Orchards Bicker album artwork - back of a blonde head with a touch of blue

Orchards – ‘Bicker’ album review


Brighton trio Orchards return with new album ‘Bicker’ (released on Friday 28 March via Big Scary Monsters. Full of bittersweet lyrics about love and losing it, Lucy Evers says about the album: ‘There are sad songs, happy songs, songs of ambivalence and everywhere in between on this record. But it’s back breakingly true. Every word,…

Lone Striker album artwork

Lone Striker – ‘Lone Striker’ album review


Teenage Tom Petties and Rural France’s Tom Brown releases the first record under his solo moniker, Lone Striker. Five years in the making, this self-titled album was recorded at Tom’s home using a selection of bedroom instruments, wobbly doo-wop samples, off-kilter drum loops and found sounds. ‘Blip One’ opens the record with a Sparklehorse sound…

Keg band photo

Keg – ‘Fun’s Over’ album review


Keg release their debut album ‘Fun’s Over’ via Alcopop! Records on 14 March, 2025. Known for their infectious live performances, this record finds the seven-piece showcasing a more vulnerable, human side amidst the chaos of synths, trombone and barbed guitars… Album opener ‘Photo Day’ has a long, mathy, post-rock-inspired build up that makes for a…

Courting Lust for Life, Or How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story album artwork

Courting – ‘Lust for Life, Or How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’ album review


‘It’s meant to feel very contradictory and confusing but it’s also fully realized’. Courting’s Sean Murphy-O’Neil hits the nail on the head when describing the Liverpool band’s third album ‘Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’ (out via Lower Third on 14 March…

Bambara band photo

Bambara – ‘Birthmarks’ album review


Based around the theme of reincarnation – and a story shaped by songwriter Reid Bateh about women linked through generations by dreams, snakebites and violence in dive bars – ‘Birthmarks’ is Bambara’s fifth album. Packed with darkness and troubled characters, Reid said ‘I wanted to write about the idea of love surviving after death, or…

Florist – ‘Moon, Sea, Devil’


Florist have shared ‘Moon, Sea, Devil’ ahead of the release of new album ‘Jellywish’ via Double Double Whammy on 4 April, 2025. The stripped-back two-minute piece of majestic alt-folk finds Emily Sprague questioning how our actions can ripple across alternative worlds – she talks about making memories and being invested in chaos – before celebrating…

No Windows – ‘Return’


Edinburgh duo No Windows have shared ‘Return’, the first single to be taken from upcoming EP ‘The Great Traitor’ (released on 9 May via Fat Possum Records). Described in the press release as ‘A slow burning mixture of 90s alt rock and pastoral indie that sounds like something Buffy would have swooned to at the…