Bea Elmy Martin - Deer Tick - Eauclaire - Susto Stringband - Georgian

Bea Elmy Martin - Written On Me.

Bea Elmy Martin is carving out a vital space within the UK alternative landscape. London born and bred, her music is defined by emotional precision, blending ethereal vocals, orchestral intimacy and brooding electronics. Raised on the sounds of classic soul artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway, Bea developed an early understanding of melody and feeling, using songwriting as a way to process life, love and loss from a young age. She describes songwriting as her journal, a way of breaking overwhelming emotions into something tangible and manageable, allowing moments of beauty, pain and connection to surface naturally.

After the release of her 2021 debut single “Blue Escape”, which earned early BBC tastemaker support from Jack Saunders and Lauren Laverne, Bea began a slow, intentional creative journey alongside her producer Dominick J Goldsmith (HÆLOS). That collaboration led to Under The Yew (Vol. 1), released in May 2025, a luminous meditation on loss, healing and renewal. She has continued that emotional thread through subsequent releases from Under The Yew (Vol. 2), including “Lost”, “Born To Fly”, “Unscarred” and more recently “Anouk”, each one deepening the world of the project ahead of the arrival of her upcoming album Under The Yew (Vol. 2).

“This project has been a personal excavation,” says Martin. “Under The Yew transforms loss into light, each track a step toward resilience.” The record draws comparisons from Air and Portishead to Billie Marten and Adrianne Lenker, all anchored by Bea’s raw emotional clarity. Her new single “Written On Me” offers another intimate chapter in that journey, this time turning toward love, closeness and the ways another person can become part of you. The track captures the feeling of falling in love and becoming deeply intertwined with someone over time. “I wrote ‘Written On Me’ at home one night,” Bea says. “I remember going in without too much of a plan, just a feeling I couldn’t shake. I started playing around with a few ideas and this one just sort of fell out naturally. It didn’t feel forced at all, which I think is why it ended up being such an honest song.”

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Photo - Rich Ferri

Deer Tick - Everything Born.

On 5th June, Providence’s Deer Tick will release their ninth studio album, 'Coin-O-Matic', via ATO. This week, they tease the album with a new single, the intimate 'Everything Born', which touches on the LP’s underlying theme of impermanence. The band’s guitarist/singer Ian O’Neil shares: “‘Everything Born’ was written quickly about the tenuousness of life and the precious time we have to spend with the people that come into our lives. It’s about family, friends, neighbors, strangers and how these thoughts burrow a little deeper the older we get. I was thinking about my son and the people of Providence, RI while writing it.” 

Deer Tick recently went into Rhode Island’s Big Nice Studio and filmed the song live. 'Coin-O-Matic' casts a bright light on a little-known facet of the American mythos: the hidden histories of the band’s home state of Rhode Island, where the everyday dramas of working-class families long collided with the menace of the mafia underworld. As they tapped into their infinite fascination with that strange duality, singer/guitarist John McCauley, guitarist/singer Ian O’Neil, drummer/singer Dennis Ryan, and bassist Christopher Ryan assembled a batch of songs exploring desperation, grief, redemption, and resilience with both cinematic detail and lived-in emotionality. A sharp new turn from one of indie-rock’s most enduringly vital forces, Coin-O-Matic arrives as a complicated love letter to a way of life slowly slipping from the collective memory.       
 
The follow-up to Emotional Contracts (hailed by Uncut as one of 2023’s best albums), Coin-O-Matic takes its title from a cigarette-vending-machine company that served as the headquarters of Raymond Patriarca—a legendary mobster who ran one of the most ruthless crime families in U.S. history. “If you grew up in Rhode Island years ago, you’d see all these mobsters on the news and then run into them at a restaurant on Federal Hill,” says McCauley, referring to Providence’s version of Little Italy. “They were criminals but also very colorful characters, and I wanted the album to partly reflect a certain nostalgia for that kind of seediness.”

Deer Tick · Everything Born

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Eauclaire - Heaven On Earth.

“Heaven On Earth” is Eauclaire’s (pronounced “ō-claire”) latest indie-rock anthem, born not in a studio, but in the open desert. Written at the Heaven on Earth Music Festival in Moab, Utah, right beneath the Looking Glass Arch, the song captures a moment where awe meets the ordinary. With driving guitars, heartfelt vocals, and a chorus that feels both intimate and expansive, “Heaven On Earth” wrestles with getting out of your head and back into the present—back into the beauty that’s been there all along.

