville Scene, Cherry Vance has shared the stage with Slow Pulp, Cameron Whitcomb, and Josiah and the Bonnevilles, and has become a staple at the city's Emo Night and Grunge Night events. The band has also performed at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and will join Ian McConnell on select tour dates this September.

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Nothing But Thieves - Grace Elizabeth Harvey - Piper Butcher - So So Modern - Strawberry Alarm Clock - Freyja Elsy

Photo - Steve Gullick

Nothing But Thieves - Baby Kool (Evelyn).

Marking a decade of Nothing But Thieves last year, with four albums, billions of streams, thousands of worldwide live shows and a global dedicated fanbase, the Southend five-piece made their musical return recently with new single ‘Evolution’ and the title-track of their forthcoming 5th record ‘Stray Dogs’ released on 25th September via RCA/Sony Music. The band continue to showcase their versatility and ambition with new single ‘Baby Kool (Evelyn)’, which is out now. 
 
‘Baby Kool (Evelyn)’ sees the band channel shared influences of Nirvana, Sonic Youth and The Pixies into a 90s grunge and indie rock inspired song, which received its global first play at BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record last night. The anthemic track is a progressive alt-rock song that fluctuates in both atmosphere and intensity, showcasing Conor Mason’s full vocal breadth and building to a memorable melodic chorus. Thematically referencing the community of music and fandom through the metaphors of loneliness, connection and euphoria, the song is accompanied by a surreal 90s inspired video by Maxim Kelly (Hot Chip, Shame) featuring a prominent ‘pink man’ character and Evelyn the (stray) dog. The band says,
 
“This one felt like we wandered back into Dom's garage, where the band started. It's got one foot in glam and the other in grunge. Those two worlds’ probably shouldn't get along, which is maybe why they did. We often find that's where the interesting stuff is.”

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Photo - Igor Prato Luna

Grace Elizabeth Harvey - The Dream Of Common Language.

Liverpool folk singer-songwriter Grace Elizabeth Harvey announces a new EP Songs Of Devotion, out 16th October and shares lead single 'The Dream Of Common Language'. The new EP will mark Harvey's first body of work since her spring 2025 debut EP Other Faith. Inspired by discovering Adrienne Rich's poetry collection The Dream of a Common Language in a charity shop, new single 'The Dream Of Common Language' opens conversationally over fingerpicked acoustic guitar before blooming into a sprawling instrumental passage. 

Scattered with fragmented images of cigarette papers, hazel-coloured eyes and cold telephone lines, both the single and forthcoming EP were recorded live at producer Gus White's residential studio, The Barn, alongside double bassist Sam Crooks and drummer Lloyd Haines. Mixed and mastered to tape, birdsong drifts through open windows as Harvey's delicate - almost spoken-word delivery - sits at the centre of a performance shaped by both the sound of language and its meaning; Harvey's lyrics balancing unusual, ambiguous phrasing with strikingly precise imagery, allowing the cadence of words to become part of the music itself.

Harvey said: "It’s a song about giving up on love to pursue the search for deeper philosophical understanding, in the face of language and its failures. The dream of a common language is a dream to be seen, to be understood and to rely on words to communicate what we feel and desire. It appears to us when the blind faith we have in others, often the strongest and most delusional when in love, breaks down, revealing itself as just a dream, a fiction, a wish.

"The song mentions a recurring dream I have where I feel I am screaming but no sound is coming out, or it does and I can’t understand why I am so angry or upset in the dream. I am quite a stoic person, coping with life through fantasy and goodwill, so this is maybe the unconscious outlet for pent up disappointment and injustice."

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Piper Butcher - Porcelain Pillars.

“Porcelain Pillars is a love story. One that I encourage you to sit down with, close your eyes and really immerse yourself in”. That is the perfect summary by Piper Butcher about “Porcelain Pillars”, her stunning third release for 2026.

“Porcelain Pillars” is a cinematic dreamscape of lyrical beauty mixed with equally gorgeous melodies and accompanying musicianship and production. Focusing on the beautiful story of Jenny and Jimmy - the two star characters of this narrative - it traces the tale of two people putting their love above everything else. It’s their journey through life, loss and every stop in between. “No relationship is ever perfect, but this song dares to dream of that ‘movie love’ everyone adores”, says Butcher.

