Superfan – “Twilight Living”

Superfan is the solo indie pop project of Los Angeles based artist Kali Flanagan. Later this summer, he will release his debut album Tow Truck Jesus, which will address topics from identity and relationships to navigating the complexities of adulthood, all expressed through an ironically pathos-heavy “deadpan” delivery as well as instrumentals brilliantly on the line between soft dream pop and gritty, guitar-based rock. As Flanagan’s voice evolved through Hormone Replacement Therapy, the creation of this album became “a reflection of his personal journey, addressing themes of desire, dysphoria, and self-acceptance with poignant lyricism;” in this regard, ultimately Tow Truck Jesus will be a “testament to the universal journey of self-discovery and growth.” 

“Twilight Living,” his most recent single following “Sewn Up and Handsome,” “Your Desire In Food,” and “75 Germany,” is a bit more upbeat, leaning further into grunge and a bit of shoegaze. Written “during a state of disassociation following a minor car accident,” the track has a slight hypnagogic aura underneath the gritty guitars and propulsive percussion, which mirroring the esoteric lyrics. All of this results in a track that brilliantly represents the re-gaining of self after circumstance as well as the simultaneous killing of said ego: “Give me confirmation there’s a human in this/ It takes strength to remember how to forget,” Flanagan asks, the instrumentals expelled like plumes of exhaust fleeing the scene; “I want to be anonymous,” he concludes.

Tow Truck Jesus is out 6/28. Pre-order it here. 

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Butter Bath – “My Love” (feat. Jermango Dreaming)

Earlier this week, Butter Bath – aka the psychedelic dream pop project from Sydney-based multi-instrumentalist Toby Anagnostis – released the stunning single “My Love,” featuring fellow dream pop artist Jermango Dreaming. From his bedroom studio, Anagnostis is meticulous when it comes to his compositions; directing all parts of the process, his music is a “sincerely raw and undiluted insight into his psyche,” with songs that, in their impeccable production, gorgeously maintain their intrigue (his 2021 EP Spectator is still on perpetual rotation for me, and I wish I could hear his single “You & Me” for the first time again). He explained the motivation behind the new track with Jermango Dreaming: 

We’re two friends who’s music projects have intersected at various points – playing shows together, signing to the same label a few years ago and playing around in the studio. We figured it was high time we put out a song together.

As is the case with both Butter Bath (and Jermango Dreaming, for that matter), the track is immediately mesmerizing, wasting no time with the building of its atmosphere, complete with a tantalizing wealth of texture and color. Groovy is, quite frankly, an understatement; between the clarity of the vocals, the precise palpitations of the bassline, and the wobbly synth flourishes, it’s a track that begs multiple immersions. And yet, there’s a hint of sadness within this haze – the realization that adoration, like most anything, is often deleterious in excess.

“My Love” is out now. 

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Harper – “Bug Crusher”

Last week, Harper – also known as the bedroom-pop project of Matthew and Sadie Groves – released their stunning debut album The Mother Root. Though the Leicester, UK based duo’s debut ultimately navigates through a wealth of “moments” – moments of “anxiety about self-worth,” moments of “strength found through companionship,” and moments of “everyday life that have a lasting impact and make us who we are” – there is a radiant cohesiveness to the album that ultimately gestures toward a feeling of hope and warmth, and this is only expressed further through their compositions. 

One of our favorite tracks, “Bug Crusher,” is on the more expansive, atmospheric side, with hazy vocals and an emphasis on synth and percussion evoking the elusive bliss of The Bilinda Butchers and the crystallized joy of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Although the track is bright and nostalgic, it is direct in its narrative, detailing a focus on resilience following a destructive relationship. Even the reference to being crushed like a bug is ironic in and of itself, considering most insects, the beetle, for instance, can withstand a force of about 39,000 times its body weight; to be “crushed like a bug,” funnily enough, is a compliment in disguise, a nod towards one’s own resilience. 

The Mother Root is out now. 

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Hana Vu – “Play”

Today, Hana Vu shares her brilliant new album Romanticism. The follow-up to the stunning Public Storage, the album is described as a “contemplative, coming-of-age indie-pop that mourns the impermanence of youth,” with narratives that  unafraid to consider the existential side of identity and the true depth of affect and emotion, showcasing “how thrilling it can be to look directly at our feelings, to sing their sorrows and praise.” Vu explained that the “nexus of this album is indulging in these sad feelings, indulging in the senses,” and this occurs both in narrative and composition alike; her instrumentals are textured, atmospheric, and heavy, her lyrics direct, earnest, ardent. And Vu sometimes subverts the nature of the love song all together; for instance, one of our favorite tracks, “Play,” is an exhilarating slice of pop and slight electronica reminiscent of a dance track, but with a complex narrative that unsettles the upbeat, seemingly joyous nature of the song. 

