Hello world,
Check out this week’s FP Picks update for a host of fresh bangers fm Studio Electrophonique, Jodie Langford, The Sovereigns & 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
Home Counties – Roundabout
Home Counties have dropped witty & catchy new single Roundabout, taken from their second album Humdrum. “This song is about desperately trying to escape a conversation with someone at a party who won’t stop talking about themselves. Roundabout is definitely one of the most light-hearted moments of the new album. To capture the atmosphere of the subject matter, we ended up recording our friends talking shit in the pub garden of our local in Homerton, which you can hear during the bridge. I think you can hear Bill talking about HS2 at one point. It might not be the deepest moment of the album, but it might be the most fun!” singer Will Harrison says. The album has been produced by Al Doyle, known for his work with Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, and is being supported by a UK tour.
The Sovereigns – Do You Wanna? (Yeah I Wanna)
Hull-based The Sovereigns have shared their new single Do You Wanna? (Yeah I Wanna), an upbeat indie banger that sings about feelings of self-doubt, gut instinct & observations, all personified in a ‘relationship’ context. Released on Hull based youth project The Warren’s own record label (Warren Records) & recorded at their revamped inhouse studios with local indie producer Adam Pattrick, the record’s strident indie groove underpins a lyric that the band describe as heralding an inner conscience in which you’re reacting to a once familiar feeling – but what to do when that feeling is no longer familiar; you find yourself fighting between ‘what one should do’ against ‘what one wants to do’. What an uplifting toe-tapper – great stuff!
bar italia – omni shambles
London 3-piece bar italia recently shared the energetic new single omni shambles, taken from their recently released album Some Like It Hot. There are parallels to be drawn between Some Like It Hot the album and Some Like It Hot the movie, Billy Wilder’s acclaimed 1959 comedy starring another trio: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The press release says the movie is “about a group of rogue musicians on the adventure path. It is funny, sexy, rambunctious and evergreen—a showcase of a triple-threat cast at full-throttle.” Whereas the album “pulses with romance, intrigue, self-discovery, and rapture over lustful rockers, spellbinding folk pop, punch-drunk ballads, and undefinable moments that sneak up on you like a burst of 5pm sunshine.”
Coach Party – Disco Dream (ft. Black Honey)
A while back Isle of Wight quartet Coach Party shared their single Disco Dream, a collaboration with Brighton outfit Black Honey and taken fm their latest album Caramel. A swaggering clash of restless energy and melodic bite, the track unites two magnetic frontwomen: Coach Party’s Jess Eastwood and Black Honey’s Izzy Bee Phillips. It’s a song that captures the contradictions of the dancefloor, equal parts celebration and self-destruction. “Disco Dream is a solo riot, and all it wants is to get to the dance floor,” says Eastwood. “It’s rage you can dance to, about embracing loneliness and making it yours. A self-love anthem, but also self-sabotage at its finest, being so stubborn about standing alone that you end up pushing everyone away. We wanted it to feel fierce, a little broken, and completely unapologetic.”
Chalk – Can’t Feel It
Belfast post-punk/electronic outfit Chalk recently dropped their exciting new single Can’t Feel It, which premiered on BBC 6Music with Huw Stephens. The band’s Ross Cullen stated: “We wanted to write a dance track that celebrated the ups and downs of youth. It’s about a secret first kiss I had with a friend when I was younger, and reminiscing on the euphoria of that — but also the excitement of keeping something hidden from everyone around me, which in the end led to feelings of solitude and alienation.” The visuals for this track about sensuality, yearning, and desire merge mythic imagery with modern elements like smartphones and earpods, setting a story in a medieval world of courtly love and rivalry that reflects “the tension between repression and release, tradition and experimentation.”
Jodie Langford – Bowling
Hull’s much-loved spoken word / party punk Jodie Langford shares the track Bowling (Off With Her Head) – a song inspired by Anne Boleyn that touches on issues of misogyny & chauvinistic attitudes, taken from her debut album Softly Spoken. With production duties supplied by Jodie’s musical sidekick Endoflevelbaddie, the track kicks off with a dark growling bassline before Jodie’s mob-like chant “Off with her head” creeps in & mingles with regal synth melodies to great effect. The album is complimented by a sound that darts between thrashing post-punk sensibilities, fevered techno rhythms & filthy drum & bass chaos uniting dancefloors with joy & fear along with a sense of purpose & belonging, all delivered with the most honest northern attitude you could imagine. Jodie’s been enjoying strong support from Radio X’s John Kennedy, BBC 6Music, Amazing Radio, Clash Music & many more.
Melody’s Echo Chamber – In The Stars
Melody’s Echo Chamber, aka French musician Melody Prochet, has shared the dreamy new single In The Stars, taken from her upcoming album Unclouded. “The music I create unusually inhabits the liminal zone between realism and fables,” says Melody. “But the more experience I have of living, the deeper I love life and the less I need to escape. If my heart still belongs to the blue hour, it also feels like I’ve gathered up all the pieces of myself that were scattered everywhere and glued them together with gold like Japanese kintsugi.” (Kintsugi is a Japanese art where broken pottery is put back together with gold or silver lacquer). The title of the album was lifted from a quote from the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, about achieving equilibrium: “You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side”.
Willy Mason – Sailing
Back in September, songwriter Willy Mason dropped the beautiful, poignant track Sailing to coincide with a tour with Wolf Alice, which appropriately documents a gleeful journey into the unknown over a jangling indie-folk instrumental. Willy Mason is an introspective lyricist with a knack for soulful, indie/folk-rock-leaning melodies. The track chronicles his journey to find light in a dark world, incorporating all of his songwriting strengths into a tune that’s equal parts gentle and moving. Sailing lands four years after Mason’s most recent album, the art-pop opus Already Dead, while last October marked 20 years since the release of his iconic debut full-length Where the Humans Eat.
jasmine.4.t – Find Ur Ppl (ft. Jacob Alon)
jasmine.4.t has shared new track Find Ur Ppl featuring Jacob Alon, taken from the forthcoming charity compilation All Things Go: 10 Years, with all proceeds benefitting The Ally Coalition. “Find Ur Ppl is a song I wrote a few years ago, early in my transition. This was when I first moved to Manchester and met my community, including my best friend Yulia Trot aka YBT, who put me up on her sofa and supported me in presenting as a woman for the first time. Yulia is sadly currently being held in prison without trial as a political prisoner. She is one of the Filton 24, who are alleged to have broken into an Israeli weapons factory in the UK and destroyed £1 million worth of weapons,” jasmine explains. “The track features my friend (and recent Mercury Prize nominee!) Jacob Alon ... Their voice and their writing is so beautiful and I have been lucky enough to catch them live several times this year. Their voice brings so much to this song, and collaborating with them was really a dream come true.”
Studio Electrophonique – David and Jayne
Studio Electrophonique (aka Sheffield singer-songwriter James Leesley) has dropped the captivating David and Jayne, a track that encapsulates his cinematic approach to songwriting, blending dialogue-like lyrics with minimalist arrangements. Speaking to Songwriting, Leesley states: “I guess the original flurry of creation was (what became) the verse chords and melody; that first line, “He was thinking breakfast in bed,” just arrived as a complete line, possibly the result of some distant thought or subconscious idea, but felt like an interesting opener. Most songs of mine hinge on that first utterance; that seems to determine the melodic framework; the syllables, the phonetics…then the rest just follows…or doesn’t. Thankfully, for this one, it did.” What a beautiful, heartwarming track – we’re loving it here!
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