The Morning Line - Ungus Ungus Ungus - Part Time Signals - Laurelyn Dossett - Brooke Annibale - Disgusting Sisters

The Morning Line - Spellbound.

With a new album announced for release next month, veteran Northern California indie rockers The Morning Line and Big Stir Records bring you the second single to preview the record. “Spellbound,” with its textured guitars and plaintively melodic vocals, is a moody but lovely change of pace from “Anhedonia,” the band's previous indie hit single, and together they hint at the stylistic depth the band displays on the new album Stars. The single is released this weekend (three weeks ahead of the release of the full-length record's street date).

Frontman Stephen Smith reveals the intention behind the track. “It's about someone re-entering the world, after a period of loneliness, upset, or treatment.” He goes on to point out some details that listeners, whether hearing the song for the first time now or when its original version appeared on the band's 2007 debut album Stay My Satellite, might overlook: “One word people often miss when listening to it is 'Darien,' the Connecticut town. The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 2012 film Just Like Being There, a documentary about the makers of rock show posters. It is the only The Morning Line song with horns – a trumpet part that leads the song to its end. It’s anthemic and earnest.” 

With dense lyrical and musical touches like this, the song still packs a visceral and emotional punch as its layers ebb and flow. It's another side of The Morning Line's fascinating take on guitar pop and just one of 21 examples on display on Stars, a record that's rapidly emerging as an essential event on 2026's indie rock calendar.  

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Ungus Ungus Ungus - The Fun House (Album).

Musical contortionists Ungus Ungus Ungus return to bending boundaries with more of their signature mind-tickling tracks on their seventh studio album 'The Fun House', out yesterday August 28th.

With six full-length albums under their belt and having taken the stage at an array of internationally regarded festivals, including Woodford Folk, Port Fairy Folk and Rainbow Serpent, Ungus Ungus Ungus are back with an electrifying album that promises to deliver an unpredictable and enlivening experience, at times intentionally disorienting in its stylistic turns but always staying on track to a good time - much like the fairground ride from which the album takes its name.

With players based across three states, the Naarm/Melbourne-centred band returns with their shapeshifting, dancefloor-friendly sound. Conceptually, the album explores foundational dimensions of life together with its assorted peaks, valleys and contrasting flavours. Bandleader Max Schollar-Root says of the album: “As a band that plays fast and loose with genre, we have held nothing back stylistically, taking the listener on a journey from our signature circus party freak folk through psychedelic dub, funky hip-hop, electro swing, drum and bass, and ambient spaciousness.”

The album opens with ‘Funlerable’, a driving, moody track featuring circus organs and haunting vocals that speak to the duality of joy and vulnerability as an oscillating feature of life. ‘Poltergeist’ follows with a theatrical lament to lost love that builds from a slow cabaret feel to an uptempo frenzy. ‘Dr Quiet’ slows down the pace, giving way to atmospheric dub and sensuous, leisurely horns, setting the scene for the conceptual funk odyssey of ‘Wishes Three’, a foray into the foundations of where food comes from through deep grooves, group vocals and character-driven lyrics.

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Part Time Signals - Green Light.

'Green Light' is the first single from 'Part Time Signals’ upcoming album 'Duck’s Back, Baby'. Placed as the opening track to their new album, Green Light symbolises the urge to get moving after remaining stagnant for quite some time. It’s like checking your watch and feeling like time is standing still but taking comfort in the knowledge that a green light will eventually shine. The song features layers of warbly guitars and keyboards, vocals drenched in spring reverb, luscious harmonies and crisp saturated drums. 

The band self-recorded Green Light at Giant Wafer Studios, and it features additional instrumentation from Stephen Black (flute & clarinet), Rhodri Brooks (pedal steel) and David Newington (vibraphone). Duck’s Back, Baby is the brand new album from Part Time Signals and the follow-up to their debut album Another Day In Paradise and EP The Window. It was self-recorded over an intensive five days at Giant Wafer Studios in Mid Wales, with subsequent additional recordings made at their rehearsal space and homes.
                 
The band say, “We’ve been quietly chipping away at this album for a few years, assembling it piece by piece since the initial studio session. In its essence it’s a collection of songs that reflect some of the many aspects of the human condition, and listening from start to finish there are plenty of dots to be connected.”
                       
With the main recording session being the band’s first time recording in a professional studio together, they explored the extensive instrumentation and equipment at hand to create different textures and atmospheres, further developing their sound. During subsequent sessions back in Cardiff, the band recorded additional performances from David Newington (vibraphone), Rhodri Brooks (pedal steel) and Stephen Black (clarinet, flute, saxophones).

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Photo - Matthew Chenet

Laurelyn Dossett - How Many Moons? (Album).

After more than three decades writing songs for Grammy Award–winning artists and fostering some of the top talent in a rich North Carolina scene, Merlefest favorite Laurelyn Dossett is finally ready to step out for her debut solo album How Many Moons? The album, produced by M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger, is set for an August 28 release via Sycamore Road. Taylor says, “Laurelyn Dossett is a songwriter and human that I find immensely inspiring. A survivor and a wonder-er. I know she has played a huge part in the lives of so many creative people, and I'm honored to have played a part in her new album.”

