Jesca Hoop - Salarymen - Lydia Luce - Drift City - Meghan Clarisse - Clover County - The Grahams

Jesca Hoop - Simon Says.
 
California-born, Manchester-based singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop has shared a new unplugged version of her track 'Simon Says'. The single is the second to be taken from Selective Memory - a live, unplugged reworking of her acclaimed 2017 Memories Are Now (Sub Pop). Joining the cast of stripped back album versions for her first three releases, this new collection finds Hoop and her two bandmates, Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer, capturing the record in its entirety live in Hoop’s Manchester home.

Of the new single, Hoop says: "In Simon Says I am speaking from my Gen X perspective. Oh how times have changed. I thank the heavens that my childhood was feral and free and that I knew every climbing tree."

Opening the door to an intimate performance space, Selective Memory shines a new light on one of Hoop’s most beloved albums. Raw and immediate in its delivery, the record brims with luminous harmonies, lyrical richness and unguarded emotion. It is sweet and bitter, fresh and raw, and very much of the moment.

Though a return to songs first written over a decade ago, Hoop notes their continued urgency: “Though I wrote these songs 12 years ago, strangely they feel so very relevant to me today. And the album ends in one hell of a protest song… if I do say so myself.”

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Salarymen - If You Want Me.

After strategically drip-feeding singles throughout 2025 to build anticipation for their debut album Take It Or Leave It (October 31st) Sydney’s indie duo Salarymen are ready to deliver the final piece of the puzzle with "If You Want Me" released this weekend. 

Four years in the making, this devastating duet captures the raw ache of lost love with cinematic beauty. As the oldest song on the album, “If You Want Me” has been mesmerising live audiences nationwide, becoming the track fans most desperately wanted to see released. Now, Renee de la Motte and Thomas Eagleton finally deliver this highly anticipated gem – a vintage-laced psych pop ballad that channels the dreamy melancholia of Beach House, Mac DeMarco, and Arcade Fire. With male/female harmonies taking center stage, the track captures a similar nostalgic romanticism to Stephen Sanchez's "Until I Found You," though "If You Want Me" was written years before that breakout hit.

"If You Want Me is the most emotional track we've ever written. It's about two people who can never really let go of their past, and how your world can be flipped upside down after parting ways. Thom and I are essentially playing the guy/girl who are admitting that they've wronged each other, and lamenting the fact that it's over “ explains de la Motte.

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Photo - Ryan Usher

Lydia Luce - Ephemeral (Ft: Luke Sital-Singh).

Lydia Luce shares "Ephemeral," a moving duet with celebrated British singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh. An important and sober declaration of self-love, this is the latest single from the Nashville singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist's forthcoming album Mammoth, which releases on October 30.

Lydia Luce on the new single: "This song is a love song to self. When I had to go back on tour after my injuries, I made a promise to myself to take care of myself no matter what. I had to learn how to trust myself again. I hadn’t earned my body's trust, and if I was going back into this environment I had to do it in a way that would honor my body. The moment I decided to ask my friend Paul Hammer to play guitar for me on that tour I felt the stress fall off of my body. I cried to my husband. I didn’t realize how terrified I was to be back in pain playing that much. I made more and more decisions like that on that tour. I brought my own pillow, I booked aisle seats on planes so I could stretch, and I asked for help constantly. I wasn’t in pain on that tour, and now I completely trust myself to make the right choices for my body." 

Recorded in just one week at Peter Gabriel’s celebrated Real World Studios, Mammoth was produced with longtime creative collaborator Jordan Lehning (Kacey Musgraves, Joy Oladokun, Caitlin Rose), with whom Luce runs the Nashville-based string collective Lockeland Strings. 

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Photo - Natalia Via

Drift City - The Seeds.

Kentucky bred and based Drift City proudly present the lead single from their latest EP, “The Seeds”. A serendipitous taste of what’s to come, the single is the first offering from the upcoming EP, Spectral Heart Mosaics, coming in late October.

Available via SU Records, “The Seeds” is an offering that took twelve to thirteen years in the making. Produced mainly by lead vocalist Jason Rivers, additional touches were provided by the renowned Kevin Ratterman and were recorded in the summer of 2025. A melancholic tune analyzing the pain and heartbreak of a slowly dissolving long term relationship, “The Seeds” sonically mirrors these nostalgic feelings.

