Mollie Elizabeth - The Yesters - GALVEZTON - Jillette Johnson - Malia Rogers

Mollie Elizabeth - Dog Eat Dog.

Mollie Elizabeth returns with a new song that deepens her distinctive sonic and visual universe, weaving eerie, quirky, and subtly dark textures into her signature femme, classic sound. “Dog Eat Dog” (+ visualizer) is co-written by Mollie and Lucas Sim, who also helmed the production. Mollie Elizabeth adds, “Dog Eat Dog” is centered around the concept that all humans are, unfortunately, natural born predators. In my nature, and I think in many others, all I really want to do is cultivate peace and love, but in reality, this world is not peaceful. There are people who will take advantage of you if you do not accept that whether you like it or not, we live in a dog eat dog world.”

Earlier this year, she shared “The Disappearing Girl” which was written by Mollie Elizabeth, Madison Love and Christopher J Baran, it was produced by CJ Baran, and recorded at VAMP Studios in Los Angeles. 

Gearing up to deliver more subtly penned story songs, the 21-year-old Washington State-based artist Mollie Elizabeth only introduced herself last year, and has already delivered a stunning debut EP Dirty Blonde via Neon Gold / Virgin Music. Known for her whimsical, melancholic, and empowering songs, the Pacific Northwest artist describes her music as “tiny worlds”, a refuge shaped by her upbringing in the Washington woods, suffused with old-Hollywood elegance and emotional depth. Mollie co-produced her newest song, including music video for “Doe Eyed” (dir. Maya Sassoon) HERE, along with her Dirty Blonde EP with Dean Reid (Lana Del Rey, Marina) and co-written with Reid and GRAMMY-nominated Casey Smith (Olivia Rodrigo, Ashe, Benson Boone). 

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The Yesters - Freak Show.

Dark theatrical rock duo The Yesters premiered the official music video for their latest single, “Freak Show,” yesterday March 6, unveiling a cinematic visual that expands the song’s exploration of addiction, spectacle, and the uneasy push and pull between self-control and outside influence. At its core, “Freak Show” tells the story of a woman navigating addiction — not as a solitary struggle, but as a constant negotiation with a world that both entices and judges her. The track pairs brooding melodies with a vintage-tinged rock atmosphere, building a sense of tension that mirrors the emotional volatility at the heart of the narrative.

The upcoming music video, directed by Toon de Melker, transforms that internal conflict into a surreal, carnival-like landscape where exaggerated characters and shadow-filled environments blur reality and performance. Through stylized visuals and theatrical staging, the video positions addiction as a kind of spectacle — a world where temptation, observation, and identity collide. Rather than presenting a literal narrative, the imagery reflects the cyclical nature of being pulled toward and away from destructive patterns, echoing the song’s themes of seduction, isolation, and resilience. de Melker noted, “I wanted to translate both the music and the lyrics into a striking visual experience; unsettling, immersive, and deeply personal, exploring what the world might look like through the eyes of an addict of any kind.”

Musically, “Freak Show” channels a dark cabaret-rock atmosphere, pairing theatrical vocals with an undercurrent of tension that mirrors the video’s off-kilter aesthetic. The result is both playful and unsettling — a commentary on the fascination with spectacle and the shifting roles between audience and attraction.

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GALVEZTON - Roll To G-Town.

Texas-native GALVEZTON presents new single “Roll To G-Town.” An eclectic mix of old school Beck meets dusty roads Americana, the new single "Roll To G-Town" is now available via La Izquierda Records. Dripping with charisma and confidence, the new single by GALVEZTON is a love letter to Robert Kuhn’s home state. GALVEZTON’s forthcoming album, is to be released worldwide April 3rd, 2026, (except in the UK where it will be released May 15th.) 

The original concept of the new single was born from kitchenside pandemic hangs with Robert Kuhn and his acoustic guitar. Featuring psychedelic lyrics, folky guitars, and the entrancing backup vocals of Krystal Hardwick, the new single is a perfect springtime jam. Recorded appropriately in Galveston, TX at La Izquierda headquarters between 2022 and 2024, the new single offers a brand new anthem for the Lone Star State. 

