Big Little Lions - V.V. Lightbody - Kelly Hunt - Kate Prascher - Tony Fox - Brodie Christ - Jessica Lorraine

Big Little Lions - My Home.

Big Little Lions, continue to release monthly singles with 'My Home' released yesterday. July's song is a heartwarming tune about finding the person who makes everything feel like home.

Big Little Lions are an award winning duo who were born out of a collaboration that won them a JUNO Award in 2014. Since then they have been cranking out infectious folk pop songs that are jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies that sound like the product of two people working side-by-side instead of living in different countries. 

They have released 7 albums to date, which have garnered them awards and nominations including the CFMA Ensemble of the Year, Independent Music Awards Americana Sing of the Year and John Lennon Songwriting Competition Song of the Year. Their critically acclaimed music has appeared on the CBC’s Top 20 and featured on shows like q and Vinyl Cafe. The duo consists of Paul Otten and Helen Austin, both hugely prolific songwriters - their music has been placed in hundreds of movie trailers, ads, network TV shows.

Their live show is quite the spectacle with Paul playing drums, bass and keyboard all while singing lead vocals. Helen, who is no slacker either, sings, plays guitar and foot percussion. They use every limb, and then some, to make two people sound like a full band. 

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Photo - Shannon Marks

V.V. Lightbody - Practice Smiling.

Chicago songwriter & multi-instrumentalist V.V. Lightbody just shared "Practice Smiling" as she announces her new LP Period Piece (due Oct 9 Via Egghunt Records). We are told "I always imagined "Practice Smiling" opening up Period Piece because it so clearly hits one of the major themes of the album, which I like to describe as "loosening up the life corset".  I started writing this song when I went to my first rock show in Chicago after things had opened back up in 2021. Everyone was remembering how to be together in a room again – it was exhilarating and stressful." 

"Does my smile look okay? How do I order a drink? I felt stiff, but eager to settle in. I danced with abandon after the show and ended up throwing out my back when I took off my sweater. In that moment, I so clearly felt the passage of time and a surprising nervousness that had built up in my mind and body, forcing me to reassess my social confidence which I feel like I am still gaining back. This song also touches on a frustration I have with the current state of live music, where getting people to leave the comfort of their home and come to a show feels like an increasingly difficult task." 

Notably, Period Piece also marks Lightbody’s debut as a lead producer on her own album – a dazzling and welcome emergence. With layers of perfectly tucked backing vocals, swirling guitars in harmony, chugging bass lines, and romantic, melodic flutes, Lightbody has crafted a playful and pristinely recorded collection of indie-folk songs, veering between 70s Brazilian samba and contemporary electro-pop. Think, Cate Le Bon strolling through an overgrown meadow. Dave Vettraino provided additional production and mixing support, and Lightbody called in a robust team of friends to contribute throughout, including Macie Stewart, Sam Cantor, Emma Hospelhorn, Jack Henry Lickerman, and Cassandra Jenkins.

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Photo - makemade

Kelly Hunt - Clouds.

Memphis artist Kelly Hunt has announced a new album 'Requiem for a Sleepless Night,' out September 18 on Compass Records. Produced by Dirk Powell (Joan Baez, Rhiannon Giddens, Eric Clapton), Hunt's third full-length is largely inspired by the mental tangles of a fitful night. The songs radiate with a stunning fragility—cracked-open, tender, and swirling like an insomniac’s mind. 

On her most modern work to date, Hunt lets an open-tuned guitar guide the sound, adorned with harmonies courtesy of Amelia Powell. Artfully bridging traditional and contemporary influences, ‘Requiem…’ calls eclectic comparisons to the likes of Gillian Welch, Anaïs Mitchell, and Laura Marling.  

Kelly Hunt shares: "I crave long drives through the plains, the infinity of sky unfolding as far as eye can see. I do my best thinking on long, uncomplicated country roads where my mind has the chance to straighten out and run free. I wrote “Clouds” on one such dead-ahead drive through the Midwest—late summer afternoon, storm brewing. I’d been driving for hours, lost in thought, when my eyes suddenly focused on what looked like mountains rising in the distance. I quickly realized they were only clouds—a string of thunderheads weighing heavily on the horizon with all the seeming concreteness of a mountain range. The fleeting shock of this moment got me thinking about the power of illusions, how real illusory things can feel at times, and of our capacity to both create and dismantle stumbling blocks in our own minds."

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Photo - Sander Randall

Kate Prascher - They Will Fall Down.

Kate Prascher has released the third single from her highly anticipated sophomore album ‘Sunday Afternoon,’ out August 28 on First City Artists (Alexa Rose, Carly King). Described by Prascher as “an apocalyptic waltz,” it’s one of the album’s gentlest offerings. “It’s also about intimacy scaled up to include movement of the moon, the stars and the sun,” she continues, “with images of big endings and closeness to others, without much clarity on which one of those is bad and which is good.” Her musings on the sky sparkle over moving strings, the sound of submission to the uncanny experience of being alive: La da di da.