Described as coming to lead singer Jason Rivers as a "vehicle of my own needed new beginning",  “The Seeds” offers a refreshing listening experience. Rivers’ powerful voice calls back to greats such as The Blue Nile or Cass McCombs, clearly demonstrating the pain and emotional agony he’s experienced. Drift City's ethereal harmonies and twangy pedal steel allow the track to lie in a comforting bed of folk rock. A track about self-growth, releasing inhibitions, and achieving peace and freedom, “The Seeds” is all yours to enjoy now.

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Meghan Clarisse - Shadows of a Ghost Town (Album).

Shadows of a Ghost Town is a deeply personal and poetic exploration of place, memory, and mortality, told through the lens of the American West. Rooted in the traditions of Americana and brushed with shades of country and bluegrass, this album is both a love letter to the land and a reckoning with the ghosts we carry.

Set against the backdrop of wide-open skies, dusty trails, and abandoned towns, each track captures a moment suspended between the living and the lost. There are stories of a quiet ache that follows when something-or someone-disappears. The mountains aren't just scenery here; they're characters. So are the shadows, the silence, and the wind.

With raw instrumentation, vivid storytelling, and melodies that rise like cann winds and fall like dusk over the plains, Shadows of a Ghost Town weaves together the grit of bluegrass with the soul of country and the heart of folk. These songs don't shy away from sorrow, but they don't dwell in it either. Instead, they honor it. They ride through it.

At its core, this album is about transience-how everything we know and love eventually fades, and yet somehow, that makes it all the more beautiful. Whether it's a home, a way of life, or a person you thought you'd never lose, Shadows of a Ghost Town reminds us that some things linger even after they're gone. You can still hear the music if you know where to listen.

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Photo - Luke Rogers

Clover County - Finer Things (Album).

Emerging Georgia singer/songwriter Clover County releases her debut album Finer Things via her own label Undercover Lover Records in partnership with Thirty Tigers. Produced by Carrie K (Noah Kahan, Maggie Antone, Koe Wetzel), the album is a coming-of-age soundtrack that explores romantic, familial and platonic love with a winking charm and an observing eye. Clover shares: “Finer Things is the shoebox I keep under my bed full of old love letters and trinkets I can’t quite let go of. It's polaroids, bottle caps, and plane tickets. It’s a memorial for all the ways I’ve loved and been loved.” Along with the album she has shared the single 'Sweeter'.

Clover continues: “These songs began when I was 18 – scrawled in notebooks, half-sung into voice memos, carried with me through the years. I started recording them at 23, and at 24, they’ll start to find their place in the world. Unintentionally, they trace a timeline: from naive to knowing. Finer Things is about all the ways I’ve shown up in love and how it’s shown up for me, the fleeting and the forever. Romantic, familial, platonic. The sweetness, the sting, and the spaces in between.

This record lives naturally within the lines of country with its own indie/alternative twists – as a songwriter from the South with a love for the classics, I wanted to nod to legacy artists like Dolly Parton, Shania Twain and Sheryl Crow, while also drawing from the modern textures and tones of Hovvdy, Adrianne Lenker, Waxahatchee, Courtney Barnett and MJ Lenderman.”


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The Grahams - Worst Parts Of Me.

As they prepare to release their fourth studio album, The Bridge, on October 10th, acclaimed Americana-pop duo The Grahams – married couple Alyssa and Doug Graham – have released one more glimpse into the collection with their new single “Worst Parts Of Me.” The playful love song recalls early ‘70s melodic movement and offers a throwback to Carole King’s Tapestry era, an album that has served as an important influence for Alyssa.

“After three decades of a love affair and partnership, people always ask us our ‘secret’,” shares The Grahams. “For years we claimed our rare success was attributed to having no children. ‘Don’t have kids’ we would joke. Upon further reflection and having our daughter, we now understand our secret is deeper than that. To truly love someone in this life and beyond, you need to love not only the best but the worst parts of them.”

About the music video, Alyssa and Doug add, “Although ‘Worst Parts Of Me’ is a song we wrote in order to highlight the depth and strength of our love for one another by acknowledging our lifelong flaws with a bit of humor, we wanted the video to speak to people in a more individualized fashion. We all struggle with what we believe to be our worst parts. The video focuses on accepting our imperfections, fully embracing them and learning to enjoy the balance of the best and the worst in ourselves and how it all makes us unique.” 

