Showing posts with label The Falls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Falls. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 July 2026

Cat Nova - The Falls - Young Martyrs - Felicity Hamer & Black Leather Rose

Cat Nova - Parallel World.

Cat Nova has just released her new single “Parallel World” and we have to say it's both beautiful and lyrically thought provoking. So many of us have experienced troubling relationships, this song is both personal and more broadly relatable to the listener, we will let the background story tell the rest. 

"It's about a relationship that felt impossible to live with and impossible to leave." – Cat Nova. Parallel World tells the story of a passionate and turbulent relationship from Cat Nova's early twenties. Before taking a hiatus from music to complete a doctorate, write a book, and establish herself as a clinical psychologist, 

Cat spent a decade as a much-adored front woman of Oxford-based indie rock bands the Courtesy Kill & At Risk (the latter's catalogue recently re-issued for streaming by indie label Quickfix Recordings), supporting the likes of Kasabian, King Adora and other 00s luminaries at the now legendary Zodiac in Oxford. "I wrote the lyrics and vocal melody soon after (the relationship ended) and the song just lived rent-free in my head for the next fifteen years until I finally recorded it."

The release marks a new chapter for the singer-songwriter, who has traded (at least for now) her primary writing instrument and accompaniment from the guitar to a piano, with sparse instrumentation that allows the melodies to take centre stage. Drawing inspiration from artists including The Cure, AFI, Cigarettes After Sex and Garbage, her instinctive songwriting process blends atmospheric indie pop rock and her trademark open-hearted, somewhat doomed romantic lyricism with an intimate yet cinematic feel.


============================================================================

The Falls - Loaded Gun.

Manchester's indie-rock four-piece The Falls are pleased to unveil their powerful new single ‘Loaded Gun’, just released on July 3rd 2026. The track is the third to be taken from their upcoming second studio EP ‘Would You Do It All Over Again’ which arrives on September 18th 2026 via Revo Pro.

Since forming in 2023, The Falls have hit the UK's indie scene with remarkable momentum, quickly establishing themselves as one of Manchester's most exciting emerging bands. The band have cultivated a strong live presence, playing key venues UK wide, whilst consistently selling out venues in their hometown of Manchester. February 2026 saw the band play their biggest hometown headline show to date, at Manchester's iconic Manchester Academy, marking another major milestone in their rise. With demand continuing to grow, their upcoming November headline show at Manchester's Gullivers sold out in under 24 hours, prompting the addition of a second intimate date at The Castle Hotel.

Their debut EP, Viva La Falls, released in September 2025, has already amassed more than 100,000 streams and earned early support from John Kennedy at Radio X. Drawing influence from The Courteneers, The Kooks and Jake Bugg, The Falls combine soaring guitar hooks, infectious melodies and sharp storytelling into a sound that feels nostalgic yet refreshingly modern.


============================================================================

Young Martyrs - Seventeen.

Bath England's alt-Americana four-piece Young Martyrs returned (July 3rd 2026) with their new single ‘Seventeen’, the third track to be taken from their forthcoming third studio album ‘Might Just Be Enough’, arriving August 21st 2026 via Honey Badger Records on limited edition vinyl. Formed in 2020, Young Martyrs released their debut self-titled album that same year. Their coinciding debut headline tour saw them sell out shows throughout the UK, which led to them sharing the stage with the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, The Hooziers and McFly, as well as playing slots at a variety of festivals including Glastonbury and Rock Oyster. Their second album ‘Time Is Not On Our Side’ was released in 2023, expanding their fanbase beyond the UK and saw them playing shows across New York City.

A reflective anthem wrapped in driving rhythms and soaring melodies, 'Seventeen' explores the blurred line between missing a past relationship and missing the person you once were. Built around a sparse, tom-heavy groove before opening into an expansive chorus, the song captures the bittersweet pull of nostalgia, asking whether it's an old love that is being longed for - or simply to feel the way they felt at a certain time in life that can never be revisited.

Recorded while the band were operating as a three-piece, guitarist Rich Beeby also handled bass duties throughout the album sessions before the recent arrival of bassist Phil Smith completed the line-up. 'Seventeen' was recorded by the band at Real World Studios in Bath and Indefra Studios in Frome, co-produced with Sebastian Brice, engineered by Ben Koch and mastered by Christian Wright (Ed Sheeran, Franz Ferdinand, Blur, Laura Marling) at Abbey Road Studios.

