Essential new releases from Model/Actriz, Most Things, Quade, Ain't, Foxwarren and Milkweed.
Photo: Kane Ocean | Words: Hazel Blacher, Lloyd Bolton
This week on our roundup of the best new songs being released, we look ahead to new albums from Model/Actriz, Most Things, Quade and Milkweed, plus check out the latest from exciting up-and-comers Ain't and the welcome return of Foxwarren.
Model/Actriz – 'Doves'
Ever since that sensational breakout year back in 2023 when they took Britain's live scene by storm, we have been eagerly anticipating the return of Brooklyn dance-indie four-piece Model/Actriz. Our prayers were answered last month, and the group released their return single 'Cinderella', accompanied by the announcement of their new album 'Pirouette'. Their latest single, 'Doves', careens over cooly minimalistic electronic rhythms, with vocals shifting between croon and spoken chant. As the song goes on, heavier industrial sounds begin to impose upon the electronic serenity of that opening, and unpredictable mechanical shrieks and drones abound as the rhythm grows ever more insistent and danceable. Then all closes to an eerie epilogue of an uncomfortably metallic loop, shuddering like the ghostly skin of the song from which it has been shed. (Lloyd Bolton)
Most Things – 'Head & Shoulder'
Coming in at a whopping 1 minute and 50 seconds, Most Things' new single 'Head & Shoulder' is a buoyant and concise snapshot of sludgy, stripped back alternative rock, perfect for blasting in the passenger seat of your parents' Honda Civic as they drive you to your respective mundane appointments. In contrast to the timbral coarseness and instrumental sparsity that has come to epitomise the London duo's lightly askew sound, lyrically the song is actually a rather sweet and tender ode to lead singer Tom Phillips' mum, which he says is "inspired by Wretch 32 and 2011". Released alongside an announcement of their debut album 'Bigtime', due out in May via So Young Records, 'Head & Shoulder', with its charmingly passive vocal deliveries and muddied bass twang, perfectly epitomises the head-down, lacklustre enthusiasm that we bring ourselves to muster in the face of life's day-to-day monotonies. (Hazel Blacher)
Quade - 'Canada Geese'
Bathed in the stark, spacious rurality of a quiet dawn, Quade's 'Canada Geese' settles like mist softening into the contours of a distant panorama as the fire crackles at your side. The track serves as the second single from the band's upcoming second album 'The Foel Tower', due out in April via AD93 recs, and sees the Bristol group suffuse stirring post-rock intensity with a sweeping ambient folk delicacy, resulting in a sound that is breathtakingly tender and introspective. Recorded in an old stone barn in a Welsh valley, it provides a much needed antidote to the overwhelm of the metropolitan bustle, and as the song builds from its hushed acoustic guitar opening into expansive, cavernous orchestral rock structures, it seems to symbolise a greater, cathartic unburdening of the heart's deepest secrets; the sort of profound revelation that occurs rarely but in the presence of a long, patient silence. (Hazel Blacher)
Ain't – 'Pirouette'
'Pirouette' swings sludgily with the energy of classic 90s American indie. Vocals delivered through gritted teeth hold the tension perfectly, keeping us hanging on each word as the frustrations elucidated are offered only the consolation of tubercular guitars answering their restlessness. The third single to be released by the London-based quintet is hook-filled and stridently executed, showing why people have been getting excited about this band right from the get-go. (Lloyd Bolton)
Foxwarren – 'Listen2me'
On their first release in 8 years, Canadian quintet Foxwarren move away from the pensive folk-rock amble of their previous output and instead anchor their sound in a playful, newfound warmth. 'Listen2me' infuses sandy psych-rock guitar chugs with a sweet, plushy nectar of pianos and springingly upbeat rhythms, and arrives alongside the announcement of the group's long-awaited second album, aptly named '2'. A project fronted by lead vocalist Andy Shauf, an artist perhaps who is better known for his eloquent baroque-indie solo endeavours and elaborate lyrical narratives, Foxwarren seems to have evolved into a slow-burning springboard of creativity for the group over the last few years. Recorded across four separate provinces of Canada, and experimenting with previously unexplored compositional and sampling techniques, 'Listen2me' is an exciting reintroduction to Foxwarren, gleaming with a solar pep as if it was baked beneath the balmy rays of a crisp desert sunshine. (Hazel Blacher)
Milkweed – 'The Pangs of Ulster'
Led by an a cappella vocal that crackles with the haunting ghost-telephone quality synonymous with Milkweed's recorded output, 'The Pangs of Ulster' is a stirring reimagining of a lyric sourced from Thomas Kinsella's translation of the Irish epic 'Táin Bó Cúailnge'. Accompanied less by an instrumental than by what we might think of as the gutting of an instrumental, the duo again demonstrate their unique ability to radically decontextualise traditional music within their recordings, unpicking the relationship we hold with it today. The song is set against the concrete among which it today resides, between folk nights in city haunts and the bedrooms in which crackling recordings play on loop from a scratched LP. The single is the second to be released from 'Remscéla', the duo's new album, which releases on 2nd May through Broadside Hacks. (Lloyd Bolton)
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