Gitta de Ridder - Common Holly - McCabe - Charlie Nieland - Lloyd and The Leftovers

Photo - Dewi Veldhhuizen

Gitta de Ridder - Heroes For a Day.

Acclaimed Dutch folk artist Gitta de Ridder released ‘Heroes For a Day’ on May 23rd, the final single taken from her upcoming record N(i)e(u)w Land due out on June 20th. Produced by Jonatan Backelie and released on her independent label Little Memories Records with an album launch at the Green Note the same month, ‘Heroes For a Day’ is an insight into the themes of self-acceptance, longing, grief and change on this personal yet universal collection of works.

Built around a gentle, fingerpicked guitar and delicately layered string arrangements, ‘Heroes For a Day’ offers a sparse yet emotionally resonant soundscape that merges folk-rooted storytelling with a pop-leaning lightness. Gitta’s double-tracked vocals bring an intimate immediacy, inviting listeners in: “It’s about the magic of everyday life, the beauty of sharing moments of joy and play, even amidst heavier feelings.... A commitment to always return to life's lighter side while also embracing the dark.”

Created in the midst of profound life changes - becoming a mother, grieving the passing of her father, and navigating a world in the aftermath of lockdown - N(i)e(u)w Land is a deeply introspective and healing body of work. Recorded in her home studio between feeds and first steps, it reflects both the fragility and resilience of life. “The songs speak of longing, of hope, of getting in touch with all of ourselves; our scars, our hurt, our joy and our playfulness,” says Gitta. “The light and the dark. The duality of life.”

While previous records were self-produced, acoustic and more traditionally folk, a new collaboration with Jonatan Bäckelie as producer sees Gitta skillfully crossing the boundaries from modern folk and new acoustics to pop while maintaining a distinctive and recognisable sound. Where poetic lyrics meet the honesty and rawness of folk music, she adds a lightness and pop edge without losing sight of meaning and authenticity.

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Photo - Aabid Youssef

Common Holly - Terrible hands.

Montreal-based singer-songwriter Brigitte Naggar (aka Common Holly) has announced her new album, Anything glass, set for release on June 13 via Keeled Scales and Paper Bag Records. Naggar describes the forthcoming record as "intimate, full of silence and space, warm, gentle, and sometimes spiky." The impressive range of genres and moods she explores on Anything glass showcases her masterful skill as a songwriter, musician, and storyteller. 

Now, following the quietly powerful hum of “Aegean blue” and the playful vulnerability of “Enough,” Common Holly shares “Terrible hands,” a delicate, piano-driven jazz-pop fusion. The track features a twinkling piano melody played by Naggar herself, alongside her signature soft, layered vocals. Midway through, the song breaks into a repeated chorus “Are we made of plastic or of stone?” and “Are we still together on our own?”—before returning to a jazzier deep bass section, reminiscent of Norah Jones’ soulful sound.

The accompanying video, directed by experimental media artist and filmmaker Ana-Maria Trudel, plays with shadowy hand imagery and multimedia snapshots of Naggar from shifting perspectives and landscapes. On the video, Trudel explains, "I was thinking of the sun faded quality of an old newspaper left on the dashboard - images that get prettier when they are forgotten. I wanted this video to feel nostalgic and delicate like a private journal entry you never meant to show anyone. We ended up using a lot of the b-roll to stitch this video poem together which gave it an intimate fly on the wall feel."

Brigitte Naggar on the track, "One of my oldest songs on the record, Terrible hands is a reflection on our place as humans on a planet in decline, as part nature and part consumer, and on the ways we carry shame for choices we have made both knowingly and unknowingly. I always think of the bloodstained hands of Lady Macbeth. I loved working with Ana-Maria on a video that gives us this contrast between black and white brutalism and enjoying a nice day in the park."

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McCabe - Days Of Heaven.

South London experimental soul artist McCabe returns this week with ‘Days Of Heaven,' the second single from his debut LP Sunset Boulevard. The track builds off of the momentum created by the April 11th release of ‘Vicious’, the first single on the genre-defying album.

Drenched in sunshine and soul, ‘Days of Heaven’ captures summer romance in musical form. Masterfully weaving rich Motown textures with contemporary pop sensibilities, McCabe sites Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’ as the track’s architectural blueprint, a reference he reverently describes as "one of the great modern pop songs.” Driven by crisp percussion and uplifting melodies, the chorus soars with choir-like harmonies that spark joy and nostalgia, yet beneath its bright exterior lies a hint of melancholy, giving depth to its carefree vibe.

