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| Photo - Bob Kelly |
Nashville’s indie Americana artist Carly King has shared the second single from her forthcoming debut ‘Loving you is Easy’ out May 15 on First City Artists (Coco, Alexa Rose). The song gradually builds from gentle piano flourishes and tender imagery (cartwheels in the kitchen / running down the stairs / talk about it later / if we still care) into combustive percussion and howling celebration (Loving you is easy / it’s a life that’s hard / it’s the world that’s breaking / not my heart); it’s a heartwarming, and undeniably alive ode to finding the right person.
Carly King shares: This song is the sound of my heart beating. It’s a love letter, to him, to her, to you, to me. It’s the love song I’ve wanted to write my whole life but never really could until I fell in love with both my fiancé and myself. My music usually works through something heavy or unresolved, and there’s often a heart-wrenching thread running through it. With this song, I faced that head-on and realized love doesn’t always have to be hard—it can be light, it can be easy.
Produced by Shane Travis (Evan Honer) at Cloverdale Records, King’s debut full-length is an earthy and emotionally stirring collection of folk country earworms, driven by King’s distinctly sandy vocals and alight with sparkling pop sensibility RIYL Kacey Musgraves, Madi Diaz, Courtney Marie Andrews. Today’s offering follows lead single, “Three Martinis” praised by The Bluegrass Situation as “lovely and tender… full of memories, nostalgia, and lush with imagery of falling head over heels… wrapped in a cozy and gauzy folk-country package”
Born in New Jersey, King lost her father at age four to the terrorist attacks of September 11th. She grew up with a vivid sense of life's uncertainty, driven by a search for its purpose. On her first full-length, she discovers that meaning in the humblest details of humanity—dusty floors, school buses, bobby pins, weathered boots—penning odes and anthems to the magic of the mundane. In a life where everything precious is fleeting, King holds simplicity as sacred thread: Loving you is easy / It's a life that's hard.
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New York–based alternative singer-songwriter Lauren Minear returns with “Bruise (made of glass version),” a stark and emotionally exposed acoustic reimagining of one of the most devastating moments from her latest album, Boxing Day. Stripped to its bare bones, the track magnifies the quiet intensity of the original, allowing the fragility of Minear’s voice and the delicacy of the guitar arrangement to carry the emotional weight.
Recorded live at Studio 42 in Brooklyn, “Bruise (made of glass version)” captures the intimacy and vulnerability that sit at the heart of Minear’s songwriting. The performance preserves the raw immediacy of the moment while subtly reshaping the song’s sonic landscape. Though Minear often performs the track live in a lower key, the team chose to retain the original key for its lyrical prosody, allowing the guitar’s natural register to mirror the emotional fragility of the vocal performance.
“This live acoustic version is especially lethal and difficult for me to perform or listen to,” Minear explains. “It comes from a deep pain that maybe only a song can express. There’s something to that though, because it’s also the song that my listeners respond to the most.”
The title itself carries a subtle nod to Minear’s broader creative universe, referencing a lyric from another song on Boxing Day. Though simple on its surface, “Bruise (made of glass version)” embodies one of Minear’s guiding artistic principles: radical honesty. Her songwriting consistently challenges both herself and her listeners to sit with difficult emotions and find connection within them.
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Mama’s Broke, the Nova Scotian duo of Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria share their new single “Heaven,” out now via Free Dirt Records and Forward Music Group, and announce their ‘Analog Tour’ throughout North America. “Heaven” offers the first glimpse of the pairs’ forthcoming album and fans will be able to purchase physical copies exclusively and hear the new material at the upcoming shows.
For more than a decade, Mama’s Broke have been in near-constant motion, bringing their folk-without-borders approach to small clubs, DIY spaces, and everywhere in between. This tradition is continued with their upcoming tour across the US and Canada this spring.
“Heaven,” the new single from Mama's Broke forthcoming album (due later this summer) is about stepping back from the cycles of distraction and urgency, and devoting time to what you love. Says Mama's Broke:
"We’ve been fed the distant promise that, through diligence and quiet perseverance, we will someday reap the rewards of our labor. In reality, we’ve been left with a system collapsing under the weight of its own greed and corruption. The gap between rich and poor has reached unprecedented levels; a minimum wage no longer suffices to keep both the lights on and food on the table, and our air and water are more polluted than ever before."
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We are always on the lookout for new music that invites us to explore something a little different, whilst being accessible and enjoyable rather than a test of our patience (I know, it's a getting older thing). Well Chris Pellnat has been featured here before and always well received, so it's a pleasure to explore something a little different, whilst happily enjoying the moment.
Some background: "VRChatの歌" is sung in English and Japanese by SaKy. Why English and Japanese? Because those are the two languages most spoken in VRChat. VRChat is a virtual reality platform where you can explore thousands of immersive worlds created by talented artists, and you meet people from all over the world. This youth-driven ecosystem is evolving organically and has a strong Japanese anime aesthetic.
