Iris Caltwait - Dave Helgi Johan - Terry Klein - Bobby Dove - Amy Jay

Photo - Bertine Monsen

Iris Caltwait - Again, for the first time (Album).

Norwegian alt-pop auteur Iris Caltwait just released her extraordinary new album 'Again, for the first time', out now via 777 Music. To celebrate the album release, Iris Caltwait plays a London headline next week (12 November) before playing select EU and Norwegian headline dates in 2026.

A vivid, slow-burning, shape-shifting odyssey through grief, rage and renewal, the album features immersive, spacious production from Askjell (Sigrid, Aurora) and contributions from Vetle Junker, Jimi Somewhere, Milo Orchis, Lauritz Christiansen and more.

Across its sixteen tracks and 46 minute runtime, Iris Caltwait (real name Vilde Iris Hartveit Kolltveit) delivers a masterstroke of nuanced pop and emotional excavation. Written between Bergen, Oslo, Copenhagen and Gothenburg in borrowed living rooms and countryside retreats, the album captures the quiet reckoning that follows rupture, tracing the process of rebuilding herself, piece by piece - drawing influence from artists like Mitski, Adrianne Lenker, and Saya Gray. 

“A lot of the songs are about trying to reconnect to the child I was and to the person I want to be,” Iris says. “When I was little, I wasn’t afraid to get angry. Now I’ve had to relearn getting mad, and reconnect with indignation.”

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Photo - white images

Dave Helgi Johan - Unholy Hours (Album).

“Unholy Hours” was written between the years 2020 and 2023. I write music very sporadically and I only really write when I'm feeling inspired enough to do so. We are now in the year 2025 and we grow as artists though these songs reflect this period in my life. These songs are quite sentimental to me with stories of friendship, heartbreak, addiction and all moments in between.

“Unholy Hours” was recorded between October 2023 - May 2024 in mostly random sessions in my 1993 Mazda e2000 Van, Dusty Headquarters which at the time was a small storage unit, and some vocals and bass guitar at The Diesel Gypsies rehearsal space all in Airlie Beach, Queensland. The Acoustic Drum Kit in all songs was performed by Racso (Oscar Howie) recorded in David Pendragon’s “The Studio” in Canberra, ACT, Australia.

As a DIY artist for many years I can safely say this has been my most ambitious and most difficult project. I went about producing this album quite unconventionally, mostly captured through an old Presonus interface into a 2017 Macbook Air. Thus causing many headaches along the way, I spent easily 100s of hours doing everything forwards, backwards and sideways in my own “unique” way. From tediously bouncing every individual track from garageband to get professionally mixed and mastered. To overdubbing countless unnecessary tracks, to late nights up till 5 am sometimes tracking, or bouncing and uploading files.

"This album could have easily resulted in the breakdown of any relationship. Thank goodness I'm not married, but yeah here it is I hope you like it." - Dave Helgi Johan.

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Photo - Valerie Fremin

Terry Klein - Hill Country Folk Music (Album).

Terry Klein writes songs and sings them for people and makes records and drives around in his 2015 Toyota Venza and plays a lot of shows. The Austin American-Statesman calls him “one of Austin's top singer-songwriters in recent years.”  Terry Klein’s latest record, Hill Country Folk Music starts and finishes with two distinct versions of the song “Try”, in which the narrator, inspired by the beauty around him vows to “do better” or at the very least try, something we can be striving to achieve. Backed by an undeniably cool groove, “I Used to Be Cool”, is an ode to Austin, Texas where Terry lives, that easily becomes any place, person or bygone time that needs a reminder that they are in fact still cool.

Written after hearing that his friend and Illinois cult hero, Dana Anderson, had taken his own life, the song, “If You Go” examines the tragedy of suicide from the perspective of a surviving loved one. Klein sings, “You’re loved, you’re loved, you’re loved, someone’s gonna miss you if you go”, a universal truth that we all need to hear at points in our lives.

Later the mood of much of our country and society as a whole is captured through the story of a veteran and store owner in a small town in “Hopelessness is Going Around”. Other highlights on the album include “The Dirty Third”, a perfect marriage of sonic landscape and lyrical brilliance featuring Mike Compton on mandolin and “My Next Birthday”, a gorgeous and gut-wrenching account of coming to terms with one’s mortality.

