The Fat Angel Sings

Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean releases her new solo album Julia next month, and the new single, “Please Let Me Remember This,” was inspired by The Beach Boys’ “Busy Doing Nothing.” The song “started with two questions,” she says. “Why are our sad and painful moments easier to remember than our happy ones? And why can’t we choose what we let go of, or what we get to keep? There’s a surrender that comes with memory, and it’s always fascinated me. I wanted to create a song using these little vignettes to explore the lack of control we have over what we remember. I wanted to capture the desperation that comes with trying to turn an immaterial experience into something that could be held onto.”

Drop the needle on Julia Cumming’s solo debut “Julia” and the very first notes you hear are her voice. A clear, and unadorned declaration of stepping out on her own. Within seconds, she sings her agency into being, fingers meet the piano keys, striking just the sparest of chords.

I sing these words for me
To hear the sound
To let them ring To drown you out

As the hi-hat kicks in, “Julia” sweetly recites a litany of ways that she has been told she’s too much or not enough, wrapped in halcyon production that has echoes of Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick. Album opener, and debut single “My Life” packs a punch in a warm embrace. A belted-out proclamation of liberation – doubters, misogynists, and the industry be damned. Not only is she not too much, but she has always been enough. This thesis statement of a song was the key that unlocked a creative door that New York City-born multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and Sunflower Bean’s bassist, Julia Cumming, had been waiting for since her teens.

In fact, it has taken nearly two decades, two bands, four EP’s, four albums, three labels, and relentless touring for Julia to finally get to the pivotal moment at her piano when “My Life” set the wheels in motion to writing and recording her new album. As touring with Sunflower Bean to promote their third album “Headful of Sugar” drew to a close in 2023, Julia had compiled enough songs to begin the process of figuring out what to do with them. She flew to Los Angeles without much of a plan, only the desire to try out working with an assortment of producers to bring the songs to life.

Ahead of their spring tour of the EUK and Ireland, Miki Berenyi Trio have shared a new single. “‘Island of One’ took shape because I became quite obsessed with the track ‘Just A Western’ by Nilüfer Yanya last year, and the Latin-y beat got me inspired,” Berenyi says. “But I wanted a lively, catchy song to add to our live set, so it ended up less laidback and more 60s-breezy with some driving, scratchy guitars – once all three MB3 members pile in on the embellishments, a song ends up a fair distance from where it started!

Miki Berenyi Trio are Miki Berenyi on vocals/guitar (Lush), Kevin ‘Moose’ McKillop on guitar (Moose) and Oliver Cherer (Gilroy Mere, Aircooled). The three musicians first worked together during Piroshka’s 2021 tour – Miki and Kevin being founder members, Oliver coming in on bass to replace Mick Conroy (Modern English) who had moved to the US.

As ever, recording and production took place in our various home-studio set-ups, and the song was mixed by our brilliant Bella Union labelmate, Paul Gregory.”

Vince Clarke (Erasure), Neil Arthur (Blancmange), and Benge have a new project, Doublespeak, and their self-titled debut is out on May 29. It reimagines 11 of their favourite songs from the past four decades, and the first single is their rendition of Fad Gadget’s “Back To The Nature.”

Their self-titled debut album sees them put a new electronica feel on tracks from ABBA, The Carpenters, Young Marble Giants and more, as they share their cover of Fad Gadget’s ‘Back To The Nature’

The ‘Doublespeak’ album is divided between songs from the postpunk netherworld brought blinking into the light (Fad Gadget, The Sound, Young Marble Giants), pop radio monsters ushered back down a dark stairway into the club (ABBA, David Essex, The Carpenters) and buried treasures from the 1990s onwards (The Magnetic Fields, Ed Dowie and Laptop).

The roots of the new synth pop supergroup group stem back to 2017, when Arthur – who had already recorded a track for Vince Clarke’s project, The Assembly – suggested that the two join forces to put a unique spin on some of their favourite songs from the past four decades.

They then brought Benge into the line-up, following him collaborating with Arthur on the Fader project and also working with the musician by co-producing six Blancmange albums.

They are set to release their self-titled debut album – which sees them reimagine a selection of classic and cult songs with a new analogue electronica feel – on May 29th.

