Nick & June - PARTICLS - VERA - Serious Child

Photo - Luka Popp

Nick & June - 2017 (feat. The Antlers).

Berlin duo Nick & June (aka Nick Wolf and Suzie-Lou Kraft) have recently announced the release of their new album 'New Year's Face' on 5th December. Produced by Grammy-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten,) and recorded in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 'New Year's Face', which includes collaborations with Owen Pallett, The National’s Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz, The Antlers and others, will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally. 'New Year's Face' is the duo's first release since 2023's 'Beach Baby, Baby EP', which enjoyed over 30 million streams, widespread critical praise and led to sold-out shows across Europe.

This week, they share their mesmerising new single '2017', featuring The Antlers’ frontman Peter Silberman. The single arrives with a heartfelt video that compiles clips from the studio and live performance footage filmed with an old camcorder, offering a vintage and charming glimpse behind the scenes. 

Of the introspective, ethereal stunner, Kraft notes: “It’s good to occasionally ask yourself why your mind keeps wandering back to the past. Who’s still living in 2017?” Wolf adds: “Ever since I discovered The Antlers’ album ‘Hospice’ back in 2009, I’ve been a huge fan of Peter and the band. To me, he’s one of the best songwriters of his generation. That we’d end up recording songs together…it still feels kind of crazy". 

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PARTICLS - Every Now & Then (EP).

London-based psych-disco sextet PARTICLS release the anticipated debut EP, Every Now & Then. The EP captures the band’s dynamic chemistry, blending 1970s progressive textures with contemporary psych and disco rhythms. Featuring tight full-band instrumentation, folk undertones, bright violin, and evocative vocal melodies, the EP offers a nuanced and refreshingly hard-to-categorize sonic experience.

Exploring themes of presence, authenticity, and vibrancy, it weaves together folk influences, 70s rock, and subtle touches of glitchy, psychedelic effects. Recording sessions began aboard the boat studio Lightship 95, engineered by David Holmes, before tracks were deconstructed and reconstructed at Mashrooms Studios with Ben and Zahara of Strange Pill. The result is a playful, danceable, yet musically sophisticated collection of tracks that celebrates the joy of making music together.

Speaking about the EP, the band explain: “The sound of this EP emerged from a beautiful, frustratingly simple revelation… Disco is where it’s at. The songs reflect who the six of us are alone, the winding paths that led us here, and the pulse of our shared ecstasy, found often, though not always, on the dance floor. It’s the sound of our individual stories meeting, and becoming something collective.”

Formed in a haze at a Kerri Chandler DJ set in the woods where they decided they wanted to make people dance, whilst keeping some of the 1970s progressive vibe from a previous project, PARTICLS have built a reputation for their unique sonic approach - an invitation to experience rhythm, melody, and spontaneity in equal measure. 

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VERA - Ketchup.

Creating a buzz across Belfast’s alt scene, VERA are the band everyone’s whispering about. Born when singer-songwriter Sarah Toner’s solo studio sessions with Darragh, Dave, and Matt caught fire, the chemistry quickly became too strong to stay behind the glass. Their sound fuses indie grit, pop hooks, R&B grooves, and sharp alt-rock edges — a mix built for sweat, noise, and emotion. Lyrically raw and unfiltered, they turn heartbreak and sarcasm into cathartic anthems made for the stage.

VERA's latest single Ketchup is a fiery, confessional reflection of breakup chaos. Driven by punchy keys, swaggering bass lines, and VERA’s signature blend of wit, sarcasm and vulnerability, Ketchup captures that moment you finally stop crying over someone and start laughing about it instead. It’s equal parts breakup song and bucket-list manifesto… a reminder that even when life gets messy, you can still groove your way through it.

The Story of the Song - Ketchup isn’t a song about a real experience. The visual image of having Ketchup stains all down my shirt is sort of a character thing… I imagine someone sat eating a burger alone in some sleazy diner despairing about their relationship and what to do to get out of it, but knowing deep down they’re not going anywhere. I think the image of a mess you’ve made yourself stuck in my head. Not to say I haven’t been in that situation myself… but I think we all get Ketchup stains down our shirts now and again. - Sarah Toner

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Serious Child - What Lies Beneath (Album).

Serious Child, aka Alan Young, has just released his fourth album ‘What Lies Beneath’. The album is a collection of musical stories about what’s underneath the surface of our everyday lives and the third single to come from it is ‘Veneer’, a story of social camouflage, of a figure who had behaved normally for so long, everyone had forgotten who they were.