The Bridge, available via Nashville’s 3Sirens label, marks the first time The Grahams are giving listeners a look into their personal lives. The deeply personal album, named after the George Washington Bridge, which transported the New Jersey natives to New York City during their formative years, was co-written with GRAMMY-nominated producer Dex Green, singer-songwriter Kate York, and GRAMMY-nominated songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, finding The Grahams embracing the collaborative Nashville co-write. Alyssa (vocals) and Doug (guitars/vocals) credit these three creative ambassadors with helping them write about their lives honestly and vulnerably, diving deep into their childhood love affair that has lasted over 37 years.

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Tanya Ransom - Clela Errington - Katy Broder - Mélanie Pain - Eidetic Dreams

Tanya Ransom - The Significance of Time (Album).

Tanya Ransom’s third full length studio album, The Significance of Time, is deeply evocative, blending her signature sound of alt-country and folk with quiet emotional intensity, the album was released yesterday. 

Ransom’s vocals radiate both warmth and strength, weaving a delicate yet powerful narrative through all 10 tracks. The album features her all-West Australian creative team, helmed by co-producers James Newhouse (The Waifs, John Butler) on drums, percussion, electric guitars and some bonus backing vocals and Dave Mann adding depth and textures with his work on pedal steel, guitars and backing vocals. Tilly Kelleher accompanies on the vocal harmonies, alongside Tone Bourke (The Waifs, Eskimo Joe) on all things keys (piano, harmonium, rhodes, wurlitzer, synths) and Sam Liddon on Electric and Double Bass. 

The finely crafted production reflects a quiet cinematic quality, inviting listeners into Ransom’s deeply personal stories. Exploring themes of grief, war, friendship, death, love, changing of seasons, letting go and trust. Woven together with the concept of significant moments in time. The album features Tanya’s latest single ‘Winter Song’ which earned a finalist position and was awarded an Honourable Mention in the Americana Category, in the International Songwriting Competition.  

With over 15 years of experience on the Australian touring circuit, two previous independent albums and her last EP release, Ransom has captivated audiences from intimate venues to major festivals, sharing stages with icons like Missy Higgins,  John Butler and Boy and Bear. Her ability to weave raw emotion into her lyrics and deliver them with authenticity has drawn praise from music reviewers and audiences alike.

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Photo - Jen Squires

Clela Errington - Standing on the Platform.

With a voice timeless and true, Toronto singer-songwriter Clela Errington releases her second single, “Standing on the Platform.” Following closely on the heels of her excellent first single, “Full Moon Dark Time,” the new one is also drawn from the upcoming Walkin’ Each Other Home, Errington’s fifth studio album to date. 

“Standing on the Platform” is a contemporary folk ballad written and performed by Errington. With cinematic scope and a reflective heart, it’s rooted in folk tradition, but carries jazz and blues sensibilities in Errington’s phrasing and harmonic openness.

Her warm, unhurried vocals float over acoustic guitar, piano, and subtle percussion, creating a quiet power and sense of anticipation — like standing at the threshold of change. The soft but insistent beat of brushes on the snare drum perfectly conveys the easy click-clack of the train's steel wheels as they run on the rails.

Errington's song echoes the spirit and tradition of Gospel train songs like The Impressions' "People Get Ready," Elizabeth Cotton's "Freight Train," and Woody Guthrie's "Bound for Glory." Like those eternal classics, "Standing on the Platform" gently suggests that the tracks are heading, slowly but surely, toward a promised land of peace and light.

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Katy Broder - Could it be you.

"From the Dojo right onstage" the Landesspiegel recently wrote about Katy Broder. A fitting description, one might add – after all, the Liechtensteiner is also known as the coach of her country’s national karate team. With them, she competed at the European and World Championships this summer.

But things are also going well for Katy Broder as a musician: her last single “Gravitate To Me” was played on radio stations all over the world. In Switzerland, it was featured on the playlists of many relevant indie stations and was even praised by the French blog and radio LrDr as the “discovery of the week.”

