Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update with loads of great new music as always inc tracks from Alexandra Leaving, Flat Party, Soccer Mommy & lots 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
The Voidz – 7 Horses
Experimental offshoot of The Strokes, The Voidz have shared the single 7 Horses, taken from their new album Like All Before You. It’s a track that at times seems vaguely influenced by reggae and dub traditions, although the melodic guitars sound very typically Voidz and the single is calmer and more structured than the average Voidz song. The lyrics seem to be about personal failure and fear – in addition to abstract imagery about seven horses with whom Julian rides to hell. The highlight, however, is undoubtedly the guitar solo in the final minute that introduces the beautiful outro. Experimenting with vocal sound is not new for the cult singer: the lo-fi sound of his voice is partly what makes the first Strokes albums so special.
SASAMI – Slugger
LA based artist SASAMI (aka Sasami Ashworth) has dropped dance-pop bop single Slugger, taken from the upcoming album Blood on the Silver Screen. SASAMI says of the track: “I wanted to be more playful and communicate more with pop culture. When I listen to music, I think about how I feel, how I want to feel, how I want to move to it. And that’s what’s special about music—how it connects to culture, how it connects to different styles of music, how it connects to the timbre of the voice of the person singing it.” The album is described as an all-out pop record. “This album is all about learning and respecting the craft of pop songwriting, about relenting to illogical passion, obsession, and guiltless pleasure,” SASAMI says in a press release. “It’s about leaning into the chaos of romance and sweeping devotion—romanticism to the point of self-destruction.”
Soccer Mommy – Driver
Nashville singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy (aka Sophie Allison) has dropped infectious new single Driver, taken from upcoming album Evergreen and it is a testament to Allison’s spaciness and indecision – a cheeky song about someone who is willing to deal with those flaws, to love you in spite of them. In the wake of a profound and personal loss, it felt important to keep the songs on the album raw and relatable, unvarnished and honest. By opting for more organic production and shining a spotlight on her songwriting, Allison did just that. The result is Evergreen, a sonic return to Soccer Mommy‘s roots, but recast on a cinematic scale with the help of acoustic guitars, lush strings and flutes. Nothing overindulgent, everything real.
Half Happy – Bloom
Welsh indie newbies Half Happy have shared formidable new single Bloom which offers a captivating glimpse into their recently released debut EP Conversation Killer. Frontwoman Rosalie Miller states: “Bloom is about getting caught in the middle of your mate’s relationships. For the first minute of the track you are almost trapped by the vocal and synth, just like you’re stuck in an awkward conversation. You have no idea how you can help, what to say, don’t want to drop anyone in it. Then going into the chorus has always felt to us like jumping into the sea, feels like a huge relief how the guitars and synth swell together. A floaty relationship track which doesn’t know yet whether to love them or dump them”. The band’s blend of dream-pop, indie-rock, and post-punk has already earned them the Welsh Music Prize 2023 (Triskell Award).
deary – The Drift
London based shoegaze duo deary (aka Ben Easton and Rebecca ‘Dottie’ Cockram) have dropped their ethereal new single The Drift from upcoming EP Aurelia. “It leans on the natural world, the human body, the earth and sky as well as human emotion,” says Ben of how the EP represents physical and metaphysical growth. “Change can be daunting but equally exciting, which is something we’ve come to learn.” “We’ve allowed deary to naturally grow over the past year, we didn’t want to force it to take a certain shape or sound,” explains Dottie of the duo’s slow and steady approach. “Aurelia definitely feels a lot more collaborative, more personal and more fully realised than the first EP,” concludes Ben. “It feels like a real document of what has been a very important time in both of our lives.”
Flat Party – It’s All Been Done Before
Flat Party have shared the title track from upcoming EP It’s All Been Done Before. Across the new EP, Flat Party hint at influence from 70’s glam-rock, jagged art-rock, noughties alt-rock and everything in between – all the while flirting with ideas surrounding hedonism, desperation, promiscuity and blurry-eyed romanticism as they continue to carve out their own unique universe of colourful indie-rock. Adorned with searing guitar riffs and punctuated by Jack Lawther’s introspective lens on intimacy and self-doubt, vocalist Jack Lawther says of the track: “I’ve always loved songs that contradict themselves. The music of this song is quite melancholic and unsure of itself, while the lyrics are just pure love. It’s kind of fitting that the relationship I was writing about didn’t work out in the end; I was singing something that I didn’t believe and that’s evident in the song. Musically, this is the most “alt-rock” we’ve ever been; it’s romantic, desperate and boastful.”
piglet – white knuckles
South London-based Irish songwriter piglet has shared new single white knuckles, taken from upcoming EP for frank forever – a powerful track that delves into the emotional complexity of recognising and escaping a manipulative relationship. Piglet states: “white knuckles is about a moment of clarity, when you finally put together the pieces and take notice of the signs and patterns you previously ignored out of love for the other person. It’s about the heartbreak of seeing things for what they really are and the freedom of choosing to walk away out of care for yourself.” Of the EP, he states: “for frank forever is about mutual aid, systemic failure, the joys and pains of community organizing, pathologization and dehumanization, community self-defence, delicious pints, substance abuse, direct action, die-hard anti-capitalism, working it out as you go along, deep friendship, family in all its forms, and lots of other stuff which doesn’t fit well into a list format.”
A Place To Bury Strangers – You Got Me
A Place To Bury Strangers have shared new single You Got Me, taken from their upcoming album Synthesizer. The track combusts with bass and guitars blending with a mix of 80’s nostalgic, deep melodies delving into exploration with dark luring vocals in the background. It also samples a field recording from the beach as a 747 jet flies over, adding to the whole moody, summery ambiance. In a press release, the band instructs: “Play it loud and play it now.” Synthesizer is a record that celebrates sounds that are spontaneous and natural, the kind of music that can only come from collaboration and community. To ever so slightly reinvent one’s sound, one must also build a new instrument, thus again the synth in question. The resulting record is one that is romantic, colourful, loud as hell, and one of A Place to Bury Strangers’ most live sounding records to date.
Alexandra Leaving – Out Of This World
With an anthemic sing-along chorus to boot, West Midlands’ Alexandra Leaving is back, not long after the release of her Exorcise in Anger EP, with another hands-in-the-air alt-rock gem. The layered production going on with the guitars on this effervescent cut (& her other releases) are fast becoming part of her trademark – combine that with stadium yearning vocals and you’ve got an emerging festival headliner in the making. The momentum that’s created throughout just sweeps the listener along, while the riffing on the guitar front gives it a memorable quality that can’t be denied. Best yet since last year’s Conversation Killer.
MJ Lenderman – Wristwatch
Singer-songwriter MJ Lenderman has shared new single Wristwatch, the last track to be released from new album Manning Fireworks. Lenderman said the song is inspired by Andrew Tate and “this idea of alpha males gaining popularity. People spend thousands of dollars thinking they can learn how to be the ‘perfect man’ or something. It’s embarrassing.” Manning Fireworks defines Lenderman’s propensity for humour that always points to some uneasy, disorienting darkness. The punchlines from his previous albums are still here, as are the rusted-wire guitar solos that have made him a favourite for indie rock fans looking for an emerging guitar hero. Executed with a precision and care that make his songs feel like short films, Lenderman simply offers everyday anxieties and enthusiasms in uncanny ways.
You can check out the whole playlist here. Please follow the socials below for our weekly updates and share about the place!
