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| Photo - Ekaterina Iakiamseva |
White Birches released their third album A New Reign last November. The album was praised for its balance of precision and vulnerability and was featured on several “best of 2026” lists. On May 1 (2026) they return with Solace, the third single from the album. Solace was the last song written for A New Reign. It captures a fleeting shift — the first sense of life returning after a period of darkness. Brief, uncertain, but impossible to ignore.
Many of the album’s songs revolve around enduring grief. Solace moves in a different direction — toward being present, even if only for a moment. “We needed to close the album with something reminiscent of hope and light,” says Jenny Gabrielsson Mare. “We tend to stay in darker spaces, and that matters. But there also has to be room for something else, for solace”.
Alongside the single, Fredrik Jonasson of White Birches has created a video. The release also includes a B-side: a cover of Invincible by Pat Benatar, originally featured in The Legend of Billie Jean a song about holding your ground in the face of injustice.
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Philadelphia, Pa emo pop band Best Bear have signed to HHBTM Records, and announced a mini east coast tour along with a debut new video for "Bare Minimum." This band was a big discovery for the label in late 2022, but timing just didn't work out. Fast forward a few years later and the band are working on their follow up record and things just connected.
First hearing Best Bear was like first seeing Bad Banana before they became Swearin and Waxahatchee blew up, or when first getting to hear Snail Mail when a friend passed me a demo. There are bands you just know are gonna hit the moment and I feel like Best Bear has that same potential. Gut wrenching heart on the sleeve honesty through the lyrics, pop sensibilities for crafting hooks, and a voice so fragile but so strong from the emotional depth of what is be sung. The new Best Bear album won't be out until early 2027, but the band are doing some shows through the east coast and they are debuting a new video directed by Jay Miller titled "Bare Minimum."
Known for their emotionally direct songwriting and dynamic, slow-building arrangements, the project centers around songs written by Blue Barnett, with a rotating lineup of collaborators shaping the live band. “Bare Minimum” captures the tension of giving everything you have in a relationship while being made to feel like it still falls short. The video mirrors that emotional arc, pairing performance with cinematic, narrative-driven visuals that emphasize isolation, imbalance, and eventual release.
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Baldy Crawlers release the deeply insightful new single “On Those Who Starve Children”. Written in light of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the track is now available on all streaming platforms.
Blending West Coast soul with East Coast grit, “On Those Who Starve Children” hits as much like a curse as it does a song. Baldy Crawlers leaves nothing unsaid, creating a bold, yet incredibly relevant track that is meant to have you spiraling. Written and directed at those who weaponize hunger against youth, "On Those Who Starve Children" forces the listener into the perpetrator's conscience—one victim at a time, forever.
Recorded earlier in the year, “On Those Who Starve Children” was co-produced by Barry Wood and engineered by Jon Crawford at Village Tracks. In addition to the haunting lyrics, the track would be incomplete without the mesmerizing, yet soul-crushing vocals of Elizabeth Hangan. Sonically taking inspiration from Bob Dylan or Tom Waits, the track may sound quiet, but its message has never been louder or clearer.
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Following the releases of acclaimed singles “Let Me Go” and “News at the Party” earlier this year, both of which garnered Spotify Editorial support, Montreal singer-songwriter Libby Ember returns with “I’ll Stand in the Doorway.” Amidst heart-sinking melancholy, it captures the emotional limbo of moving through a breakup while remaining tethered to someone’s world. Wrapped in dreamy, bedroom pop textures, “I’ll Stand in the Doorway” explores longing, proximity, and the quiet tension of being emotionally outside looking in.
Inspired by a real experience following a breakup, “I’ll Stand in the Doorway” reflects the strange emotional state of navigating a shared neighbourhood with an ex. Libby describes walking through familiar streets while on edge, bracing for the possibility of unexpected encounters and the resurfacing of memory in everyday spaces.
At its core, the song’s title becomes a metaphor for emotional boundaries and lingering attachment. It reflects the feeling of not being able to step back into someone’s life, while still holding space for reconnection. “I can’t actually step back into the room, someone’s life,” Libby explains. “But I’m telling them that I’ll never be far away and if they ever want to let me back in, I’ll be ready.”
Sonically, the track leans into a fuller, more immersive production style than Libby’s earlier releases. Built from layers of electric guitars, synths, and drums, the arrangement mirrors the intensity of crowded thoughts and unresolved emotion. Rather than stripping things back, the production embraces density to reflect how sadness can feel amplified rather than simplified.
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| Photo - Myriam Riand |
Texas-based duo Crow and Gazelle share their new single “Belly of the Beast,” the latest offering from their forthcoming album Truth Be Told, out this June. The band has also announced a run of shows throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas to celebrate the album’s release. Truth Be Told is a sweeping, spiritually charged concept record that explores love, power, survival, and the truths buried beneath generations of fear, told through the voices of a woman and a man navigating a collapsing world.
Where lead single “Fall How It Will” introduced the album’s emotional and philosophical foundation, “Belly of the Beast” marks a turning point, where reflection gives way to confrontation. With doubled vocals and a driving, almost incantatory rhythm, the song unfolds like a spell, calling into question the systems we’ve been taught to accept as inevitable.
At its core, “Belly of the Beast” wrestles with the entangled forces of patriarchal religion, capitalism, and colonization, reframing them not as divine or natural orders, but as constructs built to dominate and divide. Through the lens of the album’s central heroine, a woman aligned with nature, memory, and resistance, the song imagines a path toward dismantling those systems from within.
“It’s a deeply spiritual war we’re under,” the band explains. “With violence, exploitation, and environmental destruction becoming normalized, we’re being asked to forget who we are and where we come from. This song is about remembering and about believing that love, not domination, is the force that will ultimately undo what’s been built.”
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