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Leirbag X.O. Threads a Sonic Scalpel Through the Ether in the Avant-Garde Electronica Cut ‘Earth Paradise Hell’

Posted on 18 April 2025

Earth Paradise Hell is just one of the viscerally affecting hits in Leirbag X.O.’s discography—if this release is anything to go by, no one will be in line to tell the French producer to watch their tone. Starting out in the vein of a pulse-pounding deep-house anthem, the single quickly transmutes into transcendence to sonically visualise the paradise alluded to in the title. Through arresting quiescence, the cultivated producer compels you to lean into the instrumental soundscape far enough that you can feel the textures bleed into your anatomy, leaving you at the mercy of the concluding chapter of the single which feeds disquieting motifs into the ambience, reaching the epitome of harbingering while never forsaking the diaphanous euphony.

Clearly, Leirbag X.O. grabbed a cleaver and ensured he was a cut above the rest through Earth Paradise Hell—a cut deep enough to expose the full contrast between serenity and dissonance without losing control of either. As part of a growing discography which has earned him over 5,000 monthly Spotify listeners, this release showcases his ability to structure tracks as psychological arcs rather than passive audio wallpaper.

Based in France, Leirbag X.O.—real name Gabriel—is already working on his second conceptual album Awakening of Light, following his debut Annihilation of Darkness, released track by track from October 2023 to July 2024. With ambitions of collaboration and a beatmaker’s instinct for sonic architecture, he’s a producer wired for deeper conversations through sound.

Earth Paradise Hell is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Latin Pop Luminary Diego Molina Defined Romantic Sincerity in ‘What’s That Light In Your Eyes’

Posted on 18 April 2025
Diego Molina

Diego Molina’s latest single, ‘What’s That Light in Your Eyes’, subversively opens with an intimate glimpse into relationship bliss, almost like overhearing a candid conversation through an accidental pocket dial, setting a refreshingly personal context for the heartfelt fervency of the Latin pop serenade that follows, gently redefining romantic sincerity beyond physical admiration.

Hailing from Nashville, Molina wrote, produced, and mixed the track himself, drawing charismatic sentimentality from early-2000s inspirations such as U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind and Enrique Iglesias’ Escape. His approach carries an individuality shaped by his first visit to his Colombian roots, channelling the vibrant rhythms and spirited streets of Bogotá.

Sonically, Molina balances Latin pop traditions with synth-driven, new wave innovation. Angular guitar lines delicately ascend through the arrangement, soaring beyond the quickening heartbeat echoed by rhythmic beats. Retro-futurist synth textures amplify the emotional intensity, enveloping listeners in an atmosphere of ardent nostalgia. Molina’s diaphanous vocals, effortlessly slipping into vibrato, further amplify the authenticity and emotional depth of the love letter to sincerity and intimacy, which illuminates a romantic narrative with sophisticated yet accessible charm.

‘What’s That Light in Your Eyes’ is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Title: WD-HAN Punch Their Passport to Liberation in the Indie Rock Anthem ‘Chile’

Posted on 17 April 2025

Chile is one of the strongest exhibitions of WD-HAN’s versatility as they veer into sonic South American territory to bring the sardonically sweet context of the track to life. They flipped the script on the “I’ll follow you wherever you go” trope, as the protagonist stamps his passport to get as much geographical distance between an ex whose indiscretions and false promises led beyond spite to the sheer exhilaration of freedom.

With the vibrant Latin flavours popping through the kaleidoscope of the production, your synapses will flood with colour as you soak in the South American percussion and staccato guitar rhythms. This is an indie rock anthem to scream from the top of your lungs, to forget the spite with and lean into the euphoria of cutting ties from people whose sole mission seems to be psychological degradation.

Produced by Alex Arias at Fab Factory Studios and released via Red Slushy Records, Chile sees the Floridian alt-rock trio leaving no emotional punches unthrown. Vocalist Spencer Barnes keeps it tongue-in-cheek but razor-sharp as guitarist Cal Henry and drummer Lea Campbell inject every aural atom with augmented rapture. Known for emotionally charged anthems, WD-HAN may have made a departure with this release, but the international lyricality more than suits their status as they amass more acclaim from all corners of the globe. Why are we sleeping on making WD-HAN one of the biggest names in alt-rock is beyond beyond me.

Chile is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Akira Sky made a barricade of broken boundaries in her indie pop single, Block My Number

Posted on 16 April 2025

Through moodily ethereal indie pop vocal lines and the quiescent timbres of orchestral swells which drift around acoustic guitar strings and organic indietronica synthetics, Akira Sky invites listeners into a world where the messiness of human emotion unravels. The contradiction of heartbreak and empowerment is rendered with rare lucidity in Block My Number, where raw feeling is carved into every sonic contour.

