Oddfellows - Thin Lear - Wynona Bleach - Eugene McGuinness

Oddfellows - The Burden.

Mark Ryan (Marked Men, Mind Spiders) resurrects Oddfellows for a new LP on Dirtnap Records & Wild Honey Records, Oddfellows are back with a new song and upcoming LP, out on June 12th. Before The Marked Men, Mind Spiders, O-D-EX, High Tension Wires, hell, even before The Reds,  there was Oddfellows.

In December 1994 Chris Pulliam, Mark Ryan, and Mike Throneberry played their first show in Denton, Texas. That original lineup was short-lived and mostly played locally, but its members went on to spawn a hundred bands you have heard of.

Fast-forward thirty years to December 2024: Oddfellows reform. In three months they wrote and recorded a new album, added guitarist Peter Salisbury (also of Mind Spiders), and hit the road again.

The 2026 Oddfellows are tight, punchy, and immediate — short pop songs (most under two minutes) that feel like the raw blueprint of a sound later honed across many bands/decades. Thirteen new tracks plus a reworked Reds classic, this LP will prove to be an eye-opening experience for die hard fans and new listeners alike.

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Photo - Anna Rhody

Thin Lear - Many Disappeared (Album).

Thin Lear's sophomore album ‘Many Disappeared’ is out now on First City Artists (Coco, Alexa Rose, Pearla). Matt Longo grew up writing short stories; that narrative instinct pervades his music. He tends towards tragedies—some true, some imagined, and some stuck in between. “I’ve always gravitated to bizarre tales to access my own grief and pain,” says Longo. 

From “The Mothman” event of 1960s West Virginia which inspired “Silver Bridge,” to the “Mad Gasser” mass  hysteria of 1940s Illinois that backdrops “Mattoon,” Longo collects peculiar lore and studies it for insights into humanity. He pairs odd plots with placating melodies, his voice as pure and holy as a bell. 

The effect is uncanny—lyrics like a nightmare delivered through a lullaby. “I need something supernatural to wrestle with, just to understand my own earthly troubles,” he says. “I write to access a feeling and get past it.” Longo may summon the ghosts to dispel them, but Thin Lear’s music remains vibrantly haunted, full of eerie figures loping along, human or otherwise, hoping to heal.  

Influenced on a fundamental level by the likes of David Bowie and Karen Dalton, Longo builds a kind of sonic bridge between the two—his emotive folk pop aches and articulates from a strange, starry place.

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Wynona Bleach - Not Cool With It.

Belfast, UK trailblazers Wynona Bleach unveil their highly anticipated second album, Animal Style, due May 29th via Propeller Sound Recordings and Fierce Panda Records (Ash, Placebo, Death Cab for Cutie/UK). Displaying the band at their most colorful and vibrant there final single, ‘Not Cool With It’ blends the band's murky Alt-Rock tendencies with a bright and memorable melodic shimmer-pop flair. Bridging the band’s garage-rock, shoegaze, and alternative-pop elements, the track balances its driving, distorted guitar-led core with radiant dual vocals and colorfully melodic choices.

Crafted with long-time collaborators Andy Bradfield (Bjork, The XX, Rufus Wainwright, Manic Street Preachers) and Avril Mackintosh (Bryan Adams, Marillion) and co-produced by guitarist/vocalist Jonny Woods, Animal Style finds Wynona Bleach pushing their alt-rock roots into wider, more atmospheric terrain. “Be Positive” marries crunching guitars, punchy rhythms and grounding bass with swirling harmonies and soaring lead vocals that blend the relentless grit of alternative rock with the dreamy expansiveness of shoegaze and grunge. From its commanding chorus to its mysterious, reverb-soaked textures, the track signals a band both confident in their past and eager to push beyond it.
 
Described in the press as a fierce and vibrant force in UK alt rock, riffing somewhere between Smashing Pumpkins, Wolf Alice, The Joy Formidable and Curve, Wynona Bleach have carved out a distinctive sound that fuses alt rock, shoegaze, pop hooks and raw, emotional power. From early singles like “Eyes Burning” to the lush sublimity of their debut album Moonsoake, the band’s music has won nods from tastemaker radio outlets including BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Introducing NI, KEXP, Amazing Radio and more, along with Spotify editorial interest, and has been praised for its energetic hooks and immersive melodic landscapes.

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Eugene McGuinness - Versus the Universe (Album).

Eugene McGuinness had accepted his career in music was over. The end of his deal with Domino Records, followed by a difficult self-released album, fatherhood, and just life generally, saw his personal dreams and ambitions slowly slip towards the horizon. A period of great change, McGuinness had embraced his new work and family life, happy to leave the ugliness of the ‘music biz’ behind him. However, the absence of making music - and the joy the process brings - left a noticeable hole.

