Tag Archives: Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 16th February 2026

Cat Clyde – Man’s World

I have featured Cat Clyde in Fresh Juice in previous years but some artists are worth returning to again and again. It was the ‘Down Rounder’ record from 2023 and a blistering set at the End Of The Road festival that originally caught my ear, although that was actually her third long playing release having put a well received debut out in 2017. Over the years many have praised her ability to put a fresh spin on an old sound but I do not see things through such a retro lens. For me, the rocking country music that Cat delivers is raw and alive, very much a legitimate part of the 2026 landscape and I am excited to hear more of her vintage modernistic flavours when the new ‘Mud Blood Bone’ album is released on 13th March; you can pre-order that right away here: https://i.concordrecords.com/catclyde

GENA – Lead It Up

This is the latest single from the duo of Liv.e and Karriem Riggins who are about to release, on 27th February via Lex Records, a new album called ‘The Pleasure Is Yours.’ It is one of the most hotly anticipated records scheduled for the opening weeks of 2026 and this promo film tells you exactly why. These are subtle soulful sounds with a jazz flare and a cutting edge that could leave you bloodied and bruised. Just listen to those savage waves of distortion that tear it up as the song enters its finale. This is only one side of the sound GENA produce, flip things over and there are strong R&B and hip-hop elements as part of the cocktail too. This video film was directed by Cam Hicks and stars Liv.e, Karriem, Errol Chatman and Aijani Payne. Get your hands on this by visiting https://lexrecords.com/

Spencer Cullum – Rowan Tree

There are many acts around today who pull inspiration from the warm analogue sounds produced by British folk bands during the late sixties and early seventies. Sprinkled with a little acid guitar magic, buzzing with the throb of electricity against a deep traditional song structure and propelled by an organic rhythm section, it remains a sound that, the more it is repurposed for the present moment, moves way beyond the evocation of an era into an increasing timeless realm. Spencer and his various collaborators across different projects has proved himself to be one of the best, so it is fantastic to welcome ‘Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 3,’ the concluding album of the ‘Coin Collection’ trilogy out on 27th March via Full Time Hobby. You can pre-order and reserve your copy via this link: https://spencercullum.ffm.to/cc3

Courtney Barnett ft. Waxahatchee – Site Unseen

This is a pairing that makes perfect sense on paper and is proving to be extremely fruitful in practice too. Courtney has been keeping that slacker, grunge energy, shot through with a little Lou Reed streetwise cool and wit, alive for more than ten years now whilst Waxahatchee has been responsible for some of the truly essential modern country sounds to come out of the US in the 21st century. She (real name Katie Crutchfield) appears with Courtney singing a high harmony part on this, a taster single from Barnett’s forthcoming ‘Creature Of Habit’ album which is due for release on 27th March. Get yourself a pre-order of the vinyl by following the link: https://cbmusic.lnk.to/CreatureOfHabit

John Andrews & The Yawns – Something To Be Said

Time for a bit of chilled reflection with this suitably laid back number, it comes from a modestly titled album arriving on 3rd April called ‘Streetsweeper.’ Like our previous artist, John Andrews has been on the scene for a good ten years or more now and, through his various connections in the indie rock world, has a growing reputation as a fine purveyor of vintage sounds and a classicists hand at song composition. The Yawns were initially an imaginary band as John played most of the instruments on his recordings himself but, gradually, he has evolved to the point we find him at today, capturing the authentic live sound of musicians cooking together in a room (albeit in a very relaxed manner). You can pre-order the album today via the link: https://earthlibraries.com/

The Claypool Lennon Delirium – WAP (What A Predicament)

I am sure they will not thank me for saying it but there is some real Beatle Juice bleeding into the kaleidoscopic audio of this new track. Of all the Beatles next generation, it is frequently Sean Ono Lennon that seems to be the most plugged in creatively and who so often delivers the goods. This is the band he formed with the Primus bassist and vocalist Les Claypool who have more recently expanded to include Joao Nogueria on keyboards and Paulo Baldi on drums. Once more for this weeks Fresh Juice, they are an act that have been around for about ten years and continue to evolve and stay relevant, this new music refining the ‘progadelic’ notion coined by Lennon in an effort to describe the bands music. Keep up with their new recordings and live dates here: https://theclaypoollennondelirium.com

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 9th February 2026

Ginger Molasses – Heidi Fleiss

New music is not necessarily better if it sounds like old music but neither does it have any less relevance if it happens to be built around a design classic in sound. Ginger Molasses definitely fall into the retro rock category in terms of their style but this Nevada City quintet play with enough funk and conviction to prove that, as opposed to being mere revivalists, they are in fact the real thing. Not only that but this new song, which they often close their rapturously received live sets with, is a fine piece of original writing based on the real life notorious name, Heidi Fleiss, who ran an upmarket prostitution ring in Los Angeles in the 1990s. The lyric and accompanying video celebrate Fleiss’s unlikely recovery following the collapse of her empire, as she re-established herself by running a laundromat far away from the glare of the public and the press.

