Andy Lauth is an accomplished drummer and singer with an unmistakable soulful voice. The Lucerne-based artist moves between groovy rhythms, atmospheric art pop, and warm soul. He first attracted international attention with his 2023 single “Beautiful.” The song received numerous plays on indie radio stations around the world and was also added to the rotation of Radio Swiss Pop.
Now, the light-footed “Under Construction” marks the next chapter. Once again, Andy Lauth reveals a personal yet playful side. Stylistically, he combines elements of art pop and soul pop with an organic band sound and a strong attention to detail. Catchy melodies meet groovy arrangements, while the lyrics move between self-reflection, a playful wink, and emotional openness.
For the recordings, Lauth brought his live band into the studio: Andreas Meili, formerly a member of Mothers Pride, on keys; Steve Werle on guitar; and Simon Kaufmann, known among other things for his work with Lina Button, on bass. Together, they give the songs a lively, organic character.
“Under Construction” is a preview of the upcoming EP, which will be officially launched on 17. Oktober at the Jazzkantine Lucerne was produced by Manuel Halter, who has previously worked with artists including Luca Hänni, Child, and Remo Forrer. Singers Child and Miss C-Line add further vocal accents, appearing as backing vocalists on several tracks. In 2026, Miss C-Line received the Artist Award.
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| Photo - Cristina Arrigoni |
Lisa Bouchelle has released her new album Vandals, Thieves & Lovers. Boasting an array of special guests and collaborators including Amanda Shires, Larry Campbell, Waddy Wachtel (Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt) and E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons, the record finds the New Jersey singer-songwriter grappling with the full spectrum of the human experience, balancing darkness and light as she navigates love, loss and liberation.
Featuring early singles “Make This World Stand Still” (feat. Amanda Shires), “Vandal” (feat. Waddy Wachtel), “A Light To Come Home To” (feat. Amanda Shires & Larry Campbell) and “Game To Play,” Vandals, Thieves & Lovers sees Bouchelle embracing a collaborative spirit to serve the music. To that end, she invited additional all-star players like celebrated guitarist Clay Cook (Zac Brown Band), pedal steel virtuoso Doyle Grisham (Jimmy Buffett), drummer Rich Scannella (Tonic), fiddle player Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth) and bassist Hal B. Selzer (Joan Jett) to join these sessions. The album takes a similarly wide-ranging sonic approach, drawing on folk, country, rock, blues, gospel, soul and funk as it weaves together the disparate threads of American roots music into a captivating, cohesive whole. Add it all up and you’ve got a timeless work that’s as indebted to Laurel Canyon and Bakersfield as Memphis and Motown, a revelatory exploration of survival and resilience that showcases just how far Bouchelle has come, and where she’s headed.
A relentless road warrior, she has sung backup for Bruce Springsteen, dueted in concert with Jon Bon Jovi and shared bills with the likes of The Wallflowers, Train, Blues Traveler, Bryan Adams, Shooter Jennings and Steve Miller, among others. Now with Vandals, Thieves & Lovers, the spotlight remains firmly fixed on Bouchelle throughout these songs, with arrangements centered around her evocative vocals and infectiously rhythmic guitar work.
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| Photo - Emilia Jagerman |
Every so often, a band comes along that feels almost impossible to pin down. Mon Rayon are one of those bands, occupying a world somewhere between “a full English breakfast and the Sanremo Festival in the 1960s”. Behind the duo’s finely detailed arrangements and carefully constructed songs is a strong sense of spontaneity, and above all, a love of playing together. “From the beginning, the whole idea has been that the music should feel alive,” explains Josef Ask. “That we play together and that everything you hear is actually being played. It should feel organic, and that’s probably one of the biggest things we’ve taken from orchestral pop.”
Made up of Josef Ask and Christoffer Zetterlund, Mon Rayon release their debut album Image Repertoire on 2 October. Across its twelve tracks, the duo draw on 1960s French pop, baroque touches of harpsichord, sweeping string arrangements and even Göran Fristorp’s 1974 Melodifestivalen appearance, while French semiotician Roland Barthes provides an unexpected conceptual thread running through the record.
What ties these influences together is Mon Rayon’s instinct for melody, restraint and understated grandeur. The result is an album that feels meticulous without ever becoming rigid. The duo produced the record themselves, with Simon Nordberg on mixing.
