Dumpstaphunk - Kacimi & Mécréance - Ellen & Simona - Steven Troch Band - Bandits on the Run

Dumpstaphunk - Let's Do It.

New Orleans’ modern torchbearers of funk, Dumpstaphunk returns to the fray with their new single “Let’s Do It” out now on all digital platforms. An infectious gumbo of collective empowerment, the song marks one of the band’s final recordings with late bassist Nick Daniels III and is Dumpstaphunk’s first studio release since his April 2024 passing.

Ivan Neville shares of the new single: “This song expresses the concept of 'We' is more powerful than 'Me.' If we combine our strengths, talents and ideas we can accomplish more. It’s also one of the last songs written and recorded with our brother and co-founder Nick Daniels III, who passed away last spring. As we celebrate his life with this song, we move into a new era of Dumpstaphunk so… Let’s do it!!”

“Let’s Do It” takes off with bright, percussive horns and sticky basslines that reel in the listener from the jump. Keyboardist Ivan Neville and bassist Tony Hall trade off lead vocals throughout the opening verses, followed by multi-harmony choruses that coalesce into a powerful groove. A third of the way in, the gospel-like voice of the late founding member and bassist Daniels proclaims “I’m good, together we’re great,” in a poignant moment for fans.

Other special guest vocalists include long-time friend and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, and Dumpstaphunk’s newest addition Viveca Hawkins. Infectious horn arrangements by band members Alex Wasily on trombone and Ashlin Parker on trumpet, with additional appearances by Brad Walker on tenor saxophone and Stephen Lands on trumpet, weave throughout the song to create one of Dumpstaphunk’s most poignant singles to date. 

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Kacimi & Mécréance - Ne comprennent rien.

Kacimi teams up with La Mécréance and unveils a new garage rock single with 60's vibes, "Ne comprennent rien."

With everything going on in the world lately, it’s safe to say no one understands anything anymore. And if you were hoping for Kacimi to guide you through the chaos—think again.  The Franco-Swiss artist puts his dreamy pop aside and teams up with La Mécréance to hit us with a jolt of raw energy through their punchy garage rock single, "Ne comprennent rien".

With biting lyrics and raw energy, Kacimi and La Mécréance channel their frustration into an electrifying anthem, expressing their indignation at the complacency in the face of a world on the brin.

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Photo - Cristina Capdevila

Ellen & Simona - All I Need is to Cry on Your Shoulder.

Great Canyon Records, the label behind Joana Serrat and the band Riders of the Canyon, is pleased to announce the signing of Ellen & Simona, the indie-folk project of Catalan-born Helena Capdevila. To mark this occasion, Ellen & Simona are releasing the music video for the song "All I Need is to Cry on Your Shoulder".

Under the name Ellen & Simona, Helena Capdevila invites us on an intimate and melodic journey, where her accordion, Simona, acts as a second voice.

After two years in UK, where she developed her career as Helen, she returns to her homeland in western Catalonia with a suitcase full of songs and a unique universe. This return takes shape in her first EP, Salvation Mountain (2023, self-released), a work of North American folk-rock sound and existentialist lyricism that captivates from the first beat.

Now, Ellen & Simona present the lyric video for "All I Need is to Cry on Your Shoulder", a song included in their EP Open Water (2024) —a work that anticipates their debut album, scheduled for 2025, to be released through Great Canyon Records.

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Steven Troch Band - The Mountain.

Steven Troch Band releases new single "The Mountain" from upcoming New Album.

A mountain can be beautiful and haunting at the same time. Driven by a pulsating rhythm, the climber is pursuing the unattainable. A noble goal, but it can also make him a victim of unachievable expectations.
 
This single announces Steven Troch Band's fourth studio album. ‘The Dawning’ will be released on April 25, 2025 on CD, vinyl and digital services worldwide.

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Bandits on the Run - Let's Go Below.

