Jacob Alon ‘Confession’
Days removed from their appearance on Jools Holland, Jacob Alon has shared another beautiful single called ‘Confession’. A true talent and exceptional musician, Jacob arrived on the scene with their stunning debut single ‘Fairies in a Bottle’ not too long ago – pairing angelic vocals with intricate acoustic guitar work to leave us utterly transfixed. Now they’re back with ‘Confession’ – a stunning track about shedding shame. It’s delivered with beauty, grace and effortless musicianship.
They said of the track: “This song, for me, is a shedding of shame. It’s a soft hand tracing the stretch marks left behind by a once messy, awkward, painful, and frightening realisation of my queerness. It’s a memory of the unspoken ways in which my heart and body knew how to move; knew how to draw in close under a cloak of darkness to bridge canyons of hatred and fear with acts of love.
“Love to me then was silent. It grew from the shadows. Voiceless in a vacuum of denial and shame. But even without air, it moved on its own. Squeezing up through the smallest cracks. Chipping little stones at my window. Showing me how fast my heart could really go.
“And still somehow I couldn’t heed its call… because as queer people, we are taught to hate and fear the beautiful boundless colourful love that is in us. And it’s a tragic, paradoxical illness – to fear love.
“As queer people, we are always coming out – every single day. We have to continually justify our existence against the painful grain of the heteropatriarchy.
“I wrote this song the night after a party where my self-esteem had shattered into a million pieces. When, out of my face, I’d confessed to someone with my words, my precious words, how I had loved them all those years ago. I was half-expecting some big revelation or closure or acknowledgement, but it didn’t come. I would always be something they’d rather pretend didn’t happen.
“And I want to keep giving it to you – my beautiful, boundless, infinite queers. This song is for you. This song is for little Cob.”
Kitti ‘Somethin’ in the Water’
‘Somethin’ in the Water’ is the culmination of kitti’s musical journey to date and reflects her reputation as one of Scotland’s most exciting jazz performers, with her accolades including Best Vocalist at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2022 and 2020, and Best Breakthrough at Scottish Music Awards 2020.
Across the album, kitti’s natural ability to showcase a range of styles and emotions shines through. There’s the funk-inflected groove of Must Be Somethin’ and the arresting solo piano vocal song Wings, through to the raw and triumphant Wonderland which is the album’s focus track inspired by kitti’s personal experience of living with Borderline Personality Disorder, to the yearning Me Myself & I, where jazz guitar and lovelorn lyrics evoke a feeling of classic old-Hollywood cinematic glamour.
The album also features two previous singles, the unapologetically rousing Maybe, and the woozy, honey-tinged Everything You Wanted, both providing standout moments.
As kitti explains: “this album has been in the making for nearly a decade. Some of the songs had been sitting on the back burner waiting to be recorded for almost 9 years. This is my life’s work so far as an artist and I’m more than excited to be finally unleashing it to the world!”
Sister Madds ‘Purgatory’
Recently nominated for a Scottish Alternative Music Award for ”Best Rock/Alternative’, Sister Madds are back with an emphatic new single called ‘Purgatory’. One of their most dynamic releases to date, it’s about feeling stuck in purgatory as things move on around you – delivered with their signature biting, witty lyrics and jagged guitars. Featuring a nod to the classic Calvin and Hobbes quote about looking up at the stars to forget your worries, it feels more amped up and self-reflective than what we’ve heard before – as well as some rousing, heroic guitar work.
Frankie Morrow ‘I Just Watch The Sunset’
Marking her first release of the year, Scottish songwriter Frankie Morrow has shared her first single of the year in ‘I Just Watch The Sunset’. Produced by Taylor Pollock of Cosmorat, the song is darker than anything we’ve heard from the outfit before – shrouded in personal reflection, yearning lyrics and sonic distortion. It’s a deep, growling, open-hearted number that builds into an intensely emotional climax – the singer’s voice reaching breaking point in complete catharsis against a build of guitars and drums. It’s a gripping return, with more new music to come in the near future.
ODD LUKE ‘Found Life’
ODD LUKE is the project of Glaswegian musician, songwriter and producer Andy Black, also known as session guitarist and live musician with the likes of Lewis Capaldi and Fatherson. Now ready for his moment in the spotlight, his new single is “Found Life” is an intoxicating slice of synth-drenched electro-pop, ultimately written about ditching the script, embracing the unexpected, and finding true freedom in living life your way – with sonic touch points ranging from Peter Gabriel to Kate Bush.
Speaking more on his new single’s lyrical inspiration, ODD LUKE said: “Found Life” is about breaking free from old patterns, behaviours and expectations, especially the ones we don’t even realise we’re holding onto. There’s a kind of clarity in surrender, in letting go of the pressure to fit into someone else’s version of ‘heaven’ or success. When I wrote it, I was thinking about how easy it is to get lost in the noise of others’ expectations. Essentially, the song’s about this surprising freedom that comes from stepping back, choosing to just live in the moment and essentially do what you want, not what others want for you. We also had the pleasure of having Magnus [Skylstad] mix it and sprinkle his absolute magic on the finished tune. He’s produced some of my favourite music so that was very cool.”
Divorce ‘Antartica’
Divorce have shared a brand-new single called ‘Antarctica’. It is the latest new music to be taken from the band’s highly-anticipated forthcoming debut album ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’, which arrives on March 7th 2025 via Gravity / Capitol.
A song about the fleeting nature of love, loss and life, the vivid lyricism is paired with a warming instrumental – breezy guitars and vocal harmonies imbued with a quiet yearning.
The band’s co-vocalist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow said: “I wrote ‘Antarctica’ at the end of a long and deeply important relationship as a way to self-soothe and make sense of the loss I was feeling whilst touring non-stop. Thinking of the silent indifference of that vast continent at the bottom of the world was and still is something of a meditation for me. Barry Lopez describes Antarctica as “utterly remote, even as you stand in it. The light itself is aloof.”
The song also recounts an event that Tiger and I experienced, encountering a newborn calf in the middle of the road on a late night drive. It felt urgent; the calf’s defenceless was impossible to ignore and we carried it back into the farm. There was a choice there. Did we rescue it from the road where it could have been hit by a human in a car or did we just send it back to be killed by a different human further down the line?
Neither option feels good or makes any sense to me, but the feeling of its fur covered in afterbirth and the desperate cries of its mother is something I will never forget.”
Listen to the full playlist here which also features new releases from Cara Rose, Conscious Pilot and more.
