Atwood Journal is worked up to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Each week, Mitch will share a group of songs, albums, and artists who’ve caught his ears, eyes, and coronary heart. There may be a lot unimaginable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to pay attention. By way of our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a lightweight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of recent and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options Soot Sprite, Black Nation, New Highway, Spacey Jane, Joan & the Giants, The Ting Tings, and Brandon!
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“All My Buddies Are Depressed”
by Soot Sprite
Raw, indignant, and loud, Soot Sprite’s first tune of the 12 months is a cathartic, emotionally charged eruption: A twenty first Century fever dream fueled by angst and unrest. Launched February 25th through Specialist Topic, “All My Buddies Are Depressed” channels our particular person hardship, collective trauma, and generational ennui right into a dynamic launch of stress, turmoil, and soul-shaking indie rock sound. The Exeter trio of Elise Cook dinner (lead vocals/guitar), Sean Mariner (bass/backing vocals), and Sam Cother (drums/backing vocals) hit arduous and leaving an enduring mark on the ears and the guts whereas refusing to roll over let hardship, uncertainty, and fears for the long run devour them.
All my mates are depressed
Over labored underneath stress
Simply making an attempt to make it by means of
the 12 months with much less and fewer
All my mates are getting sick
Laden with politics
One thing in actuality doesn’t fairly click on
Whereas they reckoning with life’s harsh realities within the verses, Soot Sprite use the refrain as each an emotional climax and an olive department – providing advise and assist within the chorus, “Change what you’ll be able to, what you management. Let the remainder wash over you, strive to not fold.”
In case your escapism is an indication
That one thing in your stars aren’t fairly in line
Change what you’ll be able to, what you management
Let the remainder wash over you, strive to not fold
For Cook dinner, this tune is private, political, and deeply tied to the present state of the world – each on a macro and micro scale. “[It’s] my statement of the psychological well being disaster we’re in, how widespread it feels, and the way sociopolitical components are taking part in such an enormous half,” she tells Atwood Journal. “It’s additionally a reminder to myself that I must cease distracting myself from my points and attempt to change one thing or face issues, or nothing will occur and I’ll by no means shake off the episode.”
“This tune was basically my exasperation in battling my very own psychological well being, and seeing the battle throughout me in my mates and my household,” she continues. “It’s really easy to really feel crushed by the burden of issues completely exterior of our management; I’ve definitely been underneath it. The one means out of that cycle I’ve discovered is by looking for the adjustments I could make. ‘Change what you’ll be able to. what you management’ is a few type of mantra I’ve tried to carry onto.”
All my mates underneath duress
Ready for no matter’s subsequent
What may be taken to chop us off on the knees
All my mates are in a large number
Scrambling for safety
And I’m not an exception by any stretch
In case your escapism is an indication
That one thing in your stars aren’t fairly in line
Change what you’ll be able to, what you management
Let the remainder wash over you, strive to not fold
Final we related with Soot Sprite was round their 2021 EP Poltergeists, which I hailed on the time as “an trustworthy and pressing upheaval of radiant, dreamy indie rock – an immersive soundtrack to (and the results of) intimate reflection and isolation: To moments the place we are able to’t join outward, so we join inward as an alternative.” The trio have continued to faucet (and hone) the identical pool of ardour and energy that fueled these songs, discovering in “All My Buddies Are Depressed” a option to communicate not only for themselves, however for his or her total technology.
Because the lead single off their upcoming debut album Wield Your Hope Like a Weapon, “All My Buddies Are Depressed” units the tone for Soot Sprite’s new period – a second born from social discord, helplessness, fury and frustration, and a very relentless aching deep down in our bones. The tune refuses to be ignored whereas demanding our undivided consideration, making certain that we come away feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, if not altogether impressed.
Necessity is blind till it turns into acutely aware
We’re all simply rain clouds with a sunny disposition
In case your escapism is an indication
That one thing in your stars aren’t fairly in line
Change what you’ll be able to, what you management
Let the remainder wash over you, strive to not fold
“Besties”
by Black Nation, New Highway
I can’t assist however smile from ear to ear each time “Besties” comes on. An intimate embrace of finest friendship delivered with the would possibly of a sonic sledgehammer, Black Nation, New Highway’s first single in three years’ time is earnest, charming, and completely unapologetic in its supply. Launched January 30th through Ninja Tune, the lead single off the English sextet’s forthcoming third studio album heralds an inventive evolution from a band that has eternally refused to sit down nonetheless or match neatly into any single field.