Co-written with Neil Connor, ‘Veneer’ is a lush, almost Floydian piece, where a change in tempo, David Grubb’s sliding violin and My Girl The River’s backing vocals take us to a beautiful place of realising who we are. An ode for the outcasts of society, ‘Veneer’ celebrates finding your own individuality and being proud of it with its layers of comforting and sumptuous introspection.

The new single is another look into West Sussex based Alan Young’s intriguing world, which he explores with a poet’s ear for emotion and a comedian’s eye for everyday detail. For the new record, Young has drawn from a wide range of sources of inspiration- from Tony Harrison’s sonnet “Book Ends”, to Rob McFarlane’s brilliant book “Underland” and Georgian traditional lullaby “Iavnana”.

Young’s previous albums have consistently attracted four and five star reviews, and his last full album, 2021’s ‘Talk About The Weather’ (with Andy Ruddy) was shortlisted for Fatea Album of the Year. His most recent project was a charity EP for Save Ukraine, with whom his brother Dave worked as an emergency relief driver. His most ambitious and varied offering to date, the new record, ‘What Lies Beneath’ is the bold sound of an indie-pop artist exploring and confidently fulfilling their potential.

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A Better Place - Talking Violet - The Indie Pea - Nick & June

A Better Place – Light In The Sea (EP).

With Light In The Sea, A Better Place pull all the threads together. Across four tracks, the band proves why they’ve quickly become one of the most exciting new voices in indie rock.

From the drizzly intimacy of debut single It Rains, to the dreamlike haze of Don’t Mind, and the heartfelt punch of Someday—already spinning on Amazing Radio UK—the songs carry the DNA of ’80s/’90s alt-indie greats like Polvo, Dinosaur Jr., Unwound, Sebadoh, Teenage Fanclub, and The Posies, but with a freshness that’s entirely their own.

New track Remember When completes the story: a slow-burner that starts with gentle guitars and relaxed vocals, before erupting into a midtempo surge of energy. It’s nostalgic and forward-looking all at once, a reminder of why this band resonates so deeply.

Radio stations in the UK, the Netherlands, the US, and Belgium are already tuned in, and live, A Better Place is the kind of band that wins you over in one set flat. Light In The Sea isn’t just an EP—it’s a statement. Indie rock, recharged and reimagined.

TCBYML · A Better Place - Light In The Sea

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Talking Violet - Destroy.

Talking Violet seamlessly melds shoegaze, grunge, and dream-pop into a genre-defiant wave they’ve coined “dreamo”—a sound that’s as lush as it is emotionally piercing. The Windsor, ON four-piece, formed of Jillian Goyeau (vocals, guitar), Jayden Turnbull (guitar, vocals), Jeremie Brousseau (drums), and Dylan Iannicello (bass), craft a powerful sound, touching on themes that wrestle with the grief of personal change, especially in relationships.

Now, the band returns with their latest single “Destroy,” following the release of their recent track “In Your Mind.” Where “In Your Mind” explored the helplessness of loving someone through pain and uncertainty, “Destroy” turns inward, offering a sense of closure and acceptance. “Destroy is about closing a chapter in my life where I experienced a lot of change which I talked a lot about throughout our Everything At Once record,” shares Goyeau. “Before moving on I kinda needed to say goodbye, so that’s what Destroy does. It’s me finally accepting that people can both love you and hurt you at the same time and vice versa. You can love someone even when they aren’t meant to be in your life anymore.”

“Destroy” continues the emotional thread of their recent album Everything At Once, drawing from the grief of interpersonal change. “These tracks draw on a lot of grief of change, most specifically, the grief of relationship changes in our lives,” Goyeau explains. “I was going through changes that I now see as necessary but were incredibly painful at the time. It made me realize how much I had depended on my relationships with others for my identity. I had to slowly relearn who I was—and spent the next few years healing my people-pleasing baseline. It’s still something I work on every day.”

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The Indie Pea – Reflected Hearts (EP).

Some bands take years to find their voice. The Indie Pea needed only one. After their acclaimed debut The Questions in April 2025, the Dayton-based band returns with Reflected Hearts — a five-track EP that feels less like a follow-up and more like a radiant leap forward. Where the album asked, this EP answers.

Across these songs, The Indie Pea refine their signature blend of shimmering indie rock and orchestral pop, carried by Campbell Anderson’s warm, unhurried vocals and the band’s seamless interplay of guitar, strings, and rhythm. It’s a sound that balances clarity and complexity, intimacy and scale.