Hill Country Folk Music was recorded in a controlled frenzy over just a few days in Nashville, with acclaimed producer Thomm Jutz. It is Klein’s fifth studio album overall and third that he’s made with Jutz.

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Bobby Dove - Trans Canadian Blues.

Since the release of the 2021 album Hopeless Romantic, Canadian alt-country artist Bobby Dove has made a lot of fans around the world. Dove is finally poised to follow up Hopeless Romantic, with the latest preview of the as-yet-untitled new album coming in the form of “Trans Canadian Blues,” an ode to touring the country’s vast expanses, delivered in a hard-charging style that would surely put a smile on Waylon Jennings’s face.

Produced in Toronto by Aaron Goldstein (Cowboy Junkies, Kathleen Edwards, Juliana Riolino) with the help of a crack band featuring guitarist Nichol Robertson, drummer Dani Nash and pedal steel guitarist Burke Carroll, “Trans Canadian Blues” will leave listeners salivating for more of Dove’s new material, which includes a co-write/duet with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale.

Delving into the inspiration behind the song, Dove says, “I was just off the road from an east-to-west Canadian tour and I was feeling ragged but restless. I think I was actually drinking alone when I started writing the verses, and it led to creating a little story about what it's like to push on from either end of this country, alone in a car with hours to lose your mind between great distances. I wanted to express—with a sense of humour—what might have been some of my less dazzling moments as a touring trans-person with a honky tonk mind, and perseverance in the face of it all.”

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Amy Jay - Mnemonics (Album).

New York based indie alt-folk singer songwriter Amy Jay's songs are like plastic knives — pliable, yet cutting. Throughout the 10 songs on her new album, Mnemonics, Jay proves she knows how to wield them tenaciously.
 
Titled to represent the mnemonic devices she birthed while “writing my inner monologue” during and outside of therapy sessions, these little mantras help Jay with the work-in-progress of the human condition. Struggling to find her place in the city's messy music scene (iykyk) over the last few years, she found herself slipping into bad habits and decided to take control of everything she could — herself.

Throughout Mnemonics, Jay explores what makes the vulnerable acceptable, as well as the Joycean concept of what makes the universal specific: How do you love yourself when you don't feel likable? How do you face pieces of your hidden self courageously? How do you hold space for negative thought patterns or feelings of embarrassment, insecurity, loneliness, or anxiety?
 
While such themes are often still stigmatized, through song, they become softer and more palatable. Jay assembled a crew of stellar local musicians with national track records to help take her sketches of folk songs into fully formed indie rock panoramas. With long-time producer/engineer Jon Seale (Mason Jar Music) at the helm and guitarist Sam Skinner (Pinegrove, Fenne Lily), keyboardist Andrew Freedman (Michael Mayo, Ryan Beatty), Jay also enlisted bassists Jeremy McDonald and Margaux (Katy Kirby) and drummers Jason Burger (Big Thief) and Jordan Rose (Maggie Rogers) to round out her sound.

Amy Jay · Mnemonics

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Katy Broder - Adam Harpaz - Leilani Patao - Patchwork Rattlebag - The Clockworks

Katy Broder - Come With Me (Album).

It’s finally here: the album by Katy Broder from Liechtenstein — a woman who juggles many roles. On one hand, Katy Broder is known as the coach of Liechtenstein’s national karate team, with which she participated in the European and World Championships this summer. 

On the other hand, she has made a name for herself as a pop musician: her last two singles earned her comparisons to Roxette, Pink, and Avril Lavigne, and received extensive airplay.

Her most recent single, “Could It Be You,” alone has been played more than 300 times on radio stations around the world. This even led the Landesspiegel to headline a story about Katy Broder.

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Photo - Bella Isakson

Adam Harpaz - You Might Miss Out.

Aussie Indie Singer Songwriter Adam Harpaz released his new single 'You Might Miss Out' yesterday. You Might Miss Out‘ carves a sonic space of self-reflection for the listener; how are we feeling (generally) in our day-to-day? Are we truly connecting with both ourselves and others more often than not? 

Is there a sustainable sense of harmony between the different components of our lives? Do we have enough mental clarity to deal with the inevitable unforeseen challenges that arise in life, or are we in such a constant state of internal/external pressure that we get spun out when things alter from the ‘plan’?

