Just released we have the first single "Down With Love" by The Gentle Spring from their forthcoming second album "Northernhay". The witty lyrics of this upbeat single feel like they could be a riposte to the lovelorn romance of The Field Mice (songwriter Michael Hiscock’s first group). But the music and the arrangements sound like a reprise of that much-loved band – Down With Love is melodic, infectious, pure pop.
Michael Hiscock, co-founder of legendary indiepop band The Field Mice, along with his new cohorts Émilie Guillaumot and Jérémie Orsel have created an album that combines wisdom, wistfulness, reflections on love and celebrations of community - all threaded through a set of songs whose melodic power and sheer catchiness recall The Field Mice at their best.
The music is more upbeat than on debut album Looking Back At The World. The shimmering acoustic guitars and sinuous bass are still present, but this time Michael’s and Émilie’s voices are accompanied by drums and percussion. With this new recipe, the songs sometimes remind you of early Microdisney, and sometimes The Pet Shop Boys, with deadpan, considered, unvarnished, but deeply emotive human vocals, and an insistent rhythm that drives on regardless. Depending on where you are situated, you could dance to Northernhay, or you could sit very still and just immerse yourself in it.
The album title, Northernhay, is a clue to the inspirations that drive the songwriting. It is the name of a winding street that led from the Croydon suburbs where Michael lived as a kid, leading out to a wilderness, surprisingly close to the city, where foxes are seen, where the streetlights don’t penetrate - where you can get lost: one of those places where you first discover that the world is awesome, mysterious, deeply romantic and unknowable.
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| Photo - Rizzo (Ianthe Warlow) |
Following a breakthrough single approaching four million Spotify streams and widespread press and radio acclaim, South Yorkshire singer-songwriter Sam Scherdel returns with ‘Kyoto Snow’, out now via Broke Records / Ostereo. After losing his job in 2022, Scherdel faced a defining moment: with no label backing him, he began independently funding his own recordings and releases, determined to turn his music into a viable career. What began as a leap of faith has since developed into an extraordinary journey of success, driven by relentless work, self-belief and a growing audience that has carried his music far beyond his Yorkshire roots.
From a residency at SXSW in Austin, to opening for Duran Duran at BST Hyde Park, to going viral on TikTok, having his music played on Love Island and now having a recording contract with Broke Records and Ostereo the forthcoming EP, Boy Who Fell To Earth, is set to be another big moment for Scherdel as he continues to build an exciting career.
Produced by Colin Elliot at Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios, ‘Kyoto Snow’ explores the search for beauty amid difficult, emotionally toxic circumstances. Built around the image of something fragile and fleeting, the track captures a relationship beginning to fracture and the desperate desire to hold on to what remains.
Sonically, the track leans into folk and Americana influences, while retaining the melodic pop sensibilities, indie accessibility and emotionally driven songwriting that have been central to Sam’s rise so far. A blossoming soundscape places Sam’s captivating, raspy vocals front and centre, with organic instrumentation weaving around them to create a warm, vibrant and effortlessly catchy listening experience.
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The Clumps just released their new single “Easy” marking their first release with AWAL and the first taste of an EP due in early 2027. Still early in their story but already building serious momentum, the four-piece have amassed 3.3 million streams on previous single “Worthless”, grown to 100,000 monthly listeners, and recently played Eurosonic and Soho Calling in London.
Built around a collision of grunge, post-rock and noise, “Easy” looks at the psychological toll that can sit behind pursuing something you care about — the pressure, exhaustion and uncertainty that are often flattened into the idea that following your passion should somehow feel effortless. “Nothing left, Hold your breath, While they tell you everything, They never said it was easy” — The Clumps
Behind the scenes, that momentum is being matched by an expanding international team. The Clumps work with Made Management, whose roster includes Aurora and Sigrid, alongside ACT Booking / Live Nation, as they begin building towards a wider European presence through 2027. Musically, the band draw from the weight and abrasion of ’90s alternative rock without leaning too heavily on nostalgia. Their sound pairs heavy, immediate guitars with atmosphere, tension and an increasingly strong sense of emotional restraint. “Easy” is the first indication of where that next phase is heading, with further new music to follow ahead of the EP next year.