Theatrical indie-pop band, Bandits on the Run, release their first single of 2025, “Let's Go Below,” on February 5, 2025. The next night, they kick off a string of tour dates supporting The Wood Brothers.
 
Known for their distinct combination of cello, guitar, accordion and found-percussion with sophisticated three-part harmonies and rotating lead vocals, the trio of Adrian Blake Enscoe (he/they), Sydney Shepherd (she/her) and Regina Strayhorn (she/her) sprang from a chance encounter while busking in NYC's bustling subways. “Anyone who knows us knows we're no strangers to the subways-- our band was forged busking on the train platforms of New York City," says Enscoe.

The Brooklyn-based outfit burst onto the national stage in 2019 when their song, “Love in the Underground,” was featured on the NPR Tiny Desk Contest's Top Shelf. After recording their 2021 EP, Now Is The Time, with producer Ryan Hadlock (Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers), the Bandits took to the screen, devising a short musical film, Band At The End Of The World, commissioned by Prospect Musicals. Since then, they have continued to explore the nexus of indie-folk and theatrical storytelling, composing music for the Netflix animated series, Storybots, scoring the movie, The Same Storm, adapting several songs from texts by William Shakespeare for a production of As You Like It, receiving an NEA grant for a new musical with Prospect Musicals, all the while touring the globe with appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Floydfest, Summerfest Milwaukee, Americanafest, F1 Singapore Grand Prix, Mile of Music, and the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival.

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Upside of Maybe - CJ Wiley - Blessed Child Opera - Melys - Esther Rose

Upside of Maybe - Boys From The North.

Upside of Maybe is a chart-topping, award-winning band that blends rootsy pop and rock with an infectious passion for storytelling. Hailing from the vibrant town of Stratford, Ontario, this family-friendly group has taken Canada by storm with their tight harmonies, magnetic stage presence, and unforgettable live shows.

From intimate house concerts to festival stages that shake the ground, Upside of Maybe knows how to turn every performance into an experience. It’s not just about the music—it’s about creating memories and sparking genuine connections with fans. Lead singer Michael Bannerman sums it up perfectly: "When we hit the stage, it’s about more than just playing songs. It’s about forging a bond with our audience that lasts long after the lights go down."

The band’s musical evolution has been dynamic, seamlessly blending pop, rock, folk, and roots influences. What began as an acoustic-driven sound has grown into an exciting, genre-bending mix that has earned them the title of “alt-rock” trailblazers.

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CJ Wiley - Don't Die Charlie.

Rising Canadian singer-songwriter CJ Wiley is gearing up for the release of their debut album So Brand New on February 28th, treating fans to one final insight with ‘Don’t Die Charlie’

Building on the seamless fusion of slacker rock intensity and soul-baring Americana that defines their upcoming LP, CJ Wiley's latest single emerges as a gutting testament to survival against all odds. Their voice—equal parts grit and grace—weaves through the track, transforming personal tragedy into universal truth. It's a haunting eulogy for fallen friends that manages to find light in the darkness, balancing the weight of loss with an urgent celebration of second chances. Where many artists might shy away from such vulnerable territory, Wiley leans in, their vocals carrying both the tremor of grief and the fierce joy of being alive to tell the tale. "'Don’t Die Charlie is about my decade-long battle with addiction and the grief I still carry for the friends I lost along the way.” Wiley expands “It holds vivid memories, taking me back to high school when everything felt so chaotic, though I didn’t fully realize how dark things really were at the time. There’s a sense of guilt that comes with surviving, knowing how easily it could’ve been me who didn’t make it out. Writing this song helped me make sense of it all. It’s for anyone who’s lost someone and still feels their presence."

‘Don’t Die Charlie’ is the final insight into Wiley’s upcoming LP So Brand New, produced by Boy Golden and mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer Mark Lawrence. Wiley's distinct voice leads the charge through a collection of songs that swing effortlessly between breezy, gripping rock and twangy country ballads. Tackling themes of queer love, grief, addiction, and the rejection of societal norms with unflinching honesty and with the album stands as a down-and-dirty-roots-rock revelation, showcasing CJ Wiley's ability to craft songs that resonate with both personal truth and universal appeal.