The song offers a somewhat subtle, somewhat blunt commentary on the work-life balance conundrum alluded to above; perhaps the sweet spot is found within that juggling act of keeping the wheels in motion whilst still carving enough space to consistently do the things that bring us joy.

The hope is that by consciously making our overall well-being more of a priority, it enables us to find/maintain a relatively stable level of presence and content. “ - Adam Harpaz.

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Leilani Patao - daisy (EP).

Brooklyn-based (via Los Angeles) artist Leilani Patao issues 'daisy,' their label debut via Audio Antihero. Leilani calls the release a "pure experiment," and through this evolving sound, production, and withholding their work from streaming, the artist seeks to make deeper connections with listeners.

Originally debuting in 2021 at the age of 17, Leilani showcased their rich, aching voice, shaped by a background in theatre and their youthful willingness to show vulnerability through a raw lyrical honesty across a series of DIY self-releases. 2024’s ‘But What If?’ earned them their greatest exposure to date when they were featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. 

Taking its title from the name of Leilani’s much-missed childhood dog, ‘daisy’ is described by the artist as “a pure experiment” in both sound and distribution. Leilani’s ambitious production requires the listener to find the emotion within the cracks, as their range, biting words, and ear for melody push through the wash of sound in fragments. Leilani also made the decision to remove themselves from the algorithm by withholding these songs from streaming, taking control of their work, and asking:

“Is it possible to share my music properly, pay everyone who was involved, get paid myself, and not have to interact with the many systems in place that make me dread music?” 

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Patchwork Rattlebag - Vertigo Dreams.

Salford based experimental collective, Patchwork Rattlebag have released ‘Vertigo Dreams’, the second single from their forthcoming debut album ‘Fragments 1’. Frequently incorporating other artforms, the group constructs music with a strong vocal presence, featuring instruments, synthesisers, field recordings and beats. Consisting of three core members who value collaboration and curiosity, Patchwork Rattlebag traverse the spaces between the visual, audible, invisible and ineffable.

Following the band’s recent glitchy dystopian electronica single ‘Hook, Line and Riser’, ‘Vertigo Dreams’ shows another side to Patchwork Rattlebag, incorporating breezy acoustic textures, introspective lyrics and bursts of vocal harmony. The track sees the electronic elements of their sound drifting into the background, making way for and complimenting beautifully this haunting and beguiling song- as the band plumb similar melancholic depths to artists like Gravenhurst and Nick Drake.

‘Vertigo Dreams’ searches tensions: between contentment and insecurity, aspiration and wistful acquiescence, dreams and nightmares. Its swirling, psychedelic, folk-inspired atmospheres feature picked acoustic guitar, pulsing vibraphone, and broken electric guitar phrases. ‘Vertigo Dreams’ is the sound of Patchwork Rattlebag stripped back to its singer-songwriter origins and the accompanying video for the single will send you off into a blissful dreamy haze with its hypnotic DIY shot images of starry skies, expansive fields and spacious derelict buildings- illustrating the song’s search through emotions and contemplative moods perfectly.

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The Clockworks - Through The Looking Glass.

Following their return with recent track ‘Best Days’, Galway via London fourpiece The Clockworks share new single ‘Through The Looking Glass’ and announce their second album and first album with V2 Records, ‘The Entertainment’ released on 27th March 2026.
 
With a cinematic and all-encompassing sound, The Clockworks introduced themselves with debut album ‘Exit Strategy’ in 2023 and their self-titled EP ‘The Clockworks’ in 2022, gaining acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music and BBC Radio 1. With a soundscape that pulls from seemingly disparate regions of the musical landscape, namechecking Daft Punk next to Pixies, next to Ennio Morricone, they are influenced not only by an extensive musical palette, but also through their passion for film and literature. Lyrically, singer and lyricist James McGregor writes with purpose, integrity and emotion, balancing light with darkness and finding poetic intrigue in everyday life. They will release their new album ‘The Entertainment’ in March, which was largely written and recorded independently at home, and is a project that looks at the themes of isolation, loneliness and connection.  
 
