Showing posts with label T.R. Burge & The Temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label T.R. Burge & The Temple. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 August 2026

SHEAL - Tilia - ILA - T.R. Burge & The Temple - Alyssa Gallarneau

SHEAL - Press Rewind. 

SHEAL is the stage name of Nova Scotia-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Sheilagh McNab, who returns with her newest single, “Press Rewind,” an intimate, nostalgic reflection on childhood, home, family, and the places that continue to shape who we become. Written by SHEAL and produced, mixed, and mastered by Eric Vanier, the track pairs her emotive vocals and piano with Vanier’s drums, percussion, bass, and electric guitar, creating a warm, cinematic folk-pop sound that feels both reflective and deeply personal. Following a string of releases that have earned airplay on CBC Radio and SiriusXM, SHEAL turns inward on “Press Rewind,” revisiting memories of growing up in Nova Scotia through the perspective of an adult and parent.

At the heart of “Press Rewind” is the feeling of coming home and seeing the past through new eyes. The song was inspired by SHEAL’s childhood memories, her experiences of returning to Nova Scotia, and the perspective that comes with raising children of her own. As she explains, “Press Rewind” is about “looking back on my childhood and, now that I'm a parent, returning to those memories with new perspective — thinking about how I was raised and what I appreciate about that experience.” The ocean imagery woven throughout the song is particularly intentional, reflecting her deep connection to the East Coast and the pull of home. 

That connection comes alive in the song’s imagery of salty air, wind-swept trees, familiar roads, and the feeling of finally being almost home. The line, “We’ll drive to places that I used to know, and stay all day until the sun goes down,” comes directly from SHEAL’s own life. Each summer, she returns to Nova Scotia with her daughters, reconnecting with a longtime friend for an August day at the beach filled with conversation, laughter, food, swimming, and the kind of timelessness that makes everyone forget to check the clock. Those experiences have become some of her favourite memories — and now, she gets to create them with her own children.


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Tilia - Cocoon.

With her album Daybound Drift, which has now reached more than 500,000 streams, Zurich-based musician Tilia has established herself as one of the most exciting voices in Swiss dream pop. 

With her new single 'Cocoon', she now ventures into quieter, darker soundscapes. The idea for the song came to Tilia during a cocooning yoga workshop. 

The notion of withdrawing—not to hide, but to quietly transform—stayed with her. 'Cocoon' captures precisely that moment. Sonically, the song remains introspective and melancholic before opening up at exactly the right moment.


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Photo - Taike De Wilde
ILA - Sorry.

Antwerp based ILA returns with 'Sorry', the latest single from her forthcoming album Motherland, due for release on 9th October 2026. The new single arrives following recent European tour dates supporting The Streets, with ILA now preparing for an extensive EU run this autumn, including four UK shows in November.

Produced by Mikko Gordon (The Smile, Idles, Arcade Fire, Beck), ‘Sorry’ sees ILA turning heartbreak into resilience, finding strength where there was once only pain. Visceral, gritty and yet carrying an infectious and accessible core, the track balances its driving backdrop of biting guitars, tight drums and meaty bass with vexing, yet melodic vocals to create an evocative blend of alternative-rock, grunge, indie and post-punk elements. ILA describes the track as: “Turning heartbreak into resilience, finding strength where there was once only pain.”

‘Sorry’ arrives as the band prepare to enter a new chapter following the success of their 2024 debut album Ayna, with Motherland making ILA sound bigger, more ambitious and more emotionally expansive than ever. The upcoming album Motherland comes two years after the acclaimed debut Ayna and is the first ILA record written as a four-piece - Frontwoman Ilayda Cicek, the line-up features Sam Smeets on bass, Cas Kinnaer on drums and Stynen on guitar.

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T.R. Burge & The Temple - This Bird Is Flown.

