Beck has returned with ‘Ride Lonesome’, a gentle break-up ballad that evokes the spirit of his more restrained and refined albums ‘Morning Phase’ and ‘Sea Change’. He laments how ‘She is gone’ and reflects on turning memories into worst enemies over sparse acoustic and electric hooks before reassuring himself – or the subject – ‘You’ve…
Drawing on the political landscape and her personal experiences, Jesca Hoop’s seventh album ‘Long Wave Home’ finds the California-born. Manchester-based songwriter examining the value of relationships, community and the strength of solidarity. Album opener ‘Adam’ is a restrained affair with Jesca pleasing to stay together with the subject of the song (‘Only the wrong clothes,…
Ben Auld’s second album ‘Loserdom’ is named after a term said by Walter Becker in a Steely Dan documentary and finds the Norwich-based singer-songwriter celebrating the relief that comes when you accept your losses and start to move on in life. The appropriately titled ‘Opening’ starts the record with gentle guitar strums and then later…
Civil Villains have shared ‘Punching Down’ ahead of the release of their second album ‘A Sleeper, Underneath’ via Thundersnuff Records on 8 May, 2026. Opening with woozy, mathy riffs the band offer ruminations on power, corruption and collective complicity and how it’s not too late for all of us with a conscience and compassion to…
False Advertising’s ‘The Sorry Window’ is the Manchester band’s first full-length release in six years. It explores the tension between ambition and self-doubt with searing honesty… The fractured indie-pop of ‘Narrow’ kicks off the album with Jen’s voice front and centre: ‘Now it breaks and it takes my breath right from my lungs’. It finishes…
Truthpaste have shared ‘Friendship is the Truth’ ahead of the release of debut EP ‘I Don’t Know Either’ on 28 April, 2026 via Dirty Hit and Memorials of Distinction. Reminding us of Slow Club and the anti-folk classics of the early 2000s but combined with the complex chamber pop melodies of contemporaries like Black Country,…
Life have shared ‘Turning In’ ahead of the release of upcoming fourth album ‘ABSTRACT/NATURAL’ via Launchpad+ and EMI North on 19 June, 2026. Showcasing a more restrained and reflective side to the Hull band, the song finds vocalist Mez Sanders-Green sharing his thoughts on fatherhood and how the most surprising comment from a child can…
The 113 have shared the video for ‘When I Leave’, a song that features on their recently released EP ‘The Hedonist’. Produced by Dom Richmond and mixed by Daniel Fox of Gilla Band, the song is an unsettlingly atmospheric slice of post-punk with aggressive riffs, powerful drums, hissing bass and pondering lyrics filled with observations:…
Man/Woman/Chainsaw have shared new single ‘Nosedive’ ahead of the release of their debut album ‘Cannonball’ via Fiction Records on 7 August. With their trademark violin front and centre, the six-minute track has a more synthy, toe-tapping sound that recalls LCD Soundsystem or St. Vincent’s more experimental and electronic stylings. A song about ‘longing for both…
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 