From the searching pulse of Echoes And Answers to the reflective shimmer of Mirrored Days, the luminous rush of Electric Bloom, and the guiding calm of Heartbeat Guide, each track feels like a facet of the same story. The closing Cross Bridges ties it all together — a finale that looks both back and forward, capturing a year of rapid growth with unshakable confidence.

Reflected Hearts is more than a snapshot; it’s a statement. A band stepping into its own light, finding resonance in reflection, and proving that sometimes one year is all it takes.

TCBYML · The Indie Pea - Reflected Hearts

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Photo - Luka Popp

Nick & June - Anthem.

Berlin duo Nick & June have recently announced the release of their new album 'New Year's Face' on 5th December. Produced by Grammy-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten,) and recorded in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 'New Year's Face', which includes collaborations with Owen Pallett, The National’s Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz, The Antlers and others, will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally. 'New Year's Face' is the duo's first release since 2023's 'Beach Baby, Baby EP', which enjoyed over 30 million streams, widespread critical praise and led to sold-out shows across Europe. 

This week they share new single 'Anthem': indie rock, driving drums, shimmering synths, majestic horns sweeping across the scene like a signal over the city. Everything feels massive and airy, hymn-like yet casual. It’s a song about preserving moments, holding onto fragments that would otherwise slip away. A breath between melancholy and force. A song that, in its ambivalence, captures the fleeting intensity Nick & June are always chasing.

At the end of a long relationship, you don’t usually find yourself sitting at a studio piano with your ex, writing songs. Or do you? In this case, you pack a suitcase, get on a plane, decamp to the small and melancholic harbour town of Bridgeport, Connecticut and begin work on a new record. 'New Year’s Face' is the outcome of this strange experiment: two ex-lovers, one studio, months of work and discovery. Together with Grammy-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten, Stars), they settled in and shaped ten songs that feel at once intimate and expansive, fragile and resilient.

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Rachael Sage - Victoria Staff - Joel Cusumano - Kashena Sampson - Nick & June

Photo - Jenny He

Rachael Sage - Belong To You [feat. The Sequins & Will Wilde].

Beloved folk-pop singer-songwriter Rachael Sage and her longtime band The Sequins have released their new single “Belong To You” from their upcoming studio album Canopy, out October 24 via MPress Records. 

“I wrote ‘Belong To You’ as a gospel ballad and it was really meaningful that so many of The Sequins ended up singing on it, versus just me singing all the harmonies myself,” shares Sage on the new single. “The Hammond organ and harmonica – played by Kevin J. Killen and Will Wilde, respectively – add so much and Dave Eggar’s cello playing grounds the arrangement so beautifully. The devotion and loyalty of our friendships expressed in the lyrics is something I know we all genuinely feel for one another, and in that sense it’s a very emotional song for me to sing. It’s probably the most universal song on the record and it’s been really gratifying to have live listeners at shows come up and share their own interpretations of it.”

A much-needed musical reprieve from our current cultural upheaval, Canopy is equal parts emotional exhale and invitation to a more compassionate future, as well as a masterclass in radical inclusivity and self-acceptance. “Creating safety and inclusivity in times of divisiveness can be a radical and powerful act; it takes courage to stand up for justice and for our fellow human beings,” Sage adds. “Acceptance, inclusivity and safety are big themes on Canopy.”

RachaelSage · Belong to You

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Victoria Staff - Love Should Feel.

Toronto's Victoria Staff returns with "Love Should Feel" – a bright, romantic indie-pop single that soaks in the joy of love when it's simple, easy, and right. The track beams with warmth, capturing that rare kind of connection where everything else fades into the background.

"For a long time, I thought love was something that was supposed to be difficult. It was supposed to be chased and fought for," Staff says. "Turns out, it's supposed to be easy. 'Love Should Feel' is about just basking in how simple good love is."

That sense of playful ease even made its way into the single artwork – though not without chaos. The idea was simple: a dive into a lake surrounded by sunflowers. The execution? Not so much. "We had about 75 sunflowers, but the stems were too heavy and started sinking, so we were frantically cutting them down in the boat. Every time I jumped off, the boat moved, the flowers scattered, and we had to rearrange them again," Staff explains. "Then the seagulls started circling, thinking they were food," she laughs. "And all of this was on film so we didn't even know if we had the shot until we got home."

With its buoyant melodies and heartfelt lyricism, "Love Should Feel" showcases Staff at her most joyful. "This song is special to me because there are no bad memories tied to it. From writing to recording to releasing, it's been easy, and that's exactly how love should feel."