The bridge takes that idea literally: the gang vocals were recorded live on top of the Looking Glass Arch, with voices echoing across the canyon as the sun dipped low. It’s a song about noticing—wildflowers, starlight, golden hour, morning light—and realizing that heaven isn’t somewhere distant or abstract. It’s here. It’s now. And it’s found in the everyday moments we’re so tempted to rush past.

Formed by college friends Bryant Urich, Kyle Kicker and Justin Barnett in 2010, Eauclaire (pronounced “ō-claire”) released their acclaimed debut, Océan Bleu, in 2019, followed by 2022’s Timber, the latter of which chronicles a deeply personal season of loss and rediscovery for the band. Eauclaire’s single “Depths” was showcased in the CW and Netflix series All American, and their music has also been featured on MTV, MTV2, and in various international advertising campaigns.

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Photo - Chris Brennan

Susto Stringband - Hands In The Dirt.

Susto Stringband, led by frontman Justin Osborne of the highly lauded alt-country band Susto, just released their new single “Hands In The Dirt.” The track comes from their upcoming Susto Stringband (Volume 2) LP, which is out on May 29 via Missing Piece Records. The album features bluegrass and old-time reworkings of Susto favorites alongside a couple tracks that have never been released including today’s new single, which Osborne wrote before Susto began to take shape. Built around a mournful fiddle, the song reminds the listener to literally touch grass in times of turmoil and despair.

“‘Hands In The Dirt’ is an older tune of mine that actually predates Susto,” says Osborne. “I wrote it based on some advice my dad gave me in my 20s, when I was feeling burned out from DIY touring, and ready to give up on the dreams of writing and performing that I’d been pursuing. His advice was basically to work harder (lol) which over time has proven to be sound advice. 

My dad passed away back in 2020, and since then I’ve enjoyed bringing this one back into the sets from time to time, because it really reminds me of my dad and makes him feel closer. It was a blast to work up this Susto Stringband version of the song for Volume 2, and I’m really proud to finally be re-sharing a song that I’ve had such a personal connection to for many years.”

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Photo - Aaron Farrimond

Georgian - Crackled Grounds.

Manchester-based Georgian begin a fresh chapter today with the release of their new single ‘Crackled Grounds’ and the announcement of their first full body of work with the ‘Crackled Grounds EP’ out on 12th June via Heist or Hit (Westside Cowboy, Her’s).
 
Formed in 2024 and with three previous singles in their musical catalogue, Georgian are a five-piece outfit comprising Georgia McKiernan (vocals, acoustic guitar), James Poole, James Polglase (both lead and rhythm guitar, BVs), Connor Alder (drums) and Harry George (bass). Together Georgian have an expansive sound that reflects each of the band’s tastes, retaining a modern approach, but keeping the sound of their influences alive. Wrangling ‘60s pop, country, folk, shoegaze, psychedelia and further-flung traditional styles, their songs tell tales of navigating harsh emotional environments and lived experiences.
 
The debut ‘Crackled Grounds EP’ was laid down with producer Arno Stols at Magenta Studio in the peaceful Amsterdam countryside. Taking a leaf from Brian Jonestown Massacre’s melodic revivalism, Georgian began emulating the warm, unsettling, mysterious 60s-70s production of artists to which they had mutually become accustomed. Lyrically taking the listener to a place of escapism, the songs tell of battling the elements, female empowerment, and deep-rooted nostalgia.
 
The first introduction to their forthcoming EP is the alternative Western-inspired title track and new single ‘Crackled Grounds’, which atmospherically recalls a barren apocalyptic landscape where the sun is blazing and rain feels like a distant past. Blending haunting imagery with beautiful instrumentation and poignant vocals, it is a mournful song that also inspires reflection and hope. The band says; “This song was probably a result of watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and listening to Nancy & Lee within the same week. We got the opening riff and then it blossomed very quickly from there. It feels like the ultimate culmination of our journey so far.”

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Cello - Jessie Altman - Deer Tick

Cello - Vitamins.

A post-punk mantra wrapped in biting wit and restless energy, “Vitamins” introduces Cello as a singular new voice: confrontational, playful, and uncomfortably honest. Built on hypnotic repetition and deadpan delivery, the track skewers modern expectations of femininity, wellness culture, productivity, and obedience — turning self-care into something transactional, absurd, and quietly furious.

