BEEHIVE CANDY

Charlotte Carpenter - Spinning Plates. Spinning Plates is the first track taken from East Midland’s singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter’s debut album due late 2023. “There’s a lot to unpack in this song” explains Charlotte, “from societal pressures on the roles you are meant to fulfill as a woman, alongside the struggle of keeping up a relentless positivity to being a musician – and how impossible it is to ever get the balance between the two.” Born out of being overwhelmed, anxious, and it fight or flight mode, this inner turmoil acted like lighter fluid on the song which Charlotte describes as “Erupting out of nowhere and finished in one day,” with its thundering bluesy edges and burning refrain “I can’t find a way out, a way out, a way out.” Spinning Plates is a defiant return with a background story offering a stark reminder of the prevailing sexism and exploitative power structures with the music industry. Following a successful run of early EPs, championed by BBC 6 Music, BBC

Lead Pony - Vultures. San Diego psych/blues rock group Lead Pony release their new single, “Vultures” this week, the title-track to their upcoming debut full-length, which they have announced for a July 14 release. Discussing the single, guitarist Jesse Hofstee noted, "’Vultures’ is a story about someone leaving their hometown to go to the city and 'make it big'. It’s about change, taking risks and finding yourself, but also a cautionary tale about the vultures that will take advantage of people that are finding themselves, and send them in the wrong direction. It was one of the first songs we wrote for the record that started to lay the groundwork for the sound and idea of this being a record about the city.” Lead Pony emerged in 2017, releasing their debut EP, Eclipse, and quickly followed with the appropriately titled, double-single, Two Love Songs in 2018. The band toured relentlessly, and had successes getting music placements, including on the TV show “Shameless”. I

The Pairs - Sunday To Tuesday (Live version at EMAC). Family is what ties The Pairs together. With soaring harmonies, they share stories of life's hope, hilarity, and hardship. An honest, quirky stage presence and their unbottled chemistry quickly connects them with their audience. The line between the stage and the crowd becomes blurred as if we've all pulled up a seat around their lively kitchen table. As musicians, our work takes us away from home and many people that we care deeply for. It’s a challenge to find a balance between a life of roaming on the road while still nurturing the kind of loving relationships that we each long for – Lead vocalist Renée Coughlin. The Pairs' new track, "Sunday to Tuesday," was written in a time when Renée was attempting to carve space in her life to be able to hold on to all of the things that she loved. While close relationships at home didn't see the benefits of a Friday to Sunday weekend, and free weekday evenings, Re

Margo Cilker - Lowland Trail. "Lowland Trail" is the first song to be taken from the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her acclaimed debut Pohorylle which Uncut described as "one of the most auspicious debuts of recent times" back in 2021. The new album "Valley Of Heart’s Delight” is released on September 15th and sees Cilker working with the same team of Sera Cahoone on production duties with John Morgan Askew recording the album at his Bocce Studio just outside Portland, Oregon. Cilker says of "Lowland Trail": I wrote this song living in a place where a rise in elevation paid off spectacularly.  And I would climb. Yet, I began to crave just placing one foot in front of the other; a more meditative wandering. Less risk, less reward. ====================================================================== Dubmatix - The Ska Sessions (Volume 1).  For the past few years I’ve had an idea bubbling around my head - could I create a song a day, and for how lo

Ålesund - Rode Off Into The Sun. Bristol-based alt-pop outfit Ålesund release their single 'Rode Off Into The Sun', today May 12th 2023. The second single to come from their upcoming EP, Rode Off Into The Sun is a triumphant, up tempo, galloping tune that is made for summer months. Fronted by the ethereal vocals of British-Norwegian singer-songwriter Alba Torriset, Ålesund's sound is a fusion of dreamy pop hooks, atmospheric soundscapes and alternative rock riffs, which have drawn comparisons to the likes of Kate Bush, Florence and the Machine and London Grammar. Lyrically, Rode Off Into The Sun reflects on the admiration held for a character who knows her worth, who picks herself despite any adversity and makes the best out of any situation. “I was so impressed by a friend who had been dealt a rough hand and instead of wallowing and seeing the glass as half empty, she just dusted herself off and charged on with making the best out of her life. It was inspiring to witness

Kacey Johansing - Daffodils. Today Kacey Johansing announces the upcoming release of her new album Year Away. The LA-based songwriter has also shared a new video for “Daffodils,” the first single and a stunning centerpiece to the album, built from a pastiche of looping samples, swirling Mellotron and dazzling vibraphone. Year Away will be released on July 28th via Night Bloom records. An elegiac tribute to someone facing death with grace and curiosity, “Daffodils” finds Johansing confronting own mortality by observing the brief lifespan of a flower. “Keep your heart open wide, you never know your time / Keep your heart wild, true flower child”, Johansing sings as she says goodbye to an elder, while the band reaches a grief-stricken crescendo of woodwinds and chiming bells. Johansing writes, “Daffodils are one of the first flowers to bloom as the earth begins to thaw, coming even before spring and often emerging from the snow. The vibrant yellow is a sign that a seasonal shift is on th

ANGHARAD - Because I Am A Woman. ANGHARAD is an artist and songwriter with fire, passion and unflinching honesty at the core of all her music. The first single from her debut solo album had to be ‘Because I Am A Woman’, a confident and positive ‘call to arms’. As ANGHARAD explains: “‘Because I Am A Woman’ was written as a response to the widely accepted beliefs in the music industry that it’s not possible to be a mother and have a successful career. I received some hostile reactions myself when I announced that I was pregnant. I was told that I was unambitious and that I was no longer serious about following a career in music. These outdated, sexist attitudes need to change. This is a call to arms to any woman who has experienced similar attitudes and expressing the need to stand up for change. Rather than getting angry about it, this song says “yes we can!” And “yes, we are capable of anything!” I believe it is possible to have both, and do both well, when society will allow us. ====

Panic Pocket - Get Me. London-based Sophie Peacock and Natalie Healey have been friends since childhood, know each other’s secrets - and probably know a few of yours too. Panic Pocket are sassy, sardonic and bursting with amazing songs. Fuelled by claustrophobia and frustration, new single Get Me is consumed by the desire to push the escape button. Lyrically, the song grapples with a fear of commitment and a determination to defy life expectations. This sense of cathartic destruction is mirrored in the music. Get Me sees the band stomping on the distortion pedal, building a life-affirming anthem from layers of chunky riffs. The deliberately lo-fi video, shot on an old digital camera Sophie found in the attic, is delightfully deadpan – all snarls and eye rolls against candyfloss backdrops. Get Me was the obvious choice for the opening track on debut album Mad Half Hour, where Panic Pocket set out their intentions and give you a safe space to scream it all out with them. If you want pun

Meagre Martin - All My Thoughts Berlin via Boston up-and-coming indie project Meagre Martin share their gripping and intimate new single, "All My Thoughts." The track is out now on Mansions and Millions. On the track, the lead-member Sarah Martin offers: "All My Thoughts' is about the pervasive feelings of grief and how we internalize it. How we continue to reference grief and the ones we've lost for the entirety of our lives. It describes how grief can shape the way we move through the world after those people are no longer here to advise us. It talks about this afterlife connection and also the ultimate fear of mortality and failure." Meagre Martin is a Berlin-based indie music project founded by African-American musician/songwriter Sarah Martin (she/her) in the summer of 2021. Sarah is originally from Boston MA, but moved to Berlin Germany in the fall of 2017. Searching for meaning in a crumbling global climate, this project was created as a means of sur