I’m With Her – The Obvious Child

I am ambivalent about award ceremonies like The Grammy’s, feeling that the requirements of the industry machine are always going to dictate such events far more than any actual balanced critical appraisal of music. That said, I also always enjoy it when an act that I rate gets some deserved recognition at these glitzy shows as had happened last week for I’m With Her. They are almost a folk supergroup consisting of Sara Watkins on fiddle and guitar, Sarah Jarosz on banjo and mandolin and Aoife O’Donovan on guitar and keys. They picked up two gongs at the awards, for Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song and are seen here on a brand new TV appearance playing a Paul Simon cover version set to appear on their forthcoming live album.

Tyler Ballgame – Matter Of Taste

‘The former Tyler Perry adopted the ‘Tyler Ballgame’ identity with the intention of bringing a more theatrical, showbusiness even, presentation to his live act and music. It was Jonathan Rado of Foxygen who discovered the singer who had built up a positive reputation performing cover versions but clearly had a voice of his own crying to be heard. This is a track from his debut album ‘For The First Time Again’ and it should stand as an inviting mouth waterer for the record as a whole, showcasing Tyler’s musical eloquence and the range of his rock classicism. The song itself focuses on the desire to find love but asserts with the philosophical reasoning that rejection is nothing to feel down about, it is after all, just a matter of taste.

Squeeze – You Get The Feeling

It is always nice to welcome back a favourite group from decades of the past, but especially so if they are delivering new music that can match the quality of their best work. But the story behind the new Squeeze album ‘Trixies’ is not quite as straight forward as that, because it is actually a record built around songs that the bands writing partners Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook wrote in 1974 when they were still teenagers. Not feeling experienced enough to attempt them at the time, the project was revived for 2026 after Difford found the original cassette in his loft and felt the songs warranted taking into the studio. On top of this great news, the band also enjoyed some creative re-ignition whilst there and put together another album of entirely new material at the same time, which should be heard in the very near future.

Marta Del Grandi – Alpha Centauri

This sumptuous offering comes from Italian singer-songwriter Marta Del Grandi who has just released a new album called ‘Dream Life.’ It is a mesmerising record that takes the listener on a journey through dreams, presenting songs that defy rules and musical boundaries with a boundless adventurous spirit and melodic sensibility. It is a panorama that navigates its way around serenity and disillusionment, gets stuck into aspirations and lifetime hopes whilst surrendering itself to the mysteries of the unknown and the deep, distant stars before ploughing on even further into the beyond. What Marta is doing with her music is developing and expanding to her own voice, the rich sonic landscapes that define Art Rock and producing on the other side a work that is alive with audio pleasure.

Young Fresh Fellows ft. Neko Case – Destination

Proving that the words “featuring Neko Case” can almost always be a guarantee of quality, this is a track from the Young Fresh Fellows new album ‘Loft’ which is presumably named after the Wilco run studio they recorded it in. For the unfamiliar, they are a legendary name on the US college rock circuit and have been around since the early eighties. Main man Scott McCaughey has strong connections with R.E.M. which probably explains the presence of their Peter Buck on an album also boasting other notable Wilco and Decemberists associated contributors in addition to the wonderful Neko. The LP did sneak out last year as a limited “Eco-Mix Splash” vinyl version, but the full official release is scheduled for the 26th March.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 2nd February 2026

The Marsh Family Group – Minnesota

This weeks batch of new music recommendations are dominated by artists responding in song to events that have unfolded in Minneapolis over the past couple of weeks. To start with we have a family group from Kent who first found themselves an audience posting humorous internet song parodies during the pandemic lockdowns. This, however, is a change of tone released as a protest to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. It is a re-working of the sixties flower-power Scott McKenzie hit ‘San Francisco,’ written by John Phillips, with new lyrics and some extra instrument parts written played over the originals back bone. The family say they chose it “because of its link to protest, its soaring refrains, its simplicity, its earnestness, and its celebration of love and solidarity. Taking on the guns, masks, fear, and falsehoods requires more than flowers and songs. But they are powerful nonetheless, especially if they remind folk of previous generations that navigated trauma, and that you are not alone.”

Bruce Springsteen – Streets Of Minneapolis

Bruce explains the writing of his new protest anthem, composed in the style of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, during the intro to its live debut featured in this clip. He mentions voicing his concerns that it might be “a bit soapboxey” to Tom Morello who brilliantly re-assured The Boss that, although nuance has a place, “sometimes you’ve got to kick them in the teeth.” It looks like the direct approach has cut through because as of yesterday the song was top of the US iTunes Top Songs chart. The version here is not the only one available as Bruce also recorded the song in the studio last weekend, the day after he wrote it, then got it immediately released, thus echoing the speed that songs used to enter circulation back in the days when the protest movement was a vital source of topical, social and political information.

Billy Bragg – City Of Heroes

If there is one artist who has unreservedly held onto the belief that a song can make a difference, then it has to be Billy Bragg. He knows full well that it only takes a handful of good people to bring about change and he stands in solidarity with those paying the ultimate price against injustice. Of ‘City Of Heroes’ he had this to say. “I wrote this song yesterday as a tribute to the bravery of the people of Minneapolis who, knowing that these trigger happy ICE thugs operate with seeming impunity in their midst, are still willing to put themselves in harms way to defend their community. Their resistance is an inspiration to us all.”