Robert Kuhn, the face and voice behind GALVEZTON describes the impact of the new song in greater detail: “Texas country star Rich O’toole heard me play the song at La Izquierda Surf and Music Festival and immediately asked me if he could record it. I agreed of course and after his version came out, Houston hip-hop legend, Bun-B (UGK), heard it and said he wanted to do a remix. Paul Wall, the People’s Champ, soon heard it and wanted to collaborate too, so joined in and the song becomes a Houston area anthem. “Ima take my money an Roll to G-town!”

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Photo - Josie Dunne

Jillette Johnson - The Pain, My Friend (EP).

Jillette Johnson releases her new EP The Pain, My Friend and released the official video for “Good At Lying” featuring Langhorne Slim. Produced by Johnson’s longtime collaborator Joe Pisapia, the 5-song collection captures the pure, instinctual joy that first drew Johnson to songwriting as a kid. In support of the release, she will hit the road for a run of tour dates supporting Fantastic Cat that will kick off on April 11 in Woodstock, NY and make stops in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and her hometown of Nashville, TN at Row One on April 23. 

About “Good At Lying,” Johnson explains: “I wrote ‘Good At Lying’ at a moment when I was hitting a wall sitting at my piano, trying to write a song and not liking anything that was coming out. I just started banging my hands on the keys and saying ‘I don’t know anything, I don’t know anything,’ and eventually that banging turned into something more musical, and the rest of the song flowed out in the subsequent 30 minutes. It’s about imposter syndrome, a feeling I think every artist feels if they’re doing their art right, which is to say living right on the edge of what’s familiar, peering into the big scary unknown, eventually on their way to making something new. Also, I had a weird feeling while I was writing that I was channeling the spirit of my friend Langhorne Slim, so it’s extra special that he agreed to lend his wild and mighty voice to it. ”

About the EP, she adds: "The Pain, My Friend is a collection of songs about embracing and being with the innate discomfort of being alive, in order to make way for joy. I wrote these songs like I always do, alone in my room, and was so fortunate to record them with some of my favorite musicians out there. The experience was easy and light and fun, and reconnected me with the freedom of making music that I felt when I just started making music as a kid. ”


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Malia Rogers - Sunlight (A Good Death).

Nova Scotia-raised, Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Malia Rogers returns with “Sunlight (A Good Death),” a healing, Celtic-influenced folk single that approaches loss through the lens of gratitude rather than despair. Rooted in the idea that grief is simply love with nowhere left to go, the song reflects on mourning not as an ending, but as evidence of a life deeply shared.

Written while on tour in Ireland in January 2025, the song arrived unexpectedly. After a late night following a show in Tramore on Ireland’s southeastern coast, Rogers woke suddenly at 7:15AM; the exact date and time her grandfather, John Matthews, had passed away four years earlier. A paleoentomologist, teacher, poet, and lifelong music lover, Matthews played a defining role in Rogers’ life and creative development. “We talked about everything, including death and what it might mean to die ‘well,’” she explains. “I cried for two hours alone in that room above the pub, and when I was done, I had this song. It’s a small gift in return for the countless gifts he brought to all who knew him.”

Inspired by the stories shared with her after performances, Rogers is inviting listeners to take part in a collaborative music video celebrating the people who shaped us.

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Sarah Sharp - Aldous Harding - Salarymen - El Ten Eleven - Kye Alfred Hillig

Photo -  Zack Brigham

Sarah Sharp - Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.

Austin-based singer/songwriter Sarah Sharp just announced the upcoming release of her debut album Deja Vü out May 15 via Spaceflight Records. A staple of the Austin music scene, the former leader of the critically-acclaimed Jitterbug Vipers and highly respected commercial songwriter's luminous debut blends intimate, nocturnal arrangements with her incredible vocal prowess. 

Alongside the announcement, Sharp has shared her interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”. She started performing the tune during her nine-year prestigious residency at the Elephant Room in Austin when a former boyfriend developed cancer. Passing away soon after, Sharp's reading reflects on the disappointment of past relationships, embodying life experience and loss.

