California-born, Manchester-based singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop has shared a new unplugged version of her track 'Simon Says'. The single is the second to be taken from Selective Memory - a live, unplugged reworking of her acclaimed 2017 Memories Are Now (Sub Pop). Joining the cast of stripped back album versions for her first three releases, this new collection finds Hoop and her two bandmates, Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer, capturing the record in its entirety live in Hoop’s Manchester home.
Of the new single, Hoop says: "In Simon Says I am speaking from my Gen X perspective. Oh how times have changed. I thank the heavens that my childhood was feral and free and that I knew every climbing tree."
Opening the door to an intimate performance space, Selective Memory shines a new light on one of Hoop’s most beloved albums. Raw and immediate in its delivery, the record brims with luminous harmonies, lyrical richness and unguarded emotion. It is sweet and bitter, fresh and raw, and very much of the moment.
Though a return to songs first written over a decade ago, Hoop notes their continued urgency: “Though I wrote these songs 12 years ago, strangely they feel so very relevant to me today. And the album ends in one hell of a protest song… if I do say so myself.”
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After strategically drip-feeding singles throughout 2025 to build anticipation for their debut album Take It Or Leave It (October 31st) Sydney’s indie duo Salarymen are ready to deliver the final piece of the puzzle with "If You Want Me" released this weekend.
Four years in the making, this devastating duet captures the raw ache of lost love with cinematic beauty. As the oldest song on the album, “If You Want Me” has been mesmerising live audiences nationwide, becoming the track fans most desperately wanted to see released. Now, Renee de la Motte and Thomas Eagleton finally deliver this highly anticipated gem – a vintage-laced psych pop ballad that channels the dreamy melancholia of Beach House, Mac DeMarco, and Arcade Fire. With male/female harmonies taking center stage, the track captures a similar nostalgic romanticism to Stephen Sanchez's "Until I Found You," though "If You Want Me" was written years before that breakout hit.
"If You Want Me is the most emotional track we've ever written. It's about two people who can never really let go of their past, and how your world can be flipped upside down after parting ways. Thom and I are essentially playing the guy/girl who are admitting that they've wronged each other, and lamenting the fact that it's over “ explains de la Motte.
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| Photo - Ryan Usher |
Lydia Luce shares "Ephemeral," a moving duet with celebrated British singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh. An important and sober declaration of self-love, this is the latest single from the Nashville singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist's forthcoming album Mammoth, which releases on October 30.
Lydia Luce on the new single: "This song is a love song to self. When I had to go back on tour after my injuries, I made a promise to myself to take care of myself no matter what. I had to learn how to trust myself again. I hadn’t earned my body's trust, and if I was going back into this environment I had to do it in a way that would honor my body. The moment I decided to ask my friend Paul Hammer to play guitar for me on that tour I felt the stress fall off of my body. I cried to my husband. I didn’t realize how terrified I was to be back in pain playing that much. I made more and more decisions like that on that tour. I brought my own pillow, I booked aisle seats on planes so I could stretch, and I asked for help constantly. I wasn’t in pain on that tour, and now I completely trust myself to make the right choices for my body."
Recorded in just one week at Peter Gabriel’s celebrated Real World Studios, Mammoth was produced with longtime creative collaborator Jordan Lehning (Kacey Musgraves, Joy Oladokun, Caitlin Rose), with whom Luce runs the Nashville-based string collective Lockeland Strings.
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| Photo - Natalia Via |
Drift City - The Seeds.
Kentucky bred and based Drift City proudly present the lead single from their latest EP, “The Seeds”. A serendipitous taste of what’s to come, the single is the first offering from the upcoming EP, Spectral Heart Mosaics, coming in late October.
Available via SU Records, “The Seeds” is an offering that took twelve to thirteen years in the making. Produced mainly by lead vocalist Jason Rivers, additional touches were provided by the renowned Kevin Ratterman and were recorded in the summer of 2025. A melancholic tune analyzing the pain and heartbreak of a slowly dissolving long term relationship, “The Seeds” sonically mirrors these nostalgic feelings.
Described as coming to lead singer Jason Rivers as a "vehicle of my own needed new beginning", “The Seeds” offers a refreshing listening experience. Rivers’ powerful voice calls back to greats such as The Blue Nile or Cass McCombs, clearly demonstrating the pain and emotional agony he’s experienced. Drift City's ethereal harmonies and twangy pedal steel allow the track to lie in a comforting bed of folk rock. A track about self-growth, releasing inhibitions, and achieving peace and freedom, “The Seeds” is all yours to enjoy now.