Kate Prascher was raised in Memphis, a childhood steeped in spiritual storytelling. “Where I’m from, it’s expected for the people in your life who’ve passed to show up again, one way or another,” she says. In adulthood, she carried that experience to New York City and embraced the lively vibrance of the city’s Bluegrass scene, taking mandolin lessons from Michael Daves and joining open sessions at staple venues like The Jalopy, Mona's, Sunny's. Prascher wrote about half the songs on ‘Sunday Afternoon’ while she was living in Brooklyn—the rest, after she left. 

“I’m interested in how environment informs identity,” she shares. “Leaving New York was a reckoning for me. I moved there out of ambition. If I left, could I still consider myself ambitious?” Now based upstate, she’s grateful for the opportunity to answer that question. “My life is less about chasing one thing, and more about grounded rituals, the practices of work and creation. I can hear myself more clearly. I know what I want to say.” 

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Tony Fox - I'm Wrecked.

The new single, "I'm Wrecked", was released a week ago so Beehive Candy is doing a little catching up on this one, in our opinion it's worth sharing and it's taken from the forthcoming debut album Holy Dancing Girls, released on 26th September.

Tony Fox are difficult to categorise, which is one of the reasons we fell in love with them. Their music blends punk, psych and poetry into something raw, honest and entirely their own. "I'm Wrecked" is a song about grief and remembrance, but it's ultimately uplifting—a reminder that the people we lose remain part of us. It's emotionally direct without ever feeling overworked or sentimental.

Mark Perry (Alternative TV / Sniffin' Glue) perhaps described the band best: "Grooving like The Velvets, live in '69, with Patti on vocals." The album itself is a wonderfully DIY affair, made with heart rather than budget, where that spirit shines through every track.

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Brodie Christ - 16 & 9 Lives.

Toronto songwriter Brodie Christ shares “16 & 9 Lives,” an uplifting and defiant alternative Canadiana single that questions the stories we inherit, repeat, and use to define ourselves. Built around warm acoustic instrumentation, conversational lyricism, and a reflective country-tinged sound, the track explores memory, identity, and the freedom that comes from realizing we are not bound to the versions of ourselves we once believed were permanent.

At its core, “16 & 9 Lives” examines the unreliable narratives we create about our own past. The song reflects on how memories are shaped by the moments when we need them most, and how the stories we tell about who we were can become limiting if we allow them to define who we are now. “Your memories betray you,” Brodie explains. “You were not as kind, as cool, as embarrassing, as wild, or as ugly as you thought you were.”

The song found its meaning after an unexpected moment of reflection at Brodie’s high school reunion. Returning to a place filled with old stories and familiar faces, he found himself reconsidering how people hold onto the past.

“Stories were recounted to me over that weekend – some flattering, some embarrassing, some prideful,” he shares. “All of them were lies, or at best exaggerations. I decided I wasn’t interested in being defined by any of it, and it was incredibly liberating.”

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Jessica Lorraine - The Passenger Seat.

Ever since picking up a guitar at age 13, Victorian singer-songwriter, Jessica Lorraine, has displayed tenacity and hard work to follow her music dream. Her family has played a huge role in where her music has taken her. As a surprise, she wrote “The Passenger Seat”, as special thank you gift to these early champions.

“The Passenger Seat is a song I wanted to write for a long time, a dedication to my family who have always been my biggest support”, says Jessica. “I wanted to surprise my family with a song to thank them for all their support and guidance. I’ve come so far - not only in my music journey - but in my personal life too, and that has been thanks to my family”, she says. “We really don’t say ‘Thank you, I love you’ to the closest to us enough, this song is for them. Dedicated to the thousands of kilometres we’ve travelled together for my music, literally and metaphorically.”

Hailing from the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Jessica showcases a rich, earthy and emotional intensity in her gorgeous vocals. Her introspective lyrics and warmth have a knack of drawing you into her orbit, offering a space for connection through story and song.

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Maripool - Twilark - Ariana Fig - Annie Leeth - Run Remedy - Ziemba

Photo - Carina Simoes

Maripool - Favourite.

Last month Lisbon-born, London-based songwriter Maripool (moniker of songwriter Natacha Simões) announced the release of her debut album Rotten Luck, an introspective body of work that captures the complexity of identity, memory, and return. Blending shoegaze and alt. indie, the record sees Simões pushing beyond the boundaries of previous EPs into something more expansive, collaborative, and emotionally direct.

This week, Maripool has shared ‘Favourite’, the second cut to be taken from the album. The single captures “the quiet unraveling of a relationship and the way the mind begins to drift elsewhere before things have fully ended. Finding distractions as a form of escapism and of softening the inevitable.”

Rotten Luck was written during a month-long residency in Lisbon in January 2025, and shaped by isolation as much as reconnection. Set within a decaying fisherman’s building across the river - a sparse room with a broken window, dripping ceilings, and no Wi-Fi - the environment forced a stillness that defined Simões’ writing process. Days were often spent in silence, watching the river or writing in bursts, while evenings brought a return to the city and a reconnection with a past life.

