Beginning with delicate fingerpicked acoustic guitar, ‘Tourniquet’ gradually unfolds around May’s warm, breathy and quietly aching vocal. Strings begin to swell in the background before gentle percussion joins, but midway through the arrangement shifts: the fingerpicking falls away, replaced by strummed guitar and fuller percussion that give the song a greater sense of forward movement.

Eventually those two approaches come together, beautifully mirroring the emotional tension at the song’s heart. The delicacy of its opening feels rooted in longing, while the more purposeful strumming suggests acceptance beginning to take hold. Rather than presenting letting go as one clean break, ‘Tourniquet’ allows both feelings to exist at once, making for a tender and deeply affecting piece of indie-folk.

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There’s a wonderfully playful energy to ‘Move On’, led by intricate layers of acoustic guitar. Fast finger-picked parts tumble over one another alongside an equally nimble bassline, while galloping drums give the track its jaunty, forward-moving bounce. Dunai’s warm vocal remains conversational at its heart, occasionally taking on a more playful quality that sits naturally against all that movement. Despite its energy, the song retains the intimacy of indie-folk, with the detailed guitar work providing much of its character.

Most importantly, ‘Move On’ radiates the cosy optimism at the heart of its message. Rather than dwelling on how long somebody might remain in our lives, Dunai celebrates the ways we continually shape one another, capturing some of the simple excitement and openness of making a new friend.

The post Stella Dunai celebrates the people who shape us on ‘Move On’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Prominent acoustic guitar gives ‘Spoon Song’ its gentle sway, accompanied by twinkling percussion and subtle extra textures that gradually fill out the arrangement. Layered vocals occasionally gather around the ends of Harris’ lines, adding little flourishes without disturbing the song’s intimate feel. Her familiar conversational delivery remains, but there’s an unmistakable affection running through it here, bringing warmth to lyrics that move between everyday tenderness and more whimsical imagery.

Writing a love song to a cat could easily tip into sentimentality, but ‘Spoon Song’ never feels overly sweet. Instead, Harris captures something simple and recognisable: the particular kind of comfort found in having another little creature beside you. Knowing Junebug is at the heart of it only makes that gentle warmth land more deeply.

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Her vocal is undoubtedly the star. ‘The News’ begins delicately, pairing acoustic guitar with May’s beautifully controlled delivery before gradually opening into a full indie-band arrangement. Her voice grows increasingly powerful and raw alongside it, with the occasional crack exposing the vulnerability beneath. Folk instrumentation – including a lovely harmonica break – meets a distinctly emo sense of melody and catharsis, making those unlikely Big Thief and My Chemical Romance reference points suddenly make perfect sense.

There may be no accompanying visual, but ‘The News’ conjures one of its own: open countryside beneath dark, brooding skies, beautiful but heavy with the threat of rain. Equal parts delicate and devastating, it’s a song that understands sometimes the only way to deal with terrible news is to pour everything into it.

The post May Payne turns heartbreak into catharsis on ‘The News’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Every element fits together seamlessly. The unmistakable twang of the pedal steel gently introduces its country influence without ever overwhelming the song, while Flora’s wonderfully characterful folk vocal sits naturally at its centre. There’s a warmth running throughout, but the minor-key arrangement adds just enough melancholy to give ‘Shelley’ an emotional depth that lingers long after the final note.

Although the accompanying visualiser captures candid moments around Paris on nostalgic, retro-style film, the song itself conjures a completely different landscape. It’s easy to picture a sweltering afternoon somewhere in the American countryside, where dusty roads stretch towards the horizon and time seems to slow to a crawl. That ability to transport the listener somewhere else entirely is what makes ‘Shelley’ feel so quietly captivating, proving once again that Flora Hibberd has a remarkable knack for creating music that feels both familiar and entirely her own.

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It’s the atmosphere that leaves the strongest impression. Beginning as a restrained acoustic slow burn, ‘I did, I will, I do’ gradually reveals its emotional depth through intimate vocals and thoughtful instrumentation. Subtle electric guitar flourishes emerge during the chorus before the track builds towards a moving finale, with drums adding a sense of release without sacrificing the song’s underlying sense of tenderness.

There’s a cinematic quality to ‘I did, I will, I do’ that feels perfectly suited to moments of quiet reflection; the kind of song that soundtracks long journeys and lingering thoughts. By embracing comfort and stability rather than romanticising chaos, Iris King has crafted a deeply relatable and emotionally resonant track that lingers long after it ends.

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On the track, Young said “‘Day of Atonement’ is a kind of collage of images and sounds and dreams and different relationships. I wanted the song to be both abstract and tangible, in the way that dreams can be. It’s a bit of an outlier for me –I usually try to write towards clarity, but this song is more impressionistic because it’s about parts of myself that I struggle to look at squarely, which are experiences around care and codependency and addiction. The recording was made from many layers with a huge bed of drones by Euan, Jim White-inspired drums from Olly, melancholy pedal steel by Harry and improvised, ethereal backing vocals by some of my friends from Deep Throat Choir.”’

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For fans of First Aid Kit, BoyGenius and The Staves, The Deep Blue is made up of Sophie Wozencraft, Georgia Gage, Niamh Feeney, and Katie Emanuel. Known for their distinctive harmony-heavy sound, their blend of rebellious lyrics with hypnotically beautiful vocal layering has captivated audiences since bursting onto the scene in 2021 with their debut EP Taking On Water.

Their poignant new track is about the universal feeling of leaving home. Across the period of 2010-2016, these four women left home. Left their sisters, left their parents and the safety net of familiarity. Swapped them for breeze block student halls, red brick labyrinths and beaten-up trainers.

Speaking of the track, the band say, “This was one of the first songs we’ve recorded in Manchester! Which is ridiculous given we’re a Manchester band! It was a nice sunny day and we’re all squished into a bright room at the very top of a mill. We always have fun recording but this time was extra joyous. We spend more time together than with our families these days and this song is all about finding a home away from home. For that reason, it just felt kind of tingly. Like a little secret we were carrying around has been made into music.

“A lot of people live away from home. A lot of people miss home! We see you. We miss our homes too. But we have each other and we love each other and when you listen to our music, you enter our wee bubble of love and you become a member of The Deep Blue family in all its messy madness and comforting warmth.”

The post The Deep Blue return with mesmerising new single ‘Porcelain’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

The album is titled to represent the mnemonic devices she birthed while “writing my inner monologue” during and outside of therapy sessions, to help Jay with the work-in-progress of the human condition. “The songs were subconscious mantras that I synthesized over time while making internal progress, Jay says. “It’s amazing how many times I needed to hear such transformative truths before they stuck. When I realized what I was doing through these sonic notes-to-self, everything clicked.”

Mnemonics takes such hefty internal work and translates everything into ear-pricking songs that alternatingly float, stun, and comfort. And with Jay’s sly observations and embrace of nervous laughter in awkward situations, she infuses a sense of levity in the album.

‘Margins’ is based on the mantra, “Remember to face the fear, not go around it,” and was inspired by a moment when Jay found herself startled by her own shadow.

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Her latest single ‘Broken Clock’ is a stunning folk embrace featuring blissful harmonies and delicate acoustic rhythms. She shares, “‘Even a broken clock is right twice a day’ is an old saying that caught my attention when an old boyfriend called me ‘blind.’ I thought then—even with my blind spots, I knew my gut was right in leaving that relationship behind.”

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