When asked about the timing of her debut, Sharp says, “My kids are now old enough”, underscoring her commitment as a single mother. “I want to play for way more people. Traveling with your music to other parts of the world is like running up and saying hello to parts of yourself that you can’t always access. It’s so powerful to integrate them. I’m always striving to become whole while keeping my heart open - living in the flow of what my friends call ‘Sarahdipity’.”

After nine years of her prestigious residency at the Elephant Room, Sarah Sharp recorded her debut album in the studio of local guitar legend Eric Johnson, who offered the space to her after being mesmerized by one of her performances. The result crosses over a multitude of genres, from jazz, to folk, to americana, providing a wide cinematic canvas on which she traverses a haunting emotional journey. Deja Vü marks the singer coming into her own in the national spotlight, with a distinguished, smokey vocal in the lineage of Norah Jones.

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Aldous Harding - One Stop.

It's time to buckle up for Aldous Harding's fifth studio album, Train On The Island (on 4AD). 

Her first album since her 2022 release Warm Chris, Flying Nun Records in New Zealand are making the album available digitally and on CD, red vinyl gatefold, exclusive ‘Flying Nun Black’ vinyl gatefold, and exclusive ‘Holiday Records Copper’ vinyl gatefold [limited to 50 copies] all out on 8th May 2026! 

This week marked the release of the first single and video One Stop. Premiered by Huw Stephens on his BBC 6Music radio show, One Stop is accompanied by a Harding-esque video directed by Michelle Henning (Props/location/assistance by Hana Shimada).

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Salarymen - Borrowed Time.

Sydney's Salarymen are rolling straight off a mostly sold-out UK tour with DMAs and Old Mervs and they're not hitting pause. New music drops today March 6th, plus a run of Australian headline shows this March. The indie outfit unleash Take It Or Leave It (Extended), featuring new single 'Borrowed Time'—an atmospheric psych-pop/indie rock fusion that takes aim at the music industry's unspoken expiration date for female artists.

'Borrowed Time' combines Djo's hazy, reverb-drenched guitars and warbly synths, with Alice Phoebe Lou's ethereal, captivating vocals. It's retro-leaning but sophisticated in all the right ways, with tight harmonies, clever chord changes and richly-layered soundscapes
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But beneath the shimmering surface lies a hard-hitting message: women in music are working against a clock nobody sets but everyone enforces. Once women hit their late 20s, suddenly there's this quiet pressure, this sense that your window is closing before you've even hit your peak. “In a world increasingly obsessed with youth, women in music are quietly taught that relevance has a shelf life, long before their artistry has room to mature.” says Renee de la Motte.

The extended version also features ‘Echoes’, a fan-fan favourite dream pop track inspired by the likes of Beach House and Alvvays. Written in memory of two friends who tragically passed away, the song is a stunningly-raw and beautiful depiction of grief and the fragility of life.

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El Ten Eleven - Formerly Fresh.

The legendary post-rock duo El Ten Eleven have just released the driving and electric new track "Formerly Fresh" from their upcoming album, Nowhere Faster, on April 10th via Joyful Noise Recordings. "The title is us poking fun at how old we are getting," El Ten bassist Kristian Dunn says. "Everything you hear other than drums is coming from a fretless acoustic bass guitar (yes, with loads of effects at times!). On our new record, side one was recorded with my usual electric basses, but side two is all on the acoustic."

Not many bands greet aging head-on, and fewer still announce it with a cowbell. El Ten Eleven does both without flinching. “Formerly Fresh” is a self-effacing glance in the mirror—a song that understands time has passed and refuses to apologize. Moving between peppy, string-driven swells and quieter passages built on little more than bass and shaker, it finds El Ten Eleven at their oldest—and, undoubtedly, at the peak of their powers.

We like to believe our lives can be shaped into stories—clean arcs, legible meaning—but life refuses the outline. Instead, it moves bluntly and without apology, indifferent to our sense of order. Events pile up without resolution, momentum divorced from direction, motion confused for progress. Sometimes the only refuge left is the nowhere of our own minds.

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Kye Alfred Hillig - The All-Night Costume Company (Album).