"I wanted to create a song with a world that was feel-good and summery as a form of escapism for the listener," McCabe explains. "Days Of Heaven is a summer holiday love story with a dreamy narrative. Lyrically it is a rarity for me because it has a story-like quality to it, like a novel. It is about love at first sight and the excitement and romance of it all, with a hint of the impending expiry of this feeling."

The track strikes a perfect balance between mainstream appeal and artistic vision, evoking George Michael and Anderson .Paak while McCabe's vocals channel elements of Justin Timberlake and Thee Sacred Souls. The spirit of Marvin Gaye resonates throughout, creating something fresh yet timeless. Working with acclaimed producer Patrick James Fitzroy (Sorry, Katy J Pearson, PVA), McCabe transformed the original concept. "We reworked the structure using Valerie as a reference. The final version turned out quite different from the demo," he explains – a creative evolution that birthed this irresistible summer anthem.

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Charlie Nieland - Drown.

It's been five years since we last featured Charlie Nieland, then with his band Lusterlit who we got very excited about. Now we have a solo offering ahead of a new EP, and based on the track Drown, we can get all excited again - this sounds very good!  NYC-based producer indie music veteran Charlie Nieland presents his new single 'Drown', a stunning reverb-laced offering and the first taste of his forthcoming 'The Ocean Understands' EP, set for release on June 20. The expansive and visceral music video was directed by NYC-based multi-faceted artist Hypnodoll.

"The track 'Drown' was inspired by Monique Vescia's book 'Hole In The Sky', which I read for the Bushwick Book Club songwriter series in 2021. It depicts a dark world, where an authoritarian won the US presidential election of 2020. So I made this mythical tale from the past, told in the future, where all the stories are jumbled up - a celebration of destruction," says Charlie Nieland.

"Of course, it all feels quite prescient as we sift through our present wreckage, searching for grace in the violent forces underneath. It's a white-hot psychedelic siren song with an oceanic undertow."

It's been four years since Nieland released his 2021 widely acclaimed ‘Divisions’ with its sweeping melodies and restless rhythms. Renowned for tastefully blending post punk, dream pop and progressive rock, he has been writing, playing and producing music for decades, with a focus on the atmospheric and the imaginative.

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Photo - Paris Williams

Lloyd and The Leftovers - Tried it on Tuesday.

Lloyd & The Leftovers are bringing a classic sound into the new age with ‘Tried It On Tuesday’, an indie folk song released yesterday Friday, May 23rd, influenced by the American folk revival.

A five-piece folk rock band from Walyalup (Western Australia), Lloyd & the Leftovers are set on bringing the sounds of indie-folk americana to Australian shores. With their performances at festivals like Nungarin Festival and the City of Fremantle Winter Festival, album and single features on radio station RTRFM, and their sold out headline shows at the Buffalo Club and Clancy's Fish Pub, it’s clear their fanbase is eager and growing, and with their electric, energetic live shows and character-packed DIY recordings, it’s clear why.  

‘Tried It On Tuesday’ is the culmination of their creative nature: a hopeless romantic’s ode to their creative partner. With a fitting vocal twang and skilfully plucked guitar, the song conveys an atmosphere both wistful and hopeful.  The clear, open vocals and perfectly balanced mixing let the lyrics of the song really shine, along with the story within them.

This song is a cathartic look into the challenges that can come with a relationship with a creative collaborator, and the phase where the collaboration stops flowing as easily as it used to. The song acknowledges that it’s something that might be hard, and might be more trouble than it’s worth, but that it’s something neither of them are willing to give up on, so the cycle begins anew, hanging onto the past while time marches on.

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Amy Guess - Common Holly - Mallrat - Duncan Lloyd - ILUKA

Amy Guess - Wicked Memory.

Background - The latest alt-pop single from Amy Guess is called "Wicked Memory" and it's the first single since the release of her 10 Times Out of 10 EP earlier this year. 

Amy Guess was born and spent her early childhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The family moved to Las Vegas when she was 12 where she played lounges in cover bands that eventually landed her a job as a singing gondolier at the Venetian Hotel while she was still in high school.

A meeting with Grammy nominated producer, Rusty Varenkamp led to “Moonlight,” the single that put Guess on the map that garnered over 500,000 streams. They began working on Ten Times Out of Ten soon thereafter which was released in early 2017. Of the single “Comatose”, Impose Magazine says, “Guess has crafted a robust pop song in “Comatose” with lyrics that are easy to sing along and a tune that you find yourself humming once the song has ended.”

