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| Photo - Tash Barker |
Newcastle singer-songwriter Ruth Lyon returns this week with haunting new single "Wickerman". Produced by John Parish (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey), "Wickerman" is the first new music to be heard from Ruth Lyon since her 2022 EP 'Direct Debit To Vogue'. With the release of "Wickerman" and its transfixing accompanying video (directed by Sel MacLean), Ruth Lyon also announces a UK headline tour, with stops in Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, York, Newcastle, and London - following notable festival slots at SXSW, The Great Escape, Latitude and Secret Garden Party.
Known for her transportive folk songwriting and a distinctive voice which ranges from powerful and expressive to beautifully intimate, Ruth Lyon blends the raw emotional honesty and poetic lyricism of Fiona Apple with the melancholic world-building of Regina Spektor.
New single "Wickerman" reflects upon vulnerability and betrayal. A powerful expression of resilience in the face of adversity, dreamy clarinet and melancholic strings sit diffused like sea light on top of the mesmeric groove of the piano and bass with shimmering drums and guitar cutting about like fish coming up for air.
Speaking more on the release of "Wickerman", Ruth said: "Wickerman lives in the borders between lucid dreaming and painful reality and I wrote this at a time I found myself alone yet haunted. The iconography of the burning wickerman evokes the chasing away of winter through fire and ceremony, welcoming the Spring; a re-seeding of soul into new light. Unravelling life changes can be disorientating, kicking up heavy questions to ask and the only answers I found were in time, nature and spirit. I wanted to be remembered and more importantly to remember myself."
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trost&treibstoff - Widely Scattered.
Alright, the name trost&treibstoff ("comfort & fuel") might be a bit perplexing. You wouldn’t immediately associate it with a band rooted in punk and raw indie rock. But as soon as “Widely Scattered,” the new single by musician and artist Rolo Schwegler from Zurich/Switzerland, starts playing, you feel its roots. Under the name trost&treibstoff, Schwegler creates powerful indie songs inspired by post-punk and pop.
Schwegler cites bands like The Cure, Tocotronic, and Watchhouse as his influences. Although the name might be new to the indie scene, Rolo Schwegler is no newcomer. Before founding his one-man project trost&treibstoff, he released a series of albums under his own name, with evocative titles reminiscent of Element of Crime lyrics, such as Das Leben jetzt (2005) and In den Tälern zieht die Sonne ein (2009). Under trost&treibstoff, works like Thermik (2011) and Warten auf die Gegenwart? (2013) followed.
So, what’s the story behind “Widely Scattered,” the new single by trost&treibstoff? “The song tackles a topic that most of us deal with more or less regularly and that can occasionally make life hell. The lyrics tell the story of a woman who has such vivid nightmares every night that she wakes up drenched in sweat—and her strategies for coping with it. The harmonies are designed to offer comfort and act as an antagonist to the whims of neurotransmitters,” explains Rolo Schwegler.
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| Photo - Rhianedd Sion |
After a string of single releases, Cardiff’s Red Telephone finally unveil their excellent sophomore album today entitled Delay The New Day a rebellious manifesto wrapped in melodic psych and darkwave textures. Drawing inspiration from MGMT and St. Vincent, the Welsh quintet crafts a cinematic journey that blends industrial post-punk grit with haunting electronic noir. Alongside the album, they surprise fans with a brand new music video for the album’s lead single ‘Faithful’
At its core, Delay The New Day emerges as a fight for meaning and sanity. A defiant statement against institutional pressures, the band positions creativity as a powerful tool for individual resistance. “It’s not about any one thing, it’s as much about asking questions of yourself as it is answering them”
Lead singer Declan says of the album “We’ve always found ourselves fighting pressures to fit in and play the game. Sometimes it’s seductive and you’ve really got to fight those temptations, so we wanted to use the creative process and our instincts as a guiding light. The whole process was about embracing a spirit of independence”
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US ethereal-darkwave trio Autumn (Minneapolis, MN) have unveiled ‘Venice’: the second single and video to be revealed from their forthcoming new album, Songs About Dying. Neil McKay (guitar) and Jeff Leyda (bass) generate a hypnotic, amniotic whorl of pulsing electronics, flickering guitars, and driving bass and drum-machine: echoing a sense of Venice’s transition and movement down through the ages, edging ever-near to a watery grave. It is a backdrop befitting vocalist Julie Plante’s impassioned lament for the ancient city’s uncertain future, whereas the song also celebrates Venice’s endurance as a symbol of romance and majesty, as Plante explains.
