Showing posts with label NP York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NP York. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 September 2026

NP York - Waterpistol - Black Bordello - Rami - Siv Jakobsen - Cassandra Coleman

Photo - Jens Martin York
NP York - What's Next (Album).

Released this weekend ‘What’s Next?’, is the sophomore album from Danish artist NP York, it's a dreamy indie-rock record that reflects on lost youth and the places, people, and versions of ourselves that we leave behind as we grow older. Written in the aftermath of a severe period of depression and as somewhat an outsider of Copenhagen’s music scenes, ‘What’s Next?’ is an album about the strange distance that develops between who we were and who we're becoming. Across the record’s 10 tracks, NP York turns that distance into melancholic, guitar-driven songs about aging, memory, friendship, ambition, and the quiet realization that youth is something you can never quite return to.

Rather than treating growing older as a simple loss, ‘What’s Next?’ lives in the tension between grief and acceptance as it moves between existential reflections and epic moments of blissful uplift. There’s the paradox of leaping headfirst into new love when you know the cost of failed romance in ‘As Bold As A Heart’, there’s revisiting late teenage night drives and old friendships in ‘One More Day’ and there’s the effervescent gem ‘Trier’, which deals with holding on, waiting for answers and persevering.

Musically, ‘What’s Next?’ draws from the emotional immediacy of indie rock, balancing chiming guitars and restless rhythms with expansive poignancy. NP York’s rich baritone vocals anchor down lyrics that combine a poet’s ear for emotion with a humourist’s wit as he ironically muses on childhood dreams and expectations from the reality of becoming a man in his mid-30s and the absurdities and chaos of the world around him.

The result is a record that feels nostalgic without becoming sentimental, a collection of songs less interested in preserving the past than in understanding why we miss it. As the wild and exuberant yearning for youth in tracks like ‘LIE!’ and ‘As Bold As A Heart’ turn to maturity in more mellow tracks like ‘Let’s Talk’ and ‘Better Place’, ‘What’s Next?’ becomes about a past that has shaped us and the moment we realize we have outgrown it. It asks what happens when places that once felt like home become a memory, when old friends begin living different lives, and when the future starts to feel less like an open road and more like something that requires choosing.


============================================================================

Waterpistol - Hey Harry (EP).

Waterpistol just unleashed their debut EP 'Hey Harry' described as just right for fans of unhinged psychedelic garage-rock. To coincide with the release, Waterpistol have been supported by BBC Horizons and Art Council Wales’ 2026 Launchpad Fund. The South Wales band have previously released lead single She Flies.

Making a name for themselves with their shimmering debut single Living in a Dream, which has since climbed to nearly 30,000 streams on Spotify, Waterpistol blend the swagger of golden-age rock ’n’ roll with the hazy textures of ’90s shoegaze, carving out a sound shaped by some of their biggest influences in The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Shack and The La’s.

After riding the momentum of their formation, performing across several festivals (FOCUS Wales, Green Man, Sŵn Festival and In It Together Festival), the six-piece turned to the studio to record two follow-up singles, Où est ton âme? and Shotgun. They recorded these at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Monmouth.


============================================================================

Black Bordello - Midheaven Tempest (EP).

London art-rock five-piece Black Bordello have returned with their most expansive and theatrical work to date, out this weekend. Black Bordello return with Midheaven Tempest, a new EP that finds the London five-piece pulling further into the shadows of their own strange mythology. Released 18th September the record is a feverish meeting point between gothic-rock, post-punk, psychedelia, trip-hop, industrial-rock and theatrical, expressive experimentation - the EP is ornate and intimate in places, brutal and intense in others, and always unexpected.

Fronted by Sienna Bordello, the band's music has always existed somewhere between theatre and nightmare. Her voice can move from an ethereal soprano to something guttural and confrontational, while her songwriting conjures characters, ruins, rituals and strange little worlds. Across this new EP, those worlds become darker and more cinematic, with songs that seem to emerge from the smoke rather than begin.

Working closely with bands guitarist Jerome Alexandre, who has toured, recorded and performed with Peter Doherty, Sylvain Sylvain (Ny Dolls), Mark Keds, Senseless Things, Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) , Clem Burke (Blondie), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Legendary Goth group Sex Gang Children and Flatbush Zombies to name a few, the new EP showcases the rich, colourful, yet dark and unsettling sound which stylises Black bordello as a project.


============================================================================

Rami - Save Myself.

