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 set 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 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 Pals Are Depressed”
by Soot Sprite
Raw, offended, and loud, Soot Sprite’s first music of the 12 months is a cathartic, emotionally charged eruption: A twenty first Century fever dream fueled by angst and unrest. Launched February 25th by way of Specialist Topic, “All My Pals Are Depressed” channels our particular person hardship, collective trauma, and generational ennui right into a dynamic launch of pressure, turmoil, and soul-shaking indie rock sound. The Exeter trio of Elise Prepare dinner (lead vocals/guitar), Sean Mariner (bass/backing vocals), and Sam Cother (drums/backing vocals) hit laborious and leaving a long-lasting mark on the ears and the center whereas refusing to roll over let hardship, uncertainty, and fears for the long run eat them.
All my mates are depressed
Over labored underneath stress
Simply making an attempt to make it by
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 help within the chorus, “Change what you possibly can, 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 possibly can, what you management
Let the remainder wash over you, strive to not fold
For Prepare dinner, this music is private, political, and deeply tied to the present state of the world – each on a macro and micro scale. “[It’s] my commentary of the psychological well being disaster we’re in, how widespread it feels, and the way sociopolitical components are enjoying such an enormous half,” she tells Atwood Journal. “It’s additionally a reminder to myself that I have to 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 music was basically my exasperation in battling my very own psychological well being, and seeing the wrestle throughout me in my mates and my household,” she continues. “It’s really easy to really feel crushed by the load of issues completely outdoors of our management; I’ve definitely been underneath it. The one means out of that cycle I’ve discovered is by looking for the modifications I could make. ‘Change what you possibly can. what you management’ is a few form of mantra I’ve tried to carry onto.”
All my mates underneath duress
Ready for no matter’s subsequent
What could be taken to chop us off on the knees
All my mates are in a multitude
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 possibly can, what you management
Let the remainder wash over you, strive to not fold
Final we linked with Soot Sprite was round their 2021 EP Poltergeists, which I hailed on the time as “an sincere 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 will’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 Pals Are Depressed” a method to communicate not only for themselves, however for his or her whole technology.
Because the lead single off their upcoming debut album Wield Your Hope Like a Weapon, “All My Pals Are Depressed” units the tone for Soot Sprite’s new period – a second born from social discord, helplessness, fury and frustration, and a really relentless aching deep down in our bones. The music 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 possibly can, 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 totally unapologetic in its supply. Launched January 30th by way of Ninja Tune, the lead single off the English sextet’s forthcoming third studio album heralds an inventive evolution from a band that has endlessly refused to sit down nonetheless or match neatly into any single field.
We name them “indie rock,” however the fact 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 music).
I wanna be wherever apart from this
I wanna see my finest good friend waving at me
I wanna be dwelling with you
Seeing it by
Do you wanna play?
Eternally how lengthy can I play?
A music l made, yeah, it’s a music
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 chortle, babe
I’ve learn varied critiques of “Besties” searching for to seize each the distinctive sonics of the music, 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 referred to 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 help 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
Bear in mind after I mentioned
he shouldn’t deal with you that means,
and are you positive?
I do know I need one thing extra
Out April 4th, Black Nation, New Highway’s third album Eternally 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 line for the album, having three women singing,” says Ellery. “It’s positively very completely 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 troublesome 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 endlessly be a form of mild within the darkness – a musical beacon right here to enthrall, encourage, and illuminate the trail ahead.
And what about you?
In reality, 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 outlet in your lifе
And he or she’s in all probability proper
She’s in all probability proper, proper, proper…
(Simply sufficient) I challenge
(Fill my cup) I get moist
(Get me up) I get dry
(You make me chortle, babe)
You make me cry, babe
Yeah, I got here out and the place had been you?