“Venice is on one level about the death of a city, in that nothing remains unchanged. Everything we experience in this world, all that we create, it is all in a constant state of transition, whether we realize it or not. Venice is a striking example of slowly drowning under the weight curated by our actions and inaction. Venice is also one of those iconic places that we hold a romantic hunger for, a celebration of decadence in spite of everything going on around it. We want to immerse ourselves in it, even as our collective hunger creates the environment that threatens its survival. So, for that reason, this track is also about resilience, and that beauty, once created, can never truly be destroyed. Its continued existence gives me hope for my own.”
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Fresh from her regional Victoria and NSW tour, multi-instrumentalist and dynamic artist Kat Greta returns with her latest single, 'Summer Daze' (out Friday, Jan 31). With its unique, modern-60s and joyful sound, the track captures the vibrancy of the Australian summer while showcasing Kat’s original and free-spirited style.
For Kat, 'Summer Daze' is a deeply personal project that took years to perfect. “I feel like I’m sharing my most authentic self in this song,” she explains. “Recreating the essence of the ‘60s in a new way was a challenge—it’s not the kind of song that people would expect to hear these days. This song is my love letter to the Australian summer, but it’s also about holding on to the things that matter, especially as I navigate my own cultural identity. As both of my parents are unwell and I’ve lost close family members recently, I’ve been reflecting a lot on what it means to preserve traditions, memories, and the feeling of belonging. This song is my attempt to honour those pieces of myself—my Italian heritage and my connection to Australia—while embracing change.”
Drawing inspiration from icons like Burt Bacharach, The Seekers, and The Beatles, Kat has crafted a sound that feels both nostalgic and fresh. Her melodies evoke a timeless warmth while embracing a modern energy.
At its core, 'Summer Daze' is a love letter to the Australian summer, a reflection of how Kat’s connection to the country’s traditions shaped her artistry. “The Australian summer has always been a part of my identity—beach days, family gatherings, sunsets, and the warmth that comes with it. It’s a reminder of the simplicity and beauty of our traditions,” Kat shares. “But, as we know, traditions can be fleeting. This song is about cherishing what makes Australia so unique, and finding joy in the moments we can hold on to—especially in the face of change.”
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| Photo Tom Seager |
North-London alt-provocateur Laurel Smith releases her incensed new single 'pink gun'. An exhilarating expression of female rage, on 'pink gun' Laurel gives a voice to the suppressed anger and frustration of women who consistently experience sexism, gaslighting and disrespect, through a torrent of breathless vocal runs and cavernous, brooding beats.
Speaking more on the release of her new single - Laurel said: "I wrote pink gun when I was holding in a lot of anger from my experiences as a woman throughout life. I have felt spoken over, belittled, not taken seriously, gaslit (and at times) unsafe, uncomfortable and taken advantage of. I know most girls and women have felt and experienced all these things too and internalise these feelings. I want them to let it out. pink gun was my outlet and something that made me feel empowered so I hope it will do the same for my listeners."
Grapples with identity, explorations of female empowerment, examinations of human relationships; the protagonists within Laurel Smith's music are rebelling against expectations, challenging societal norms, finding their place in the world. A "hip-hop kid" at heart, Laurel Smith was born into a family with rock and heavy metal at its core. Those two disparate worlds can be heard within Laurel's potent, shapeshifting creations, with her new music radiating an energy and confidence of an artist revitalised.
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