Hello world,
Check out this week’s FP Picks update for banging new tunes from Courtney Barnett, Bleachers, Lykke Li & lots 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
Courtney Barnett – Mantis
Courtney Barnett has shared two songs from the upcoming album Creature Of Habit – Mantis and Sugar Plum. She explains: Mantis is the microcosmic centerpiece of this album, it embodies the message and meaning of every track. It’s a song about searching, and it helped me find my way through Creature Of Habit … I was feeling particularly lost while I was working on this song. One day, I was standing in the kitchen, making a coffee, when I noticed a little green praying mantis sitting on top of the doorframe. I had never seen one there in the desert house, so I took it as an important sign from the universe. I texted a photo to Stella and she said it’s good luck, look it up! I did a quick search and found it to also represent patience, perseverance and a guide for those who needed direction. I stood and spoke to the mantis for a while, it was a strange and enlightening moment that I’ll never forget. Eventually, I got back to writing, and finally I had the chorus to this song.”
Avalon Emerson – Jupiter and Mars
Jupiter and Mars is the new single from the forthcoming Avalon Emerson & The Charm album Written Into Changes. This heartfelt track is lighter and airier than the hard-hitting Eden, more like a Sundays song with some U2-style guitar on the verses and Ray Of Light-esque synth shimmer on the chorus. It finds Emerson smitten and elated, talking about the keys to her kingdom and the rush of a great kiss. “For the first album, the songs were pretty soft and kind of bedroom-y,” Emerson said in a statement. “And then playing them on a big kind of festival stage was a learning experience. Coming back into the studio for a second round, it was important to think about the dynamics and energy of what we were making and how they might be performed in the future.”
Bleachers – you and forever
Premiering as Radio 1’s hottest record, the new Bleachers track you and forever serves as a solid synth-ballad which descends into disrupted sonics creating industrial sounding havoc channelling a collection of, front man, Jack Antonoff’s longtime musical influences. Taken from the upcoming album everyone for ten minutes, which is described as “the inevitable culmination of a lifetime of devotion to bands”, the track has also arrived accompanied by a cinematic visualiser that casts band leader Jack Antonoff as its hopelessly romantic protagonist, journeying through the pouring rain while his love – played by his real-life wife Margaret Qualley – playfully waits for him to return home.
deary – Alfie
London shoegaze trio deary have shared the epic 7.5 minute new single Alfie which started as a tribute to guitarist Ben Easton’s family dog. The Slowdive influence is strong on this one, and deary do justice to the lineage. Taken from their debut album Birding, the track marks the moment the band stopped trying to force what deary should be. “After such a busy time touring, we really felt in our own groove and self-assured going into the writing [of Birding],” Easton explains. “A lot of it flowed naturally and really fell into place during those four months in the studio … We give a lot less of a shit about what people think of us now,” Easton adds. “We have confidence in our artistry, and it feels natural, that’s where our best work comes from.”
Emma Cook – Of the Morning
Emma Cook muses on the simple joys of the early hours in title track Of the Morning, from savoring warm cups of coffee to being intentional with her daily routine. Marked by soft piano and a gentle slide guitar, the song, Cook says, is about being fully attuned to the present, a sensation that feels a lot like basking in the calm of an early morning. Of the upcoming album, she states: “I wrote a lot of these songs after the isolation of the pandemic. I was just in my head so much because I was alone, and that created a really different state of mind where I was up in my head. I needed some time to tune into the physical world. This album was written while I was really searching for presence in my life and learning how to slow down. Not in a way that lacks effort or ambition. Slowing down, finding that sense of morning, it’s really about presence.”
Marsy – Changes
London four-piece Marsy have released a new double single, Changes / Rosé. Changes is about learning to take control of your life, the gently chiming guitars building to an emphatic conclusion. Hannah Rodgers, Marsy’s vocalist says of the track: “Changes explores the effects of learned helplessness and the moment you decide to step out of it.” The songs evolved beyond their home-demo origins, shaped collaboratively into something fuller while preserving their delicacy and emotional honesty. Rather than leaning into bombast, the sound embraces space, restraint and vulnerability. Recorded in Margate with producer Mike Lindsay, the tracks were carefully sculpted, allowing air and texture to heighten their impact without overwhelming their core intimacy.
Swapmeet – I Know!
Australian quartet Swapmeet bottle the fragile chaos of growing up on coming-of-age single I Know! Swapmeet‘s songs usually begin with a riff or chord progression, the emotional architecture embedded before the pen is even put to paper. “The instrumental can be almost complete before the words are finished. The mood of the music tells us what we need to talk about.” That restless yet deeply caring mood defines “I Know!” “There’s a kind of delicacy inside the chaos,” they say. “The songs build to a point where they almost feel like they might fall apart. That’s usually where we’re most honest.” The track itself was recorded before it had been tested live: “A lot of it sounds like we’re discovering it as we go. That’s what makes it fun.”
Lava La Rue – Scratches
Lava La Rue has shared new single Scratches, produced and co-written by Dimitri Tikovoï, known for his work with The Libertines, Charli XCX and Blondie. It’s taken from their forthcoming EP ‘Do You Know Everything?’ with the title cheekily spelling out the acronym ‘DYKE’, which Lava calls “a funny way to encapsulate the queerness of the record while marrying it with the political and existential side of the project.” “Scratches was one of those songs that unlocked a new tone in my voice,” Lava explains. “It was the first time I really let my vocals be unpolished, sitting in that in-between space – not overly stylised, just feeling everything in the moment.” The single marks a new chapter for Lava La Rue, being their first release written and recorded with a full live band. “It’s still undeniably my story, but I’m writing with people whose sounds have become part of the DNA too. It feels more like a band now – like we’re forming a collective language.”
Lykke Li – Lucky Again
Swedish artist Lykke Li releases new single Lucky Again and announces sixth album The Afterparty. The track opens with distorted, swirling instrumentation shot through with stabs of violin before sliding into a pop-triphop meld interspersed with strings and synth flourishes. Li’s vocal is supported by multiple backing vocals which lends the song a choral feel without ever feeling overwhelming. “I was twirling around in love addiction for all those albums. Now I’m going into my existential era,” Li says. “To me it’s samsara in a song. The wheel of life; winning, losing, living, dying. Having had something and praying you’ll have it again. Whether it’s sex, money, vitality, love. I always said I wanted the Vivaldi song at my wedding or funeral but I think this is giving more revenge heist energy.”
VILLANELLE – Placebo
VILLANELLE have announced their debut EP Measly Means with new single Placebo and it’s full of muscular distortion, guitar riffs and pulsating bass. Speaking about the single, frontman Gene Gallagher explains: “Placebo is about heightened visualisations of post-session anxiety.” The song sees VILLANELLE continue their signature style of blending immersive sonic sections with catchy, instantly-recognisable hooks. Alongside Gallagher’s distinctive, charismatic vocals, guitarist Ben Taylor and bassist Jack Schiavo create a wall of sound behind, drawing inspiration from grunge icons like Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. The band’s got a lot of live shows lined-up for this summer, including slots at The Great Escape, Governor’s Ball, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Mad Cool in Madrid, Boardmasters and more.
You can check out the whole playlist here. Please follow the socials below for our weekly updates and share about the place!
