Multi award winning cross border duo, Big Little Lions are going to be releasing monthly singles, which is good news for Beehive Candy as they have been consistently delivering creative and exceptional songs for over a decade. Big Little Lions are a duo who were born out of a collaboration that won them a JUNO Award in 2014. Since then they have been cranking out infectious folk pop songs that are jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies that sound like the product of two people working side-by-side instead of living in different countries.
They have released 7 albums to date, which have garnered them awards and nominations including the CFMA Ensemble of the Year, Independent Music Awards Americana Sing of the Year and John Lennon Songwriting Competition Song of the Year. Their critically acclaimed music has appeared on the CBC’s Top 20 and featured on shows like q and Vinyl Cafe. The duo consists of Paul Otten and Helen Austin, both hugely prolific songwriters - their music has been placed in hundreds of movie trailers, ads, network TV shows.
Their live show is quite the spectacle with Paul playing drums, bass and keyboard all while singing lead vocals. Helen, who is no slacker either, sings, plays guitar and foot percussion. They use every limb, and then some, to make two people sound like a full band.
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Some background on this notable (to say the least) song from Hannah Scott "I wrote this song in early 2022 about my experiences of renting in London over a fifteen-year period. The song captures the final two weeks I spent in a studio flat in Ealing without working lights - just one example of the challenges I faced despite spending well into six figures on rent."
Some background: “Your music moved me to tears.” This is the refrain contemporary folk artist Hannah Scott regularly hears as she leaves the stage. The best stories make us feel deeply and in the 15 years she has been writing and performing, Hannah has become an exceptional storyteller. Her music is shaped by human connections, with family, in all its chaos and glory, sitting at the heart of her work. Her lyrics are powerful and poignant, and her voice feels strangely familiar, though you can’t quite put your finger on why. Her writing may be deeply personal but her music has a universal appeal that goes beyond the melodies you catch yourself humming in the days after listening to her songs.
The connection she builds with her audiences is most evident in the stories shared by audience members after her performances: the woman whose elderly mother lost a sibling in childhood and is moved to tears by Boy In The Frame; the young father who, upon hearing My Dad & I, realises he wants to spend more time with his small children; the adoptive parents who, like Hannah as a step-parent, may not have been the first person to hold their child, but Love You Like I Did. A deep-rooted desire for this connection has always been the driving force behind her songwriting and live performances.
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Memento Mori, is the new single from Nottingham darkwave/post-punk trio Hurtsfall (out 1 May). Built around a driving post-punk bass line and brooding synth textures, Memento Mori explores the tension between intimacy and impermanence, that moment where connection is overshadowed by the awareness that everything is temporary. With a vocal that moves between restraint and release, it balances gothic atmosphere with a direct emotional edge.
Hurtsfall write and produce independently in Nottingham and have become a recognised presence on the UK alternative scene, with recent performances at Dot to Dot Festival, Whitby Goth Weekend, and Infest. They have shared stages with Ghost Dance, Skeletal Family, Miranda Sex Garden, and Aurelio Voltaire. Upcoming shows include appearances alongside Pink Turns Blue and The March Violets, as well as a festival slot at Darker Days.
With Memento Mori, Hurtsfall continue to refine their blend of darkwave atmosphere and emotional immediacy — a sound rooted in tradition but reaching toward something more immediate and human.
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'Pretty in the Dark' the new single for producer Alessandro Marchetti's project Les Flâneurs is a nocturnal synth-pop track about trying to feel beautiful even when everything inside and around you feels unstable. Moving through dim lights, crowded rooms, and quiet inner tension, it captures the fragile balance between confidence and vulnerability. Beneath its shimmering synths lies a subtle resistance: a way of holding onto yourself while the world blurs, judges, or pulls you down. It’s about finding a personal light in the dark because not everything is perfect, and in spite of it.
For Pretty in the Dark video, Marchetti choose and obtained to syncronize Night Market, a 2023 2D animated short film created by Yingyu Zhu, Chenyi Zhu, and Xinyu Sun from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in the USA. They are a three-person director team, Chenyi Zhu is responsible for animation, Yingyu Zhu and Chenyi Zhu are responsible for character design, Xinyu Sun and Yingyu Zhu is responsible for the scene design. The film tells the story of a young girl with cancer who finds escape from her isolated hospital life by following glowing butterflies into a magical, vibrant night market. The short explores with delicacy and dreamlikeness themes of illness, imagination, and hope.
