Paulie Swan ‘Swans Today’

Paulie Swan is a singer-songwriter from Edinburgh, who at the start of this year was posting videos in relative obscurity on social media. He’s now quietly shared his debut EP ‘Swans Today’, and been announced to play at our very own TENEMENT TRAIL. He also has slots lined up at Green Man, Pitchfork Paris, Neighborhood and Left of the Dial later this year – so it’s the perfect time to tune in now before the buzz gets bigger.

With a rich, drawling delivery that has gained comparisons to the likes of Cameron Winter and King Krule, this EP, at its heart, is brimming with originality, warmth and vulnerability. Classic pop piano melodies, lush harmonies and harmonic synths form the background to his heart-on-sleeve lyrics and abstract imagery; the beautifully crafted instrumental allows room for thiswords to breathe as he explores themes of insecurity, self-loathing and grief. A deeply evocative listen, it’s hard to believe that the artist is only 20 years old. It’s fair to say we can’t wait to see what comes next from this artist.

Fog Bandits ‘TRY ME’ 

Fog Bandits, who play our SWG3 takeover on Friday 24th July, have shared an emphatic new single called ‘TRY ME’. the The band pick up where they left off with ‘DEVOUR’ – combining crushing nu-metal guitars, pummelling drums and towering power pop synths. Produced by Dead Pony’s Blair Crichton, it’s built around a big, catchy chorus and a blistering guitar breakdown that sees them truly unleash the seethe. It’s described as a ‘middle finger to the people in life who try to walk all over you. About hitting your stride and feeling invincible after feeling completely overlooked and forgotten.

They add: “It represents us perfectly right now, carving out our own place in the alternative scene here in Scotland by focusing on making songs that feel like instant anthems.’

Neon Waltz ‘Send Me Down’ 

Three years on from the release of their last album ‘Honey Now’ and nearly ten years on from their debut, Neon Waltz are back. We’ve been big fans of the John O’Groats outfit since they first emerged back in 2014, and since then, their story has been one of excellent songwriting, close brushes with undisputed UK indie icons, major label fails and grinding out tours over excessively long distances. Now, we’re delighted to see them back with ‘Send Me Down’, a song that reflects on their journey so far, the highs, the challenges and their love for it all. It’s a relentless anthem of defiance and staying power, frenetic, full of hooks and lyrically powerful.

“The whole song got written in one day and I think I even sent it to the boys that night, whichis unlike me. I normally stew on songs,”says Shearer.“It’s about the fear of drawing a lineunder Neon Waltz but not knowing what I would do with my time. Being just a guy who ‘usedto be in that band’ but ‘Send Me Down’ is me coming to the realisation that I’m not gonnagive it up just because it’s been a rough journey. You can’t just get everything you want inlife easily. It would be worthless without the struggle.

Theo Bleak ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’ 

Theo Bleak has reimagined The Waterboys’ 1998 song ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’, transforming the track through her own unique lens. Her version feels slower and more pared back than the original, as she replaces its upbeat urgency and chaotic energy with a cinematic melancholy and atmospheric production. Her ethereal croon adds a new dynamic to its tale of doomed romance though, adding a quiet sense of longing to its restless spirit while revealing new emotional depths. It’s a beautiful addition to her catalogue that perfectly captures her ability to balance vulnerability with emotional intensity.

She says: “I adore this song, the urgency, chaos and flippancy of it. I can’t help but relate its sound to the essence of a summer night on the east coast of Scotland, Mike Scott having been from Edinburgh. I wanted to recreate it whilst keeping the longing despondency of it. It makes me feel lonely but excited.”

Alex Amor ‘Aquamarine’ 

Alex Amor shares her debut album ‘Heavenly Bodies’ on 21st August, featuring this new preview single ‘Aquamarine’.  The song – produced by Matthew Neighbour (Role Model, Lord Huron) in his LA studio – sees Amor look back on her childhood summers along the windswept beaches of Scotland’s west coast, with chiming guitars and featherlight rhythms unfurling into vast, open-hearted choruses.

 Count the Days, SOAPBOX ‘No Rest’ 

Rising alt-rock outfit Count The Days have teamed up with punk stalwarts SOAPBOX for their high-octane new single ‘No Rest’. Produced by Gianluca Bernacchi, it’s a dark and menacing concoction, led by sledgehammer riffs, driving drums and bass lines, and a belligerent performance from Div Walls. Brilliantly capturing that feeling of being on the edge, an appearance from SOAPBOX’s Tom Rowan adds a new thrilling dimension.