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Blessed Child Opera - Oblivion.

Oblivion marks the return of Paolo Messere's brainchild Blessed Child Opera, after a 6 years hiatus, and is also the first single taken from the new album Red Flags, to be released March 21st, 2025.

It's a longing song, passionate, with samples strings building up climax around lyrics grasping to irrational hopes, longing for sparkles able to revive connections, actually condemned to a cosmic oblivion.

It's a decadent and abysmal romanticism, akin to the bare lyricism of Sophia (Robin Proper-Sheppard), the spleen of The Smiths, the rich instrumentation of Woven Hands.
The video, directed and edited by Messere himself, is a collection of images from the area of Ragusa in Sicily where he lives, and perfectly captures – as glimpses of fields from a train's window - the transience and impermanence of everything.

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Melys - Santa Cruz.

Welsh Legends 'Melys' have unveiled a brand new video for latest single 'Santa Cruz' which is Out Now on all streaming platforms. Taken from their brand new album which will be released in the spring of 2025.
 
This release follows their April 2024 released BBC radio sessions (Vol 1) album that showcased sessions recorded for Huw Stephens, Adam Walton and John Peel (who the band recorded 11 sessions for). 'Santa Cruz' is the band's first new material since 2005's 'Life’s too short' album. “It's been so long; we feel like a brand-new band again….” (Andrea)
 
'Santa Cruz' was written and inspired by a recent trip to California where Andrea and Paul realised a long-held dream of driving the Pacific coast highway from San Diego to San Francisco.

'Santa Cruz' is about coming from a background of low expectation and ambition, of being told you would never be good enough or in the right social circles to realise ambition or dreams, of being told to stay in your lane. ‘Who the hell do you think you are….’

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Photo Char Klein

Esther Rose - New Bad.

Esther Rose will release Want on May 2, 2025 via New West Records. The 11-track set was produced by Ross Farbe (of Video Age) and recorded live-to-tape at the Bomb Shelter in Nashville, TN. Want is the anticipated follow up to 2023’s Safe to Run which was met with wide acclaim from The New York Times, Pitchfork, Stereogum, No Depression, and more. The album features appearances by the singer songwriter Dean Johnson as well as members of Video Age, The Deslondes, and Silver Synthetic.

Following the wide-open serenity of Safe to Run, Rose now leans toward confrontational arrangements full of distortion and full-band spontaneity, never sacrificing a classicist’s gift for melody that makes each song instantly memorable. “For me, these songs felt like revelations,” she explains, comparing the record to a memoir, alive with kinetic storytelling and personal insight. Ranging from stark solo performances to grungy blowouts, the album maintains a steady focus while never staying too long in one place. Vivid and bracing, she has made the most adventurous, hardest-hitting record of her career.

Today, Esther Rose shared the video for the first single, “New Bad,” which is the music video directorial debut by the artist and New York Times bestselling author Anna Marie Tendler. Rose says, “This song leaps from the speakers. It’s part grunge, part shoegaze. Working with Anna Marie Tendler was the collaboration I’ve always dreamed of. We sparked an easy, natural rapport out of mutual admiration for each other’s artistry. After I read her book Men Have Called Her Crazy, I sent her a note, saying that my unreleased album and her memoir were apparently spiritual twins. Luckily, she agreed." Anna Marie Tendler said, "We spent five days, just the two of us, traversing the desert talking and laughing about love, family, our careers, therapy, ketamine, divorce, and music, all while filming a video whose themes and visuals were predicated on the pluralism of self.

We also spent a lot of time in comfortable silence watching a golden sun set into an inky sky. On our last day, I thanked Esther for taking this chance on me. She, of course, had access to all my photographs, but there was little in terms of video work to prove my proficiency, let alone talent. I was surprised to learn it wasn't my visual work, but my memoir, which had gotten me the job. I just knew you would get what I was trying to say, Esther told me."

