særa

Budapest-based singer-songwriter særa blends atmospheric, spacey indie-pop with an ’80s flavour and intimate storytelling across French, English and Hungarian. Her three-track EP Embarquement Nécessaire explores one-sided relationships, situationships, emotional abandonment and break-ups through dream pop and alternative electronic sounds.

‘L’Aéroport’ captures the confusion of a completely unexpected breakup through the metaphor of an airport. One person suddenly doesn’t follow the other through security, leaving no opportunity to turn back or make sense of what has happened – only the need to keep moving forward. Despite its painful inspiration, særa packages the experience into something altogether funkier: music for dancing while crying, or simply dancing.

Reva K

Musician, producer and graphic designer Reva K blends ’90s-influenced pop-rock with melodic guitars, hook-driven songwriting and a distinctly DIY approach. Written and produced entirely by Reva, debut album Welcome to 20 Something captures the contradictions of young adulthood through humour, honesty and introspection.

Focus track ‘In Too Deep’ reflects on toxic relationships and the patterns that can become clearer only once you’ve escaped them. Looking back can bring uncomfortable questions about how warning signs were missed, but Reva rejects the idea that vulnerability makes somebody foolish. Instead, the track recognises how pain can leave a person open to somebody willing to take advantage of it.

Mallow Avenue

Mallow Avenue is the project of Bristol songwriter and producer Phoenix, whose music draws from folk, psychedelia, jazz and pop. After stepping away from music partly because of the pressures and expectations surrounding women getting older, she is returning at 31 with a renewed determination to share the songs she wants to make.

‘All of Our Luck’ is a folky chamber-pop track featuring a violin rescued from Phoenix’s wardrobe after years without being played. The song explores those difficult but necessary conversations that sometimes have to happen within a relationship, marking both a musical return and a reminder that there is no expiry date on creativity.

Gretchin

London indie-pop singer-songwriter Gretchin takes a detour into country-pop on latest single ‘Cowboy’, written and produced alongside her brother Joe Hamberger. Inspired by the likes of Shania Twain and Ella Langley, the song began after a night at a buck and bull – and Gretchin’s own experience of dating a cowboy. A London-based one, admittedly.

Part breakup anthem and part imaginary final comeback, ‘Cowboy’ gives Gretchin the opportunity to say everything she didn’t manage to say at the time. Like replaying an argument in the shower and suddenly discovering the perfect cutting response hours too late, the track turns heartbreak and a bruised ego into something playful, empowering and made to be danced to.

Sapling

Based between Providence and Worcester, Sapling describe themselves as a “bitchpop and art rock” band, combining pop hooks with experimental chaos, complex instrumentation and a sense of humour that refuses to take itself too seriously.

‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service’ began with a deceptively simple riff that proved surprisingly difficult to finish before a full horn section helped transform its direction. The resulting summer song – there are bongos, so naturally it qualifies – is about being thoroughly sick of dealing with your own problems but still having to get up and continue with the day. All proceeds from the track will be donated to New England Justice For Our Neighbors, which provides free legal support to immigrants seeking humanitarian visas in Massachusetts.