Piper Butcher continues to build upon her impressive musical resume with this third single of 2026.  Just a week after the release of “Porcelain Pillars”, Butcher heads out on the road with Variety the Children’s Charity as MC and Ambassador for their Backyard Bash, supporting schools and small communities. Keep an ear out for her performing the new single as part of these events. She was also recently announced as a showcasing artist for BIGSOUND 2026 as well as joining Wade Forster’s national tour of Australia later this year. 

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Photo - Si Moore

So So Modern - Peace Talks.

Light Years is So So Modern’s latest offering. A collection of songs written in the decade since their last release, the twenty-something-year-old post-punk band have for years defied convention for how a group should operate or sound. Today the band resembles less the four young, unknowing friends who started this journey in the mid-2000s but more an extended family, bound through intersecting lives and close-knit community.

The musical landscape has since overtaken them with speed and saturation, but SSM have stuck to the path of the slow and steady - because time beats everything. Whilst the band’s sound has garnered a reputation for complex, chaotic convergences of guitars, synthesisers and rhythm, the songs in Light Years are about clarity, restraint and simplicity - an acknowledgement and misremembering of the straightforward hardcore punk and pop that inspired them as teenagers.

Short, structured and delivered with earnest power, today’s lead single, ‘Peace Talks’ reflects on coming-of-age within fringe communities - the late 90’s / early 00’s Aotearoa hardcore, DIY & straight-edge scenes, goth flats & anarchist squats - friends are, after all, the family you choose. Light Years represents time, distance and the entanglement of life, although it is unclear if this is in relation to a distant past or the horizon of the future. The limited 12” vinyl release by Flying Nun Records and Holiday Records is accompanied by the illuminating artwork of Lily Paris West.

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Strawberry Alarm Clock - Where's One? (Album).

The first full album of new music from psychedelic rock pioneers Strawberry Alarm Clock since 1969 is released today. The new album Where's One? returns the band to the pinnacle of the genre they helped to invent, with a lineup unmatched for its authenticity including five original members, and decades of performing and songwriting chemistry on display. Previewed in recent months by the hit indie singles “Monsters,” “Blow Your Mind” and “The Sky Isn't Falling,” Where's One hits record stores in a Deluxe Double LP edition and as a CD, as well as streaming on all digital platforms worldwide.

Unquestionably, the '60s spirit is here. You can hear it immediately in the immaculately sunny a capella harmonies of the opening track “Feel The Love,” as well as in the full record's sparkling instrumental arrangements featuring period-perfect touches of their signature swirling organ, sunshine pop flute, electric sitar, lacerating acid rock guitar and groovy percussion. But as the needle drifts into the second track, the captivatingly ominous “Monsters” (appropriately released as the album's first preview single last Halloween), it becomes obvious that Strawberry Alarm Clock are here not to relive former glories but to push the psych-rock form ever forward with new ideas, fresh sounds, and unexpected reinventions. 

It's a revelation driven home by the next track, a dramatic deconstruction of “Day Tripper” that lets listener know to expect the unexpected: in a world of power pop bands trying to sound like The Beatles, the Alarm Clock play The Beatles like Devo plays The Stones, here and on a delightfully skewed reading of “Within You Without You”. By the third track, “White Light” – a musically and emotionally raw journey that blends psychedelia and dream rock with intense, near-metal riffing and stunning harmonies – the restless creativity of SAC in 2026 is abundantly evident, aptly summed up in the opening lyrics: “Where am I going? What will I do when I get there?”

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Freyja Elsy - Another Life.

Freyja Elsy’s new single ‘Another Life’ is released today Friday August 7th. Built around the idea of what might have been, ‘Another Life’ explores the imagined versions of ourselves that exist alongside the choices we have made. The track reflects the strange duality of looking back at paths not taken while knowing that the life we have built is the right one, capturing the distance between who we were, who we are, and who we might have become.