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The Gentle Good - Julian Shah-Tayler - Womb - Marsha Swanson - Maya Delilah - Liza Lo

The Gentle Good - Ten Thousand Acres.

“Mr Groves is a Wiltshire gentleman, who purchased ten thousand of these almost worthless acres a few years since, and is making a paradise of the wilderness…” - Benjamin Malkin, 1803*

Written in an off-grid cottage during a year-long residency in the Cambrian Mountains, The Gentle Good’s new album ‘Elan’ is a psychedelic portrait of the Elan Valley in Powys, Wales. Featuring songs in both Welsh and English, ‘Elan’ explores the landscape, history and politics of this remote area, which was flooded to provide water for Birmingham at the end of the Victorian era. The second single from the album, ‘Ten Thousand Acres’ is an ode to the valley’s many expressions and a meditation on ownership and our perception of landscape throughout time.

The new album ‘Elan’ is scheduled for release on 16th May 2025, with further singles to be released in the coming months.

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Julian Shah-Tayler - Sufferation.

Here are my thoughts that led to the song: “All the yearning and all the memories can never make good what reality hath wrought to the dreams of the helpless romantic fool”

I wrote this song in the deadening disintegration of the dream and the dawning of prosaic realities not to be faced with poetry. There is a slippery sickening feeling when art and beauty cannot rekindle trust and it’s all fallen apart too far to fix.

All the King’s horses and All The King’s men could never put this back together again. - Julian (16th Jan 2025).

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Womb - Angels.

To add to their string of beautiful new singles ahead of their highly anticipated upcoming album, One Is Always Heading Somewhere, sibling trio Womb has treated us with a new single 'Angels'. 

In classic Womb style, we are invited into their lush, nostalgic world through the song with an equally ethereal music video directed by Angel C. Fitzgerald.





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Marsha Swanson -  Like An Angel.

Renowned singer-songwriter Marsha Swanson kicks off 2025 with the release of her latest single, “Like An Angel,” on January 31st, in celebration of the one-year anniversary of her critically acclaimed album Near Life Experience.

Known for her insightful lyricism and progressive pop sound, Swanson’s work continues to captivate audiences, with Rock and Reel Magazine hailing her as “a songwriter who weaves insightful and thought-provoking lyrics into irresistibly catchy tunes.”

Originally an untitled ghost track on Near Life Experience, “Like An Angel” has been re-recorded with a live band and string section, breathing new life into the song. Accompanied by an evocative music video, the single marks Swanson’s fifth collaboration with award-winning Iranian animator and music video director Sam Chegini, whose visionary work perfectly complements her artistry.

Crafted alongside an accomplished ensemble of musicians, including producer Henry (King Thumb) Thomas, “Like An Angel” was recorded once again at Echo Zoo Studios in Eastbourne. Henry Thomas, whose collaborations include work with Randy Crawford and Paul Weller, brought his expertise to the track, collaborating with drummer Martyn Barker, guitarist Tony Qunta, and keyboardist Anders Olinder to create a rhythmic foundation that supports Swanson’s heartfelt lyrics. The result is a spiritual and sonically rich track, blending elements from the original ghost recording with new instrumentation for a timeless and moving sound.

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Maya Delilah - Squeeze.

Maya Delilah has announced the release of The Long Way Round, her stunning full-length debut album out March 28 via Blue Note/Capitol. The London-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist has also been named a 2025 Spotify “Artist To Watch,” another sure sign of her rising star after she was named to the Fender Next “Class of 2024.” Her debut album makes good on that promise by bringing all the elements of her art together — the intimacy, the ability, the inspiration, the depth, the lightness — into one striking work.

While the 12 songs on The Long Way Round are steeped in soul-pop, they also contain rich strains of country and blues, hints of gospel and choral music, and one full serving of unvarnished funk with the flirty new single “Squeeze” out now. “This album is a combination of so many parts of me,” says Maya. “I get so influenced by different genres, people, places, and experiences that it’s always felt hard for me to fit my music into a consistent sound or mood. It took me a long time (hence The Long Way Round) to realize that it’s a beautiful thing to have a body of work that explores so many different influences.”