T.R. Burge & The Temple return with "This Bird Is Flown," alongside the announcement of their debut album Godache which is set to release November 6th.  The song was born close to home, inside Burge's own flat in “Little Ireland”, a corner of central Manchester steeped in a strange, layered history, one that even brushes up against the early stirrings of the Russian Revolution. Its lyrics trace back to a single dream image, later filtered through a period of heavy reading into esoteric ideas, which crept into the finished imagery almost without invitation.

In Burge's own words: "The lyrics relate to a dream I had in which a woman was standing on the edge of a promenade of some kind, looking out at the ocean. She looked as if she was mourning the loss of something. Someone who had left. It was a very vivid and emotionally charged image. The rest of the imagery in the song then built around this. When recording this song at Klangbild studios in Berlin, Pete, our drummer, Liam, our mate/technician, and I had the best day ever, drinking some beers and listening to Martin J. Fiedler and Aninka create, play and overlay the violin parts. It was heaven. I'll never forget hearing that in the moment come to life."

The song doesn't sit still. That restlessness was deliberate: violinist Aninka Rosa had been pushing for more contrast in the band's writing, and Burge built the track around that idea directly, letting tension rise and drain away across a series of distinct movements rather than holding one mood throughout. Recording, Mixing and Production took place, as much of the band's work does, at Klangbild Studios in Berlin, under longtime collaborator Martin J. Fiedler.

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Photo - Iam Gum
Alyssa Gallarneau - For The Record (Album).

Alyssa Gallarneau is a singer-songwriter currently splitting her time between Chicago, Illinois, and Bloomington, Indiana. Creating a distinctive blend of pop, singer-songwriter and folk influences, Alyssa pairs evocative storytelling with modern production and emotionally rich songwriting. Known for her vivid lyricism and thoughtful use of symbolism, she has developed a style that is both intimate and immersive.

For The Record, Alyssa's debut album, explores themes of love, faith, longing and self-discovery through a collection of songs rooted in lived experience. Written across several months and three countries, the record took shape in locations that naturally inspired its stories. From the mountains of Mexico during a mission trip to the familiarity of home, Alyssa embedded visual motifs and metaphors that point to deeper meanings in her songs. "I approached many songs as if they were a scene in a film," Alyssa explains. "I wanted the album to reward repeated listens, and hopefully reveal new details each time through."

The album began in 2025 after acclaimed artist Mark Morrison introduced Alyssa to renowned UK producer Ian Barter, whose credits include Amy Winehouse, Paloma Faith, Dermot Kennedy and Rhys Lewis. Following an immediate creative connection, Alyssa travelled to London twice to record For The Record in Barter's personal garden studio, with the pair bonding over their shared faith throughout the process. Alyssa then signed a deal with Mark Morrison's MackLife Records, to distribute the album via Stem, a division of Concord, the world's leading independent music company.

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Friday, 26 June 2026

The Southern Tiers - HIGHSIGH - T.R. Burge & The Temple - FLOK - Pocket Lint - Samuel S.C.

The Southern Tiers - Holiday.

School's out for the summer, but for many of us summertime doesn't guarantee a break from the daily grind. The Southern Tiers are here to sympathize with their new single “Holiday” - the perfect anthem for your next spontaneous road trip or weekend getaway! Burnout is a real drag, and let's face it, there's not enough red-letter days on the calendar. 

Sometimes you've got to take back a little control, make up your own holiday and take a break from your busy life. The Southern Tiers have self-produced this energetic, freeing jam with mixing and mastering by local legend Evan Sieling, (Luke Bower, Young Mister, Kyle Reynolds, Lance and Lea).  Let it motivate you to pick a destination and head off into the sunset for some much-needed “me time.”

The Southern Tiers sound is exciting, yet also cozy and cinematic. It’s refreshing, while giving a nod to the classic influences that paved the way. Their new single “Holiday” is raw, relatable, and easy to listen and sing along to as the open road beckons your name. Listeners will find solace as this song shows solidarity with anyone who's felt over-worked and in need of a break. 