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. Alex Marchetti is the creative mind behind the project. He writes, records, arranges, mixes, and produces the music, shaping every detail of the sound. Les Flâneurs is not conceived as a live act, but as a studio-driven project, in which atmosphere, texture, and emotional depth are central.
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| Photo - Jordenne Mills |
Like slipping into a soft-focus daydream you don’t want to leave, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Laura Adeline creates a sweet escape in her new single ‘Acquainted’, out Friday, May 1. Silky and smooth, this tune is Laura's latest addition to her velvety and intimate R&B catalogue. With her vulnerable storytelling, interlaced with textured beats and smooth synthesisers, Laura Adeline remains authentic and vibrant. Receiving considerable endorsement from Triple J, Triple J Unearthed, and Apple Music for previous singles 'Curbside' and '501s' and included in publications The AU Review, AAA Backstage, Stereofox and more, Laura is back with a more stripped-back and experimental version of herself.
‘Acquainted’ draws from a mix of studio-written lyrics and journal entries pulled from years of personal notes, tracing the lingering confusion, anger, remorse and regret that can follow long after a relationship ends. Speaking on the track, Laura shares:
“Acquainted is about looking back on something and thinking that I wish this person the best… but I’m actually still mad. But then they probably have the right to be mad at me, too… but I've changed. Have they changed? I don’t want to ever see them again, but if I do… I hope I can find out. And then this process repeats itself.”
Intoxicatingly lustrous, ‘Acquainted’ drifts through a floaty, daydream-like haze, supported by a fusion of R&B and alternative pop threaded together with modern funk sensibilities to offer a refined, minimalist sound. Underpinned by subtle electric drums, laid-back bass and reverb-soaked guitar parts, Laura's rich, mesmerizing vocals stand out beautifully.
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| Photo - Robert Chavers |
Nashville-based singer-songwriter Alex Hall has released his star-studded new EP Turn This Love Around. Boasting collaborations with Vince Gill, Tenille Townes and Mae Estes, the five-song collection finds Hall embracing creative freedom as an independent artist, with vulnerable love songs that don’t shy away from the turmoil of everyday life.
“The Turn This Love Around EP is a project about love, growth, the highs and lows of it all, and everything in between,” says Hall. “It touches on my experience with sobriety, the work it takes to build a strong marriage, and stepping into a different side of myself as a songwriter. When it came time to record, I went in a different direction – rather than bringing in the usual top session players in Nashville, I made the record in the studio with close friends I’ve shared the stage with over the years. I think that gave it more of my own fingerprint. It was also really special to have friends like Mae Estes, Tenille Townes, and Vince Gill be part of it. I’m a huge fan of all three, and I’m grateful to make music alongside them.”
Townes, who teamed up with Hall and Gill on the uplifting title track, says: “I love this song so much and I will always smile looking back at the day at Vince’s studio when we all wrote this. The stories shared and the time together talking about the heart of music is something I’ll always carry with me. So glad this song found us that day, and what a joy to be a part of this release! Alex is one of my favourite voices to sing with and a friend I’ve known in this community for a long time, and having a song with the legendary Vince Gill is an absolute dream.”
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Astari Nite has just announced the release of their new EP, Medications In Bloom. With themes of validation, self-preservation, romance, glamour and decay running throughout the release, Astari Nite encourages the listener to wear the brightest lipstick, laugh the loudest, be brave and find courage to stand up for yourself. Find positivity in negativity. Open the door and say good morning to strangers. Medications In Bloom inspires and motivates acceptance. Everyone deserves to be loved.
Commenting on the Ep's title, vocalist, Mychael Ghost reveals: “My mother has not been doing well for quite some time. My life for the past four and a half years consists of doctor visits, chatting with nurses, buying her flowers that make me sneeze, my mind wandering about childhood memories while holding her hand. Nevertheless, whenever her prescription is re-filled, I’m quickly notified. One day I received that reassuring alert and thought to myself, YAY, “Medications In Bloom” again.”
Medications In Bloom is available on limited edition compact disc and on all major digital outlets worldwide. Astari Nite is known for blending elements of alternative, post-punk and new wave, resulting in a distinctive dark / glam alt sound. Their style is reminiscent of classic alternative bands like Clan of Xymox and Placebo.
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