International  artist Rami has just launched her Nashville career with the new single "Save Myself." Rami makes a striking introduction with “Save Myself,” a heartfelt pop ballad that puts her commanding vocal presence at the center of a deeply personal story. The song moves through loss, confusion, and the feeling of having nowhere left to turn before arriving at its central realization: sometimes the person you are waiting for is yourself. As Rami explains, “I wanted to create a ballad about a very difficult period of my life — a time of loss, confusion, and feeling as though everything around me was falling apart. But I did not want the story to end in sadness.”

That evolution comes through most powerfully in the chorus, beginning with, “I was tired of waiting for someone / to come rescue me from what I’d done,” before turning the familiar fairytale image on its head: “All alone in a tower big and tall / but I was the prince here after all.” By the time Rami reaches, “When no one was there, and I cried for help / I had to save myself,” the song’s message becomes unmistakable.

Hungarian-born pop artist Rami began her professional music career at 17, following the release of her acclaimed debut “Szeress Forrón!” In 2008, her talent led to a recording contract with mTon, Warner Music’s Hungarian subsidiary, where she began work on her debut album. She was also selected as VIVA’s first VIP Member, marking an early milestone in her career.

Rami later continued her musical studies in Rome and Milan, developing her artistry while collaborating with musicians and professionals across Italy. Her international work has included a cover of Enrico Caruso’s “Caruso,” as well as collaborations with artists around the world. Her recent release, a global cover of the iconic Hungarian ballad “Gloomy Sunday,” further reflects her ability to connect her Hungarian roots with an international audience.


============================================================================

Photo - Jørgen Nordby

Siv Jakobsen - The Fixer.

Acclaimed Norwegian songwriter Siv Jakobsen shares new single 'The Fixer' via The Nordic Mellow/Virgin Music Group. Co-written with longtime friend Benjamin Francis Leftwich, the track is her first original material in three years, following her 2023 album Gardening and offers an early glimpse of a new body of work. From an intimate, piano-led opening, the new song gradually blooms into rich layers of group vocals, strings and horns, with arrangements by Marcus Hamblett (Bear’s Den).

"I’m gonna save all of the world today / I'm a complex god, hard and soft," Jakobsen sings, reflecting her impulse to help the people around her, even when that risks losing herself.

Jakobsen says: "Setting boundaries is difficult, especially for a fixer. The fixer is a song about my tendency to lose myself in others, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. To be so near someone that the lines between the self and the other become blurred can feel good with the right person, and terrible with the wrong. The song draws parallels to my overwhelming wish to help the people in my life who might be struggling, even when it goes too far; I'm drawn into someone else's deep end, and I lose myself."

On her most recent full-length, Gardening, Jakobsen confronted the lingering imprint of a destructive relationship through what she called "emotional gardening": unearthing memories and returning to feelings that refused to stay buried. 'The Fixer' brings that same searching honesty to the desire to help and the difficulty of knowing where to draw the line.


============================================================================

Photo - Sophia Matinazad
Cassandra Coleman - End Of Your Love (EP).

Emerging singer/songwriter Cassandra Coleman has released her anticipated debut EP End Of Your Love, available everywhere now through Warner Records. The 8-track collection arrives after months of unveiling a series of new singles that have led to a breakout summer and quickly established the Nashville-based artist as one of indie-pop’s most compelling new voices. 

 Coleman also shared the official video for the title track; a slow-burning reflection on the fear of showing one’s imperfection. As a sparse intro of upright piano and voice grows into something enormous, the song's arrangement mirrors the anxiety at its very center — the more Coleman tries to contain her emotions, the more impossible they become to hold in.

"This song makes me cry, every time I sing it," stated Coleman. "I wrote it from a place of vulnerability, worried that the closer someone gets to me, the more aware they'll become of my flaws. Will someone deem me unlovable, once they can see all the cracks?"

Anthemic indie-pop. Folk-inspired torch songs. Cinematic piano ballads. They're all woven throughout End Of Your Love, an expansive EP that finds Coleman letting go of the life she thought she was supposed to live and learning to trust the one unfolding in front of her. Most of its songs are brand new, written between festival slots at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, tours with artists like Bleachers, Young The Giant, and Stephen Wilson Jr., and onstage duets with Noah Kahan. Others reach back several years, offering glimpses of an artist growing into the songwriter she was always meant to be. Together, they form a portrait of a creative life in full swing — one filled with closing chapters, new beginnings, and the hard-won self-assurance to step into whatever comes next.



============================================================================

Saturday, 15 August 2026

Librarians With Hickeys - Georgia Scarlett and Joel Spence - The Womack Sisters - D.B. Tait - NP York - Sarah Hardwig

Librarians With Hickeys - 1972.

Ohio-based indie rockers Librarians With Hickeys return with a brand new single that looks simultaneously back to the year of its title, “1972,” and to the band's future, serving as an early preview of their fourth album on the way in 2027. Packed with three tracks, the radio-ready Single Version, the longer Original Mix, and a special bonus track paying tribute to one of LWH's key influences, it's out now on all digital platforms worldwide. 

Librarians With Hickeys, well-known across the US and global indie-pop scene for their charming and addictively melodic jangle rock/power pop sound, are a true jewel in the crown of the Big Stir Records roster. All three of their albums, from their beloved 2020 debut Long Overdue through their 2024 breakthrough How To Make Friends By Telephone, have been released by BSR, making them one of the few whose full career arc has been handled by the label. 

LWH – singer/guitarist Ray Carmen and guitarist/vocalist Mike Crooker, who also fill all the instrumental roles on their recordings – genuinely haven't stopped writing and recording since they arrived on the scene, and the Summer of 2026 brings a brand new preview of what they're working on now.

The new single single “1972” sees them back and in peak form with a late summer track ready for grilling and chilling at the beach with a heaping side of Hammond B3 organ and a light dusting of 12-string fairy dust, just like Larry Page advised. The new track's title refers to both a time and place, much like a hazy Brigadoon playing back from a slightly worn 16mm film print memory. “1972” is a melodic tribute to both Ray Carmen’s late sister Cathy and to early '70s AM radio, a time when DJs played rock, pop, country, gospeland novelty numbers back-to-back and thought nothing of it. You can't live there, but it's nice to visit every once in a while, and there can be no better tour guides than our Librarians. 


============================================================================

Georgia Scarlett and Joel Spence - Honey Let's Go.

Endless scrolling, breaking headlines, and mounting pressures have cast a weary shadow over the early 21st century, affecting our relationships with others and ourselves. Responding to this increasingly disconnected world, Queensland country artists Georgia Scarlett and Joel Spence join forces on their new collaborative single, ‘Honey Let's Go’, out yesterday, August 14.  

Following their previous collaboration, ‘The Wise Folks Say’, released in June, Scarlett and Spence reunite with a wealth of experience behind them. Since the release of her debut album last year, Georgia Scarlett has established herself as one of Queensland's promising country artists, earning widespread support across radio and the Australian country music community, while Joel Spence brings more than 18 years of experience, having shared stages with Daryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens, Spiderbait and The Angels.   

Together, Scarlett and Spence channel their shared gift for heartfelt storytelling into an exploration of connection and emotion amid the distractions of modern life, encouraging listeners to reconnect with what truly matters.  

Led by uplifting acoustic guitar, banjo and the hearty tones of the harmonica, ‘Honey Let's Go’ settles into its themes with Spence's opening lines, gently acknowledging his partner's loss of self amongst the urban sprawl. Spence shares: “‘Honey Let’s Go’ is a reminder that while the world constantly changes, the importance of human connection never does.”


============================================================================

The Womack Sisters - TWS (Album). 

We have featured The Womack Sisters a few times on Beehive Candy, loving every song they have released and so it's with great pleasure that we can now share their self titled album in full. It features a Daptone Records staff favourite from the album, “Monster” which is a deep, heart-wrenching ballad about coming to terms with the devastating, emotional void left by unrequited love. A must-hear for all soul music fans, the song captures the timeless spirit of the sweet soul scene of Southern California and beyond.

As a reminder - The Sisters grew up on the road. Their schools were stages and studios all over the world, where they sang behind their parents, Zekkariyas & Zeriiya (fka Womack & Womack), alongside their four siblings. Nowhere was home for long. No matter where they lived they were always surrounded by music and family.

Their 2026 self-titled debut album,The Womack Sisters, is the musical culmination of the Sisters’ long and winding journey to find themselves. Over an intensely soulful collection of tunes that harkens back to when pop music had substance, vibe and purpose, each of their distinct voices have their moments in the spotlight.



============================================================================

D.B. Tait - Nothing To Lose.

On the heels of his warmly received debut single “Before You Go,” Canadian singer-songwriter D.B. Tait is sharing “Nothing To Lose,” another tantalizing glimpse of his forthcoming full-length release Losing Time. Like its predecessor, the song shows Tait working the same modern Americana pastures as Greg Freeman and Ryan Davis, adding hints of indie rock to complement the desperation at the heart of his stunning vocals.