Tacoma, Washington songwriter Kye Alfred Hillig this week releases The All-Night Costume Company, his ninth solo album. It’s a record born from necessity rather than momentum, written during a period when Hillig had nearly walked away from music altogether, and found himself worse for it. What emerged instead is his most vital and clear-eyed work to date, an album shaped by collapse, community, and the unglamorous work of staying alive. For more than two decades, Hillig has been a steady presence in the Puget Sound underground, splitting his life between songwriting, social services, and a string of bands and solo releases that value truth over spectacle. 

Since stepping fully into his solo work in 2012, he’s built a catalog known for sharp melodies, indelible hooks, and lyrics that refuse to soften the blow. His writing carries echoes of Bob Dylan’s moral unease and narrative patience, delivered with a plainspoken, blue-collar directness that recalls Springsteen at his most human rather than heroic. There’s also a modern indie pulse running through the record, a sense of emotional lift and tension familiar to fans of The Jayhawks and Wilco’s early work, even as The All-Night Costume Company stands firmly on its own.

The album exists because Hillig’s band refused to let him disappear. After releasing the double album In All Colors Singing Back in 2022, Hillig became largely inactive, convinced that music had taken more than it had given. Walking away didn’t bring relief. It made things worse. By the fall of 2024, his life had begun to unravel in quiet but dangerous ways. A rare full-band show that November at Tacoma’s Edison Square changed everything. In front of a packed room, something snapped back into place. Afterward, his band demanded a record. Hillig owed them one, and more than that, he needed it. The band at the center of The All-Night Costume Company — guitarist David Bilbrey, keyboardist Bill Nordwall, bassist Yoswa, drummer and multi-instrumentalist Jasen Samford, and backing vocalist Annie J — isn’t presented as a supporting cast, but as a collective force. Their presence shapes the record’s emotional center, giving Hillig the space and pressure needed to finish what he’d nearly abandoned.

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Trippers & Askers - KiKi Holli & The Remedy - Asara - Simone White - Kimon Kirk feat. Robbie Fulks - Sarah & Collin

Photo - Charlie Boss

Trippers & Askers - Kin.

Tried To Do’s is the second full length album from Trippers & Askers the songwriting and recording project of Jay Hammond (releases May 8 2026 via Sleepy Cat Records). Drafts of this record started as early as 2019. The initial idea was a Parable of the Talents concept album to follow 2021's Parable of the Sower concept album Acorn and/or an album about Hammond's hometown of Jackson, TN. 

Many moves, much traveling and many losses later the loss of his future child, the loss of his grandmother, the near loss of his father in law, and the hit of hurricane Helene in his adopted hometown of Asheville, NC - this record became a record about loss. It’s a record about ways of mourning, ways of "remembering", both with the family in which Hammond was raised as a child and the family of which he has come to inhabit multiple roles as an adult.

The songs on Tried To Do’s deal with the quotidian themes of love, family and loss through the prism of both Buddhist and Christian ways of mourning. Through songs and stories of loss in relation to Hammond's upbringing in the bible belt U.S. South, Tried To Do’s sets up a productive tension between Buddhist and Christian rituals and beliefs about mourning.

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KiKi Holli & The Remedy - Running Out of Time.

Los Angeles based indie-pop vocalist and songwriter KiKi Holli returns with her cinematic new single "Running Out of Time", out yesterday March 4th under her expanded artist name KiKi Holli & The Remedy. Rooted in indie-pop but layered with dream pop, baroque flourishes, and dark wave atmosphere, "Running Out of Time" creates a fully immersive sonic world. Lush synths and sweeping orchestration pulse beneath Holli’s voice, building a sense of urgency that feels both intimate and expansive. Her vocals move from restrained vulnerability to soaring intensity, drawing listeners into a space where time feels fragile and essential, a sonic experience meant to be felt as much as heard.

The release marks a continuing evolution for Holli. The addition of “& The Remedy” reflects the magnetic energy of her live band and her ongoing creative partnership with two‑time Grammy‑nominated producer Ethan Allen (Ben Harper, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tricky). Together, they shape a sound that blends cinematic scale with emotional precision — immersive, transportive, and grounded in songcraft.

Her December 2025 single "Wish", the first release under KiKi Holli & The Remedy, earned widespread acclaim, landing on Atwood Magazine’s Songs of the Year 2025 list. Ladygunn praised how “from the very first listen… the artist blends emotion and strength,” and EARMILK highlighted the track’s spacious depth and captivating atmosphere, noting its exploration of hope, longing, and the tension between past and future. 

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Asara - Cute.

Asara releases her first single and music video today for the song Cute. Asara is a Parisian multi-instrumentalist artist launching her first solo project. After spending the last four years with the band Dog Park, in which she plays guitar, bass, keyboards, and sings, she is now opening up a more intimate space.

Composed throughout 2025, her first solo album is structured like an audio diary, almost a documentary, recounting the past year. The project sets the voice at the center, and the tracks navigate between melancholy and rhythmic energy influenced by the songwriting of artists like Clairo, Smerz or Blood Orange. 

The first single, “cute,” addresses the difficulty and tenderness of watching someone cry. Carried by a deliberately bright tone, the song talks about break-up without dwelling on it, and looks resolutely toward the future. A fast-paced first single, “cute” relies on an effective drum machine and a voice brought to the forefront. A small rhythmic synth and a bouncing guitar riff carry the song, in a refined but haunting production. The whole finds its inspiration in contemporary pop music, direct and melodic.

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Simone White - Blueprint.

For her latest act, White conjures a curious baroque-pop composition that is as engaging as it is enigmatic. Reminiscent of complex, non-linear outings of Laurie Andersen, Agnes Obel, or Aldous Harding “Blueprint” finds White's gossamer vocal enveloped by dancing string arrangements by neoclassical minimalist composer Brent Arnold.

A song that asks as many questions as it ever gives answers, “Blueprint” deconstructs urban settings familiar to all of us and unravels their existential mechanics, line by line. “How much do you think it weighs? Is it possible to learn from within the maze?” she wonders here. The single is accompanied by an official video, which is directed by Mark Benjamin. Layered, gliding and hypnotic, it lulls the viewer into a thoughtful reverie.

“Blueprint” is taken from Simone White’s forthcoming album ‘Letter To The Last Generation’, available on CD + Digitally on 1st May 2026 (via Ghost Palace / Cargo). Something of a lost album, ‘Letter To The Last Generation’ has floated around the internet for some years. Lost in the twilight period of those first few weeks of the pandemic as the world readjusted to a new era, the album received an extremely limited vinyl release, before disappearing into the ether. With the majority of its tracks written and recorded in the weeks before White made a major move from LA to NYC, ‘Letter to the Last Generation’ feels like a collage from an artist in a restless, transitory state.
 

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Kimon Kirk feat. Robbie Fulks - Dashboard Hula Doll. 

Kimon Kirk & Robbie Fulks are excited to announce the release of “Dashboard Hula Doll” off Kirk’s forthcoming solo effort, Bikini Jardine, due Summer 2026. “Dashboard Hula Doll” chronicles the story  of a desperate man on the verge of losing everything – everything except his guiding light, the grass-skirted hula doll perched atop the dash of his family car. 

The story unfolds over the song’s two careening minutes and humorously evokes the downward spiral of a hapless husband “half-a-way to Denver on a three day bender,” to quote one of its lyrics. “Dashboard Hula Doll” pays tribute in spirit to one of Kirk and Fulks’s musical heroes, beloved NRBQ guitarist Big Al Anderson, whose tongue-in-cheek compositions and ferocious guitar playing clearly informed the mood of the recording.  

“Dashboard Hula Doll,” written with the pioneering alt-country artist Robbie Fulks, includes a video filmed in the Southern California desert. Recorded in one live session at LA’s Sunset Sound, “Dashboard Hula Doll” features Kirk on vocals and electric guitar, Fulks on vocals and acoustic guitar, Duke Levine (Bonnie Raitt) on lead guitar, and the powerhouse rhythm section of Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann) on bass and Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss) on drums.

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Sarah & Collin - She Made The Rain.