On September 26, 2025, Katy Broder is following up: after just a few bars of the new anthemic single “Could it be you”, one is reminded of Roxette, Pink, or Avril Lavigne. At the same time, she manages to infuse the sound with contemporary flair. We think it’s another strong taste of the album, which will be released this fall!

Katherine “Katy” Broder (born November 8, 1973 in Chur) is a Swiss karateka, manager, and singer-songwriter based in Liechtenstein. She founded the Shotokan Karate Club Vaduz and, since 2025, has been president of the Karate Federation of the European Small States.

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Mélanie Pain - Senden Daha Güzel.

It all began 15 years ago, in a scene worthy of a Wes Anderson film: Nouvelle Vague was performing in a pastel-colored, retro-style seaside town in Turkey. During the show, a fan stole one of Mélanie Pain’s shoes right off her foot on stage. A few weeks later, she received a package containing the shoe, an apology note, some Turkish delight... and a CD of Turkish music. That unexpected gift sparked her curiosity — and a lasting affection for Turkish culture. Since then, the idea of covering a song in Turkish never left her.

In early 2025, her friend Aslan, a French teacher in Istanbul, sent her “Senden Daha Güzel”, a rock anthem by the legendary band Duman. The song instantly reignited Mélanie’s desire to take on the challenge of singing in Turkish. As Melanie explains: 

“This song reminds me of the grunge music from my teenage years — Nirvana, Pearl Jam... I wanted to interpret it in my own way, with softness and poetry. Singing in Turkish was a real challenge, but I was fascinated by the rhythm of the language. I loved it so much, I’m already working on more Turkish covers.”

Far from the raw energy and distorted guitars of the original, Mélanie offers an intimate and sensual rendition, carried by hypnotic bass, soft percussion, and sun-drenched fingerpicked guitar. And the cherry on top: a French version titled Aussi belle que toi, written by Mélanie herself, appears as the B-side of the single — a retro and elegant nod to the golden era of yéyé singers and 45s. Turkish and French versions below.


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Eidetic Dreams - Spin.

Helsinki-based dreampop duo Eidetic Dreams already has a foot in the door of international indie recognition. Their previous single The Truth About My Fall was featured on Spotify’s global Fresh Finds playlist with over 1.2 million followers, and the band has been highlighted in Soundi as well as chosen as a YleX Nosteessa artist.

On Wednesday (September 24) Eidetic Dreams released their fourth single Spin—just one day before their appearance at Tampere’s Lost In Music festival. Spin reveals a lighter yet more guitar-driven side of the duo, centered around a bright Johnny Marr–inspired riff that brings fresh energy and pushes their sound into new territory.

Eidetic Dreams was formed in Helsinki when vocalist-songwriter Siiri Kähönen and guitarist-producer Antti Heikkilä began making music together. Kähönen’s delicate yet intense vocals and Heikkilä’s melodic guitar quickly found a common ground, complemented by modern production and electronic elements. The band’s name refers to vivid, lasting memories—exactly the kind of moods they aim to evoke with their music.

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Abbey Lane - Dandelion & The Drop - Felix Raphael - Dear Boy

Abbey Lane - Lessons Learnt (EP).

Growth rarely comes easy. It stumbles in late, knocks things over, and leaves its mark in quiet, unexpected ways. On her new EP 'Lessons Learnt', out today Thursday, September 25, Abbey Lane traces the winding path of early adulthood with tenderness and insight, offering six intimate reflections on what it means to evolve, to unlearn, and to begin again.

These songs bloom in different shades. Some burst with the bright defiance of indie rock, all shimmering guitars and propulsive drums, while others slip into softer spaces built on slow-burning alternative pop. Her voice moves between restraint and release, drawing strength from stillness one moment, then soaring with conviction the next. 

"This EP is all about growing, learning and navigating your way through early adulthood," Abbey shares. "All the songs on this project revolve around different concepts of growth, whether it's about learning from mistakes, feeling lost in life decisions, or learning from young relationships."

The EP holds a series of emotional swells where vulnerability builds into something bold and unflinching. It is a sound that carries the weight of growth, not always graceful but always honest, as each track traces a new contour of becoming.

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Dandelion & The Drop - Underneath.

'Underneath' is the second single leading to Dandelion and The Drop's second album (due early November 2025). The song searches for answers hidden in the folds of existence. 

