Swiss multi-instrumentalist and producer Dean Sorn unveils a beautifully atmospheric new single, “Baby Run”, featuring vocalist Clara Klinger. Developed and recorded in the remote, idyllic surroundings of the Bernese Jura, the track captures a distinctive musical world shaped by its creator's surroundings and creative instincts. Blending melancholic indie-soul with psychedelic textures and an authentic lo-fi aesthetic, “Baby Run” is an intriguing and richly detailed piece of songwriting that rewards repeated listening.
Recorded and produced entirely by Sorn himself, the single combines wistful melodies with subtle sonic details, creating an intimate sound that feels both timeless and refreshingly individual. Klinger's vocal contribution adds another dimension to the arrangement, complementing the psychedelic atmosphere and giving the song an appealing emotional depth. There's an unhurried, organic quality to the production that allows the music to breathe, making this a particularly engaging release.
Sorn is currently developing further material alongside singers Simone van Rijn, Nina Sphera and Clara Klinger, while remaining committed to a hands-on approach to making music. In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and automated production, he deliberately favours human creativity and the natural imperfections that give recordings their character. His aim is to preserve the vitality and emotional depth of every song, something that comes across clearly in “Baby Run”.
With decades of musical experience behind him, Sorn first made his mark as a drummer during the early 1990s, performing with Salmonella Q, Yellow Snow and other projects, as well as making television and radio appearances. Today, he runs his own recording studio, continuing to explore and refine his distinctive musical vision as a composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. “Baby Run” is a lovely example of an artist following his own creative path, delivering atmospheric, thoughtful music with genuine personality.
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| Photo - Kate Kantur |
Wales-based singer-songwriter and producer Johanna Warren returns with “The Current”, an enchanting new single offering another glimpse into her forthcoming album Frog in the Belly of a Snake, due January 29 via Soul Selects. Marking her first full-length release in almost five years, the album promises to be a fascinating return, with Warren drawing listeners into an immersive world of psychedelic folk, delicate instrumentation and otherworldly vocals. “The Current” is a particularly captivating introduction, combining poetic storytelling with a hypnotic musical atmosphere.
Built around spindly folk instrumentation and Warren's beautifully ethereal voice, the track explores generational healing and the nonlinear nature of time. Her candid yet cosmic lyrics unfold almost like musical incantations, creating an enchanted atmosphere in which personal truths and spiritual reflections intertwine. There's a wonderful sense of mystery to the arrangement, with its delicate textures and psychedelic flourishes allowing Warren's distinctive songwriting to shine.
The new single follows “Automatic”, a more driving and angsty introduction to the album, which earned praise from Consequence as one of its Best Songs of the Week. Warren has also released “Islamorada”, a beautifully lovesick confession featuring Chris St. Hilaire of The Black Keys on electric guitar and David Rothon of Marissa Nadler on pedal steel. Both tracks demonstrate the breadth of her musical imagination and the emotional depth that has made her such a compelling artist.
Beyond the music, Warren has announced an extensive US tour beginning in February 2027, with Californian folk duo Magnetize providing support. An enthusiastic herbalist and advocate of ecological responsibility, she plans to feature local herbalists and regenerative farmers at every show, highlighting sustainable food systems and ancestral knowledge. It's an admirable extension of the values running through her creative work, reflecting her belief in reconnecting people with nature and one another. With “The Current”, Johanna Warren offers another beautiful reason to look forward to her long-awaited new album.
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Seattle-based alternative rock songwriter Goldi Locke turns a period of personal upheaval into something wonderfully warm and engaging on her new three-song EP, Anywhere, which arrived November 12. Following the final months of a relationship in Chicago and a three-day drive west with everything she owned packed into a Ford Escape, the songs chart a journey towards home, healing and starting over. With echoes of Beach Bunny, Soccer Mommy, Liz Phair and The Cranberries, Locke combines direct, honest songwriting with melodies that are occasionally irresistibly catchy.
There is an added emotional depth to the EP in Locke’s work as a therapist. While spending her days helping others navigate their difficulties, she was privately struggling with the realisation that love cannot always mend what is broken. Learning that you cannot do someone else's healing for them became an important part of her own journey, and songwriting offered a welcome space where she didn't need to find solutions. Instead, she could allow the confusion, sadness and uncertainty to exist, transforming difficult experiences into songs with warmth and genuine feeling.
The title track emerged after Locke had completed her journey back to Seattle and was beginning to settle into familiar surroundings. A melody and the line “driving in my Ford Escape” arrived while she was relaxing in bed listening to Beach Bunny, with the song gradually taking shape through collaborations with a friend and her father, guitarist and producer Dave Locke. Their father-daughter partnership is an important thread running through the EP, which was recorded in their homes with drummer John Merikoski, alongside bassists Jimmy Lereaux and Jacob Greenwalt. Dave also handled the mixing and mastering through JP Masters.
Elsewhere, “Just Begun” looks back to Locke’s final days in Chicago, when she was still living with her former partner but quietly finding the courage to leave. Inspired by a guitar lick sent by her father, the song captures the loneliness of being there for everyone else while struggling to hold yourself together. As Locke explains, writing songs has helped her reshape lingering pain into something beautiful. Anywhere is a refreshing and affecting collection about recognising when it's time to move on, finding the strength to begin again and discovering that sometimes the road home leads to a new understanding of yourself.