Yo La Tengo – Big Crime

Here is a recent live clip from one of America’s greatest ever bands, captured in the final days of 2025 covering a still very new Neil Young song taking aim at Trump’s administration in a deliberately unfiltered manner. With a similar sense of urgency to all the tracks featured so far this week, Neil’s version was recorded at a soundcheck and released with speed as a standalone single. “No more great again” is sung repeatedly as electric guitars bring the turbulence of the times to the foreground. In that sense, there could be no finer band than Yo La Tengo to pour some water on this seed, helping it spread its message to more and more ears with their own undeniable conviction.

Kathleen Edwards – Say Goodbye, Tell No One

Kathleen is one of America’s greatest living songwriters, which might sound like I am indulging in a bit of hyperbole but just listen to any of her records and then try and tell me I’m wrong. This is a live rendition of a song from last years ‘Billionaire’ album recorded at Jack Kerouac House. Kathleen says of the experienc playing there that walking in “was an incredible feeling, to step on the terrazzo floor down the hallway and into the rooms where he lived, to sit in a chair he also sat in many a night. A house preserved like a time stamp – mid-century coloured curtains, a typewriter still sitting in one of the bedrooms. His story is complicated, but compelling and his books ‘The Dharma Bums’ and ‘On The Road’ captured my imagination as a high school student and the vagabond hippie canoe kid who eventually became a songwriter.”

The Molotovs – Today’s Gonna Be Our Day

I admit I approached this band with caution because they appear to be the recipients of a great deal of media hype at the moment. Not only that but after one look at them, without even hearing a note, I knew exactly what they were going to sound like. Paul Weller and The Jam, to put it bluntly. But then, I also had to think, so what? After all, Weller himself was blatantly influenced in looks, style, sound and attitude by the Small Faces Steve Marriott when he started out and his career evolved into one of the UKs most musically celebrated. Weller also went on to be a voice of political activism, a point which also got me thinking about The Molotovs, because the one noticeable thing about the topical songs I have highlighted this week is that they are mostly coming from the old guard. So maybe it is bands like this, inspiring a younger audience, who can pick up the baton at some stage? The main reason I have included them though is the music. With the crunching riffs and hooks aplenty that are on display here, they have got the basics right and really, what better place to start could there possibly be?

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 26th January 2026

Craven Faults – Yard Loup

This is taken from the new Craven Faults album ‘Sidings’ which is out now on The Leaf Label, a dependably bold and present day progressive label who make a virtue of the idea that there is some fun going forward. This is an act shrouded in some mystery but they are building a track record laced with expansive analogue electronic music of the mind. The new record takes its inspiration from the rusty deserted landscapes of post-industrial Northern England where the ghosts of electricity smoulder out of disused buildings, wherein ancient monuments of sound and recording equipment are recharged into existence and Craven Faults are a conduit for the thrum of sounds that re-emerge back into the atmosphere. This is electronica without limits, a sound that messes with the balance of time and space where the light and shade, the flesh and the steel, the settled and the disturbed breathe and feel as one.

Lady Nade – One Of Us

It is delightful to learn of new music coming from Lady Nade, an artist whose work balances the integrity of a folk singer-songwriter with the emotional heft and melodic flare of a serious soul artist. There are not too many I can think of who walked that line so convincingly, maybe Joan Armatrading or Tracy Chapman but either way, the singer born Nadine Gingell has had all these facets from the get go. It is said that the artists earliest influences came from the record collection of Nadine’s grandfather, which exposed her to Americana and rock ‘n’ roll as well as the more detectable elements of the Lady Nade sound. And now, ten years on from debut ‘Hard To Forget’, recorded in her kitchen, there is every reason to predict that Lady Nade’s evolution into an artist of great depth and an unmistakable creative fire is playing out before our very eyes and ears.

Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong

And while I am talking about singer-songwriter artist who are making a welcome return, here is one of the greatest ever. This is Lucinda continuing on the path of rehabilitation from a stroke using her creative energy as a font for regeneration. There is a bit of fire and anger in there too, the singer in full react and respond mode to the unfurling political situation in her homeland and stating in plain speak the way she sees it. But anyone can spout an opinion or jump on a soapbox, the craft is turning these impulses into song and creating a new piece of art; it sounds like Lucinda Williams still has all those senses fully plugged in and functioning. No wonder she has, with good reason, been called the female Bob Dylan; just like Dylan these days, the human condition and all its physical pitfalls does not dim the desire or the need to feel, write, perform and express. This is the title track from her new album.

Foy Vance – I Think I Preferred The Question

This is one that came out towards the end of 2025 by the Northern Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance. It is a new chapter for Foy as he moves to Rounder Records and mines an earthy, muddy realism in both his sound and his composing. The track was produced by Ethan Johns which instantly ensures the offering arrives with a trademark of quality, but still it would be nothing if Vance was not on the devastating form we find him in here. Lyrically it seems to be meditating on the wonder in mystery, in the importance of enjoying the journey towards something, because maybe the feeling of fulfilment, of reaching your destination, does not match up to the mysteries of the unexplained. The disappointment of reality maybe? Well if I try and come to a definitive conclusion I am rather proving the point made in the song; instead just enjoy the drama and tension as it builds in this superb track.

