Beth Lucas - Emory Duncan - Strange Plants - Aldous Harding - Nic Panken - Desperately Seeking Suki - Eleyet McConnell

Beth Lucas - What I Deserved.

Australian Country artist Beth Lucas has released her deeply personal new single ‘What I Deserved'. Written eighteen years after the experience of her first love, the track is a candid reflection on the complexities of young adulthood and the mistakes made on both sides of a first serious relationship - a song she never expected to write. Though the track was already written, Lucas refined the key elements during the recording process alongside producer James North. 

Through her trademark confessional storytelling, Beth explores her own shortcomings and the lessons learned from a formative romance she once thought she’d never revisit. After surfacing subconsciously, years after Lucas had “pushed it down and moved on”, ‘What I Deserved’ has evolved into a form of therapy - transforming a suppressed memory into a moment of growth and resolution. 

“This is easily one of the most vulnerable songs I’ve ever written and I know it’s finally the right time to share this part of my story. Like a lot of my songs, the lyrics eventually found their way out in the middle of the night, and when I sat down the next day, the song basically wrote itself. It feels good to finally release it”.
 
Beth Lucas creates confessional modern country with an alt-edge, blending “sad girl country” vulnerability with the vocal power of Sara Evans. Her sound is a deliberate evolution - originally rooted in the emo and alternative scenes, Beth returned from a brief hiatus with a refocused devotion to raw, honest storytelling.

Beth Lucas · What I Deserved

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Emory Duncan - Semicircles.

Emory Duncan has shared the second single from his forthcoming EP Semicircles and Half Written Songs, produced by Jamie Mefford (Gregory Alan Isakov, Nathaniel Rateliff). Duncan’s soft, gauzy vocals float over an elegant tangle of violin, piano, and slide guitar, as he examines the power of real love to pull us out of self-sabotaging cycles. 

Duncan shares: “Semicircles” is about the rhythms we find ourselves in, patterns that we fall into and define us, and the cold realization in hindsight that the agency to change was ours all along. We become victims of our choices, stuck in our little loops despite our awareness of them. Semicircles, at its core, is a lack of self-control. It’s reconciling regret and emotional distance with a love that’s powerful and real. That’s the tragedy, that honest love is no match for self-destruction, although they both exist in a messy complexity of internal struggle. 

Originally from Houston, Duncan now lives and writes from a log cabin tucked beneath the Redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains, crafting pastoral Americana as dreamy, foggy, and serene as the setting he inhabits. He released his debut EP For Someone I Don’t Know in 2024 followed by a string of singles. Duncan’s music has independently racked up millions of streams and landed in tastemaker compilations by Alexrainbird, Indie Folk Central and more.  

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Strange Plants - Ground Falls Away.

Strange Plants return with “Ground Falls Away,” an energetic rock single that blends kinetic grooves with the band’s signature analog warmth. Driven by pulsing rhythms, vintage textures, and an undeniable forward motion, the track captures the restless feeling of pushing through life’s daily pressures and refusing to stand still. Following up on February’s “Lay Your Mind,” it’s the second release to be shared as part of a collection arriving throughout the year.

The inspiration for “Ground Falls Away” came from a candid conversation between friends. “I was speaking with a friend over drinks one night and he was really going through it,” explains songwriter Matt Brannon. “He was hustling day to day just to stay ahead, and it felt like if he ever stopped moving the ground would just swallow him up. Despite all this pressure, he remained hopeful and willing to keep soldiering on.”

The song first began with a riff from songwriter Travis Flint, an acoustic figure that weaves through the verses and anchors the driving momentum. Though written several years ago, the band initially set it aside after recording the foundational tracks during a transitional period. Returning to it later gave the song new life. “We had recorded the bed tracks but shelved it for a while,” Matt says. “Coming back to it now, it feels like it was meant to be. It’s so much better and we couldn’t be happier.”

One of the most distinctive elements of “Ground Falls Away” lies in its rhythm section. The bass lands on the upbeat against the kick drum’s downbeat, creating an unusual push-and-pull groove that fuels the song’s sense of motion. The chorus then expands dramatically, culminating in an instrumental back half that delivers emotional impact without relying on additional lyrics.

