Alex Gallacher

Acclaimed Icelandic singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds announces her new album, Spíra, due out December 5th via Bella Union. The lead single, “Tár í morgunsárið” (“Tears at Dawn”), is a beautiful and haunting track where Arnalds reflects on the spiritual void left when she renounced Catholicism as a teenager. The new album is a stripped-back, intimate work that explores themes of love, creativity, and healing.

SML, the LA-based quintet of Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, and Gregory Uhlmann, is set to release their second album, How You Been, on November 7th. The album’s lead single, “Taking Out the Trash,” and an animated video are out now. The new work expands on the group’s unique approach to crafting hyperrealist, collectivist music from live improvisations.

Jim White has released his new single “I Don’t Do / Grand Central.” The track, a spirited vocal exchange with Zoh Amba, is one of two songs on his new album where White sings for the first time. The music video, edited by Eve Sussman, follows the pair on a journey straight to the Oyster Bar of Grand Central Station, where the two commune and parry in delightful form.

Smote’s new album, Songs From The Free House, delves into a dark, elemental soundscape. With guest appearances from Lankum’s Ian Lynch and Sally Mason of the Smote live band, the record marries drone, folk, and electronic music. Their latest single, “Snodgerss”, is a flute-led jig turned ritual, with principal creator Daniel Foggin’s landscape gardening trade inspiring its earthy, heavy sound. The album is a powerful collision of physical and metaphysical.

Laura Veirs is set to release her new live album, “Laura Veirs And The Choir Who Couldn’t Say (Live In Angoulême)” next month on October 10. This unique collaboration features Veirs performing 15 songs with a French school choir of 32 students. Watch the video for ‘Shape Shifter’, which featured on her 2013 album Warp & Weft.

Tyler Ballgame’s debut album, For the First Time, Again, arrives January 30, 2026. Produced by Jonathan Rado and Ryan Pollie, the album blends classic rock, indie, and Americana. Watch the impressive video for his new single, “I Believe in Love”, an ode to “love of love and the fools it makes”. Ballgame is also embarking on a UK headline tour in April 2026.

Taken from their new album, Inland See (out on September 26, 2025, via Drag City), Bitchin Bajas have shared a live video for “Skylarking.” Their new album was a live endeavour, written on the road and tracked with barely any overdubs — so it’s only natural that this 8-minute live video of “Skylarking,” directed and edited by Michael Gaertner, looks and sounds like Bajas on full blast.

Acclaimed songwriters Jake Xerxes Fussell and James Elkington have teamed up for their first film score for the new feature film, Rebuilding. Taken from the poignant soundtrack, listen to two new previews ‘Glow In The Dark’ and ‘Contemplating The Moon’. The album arrives November 14, 2025, on Fat Possum Records.

Oxford’s The August List have announced their new EP, Sun Pinned on Ghost Sky, out November 7th. They’ve also shared their first single and video, “The Duplex Phase,” a crushing slink through existential woes. The EP’s cosmic, heavy sound reflects the anxiety of strange times, with fuzzed-out guitars and epic freakouts.

Alongside a special performance by Lou Rogai (Lewis & Clarke) enjoy our Monday Morning Brew playlist, featuring Roufaida, Keith Jarrett, Juni Habel, Don Severance, DUG, The Fishermen Three, Bonnie Prince Billy, Lewsberg, Chantal Acda, Dani Larkin, Joan Shelley, Big Thied, Pina Palau, Sam Gendel, Julie Doiron and Msafiri Zawose.

Global-folk band Mishra and award-winning Indian classical/Sufi vocalist Deepa Shakthi have unveiled the video for their second single, “Akhiyaan Udeek Diyaan,” a fresh interpretation of a song by the legendary Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, widely regarded as the greatest and most influential qawwal of modern times. The single is set for release on September 26th ahead of their debut collaborative album, Turn O Spinning Wheel, due out next month.

Just ahead of their UK tour, Modern Nature shares “Take Our Chances,” a new short film documenting the making of their acclaimed album, The Heat Warps. The film offers a rare, intimate look at the band’s creative process, capturing the human element behind their sound.