New single ‘Through The Looking Glass’ continues to showcase the fresh sound of The Clockworks and is a majestic and atmospheric track that builds in both intensity and emotion. Self-produced, led by Sean Connelly, it drops the listener straight into the middle of the action, building lyrically and musically to a climax that hits crisis point and suddenly unspools. Speaking about ‘Through The Looking Glass’, the band says;
 
“This song centers around that moment of telling someone you love them and not hearing the same thing back. It's the desperation, longing and futility of building yourself up beforehand to pour your heart out and obsessively retracing the moment a thousand times in your head afterwards.”

The Clockworks · Through The Looking Glass

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Nick Barker and the Reptiles - Tommy Keyes - Malena Smith - Great Lakes - At Baron Lane - Winona Oak

Nick Barker and the Reptiles - Blood Nose.

Melbourne rock veterans Nick Barker and the Reptiles are back with a blistering new single, ‘Blood Nose,’ out now via Golden Robot Records. A raw, riff-driven track soaked in 70s-style swagger, 'Blood Nose’ delivers a punch - both musically and thematically. 

Written by Nick Barker, the track was inspired by a story he read about a social media influencer whose carefully curated world came crashing down. “‘Blood Nose’ can mean a lot of things - a real one, a loss in battle, or just a humiliating moment,” Barker explains. “This one’s about the last two. All kinds of ways to take damage.” 

With its stripped-back production and live-to-tape energy, ‘Blood Nose’ captures the band's signature no-frills approach - loud, loose, and loaded with grit. “We had the riff, the idea, and just went for it, live in the room. Not much to it. We love it,” Barker says. 

‘Blood Nose’ is the first new music from the band in over a decade and marks a thunderous return to form. Fans can stream the track now on all major platforms.

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Tommy Keyes - Lucky Day.

The second single to be taken from the new album, Lucky Day is a funky song on the subject of scam phone calls. Tommy Keyes was the keyboard player for Sidewinder, a mainstay of the Dublin rock scene in the late 1970s, and wrote many of their most popular songs.   

Nearly 40 years later, after a career outside music that left no time for gigging, he returned with a repertoire of great songs that defy categorisation.  Rock?  Pop? Blues?  “It’s 1970s singer-songwriter music”, he says, “because that’s what I am.” His biggest chart success to date came in July 2022 when Suzi Quatro (Teenage Discos ’73) hit No 1 in the overall iTunes chart (all genres).  This Is the Song We Were Singing gave him another iTunes No 1 in the pop chart is February 2024.

Recorded with some of Ireland’s greatest session musicians, his albums are very different from anything else that’s being released these days, but sample some of the songs and you are guaranteed to be hooked.

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Malena Smith - 27 in Maine (EP).

The summer of Malena's 27th birthday was a defining one. She left her job to pursue music full-time, took her first solo road trip to commemorate that leap of faith, and made the life-changing decision to stop drinking. Just before the turn of the season, she began writing songs again, and 27 in Maine was born. 

The EP captures that coming of age as an adult moment: the clarity of "18," the internal tug-of-war of "Betray Myself," the yearning of "Maybe," the stillness and uncertainty of "Paralyzed," and the realization of "27 in Maine (The Ride)." "It felt like my puzzle pieces were beginning to find their places," Malena says, but the number of pieces was indefinite."

Produced by Brian Owens, and featuring engineers Jay Newland (Norah Jones' Come Away With Me) and Boo Mitchell (Royal Studios, Memphis), 27 in Maine bridges pop, folk, soul, and jazz. It's a seamless reflection of Malena's own genre-fluid voice.

Beyond its sonic beauty, the EP carries heartfelt stories at every corner. Following singles "18," "Betray Myself," "Maybe," and "Paralyzed," the full EP arrives as Malena's debut declaration as a storytelling artist, a reflection of her growth and her voice. "My hope is that people who need these songs the most will hear them," she says. "And that anyone who connects with them knows they're not alone."

Malena Smith · Maybe

Malena Smith · Paralyzed (feat. Jack Pordea) - Single

Malena Smith · 18

Malena Smith · Betray Myself

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Great Lakes - Don’t Swim Too Close (Album).

Great Lakes’ Ben Crum returns with a fantastic new album, Don’t Swim Too Close. Over 25 years and eight records, Crum has built a reputation for sharp songwriting and interesting stylistic shifts. Don’t Swim Too Close is no exception, as Crum draws from a classic rock tradition, echoing both the Americana spirit of Neil Young and The Band and the proto-indie rock of Television and the Velvet Underground. 