Katherine Priddy – Hurricane

Not a cover of the Bob Dylan classic but instead perhaps the folkiest of all the artists I have featured this week, Katherine Priddy, tapping into the gentle soulful groove I spoke about with Lady Nade previously. More so, there is a subtle hint of smooth jazz and bossa nova at play here. All of which sit in sharp contrast to the darkness that prevails in the shades of violence in the lyric, showing an artist who is evolving away from the pure folk routes of her earlier work into a musical force across the spectrum. ‘Hurricane’ is an immense song with some irresistibly lush changes as the verse builds to the chorus. This is the third single from her new album ‘These Frightening Machines’, which is coming out on March 6th 2026.

Greazy Alice – Circles

This is some tender, laid back, rear porch, rocking chair, country balladry of a high stripe to close proceedings this week. With the ‘As Time Goes By’ album due out at the end of the month, this is from an EP of the same name released on Loose by a band comprising Alex Pianovich on vocals, guitars and piano, Jo Morris on backing vocals, Lee Garcia on drums and Will Repholz on bass guitar. There is an element of grief and the sense of life dishing out some hard lines imbedded into this tune, but a light shines through the melancholia as well, ushering a motion from introspection to hope and beauty.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 19th January 2026

The Magpie Arc – The Mantle

I wrote about this band on these pages for my Ely Folk Festival review last year, an event in which I was dazzled by their brilliant re-ignition of the electric folk rock style pioneered in the late sixties by bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. At the time they were blessed with the guitar wizardry of Martin Simpson who has since left the ranks, but the evidence heard in their new material here proves that they remain a band plugging an essential shot of voltage enhanced energy into the folk scene. They also have a couple of big names on board too with Steeleye Span’s Maddy Prior helping out on vocals and Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson on flute. With or without the folk glitterati though, the Magpie Arc remain a band worthy of your attention. This is a preview single from their forthcoming album.

Muck And The Mires – Tripping Out On Love

This slice of frantic guitar pop, infused with a real garage rock sensibility, is released as a new seven inch single on the Rogue Records label. They have been around for twenty-five years now, releasing music that has caught the attention of anyone possessing a love of that sixties British Invasion guitar band sound and building a favourable reputation thanks to the raw power of their live shows. They were even named the number one Garage Band by the E Street Bands Steven Van Zandt once, a man who knows a thing or two about that primitive sound. So, you know what to do, get out and enjoy the visceral delight of buying a hot new 45 and get this one sailing up the charts.

Amy LaVere & Will Sexton – Time Warp

It has been six years now since Amy LaVere released her superb last album, ‘Painting Blue’. In that time new music has been scarce although she has continued to play live in the US alongside her partner Will Sexton. I am always keeping my ear out for new Amy music simply because every album since her 2005 debut has been a high end example of the best that modern country and bluegrass inflected songwriting has to offer. She is a musician with a fine ear and an easy to connect with writing style, not to mention a sublime voice and deft double bass touch. The end of the concert clip suggests a live album is forthcoming at least and, as heard with this new song, a couple of fresh numbers have crept out with little fanfare. I am certain there are many other than me still waiting eagerly for a new album of Amy LaVere songs, this excerpt hints that the wait might not be in vain.

Peter Gabriel – Been Undone

On the subject of artists who keep their audience waiting a long time between LP releases, well Amy LaVere could take another fifteen years to make a new record and she would still be no slower than Peter Gabriel between the release of 2023’s ‘i/o’ and the preceding ‘Up’ album. So the fact that this month has seen him begin another series of monthly, new moon adjacent, track drops that will, sometime later this year, form the content of another new album is a huge, very welcome, surprise. He hasn’t released a new studio album within three years of the previous one since the 1980s. My position remains unapologetically pro-Peter, my justification for the snails pace between albums always being that at least, when new music did finally arrive, it was always something worth hearing. Despite the relative speed, that is still the case with ‘Been Undone’, a dream state hymn that proves the mans soulful voice still pulls some emotive punches. When it gets its proper full length release, the new album will be called ‘o/i’.

Hen Ogledd – Scales Will Fall

We move from a man who used to make his bandmates stare awkwardly at their instruments when he took to the stage dressed as Britannia to a group where no such problems exist, it looks like everyone is raiding the dressing up box with uninhibited enthusiasm. They have been around for a few years now, building a reputation as an unpredictable shape-shifting unit wherein ancient Celtic themes and prog aesthetics are married to avant-folk electronics and experimentation. Hen Ogledd are a perfect outlet for the national folk music treasure Richard Dawson to fly his freak flag but his bandmates Rhodri Davies, Dawn Bothwell and Sally Pilkington all offer crucial ingredients to the far-out mix. This rousing tune is taken from the album ‘DISCOMBOBULATED’, out on 20th February 2026 on Weird World.

