Martha Hill has made a welcome return with the quietly gorgeous ‘Granite Feet’. Co-written and recorded at home with fellow new parent Jordie Cooke during nap times, the introspective and deeply personal slice of indie-folk finds Martha talking about waking up with a ‘storm cloud head’ and making promises to try harder. There’s a touch…
London-based Celtic janglepop band The Tubs have shared new single ‘Stoop to Me’ ahead gig their new album ‘Hard Life’ on 11 September via Merge Records. Blending fiddle with chiming power-pop guitar hooks, the band reference Bob Mould as a key influence but we also hear a touch of Del Amitri and Real Estate in…
Teenage Fanclub have shared ‘Day in the Sun’ ahead of the release of their thirteenth studio album ‘Do Not Dare to Dream’ on 9 October. Melancholic and jangly, the heart-warming hug of a song is wrapped up in 3 minutes as Norman Blake and co examine the power of a shifting perspective: ‘The race was…
Los Angeles-based four-piece Jawdropped have shared ‘Split Lip’ ahead of the release of debut album ‘Secret to Spare’ on 18 September via Transgressive Records/Canvasback. Roman Zangari says the song is ‘about being in a band and struggling to keep your shit in check’, factoring in how time-consuming, exhausting and demoralising chasing the dream can be…
Cardiff”s finest art punks Panic Shack have returned with ‘Grin & Bear It’, the band’s first new material since the release of their self-titled debut album last year. Taking aim at the mundanity (and harshness) of the gig economy and the unfair narrative that artists should suffer, it’s a gritty riff-laden piece that also manages…
Man/Woman/Chainsaw have shared the brilliantly titled ‘Goddamn, Lizard Man!’ ahead of their eagerly anticipated debut album ‘Cannonball’ (out on 7 August, 2026 via Fiction Records). The first song released from the album to feature Billy Ward on lead vocals, the gritty track takes a ‘look at the kind of slimy, manipulative magnetism people can carry…
Galway-born singer/songwriter Oisin Mod has shared new single ‘Mirror Mirror’, his first new material since his 2022 debut album ‘Honeycomb’. Once again produced by Bill Ryder-Jones, the song is ‘about pretending and observing others doing the same. It’s looking over your shoulder while talking to you in search of a better option…’ With a touch…
Galway trio Shark School have shared ‘Don’t Trust a Man’ ahead of the release of their debut album ‘Selachimorpha’, via Strange Brew on 26 June, 2026. The band say ‘’Don’t Trust A Man’ is an abrasive and raw track lamenting the desperation for women to comfortably just be; to just exist free of the burden…
Death Cab for Cutie have shared new single ‘Punching the Flowers’ ahead of the release of their eleventh studio album – and first on ANTI- (Wilco, MJ Lenderman, Tom Waits) – on 5 June, 2026. Inspired by a real-life experience of a toddler punching flowers while having a tantrum but applying it to a man…
The Strokes have made a welcome return with the release of ‘Going Shopping’ ahead of seventh studio album ‘Reality Awaits’ on 26 June via Cult Records/RCA Records. Opening in more mellow fashion than you may expect, there are some trademark scuzzily retro guitar hooks before Julian Casablancas starts to ramble – in the most delightful…
Spectral Nights - alternative music, indie music, music reviews, new music, music blog 