Immediately accessible, its songs land with the ease of lived-in classics. Themes of empathy and regret (“Carry the Message”), mental health struggles (“Don’t Swim Too Close”), disillusionment (“Meant to Fly”), and the lone journey of the writer (“On the Way Back”) weave through the record. But this isn’t a bleak listen. Crum’s dry, gallows humor bubbles up throughout, balancing heaviness with wit. 

He’s the kind of writer who can sing, “the future’s out there, waiting like an open grave,” and leave you smirking instead of sinking—or deadpan, “there’s nothing sexy about Spread Eagle, Wisconsin, or Tight squeeze, Virginia.” The characters in Crum’s songs are soul-searching, making for a compelling and thought-provoking listen. But there’s tenderness too: “Seeing Through Her” is a love song without pretense, while “Song for the Old Man” pays moving tribute to Crum’s late father. The closing track, “Are We Here Accidentally,” takes on existential purpose—or the lack thereof—in the face of life’s mundane demands: “there’s always someone on the phone / always someone we’re supposed to owe / well, I guess, if you say so.”

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At Baron Lane - The Cause (Album).

At Baron Lane is a four-piece indie band based between Zurich and Lachen, Switzerland. Since celebrating the release of their debut album in Paradise in 2019 at Amboss Rampe in Zurich, the band has continuously refined their songwriting and tested it live at countless shows. The quartet has performed at renowned venues such as Schüür Luzern, Exil Club Zurich, and Werk21 at Dynamo Zurich. With their single Future-Men, released in June 2025, the band gained their first airplay on various indie radio stations—both in Switzerland (including Kanal K, Radio Lora, Radio4tng, and Radio15) and internationally (including RTA Music [Italy], Eastcoast FM [USA], and Radiofabrik [Austria]).

Throughout the album, the band explores a wide range of musical influences. The catchy, pop-infused chorus of Right Hand Man is already in rotation on Radio15. The Beatles-inspired ballad Change begins with gentle vocals over warm piano chords, builds into an anthemic saxophone solo, and has already aired on Radio Rocher.

Cult is a rocking crowd favorite, where various characters describe how they were recruited by Lenny, all wrapped in a sea-shanty-inspired chorus. Don’t miss the Swiss-German intro of Chinotto am Meer, which leads into a high-energy saxophone solo.

In the gospel-tinged Sunday Shoes and the indie-pop track Faster (with Bossa Nova influences), it almost feels like Lenny might truly change the world. But the movement soon loses momentum. The jazzy Follow the Hypebeast delivers sharp critique, and in the psychedelic progressive-rock track The Moon is the Answer, even the revolutionary himself loses the strength to pursue his goals.

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Photo - Lamia Karic

Winona Oak - Do You Hate Me Now.

Swedish singer-songwriter Winona Oak embarks on a new era today with her powerful new single ‘Do You Hate Me Now’ out now via Nettwerk. Winona released her EP ‘Salt’ this spring, which was a poignant personal documentation of her physical and emotional states. Throughout this year, she has been working on new music and a progression in her raw and unvarnished sound, whilst still writing about the highs and lows of life; loss and repair, heartbreak and love, resistance and patience. 
 
With her new single ‘Do You Hate Me Now’, she introduces a brand-new era of her music. The song is a cinematic and heartfelt ballad, opening delicately with atmospheric piano before building into an epic chorus that lets her emotive voice shine. 
 
Winona says, “This song lives in that fragile space between love and goodbye – when you’re still holding onto the good memories even as the bad ones start to weigh more. You remember the warmth, the way it once felt safe – but now the air feels heavier, the silence sharper. It’s about realizing love shouldn’t feel like walking on glass, or like losing yourself a little more each day. It’s knowing you’re not walking away to hurt them, but because staying would mean losing the last pieces of yourself you still recognise. So, you take one last look, one last breath, and you leave – not because you stopped loving them, but because something in you finally believes there’s a softer, truer kind of love wating for you somewhere.”


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Paula Kelley - ALEIA - Jont - Winterpills

Paula Kelley - Party Line.

