Gwenno - Josienne Clarke - Lou-Adriane Cassidy - The Slackers

Gwenno - War.

'War' is the brand new single from Gwenno's new album 'Utopia.'which is set for release on July 11th, 2025. Having released three albums in Welsh and Cornish, 'Utopia' is Gwenno Saunders’ first album recorded predominantly in English, and presents a very different side to her life and songwriting.

Forty-three years into her life, Saunders has been many people. The disaffected Cardiff schoolgirl; the teenage Las Vegas dancer; the singer in indie pop group The Pipettes. There was a turn in a Bollywood film, a nightclub tour, a stint cleaning floors in an East London pub. Long before she would become an acclaimed solo songwriter in both Welsh and Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury, a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, there were the days of Nevada, London, Brighton; of Irish dancing, techno clubs, messiness and chaos.

'Utopia', Saunders’ fourth solo album, is an extraordinary exploration of all of these selves. If the singer regards her first three solo records — 2014’s Y Dydd Olaf, 2018’s Le Kov and 2022’s Tresor as “childhood records”, rooted in her upbringing, her parents, her formative identity, then Utopia captures a time of self-determination and experimentation. These are songs of discovery, of the years between being someone’s daughter and becoming someone’s wife and someone’s mother. They range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, via contributions from Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline, and encompass William Blake, a favourite Edrica Huws poem, and the Number 73 bus. It is her finest work to date.

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Josienne Clarke - Tiny Bird’s Lament.

Critically acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist Josienne Clarke announces her raw and intimate new album Far From Nowhere, due out this autumn via Corduroy Punk. Alongside the album announcement, Clarke shares the first single ‘Tiny Bird’s Lament’, a haunting, minimalist track recorded direct to tape in a remote Scottish cabin. The single offers the first glimpse into the stripped-back sound and emotional clarity that define the new record.

The album will be accompanied by a short film titled Deluded, directed by Alec Bowman_Clarke, offering a candid, behind-the-scenes portrait of the album’s creation. Currently screening at festivals, the film will be shown throughout Clarke’s UK tour this October - full dates now announced - before its general release on November 30th.

Long admired for her crystalline voice and unflinching lyrical gaze, Clarke has always had an ability to evoke a communal melancholy. But with this LP, recorded at a remote Scottish cabin, she’s achieved the feat of stripping away the barriers between artist and listener. What emerges is a record of remarkable intimacy and integrity as Clarke embraces stillness and vulnerability. She sought total isolation but ended up creating something even more profoundly connective.

Also born of practical constraint, Far From Nowhere is a natural step and defiant response to the logistical and emotional tolls of trying to eke out a living in the music industry in 2025. “Making music today, for me, often feels like an exercise in retreat,” Clarke says. “The structure of the industry slowly suffocates the spirit of artists, starving them of the self-esteem that comes from remuneration for a job well done, so retreating to a cabin in the woods to make my album made sense.”


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Lou-Adriane Cassidy - Triste Animal (Album)

Yesterday, fresh off the critical acclaim of her last project, Journal d’un loup-garou, Canadian singer-songwriter Lou-Adriane Cassidy returns with a bold and unexpected follow-up: Triste Animal. A raw, genre-defying album recorded entirely live to tape with zero edits, the album arrives just three months after her previous release, and marks a daring turn toward spontaneity and artistic freedom.

While wrapping up Journal d’un loup-garou, an album celebrated in Quebec for its cinematic scale and theatrical live shows, Cassidy found herself craving something looser, more instinctive. "After two years of deep focus on that project, I just needed to let go," she explains. That urgency led to Triste Animal: eight songs captured live over four days by eight musicians, with no overdubs or polish. The only exception? A guitar solo on “Adieu”, because, as Cassidy puts it, “our guitarist couldn’t make it that day.”