Vocalist and lyricist Tom Corneill says, “Seventeen” is a song that everyone in the world can relate to. It’s about getting over a past love but it’s also about wishing you could turn back time to feel the way you did at the point in your life where things felt more free and exciting. It’s about thinking ‘maybe I don’t miss my ex; maybe I miss who I used to be’.”


============================================================================

Felicity Hamer & Black Leather Rose - Heavy Hitter.

Felicity Hamer & Black Leather Rose brings together three of the most prominent names on Montreal’s alt-country and garage rock scenes to create a new sound that combines classic honky tonk with modern indie in ways only Montreal musicians can.

That sense of adventure is palpable on the group’s self-titled five-song debut EP (six if you get it from Bandcamp), that will officially arrive on July 24. It presents surprises at every turn, with melodies drawn from icons such as Tammy Wynette and Emmylou Harris blending with ambient soundscapes and psychedelic overtones inspired by contemporary Americana heroes like Neko Case.

Along with Felicity Hamer, whose CV contains stints with United Steelworkers of Montreal, the Slowinks, Filly & The Flops and other projects, the trio is comprised of guitarist Roy Vucino, a staple of Montreal’s punk and experimental scenes who has worked with Evan Dando, Mac DeMarco and Mike Watt, and engineer/multi-instrumentalist Sebastien Perry whose studio experience includes David Usher, Nikki Yanofsky, Florence K, and a host of other beloved Quebec artists. Tracks also feature Berlin native Omri Gondor (Saba Lou, Hellshovel) on drums as well as appearances by various Montreal musicians.

Today they share the EP’s first single “Heavy Hitter,” a tribute to Canada’s greatest boxer, George Chuvalo. Felicity explains, “Roy had this idea for a song about a boxer who never gave up, and he shared a melody with a few lines: ‘He won’t throw in the towel, when he’s on the ropes.’ I didn’t know any boxing lingo, but I know how to conduct research!


============================================================================

Saturday, 11 April 2026

Anika Louise - Isabel Rumble - Tom Emlyn - St.Arnaud - Ava Claire - PUNCHBAG - The Falls

Photo - Lizzie Wilkie
Anika Louise - Thorns.

Anika Louise is learning where the roses end and the thorns begin. On her new single ‘Thorns’ (out yesterday, April 10), she captures that realisation in something both tender and cutting. A painfully raw track shaped by contemplative lyricism and lilting melodies, ‘Thorns’ is a soundtrack to a familiar kind of heartbreak.  

Following her 2025 debut release ‘Pearl’, the Boorloo/Perth-based indie-folk singer-songwriter has already seen an array of local support, including performing on national television for Telethon at RAC Arena, earning a WAM Song of the Year nomination in 2019, and opening for the Perth Symphony Orchestra at the Pop'N'Rock Symphony Concert.  
  
Now, on just her second single, ‘Thorns’ opens with softly strummed acoustic guitar, laying a gentle, intimate foundation for Anika Louise’s dulcet voice and confessional lyricism. The first verse introduces the recurring image of thorns and roses, tracing the slow realisation that someone is not who they first seemed. Elaborating on the track, Anika Louise says:  

“Thorns is about realising someone you trust isn't who you thought they were and learning to let go of the version of them you believed in. I used roses as a metaphor for that experience, something beautiful on the surface that was hiding thorns underneath.” As the song unfolds, it begins to open out. Warm electric guitar lines come forward, paired with twanging banjo and subtle piano, all anchored by the steady pulse of the drums. The arrangement swells and softens in turns, making ‘Thorns’ a powerful yet vulnerable journey that cries out softly and lingers in the heart. 


============================================================================

Photo - Kyle Dobie
Isabel Rumble - Patience Peaceful Breathing Slow.

After the release of her second album ‘Hold Everything Lightly’, followed by a national tour last year, Australian indie-folk songstress Isabel Rumble returns with ‘Patience Peaceful Breathing Slow’, a delicate and meditative new single out this weekend. The new track arrives ahead of an extensive international run, with Isabel Rumble set to take her album on tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe following a series of Western Australian dates and festival appearances in April.