How Many Moons is an embarrassment of sonic riches—and Dossett has clearly been saving her 12 best for her first. There’s everything on here from saucy, swampy, bluesy waltzes (“Tomorrow Won’t Remember”) to back-barn country rambles (lead single “How Many Moons”) and back-alley jazz-bar laments (“Run to the River”). “You and the Moon” has a gentle, ear-worm melody. She previously shared the heartbreaking single “Believe Me,” featuring producer M.C. Taylor. One could easily picture the song in a Norah Jones set. The serene lilt of “Glory Glory,  is an original song that features Taylor on electric and acoustic guitars and mandolin.

Dossett assembled a who’s-who of N.C. and regional players to help her deliver this stunning, eclectic solo debut. Players include Charly Lowry, artist and activist of the Lumbee and Tuscarora, who lends her vocals to “The Vision And The Call” (out June 29); Stephanie Coleman, a Brooklyn fiddler and musical partner of Nora Brown, whose worked with everyone from Rhiannon Giddens and Aoife O’Donovan to Béla Fleck; sacred steel legend DaShawn Hickman, whose pedal steel skills have wowed millions on America’s Got Talent; jazz/folk bassist Jason Sypher, whose list of notables includes Irma Thomas, Kermit Ruffins, and Clarence Gatemouth Brown, among many others; drummer Nick Falk (Molly Tuttle, The Wood Brothers, CAAMP and Hiss Golden Messenger); Riley Baugus (Willie Nelson, Alison Kraus and Robert Plant) and Taylor, who pitches in on acoustic/electric guitars and mandolin when he’s not behind the boards.

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Photo - Sasha Pedro

Brooke Annibale - Try Again.

Indie singer/songwriter Brooke Annibale has released her new single “Try Again.” The track is the latest to release off her forthcoming album Bolder Font, which is due out on September 17th. The emotional centerpiece to Bolder Font, “Try Again” finds Brooke turning the lens on her own complicated relationship with music after a series of disheartening and unexpected setbacks: the thing that has always healed her is also the thing that has wounded her. 

"There was a point between records where it actually pained me to work on music, which was an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling,” stated Annibale. “Music has been my safe place since I was a teenager, the one thing I've always turned to. Losing that felt like losing a relationship. So that's exactly how I wrote about it — like I was talking directly to music itself, the way you'd speak to someone you were afraid of losing. The conversation in this song toggles between talking to myself and talking to music like it was a person slipping away. Somewhere in the making of this record, I found my way back to that safe space again.”

“Try Again” follows the release of the wry, nostalgic “Birthday,” which was featured on Atwood who raved “A gentle giant of a song, it carries years of memory on a brooding pulse, wrapping Annibale’s raw, unflinching songwriting in sweet warmth.” Annibale also recently released the electrifying, irresistible “Make You Mine,” as well as “Daily Dose,” a spirited reflection on unfiltered enthusiasm; “My Favorite Part,” the heartbreakingly vulnerable opening track; and the title track “Bolder Font,” which wrestles with the album’s underlying theme of self-worth and the gap between who we are and the identities that have been placed on us.

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Photo - Pierpaolo Saccomandi.

Disgusting Sisters - Not Cool.

Disgusting Sisters just shared their new single "Not Cool", taken from their upcoming debut album Skin & Blisters, which will be released October 30 on Source Records. "Not Cool" is, a punchy, hilarious new offering that blends tongue-in-cheek lyricism, addictive melodies and a strong dose of defiance. The single also references The Strokes, MDMA, Candy Crush and 36 year old men still buying boxers with their mum.  

On the new single, Disgusting Sisters say - "'Not Cool' is a song inspired by an ex boyfriend. We’ll let you decide if he’s cool or not. It’s also the first song we ever wrote as Disgusting Sisters, so it means a lot to us as it feels like the beginning of everything."

A lot of songwriters might use their craft as a means to process life, but not many end up with a wild end result like Disgusting Sisters. A winning mix of horror, humour, musical influences that span from electro to emo and a wealth of joint experience, it speaks to a childhood of pet rats and pranks; world-building and wicked games. The duo have already received press support from the likes of The Guardian, DIY and Clash as well plays at BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6Music. The album will arrive on Source Records, the iconic Anglo-French label historically home to artists including Air, Phoenix and Kings of Convenience.

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The Summertimes - Los Blancos - Nouvelle Vague - Rayland Baxter - Ziemba - Phoebe Green - Michael Lee & The Wartime Limousine

The Summertimes - Save You Now.

The Summertimes return with their new single 'Save You Now,' via Golden Robot Records. The track serves as the first taste of the band’s forthcoming EP. With the world becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, 'Save You Now' asks a deceptively simple question: who’s going to save you? Populist demagogues? Tech-bro billionaires? The AI revolution? And, perhaps more importantly, who’s going to save them?

Rather than attempting to provide easy answers, The Summertimes wrap these hard questions in a sound that feels remarkably hopeful. Chiming guitars, swirling Hammond organ and a chorus of layered vocals combine to create a track that is melodic, uplifting and undeniably infectious. 'Save You Now' offers a first glimpse into what’s next for the band, re-establishing a sound that balances indie-rock sensibilities with a distinctly guitar-pop outlook.

Australian power-pop rockers The Summertimes have signed with one of the world’s leading indie record labels, Golden Robot Records, and will release a new EP in 2026. Led by songwriters David Beniuk and David Challenger, the EP will follow on from their debut 2023 self-titled LP that featured some of Australia's finest musicians, including drummer Stephen O'Brien (Tumbleweed), bassist Steve Bull (ICEHOUSE), keyboardist Marco Forlano (The Mustard), and guitarist Ashley Naylor (EVEN, The Church and Paul Kelly). Five-time ARIA award winner Paul McKercher, who’s worked with bands like Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil, You Am I and The Vines, engineered, produced and mixed.

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Los Blancos - Olew'r Olewydd.

Los Blancos just returned (25 August) with ‘Olew'r Olewydd’, the first taste of their forthcoming third album and a snapshot of a band approaching ten years together.  For almost a decade, the Carmarthenshire five-piece have been one of the defining voices in modern Welsh alternative music, building a sound from slacker rock, surf, punk, shoegaze and country that has always felt unmistakably their own. 

Their debut album Sbwriel Gwyn was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize, Llond Llaw was shortlisted for Welsh-language Album of the Year, and in 2019 they received the Welsh Music Prize Triskell Award in recognition of their originality and impact. After their last record, Los Blancos hit a wall. Burnt out, they stepped away and gave themselves time to remember why they started making music together in the first place. ‘Olew'r Olewydd’ was the early demo that brought that feeling back. The reaction between the five of them was immediate: this is the sound. 

 Translating as ‘Olive Oil’, the track might be the clearest expression yet of the Los Blancos slacker ethos. It is loose, instinctive and slightly off-kilter, built around a loping groove, wiry guitars and flashes of early Beck. There is still the spirit of Pavement, Pixies, The Velvet Underground and Neil Young in there, but it feels less like a collection of influences and more like Los Blancos simply sounding like themselves.

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Photo - Linda Bujoli

Nouvelle Vague - Only When I Lose Myself feat. Mélanie Pain.

"Only When I Lose Myself" is one of the most powerful singles from Depeche Mode’s later period — released in 1998, it carries the full emotional maturity and density of the band at its peak. Mélanie Pain, a historical voice of Nouvelle Vague since its very beginning, takes it on with natural authority. 

But it is the arrangement that surprises: resolutely jazz, built around brass whose writing evokes the great Quincy Jones productions of the sixties. Between British new wave and American orchestral jazz, the song finds an unexpected and luminous third life. 

"Only When I Lose Myselt" feat. Mélanie Pain is the third single taken from A Date with Depeche Mode, Nouvelle Vague’s upcoming album (out October 30th, on Kwaidan Records / [PIAS] Recordings). 

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Photo - Rachel Deeb

Rayland Baxter - Better Man.

Rayland Baxter has spent much of his career chasing clarity, but with his forthcoming album 'True Violet', out 23 October via ATO Records, he feels like the first time he's truly found it. His first album in more than four years, the 11-song collection captures the slow, steady metamorphosis of becoming someone new. The album was co-produced by Nick Waterhouse and Paul Butler and written during a years-long period of solitude in the hills of Tennessee where he penned more than 70 songs. 
 
This week, Baxter released the album opener 'Better Man', co-written with and featuring background vocals from Tyler Ballgame, that serves as a prologue for the journey he takes throughout the album. The song arrives alongside an official video directed by Joshua Shoemaker. About the song, Baxter explains, “‘Better Man’ is a song about making it through the hard times and coming out the other side better than before. It's a reminder to myself that it's ok to close the book on a time in my life, as long as I remember the lessons I learned during that time.” “It's very personal and bloody,” Baxter says of True Violet. “There are bruises and bite marks in these songs. Tears and enlightenment and pains of the heart.”   

Baxter spent the years surrounding his 2022 album If I Were A Butterfly touring heavily while navigating difficult relationships, personal loss, and the death of his father, Bucky Baxter, a multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Bob Dylan and as a member of Steve Earle and The Dukes whose musicianship and encouragement had shaped every previous chapter of his career. After returning to his quiet Tennessee hometown, Baxter found himself with the stillness to confront the patterns and emotions he had spent years outrunning.

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Ziemba - We Implode.

Ziemba has not released a record in nearly six years and she's back this October with a new album 'The Braid'. At times contemplative and earthy but more often truly baroque and stellar, The Braid is epic, meticulously crafted, and spilling over with art rock / sophisti-pop gems. Gorgeous album cover, extraordinary songwriting and execution, this record is totally arresting. This week we have the second single via a fantastic music video. 

Regarding "We Implode," Kladzyk says: “I wrote this song across the course of a decade." The early verses of the song were written while deeply ensconced in a “doomed relationship,” later verses shifting to the bird’s eye view of today. “Are we so alike that we both want to implode, and when we implode while colliding it sparkles so devastatingly that neither of us can see at all?” Kladzyk sings dizzyingly from inside the whirlwind. 

