With their album The Quiet Part, Loudly released today April 15, 2026, Toronto rock collective Nameless Friends continue to build momentum with the release of their third single, “Clara,” which dropped February 25. Expanding on the foundation laid by their 2023 debut Blasphemy, the new record finds the band sharpening both their sound and their message—blending gravity with irreverence as they confront injustice, identity, and the realities of modern Canada.
It also marks their first collaboration with renowned engineer Nyles Spencer, known for his work with The Tragically Hip, Broken Social Scene, and Alvvays. Drawing from the band’s experiences touring across the country, The Quiet Part, Loudly delivers an unflinching look at systemic oppression and personal transformation while still pulsing with the raw, joyful energy that defines the group. “This album is a love letter with constructive criticism to our home country,” says frontperson Number One. “If you didn’t care about improving the relationship, you wouldn’t bother giving the criticism.”
Across the album, Nameless Friends push their genre-blurring instincts even further, weaving heartland rock, folk, punk, and protest traditions into a sound that feels both urgent and celebratory. The songs wrestle with themes like the erosion of human rights, generational trauma, and the legacy of colonial violence, yet the band is determined to keep the music alive with movement and possibility. “I refuse to make joyless, preachy music,” Number One explains.
“That’s not going to be effective at anything.” Spencer’s production helps capture the band’s restless spirit, balancing raw spontaneity with careful craft—whether in prairie-gothic stompers, plaintive folk ballads, or sprawling protest anthems that draw inspiration from artists like Neil Young and Kendrick Lamar. Since the release of Blasphemy, the London, Ontario–formed band—featuring Number One alongside Number Three, Number Five, and Number Seven, with touring member Number Six—has built a reputation for explosive live shows and fearless songwriting, selling out rooms like Toronto’s legendary Horseshoe Tavern while amplifying issues from climate collapse to trans rights. With The Quiet Part, Loudly, they’re doubling down on that mission—loudly, unapologetically, and with plenty of glitter.
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| Photo - Sophia Poole |
MOMO. is a London-based Brazilian multi-instrumentalist whose music moves across borders. With roots in Brazil but a life lived in Angola, the US, Spain, Portugal, and now the UK, MOMO. crafts a sound that transcends place. His upcoming album, Tum Tum Tum, sung in Portuguese and English, is built around the idea of continuity and forward momentum featuring guest appearances from bossa nova and Brazilian legend Marcos Valle and Smoke City's Nina Miranda.
Recorded live in South London with his tight-knit band including long-standing collaborators and UK jazz trombonist Rosie Turton, Tum Tum Tum is a free flowing, warm, expansive and fully assured album, his 8th to date and exudes a playfulness, a sense of someone who is truly in their element and at peace when writing and recording.
Lead track “Egum Eô” is a wonderfully Brazilian opening and sets the scene perfectly with MOMO.’s vocal sounding much like the album’s title ‘Tum Tum Tum’, pushing the positivity sky high in unison with a gorgeous horn hook. The broken groove slowly rolls in like a curling surf-perfect wave before the band all join the jam leaving the listener joyfully entranced.
The artist shares, “Egum Eô feels like an invocation. In Candomblé, Egum refers to ancestral spirits, and the phrase appeared naturally while we were playing, following the Afro-Brazilian pulse of the drums.” The visualiser for “Egum Eô” was developed by Raíssa Pardini in collaboration with Conor Lumsden, with Pardini also creating the album artwork.
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Known for their dark, melodic, and emotionally charged sound, Montreal, CA-based The City Gates have established themselves on the international alternative scene with two albums, Age of Resilience (Icy Cold Records / Velouria Recordz), and Forever Orbiter (Northern Light Records). The City Gates have been featured on several top album charts across the globe, and in outlets such as Post-Punk.com, Sonic Seducer, Orkus, and Sanctuary.cz.
Their latest single "Capitol Hill" blends driving post-punk rhythms with hazy shoegaze textures and distant, echoing vocals. The track introduces their third LP, Chimera, arriving on May 15 via Icy Cold Records and Velouria Recordz, a dark and expansive record that pushes their sound further into cold, atmospheric territory. The new album will include their stellar tracks "Lapidation", and "La douleur (des mortels)."
The City Gates present the music video for “Capitol Hill,” a stark, brutalist exploration of an urban landscape in moody black-and-white. The clip moves through the geometry of the city, with snow-cloaked sidewalks, blurred trains, corridors and revolving doors, passing bodies, and overexposed close-ups of faces. It all hints at fading warmth and social disorientation, echoing the song’s overarching themes of isolation.