Dandelion’s lyrics reach into life’s unseen dimensions, where material wonders meet the inner depths of love, mind, body, and soul, tracing with appreciation the unseen threads between them. The journey begins with the grind of frozen, icy guitars, as the band conjures the vision into being: deep, resolving basslines, powerful drums, and swelling horns that rise like waves. 

Each element builds toward a functional beauty—a sound that is both urgent and searching, yet liberating and radiant with warmth. "Underneath" is a journey into the beauty of being, a soundscape of seeking, and the sound of meaning.

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Photo - Felix Raphael Compass

Felix Raphael - Compass (how to stay aligned).

Yesterday, Berlin live artist, producer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Felix Raphael dropped his forthcoming album’s second single, "Compass (how to stay aligned)" via [PIAS] Électronique – his new album, 'Do You' is out November 28.  

The LP’s theme is mental health, exploring Raphael’s own mental health challenges as a successful international electronic music artist and also his professional social work experience, aiming to help others both inside and outside the music industry by delving into these universally felt experiences. Split into four phases, Do You charts the peaks and nadirs of life as a touring musician, cycling through anxiety and struggle, mood swings, bliss, and finally equanimity. 

Raphael achieves this through a blend of melodic and organic house with indie folk elements, purpose-designed for live performance as he plays guitar, piano, synths and the Fluegelhorn which he taught himself specifically for the album as part of its signature sound and hopeful feeling. He deploys his rich, warm vocal gifts, his voice a reassuring anchor throughout.

While the LP will highlight issues such as comparison with others, dealing with both successes and failures, industry genre-conforming pressure and the courage needed to be open about mental health problems, it is also ultimately a positive record - in celebrating the true joy of creativity and sharing it with others.

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Photo - Jaxon Whittington

Dear Boy - The Address.

As anticipation builds for their sophomore album Celebrator, LA indie rock quartet Dear Boy deliver the collection's final single with "The Address," arriving ahead of the full album's October 17th release via Last Gang Records.

Reuniting once again with producer Aron Kobayashi Ritch (Momma, Been Stellar, Snail Mail), "The Address" finds Dear Boy operating at peak creative power. The track seamlessly balances nostalgic influences with forward-thinking song craft, built on a guitar-driven foundation that perfectly complements Ben Grey's compelling vocal delivery and incisive lyricism. From its opening Happy Mondays-esque drum groove, the dynamic rhythm section of Keith Cooper (drums) and Lucy Lawrence (bass, vocals) provides the propulsive energy that makes this their most immediately captivating release to date.

"The Address" rewards both casual listeners and deep-dive explorers – hooky enough for instant connection, yet layered enough to reveal new details with each encounter. The song exemplifies Dear Boy's remarkable ability to channel the golden era of British alternative rock while infusing it with their distinctive West Coast sensibility. There's an effortless quality to their approach, creating something that feels both comfortingly familiar and entirely fresh.

Quoted on the new single, Ben from Dear Boy states: "The Address is about waiting to fall in love with your own life. Sometimes the good things are all there in front of your face, but you just can’t get them to look back at you."

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Brògeal - Alice Costelloe - Fast Money Music - Dancehall

Brògeal - Draw The Line.

Ahead of their debut album Tuesday Paper Club (out October 21 via Play It Again Sam), Brògeal share a new single "Draw The Line" - a tongue-in-cheek anthem about small-town ‘hard men' who think they run the place. Written with an Irish rebel feel, it evolved into a Libertines/The Clash-inspired track full of grit and melancholy. There's another four tracks from the album included in the selection below & all are in Beehive Candy's opinion absolutely worth a listen!

The Independent recently said of Brògeal (pronounced “Bro-gale”),they are a Scottish five-piece placing their proud heritage at the forefront of an emerging new rock scene. Significantly, they are a thrilling and important addition to a fresh wave of bands pushing back against the industry’s fixation on solo pop acts. 

In person and onstage, Brògeal are a much-needed blast of fresh air in a scene still in thrall to angsty singer-songwriters, and have already achieved a following despite having yet to release an album.  

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Photo - Bex Aston

Alice Costelloe - If I Could Reach You.