We name them “indie rock,” however the reality is a lot extra thrilling than that – as exemplified on this breathtakingly daring return to the highlight, replete with a shocking harpsichord efficiency, achingly expressive saxophone blasts, and Georgia Ellery’s emotionally-charged vocal supply (marking the primary time she’s taken lead on a BCNR tune).
I wanna be anyplace apart from this
I wanna see my finest pal waving at me
I wanna be dwelling with you
Seeing it by means of
Do you wanna play?
Endlessly how lengthy can I play?
A tune l made, yeah, it’s a tune
I’m gonna learn one thing that’s good
However I’ll take heed to you
I’m not asking a lot
Simply sufficient, fill my cup
Get me up
You make me chuckle, babe
I’ve learn numerous critiques of “Besties” searching for to seize each the distinctive sonics of the tune, in addition to its heartfelt substance – each of that are price elevating and celebrating. One author dubbed it “post-punk jazz at its most interesting,” whereas one other affectionately known as it a “Beatlesque baroque pop quantity.” These descriptions go far to assist fill within the many colours of Black Nation, New Highway’s courageous new world (and it’s true, The Beatles’ oeuvre did affect on this music), however in the end what shines brights on “Besties” is the sentiment itself. Tender melodies assist a message of timeless friendship – a bond that may (and can) climate all storms.
The band hit their excessive in a refrain full of affection, punchy instrumental hits, and spirited drum fills:
Yeah, I do know what’s anticipated of me
Besties, evening and day
Keep in mind once I mentioned
he shouldn’t deal with you that means,
and are you positive?
I do know I would like one thing extra
Out April 4th, Black Nation, New Highway’s third album Endlessly Howlong sees the band’s three feminine members (Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and Could Kershaw) taking the reins on each songwriting and vocal duties.
“It created an actual by means of line for the album, having three ladies singing,” says Ellery. “It’s undoubtedly very totally different to Ants From Up There, due to the feminine perspective – and the music we’ve made additionally enhances that.”
Arriving at a time that feels all too bleak, darkish, and tough to navigate, “Besties” serves to remind us of the individuals who matter most in our lives – and the way our time and power is much better spent on them. Full with a music video (courtesy of award-winning director Rianne White) that accentuates this very level, “Besties” will eternally be a type of gentle within the darkness – a musical beacon right here to enthrall, encourage, and illuminate the trail ahead.
And what about you?
In actual fact, don’t reply that
Wouldn’t need it another means
‘Trigger this feels
Bestiе woman
Take it again now
What you are feeling is the opening in your lifе
And he or she’s most likely proper
She’s most likely proper, proper, proper…
(Simply sufficient) I undertaking
(Fill my cup) I get moist
(Get me up) I get dry
(You make me chuckle, babe)
You make me cry, babe
Yeah, I got here out and the place have been you?
I believe you see proper by means of me
Bestie, on my thoughts
Simply lean into it
I’m a strolling TikTok development
However the color runs out ultimately
“All of the Noise”
by Spacey Jane
We’ve all received undesirable chaos and trauma in our lives – baggage we’re holding onto, regardless of understanding we’d be a lot better off with out it. “It’s all simply f**ing noise,” Spacey Jane sing of their first tune of the 12 months.
Rattling proper about that.
The sonically charged cathartic exhale 2025 so desperately wants, “All of the Noise” is a savage and searing indie rock reckoning with the previous. The lead single off Spacey Jane’s forthcoming third album If That Makes Sense (out Could 9th through Harmony Information) finds the Australian four-piece in a state of friction and fervor – getting an enormous weight off their chests the way in which they know finest.
Get me a woman from the center of nowhere
I’ll present you who made me
And present me a person that you would be able to’t management
And I’ll get you their child
Like ah
Effectively it’s all simply f*in noise
Ah effectively it’s all simply
“‘All the Noise’ was principally written in a resort room in Sydney having landed in Australia for the first time in 6 months,” Spacey Jane’s frontman Caleb Harper tells Atwood Journal.
“I suppose there was one thing about being down underneath once more that made my model of the story of the start of my life really feel so vivid. It’s indignant, however not at somebody, and it’s unhappy as a result of I can’t fairly resolve what or who made me. It is perhaps my favorite riff of Ashton’s and the tightest Peppa and Kieran have ever locked. It’s gonna be so enjoyable dwell and we’re past excited to be sharing our first new music in over a 12 months!”
