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| Photo - Luka Popp |
Berlin duo Nick & June (aka Nick Wolf and Suzie-Lou Kraft) have recently announced the release of their new album 'New Year's Face' on 5th December. Produced by Grammy-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten,) and recorded in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 'New Year's Face', which includes collaborations with Owen Pallett, The National’s Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz, The Antlers and others, will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally. 'New Year's Face' is the duo's first release since 2023's 'Beach Baby, Baby EP', which enjoyed over 30 million streams, widespread critical praise and led to sold-out shows across Europe.
This week, they share their mesmerising new single '2017', featuring The Antlers’ frontman Peter Silberman. The single arrives with a heartfelt video that compiles clips from the studio and live performance footage filmed with an old camcorder, offering a vintage and charming glimpse behind the scenes.
Of the introspective, ethereal stunner, Kraft notes: “It’s good to occasionally ask yourself why your mind keeps wandering back to the past. Who’s still living in 2017?” Wolf adds: “Ever since I discovered The Antlers’ album ‘Hospice’ back in 2009, I’ve been a huge fan of Peter and the band. To me, he’s one of the best songwriters of his generation. That we’d end up recording songs together…it still feels kind of crazy".
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London-based psych-disco sextet PARTICLS release the anticipated debut EP, Every Now & Then. The EP captures the band’s dynamic chemistry, blending 1970s progressive textures with contemporary psych and disco rhythms. Featuring tight full-band instrumentation, folk undertones, bright violin, and evocative vocal melodies, the EP offers a nuanced and refreshingly hard-to-categorize sonic experience.
Exploring themes of presence, authenticity, and vibrancy, it weaves together folk influences, 70s rock, and subtle touches of glitchy, psychedelic effects. Recording sessions began aboard the boat studio Lightship 95, engineered by David Holmes, before tracks were deconstructed and reconstructed at Mashrooms Studios with Ben and Zahara of Strange Pill. The result is a playful, danceable, yet musically sophisticated collection of tracks that celebrates the joy of making music together.
Speaking about the EP, the band explain: “The sound of this EP emerged from a beautiful, frustratingly simple revelation… Disco is where it’s at. The songs reflect who the six of us are alone, the winding paths that led us here, and the pulse of our shared ecstasy, found often, though not always, on the dance floor. It’s the sound of our individual stories meeting, and becoming something collective.”
Formed in a haze at a Kerri Chandler DJ set in the woods where they decided they wanted to make people dance, whilst keeping some of the 1970s progressive vibe from a previous project, PARTICLS have built a reputation for their unique sonic approach - an invitation to experience rhythm, melody, and spontaneity in equal measure.
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Creating a buzz across Belfast’s alt scene, VERA are the band everyone’s whispering about. Born when singer-songwriter Sarah Toner’s solo studio sessions with Darragh, Dave, and Matt caught fire, the chemistry quickly became too strong to stay behind the glass. Their sound fuses indie grit, pop hooks, R&B grooves, and sharp alt-rock edges — a mix built for sweat, noise, and emotion. Lyrically raw and unfiltered, they turn heartbreak and sarcasm into cathartic anthems made for the stage.
VERA's latest single Ketchup is a fiery, confessional reflection of breakup chaos. Driven by punchy keys, swaggering bass lines, and VERA’s signature blend of wit, sarcasm and vulnerability, Ketchup captures that moment you finally stop crying over someone and start laughing about it instead. It’s equal parts breakup song and bucket-list manifesto… a reminder that even when life gets messy, you can still groove your way through it.
The Story of the Song - Ketchup isn’t a song about a real experience. The visual image of having Ketchup stains all down my shirt is sort of a character thing… I imagine someone sat eating a burger alone in some sleazy diner despairing about their relationship and what to do to get out of it, but knowing deep down they’re not going anywhere. I think the image of a mess you’ve made yourself stuck in my head. Not to say I haven’t been in that situation myself… but I think we all get Ketchup stains down our shirts now and again. - Sarah Toner
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Serious Child, aka Alan Young, has just released his fourth album ‘What Lies Beneath’. The album is a collection of musical stories about what’s underneath the surface of our everyday lives and the third single to come from it is ‘Veneer’, a story of social camouflage, of a figure who had behaved normally for so long, everyone had forgotten who they were.
Co-written with Neil Connor, ‘Veneer’ is a lush, almost Floydian piece, where a change in tempo, David Grubb’s sliding violin and My Girl The River’s backing vocals take us to a beautiful place of realising who we are. An ode for the outcasts of society, ‘Veneer’ celebrates finding your own individuality and being proud of it with its layers of comforting and sumptuous introspection.
The new single is another look into West Sussex based Alan Young’s intriguing world, which he explores with a poet’s ear for emotion and a comedian’s eye for everyday detail. For the new record, Young has drawn from a wide range of sources of inspiration- from Tony Harrison’s sonnet “Book Ends”, to Rob McFarlane’s brilliant book “Underland” and Georgian traditional lullaby “Iavnana”.
Young’s previous albums have consistently attracted four and five star reviews, and his last full album, 2021’s ‘Talk About The Weather’ (with Andy Ruddy) was shortlisted for Fatea Album of the Year. His most recent project was a charity EP for Save Ukraine, with whom his brother Dave worked as an emergency relief driver. His most ambitious and varied offering to date, the new record, ‘What Lies Beneath’ is the bold sound of an indie-pop artist exploring and confidently fulfilling their potential.
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