Nevaris – Ninth Sun

The key personnel in this live studio session, part of the Nevaris Project, are DJ Logic, Peter Apfelbaum, Jojo Kuo, Will Bernard, Lockatron, Angel Rodriguez, Jonathan Maron, and Matt Dickey. The newly released ‘SoundSession’ EP was recorded in a single day at Orange Sound studio in New Jersey. Playing and interpreting music written by percussionist Agustin Nevaris (who also led the nine piece ensemble) and Bill Laswell, the session was originally planned as a live stream but the sound of the live ensemble was so deep and inviting that the decision was, correctly I believe, taken to capture the sound on disc and release it to the world. The combination of dub, funk, Afro-Latin rhythms, turntablism and improvisation is an intoxicating one for sure.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 12th January 2026

Carson McHone – Idiom

Welcome back and happy new year to all. I am starting the Fresh Juice feature for 2026 with half a dozen selections that I did not squeeze in during the 2025 editions. Kicking the year off, it is Carson McHone whose ‘Pentimento’ album was released in the autumn on Merge Records. Now based in Ontario, Canada, this was McHone’s fourth solo album in ten years of releasing records created in collaboration with Daniel Romano. It is a real audacious treat of a folk-rock album, ram-packed with the kind of structurally strong songwriting that stands shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the genre, but also infused with a mysterious alien spirit that lends the record an air of the unknown, like a broadcast from another star. This is superb.

Mclusky – People Person

Returning in 2025 with their fourth LP record and their first album in twenty years were late 1990’s, early 2000’s noise-punkers Mclusky. The record ‘The World Is Still Here And So Are We’ was released via Mike Patton’s Ipecac Recordings and locked straight back into the abrasive style they were always known for. Front man Andrew “Falco” Falkous continues to bring the noise but not without some regrettable toll on his hearing. Of the above track he said it’s “the song that gave me tinnitus, so asking me about it is really cruel. it’s probably about being overwhelmed by the world because that’s what all of our songs are about.”

Jon Cleary – Zulu Coconuts

This may not be the music to suit the weather on this snowy January morning but then again, perhaps this is exactly what we need. I defy you to listen without tapping your foot at the very least, but a hip swaying frug across the floor would be far more appropriate. Maybe if Jools Holland’s ‘Hootenanny’ had booked Jon Cleary instead of the friggin Kooks I might have seen the new in with a smile rather than a grimace. This song had actually been doing the rounds for a couple of years but finally got an LP release in 2025 on Cleary’s ‘The Bywater Sessions’ album. At the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the Zulu Parade takes place on Fat Tuesday and this innuendo laced song is a nod to the prized hand-painted coconuts thrown to crowds during the parade.

Sam Shackleton – O Death

As featured on his independently released 2025 album ‘Scottish Cowboy Ballads And Early American Folk Songs’, this brief home recording offers a tantalising taste of the authenticity in Shackleton’s music. He says of this that it is “on the banjo by the fireplace at my mother’s house on the lovely Isle of Harris, Scotland. This is a great American folk ballad and is commonly sung in the Appalachian region, where it descends from much older Scottish and English folk ballads carried there by the many thousands of emigrants that made the long voyage. I really hope you enjoy.”

Ben l’Oncle Soul – I Got Home

This was a wonderous, funky single taken from l’Oncle Soul’s seventh album released in 2025 called ‘Sad Generation’. It was a real-deal slice of retro soul that wore its classicist’s style with pride safe in the knowledge that the track is a killer that would grace any dancefloor. Ben is a French soul singer from Tours who is nothing new to attention grabbing cuts; he previously turned heads in 2010 with a cover of The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’ and has built a deserved acclaimed reputation as a live performer who can deliver the Motown and Stax goods with a modern day cut and thrust.

Snarky Puppy & The Metropole Orkest – Chimera

Recorded live in January 2025, at KABUL à GoGo in Utrecht, The Netherlands, this is an addictive rendition of a piece from the album ‘Somni’ released on GroundUP Music. This was the second collaborative release between the award winning jazz collective and the Metropole Orchestra following the 2015 Grammy winning project ‘Sylva’. Bandleader Michael League had composed a deep, progressive even, piece that certainly warranted the grand cinematic treatment a full band and orchestra arrangement offers. ‘Somni’ could perhaps be called a concept album, exploring as it does the various dream stages of sleep in a sequential order that runs from falling to sleep to waking up. But, to be clear, this brilliant music will not make you nod off, quite the opposite.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 1st December 2025

Lucy Kitchen – The Boatman

The personal circumstances surrounding folk artist Lucy Kitchen’s creation of her forthcoming album were devastating. The loss of her husband to cancer three years ago hangs heavy over brand new ‘In The Low Light’ record, set for a February release and including this heartfelt ode to the departed; it is an impossibly moving song that beautifully evokes the heartache and dark desire to cross over to the other side and reunite with those passed on. But this is also a piece that, amidst the silent sorrow, also connects with the human spirit and survivors instinct to carry life on with dignity and hope. The structure of the music here sounds more like a spiritual folk hymn, especially with that gorgeous underlay of church organ sound rising at the songs end. We have all been knocked about by life’s unfair hand at some point, but while there are artists like Lucy Kitchen creating music to help us through the struggle, there will always be a ray of light breaking through eventually.