As a senior at NYU/Tisch’s Clive Davis Institute, Akira Sky has already shown she has a firm grasp on the emotional chaos of modern life. Her output captures the jittering pulse of being alive in a Pandora’s box of paradoxes. Through a fusion of high-octane pop instincts and vulnerable songwriting, she creates for the beautifully overwhelmed—for the ones who cry with conviction and dance with the same force.

Despite the quiescence of Block My Number, which draws a line in the sand and makes a barricade of broken boundaries, nothing about the single feels diaphanous; the strength of the innovation and soulfully projected self-advocacy ensures Block My Number is a sonorous soundtrack for anyone who wants closure while knowing they will live if they never get it. It’s less of a goodbye and more of a soft implosion—gentle enough to float, heavy enough to pull you under.

Block My Number is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

A Bed of Nails for a Teenage Crown – Tara Bleeds Through Her Debut Indie Pop Single, ‘Pain’

Posted on 14 April 2025

At the bitter-sweet age of 16, Tara has already mastered the art of balladry in her debut single, Pain. The Serbia-born, Sweden-raised singer-songwriter poured right from the pain in her soul, allowing it to transmute into haunting metaphors, ensuring they resound with maximum resonance as they articulate the frustration of hearing that your teenage years should be the best of your life, yet, you can’t escape the agony of them when depression, apathy, betrayal, uncertainty and heartbreak have you in a multifaceted chokehold.

With the production support of Tim Gosden, whose work cloaks the track in brooding textures, Pain sets the stage with aching progressions that echo the low-end dissonance of coming-of-age realism. Tara doesn’t posture; she gives voice to the unspoken realities of adolescence with the same conviction she uses to wrap her vibrato around each lyric. Her command of vocal expression carries the emotional weight without tipping into melodrama, grounding the track in raw authenticity.

Her cultural duality – growing up in Serbia before resettling in Sweden – doesn’t scream through the production, but it subtly informs her capacity to view the chaos of teenhood from an introspective, poetically jaded lens. Her tone is mature without shedding the fragility that makes her debut impossible to dismiss.

With a voice and instrumental blueprint exclusive to her, Tara’s success is fated in Pain.

Pain is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Evelyn’s ‘The Woman I Used to Be’ Is A Pop Elegy in the Mirror of Memory

Posted on 13 April 2025

If you thought the title ‘The Woman I Used to Be’ was harrowing, just wait until you feel the sting of the minor piano keys and the evocative pull of Evelyn’s celestially raw vocal lines. in her latest single. With the ability to deliver the artful highs of Kate Bush alongside the reverberant depth of Adele, Evelyn provides an expansive, emotive range from her vocal performance alone.

When you factor in the crescendos and cinematic production behind ‘The Woman I Used to Be’, which poignantly mourns the loss of our authentic selves while urging us to reclaim that lost contentment, the track becomes an evocative reflection on emotional resilience. Life inevitably leaves scars, but Evelyn powerfully conveys that healing can be about moving closer to who you truly are, rather than retreating further away.

Evelyn, the Nottinghamshire-based singer-songwriter, spent years finding the courage to share her own music after initially performing timidly under her original stage name, Evelyn Pretty. From early covers of post-modern jukebox numbers to vintage classics, it was relentless perseverance that transformed her self-doubt into assured artistry. By early 2024, she committed fully to her instrument, learning piano from scratch, and emerging a year later with emotionally charged originals rooted firmly in piano-driven compositions.

‘The Woman I Used to Be’ isn’t merely relatable; it is profoundly affecting, capable of resonating with anyone who has felt the friction between past contentment and present uncertainty.

The Woman I Used to Be is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Manchester’s Concrete Club turned the noose of neoliberalism with their indie anthem, ‘Paycheck to Paycheck’

Posted on 13 April 2025
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JdX0eWtArndCaiYIe5HH8gwZo24ItAnX

The most promising indie rock outfit Manchester has had swaggering down Oldham Street in quite some time has returned with Paycheck to Paycheck—a synth-soaked, guitar-jangled post-punk-adjacent anthem that picks up where Morrissey left off. Concrete Club turned the noose of neoliberalism into a no-nonsense working-class vignette, unflinching in its portrayal of the modern malaise of trying to keep your head above water while the elite swan-dive into tax avoidance schemes.

Built around a powerful synth lead and a tighter-than-the-welfare-budget rhythm section, Paycheck to Paycheck offers a rallying opportunity to seek refuge in the bleak comfort of shared scarcity complexes. The infectiously adrenalising reprise of “You’re not fun anymore” perfectly encapsulates the satisfaction that’s been stripped and sanitised from society; walk through any town, and you’ll witness psyches cracked by austerity and stitched up with zero-hour contracts.

The irony? Catch Concrete Club live and you’ll find the fun that’s been excised from everyday life forcibly reinstated through their Editors-esque earworms. Their sound may nod to New Order and The Killers, but this isn’t a tribute act banking on nostalgia. With lyricality that hits like a shot to the heart from a candid, politically aware soul and vocals that pull you into the feverish core of their arrangements, Concrete Club aren’t here to be a footnote. They deserve a headline slot in Manchester’s ongoing music legacy.