The verses are propulsive and driving, but this train is coming off the tracks. Kladzyk is aware of oncoming tragedy by the time we get to the chorus, the rhythm section fading away as a baroque-pop string section takes over. “All I know is the lie I carry in my love, and I’m happy.” Then she’s sucked back in, the ground shaking beneath her feet, holding on for dear life. How long can she cling to this love?

“We Implode” features some of Kladzyk’s most deft and surprising arrangements to date, shape-shifting from Cleaners from Venus-esque post-punk to Zombies-tinged strings to a stunning synth pop bridge that harkens The Pretenders: somehow it works, the production time-travelling along with the lyrics.

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Photo - Charles Moss

Phoebe Green - Clothes Still On.

Manchester's Phoebe Green has just released 'Clothes Still On', the captivating new single from her forthcoming new album PREMATURE NOSTALGIA, out 2nd October via The Green Dream Machine / Absolute. 'Clothes Still On' follows the album’s previously released singles 'There's Always Someone Kicking The Seat' and 'Polluting You With Me'.

"'Clothes Still On' is probably my favourite song on the album," Phoebe shares. "It feels like such a perfect combination of mine and Lucy’s influences and sounds; for me the verses are quite 00s emo but also a little Alex G, the choruses have an almost Brockhampton style vocal, but Lucy’s signature mental synth sounds keep us in our dramatic electronic little world."

Written and produced alongside her sister Lucy Green (aka Elucyve) - a producer of contemporary classical and electronic music in her own right - PREMATURE NOSTALGIA was created between the flat the pair share in Manchester and their parents' home in Lytham St Annes. 

Across the album, Phoebe and Lucy draw inspiration from artists such as Imogen Heap, Oklou, Jockstrap, James Blake, FKA twigs and Sega Bodega - embracing warped electronics, fragmented structures and experimental forms of pop songwriting.

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Photo - William Neal

Michael Lee & The Wartime Limousine - Drowning.

Michael Lee & The Wartime Limousine announce their self-titled debut album, due out October 30 via Skylark Soul Co. Known for his dazzling musicianship and a fiery blues growl that once earned him a stint fronting the late B.B. King’s touring ensemble, the Fort Worth-based singer/guitarist and his band put a bold 21st-century spin on the funky, horn-fueled sounds of vintage soul music for a timeless body of work about the many ups and downs of love.

Along with the news, Michael Lee & The Wartime Limousine shares their new single “Drowning,” a deceptively bouncy ode to resilience in the face of adversity.

Michael on the new single: “I've been down this road myself, so this one comes from a very real, heavy place. It’s about that ‘come to Jesus’ moment you eventually have to face when you're caught up in your own debauchery. It’s the harsh realization that no one else is coming to save you, and you have to do the hard work of purging your soul to save yourself.”

The foundation for the songs on the self-titled debut was cut live in the studio with Michael, keyboardists Chad Stockslager (Joshua Ray Walker) and Jordache Grant (Abraham Alexander), pedal steel player and frequent Khruangbin collaborator Will Van Horn, as well as bassist Daniel Balis and drummer Matt Trimble (Bastards of Soul), all playing together and recording at Niles City Sound – an esteemed Fort Worth studio best known for launching Leon Bridges’ career over a decade ago. The end result blends everything from Motown to psychedelic soul as the bandleader showcases his versatility with a keen sense of restraint and vulnerability.

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Minnegasco - Chasen Wayne - Arbor Green - Sirintip - Railcard - Chinese American Bear

Minnegasco - Tar Mazzan.

Minnegasco presents their latest single, “Tar Mazzan”. Featuring the unmistakable vocals of The Shins’ frontman James Mercer, the track is now available on streaming platforms worldwide. A month back, Minnegasco pulled off a quiet coup: securing James Mercer to lend his iconic voice to “Livin’ in France.” As the mastermind behind The Shins, Mercer is indie-pop royalty, here transforming their atmospheric pop into timeless art-rock.

Minnegasco’s “Tar Mazzan” plays out like a riddle. On first spin, it feels like a catchy tune. But beneath all that bounce lies an angry anti-war protest track taking dead aim at the status quo. Imagine Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, but stripped of the heavy guitar stacks and handed to a maniac with an accordion. The central chorus—“hat and a cane, hook and a chain, mask and a flame”—sounds like a playground chant until you realize what it’s really about: Wall Street bankers, war profiteers, and the daily grind turning everyday people into modern-day slaves. 

It’s rare to find a song that’s clever and infectious without getting stuck up its own tail. Part backroom circus, part full-blown rally, “Tar Mazzan” doesn’t just call out the rich and powerful—it sets their whole circus on fire and hands you a beer as it burns.

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Chasen Wayne - En Laredo.

