Arima Ederra – Heard What You Said

Announcing the next chapter of her career, this is LA based musician Arima Ederra who, having released a pair of songs at the end of a tumultuous 2024, is now restored and inspired with the impression being that this is the first sighting of much exciting new music to come. Her critically acclaimed 2022 debut album ‘An Orange Colored Day’ landed after a four year period in which Arima fine tuned her craft behind the scenes. Now, in the artists own words, this new track is about “the strange grief of losing someone who was never really there. When shared memories become questions and years of connection dissolve into misunderstanding”. It is a deep, heavy soul sound on show here, packed with sonic drama and sung with pulchritudinous feeling, it whets the appetite with expectation for more to come. Watch out for Arima Ederra.

Emma Pollock – Future Tree

Best known as a key member of Scottish indie heroes and Peel favourites The Delgados, Emma Pollock has returned with her first solo material in almost a decade. The album ‘Begging The Night To Take Hold’ is already a 2025 favourite here and this track is one of the many highlights. She always seemed to have an adroit grasp of sweeping chamber pop in her old band and that expressive slant is very much at the forefront with this new release, it overflows with tone, tempo and colourful brush strokes across the whole record. ‘Future Tree’ is especially buoyant with those pounding, building keys and that craving voice but as always with Emma, there is a delicious undercurrent of melancholy to even things out. This is well worth a listen.

Love Spells – Wish I Didn’t Love You

If the previous tune instigated a little melancholy then this one will amplify the reverie and lock you down in that space for a further few minutes of longing, floating and wistfully sighing resignation. This is a newly released slice of haunting, dreamy pop written by Sir Taegen Harris (originally from Houston, it would appear that Love Spells is his creative outlet although information is a little sketchy) and produced by Alex Craig. In spite of the obvious yearning and desire evident in the lyric, this tune hovers around the territory of classic, dangerous obsession songs with lyrics like “I wish your name meant nothing but it lingers everywhere”.

Robin Ross & The TW Howlers – Walk With Me

This is one of the tracks from this outfits latest EP which also happens to be their debut release. It is a collaboration between singer songwriters Robin Ross and TW Howell, both from Pennsylvania, which presents five original compositions co-written and recorded in the early months of 2025. This is a fantastically ramshackle country come-on of a song, inviting the listener to “walk with me” as our seasoned narrator exudes an unfaded thirst for curiosity and exploration. The bending of guitar strings and soulful rough edges in the playing all add-up to a track with the kind of analogue warmth that many strive for but not all can achieve. But then Robin Ross can boast an audio engineering degree and was heavily involved in the opening of several recording studios, including Triple R Studios and Sound Complex, so he does know what he is about when it comes to audio.

Iraina Mancini – Running For Your Life

There is no new album from Iraina Mancini just yet but this new track did appear earlier this year, along with news that a follow up to her ‘Undo The Blue’ debut album was in the works. Whenever that does appear it promises to be a gem, especially if this release is anything to go by. Co-written with Mark Neary, ‘Running For Your Life’ hold on to all the vital elements that made Iraina stand out from the crowd in the first place; the steadfast dedication to classic song-writing standards, vintage productions values combined with a glossy modern sheen and a stylish, dramatic vocal presence that really pushes the Mancini music to the forefront with conviction and purpose. There should be a lot more to come from this corner of the pop world.

Laura Jurd – You Again

My recent feature on the late double bass maestro Danny Thompson also highlighted how little the worlds of jazz and folk have intersected, at least to the high standards that Danny hit on his solo jazz releases that pulled on the folk world he knew so well to stunning effect. Well, with her newly released album ‘Rites And Revelations’, trumpeter and composer Laura Jurd has added to this rather hidden lineage quite superbly. She is no stranger to cross pollination of the genres but this new album, featuring a freshly assembled quartet, has a singular focus towards folk lineage with a collection of compositions built around a simple, folk inspired melodies. As always, once Laura has established the framework, her playing and arranging results in fireworks abounding between all the musicians. Just listen to this live rendition and marvel at the explosive way the music erupts when that distorted electric guitar kicks in. There can be no doubt about it, in the year 2025 it is often the jazzers who are showing us the way forward.