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 |
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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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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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 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, 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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