What appears as carefree devotion towards another is, when looking at the lyrics and the fervent nature of Vu’s vocals, a desperate plea for the person in question to agree to completely lose mind, body, soul for her sake, and gestures towards both physical and emotional annihilation that is one-sided: “Hold me until you’re nothing/ Tell me, baby/ Even when the sky is falling, save me.” And yet, despite all the breathless invocations, Vu is entirely self-aware, sharing an admission of guilt at the impossibility to maintain such an intense, destructive relationship: “All I play is you/ Oh, every game I lose.” It’s one thing to admit love for another person; it’s another thing to admit that the love is doomed from the outset based on one’s own flaws. Both, in my eyes, if not representing strength, at the very least show an absolutely stunning vulnerability. 

Romanticism is out now via Ghostly International. 

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photo by Andrew Yuyi Truong

Kai Bosch – “Wishbone”

Last week, alt-pop artist Kai Bosch released his new EP Love, Throw Me A Bone. Bosch’s music is inspired by “articulating feeling rather than any particular genre,” and as part of that articulation, prioritizes narrative. In that regard, Love, Throw Me A Bone is, according to Bosch, “a diaristic real-time account of my breakup with my first long-term boyfriend;” “like the relationship itself,” he continued, the album is “sometimes messy, sometimes beautiful, sometimes oversharing, but always heartbreaking.” In that sense, “Wishbone,” the EP’s closer, is something of a final chapter, but also, a looking back:

“Wishbone” is the simplest song I have ever released. It looks at a failed relationship with honesty and self reflection but also with a sense of sympathy that we were just two people who didn’t quite know how to navigate a messy and traumatic breakup. Despite this, for me the song at its core is about appreciating the moment of light you shared with someone even if it ended up going wrong. It’s a love song for someone you can’t hold anymore – and despite so much of this whole EP coming from a place of anger, yearning and heartbreak, this is probably the song I still relate to most looking back on this relationship in hindsight.

Bosch’s EP is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking releases I have heard in quite some time, and at times, you truly find yourself wondering if you’re intruding on someone’s most private, intimate moments of mourning. But, of course, as is the case for artists that fearlessly wear their hearts on their sleeves – Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine immediately come to mind here – we’re always a little grateful for them, knowing that we can take refuge in their understanding and thoughtful rendering of personal pain, relate it to our own. And there is something about the sheer simplicity of “Wishbone” – the ghostly piano, the muted orchestrals in the background, Bosch’s stripped vocals – that violently cleaves the heart at the same time it delicately mends it. It centers on the often ephemeral nature of love, but also takes solace in being so fortunate as to find that love in the first place; it centers in on, as Bosch stated, “that moment of light.” 

Love, Throw Me A Bone is out now. 

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Lunar Isles – “After Sun”

Earlier this week, Lunar Isles – also known as Scottish multi-instrumentalist David Skimming – shared his latest single “After Sun.” It’s the sixth single since the release of his debut Right Way Round last Spring, a stunning album which “ponder[ed] the complexities of perspective as memories of home and adventure blended into one.” Written and recorded over the length of a year in Skimming’s bedroom studio in his newfound home of Cheongju, South Korea, and seamlessly housing hazy surf-tinged bedroom pop and delicate shoegaze instrumentals, Lunar Isles’s music is perfect for the upcoming summer months, whether that entails festivals, parties, or “reminiscing on memories lost to time.” 

Influenced in part by 90s house music, “After Sun” is lush, ethereal, and otherworldly, a soundtrack to a late-afternoon daydream. Evoking a similar atmospheric tone as Washed Out and Memory Cassette, the synth swells and sways amidst pounding percussion, wholly contained by its own aura. There is a softness amidst the heaviness of the percussion, a nod towards the more ruminative lyrics, where Skimming asks: “Why does it feel/ Like you’re running all the time?” 

“After Sun” is out now.

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Fontaines D.C. – “Starburster”

Earlier this week, Irish post-punk quintet Fontaines D.C. released the incendiary “Starburster,” the first single from their upcoming album Romance. The album will be the follow-up to the Dublin-based group’s incredible third album Skinty Fia, released back in 2022. Volatile, ruminative, brooding, and slightly gothic, Skinty Fia was largely influenced and informed by, in frontman Grian Chatten’s words, “Irishness existing in England,” as well as the resulting chaos, conflict, and culture that has resulted from it; “I Love You,” one of the best songs that the group has ever released, was inspired by exactly this (also, please watch the live version they did at Glastonbury… one of the best live versions of any song I’ve ever heard). However, the new album marks a stark divergence from that focus, for in regard to Romance, guitarist Conor Deegan explained: 

“We’ve always had this sense of idealism and romance. Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland, as directly as Dogrel. The second album is about that detachment, and the third is about Irishness dislocated in the diaspora. Now we look to where and what else there is to be romantic about.”