This duality sits at its heart. Across the album, Maripool explores displacement, migration, and the tension between past and present. Having left Lisbon as a teenager, returning to the city became a confrontation with identity - not just who she had become, but who she had once tried to leave behind. As she puts it, the album reflects “the process of reconnecting with a part of myself that never fully left… confronting who I am when everything external falls apart.” The album’s title, taken from one of the songs written during the residency, encapsulates this emotional landscape; a quiet reckoning with past missteps and the search for self that followed.

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Photo -  Layde Jane Vickers

Twilark - Tired to Sleep.

Raleigh-based songwriter Canon Pence, records as Twilark. This week he is sharing the third single from his forthcoming LP, "Tired to Sleep" a hangover anthem that balances darkness, humor, and heart. Erin Rae and Dominic Billett's hopeful harmonies bring a welcome sense of light to the morning after, while Pence's voice carries a warm, wistful ache. There's a gentle, conversational quality to his delivery that recalls Ben Gibbard at his most understated—intimate, melodic, and quietly devastating without ever feeling overworked.

Quote from Twilark: "Perhaps unsurprisingly, this song was written while wallowing in a hangover, the lyrics reflecting this with darkness, humor, and self-awareness. Drink some water and go back to sleep." North Carolina has long produced artists who balance experimentation with emotional immediacy. Twilark fits naturally within that continuum while carving out a voice that feels intimate, textured, and distinctly his own. 

The light touch of Pence’s voice establishes the spirit of this music, his meticulous storytelling and fine-tuned sense of the melancholic and ruminative. And it’s all shot through with a sense of gallows humor and a commitment to spontaneity and authenticity rather than perfection or self-seriousness. These values are even reflected in the album art which was created using a printing press and real book cloth; tactile and playful, touched by human hands.

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Photo - Natalie Nguyen

Ariana Fig - I Hope You Love Me.

Hamilton, ON-born singer-songwriter Ariana Fig shares “I Hope You Love Me,” a fast-moving, emotionally candid pop-folk single lifted from her upcoming debut album, So Long, Sinnerstate! (out August 14th). Written at the edge of a new relationship, the track captures the fragile, electric moment where excitement and fear collide: when falling in love feels like both a leap forward and a quiet plea for acceptance.

“I wrote the song the day before I went on my first date with my partner,” Fig explains. “It’s all about acknowledging how scary yet exciting new love can be, and hoping that someone new can learn to love you and your flaws.”

That emotional tension distills into the song’s title, which serves as both mantra and confession. For Fig, it reflects the internal dialogue of early love and the repetition of hope, uncertainty, and self-awareness that accompanies opening yourself up to someone new. “I would repeat it to myself during the early days of my relationship,” she says.

Written in collaboration with Emma Whale at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton, ON, the track began as a conversation about fear and the specific hesitation that comes from watching relationships around you fall apart. Instead of leaning into that anxiety, the pair shifted toward optimism, reframing vulnerability as possibility. “We wrote about the exciting possibility of finding yourself in someone else, and learning to love yourself while being with someone,” Fig shares.

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Photo -  José Nava

Annie Leeth - Effexor.

Singer-violinist-producer Annie Leeth constructs vivid and intriguing electro art-pop full of ache and hope, this week announcing Saturn Return and sharing the first single Effexor. 

Drawing listeners into introspective anger and acceptance, singer-musician-producer Annie Leeth's Saturn Return is an exploration in loss, self-love, and acceptance. Blending live percussion, layered strings and driving synths, the record captures the feeling of being alone and safe to process emotions after a long day; or a long year.

Saturn Return rides the line between experimental pop and electronica. Featuring percussion by Mason Davis and synth by Erik Olson, each track invites listeners into the vulnerability of youth's twilight, painful realization that the world one thought one was living in doesn’t exist. Drawing inspiration from fellow violinst-producer Laurie Anderson, as well as artists like Aphex Twin and Radiohead, Leeth’s experimental production is enveloping, sometimes otherworldly, but her measured hand allows breathing room for the lyrics to activate the foreground, raw and honest and full of acceptance that a clear, right answer is not worth waiting for.

Ultimately, Saturn Return is about the trauma of rejection  emotional equilibrium. It is a cohesive set of songs that, Leeth hopes, can act to remind listeners that they are not alone, and that feelings pass as long as they are acknowledged, as long as we continue to grow, learn, and be open to the experience.

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Run Remedy - Dissent.

Run Remedy returns with Not at the Table out September 11th, a strikingly intimate and conceptually ambitious EP that blurs the line between indie pop, lo-fi experimentation and alternative storytelling. Written in solitude and brought to life in a shipping container studio in Manchester, the project captures something raw and immediate: a body of work built on instinct, trust, and an unfiltered emotional core. Today she shares 'Dissent' as another preview for the EP.