London singer-songwriter Alice Costelloe returns this week with the new single 'If I Could Reach You' - out now via Moshi Moshi Records. The new single marks Costelloe's first release since 2024’s acclaimed EP 'When It’s The Time'.

Produced once again by Mike Lindsay (Laura Marling, LUMP, Anna B Savage), 'If I Could Reach You' is set against a rich framework of gently warped electronics and fuzzy guitars - extending the sonic palette Costelloe and Lindsay began exploring on her 'When It’s The Time' EP - moving further away from her indie-rock origins into a more exploratory art-pop space.

The lyrics capture the aching tension of longing for someone you can’t quite reach - a love song in form, but directed at absence rather than romance, as Alice explains: “The song came from that feeling of trying to connect with someone who was always just out of reach. I wanted the production to carry that distance too. Mike and I even layered in the sound of a New Zealand busy tone as a kind of sonic metaphor. It’s funny and devastating at the same time, which is how that longing often felt.

"I listened to Andy Shauf’s ‘Norm’ a lot last year and really connected to it. There’s a track about desperately wanting to hear someone’s voice, even if you're just talking about the most mundane things - how comforting even that can be when you love someone. Now I’m reading reviews of ‘Norm’, I’m just realising it’s essentially a concept record about a stalker, but I guess I felt I could relate to the feeling of not being able to stop thinking about someone that is unreachable for you. He said about Norm, “I wanted to make love songs that were disconnected from romanticising love,” and I think I was unknowingly doing something similar, I was writing love songs that were mourning the loss of a familial relationship."

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Photo - Louis Gilbert

Fast Money Music - Round and Round.

American-born, London-based songwriter Fast Money Music has returned with new single and music video “Round and Round”, a taster from his upcoming self-titled debut.  

“Round and Round” is a cycle, a song, a feeling. Self-proclaimed “tough nostalgia,” it’s a brooding teaser from Fast Money Music’s upcoming self-titled debut LP. The track distills the jangle-pop charm of The Cleaners From Venus with the urgency of Guided By Voices, pairing shimmering guitars and melodic basslines with bittersweet vocals. It reflects on the looping pull of love and memory, setting the tone for the album’s sharp, introspective spirit.

Recorded between Hackney Road Studios and Fast Money Music’s own space in Dalston, “Round and Round” came together piece by piece across different sessions – a collage of fragments stitched into a track that feels both raw and refined. The track was produced by Grammy-nominated Mikko Gordon (Thom Yorke, Arcade Fire) and Nick Hinman, with mastering by Grammy-winning Matt Colton (Depeche Mode, Wet Leg, Arctic Monkeys). It also features drums from Oscar Robertson (SHOLTO) and backing vocals from Steffan Halperin (Klaxons). 

On the new track, Nick shares, “[It’s] about the feeling of being caught in loops – the ‘Groundhog Day’ of songs. Reliving the same phrases, the same moments, the same pull you can’t quite shake. Bittersweet but driving, it’s equal parts hopeful and yearning, anchored in this key phrase Mikko [Gordon] and I developed while working on the LP: tough nostalgia.” 

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Photo - Eddie Whelan.

Dancehall - Modern Age.

Today, Rotterdam/Kent based trio Dancehall have shared their new single 'Modern Age'. The single is the third to be taken from their forthcoming second album, 100% Music, which is due out on October 24th.

'Modern Age' is accompanied by a music video, directed by William Keeler and filmed around Dover and Folkestone. The video features Primal Runners, a local running club that includes asylum seekers and refugees from Gaza and Afghanistan, with whom singer Tim Smithen is directly involved. Their story unfolds against the backdrop of rising anti-migrant hostility in the UK, captured in the refrain “They’re coming to get you”, where right-wing rhetoric, fear-mongering, and flag-waving nationalism (depicted both across the country and in the video) are often masked as patriotism.

Of their new single, Smithen says: “This song covers some ground. From pollution to right-wing mob politics. Misinformation from mainstream media to the youth of today having to pretend to be something or someone different in order to ‘fit in’”

Dancehall have always existed in the margins: too spiky for pop, too self-aware for grunge. On their new album, singer/bassist Tim Smithen, guitarist Craig Sharp and drummer Dave Keeler double-down and sharpen their edges to deliver the band’s most dialed-in, deliberate work yet.