Musically, the track moves from intimate guitar, piano and double bass into a wider arrangement of evolving strings and electronic textures, with the production shifting between restraint and release. ‘Another Life’ is the third single from Freyja’s forthcoming EP to stop the world turning, continuing the project’s movement from memory and anxiety into reflection and change.

The track also marks the first time Freyja has incorporated Cymraeg (the Welsh language) into her songwriting, with a verse inspired by her ongoing study of the language and a subtle reference to Welsh folklore, reflecting the song’s themes of changing seasons, identity and transformation.


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My Life As A Moth - Anne-Claire - Ark Identity - A Very Special Episode - Mustard Service - Mama’s Broke

My Life As A Moth - Closer To Earth.

East London-based, Swedish-born artist My Life As A Moth announces The Parade of the Starlet & the Broken Hearted - Extended Deluxe Edition, alongside the striking new video for the single, 'Closer To Earth'. Blending elements of post-punk, experimental rock, art pop and industrial textures, she crafts a haunting, immersive sonic world. Describing her music as "genre-blended basement confessionals told through winding metaphors and obscure sounds and rhythms," My Life As A Moth creates songs that are as emotionally raw as they are sonically adventurous.

Expanding the shadowy, surreal world that My Life As A Moth has meticulously crafted, 'Closer To Earth' is an emotionally charged and beautifully unsettling single, steeped in atmosphere and cinematic tension. Spacious yet intimate, the track moves effortlessly between lo-fi electronics, theatrical expression and moments of raw, melancholic vulnerability. Echoing the fearless experimentalism of Björk, and the dark, immersive textures of Chelsea Wolfe, 'Closer To Earth' is in constant motion, shifting from processed vocoders and sprawling electronic soundscapes, into syncopated live drums and biting guitar tones, creating a sound that is as unpredictable as it is captivating.

Speaking about the video Sofia says: “Closer to Earth is a song inspired by the souls incarnation journey into the material plane, and the experience of having one foot in each world. The music video was an effort to reflect on what is real, perceived or an illusion as we are tethered to different realities, and drew influence from the philosophy of Plato’s Cave

My Life As A Moth was a project which began during lockdown, at a time when she felt lost and disconnected. Sitting down at a dusty keyboard she had not played in a long time, she found a dead moth between the keys. Struck by how sad and strangely beautiful it looked, she wrote a song called ‘My Life As A Moth’. That moment became the starting point not just for a track, but for an entire artistic identity.

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Photo - Jillian Clark

Anne-Claire - Three Things.

A hypnotizing and melodic examination of what awaits us on the other side of catastrophe. The tune starts gently, with Anne-Claire's inviting vocals backed by her husband and collaborator Charles Cleaver's piano before igniting along with the orchestral accompaniment into a conflagration at the edge of composure. In the ashes, Anne-Claire's voice comes back to the center: direct, intimate, unforgettable.

What is the current carrying us? Do we swim against it, or do we drift at its mercy? On the stunning and immersive EP Do You Dream of Me Too? (due Sept 4th), Anne-Claire delves into a dreamworld of desperation and redemption with sweeping orchestral arrangements and powerful vocal performances that trace the shape of the answers just outside our reach.

Do You Dream of Me Too? is unlike any other record in recent memory from the Triangle. Studied but irreverent, composed but far-reaching, it blends genres and vernaculars into a single captivating trance, with one of our most startling and inimitable voices at its center.

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Ark Identity - Signals.

Toronto indie artist and producer Ark Identity (Noah Mroueh) unveils “Signals,” a tense, surreal, and emotionally immersive alternative single that embraces uncertainty both sonically and thematically. Blending atmospheric dream pop, indie electronic textures, and an explosive post-hardcore finale, the track unfolds like a constantly shifting landscape, refusing to settle into any one genre while rewarding listeners with each unexpected turn.

Originally written during a songwriting camp, “Signals” wasn’t the song Noah Mroueh and Andrew Polychronopoulos initially intended to create. Paired together to write for a sync brief, the two spent hours developing a blues-rock track before realizing it simply wasn't resonating.

