Luca George – “Ashes”
Fourteen versions. That is how many times Luca George rewrote “Ashes” before he let it out into the world, and you can feel that obsession in the finished song, the way every line sounds fought for rather than found. The New Zealand born, London based songwriter spent three years on this one track, and the patience shows in how carefully it moves, nothing rushed, nothing wasted. It is the kind of song that only comes from someone who refused to settle for the ninth or tenth draft. Whatever “Ashes” is about exactly, George clearly needed to get it right, and that stubbornness turned into something worth hearing.
Julia Thomsen – “Ripple”
Julia Thomsen’s “Ripple” opens quiet, just piano and synth finding each other before anything else joins in, and never once forces its hand from there. Yujin Baek’s feature blends so seamlessly into the piano that it stops feeling like a guest verse and starts feeling like a second heartbeat. By the midpoint, soft atmospheric layers widen the mix without announcing themselves, and the track ends up somewhere calm and unhurried, the kind of song that settles your shoulders without you noticing. Out now on all major streaming platforms.
Isak Danielson – “Goodbye To A Lover Again”
Isak Danielson strips “Goodbye To A Lover Again” down to just piano, and that bareness is the whole point. The Swedish singer songwriter is writing about modern dating here, the strange loop of meeting someone, losing them, and starting the search over again, and he does not dress it up with extra instrumentation to soften the blow. When a song commits to that kind of quiet, every note has to earn its place, and this one does. It sits closer to a diary entry than a single, which might be exactly what makes it linger after the last chord fades.
Jessmin – “Hyperfixated”
Jessmin’s debut EP Hyperfixated is out now, pairing her four singles so far with a new title track about fixating on a stranger at a bar and never working up the nerve to say hello. Written with Alexander Haak and Stijn van Rijsbergen and produced with Nick Jongejan, it blends Avril Lavigne style guitars with Charli XCX gloss. She’s taking it on the road with her band next, including support slots for Call It Off.
Kevin Burt – “This Trip”
“This Trip” is the sound of a road worn voice with nothing left to prove and everything left to say. Stripped down to guitar, harmonica, and that unmistakable delivery, the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductee and current Blues Music Award winner trades the fuller arrangements of his past records for something closer to a front porch conversation. Recorded in Waterloo with producer Michael Cutsforth, the album leans into space rather than filling it, letting songs about heartbreak, fear, and resilience land with the weight of lived experience instead of polish. It’s a quiet, confident record from a musician who’s spent decades earning the right to sound this unguarded.
Wendy Bevan – “Sleepwalkers”
Working with Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran will get anyone’s attention, and Wendy Bevan makes good use of it on “Sleepwalkers.” The track previews her upcoming album Alone With The Unknown, out September 18th, and it leans cinematic in a way that feels earned rather than borrowed, all shadow and slow motion. Bevan has always had a knack for songs that feel like they are happening somewhere just out of frame, half dream and half memory, and “Sleepwalkers” continues that streak. It is a genuinely unsettling listen in the best sense, the kind you play again just to sit with the discomfort a little longer.
Marsha Swanson – “Something Real”
Marsha Swanson doesn’t make children’s music the way most people picture it, bright and disposable. “Something Real,” out July 24th 2026, is the first taste of TroubleChutes, a project built from her years working with kids in therapeutic and educational settings, using song and story to help them name what they feel. She refuses to separate adult and children’s music, and you can hear why; kids feel love, loss and fear too, just from a different angle, and the song never talks down to anyone. Henry Thomas contributes, and Stuart Epps, who has worked with Elton John and Led Zeppelin, handles production and mastering, giving it real weight. With a TV pilot filmed alongside St Mary’s Hampton CE Primary School already in the works, this single feels like just the beginning.
JP O’Grady – “Count The Planes”
JP O’Grady used to front Citizen Papes, and “Count The Planes” makes clear he is not interested in repeating that chapter. Going solo forces a songwriter to stand fully behind every choice, and O’Grady sounds like someone who has made peace with that exposure. The title alone suggests a kind of restless watching, someone counting the things passing overhead instead of dealing with what is right in front of them, and the song carries that same nervous energy. It is a promising step for an artist clearly figuring out who he is without a band name to hide behind.