With this run of shows for her second album, it feels only fitting to share ‘Patience Peaceful Breathing Slow’, a song written and recorded during the same period, shaped by the uncertain space she found herself in as her debut album was released into the world in 2023.

“‘Patience Peaceful Breathing Slow’ was written as I began to make my peace with winter,” Rumble says, describing the uncertainty she experienced after releasing her debut album. But it was when she came across a story in Women Who Run With the Wolves about “sitting with an idea and gently rocking with it until clarity returns” that the meaning of that in-between period began to shift. She continues: 

"This song was my permission to tend to the parts of myself I’d neglected in the busyness of releasing my debut album. It feels appropriate to let this one into the world now at the completion of my second album." 

============================================================================

Tom Emlyn - A series Of Misunderstandings.

Swansea Singer-Songwriter 'Tom Emlyn' returns with a brand new single on 10th April 2026. 'A Series of Misunderstandings' will be his third single taken from forthcoming new album which is out in summer. One of the oldest songs on the album - I wrote this originally over ten years ago. It's about cycling through personas, exploring the ways in which difficult or disappointing experiences can change who you are as a person. Making the most of all the unfortunate events, misunderstandings and false starts. Making poetry from the humdrum, banal annoyances of the everyday, the average let-downs and miscommunications. 

One thing leads to another; before you know it you're a tired old gunslinger, selling stolen jewellery to make ends meet, sorting through memories you'd rather forget. Touring empty open mic nights with cliched phrases, more half-baked than hard-boiled, hoping something sticks. I was thinking of the band Kings of Convenience when I wrote this, as well as Elliott Smith's album XO. 

Evan added some lush slide guitar and played banjo with a violin bow. The final solo was played in one take, with a brittle Hank Marvin Stratocaster tone and a gorgeous real spring reverb tank. Described by Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales) as a "peripatetic musical genius", Tom Emlyn crafts honest, swirling songs. Tall tales laced with dark jokes and words that cut straight to the bone. His current solo work maps an alternative Southwalian landscape, a hallucinated community drawn from psycho geography built on local history. Anthropological observations shaping poetic lyrics and simple 60s-folk influenced melodies that explore what it means to belong toa place.Bitterness, love, and humour peep through the cracks of this multi-layered, ethereal music.


============================================================================

St.Arnaud - St.Arnaud (Album).

Edmonton's St.Arnaud, the indie pop project of Ian St.Arnaud, released their third studio album, St.Arnaud, this weekend via Cordova Bay Records, a record that turns grief into groove and cynicism into celebration. The self-titled album represents a significant evolution for St.Arnaud. What began as a solo songwriting outlet following the 2017 passing of close friend and collaborator Luke Jansen has blossomed into a full-band effort brimming with drums, bass, keys, electric guitar, horns, pedal steel, and electric pianos. This is the project's third record, but the first to truly capture the spirit of a live ensemble—where spontaneity and chemistry take the wheel.

"Starting an album for me feels like fumbling around in a dark room, feeling around for anything to grab onto," Ian reflects. "I think at one point I wrote something that resembled bad jazz? Ever so slowly, from an old notebook, something materializes when I struggle hard enough."

Lyrically, St.Arnaud explores "finding movement in times of stillness" and "capturing snapshots of transient times when you have time to reflect on them." The collection toggles between narrators stuck in the undertow of unresolved feelings—tracks like ‘Strange Collection’, ‘Better Than Fine’, and ‘Pretend Like You Do’—and others desperately trying to find contentment in the present, such as ‘How Lucky’, ‘Your House’, and ‘Sunshine’. 

"I think looking back at the songs as a group now, it's funny to see two distinct song types appear: a series of narrators talking about unresolved past feelings, or trying to be content in the present," Ian notes. "Maybe there's a third category too: where I'm trying to just crack a joke and lighten the mood. Those songs are usually my favourite in the end. I prefer to sandwich harder emotions between a few lighter topics."

============================================================================

Ava Claire - The Sound.