The EP moves through a sequence of physical and emotional spaces, unfolding like a 24-hour cycle. Each track occupies its own sonic landscape, shifting from hushed, acoustic vulnerability to cinematic swells and fractured, experimental textures, all tied together by Run Remedy’s precise, confessional lyricism.

Sonically, Not at the Table pushes further into genre-bending territory than ever before. Drawing on influences ranging from Elliott Smith and The Smiths to Mitski, Adrianne Lenker and St. Vincent, the EP balances delicate folk intimacy with art-pop edge, post-rock builds and moments of off-kilter humour. There’s a constant interplay between sincerity and theatricality - a refusal to settle into one tone for too long.

“The title came first: a house, a dinner table, and the idea of everything that can’t be said in that shared space. The artwork, painted by artist Lili Holland-Fricke, shows that house, with different tensions playing out in each room. Each section zooms in on a different part of what’s happening inside, almost like moving through the house and getting closer to the different conversations (or non-conversations) happening in it.” 

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Photo - Jen Dessinger

Ziemba - The Pleasure Seekers.

Ziemba has not released a record in nearly six years and she's back this October with this absolute stunner. At times contemplative and earthy but more often truly baroque and stellar, The Braid is meticulously crafted and full of art rock / sophisti-pop gems. Gorgeous album cover, extraordinary songwriting and execution, this record is totally arresting. The first single, "The Pleasure Seekers" is out today. 

"The Pleasure Seekers" is both true story and allegory: a "not-wise-man" at a bar in Montana really did tell Ziemba’s René Kladzyk the lessons he learned during a mushroom trip about bad angels on a pleasure cruise to earth, and she latched onto the idea. “At that time, I was struggling with my own tendency toward escapism, excess and addiction,” Kladzyk said. “The fantasy that, maybe this is what I was brought here to do, maybe all my excesses have a celestial justification – it held a real allure for me, delusional as it was.” The song is a fitting introduction to a record that carefully maps the boundaries between hope and fantasy, escape and home, aiming for somewhere between transcendence and acceptance.

Buzzing with ferocious intensity, “The Pleasure Seekers” is the sonic version of sprinting through the pouring rain with utter abandon, tits out. “Running like a faucet, full blast.” Production marries “Sandanista!”-era The Clash, “White Chalk”-era PJ Harvey, and ABBA-esque choral pop. It just gets bigger and bigger. This song is horny for Life and all its marrow, while every so often catching glimpses of what it is we’re running from, chasing rapture. 

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Strawberry Alarm Clock - Clark Paterson - Maya de Vitry

Strawberry Alarm Clock - I'm Not The One / Tahitian Gardens.

With their new album Wher's One? announced and on the way in August, and a headlining gig at the world-renowned Tiki Oasis Festival serving as a blockbuster release party, '60s rock heroes and psychedelic music pioneers Strawberry Alarm Clock present one more double-sided single to preview the record. "I'm Not The One," an instant modern sunshine pop classic, is joined by an exclusive shorter version of the album track "Tahitian Gardens" (in tribute to the release show festival booking) for a pairing that's out

Strawberry Alarm Clock's forthcoming album Where's One? would be remarkable enough as the first collection of all-new music from the psych-rock legends since their '60s heyday, but there's much more to it than nostalgia. The band's current lineup is almost certainly uniquely bonafide among their '60s peers, featuring five members from their original run of four albums from 1967-1969: Mark Stephen Weitz (keyboards), Randy Seol (drums/percussion), George Bunnell (bass), Gene Gunnels (drums/percussion), and Steve Bartek (guitar, flute, sitar and production, also well-known as a founding member of Oingo Boingo) plus guitarist Howie Anderson who's been a full member since their 1986 reunion. 

The decades of musical chemistry are a key part of what keeps the band so compelling to fans of all ages, onstage (as evidenced by the multigenerational crowds attending the band's live shows, often at the Whisky on LA's Sunset Strip where it all began) and on this record. But what makes Where's One? so much more than just a trip down memory lane is a sense of adventure, experimentation and ambition that few from their generation can conjure with such thrilling results.

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Clark Paterson  - Are You Lonely Like Me? (Album). 

Clark Paterson’s Are You Lonely Like Me? is a record shaped by hard years, dark humor, and the stubborn decision to keep moving forward anyway. Written through heartbreak, illness, fatherhood, loss, recovery, and reinvention, the album feels deeply lived-in, the sound of someone taking inventory of a life while still standing in the middle of it. There’s loneliness here, but also resilience, warmth, and the crooked grin of somebody who’s survived enough to stop romanticizing anything.

Produced by Eric McConnell and Shawn Byrne, the record leans into a sound that feels timeless without becoming overly polished or nostalgic. The production is cinematic and atmospheric. Lush yet restrained, loose in all the right places, with the kind of texture and imperfection that makes a record feel human. Old-school country soul collides with folk storytelling, and flashes of punk spirit, creating a sound that feels equally at home in a dive bar, an empty highway, or a half-lit movie scene at closing time.