Amy’s voice moves between tearful, dramatic pleas to quiet expressions of devotion. Her vocal range brings a touching honesty to life’s darker moments. “I like peeling back layers that you don’t even know are there, to unlock something real,” Guess says. “When I’m singing or writing, It goes deep. You’re letting out your deepest most private and sometimes darkest stories and emotions, even though it’s a healing experience, it can be heavy letting those things out.” FACEBOOK, WEBSITE.

'Wicked Memory' is fine alt pop that mixes electro sounds, intricate beats and powers up into a dramatic and rock solid chorus line.

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Common Holly - Nothing.

Background - The new video from Common Holly for the track 'Nothing' from her album Playing House, has just been released. 

“Playing House is an expression of how I want to begin my adult life. It is my first real effort to create something that is entirely deliberate—the beginning of my journey of thoughtful action, and of daring to express myself outside of my bedroom. The creative process expresses my learning to take up more space and to put my silence behind me, while also dealing with the ending of a formative four-year relationship that had become the center of my young adult life.”

Common Holly currently resides in Montreal and has just finished up playing shows with The Hotelier, Julien Baker, Tim Darcy, Half Waif, Land of Talk, Fazerdaze and Julia Jacklin and Chad Van Gaalen.

The project focuses on putting unpredictable compositional elements into a singer-songwriter/folk framework, packaging them into textured, eclectic electro-acoustic production. Her album, Playing House, is centered around the notion that it is conscious thought and deliberate action that defines and cements maturation from child to adult. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

Having featured Common Holly back in August it's a pleasure to be able to do the same again this time with the new music video for 'Nothing.' A stripped back song, the vocals are centre stage and beautiful.


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Mallrat - Better.

Background - 19 year old Australian pop-rap sensation, Mallrat is debuting the video for her new track, "Better."

Featuring both its title track and the generational anthem "For Real," Mallrat's Uninvited EP introduced her to the world, instantly grabbing fans with her magnetic musings on everyday life in all its glorious mundanity, told through a next-gen pop kaleidoscope, touching the hearts and minds of many across the globe. With multiple tracks shooting straight to the top of the Hype Machine charts, Mallrat quickly got heat from tastemakers like Stereogum and Noisey, and the EP has racked in over 11 million Spotify streams to date.

"Better" is the enthralling next chapter for Mallrat. Once again, we’re offered a sugar-coated, blissfully melancholic commentary on the commonplace life of a 19 year old, fresh out of school. Expertly written by Mallrat herself and co-produced by Konstantin Kersting and Andrew Dawson (Kanye West), "Better" is another undeniable gem from the Brisbane-based artist, reminding us just what an exciting and rare talent she is. The track premiered via Stereogum and was included in the New York Times' weekly playlist, saying, "while Mallrat circles through her melodies, the ingenious track finds endless variety in three chords, morphing imperceptibly from simple guitar strumming to three-chord rock to quasi-orchestral splendor; Mallrat isn’t as nonchalant as her voice might seem."

Having just signed to Nettwerk, Mallrat has also toured with Maggie Rogers, played sold out headlining shows and made festival appearances to massive audiences in Australia. Gorillaz' Noodle also just included her EP title track "Uninvited" in a playlist of Kick Ass Women. 

"I really love horses and this video was the perfect excuse to spend a couple of days hanging out with them," Mallrat notes, about the inspiration behind the video. "I wrote 'Better' over a year ago, but it's taken most of this time to get it sounding exactly how it does in my head. My dad says it's his favorite song which makes me very excited to share it with everyone." FACEBOOK.
 
Mallrat's vocals are sensitive, melodic and addictive. Add in the delightful musical arrangement on 'Better' and just allow the hooks to dig in deep.


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Duncan Lloyd - Painters.

Background - Duncan Lloyd (of Maximo Park) shares new video "Painters." Lloyd explains that the track "looks back at a time when we felt less mortal, reflecting that what you dream of doesn't always turn out as planned." The track is from his recently released solo album 'I O U O M E', which is out now.

Duncan Lloyd is probably best known as the guitarist and musical driving force behind Mercury Music Prize nominated Newcastle (UK) band, Maximo Park, but  Lloyd’s frenetic outpouring has also seen him busy with various projects including Decade In Exile, Nano Kino, experimentalists Res Band, and solo work  under his own name. It is his solo work which now calls for our attention, with the release of new album, ‘I O U O M E’.