Austin's Chasen Wayne returns with his new single "En Laredo," the latest preview of his upcoming fourth studio album, The Diamond Saloon, due out August 28. Built around strong storytelling and a classic country foundation, "En Laredo" reflects the blend of traditional honky tonk, outlaw country, and subtle psychedelic influences that have become Wayne's signature. It's a song that introduces listeners to the themes running throughout the album: hard choices, second chances, and the people and places that shape who we become. The track sets the tone for an album that respects country music's roots while taking its own path.

Wayne's songwriting is grounded in experience. Raised on a ranch before spending much of his childhood in a trailer park, he left his small Texas hometown as a teenager and moved to Austin, where he worked as an underage nightclub bouncer, became involved in drug trafficking, and later worked digging trenches for a plumbing company. 

Finding sobriety changed the direction of his life and led him to music. Today, those experiences inform songs about addiction, recovery, fatherhood, love, and redemption. Backed by his band, The Honky Tonk Machine, Wayne has earned a reputation in Austin's independent country scene for honest songwriting and energetic live shows. On The Diamond Saloon, he continues to bring together classic country, psychedelic rock, surf guitar, and jazz influences to create a sound that feels familiar while still pushing beyond the expected.

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Arbor Green – Cue The Timeslip.

Scottish indie-folk outfit Arbor Green return with ‘Cue The Timeslip’, the second single from the forthcoming Timeslip EP — a richly textured, emotionally resonant track that captures the feeling of watching life race past while searching for the courage to move at your own pace. Built around driving guitars, warm harmonies and an expansive full-band arrangement, ‘Cue The Timeslip’ expands Arbor Green's signature blend of folk, indie rock and alt-country into its most immediate and uplifting form yet. The song balances restless energy with quiet reassurance, turning themes of uncertainty and self-doubt into an understated message of hope.

‘Cue The Timeslip’ reflects on the modern habit of measuring our lives against everyone else's. "It's mostly about doom-scrolling and mobile phone addiction," explains songwriter and frontman Ali Begg. "Getting caught in the trap of lusting after things that you don't have, comparing yourself to other people's lives and worrying that you're falling behind.”

Rather than dwelling in anxiety, the song ultimately offers comfort. "The closing sentiment is meant to be, 'It's chill — we all feel like this, and there's actually plenty of time to do the stuff you want to do,'" he says. ‘Cue The Timeslip’ also marks an important evolution for Arbor Green. Where the 2022 debut album grew from years of home recordings and solitary experimentation, the new material was written and recorded with a dedicated band in mind, resulting in a more confident and collaborative sound.

"I feel like it sounds much more like a band," says Arbor Green. "Everyone had authorship over the arrangements. Each track on the EP pushes a little further at the edges of what Arbor Green can sound like.”

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Sirintip - Motherland.

New York-based Swedish-Thai singer, composer, and producer Sirintip has just announced her new album, White Lilies, will be arriving October 30. The second single, “Motherland,” is out this week. At the heart of White Lilies, “Motherland” uses the fjords of Sweden’s west coast as a metaphor for the moments of goodbye. The song imagines loved ones sailing away, while an imagined “silverline”—a phone line that could reach loved ones in heaven—offers a way to stay connected. Ben Wendel’s beautiful tenor saxophone solo carries the song to an emotional climax, giving voice to the longing and tenderness at the center of the record.

Sirintip’s music lives at the intersection of avant-pop, jazz, electronic music, and Thai and European musical traditions—ethereal one moment, visceral the next. A highly sought-after collaborator who has appeared on more than 50 recordings, her work has also expanded into scientific research, data sonification, orchestral composition, and immersive performance. But White Lilies marks a striking turn inward. Following the unexpected death of her father, Sirintip stepped away from the instinct to intellectualize and analyze her experience and instead allowed herself to sit with feelings that couldn’t be researched or explained. The result is her most vulnerable and emotionally direct work yet: six intuitive songs about loss, memory, home, and connection.

Regarding Motherland Sirintip says “I’ve lost quite a few people in my life, and I started imagining them sailing away from a wooden dock and up a fjord on the Swedish west coast. In the song, I came up with an imaginary word ‘silverline’—an invisible phone line I can call up to where they are, so I can always stay connected to them even though they’re far away. Whenever I’m alone in nature, I feel them closer to me, whispering through the pines."

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Railcard - Flannelette.

We have to say Beehive Candy really do love Railcard. So here is the short background for the latest single ahead of the album. Skep Wax are pleased to share the third single Flannelette by indiepop supergroup Railcard, from their debut album "Two Steps At A Time", featuring ex-members of Dolly Mixture and Death In Vegas and current members of Heavenly. 

As with the first EPs, Railcard enlisted the sonic services of Medway psych expert Allan Crockford (of The Prisoners, JTQ and many more) who has delivered mixes that pump with vintage valve energy and reverby depth.

Two Steps At A Time is released on Skep Wax and Slumberland September 18th. An exclusive Dinked edition of 300 copies including a 7 inch single with 2 additional tracks will be available at participating UK record stores.

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Photo -  Sheva Kafai.

Chinese American Bear - Dance Dance Dance (跳舞跳舞跳舞).