Making the album was also a literal journey, from a barn-based studio in Devon, England, to a home studio in Los Angeles, and back to various rooms across London. All with a cast of friends new and old, including producers Peter Miles, Josh Grant, Doug Schadt, Seth Tackaberry, and Aquilo’s Ben Fletcher and Tom Higham, as well as collaborators including Samm Henshaw, Grace Lightman, members of FIZZ, organist Cory Henry, and drummer Aaron Sterling (John Mayer, Taylor Swift).

Maya’s muse isn’t the only thing tying The Long Way Round together. Opener “Begin Again” introduces a powerful theme. As she looks back at her first car, her first kiss, her first home, she returns to the gentle hook: “Another day, another end / Oh, we begin again.” The idea of cycles frames the set as the album goes on. Depending on your interpretation, The Long Way Round could be about regaining trust in love or losing it entirely. Shuffled, these songs could trace the arc of one relationship from inception to end, or it could be the bridge between a failed romance and a thrilling new one, or it’s a dozen separate vignettes. With these songs — from soothing, psychedelic send-off “Look at the State of Me Now” to Western-inflected codependence tribute “Necklace” to the ‘70s soul music inspired “Actress” — Maya proves herself a master of not just an evocative guitar solo, but of capturing life’s biggest contradiction: why everything matters all the time and also why it’s not that deep.

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Liza Lo - Anything Like Love.

London-based producer and singer-songwriter Liza Lo has released her debut album Familiar via Gearbox Records. The album follows on the heels of a series of critically acclaimed singles — “A Messenger,” “Catch The Door,” “Morning Call,” “Gipsy Hill,” “What I Used To Do,” and “Confiarme” — which have seen Liza earn plaudits from the likes of DIY, The Line Of Best Fit, and more.

Having completed a sold-out EU / UK tour with Australian indie-folk songwriter Harrison Storm as well as a more recent run of UK dates both headlining and in support of Steph Strings and Vraell, Liza has been on a rapid word-of-mouth ascent with shows around the UK and Europe. The album follows her self-released Flourish EP, which saw her earn widespread playlist support and early plaudits at both press and radio, for her tender and meditative take on indie-folk.

Recorded at Damon Albarn's Studio 13, with her band and Jon Kelly (Kate Bush, Paul McCartney), the album sees Liza touch on everything from the loss of a friend to a brain injury, to moving away from her home in Europe, to the many subtle intricacies that come with modern day relationships. It's full of uncanny and intimate guitars, retro pop-inflected synth and bass, and crystalline piano that intensify and build into widescreen, driving poignant songs about vulnerability and emotional fulfilment. It’s a real exercise in both fragility and self-found strength.
 
Speaking on the album, Liza says, "The name Familiar reflects this element of going back to records I grew up listening to, this way of recording that makes music feel familiar and a way that brought my creative process close to what Jon, my mentor and co-producer on this record, is a master in too. I also wanted the word to tie in with the stories I was telling, the intimacy of family, the tales of romantic love in my life, but also the inevitable loss that comes with living and how to manage that. All these feelings we come across recurrently in life, from losing a friend, to falling out of touch with yourself and others, to the beauty of falling in love."
 
To celebrate the release of the album, Liza has shared a new single titled "Anything Like Love," a soft and gentle song that Liza describes as "a love song for friendship, romantic love and familiar love. I like to sing it at family get-togethers and birthdays. A song for my mum, my best friends, my brother and my love."

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Ruth Lyon - trost&treibstoff - Red Telephone - Autumn - Kat Greta - Laurel Smith

Photo - Tash Barker

Ruth Lyon - Wickerman.

Newcastle singer-songwriter Ruth Lyon returns this week with haunting new single "Wickerman". Produced by John Parish (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey), "Wickerman" is the first new music to be heard from Ruth Lyon since her 2022 EP 'Direct Debit To Vogue'. With the release of "Wickerman" and its transfixing accompanying video (directed by Sel MacLean), Ruth Lyon also announces a UK headline tour, with stops in Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, York, Newcastle, and London - following notable festival slots at SXSW, The Great Escape, Latitude and Secret Garden Party.

Known for her transportive folk songwriting and a distinctive voice which ranges from powerful and expressive to beautifully intimate, Ruth Lyon blends the raw emotional honesty and poetic lyricism of Fiona Apple with the melancholic world-building of Regina Spektor.

New single "Wickerman" reflects upon vulnerability and betrayal. A powerful expression of resilience in the face of adversity, dreamy clarinet and melancholic strings sit diffused like sea light on top of the mesmeric groove of the piano and bass with shimmering drums and guitar cutting about like fish coming up for air.

Speaking more on the release of "Wickerman", Ruth said: "Wickerman lives in the borders between lucid dreaming and painful reality and I wrote this at a time I found myself alone yet haunted. The iconography of the burning wickerman evokes the chasing away of winter through fire and ceremony, welcoming the Spring; a re-seeding of soul into new light. Unravelling life changes can be disorientating, kicking up heavy questions to ask and the only answers I found were in time, nature and spirit. I wanted to be remembered and more importantly to remember myself."

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trost&treibstoff - Widely Scattered.

Alright, the name trost&treibstoff ("comfort & fuel") might be a bit perplexing. You wouldn’t immediately associate it with a band rooted in punk and raw indie rock. But as soon as “Widely Scattered,” the new single by musician and artist Rolo Schwegler from Zurich/Switzerland, starts playing, you feel its roots. Under the name trost&treibstoff, Schwegler creates powerful indie songs inspired by post-punk and pop.

Schwegler cites bands like The Cure, Tocotronic, and Watchhouse as his influences. Although the name might be new to the indie scene, Rolo Schwegler is no newcomer. Before founding his one-man project trost&treibstoff, he released a series of albums under his own name, with evocative titles reminiscent of Element of Crime lyrics, such as Das Leben jetzt (2005) and In den Tälern zieht die Sonne ein (2009). Under trost&treibstoff, works like Thermik (2011) and Warten auf die Gegenwart? (2013) followed.

So, what’s the story behind “Widely Scattered,” the new single by trost&treibstoff? “The song tackles a topic that most of us deal with more or less regularly and that can occasionally make life hell. The lyrics tell the story of a woman who has such vivid nightmares every night that she wakes up drenched in sweat—and her strategies for coping with it. The harmonies are designed to offer comfort and act as an antagonist to the whims of neurotransmitters,” explains Rolo Schwegler.

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Photo - Rhianedd Sion

Red Telephone - Faithful.

After a string of single releases, Cardiff’s Red Telephone finally unveil their excellent sophomore album today entitled Delay The New Day a rebellious manifesto wrapped in melodic psych and darkwave textures. Drawing inspiration from MGMT and St. Vincent, the Welsh quintet crafts a cinematic journey that blends industrial post-punk grit with haunting electronic noir. Alongside the album, they surprise fans with a brand new music video for the album’s lead single ‘Faithful’

At its core, Delay The New Day emerges as a fight for meaning and sanity. A defiant statement against institutional pressures, the band positions creativity as a powerful tool for individual resistance. “It’s not about any one thing, it’s as much about asking questions of yourself as it is answering them” 

Lead singer Declan says of the album “We’ve always found ourselves fighting pressures to fit in and play the game. Sometimes it’s seductive and you’ve really got to fight those temptations, so we wanted to use the creative process and our instincts as a guiding light. The whole process was about embracing a spirit of independence”

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Autumn - Venice.