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Swiss singer-songwriter Rachel Carmen has a gift for crafting memorable melodies that avoid the obvious, bringing together an expressive voice and a distinctive musical personality. Drawing on influences including Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys and Teddy Swims, she combines soulful delivery with a natural feel for contemporary songwriting. Her talent has been recognised since winning the Prix Walo Sprungbrett award in 2014, a milestone that helped launch a career featuring performances at prestigious venues such as KKL Luzern, international appearances and a growing list of musical collaborations.
After spending several months in Los Angeles in 2019, Carmen continued to broaden her horizons through songwriting sessions and camps in Switzerland, Norway and London. Her 2026 EP, Whole & Enough, showcased a more pop-focused direction, with modern production and songs written in London marking an important stage in her development. Now, with new single “If You Only Knew”, she is moving closer to her musical roots, embracing live instrumentation, organic sounds and the infectious groove of a band playing together.
Lyrically, “If You Only Knew” explores love, jealousy and the choices that can turn an apparently perfect relationship upside down. Beneath the attractive surface, a hidden past begins to emerge, exposing cracks in a picture that once seemed enviable. Carmen uses this story to ask a familiar but compelling question: is the grass really greener on the other side? It's an engaging subject that gives her expressive vocal performance plenty of emotional territory to explore.
With “If You Only Knew”, Rachel Carmen demonstrates an appealing willingness to evolve without losing sight of what makes her music distinctive. The return to a more organic, groove-led sound feels like a natural progression after the polished pop direction of Whole & Enough, while her instinct for strong melodies remains firmly intact. It's an inviting new chapter from an artist whose experience, soulful voice and songwriting individuality deserve to reach an ever-wider audience.
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Swansea Sound return with Pre-Post-Truth, a third album packed with twelve sharp-edged punk and power-pop songs that combine infectious energy with considerably more lyrical bite than your average indie offering. The band’s impressive line-up brings together Hue Williams (The Pooh Sticks), Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey (Heavenly), Bob Collins (The Dentists) and Ian Button (Death In Vegas, Railcard). Already familiar to listeners of 6Music, Radio X and New York’s WFMU, and fresh from a US tour, they sound as energised and outspoken as ever.
Having previously taken aim at the likes of YouTube and Spotify, Swansea Sound now widen their sights to the broader world of tech-bro influence and digital power. Pre-Post-Truth is loud, witty and gloriously confrontational, although there's a knowing sense of frustration beneath the humour. The band are well aware of the absurdity of trying to make subversive statements through communication channels controlled by the very people they are criticising. That tension provides some of the album's most entertaining moments, as the songs balance righteous anger with wonderfully sharp self-mockery.
There is also room for more reflective songwriting. “On Our Own”, with its chiming, Flamin' Groovies-style sound, follows the changing fortunes of a building that once housed a small music venue, later became an office block and now stands empty as AI swallows up the jobs that once filled it. The song's portrait of old friends becoming isolated and disconnected is particularly affecting. Meanwhile, the eerie psych-pop of “That Life” drifts through memories of a seemingly more innocent world, leaving us wondering whether we're longing for childhood or a time before technology took over so much of our lives. Pre-Post-Truth is a lively, intelligent and hugely entertaining record, proving that Swansea Sound remain wonderfully adept at turning frustration with the modern world into brilliant pop music.
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London-based songwriter Cordelia Gartside makes an impressive debut with 'pattern repeating', a five-track EP that explores the complexities of the human psyche through stirring alternative rock. Blending starkly personal songwriting with post-rock intensity, Gartside creates a compelling sound built around distorted guitars, atmospheric arrangements and cathartic vocals. Recorded largely live with her band in just a handful of takes, before being developed with additional vocals and overdubs in bedrooms, living rooms and rehearsal spaces, the EP has an immediacy that adds to its emotional impact.
At the heart of the collection is the haunting title track, which finds Gartside examining the patterns we recognise in our lives but struggle to escape. Describing herself as “the wallpaper”, she captures the unsettling feeling of being trapped in familiar cycles, while the music moves between moments of unnerving calm and increasingly turbulent walls of guitar. The tension builds beautifully, creating an atmosphere that becomes almost claustrophobic before finally opening out into a powerful closing release. As Gartside explains, the song explores “the moment before change, and the hope that it will come”.
The remaining tracks reveal further layers to her thoughtful and often striking songwriting. “good” considers the delicate line between self-belief and denial, while “laura palmer”, inspired by the central character from 'Twin Peaks', travels from darkness towards illumination, culminating in a searing vocal performance. “x ray” explores memory and language as time begins to feel disjointed, with splintered, spiralling arrangements incorporating the distinctive sound of a Polaroid camera printing. Each track brings its own character while contributing to the EP's absorbing emotional landscape.
Closing with the live favourite “what the heart wants”, Gartside ventures further into dreamlike territory, driven by scuzzy, guttural guitars and relentless drums that gather force towards an overwhelming finale. There's a real sense of purpose to 'pattern repeating', with its combination of intimate confession, experimental textures and explosive rock dynamics making for a thoroughly engaging debut. Cordelia Gartside has created a distinctive first statement, and her EP launch show at London's Shacklewell Arms on November 25 offers a welcome opportunity to experience these songs in their full live intensity.
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