"Holiday" brings to mind the likes of Noah Kahan, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors. Enjoy the dusty guitars, driving drums, triumphant choruses, and playful vocal performances from this plucky Americana duo. Give it a listen and dust off your suitcase for a long-overdue Holiday!


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Photo -  Matt Mehlan
HIGHSIGH - I Love the Room I Live In.

HIGHSIGH have just announced their debut album 'Once Bend' which is due out July 31st on Joyful Noise Recordings. Along with this news, the trio of Robert Lundberg (JOBS), John Dieterich (Deerhoof), and Matt Mehlan (Skeletons) shared the record's lead single and video, "I Love the Room I Live In." The song features vocal and lyrical contributions from Macie Stewart (Finom) as well as percussion from Max Jaffe.

"I Love the Room I Live In" originated from a bassline that Ro Lundberg recorded during a session in Woodstock with Shannon Fields back in 2012. "We were experimenting—listening to lots of Morris Day and the Time, and New Jack Swing, improvising, jamming, extrapolating out from there," Lundberg says. "This bassline popped out as we rolled, and I fell in love with it. It didn’t get used there, but I kept carrying it around in my head for years. It was one of the first scraps I offered John and Matt." Around this foundation, the track took shape with driving drums, layered chopped-up synths, and biting yet lyrical improvised guitar.

The band shared a music video shot by the trio's very own Ro Lundberg and edited by Ryan Hover. In it, time-lapse footage of a hotel room is cut up and abstracted, revealing psychedelic colors, patterns, and textures.


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T.R. Burge & The Temple - Eagle Fly.

T.R. Burge & The Temple released ‘Eagle Fly’ yesterday June 25th, the debut single from the Manchester and Berlin-rooted band. It marks the first release under the band name for T.R. Burge, who has been writing and recording as a solo artist for a number of years, and represents the full realisation of a project that has been taking shape, across cities and collaborators, for considerably longer than its 2024 formation date might suggest.

Recorded at Klangbild Studios in Berlin with producer Martin J. Fiedler, the track is slow-moving and atmospheric; strings-led, dreamy, and built around a slow rock pulse that gives it a cinematic, unhurried weight. It sits in similar territory to the hypnotic, wandering energy of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, an influence the band cite directly, and one that shaped the song's mood and sense of drift from the earliest stages of its writing.

The song's origins are characteristically unplanned. T.R. Burge and an old friend rented a cottage in rural Scotland and worked through a set of initial ideas away from any studio pressure or outside influence — an approach that suited the track's subject matter well. Those early sketches were then taken to Berlin, where the full band recorded with Fiedler at Klangbild, and the song expanded considerably. Aninka Rosa's violin — the element perhaps most central to what T.R. Burge & The Temple sound like — was added as the sessions developed, giving the track much of its emotional reach and the quality that makes it feel both intimate and wide open at once.

Lyrically, ‘Eagle Fly’ is a song about the difficulty of hearing your own voice. Written against a backdrop of personal grief and the particular kind of introspection that brings, it deals with the accumulated weight of other people's expectations — the opinions, cultural pressures, and received ideas that quietly shape how a person moves through the world — and the work involved in setting those aside. It arrives, ultimately, at something hopeful. The connection to both Manchester and Berlin runs through it: two cities that have each, in different ways, demanded something honest from the band.


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Photo - Lucy Craig
FLOK - Stop Turning.

FLOK are a Manchester based four-piece, blending alternative rock with punchy, emotional songwriting. Shaped by the city’s venues and deep musical history, their sound feels rooted in Manchester whilst moving with a modern energy. The band have built a steady momentum in their hometown, growing from the basement of their local pub to the main rooms of a number of the city’s most iconic venues.

Their live presence is defined by high-energy performances, playing to expanding audiences across England, with summer touring dates secured in Sheffield, London, Medway, Glasgow and more. FLOK have recorded two original tracks with Sugar House Studios, including their debut single “Running Out”, which has received support from John Kennedy on Radio X second track; “Stop Turning” follows now and a debut EP expected in September.