The lyrics move like a checklist from hell: “I’ll do my homework… I’ll be a good girl… I’ll do the housework… I’ll do your therapy… I’ll do my workout…” Each line lands with increasing tension, exposing the invisible labour demanded of women — emotional, domestic, physical, and aesthetic. When Cello asks, “Why don’t you give them to me?” it becomes less about supplements and more about validation, agency, and control.

There’s humour here, but it’s sharp-edged. “Vitamins” dances between satire and sincerity, capturing the exhaustion of trying to be everything at once: healthy, productive, sexy, compliant, resilient. Its chant-like chorus — “Vitamins, vitamins, yeah yeah” — feels both euphoric and hollow, mirroring the endless cycle of self-improvement sold back to us.

Cello’s background gives her sound an unexpected depth. Nicknamed for her classical roots, she trained as a cellist at the Junior Royal College of Music in London before tearing up the rulebook and moving toward post-punk minimalism. That classical discipline still pulses beneath her work — not in ornamentation, but in control, tension, and dramatic pacing. Every repetition is intentional. Every silence is loaded.

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Jessie Altman - Sleepwalking (EP).

In Jessie's own words: “Sleepwalking” is about moving through life on autopilot - staying in the haze because it feels easier than waking up. It captures that period when you’re going through the motions of your life without being present, and the moment you start to wonder how long you can keep drifting.

Voxwave's Helena Lynch had this to say in summarizing the release  "After her debut album “Aftermath,” which received recognition, the new EP “Sleepwalking” by Jessie Altman demonstrates growing artistic depth and emotional nuances. 

The four tracks of the EP are united by the mood of soft morning light. The singer does not moralize, does not call for “awakening” in the name of something great; she has caught the moment between illusion and consciousness and has managed to distinguish feigned clarity and sincere bewilderment. The EP is for those who are finally ready to open their eyes and see reality in all its complex beauty."

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Photo - Richard McCaffrey

Deer Tick - Mary Singletary.

Providence’s Deer Tick have announced the 5th June release of their ninth studio album,  'Coin-O-Matic', via ATO. The LP casts a bright light on a little-known facet of the American mythos: the hidden histories of the band’s home state of Rhode Island, where the everyday dramas of working-class families long collided with the menace of the mafia underworld. 

As they tapped into their infinite fascination with that strange duality, singer/guitarist John McCauley, guitarist/singer Ian O’Neil, drummer/singer Dennis Ryan, and bassist Christopher Ryan assembled a batch of songs exploring desperation, grief, redemption, and resilience with both cinematic detail and lived-in emotionality. A sharp new turn from one of indie-rock’s most enduringly vital forces, Coin-O-Matic arrives as a complicated love letter to a way of life slowly slipping from the collective memory.   
 
'Coin-O-Mati'c is deeply informed by the singular experience of growing up Irish-Catholic. That is exemplified by the album’s lead single, the ramshackle jangle-pop “Mary Singletary”, which Deer Tick share today. It tells a tender yet irreverent tale of interfaith teenage lust. “Most of the stories on the album are from my parents’ generation and the generation before that, when the idea of a Catholic and a Protestant getting together was very scandalous,” says McCauley. “With that song in particular, I liked the idea of writing about Catholic guilt and pre-marital sex and adding in a little bit of Looney Tunes-style violence—sometimes as a young Catholic boy, I did imagine a vengeful God cutting me down in a cartoonish kind of way.”

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The Last Dinosaur - First Blush - The Human Circuit - Deer Tick - Fassine

The Last Dinosaur - Grow.

Background - Poignant, dreamlike, beautiful: The Last Dinosaur’s The Nothing is a record to swim in. The brainchild of Londoner Jamie Cameron, it’s an album that addresses a tragic event from his teenage years, and transmutes that experience into a cathartic work of art.

At 16, Jamie had met kindred spirit James Macdonald at music college and recorded the 2004 album Good Morning Sunshine… and Goodnight with him under the name When I Was a Little Girl, a well-received debut through the independent label Where It’s At Is Where You Are. But a year later, Jamie was in a car crash that tragically claimed the life of his best friend. Out for the day with one of Jamie’s sisters and another friend, the car aquaplaned and hit another car at a junction. James’ injuries were the worst among the passengers, and when he passed away, Jamie was in a state of shock.