On Blinking as the Starlight Burns Out Paula Kelley explores her reverence for the dark edges of pop music, crafting a deeply personal song cycle informed by her career as a musician, songwriter and arranger. Channelling some of her most treasured pop-noir classics by Big Star, Colin Blunstone and Judee Sill, the songs on her first album in almost 20 years are filled with heart-wrenching melodies and layer-upon-layer of lush, kinetic instrumentation. 

Despite her membership in Drop Nineteens and her career writing and arranging pop music, Blinking as the Starlight Burns Out does not retread past glories, but rather shapes the often psychodramatic tales in Blinking’s songs into a singular and personal vision of indie pop music. Here’s what she has to say about first single “Party Line”:

When the song came to me it presented nearly fully formed—a pedaling bass line, a four part vocal harmony, an expansive soundscape. Sometimes songs sound great in your head but then don’t translate well into reality. I was lucky with this one. As I was recording part upon part, it felt as though the song was writing itself. It’s a dreamy song about dreams—not the kind that come during sleep, but rather wishes, anxieties, projections—as a way to work through and reconcile an unhappy past.

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Photo - Stephanie Senior

ALEIA - Public Humiliation (EP).

Perth/Boorloo songwriter ALEIA unveils her debut EP ‘Public Humiliation’ today Thursday, November 6, a body of work that captures the bittersweet aftermath of love with rare honesty and grace. Layering delicate folk textures with dream-pop ambience, ALEIA reflects on the messiness of heartbreak and the hardening that comes from being so exposed.

It was just this May that ALEIA made her debut, introducing her unmistakable voice through a series of deeply personal singles that have quickly shown the depth of her songwriting. Her first release, ‘Had Your Fun’, arrived as a haunting, indie/alt-pop number led by the piano that peeled back the layers of post-breakup denial and self-deception. It was followed by ‘Pretty When I Cry’, a gut-wrenching ballad built on soft guitar, sparse percussion, flourishes of delicate electric guitar and layers of harmonies, capturing the desperation of loving someone who cannot meet you halfway. 

Then came ‘Public Humiliation’, the title track released in October, exposing the messy and often humiliating side of modern love. Built on a ghostly guitar and layered vocals, the track unfolds like a confession, delicate yet deliberate. These songs form the opening half of the EP, leading into the devastatingly tender ‘Holy Water’ and its raw accompanying live version. Like it was recorded in an empty cathedral, the spacious arrangement features warm piano, softly bowed strings, carefully layered guitars, and a haunting choir that surrounds ALEIA in aching harmony. The choir's body percussion anchors the song’s slow build, giving the track a heartbeat as the lingering lyrics, "Holy Water, Devil's mouth, you could only spit me out", are chanted to close the EP out.     

Across its five tracks, ALEIA lays bare the fragile balance between love and self-worth, confronting the humiliation that lingers beneath heartache and the grief that comes with it all. ALEIA shares: "‘Public Humiliation’ is an EP I wrote after being jaded with love. I was newly single with my frontal lobe fully developed and realising I had only experienced toxic long-term relationships, painful situationships, and a nightmarish uncommitted life of casual dating. I want people to find comfort in this album the next time they find themselves anxiously attached to a situationship who isn’t messaging them, after a breakup with a narcissistic ex, or when single life has turned sour." 

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Jont - Let's Just Be Friends.

From the quiet corners of a Nova Scotia night, Jont's "Let's Just Be Friends" emerges as a tender, nocturnal meditation on love and truth – a song that drifts between dreamy romanticism and grounded self-awareness. Vulnerable and timeless, it’s a story of connection that was perhaps always destined to burn bright and fade, leaving behind the bittersweet beauty of understanding.

"Late at night, sat up in bed with my guitar, is how some of my best songs have come," Jont shares. "Maybe it was always thus for songwriters – Cohen, Dylan – the muse sitting beside them as the world sleeps. And with my cats Oscar and Buttons beside me, I can be found there too, up late, lights low, guitar in my lap, writing something that's sprung out of me without warning and demanding my attention."

