Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update with banging new tunes fm The Institutes, Romy, Ventrelles & 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
The Institutes – Trick of The Light
Coventry indie rock outfit The Institutes have shared their captivating new single Trick of The Light and state: “This song was born from the quiet, heavy space where you convince everyone including yourself that you’re fine when you’re anything but. It’s about masking depression, anxiety, and self-loathing behind smiles, jokes, and grand plans until you can’t tell where the act ends and you begin. In a time where “talk to your mates” has become the rallying cry, Trick of The Light explores the nuance behind that: sometimes you don’t have the words. Sometimes you don’t want to be seen. Sometimes you think hiding it is helping the people you love, when really it’s pulling you all further apart.” Great songwriting on this infectious banger.
Ledbyher – WHAT’S THE REASON?
Metallic beats and textured production pulse beneath Ledbyher‘s delicate, poetic flow in her emotional new single WHAT’S THE REASON? A quiet, static hum of nostalgia hovers beneath the track, softening its cold, metallic edges. The interplay between synthesised drum production and vulnerable lyrics creates a subtle distortion, lending the song a shiny, industrial finish. It unfolds as a tension between fragility and grit, capturing moments of both tenderness and strain. Reflecting on her sound, Ledbyher shares “Most of my music is a mashup of juxtapositions – somewhere between soft and jagged.”
Ventrelles – Emily’s Song
Manchester based Ventrelles have dropped their emotive new single Emily’s Song – a vibrant and uplifting blast of shimmering guitars and psychedelic infused pop which showcases their very own brand of fleece pop. Bass player Paul Mawhinney describes the creative process: “The way it works with us is Phil will bring a song to rehearsal, sometimes fully formed and others a sketch of an idea. Most of the time it’ll take us a couple of sessions to work out all the parts and how they fit together. Emily was different, almost instant. The song was waiting for us in that room and has changed very little since. Simple, effective, uncomplicated and timeless.” Poignant lyrics on this beautiful, melancholic story about a lost loved one.
Ecca Vandal – MOLLY
MOLLY marks a new chapter for the Sri Lankan, South African-born, Melbourne-based artist Ecca Vandal and Ecca explains: “There’s the surface meaning, the chaos, the high, that kind of bliss that comes from forgetting things for a while, from turning the volume down on the world. But underneath all that, there’s something quieter going on – the feeling of being cut down, sometimes broken into pieces, and then slowly finding your way back, getting up again, rebuilding yourself bit by bit.” Spending her formative years as a jazz musician, her passion for improvisation led her to fall in love with the DIY abandon of punk and foster an ability to effortlessly balance soulful melodies with raw, unapologetic power.
Snocaps – Heathcliff
Allison and Katie Crutchfield reconnect for a new album & we give you the catchy track Heathcliff. The sisters wed the uber-melodic indie-rock of Allison’s work with Swearin’ to the winsome Americana of Katie’s recent records with Waxahatchee, finding that the sibling chemistry that fired their earliest thrashings has only become more nuanced and effective over time. In tandem with multi-tasking bandmates MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook, they deliver songs that are warm and unfussy while accentuating the sisters’ complementary strengths: Allison’s way with a winding hook, Katie’s patient, quietly dramatic vocal patterns. Both sound just grand with Lenderman chooglin’ off to one side, with Snocaps’ largely bare-bones guitar, bass, drums setup giving plenty of room for some quietly impressive arrangements to breathe.
corto.alto – APRIL (ft anaiis)
Liam Shortall, better known as the multi-instrumentalist producer, composer and performer corto.alto, returns with his latest single APRIL, a collaboration with rising star anaiis – the London-based, French-Senegalese singer, known for her introspective and vulnerable lyrics that often touch on themes of black identity, self-worth and motherhood. The track is an exploration of grief, healing and resilience. Liam’s experimentalism shines bright on this track, especially on the rhythm section while anaiis‘ vocals oscillate between passionate and incredibly soothing. The contrast beautifully showcases the chemistry between both artists, sealing APRIL as one of corto.alto’s most evocative collaborations to date.
Dolder – Girl I Know
Newcastle-based twin sisters Dolder trace cycles of heartbreak and growth on their captivating new single, taken from the upcoming debut EP The Motive. 22-year-old twins Dani and Zara Dolder state: “Girl I Know is about a very honest part of young womanhood.” The track fuses narrative songwriting with stripped-back guitars and harmonies, giving it a timeless quality. Their sound feels intimate; the vocal polyphony conveys a sense of closeness as they confess heartache and self-blame over bare instrumentals. “We always knew we wanted to keep this whole EP more stripped back so it allowed space for our vulnerable lyrics to come through,” they share. Infectious, heartfelt and beautiful vocals – lovely.
ANOTR – Sound of You (ft TEED)
Amsterdam duo ANOTR have shared new single Sound of You, a collaborative treat featuring the smooth, soulful voice of LA artist/producer TEED (fka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs), resulting in a warm, infectious groove that feels effortlessly timeless. They state: “We’ve been sitting on this one for a while — more than two years in the making. It started as a beat we built during a retreat somewhere in a cabin in the woods in the Netherlands with Erik Bandt, and later took us to LA to sit down with Orlando (TEED). He loved the idea, worked on it together and the song started coming together. We played it out for a year, changed it a lot while getting feedback on the road, recorded the strings, flipped the drums and now we’re finally here. Some songs get finished in hours and some need more time to grow to their full potential.”
Romy – Love Who You Love
Romy has shared the emotive new single Love Who You Love and states: “I wanted to write a song that not only celebrates and uplifts love as well as calls for change. The history of resilience and togetherness in the face of unbelievable challenges within the community is so powerful. Personally, finding friends, family and people I look up to and learn from through queer clubbing has made me feel so much less alone and braver in so many aspects of life. These experiences and the people I’ve met, continue to be so inspiring to the music I’m making and this song intends to be a love letter of visibility and pride. No one can take the love you feel away from you – it’s yours.”
Man/Woman/Chainsaw – Only Girl
London art-rock outfit Man/Woman/Chainsaw have shared their exuberant new single Only Girl. Vocalist Vera Leppänen explains: “Only Girl is our playful love song. Built around a ripping violin top-line and birthed from a grungy guitar jam, it gradually became something more boisterous and altogether more joyful — a total declaration of love. We had a lot of fun making it.” The track is their brightest, boldest, most joyously chaotic release so far. Born from a scrappy grunge jam and launched skyward by a ripping violin hook, it’s a noisy, giddy declaration of love delivered with Man/Woman/Chainsaw’s signature feral charm.
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