I believe you see proper by 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 acquired undesirable chaos and trauma in our lives – baggage we’re holding onto, regardless of understanding we’d be significantly better off with out it. “It’s all simply f**ing noise,” Spacey Jane sing of their first music 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 by way of 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 which you can’t management
And I’ll get you their child
Like ah
Nicely it’s all simply f*in noise
Ah properly 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 offended, however not at somebody, and it’s unhappy as a result of I can’t fairly resolve what or who made me. It could be 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 were higher
Would you’ve got far more sleep in colder climate
And despite the fact that I can’t see why you couldn’t go away it
I don’t know otherwise 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 ft
A promise that I might harm
everyone that I ever meet
Like ah
Nicely it’s all simply f*in noise
Ah properly 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 means of bringing candy rays of sunshine into the darkest corners of the room. Even right here – on a music stuffed with pressure and internal turmoil – the band succeeds at instilling a way of hope right into a hopeless state, refusing to be damaged by experiences outdoors 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 appeal and cathartic churn as Spacey Jane proceed to unravel themselves on report.
Did you need half of me would which were higher
Would you’ve got far more sleep in colder climate
And despite the fact that I can’t see why you couldn’t go away it
I don’t know otherwise so I’m certain to repeat it
“This album isn’t making an attempt to be something specifically,” the band just lately acknowledged. “Generally it’s positive of itself and different instances it whispers uncertainty. It appears 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 laborious to provide it a theme apart from an amazing sense of confusion and a lower than profitable try to tie up emotional free ends. We went to the U.S., we put our religion in new collaborators and completed making a self-funded report and not using a label residence for it. We stepped off the cliff on a regular basis and cherished it, and we’ve got 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 best – 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 holding 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 lower down the road
And a head stuffed with nothing a dream with out sleep
A promise that I might harm everyone that I ever meet
“Nonetheless Respiratory”
by Joan & the Giants
We by no means know the way robust we’re, till we’re confronted with a problem and are available out the opposite aspect – nonetheless alive, nonetheless respiratory. Atwood artist-to-watch Joan & the Giants have stepped into 2025 acknowledging that timeless fact with a deep, dramatic exhale of resilience, acceptance, and launch. As cathartic and breathtaking as it’s achingly emotional, “Nonetheless Respiratory” is a testomony to the enduring sting of loss and the vivid depth of our personal internal power. It’s a spirited rallying cry for damaged hearts and brooding souls – an anthem that aches in and out, reckoning with what it means to like, let go, and transfer on.
Waging struggle
Upon your shore
Getting pulled out with the tide
Preventing for
Who we had been earlier than
Misplaced behind your traces
However some issues are finest saved previously
And I do know we weren’t constructed to final
Broke this residence
Obtained nowhere to go
I can’t cease the bleeding
However I’m nonetheless respiratory
I’m nonetheless respiratory
“‘Nonetheless Respiratory’ 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 enjoying the delayed opening bass chords, and the music got here so naturally it felt prefer it was already written and simply handed to us in a form of divine, working along with your instinct and feeling the circulation kind means. I believe the strongest songs we’ve written have come about like this, the place all of the components and lyrics are simply organically there, and also you don’t need to overthink or come again to it a thousand instances.”
“In relation to the lyrics. this music was written by Aaron Birch and myself, actually within the midst of an absolute storm and the internal 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 grew to become so deeply painful (virtually Fleetwood Mac fashion) for the 2 of us, to the purpose the place the healthiest choice was to half methods fully.”
“The lyrics actually discuss an internal struggle, making an attempt to struggle for the individuals you as soon as had been however understanding it’s a must to let all of it go – ‘However some issues are finest saved previously, and I do know we weren’t constructed to final.’”
“Nonetheless Respiratory” 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 struggle
However I run again to you
Like I at all times do
Each lonely evening
“All the ache sits inside the verses and pre refrain, and eventually there’s simply an enormous launch within the refrain of ‘I’m Nonetheless Respiratory,’” she continues. “This line to me is so highly effective and correct to what we had been going by, full inner suffocation and drowning, however nonetheless being able to struggle and know we’re alive, we’re nonetheless respiratory and it’s okay to let go of the previous and transfer on. I really like the ending of this music, and the massive crowd singalong of the ‘woah oh oh ohs’! It’s actually shifting after we play this one dwell, as I believe each individual goes by deep heartbreak and ache on this life, and the reality is we’re all Nonetheless Respiratory and we’re all on this collectively.”
“As a few of you might have seen, Aaron has stepped away from Joan & The Giants in an announcement made in January this 12 months, and this music kind of appears like an ideal farewell and parting of how. I’m actually pleased with the music we’ve made collectively, and the way far we’ve come as individuals, and I really like that we’ve put all of it into our songs, and might let go of all this ache now and breathe.”