On an album about surviving change, detailing the effort to escape self-destructiveness, division and the inevitable breakdown of certain relationships, it’s  starkly personal, each insightful tale woven with defiantly buoyant melodies.

There is a quality that seeps through the foundations of “I O U O M E”; Lloyd's voice has a tactile warmth, weaving around deftly self-produced music, as if through his own nocturnal metropolis. The melodies keep you afloat but between the layers  there’s an emotional intimacy borne of experienced song-writing, both nimble and volatile. Talking about the record, Lloyd comments;

“These songs come from a more personal perspective and it’s fair to say there is a lot of  longing in them. They were mostly written in motion, travelling on long journeys, often  late at night when ideas tend to mutate & evolve in a way which is less black & white, where finer subtleties appear.”

Ultimately “I O U O M E” is an absorbing album, rich with melody, melancholy and  wit. With the addition of Tom English (Maximo Park) on drums, and additional  vocals from Eternal Summers’ Nicole Yun, the album powers into sonorous focus, never lapsing, it is a full-blown journey that is saying something worth hearing and  for Lloyd, the end result this time, is his alone. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

'Painters' is one refined indie rocker, with a richly layered musical backdrop allowing Duncan Lloyd's natural, earthy vocals to glide along seamlessly with the music.


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ILUKA - Sympathy.

Background - Reclaiming power and marching back onto the airwaves, ILUKA offers her new single ‘Sympathy’ off forthcoming EP Ritual. The single is an uplifting war cry using the rhythmic grooves of Motown to echo the voice of the people and highlight the need for radical change.

“Sympathy is a song that’s been sitting in my drawer for a couple of years now.  When it was written I had this real sense of impotence and apathy within my generation.That willing or not, so many of us were becoming slaves. Slaves to technology, to consumerism, to authority, to an ideology, to expectation, to our own bodies, and to our own minds. Rather fittingly I didn’t really know what to do with the song at the time. But I feel like with all that is happening in the world right now people are being shaken awake, whether we like it or not.  Silence is being broken, indifference is turning to dissidence, people are speaking up and being heard, and the time felt right to bring this song to life, to add my voice to the cause.  To celebrate defiance, to champion self-expression, to promote self-belief, and to reclaim our power.  As the song choruses... we want it back" says ILUKA.

The new EP Ritual is a collection of songs that bares homage to her great loves and burning visions of an old soul desperately present: conjuring the shoo-wops of Motown, the swirling synths of the space age, the rambling tales of the folk bard, and the urgency of revolution; both then & there, here & now.

Ritual marks the next evolution in the retro pop sound for which ILUKA has become known. Combining elements of musical nostalgia with a contemporary edge. Recorded with her long-term touring band who have become more intrinsic both onstage and in the studio, it’s a powerful, upbeat collection destined to empower and elevate, to transcend and liberate. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

The musical arrangement for 'Sympathy' is a heady retro affair which as mentioned above has some Motown feel to it. Thankfully ILUKA has the vocals to work alongside, as they do, with a vibrant and energised kick to them.

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Sc Mira - Common Holly - Satellite Mode

Sc Mira - Mexico.

Background - ‘Mexico’ is the new single from the forthcoming ‘Keep Crawling’ EP. Sc Mira formed in 2013 when singer-songwriter Sadye Cage met lead guitarist Ty Vega and the duo began playing acoustic gigs in their home town of Winnipeg, Canada. However, coffee shops and open mic nights barely scratched their creative itch, and it wasn’t long before they found themselves enlisting additional musicians to play live and in the studio with them; and so their 2015 debut, 'Waiting Room Baby', was born. 

Produced by Vega and mixed by Montréal legend Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Basia Bulat), the critically auded six-song album found its way onto several best of year-end lists in Canada and was a record that,  according to Noisey, “will give you the bad feels in a good way.”

Now, two years after Sc Mira discovered their darkness, the band is back with a new collection of songs, beginning with the aptly titled 'Keep Crawling' EP, from which ‘Mexico’ is the first official single. Bright on the outside but ice cold within, the self-produced record is guided by an unlikely partner in mix engineer Ferro Montanino, a pop producer and composer with a knack for film work and a collaboration with EDM star Skrillex under his belt. Ferro’s knowledge of the electronic and pop world complements Sc Mira’s synth-driven indie rock sound, resulting in a fusion that places it in the modern day Death Pop lineage. Website here, Facebook here.