Written alongside longtime collaborator Mark Cline Bates, the songs explore memory, mortality, love, isolation, aging, and the uneasy comedy of being alive long enough to watch life humble you a few times. Paterson has a rare ability to deliver hard truths without turning sentimental, balancing grit with tenderness and self-awareness with sharp wit. The humor never undercuts the emotion. It deepens it.

At the heart of the record is the title track, “Are You Lonely Like Me?” an aching, beautiful song that quietly asks the question hanging over the entire album: not just whether we’re lonely, but whether we’re still capable of reaching each other through all the noise, damage, history, and hope we carry around.

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Photo - Ethan Jodziewicz

Maya de Vitry - All My Faith (Album).

A profound connection to nature runs throughout the record—not as a passing metaphor, but as an elemental and transformative force shaping both her voice as a songwriter and her orientation as an artist. At its heart, the album reflects on the ways human beings choose to care for one another in myriad forms and on the generative healing and wisdom that emerge from our relationships—with each other and with the natural world.

Originally from the green rolling hills of Lancaster, PA, de Vitry is a Nashville-based artist whose music blurs the lines of folk, indie rock, and Americana. With a voice that glides effortlessly between tenderness and strength, her performances radiate with presence, spontaneity, and soul.

All My Faith’s 10 original songs were all written by Maya over the last year. Forgoing the technology often used to “perfect” studio recordings, de Vitry chose instead to fully trust the moment-to-moment musical conversations and choices of the players and singers gathered around her. “When the band realized that I was planning to do no edits whatsoever on these tracks, the level of commitment from everyone just soared. It was a really exciting atmosphere in the studio,” de Vitry recalls.

Maya sings and plays acoustic guitar on the entire album, and she enlisted Spencer Cullum and Ethan Ballinger (both members of Miranda Lambert’s touring band) for pedal steel and guitar, alongside Jo Schornikow (of alt-country/indie band Phosphorescent) on keys. They are joined by frequent members of de Vitry’s live band: Ethan Jodziewicz on bass, Dominic Billett on drums, and Shelby Means and Joel Timmons on harmony vocals. The band’s playing is responsive, uninhibited, and emotionally spot on. True to de Vitry’s vision, everything that you hear on this record was captured in real time and recorded over three days at The Tractor Shed in Goodlettsville, TN, from November 23 to 25, 2025.

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Josaleigh Pollett - Bywater Call - Lynn Hollyfield - Rusty Shackle - Black Bordello - Bri Fletcher

Josaleigh Pollett - If I Let It Quiet (Album).

Salt Lake City-based singer-songwriter Josaleigh Pollett has issued their fourth full-length album, ‘If I Let It Quiet.’ Produced by long-time collaborator Jordan Watko (Crowd Shy), the record is released via Audio Antihero (Frog / Tiberius / Avery Friedman / CIAO MALZ / Darren Hayman) and Lavender Vinyl on digital and vinyl. A tour of the Pacific Northwest and West Coast accompany the album's release. The work of Pollett and Watko has received a slow burn of recognition over the years, reaching a broader audience with 2023’s electronics-infused ‘In the Garden, By the Weeds,’ thanks to support from notable outlets, including NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, as well as awards and end-of-year lists.

Pollett went on to share bills with St. Vincent, Torres, Deep Sea Diver, DeVotchKa, Mini Trees, and Hibou, as well as performing at Kilby Block Party. Outside of their work with Watko, Pollett’s output included a prolific run of collaborations that included Ekko Astral in 2024 and 2025, in addition to writing a song a day in January 2025 (released as ‘bro’s bad january’). 

“This album is an exploration of what it takes to quiet the noise of geographical and emotional distance in order to hear ourselves and the ones who see us. In true independent DIY fashion and similar to 2023's In The Garden, By The Weeds, If I Let It Quiet is recorded mostly at home between my Salt Lake City makeshift home studio and Jordan's apartment in Japan. The difference this time is that we're bringing in more collaborations. In particular, Andrew Goldring, who in addition to mixing and mastering, brought deeper instrumentation to If I Let It Quiet.” – Josaleigh Pollett. 

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Bywater Call - Broken Souvenirs (Album).

A powerhouse seven-piece Southern soul, roots rock outfit from Toronto, Canada; Bywater Call was nominated for the 2025 UK Blues Award for International Blues Artist of the year for the second straight year, alongside artists such as Beth Hart and Walter Trout.

The band has also received multiple Independent Blues and Canadian Maple Blues Award nominations including Entertainer, Electric Act and Best Female Vocalist for the 2024 Awards Season.

Bywater Call’s music is an exploration of life’s highs and lows. From intimate ballads that lay bare the complexities of human emotion to electrifying anthems that demand to be played at full volume, their catalogue is a journey through human experience, featuring influences from the likes of The Band, The Wood Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Otis Redding, Little Feat, Sly and the Family Stone, and many more.