Chatten expounded further that the album is also “about protecting the tiny flame” that comes with “falling in love at the end of the world;” the “bigger armageddon looms,” he explained,  “the more precious it becomes.” This unparalleled desire is portrayed through the stream-of-consciousness passion of “Starburster,” the huge sweeps of guitar, the percussion that simulates a beating heart. A solid amalgamation of post-punk, hip hop, and a bit of psychedelia, the track’s title is apt, and brings to mind a quote from American modernist author Nathanael West: “You only have time to explode.”  

Romance is out 8/23 via XL Recordings. Pre-order the absolutely stunning pink vinyl here (I sure did). 

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photo by Theo Cottle

English Teacher – “I’m Not Crying You’re Crying”

Last week, English Teacher released their brilliant debut This Could Be Texas. The Leeds, UK based quartet’s sound is a remarkable amalgamation of post-punk, psychedelia, and fuzzy alternative rock, with an unparalleled energy and uniqueness that shows throughout the debut in singles like “R&B” and “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab.” Our favorite track on the album, “I’m Not Crying You’re Crying,” is an absolutely gorgeous math-rock stunner with a focus on embracing complexity and nuance (the pacing and instrumentation of this and other tracks actually, strangely enough, remind me of Black Midi’s take on the genre). Lily Fontaine’s vocals are at once stoic and ethereal in the verse and chorus, respectively, and the fervid guitar and volatile bassline serve to amplify their aura. The track slowly and carefully builds in intensity; once it reaches the last minute, however, it’s as if those sonic walls that gradually rose since the track’s start begin to melt down, blur, and fill the space, and from that moment, it’s incredibly difficult, in the best possible sense, not to get swept away in the sensation. 

This Could Be Texas is out now.

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photo by Andy Ford

Hana Vu – “22”

Next month, Hana Vu will release Romanticism, follow-up to her brilliant album Public Storage. Described as a “contemplative, coming-of-age indie-pop that mourns the impermanence of youth,” Romanticism will provide a collection of songs that are honest and vulnerable, with narratives unafraid to consider the existential side of identity and the true depth of affect and emotion, showcasing “how thrilling it can be to look directly at our feelings, to sing their sorrows and praise.” Following the album’s first single “Care,” which explored the subjectivity of individualized emotional experience, and “Hammer,” which doubled down on existentialism, the album’s third single “22” is about “the angst and dissolution of adolescence:

“Being young, there’s so much that I experience for the first time, all the time. But as I experience more things, I become more desensitized to those things…“You get wiser–– I feel quite wiser–– but less fervent, less hopeful….“‘22’ is about how I was paralyzed by grief and memories and by being 22; all at once a baby and the oldest I’ve ever been. But now I’m 23 and I’ll probably be 24 by the time I’ll get to perform this song for people.”

That realization and its underlying disillusion runs like a murky current throughout the track, Vu’s deep, sonorous voice floating above grungy guitars. The lyrics contrast the melody in vulnerability, in earnest desperation. “I’m just 22/ I just want to hold onto you” soon shows itself to have a double meaning, both wanting to hold onto herself, her own youth and personhood, as well as simultaneously wanting to risk that individuality completely in the seemingly irrevocable, that is, sharing her feelings with another. 

Romanticism is out 5/3 via Ghostly International. Pre-order it here. 

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photo by Andrew Yuyi Truong

CD Ghost – “New Tricks”

Last week, synthwave duo CD Ghost released their incredible new EP Vignette II, the follow up to the stunning Vignette I released just last year. The pair of EPs are Cody Han and Blake Dimas’s first major releases since their incredible album Night Music released back in 2022, which placed just a bit more emphasis on their darkwave inspired synth and reverb-heavy vocals, as well as gorgeously drew out the quiet brilliance of solitude; there was a phantom-like quality to those tracks, at once shadowy and impossibly lush. On both Vignette I and Vignette II, the tracks are a bit more upbeat, but without sacrificing any of the prudent complexity that the duo is known for; tracks like “Somebody Else,” “Constellation,” and “Let Go” are absolutely stunning in their control and effervescence.  

“New Tricks,” perhaps our favorite track of the year thus far, as well as perhaps our favorite track that CD Ghost has ever released, is, to put it as plainly as possible, a perfect song. From its half-stoic, half-animated guitar melodies, to its echoed, slightly enervated vocals, to the absolutely flawless pacing, mixing, and production, it is a track that gorgeously captures the somber chaos of personal rumination, the slow, painful coming to terms with personal truths and icy epiphanies: “Haven’t got a clue/ how to fix this,” he admits, “Like an old dog/ I’m trying new tricks.” And yet, despite its narrative of desolation, the track is contained in this highly specific aura of, if not hope, then something like the comforting warmth of longing, of knowing that things could be better. 

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