A deep bass and delicate synths are no match for the beautifully defined vocals as 'Mexico' begins to unfold. The music gradually builds in layers of refined sounds, adding more texture and charm to this fabulous song.

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Common Holly - If After All.

Background - Solitaire Recordings is extremely proud to announce the release of Common Holly’s incredible first single 'If After All' from the forthcoming album entitled Playing House. Born in New York and raised in Montreal, Common Holly (AKA Brigitte Naggar) puts unpredictable compositional elements into a singer-songwriter/folk framework, packaged in textured, eclectic electro-acoustic production. Her forthcoming album, Playing House, contemplates the notion that it is conscious thought and deliberate action that defines and cements maturation from child to adult.

‘If After All’ demonstrates Common Holly’s astonishing ability to structure and compose highly intelligent yet incredibly emotive songs. Beyond the compositional intricacy of each section, the real beauty and genius of the song can be found in how Naggar uses the meaning of the lyrics to mirror the structure of the music. Naggar sings about her difficulty moving forward from broken relationships, of attempting not to slip back into old vices but feeling hopelessly trapped in a cycle of failed recollection. She expresses a strong need to move forward, to progress and grow, a sentiment which is unmistakably mirrored in the way the music evolves within the track.

‘If After All’ consists of three distinct sections: First, a collage of playful and mechanic percussion fills, swirling guitar harmony and deliberate vocals. Each instrument is ostensibly independent of each other; yet, collectively, each part fits together to create an intentional musical illustration. The second section mellows into somewhat of a tempered Angel Olsen singing over a Godspeed You! Black Emperor string arrangement that slowly but brutally climbs towards its peak. It finds its climax in the third section, a Mitski (see: Your Best American Girl) or Radiohead (see: Paranoid Android) almost math rock finish.

At no other moment in the song does the parallel of lyric and structure become more evident than in the final seconds of the track. Despite the erratic sounds around her, Naggar remains calm, attempting to move forward but ultimately relapsing: “I will always forget, any way you spin it”. Website here, Facebook here.

'If After All' came our way by virtue of featuring another artist albeit from a very different genre, the sender making a calculated guess this might also appeal and it does! Perhaps it's because the track has a number of unique attributes, it does not sit in any specific genre and morphs through differing stages. Whatever, I like it a lot as I hope will you.


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Satellite Mode - Wild Excuses EP.

Background - New York City-based, indie pop/rock duo Satellite Mode share their debut EP, Wild Excuses, on all DSPs. Satellite Mode is the project of the classically trained duo  of vocalist, Jess Carvo and producer and instrumentalist Alex Marko. Facing the threat of never being able to sing again, Carvo found her voice after an emergency vocal surgery and delved into writing as a creative outlet. Soon meeting Marko, who had just gone through a breakup, the duo transformed hardship and strife into power and success, using their musical chemistry and formal training as a vehicle for expressive and creation. 

The band independently released single, "Wild Excuses,"  via Noisey, landing a spot on Spotify's coveted Weekly Buzz playlist, gaining over one million streams on Spotify to date. The track holds the namesake and is the opening track for their forthcoming 6- track EP. Satellite Mode has supported a variety of live acts including Great Good Fine Ok, The Night Game and Flor. The duo shared their lead single, "Bad Woman," via BlackBook, who describe the track as "a statement of defiant self-possession set against a potent musical backdrop of contemporary rock & roll cabaret – with its fuzzed out synths and ominous strut of a groove."

Wild Excuses, the first full collection of works released by the duo, includes previously released (and beloved) tracks such as "Fair," "Aphrodite" and "Warm Fire Lightning," and unheard new material. Lead single, "Bad Woman," highlights the duo's expressive dynamic musicality, beginning with Carvo's soft croon, slowly escalating to an explosion of glitchy electronics, shimmering keys, blissed out guitar and anthemic vocals. The duo's second single, a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," presents a reinterpretation of the classic rockabilly track with dreamy layers of sound, passionate vocals and constant crescendo to a sonic climax. "Warm Fire Lightning" was mastered by Alex DeTurk (DIIV, TEEN, The Knocks) at Strange Weather in Brooklyn. Wild Excuses was mixed by Damian Press. Website here, Facebook here.

The 'Wild Excuses EP' has already received plenty of listens via Soundcloud excepting 'Bad Woman' & 'Wicked Game'. Now that might not be the case on other digital platforms, however unless you want to volunteer to be an unpaid researcher & check all of that out, I'm happy to let that be my excuse for an additional feature on Beehive Candy.

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