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| Photo - Philippa Oliver |
Manchester-based artist Emily Mercer returns with her kaleidoscopic new single ‘Flatlining’, released April 15th; a lush, propulsive track that captures the frustration of feeling stuck in your own patterns, and the quiet determination to break free. Blending indie, folk, alternative pop and jazz-tinged sensibilities, ‘Flatlining’, produced by Rhys Jiang, sees Mercer at her most emotionally direct, the track contrasting its upbeat musicality with a deeply introspective core.
“Flatlining was born out of frustration at feeling stagnant and stuck in life, going round in circles, getting in my own way and knowing I can be better than I allow myself to be,” Mercer explains. “It’s about feeling trapped by your own mind, falling into the same patterns over and over - but ultimately it’s a call to action. It’s that moment of realising you’ve been waiting for life to happen, and deciding to fight against the apathy.”
Originally from the Suffolk coast and now based in Manchester, Mercer has spent years crafting her distinct voice, one that blends classic piano songwriting with lo-fi textures, rich arrangements and quietly disarming lyricism. Her work explores mental health, self-sabotage and what she describes as “a messy humanity,” delivered with dry humour and emotional clarity.
Her music draws comparisons to artists such as Fiona Apple, Mitski and Weyes Blood with a vocal reminiscent of Tracey Thorn in early Everything But The Girl. She effortlessly pairs confessional songwriting with rich, genre-fluid soundscapes.
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| Photo - Lewis Vorn |
Scottish-raised singer-songwriter Alex Amor has signed to New York independent label VERO Music and today shares new single 'Meet On The Moon' - a celestial meditation on grief and feminine mysticism - ahead of upcoming performances at Liverpool Sound City and The Great Escape. Co-produced by Alex Amor and Karma Kid (Jessie Ware, Jalen Ngonda), 'Meet On The Moon' was written during a month-long creative reset back home in Glasgow, marking a turning point in Amor’s artistic direction.
Opening the door to a more expansive sonic palette - built around shimmering guitars, soft-focus synths and hypnotic melodies - 'Meet On The Moon' unfolds in a hazy, slow-burning alt-pop space reminiscent of Cigarettes After Sex, with shades of Samia’s pop introspection and the melodic sensibility of Clairo’s 'Sling' era.
At its core, the song is a tribute to a close friend Amor lost, imagining her watching back from the moon, as she explains: "I wrote 'Meet On The Moon' a few years ago, at a time when I was aching to create something different, to step into a new sonic world entirely. I went back to Glasgow for a month, put fate in my own hands, and started producing myself. It felt like reclaiming something. Meet On The Moon was the second song I wrote there.
The song is about a friend who completely embodied the mystical, magical woman archetype I sing about in the lyrics. A few months before I wrote it, she passed away. I found myself thinking about her magnetism - the magnitude of her spirit, the force of her nature - and how, in some strange way, Earth felt too small to contain her. For many reasons, this song had to come first in this body of work. It’s an homage to the divine feminine, which the moon - in her glowing, milky fullness - has always symbolised. Women are cyclically tied to the lunar rhythm, and that beautiful, elusive pull of the moon became the heartbeat of the song’s ephemeral sound.”
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Toronto dream pop artist Ark Identity (Noah Mroueh) returns with “Closer,” a dreamy, euphoric indie-synthwave track that captures the feeling of standing on the edge of something bigger. Blending nostalgic production with deeply personal songwriting, the single reflects the emotional highs and restless momentum that come with chasing creative ambition and believing that your dreams are just within reach.
Inspired by his journey as a musician, “Closer” explores the moment when progress becomes tangible; when you feel yourself approaching a new chapter, yet realize that every step forward only reveals another horizon beyond it. The title itself reflects that sensation of being on the brink of something transformative, whether it’s a creative breakthrough, a personal evolution, or the quiet realization that the pursuit of a dream is a journey without a clear finish line.
This song marks a milestone for the Ark Identity project. It’s his first fully self-produced release, with every instrument performed by the artist. During production, he was experimenting with vocal ideas when his girlfriend walked into his DIY studio and started adding melodies. That spontaneous moment helped shape the song and they finished writing it together.
“One of my favourite lines is ‘Coming home from Hollywood leaves me wanting more.’ That lyric captures the song’s essence, the feeling of chasing something bigger and realizing no matter how close you get, there’s always another level you want to reach,” Noah explains, “I hope listeners connect to the message and are inspired to pursue their own dreams and passions.”
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