Tiwayo – I’ve Got To Travel Alone

There is plenty to like about this one, a killer tune with some seriously sharp edged playing and a rough, lived in soul voice taking it all out for delivery. There are, it seems, already a good number of reasons to anticipate 2026 with enthusiasm. This one is from Tiwayo’s latest album called ‘Outsider’ which is set for release early next year on the Record Kicks label. It is produced by the Black Pumas Adrian Quesada and promises to push this Paris born singer firmly into the spotlight. That the video presented here has a shot in it showing a picture of Prince on the wall is an accurate enough indicator of the kind of talent we are witnessing here. And I come back to that voice again, even some of the all time greats in soul, blues and gospel did not come as close as this to a sound so authentically aged and fresh, no wonder Tiwayo was once bestowed with the nickname “The Young Old”.

Amelia Coburn – Something Wild

Amelia sounds like she has really refined her individualistic gothic fairy tale niche with the release of this latest song. Not only does it carry forward the very promising sounds heard on her Bill Ryder-Jones produced 2024 debut album ‘Between The Moon And The Milkman’ but also, with such an earworm worthy chorus line, she is proving to be a tidy songwriter as well. Endorsements by the likes of Paul Weller will not have done her confidence any harm either, in fact she duets with him on a track from his latest ‘Find El Dorado’ record, but this one is all about Amelia’s own sound and vision. And it is a pretty sympathetic video as well, in which her search for the wildness inside is illustrated with some graphic destruction of civilised engagement. I mean, everyone has, at some point, just wanted to shove their fist into a garishly decorated cake and then smash up some ceramics haven’t they?

Fuzzy Lights – Greenteeth

Moving ever deeper into the quagmire of folk-horror and fuzz drenched freakout friendly sounds, we find Fuzzy Lights getting their ankles wet exploring the mysteries of ‘Fen Creatures’ on their latest psych fuelled album. They are a Cambridge based group of space cadets who have been building a rich back catalogue since 2008 and have, whilst tackling themes of folklore and humanities fractured relationship with the environment, nurtured a love of acid-folk textures into explorative, progressive even, music that does not respect boundaries of genre, tone or tempo. Fuzzy Lights tackle music as an expression and they intentionally deploy a razor sharp edge to their sound that can cause injury to those not paying attention; this is music that demands and rewards immersion.

Anna von Hausswolff (ft. Iggy Pop) – The Whole Woman

I have unashamedly steered us down a very heavy set gothic folk-noir avenue this week and may just have hit the motherlode with this stop on the detour. It is a track from Anna’s new album ‘Iconoclasts’ and as if her pure, caressing vocal were not a winning enough ingredient atop the sweeping cinematic grandeur of the song, when that bottomless Iggy croon joins in the game is well and truly up. It is the sixth album release from the acclaimed organist who has been plotting an increasingly eccentric and deliberate pathway through choppy prog waters for a number of years now, making music that is simultaneously foreboding and enchanting. This new collection though, is being tipped with good reason by many to be her best thus far.

The Melancholy Kings – Bitcoin Elegy

And so we bring things to a close with the jingle-jangle crash and bang of The Melancholy Kings, proudly nailing their vintage college-rock colours to the mast. Of all the song writing forms in the pop world, this is the one that still retains the look of a design classic; key scaling electric guitars, meaty drums, deep bass, intros, verses, choruses, a middle eight and then a mighty thud to end it on a high. Simple but still oh so effective. Just right too for a song bemoaning the state of personal relationships in the digital age. The bands first album in six years, ‘Her Favourite Disguise’, is out now on The Magic Door Record Label.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 24th November 2025

Muireann Bradley – No Name Blues

Muireann has been bedazzling audiences both live and through our TV sets for the past couple of years thanks to her mastery of that early acoustic, ragtime infused, rhythm and blues style. Hers has been an act based on the authentic re-interpretation of this vintage folk material, breathing fresh life and lustre into songs that may have previously felt like the belongings of another age. With the youthful Bradley touch, they once again found a home in the modern day musical firmament but where would she take her act after establishing such firm roots in retro soil? Well, it looks like she might just be in for the long haul because, as heard on this new recording, Muireann has added songwriting in the style of her closest inspirations to her arsenal and it sounds pretty damn fine as well; the name of the release is the ‘Rose Dogs EP’ so go and dig it out.

The Hanging Stars – Sister Of The Sun

There are some classic echoes vibrating from the speakers with this track too, this time however it is the Beatle-esque harmonic guitar pop favoured by the likes of The Byrds, Teenage Fanclub (whose Gerry Love collaborates with the band on this very tune) or other such psych-flavoured sonic visionaries that we recall. It is all very well making these comparisons of course but they are of little value if the band playing does not live up to such top drawer likenesses. Fortunately, The Hanging Stars have learned from the best and have both the hooks, the imagination and the execution to turn out music that is easy to love and hard to shake off. They have been busy working on their sixth album which, on the evidence of this track, promises to build on the shimmering cosmic folk-rock of their previous releases, and it is due to appear in the first half of 2026

Sabine McCalla – Two Of Hearts

This sumptuous track is taken from Sabine’s brand new album ‘Don’t Call Me Baby’ released on Gar Hole Records. Sabine has been quietly building a music career whilst her sister Leyla McCalla (who features on the new record supplying some guest vocals) has received the vast majority of the attention, especially for her sublime 2024 album ‘Sun Without The Heat’. However, just like Leyla, Sabine has a winning way with a lilting melody and an authentic Americana sound that fuses folk, gospel and soulful influences. The impressions burned into her writing by New Orleans is clear to hear also and there is an inviting element of performance and charm to her delivery, maybe something that comes naturally when you are offering the world songs that are this immediately enjoyable, singable and repeatable. There is something about this McCalla family that I really like.