Did you need half of me would which have been higher
Would you’ve got far more sleep in colder climate
And regardless that I can’t see why you couldn’t go away it
I don’t know in another way so I’m certain to repeat it
That is the way in which that you simply gave to me
A getaway automotive with keys in it down the road
And a bucket of nothing a entice for my toes
A promise that I’d harm
all people that I ever meet
Like ah
Effectively it’s all simply f*in noise
Ah effectively it’s all simply
A favourite of those pages for a number of years now (in addition to one in all our 2023 artists to look at), Spacey Jane have the uncanny potential of bringing candy rays of sunshine into the darkest corners of the room. Even right here – on a tune stuffed with stress and inside turmoil – the band succeeds at instilling a way of hope right into a hopeless state, refusing to be damaged by experiences exterior of their management.
Set to reach three years after their critically acclaimed sophomore album Right here Comes All people (which Atwood particularly praised for its expressions of “reckoning and resilience,”) If That Makes Sense guarantees to ship moments of each catchy attraction and cathartic churn as Spacey Jane proceed to unravel themselves on report.
Did you need half of me would which have been higher
Would you’ve got far more sleep in colder climate
And regardless that I can’t see why you couldn’t go away it
I don’t know in another way so I’m certain to repeat it
“This album isn’t making an attempt to be something particularly,” the band not too long ago acknowledged. “Generally it’s positive of itself and different occasions it whispers uncertainty. It looks like a contradiction of forgiveness and anger, love and breakdown and that’s what I used to be making an attempt to reconcile within the title. It’s arduous to offer it a theme apart from an awesome sense of confusion and a lower than profitable try to tie up emotional unfastened ends. We went to the U.S., we put our religion in new collaborators and completed making a self-funded report with no label residence for it. We stepped off the cliff on a regular basis and liked it, and we have now by no means been happier with our work than we at the moment are.”
“All That Noise” is an thrilling, exhilarating first have a look at 2025-era Spacey Jane, a band dedicated to bringing their perfect – and their genuine selves – to each second of their songs, even when it hurts.
I’m not feeling straight anymore
Years of f*ups rolling in and knocking at my door
I can’t take the blame anymore
Sure it’s all my fault and I’ve years of maintaining rating
I discovered the boy from the center of nowhere
Confirmed him what they made me
And he opened his mouth for an opportunity to inform me
Jesus killed my child
And that was the way in which that they gave to me
A getaway automotive with its brakes reduce down the road
And a head stuffed with nothing a dream with out sleep
A promise that I’d harm all people that I ever meet
“Nonetheless Respiration”
by Joan & the Giants
We by no means know the way sturdy we’re, till we’re confronted with a problem and are available out the opposite facet – nonetheless alive, nonetheless respiration. Atwood artist-to-watch Joan & the Giants have stepped into 2025 acknowledging that timeless reality with a deep, dramatic exhale of resilience, acceptance, and launch. As cathartic and breathtaking as it’s achingly emotional, “Nonetheless Respiration” is a testomony to the enduring sting of loss and the vivid depth of our personal inside power. It’s a spirited rallying cry for damaged hearts and brooding souls – an anthem that aches inside and outside, reckoning with what it means to like, let go, and transfer on.
Waging battle
Upon your shore
Getting pulled out with the tide
Preventing for
Who we have been earlier than
Misplaced behind your traces
However some issues are finest stored prior to now
And I do know we weren’t constructed to final
Broke this residence
Acquired nowhere to go
I can’t cease the bleeding
However I’m nonetheless respiration
I’m nonetheless respiration
“‘Nonetheless Respiration’ happened so organically in a jam room setting between the 4 of us,” Joan & The Giants’ frontwoman Grace Newton-Wordsworth tells Atwood Journal. “Liam began taking part in the delayed opening bass chords, and the tune got here so naturally it felt prefer it was already written and simply handed to us in a type of divine, working together with your instinct and feeling the circulate sort means. I believe the strongest songs we’ve written have come about like this, the place all of the elements and lyrics are simply organically there, and also you don’t should overthink or come again to it a thousand occasions.”
“Relating to the lyrics. this tune was written by Aaron Birch and myself, actually within the midst of an absolute storm and the inside chaos of a post-nine 12 months breakup. After Aaron and I selected to half methods romantically, we actually tried our hardest to maintain the band going collectively for over a 12 months afterwards, and it actually simply turned so deeply painful (nearly Fleetwood Mac type) for the 2 of us, to the purpose the place the healthiest determination was to half methods fully.”
“The lyrics actually talk about an inside battle, making an attempt to combat for the individuals you as soon as have been however understanding it’s important to let all of it go – ‘However some issues are finest stored prior to now, and I do know we weren’t constructed to final.’”
