Audrey Bangay

Invercargill/Waihōpai indie-folk singer-songwriter Audrey Bangay draws inspiration from artists including Joan Baez, Carole King and Lizzy McAlpine, combining intimate storytelling with simple guitar melodies and emotionally expressive vocals. Her debut EP, Five More Minutes, is the result of three years of work and follows a relationship from the uncertainty of early romance towards the realisation that loving somebody shouldn’t require losing yourself.

The title track takes a different perspective, serving as a love letter to Audrey’s past, present and future selves. Reflecting on the inadequacy that has accompanied her journey into adulthood, the song deliberately avoids offering an easy resolution. Instead, it acknowledges that insecurity may continue to change and evolve, while recognising that those feelings don’t diminish the love she’s cultivated for herself or the possibility of further growth.

Sekinue

Brighton-based trans, queer and autistic harpist and multi-instrumentalist Fior Anderson creates music under the name Sekinue. A self-taught harpist who unexpectedly discovered the instrument following a breakup, they draw on lived experiences of gender identity, neurodivergence and loss to create deeply personal songwriting.

Taken from their upcoming debut album Soft Places, ‘Sunflowers’ explores Fior’s experiences of living as a trans person before top surgery. Inspired by Jasper Behrends’ artwork Growing Pains, the track uses sunflowers as a metaphor for their chest, reflecting on the physical and emotional weight of transitioning and being perceived by others. Through whispered vocals and delicate, dreamlike instrumentation, Sekinue gives voice to an intimate experience while acknowledging the wider pressures of the current climate surrounding trans rights.

Josephine Peppink

Danish-born, London-based producer, rapper and songwriter Josephine Peppink has built her musical identity through a fiercely independent approach. Having moved to the UK to pursue music, she began performing at open mic nights and busking around London, creating beats through live looping while rapping and singing over them. Her sound draws from hip-hop, R&B and soul, reflecting years spent developing her craft through performance.

‘Free Thinkers’ centres on the importance of questioning expectations and choosing your own direction rather than following the path society has laid out for you. It’s a message that reflects Josephine’s own unconventional journey, celebrating independent thought, personal freedom and the confidence to pursue a life that feels authentic, even when it looks different from everybody else’s.

khokkosh.

Kolkata alternative/electronic artist khokkosh. is the project of producer and visual artist Yashomati Parveen, who takes a completely DIY approach to her work. Writing, producing, mixing and mastering her music while also directing videos and creating artwork, she combines abrasive electronic textures, industrial rhythms and layered vocals with unexpected pop influences.

Taken from her album Public Fluid and Digital Remembrance, ‘GODDESS’ examines the treatment of women within patriarchal society through imagery drawn from the worship of religious idols. Comparing the reverence shown to goddesses with the expectations imposed upon real women, the track forms part of a wider project exploring femininity, ownership, surveillance and the ways identity is constructed in a digitally connected world. Through distortion and experimental production, khokkosh. challenges the boundaries between electronic noise and pop music.

Lisa Nora

Dutch-born, UK-based singer-songwriter Lisa Nora combines indie folk, Americana and country influences with intimate, narrative-driven songwriting. Drawing inspiration from traditional storytelling, her music explores relationships and the complicated emotions that often exist beneath seemingly ordinary experiences.

‘Her, Rose’ unfolds within an early-1900s-inspired world of handwritten letters and old-fashioned romance. When the narrator discovers love letters addressed to a mysterious woman named Rose, all signed by her own partner, she begins questioning how well she truly knows the person she loves. Inspired by Lisa’s frustrations with situationships and commitment-avoidant dating, the song uses its historical setting to examine distinctly modern anxieties surrounding trust, jealousy and emotional uncertainty. As the story develops, the discovery raises questions about self-worth and whether the relationship she believed in ever existed quite as she imagined.