The 3rd collaborative album between Les Claypool & Sean Lennon is an elaborate concept record reflecting on morality, the warnings of A.I., and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy.

Told across 14 songs – which ooze with classic psychedelic / progressive rock stylings – and the accompanying comic book by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy is a peak for both The Claypool-Lennon Delirium and rock music at large.

“The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy“, is a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men. It is a tale of a technocracy eclipsed by paperclips; a young man destined to unravel the fabric of his father’s folly, and a sacred feathered Goddess (played by WILLOW), who holds the egg-shaped key to their future.”

Les Claypool of Primus and Sean Onon Lennon release their new album as The Claypool Lennon Delirium, “The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy”, on May 1st, and they’ve given us another preview with “Meat Machines.” “Some people think humans are just biological machines,” Ono Lennon says. “They think free will is a hallucination and we’re destined to be replaced by robots. Not only are they happy about this, but they’re actively trying to make it happen as fast as possible. Some of us think we still have a choice. We think there’s something special about living, breathing and feeling. We believe we can shape our own destiny, because we know we are more than just ‘Meat Machines.’”

The 3rd collaborative album between Les Claypool & Sean Lennon (the previous sold over 150,000 combined) is an elaborate concept record reflecting on morality, the warnings of A.I., and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy. Told across 14 songs – which ooze with classic psychedelic / progressive rock stylings – and the accompanying comic book by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy is a peak for both The Claypool-Lennon Delirium and rock music at large.

Squirrel Flower says her new single “Wheels,” which features Babehoven and Billie Marten, was inspired by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris’ 1987 “Trio” album. “I wanted to write a song that really let my voice shiiiiine, and the final vocal take is the original scratch take, sleepy and loose,” she says. “Maya and Billie recorded their angel harmonies remotely and perfectly. Inspired by a gas station attendant a couple years ago telling me ‘may your wheels stay on the ground.’”

Recorded live at 12 AM in a makeshift studio in Door County, WI, the collaborative single captures the ever-present beautiful uncertainty of life on the road. With a classic sound and warm Rhodes piano from Free Range’s Sofia Jensen, the track is anchored by Williams, Marten, and Maya Bon (Babehoven), whose voices intertwine in harmonies that swell with an almost choir-like brilliance.

Speaking about the song’s creation and inspiration, Williams shared the following story:

“While on tour a couple years ago, a gas station attendant said to us, ‘may your wheels stay on the ground.’ I thought that was so beautiful + it inspired the song while driving through a harrowing snowstorm between Boston and the Hudson Valley in February 2025. I had my Townes Van Zandt live cd playing, and sang this song into my phone mic while listening to Townes, dodging ice on the highway.  I really wanted to write a song that let my voice shine in a way that my heavier songs don’t always allow. I got to the Babehoven house in Hudson and played it for Maya. She wrote a stanza (“you said you wanted/something i don’t/i am always coming/just as you go”), helping me finish off the song.

This summer, Squirrel Flower will hit the road solo alongside The Beths and Spoon, for what will be a jam packed June. 

Friends, past tour mates, songwriters, and musicians Maya Bon of the duo Babehoven, and Ella Williams of Squirrel Flower, are thrilled to share their first ever collaborative release – a cover of “My Life in Art” by beloved British rock band Mojave 3.

On making the cover, the two shared, “We ate lentils by candlelight + sat by the fire + imagined the future beyond the snowy fields… where a new version of a classic song would come to roam”

Their take on the Slowdive-adjacent group’s song is a beautifully lush and layered rendition that breathes with new life. 

Performed by: Maya Bon and Ella Williams Guitar, bass, drums, keys: Ryan Albert Acoustic & electric guitar: Ella Williams Accordion: Ella Williams

Pye Corner Audio, aka UK synth stylist Martin Jenkins, has announced “More Songs About The Sun” which will be out June 19th via Sonic Cathedral. The album features four songs co-written by Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis, including this first single.

“‘Cycle’ is probably the most direct ‘pop’ song that I’ve written,” says Jenkins. “I wanted the whole record to be awash with distortion and saturation, but not in a blown-out guitar amp kind of way. Almost every element has been subject to some form of saturation. The musical influences are all the usual suspects – Stereolab, Spacemen 3, Harmonia, Cluster, Suicide,” reveals Martin. “But I think that this album wears them in a much more direct way. For some reason I was a little more wary of that on Let’s Emerge!.”