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Aldous Harding - Venus In The Zinnia.

Aldous Harding has dropped a second single from her upcoming fifth album Train On The Island, which lands on 8 May. The track, 'Venus In The Zinnia' got its first spin last night on Lauren Laverne’s BBC 6Music show.

On the song, Harding teams up with H. Hawkline—who handles bass, guitar, and backing vocals—while John Parish jumps in on drums, Wurlitzer, and percussion. Keeping up her streak of striking visuals, the new video features both Harding and H. Hawkline, and was made with the support of NZ on Air Music.

The 10-track Train On The Island was co-produced by long-time collaborator John Parish (PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning) at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, where the pair recorded the New Zealander’s previous bodies of work, Party (2017), Designer (2019) and Warm Chris (2022). Joining Harding and Parish on Train On The Island were pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte, harpist Mali Llywelyn, synth artist Thomas Poli, drummer Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear) and Huw Evans (H. Hawkline) on bass, vocals, acoustic/electric guitar and organ.

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Photo - Rakel Stammer

Nic Panken - Near Divine or Merely Rhyme (Album).

Nic Panken understands the perseverance of art and its intentions to ground and inspire us. He sees how melodies ruminate deep in the belly of uncertainty, blossoming to bring fresh clarity and a whispering optimism. Over the years, the Brooklyn-born songwriter has endeavored to spread the invigorating presence of song, initially through fronting the Americana-folk group Spirit Family Reunion and now, through his own evolution as a solo artist. Panken strives for equilibrium and purpose, and it's through his gorgeously sensitive yet gutsy delivery that an exhale can be found, away from our amplified anxieties and collective mourning. 

Now residing in Kingston, NY, Panken divides his time outside of music-making between working as a puppeteer, hosting his weekly radio show, and mixing sound at beloved local venue Tubby's. By immersing himself in the restorative power of the arts, every day is decorated with the potential to be present; to find new meaning and community through his various, purposeful practices. After years of relentless touring with Spirit Family Reunion, Panken found solace in staying still, and it’s in this shift that he began crafting what would become his new body of work.

His debut solo album Near Divine or Merely Rhyme is the result of trusting your gut and the process, no matter how unexpected the outcome. The foundation of these songs were spurred on by a wink from the universe, when Panken met multi-instrumentalist Jared Samuel (Kevin Morby, Aldous Harding) while performing at a local Hudson Valley house show. Samuel and his partner Sarah La Puerta run the small recording studio Pale Moon Services in Cambridge, NY, with core beliefs that music making is for all, and that to say yes to one instant is to say yes to all of existence. 

“As soon as I walked into that space I knew I wanted to make music there,” Panken says, citing Samuel’s “encouraging yet patient,” energy that served as a catalyst in the album’s tapestry. The previously stripped-down arrangements of Panken’s songs soon morphed into an expansive landscape, as the pair’s chemistry propelled the sonic direction. “I learned to just allow it to be what it wants to be.”

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Photo - Eshe Taylor

Desperately Seeking Suki - Suki.

Desperately Seeking Suki, are an exciting duo made up of siblings Natassa Zoë and SIG SALI (Danny Pugh), based in Australia and the UK. They introduce you to their world with their impactful debut single 'Suki' out on the 10th of April, lifted from their forthcoming EP.

‘Suki' is a love song about life’s messy, beautiful bits, the good, the awkward and the real. It’s about meeting someone who truly sees you and being free to be completely yourself.  Standing on the dancefloor in the eye of a carousel of glimmering synths and infectious beats, Natassa’s evocative and literate spoken word puts you into her mind's eye. Bursting into synth-dapped, earworm alt-pop choruses. ‘Suki’ embodies the ups, the downs, the laughs and the big feelings, love with an open heart, even when it’s messy. A rushing and cinematic song built for 2026: relatable yet universal, it burrows into your head and won’t let go. Desperately Seeking Suki will take you by the hand and take you for a ride.

