The MOnday: 24.02.25
An Eisenhower speech, Metro Line is here, and Alexandra Leaving is back with a vengeance...
Welcome to a new week, and the last Monday of February 2025…
Listen to this
New music aplenty… Check my latest monthly playlist for lots more!
Fold - In The Goodness of Time
A track combining Eisenhower’s farewell speech with haunting and cinematic soundscapes — you couldn’t get much more dramatic. Fold combine this with a gorgeously crisp beat and warm but accurate production to produce a hard-hitting song which wastes no time but also makes plenty of space, too.
India Arkin - Metro Line
It’s here at last! Since I interviewed India a few weeks ago, and heard a preview of ‘Metro Line’, I’ve been longing for the world to hear it. It’s punchy and earnest, neither too short nor over-long, building in a very satisfying way. India’s vocals are brilliant, and look out for the blazing guitar solo, too.
Youth Lagoon - Rarely Do I Dream
The intense creativity of Youth Lagoon knows no bounds; I love the excitement and intrigue which comes with every one of their releases. You never quite know what’s coming next. Across this album, that sense of quirky innovation is maintained without let up.
Watch this
‘Hold The Sugar’ is Alexandra Leaving’s first release of 2025, and one she calls her “first sad ballad” (that description made me love it immediately). The song features a superb build from an initially subdued, melancholic entry where you can just sense the fizz of anticipated energy; then we get those intense pre-choruses, and finally the pay-off. It’s a really engaging song and one with a pleasingly untypical structure, too.
Read this
You may know that I write for some other music publications — one is DIY, which has a really good new / upcoming section called Neu… and a regular weekly Bulletin highlighting around 10 new releases worth checking out.
The range of styles/genres is always impressive so you’re bound to find something which suits, as well as plenty of surprises. I make new discoveries there almost every week (whether or not I’m writing one of the short reviews). Go have a read — the back catalogue could keep you entertained for a long while!
The most recent Bulletin featured Greta Issac, MOULD, Sunday (1994), Oslo Twins and many more.
Don’t miss this week
Friday 28th Feb: New singles from Adult Leisure (‘Dancing Don’t Feel Right’) and Avery Friedman (‘Photo Booth’); a new album from Hachiku called ‘The Joys of Being Pure at Heart’ (spoiler alert - it’s really good); and Muireann Bradley re-releases her long-player ‘I Kept These Old Blues’.