Hello world,

Your latest FP Picks update is here and we’ve got loads of great new music as always inc trx from Hamish Hawk, Kitty Fitz, Sophie Kilburn & 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

Monobloc – Where Is My Garden

Indie-rock outfit Monobloc have shared pensive new single Where Is My Garden. Bassist Michael Silverglade states: “I wrote the guitar riff years ago, long before Monobloc was even a thing. We’ve never had more iterations of a single song idea, it just never came together. Yet, I persevered, and after we wrote the first couple of Monobloc tracks, we dug up the old demo”. Vocalist Timothy Waldron explained the single’s themes of disillusion and loneliness to So Young Mag: “attached to the main riff of the song was this chorus I really wanted to use but could never find a place where it made sense. ‘Where is my garden, where are my friends? Will it always feel like the end?’ It was a great wide theme – a bit Springsteen and better yet, the closest I could legally get to saying ‘Where are your friends tonight.” An energetic banger and definitely a band to watch.

Gemma Rogers – Death Knocked Up

London-based singer-songwriter Gemma Rogers has dropped dark yet upbeat new single Death Knocked Up from upcoming EP No Future. In Louis Norton Selzer‘s bold video, death is a young woman living on a council estate, dealing out doom to her neighbours – until she gets knocked up and gives birth to her own replacement. The track’s inspired by the 2021 novel Mrs Death Misses Death, written by Gemma’s friend, the poet and performer Salena Godden. Gemma states: “I thought it was interesting to get under the skin of death as a being with a conscience, but who had to get on with the job like so many of us. We wanted to explore the idea that people are more than their jobs and that we need to consider there’s more to people than meets the eye. We liked the idea of death giving birth as well, so Death became a woman and why not?” Thought-provoking lyrics and a ridiculously infectious chorus – love it!

Peter Xan – Empty Space

Peter Xan has shared new single Empty Space with its walls of distortion, massive drums and memorable chorus. Xan states: “Empty Space is about the vices I used to fill gaps by the loss of my late friend Cane who was a producer, roommate and best friend who passed last year. The relationships I made in the instant aftermath often were used to fill in the gaps where I couldn’t rationalise everything that was going on. Empty Space details running around in empty space with a girl. And how she made me feel during the numbness of that experience.” The video was directed by Thomas Rawle (Fred Again) and it shows a performer with tremendous energy and ardour and displays his vital authenticity with an essential blend of style, substance, and swagger.

Bright Eyes – Bells and Whistles

Nebraska’s rock outfit Bright Eyes have dropped uplifting new single Bells and Whistles from their upcoming album Five Dice, All Threes. Of the track, Conor Oberst says: “This is a song about the many little details in life that can seem insignificant or frivolous or temporary at the time but eventually end up forming your destiny. And it’s also kind of a whistle while you work scenario.” The band’s 10th studio album features guest performances from Cat Power, The National’s Matt Berninger and The So So Glos’ Alex Orange Drink. An upbeat, totally captivating track with fascinating lyrics – what a total earworm!

Soccer Mommy – Lost

Nashville indie-rock singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy (aka Sophie Allison) has shared a captivating new single and states “Lost feels like something new and something old at the same time. It’s a song that’s full of reflection and I wanted its production to really capture that feeling. I’m happy to have a chance to play it at these more intimate solo shows, because I think it really shines in that setting.” The track is both beautiful and heartbreaking and reads as a remembrance of Allison’s mother, whose terminal illness she wrote about with such unflinching candor on 2020’s color theory. Stunning vocals and poignant lyrics on this atmospheric track.

Kitty Fitz – Laughing Stock

London-based Kitty Fitz has dropped heartfelt new single Laughing Stock. Clever songwriting with introspective lyrics such as “I’ve got nothing to give you man, just some leftover lust and the higher ground” combined with beautiful vocals add to the charm of this melancholic yet upbeat track. The words are propelled by a driving looping chord progression, sketched out by a downbeat electric keyboard which nonetheless contrasts the mood with its indie lilt. A winding guitar sound expresses the weirdness of a guilty inner world. The track ends with an acceptance that “Everything else I gave away, but at least I’m trying to be honest for a change.” Lovely to have Kitty Fitz back with another stunner.

EFÉ – 2000SEVEN

Dublin based EFÉ (aka Anita Ikharo) has signed to FADER and released a new single and states: “2000SEVEN was kinda a rocky version of one of my first songs, seven, except this one feels new and could’ve come out in the early 00s hence the name change. It’s also the way me and my band play it live so it was only right we had a recorded version for people to hear. It was a song I wrote when I was like 19, and about how you get closer to someone especially when times kinda get hard and a bad experience can bring people together.” EFÉ co-directed the accompanying video with Wiktoria Weintritt, embracing a nostalgic ’90s aesthetic with Japanese film-inspired colour palettes. The video showcases EFÉ and her band performing in various eclectic rooms, centred around a cosy bedroom setting. Crank it up for this guitar fuzz belter!

Sophie Kilburn – Still in the City

As with her previous release Body On The Inside, this arresting, hands in the air track by Derbyshire born Sophie Kilburn has a richness in both production and melody that gives it a wide appeal. Storytelling in the lyric make it easy to connect with too and the songwriting harks back to classic song structures and arrangements while still feeling fresh, vibrant & new. Multi layer vocal textures towards the end only add to the anthemic feel of the track, which is the 2nd offering to appear from Sophie’s upcoming EP Don’t Make Me Angry. Getting the balance between indie and mainstream appeal is no easy feat to accomplish and Miss Kilburn does it with style – definitely one to watch…

Hamish Hawk – Men Like Wire

Edinburgh’s Hamish Hawk, and a Futureproof fave, has released anthemic new single Men Like Wire, from his upcoming new album A Firmer Hand. Hamish states: “In Bakerloo, Unbecoming, I wrote “essentially it comes down [again] to the limitless mysteries of other men”. Men Like Wire is a deeper excavation of that idea. In short, it’s about men. Men I have and haven’t known, men I’ve seen, heard, loved and lost. Men I’ve been seated next to at weddings, bus stops and dinner parties, on trains, beds and park benches. They’re all in there, for better, for worse.” A powerful track and, as always, thought-provoking lyrics from Hamish. He supports Travis in December and is set to play numerous in-store and out-store performances leading up to the album release. An amazing live performance – check out the dates!

Jopy – Graveyard Romance

Brighton glam-punk artist Jopy has shared new single Graveyard Romance from upcoming debut EP Planet Zombie with its whiplash punk riffs and frantic choruses, The track turns the process of accepting one’s own trans-identity as a story “about ghosts finding true happiness” in the unlikeliest of places. Jopy shares: “My experience with accepting my own queer identity has in some ways felt like I’ve lived two lives. My first life when I was in the closet and unable to accept myself, and my new life since transitioning. Graveyard Romance for me is a fun story that both draws from and celebrates my real experiences with transition. It’s about two people who disliked each other when they were living but after they died and started their new life as ghosts they were able to find love for themselves and each other.”