The result is a stripped-down, emotionally potent record that foregrounds Cassidy’s mesmerizing voice and sharp compositional instincts. Backed by some of Quebec’s top musicians (Alexandre Martel, Thierry Larose, Vincent Gagnon, PE Beaudoin), and with vocal arrangements crafted and sung alongside her longtime collaborators Odile Marmet-Rochefort, Ariane Roy, and Lysandre Ménard, the album captures lightning in a bottle: real-time performances that breathe and bleed.

Stylistically, Triste Animal is Cassidy’s most eclectic effort yet, weaving together threads of folk, soul, West Coast country, chamber pop, samba, jazz, and even traces of acoustic grunge. Tracks like “Tout le monde dans autour” (penned by filmmaker-musician Stéphane Lafleur) showcase heart-wrenching tenderness, while the brooding intensity of “Adieu” and the driving, dissonant “Valse frustrée” highlight her dynamic vocal range and emotional grit.

Lou-Adriane Cassidy · Triste Animal

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The Slackers - My Last Star.

New York City’s longtime ska/reggae legends The Slackers have released their newest single “My Last Star,” now available everywhere fine records are sold as a 12” UV Printed Single from Pirates Press Records.

“My Last Star” began as a dream that Greg Lee of Los Angeles’s Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024. Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, and released it into the world.

Now that the song is finally out for all to hear, and The Slackers, along with a team of close associates head up by writer/direct Pat Byrne, have crafted a poignant music video to accompany this beautiful collaboration with - and tribute to - their longtime friend.

The Slackers are currently stationed in the Los Angeles County area, where they are gearing up to perform five shows in six nights from May 7th through the 11th. These shows in Hepcat’s hometown will function as the record release for “My Last Star,” and they will be playing the song every night.

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Immaterial Possession - Gillie - Junior Bill - Miss Velvet - Sock - Josienne Clarke

Immaterial Possession - Medieval Jig.

Mercy Of The Crane Folk is the beautifully accomplished second album from Athens GA’s Immaterial Possession. A theatrical soundscape littered with subconscious flashbacks, retro keyboard flurries, wandering Morricone-esque guitar and dreamy Sumac-like harmonies.

Featuring the ethereal eerie dream pop of former artist commune residents Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, with drummer John Spiegel and Elephant 6 descendant Kiran Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes). Additional contributions come from drummer Jon Vogt who can be heard on "Mercy Of The Crane Folk" and "Birth Of Queen Croaker."

It’s a haunting and immersive trip into the inner psyche of these nomadic soothsayers; a psychedelic dance party from a half-lit underground world; breathlessly eerie and all consuming; a salubrious sojourn that sounds like nothing else. Filled with a kind of peculiar optimistic uncertainty that any quest to make sense of a drowsy recollection of simpler and far better times would have; Mercy Of The Crane Folk is soft and serene summoning up a fanciful folkloric place where, undoubtedly, the mysterious crane flock prosper.

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Gillie - Llawn.

After the success of her single ‘i ti’, a song that announced a new beginning and a new creative chapter for Gillie we are excited to unveil its follow up the mesmerising yet quietly brooding ‘Llawn’.

With this new single, Gillie who also produces and records her own music wanted to “Sonically explore something that felt both rhythmically uncertain, and free, with builds and small releases of tension throughout”

Thematically Gillie explains the background to the song: “‘Llawn’ centres around the feeling of your life changing due to external factors/other people’s control over decisions, and finding a safe place for yourself within this. The idea that someone has power over you whilst you’re in a vulnerable state is interesting to me, and when I was writing this song, I had an image of someone force feeding me these ‘changes’, hence the opening lyrics. It’s also about finding freedom in uncertainty and practicing resilience, trying to find warmth in the present and embrace ambiguity.”

Blending gold-flecked guitar loops into an ambient haze on top of relentless driving rhythms, Gillie harnesses the anxieties, stress and struggles of modern life, weaving them into something unapologetic and inherently intimate.

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Junior Bill - Teeth.