Chinese American Bear, the Seattle-based duo of Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten today share new single 'Dance Dance Dance (跳舞跳舞跳舞)', a previously unheard cut from their new album 'Dim Sum & Then Some', released in May of this year via Moshi Moshi Records. 

"'Dance Dance Dance (跳舞跳舞跳舞)' is a groovy, riff-laden, slightly psychedelic, disco bop that we wrote in early 2025," said Anne of the track. "It's a simple song, about getting down to the groove! Bryce had written the bass line & drums first, and we remember listening back and just wanting to bop and move our bodies. So as the song developed, we decided that it should be about just that. The lyrics are about moving, grooving, and listening to the beat. "Waiting for the wu liu qi (5 6 7). Take me to the san er yi (3 2 1), I don't wanna lose it. I just wanna move it. Hey!"."

Following the success of their 2024 full-length 'Wah!!!' - Chinese American Bear's new album 'Dim Sum & Then Some' - released in May of this year via Moshi Moshi Records - showcases a more musically dense and exploratory vision, marking a sonic evolution for the duo. Delving further into experimental territory while embracing more traditional pop elements than ever before, the album forms a positive and lighthearted collage of the duo’s life together - exploring food, small joys, Chinese-American upbringing, love, and fantasy.

Blending warbling guitars with hints of psychedelia, pop, disco and strings - alongside synth-driven electronics and droney, hypnotic textures - 'Dim Sum & Then Some' reflects the Chinese American Bear ethos: open, curious and lighthearted.

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Agnes Obel - Rachel Bochner - Willem James Cowan - Oh Louise

Photo - Alex Brüel Flagstad

Agnes Obel - Laymelli.

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Agnes Obel announces her new studio album due 18 September, a follow-up to the widely acclaimed Myopia (2020). The Meaning of Flowers is woven together from different strands of thought and inspiration by one of the most curious minds in contemporary music today. Through its 12 tracks, Obel explores the heightened sense of interconnection with all living things she experienced during pregnancy and, among other themes, the significance of birth, growth and metamorphosis in the natural world. Her new music draws on a broad range of sources, from the poetry of Enheduanna (the world’s first named author) and the ideas of philosophers Hannah Arendt and Emanuele Coccia, to the Danish pop scene of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Written, recorded, arranged and produced by Obel in her own studio in Berlin, The Meaning of Flowers features Agnes herself on vocals (some pitch-shifted), piano, keys, synths and samples. Guest musicians join her on violin, viola, cello, bass, lap steel, harmonium, flute, sax, percussion and backing vocals. The album comes out on Deutsche Grammophon – digitally, on CD and on vinyl – on September 18th 2026. As a taster, “Laymelli" is available to stream and download today.

Since recording Myopia, Obel has given birth to her first child. The Meaning of Flowers reflects the emotional impact of motherhood, Obel’s intellectual interest in the subject – notably Arendt’s concept of natality, “understood as the human capacity for new beginnings” – and the fact that the temporarily altered neuroplasticity of her brain took her thought and compositional processes in fresh directions.

“I wanted to see if I could get close to the feeling of a new beginning,” says Obel of the title track. “It shows itself in the experience of interconnectedness and a new expansive feeling of love that will never end. The point when the inner monologue becomes something interactive and expansive – beyond your own life – and opens your mind to a new and richer notion of life.”

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Rachel Bochner - Collar.

Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Bochner has built a reputation for sharp, emotionally charged indie-pop that cuts straight to the core. Since her debut, she’s carved out a space defined by candid lyricism and an unflinching willingness to explore the messier edges of love, identity, and self-discovery. 

“Collar” is a precarious waltz around the questions you know you can’t (or shouldn’t) ask. With its steady build and crunchy guitars, the track sits in the tension of a palpable chemistry between the narrator and the muse. For anyone who has ever developed a complicated relationship with someone who is already spoken for, “Collar” is the perfect soundtrack to the unavoidable yearning, moral dilemma spiraling, and fantasizing of what might happen if the question was asked: Does he know what I do for you?

The single offers a glimpse into Bochner’s upcoming album, a body of work rooted in the aftermath of a long-term relationship and the complex process of self-redefinition that followed. The wider record navigates themes of grief, identity, and acceptance, shaped by the end of that relationship and the unraveling that followed. As a queer artist, Bochner’s experience sits at the center of that shift, disentangling years of love, guilt, and self-realization. “I didn’t realize I was queer until my mid 20s. 

Despite my best efforts, the life I’d spent years building no longer felt like home--it became a hand-built prison” she says. “Accepting that meant facing I had no choice but to leave it behind,” a turning point that shapes the entire record that orbits her queer identity’s entanglement with insurmountable guilt, revelatory grief, and the start of complex acceptance. With "Collar," Rachel Bochner turns her attention to desire at its most complicated, capturing the space between knowing where the line is and wondering what might happen if you crossed it.

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Willem James Cowan - Not For You, Not For Us.

London, ON-based folk artist Willem James Cowan shares “Not For You, Not For Us,” an upbeat yet introspective folk rock single that transforms the emotional uncertainty of a breakup into something unexpectedly hopeful. Driven by warm acoustic textures, subtle electronic flourishes, and Willem’s vivid storytelling, the track explores the complicated space between personal truth and emotional fiction, revealing how songwriting can sometimes tell a deeper truth by inventing its own story.