Victoria Staff · Love Should Feel

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Joel Cusumano - Two Arrows.

Dandy Boy Records has announced the fiery debut power pop LP from a Bay Area underground mainstay, Joel Cusumano. The album comes out on October 24th, but you can get a taste with the lead single, "Two Arrows" Joel Cusumano has played a huge role in the Bay Area underground scene for years—as songwriter and/or lead guitarist in a wide-ranging lineup of bands such as Sob Stories, R.E. Seraphin, and Body Double.

Cusumano began writing the music that would become his first solo album, WaxWorld, after a stint in a mental hospital treating his debilitating OCD: “It was bleak. For a year I could barely function, barely leave the house. After [the hospital] I recovered pretty rapidly. But instead of feeling relief, there was dread, like, ‘Well, what now’? You spend over a year falling off the deep end and you’re a different person when you hit the ground … I needed to write differently than I had before. I was looking around the world and not recognizing what I saw. 

The songs had to reflect that alienation. I was done with the ‘angry young man’ jilted lover stuff I’d been doing in Sob Stories. I was bored with that kind of boilerplate rock’n’roll topography.” A painful breakup at the end of writing process further sharpened Cusumano’s eye towards material reflecting his growing unease in a world in unrelenting flux.

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Photo - Jon Karr

Kashena Sampson - Phases.

Nashville-based singer-songcrafter Kashena Sampson has released “Phases,” the latest from her forthcoming LP, Ghost Of Me, out on October 3. “Kashena Sampson describes ‘Phases’ as ‘a spell of self-reflection, a way of honoring all sides of myself - the light and the shadow.’

 “Like the moon, we all go through phases, and I’ve come to see how always trying to please everyone and never rocking the boat only leads to self-abandonment,” Sampson told Magnet Magazine. “I finally grew brave enough to say, ‘I’m done with that charade. I’m done giving myself away just to keep the peace.’” “The song is a ritual and affirmation for letting go of what no longer serves me. It’s OK to get mad, to say no, to change your mind, to walk away. It’s not only OK—it’s empowering.”
 
Ghost Of Me is structured like a ritual under the phases of the moon, a cycle of letting go, calling in, and rising again. That arc is felt across both the tracklist and the album’s release timeline, which intentionally aligns key singles and events with lunar milestones. Today, “Phases” emerges ahead of a rare September 21 convergence of the solar eclipse, new moon, and International Day of Peace, a moment echoed in the song’s psychedelic swirl and lunar howl. September 22 is the Fall Equinox, bringing with it a powerful time of reflection, growth, and new beginnings. “Rear View Mirror” arrived on July 25, just after the July 24 new moon. Built around crashing cymbals and guitarist B.L. Reed’s power chords, the song drives forward with the force of personal reckoning. The title track landed in time for new moon intention-setting on August 23, embracing the theme of transformation at the heart of the record. The full album will be unveiled on October 3, just ahead of the full moon on October 6, which culminates the record’s lunar journey.

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Nick & June - Husband & Wife (feat. Owen Pallet).

Berlin duo Nick & June will release their new album 'New Year's Face' on 5th December. Produced by Grammy-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten,) and recorded in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 'New Year's Face', which includes collaborations with Owen Pallett, The National’s Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz, The Antlers and others, will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally. 'New Year's Face' is the duo's first release since 2023's 'Beach Baby, Baby EP', which enjoyed over 30 million streams, widespread critical praise and led to sold-out shows across Europe. To accompany today's announcement Nick & June have today unveiled a video to new single 'Husband & Wife'.

At the end of a long relationship, you don’t usually find yourself sitting at a studio piano with your ex, writing songs. Or do you? In this case, you pack a suitcase, get on a plane, decamp to the small and melancholic harbour town of Bridgeport, Connecticut and begin work on a new record. 'New Year’s Face' is the outcome of this strange experiment: two ex-lovers, one studio, months of work and discovery. Together with Grammy-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten, Stars), they settled in and shaped ten songs that feel at once intimate and expansive, fragile and resilient.

Nick & June drift through a shimmering haze of reverb-soaked guitars, vibrating synths and gently pulsing beats and drums. Their voices merge into a hypnotic mélange, guiding listeners through a delicate balance of euphorically staged restraint and intricate, winding thoughts. Their sound is an eclectic fusion of indie folk, evoking Bon Iver, Velvet Underground and Big Thief, blended with the dream-pop textures of Beach House and Lana Del Rey and the alternative rock of The National, St. Vincent and Mazzy Star.

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