Often transcending genres, Bywater Call is known for their dynamic, emotional live shows, featuring powerful vocals and exciting interplay between all band members. And now, on the heels of a highly successful European tour and in the middle of their American tour here is their new album. 

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Lynn Hollyfield - Diving In (Album).

We have the new folk album Diving In from award-winning singer-songwriter Lynn Hollyfield. The album was produced by Grammy-nominated Seth Glier and 
is a stunning collection of songs that reveal the twists and turns in life, our humanness, loss, love, the times we are in, and the path we choose to go through. The range of styles on the album can mostly be called contemporary folk, with a few having a traditional feel and a timeless vibe.

Blend a beautiful alto voice, crisp acoustic guitar, and a heartfelt perspective on the world, and you have Lynn Hollyfield. Known for her warm stage presence and emotionally rich songs, she connects effortlessly with audiences. Writing in a contemporary folk style, Lynn weaves in jazz-influenced chords and bluesy guitar alongside passionate vocals, think Mary Chapin Carpenter meets Bonnie Raitt with a touch of George Gershwin. The result is her own distinctive voice, witty, soulful, and reflective.

Lynn has been writing songs since her teenage years, growing up on Staten Island, NY, surrounded by a wide range of musical influences, from jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to artists like The Beatles and Neil Young. She began performing locally at a young age and later gained recognition as part of the duo Hollyfield & Spruill, appearing at festivals such as the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

After launching her solo career, Lynn released several acclaimed albums, including LAYERS (2010), IN THE BALANCE (2014), and LOOK UP (2024), earning national and international airplay along with multiple songwriting awards including being listed in the Top Artists/ Top Albums for the International Folk Alliance. During the pandemic, she also published a children’s book, The Tree, The Ship and Me, with its accompanying song recognized as a finalist in the Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest.

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Rusty Shackle - Stand Up Tall.

Welsh Folk / Rock band 'Rusty Shackle' new single 'Stand Up Tall' was released Friday 24th July. Taken from their forthcoming Album 'Mayfield' which is set for release at the end of August. A raw, heartfelt reflection on friendship, self-confidence andperseverance when times are hard. The universal message inviteslisteners to find their own meaning within the song, but at its heart,it serves as a mantra of encouragement for anyone who feels lost oroverlooked in life.Musically, the track embraces a stripped-back folk sound inspired bythe poetic storytelling of Neil Young, the pastoral textures of The Decemberists and Fleet Foxes, and the understated warmth of Wilco.The unvarnished arrangement allows the song's message to takecentre stage, creating an intimate and timeless atmosphere thatreflects its themes of resilience, compassion, and hope

Rusty Shackle are a hard-gigging folk-rock band from South Wales, known for their infectious energy, anthemic songs, and genre-blurring sound drawn from folk, rock, and indie roots. Since forming in 2010, they’ve built a loyal following through relentless touring and a reputation for exhilarating live shows that get crowds on their feet.

The band have released five studio albums to date, each one expanding their sonic palette while staying rooted in rich melodies, heartfelt lyrics, and a love of storytelling. Their 2022 release, Under a Bloodshot Moon, reached number 2 in the UK Folk Albums Chart and was praised as “a winner” by Get Ready to Rock and “their finest album yet” by Liverpool Sound and Vision.

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Black Bordello - Fugue.

Art-rock provocateurs Black Bordello announce their new EP, Midheaven Tempest, due 18th September 2026 via AWAL, and unveil its first offering with the new single 'Fugue' (24th July 2026), a Fitzgeraldian world of sepia-tinted nostalgia. 'Fugue' offers the first glimpse into the immersive world of Midheaven Tempest, a collection that sees Black Bordello deepen their singular dialogue between art-rock, post-punk and cinematic atmosphere. Expansive yet intimate, the EP embraces contrast, where ornate arrangements meet raw immediacy, and gothic romanticism collides with moments of striking clarity.

With 'Fugue', the band continue to blur the boundaries of artistic, gothic and experimental rock, while drawing more openly from the dramatic sweep and melodic ambition of 1970s rock music. Threaded with baroque flourishes and taut post-punk tension, the single unfolds as a richly layered introduction to the conceptual landscape of Midheaven Tempest, hinting at an EP that is both emotionally resonant and sonically adventurous.

The romantic Hammond-organ introduction to ‘Fugue’ evokes 1920s picture houses and travelling carnival calliopes, hinting at a Fitzgeraldian world of sepia-tinted nostalgia. But any promise of reverie is quickly upended by the verse’s psychedelic, buoyant theatricality. Dripping with the weary, eye-rolling detachment of Peggy Lee’s Is That All There Is?, the track instead unfolds in a haze of Velvet Underground fuzz, Black Heart Procession gloom, and Nick Cave–esque refrains. It moves through jarring shifts in tempo and melody, each one underscoring the band’s restless drive to experiment rather than settle into nostalgia.