Written shortly after the end of a long-term relationship, “Not For You, Not For Us” began as Willem’s attempt to understand his own emotions while settling back into life at home. Rather than documenting the relationship itself, the song gradually drifted into imagined territory, constructing the aftermath of a fictional toxic relationship while drawing emotional inspiration from real experiences.

“I was trying to understand why I made the choices I made and explain myself through songwriting,” Willem shares. “Most of the relationship details in this song are fabricated. There are truths and parallels to my own life, but I made up a story to express my feelings through.”

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Oh Louise - Everything On High (Album).

Oh Louise debut album ‘Everything On High’ has just been released. Since its surprise announcement just a week ago, the gripping introduction to 19-year-old songwriter Olive Siegel has gathered attention from tastemakers everywhere. The record, some of which Siegel wrote—astoundingly—in her freshman year of high school, is transportive and unflinchingly honest. 

Crafted with inventive vocal layering, raw lyricism, and beguiling melodic turns, ‘Everything On High’ is an intimate exploration of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and all the uncertainty that accompanies youth.

Siegel was raised in Los Angeles. “I learned how to properly record myself during Covid, when schools were closed,” she explains. Much of her new material emerged straight from journals, which she then arranged on an open-tuned guitar in her bedroom, or on the civil war-era piano in the living room of her family home. Now based on the East Coast for college, Siegel recorded 'Everything On High' in Round Pond, Maine with producer Charles Van Kirk, cellist Nat Smith, and bassist John Stiratt of Wilco. Stirratt’s esteemed support and ongoing mentorship of Siegel are a testament to the project's promise.

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Jeniffer Lima - Eidetic Dreams - Aqualine - Sarah Vanderzon - Ekep Nkwelle - Cassandra Coleman

Jeniffer Lima - Double Company.

Airplay on more than thirty indie radio stations worldwide, plays on key Swiss cultural radio stations, and hundreds of plays for her previous single, “Pour Me A Drink” - for Winterthur (Switzerland) based musician Jeniffer Lima, the year could hardly have got off to a better start.

Now she is following up with her new single, “Double Company”, an infectious uptempo track with strong earworm potential. The song is another promising preview of her debut album, set for release this autumn. The track was created in collaboration with 18 Lines Studio and Joris Amann, former guitarist for Bastian Baker.

The rising artist is in excellent hands. Discovered and supported by renowned producers Manuel Egger and Dave Demuth, she created her first songs, which quickly found their way onto Swiss radio. Her single “90s Vibe”, in particular, already secured a coveted spot on Radio TOP’s rotation playlist.

With “Double Company”, Jeniffer Lima once again demonstrates her flair for catchy melodies, contemporary pop sounds and authentic songwriting—and builds anticipation for the album, due for release in November.

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Eidetic Dreams - Corinna.

Helsinki duo Eidetic Dreams return with Corinna, a dream-pop single about growing up in a bohemian and unconventional home — a world filled with beauty and tenderness, but also a lasting sense of being an outsider. 

Tight drums and a powerful bassline meet Siiri Kähönen’s delicate songwriting. One of the most exciting new Nordic indie acts, Eidetic Dreams have already gained support from YleX and Soundi, as well as Spotify’s global Fresh Finds and Breakthrough 2025 in Finland. Their debut album is due this fall.

And to send our spell checker into overdrive here is the same info in their native language: Helsinkiläinen Eidetic Dreams palaa uudella Corinna-singlellä, joka kertoo kasvamisesta boheemissa ja epätavanomaisessa kodissa – ympäristössä, joka vaalii kauneutta ja herkkyyttä, mutta jättää samalla pysyvän ulkopuolisuuden tunteen. Tiukat rummut ja suuri basso kohtaavat Siiri Kähösen herkän laulunkirjoituksen. Yksi kiinnostavimmista uusista pohjoismaisista indie-nimistä on saanut jo tukea YleX:ltä ja Soundilta sekä noussut Spotifyn globaalille Fresh Finds -listalle ja Suomen Breakthrough 2025 -nostoon. Debyyttialbumi ilmestyy tänä syksynä.

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Aqualine - Stupid Brain.

Guildford and Brighton (England) Alternative five-piece Aqualine return with the crunching new single 'Stupid Brain' (21st August). A journey through the bands '90s flavoured alternative rock, post-punk and shoegaze influences, the track brings both a striking immediacy, but also a mature, evolving musicality, best described as The Bend’s era Radiohead if they had a sense of humour. 

Driven by abrasive guitars, dynamic shifts and a chorus which is beyond catchy, the band shifts between chaos and vulnerability throughout ‘Stupid Brain’. Captures the frustration of battling your own thoughts, the track carries a reflective and heartfelt undercurrent despite its quirky, punching core. 

Equal parts grunge anthem and self-aware character study, the song pairs Aqualine's raw intensity with a playful honesty, exploring the experience of feeling overwhelmed by a hyperactive mind while questioning the harsh way we often speak to ourselves with a sense of humour and humility.

The band explain: “Stupid Brain is an anthem of self-frustration, capturing the feeling of being caught in a cycle of repetitive mistakes, insecurity and feeling like you've been spat out into adulthood without feeling ready. It explores the absurdity of the way we talk to ourselves internally. The song’s blunt, child-like delivery reflects a playful tantrum against your own imperfections, while the sharp, stabbing chords channel the internal chaos.

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Photo - Dustin Haney

Sarah Vanderzon - Oh My Child.

Folk/Americana singer-songwriter Sarah Vanderzon returns with her contemplative new single, “Oh My Child,” out now via Universal Music Canada. Recorded at the iconic Bear Creek Studio in Seattle in collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Ryan Hadlock (Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, The Lumineers), the track explores the bittersweet reality of growing up as Vanderzon reflects on the anxiety and uncertainty of stepping into adulthood. The song comes alongside a striking music video filmed by Dustin Haney (Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Parker McCollum), set in a remote rural background with just Vanderzon and her guitar. 

“Initially, I was focused on writing a happy song about family," explains Vanderzon. "I had just come back from a cottage weekend with my brothers, our partners and our cousins, who I consider my extended siblings. I was thinking back to when we were younger and that’s where the song took a turn.” She continues, “I remembered specific moments of when I started to second guess myself and let anxiety take up space in my mind. Playing this song live feels like I’m letting my inner child take over and rock out. I want it to serve as an anthem for the kid you used to be, and the kid you still are at heart.”

“Oh My Child” follows the nostalgic single released last month, “Being Free,” which balances soulful drums with a variety of strings, intertwined with bluesy vocals. In contrast to previous releases, “Oh My Child” and “Being Free” mark a new chapter for Vanderzon as she expands her storytelling into more complex narratives and diverse subject matter.

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Photo - Ashley Marsh

Ekep Nkwelle - Early One Mornin.

Rising vocalist Ekep Nkwelle announced her long-awaited debut album Caged Bird, out September 25th via Mack Avenue Records. Inspired by Maya Angelou's “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” the record details a journey from sorrow to inspiration, representing human suffering and the pursuit of a better future. The announcement comes with the first single “Early One Mornin.”

The 27-year-old singer, composer and bandleader has been captivating audiences since she first led worship at age 12, even then honing her ability to transport and inspire. Now with her long-awaited debut album, Caged Bird, Nkwelle is showing the world the sound she's been refining on the road with her dynamic band for years: traditional and vibrant, studied and spontaneous, familiar yet surprising. The resulting nine songs show an artist transcending genre with veteran polish and a totally original perspective.

Speaking about the album announcement and its meaning, Nkwelle stated, “‘Caged Bird’ archives songs of suffering and survival. I hope to provide expressions of necessary lament while equipping listeners with tools we, as humans, have always used to overcome in our lifelong pursuit of freedom and happiness: faith, art, and community.”

A song about surviving heartache, “Early One Mornin’” is a track that is a fan favorite and has captivated audiences at sold-out performances around the world. Discussing the track, Nkwelle said, “I love how liberating this song feels. Breakups are often painful and disempowering, but this one is healing because it affirms strength and reminds us that one foolproof way to survive a bad relationship is simply to jump ship!”

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Photo - Sophia Matinazad

Cassandra Coleman - Midnight Blue.

Emerging singer/songwriter Cassandra Coleman has announced her anticipated debut EP End Of Your Love will release on September 18th through Warner Records. The 8-track collection arrives after months of unveiling a series of new singles that have led to a breakout summer and quickly established the Nashville-based artist as one of indie-pop’s most compelling new voices. Coleman also shared a new peek at the EP with “Midnight Blue,” a big-hearted blast of widescreen synth-pop, built for nighttime joy rides with the windows rolled down. Of the track, Coleman stated, “‘Midnight Blue’ captures the power of remembering who you are after losing your identity in toxic love. Freedom after a lover’s suppression.”

Anthemic indie-pop. Folk-inspired torch songs. Cinematic piano ballads. They're all woven throughout End Of Your Love, an expansive EP that finds Coleman letting go of the life she thought she was supposed to live and learning to trust the one unfolding in front of her. Most of its songs are brand new, written between festival slots at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, tours with artists like Bleachers, Young The Giant, and Stephen Wilson Jr., and onstage duets with Noah Kahan. Others reach back several years, offering glimpses of an artist growing into the songwriter she was always meant to be. Together, they form a portrait of a creative life in full swing — one filled with closing chapters, new beginnings, and the hard-won self-assurance to step into whatever comes next.

Co-produced and co-written by Coleman alongside Alec Shaw, the EP was largely recorded at Nashville's Sound Emporium, with a full band playing together in the same room. Rather than building the songs piece-by-piece and polishing away every defect, she chose to emphasize the feeling of people making music together in real time. "It sounds very alive," she says. "We're living in an era where everything is so perfect and polished, but music isn't supposed to be perfect. It's supposed to be real. I want to represent something that's living and breathing."

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