Further Listening – HERE

5. Ismay Swears To Tell The Truth, Half The Truth And Something But The Truth

Ismay is the alt-folk project of California-based songwriter Avery Hellman. Avery grew up surrounded by music, with their grandfather, Warren Hellman, the man behind the acclaimed Hardly Strictly Bluesgrass festival in San Francisco. At those decidedly non-commercial events, Avery was inspired by the great and good of Americana, courtesy of the likes of Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch. After developing their own sound while working on the family ranch, Avery went on to release two albums under the Ismay moniker, most recently 2024’s Desert Pavement. With the Sam Cohen-produced third album, Half Truth on the way in July, this week Ismay shared the latest taster of the album, in the shape of the record’s title track.

Half Truth was crafted when Avery, “took a poetry class to improve my songwriting”, and presented the track as their final piece of work. The song explores the difference between what we say and what we think, as Avery explains, “there are parts of ourselves we show and share with others, and parts we obscure. This, to me, is the meaning of a “Half Truth” in the context of this song…There are so many times in my life where I communicate partial truths to avoid conflict, intimacy, or pain”. If the song’s themes are distinctly cerebral, it’s matched in the musical backing which feels deliberately thoughtful, every languid guitar twang and crystal clear vocal melody feeling perfectly placed. The whole thing feels delightfully loping, reminiscent of Eerie Wanda or Allegra Krieger, artists who know that there is meaning in the stillness and spacious elements of music, of letting sounds breathe and swell. Throughout, Avery seems to be contemplating letting go, of letting the interior voice become the exterior, yet they keep pulling back from the edge, “what if I let others know what it is I’m thinking? It won’t always cause endless sinking; it could go fine”. As Avery sings of the struggle, “to hang around people who cannot hear nor listen, who fight when I’m barely speaking, it tightens the line”, perhaps what they’re looking for isn’t confidence, but safety, finding the person who lets you be your true self, to let your truth out, and to knock down the line between the fear of their truth and other’s perceptions.

Half Truth is out June 12th via Fossil Records. For more information on Ismay visit https://www.ismaymusic.com/.

4. Marsy Are Just Magic

Marsy, the latest vehicle for the songwriting of Hannah Rodgers, formerly of Pixx, appeared on these pages in October last year around the release of their double-A single, Chance The Dancer and Let No Other Change Your Mind. That was their first material release on their current home, Heavenly Recordings, and the two tracks both appear on the band’s new EP, which they shared this week, alongside the record’s brilliant title track, Magic.

Produced alongside Tuung’s Mike Lindsay, Magic is Marsy at their most lithe, fusing a psych-folk-influenced lead guitar with sprightly drum rhythms and easy, layered vocals, nodding to the likes of Crake or Trembling Bells. The track showcases the band’s ability with a subtle build, as Hannah’s vocal is initially joined by just a lone electric guitar, before, first, bounding drums, then backing vocals and fuzzy bass come to join the party. Particularly wonderful is the pre-outro, where a buzzing organ briefly appears, takes focus and then is gone in a matter of seconds to let the guitar take it home. Lyrically, the track seems to explore the passage of time with a certain yearning for days gone by, “I miss the way the sun would shine, the rain would fall, but my mind would be fine. Do I remember it right or am I just dreaming about someone else’s life?” Ultimately, Magic is perhaps a song about struggling to live in the moment, to always be looking back at perceived simpler times when really you know time only goes forward, as Hannah sings, “thank you for yesterday, may tomorrow turn you right”, for Marsy, the future is far too exciting to turn away from.

Magic EP out now via Heavenly Recordings. For more information on Marsy visit https://linktr.ee/bandmarsy

3. Moon = Cheese, Cheese = Triangles, Ergo The Moon = Triangle! It’s Just Modest Maths For Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse is a name that probably conjures up different images in different generations. In the mid-to-late 90s, they were an underground phenomenon courtesy of the much-adored The Lonesome Crowded West; then they signed to Epic and, via their omnipresent single Float On and The OC generation, became a mainstream proposition of real heft. Now twenty-plus years on from that life-changing single, they’re preparing to return with their eighth album, and first in five years, An Erase And A Maze. It’s an album about time and illusion, a reflection that past, present and future all exist simultaneously, an end and a new beginning all rolled into one. Ahead of the record’s arrival at the start of June, this week Modest Mouse shared the latest single from it, Third Side Of The Moon.