Speaking on the single, vocalist and songwriter Sienna Bordello says: “Fugue is a joyful stab into the cardboard cutouts on the set of society's stage. It's our gift to music nerds, inspired by Bach.” 

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Bri Fletcher - Salt Water.

Nashville country artist Bri Fletcher releases new single "Salt Water." Bri Fletcher is crying good tears on her new single, “Salt Water,” an R&B-leaning country anthem that cleverly uses the healing properties of salt water as a remedy for heartbreak. While the production embraces a smoother, more soulful sound, Fletcher’s signature storytelling remains at the heart of the track, blending emotional honesty with undeniable vulnerability.

The song explores the idea that sometimes the first step toward moving on isn’t pretending you’re okay — it’s allowing yourself to feel everything. Fletcher transforms tears into a symbol of hope with the lyric, “Thought I’d never be the one to cry online / But WebMD just said I’ll be alright.”

Its memorable chorus reinforces the song’s central message: “Salt water, it’s good for my skin / I ain’t bothered, it’s got healing benefits / It’ll clean my wounds, rid me right of you / When these tears are running down my face / Salt water, yeah I’ll be okay.”

“Salt Water” marks another step in Fletcher’s evolving artistry, pairing contemporary R&B influences with the heartfelt lyricism that first established her as a country songwriter. It’s a reminder that growth doesn’t always come from hiding your emotions — sometimes it comes from embracing them. With “Salt Water,” Bri Fletcher continues to carve out a lane entirely her own, proving that authentic storytelling can transcend genre while resonating with anyone who has ever cried, healed, and found strength on the other side of heartbreak.

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This Is The Deep - A. Lee Edwards - Starpainter - Kate Prendergast - Lottie McLeod - Cassady Southern

Photo - Reuben Bastienne-Lewis

This Is The Deep - I'm Making.

London collective This Is The Deep announce their debut album Everything (Dick Herman, The Whale and The End Of The Beginning) arriving November 11th via 5dB Records (Mould, Martial Arts, anaiis, Ashaine White), and release of the kaleidoscopic and hallucinatory 'I'm Making.' Self-produced with additional production from SHOLTO, David Bardon, and Patrick Fitzroy (Katy J Pearson, Sorry), the upcoming album Everything is a richly detailed body of work that balances instinctive indie immediacy with the band’s broader, cinematic and playful art-rock ambitions. Across the record, a surreal fable emerges, unfolding through themes of perception, desire, consumption and escape.

New single 'I'm Making' brings all the contrasting elements to life. Pivoting between post-punk urgency, chamber-pop elegance and psychedelic abstraction, the track moves through jagged rhythmic shifts and intricate arrangements of strings, harp, bass, synth, guitars and percussion. Restless and unpredictable, it captures This Is The Deep’s ability to balance melodic immediacy with a persistent sense of the uncanny.

The result is a sound that moves fluidly between surreal, The Mighty Boosh-like imagery and a wide musical palette spanning the orchestral expansiveness of Smile-era Beach Boys, the chambered intensity of Black Country, New Road, the decadent theatricality of Roxy Music, and the experimental pop sensibilities of The Beatles.

Playful, curious and gloriously unconcerned with genre boundaries, the track captures a collective equally interested in experimentation and melody. Speaking about the single, band leader Ranald explains: "I'm Making is a song that explores the idea that life is more creative than we think. We make many things we don't even realise: Journeys, conversations, faces, spaces, and ultimately our own realities." 

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Photo - Molly Harris.

A. Lee Edwards - Without You.

A. Lee Edwards' latest single, "Without You," is out now. A quietly powerful song built around Alan's warm vocals and guitar, it carries a sense of reflection and longing, with an emotional weight that sneaks up on you.

"Without You" was inspired by a line from an old newspaper editorial I carried folded up in my wallet for years. The song came from thinking about disappearing mill towns, fading dreams, lost love, and how a lot of the things that once made life feel hopeful and connected seem to be slipping away. It’s about personal loss, but also the feeling that an entire way of life is disappearing.

At the center is Edwards’ self-taught fingerpicking guitar—patient, melodic, and unadorned. His playing forms the backbone for songs that remain sparse, sweet, and disarmingly direct. Like the work of Raymond Carver after Gordon Lish, Edwards’ writing finds its power in understatement, illuminating small moments of everyday life with clarity and emotional weight. The songs continue his ongoing meditation on what it means to be human, shaped by experience, sobriety, and the quiet rewards that come from paying attention.

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Starpainter - Rabbits.

After sharing the stunning single "I Found a River" at the beginning of June, this week Starpainter officially confirm their new album, Cayenne Flowerbed, will be out Sept. 9 on Ram On Records. The pride of Lethbridge, Alberta has also released the single "Rabbits" and announced fall Canadian tour dates in support of the album.

