Hello world,
We’ve got lots of great tunes on this week’s FP Picks update from Rikke, Prima Queen, MOSES & 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
DEADLETTER – More Heat!
DEADLETTER recently dropped the single More Heat! from their debut album Hysterical Strength. Vocalist Zac Lawrence states: “More Heat! is about the way in which someone may attempt to convince themself they are feeling enjoyment from something that in reality is causing them a disturbance. Whether it be to preserve face, or simply through an inability to swallow their pride and accept that a spell of discomfort as a result of change far outweighs continuously doing something from which there is no contentment to be found.” With elastic basslines, scratchy and discordant guitars and rasping saxophones, the track makes for an addictive, off-kilter examination of self-deception. Great songwriting and a real earworm.
Prima Queen – Fool
Always great to have alt-pop duo Prima Queen on the playlist and we’re loving the lyrics on their infectious new single Fool. The band state: “Fool is about loving someone who is anxious-avoidant and grappling with the fact that they’re incapable of giving you the type of love that you need. It’s the song that took us the longest to write – we started it years ago but kept changing the lyrics because it never felt quite finished. It wasn’t until the relationship was over when we finally understood what we were trying to say.” Great new track – what a toe-tapper! Prima Queen are at London’s St Pancras Old Church on October 9th if you’re around, they sure put on a great live set!
Matilda Mann – Say It Back
Singer-songwriter Matilda Mann has shared new single Say It Back, taken from the upcoming debut album Roxwell. Matilda states: “Say It Back is that frustrating confusion of why, if you love someone so much and do everything you can, do they still not love you back? Unrequited love hurts the most because there’s that feeling of “the chase” and it never being reciprocated. Are you just not their type? Smart enough? Cool enough? It can make you overthink so much you’d do crazy things for them.” A tragic subject with poignant lyrics most people can relate to delivered in an upbeat, catchy way. Of the album, Matilda says: “It explores various types of love, the experience of growing up and reflecting on the past, the struggle of not being able to give someone your all, getting stuck in the past, and accepting what you can’t change.”
Divorce – All My Freaks
Divorce have dropped synth-laden, dynamic new single All My Freaks, taken from their debut studio album Drive To Goldenhammer, and it examines the egos within the music industry. Vocalist & bassist Tiger Cohen-Towell explained: “Being a musician can be brutal. I feel like you hear more and more songs coming from artists purely about the trials and tribulations of being a musician, feeling like you aren’t getting enough, or feeling like you’ve got too much and you don’t deserve it. It’s gotten a bit meta if you think about it … written from the perspective of a humorous/tragic caricature of an up-and-coming artist, this song is laughing at our own egos and yet acknowledging the power that they wield.” Beautiful vocals, great lyrics and catchy as hell – what’s not to like?!
Goat – Goatbrain
Sweden’s anonymous purveyors of a unique psychedelic soup embrace the funk with their new single Goatbrain, taken from their upcoming album Ouroboros. Its repetitive refrain sounds like a fuzzier, beefier version of a long lost release by The Meters with the ethereal, anonymous female vocal which defines Goat’s sound. Their layers of mystery and misdirection has seen them attain a cult-like following in the years since ‘World Music’ was released in 2012. Goat’s redolent gumbo of sound, combining as it does psychedelia, garage rock, funk, desert rock and afrobeat, is the product of something perhaps better described as a musical collective than a band; but it is definitely unique, a musical signature which one cannot imagine being easily replicable by others.
Waxahatchee – Much Ado About Nothing
Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) has shared twangy folk-rock track Much Ado About Nothing, complete with plenty of stunning vocal harmonies singing about being really, really emotional: “Oh no, I’ve lost my mind, I’ve lost my mind again/ Tell you I’m razor sharp, I’m terrifying.” Featuring MJ Lenderman on acoustic and electric guitar, it’s a heartfelt slice of americana and we’re loving it. Alongside the track release, she announces Waxahatchee & Friends, which is a show curated and hosted by Crutchfield at Willie Nelson’s Luck Ranch on 14 March 2025. The show will feature a performance from the legendary Lucinda Williams, with more artists to be announced soon.
Rikke – High Horse (be gone)
Norway’s pop guru Rikke has shared her exhilarating new single High Horse (be gone) and what an uplifting anthem it is with its upbeat, funk-soul groove. The poignant lyrics paint a very different picture though as it tells a tale of getting entangled by the disrespectful behaviour of so-called friends. Rikke states: “Breaking up with friends when there’s an unhealthy dynamic can seem to many as a bit taboo still. For some reason we’re only allowed to break up romantic relationships!” Rikke was handpicked to sing with John Legend at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. However, it was when she joined the house band for Norwegian Idol for 5 seasons & featured in national reality TV show Hver gang vi møtes (that she still appears in), that Rikke became a household name throughout Norway. What an earworm from this talented pop artist very much on the rise – definitely one to check out.
Wallice – Gut Punch Love
LA-based singer-songwriter Wallice recently shared new single Gut Punch Love, taken from upcoming debut album The Jester. The track is inspired by a tragic story involving her mother’s fiancé, who disappeared in Osaka back in the ’80s, having been killed by Yakuza violence. “You can’t necessarily hear the amount of tragedy in the song, because it feels like an alternative-rock song,” Wallice has said of the deceptively warm track. “But it is tragic, and I think it’s an important story.” Fantastic thought-provoking lyrics and a catchy, uplifting tune even though the subject is so dark – a beautiful track. Made in the wake of her dream-come-true slot opening for The 1975, be sure to check the album out when it arrives in November.
Alan Sparhawk – Can U Hear
Alan Sparhawk dropped the intense single Can U Hear back in the summer, taken from recently released new album White Rose, My God. Joyzine state: “The track is unsettling and compelling, full of synth lines writhing likes snakes along the floor of the track with twisting electronic percussion darting overhead like starlings. Over this is a treated vocal line warping and shapeshifting Sparhawk’s voice, moving from guttural subterranean rumbles to impassioned cries.” The American musician was a key component of Low for over three decades, working alongside his creative – and life – partner Mimi Parker. Sadly, Mimi passed away in 2022 leaving Sparhawk grief-stricken. A set at Le Guess Who? in the Netherlands last year became a moment of catharsis, with all present leaving emotionally moved in some way.
MOSES – Raining For Days
A great dynamic arrangement that offers up a cornucopia of guitar textures, layering, playing styles & more. Yes MOSES are back with a bang(er)! This third single from their forthcoming third album Guilty showcases so well the expressive vocals of namesake Victor M. Moses – from teller of tales in the verses to personal proclamation on the choruses, the influences here are many but the result is cohesive, direct & individual. Now on their third album, MOSES have shown themselves to be in it for the long run with the songwriting and melodies shining brighter with each new body of work. Well worth seeing live too, as having caught them a few times, their songs translate well in that arena – where will they go next?!
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