"You don't have to be a genius to work out it's a love song," he continues. "And an autobiographical one at that. Sincere too in its message – or maybe not sincere in the desire to stay as just friends. Just true in what it says about what happens when you don't." What follows is a song suspended in that liminal space between longing and surrender. "Right now the world is asleep, it's just you and me counting sheep, we can't afford to miss a beat, or no-one'll know how many there have been…" Jont sings in the chorus – a lyric that captures the fleeting, dizzying joy of new connection, even as the verses quietly predict its impermanence.

"Sometimes it seems the songs know before I do how things are going to go," Jont reflects. "But we haven't learnt the lesson until we've had enough of the pain. And though over the years the pain might have seemed almost too much to bear, it has also led directly to more fruitful evenings — sat up late at night, guitar in lap, as emotions alchemise and dissolve into a subtle and radiant joy."

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Winterpills - Lean In The Wind.

The critically acclaimed Massachusetts quintet Winterpills returns with their first album in nine years. This Is How We Dance deepens their catalog of elegant chamber pop that’s “haunting…downright glorious when the harmonies start, as crisp and shining as crystal” (The Washington Post). 

Consummate masters of the slow burn, Winterpills have nurtured a singular aesthetic over the course of their 20 years together: lush and often gritty instrumentation, poetic and vulnerable lyrics, celestial harmonies, and cinematic arrangements that stealthily pull you in. 

Emerging from the hiatus of the pandemic, Winterpills dove hearts-first into crafting the album's 12 songs, in a string of inspired creative sessions in the band's living rooms and basements. The resulting album feels at once personal and universal, and showcases the evolution of a band still restless and exploring new ways to collaborate. Teaming up with producer Dave Chalfant––who had a production role in the band's first 2 albums––brought the new record full circle. 

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Øyunn - Hector Gannet - Night Swimming - debdepan

Photo - Helge Brekke

Øyunn - I Know U Can Do It (Album).

Following a summer of festival appearances including Roskilde — drummer, rapper, vocalist and genre-defier, Øyunn is pleased to present her electrifying debut studio album ‘I Know U Can Do It’, a powerful blend of breakbeats, rap, raw honesty and soaring vocals, which is being released via Copenhagen-based label Midnight Confessions.

With her dynamic range and unmistakable sound — groove-driven energy and lyrical openness — Øyunn delivers an extroverted yet emotionally nuanced record that pulses with self-reflection and fearless vulnerability. Throughout the album, Øyunn proves herself a fearless songwriter with a sharp ear for catchy melodies with an edge — each track standing strong on its own while forming a compelling whole.

Co-produced by Øyunn and Brian Batz and recorded over four years between Copenhagen, Malmö, and Aarhus, the album is a deeply personal creative vision, with Øyunn leading on drums and vocals. She is joined by longtime collaborators Jens Mikkel Madsen on bass and Kasper Staub on synths, and the result is a warm, organic sound shaped by a tight, intuitive band.

Behind the name Øyunn is Siv Øyunn Kjenstad, a diverse artist born in Norway but now based in Copenhagen. She released a live album ‘Aspects’ in 2023 which was originally a film, performance and concert created for Ultima Festival. The album led to Øyunn winning ‘New Jazz Name of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards 2024. She is also known for being the touring drummer for Danish indie legends Efterklang, as well as drumming for Bugge Wesseltoft, Nils Frahm & Guldimund.

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Vision Impact Photography

Hector Gannet - The Jetty's End.

Northeastern masters of ancient-and-modern folk and rock Hector Gannet make a compelling return with their new double A-side single, out now on 12-inch etched vinyl and digital. Hector Gannet are currently working on their third album. They’re set to accompany it with a range of dates in 2026 – from the local (an already-sold-out 600-capacity night in North Shields), to the national and the international, including dates in Belfast in January and the SXSW festival in Texas in March. Hector Gannet live shows vary between full band performances and Aaron appearing as Hector Gannet as a solo act.

Admired by music maniacs from Chris Packham to Sam Fender and acclaimed as “North Shields’ answer to Crazy Horse” (Uncut), the literate, dreadnought-passionate words and music of Tyneside group Hector Gannet have built through two previous albums. There have been live dates with artists from Elbow and Sea Power to Lindisfarne and Richard Thompson – plus massive shows with Sam Fender at the vast Northeastern shrine that is Newcastle United’s St James’ Park ground. All this now culminates in the exhilarating and ambitious dimensions of new double A-side single “The Jetty’s End” / “Until My Bonnie Can Be Revived”. These moving clarion calls will be followed by the third Hector Gannet album, in 2026.