Cayenne Flowerbed is the follow-up to Starpainter's acclaimed 2023 album Rattlesnake Dream, and carries their musical vision into uncharted territory with the help of producer Chris Dadge (Alvvays, Chad VanGaalen). "Rabbits" showcases the band's more meditative side, musically echoing artists like My Morning Jacket and Fleet Foxes.

Singer/songwriter Joel Stretch explains, "'Rabbits' explores the ghost-like space certain people take up in my mind after they're no longer physically present -- friends, family, or artists I admire who have died, or even just people I used to be close to that I've lost touch with. I still live with their guiding presence and perspectives sort of looming over me even though they're not around in my life anymore. I really love the parts everyone in the band laid down on this one. It's one of my all-time favourite arrangements on a Starpainter tune."

Starpainter -- who along with Stretch is comprised of Joel Gray, Mickey Hayward, Dylan Wagner, Bailey Kate, and Tyler Stewart -- intended Cayenne Flowerbed, to be a bold artistic statement, exploring new sides of their signature indie-twang sound. Across the album's eleven tracks, the blend of cinematic folk, fuzzy country rock, and richly textured pop songs reflects how the band has honed its approach over the past few years of performing together.

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Kate Prendergast - Exhale.

“There’s no I left in this team.” Hidden within an ethereal wrapping of melodic guitar and soulful piano, Exhale is a bittersweet reflection of hard truths about the struggle of maintaining one-sided relationships. A mix of emotional turmoil, powerful vocals, and a rich musical tapestry, Exhale takes us on a journey through oscillating cycles of hope and failure. It raises caution about self-criticism and the treacherous comforts of familiarity in relationships where disappointment and disillusionment reign.

Written by Kate Prendergast, Exhale is the first track in her forthcoming EP also called Exhale. It continues the Meath based singer-songwriter's collaboration with veteran producer Declan Legge of Big Space Studios and is released under his Stray Dogs Records Label.

"Something brand new from Kate Prendergast who worships at the altar of Radiohead. But to me her music has been funnelled through the autumnal Irish countryside and it came out even more interesting than Radiohead. It's very Irish, it's very up my street, a song called Exhale on BBC Introducing."     Taylor Arthur Johnson, BBC Introducing.

Kate Prendergast is a young, rising Irish multi-instrumentalist with a gift for crafting deeply evocative songs, blending indie folk, blues, country and alternative rock. Her music is a raw and soulful mix of personal reflection and sharp storytelling, shaped by influences ranging from Bob Dylan to Radiohead and Jeff Buckley.

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Lottie McLeod - Wednesdays at the Waterloo.

Magan-djin/Brisbane-based singer-songwriter Lottie McLeod shows off her wry, lighter and more playful side on new single + video 'Wednesdays at the Waterloo,' a song that sprung up organically about losing at pub trivia due to a wordless crush on your teammate, taking the warm, indie-pop/alt-country sounds of previous single 'Sunburnt' to starry-eyed heights. The new music comes as McLeod is set to embark on tour in October across so-called VIC, NSW and QLD in support of her forthcoming The Boathouse EP; also recently announced as local support for Harlan Goode. The Boathouse EP which will include previous singles 'Important To You' and 'Sunburnt' is out Friday 25 September.

With its light-hearted indie-pop/alt-folk bounce and Lottie McLeod's wry-yet-rose-tinted breathless vocals & lyricism - almost following the circular rhythms of what it's like to have a crush's name going round your head, 'Wednesdays at the Waterloo' and its tongue-in-cheek clip paint the picture of a ultra-specific situation: doggedly losing each week at pub trivia just to spend time with an unknowing crush. 

Thanks to Lottie McLeod's "reputation for turning hyper-personal moments into something painfully recognisable" (Backseat Mafia UK), her sharp-yet-warm pen renders 'Wednesdays at the Waterloo', at its core, into a song about being left wordless by someone, wanting to tell them how you feel but it never seems like the right time, and choosing - with a self-aware smile - to keep quiet about it, knowing that can't last but getting a little lost in it all anyway. 

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Cassady Southern - Wild Horses.

Sometimes a cover of a classic song comes along that simply cannot be ignored. I'm old enough to remember the original first time around, and there is no point repeating exactly the same, so a fresher, less intense yet very personal take, really does work for Beehive Candy. So to the background: This cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”, by singer-songwriter Cassady Southern, is based on an acoustic guitar recording by her late father, John, which she found after his passing. Cassady has built on this recording, adding a compelling and unique vocal take accompanied by stunning electric guitar and drums inspired by the original recording. 

This rendition honours their lifelong love of the band and transforms a timeless classic into a moving tribute to family and enduring influence. It features John Southern on acoustic guitar, Rob Drummond on electric guitar, Glenn Welman on drums, Luke Payne on bass, Cassady Southern on vocals and Luke Payne on backing vocals.

John Southern recorded the acoustic guitar himself and the vocals and electric guitar were recorded at Parliament Studios by Luke Payne (Luke Payne Sound), mixed by Luke Payne, produced by Luke and Cassady and mastered by Darren Ziesing (Millennium Mastering).

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