“It was solid, but neither of us was super excited about it,” Noah recalls. “Things got interesting when we decided to scrap the brief and just create something for ourselves.” That decision became the catalyst for everything that followed.

After picking up a guitar and running it through a chorus effect (one of Noah’s favourite sounds), he began casually fingerpicking what would become the song's unmistakable opening. Andrew immediately started building drum loops and ambient textures around the progression, allowing the track to evolve naturally rather than forcing it toward a predetermined destination.

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A Very Special Episode - AVSE (EP).

Following the release of the explosive new single “But I’m A … Starr”, A Very Special Episode dropped their self-titled EP, AVSE, a few days ago. The latest offering from the Brooklyn trio is a record that hits like a shove in a crowded room: distorted guitar and feedback pulled tight around pop hooks, the fuzz of shoegaze dragged through the grit of noise rock, alternately bruising and melodic, sometimes in the same thirty seconds.

The EP was written in the lead-up to and aftermath of Our Wicked Lady's annual Winter Madness battle of the bands, a tournament the trio won, with the prize money going straight back into funding the recording and mixing. AVSE began life as early sketches for a third full-length before the songs themselves made the call: five tracks that hit harder together than they would spread thin across an album.

"We were originally planning a third full length but decided that an EP was best given the material we had written by the time we were able to start tracking," the band say. "This record came together with friends old and new across multiple venues in Brooklyn — it's one of the most chaotic, heartfelt, and fun production processes of our lives."

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Mustard Service - Sharks.

Mustard Service is an indie rock band based in Miami, Florida. Self-described as "zest pop," the band’s music draws influences from rock, surf, jazz, funk, and bossa nova, while also infusing Cuban, Uruguayan, Argentinian, and Mexican flavors into their unique sound.

The three-piece lineup features Marco Rivero Ochoa on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Leo Cattani on keyboard, and Adam Perez on drums. Their Latin heritage is deeply embedded in their sound, with many of their songs featuring Spanish lyrics and vibrant Latin rhythms.

Their latest single, "Sharks," sees Mustard Service continue their trademark blend of infectious indie grooves and thoughtful songwriting. Taking inspiration from the phrase "pool shark," the track challenges the assumptions people make about things they fear or don't fully understand. Rather than portraying sharks as calculating predators, Marco reflects on how humans often create myths around danger, arguing that reality is usually far less malicious than we imagine. "It's human to mythologize the things that scare or hurt us, but the realities are usually far simpler and far less malicious," he explains. Beneath its playful concept, "Sharks" becomes a reflection on perception, misunderstanding, and the stories we tell ourselves about the unknown.

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Mama’s Broke - Old-Fashioned Love Song.

Mama’s Broke, the Nova Scotian duo of Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria release their new single, “Old-Fashioned Love Song” in anticipation of their upcoming album Reunion, out August 28 via Free Dirt Records and Forward Music Group. 

“Though we love singing and dancing along to old love songs, we have always found it nearly impossible to write an earnest love song ourselves. It always seems easier to write about heartbreak and disappointment than the feeling of being in love,” Mama’s Broke explains about the track. “This song is an attempt to break through self-made barriers and try to live in the vulnerability of believing in another person.”

“Old Fashioned Love Song” follows the release of the singles “Build It Up,” “Heaven” and “The Nameless,” all of which are on the forthcoming album.

Mama’s Broke have forged a style carried across landscapes rather than tied to one. For over a decade, the pair have been in near-constant motion, bringing their folk-without-borders approach to small clubs, DIY spaces, and everywhere in between. This tradition is continued with their biggest tour yet which will see them play across Canada and the US. Speaking on the upcoming dates the pair explain, “This album is named Reunion because it’s so much about coming together and galvanising against the forces that attempt to keep us isolated and afraid. This album is meant to be experienced in a room of people, not on the internet.”

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Sacred Buzz - Alex Amor - Josh Rouse - Jules Klee - Railcard - Futurebirds

Photo - Khaled AlShannan

Sacred Buzz - Lost Highway.