“Nonetheless Respiration” is private each to Grace Newton-Wordsworth (and former bandmate Aaron Birch), as it’s central to Joan & the Giants’ personal story; the band continues to soldier on, regardless of the lack of a member, having weathered a rift that definitely threatened to sink the ship.
You withdrew
Took all of it with you
Left me within the combat
However I run again to you
Like I all the time do
Each lonely evening
“All the ache sits throughout the verses and pre refrain, and at last there’s simply an enormous launch within the refrain of ‘I’m Nonetheless Respiration,’” she continues. “This line to me is so highly effective and correct to what we have been going by means of, full inner suffocation and drowning, however nonetheless being able to combat and know we’re alive, we’re nonetheless respiration and it’s okay to let go of the previous and transfer on. I like the ending of this tune, and the massive crowd singalong of the ‘woah oh oh ohs’! It’s actually transferring once we play this one dwell, as I believe each individual goes by means of deep heartbreak and ache on this life, and the reality is we’re all Nonetheless Respiration and we’re all on this collectively.”
“As a few of you could have seen, Aaron has stepped away from Joan & The Giants in an announcement made in January this 12 months, and this tune type of looks like an ideal farewell and parting of the way. I’m actually pleased with the music we’ve made collectively, and the way far we’ve come as individuals, and I like that we’ve put all of it into our songs, and might let go of all this ache now and breathe.”
“Nonetheless Respiration” is an exquisite balm – each a reckoning with the previous, and a map for the long run. It’s a welcome return from one in all our favourite indie pop bands, and a present of power alongside the reassurance that, come hell or excessive water, they’re not going anyplace.
However some issues are finest stored prior to now
And I do know we weren’t constructed to final
Broke this residence
Acquired nowhere to go
I can’t cease the bleeding
However I’m nonetheless respiration
I’m nonetheless respiration
“Danced on the Wire”
by The Ting Tings
It’s the heat of “Danced on the Wire” that hits you first: A sonic warmth that wraps across the ears and coronary heart, immersive and intense, like a weighted blanket for the soul. Launched in November as a double-single along with the observe “Down,” The Ting Tings’ first launch in five-plus years is a smoldering, seductive, and stirring folk-soaked fever dream. Achingly uncooked and fantastically weak, with wealthy vocal harmonies and delicate acoustic guitar traces reverberating all through, “Danced on the Wire” is a panoramic return for the English duo of Katie White and Jules De Martino.
I can’t clarify the sensation, however you understand it
Why we wait so a few years to really feel the identical
If I used to be clever, then I’d attempt to ignore it
I’d keep right here, it’s acquainted and it’s protected
Shake the tree and watch the apples rolling
I attempted my hardest to catch them in my shirt
We’ll by no means cease the following new ones from rising
Subsequent spring, we’ll choose up all those we harm
I simply can’t wait anymore
I simply can’t wait anymore
“‘Danced on the Wire’ is a narrative concerning the second in life that you simply go forwards with the necessity to finish one thing… and the grief that’s triggered for either side,” the pair, who relocated from London to Ibiza in 2020 with their new child little one, inform Atwood Journal. “We actually targeted on good old style songwriting and storytelling.”
Those that bear in mind The Ting Tings for his or her 2008 album We Began Nothing – residence to their breakout single, “That’s Not My Identify” – needs to be able to toss out that reminiscence and begin fully recent. The 2025 model of the band is extra in keeping with the sounds and songwriting kinds of Seventies Fleetwood Mac – or the more moderen, made-for-television model, Daisy Jones and the Six. “Danced on the Wire,” “Down,” and the not too long ago launched “Good Folks Do Unhealthy Issues” characterize the primary few seems to be into The Ting Tings’ forthcoming sixth studio album, HOME (out June 6th, 2025 through their very own label, Great Information).
“This album has taken us 4 years to put in writing and report,” White and De Martino clarify. “It’s a love letter to all the things we have now come to like as songwriters. It has a late ‘70s gentle rock, yacht rock inspiration. And in all honesty, we simply made music we wished to listen to. All these nice outdated data make us really feel heat and nostalgic, they alter the temper within the room or automotive and with the songs on this album we chased that feeling. We dwell on the island of Ibiza with our daughter and sluggish dwelling and creativity, consideration to element and actually studying our craft has been our focus for the previous few years. If individuals get that heat feeling from this report then we will likely be over the moon.”