Natassa says: “Suki is about embracing the light and dark in yourself and finding love that holds through the chaos.” Natassa Zoë, who lives between Australia and the UK, and Danny Pugh, based in Bristol, started Desperately Seeking Suki by sending tracks back and forth across continents before reuniting to launch their debut EP. Together, they craft a sonic tapestry that fuses melodic indie pop, art pop, and dynamic synth pop.

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Eleyet McConnell - The Ledge.

Award-winning husband-and-wife duo Eleyet McConnell return with their gripping new single and video, “The Ledge,” available worldwide on April 10th, 2026. The track is the latest release from their critically praised sophomore album, The Journey, which debuted March 6th across all major digital platforms.

Written by Angie and Chris McConnell, “The Ledge” stands as one of the album’s most emotionally charged and sonically intense moments. Driven by raw vocals, urgent instrumentation, and unflinching honesty, the song captures the breaking point in a toxic relationship—where silence, manipulation, and emotional weight collide with the need for liberation.

Opening with stark confrontation—“One of these days you’re gonna realize you needed me”—the track builds into a defiant chorus that declares independence and self-worth: “Standing on the edge of the ledge / I need to break free from here.” The imagery is vivid and immediate, placing listeners at the brink of a personal reckoning. It’s a song about reclaiming control, shedding emotional chains, and choosing truth over illusion.

Musically, “The Ledge” leans into the duo’s evolving rock-forward sound, blending driving guitars with dynamic rhythms and powerful vocal delivery. It reflects the broader sonic direction of The Journey, an album that expands Eleyet McConnell’s palette while staying rooted in their signature authenticity.

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The Darts - Scarlett Macfarlane - Lunar & The Deception - Les Flâneurs feat. Avantage Kairos - Eleyet McConnell - Andervel

Photo - Tina Gross

The Darts - Apocalypse.

Seattle’s The Darts return with “Apocalypse,” the second advance single from their upcoming LP Halloween Love Songs, arriving March 3. Where “Midnight Creep” danced in B-movie shadows, “Apocalypse” blows the door off the darker half of the album, leaning into caveman rhythms, volcanic fuzz, and the kind of apocalyptic joy that makes destruction sound like deliverance. It hit February 3 and marks the moment the record shifts from spooky fun into full-throttle, after-midnight fire.

The song was born in Angers, France, when singer/organ conjurer Nicole Laurenne wandered through the massive medieval Apocalypse Tapestry, a wall of woven chaos, angels, beasts, storms, the whole cosmic meltdown. “The lightning bolt struck me,” she says. “The song practically wrote itself in the van as we left the castle.” Instead of doom, Nicole leaned into the strange liberation of burning it all down: freedom from suffering, freedom from crowns, freedom from being told what comes next. She wrote the line “no future, no kings” as a mantra of release — and a year later, as if the song had cracked something open, “No Kings” erupted as a protest chant across the U.S. All while the track existed only as a demo on her laptop.

Musically, “Apocalypse” hits like a ritual. A pounding, Neanderthal beat through the verses, wide-open chant on the chorus, and those snaking organ lines that nod straight to The Seeds, The Standells, and other 60s greats who knew how to make the end of the world sound like a block-party with broken amps. Rebecca Davidson’s guitar tone drags the song into modern grit with thick, grimy Mudhoney fuzz, a little L7 bite, and flashes of Bikini Kill’s unbottled anger. It’s garage rock with a cracked halo, stomped through the dirt and set on fire.

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Scarlett Macfarlane - Winter’s Whisper.

New York’s Scarlett Macfarlane returns with “Winter’s Whisper,” a fun, energetic, and delightfully zany alternative-pop single that invites listeners into a world where fantasy and reality blur. Inspired initially by the image of a magical winter walk, the song quickly evolved into something far more surreal and became a reflection on how life itself often feels stranger than fiction.

