Irish troubadour Ben Reel returns with his twelfth studio album, Spirit’s Not Broken. In a world marked by war, division, and uncertainty, the record carries a timeless message: hope, resilience, and above all, love. “It’s easy to feel powerless,” Ben says, “but this album is a reminder of a simple truth: “Love one another.”
Musically, the album opens with raw rock energy before flowing into soulful, R&B-infused grooves, echoing the spirit of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Van Morrison and Sting. It’s a journey that blends grit with grace, reinforcing Ben’s reputation as one of Ireland’s most versatile and enduring songwriters.
Since launching his solo career in 1999 with This Is the Movie, Ben has carved a distinctive path through rock, folk, soul, and Americana. Critics have compared him to John Hiatt, Roy Orbison, even dubbing him “the Irish Springsteen,” yet his sound remains unmistakably his own.
Across a solo career spanning more than 25 years, Ben has released a string of acclaimed albums, including The Nashville Calling (2020), recorded with Will Kimbrough and featuring E Street Band’s Garry W. Tallent, which topped the Euro Americana Chart. His most recent records, Locked in & Live (2022) and Come a Long Way (2023), cemented his reputation as a fearless and ever-evolving artist.
Ben has performed on BBC, RTÉ, Dutch NPO Radio, toured internationally, and shared stages with artists like Jools Holland, The Cranberries, Nanci Griffith and Eric Andersen. From Nashville’s Bluebird Café to European festivals, his reputation as a committed live performer continues to grow. With Spirit’s Not Broken, Ben Reel delivers not just an album, but a soulful call to resilience in challenging times.
============================================================================
Alberta Cross are an Anglo-Swedish band formed in London and led by songwriter Petter Ericson Stakee. After a long stretch living in Brooklyn, New York, the project has since settled back in the UK. They signed to Fiction Records in the UK and Geffen in the US after just four shows, a rapid ascent that set the tone for a career built on relentless touring and slow-burn cult appeal. Along the way, the band have shared stages with artists ranging from Oasis and Neil Young to Them Crooked Vultures, The Shins, Portugal. The Man, Mumford & Sons an Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, while clocking appearances at festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Fuji Rock, Reading & Leeds and Splendour In The Grass.
Produced by Luke Potashnick (The Temperance Movement) at Wool Hall Studios, their upcoming single 'Toy Soldiers' is a seductive rhythmic assault that sees Alberta Cross at their most frenetic and loose. Rapid, jagged keys and hypnotic guitars ride over tight drums, a rowdy but controlled track that serves as an anthem of hope and possibility amidst a world of uncertainty.
Discussing the lyrical themes behind the single, vocalist and lyricist Petter Ericson Stakee says: "There's a heaviness running through the track, but it wasn't something we chased - it's just the world bleeding into the music. The song wrestles with uncertainty, but it doesn't fake solutions. Recorded as a raw power trio with members from The Vaccines an The Temperance Movement at the legendary Wool Hall Studios (The Smiths, Tears For Fears)."
============================================================================
A.S. Fanning - Stay Alive.
Irish songwriter A.S. Fanning releases 'Stay Alive' on January 23rd, the third and final single from his forthcoming fourth studio album Take Me Back To Nowhere (February 6th, K&F Records).
In the midst of an album preoccupied with fragmented realities and psychological dislocation, 'Stay Alive' arrives as an unexpected lifeline—a love song born from the depths of despair. The track unfolds with haunting beauty, its ethereal synths and strings wrapping around Fanning's echoing baritone as the song builds toward an anthemic crescendo. Moody, dark, and melancholic, it captures the precise moment when connection pierces through numbness.
"This is a love song written from a place of desperation and despondency," Fanning explains. "About going through the world in a depressive drudge, with flickering notions of stepping in front of trains, only to chance upon something or someone that reminds you why you're alive, that makes you feel connected to something bigger than yourself."
While previous singles 'Romance' and 'Today Is For Forgetting' explored emotional desolation and psychedelic consciousness, 'Stay Alive' confronts a more primal terror: the fear of one's own mind. During its creation, Fanning was reading Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Lathe of Heaven' and found himself arrested by a line where the psychiatrist tells the protagonist, "you're afraid of your own mind." "That's something I can relate to," Fanning notes. The song exists in that space between self-destruction and salvation, where a single encounter—with a person, a moment, a feeling—can tip the balance.
Tedeschi Trucks Band (TTB), the GRAMMY Award-winning band led by the dynamic wife and husband duo of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, has announced the details for their sixth studio album, Future Soul, and released the first single “I Got You.” The 11-track collection, the band’s most powerful album to date, will be released on Friday, March 20th via Fantasy Records in the middle of TTB’s 10-show headlining run at NYC’s Beacon Theatre. The infectious “I Got You,” written by guitarist/vocalist Mike Mattison, takes cues from the spirit of Derek and the Dominos and Delaney & Bonnie to create a driving, mid-tempo classic.
“‘I Got You’ is a breath of fresh air and pretty different for us,” shares Trucks. “It feels like the band, but it doesn’t feel like anything we’ve done before.”
Produced by Mike Elizondo (Twenty One Pilots, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Carrie Underwood) and co-produced by Trucks, Future Soul – recorded at their own Swamp Raga Recording (Jacksonville, FL) as well as Phantom Studios (Gallatin, TN) – marks the follow-up to TTB’s 2022 conceptual quadruple studio album, I Am The Moon, and their latest live release, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Leon Russell Present: Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited (LIVE AT LOCKN’) (2025). The heart, honesty, and full-band collaboration on Future Soul makes the forthcoming album the most unique collection to date from the revered 12-piece powerhouse ensemble. The majority of the songwriting was done by Trucks, Tedeschi, Mattison, Gabe Dixon, and Tyler Greenwell with the music sonically pulling from a variety of influences including funk, rock ‘n roll, blues, soul, punk, and much more.
============================================================================
Beloved indie folk band The Paper Kites have unveiled their seventh studio album ‘If You Go There, I Hope You Find It’ via Nettwerk, available now on all streaming platforms. To celebrate the release, they’ve also shared an official music video for the previously unreleased track “Morning Gum”.
About the new album, lead vocalist Sam Bentley reflects, “This record feels like a band remembering what made them fall in love with playing music in the first place. Five friends, five musicians, rediscovering what made them want to do this together. We had a beautiful time making this album. A lot of these songs were written out at the farm we rehearse at, which has become a place of great direction and growth for us over the years. As such, the record has taken on much of the character of that place, and you’ll see it reflected in the colours and visuals surrounding the album. There’s a lot of the five of us in this record. We hope you enjoy.”
‘If You Go There, I Hope You Find It’ is highlighted by recent singles “Change Of The Wind,” “Shake Off The Rain,” “Every Town,” and “When The Lavender Blooms.” Each track was accompanied by an official music video, featuring a different band member and shot at their friend’s farm in Melbourne’s Yarra Valley, where much of the album was written. Intimate and achingly reflective, the album is guided by a longing for connection, simplicity, and emotional clarity.
Rooted in themes of nature, healing, and hope, each track unfolds like a whispered conversation, offering comfort in its vulnerability and calm in its sincerity. Exploring moments of change, introspection, and the beauty of imperfection, the record remains anchored in the band’s signature atmospheric sound, carrying a quiet familiarity that feels like returning home, both within and beyond yourself.
============================================================================
.png)