Paycheck to Paycheck is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Shaw Revolver Wrestle Reverie and Reality in ‘Chasin’ My Shadow’

Posted on 12 April 2025

Shaw Revolver is the artistic definition of keeping it in the family—but there’s nothing saccharine about their dynamic. The trio—fronted by the father-daughter triad of Michael, Dresden, and Brielle—harness their natural synergy without ever falling into sentimentality. What they conjure instead is something far more powerful: emotionally charged rock, stripped of ego, driven by instinct.

The layered harmonies in Chasin’ My Shadow come like storm clouds over sunburnt desert guitars—guitars that shift with a chameleonic coolness, bleeding spectral southern rock into gothic textures, then turning on a dime into lines so virtuosically affecting they sound like the subconscious speaking in reverb. It’s a sonic terrain that mirrors the track’s thematic weight: trying to find stillness while wrestling with the shadows trailing behind you.

Chasin’ My Shadow doesn’t just feel like catharsis—it feels like confrontation. A reckoning between dream states and disillusionment, between inner peace and inherited pain. And while I’ll usually brace myself for the insular feel of family bands, Shaw Revolver blew that expectation wide open. Their sound doesn’t lock you out—it drags you right through the heart of their sound.

Since their 2019 debut, Shaw Revolver has toured coast to coast with their travelling acoustic act, but this single proves they’re just as potent when they plug in and wear their souls on their sleeves. Theirs is a rock ethos built on substance, delivered with gravitas, grace, and an unshakable sense of purpose.

Chasin’ My Shadow is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Starfire in the Scar Tissue: Stephan Leroy Folkes Transcends Temporal Turmoil in ‘It’s All Within Time (Travelling Through the Stars)’

Posted on 11 April 2025
Stephan Leroy Folkes

After launching Say It Like You Mean It with an insistent demand for honesty, Stephan Leroy Folkes has returned to eclipse every surface-level sentiment in It’s All Within Time (Travelling Through the Stars). Where the debut came with sharp confrontation, the sophomore single is steeped in cosmic introspection and scorched-soul sonics that unravel through alt-soul-pop with funk-slicked edges and ethereal atmospherics.

Folkes has dialled up the soul, beguile, and eccentric electricity up to 11, welcoming his ever-growing fan following into the epitome of impassioned visceralism. With the cosmic underpinnings to the alt-soul-pop serenade and Folkes’ falsetto vocal timbre surpassing the scintillation of Michael Jackson with the aching vibrato that hits in the chorus, the single is a lesson on what it means to truly go beyond surface level with emotions.

From the first synth-streaked beat to the last breathy note, the track tests the tensile strength of resilience, using star-bound metaphors to map the personal collisions that shake us into shape. The Leytonstone-born artist never plays it safe—nor should he. Born from brushes with death, his sound is living proof that survival can sound transcendent. With nods to Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Billie Eilish woven into his genre-defiant fingerprint, Stephan sidesteps imitation and plants himself firmly in the present moment of music with a sound entirely his own.

It’s All Within Time (Travelling Through the Stars) is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Niamh Casey lyrically grounds the grandeur in her chamber pop diary entry, Fake Friend

Posted on 11 April 2025
Niamh Casey

Niamh Casey delivers tonal grandeur through grounded intimacy in her standout single, ‘Fake Friend’. Her flawlessly pitched, unfeigned vocal lines soar alongside an orchestral pop intensity, swiftly shifting into raw rock reverence with a broadsiding crescendo that spills beyond stadium proportions. Beneath the ornate instrumentation lies a deeper emotional reckoning: Casey captures the sheer exhaustion of existing at your emotional limits in a friendship devoid of reciprocity, where all is expected but nothing mutual ever materialises.

Pivoting away from her familiar themes of romantic heartbreak, Casey turns her gaze towards the murkier waters of friendship, highlighting the stark reality that bonds built on trust, honesty, and mutual support often fracture painfully. The single’s ironic title cleverly frames the cycle of adolescent reflection as Casey carousels through repeated disappointments, mirroring the shallow interactions with her own weary realisations. Each verse speaks rhetorically to the friend, challenging their conscience before swiftly turning inward, questioning her own judgement and emotional resilience.

As the bridge ignites, resentment physically releases through echoes of past betrayals and broken trust, vividly portraying how exhausting one-sided friendships truly become. Casey’s lyrical narrative relentlessly explores how grief and contempt intersect when the loss of a so-called friend offers more peace than pain.

With the potential of becoming the Tori Amos of her generation, all eyes and ears should be on Niamh Casey as the release of her upcoming EP inches closer.

‘Fake Friend’ is now available to stream on all major platforms.

Follow Niamh Casey on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast