Brontës ‘Brontës’
Brontës’ have shared their self-titled debut this week and it’s a record fizzing with sophisticated pop melodies, lush harmonies and direct lyrics. With a vibrant mix of influences, from the flair of Tom Tom Club to edge of Chrissy Hynde, the band carve out a niche of their own – while delving into more personal themes than ever before. Whether it’s sunny pop rock that channels feelings of jealousy or honest vulnerability about a friend’s claustrophobic relationship, there’s a quiet intimacy to the album that reels you in.
“Writing, recording and playing this album has been incredible,” the band shared, “Working with Stuart MacLeod at the beginning of the year on the tracks was a special experience, it felt surreal and close to magic. Having the opportunity to use a studio like Beetroot and record with someone who believed in the music as much as we did was truly extraordinary. The album is sassy and jangly, but it is also the most vulnerable we have presented ourselves in our music, which as a band is a big step for us in the new direction. We are ecstatic for people to finally hear what we have been working on together with Beetroot and LNFG, and for what we do next”.
Solasta ‘Weekday’
Emerging from Glasgow’s thriving music scene, Solasta take influence from classic indie rock bands and add their own youthful edge. After releasing their meditative, dreamy debut single ‘Fading Away last year, the five-piece have shared ‘Weekday’ – a big step forward for the group that’s full of melodic flair, bright guitar lines and nostalgic hues. No stranger to the local live scene, keep your eyes peeled.
Basht ‘Perfume’
Irish outfit Basht have announced plans for their debut album ‘Poor Advice’, out on 9th October – and they’ve shared its brooding lead single ‘Perfume’. Produced by Ali Chant (Dry Cleaning, Lime Garden, Sorry), ‘Perfume’ arrives foreboding and introspective, all intoxicating vocals and pitch-black subject matter, quietly gestating before erupting to make good on the threat of its looming atmospherics. A kind of patience murmurs at the core of Basht., only showing their hand when the right moment presents itself. On ‘Perfume’ they consider the weight of Ireland’s history under the influence of the Catholic Church, turning the reflective and emotionally heavy into the sprawling and powerful. Vocalist and guitarist Jack Leavey comments on the new single: “Perfume is about the relationship between father and son from the perspective of the son as he recounts his parents’ marriage falling apart.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw ‘Nosedive’
Man/Woman/Chainsaw have announced thee release of their debut album, ‘Cannonball’, coming August 7th on Fiction Records. They’ve also shared a new single, the pulsing, synth-led ‘Nosedive’. Nearing six minutes long and with as much in common with LCD Soundsystem as it has the art-punk scene that birthed them, it was recorded at RAK Studios with Geordie Greep producer Seth Evans and Margo Broom.
Mary in the junkyard ‘Candelabra’
One of the most hotly tipped acts around at the moment, mary in the junkyard share their debut album ‘Role Model Hermit’ later this year on 3rd July – and now they’ve shared its second single. “Candelabra” is a moment of beauty, placing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Clari Freeman-Taylor centre stage. Written when Freeman-Taylor was seventeen, it underlines her innate ability to create something universal out of the smallest fragments. Freeman-Taylor says, “Candelabra was written many years ago, it was one of my first sad songs…. it has got all of my teenage angst written into it”.
DIVIL ‘Thanks a Million’
DIVIL are a trio of childhood friends from Dublin – Danny Dempsey McMahon (vocals), Jocelyn Vance (guitar) and Conor Cusack (bass). And this week they’ve shared their debut single “Thanks A Million” today and announced their debut EP, DIVIL I, coming 19th June. Old school friends who regrouped at Danny’s father’s funeral, the trio got together and started writing to reconnect, process their grief and lean on each other – and this first track emerged. The track balances the weight of despair with the reassurance of friendship, the kind that shows up in the everyday, in small gestures, and helps you through the hardest times.
Lyrically, the song is about falling into old, predictable habits and the frustration of being stuck in a loop. Danny explains “The song is about hope in the form of friendship. It’s about your friends checking in to see if you’re alright after you’ve been in a self-inflicted depression. I have this image of being stuck in a box bedroom suffering, the door opens with the lads checking that I’m ok. I respond, ‘I’ll be right here, thanks a million’.”
MORN ‘The Standard Model’
South Wales newcomers MORN have shared a new single ‘The Standard Model’. It marks the first new music from the band in 2026, after the breakout success of last year’s debut single ‘Modern Man’, which launched them around the UK onto festival stages at the likes of Green Man and Live At Leeds. Almost a year later and MORN are ready to share with the world what they’ve been working on, as they gear up for a spring headline run, an appearance at The Great Escape in May, and a slate of shows opening for US band Militarie Gun.
‘The Standard Model’ immediately makes its presence felt with a procession of pointed guitar riffing, laying the way for a breathless, eruptive song about a hated figure, never held to account. Despite its theme, there’s a euphoric magic to the way the band goes about their business on ‘The Standard Model’, and their propensity toward livewire songs that spiral out of control remains intact, pinned into place as ever by bassist Mae Ryder’s infectious choral of “La la la’s”. To describe their latest outing as “urgent” doesn’t quite seem to do the song’s energy justice.
Vocalist and guitarist Robert Riba comments on the single: “‘The Standard Model’ has been with us since the birth of our band. It gives unrelenting guitar madness with abrasive vocals — a commentary on a widely hated character who, at the peak of the track, turns to dust. Perhaps running away, disappearing without a trace, never held accountable. Although it hits hard, it’s our least serious, most purely fun and ecstatic song. We built it by stitching two catchy riffs together, and our live performance really grew around it. Both tracks were captured live in Dan Carey’s studio in Streatham, the energy bouncing off the walls of this small room with all of us crammed inside.”