Singer-songwriter Ava Claire returns with “The Sound,” an upbeat and captivating track that reveals a vibrant, energetic side of her artistry while maintaining the emotional depth that defines her songwriting. “The Sound is essentially about the noise in our minds,” says Ava. “The noise changes as you grow up, age, and have more life adventures.”
 
Drawing from the lyrical depth of Jason Isbell and Phoebe Bridgers, paired with the melodic instincts of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, Ava crafts smart, authentic narratives that resonate deeply with listeners. Her talent has earned her three yeses and a trip to Hollywood Week on American Idol, as well as selection as one of only 11 students nationwide for the Songwriter Track at GRAMMY Camp.
 
Her previous release, “Salt Mine,” has already surpassed 70,000 streams across platforms and earned top-playlist support from Spotify, Apple Music, and more, further building momentum for her growing presence in Nashville.
 
Now a songwriting student at Belmont University, Ava regularly performs at iconic Nashville venues, including The Bluebird Cafe and The Listening Room. Beyond the stage, she is a passionate advocate for music education, dedicating five years to a Nashville non-profit teaching songwriting and refurbishing instruments for underserved youth, work that was recently featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show. With “The Sound,” Ava Claire continues to expand her artistic range, pairing thoughtful storytelling with an infectious energy that highlights both her growth as a songwriter and the exciting momentum surrounding her next chapter.

============================================================================

Photo - Sophie Webster

PUNCHBAG - I Am Obsessed (EP).

South London sibling duo PUNCHBAG (Clara and Anders Bach) now release their second EP 'I Am Obsessed' via Mute. PUNCHBAG embark on their first UK / European headline tour later this month, culminating in a show at The Lexington in London on 9th May. The new EP is marked by the release of focus single 'Playing God'.  Inspired initially by a Hinge date gone awry, the track is a cathartic highlight from the band's renowned live sets.

"Playing this song live so many times over the last year or so, it has taken on a new meaning - one that is deeper and darker than we originally intended," Clara explains. "Thereby we would like to kindly dedicate this song to the many men in power who are wonderfully running this ship aground. When there’s so much power being abused all the time, we don’t want to become numb to that and forget about it.”

Offering further proof of their status as one of London's most compelling emerging pop acts, new EP 'I Am Obsessed' is a volatile, hyper-saturated expansion of their self-described "aggressive hopecore" world - where everyday life is pushed to breaking point.

Driven by pounding percussion, snarling guitars and soaring synths, singer Clara’s instantly recognizable vocal cuts through the chaos; moving between sugar-rush pop hooks and moments of defiant release, she zooms in on the smallest details until they become grotesque and impossible to ignore.

============================================================================

The Falls - Open Fire.

Manchester-based indie-rock group The Falls are excited to unveil their new single ‘Open Fire’, via Revo Pro. Since their formation in 2023, The Falls have hit the UK music scene with remarkable momentum, rapidly building a reputation both in Manchester and nationwide. 

The band have cultivated a strong live presence, playing key venues UK wide, whilst consistently selling out venues in their hometown of Manchester. February 2026 saw The Falls undertake their biggest hometown headline to date, this time stepping it up a notch at the city's iconic Manchester Academy. Their upcoming November hometown headline at Manchester’s Gullivers sold out in under 24 hours, leading them to add a second, more intimate date due to demand, at The Castle Hotel.

Drawing inspiration from classic and contemporary indie influences like The Courteneers, The Kooks and Jake Bugg, their sound combines energetic guitar hooks with sharp lyrical storytelling. Their debut EP ‘Viva La Falls’ was released in September of 2025, already amassing over 100,000 streams and earning early praise from Radio X’s John Kennedy.

Produced, mixed and mastered by Luke Owens (SHADE, Montello, The Sprats), their new single ‘Open Fire’ is a sub-three-minute powder keg of energy from start to finish. The track blends explosive drums, melodic bass lines, frenetic guitars and urgent vocals, musically and lyrically encapsulating a loss of control.

============================================================================

Sin Cos Tan - Drug Store Raid - Alice Geary - The Womack Sisters - Twin Bloom - Tipps And Obermiller - Disgusting Sisters

Sin Cos Tan - Icarian. Sin Cos Tan release their new single Icarian today July 10. The track is the seventh taste of the duo’s forthcoming ...