Just another manic Monday (Ooooh Woooh), I wish it was Friday, because why would you want it to be Sunday? Just because it rhymes with “fun day”?!? Friday is exciting. Anticipation is in the air, along with a smell of rank vape, Stella Artois, horrendous perfume and aftershave that smell like public toilet airfreshner and a bit of vomit for those stag and hen weekends that started at 9am on the train with a few “cheeky beers/Prosecco’s. Delete as appropriate.
But, alas, it is Monday. To get you through this extremely inconvenient whole week in between bank holidays, here are a cornucopia of great tunes on this lovely sunny day as you sit indoors at work. Shit the bed.
Alexandra Alden – magnolia
Why we love it: because I’m a sucker for arpeggio acoustic guitar and ethereal vocals. It also helps when a song is constructed with such care and precision and has a particular chord change that I need to identify but does something to me and I’m floored. Alexandra was born in Malta, and the video is filmed at Malta Museum of Archaeology, which I have been to in Valetta. It is a collaboration with ŻfinMalta National Dance Company and Gideon Van der Stelt who directed it.
The PR blurb says “The song’s genesis can be traced back to a romantic dawn encounter with magnolia blossoms in a small Welsh town, followed by a spontaneous night on Brighton beach during The Great Escape Festival. Just as the magnolia flower blooms before its protective leaves appear, ‘magnolia’ captures the fragile yet unwavering strength of stepping into the unknown. ‘magnolia’ celebrates beauty breaking through the cracks“.
Her new LP, When Is It Too Late, is out in the autumn and this is the first single. (Jim Auton)
WOAHGETTER – Even Dad Had A Fiver On Love
Why we love it: because I’m a sucker for dry, laconic delivery, acerbic wit and a bit of 80’s pop production. WOAHGETTER has a subtle croon, a bit Neil Hannon if he fronted the Pet Shop Boys. There’s a bit of a similarity with Enjoyable Listens and Luke Duffett’s observations on life and humour injected descriptions. It’s as infectious as not wearing a mask in Lidl in 2020.
They say “I’m sure most of us can easily call to mind a ‘Dad’ figure that has seemingly very little invested in the notion of love, but even in the coldest of cases, there’s usually some small stake in something classifiable, if only tenuously, as love… which probably says more about the nebulousness of the word ‘love’ than it does about any particular individual.” (Jim Auton)
Picture Parlour – Who’s There To Love Without You
Why we love it: because I’m a sucker for a glam floor stomper and a big fat riff and wacking great barre chords. (You’re quite the sucker, Ed)
Picture Parlour have trimmed down their members but come back bigger and bolder. The trademark vocals are still in check and they’ve come barrelling through the doors of a 1970’s Northern Soul disco with a pair of sparkly platform boots and Fara Fawcett hair, sprayed to within an inch of it’s life and a warning to not light a ciggie within 100 yards.
They say “At its core, the song is a bombastic tongue-in-cheek declaration that is wrapped in big riffs, and that’s our mood for 2025. The chorus lyric belts and repeats the song’s title, as though we are refusing to be ignored. This song begs for, if not demands attention because, in the end, what’s the point of anything if the person or thing you want most can’t see you?” (Jim Auton)
MIEN – Mirror
Why we love it: because MIEN’s tour of the UK starts today. And to celebrate the occasion the psychedelic group from Austin, Texas by way of Montreal, Quebec have just released a brand new lyric video, designed by band member John-Mark Latham, to accompany the song ‘Mirror.’ The song itself is taken from their album MIIEN which came out ten days ago via Fuzz Club.
MIEN’s current line-up is Alex Maas (The Black Angels), Rishi Dhir (Elephant Stone), John-Mark Lapham (The Earlies) and Robb Kidd (Golden Dawn Arkestra).
Commenting upon ‘Mirror’, MIEN say: “It is one of only a small handful of songs that started life when we were all together, which always immediately makes a song feel special to us. We generally record in our own separate spaces and swap files, but this one came to life while we were rehearsing for our first tour back in 2018. ‘Mirror’ is the sound of a band coming together and working intuitively rather than logically, and for that it stands out as one of our strongest achievements.”