Described as 'a 21st Century Joe Strummer' by BBC 6Music's Tom Robinson, Junior Bill is the project of Welsh songwriter Robert Nichols. 'Teeth' is the third single from upcoming debut album 'Youth Club!' and documents the ailing health of an elderly sugar addict, spending her last days in a 'tiny cul-de-sac' that represents the claustrophobic society of present day Great Britain.

With buzzing lead single 'Boys From Jungle', Junior Bill found international praise for a powerfully charged attack on the mistreatment of asylum seekers in the UK. 'Flag of St George' followed, honing in on the dour mood of the country with an equally bleak black & white music video. 'Teeth' is another political missive, this time wrapped up in a bouncing dub reggae outfit and swaying with glittering production and charming depth.

The band, led by Nichols, are set to travel the UK this year in support of the album. A well-honed live show has been seen supporting Supergrass, at Glastonbury Festival and most recently at a packed out hometown show.

Junior Bill · Teeth

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Miss Velvet - Born To Be Your Own Wild (Lullaby Version).

Channeling the legends of classic rock with powerhouse vocals, impeccable leather style and an elusive sense of danger that takes you by surprise, Miss Velvet has taken the rock n roll world by storm. No stranger to the stage, Miss Velvet has dominated over 100 cities and 127 shows opening a world tour for the iconic George Clinton - who calls her voice “the definition of rock n roll.” George Clinton isn’t the only one singing Miss Velvet’s praises either, with numerous music critics comparing her bold and electrifying performances to the likes of Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin and Robert Plant.

Additionally, her previous releases (with her band, Miss Velvet & The Blue Wolf) have garnered two top 20 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator Chart. Entering a new era of self, Miss Velvet’s forthcoming solo album Traveler blurs the lines between the roles of being a rock star, an artistic explorer, and a young mother – resulting in a potent rock escapade that’s both raw and multifaceted. After moving from her native New York City to sunny Los Angeles, Miss Velvet connected with acclaimed rock producer Esjay Jones.

"'Born to be your own wild' is the very first song that my producer Esjay and I wrote together, on the day we met" says Miss Velvet "I had my little girl who was 10 months old at the time sitting in the room with us as we wrote this song to her, and at the same time, I didn’t even know I was pregnant again! I wanted to sing about the hope we have as mothers, about the beautiful dreams we have for our children and the fears we hold deep inside about the hardest journey we embark on".

The original version of the song was a Miss Velvet classic- a rock power ballad. But right as she was meant to submit the song to her team, her and Esjay decided that they should make the song more intimate- it was written for her baby, after all. And so, the "lullaby version" of the track was born. "We created this 'lullaby' version to honor that delicate sentiment where parents dream of the best, yet at the same time, lament the inevitable letting a child go from their loving arms to go 'be their own wild.' Unconditional love".

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Sock - Accidentally High.

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self-titled follow up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion.

Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound. Accidentally High is the third track released from their self-titled second album, which is out on the 28th April through Bubblewrap Collective.

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Josienne Clarke - Done.

Last Friday, Josienne Clarke released her new album Onliness (songs of solitude and singularity) via Corduroy Punk Records. Onliness is both a wholesome project and a spellbinding work in its own right. Opening with one of her earliest compositions – ‘The Tangled Tree’ – and closed by a brand-new song, it presents a career retrospective viewed through a new lens. The album is comprised of reworked versions of fan favourites and hidden gems from a back catalogue that always glimmered, but this time they’re entirely hers, carrying everything from booming drums to intimate acoustic guitars, with Josienne's powerful yet, at times, fragile voice whispering and screaming straight into the listeners ear.

In her own words, Josienne Clarke viewed her 2021 album – A Small Unknowable Thing – as a leap into the abyss. Finally free from the industry structure that had been built around her over the preceding decade and more, she released the album via her own label, Corduroy Punk Records, and handled every aspect of the album’s writing, recording, and release herself, on her own terms.