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Hélène Barbier - John Witherspoon - Home Counties

Photo - Dominic Berthiaume & Delphine Snyers

Hélène Barbier - Lapin.

We are told that - Hélène Barbier seeds melodies that ferment in her head, pairing hummable lines with alien tunes conjured in someone else’s psyche across time and space. Siamese fragments. She creates an imbalance through juxtaposition. Four simple notes become evocative alongside four disorienting, different notes, and this simplistic rule has become a basis for complex play. In Beehive Candy terms, this is something worth checking out and based on 'Lapin' we can't wait to hear more.

Joy and anxiety come together on Panorama, Hélène Barbier's new album due Nov 14, 2025. Characterized by haunting melodies, stripped-down choruses, and a subtle layer of nonchalance that reinforces the magnetism of the songs, this avant-pop album was crafted over a period of three years. Born in response to the stress caused by certain events that disrupted the daily life of the Montreal singer and bassist, these nine tracks sound as if they were postcards sent at different moments in life, even if their intriguing lyrics leave room for interpretation.

Though it is a very personal album, Panorama is also a collective effort. After taking the time to refine her songs and remove elements she felt were superfluous, Hélène Barbier called on Ben Lalonde and Joe Chamandy (Retail Simps), with whom she has been making music for many years, as well as Claire Paquet, Thomas Molander, Samuel Gougoux (Corridor, Trafic des Airs, Victime), Wes MacNeil (Night Lunch), Mélanie Venditti, Alexandra Levy (Ada Léa), Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), and producer Emmanuel Éthier.

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John Witherspoon - My Baby.

Liverpool's John Witherspoon delivers his most emotionally complex single yet with 'My Baby', released a couple of days back, as the final preview of his third studio album One Of Them, due October 31st. 

Serving as the album's closing track, this deeply personal composition showcases a masterful balance between intimate vulnerability and musical ambition. Opening with delicate, lullaby-like qualities ‘My Baby’ immediately draws listeners into Witherspoon's tender sonic world. Recorded live with a band, the track's gentle opening belies its eventual transformation into an anthemic statement, building organically from whispered to triumphant. Witherspoon's vocals echo the sultry croon of Arctic Monkeys' recent work, lending the track a contemporary sophistication that bridges nostalgic romance with modern appeal.

What appears on the surface as a sweet romantic ballad reveals layers of complexity beneath. Born during a period of writer's block, Witherspoon turns his creative struggles into art, and the self-referential line,
 "Did the dreaded verse one where the writer is blocked." “I had the whole structure and melody down before I had a single lyric, which is very rare for me," he explains. This meta-textual breakthrough opened the floodgates for what would become his most nuanced exploration of human connection.

The song's emotional core draws inspiration from a moving story about a mother and son's reconciliation, which Witherspoon combined with his own experiences of familial relationships. The song's ambiguity allows for multiple interpretations. "It ends up being about 3 or 4 different people, but for the listener they've amalgamated into one," he explains. The track also features a callback to the album's opening song 'True Love', creating satisfying bookends for the overall piece.

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Photo - Luca Bailey

Home Counties - Meet Me In The Flat Roof.

London sextet Home Counties today unveil new single 'Meet Me In The Flat Roof', a tongue-in-cheek homage to London's flat roof pubs - the latest preview of the band's eagerly awaited second album 'Humdrum', out 24th October via Submarine Cat Records - produced by Al Doyle (of Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem). The band have also announced a new in-store tour to celebrate the release of the album, with stops in Liverpool, Oxford, Kingston, Southsea and Southampton.

Both love letter and self-critique, new single 'Meet Me In The Flat Roof' calls out the smugness of bragging about “authentic” haunts while inevitably fuelling their gentrification. With lines that swing from knowing humour (“Can’t believe you’ve not been here before / Your friend’s been? I bet I’ve been way more”) to surprising tenderness (“Red wine on the crimson carpet / Accidental but unnoticed and it feels like love”), the track captures the cultural superiority complex hidden inside taste and habit.

Musically, it’s one of the album's most lush and memorable moments. Dreamy guitars and stacked harmonies bloom into a soaring middle eight - a section Doyle pushed the band to write after what had originally been an instrumental gap. The result is a song that turns the resolutely mundane into one of the album’s most unexpectedly moving highlights.

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