“I wrote ‘Winter’s Whisper’ based on just the title and how magical a walk in a winter ‘wonderland’ could be,” Macfarlane explains. “Then words like ‘magic’ and ‘wonderland’ took me down a not-so-proverbial rabbit hole.” Drawing inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s iconic prose, the song shifted perspective, becoming a commentary on the bizarre, confusing, dangerous, and incredible nature of reality itself. “This world, life itself, is filled with fantasy,” she says. “It can be all at once transformed by the cast of characters you encounter throughout your own zany story.”

True to its theme, the song embraces duality. The title reflects the idea that every story has more than one side and that mystery is an inescapable part of understanding the world. Musically, “Winter’s Whisper” stands out through its unexpected fusion of pop melodies with an almost rockabilly, off-kilter energy. “I think the use of an almost zany rockabilly feel in a pop track really makes this song stand out,” Macfarlane notes. “It’s just fun to listen to.”

The songwriting process became a creative puzzle, weaving familiar fragments of Alice in Wonderland into a new and personal narrative. “I basically got to stitch tiny moments from a very famous childhood story into my own interpretation of Wonderland,” she says. “It was like solving a puzzle and making the pieces fit in a way they weren’t meant to in order to make my own image.”

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Lunar & The Deception - Your Monsters.

Following a strong 2025 with the brooding single "Eclipse" followed by the subsequent “No More Secrets”, Lunar & The Deception now unveil another powerful precursor to their long-awaited debut album The Somnambulist, arriving March 6th. The band's striking new single "Your Monsters" landed on February 3rd.

Opening with delicate piano and lead singer Britt Xyra Dusk’s haunting vocals—evocative of Amy Lee's dramatic intensity—"Your Monsters" draws you into an intimate space before jagged guitars tear through the stillness. As drums build and strings sweep in, the track transforms into an anthemic, darkly progressive rock opus—melancholic yet powerful, vulnerable yet defiant. The song captures the duality of love—its tenderness and its terror—laying bare the beauty and brutality of relationships where affection and destruction exist side by side, where passion gives way to conflict.

At 02:48, the track undergoes a profound shift as layered vocals relay over each other, creating a rich choral effect that feels both communal and overwhelming—like an army gathering strength or a final stand in an epic battle. The mood transforms from personal torment to collective catharsis, moving from claustrophobic intimacy to vast, cinematic scope. This anthemic finale doesn't offer resolution but liberation through confrontation—the sound of rising bloodied but unbroken, where triumph mingles with sorrow and private pain becomes transcendent. Influenced by The Doors, Portishead, and Nico, with echoes of dramatic darkwave/gothic rock, "Your Monsters" is both a meditation on intimacy and a reckoning with the darker forces that surface when two people collide.

The band reflect: "'Your Monsters' is about the raw tenderness of love while confronting the shadows that emerge in intimacy. It's about those moments when connection becomes collision, when what we cherish can also consume us. It's an honest reckoning with both the light and dark we bring to each other."

Lunar and The Deception · Your Monsters

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Les Flâneurs - Fireworks feat. Avantage Kairos.

Les Flâneurs is the project of the musician and producer Alessandro Marchetti. His first album A Long Season (2020) was played in countless nations around the world and got rave reviews and appreciation. Afterwards, the project entered a phase of exploration. The new album Afterglow, to be released in 2026,  arrives after six years of research, experimentation, and collaboration — a slow process shaped by mood, instinct, and artistic necessity rather than industry timing.

What if love was a fireworks show? A fire, yes, but a fireworks fire — a fleeting sensation of unknown fantasy. Fireworks captures that ephemeral explosion of color, light, and emotion: dazzling, intense, and impossible to hold. Like a spark in the darkest night, it illuminates, mesmerizes, and disappears almost as quickly as it arrives, leaving a space for the imagination to wander — between expectation and fulfillment.
 
The song was born as a collaboration between Les Flâneurs and Avantage Kairos, the singer and leader of the band Kairoscode, who added voice and lyrics to Marchetti's instrumental composition, forging the definitive identity of the song. Fireworks' video was filmed in the stunning landscapes of the Azores, where the singer Avantage Kairos now lives, by the Portuguese director Paula Murio. The everyday life's scenes from the heavenly island translate the song’s dreamlike intensity into cinematic images full of color, light, and poetic narrative.

