Hello world,
Check out this week’s FP Picks update for a host of banging new tunes from Lykke Li, Personal Trainer, Charcoal Greys & 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
jo from school – Julia Roberts
London singer-songwriter jo from school announces her debut EP Grace, Flair and Distance and shares second single Julia Roberts, with towering pop flourishes, soaring choruses and anthemic bursts of energy. Of the track, she shares: “I wrote this song after a brief interaction with a man on the tube. It brought me an out-of-body thought of not recognising who you are and how to immerse yourself in living. I tried this song out for the first time with the band in rehearsal for Left of the Dial last year and it stopped us all in our tracks. I don’t usually make this much noise, so it felt new and weird, but also very natural.”
Lykke Li – Happy Now
Swedish pop artist Lykke Li recently shared epic disco-tinged anthem Happy Now, taken from the new LP The Afterparty and it is directed at an ex who did her wrong. Led by perfectly placed DJ scratch sirens, shuffling drums, and buzzing synth melodies, Lykke offers up an homage to longing, desire, and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Lykke said: “Jon Fosse walks into a rave and doesn’t come home. ABBA and The Prodigy have a baby and it won’t stop crying. An unanswered prayer on a dancefloor. God isn’t picking up.”
Personal Trainer – Moping
Dutch indie outfit Personal Trainer have shared playful & inventive new single Moping, taken from their upcoming new album Human Assholes. “The song keeps circling back on itself lyrically and musically,” explains frontman Willem Smit. “The chorus uses this Pixies trick of looping three bars of 4/4 instead of four, so the loop never fully settles. It creates this automatic forward motion that feels exciting to me without sounding too ‘look how clever this is’. That looping feeling is reinforced by all the self-reference in the lyrics too – almost like a kind of navel-gazy meta glitch. I was listening to a lot of Callahan & Witscher, as well as They Might Be Giants – they influenced the song pretty directly.”
Eilish Constance – Hold my hand hunter
California-based vocalist, songwriter and producer Eilish Constance returns with a playful yet haunting reflection on a really deep connection, through left-field folktronica on new single Hold my hand hunter, taken from new EP Singing for fun. The track starts with a drone sound: a mechanized beep that quickly lowers and distorts into a whirring hum. Then Constance’s voice enters, bright as anything: “I would go hunting / But I’ll make you hold my hand.” Constance says the track is an attempt to make sense of a complicated relationship in her life. “It’s about this figure in my life that is a bit older,” she reveals. “I kind of view him as a brother, but he’s not my brother. But there was also a really deep connection there.”
Hadda Be – High Noon
Intensely indie & lo-fi production techniques give this record plenty of charm that pulls you in on first listen. Its honesty in the vocal delivery also give it a timeless quality that harks back to early Rough Trade bands like Delta 5 & The Raincoats – but that’s no bad thing! Based jointly in South London & Brighton, the band take their name Hadda Be from a poem by Allen Ginsberg which gives you an idea as to where their inspiration may come from & having enjoyed support from 6Music and Radio X, they seem to be striking the right notes with an engaged audience. Looking forward to hearing more from these guys as the attitude in the vocals, especially, is highly endearing.
Wishy – Lovesick
Indianapolis indie-rock outfit Wishy have shared infectious, upbeat new single Lovesick, taken from their upcoming album Nature’s Pill. The label describe the record as a “jubilant remix of the past” which manages to tackle the uncertainty and anxiety of the present within a 90s/00s aesthetic, all while preserving the playful, almost mischievous edge which has so longed marked the Wishy sound. Singer Nina Pitchkites states: “Kevin [Krauter] and I are stupidly romantic people who like twee pop so that combination alone was a recipe for a cheeky ‘main character’ song,” Pitchkites added. “We really leaned into the overzealous lyrics here because we’re allowed, [we] can do whatever we want and it’s fun.”
Marine Store Dealer – High Flyers
The interestingly named Marine Store Dealer release the single High Flyers from their just as interestingly named album When We Swim Outside in the Floods In the Streets. Rising expansive guitars bring the track in, giving the production a great sense of space. Dramatic sections then keep lifting the song higher & higher throughout, while the backing vocals play to great effect giving the song an almost filmic vibe at points. With members originating from London, Nottingham & Istanbul, the record’s multiple influences seem to bring the song out to great effect. File under Expansive-Indie!
Sibille Attar – Slow Down
Stockholm’s alt-pop wunderkind Sibille Attar has shared Slow Down, taken from the upcoming album which is “a cycle of songs about falling in love, unfolding in real time.” The track’s an expansive synth pop dreamscape filled with intricate sounds and scintillating melodies and Sibille explains “Before love reveals that it’s really just pain, and violently hurls you into collapse, you might desperately cling to whatever intermittent reinforcement has tricked you into believing you need. Slow Down could be a glimpse into that. Or maybe it’s just a lullaby sung for someone immensely adored without the capacity to hold on to love.”
Charcoal Greys – Blisters
Irish indie-pop newcomers Charcoal Greys recently shared their snappy debut single Blisters which explores the bittersweet emotional turmoil of a toxic relationship; When you know someone is not good for you but you choose to stay anyway. The fragile line between hope and delusion is mirrored in the contrast between the bright, catchy hooks that drive the song and its melancholy lyrics. Fronted by powerhouse vocalist Emily O’Keeffe, their sound is very much a fusion of their individual tastes and influences – a collision of 90s grunge, 2000s pop punk and modern alt rock. The band has performed dozens of gigs over the last year, from local music festivals to showcases, and regular support slots, including supporting The Academic.
Molly Wishart – Running Free
London-based pop artist Molly Wishart has shared her upbeat indie-pop track Running Free, written after a solo trip to Thailand & inspired by late nights, city lights & motorbike rides. It’s about freedom, youth & stepping outside your comfort zone. Molly states: “Built around an 80s inspired synth line leading into live instrumentation, key changes & that throwback pop sound, it’s probably the most “me” release I’ve put out so far & is also the opening song from my upcoming EP centred around growth, change & the in-between stages of your twenties.” Stunning vocal and heartfelt lyrics on this infectious slice of pop – what a happy, summer anthem. Nice one Molly!
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