The jetty of “The Jetty’s End” is a very specific structure in North Tyneside, dilapidated but rich in atmosphere – an age-old “hailing station” where an official would stand and hail passing ships, recording their cargo and destination. This track sees Hector Gannet add church bells, brass and a youth choir to a song that explores Northeastern place and memory. All this is transformed into a gorgeous metaphorical wash, a song that brims with a universal sense of wonder. A crescendo is fired on by lyrics that take in human history, human connection and our devotional rituals – prayer books, work, war, the sea. And not forgetting the cormorants perched on the jetty – prehistoric creatures, their wings drying in heraldic repose, like birds at the end of the world.

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Photo - Derek Bremner

Night Swimming - Submarine.

Bath (England) dream-pop band Night Swimming today announce their signing to Venn Records and share new single ‘Submarine’ - produced by longtime collaborator Peter Miles (TORRES, Orla Gartland) and mastered by Simon Scott of Slowdive. The new single is accompanied by a video directed by Matthew Deeley, and arrives ahead of a UK headline tour this month, before the band join Miki Berenyi (of pioneering UK shoegazers Lush) on select dates this winter.

Their 2024 debut EP 'No Place To Land' cemented them as a compelling addition to the country's new wave of dream-pop / shoegaze acts - drawing admirers from some of the genre’s original icons. Dream-pop at its most haunted and tactile, 'Submarine' unfolds with a quiet intensity - a slow build of layered guitars, hypnotic rhythms and restrained urgency. Meg Jones’ vocal moves like a signal through static - “Undone by nights that gleam and glean / strange how it’s always here waiting,” she sings, capturing the song’s suspended state between memory and reality.

Speaking on the release of new single 'Submarine', lyricist Meg Jones said: "‘Submarine’ is about loss - the song likens it to feeling as though you’re submerged at the bottom of the ocean, unable to focus fully on what is happening around you. It grapples with the shock of feeling as though your world has fallen out from under you, and finding metaphorical shards from the wreckage which trigger surges of grief (when life seemed to have more meaning). It reflects on how you feel as though you are constantly living somewhere between reality and this underwater realm, and the waves of emotion are always waiting for you when you least expect them. It also comments on how people who have experienced loss will often notice it in others."

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debdepan - Ghost.

With their sophomore EP Lovers & Others arriving November 28th, Margate duo debdepan are building unstoppable momentum. Having already delivered the cyclical intensity of "Habit" and the raw aggression of "The Girl", the pair now reveal their most emotionally complex offering yet — "Ghost", out today November 5th via Silent Kid Records.

At first listen, "Ghost" feels like uncharted territory — a slower, more melodic moment reminiscent of Florence and the Machine's atmospheric grandeur. But just as you settle into its deceptive softness, the track pivots sharply into something unmistakably debdepan: edgy, hard-hitting, and deliciously sleazy. This sonic bait-and-switch perfects the push-pull dynamic the duo are rapidly becoming known for, proving they're just as dangerous when they whisper as when they scream.

"Oh, where did you go? We weren't exclusive but 6 months and then you Ghost!?" the duo lament. This emotional journey is central to the track's architecture — beginning with slight hopefulness before slowly turning dark as insecurity creeps in, culminating in a chorus that feels like a total release of pent-up emotion. "This song had to feel like a journey," the band explains. "It needed a big fat pop chorus to juxtapose the dark and miserable verses."

Recorded with engineer Mike Collins in Ramsgate, "Ghost" benefits from his inspired production choices. "Mike had a wicked idea to layer a bunch of guitars in the middle 8 to really build some tension," the duo shares. The result is a track that balances delicate vulnerability with explosive catharsis, showcasing debdepan's evolving mastery of sonic contrasts.

The accompanying music video offers a playful, Halloween-inspired counterpoint to the track's stark emotional reality. Shot, produced, and edited entirely by the duo across various Margate locations, it features them dressed as ghosts in delightfully DIY fashion—complete with a visible drone controller peeking out beneath one costume. This quirky, self-made approach perfectly captures their friendship-turned-band chemistry: creative, unpretentious, and utterly committed to having fun while making music.

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