From her home on Scotland’s Isle of Bute, Josienne began thinking about the idea of reclamation. Cutting her teeth in an industry that so often works against the artist it's supposed to support – and with a lingering idea in the wake of Taylor Swift’s ‘Taylor’s Version’ project – Josienne began revisiting the songs in her back catalogue that felt buried somehow; that had never had the spotlight she felt they deserved, for myriad reasons.

Of her new single, Clarke says: "'Done' is a resigned break-up ballad that, when writing it, I had intended to be a sort of melancholic ode to “My Way” — which is kind of a ridiculous premise. But the whole song is harmonically structured to sound like an ending, descending inevitably towards its close. When I wrote it, it was originally based on a descending finger-picked guitar pattern which gave it a rhythmic meter so you could feel its last moments tick away. In my reworking, I decided that it could definitely take the “last orders at the bar” piano torch song treatment. My references were Tom Waits’ 'Closing Time' and Randy Newman’s 'I Think It’s Going To Rain Today'. This arrangement places the words centrally and leaves plenty of space for contemplation. It was one of those songs that never quite found its spotlight, but I always believed it was one of my best — one of those rare times when you manage to say exactly what you mean, just how you feel, no more, no less, in three-and-a-half minutes. Making this retrospective album gives it another chance to shine...'

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Josienne Clarke - Everything By Electricity - Brenda - Marlody - Sock

Josienne Clarke - Anyone But Me.

Josienne Clarke has released “Anyone But Me,” the final single from her new album Onliness (songs of solitude and singularity), out today Friday, April 14th via Corduroy Punk Records. Darkly urgent, with distorted guitars reframing its folk origins to create a whole new sound for Clarke, “Anyone But Me” is a study in possessiveness. The song’s grim and ominous music video directed by Alec Bowman_Clarke is a fitting visual companion as it follows the end of a marriage. “Maybe I just watched too many Hitchcock films in lockdown, but when I was commissioned to make a video for this song, I knew exactly what I had to do” explains Bowman_Clarke. “Bob Gallagher, the maker of Josienne's wonderful 'Chicago' video, was kind enough to grant me permission to use his character, and Chris Newman jumped at the chance to reprise his role. I'm very grateful to them both for helping bring this vision to life.”

The “Anyone But Me” video has earned early support from film festivals across the world–it’s currently a semifinalist in the London Indie Short Festival and the San Jose Independent Film Festival, and has been selected by the Tokyo International Short Film Festival and the Roma Short Film Festival. “Anyone But Me” follows previous album singles “The Birds,” “The Tangled Tree,” and “Words Were Never The Answer”.

Written, arranged, and produced entirely by Clarke, Onliness is the follow-up to 2021's A Small Unknowable Thing–her first LP released via her own label–and presents a career retrospective viewed through new eyes and ears. The LP arrives about five years after she left her contract with Rough Trade Records and is ultimately a striking overview of an artist who has beautifully traversed their own path, no matter how rocky it became. Throughout the process, Josienne was clear that she wanted the album to work on its own terms, that it could stand tall as a brand new chapter even to those unfamiliar with the initial recordings. She also wanted to approach each new song as a singular exercise, to follow the instincts that she’s honed over the past few years.

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Everything By Electricity - Goodbye.

"Goodbye"  first came to fruition when singer-songwriter Yulia Bizyukova decided to do some spring cleaning in her flat. From the ashes appeared an external hard drive with various unfinished tracks - one of which recovered a skeletonized version of "Goodbye".

At the time, the track contained only a few lines of a verse and chorus. After tweaking "Goodbye" for a couple weeks, Yulia sent it to Andy Baldwin, for mastering at Metropolis Studios. The end result is a captivating display of shoegaze layered underneath lush vocals that gently embrace the listener's ears.

Yulia Bizyukova was born and raised in the barren landscape of Barnaul, Siberia, where it snows for a third of the year and freezing cold winters can last up to five months. At age 10, Yulia taught herself guitar and began writing songs that drew inspiration from the melancholy she witnessed.