Sarah & Collin are a Los Angeles-based duo whose music lives in the tension between light and shadow, a place where atmospheric alternative-indie, industrial edges and cinematic psych-rock coalesce into something neither fully of this world nor outside it. Their debut album, This Time, out April 10th, embodies that meeting point with remarkable clarity, creating a world that feels immersive, dreamlike and charged with emotional depth.

This week the pair have shared their new single, 'She Made The Rain'. Of the track, Collin says, "I got rain-checked, and it humbled me, hopefully. A year later I met up with her and showed her the song and she didn't like it. I never saw her again."

Vocals from either singer drift above textured soundscapes before folding into one another and revealing a layered duality at the centre of their collaboration. On stage, they’ve already been described as offering a “cinematic music experience,” with listeners drawing comparisons to the strange, magnetic tone of a David Lynch film. The album extends that atmosphere, translating it into a fully realised sonic landscape.

Alongside the recorded work, the world around This Time has been growing through a series of intentional, carefully crafted DIY performances across Los Angeles. Rather than moving through the city’s traditional venue circuit, Sarah & Collin have rooted themselves in community-oriented, artist-driven spaces - pop-up shows in homes, backyards and unconventional rooms that mirror the cinematic intimacy of their sound. These events have become one of the main generators of early buzz, drawing crowds through word-of-mouth and the duo’s reputation for transforming everyday spaces into atmospheric environments.

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False Figure - Matilda Schyborger - Hiding Places - JP Soars & Anne Harris

False Figure - Incarnate (Album).

Oakland, California - based post-punk band, False Figure has just unveiled their new full-length album, Incarnate. The themes across Incarnate remain familiar to the band's legacy. Ranging from lamenting toxic interpersonal dynamics in "Favorite Game", finding sobering respite within the chaos of an unsalvageable world in "Original Sin", to a more immediate and explosive call to action in "Say Nothing". There's an undeniable flow to the songs on the record that don't leave you lingering in the same feeling for too long. 

Incarnate is an example of what modern post-punk could sound like while not being pinned to one particular repetitious theme. The tracks serve as a cathartic release for listeners, drawing from lived experiences that are universally shared. It is the intention of the band to speak to the inner world of its audience and connect in a meaningful way. Incarnate is available on LP and on all major digital platforms worldwide courtesy of the band’s label, Cruel Subordination Records.

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Matilda Schyborger - She’ll Be Fine (EP). 

Matilda Schyborger creates intimate indie pop shaped by jazz influences and honest storytelling. Blending the warmth in her vocals with the quiet strength of her lyrics, her music helps to find meaning in the ordinary and beauty in everyday moments.

Her EP ‘She’ll Be Fine’ is out now, led by the single ‘Nellie’. Recorded mostly live at Music A Matic Studios in Gothenburg and produced by Klara Goliger, the release captures an organic, close-knit sound that mirrors its themes of female friendship and emotional clarity. 

Across the EP, Matilda explores loyalty, vulnerability, and the quiet resilience of standing beside the people you love.
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Photo - Calli Westra

Hiding Places - One Hand.

Today, Brooklyn-based indie rockers Hiding Places release their latest single "One Hand," alongside a dramatic, DIY-style official music video featuring vocalist Audrey Keelin. A gentler tune than their previous singles, "One Hand" opens with a repetitive acoustic guitar, which breaks only for a moment into heavy riffage between verses and what may be considered a chorus. The acoustic influence harkens back to the band's earlier songs that expound their folk influences, like Merce Lemon and villagerrr.

"One Hand” is a meditation on how we can be so hard on ourselves in the face of keeping up long-distance relationships and friendships. It is hard to give grace to oneself when, for example, taking “too long to call for some reason.” This song is very hypnotic to play live and cuts into heavier, more intense, distorted moments at seemingly random times. 

In recording, we separated the main riff into three parts (Left, Right, and Center) and played it with three acoustic guitars, Nicholas, Michael and I each being responsible for playing one section of the riff, recording live in stereo. If listening in headphones, the achieved effect is a riff that dances spatially around the listeners head, increasing the hypnotic experience," songwriter and vocalist Audrey Keelin says.