A decade on from Domino, an evolved McGuinness is back. His brand-new album, ‘Eugene McGuinness Versus the Universe’, has just been released (April 2026), following the release of his affecting comeback single ‘Seascape’ and follow up track, the beautiful widescreen romance of ‘London’. The album was recorded at Liverpool’s Docklands Speed Shop with friend and producer Gajo Paco. Encouraging spontaneity, Eugene, Gajo and a host of old friends and acquaintances were ‘feeling it out’ along the way, trusting the process and welcoming a series of ‘happy accidents’ to contribute to the record’s warm and organic sound.

Of Irish heritage, the idiosyncratic McGuinness began crafting songs in his teens and gained recognition with debut EP ‘The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness’ - released in 2007. His self-titled debut album was released in 2008 on Domino Records followed by ‘Glue’ (2009, as ‘Eugene and The Lizards’), ‘The Invitation to the Voyage’ in 2012 and ‘Chroma’ (2014). ‘Suburban Gothic’ (2018) was released independently and marked his departure from Domino Records.

‘Eugene McGuinness Versus the Universe’ picks up where ‘The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness’’, left off. A return to playfulness, rawness, and mysterious off-kilter pop from a more mature Eugene McGuinness, the album is another fine addition to McGuinness’ discography and reflects his evolution as an artist - unafraid to experiment and never playing to the gallery, following a tradition of songwriters - Bob Dylan, Shane MacGowan, Randy Newman, Rufus Wainwright - with voices and interior universes that are all their own.

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Thin Lear - Carly King - The Sh-Booms - Ghalia Volt - Soft Loft - Benny Bleu

Photo - Anna Rhody

Thin Lear - A Cherished Man.

Thin Lear, begetter of elegant melancholia, opens his sophomore album (out April 24th) with a bridge falling and a brother’s death. What’s the reason for me seeing? / What’s the reason for anything? / Tell me angel, if you will / Do you think of me still? This tossing of hands to the sky, a dizzied surrender to the absurdity of existence, drives every song that follows. On album standout “A Cherished Man,” that loneliness manifests in three, distinctly curious characters. Andy drinks himself into public humiliation on a nightly basis; Annie pokes strangers with pins on crowded urban buses; Charlie consumes gargantuan sums of corks, stones, and live animals for performance. It’s a work of masterful poetry, and a poignant testament to the lengths humans will go in pursuit of connection. “I see myself in all of them,” Longo confesses. “They’re looking for love, they’re just not sure how to broker it.” With a delicate wail of despair—almost as though pricked—he sings: They say, you’re only whole / You’re only true / Long as someone dreams of you / And if you’re just set up to fall / You find a way to feel at all. It’s heartrending and conciliatory at once; Longo goes to the freak show, and sees only humans. 

Longo grew up writing short stories; that narrative instinct pervades his music. He tends towards tragedies—some true, some imagined, and some stuck in between. “I’ve always gravitated to bizarre tales to access my own grief and pain,” says Longo. From “The Mothman” event of 1960s West Virginia which inspired “Silver Bridge,” to the “Mad Gasser” mass  hysteria of 1940s Illinois that backdrops “Mattoon,” Longo collects peculiar lore and studies it for insights into humanity. 

He pairs odd plots with placating melodies, his voice as pure and holy as a bell. The effect is uncanny—lyrics like a nightmare delivered through a lullaby. “I need something supernatural to wrestle with, just to understand my own earthly troubles,” he says. “I write to access a feeling and get past it.” Longo may summon the ghosts to dispel them, but Thin Lear’s music remains vibrantly haunted, full of eerie figures loping along, human or otherwise, hoping to heal. Influenced on a fundamental level by the likes of David Bowie and Karen Dalton, Longo builds a kind of sonic bridge between the two—his emotive folk pop aches and articulates from a strange, starry place. 

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Carly King - Three Martinis.

The highly anticipated debut album from Carly King (Loving You Is Easy), has been recorded at Cloverdale Records with Shane Travis (Evan Honer), and is due out May 1 on First City Artists (Alexa Rose, Coco). 

Born in New Jersey, King lost her father at age 4 to the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Her family moved to Wyoming shortly after, where King grew up with a vivid sense of life's uncertainty and a profound desire to find its purpose. Now based in Nashville, she brings her insights on loss, love, and living freely to her first full-length. In her stark, sandy voice, King sings of dusty floors, school buses, and cowboy boots with the sparkling pop sensibility of Kacey Musgraves, the full hearted howl of Sierra Ferrell: Loving you is easy / It's the world that's hard.

With singles and EPs alone, King has independently amassed more than 20K monthly listeners, been named an American Songwriter Song Contest finalist, landed sponsorship from Gibson guitars, and conducted a merch campaign successful enough to fund her first full-length. King's fans aren't passive listeners but fervent, supportive members of a grassroots community, one she's built with warm and retable, folk country earworms.

