Courtney Graf examines the difficult questions behind ‘Blame Myself’
‘Blame Myself’ is a restrained and deeply personal reflection on self-respect, emotional dependency and the difficulty of recognising when a relationship has become harmful. Written during Courtney Graf’s former marriage, the song emerged from a period of domestic abuse and captures the uncertainty she experienced while trying to reconcile commitmentContinue Reading
August Benjamin brings two generations of songs into the same room on self-titled debut album
August Benjamin’s self-titled album is shaped by inheritance in the most literal sense. The Vermont singer-songwriter’s nine-track debut brings together his own material with unfinished songs originally started by his father, Colin, creating a record where two generations of writing gradually fold into one another. Some ideas are recent, othersContinue Reading
Margot White swallows the truth whole on ‘Cruelest Pill’
‘Cruelest Pill’ lives in the difficult moment when clarity arrives too late to leave the past untouched. The new single from London-based artist Margot White explores the kind of revelation that changes not only how you see the present, but how you understand everything that came before it. Written fromContinue Reading
Haikunika builds a strange, absorbing world on ‘Ludorigen’
Ludorigen is an album that rewards attention. The debut full-length from Haikunika, the solo project of electronic artist Veronica Polo, moves patiently between downtempo electronica and experimental pop, creating a record that feels more concerned with atmosphere, texture and ideas than with any obvious immediacy. Its central themes are broad: consciousness,Continue Reading
“Children of the Lord” Brings the Argument of Christians for Goliath Into Focus
Photo credit: Shawn Poynter The title Christians for Goliath places a familiar biblical story under uncomfortable pressure. Adeem the Artist’s forthcoming album considers how a religious tradition associated with mercy can become aligned with power at the expense of vulnerable people. Its latest single, “Children of the Lord,” brings thatContinue Reading
torched porsche transforms literature into a loaded weapon on ‘dangerous things’
On new single ‘dangerous things’, Toronto-based artist torched porsche turns literature, language and the reproduction of ideas into the basis for a dark, unpredictable piece of alt-pop. Built from sampling, synths and hard-hitting beats, the track deliberately avoids settling into one genre, moving between hip-hop, indie-pop and electronic music withContinue Reading
Die Tired refuse to stand still on ‘Every Day Every Way’
Die Tired have built much of their identity around the idea of continuing forward when life becomes difficult, and ‘Every Day Every Way’ puts that philosophy at the centre of the music. The Pennsylvania alt-rock band’s latest single is energetic, immediate and deliberately uplifting, but its optimism never feels detachedContinue Reading
Allan Jamisen learns you can’t outrun yourself on ‘Leave It All Behind’
‘Leave It All Behind’ explores that familiar fantasy that somewhere else might make everything different. And Phoenix-based composer, painter and outsider artist Allan Jamisen approaches that idea with a mixture of romanticism and scepticism, turning the promise of escape into something far more complicated. The song imagines the rush ofContinue Reading
Hermidgets finds the seduction inside self-destruction on ‘Like Moths’
There’s a crucial difference between wanting to escape a destructive relationship and wanting to disappear inside it, and ‘Like Moths’, the new single from Hermidgets, is more interested in the second possibility. The song approaches emotional dependency as something disturbingly seductive, where surrender isn’t simply a consequence of the relationshipContinue Reading
Futurecop! turns nostalgia into motion on ‘One Last Time’
Futurecop! has always understood that nostalgia works best when it is moving. And on new single ‘One Last Time’, Manchester-based producer Manzur Iqbal takes the emotional pull of memory and pushes it through French electro, indie-dance and shimmering synth-pop, creating something that feels euphoric on the surface while carrying aContinue Reading