Spectral Nights March 2021 Playlist
We’re getting there, aren’t we? Not long now until we can see friends and family outside and then there will soon be the chance to actually see people under roofs. Anyhow, March 2021 has been another solid month for new music and here’s a Spotify playlist with a song from every act we’ve covered over…
En Garde – ‘Debtors’ EP review
Akron, OH-based duo En Garde (Ross Horvath – vocals/guitar – and Andy Hendricks – drums) have shared a collection of songs recorded back in 2012 with Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Algernon Cadwallader) via the always sublime Count Your Lucky Stars Records. The EP opens with the urgent, intense and impassioned ‘Our Hands’. Reminding us of…
Kittyhawk – ‘Mikey’s Favorite Songs’ album review
Led by Kate Grube, Chicago, Illinois-based emo rockers Kittyhawk are a band determined to make you smile and weep in equal measure. Featuring members of Dowsing, Pet Symmetry and Into It. Over It.’s live band, their ‘new’ album features a collection of songs – released between 2012 and 2016 – that were not featured on…
Dinosaur Jr. – ‘I Ran Away’
The legendary Dinosaur Jr. have shared new single ‘I Ran Away’ ahead of the release of their 12th album proper – and fifth since getting back together – ‘Sweep It Into Space’ via Jagjaguwar on 23 April. The new single finds the trio dipping into the jangly kind of indie rock that serves Teenage Fanclub…
Spectral Nights February 2021 Playlist
February has been an odd month – again going by so fast and so slowly at the same time. But music is keeping us all going – and any month that features new albums by TV Priest, The Hold Steady, Katy Kirby and Wild Pink is fine by us. Here’s a Spotify playlist of the…
Italia 90 – ‘Borderline’
London four-piece Italia 90 have shared new single ‘Borderline’ ahead of its release on 7″ in April (order via Bandcamp here). Slotting nicely into a slot near Yard Act, TV Priest and Life, the new single finds the band taking aim ‘at the failed third-way ideology that led to our present political moment’. With sardonic…
Aerial East – ‘Try Harder’ album review
Released via Partisan Records, Aerial East’s ‘Try Harder’ is a coming-of-age record that looks at everything from trying to find your perfect home to dealing with friendships and feelings of loneliness. It also looks at the effect people from your past can have on your entire life. The sparse atmospherics of the title track open…
Abi Rose Kelly – ‘Kill the Waitress’
Liverpool-based singer-songwriter Abi Rose Kelly follows up ‘Polaroids & Violence’ with the grunge-tinged new single ‘Kill the Waitress’. Longlisted for the Glastonbury Festival Emerging competition in 2020, the song finds her taking stock of her own feelings and vowing to make her own path: ‘Kill the Waitress’ is a song about how angry I am…
Spectral Nights January 2021 Playlist
Possibly the longest month yet during this pandemic? At least there was some great music to keep all of our spirits up – from the New Year’s Day release of a new album from The Dirty Nil to the gorgeous new single from Loney Dear and the industrial art pop of Albertine Sarges. Here’s a…