“A lot of the songs come from small fragments of life, brief snapshots and memories,” the band explain. “That made us think of Barthes’ concept of the ‘image-repertoire’ - the idea that we carry around an internal collection of images, memories, fantasies, cultural references and emotional associations through which we understand other people. We never really meet someone as a completely ‘new’ person. We filter them through this existing repertoire of images.”
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Pop-culture-inspired instrumentalists Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) have teamed up with acclaimed vocal trio Girl Named Tom for a sweeping rendition of Duran Duran’s 1993 hit “Ordinary World,” out this weekend via CMH Label Group/Vitamin Records. The revamp and accompanying performance video is a nod to their upcoming joint “Crazy Ordinary World” Tour, with both groups bringing their captivating arrangements to Nashville, Atlanta, D.C. and more.
"We loved joining forces with Girl Named Tom to create a fresh interpretation of a song as iconic and moving as ‘Ordinary World,'" says VSQ violinist Rachel Grace. "It’s a piece we’re especially excited to share with our audiences when we take it on the upcoming tour and perform it live."
“We love discovering great music from years gone by, and it's been awesome diving into ‘Ordinary World,’” says Girl Named Tom. “Somehow we've lived all our lives without knowing this Duran Duran classic (maybe because our dad was tunnel-visioned on U2, or because Bekah was only 3 years old when it came out!). Upon hearing it for the first time, we'd made a vocal arrangement and demo within 24 hours. It reminded us of the many frantic hours we spent arranging songs on The Voice! We like how this arrangement features the beautiful lyrics and also brings out the best in both our vocals and the musicians of Vitamin String Quartet."
On the upcoming tour, Girl Named Tom adds, “We can't wait for y'all to hear your favorite Girl Named Tom music in this brand new setting - in symphony halls with a string quartet! Working with these tremendous musicians has already been a great joy and we know the music we create on stage will change us - and you - every night.”
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| Photo - Tom Netherland |
Teni Rane’s new album Never Turning Back unfolds as a reflective journey through the many kinds of places people inhabit over a lifetime. Rooted in intimate storytelling and atmospheric arrangements, the album traces movement not only across landscapes, but also across inner terrain. Each song acts as a waypoint, capturing moments of arrival, departure, and the quiet in-between spaces where transformation often happens.
Geographic place plays a grounding role throughout the record with tracks like “Arkansas” and “Soil on My Soul” speaking to the pieces of our hearts that we leave behind or that we feel we’ve never fully found. The physical settings are not merely backdrops; they mirror the shifting states of the narrator and reflect restlessness, craved for belonging, and the pull of the elusive feeling of home. Rane’s songwriting uses place as memory, where a location can hold the weight of a decision or the echo of who someone used to be.
Beyond geography, Never Turning Back explores how we define and manage social and cultural place throughout our lives. “Secondhand Memories” and “Driveway Conversations” inspect the roles we are assigned, the communities we navigate, and the expectations we push against or grow into. Throughout the album, the lyrics linger in spaces of relational inflection points and introspective musings about how our inner and outer worlds are reconciled. Rane’s writing asks the listener to contemplate the quiet tension between fitting in and stepping away, between tradition and self-definition.
Rane’s sophomore release makes space for an exploration of emotional places: joy, grief, hope, resilience. The title, Never Turning Back, suggests a threshold crossed, a recognition that the journey must move forward. With warmth and her own brand of moxie, Teni Rane offers an album that feels both deeply personal and widely resonant, inviting listeners to reflect on where they’ve been, where they are, and the unseen places still ahead.
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| Photo - Alma Perreault |
Montreal vocalist Karen Myatt has released her new album Valise. Comprising 9 original compositions (and 2 covers), Valise captures and conveys both the act and the art of sacred travel. Inspired by journeys - internal and external - over the past decade, the new songs explore time travel, spiritual quest, and multi-cultural pilgrimage - experiences that exist well beyond the veil and trappings of tourism.
“Phil Cousineau says in his powerful book The Art of Pilgrimage; ‘What matters most on your journey is how deeply you see, how attentively you hear, how richly the encounters are felt in your heart and soul.’
“This idea had a profound effect on the making of Valise,” shares Myatt, “Travel is engaging, educational and entertaining, and - I believe - vital for healing our world during times of conflict.”
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