Tait says of “Nothing To Lose,” “It was inspired by being ready to take a significant next step in a relationship, whether it be romantic or platonic. It’s a feeling of being ready to fully throw oneself into something, and committing to that with every bit of heart you have. That sense of having nothing left to lose and leaping forward has helped guide me through my life, in terms of both music and other relationships. I’ve come to understand it as a true desire to change and adopt a path forward or, in some cases, another direction.”

As with “Before You Go,” Tait recorded “Nothing To Lose” and the rest of the upcoming album (release date TBC), largely in his home studio in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, tracking most of the guitars and vocals on his own. Close collaborators Ian Roantree and Mitch Cory from the band Kojak added overdubs, while fellow Prince Edward County singer-songwriter and Littleknown Records head David James Allen handled the mix.

Since co-founding Kojak in 2018, Tait has gradually embraced a parallel path as a solo artist in order to express different themes of life’s everyday problems and how facing them helps to break free of destructive cycles. His songs explore how these actions affect love, death, relationships with friends, and the need to gain control of one’s self-governance. In naming the album Losing Time, Tait is essentially taking up the fight for all of us against letting our personal hourglasses run out.


============================================================================

Photo - Jens Martin York
NP York - As bold as a heart.

The heart is naive. It knows the price of love - yet it throws itself into it again anyway. And again. It is this paradoxical, almost comically cosmic truth that NP York’s new single ‘As bold as a heart’ revolves around - and celebrates. ‘As bold as a heart’ is released on August 14 and is the third single from NP York’s upcoming album, ‘What’s Next?’, which arrives in September, shortly before NP York’s autumn tour.

While NP York’s first single from the new record, ‘Walk On By’, explored apathy as a counterweight to a chaotic world, and his follow up, ‘Sugar’, dealt with self-forgiveness, ‘As bold as a heart’ turns its attention to the most fearless and indomitable thing we possess: the courage that, despite the risk of being shattered, compels the heart to keep risking everything, again and again. Like a kamikaze pilot with infinite lives.

“At its core, the heart is irrational, and in a remarkable way that means it chooses love over and over again, even though it knows the cost. It defies all logic and that’s incredibly brave” says York. Musically, ‘As bold as a heart’ is a catchy folk-rock song with a powerful chorus, driven by a warm, organic energy and a sense of musical joy that flows naturally from York and his band.

NP York made his debut in 2024 with the album ‘Music for Fools’, recorded with his band, The Fools. The songs were written in the aftermath of a depression, the band was formed when he reached out to musician friends, and the indie-folk sound emerged from a spirit of musical collaboration. The album was very well received on both radio and live stages.


============================================================================

Sarah Hardwig - Breaking Away.

Country artist Sarah Hardwig releases new single "Breaking Away," now available on all digital streaming platforms. Fresh off a breathtaking America’s Got Talent Season 21 audition that earned four enthusiastic yes votes and a standing ovation from the judges, Nashville country singer-songwriter Sarah Hardwig is stepping into a powerful new chapter with “Breaking Away,” a fiery country-rock anthem about taking control of your future, embracing who you are, and finding the courage to forge your own path.

Hardwig introduced herself to millions of viewers with an emotional performance of Lainey Wilson’s “Heart Like a Truck,” earning widespread praise from all four judges. Howie Mandel called her performance “beautiful and heartwarming” and described Sarah as “the epitome of resilience.” Mel B praised her vocal control, while Sofia Vergara told Sarah, “I wouldn’t change a thing,” adding that everyone was going to fall in love with her. Simon Cowell called the audition “really, really good” and told her she has a “natural gift.” All four judges ultimately voted yes, sending Hardwig through to the next round. Lainey Wilson even gave her a nod on social media, praising Sarah's performance of her song. 

The moment was especially meaningful given Sarah’s extraordinary journey. Born blind after being diagnosed at just five months old with Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), she has never allowed her diagnosis to define her. Instead, she has transformed her experiences into music, building a career as a powerhouse vocalist, heartfelt songwriter, and inspiring performer whose story reflects resilience, independence, and determination.


============================================================================

Rachel Bochner - Tanjeryne - Full Flower Moon Band - Stevie Wonder

Photo - Smiles Meyer Rachel Bochner - I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently (Album). Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Bochner has built ...