US ethereal-darkwave trio Autumn (Minneapolis, MN) have unveiled ‘Venice’: the second single and video to be revealed from their forthcoming new album, Songs About Dying. Neil McKay (guitar) and Jeff Leyda (bass) generate a hypnotic, amniotic whorl of pulsing electronics, flickering guitars, and driving bass and drum-machine: echoing a sense of Venice’s transition and movement down through the ages, edging ever-near to a watery grave. It is a backdrop befitting vocalist Julie Plante’s impassioned lament for the ancient city’s uncertain future, whereas the song also celebrates Venice’s endurance as a symbol of romance and majesty, as Plante explains.

“Venice is on one level about the death of a city, in that nothing remains unchanged. Everything we experience in this world, all that we create, it is all in a constant state of transition, whether we realize it or not. Venice is a striking example of slowly drowning under the weight curated by our actions and inaction. Venice is also one of those iconic places that we hold a romantic hunger for, a celebration of decadence in spite of everything going on around it. We want to immerse ourselves in it, even as our collective hunger creates the environment that threatens its survival. So, for that reason, this track is also about resilience, and that beauty, once created, can never truly be destroyed. Its continued existence gives me hope for my own.”

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Kat Greta - Summer Daze.

Fresh from her regional Victoria and NSW tour, multi-instrumentalist and dynamic artist Kat Greta returns with her latest single, 'Summer Daze' (out Friday, Jan 31). With its unique, modern-60s and joyful sound, the track captures the vibrancy of the Australian summer while showcasing Kat’s original and free-spirited style.

For Kat, 'Summer Daze' is a deeply personal project that took years to perfect. “I feel like I’m sharing my most authentic self in this song,” she explains. “Recreating the essence of the ‘60s in a new way was a challenge—it’s not the kind of song that people would expect to hear these days. This song is my love letter to the Australian summer, but it’s also about holding on to the things that matter, especially as I navigate my own cultural identity. As both of my parents are unwell and I’ve lost close family members recently, I’ve been reflecting a lot on what it means to preserve traditions, memories, and the feeling of belonging. This song is my attempt to honour those pieces of myself—my Italian heritage and my connection to Australia—while embracing change.”

Drawing inspiration from icons like Burt Bacharach, The Seekers, and The Beatles, Kat has crafted a sound that feels both nostalgic and fresh. Her melodies evoke a timeless warmth while embracing a modern energy.

At its core, 'Summer Daze' is a love letter to the Australian summer, a reflection of how Kat’s connection to the country’s traditions shaped her artistry. “The Australian summer has always been a part of my identity—beach days, family gatherings, sunsets, and the warmth that comes with it. It’s a reminder of the simplicity and beauty of our traditions,” Kat shares. “But, as we know, traditions can be fleeting. This song is about cherishing what makes Australia so unique, and finding joy in the moments we can hold on to—especially in the face of change.”

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Photo Tom Seager

Laurel Smith - pink gun.

North-London alt-provocateur Laurel Smith releases her incensed new single 'pink gun'. An exhilarating expression of female rage, on 'pink gun' Laurel gives a voice to the suppressed anger and frustration of women who consistently experience sexism, gaslighting and disrespect, through a torrent of breathless vocal runs and cavernous, brooding beats.

Speaking more on the release of her new single - Laurel said: "I wrote pink gun when I was holding in a lot of anger from my experiences as a woman throughout life. I have felt spoken over, belittled, not taken seriously, gaslit (and at times) unsafe, uncomfortable and taken advantage of. I know most girls and women have felt and experienced all these things too and internalise these feelings. I want them to let it out. pink gun was my outlet and something that made me feel empowered so I hope it will do the same for my listeners."

Grapples with identity, explorations of female empowerment, examinations of human relationships; the protagonists within Laurel Smith's music are rebelling against expectations, challenging societal norms, finding their place in the world. A "hip-hop kid" at heart, Laurel Smith was born into a family with rock and heavy metal at its core. Those two disparate worlds can be heard within Laurel's potent, shapeshifting creations, with her new music radiating an energy and confidence of an artist revitalised.

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