“Am I cursed?” – hearing that opening line to ‘Night At The Opera’ for the thousandth time this week, I’ve begun to wonder the same thing. Cursed to have Emei’s new single playing on repeat forever more. Kept awake by it’s earworm chorus buzzing around my brain when I’m trying to sleep. Cursed to have the words “The Pain! The Gag! The Drama!” play at random intervals for the rest of my days, like some fabulous Greek chorus narrating the world around me. With the manic flamboyance of a theatre kid let loose with a big budget, Emei carves out her own niche with this latest single. It touches on darker themes of how we thrive on watching other people’s mess and drama, feeding on the chaos, yet all the while throwing euphoric hooks, relentless energy, and grand operatic flourishes your way. This campy slice of maximalist pop – the title track from Emei’s new EP out 12th June – is one of the most wickedly addictive tracks I’ve heard in an age. One paired with a stunning video I might add; full of sass, theatricality, stunning lighting and costuming, and fun, playful choreography. Iconic visuals sealing the deal, ensuring that ‘Night At The Opera’ will forever live rent free in my head. I see the vision Emei, and I support you.
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Spotlight!: Fieldlily
There’s something so revitalising about the first signs of spring. Seeing the blossoms and daffodils in bloom, new leaves beginning to bud on the trees, the clouds occasionally parting to remind you how uplifting a few warm rays of sun can be. Sometimes a grey, bleak winter can drag on for so long that it feels like it will never end. Yet spring arrives regardless. It always does. Flowers bloom, trees sprout leaves, the sun shines, that is their nature – and you can’t deny nature forever. The same is true of our own nature; no matter how the world may try and supress it, eventually it too will bloom like a beautiful flower. Fieldlily is a project with an air of spring renewal about it. After the book closed on indie folk trio Wildwood Kin, sisters Emillie and Bethany Key took a little while to reflect before starting over as duo. Music is their nature, as intrinsic and inevitable as the spring, and having taken time to process what once was, and what this new chapter means, it’s at last ready to bloom anew. Continue reading
Album Review: Karnivool – In Verses
Live Review: Of Monsters And Men, Rock City Nottingham, 22nd Feb 2026
I’ve seen it said that the key to a happy life as you grow older is to rediscover the things that brought you joy in your younger years. Getting back into old hobbies that you let fall by the wayside, reconnecting with friends you’ve not spoken to in an age, revisiting old haunts to see if they’re still as you remember them. Or, in this instance, rekindling your love for a band that you’ve not properly listened to in far too long. Icelandic outfit Of Monsters And Men’s debut album My Head Is An Animal was one of the crowning jewels of the indie folk boom that soundtracked my teenage years. I’ve drifted away from their music in the years since – the band themselves also drifting from their folk roots – both of us exploring new sounds. But with the sweeping, cinematic indie folk of their new record All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade, seeing Of Monster And Men return to familiar ground, a little older and wiser, I though it only right I should follow suit. Continue reading
Top Tracks: &Tilly – The Bitter Pill
Sometimes you don’t truly appreciate what you have until you’re faced with the prospect of losing it. Just because a relationship isn’t the perfect fairytale you hoped it would be, doesn’t mean it isn’t a love worth cherishing. Couples clash, they argue, they’ll have different needs and priorities. Sometimes you can be blinded by everyday quarrels and lose sight of what really matters – that the love you share is worth fighting for. ‘The Bitter Pill’, the new single from Czech duo &Tilly, is all about a renewed appreciation for a love shared. The world can be a bewildering, disheartening place, and finding someone willing to be by your side on that journey is worth a few bumps in the road. The track’s soft airy vocals and gentle folk arrangement perfectly captures the feel of two people picking up the pieces; rebuilding the love they share with real care and tenderness.
Belwood Music 