Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update & we’ve got belters fm Wunderhorse, Incisors, Alexandra Leaving plus many more. If you like what you hear please follow and share this playlist, it helps us keep doing our thing by getting the algorithms on our side. Also please support the artists featured in any way you can!
Until next week
Helen (Futureproof) x
Alexandra Leaving – Pretty Suspicious
Tension builds from the get go on this latest offering from Shropshire born Alexandra Leaving. As on her previous single Bite, she’s pretty frustrated with life, or at least the people she’s been hanging out with. Coming with the tag line ‘an exercise in instinct’ on the press blurb, Pretty Suspicious deals with issues of trust both of others but also of her own self. ‘I don’t have the answer’ she emotes as the track crescendos, while the feeling of breaking free, moving forward and not looking back is brought to life with motorbike imagery throughout. With ‘ear candy’ style guitar lines that creep in around the vocal during verse one, it’s when the chorus comes that the ‘wall of sound’ guitars come into their own, making this another alt-rock gem from a girl named after a Leonard Cohen song, whose style and sound mature with each release.
Personal Trainer – Intangible
Seven piece indie-rock outfit Personal Trainer are back with their unique new pop/funk single Intangible, with its sultry bassline and rock’n’roll riff. The track’s taken from their forthcoming album, out in the summer. The band’s Willem Smit said, “I tried to make a song that is something I wouldn’t normally do and experiment with that. I like how it turned out because it’s also probably one of the first instances where I had the chorus first and the other parts later, which rarely happens.” We’re loving this upbeat, fun offering with its great lyrics from Personal Trainer.
Joe Armon-Jones – Wrong Side of Town (ft. Hak Baker)
Ezra Collective member Joe Armon-Jones has dropped new single Wrong Side of Town (w/ Hak Baker), a powerful short doc about gentrification in London’s East End. It’s about being priced out of a traditionally working class quarter of London and the video sees Baker cycling through the area he grew up in, observing the effects of gentrification, but also the surviving parts of a working-class community that continue to define the city. Baker shares “I think it’s time to scream and shout that we’re here to stay, and if you don’t like it, you must be on the wrong side of the town.” Loving the upbeat reggae beat on this poignant track with its important message.
Lava La Rue – Push N Shuv
London based artist Lava La Rue has dropped infectious new single Push N Shuv from debut album STARFACE, out in the summer. Lava states: “I wrote “Push N Shuv” 5 years ago before COVID (the vocals you hear on the song are still my 21-year-old voice) and I knew when I wrote it in 2019 that if I made an album, that’s what I wanted it to sound like. It’s literally been years in the making and honing in on that sound and it only feels fitting that this is the song that I announce the album with.” The album is a conceptual psychedelic sci-fi romance album centered around the narrative of an eponymous gender-fluid musical space alien sent to planet Earth to study the reasons why humans are so self-destructive.
Bolis Pupul – Ma Tau Wai Road (w/ Salah Pupul)
Bolis Pupul recently dropped his new single Ma Tau Wai Road taken from recently released debut album Letter To Yu. The track is a masterful blend of silky smooth grooves and surreal techno pop, which sounds like Marie Davidson behind the controls of a new Pacific Breeze compilation. Bolis shares, “I wrote this song in a hotel room just around the corner of my mother’s birthplace on Ma Tau Wai Road in 2019. It’s a song about gratitude and regret, two feelings that go hand in hand when I’m in Hong Kong. Back in Belgium I asked my sister Salah Pupul if she wanted to sing this song … Made with lots of love and compassion dedicated to our beloved mother Yu Wei Wun.” An upbeat, heartfelt track with beautiful vocals and a great electronic sound – love it!
Odetta Hartman – Winter Constellations
New York singer-songwriter Odetta Hartman has shared new single Winter Constellations from recently released album swansongs. This stunning track packs in razor-wire guitar and Odetta’s trademark sugar coated vocals while synthesizers work overtime to translate plunky banjos into lush wooden textures and shape white noise transitions into ASMR delights. swansongs is a dynamic and powerful reflection of love and ambition, hopeful, energetic and at times chaotic but always captivating. Can’t wait to hear the album after this melodic track and Odetta’s beautiful, unique vocals.
JAWNY – Running
JAWNY recently dropped new single Running and a press release explains: “Co-written and produced by JAWNY and Jamie Sierota, Running dips into psychedelic rock but with an introspective look backwards, expanding JAWNY’s already varied and accomplished alt-pop catalogue. In the track, JAWNY ruminates on past friendships in this anthematic reflection of actions and consequences.” This heartfelt cut is a head-bopping yet solemn groove, and a mellow reflection on past regrets. Easy to see why this compelling track was synced to Season 8 of HBO’s Hard Knocks: In Season with the Miami Dolphins.
Eades – Fade Away
Eades mourn missed opportunities and struggle to accept reality on their latest single Fade Away. Dancy post-punk instrumentation mixes with Brit-pop era introspection and vocalist Tom O’Reilly reflects on the horrors of lost time, missed opportunities and misguided decisions. He states “It’s a story that spans from adolescence, into early adulthood and eventually into being middle-aged. It’s about coming to terms with not making a dent in life socially or culturally, making peace with normality and accepting that you’ll eventually fade away to be forgotten, but enjoying the ride nonetheless.” Love the catchy melody and poignant lyrics on this upbeat belter – we think the majority of people probably have similar thoughts! Great stuff!
Wunderhorse – Midas
Wunderhorse have shared vigorous new single Midas and frontman Jacob Slater explains: “The song was written in a bathtub in Paris, and forgotten about until it resurfaced in Minnesota. Midas is the guy who makes you feel like a pencil stub, all used up and nothing to show for it, but it’s always just business as far as he’s concerned.” Slater’s rough guitar and witty lyrics rip through the track while a drum loop ties the track together via drummer Jamie Staples. Wunderhorse are preparing for another busy summer with many major festival slots including Reading + Leeds, Boardmasters and TRNSMT, as well as making their festival headline debut at Dot to Dot Festival.
Incisors – The Time It Kills
Incisors have just dropped their energetic new single The Time It Kills, a powerful anthem about breaking free from control and ownership. The lyrics outline the struggle of feeling trapped and suffocated by someone else’s expectations and demands while the intensity of the music complements the rebellious message of the song. With its catchy chorus and driving rhythm, the track is a rallying cry for independence and self-determination and it urges listeners to stand up for themselves and break free from the chains of manipulation and control. An empowering song for anyone who has ever felt stifled or held back by others – crank it up loud and wait for this belter of a song to reach its crescendo!
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