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| Photo - Kelsey Gale |
Rachel Cribby has shared the second single 'Frankenmuth, MI' from her debut album ‘I Can’t Wait To Forget This Later,’ to be released November 20 on First City Artists (Coco, Alexa Rose, Eliza Edens). Cribby wrote the song about a peculiar town in Michigan designed to architecturally mimic Bavarian Germany, famous for its chicken and fudge. Cribby shares, “It is objectively a bizarre place, but as a kid, it was my personal paradise. I wrote this song after I stopped by on my way home from Traverse City a few years ago. The town hasn’t really changed that much since the 90s. But it really does turn out you can never go back.”
Produced by Daniel Ledwell (Jenn Grant, Oh Pep, Ken Yates), ‘I Can’t Wait To Forget This Later’ shimmers with early aughts alt pop appeal—brisk melodies laden with sharp, darkly comical lyricism reminiscent of Aimee Mann, Rilo Kiley, or Liz Phair. Today’s offering follows the lead single “Rich Boy Luck,” a zipping and incisive assessment of privilege that landed on several playlists.
The Canadian-born, Detroit-based songwriter’s sardonic style is for more than listener’s amusement; it’s her healing method of choice. And in recent years, she’s needed one, having lost her father and left her beloved Montreal in quick succession. “It’s not like my twenties weren’t tumultuous,” shares Cribby. “I had plenty to sing about. I was dumped more than I can count and maybe did a bit of dumping myself. But something has happened to me in my thirties, where all of the big life stuff that I thought I could ignore by moving away, by trying to become a completely independent and self-assured person, smacked me in the face. And then it promptly started to eat me alive.”
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| Photo - Michelle Grace Hunder |
Eliza Hull - Balcony.
Dja Dja Wurrung Country/Castlemaine-based multi-award-winning songwriter, musician, advocate and writer Eliza Hull O.A.M shares her new single and video 'Balcony' from forthcoming album You'd Think We'd Be Used To Change By Now (4 Dec/independent).
Written and recorded in London with Sneaker Pimps' Liam Howe (fka twigs, MARINA), 'Balcony' flits between bittersweet nostalgia and sky-high euphoria, sonically drawing from atmospheric 90s trip-hop; "a song about trying to hold onto something beautiful long after it has passed". 'Balcony' arrives with the announcement of intimate album preview events the week of album release across 2x dates in so-called VIC, featuring acoustic performance, signing and conversation to be paired with ABC Melbourne's Jacinta Parsons at the Naarm/Melbourne event.
‘Balcony’ penned quickly to capture something instinctive and almost fleeting is Eliza Hull's aching love letter to a long-past summer that can't ever be recreated, tracing the emotional tension between what was and what is: revisiting being young, free and naïve, surrounded by friends, falling in love with a particular moment in your life and desperately wanting to return to it.
Drawing on the gently-haunting atmosphere of British 90s trip-hop and electronic music, 'Balcony' features live instrumentation in minimalist drums and reverb-drenched guitars, first-demo vocals and dramatic, sweeping strings melding to create an organic, cinematic feel that will resonate will fans of Portishead and Goldfrapp.
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Brighton rockers Soot Sprite have today dropped ‘Cautious Optimist (Reckless Version)’ and also announced their ‘Carbon Copy’ EP, which is due out November 20th via Specialist Subject.
‘Cautious Optimist’ first appeared as the closing track on Soot Sprite’s critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon’. Ahead of their UK headline tour, the band have reimagined the song as a rousing anthem, released alongside the announcement of ‘Carbon Copy’, an EP of reworked tracks from the record.
Soot Sprite front woman Elise Cook says: I originally wrote this about 6 years ago now when I was essentially given an eviction notice at the height of a pandemic. It would mark the 11th time I had moved in about 10 years period and having recently upped and moved across the country from Torbay to Brighton it retains its relevance!
It’s about the rocky uncertainties around your home space, and how shaping your life round the music industry feeds into that. How sometimes you feel burnt out by it all and find yourself idealising a life with regular stable work to provide a stable home. Ultimately it’s not been for me, and that always comes at a cost. Getting to realise this song from a somber solo pursuit to this defiant anger with the whole band has been so fun, and reminds me why I chose these people to play in Soot Sprite. Everyone elevates it.
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