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Eleyet McConnell - The Horizon.

Award-winning husband-and-wife duo Eleyet McConnell are set to release their highly anticipated sophomore album, The Journey, on March 6, 2026, across all major digital platforms. The project marks a powerful new chapter for Angie and Chris McConnell, showcasing their most confident, expansive, and emotionally driven work to date.

Leading the album is the anthemic first single and official music video, “The Horizon,” a classic rock–inspired statement of resilience, perseverance, and forward motion. Built around driving guitars, soaring melodies, and heartfelt lyrics, the track has quickly become a defining moment in the duo’s evolving sound.

The Journey continues the momentum Eleyet McConnell have built as one of independent music’s most authentic and compelling voices. Blending rock, Americana, and roots influences, the album explores themes of survival, self-discovery, love, accountability, and hope—reflecting both personal and universal struggles.

Produced and recorded by Patrick Himes at Reel Love Recording Company, the album features a seasoned lineup of musicians, including: Angie McConnell – Vocals, keys; Chris McConnell – Bass; Brandon Ullery – Guitar; Rob Olsen – Guitar; Patrick Himes – B3/Keys, Producer; Kimmi Sampson – Fiddle; Kenny Barnett – Drums, JD Harris – B3.

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Andervel - Foxglove.

On May 1st Mexican-born, Reykjavík-based singer-songwriter Andervel will release his debut album Ironclad & Palm Trees. A folk-leaning, multilingual record shaped by migration, memory and the meeting of two homelands, the album expands the poetic, cross-cultural world he has been steadily building across recent singles, where the warmth of Mexico meets the windswept quiet of Iceland.

Today, alongside the announcement, Andervel has shared the album’s lead single, ‘Foxglove’. Named after the hardy, wind-tossed flower that thrives across Icelandic landscapes, the track reflects on resilience during moments of transition. Beyond describing the seasonal shift from summer into autumn and the transformation of the Icelandic landscape, the song captures an intimate moment of suspension: between light and darkness, the hidden and the visible. Gentle finger-picked guitar and brushed percussion contrast with the relentless force of the Icelandic wind, which pounds against walls like ocean waves. Written during a period of anxiety as Anderson and his partner faced the long descent into winter, the song was inspired by a seemingly fragile flower surviving against the magnitude of harsh weather - a quiet meditation on waiting, uncertainty, and finding strength before change arrives.

Ironclad & Palm Trees reflects a project that has grown alongside its creator, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist José Luis Anderson. His classical vocal training (Anderson was mentored by his grandfather, award-winning opera tenor Librado Alexander), early musical upbringing, and years performing Mexican and Latin American folk shape the timeless quality of his voice, while his life in Iceland informs the album’s emotional terrain and sense of place.
 
Moving fluidly between Spanish, Icelandic and English, Andervel draws from a broad lineage of lyric-driven songwriting rooted in the folk tradition. Alongside contemporary influences such as Adrianne Lenker, Laura Marling and Natalia Lafourcade, as well as Mexican composers Manuel M. Ponce and María Grever. Active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ponce and Grever helped bridge European classical traditions with Mexican folk music, creating intimate, expressive vocal works whose emotional directness continues to resonate in Andervel’s songwriting and live performances.

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Lux Interna - Eleyet McConnell - heddlu

Lux Interna - No Arrow.

Lux Interna reveal the music video for the lush and warm track 'No Arrow' as the final advance single taken from the American dark folk innovators' forthcoming new album "New Wilderness Gospel", which is chalked up for release on May 2, 2025.

Lux Interna comment: "In 'No Arrow', a tangle of voices and moments meet, intertwine, and transform each other", guitarist and singer Joshua Levi Ian explains on behalf of the band. "Here, it's always 4:00 am. You're stepping out of the roadside bar as the desert winds gently stipple flickering red neon with grains of sand, while the lights from the town in the valley shimmer below like ghosts in the darkness.

