Hello world,

Here’s your latest FP Picks update .. loads of great new music as always inc trx fm Andrew Cushin, Ezra Furman, Cardinals & 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

Chanel Beads – The Coward Forgets His Nightmare

New York-based musician Shane Lavers (aka Chanel Beads) has dropped the infectious new single The Coward Forgets His Nightmare. Infused with Zachary Paul’s violin and Maya McGrory’s diaphanous vocals, the wistful lyrics unfold over a time-bending soundscape. Lavers says: “I think I accidentally cursed myself at some point and I don’t know if I should ignore it or confront it. Written and recorded quickly, vaping too much exploring bad health. Brought to life with Maya and Zach and stitched up with Mr. Carlson. Dedicated to the love we are given.”

Korda Korder – Goodbye My Friend

The East Sussex outfit, which mesmerised the likes of Radio X’s John Kennedy & BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq with their debut offering What Have You Done last winter are back again with another beauty – this time with the mesmeric Goodbye My Friend – a track that takes influence from a strong lineage of artists ranging from Cocteau Twins through to Young Marble Giants and beyond. Lyrically about personal loss and its acceptance, the exaggerated breathy vocals bring an immediate intimacy to the record, that firmly plants it in the dream-pop genre. Catch them on stage at Live At Leeds in November, or London’s Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes in December, where they’ll be performing with recent new addition Niamh on vocals.

Ezra Furman – One Hand Free

American singer-songwriter Ezra Furman has shared her new single One Hand Free and describes it as “a jaunty back-porch breakup/depression song about feeling so bad you’re not sure what species you even belong to anymore.” She states: “We left it off Goodbye Small Head because it was too good. It’s better than Jason Aldean. Better than the Barbie movie. Better than Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Cue the sound of one hand clapping, a Zen round of applause.” The track comes accompanied by a video shot by JJ Gonson featuring Ezra accompanied by an assortment of birds, lizards and myriad other species. A heartwarming, melancholic, quick-witted track – beautiful!

Lecx Stacy – Winter, A Wilted Flower

Los Angeles-based Lecx Stacy welcomes change with the hypnotic, melancholic new single Winter, A Wilted Flower. “This song is about the changing seasons,” Stacy shares. “Leaves fading, falling, making way for something new. Around that same time, I watched certain relationships in my life change too, moving in step with the earth’s quiet ritualistic transformations.” Stacy blends emo folk, folktronica, noise and ambient into an intoxicating and heady mix. Raised in a Filipino-American household, identity plays a huge role in his music, both sonically and lyrically, as the songwriter explores his heritage, culture and parallels between his and his father’s lives.

The Twilight Sad – WAITING FOR THE PHONE CALL

Scottish indie rockers The Twilight Sad have dropped new single WAITING FOR THE PHONE CALL, featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith on guitar. A track about despair, it starts as a bouncy synthpop track before exploding into guitar-based catharsis, and it has some of The Cure’s miserable sweep even though Smith never makes his presence too obvious. The band’s James Graham states: “Waiting For The Phone Call is about grief, love, and mental illness. These things took over my life, and I became ill. I lost the person most important to me in one of the cruelest ways. I’ve always used writing as a method of processing and coping with my emotions. My emotions became a problem and I couldn’t control them, writing music with Andy [MacFarlane]… especially the past seven years had been both the escape and the opportunity to process and try and make sense of life.”

Andrew Cushin – New World Blazing

Firmly established as an artist’s artist with the likes of Noel Gallagher, Sam Fender, Louis Tomlinson and Pete Doherty all in his corner, Andrew Cushin tops off what’s been a brilliant year with this reimagined version of his track New World Blazing. Produced by Gareth Nuttall (Lottery Winners, Frank Turner & The K’s), the track is capturing DJs throughout the land with its supercharged wall-of-sound that powers throughout the track, while showing just how far he’s come from his acoustic roots. Propelled by a classic indie-rock riff, New World Blazing blends raw energy with accomplished songwriting to create his most potent statement to date – and its driving, high-octane vitality is fast making it a live fan-favourite too. Lyrically it’s a song in which Cushin vows to determinedly stick to his ambitions, regardless of what obstacles stand in his way.

Cardinals – The Burning of Cork

Check out indie-rock outfit Cardinals‘ anthemic new single The Burning of Cork, taken from the Cork five-piece’s debut album Masquerade. “The song takes its name from the act of terror inflicted upon Cork City by the British Army’s Black and Tan forces in December 1920. It’s the record at its heaviest and most menacing,” said frontman Euan Manning of the gritty track. The album comprises emotionally expansive songs, some simmering with an undercurrent of violence, cynicism or fervent discontent (Anhedonia, The Burning of Cork, Barbed Wire) and others gleaming with a bright-eyed vulnerability. The band have already positioned themselves at the vanguard of the Irish independent rock scene. And with Masquerade, they have flung off any shackles to craft something entirely their own.

She’s In Parties – Are You Dreaming?

London-based quartet She’s In Parties are back with their spellbinding new single Are You Dreaming?, taken from their forthcoming EP of the same name. The track delves into the blurred line between waking life and the subconscious and songwriter Katie Dillon states: “This song is all about being unable to differentiate your dreams from reality. Whenever I’m stressed or feel like I’m losing control of my life, I tend to dream more and they are a lot more intense. When I first made the move to London, I felt like I lost a lot of control over aspects of my life and during this time my dreams were extremely vivid and from that, this song was born.” She’s In Parties have become known for their hazy, ethereal blend of indie rock and dream-pop. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Cocteau Twins, Tears for Fears and The Cure, the band channels a sense of nostalgia without ever feeling derivative.

Mel Denisse – going nowhere

Nashville-based Mel Denisse fights for self-preservation on gritty alt-rock anthem going nowhere. A dedicated genre-bender, Denisse calls her penchant for meshing unconventional sounds a “controlled collision.” She states: “I like to ‘Frankenstein’ a track. If a heavy riff and a delicate melody look wrong together on paper, that’s exactly what pulls me in.” Denisse explains: “going nowhere captures a stretch of time where everything felt suspended – like moving without a place to land. It was one of the first songs that shaped the upcoming EP, where every track pulls on a different thread from that gray space of duality, self-preservation, and survival.”