“I’d had a pretty idyllic life until then, nothing particularly bad had happened,” Jamie says. “That was a difficult experience to comprehend. Despite how harrowing it was, I thought came out of it relatively mentally unscathed, although in hindsight that’s a trick you tell yourself.”

Instead, he began recording with another music college friend, Luke Hayden, as The Last Dinosaur. Jamie’s parents split up, he broke up with his girlfriend, and The Last Dinosaur’s debut album Hooray! For Happiness, covered glowingly by the likes of Uncut, The Line Of Best Fit and more, attempted to come to terms with these experiences, while avoiding the real elephant in the room. “I was doing everything to avoid confronting this really big thing that happened at an age when you don’t generally experience death and loss,” Jamie says.

Afterwards, depression took hold of him, but over the course of years, he began writing, recording and amassing songs that addressed his grief and own fear of dying. The powerful The Nothing began to take shape. “It wasn’t an intention of mine to write an album about dying or anything like that, but I realised after I’d written a few songs that they all were about it in some way. It got to a point where I couldn’t really avoid it. I’d done the divorce album and it was all I was left with, trying to make sense of this thing that happened. Halfway through I realised it was profoundly cathartic, it made me felt less scared of dying.”

The Nothing is uplifting, life-affirming. Its lyrics may tackle the subject of mortality, but the gorgeous, overlapping, interlacing melodies are like drifting in a blissful reverie. ‘We’ll Greet Death’, with its strings, piano, saxophone and acoustic guitar is defiant, possessed of an emotional complexity. On ‘Grow’, Jamie’s lovely acoustic plucking forms the basis for a song about the fragility of life, while ‘The Sea’ is a meditative post-rock movement that begins in a hushed place and concludes over five minutes later in a gorgeous string-laden denouement. Although Jamie professes to a childhood love for R.E.M, Tortoise and most of all, Talk Talk, the music here is very much his own, self-penned and performed with close friend Rachel Lanskey providing viola on most of the songs. “I’ve had a very strong sense of never wanting to copy anyone else’s music, I just want to sound like me,” Jamie says.

Created between 2009 and 2016, The Nothing is a stunning, affecting album that is also a touching tribute to Jamie’s late friend. “Someone called it elegiac,” Jamie says. “I quite liked that notion.” Facebook here.

An album that's taken around seven years to create sets expectations high and the song 'Grow' suggests those expectations are going to be rewarded. It's a beautiful track, tender and touching without being self indulgent, and the arrangement and production is superb.

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First Blush - Gold.

Background - First Blush  is the brainchild of Charles Sekel, a former Julliard pre-college program kid-turned-indie musician. Sekel's music is a reflection of his battle to defeat a continuous cycle of self-destructive behavior stemming back nearly a decade. 

From his college days as a classical/jazz musician at the Peabody Institute, Sekel struggled with alcohol abuse and panic attacks, and turned to original music to help with his mental health. Now completely sober thanks to the help of music, a good therapist and assistance from his girlfriend (now wife,) he was able to pull himself out of addiction and confidently release his solo venture.

As dark and heavy as it turned out, the music video for Gold started in a pretty silly place: GIFs. I love a good GIF meme, especially if it's well-placed to maximize its comedic effect. But I began wondering if the concept of GIFs could be used in a more serious, dramatic context to invoke feelings of monotony and dread. 

The director, Adio Ash, created a variety of different scenes to explore different aspects of that underlying concept and wove them together in a TV-channel-based narrative arc, to powerful and dizzying effect." Facebook here.

Charles Sekel's vocals are both passionate and powerful when required. 'Gold' is an exquisite song, with a layered lo-fi soundtrack making the perfect backdrop for some wonderful singing. The video is equally artistic and makes for a fine accompaniment.


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The Human Circuit - Juxtaposition.

Background - Juxtaposition, the second single from The Human Circuit upcoming album, Electric City, straddles the line musically and lyrically. Lyrically about being stuck between two paths or choices, the music itself reflects this dichotomy by its forward propulsion meeting a certain lighter bounce and its jazz-inflected Indie Rock mixed with a darker melody.

Mat, The Human Circuit, on Juxtaposition: Juxtaposition illustrates a very natural state of humanity; uncertainty. The discomfort of feeling caught in the middle, forever being torn between clear choices with elusive outcomes. It so often seems we are teetering on the brinks of our lifes greatest ambitions and utter insanity.