Billy Bragg – Hundred Year Hunger

On the strongly recommended compilation retrospective album ‘The Roaring Forty (1983-2023)’ Billy Bragg’s career in protest music and personal songwriting is presented with forty killer tunes over a forty year period. It is a pretty damn fine statement of the mans body of work and humanitarian writing which might well have stood as a full stop if not for the fact that Billy is ploughing on, ever relevant, ever opinionated and compassionate, always articulate and worth listening to in a debate. This new song is proof positive of this, a piece that has been written under the shadow of the famine in Gaza that clearly puts across the key message of “existence is resistance”. In doing so Billy is focusing in on how hunger and displacement have been used as political weapons and cleverly places the tale in an historical context of Israeli policies and long running resilience against the abandonment of ancestral land. Billy Bragg is a musician who can not only do this, but also present it as a work of art that moves the soul as only the best compositions can.

Courtney Marie Andrews – Cons And Clowns

Courtney Marie Andrews has been a reliably consistent purveyor of yearning country music for a good fifteen years now. This heartfelt ode to outsiders has been issued as a leader track from a new album set to be released in January of next year. The record will be called ‘Valentine’ and has been co-produced by Jerry Bernhardt, who has worked with at least two other Fruit Tree Records favourites, namely Ron Gallo and Yola. Courtney has certainly been pouring a lot of herself into her music over the years, resulting in material that does not have even a hint of fakery to it, This singer is the real deal alright and with some of the sneak preview songs from albums due next year that Fresh Juice has featured this week and last, 2026 is already shaping up to be a year with great new music in plentiful supply.

The Tiger Lillies – Stupid Life

We delighted in the dark depths of a night of live Tiger Lillies entertainment at the start of this month (our live review is here https://fruit-tree-records.com/2025/11/12/tiger-lillies-wiltons-music-hall-london-1st-november-2025/) and this is a new song from the album they were launching that evening, ‘Serenade From The Sewer’. Performed in their trademark scorched cabaret style, this is one of a vast catalogue of Martyn Jacques songs that exaggerates the absurdities of life itself and societal routines with a refreshing air of futility and a finely tuned sense of theatrical colour. They may well penetrate the atmosphere like ancient spirits re-awakened but they are simultaneously wholly unique and exhale a certain timelessness. They also, in a far more practical sense, write some startlingly good, melodically bouncy and memorable songs.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 17th November 2025

The Wave Pictures – Alice

As ever the news of a forthcoming Wave Pictures album is gladly received here at Fruit Tree Records. This newly available song is teasing us ahead of a Bella Union album due for release in late February 2026 called ‘Gained / Lost’. It is a classic sounding rocker with that sixties garage energy that almost feels like the bands default setting at this point, shot with the melodious hooks and riffing that David Tattersall can effortlessly deliver in a heartbeat. The music world is surely a better place with a band like The Wave Pictures still putting out exciting new records.

Lael Neale – Some Bright Morning

And talking of sixties flavoured sounds, this new song recently released by Lael Neale is a very welcome burst of vintage pop loveliness shot through with a laid back Velvets like cool. It is full of retro thrills and hazy instrumentation, especially with that omnichord drone, the primitive simplicity of the drums and an occasional burst of backwards guitar soloing, but is also a grooving little banger of a song. As such, it is understandable why the decision was taken not to include it on this years ‘Altogether Stranger’ album, despite being recorded around the same time, but rather hold it back for this pumping stand alone single (another sixties music releasing trend). Check out her tour dates for she is playing live in Europe and the UK at the end of November then early December.

Anna Tivel – Animal Poem

Here is another songwriter on top of her game, this time more in the acoustic troubadour mode but equally injected with the qualities, standards and human touch that lights this style of music up bright. This is the title track from Anna’s latest album released on Fluff And Gravy Records and of the tune she says it is “a meditation on the stories we tell ourselves and each other”. This is her seventh studio LP in a catalogue that is gradually building to showcase Tivel as one of the leading expressionists on the folk, singer-songwriter scene today. Her tunes are just so welcoming in their tone and patterns but stand up to deep engagement thanks to their carefully crafted lyrics and ideas. Anna Tivel is one of the best around today with a guitar and a song.

The Lemonheads – In The Margin

Evan Dando might only return to his Lemonheads music vehicle when he feels like it but at least when they do return it is with songs and a committed approach that makes the wait worthwhile. This remains the rough, warm sound of grunge that took the genre into the charts over thirty years ago but in the hands of a dude proving it is still a style worth revisiting; especially in comparison to some of the reductive metallic tangents rock has taken over the same period, the sound of The Lemonheads retains some soul. The new album is called ‘Love Chant’ and is their first album of original songs since 2006. The grunge essence is undoubtedly enhanced by collaborative legends credited on the LP, such as J Mascis, Juliana Hatfield, Adam Green and Nick Saloman.

