Johnny Delaware (co-founder and former member of Susto) will release On God’s Time on July 24, 2026 via Normaltown/New West Records. The 10-song set was produced by Delaware and recorded in his adopted hometowns of Mexico City and Charleston, SC - the album follows 2024’s Para Llevar. This week we have “Regret Town” as a taster for the album. Talking about this Delaware says, “For ‘Regret Town,’ I wanted to be able to express some internal emotional concerns about my relationship with life, the lifeline of everything, what’s important to focus my energy on, and what I needed to fulfill so I don’t grow older with any distaste. I wanted to project that existentialism into a song along with my dreams to be on the big stage.”
The captivating On God’s Time isn’t so much a meditation on mortality as an embrace of our ephemerality. The collection looks to death as a means of putting life itself into focus, as a lens through which to understand the meaning and purpose of our dwindling days on this planet. The songs here are firmly rooted in the spiritual realm of the cosmic drifter, full of larger-than-life characters navigating their way through a world of tragic beauty and infinite wonder, and the performances are loose and raw to match, guided by instinct and tracked live and in the moment.
It’s a moving snapshot, a timeless exploration of love and loss and gratitude and regret rooted in the promise that our impermanence isn’t a curse, but rather a gift. Delaware says, “Life is wonderful and painful and a lot of times it’s not easy, but it’s not supposed to be easy. We’re all on a mission to do what’s in our hearts before they stop beating. That’s the only journey that matters.
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Nicole Atkins is proud to announce her long-awaited new album 'Drama', arriving via Sun Records / Wicked Game Records on Friday, 18th September. The acclaimed singer-songwriter’s seventh studio album and first all-new full-length release in over six years, 'Drama' is heralded by the first single, 'When the Night Falls', available everywhere now.
“I got together with my old friend Emery Dobyns to write a song together,” said Nicole Atkins. “We had these chords, and the feeling from the music reminded me of something I would’ve written for my first album, Neptune City, and I thought about where I was back then. The toxic love affair. And tying it into who and where I am now, and being able to write a song about terrible love from a place of power. Some would call it growth. I’m just still in love with the ‘sound’ of heartache. It gets me like no other.”
Largely recorded live over four productive days in her current home base of Nashville, TN, with GRAMMY® Award-nominated musician/producer Pat Sansone (Wilco, The Autumn Defense, Robyn Hitchcock), 'Drama' sees Atkins exploring the isolation, separation, and loneliness of a long-distance marriage through her signature fusion of musical genres and intimate lyrical songcraft. The album came together at the behest of her close friend and touring partner Chris Isaak, who signed her to Sun Records as part of his strategic alliance with the historic label as both artist and curator of new projects with his new imprint, Wicked Game Records. Drama spans style and era with smart design and an irrepressible buoyancy, from the girl group rush of “Trippin' On Teardrops” and Memphis soul-styled “For No One” to the James Bond-meets-Stevie Nicks noir of “Danny” and the wonderfully moody duet with Isaak, “Cue The Symphony.”
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| Photo - Tim Burden |
Late Stay Ultra Girls release the new single 'Chasing Rats, Polly', a track which captures the unique dancefloor swagger meets creeping paranoia that stylises the project. After a decade immersed in the rich and varied musical landscape of Bristol, multi-instrumentalist Tim Burden steps out from the shadows of collaboration to introduce his striking new solo project: Late Stay Ultra Girls. Known for his work across an eclectic spectrum, from the alt-rock urgency of The Hideaways to the country inflections of Billy Driscoll and Taynee Lord, and the high-camp glamour of Doreen Doreen, Burden now pivots to something altogether more personal, visceral, and unguarded.
Under the moniker Late Stay Ultra Girls, Burden sheds the safety of the sideman role in favour of a sound that is deliberately unstable and compellingly “wonky.” The result is a distinctive blend of swung art-rock: barrel-house piano colliding with motorik synth-noir and expansive post-rock noise.
On ‘Chasing Rats, Polly’, Burden takes you on an uneasy journey from bravado to paranoia. Exploring themes of shallow bravado and the ways people bend the truth in an effort to be liked, admired, or taken seriously - it's a reflection on performance, self-image, and the consequences of presenting a version of yourself that isn't entirely real.
Recorded with acclaimed producer Stew Jackson (Massive Attack), musically ‘Chasing Rats, Polly’ undergoes a dramatic transformation midway through. What begins with a blend of off-kilter indie and dance-driven momentum gradually gives way to a dark, brooding bridge. Shifting from its tight rhythms to a more sprawling, anthemic, 70 rock influenced swell of soaring guitars and haunting vocals, the shift adds an unsettling edge to the narrative and provides the song with a compelling emotional arc - moving from swagger and confidence into a sound which is both cathartic and anthemic, yet introspective and unsettling. Messy, inventive, and sonically absorbing.
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| Photo - Rachel Andes |
"Catfish", the second single from Nora Stanley's solo debut, is out today. The track unfolds slowly and beautifully, built from a simple synth drone and delicate nylon-string guitar, with baritone guitar, koto, and layers of saxophone drifting in and out of view. What draws me in most, though, is the vulnerability at its center — Nora sings about the ways emotion can cloud judgment and the clarity that only arrives with distance. It's spacious, intimate, and quietly devastating.
If Nora’s name sounds familiar, it may be from her work with artists like Cassandra Jenkins, The New Pornographers and Fred Frith, or from Distance of the Moon, her acclaimed 2023 collaboration with Benny Bock. As a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser, Nora has spent years bringing her singular voice to other artists’ projects. On Glass, she steps fully into the spotlight, drawing inspiration from Anne Carson’s writing to explore themes of reflection, separation, and the ways we see ourselves mirrored back through others. Co-produced with Nate Mendelsohn (Frankie Cosmos, Dougie Poole), the result is a beautifully crafted indie-rock record that feels both intimate and expansive.
Glass is one of those small big words poets most prize. Reflective and transparent, hard and fragile, natural and supernatural, Glass is polymorphic. As a saxophonist, flute player, clarinetist, and synth player, Nora Stanley has accompanied many of our most cherished living songwriters, including Cassandra Jenkins, Beth Orton, and The New Pornographers. She has performed improvised creative music with Benny Bock, Fred Frith, Kenny Wollesen, and Peter Apfelbaum, too. Luckily for us, Glass is not a simple summation of these not-so-disparate paths. The complexity of that giant noun characterizes Nora’s approach to this record’s production as much as it does the variegated career that led to its existence. Glass is a record of subtly devastating songs by a cool headed observer; a mirror and a window.
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