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Shadows of a Ghost Town is a deeply personal and poetic exploration of place, memory, and mortality, told through the lens of the American West. Rooted in the traditions of Americana and brushed with shades of country and bluegrass, this album is both a love letter to the land and a reckoning with the ghosts we carry.
Set against the backdrop of wide-open skies, dusty trails, and abandoned towns, each track captures a moment suspended between the living and the lost. There are stories of a quiet ache that follows when something-or someone-disappears. The mountains aren't just scenery here; they're characters. So are the shadows, the silence, and the wind.
With raw instrumentation, vivid storytelling, and melodies that rise like cann winds and fall like dusk over the plains, Shadows of a Ghost Town weaves together the grit of bluegrass with the soul of country and the heart of folk. These songs don't shy away from sorrow, but they don't dwell in it either. Instead, they honor it. They ride through it.
At its core, this album is about transience-how everything we know and love eventually fades, and yet somehow, that makes it all the more beautiful. Whether it's a home, a way of life, or a person you thought you'd never lose, Shadows of a Ghost Town reminds us that some things linger even after they're gone. You can still hear the music if you know where to listen.
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| Photo - Luke Rogers |
Emerging Georgia singer/songwriter Clover County releases her debut album Finer Things via her own label Undercover Lover Records in partnership with Thirty Tigers. Produced by Carrie K (Noah Kahan, Maggie Antone, Koe Wetzel), the album is a coming-of-age soundtrack that explores romantic, familial and platonic love with a winking charm and an observing eye. Clover shares: “Finer Things is the shoebox I keep under my bed full of old love letters and trinkets I can’t quite let go of. It's polaroids, bottle caps, and plane tickets. It’s a memorial for all the ways I’ve loved and been loved.” Along with the album she has shared the single 'Sweeter'.
Clover continues: “These songs began when I was 18 – scrawled in notebooks, half-sung into voice memos, carried with me through the years. I started recording them at 23, and at 24, they’ll start to find their place in the world. Unintentionally, they trace a timeline: from naive to knowing. Finer Things is about all the ways I’ve shown up in love and how it’s shown up for me, the fleeting and the forever. Romantic, familial, platonic. The sweetness, the sting, and the spaces in between.
This record lives naturally within the lines of country with its own indie/alternative twists – as a songwriter from the South with a love for the classics, I wanted to nod to legacy artists like Dolly Parton, Shania Twain and Sheryl Crow, while also drawing from the modern textures and tones of Hovvdy, Adrianne Lenker, Waxahatchee, Courtney Barnett and MJ Lenderman.”
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As they prepare to release their fourth studio album, The Bridge, on October 10th, acclaimed Americana-pop duo The Grahams – married couple Alyssa and Doug Graham – have released one more glimpse into the collection with their new single “Worst Parts Of Me.” The playful love song recalls early ‘70s melodic movement and offers a throwback to Carole King’s Tapestry era, an album that has served as an important influence for Alyssa.
“After three decades of a love affair and partnership, people always ask us our ‘secret’,” shares The Grahams. “For years we claimed our rare success was attributed to having no children. ‘Don’t have kids’ we would joke. Upon further reflection and having our daughter, we now understand our secret is deeper than that. To truly love someone in this life and beyond, you need to love not only the best but the worst parts of them.”
About the music video, Alyssa and Doug add, “Although ‘Worst Parts Of Me’ is a song we wrote in order to highlight the depth and strength of our love for one another by acknowledging our lifelong flaws with a bit of humor, we wanted the video to speak to people in a more individualized fashion. We all struggle with what we believe to be our worst parts. The video focuses on accepting our imperfections, fully embracing them and learning to enjoy the balance of the best and the worst in ourselves and how it all makes us unique.”
The Bridge, available via Nashville’s 3Sirens label, marks the first time The Grahams are giving listeners a look into their personal lives. The deeply personal album, named after the George Washington Bridge, which transported the New Jersey natives to New York City during their formative years, was co-written with GRAMMY-nominated producer Dex Green, singer-songwriter Kate York, and GRAMMY-nominated songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, finding The Grahams embracing the collaborative Nashville co-write. Alyssa (vocals) and Doug (guitars/vocals) credit these three creative ambassadors with helping them write about their lives honestly and vulnerably, diving deep into their childhood love affair that has lasted over 37 years.
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