Rachel Bobbitt arrived in Toronto from the hinterlands a few years ago, meeting up with similarly rural-born but city-loving musicians like Justice Der (her bandmate in dream-pop-into-hip-hop Call More).Her work in Swimming Towards Sand, then, elevates the drone and dirge of alt-folk into soaring multi-vocal pop, shimmering with the clarion tunefulness of Sharon van Etten and Jenny O.
Consider, for instance, the opener, “Don’t Cry,” which germinates from a buzzing, groaning long-tone, an archaically folky sound. Yet, it soon expands into euphoric pop, kicking into gear half a minute in with a burst of drumming and a swell of choral vocals. In anthemic mode, Bobbitt’s voice is remarkably pure, relentlessly…
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During the pandemic, Mike Hollon headed to Irving Park with a guitar, a notebook, and a bottle of wine. It was a period that inspired his debut album, and one he still remembers, saying, “I can take myself back there and it calms me.” Calm and confident are two words that best describe the eleven tracks on Irving Park, despite its initial recording being disrupted by Hurricane Helene, which destroyed the bar Hollon was working in at the time. A vintage baritone ukulele bought in Madrid adds atmosphere to the bright and breezy ‘Love’ and ‘Movin’ Along’. But it’s not all sunny skies and smiles; there’s some serious substance here. The opening ‘1000 Days’ is a post-breakup song where Hollon reflects on “a thousand days spent looking back.” While the blues-influenced ‘Fool No More’…
Londoner 
Their first release in over 14 years, Forever, I’ve Been Being Born, finds 
As the leader, brainchild, and sole consistent member of 
1. Young Marble Giants – Final Day
There’s no magical trick to creating the perfect cover version. There are good ones and bad ones. There are plenty of bad covers of good songs, and a few good covers of bad songs, and you can never really predict which way it’s likely to go until you hear the results. The spectrum that runs between fidelity to the original and creative reinvention is not a yardstick for quality, but there are a couple of things that seem to help. Firstly, there needs to be a genuine love for the source material (it seems obvious, but this isn’t always evident). Secondly, it often helps if the one doing the covering has an excellent songwriting track record of their own. It helps, perhaps, to have a feel for the mechanics of song, a natural grasp of the link between the music and words as they appear…
Following a spell on the road this year performing with The Pogues, Glasgow-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist 
Strange Trip Ahead is Canadian 
…includes four previously unreleased tracks.
Strings swirl. A flute drifts like a bird floating on warm air. The melody is subdued, its tonality evoking The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let me Get What I Want.” A wistful, French-accented voice sings “I’ve always been so cruel, Hard on myself, You say I’m just a fool, Trying to be somebody else.” Mood set with opening track “Bluer Than Blue,” How and Why subsequently showcases nine more similarly moody, acoustic-centred songs.
What of Our Nature brings together idiosyncratic American indie folk singer/songwriters 
Matt Berry release a box set of his recent album, 
Following the release of his seventh studio album A Modern Day Distraction last year, Jake Bugg is back with a very special deluxe repack of the celebrated record. Following the release of the first single Never Said Goodbye Jake releases Oblivious previously unreleased and written during the spring 0f 2025 it’s an up tempo celebratory slice of British guitar pop which resonates perfectly for the sound of our post Oasis summer. British guitar music has never sounded so good. Jake headlined packed out UK dates across the summer and will be doing instores to support the album, whilst also headlining the RadioX event on Oct 3rd 13 years and seven albums into his career, 
Howl for More is 
For years, the most consistent thing about