Sacred Buzz is a Berlin psych band known for their electrifying live presence and deeply immersive soundscapes. Their sonic palette bridges vintage and modern: garage‑rock grit, krautrock repetition, mesmerizing drones, and proto‑punk drive. On stage, Sacred Buzz conjures a psychedelic ritual: hypnotic drums, throbbing bass, fuzzy guitar reverberating like a lost transmission, droning organ, lo‑fi vocals and surreal lyrics that will rattle your heart out and drive your soul up to the 13th floor in a hazy dream-like vision.

Released today “Lost Highway” captures the feeling of being on the run, hunted by something you can't name, whether it lurks in the world around you or deep within your own mind. A driving krautrock rhythm is spiced with raw guitar and embellished by a brooding synthesizer. 

A fuzzy, phased-out riff between verses evokes a sense of being chased with nowhere to run, before it all culminates in a climax that sounds like a speeding car, screeching brakes, and the sudden end of the road. Inspired by dark ambience of Joy Division and fueled with mind-bending imagery of David Lynch, “Lost Highway“ channels the paranoia simmering beneath the daily grind of modern city life.

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Photo - Henry Croston

Alex Amor - Inside.

Scottish singer-songwriter Alex Amor releases new single 'Inside' - the final preview of debut album 'Heavenly Bodies' - out 21st August via New York independent label VERO Music. Amor has also been added to the bill for All Points East's Lorde headline day on 22nd August. 

The heartbeat of her upcoming debut full-length, 'Inside' is what Alex describes as "a sad-banger lullaby for loved ones gone too soon". A buoyant, guitar-led indie-pop anthem that finds her holding joy and grief in the same hand, "it takes a looking glass to the ugly, scared, and messy parts of my mind," Alex says - from reflections on a world "when friends aren't gonna overdose" to the fear that "if you get too close / I could lose you too".

Speaking more on the release of 'Inside', Alex Amor said: "It’s about coming to terms with compounded grief, generational trauma and taking a stark look at one of the coping mechanisms that defined much of my twenties: dissociation. Pulling away from connection altogether to avoid the pain of needing someone, missing someone, or losing someone. Part of love is accepting loss, making space for grief, and finding the courage to feel it all. It’s a song about connection, the choice to be vulnerable, and learning that the only way through grief is to let yourself feel it."

Originally written as a sprawling poem, 'Inside' arrived in the studio with producer Baz Kaye determined to preserve every word Alex had written. The result is a five-and-a-half-minute centrepiece that pairs some of Amor's most devastating writing to date with an irrepressibly uplifting energy, informed by the sense of optimism Kaye and co-writer Peter Brien carried back from that summer's Glastonbury Festival.

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Photo - Joshua Black Wilkins

Josh Rouse - January Sky.

Josh Rouse has signed to New West Records and will release his label debut Museums and Women on October 23. The 10-song set was produced by Brad Jones, who also produced Rouse’s critically acclaimed 2003 album 1972. Museums and Women showcases Rouse at his most hopeful and romantic, balancing casual poetry and wry humor in equal measure as he conjures up a cast full of drifters and dreamers moving through life with quiet satisfaction. 

The music is often bittersweet, with a gentle, seemingly placid surface that belies the deep well of emotion and memory and desire underneath. The result is a lush, cinematic exploration of the endless stream of passing strangers who slip in and out of our lives on a daily basis. He says, “I was drawn to these songs because they’re so observational. They’re full of characters and stories I dreamed up from little moments that sparked my imagination on the road. At the end of the day, though, it’s inevitable that I’m in there somewhere, too.”

The sessions for Museums and Women were quick and raw, with Rouse on guitar, Jones on bass, and Fred Eltringham (Sheryl Crow, The Chicks) on drums. The trio would record live in the morning, cutting multiple songs in a row before returning in the afternoon to complete overdubs while the music was still fresh and new. “At a certain point, Brad had this folder full of recordings on his desktop, and he asked me what to call it,” Rouse remembers. “I suggested Museums and Women because it was the name of a John Updike book I’d always loved, and it just felt right for the kind of stories I was telling.” Indeed, Museums and Women is a particularly fitting title for a collection that observes its subjects from a reverent distance, elevating ordinary moments of human connection (or lack thereof) into gallery-worthy masterpieces. 

