Further Listening: Sun Riah, Crumbs, The Hayman Kupa Band, The Blow, Carmen Villain, Sloan Peterson, A. Savage, People Like You, You Are Number Six, Dorin Yanni, Hazel English, Soft Fangs, Alvvays, The Dears, Sheron, Fountain Park Apts., Ruby Bones, The Orielles, Tree Hollow, The Last Days Of Elvis, Skytone, Annie Hart, Dan Rico, Trash, Grace Lightman, Charles Walker, Nadine Shah, School Damage, The Preatures, Beaches, Ramonda Hammer, Haunted Summer, Essy and the Call, SuperGlu, SOAR, Club Night, Candice Gordon, Besides Daniel, Fever Dream, Basement Revolver, Sophisticated Dingo and the continued excellence of The Surfing Magazines.

5. Marble Gods Air Their Dirty Laundry

Hailing from Glasgow, Marble Gods are an indie-pop trio, of which available information is somewhat scarce. Thus far they’ve released a handful of singles, but their output is set to step up later this month with the release of their untitled debut EP.

Ahead of that release, Marble Gods have shared the first taste of the record, in the form of new single, Washing Machine, “a song about finding your feet and washing your socks”. Delightfully lo-fi, it’s a winning blend of guitars with just the right amount of jangle, and drums that are a rambunctious clatter of snares and cymbals. In many ways it’s classically indie-pop; what makes it leap out from the crowd is the stunning vocal, which possesses the same gentle, yet subtly tough quality of Alvvays’ Molly Rankin. Early days for Marble Gods it may be, but this is a hugely promising place to start.

Marble Gods’ new EP is out at the end of this month. Click HERE for more information.

4. Torres Steps Into The Future

It was only a few weeks back we were speculating about when the world might receive an album shaped gift from the Brooklyn-based artist, Torres. This week Mackenzie Scott has detailed the release of that record, Three Futures, as well as sharing the sublime title track.

Three Futures is a track that slowly reveals itself on repeat listens, such is the complexity of the ever shifting instrumental backing. Fluttering beats hold the track together, as heavily effected guitars, pulses of thrillingly gloomy synths and Mackenzie’s versatile, powerful vocal add the perfect dose of melodic sweetness. There’s something in the way the lines are delivered that takes seemingly indecipherable lyrics and gives them an emotional gravitas; a line like, “I hope that’s what you’ll remember, not how I left, but how I entered”, seeming to possess some deep secret beyond any obvious interpretation. Describing the inspiration behind the album, Mackenzie has suggested it, “is entirely about using the body that each of us has been given as a mechanism of joy”, and based on the singles so far, our ears are going to be getting some serious joy from this most intriguing of artists. 

Three Futures is out September 29th via 4AD. Click HERE for more information on Torres.

3. Elle Mary Raises The Dead

After stumbling across last month’s brilliant single, Pretend, we were pretty much ready to declare Manchester’s Elle Mary & The Bad Men the future of music. This week Elle and Co. have returned with the video for another stunning single, Undead.

The video, featuring a collection of hauntingly atmospheric shots of the Peak District, was, in Elle’s own words, “a video that reflected the atmosphere and space of the song”. Musically, Pretend is a subtly evolving piece, there’s an almost absent-minded quality to the gently plucked acoustic, as Elle’s voice seems to drift away in a world of its own, effortlessly picking gorgeous melodies out of the ether. As Elle sings, “you pray out loud when you want to be heard, search for me in your deepest sleep”, there’s gentle nods to the quiet intensity of acts like Mothers or Globelamp, ultimately though it’s a sound entirely her own. It might be very early days for this most intriguing of songwriters, but it’s a mightily impressive beginning.

Undead is out now via Sideways Saloon/Kartel Music Group. Click HERE for more information on Elle Mary & The Bad Men.

2. Lomelda Offers Her Vision For The States

Lomelda is the pseudonym of the songwriter Hannah Read, based out of Silsbee in Texas. This week as well as sharing tour dates with Pinegrove and Florist, Lomelda has detailed the release of her upcoming album, Thx, as well as sharing the first single from it, Interstate Vision.

Backed by prominent tumbling bass lines and bright, easy guitar strums, Hannah’s voice is left to carry much of the melodic lifting, a trick she achieves with an effortless aplomb. Lyrically, it seems to touch on one of those relationships, be it love or otherwise, where you keep stumbling back despite knowing it’s doing you nothing but harm, as she sings, “we were young, oh I was so young, still I sit with you in parking lots, acting like I’m not falling for it”. Lomelda’s music is a place of juxtapositions; sparse yet powerful, beautiful yet bruising, timeless but none the less very 2017 – her upcoming record could be very special indeed.

Thx is out September 8th via Double Double Whammy. Click HERE for more information on Lomelda.

1. Magana Inches Closer To Stardom

Having released Golden Tongue, our favourite EP of last year, we’re pretty much paid up members of the Magana fan-club. Magana, or Jeni if like us you’re feeling overly familiar, has this week shared a stunning new video to the EP’s stand out moment, Inches Apart. The track is released today and accompanied by a pair of remixes courtesy of Frog and Benjamin Shaw.

The video, directed by Lauren Finerman, from the New York City Ballet, is an intense and brooding affair, perfectly suited to the accompanying music. Building around a fluttering, reverb-drenched electric guitar line and propelled on the percussive flutter of the top string, Inches Apart is a song of unbearable tension that demands a release, yet one never comes: your heart remains firmly on the edge of leaping out of your chest throughout. The track perfectly captures that feeling of being so entirely entwined with another person that you cannot imagine life without them, of being afraid to let yourself be hurt, but knowing that sometimes that’s an inevitability: “I have built myself by hand, I was dreaming of the Southern sand, and while every night you visit me, darling you are friends with misery”. Quite frankly there’s nobody currently making music that has more ability to squeeze every drop of emotion out of the listener like Jeni Magana; a musical superstar for whom world domination surely awaits.

Inches Apart is out today via AudioAntihero. Click HERE for more information on Magana.

Header photo by Jeni Magana