Hello world,
We’ve got this week’s Futureproof Picks for you with a whole host of fresh cuts fm Chartreuse, Wet Leg, BIG SPECIAL & many more. If you like what you hear please follow and share this playlist, it helps us keep doing our thing by getting the algorithms on our side. Also please support the artists featured in any way you can!
Until next week
Helen (Futureproof) x
Merpire – Fishing
Melbourne-based multi-instrumentalist Merpire (aka Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt) is grateful for friends on new single Fishing and states: “Having so much taken away from us, only to band together in strength, still creating, making further sacrifices than we already were pre-pandemic just showed how much music is, at the core, what we live for. This is a song for every artist who makes huge sacrifices every day, while still being able to support other artists for the love of art.” Taken from the album MILK POOL, Merpire sings over fuzzed-out instrumentals. Accented by euphoric harmonies and changing chord structures, the track tackles the cyclical worries of youth, and the joys that make it worthwhile, using garage rock sounds as a backdrop for the chaos.
Keo – Hands
We have indie outfit Keo’s anthemic track Hands, taken from their spirited new album Siren – a song the band’s Finn Keogh says is “about realising the upset you caused a long time ago, but only now being able to see it”. Of the album, he states: “These songs weren’t written for any purpose other than that they had to come out. They’re a release of bottled-up emotion. Writing them felt like confessing your sins, ready to move on.” Keo‘s music is described as having a garage, grungey indie flavor reminiscent of bands like Wunderhorse, but with a youthful inflection and the Keogh brothers are already renowned for their energetic live performances.
Mary Middlefield – Summer Affair
Swiss singer-songwriter Mary Middlefield has shared the infectious, upbeat new single Summer Affair and says the track “is a celebration of freedom in its rawest, most joyful form. I wanted to capture the feeling of being unapologetically alive; dancing without restraint, laughing too loud, changing your mind just because you can. It’s about giving yourself permission to feel everything – to be messy, expressive, soft, raw, and real. To share that energy with the people you love. In a world that often feels constricted and pre-scripted, this song is my way of breaking the rules, reclaiming spontaneity, and turning it into something beautiful and fun.” Now based in London, Middlefield’s music leans toward indie rock with alt folk undertones.
BIG SPECIAL – DOMESTIC BLISS.
The Black Country punk duo BIG SPECIAL comprised of Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney, have dropped their new record National Average after teasing the artwork for it – a plate of egg and chips – across various landmarks in London. We give you the track DOMESTIC BLISS. and the band state: “It’s about being down with your situation, trying to get to a point where you can see more in yourself and your life and that point moving further away each time you approach it. It’s about being hidden and depressed within a perfect picture. It’s about how you will be judged regardless of your intentions and your attempts to change will be scrutinised. But there’s a funky bass-line, so there’s a bright side. We felt like this song needed a really dramatic pleading moment, and we were buzzing when Joe from Maruja fancied doing a screamer for us.”
Cardinals – Big Empty Heart
Cork five-piece Cardinals have shared their first new material of 2025 with new single Big Empty Heart, alongside announcing a run of UK headline tour dates for September. Frontman Euan Manning explains: “Big Empty Heart is a love song written from beyond the grave. It is a waltz as waltzes are the most romantic kinds of songs. Oskar wrote the main melody on a Korg synthesiser when he was 12 and the song is built around that.” The melody spins gently on this final waltz, and the Cork band weaves threads of Irish trad textures, reverb- drenched shoegaze, and ‘60s pop grandeur. The band are championed by the likes of Grian Chatten and Belfast’s Kneecap.
Max Baby – I Can Do Anything
Paris-based artist Max Baby has shared the exciting new single I Can Do Anything and states: “It is a push-pull between shadow and light. A raw song about the inability to let go, masked by a defiant but hollow sense of empowerment. I was going through the toughest breakup of my life when I wrote it. But it’s not just a breakup song, it also questions the relationship I have with myself.” Max Baby writes and produces all his own tracks as well as those of industry risers like Hannah Jagadu, Weyes Blood and Drugdealer. A sound baked in tumult, electronic euphoria, and stark thrashes between the conventional goalposts of genre, the only consistent feature of his music is its cinematic quality.
Wet Leg – davina mccall
Wet Leg‘s gentle ballad davina mccall is taken from the upcoming album Moisturizer and vocalist Rhian Teasdale has mentioned before that some of the songwriting on the album came about after finding herself in a new and unexpected romantic relationship. The soft and sweet davina mccall is billed as “a song about pure, unadulterated devotion,” which Teasdale evokes by likening herself to McCall: “I’ll be your Davina/ I’m coming to get you/ Fetch you from the station/ Never gonna let you go/ It’s that kinda love.” Bolstered by Hester Chambers’ steady guitar groove, it mimics that feeling when the new-relationship butterflies fade and you can relax together at last.
Chartreuse – Fold
Indie outfit Chartreuse have shared new single Fold, taken from their upcoming album Bless You & Be Well which hinges on the creative – and real-life – relationship between Rory Wagstaff and Hattie Wilson. Of the track, pianist and vocalist Hattie Wilson says: “Fold is an odd little love song. It’s about the desperation to make everything okay when the other person is navigating a tough patch. The feeling of being out of control and you can’t instantly make everything better for them, trying to get it all back to normal as quickly as you can. Rory and I have been together for nearly thirteen years, and so it’s about going through these different parts of life together; reaching milestones, watching each other grow and change — while still being completely connected and in love.”
Kindelan – Cigarettes
Yorkshire-based singer-songwriter Kindelan has shared new single Cigarettes – a track that sifts through the scorched debris at the end of a relationship. There is anger in the strong R&B style vocals which skim wonderfully over a funky, jazzy sound with some great folk injections. The lyrics are deep and buzz with an otherworldly electricity fuelled by a solid and powerful fury. Kindelan states: “The lyric that started Cigarettes was ‘Look at me like I walked out of your dream. I’m not wanted back at home ‘till midnight.’ When this line fell out, I found it heartbreaking and confusing. I remember the song traveling round with me in my day to day life, nagging me to finish it. The lyrics and melody of the second half of the verse two were written while walking home under some train tracks in the centre of Leeds.”
Barry Can’t Swim – All My Friends
Electronic artist Barry Can’t Swim has dropped the summery single All My Friends from new album Loner and ahead of a headline slot at All Points East. The mellow new song has a distinctly relaxed feel to it, showing off his versatility in comparison to recent double singles, the fast-paced About to Begin, and softer track Cars Pass By Like Childhood Sweethearts. Of the album, he states: “Over the last year I started to feel quite distant from myself. In order for me to process everything and deal with the imposter syndrome that came with having to step onto a stage in front of loads of people, I detached from what I was really doing.”
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