With their first release, and live activity widening, FLOK are establishing a reputation as one of the North-West’s most exciting new bands within the grassroots promoter circle, and are now determined to bring their unique sound to venues nationwide!


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Pocket Lint - Wunderkammer (Album).

After many years away from music, Mark Heffernan pulled out his old suits and revisited the fragments his previous band had left behind. What began as an attempt to finally complete unfinished songs soon evolved into something much larger and synthy-er.

Mark first began his musical journey at the Guitar Institute in London between 1999 and 2000, an experience that ultimately taught him he wanted to create from instinct and emotion rather than rigid methodology. Fast forward to the summer of 2020: sitting on his balcony with sheets of sandpaper, Mark attempted to teach himself the art of carving cameos from amethyst. After weeks of purple dust, sore hands, and mounting frustration, he surrendered to another creative instinct and returned to the studio. Pocket Lint was born.

Since then, Pocket Lint has create his own sound and atmosphere, with a penchant for storytelling. Drawing influence from Bowie, Roxy Music, Soft Cell, Human League, Japan, Magazine, and Sakamoto, while channelling the poetic romanticism of Shelley and Coleridge, Heffernan creates music that feels both timeless and deeply rooted in his present. His releases have already earned recognition including Bandcamp’s New & Notable honour for the album Gallery, while the single “Cyanometer” received praise from Moonbuilding Zine.

Now, Pocket Lint presents his most immersive and ambitious work to date: Wunderkammer. Inspired by the German concept meaning “cabinet of curiosities,” Wunderkammer transforms the album into a sonic museum, a collection of strange, beautiful, and emotionally charged exhibits waiting to be discovered. Museums, galleries, forgotten artefacts, literature, and historical fragments all informed the creative process, with each song representing its own carefully curated object inside the collection. “A Wunderkammer has no such pretensions” Heffernan explains. “All it hopes to do is present objects that the owner thinks are beautiful or interesting. By doing so, they create a multi-faceted mirror. This is my Wunderkammer.”


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Samuel S.C. - I Need A Moment.

Today Samuel S.C. releases the latest track in its single series, "I Need A Moment." Produced by the masterful J. Robbins, the track barrels through two minutes of classic indie featuring uncluttered verses and soaring choruses, complete with the band's trademark boy/girl harmonies -  before ascending into a breathtaking prologue led by vocalist Vanessa Downing. It’s a powerful conclusion to a dynamic year of music—and a thrilling teaser for the band's upcoming 2027 full-length album.

Samuel S.C. (FKA Samuel) continues to bridge the gap between '90s indie-rock and timeless punk. Originally a cornerstone of drummer Eric Astor’s legendary Art Monk Construction label, the band reformed in 2021 with their DIY spirit firmly intact. Five years, one LP, one 7”, one split 10” and a 2nd LP in the works, S.C. isn't just maintaining momentum—they’re accelerating.

The group's 2026 trajectory is defined by a prolific streak that finds the band continuing to evolve and explore sounds that refuse to fall neatly into any sub-genre. Releasing one single per month since January, this month SSC shares their final installment of the series, “I Need a Moment”. Equal parts soaring indie rock and contemplative post-punk, "INAM" arrives on the heels of a dynamic set  -  the casual shimmer of "Mind Flies" (May), the straight-ahead melodic crunch of “Celestial” (April), the simmering and moody “Get Red” (March), the unbridled howl of "Push the Needle" (February), and the wistful, nostalgic "Another Good Lie" (January). These single releases follow a landmark year featuring a 10" split release with Florida’s Pohgoh and standout performances at Fest (Gainesville) and the inaugural Several States Festival in Chicago. 


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Agnes Obel - Rachel Bochner - Willem James Cowan - Oh Louise

Photo - Alex Brüel Flagstad Agnes Obel - Laymelli. Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Agnes Obel announces her new studi...