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Jules Klee - He Don't Know a Thing.

Chicago singer-songwriter Jules Klee, who as opened for and/or performed with Joe Pug, Colin Gilmore, John Fullbright, and the West Texas Exiles, released the single "He Don't Know a Thing" at the end of last week. "He Don't Know a Thing" is the first single from her forthcoming album, Roses on My Table, to be released in 2027. "He Don't Know a Thing" (and the album, overall) explores a love that endured distance, addiction, and loss.

Jules Klee is an Americana singer-songwriter, with a voice that knows when to soothe and when to bruise. Her voice can quiet a dive bar—and then carry it. Her songwriting is rooted in plainspoken emotional clarity: songs told without flinching, 

“Jules Klee has a Chicago career of her own but shares a huge voice for harmony,” wrote No Depression. “She’s got pipes that rival Neko Case and Kelly Hogan,” added Time Out Chicago, “We don’t know her name.” The line lingered—less as a critique than a kind of unfinished introduction.

Her early work began quietly, through Chicago’s songwriter circles, earning a reputation for an arresting vocal presence that could shift a room without asking permission. “There’s a power and realness in her songs that’s hard to come by,” as stated by Colin Gilmore, fellow songwriter & friend whom Klee has recorded with, and joined on tour.

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Railcard - Unstable Neighbour.

Today the UK's Railcard have shared 'Unstable Neighbour' as a further taste of their forthcoming album 'Two Steps At A Time.' Railcard made their live debut in December 2025 and had by then recruited their fourth member: Allison Thomson (Trash Can Sinatras, The Love Band), whose flawless trumpet and swirly keyboard-playing complete the Railcard sound, allowing the band to fulfil the significant ambition and range of the songs, which are mostly co-written and often co-sung by Love and Button.  “Flannelette” and “Sunday Sun”, delicate and swoony, could almost be Slapp Happy at their most Bacharach. “Foxy”, mysterious and charming, has more than a hint of Kate Bush December magic. 

The raucous duet “I’m A Disaster” is The Kinks meets deadpan Shangri-Las. The title track could have been an alternative theme tune for Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads. “Runaround” is like a school choir doing The Raincoats. “Unstable Neighbour”, mesmerising and insistent: it might make you think of Stereolab; we might imagine an indiepop Hawkwind.  Peter Momtchiloff also contributes two wonderful songs on the album: the fragile and hallucinatory “Paper Thin” and the Love-meets-Undertones rush of “Hillman Minx”.

Two Steps At A Time is released on Skep Wax and Slumberland September 18th 2026. An exclusive Dinked edition of 300 copies including a 7 inch single with 2 additional tracks will be available at participating UK record stores. The band have a string of UK dates through the summer and Autumn and there will be a Bandcamp listening party for the album at 8pm (UK time) on September 16th.

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Photo - Jacq Justice

Futurebirds - Pretty Eyes.

Today, the Athens, GA-born Futurebirds released “Pretty Eyes,” a cosmic country meditation on true love from the second half of their forthcoming double album Far Out Country II that will be digitally released September 4 via Dualtone Records.  In June, Futurebirds released the full 18-song collection exclusively on vinyl, while just the first 9 songs that comprise Far Out Country I arrived on streaming services. 

About the song, Daniel “Womz” Womack explains, “‘Pretty Eyes’ is my most vulnerable song - a slow-burning surrender anthem about the less lofty side of love. It holds one of my favorite lines I’ve ever written: ‘You feel like it’s vanity anytime you cry, you’re challenging the universe.’ I blacked out writing it and when I came to it was written in my notes. It’s the feeling of being torn between self-protection and the relief of being truly seen – not just by someone you love, but by yourself. It’s a song for anyone who’s ever loved someone so much it felt like losing an argument with themselves.”

Later this month, Futurebirds will kick off the final leg of their album release tour with two hometown shows at the Georgia Theater on August 20 and 21, followed by an appearance an AmericanaFest and a run of dates supporting Trampled By Turtles. Futurebirds is Brannen Miles (bass), Carter King (vocals, guitar), Daniel Womack (vocals, guitar), Thomas Johnson (vocals, guitar), and Tom Myers (drums).