Slowly emerging in a hypnotic swirl, ‘Mirror’ takes you straight back to the halcyon days of psychedelia and the Summer of Love. Mesmeric and uplifting. (Simon Godley)
Surprise Chef – Consulate Case
Why we love it: because this is superb. And ‘Consulate Case’ is taken from Surprise Chef’s forthcoming album of that very name, Superb. Eight years into their collective journey the five members of the Australian jazz-funk outfit will be unleashing Superb on the 16th of May. Get ahead of the game and pre-order the album here.
Recent release ‘Consulate Case’ gives you a tantalising taste of what is to come on the new record. It hooks straight into an incessant bass line and then just surfs along on top of the funk groove, not letting up for three and a half minutes. You are left wishing it had just been a whole lot longer.
Surprise Chef’s world tour hits the UK this September. (Simon Godley)
Spielmann – Over It
Why we love it: because ‘Over It’ surely marks the resurgence of denim as a go-to item in the modern wardrobe. In the song’s accompanying video, Spielmann and his cronies go into denim overload – double, triple, even quadruple if we count their headwear. And the new single from the Leeds-based solo artist makes a full-on denim revival inevitable. Because the song is big, it is bold, it is as catchy as hell, and just like denim itself, it is timeless. Once listened to, ‘Over It’ will hang around in your head for days.
Speaking about the song, Ben Lewis – the man who is Spielmann – says “‘Over’ It is classic Spielmann, misanthropic, nihilistic, moans about the world, writes a massive chorus about it, feels better about it all…for a bit. ‘Over It’ is a pretty big step forward from anything that’s come before for Spielmann production-wise, the first time I’ve recorded anything in a proper studio, as opposed to just my attic room, giving it the big ambitious sound I’ve always intended for it. I want to make big pop bangers, and this is that…probably.”
And if you fancy hearing this and other top Spielmann tunes in concert, you can do. He will be hosting two nights at the new sandwich shop/bar Alfonso’s Bodega Deli in Leeds on the 2nd and 3rd of May ahead of a run of UK dates later in May in support of Australian artist Donny Benét and then some festival performances throughout the summer – with many more shows to be announced soon. (Simon Godley)
Grace Monaco – Depression Nap
Why we love it: Lancaster based producer / songwriter Grace Monaco tip toes delightfully through skittery beats, bubbling synth lines, ladelling her future pop lullaby with dreamy and evocative melodies that are like someone whispering spells into your ear, taking you by the hand through an escapist dream, an antidote to negative thoughts. Beguiling.
Grace’s alt-pop has generated comparisons with Grimes and Pink Pantheress, yet her “fantastical point of view” (God is in the TV) brings something fresh, witty, and singular to the table. ‘Depression Nap’, the first release from Grace’s forthcoming EP, was called “spectacular” by 6 Music (Emily Pilbeam).
With live shows on the horizon, and keen industry interest in what Grace does next. (Bill Cummings)
El Roig – Tiptoes
Why we love it: El Roig (pronounced elle-rodge) shares his confessional debut single ‘Tiptoes’, a moving and intimately drawn ballad that delves deep into his mental health struggles, graceful piano motif gives a platform to Roig to show off his vocal range that is ripe with poignant emotions. With elements that echo early Rufus Wainwright or Perfume Genius, the way his melodies cascade down the stairs with vivid imagery is wonderful and dripping with haunting honesty, the part where he goes up a register and pulls out a long drawn out note, is heartbreaking. Less a song and more an excavation of difficult and complex emotions, Tiptoes is a deeply personal exploration of vulnerability, mental health, and the silent battles we fight within.
El Roig says:“Tiptoes is an intimate piano ballad that at first glance sounds like a conversation with a toxic partner—but it is actually a letter to my OCD. The song is a personal exploration of vulnerability, mental health, and the silent battles we fight within.”
The music video, directed by Claudia O. Sala and filmed in rural Catalonia, brings the story to life through the image of a man trapped in his own home, wrestling with the decision to open the windows and let the light back in. (Bill Cummings)