I’m sorry if I broke to you my promise
And I’m sorry if I went again on my phrases
Now you’re trying over at me
in essentially the most peculiar means
I may let you know my entire story,
I simply don’t know what to say
However I simply can’t wait anymore (you understand that I)
I simply can’t wait anymore
I simply can’t wait anymore
As a self-described ‘scholar’ of basic rock, this new period of The Ting Tings looks like a present come true. For all those that say they don’t make ‘em like Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, or Steely Dan anymore, right here comes a gaggle to problem the notion that music’s best eras are behind us; that ‘basic’ sounds can solely exist prior to now.
“Danced on the Wire” is particularly intimate, significant, and transferring, because it reveals the achingly human depths of the duo’s artistry. “It means the years spent making an attempt to compromise, steadiness, and carry out to maintain a relationship working,” they are saying of the phrase itself. Tender and heartfelt, pressing and aching, their instrumental and vocal work intensify these uncooked feelings – and the lived experiences of two devoted, working artists. This tune expresses actual ache; actual frustration; actual stress and turbulence. It’s lovely in its honesty, and for that – along with the sheer warmth of the manufacturing – I’ll eternally cherish it.
In the course of the evening,
the locations we’ll say we’ll be
Watched all people go away,
we held on desperately
Oh, what a day, oh,
what a day to go away
Danced on the wire,
waited patiently
Danced on the wire
I danced on the wire
“Proper Again”
by Brandon
Who knew a sonic diary may really feel so… enveloping? Brandon’s newest single is a candid, cathartic, and completely charming dialog between artist and viewers. The LA-based artist (née Brandon Joseph) spills his aching coronary heart and weary soul in dramatic vogue, holding nothing again as he sings his love for the one who received away. Launched February 20th, “Proper Again” is brutally brooding and exquisite: A dreamy, genreless, all-consuming enchanting.
I get misplaced in your fairly gaze
I simply want that you simply’d really feel the identical nonetheless
My outdated thoughts ain’t a beautiful place
Strive, I’ll strive, however I can’t erase all
The ache I confronted if you ran away
wasn’t a easy place
We’re onto various things now,
however I nonetheless need you dangerous, I do
You’re like cyanide
however child, I nonetheless need you
Oh, I can’t lie
Yeah, you harm like hell too
Oh, why, oh, why
do I come proper again to you?
You’re the drug I like
You bought me working proper again to you
“‘Proper Again’ is one in all my favorites from the album,” Brandon says. “It packs all the things. The lyrics, the power, the emotion, and the story. It’s a particular one to me. Each time it comes on it, makes me wish to dance.”
Lyrically weak and sonically smoldering, “Proper Again” hits with the heat and weight of the artist’s innermost confessions. He sings into existence all these ideas and emotions we historically hold to ourselves, saying aloud what so many people is perhaps too afraid to precise.
I don’t thoughts ready all my life for you
I don’t wanna carry on preventing and rioting
I nonetheless received plenty of issues on my thoughts
however to you it’s all a waste of time
I don’t imply to trouble,
however it’s messing with me
Simply give me yet another probability,
now you over with me
Simply inform me why this breakup
is more durable than it’s purported to be?
Stated, “I like you,”
why you gotta be so chilly to me?
Hear
Hey lil’ mama!
Let’s reduce the drama!
Spin that ‘Silkk da Shocka’
Double-entendre
I simply need your love-ah
Hearken to this tune!
Hear my coronary heart beating like a drummer!
Enjoying my guitar-ah
I want it was the summer season!
I simply need eternally, me and also you
Yeah, I performed too many video games
Now you inform me that it’s by means of
I really feel the ache,
man, I can’t even transfer, yeah
Get me in tune, child
A panoramic tune in its personal proper, “Proper Again” can be the lead single off Brandon’s forthcoming debut album Earlier than You Go (out Could ninth through Secretly Canadian), which he describes as not only a doc of heartbreak however an embrace of affection’s complexities: “The great thing about uncertainty and the inevitability of change.” It’s an unapologetically, uncompromisingly human report, and one which brings us nose to nose with Brandon’s thoughts, his coronary heart, and his soul.
And it’s true that there’s one thing healthful and altogether great about an artist manifesting their innermost self in tune; discovering the suitable mixture of phrases and sounds to precise all the things they should share in a given second. “Proper Again” hits residence – and feels good – as a result of it’s genuine to the place Brandon was when he wrote it. Filled with nostalgia, love, and longing, the tune is a deep groove, and one which guarantees to sit down with listeners lengthy after the music fades.
You’re like cyanide,
however child, I nonetheless need you
Lady, I can’t lie
Yeah, you harm like hell too
Oh, why, oh, why
do I come proper again to you?
You’re the drug I like
You bought me working proper again to you
— — — —
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