April 16 - Noteworthy New Releases
Our favourite releases of the week.
elph and swan reach – ‘pebbles’
elph and Swan Reach’s recent EP Sports Day is shot through with bittersweet, fragmented recollections of years gone. ‘Pebbles’ is its fine example of this. The vocal modulations in its latter half tumble over each other to create a montage, trapping us in someone else’s childhood using a thick screen of film grain. Alongside the lilting acoustic guitar, some pitch-shifted octave melodies give a sense of warped intimacy; it’s as though we’ve been invited to see the songwriters’ secrets, but only after they’ve abstracted them through a bunch of filters, making them alien and almost inaccessible. But they’re not completely out of reach: the duo’s voices bring a vulnerability to this song that anchors it in their tender humanity.
Sounds like: Androids with human arteries.
By Jack Paech
Raccoon City – ‘If You Can Even Hear This’
“I actually found their music quite difficult to listen to because it is so incredibly powerful.” - Robert Smith, The Cure.
This prolific songwriter is in fact discussing post-hardcore trailblazers Thursday, not Racoon City. Nevertheless, the statement is relevant to this stirring song because it is effectively that powerful. Instantly, the energy from Thursday’s Common Existence LP is felt, but with the vigour of ‘Jet Black New Year’. The duet between Raccoon City vocalist Levi Cooper and bassist Mariah Anzil would have Tigers Jaw envious. However, the mind-blowing heaviness in the last verse is remarkably ravaging. A transformation into Geoff Rickly’s United Nations transpires and the politically charged poetry provokes a scintillating shiver throughout the listeners’ bodies. It is so incredibly powerful.
Sounds like: Pianos Become The Teeth circa 2009.
By Will Oakeshott
DAndy Buzzkills – ‘Things YOu Keep’
If you’re unfamiliar with Dandy Buzzkills, you could easily mistake their latest single, ‘Things You Keep’, for a lost cut from Bauhaus’ seminal album, In the Flat Field. Driven by metronomic percussion, a pulsating riff and hypnotic synth line, this ‘80s post-punk shaker wears its influences (Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, Devo) proudly. There’s even a touch of new wave to the quartet’s first release of 2025, with brothers Maxwell and Hudson Adair’s lustrous harmonies floating effortlessly between Jack Larkin’s steady bass and Ollie Deluca’s urgent drumming. Top tier.
Sounds like: The early days of the Hacienda.
By Tobias Handke
Grace Vandals - ‘Tobacco’
There’s got to be more than this, right? That’s the question Grace Vandals wrestles with on ‘Tobacco’ – the first single from her debut EP, What Can I Burn Here?. A gritty portrait of a girl sits at the centre of this track, all smudged with indecision and a lo-fi attitude towards life’s grand plan (whatever that is). Much like Wet Leg before her, Grace flirts with nihilistic apathy on ‘Tobacco’, chucking a cheeky wink towards societal expectations before collapsing into her own messy desires. “Do you know what it feels like to feel like you’re running away from yourself?” she confesses, using vulnerability to unravel the track’s tender core. The driving rhythm section feels like the sticky, beer-ringed tables at the Exeter – ingrained with ash and host to endless existential conversations. Pints of Coopers and cigarettes can’t fix everything, but they might help you find the answer to life’s big questions.
Sounds like: Slyvia Plath’s fig tree.
By Zara Richards
Teenage Joans – ‘Sweet and Slow’
At this stage in their career, the mere mention of Teenage Joans’ name is like a seal of approval; a mark of quality that you’re about to get something top-shelf. New material from the two-piece (save for a standalone single) was absent from 2024, but the wait for fresh gear has been worth it with the unveiling of ‘Sweet and Slow’. Packed with their signature upbeat pop-punk energy and complemented by some of their best songwriting to date, the track feels like Teenage Joans have achieved the near-impossible – a song so arresting and vital, it feels like we’re witnessing the start of another career peak for the pair.
Sounds like: A reintroduction.
By Tyler Jenke
Cagefly – ‘And the Earth Swallowed Them’
Cagefly’s ‘And The Earth Swallowed Them’ is a song about alienation and loss of control - about feeling certain of only a fraction of your individuality. The composition that swirls and thrashes provides an interesting contrast to the isolating feeling it evokes. Cagefly offer all-encompassing chamber rock on this release. It’s in a similar vein to greats of the folk/post-rock marriage like Talk Talk and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and widening to this broad scope instrumentally means that the narrator of the track comes across as comforted by the music. In ‘And The Earth...’, the quiet moments listen to the narrator’s sadness, before responding with delicate, shimmering string crescendos and crunchy guitar chords. In the end, it comes across as the music actively intending to cushion this intensity of feeling – to comfort and to provide perspective.
Sounds like: “...And how does that make you feel?”
By Jack Paech
