Hello world,
We’ve got a great selection of bangers on your FP Picks update this week inc trx from proFESSional, Essence Martins, Slow Fiction & 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
Medium Build – Yoke (ft. Julien Baker)
Nashville/Anchorage based Medium Build (aka Nick Carpenter) has shared new single Yoke, taken from his upcoming EP Marietta and it features Julien Baker. It’s a sad, haunted song about growing up queer in the South, and Baker’s vocals add distant backup harmonies. Collaborating with his longtime friend, Nick states: “This industry is lonely and the value of long-lasting friendships cannot be overstated, but having a friend in this business that you look up to, admire and adore is a godsend.” Baker adds that Carpenter’s music “reports from the borders of the absurd with humor and grace—with allowance for, of all things, fun—unafraid of ugliness but always begging the merit of levity.” A beautiful, poignant track.
Georgian – Soleil
Manchester-based Georgian, fronted by Georgia McKiernan, are known for their distinctive “psychedelic western” sound, combining 60s-inspired psychedelia with a touch of southern gothic and folk horror. On atmospheric new single Soleil, Georgian captures a bittersweet farewell to summer with a longing for warmth amidst the cold grip of winter. Georgia spoke to The Rodeo Mag: “I think the winter can reflect darkness and loneliness to a lot of people, whereas the summer can symbolise hope and warmth. The use of the dark and the light can be a metaphor for anybody listening, as its just the longing for something better – whether this be a relationship, a job, where you live; it’s subjective to the audience.”
Hushtones – Paper Flowers
Liverpool based Hushtones have shared their upbeat indie-pop track Paper Flowers. Self-labelled as “dreamy Scouse barbershop with guitars”, the group have been invited on the road with luminaries such as Red Rum Club, Tim Burgess, and She Drew The Gun. The band state: “Paper Flowers is a song about dealing with rejection and loneliness, and how brutal those things can feel. But as with all of the songs we write, we’ve developed this one into a fun and uplifting pop banger. The core of this song was written quietly at home, but when we brought it to the practice room and all played it together it became something much more powerful. It gave us actual goosebumps! It’s now the song we always choose to close our show with.” Loving this melodic track with its heartfelt lyrics.
Cold Desires – Blush
Cold Desires (AKA Elina Lin, touring member of The Courteeners and Joe Falconer, guitarist of Circa Waves) have dropped their atmospheric solo debut single Blush. They state: “It’s a pulsing visit to uncertainty, anxiety and the dreamlike state you can be in when you start to lose your sense of self. When we were writing the lyrics, we really connected over this. Your whole world gets a bit warped and it’s hard to see anything else.” Elina Lin and Joe Falconer began writing together for fun after a late night conversation at a house party, and so developed Cold Desires. Through conversations and ponderings on life, the pair co-write all of the music and lyrics together. This melancholic track fuses indie rock with electronics and it’s a total banger!
BIG SPECIAL, John Grant – STAY DOWN, LAZARUS
Two amazing artists BIG SPECIAL and John Grant have joined forces to create a powerful belter in new single STAY DOWN, LAZARUS, ahead of their UK and European tour together and it sees BIG SPECIAL’s scabrous, political lyrics and a storming, industrial arrangement enhanced by John Grant’s anthemic chorus. “STAY DOWN, LAZARUS is just a big moan about the social promise of elevation and rising up, that doesn’t really exist for most people,” lead vocalist Joe Hicklin has said of the song. “It was actually the first song written for BIG SPECIAL, but it didn’t make our debut album. We always felt it needed something more, so we took a shot in the dark and asked John Grant, a major influence of ours, to have a crack at it with us. We are proper chuffed he wanted to get involved and still pinching ourselves.” It was always gonna be a winning combination – wow lovin’ it here!
proFESSional – Madam G
Known for tackling difficult subjects, London based proFESSional share their explosive new single Madam G, a Fontaines D.C. / Dead Kennedys style alt rock gem that explores themes of complicity & consequence, while acting as a means for the listener to process uncomfortable truths about human nature, using Ghislaine Maxwell as a focal point. Vocalist Mani explains: “It’s easy to judge someone based on their isolated actions, but understanding a person deeply is far more challenging. The lyric challenges the simplistic view of a modern women as either a victim or perpetrator, inviting us to reflect on the intricate factors that lead a person into morally questionable situations. The line, “Daddy raised no fool…” highlights (but does not in any way excuse) Madam G‘s behaviour & the potential influences that can lead someone astray.” Louder Than War: “One of the best live bands you’ll see this year”
Apollo Junction – Falling
Leeds indie-rock outfit Apollo Junction have shared their infectious new single Falling, an energetic anthem perfectly suited to drift across festival fields. Described by Steve Lamacq on BBC6 Music as swaggering electro indie rock, Apollo Junction appeal to audiences who still have a profound love of guitar music, with nods to the iconic sounds of the 80s as well as more contemporary guitar band peers. The band have a passionate, growing fanbase that call themselves the ‘AJFamily’. There are shades of U2 vocally in the underlying guitar sounds, but these boys are not copyists, they are truly original! The video, filmed at the Piece Hall in Halifax is excellent too!
Slow Fiction – Brother
NYC’s Slow Fiction have dropped their infectious new single Brother, a stunning and brave exploration of grief, memory, and identity. The band state: “The inspiration centred around finding personal identity while experiencing grief, how we can be growing as individuals, but still hold onto pieces of those we have lost. It explores and enunciates a feeling that even though there’s deep sadness in grief, there’s also an equally deep love and remembrance. Time and grief are the original unstoppable force versus immovable object. How does time change us, and how do our perceptions change time?” The track is cathartic and beautiful—a testament to the resilience of memory and the ways art can carry us through our deepest pains.
Koteri – Know It All
London-based Koteri appeared in 2018 through a shared love of feel-good euphony, Arsenal F.C. and the forward-thinking spirit of hip-hop. They have just shared their debut 8-track EP Heaven’s A Lonely Place and we give you the ethereal track Know It All. Of the EP, the group say: “This EP is the first collection of songs we’ve ever released. We’ve been writing and recording together for very long time so this project means a lot to us. Releasing these songs almost feels like opening up the door into our world. Happiness is found in the little things in life, it is the journey not the destination.” The EP pivots between a glistening palette of slinky jam music, street soul and space funk, taking sonic cues from The Neptunes, the sampled dexterity of J Dilla, and the cinematics of Kevin Parker.
Essence Martins – Mrs Right
London-based singer-songwriter Essence Martins continues to craft a sound that is distinctly her own, drawing inspiration from a blend of indie, folk, pop, and soul. New single Mrs Right is an anthem for the emotional rollercoaster of dating. Inspired by a situationship, Essence’s ethereal tone captures a moment of vulnerability. Essence explains: “I wrote Mrs. Right in August 2022 about a situationship with someone who ended up getting into a perfect relationship after me. I was in a time of my life where everyone around me was getting into relationships, so I was feeling petty about the fact that I wasn’t in one, and that right after me, this person got into what seemed like a great one with someone else. I felt like a kind of stepping stone or doormat that people could walk all over. This emotion lasted only a couple of days, but I got a song out of it!” What a beautiful, melodic track – stunning vocals and heartfelt lyrics.
You can check out the whole playlist here. Please follow the socials below for our weekly updates and share about the place!