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Marty Falle - Karen Myatt - Al Nicol

Marty Falle - Song of the Holler (Album).

Nashville recording artist and songwriter Marty Falle announces the release of Song of the Holler, a fifteen-song collection of original bluegrass music inspired by the people, places, and traditions of Appalachia. Produced by acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Yudkin, the album brings together exceptional musicianship and vivid storytelling to celebrate a region whose history continues to shape the American experience.

Drawing inspiration from Kentucky's coal camps, mountain churches, family farms, railroad towns, and wooded hollers, Song of the Holler tells stories of resilience, faith, sacrifice, redemption, and home. Each song reflects real places and the lives of ordinary people whose strength, determination, and values have been passed from one generation to the next.

“The mountains have always been filled with remarkable stories,” says Falle. “My hope is that these songs honor the people who lived them and help preserve a small part of that heritage for future generations.”

The album features an outstanding group of Nashville musicians led by producer Jonathan Yudkin, with performances by Jenee Fleenor, Rob Ickes, Matt Menefee, Carl Miner, Mike Bub, Kevin “Swine” Grantt, Josh Matheny, Jim Hoke, Tim Galloway, Wes Little, Brian Allen, Mike Waldron, Devin Malone, and vocal performances by Carly Greer, Kim Parent, and Ashleigh Graham.

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Karen Myatt - Angélique.

Montreal vocalist Karen Myatt has released Angélique, the second single from her forthcoming album Valise. Co-produced and engineered by Christian St. Germain, Angélique is an homage to the power of art. “Michelangelo believed that every block of marble already contained a sculpture, and his job was merely to liberate it,” muses Myatt. “This song pays tribute to that philosophy with his famous quote; ‘I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.’”

“At a time when we face art’s greatest transgression - AI - this concept has never been more real or more necessary. Angélique honours artistic expression, and the power of art to connect humanity across time and space.”

Myatt’s new album Valise - which will be released globally on September 4 - captures and conveys both the act and the art of sacred travel. Inspired by journeys - internal and external - over the past decade, the new songs explore time travel, spiritual quest, and multi-cultural pilgrimage - experiences that exist beyond the trappings of tourism.

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Al Nicol - Only Hoping (Deluxe).

Al Nicol has shared a new single alongside the release of ‘Only Hoping (Deluxe),’ the expanded edition of his debut full-length released in 2025. Produced by Patrick Damphier (The Arcs, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Aaron Lee Tasjan) and featuring emerging indie sister duo lighthearted, “Blue Stained Glass” is warm, wistful, and gently psychedelic. It arrives in the form of an official music video created by Jesse Weeden, Nada Temerinski and Alex Seltzer—an intimate and endearing insight to the making of the song.

“I've been a fan of lighthearted for a while, so to be able to work on the song together and sing with them has been a real treat, a real honour,” shares Nicol. “They bring such uplifting energy (and of course gorgeous harmony) to the song. Together with Patrick's production choices and mix, I am really happy with how it turned out.”

“I wanted to write a song that told the story of someone who knew deep down their person would enter their life soon, even in their moment of deepest struggle,” Nicol notes of the single. “It’s a song about the strength of hope in the face of loneliness—finding and nurturing a belief and vision within oneself that things will work out. To see the world through a blue stained glass is to be optimistic, hopeful, aspirational.” 

‘Only Hoping Deluxe’ features songs from the original album produced by GRAMMY-nominated artist and producer Hiss Golden Messenger, as well as new, intimate acoustic renditions, such as “You and Me” featuring LA folk gem Johanna Samuels and today’s fresh singles among others, all produced by Damphier. Nicol relocated from Montreal to Nashville in 2025. Music City suits the songwriter, who’s known to collaborate. The original ‘Only Hoping’ features contributions from members of Bonny Light Horseman and Erin Rae. Crafting a sound that ranges from airy and ethereal to downright twangy, Nicol’s music has appealed to champions at Spotify's Fresh Folk, KCRW, KEXP, Lightning 100, WXPN and more.


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