FUTUREPROOF PICKS 30-01-25

Hello world,

Here’s your latest FP Picks update. We’ve got lots of great new tunes from Heartworms, Nancy Williams, Horsegirl & 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

Horsegirl – Switch Over

Horsegirl have dropped the infectious new Cate Le Bon-produced single Switch Over, taken from their upcoming album Phonetics On and On. The track switches between vocals as lighthearted instrumentals explore simple yet danceable beats. Reminiscent of alternative music from the early 2010’s, the track blends instruments and allows the listeners to hear the fun the band was having when producing the track. The video, directed by Guy Kozak, explores the idea of “band-watching-band,” with layered shots of the trio watching themselves perform in the same room. A catchy slice of indie-rock – great stuff.

Nancy Williams – ocean

This third single from Welsh sensation Nancy Williams is surely going to be yet another step in her meteoric rise to the top of that media mountain. Booked to appear in all the right places over the coming months, her ethereal productions combine with thickly chorused vocals to great effect. Lyrically more interesting than her previous releases, ocean (you’re like the ocean) combines expansive imagery with feelings of anxiety & self-doubt when dealing with young love. The addition of what seems like real strings mixed in with the swirling synth backing gives the track a kudos that sets it apart from similar sounding releases. Overall a captivating track that won us over since first heard on BBC 6Music – looking forward to more output throughout 2025 from this most promising of artists.

Trouser Dress – The Piano

Hull based genderqueer indie-pop artist Trouser Dress has dropped the double A-Side single Coffee at 7? / The Piano. These two heartfelt songs portray random thoughts, feelings and life experiences – in the artist’s own words, they are “silly sad gay songs for silly sad gay people.” Having shared Coffee at 7? last week, we now give you the uplifting, catchy track The Piano – a goodbye song for a member of staff at The Warren Youth Project who introduced Trouser Dress to Warren Records and in the process opened so many new opportunities in their life. This emotive song of thanks and appreciation for those ‘angels’ that can appear in our lives from time to time has been known to bring a tear to people’s eyes when performed live!

lilo – It’s Not The Same In Winter

Folk duo lilo (aka Christie Gardner and Helen Dixon) have shared break-up themed new single It’s Not The Same In Winter, taken from their upcoming debut album Blood Ties. Helen explains: “It’s Not The Same In Winter comes from being in the full throes of a breakup. I’d gone away to do some writing, hoping to channel my woes into something brilliant. The trip was terrible, I didn’t write a thing and actually started to feel like whole sections of my brain had gone missing. I phoned Christie. I said: it’s so weird, I can’t remember a single thing about my ex. I can’t picture what he looked like, and all the memories I have feel like they belong to someone else. I tried looking at photos to trigger something and nothing happened, I felt like I was looking at a stranger.” Beautiful vocals on this melodic & reflective track – just lovely.

Yukimi, Little Dragon – Sad Makeup

Little Dragon frontwoman Yukimi has officially begun her solo journey and new single Sad Makeup is taken from her debut solo album For You. The singer has been a fixture not just for her quartet but for contributing her talents to musical projects the world over. For Sad Makeup, Yukimi taps into the feeling of wearing a smile even when you’re at your saddest point. She gets the particular point across by pairing jangly, jazzy production against melancholy lyrics. The verses speak to her growing feeling of sadness rooting itself inside her. But the chorus really speaks to the feeling of despair, comparing it to a rainy day. Yukimi states: “I wrote a song called Sad Makeup about those days when you try to push down and control a sad feeling. The more I try to control it, the more it’s felt by others around me, growing bigger as an energy.”

Jean – JFK

Rising artist Jean has shared new single JFK and the commanding storytelling combines with an inspired mixing of musical influences defining an artist that is clearly brimming with creativity. Beginning big, with epic strings and haunting reverb, the short track soon gives way to contemporary beats and buzzy bass, while vocally Jean bridges the gap between glamourous, jazz-lounge melody and modern hip-hop intensity. As a song that offers an alternative perspective on an infamous piece of history, the result is, unsurprisingly, distinctive: inescapably hard-hitting yet retro and sultry.

Shale – It’s Not Right

After getting serious BBC 6Music airtime with their last cut Fuzzy Identities, Cardiff’s Shale have returned with new single It’s Not Right. Continuing where they left off – that is, producing another jangly slice of indie-rock greatness – the track sees lead singer Samuel Hale tussle with the top of his vocal range above Austin Critcher’s backup vocals for a powerful chorus that hits all the right emotions. After packing out their hometown headline and with a debut EP on the way, these boys are certainly an act to look out for this year.

Heartworms – Extraordinary Wings

Heartworms (aka Jojo Orme) has shared military-inspired new single Extraordinary Wings, paying homage to her love of military aircraft and taken from upcoming debut album Glutton For Punishment. Jojo states: “With my EP, people kind of pigeonholed me into post-punk. I was like, ‘Cool, I can do that, but I can also do way more’ – I can do post-punk, but I can also be poppy and catchy, and this album represents that. I think people might be surprised when they hear it.” Produced by longtime collaborator Dan Carey, the LP is also set to make nods to artists like Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey and LCD Soundsystem, creating what a press release describes as “a powerful sonic onslaught that is entirely Heartworms.”

Moreish Idols – Dream Pixel

Falmouth’s Moreish Idols have dropped psychedelic new single Dream Pixel, taken from their upcoming Dan Carey-produced debut album All In The Game. The band state: “Dream Pixel is about what we all see in our dreams; the colours, sounds and occurrences that are often too surreal to put into words and leave you questioning how the subconscious can paint such a vivid, psychedelic picture. Inspired by the experience of swimming in phosphorescence in Cornwall, Dream Pixel celebrates the moments in life that could easily be mistaken for a dream, glitch or trip.” The album explores themes of existentialism, memory, and illness. Bassist Caspar Swindells explains that All In The Game considers “time being spent, time being wasted, time getting away from you, but being able to realise that time is what you make of it.”