SaKy is a singer based in Japan who sings in several languages. She is a vocalist, lyricist, and vocal coach. She has been the vocalist for several original soundtracks. Chris Pellnat is an American singer-songwriter who also plays guitar with the Poughkeepsie-based band, The Warp/The Weft.
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North London born Natalie Shay writes indie-pop for people who feel everything. A multi-award-winning BRIT School grad and lyrical storyteller, she’s been playing guitar and writing since childhood — soundtracking love, self-discovery and the realities of life in your twenties, blending heartfelt honesty with bright, feel-good energy.
Natalie’s new EP Atmosphere, explores the emotional pull of love, self-awareness and the messy space in between. She describes it as a sonic diary capturing the electric obsession of new love, often tangled up in the chaos of trauma bonds. The title track, “atmosphere,” was written with long-time collaborator and close friend Kaity Rae (Remember Monday, The Shires), circling the question of whether the connection keeping you hooked is real love or simply something in the air. Each song reflects a different chapter, tracing the experiences and lessons that have shaped Natalie’s life since her last release.
Natalie explains, “I bookend eras of my life with bodies of work, so it was important to me that ATMOSPHERE contained all the experiences and lessons since my last EP.” She continues, “I want my music to be the soundtrack to my life as a mid-twenties creative who feels everything deeply. I crave love, but I’ve also been damaged by it.” Written across two years of collaboration and late-night solo sessions, the EP gathers together songs she couldn’t leave behind. “Every song is a confession in a way,” she adds. “I write songs to perform them live. That’s my therapy.”
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| Photo - Kyle Rothwell |
The Jaws of Brooklyn have shared “Up All Nite,” the next single from their forthcoming EP Unstoppable, which is co-produced with Grammy-winner and Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner, out May 15. An effervescent dose of ‘60s girl-group glitter and grit, the playful song tells the story of someone caught between two lovers and simply enjoying the fun while it lasts.
Guitarist Bryan Cohen on the new single: “This was the first song written for this new EP. It’s a combination of The Supremes meets '60s frat-house rock classic - ‘Louie Louie’ with a few twists. The intro is inspired by David Bowie’s ‘Let's Dance,’ while the chorus pays homage to The Rolling Stones classic ‘Get Off Of My Cloud.’ Lyrically, it’s a story of having two lovers – being with one and thinking of the other, and feeling guilty but wanting to have fun. The narrator knows there are consequences but damn… she’s also having fun being in the moment.”
“Up All Nite” follows the bombastic “Lie To Me” and the shimmering call-to-the-dancefloor “Where Are You?”, which also appear on the upcoming EP. Unstoppable finds the Seattle-based group blending Motown melody, Muscle Shoals soul and West Coast rock & roll for their signature melting pot sound, which has earned praise from American Songwriter and Billboard over the years. These songs delve headfirst into love triangles, relationships and ride-or-die friendships, all anchored by frontwoman Gretchen Lemon’s powerhouse presence.
Unstoppable keeps the momentum going after the band’s 2025 album Crush On You, which was released during a whirlwind of change. Following the addition of Lemon as the group’s electric new singer, they felt reenergized and in turn, their show-stopping performances cemented their reputation as a must-see live act — booking festival slots at SXSW and Bumbershoot, as well as packing out shows at venues on both coasts.
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| Photo - Sophia Schrank |
Today, the Pacific Northwest artist Mollie Elizabeth, shares “The Mirror”, a song about the violence of self-perception. The “mirror” isn’t just literal, it’s symbolic of consciousness, ego, and the human tendency to scrutinize ourselves. The repeated line “Lord damn the man who made the mirror” reads like a prayer turned protest: a rejection of the invention (or evolution) that forces us to confront ourselves too directly. “The Mirror” is written by Mollie Elizabeth and Lucas Sim, produced by Lucas Sim & Davin Kingston and coming out via Neon Gold Records.
About the track, Mollie Elizabeth says: "The Mirror is a more poetic song of mine, but at the same time I feel as though everyone has experienced this same kind of frustration. Vanity, ego, and reflection seem to swallow us whole these days and at times I wish we never even invented the mirror at all."
Earlier this year, Mollie Elizabeth returned with “Dog Eat Dog” (+ visualizer) that deepens her distinctive sonic and visual universe, weaving eerie, quirky, and subtly dark textures into her signature femme, classic sound. Mollie Elizabeth adds, “‘Dog Eat Dog” is centered around the concept that all humans are, unfortunately, natural born predators. In my nature, and I think in many others, all I really want to do is cultivate peace and love, but in reality, this world is not peaceful. There are people who will take advantage of you if you do not accept that whether you like it or not, we live in a dog eat dog world.”
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