Or perhaps you're waking up in the Mojave heat and lighting a cigarette in the motel bed as you watch your sleeping lover bathed in shadows and the shards of electric light that creep in through the holes in the curtains. Or maybe you're still driving, tired but full of flame, as the car's headlights are continuously humbled by the vastness of a great nocturnal kingdom. Either way, you feel a mix of calm resolve and wildlife surging up inside you.

Your body is awake, a beautiful animal of flesh and fire. It feels like everything that came before has intentionally led you to this moment. But you know that he's out there, waiting and watching. And there's a cold and calculating malice in his eyes. This thought used to terrify you. You would have done anything to shake him off your trail. But not anymore. Now you're ready. You welcome the encounter. Now he's the one that best beware."

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Eleyet McConnell - Bed of Roses.

Beloved husband-and-wife Americana duo Eleyet McConnell return with their soul-stirring new single “Bed of Roses,” out on April 18, 2025, alongside an emotionally raw and visually intimate music video. The release marks another milestone for the award-winning pair, as the single has already climbed to #26 on the UK iTunes Country Songs chart, continuing their upward trajectory on the international music scene.

“Bed of Roses” is a poignant anthem of resilience and love, showcasing Angie McConnell’s powerful, blues-laced vocals paired with Chris McConnell’s evocative 70s-inspired guitar work. Together, they craft a musical tapestry that feels both timeless and urgent—steeped in emotion, authenticity, and storytelling. With influences ranging from Beth Hart and Fleetwood Mac to Pink Floyd and The Doobie Brothers, the duo once again proves their unique ability to blend grit with grace.

This release follows a string of recent successes for Eleyet McConnell, including a Top 5 single and multiple Top 30 hits on the UK iTunes charts. Their 2023 marriage added a deeper personal layer to their music, which continues to resonate with fans across generations. Their ability to channel shared life experiences into poignant musical expressions makes “Bed of Roses” not just a song, but a testament to love’s ability to thrive through adversity.

With accolades from the International Singer Songwriter Association (ISSA) and the Josie Music Awards, Eleyet McConnell are quickly becoming staples of the modern Americana landscape. “Bed of Roses” is yet another heartfelt chapter in their ongoing story.

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heddlu - Paid Becso Am Dim

heddlu is the new musical project by Rhodri Daniel. The Ceredigion native was a founding member of renowned Welsh band Estrons who had a major impact on the industry having gained rave reviews from the likes of NME, Vice, DIY and Clash to BBC Radio, Radio X, Ultimate Guitar, The Guardian and Independent.

After finishing the band in 2019, Rhodri became aware that his hearing was severely damaged. Years of touring the live circuit had taken their toll, Rhodri ultimately being diagnosed with hearing loss, tinnitus and severe sensitivity to noise. The effects were so acute, Rhodri was unable to play live music, leading to him composing his critically acclaimed debut album (Cantref, 2022) in his head whilst completing the entirety of the Wales Coastal Path (900 miles). His family and namely his sister, were great sources of comfort and hope during this difficult period. Serendipity led Rhodri back to music, and heddlu was born. Meaning ‘Police’ in Welsh, from the words ‘peace-force’, heddlu's music has been true to its’ name, offering a force of peace to the songwriter.

Rhodri spent the next few years writing and experimenting with new sounds and instruments as his hearing slowly recovered. Whilst writing and recording his 2nd album, life found a way of both disrupting and influencing the creative process, leading to multiple re-writes and an entire album being erased. Eventually, despite the interruptions, heddlu’s 2nd album, ‘Tramor’ - was completed.

Meaning ‘Overseas’ in Welsh, ‘Tramor’ is series of intimate and volatile songs, detailing years of loss, estrangement, trauma and hope. “Paid Becso Am Dim”, is the 1st single from heddlu’s 2nd album ‘Tramor’, meaning ‘Don’t worry about a thing’ in Welsh, it was written for Rhodri’s sister who over the past few years, has been fiercely fighting breast cancer. Singing messages of optimism and hope, the song is Rhodri’s small attempt to show the same comfort and support his sister had shown him during his own struggles with hearing damage a few years ago. His sister is now in remission!

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