Things have been a bit quiet here on the blog as of late. I’ve been having a bit of a health scare – heart problems – which has demanded most of my energy and attention. Though I’ve hopefully started on the slow road to recovery, I’ve been struggling to get back into writing again. Struggling to get into the right mindset, get my creativity flowing again after everything that’s been happening. All that was needed was the right song, and fate sent me ‘Swimming, Crying’. It’s Australian artist Gretta Ray’s comeback single after several years away from the spotlight due to her own health scare. The release of her last album Positive Spin was followed shortly thereafter with a downward spiral that led her to being hospitalised with heart complications. Understandably, this latest track steps away from her usual effervescent synth pop in favour of something more quiet and introspective. Positively aglow with bittersweet tenderness, Gretta is able to express so much within ‘Swimming, Crying’. A feeling of grief for time lost, frustration at the winding path which healing takes, the struggle of returning to normal and finding your sense of self again. Looking at your life with a newfound sense of perspective, and taking a tentatively hopeful step towards a new beginning.
top tracks
Top Tracks: Sunraker – Mad
I love a song that practices what it preaches; where sound and theme are aligned in perfect harmony – and that’s precisely the experience offered by Danish quartet Sunraker’s latest single. ‘Mad’, taken from the band’s eponymous EP out 29th May, delves into the dark side of love. Being drawn to danger, captivated by a toxic love that will only bring pain, blinded and bewitched by a relationship destined to unravel. We hear that dark gothic romance echoed perfectly in ‘Mad’s eclectic sonic palette. Frontman Sophus Alf’s impassioned vocals recalling the New Romantics of the 80s, while the killer rhythm section brings heavy grunge energy to bear. Guitar work that takes sweeping bittersweet melodies worthy of The Smiths and injects them with an ethereal shoegaze shimmer. The uplifting empyreal breakdown at the song’s centre feeling like the brief calm at the eye of a hurricane, before the roiling tempest comes crashing back in. This track sees Sunraker gather a real melting pot of styles and ideas, all in service of crafting the perfect balance of crushing darkness and shimmering radiant melody.
Top Tracks: Philippe Nash – Hurt
Honesty is usually the best policy – especially when it comes to being honest with ourselves. The first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge its existence. Yet we’re constantly obscuring the truth from the world, ourselves included, using that oft told lie: “I’m fine”. When it comes to the storm raging inside our heads, all that pain, stress and worry that we carry, dragging us down like heavy iron chains, our first instinct is always to bury it deep in the hope it goes away. That’s sadly not how it works. A wound left untreated will fester, why should one within our mind be any different? ‘Hurt’ – the raw and haunting new single from singer/songwriter Philippe Nash – is all about accepting the burdens we carry. Even if its something so deep and profound that we’ll carry it for years to come, the only way to ultimately come to terms and make peace with it is to feel what needs to be felt. From the mournful string arrangements and dark grungy flourishes, to the tenderness and vulnerability in Philippe’s crooning vocals that evokes the likes of Thom Yorke and Elliot Smith, the sombre slow burn of ‘Hurt’ is the kind of track that reaches into murky recesses of your mind and drags your demons into the light.
Top Tracks: Emei – Night At The Opera
“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.
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.
Top Tracks: The Brook & The Bluff – Can’t Figure It Out
We go through life almost constantly wanting to be some different version of ourselves. Someone more charming and confident, someone who works a little harder, loves a little deeper. We want to be the adult self we imagined when we were kids, who has everything figured out. It’s all too easy to look around at your peers and see people who seem happier and better off, and wonder where you went wrong. It’s exhausting always trying to fit into some ideal version of yourself – at some point you have to let it go. ‘Can’t Figure It Out’, from Nashville based outfit The Brook & The Bluff, is a song all about letting go and accepting the things we cannot change. Taken from their new album Werewolf, out 6th March, it’s about reconciling with the fact that you’re going to make more mistakes, more wrong choices, face more frustrating mishaps. There’s no such thing as perfect, no clear path forward, sometimes you just have to trust the process. With a warm, melody driven Americana sound drawing from the likes of CCR and the Eagles, it feels like shrugging off the world and breathing easy for the first time in a long time.