Willie J Healey ‘Ditch’ 

Newly announced to appear at TENEMENT TRAIL 2026, Willie J Healey has shared a new track called ‘Ditch’, set to feature on a new EP called ‘143’. Featuring four home recordings, the collection will be a typically warm, groove-laced, heartfelt release from the prolific singer-songwriter, with this new track giving a swooning insight of what’s to come.

Commenting on the new single he says: “Ditch, sent from above. I just sat there with my arms open and it fell down to me. A gift from the tape lords, Loren Humphrey at the wheel me in the passenger seat with the windows all the way down. It’s a feeler about old fashioned brains, Romeo and Juliet type situations, being young and scared.”

Continuing about the EP, he says: “143 is a collection of recordings pulled from different recording sessions. Some were made entirely on my 4 track at home and others were made with Loren Humphrey in New York. It feels good to me to make my own kind of mixtape. A compilation of my favourites

Little Grandad ‘Babe, We’ve Run Out of Time’ 

Following their brilliant debut double single ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘Unmasked’, hotly tipped London outfit Little Grandad have shared a new track. This one is another impressive addition to their catalogue, full of twanging melodies and irreseistible guitar riffs. Oscillating between upbeat and lilting, yearning sections, there’s hints of Americana, folk, rock and more in its runtime. Watch out for this band, they play McChuills on 10th September.

Jawdropped ‘Split Lip’ 

Jawdropped, the rising four-piece from Los Angeles, have announced their debut album Secret To Spare will be out on 18th September. And following on from the catchy-as-hell ‘Monday’, they’ve shared another preview called ‘Split Lip’ – a big-hearted slice of indie-rock that channels Teenage Fanclub nostalgia and tanging alt-country. It’s a jangly anthem that, beyond its sunny sounds, captures the emotional grind of being in a band. They say: “It’s about being in a band and struggling to keep your shit in check,” Roman Zangari explains. “You spend your whole life as a musician striving for success and hoping to experience all these things that the four of us were experiencing for the first time. This song weighs out the excitement of that with the underwhelming reality of it all: we’re still broke, there’s no guarantee that any of this is going to lead to anything. How do you know that these decisions you’ve made are going to pan out in the future?”

Ezra Collective ‘Well Organised’ 

Fresh from announcing their forthcoming fourth studio album ‘Here Because of Hope’, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winning Ezra Collective return with brand-new single “Well Organised”, featuring Jamaican singer Lila Iké. On the new record, the group trace the movement of Black music across Africa, through the Caribbean and ultimately into Britain, celebrating the sounds, cultures and communities that have shaped generations of music while exploring how hope transforms pain into moments of joy. If “Only Love” found its inspiration in West Africa, “Well Organised” marks the beginning of the album’s Caribbean movement. It’s build around Max Romeo’s “I Chase The Devil”, and opens with a steel pan melody lifted from a spontaneous recording Femi made while visiting London’s Kinetika Bloco Youth Club. It’s a subtle, grooving number that encapsulates the band’s new sound perfectly.

 Speaking on the track, bandleader Femi Koleoso says: “I was spending time with the Kinetika Bloco Youth Club; they were playing steel pans and the most beautiful line caught my attention. I recorded it on my phone and lived with it. It had the emotion and beauty that I associate with dancehall, bashment, reggae and so many other beautiful sounds that come from Jamaica. We began to build stories, melodies and rhythms one by one. When it felt like home, we called our sister Lila Iké to furnish the house with love and good vibes.”

TV Priest ‘Love Song (A Good Kind of Weapon) 

TV Priest are today announcing their first new album in four years – ‘Cartoons’ – for release on 6th November. After re-emerging with ‘The Mud Never Dries’ last month, the new offering showcases another side of the band – one that’s more vulnerable and brooding.

Talking about the new single, vocalist Charlie Drinkwater says: “Love motivated us to form the band, yet we’d never written a song exploring romantic love or addressed it as a statement of love to our partners. This was a response to that: a shedding of any artifice and an expression of desire. We wanted to explore how love is both domestic and extraordinary. It’s in the washing up done without asking, or the flowers bought on the way home from work but it’s also in the grand gestures, the late-night conversations, or the personal wonder when you learn something new about someone despite all those years together. And, after all, love is a weapon for righteous change and goodness. It’s a statement of resistance when the current world’s mood music seems to be hatred and violence (or at least we are led to believe).”