A live favourite for a few years now, Third Side Of The Moon is a track that seeks to explore loss in a variety of forms and of various shapes, in particular the way our mind begins to play tricks on us as time passes by. Throughout the song, frontman Isaac Brock comes back to the line, “I can’t remember if your eyes were blue or green, or red”, chastising himself for failing to take in the small things, “I wish I’d paid attention to every word you’d ever said, but you always spoke in a whisper, I ain’t so good at listening”. The dark spiral of the lyrics is mirrored in the music, as the wiry chug of the lead guitar is engulfed by a gun-shot snare drum and the wordless chorus. Modest Mouse might have been making music for thirty-three years and counting, making them older than nearly any rodents that ever lived, yet with each release they just seem to carve their niche a little deeper, still a band made entirely in their own image, doing things on their own terms and sounding as refreshed and important as ever.

An Erase And A Maze is out June 5th via Glacial Pace Recordings / Virgin Music Group. For more information on Modest Mouse visit https://www.modestmouse.com/

2. Bear Witness To The Return Of Josaleigh Pollett

Based out of Salt Lake City, Josaleigh Pollett, alongside their long-time collaborator Jordan Watko, have been gradually winning over hearts and minds with their evolving musical coming together, shown most recently on 2023’s electronic-leaning offering, In The Garden, By The Weeds. That newfound acclaim has seen Josaleigh share stages with the likes of St. Vincent and Torres, as well as working with Ekko Astral on record and stage. After Jordan’s relocation to Japan, the duo’s next step became something of a logistical challenge, a cross-continental collaboration, with the pair leaning into it and trying to make their most ambitious and exploratory release yet. The result is the upcoming album, If I Let It Quiet, out next month, and previewed this week by the new single, The Witness.

Discussing The Witness, Josaleigh suggests it, “is a song about knowing that to be seen and held and understood, you must first see and hold and understand. It’s about love, beyond limits and gender, across multiple universes. It’s also a little bit about deleting my Twitter account”. Musically, the track is a breathless affair, instantly engulfing the listener in a blanket of synths, before Josaleigh’s vocal cuts through, “I keep feeling like I’m getting to the party, just when everyone is leaving”. From there, it never really lets up, Josaleigh and Jordan throwing everything at the track, every vocal effect, every drum rhythm, every synth sound, creating a maximalist pop dreamscape. It’s four minutes of pure sonic indulgence reminiscent of the likes of Broken Social Scene or Basia Bulat. Throughout, we’re taken back to visions of abandon, that dancing on your own flourish of pure freedom, even if nobody is there to record it for the socials, “no one to see you at the party with your hair long, spinning in a new dress and knowing it’s a new dress”. The Witness is an intriguing moment for Josaleigh Pollett; it’s as if they’ve decided now is the time to let it run wild, a songwriter known for tender thoughtfulness, deciding now is the time to throw every ounce of energy at it and see what sticks. It’s freedom in audio form, and as you’d imagine, it’s really quite thrilling.

If I Let It Quiet is out July 24th via Audio Antihero / Lavender Vinyl. For more information on Josaleigh Polett visit https://linktr.ee/Brosaleigh

1. Only Mad Dogs And Hadda Be Go Out In The Midday Sun

Appearing on these pages for even longer than they’ve even been called by their current name, Hadda Be are a South-London based four-piece I’ll happily rave about to anyone who’ll listen. Although they’ve been active for considerably longer, the band released their debut album, Another Life, back in 2021 to widespread acclaim. Since then they’ve done a lot of touring on both sides of the Atlantic, released a few singles, and quietly laid the building blocks for transposing the live band they’ve become onto tape. This led them to the studio with Stereolab’s Andy Ramsay, who produced both last year’s comeback single, New To The Office, and this week’s offering, High Noon.

Those who engaged with Hadda Be’s last single might have had a little pre-warning, but High Noon is a real departure from the band’s earlier material. Where previously they seemed to tap into melodic dream-pop, here they’re channelling the spirit of their live show into something distinctly energetic. With the pummelling drums, beefy guitars and keyboards that wouldn’t sound out of place on a 70’s psych-record, they seem to conjure up some of the spirit of the Blast First label for the modern age. The change in musical outlook is thankfully matched by vocalist Amber’s delivery, as she becomes a howling focal point, twitching with anxious energy as she explores ideas of the attraction of another and the need to maintain your self despite it, “fall into something we are told, we’ll break this solemn mold in time, that’s just the funny thing you know, it cuts you and it ties you round”. Bristling with energy and intent, High Noon serves as further evidence that Hadda Be’s new direction might just be their best move yet.

High Noon is out now via Last Night From Glasgow. For more information on Hadda Be visit https://linktr.ee/HaddaBe

Header photo is Hadda Be by Hannah Murrell.