Top Tracks: Late Cambrian – Together
I love it when one piece of art inspires another. We all know what it’s like to put down a book, or walk out of a cinema, and have your thoughts completely consumed by what you’ve just experienced. So engrossed by a story, so intrigued by new ideas, so awed by the handiwork of a master of their craft, that it’s all you can think about. There’s something beautiful about letting that spark ignite your own creativity, letting it guide your hands in making something new. Brooklyn band Late Cambrian do just that with their new single ‘Together’ – inspired by the horror movie of the same name, wherein some supernatural force causes a couple’s bodies to fuse into one. The menacing, proggy lead riff perfectly captures the terror of such an unknowable force, before the song gives way to a lush, soulful sound as the couple surrender and embrace the twisted romance of two becoming one.
Top Tracks: Holly Humberstone – To Love Somebody
With her most recent single ‘Die Happy‘, Holly Humberstone closed 2025 by teasing an exciting new era. It truly felt like she was tapping in to something special, and it left me eager for more. Thankfully Holly hasn’t left us waiting for long, as her latest release ‘To Love Somebody’ is quick to build on the rapidly growing hype and anticipation for her sophomore album Cruel World (out 10th April). Inspired by the age old wisdom that “it’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all“, ‘To Love Somebody’ is a reflection on accepting the bad with the good. How heartbreak is as much an essential human experience as falling in love is. How knowing that kind of pain and sadness gives a better frame of reference, and a greater appreciation for, all the joy and happiness in our lives. The track is home to some stunning synth work, a wonderfully expressive rhythm section, and an addictive call and response pre-chorus. Best of all though is the incredible music video, drawing inspiration from Nosferatu and classic Hammer horror, which perfectly captures the enchanting gothic romanticism of this new era.
Top Tracks: Megan Dixon Hood – Ghostwriter
We’re all a little haunted by who we were, and who we thought we’d be. We start out life so naïve and ambitious, head full of dreams, picturing ourselves as the main character in some epic adventure. As time goes by, our stories seldom lead to the glorious highs we envisioned. Life gets in the way, fresh hurdles and challenges get written into the plot, ever more pages appearing between where you are now and the happy ending you’re working towards. We coast through the years, just trying to get by, until our story becomes so unfamiliar that it feels like it was written by someone else entirely. What would our younger selves think of us now, I wonder? Perhaps that’s we get so drawn to tales of great heroes and fantastical worlds – because after too long in the real world, we start to feel like side characters in our own story. ‘Ghostwriter’ finds Megan Dixon Hood trying to reckon with the stranger described in all the ink scrawls laid before her, and where her idea of herself fits within the story so far, before resolving that the ending is still yet to be written. A stunning return to her bewitching gothic folk roots, ‘Ghostwriter’ is a powerful reminder that every new day is a blank page, and a new chance to rewrite your own story.
Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Little Crimes
It’s been said that when you look at someone through rose tinted glasses, all their red flags just look like flags. You can become so besotted with the wrong person that you can no longer see them for who they truly are. You’ll keep getting hurt time and again, yet still believe every insincere apology. Your friends will worry about you, call out the toxicity for what it truly is, and in response you’ll just keep making excuses for the one who hurt you and say “you don’t know them like I do”. Eventually some transgression will be the one that tips the scale and causes their glamour to drop, finally letting you see the way they’re treated you. “I know what you’re like, now that I’m on the other side“. Our favourite pop rock powerhouse Cristina Hart crushes those discarded rosy glasses beneath her boot heels on her fierce new single ‘Little Crimes’. Full of fire and confidence, it’s all about calling someone out for the pain and frustration they’ve put you through, all the time and energy you wasted telling yourself they were right for you, and making a promise to yourself never to welcome them back into your life. I’m loving the edge, energy, and self-assuredness woven into Cristina’s recent singles; keeping the momentum going, and growing the anticipation for what the next era has in store for this rising star.
Belwood Music 