Tulpa are very new, nothing has been released up until now, not even a digital single. Despite this, they attracted the attention of Marc Riley & Gideon Coe, who invited the band to record a live BBC6 Music session this summer. Around the same time, Skep Wax Records were sent the finished album and knew they had to release it. Meanwhile, in the creative hotbeds of the UK’s DIY festivals and indie venues Tulpa are quickly gathering a loyal following. They have recently supported Throwing Muses, Pale Blue Eyes and Bug Club and will be playing a series of headline gigs in October and November 2025.
First single ‘Let’s Make A Tulpa!’ is an upbeat crunchy pop song that explodes into a huge chorus, somewhat in a Breeders vein, that will encourage sober people to throw themselves around their living rooms. ‘Psyops’ is gentler, but spooky and equally compelling, with echoes of Yo La Tengo: hypnotic in the extreme. ‘Amateur Hour’ is a lilting, gentle confessional. By contrast, ‘Raw Nerve’ is all frenzied guitars, and may remind seasoned listeners of the spiky excitement of Josef K.
Tulpa consist of Josie Kirk (vocals, bass), Daniel Hyndman (guitar), Myles Kirk (guitar) and Mike Ainsley (Drums), and are based in Leeds. Daniel was lead guitarist and songwriter in esteemed post-punk band Mush. Tulpa are nothing like Mush, and yet… all the energy, ambition and inventiveness of that earlier group are still here: it’s just that the creative power has been diverted into the service of a set of pop songs: songs that are in love with melody. Josie Kirk’s irresistible vocal delivery seals the deal. This is a very exciting new band.
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On October 17th, critically acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist Josienne Clarke will release her new album, Far From Nowhere, via her own label, Corduroy Punk. Yesterday she shared the latest cut to be taken from the album, 'In The Dark Of The Night'.
Of the single, Clarke says: "This one had to be like a hug in song form, a held hand through an anxious night, a reassuring call from a friendly voice. That’s what songs can do, find connection in the dark, be a little spark of light. The guitar part I wrote for it originally was all these parts on one guitar. It was nice but a little frenetic for how soothing I wanted this song to be.
Murray and I deconstructed that initial guitar part and split it across the instruments. He put the guitar’s bass line onto the synth which was immediately lovely, and I played the top half on the electric which we set back with a long, dreamy reverb. That left this lovely midspace for the softly strummed acoustic guitar part. I knew I wanted it to have a soft heartbeat type bass drum and Murray rightly pointed out that it needed something light in place of a snare, so it has this chiming tambourine faraway in the distance."
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Indie duo Haerts release “Wait for Us,” the third single from their upcoming album Laguna Road. The duo returned with the announcement of their fourth album Laguna Road, which will be released October 3rd. Thematically, the album frames a confessional portrait of family, memory, and the sacred mess of growing a family together. The duo, composed of Nini Fabi and Benny Gebert, wrote and recorded the album at home on Laguna Road, in the in-between spaces of everyday family life. They left the house in early 2025, having completed the album, to return to New York.
About “Wait for Us”, they say: “Wait for Us closes the album and it was the last song we wrote for it. We placed it at the end because, unlike the other songs that look back on our life and relationship, this one feels like it is moving forward.
For us, the song is about hope. It is the hope that when you give yourself completely to love and to life, you will find a way through. It is about giving more, when you think you have nothing left, staying even when you cannot remember why, and waiting because deep down you believe it is worth it.
In that way it tells the story of a couple drifting. The magic has faded. Words have run out. The strength to hold things together feels gone. What remains is the waiting, and the trust that love will return if it is meant to.”
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