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JP Soars & Anne Harris - Viper.

JP Soars & Anne Harris will release their highly anticipated collaborative album, Gypsy Blue Revue, on May 29, 2026, via Forty Below Records. The first single, “Viper,” is available now, with additional singles to follow. For more than two decades, JP Soars has built his reputation the way roots music was meant to be built — onstage, night after night. A fiery guitarist, soulful vocalist, and inventive songwriter, Soars blends American blues with rock & roll, Latin grooves, country, and gypsy jazz, guided not by genre but by feel.

That musical vision comes into sharp focus on Gypsy Blue Revue, a collaboration with acclaimed Chicago-based violinist, vocalist, and songwriter Anne Harris. The partnership began in 2019 after the two artists crossed paths on the festival circuit and joined forces at the Big Blues Bender in Las Vegas. The chemistry was immediate, and what began as a one-off performance quickly evolved into a powerful creative union rooted in Southern soul, roadhouse blues, rock, and eclectic folk influences.

The album was recorded live at a rural Ohio studio without click tracks or overdubs, capturing the immediacy and chemistry that define their performances. “We approached it exactly like a show,” says Soars. “All in one room, playing together. We just wanted it to sound like us.” The record also features Soars’ longtime bandmates: drummer Chris Peet and bassist Cleveland Frederick.

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Lone Assembly - Susannah Sail - Hauntees - Spain Colored Orange - Marnie Glum

Lone Assembly - Knots & Chains (Album).

Swiss quartet Lone Assembly present their debut album, “Knots & Chains”: hymns of pain, alienation, and sorrow, certainly, but also of hope, strength, and courage. Cloaked in a gothic aesthetic, the record is a new wave/synth-pop exploration of control in all its forms: control exerted by others, cultivated within ourselves, and imposed by the places we inhabit.

When Lone Assembly released “That Never Happened” in early 2024, a debut EP paying tribute to a lost loved one, the band quickly became more than just a group of friends making music: it became a space for healing, a place of closeness, a necessity. And while this urgency was evident in the band's first songs, it is even more apparent on their debut album.

“Knots & Chains” leans heavily into chiaroscuro, casting shifting light across songs born of profound darkness. Here, the band uses each track as a means to examine control in its various forms. First, there is the control that others exert, as in the unsuccessful attempts of the narrator of “You're Pulling at the Same Strings” to understand the evil that dwells within the other: “I've been wondering where your ache breathes, in mazes you design?” Then there is the control we exert over ourselves, as in the captivating “The Pain Keeper” and “My Life's Solid.” And finally, there is the control of places that also transcend us, as in “The City Works Like This,” where the city acts like a living organism, absorbing, rejecting, distorting.

While the topics addressed by the band are dark, glimmers of hope emerge here and there, in the form of a vital need for air, as is the case with the banger “In the Open.” “The album takes shape like a cycle, moving from suffocation to openness, from closed spaces to greater, albeit fragile, breathing space,” explains Raphaël Bressler (vocals).

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Susannah Sail - Running.

New to Beehive Candy and so glad we have been introduced to them, Susannah Sail are a four-piece from Cornwall (UK), comprising Rosie Gardner (vocals, trumpet), Morgan Doughty (guitar), George Offenbach (bass) and Taylor Daley (drums, percussion). They draw from a broad range of influences across soul, jazz, alternative-indie and beyond, and sing songs of introspection, optimism and love. The band's debut album "Are You Alright?" is due for release in June 2026 and will be released on vinyl by Cornish label "Kroustpop!"

Here's Rosie's comments on Running "The feeling of being invisible, not being seen by the one person you truly love, They are running from all there fears, this is from them not loving themselves, you don't blame them, you feel sorry for them,  you can feel glimpses of what there going through, Love isn't always enough."

On recording material in Chile, Morgan Doughty notes: "The trip to Chile was insane! The Chilean hospitality was unmatched, we met so many creatives through our producer/friend Pau who were incredibly friendly, talented and hard-working (and a lot of them seemed to be big names in Chile which felt like we were hanging out with real rockstars!), and the scenery was so mind-blowing that it was a real fertile environment for us to be creative ourselves and work on the album. The studio we recorded in in Valdivia was full of incredible gear, operated by two masters of their craft (Pau and Robert) so we were able to craft the sounds exactly as we wanted them for the two new tunes. The steaks were juicy, the mountain air was fresh and we were full of gratitude every day."