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The Sh-Booms - This Is A Test.

Orlando soul-rock powerhouse The Sh-Booms return with the striking new music video for “This Is A Test,” the cinematic title track from their recently released EP This Is a Test, available now on all digital platforms.

Directed by John Taylor, the video expands the song’s cosmic narrative into a vivid, otherworldly visual experience — one that blends performance with a surreal journey through time, space, and survival.

“The concept kind of dances through themes of time and space travel, unexpected journeys that lead to discovery, strength in survival and love, all woven through a dynamic performance,” Taylor explains. “I envisioned an emergency evacuation back to Earth, perhaps at a different time or in an alternate universe of possibilities.”

Drawing inspiration from classic New Wave-era visuals — including the stylized performance energy of artists like INXS — as well as Taylor’s own upbringing during the final chapter of the space program in Cocoa Beach, Florida, the video captures both nostalgia and forward motion. The result is a visually immersive companion to one of the band’s most ambitious songs to date.

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Photo - Eric Johanson

Ghalia Volt - Ride. 

Ghalia Volt doesn’t waste time easing in. On “Ride,” the first single and video from her upcoming album Burn The House Down, due May 15th (Ruf Records,) she delivers a fierce, groove-heavy blast of blues-soaked rock & roll — gritty, immediate and unforgettable.

With Burn The House Down, produced by JD Simo and recorded in Nashville, Volt pushes that sound even further — capturing the immediacy of her live performances while expanding her sonic reach. Her first single “Ride,” is fierce, gritty and hip-shaking, a blast of blues-soaked rock & roll swagger that sets the tone for the album.

Recently featured on 60 Minutes alongside Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Volt was recognized as part of a new generation carrying blues music forward. It’s a role she’s grown into over the past decade, shaped in part by her move from Belgium to New Orleans in 2016 — a turning point that immersed her fully in American roots traditions while sharpening her raw, instinct-driven approach.

That same year, she released Have You Seen My Woman (2016), a breakthrough that introduced her stripped-down, streetwise sound. She followed with Let the Demons Out (2017), and Not long after, Volt embraced a fiercely independent path, developing her one-woman band setup — singing, playing guitar, and working percussion simultaneously — a format that became central to both her recordings and her reputation as a live performer.

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Soft Loft - Caught.

Soft Loft is a Switzerland-based collective fronted by singer/lyricist Jorina Stamm. From day one, their mission has been to create a space where vulnerability is like oxygen and connecting with another is summer breeze. Their sound is a sticky mixture of ecstasy and melancholy.

After a breakthrough year of headline tours, major festivals & tastemaker praise from BBC 6 to KEXP, Swiss indie collective Soft Loft return with Caught, a high-voltage anthem for twenty-somethings confronting the moment they played it safe instead of fearless. 

Suspended between nostalgia and “what if”, the track builds from introspection into a remarkable scream of release. Written & produced by the band, mixed by Grammy-winner Craig Silvey, it launches the road to an outstanding new album.

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Benny Bleu - When I Am a Fossil.

Pairing timely songwriting with his distinctive instrumental banjo work, When I Am a Fossil is the bold forthcoming album release (due June 5) from New York native Benny Bleu. Ten years in the making and informed by the artist’s prior decade working as a geologist, the project reflects a sustained exploration of humanity’s relationship with the Earth, expressed through original songs, carefully chosen covers, and meditative banjo instrumentals. Both a deeply personal statement and a collaborative studio achievement, When I Am a Fossil pushes at the boundaries of old time music and its intersections with jazz and global rhythms, bridging old time traditions with contemporary sonic exploration.

At its core, When I Am a Fossil is a concept album that draws on geological time. Framed through the lens of a train-traveling, smartphone-rejecting modern-day luddite contemplating reality in 2026, the record offers multiple perspectives on a singular theme: what it means to live on—and within—a changing planet. Geologic ages are defined by their fossils—the preserved evidence of life—and often marked by mass extinctions. Looking ahead, future geologists examining the Anthropocene—the present age defined by human impact—will likely identify another mass extinction event, one humanity both caused (“When I am A Fossil”) and endured (“I’ve Endured”). The album meditates on this paradox while offering shimmers of hope and wonderment in the wistful “Serenity Song” and “All I Want to Be.”

Ultimately, the record suggests that while economies are human inventions sustained by belief, climate change will march on whether we believe in it or not (“March of the Mollusk”). As environmental pressures intensify, future generations may be compelled to live simpler lives with less consumption and greater locality. In that simpler, more grounded world, the album proposes, folk music will not only persist—it will belong.