“Nonetheless Respiratory” is an attractive 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 wherever.
However some issues are finest saved previously
And I do know we weren’t constructed to final
Broke this residence
Obtained nowhere to go
I can’t cease the bleeding
However I’m nonetheless respiratory
I’m nonetheless respiratory
“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 monitor “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 realize it
Why we wait so a few years to really feel the identical
If I used to be sensible, then I might attempt to ignore it
I might 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 are going to by no means cease the subsequent new ones from rising
Subsequent spring, we’ll decide 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 each side,” the pair, who relocated from London to Ibiza in 2020 with their new child baby, 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 contemporary. The 2025 model of the band is extra according to the sounds and songwriting kinds of Seventies Fleetwood Mac – or the newer, made-for-television model, Daisy Jones and the Six. “Danced on the Wire,” “Down,” and the just lately launched “Good Folks Do Dangerous Issues” symbolize the primary few seems into The Ting Tings’ forthcoming sixth studio album, HOME (out June 6th, 2025 by way of their very own label, Great Information).
“This album has taken us 4 years to jot down and report,” White and De Martino clarify. “It’s a love letter to every little thing we’ve got come to like as songwriters. It has a late ‘70s comfortable rock, yacht rock inspiration. And in all honesty, we simply made music we needed to listen to. All these nice previous information make us really feel heat and nostalgic, they modify 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 gradual 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 can 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 wanting over at me
in probably the most peculiar means
I might inform you my entire story,
I simply don’t know what to say
However I simply can’t wait anymore (you realize 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 appears 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 previously.
“Danced on the Wire” is very intimate, significant, and shifting, because it reveals the achingly human depths of the duo’s artistry. “It means the years spent making an attempt to compromise, stability, 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 music expresses actual ache; actual frustration; actual pressure and turbulence. It’s lovely in its honesty, and for that – along with the sheer warmth of the manufacturing – I’ll endlessly cherish it.
In the midst of the evening,
the locations we’ll say we’ll be
Watched everyone go away,
we held on desperately
Oh, what a day, oh,
what a day to depart
Danced on the wire,
waited patiently
Danced on the wire
I danced on the wire
“Proper Again”
by Brandon
Who knew a sonic diary might really feel so… enveloping? Brandon’s newest single is a candid, cathartic, and totally fascinating dialog between artist and viewers. The LA-based artist (née Brandon Joseph) spills his aching coronary heart and weary soul in dramatic trend, holding nothing again as he sings his love for the one who acquired 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 previous thoughts ain’t a stunning place
Attempt, I’ll strive, however I can’t erase all
The ache I confronted while you ran away
wasn’t a easy place
We’re onto various things now,
however I nonetheless need you unhealthy, 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 operating proper again to you
“‘Proper Again’ is one in all my favorites from the album,” Brandon says. “It packs every little thing. 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 could be too afraid to specific.
I don’t thoughts ready all my life for you
I don’t wanna carry on combating and rioting
I nonetheless acquired a number of issues on my thoughts
however to you it’s all a waste of time
I don’t imply to trouble,
nevertheless it’s messing with me
Simply give me another likelihood,
now you over with me
Simply inform me why this breakup
is tougher than it’s presupposed to be?
Stated, “I really like you,”
why you gotta be so chilly to me?
Hear
Hey lil’ mama!
Let’s lower the drama!
Spin that ‘Silkk da Shocka’
Double-entendre
I simply need your love-ah
Take heed to this music!
Hear my coronary heart beating like a drummer!
Taking part in my guitar-ah
I want it was the summer time!
I simply need endlessly, me and also you
Yeah, I performed too many video games
Now you inform me that it’s by
I really feel the ache,
man, I can’t even transfer, yeah
Get me in tune, child
A wide ranging music in its personal proper, “Proper Again” can be the lead single off Brandon’s forthcoming debut album Earlier than You Go (out Could ninth by way of 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 fantastic about an artist manifesting their innermost self in music; discovering the precise mixture of phrases and sounds to specific every little thing 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. Stuffed with nostalgia, love, and longing, the music 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
Woman, 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 operating proper again to you
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