Everything by Electricity accredits Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, and Joni Mitchell, as some of their biggest influences. Prior to the pandemic, Everything By Electricity's rich sound enabled them to support Helen Marnie of Ladytron on tour.

Everything by Electricity · Goodbye

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Brenda - Microscopic Babe.

Glasgow trio Brenda release Microscopic Babe, the second single from their upcoming self-titled debut album. Microscopic Babe is out 14th April, following recent single Cease and Desist.

Brenda are Litty on guitar, Apsi on drums and Flore on synths. They’ve created a buzz by gigging across Glasgow with their post-punk, dream-pop. Their energetic sets described as the type that “end up seared onto your brain after a single viewing” (The Scotsman). The combination of their dreamy synths, witty lyrics and unapologetic energy is truly infectious.

The album is released 28th July and will be launched with a gig at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow with support from label-mates Casual Worker. The Brenda album is available on blue vinyl and digital by Last Night From Glasgow.

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Marlody - Runaway.

‘Everything was gone: I was on my own…’ ‘Runaway’ by Marlody is a melancholy pop song about being on the brink of oblivion: contemplating the beauty of nothingness but stepping back just in time.

As with many of Marlody’s songs, if you concentrate to her mesmerising keyboard and her exquisite melodies you’ll be okay: they will keep you safe from the sheer drops either side of you.

‘Runaway’ is the third single from Marlody’s acclaimed debut album ‘I’m Not Sure At All’.

Marlody is from Ashford, Kent, UK.  Her next live performance are:
23 April 2023: London (Camden), The Green Note.
20 May 2023: London, Bush Hall: Le Salon de Heavenly, afternoon show.
27 May 2023: London (Forest Gate), Tracks E7.
1 June 2023: Folkestone (Kent), Folklore.
17 June 2023: Rolvenden Layne (Kent), The Skep: Words and Music Festival.

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Sock - Change Your Mind.

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self- titled follow up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion.

Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound.

Change Your Mind is the second track released from their self-titled second album, which is out on the 28th April through Bubblewrap Collective.

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Josienne Clarke - Nico Ev - Brenda - Julia Sound

Josienne Clarke - The Birds.

Indie-folk artist Josienne Clarke has shared the second taste of her forthcoming new album, Onliness. On her new album, due out on April 14th, Clarke revisits songs from her back catalogue that felt buried somehow; that had never had the spotlight she felt they deserved. Originally written back in 2008, the song first appeared on and opened Clarke's first ever solo album One Light Is Gone.

Of her new single, Clarke says: "It’s about the turning of a season, the first frost of winter. The birds are making strange patterns in the sky, a signal that our days will soon be short. This version features a specific blurry guitar part, I wrote it like that to mirror the blurry movement of the birds in their weird patterns, in and out of time and sync in strange shapes and formations. I also play piano on this track which is pretty rare for me. I love it as an instrument, it's bright glassy timbre fitted perfectly for the track. I rarely play it on my music as I have the services of keyboard experts like Matt Robinson but I recorded the piano myself just to give an idea of the kind of part I was thinking and Matt liked it and said we should keep mine, so we did.”

In her own words, Josienne Clarke viewed her 2021 album – A Small Unknowable Thing – as a leap into the abyss. Finally free from the industry structure that had been built around her over the preceding decade and more, she released the album via her own label, Corduroy Punk Records. Free from her previous role as one-half of a duo and losing the genre constraints she was quickly and lazily placed within, she came out of that chapter emboldened – but still not truly free.

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Nico Ev - Angeline.

Nico Ev wrote this song during lockdown, she tells us  "The challenge of being apart from loved ones and missing out on family connections was very difficult.

It was particularly hard to accept that I was missing out on watching the little ones in our family grow and flourish in their formative years. I'm grateful to have the sound of their laughter back in my life."

Some well deserved quotes about Nico - "Nico definitely deserves to be heard beyond her online performances." - "Every time I've seen Nico play, her musical talent, combined with her warmth, sincerity and relaxed interaction with the audience, has resulted in a great gig."
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“I love the varied mix of her original songs with both little and well-known covers, the upbeat energy and vibrancy of her playing.” - “A unique and lovely voice.”

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Brenda - Cease and Desist.

Emerging Glasgow trio Brenda release Cease and Desist, the first single from their upcoming self-titled debut album with Last Night From Glasgow. The single is out 24th February, the album follows in July.

Brenda are Litty Hughes on guitar, Apsi Witana on drums and Flore de Hooge on synths. They’ve created a buzz by gigging across Glasgow - their energetic sets described as the type that “end up seared onto your brain after a single viewing” with their “impudent, inventive and extremely DIY punk-pop” (The Scotsman). Dreamy synths, witty lyrics and unapologetic enthusiasm - Brenda is your new favourite band.

“The most exciting set of the evening came from Glasgow all-female trio Brenda…their name daubed on a collapsing bedsheet behind them, like they were signalling to the media from the roof of a prison riot.” - The Scotsman

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Julia Sound - I Don't Wanna Change (featuring Larissa Tandy).

Today Julia Sound have released their new single "I Don't Wanna Change" from their upcoming album "Nothing Above The Blue Sky" (set for release on May 12 Via Boomsmack Records)

Julia Sound is a collective led by Lin Gardiner, a British-Canadian BC-based artist, composer, musician and producer. Julia Sound released their debut album ‘Heal’ in the summer of 2021 to critical acclaim. They are set to release a second full-length offering ‘Nothing Above the Blue Sky’ in May of 2023.

‘Nothing Above The Blue Sky’ is a collection of evocative, ethereal, vocal-led electronica, with 10 new songs including features by Kinnie Starr, Edzi’u and Larissa Tandy, amongst others. Different singers feature on each track, all pulled together by Gardiner. The lyrical component of the songs leans into subjects perhaps shied away from in more commercial projects - stories of loss, war, mental health as well as hope.

Inspiration for Julia Sound’s name is from an unexplained sound discovered by scientists in the 90’s. The sound, which scientists named ‘The Julia Sound’, is mysterious and dark - which can also be said for this project's tone and mood.

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Josienne Clarke - APACALDA

Josienne Clarke - Nude.

We have two incredible songs today from to highly creative artists! We begin with indie-folk artist Josienne Clarke who has released Now & Then, a surprise ‘extended E.P’ of covers via her own label, Corduroy Punk Records. Now & Then is a diverse collection, with covers of traditional folk songs like ‘Reynardine’ and ‘The Month of January’ sprinkled amongst Josienne’s take on Radiohead’s ‘Nude’ and Sharon Van Etten’s ‘You Shadow’.

Of her new release, Clarke says: "The last few years I've gone through a process of change as an artist and what better way to orient yourself as a singer and a songwriter than through songs and the work of songwriters you deeply admire.

Perhaps this seems like an odd collection of songs to release now and/or to have alongside one another but these are all songs that I’ve been singing live or have secretly held a notion of how I’d interpret them when I gave myself the chance. Each one deeply melancholic in a way that particularly speaks to me, as a singer, songwriter and an admirer of lyricism in songcraft.

The song from which the EEP's title is taken is a rare-ish Sandy Denny demo, as far as I'm aware only a rough early recording of it exists, the song feels almost beautifully unfinished, a rare one of her tunes that never quite got the attention it deserved. It has this poignant and resigned melancholy that I've always been drawn to in her lyrics. Now and then, the present and the past are two different places and states of being. The lyrics seek to reconcile the two and the peace comes from letting them exist apart from one another.”

In addition to covers of songs by artists like Sandy Denny, Radiohead and Sharon Van Etten, listeners of Now and Then will also find a reworked version of Clarke’s own song ‘Undo’, a track which originally featured on 2017’s Such A Sky, a collaborative EP Clarke released with Mercury nominated jazz pianist Kit Downes. “I included a reworking of my own song 'Undo' because in the same way, my own songs have various lives and this song felt timely, during a period of change and upheaval,” she explains.

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Photo - Sam Woy

APACALDA - Male Gaze.

We continue with the very honest and talented APACALDA who tells us "My self-titled debut EP was fully written and inspired by true events. I chose bold honesty, sharing details about experiences that have maybe hurt me, but also molded and shaped me. It is meant to simulate an inner downward spiral, enchanting the listener to descend into a hauntingly beautiful immersive world that has been meticulously yet authentically curated."

My latest track, "Male Gaze," is deliberate introspection about the unfortunate yet inevitable darker experiences femme/women have endured and tolerated in a world led predominantly by the "Male Gaze." It's about speaking out, the refusal to continue to adapt to what is, and instead confronting the truth with the intention to accept nothing less than change in favour of a safer existence.

Director Maïlis got an instant inspired vision from listening to the first 20 seconds of this song. The depiction of a woman going through some sort of exorcism, releasing all of the residual judgments, the ingrained ideas of the perception of a woman, and confronting the problematic behaviour that has consumed femme/women and their existence for centuries.

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Dahlia Sleeps - Renata Zeiguer - Kindsight - Josienne Clarke

Dahlia Sleeps - The Calm You Keep.

London based duo Dahlia Sleeps release new track "The Calm You Keep", the latest cut to be heard from the band's debut album Overflow, out 8th April.

A pensive, indie-rock track "The Calm You Keep" is the album's closing song and completes the record in cathartic fashion. A stunning examination into motherhood; vocalist Lucy Hill captures the poise of a mother supporting her child through mental ill-health, with the lines "I climbed into your bed, just like a child I laid and wept / You did not show your fear, you knew the sun was somewhere near".

Filled with nostalgic electric guitar and live drums it paints images of a dreamlike world - "It's a portrait of a parent providing the calm within the storm; half a Dalí-esque soundscape from within an unwell mind, half a paradise of safety”, Lucy says of the track.

Two years in the making and almost 6 years since their debut single, producer/writer Luke Hester and singer/writer Lucy Hill bring a new weight sonically to their debut album Overflow, depicting a new kind of freedom for the duo – from managing and coming to terms with mental health problems to experiencing love in all its forms despite them.

With eclectic influences ranging from electronic acts including MOVEMENT, Autechre and Burial to the lyrically poetic works of Florence + the Machine, Radiohead and The National, Dahlia Sleeps shift seamlessly between genres; from dance to electronic to pop.

Dahlia Sleeps · The Calm You Keep

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Photo - Josh Goleman

Renata Zeiguer - Sunset Boulevard.

Renata Zeiguer—the Filipino/Argentinian, Brooklyn-based artist who has recorded on albums by Cassandra Jenkins, Landlady, Quilt, Ava Luna, Mr Twin Sister, among others—today announced Picnic In The Dark, her second full-length album for Northern Spy, will release April 8, 2022.

Zeiguer takes us by the hand and leads us into her surreal storybook realm by way of lead single “Sunset Boulevard”, which arrives alongside a music video by OTIUM (Hand Habits, Widowspeak, Ana Fox Rochinski). We are guided through the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, a kaleidoscopic metaphor for the process of letting go of the seemingly safe and familiar in order to evolve and thrive.

Picnic in the Dark follows Zeiguer through a dreamworld of magical realism as she navigates her memories and seeks to confront inherited dysfunctional patterns head-on. As Zeiguer reconciles her childhood and her adult lives with careful compassion, Picnic in the Dark reveals itself as an album not only of transformation, but of healing and self-actualization.

In collaboration with co-producer and old friend Sam Griffin Owens (Sam Evian), Zeiguer sonically invokes the meeting point of memories and dreams, calling to mind Broadcast, Cindy Lee, or David Lynch’s multidisciplinary ventures. With generous splashes of spring reverb, ghostly vocal harmonies, antique drum machines, cinematic strings, and the comforting warbles of synthesized organ, all bolstered by a tight indie rock sensibility, the sonic palette of Picnic in the Dark is magically anachronistic.

 

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Kindsight - Sun Is Always in My Eyes.

Danish four-piece Kindsight make music that draws from 80’s and 90’s alternative rock and combines it with the shimmering Scandinavian pop that the region has become so renowned for, resulting in a sound that is both fuzzy and melodic in equal measure. Releasing their first material in 2020, the up and coming Danish four-piece have been quick on the rise, picking up steam with a series of new singles over the last 18 months. Now, they are announcing their debut album, Swedish Punk, will be released on March 25th, 2022.  New single Sun Is Always in My Eyes is out now alongside a DIY video made by the band.

Kindsight formed when front-woman Nina Hyldgaard Rasmussen and guitarist Søren Svensson bonded over a shared love of The Sugarcubes. They went on to recruit bass player Anders Prip and drummer Johannes Jacobsen and over the past few years have earned a reputation within Copenhagen’s thriving indie scene for their exciting live shows.

On the album’s title, Rasmussen says “Swedish Punk’ was an off the cuff term our producer, Adam, came up with when we needed a working title for a new song we wrote during the recording sessions. Our bass player, Anders, then wrote some lyrics based on the working title and we ended up liking the whole ‘Swedish Punk’-thing so much it became the name of the album”.

There’s a real coming of age charm to Swedish Punk. ‘Don’t You Grow Up’ was the first song the band ever wrote together. Written in “a time when we thought to be a sunny teenage rock band, you had to write songs about teenagers in the sun,” they say. Atop jangling guitars, Rasmussen’s distinctive voice dances somewhere between that of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, leaving the listener drenched in the nostalgic optimism of summers gone by. Lead single ‘Sun Is Always In My Eyes’, an unrelenting indie-pop earworm, continues in that same vein. Recalling a time when life was carefree, the band say the track is about ‘stealing money from your mother and feigning to run away from home. Being blessed and unable to see because you've got too much sun in your eyes’.

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Josienne Clarke - Workhorse.

Today, award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Josienne Clarke has shared 'Workhorse', the second cut to be taken from her forthcoming EP I Promised You Light. ‘Workhorse’ is one of the most experimental tracks of Clarke’s career to date, with Sharon Van Etten and Sylvan Esso being the song’s musical touchstones. “This is the most joyous one on [the new EP], to me,” Clarke says of the song which she describes as a “weird dance acoustic mashup.” The song’s video, by Alec Bowman_Clarke, sees the artist roller-skating at a silent disco to emphasise the sheer joy of the track. “It’s just me in a massive room with loads of disco lights with silent disco headphones on just messing about to my own positivity anthem,” she smiles.

Of the track’s experimentation, Clarke says she has been “slightly flirting with synths and electronic sounds more” and using “less acoustic music” in an about turn from her usual style. “I don’t intend to  renounce my acoustic roots at all, but I feel like the old set-up in the industry was quite keen to tell me what type of music I could and couldn’t make,” Clarke explains. “I feel like ‘Workhorse’ is like: ‘What if I could do whatever I wanted? What would that sound like? That sound is this track,” Clarke says assuredly, mirroring the confidence of a track that is sure to become a standout of her career.

I Promised You Light follows on from Clarke’s critically acclaimed 2021 LP, A Small Unknowable Thing, an emotionally charged album bubbling with courage and defiance. If A Small Unknowable Thing were a sentence, I Promised You Light is the full stop at the end, or “the light at the end of that particular tunnel,” as she puts it. “People over the years have often tended to be a little intense at my merch stand, it sort of comes with the territory when you write the kind of music I do. But none more so than a lady who stood there and pleaded for me to ‘write a more positive song, one with a happy ending’” she explains. It was a request that stuck with Clarke over the years. “That’s basically what this EP is,” she says. “It’s all the positive lessons I’ve learned over the past few years and presented in my own, somewhat melancholic, way.”

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