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Zoe and Cloyd - Sandtimer - Thin Lear

We have some splendid and totally natural roots music from Zoe and Cloyd, the musicianship is just right and the dual vocals and live feel to the song adds even more character. Sandtimer have just shared 'Dormant' along with a fine video, their indie folk is outstanding and the vocals are wonderful on this addictive song. 'Death In A Field' from Thin Lear (songwriter/producer Matt Longo) is a beautiful piece, where his vocals are just so engaging and the musical arrangement is seemingly pristine.

Zoe and Cloyd - Looking Out For You And Me.

Roots duo Zoe & Cloyd have released a video for their latest single, “Looking Out For You And Me,” a song that illustrates today's issues of change and how it affects us. It warns against allowing self-interest and short-term gain to take precedence over the well-being of future generations.

Husband and wife artists Zoe (Natalya Weinstein) and Cloyd (John Miller) blend their long-crafted folk harmonies with fellow bandmates Kevin Kehrberg on bass and Bennett Sullivan on banjo. The tight musicianship, great flatpicking and impassioned message shows Zoe & Cloyd's ability to play hard-driving, traditional Bluegrass with a message modernized for the times.

The song was written by Miller, who says, "'Looking Out For You And Me' asks us to look critically at the ones making decisions related to our collective well-being and that of future generations."

Zoe & Cloyd spring from deep roots in American music. Founding members of the acclaimed Americana trio, Red June, and long-time veterans of the Asheville, NC music scene, Natalya Zoe Weinstein and John Cloyd Miller released their second full-length album, Eyes Brand New, in spring of 2017. Highlighting their emotive songwriting and signature harmonies, this album showcased the breadth of their collective musical spirit, seamlessly combining original folk, country, old-time and bluegrass with sincerity and zeal. Zoe & Cloyd’s debut recording, Equinox (2015), was met with high acclaim and the pair has continued to gain momentum with a 1st place win at the prestigious FreshGrass Festival Duo Contest along with performances at MerleFest, Music City Roots and more.


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Sandtimer - Dormant.

Dormant follows on from a string of laid-back indie folk singles that Sandtimer have published over the last year, but moves into deeper, darker territory with dense percussion, haunting vocals and spiky acoustic guitar.

An indie folk band might be considered an unlikely outfit for Robert Sword, a classically trained pianist, and Simon Thomas, an Oceanography graduate, to end up in. However, these things can happen in unusual ways. Sandtimer create music that often centres around the passage of time, including themes of reflection, escapism and hope.

Their recordings have been featured on a number of national radio shows in the UK, as well as several prominent blogs and playlists. Now operating as a full band, with Rachel Thomas on bass and vocals, and Alex Jackson on percussion, they have performed on the UK acoustic circuit frequently, as well as touring western Canada and northern continental Europe.


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Thin Lear - Death in a Field.

Inspired by the passing of a loved one, Thin Lear’s latest single Death In A Field is a complex story about death and rebirth. As per artist’s words: Initially, I just had the opening line of the song: “I’ll survive as a child/All hungry and wild/Life overwhelming is life at the start.” I just really liked the concept of someone nearing the end of their life, and thinking about being reborn, being a baby again, and looking forward to the tremendousness of experiencing life for the first time. Someone at the end of existence feeling the tug of something new, and terrifying, and potentially beautiful. And then the choruses came out of that. Waking in the morning, or “drowning in an evening of lovely black sky,” indicate a kind of serenity in being swallowed up by eternity, and finding some sort of comfort in that.

When I started writing the song, I had recently watched someone I love pass away in a brief, but organic way, and there were moments in their process of dying that seemed to bring revelations to them. The character in the song is of my own invention though. This character isn’t perfect, and is well aware of that, and is simply being honest about what they’ll miss the most, and what they’re looking forward to. And it isn’t always flattering, but it’s true to the character.

The song aims to connect the listener to a feeling or a memory of something sad or wonderful from years ago, maybe something they haven’t thought about in a while…a person or a moment. Songs I love really do that for me. Sometimes it’s hard for me to know how I’m actually feeling, so music allows me to dig past any confusion, and really uncover pieces of who I am and what brings me emotion. So, yeah, I hope the song opens a heavy door in someone’s mind - Thin Lear.

Thin Lear, the project of Queens-based songwriter/producer Matt Longo, evokes the restless expansiveness of 70’s-era studio obsessives. Pulling influence from the insular worlds of Astral Weeks, Tim Buckley, and Shuggie Otis, Thin Lear finds the middle ground between the spontaneous electricity of a live room and the pristine meticulousness of careful, deliberate production. With sweetly plaintive vocals, often compared to Harry Nilsson and Cat Power, melodies hover over orchestral flourishes, gleamingly processed guitars, and ethereal organs and pedal steel, all backed by the kinetic sway and thump of a jazz combo. Songs careen from ornately warm ballads, to psychedelically-tinged folk, to propulsive grooves, with rushes of color and lush walls of sound.

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