Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update. Check out our write-up on the great new trx this week and have a listen to Lou Terry, Fat Dog, Du Blonde & 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
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Long Dark Night
Nick Cave has shared another absolute stunner in new single Long Dark Night, from his upcoming album Wild God. This intimate twilight ballad is inspired by the poem Dark Night of the Soul by the Spanish 16th-century poet St. John of the Cross. Through its reflective lyrics, the track evokes the poem’s themes of struggle and transcendence. Speaking about the new offering, Cave said, “Long Dark Night is inspired by one of the greatest and most powerful poems of conversion ever written. Ultimately, though, it’s a beautiful country tune. It feels like a sweet companion to the song, Wild God.” There’s a UK/European tour coming from September and we can’t wait.
ARK IDENTITY – Screens
Toronto based ARK IDENTITY (aka Noah Mroueh) explores social media and internet driven culture on poignant new single Screens, blending elements of dream pop and psychedelia to create a soundscape that is both immersive and expansive. The new single effortlessly transports listeners into a reflective space, where the weight of societal pressures dissolves into airy melodies and reverb-drenched guitars. The artist explains that he “was inspired by feelings of alienation in a hyperconnected world. The lyrics are about feeling lost in a dreamscape of screens, yearning for a deeper connection beyond the digital facade.” Ethereal and emotive – we’re loving it!
Lutalo – Oh Well
Having explored folk-rock, indie-rock, post-punk and singer-songwriter genres, Lutalo now does space-grunge on new single Oh Well. It has all of the heavy fuzz of grunge, but mixed with the alt-rock goes psychedelic of the post-grunge mid to late 90’s. Lutalo says it: “… focuses on remembering my parents separation and my mother’s mental instability at a time when I didn’t understand what was going on. She was suffering with heavy schizophrenia and had some episodes that stuck with me. The main idea was to capture the hope that I held onto for my mother to come back into my life as a main figure ..” The result is a spectrum of emotions packed tightly together, where confusion and desperation sit alongside fondness, and a crushing weight is always threatening to overtake everything.
Lou Terry – Rollercoaster Therapy
London’s Lou Terry has shared infectious new single Rollercoaster Therapy, taken from the upcoming album Building A Case. It might sound like code for life’s ups and downs, but Lou explains the song is “about feeling absolutely amazing for a couple of weeks, after going to Thorpe Park for a mate’s birthday. I don’t ever really go on rollercoasters, and I thought that maybe I’d had some kind of rollercoaster therapy, that being flung violently about the air at full-speed with your mates might have rejigged some neurones in my brain”. For all the whacky theories, the answer was actually much simpler, as the song’s concluding mantra, “it’s the girl, it’s the girl”, attests, “I was dumb, I was happy coz I’d fallen in love. I hadn’t clocked it”. His music feels to be a carefully crafted love letter to music’s history, here stitching elements of slacker-rock into his heart-on-sleeve folk-rock stylings. Heart warming lyrics and definitely one to watch – love it!
Fat Dog – Wither
Fat Dog recently dropped new single Wither, from their upcoming album WOOF. Starting with a propulsive drum roll, the track captures the intoxicating energy of the band’s live show as frontman Joe Love builds up to a manic crescendo: “You better wither baby before you die / The whole team withers / The whole team dies.” The video directed by Ryan Vautier and inspired by 90s video games sees the five-piece traverse different worlds meeting bone dealers and singing skulls to come together and fight the final boss Gerald. Will the whole team survive? Vautier said of the video direction “I wanted it to feel like a real PS1 or 2 game that I would have played when I was a kid – Fat Dog’s music has the chaotic energy me and my brother had, smashing down soft drinks and arguing over who got the top split screen.” Treat yourself to their frenzied live performance – wow, you won’t forget it!
Pixies – Oyster Beds
Pixies have shared new single Oyster Beds, taken from their upcoming album The Night The Zombies Came and it is apparently, informed by Druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, medieval themed restaurants, 12th century poetic form, surf-rock, gargoyles, bog people, and 1970s era Fleetwood Mac. Frontman Black Francis has described Oyster Beds as “a laundry list of things I was painting over the last couple years. I took up painting again when we were recording at Rockfield, and I didn’t stop.” It’s a raw and spirited punk track that captures the essence of artistic expression and a real earworm – crank it up loud and put it on repeat!
ARXX – Trouble
Brighton power duo ARXX have dropped their latest single Trouble, taken from forthcoming album Good Boy and it finds the band analysing a break-up over a bassy and electronic palette that marks some of their most prowling, experimental sounds yet. They state: “This song felt like the most instinctive thing I’ve ever written. The palette we chose is meant to feel very affecting and visceral because we wanted the song to actually feel the changes, as well as telling the story.” The album follows a period of growth for the band and state: “This album is queer in its very nature; everything about it is queer and you can’t get away from it. The songs are very personal, and a celebration of being who you want to be in whatever way that manifests, and being fucking honest about it.”
Du Blonde – TV Star
Du Blonde has dropped penetrating new single TV Star, from the upcoming album Sniff More Gritty. It’s a grunge-pop exploration of the toxicity of succumbing to fame, and how people can change with mass attention. “Congratulations, you’re a TV star,” they begin in a monotone drawl over the strum of an acoustic guitar. “Hit the bigtime, bought a brand new car / Was it worth it, do you know who you are?” Du Blonde says of the raucous track: “It’s the story of who somebody was before and after fame, and the sadness of losing the good person they used to be.” The accompanying music video stars actor and musician Pete Chekvala, and cuts between new footage and 10-year-old clips of Du Blonde and Chekvala to “depict the purity and innocence of the early years,” the artist explains. Witty and dynamic – we’re loving this absolute toe-tapper!
Wallice – Heaven Has To Happen
Wallice has shared infectious new single Heaven Has To Happen, taken from forthcoming album The Jester. The track feels like it’s on the brink of devastation — a rapturous pressure cooker that’s waiting to explode. Wallice’s cutting remarks about her own unclear success (“I’m praying on the harvest moon / To keep my dreams from drying out / Heaven has to happen soon / So much danger in the drought”) spawn a number of choice lines about continuing to work towards a goal that doesn’t come with any guarantees. A swirling combination of static and rumbling bass eventually build to a killer sax solo that swoops in its third act, knocking its listener flat with its raw intensity. Beautiful vocals and great songwriting – definitely a winner!
Good Neighbours – Bloom
London based duo Good Neighbours have shared new single Bloom, from their upcoming self-titled debut EP. The band states: “We wrote Bloom on a sunny day in January before Home went viral on the internet. It was the first sun of the year and that’s how I think the song sounds. It’s about letting go of your inhibitions with someone and taking it all as it comes, knowing you’ll be there no matter what. Kinda feels a bit like this year.” Optimism and connection are also key ingredients of Good Neighbours. Their music is an amalgamation of their emotive indie influences of yesteryear such as MGMT, Passion Pit and Bleachers. They came together to create an indie-euphoric dreamscape of sound and vision for a subdued generation and live, they bring the inclusive party to fans every time – great stuff!
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