- Words Darcy Culverhouse
Listen to this week’s edition of UNDISCOVERED, featuring our pick of the best new music from the world’s most exciting emerging musicians.
London’s alternative five-piece, Mên-an-Tol, are busy breadcrumbing their way to a full project, This Land. Their latest drop, ‘Lucky’, is a mandolin-and-guitar punch-up that sneers at aspiration and sounds all the better for it. Also fresh out of the capital: Leah Cleaver drops the final cut from her debut EP Pushing Up Flowers. ‘Get You Home’ is a slick, funk slow-burner carried by a drumbeat that hypnotises on loop.
Where indie meets electronica, you have New York band ear. Their album The Most Dear and The Future is a brain melter, with singles like ‘Real Life’ bending through breakbeat and dreamy guitar music. april27 dials up the spook on The Electric Chair, an EP that feels like the soundtrack to a fogged-out arcade. ‘into a good (xxl)’ is the one to press play on: warped atmospherics, instrumental crashes, and a touch of doom is all added for good measure. Demae is glowing in the single ‘Closer’, her silky vocals practically floating on clouds of synth. Tropics whisks us off to the otherworldly on ‘Dulcimer Dive’, taken from the scintillating new record, Reality Fever.
How to Win At Solitaire by Sophia Stel is one of our favourite releases this week. The Vancouver native has us in a haze on tracks like ‘All Seven Seasons’: a bittersweet coming-of-age tale wrapped in woozy rhythms. Meanwhile, 22-year-old angst merchant gabby rivers keeps it loud with ‘Leave me alone’, all snarling guitars and drums that make your chest rattle.
On the rap front, Kofi Stone proves unstoppable. His seventh release of the year, ‘Rainfall’, is a personal reflection on resilience, delivered with his signature smooth flow. At the other end of the spectrum, AMAZONICA goes full grunge on ‘Mirror Baby’, serving raw, jagged edges, while SAPPHIRE slows it all the way down with ‘Pessimist’, a piano confessional that’ll have you clutching your chest.
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