The Human Circuit is a touring Alternative Indie-Rock band from Austin Texas. Their catchy psychedelic grooves range from the mystic vibes of David Bowie to the intricate arrangements of Arcade Fire. Their most recent album, Frequent Seas (2015) independently charted top ten on public and college radio stations nationwide.

The Human Circuit has performed with bands such as The Zombies, The Octopus Project, Boogarins, The Peach Kings, Smoke Season, Calliope Musicals, Ringo Deathstarr, and has been booked by Transmission Events, C3 Presents, among others. The Human Circuit has performed events and festivals including SXSW, 35 Denton, Pecan Street Festival, and more. Website here, Facebook here.

Our second feature for The Human Circuit and this time we have 'Juxtaposition' the bands second single from the forthcoming 'Electric City' album. It's a vibrant indie rocker, with captivating dual vocals and a sprightly musical arrangement.

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Deer Tick - Sea of Clouds / It's A Whale.

Background - For the first time in four years the acclaimed and beloved band Deer Tick announce the September 15 release of a long-awaited new album...actually, two. Never a group to stand by conventional protocol, the celebrated Providence, RI quartet will release two separate albums of original material, Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Deer Tick Vol. 2 (Partisan Records), recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN. The two albums complement each other yet reflect completely contrasting styles, both of which accurately represent the two distinctive musical personalities of Deer Tick — quiet and thoughtful / loud and raucous.

Deer Tick Vol. 1 showcases the folk-driven, roots/rock style with right amount of grit, that Deer Tick is known for. Lead singer/songwriter John McCauley is a masterful introspective and observational songwriter, who documents inner struggles and external conflicts with a perfect balance of heartfelt sincerity and wry wit. The opening track "Sea of Clouds" encompasses all of what brought so many fans to Deer Tick in the first place, and also what kept them there. Guitarist Ian O’Neil’s “Hope is Big” and drummer Dennis Ryan’s “Me & My Man” expand on the group’s already dynamic range.

On Deer Tick Vol. 2, the band turns it up and lets it fly with an injection of punk-inspired garage rock at it’s finest. Clever lyrics, infectious hooks and captivating melodies pack Vol. 2 with bassist Christopher Ryan skillfully laying it down with authority and attitude. The propulsion of opener “Don’t Hurt”, edgy pop of “Jumpstarting” and rowdy punk of “It’s a Whale” reveal that there was an obvious Jekyll & Hyde approach to recording Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. Vol. 2 closes with boisterous “Mr. Nothing Gets Worse”, with all three singers taking a verse on a song that would have made The Replacements proud.

Deer Tick defines the term outlier. Their ever-evolving style has never been claimed by any one scene or genre. They encompass key elements of indie-rock, country, punk, pop, Americana, folk and so much more, which is what makes it difficult to nail them down. With Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Deer Tick Vol. 2, the question really is, why would anyone want to? Website here, Facebook here.

Two tracks are shared 'Sea of Clouds' and 'It's A Whale', one from each album. Both have an element of raw and natural enthusiasm, notable vocals and fine musicianship, after that they part ways and genres, and do so with class!



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Fassine - Gold.

Background - Fassine are pleased to share the animated video for 'Gold', taken from their forthcoming second album, 'Gourami' - released 28th July. "The video for the track is just as dramatic. Animated by James Gilleard, it shows the group, or at least a version of them, retreat to a mountain-top mansion where they’re joined by friends for some time off the grid, or so it seems.

Things soon take a sinister turn, and the real reason for the group’s getaway becomes apparent. The video is just as cinematic as the track itself, so we won't give away any spoilers."

The London trio made a name for themselves last year with their icy, cinematic take on electronic music for ‘Dialectik’, a debut album that saw them gain praise & support from the likes of Spin, Q Magazine, The 405, The Guardian, Giles Peterson, BBC 6 Music and more.

The band have a keen ear for the cinematic with their songs featuring on the backdrop of high-profile American TV drama’s including Sky Atlantic’s The Following, Fox’s Lucifer, Sony’s The Art Of More and more...

The band recently featured on artist Robot Koch’s haunting track, Spine and also re-worked his latest single ‘Heart Is A River’ released on Monkeytown Records. Website here, Facebook here.

'Gold' is atmospheric pretty much from the first few chords. The video add's a level of intrigue, whilst the song mixes beautiful vocals alongside an expansive music arrangement.


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