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Hauntees - Shadows Forming (Album).

Ghost punk and goth garage band Hauntees’ debut takes you on a road trip through the desert. The Helsinki-based ghost punk and goth garage band Hauntees released their debut album Shadows Forming today. Dark and brooding, the record plays like the soundtrack to a road trip across a desert. Along the way, you stop at smoky saloons and pass abandoned gravestones. The sound carries the bitter dust and shimmering heat of sun-scorched sand dunes.

Seasoned with melancholy and minimalism, the songs on Shadows Forming range from cinematic instrumental music (Phantom Road) to stripped-down spellbinding blues (Spell) and ‘80s synth-tinged dance punk (Self-Defense). The album also features a hauntingly peculiar Misfits cover (London Dungeon).

Hauntees’ debut album is a powerful entrance — this band is here to stay. “Hauntees is not a hobby, a job, or a voluntary choice for us. It’s something we simply have to do,” the band states without a trace of sarcasm. “The album sounds perfect, even though we were a bit nervous about it,” the band explains. “It was recorded and mixed multiple times in different locations by Ville-Matti Koskiniemi and Miikka Sipilä. As a final touch, we had it mastered by American engineer Taylor Deupree, whose work ties the whole album together beautifully despite the diversity of songs, arrangements, and moods.”

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Spain Colored Orange - April Fools.

Houston’s Spain Colored Orange returned with their first single titled “April Fools,” from their forthcoming six-song EP, Confiding in Ghosts (Diverse Chorus Records). The EP sees a vinyl release in late April and is sure to tickle the sensibilities of Elliott Smith, Wilco, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Sparklehorse fans. Confiding in Ghosts is a collection of meticulously composed songs that are melodically uplifting, while telling a story of grief and loss lyrically. “April Fools” hit digital streaming platforms over the weekend.

Band frontman Gilbert Alfaro has this to say about “April Fools”: “I quoted Black Flag on “April Fools”….’it’s not my imagination, I’ve got a gun on my back,’ but that’s probably not a good idea. I was paying homage to Black Flag when I used it, I always loved that line and it worked perfectly in that song because of how I felt at the time.”  

Spain Colored Orange is an indie rock band from Texas, known for blending a wide range of styles including indie rock, psychedelic rock, jazz, ‘70s-era sounds, and experimental arrangements into a distinctive, energetic sound. Started by Alfaro in 2000, SCO initially made a mark on the indie rock world with the 2005 release of their EP Hopelessly Incapable of Standing in the Way on Lucid Records, which won Houston Press Music Awards Album of the Year. 

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Marnie Glum - Iron Out.

“What do you all talk about when I leave the room?” Iron Out, the new release from folk songwriter Marnie Glum, explores anxieties with a stubborn playfulness, offering a much-needed burst of light after an unflinchingly cold winter. The soundscape juxtaposes juvenile synths with plodding basslines, dry drums and complex, steadfast guitar, perhaps making this youthful track (contradictorily) Glum’s most mature work yet.

Iron Out is accompanied by a stunning music video featuring a beautifully designed array of characters. Directed by Lizzie Farrell and filmed by George Hall, this video brings the song’s heart to the fore. As Marnie says, “it is an ode to awkwardness, to not quite fitting in or getting it right”.

“Tell me, would you stick around if I told you that I wanted you to? // Not that I want you to” Predominantly recorded in London with Snowpoet’s Chris Hyson, this is the sound of an artist coming into her own. “I can’t help but be influenced by my surroundings. Recording my first EP Since I Was Small in Norway resulted in big, sweeping, atmospheric sounds... this time, recording in small rooms with brilliant musicians, I knew it would be tighter and more careful. This song is about little details and dancing around the obvious, so small nuances and moments matter. Chris did an amazing job of bringing that feeling to the forefront.”

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