Fitzsimon & Brogan – Flowers At Her Door

Every bit as crunching and melodically tasty are this London based power-pop duo, who have released this single through French label Booster Music. Neil Fitzsimon and vocalist Bee Brogan were once a part of the band Pretty Blue Gun but have since gone into partnership with their composing and producing. This is a track that has one foot pounding a glam rock stomp and another wearing laced up DMs kicking out with new wave energy and attitude. It is no surprise therefore to learn that their latest album ‘This Wicked Pantomime’ features contributions from Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello’s Attractions) and Woody Woodmansey (David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars). If you like a bit of grit and thrust with your infectious rock/pop hooks then look no further.

The Wood – Cold Fire

This is one heck of an essential soulful sound, fused with gospel depth, emerging from what feels like a vibrant music scene in Liverpool these days. The Wood are Alex Evans and Steve Powell (who also runs Ark Recording Studios on the city) and the lead vocal well and truly taking you there on this number is performed by guest vocalist Brooke Combe. The song is from a newly issued EP of the same name released on Riverdream Records. Fast becoming highly rated for their stylish blending of soul, jazz and folk influences, this sounds like one of those EPs that, should it not break big like it deserves to, will be a sought after nugget for record (or in this case CD) crate diggers and collectors of the future.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 10th November 2025

Big Thief – Grandmother

Taken from the bands sixth studio album ‘Double Infinity’, the now three piece Big Thief are seen here with a recent live TV performance of one of the stand out tracks from the album. It is the first song in the bands catalogue to feature a co-writing credit for all three members, Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek and James Krivchenia. Although the lyric explores a theme of intergenerational emotion, directly addressing Lenker’s grandmother, I do like the way the “gonna turn it all into rock and roll” refrain points to a connection across the generations through music. Big Thief remain predictably brilliant on an album which serves to establish their prominence and position as one of the definitive and essential bands of our time.

Lisa O’Neill – The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right

Whilst it may not be a lead in to a new album any time soon, this latest EP release from Lisa O’Neill is a welcome return from one of the central voices in folk music today. And just as the folk music of yesteryear would sing out the hurt, toil and human endurance faced by ordinary working class people, so too does Lisa’s music reflect with needle-eye precision the turmoil and knock on effects of the political battles raging around us today. ‘The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right’ is a powerful hymn, a defiant anthem that rages against the capitalist regimes making up their own self-serving rule books in a stoically dignified, but no less enraged, manner. As emphasised in the traumatic video, laced with guest stars, the message feels like a line being drawn, the limits of where our cruelty to each other can go have been realised and now, maybe it is time for the pendulum to swing back the other way.

Vanity Mirror – White Butterfly

In a delightful amalgamation of the mid-sixties electric jangle of The Beatles and the irresistible primitivism of The Velvet Underground, Vanity Mirror conjure magic new sounds out of old recipes. Just let the shape of those verses take a hold and it is impossible not to summon thoughts of ‘Rubber Soul’ and the snaking melody of ‘Lady Godiva’s Operation’. The band are Brent Randall from Canada and Johnny Toomey from Los Angeles who used to play in a band called Electric Looking Glass but formed Vanity Mirror in order to develop a more lo-fi production with a songwriting style that references sixties style melodies. They have recently released their second album ‘Super Fluff Forever’.

Michelle David & The True Tones – Speak To Me

Well this is a banger indeed, a real super-spreader of a tune that takes up a long term residence inside your mind and simply refuses to recognise an eviction notice. This is what happens when you combine Motown production values, a strong song writing discipline and Northern Soul energy to a track, the sweet soul sounds of decades past still lives and breathes in 2025. The band themselves are a fusion of US and Dutch heritage who make music of a vintage soul and gospel persuasion that also manages to blend a gorgeous retro sound with a contemporary edge. This spiritual, open hearted floor filler has been released as a single this Autumn ahead of a brand new album called ‘Soul Woman’ set to arrive in February 2026.

Mood Bored – All The Time

This is a crunching indie guitar trio from the Netherlands who released this aching bittersweet gem from their EP ‘Too Much’, on Mattan Records, earlier this year. They represent a vibrant Dutch scene that includes names like Dutch Mustard and Tape Toy. ‘All The Time’ is especially notable for its grungy reverb and vocals that sing of burnout and existential pressure, asking “don’t you wanna break all the time?”. They already have some notable support slots under their belts, including Wolf Alice whose influence is apparent in the textures and pop inclinations, and their high energy performances have the desired attention grabbing effect.

Frankie Cosmos – Your Take On

Seen here in a punchy recent live clip, Frankie Cosmos perform a typically short and poetic track from their latest album ‘Different Talking’. They are an archetypal DIY indie band built around the music of Greta Kline who began the project in 2011, initially building a following through Bandcamp. They evolved into the larger ensemble featuring Alex Bailey, Katie Von Schleicher and Hugo Stanley and their music too evolved into a refined blend of bedroom pop and indie. Their latest was home recorded and self produced in upstate New York and refines the essence of Frankie Cosmos across 17 songs that rarely exceed the two minute mark. Greta’s presence has been felt across several other projects this year including ‘What Love Is’ by Soft Surface and a powerful version of ‘Hard Rain’ with the Kronos Quartet.

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