The first single from the new Pye Corner Audio album ‘More Songs About The Sun’, which is released on June 19th, 2026.

Andy Bell – additional guitars on ‘Euphoria’, ‘Analogue Dreams’, ‘Cycle’ and ‘As We Begin’
Hannah R – vocal on ‘My Shimmer’
Ian Rankin – spoken word and lyrics on ‘The Breath Of Now’

Thrum announce ‘Rifferama’ reissued & reimagined along with new UK tour dates

The long-awaited reissue and remaster of “Rifferama” by the acclaimed debut album by Glasgow indie trailblazers Thrum, is set for release this June 26th on Fire Records, celebrating one of the most revered cult records of the 1990s UK guitar scene

Originally released to critical acclaim, “Rifferama” captured a moment when melody, distortion and emotional urgency collided to create something timeless. Now newly remastered from the original recordings, the album returns with enhanced depth and clarity, reaffirming its reputation as a lost classic of the era.

Fronted by the unmistakable voice of Monica Queen (also known for her work with Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol), Thrum’s sound blended shimmering pop hooks with driving, fuzz-laden riffs. Alongside Johnny Smillie’s distinctive guitar work, the band forged a sonic identity that stood proudly alongside the era’s most influential alternative acts.

The reissue follows renewed interest in the album, including a recent feature in the Glasgow Herald newspaper, where journalist Russell Blackstock hailed “Rifferama” as a “classic album” and revisited its enduring impact on Scotland’s musical landscape.

Speaking about the reissue, the band said: “Rifferama” was made in a blur of noise, instinct and belief. Hearing it remastered has been emotional — it sounds like we always hoped it would. We can’t wait to play these songs again and celebrate them properly.”

The long-awaited reissue and remaster of “Rifferama” by the acclaimed debut album by Glasgow indie trailblazers Thrum, is set for release this June 26th

Kristin Hersh has shared a new song ahead of the first stop on a US tour with her trio Throwing Muses, which kicks off at NYC’s Cabinet of Wonders this weekend. Shadowy and atmospheric, “Sundial” is the first taste of a new Hersh solo record – her 12th overall – to be announced later this year on Fire Records.

The cello from last year’s Throwing Muses album “Moonlight Concessions” is back in a big way on “Sundial”, which Hersh describes as a song about the physical and emotional alignments that can form, and remain, between musicians when they play.

Writing in a press release she says: “Musicians’ heartbeats align right before they start a song together. Real musicians, anyway… This is a measurable phenomenon, but no one has measured how long our hearts keep beating together. A long time, I think.”

“Sometimes I’ll miss someone so suddenly, like a lightning strike. If they’re a fellow musician, this is usually triggered by musical moments; certain tempos and keys. A person’s sound story… is an intense, rainstorm-dark and sunshine-bright orientation, like telling time with a sundial. It doesn’t leave you.”

“Sundial” · Kristin Hersh released through Fire Records

Released on: 2026-03-25

Meg Remy has covered a remarkable amount of ground with her U.S. Girls project over the past 20 years, from droning lo-fi to high-concept disco and smooth soul—yet it wasn’t until last year’s festival debut of Grace Glowicki’s sci-fi sex comedy Dead Lover that she’d dipped her toes into the realm of film scores. Rather than approaching the gig conventionally, Remy explained that the score came together from various “scraps” of sound pulled from the public domain and even U.S. Girls’ scrappy early discography, which she then “collaged” with the assistance of Glowicki and Remy’s recent songwriting partner Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs fame). 

Among these scraps, though, the soundtrack centerpiece “You’ve Got Everything – But a Smile” is a fully intact original U.S. Girls single gliding on warm synths and Remy’s soothing vocals. As Remy shares with us, the backbone of the track came from one of Lawrence’s recordings that she happened to be tinkering with when she was brought onboard to soundtrack Dead Lovers.

“One day, I was listening to the lyrics for the song and realized that they fit well with the subject matter of Dead Lover,” she says. “My instinct told me to send it to Grace. So I did, and she loved it. The song and its heartbreaking synth melody ended up becoming the glue of the score. This outcome never could have been engineered or achieved by other means; it was pure synergy.”