New songs: Fake Names, Everything But the Girl, Samiam, and more

So many artists, so many songs, so little time. Each week we review a handful of new albums (of all genres), round up even more new music that we'd call "indie," and talk about what metal is coming out. We post music news, track premieres, and more all day. We update a playlist weekly of some of our current favorite tracks. Here's a daily roundup with a bunch of interesting, newly released songs in one place.

EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL - "CAUTION TO THE WIND"

Everything But the Girl have shared a second single from their first album in two decades, an elegant thumper with a big beating heart. "Lyrically, ‘Caution To The Wind’ is a simple song about arrival and seizing the moment, so with the music we tried to capture the feeling of a perpetual point in time," says Tracey Thorn, while partner Ben Watt adds, "I let the words quickly collapse and loop inside the production. The drums emerge and repeat, and everything then starts to unfold in cycles of anticipation and release. I guess it's just classic nightclub tension and euphoria."

FAKE NAMES - "CAN'T TAKE IT"

Punk supergroup Fake Names--aka vocalist Dennis Lyxzén (Refused), guitarist/vocalist Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), guitarist/vocalist Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace), bassist Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside), and drummer Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring)--go in a melodic, mid-tempo post-hardcore direction on new single "Can't Take It," the latest taste of their upcoming album Expendables.

SAMIAM - "MONTEREY CANYON"

Punk/emo vets Samiam have shared another taste of their first album in 12 years, Stowaway. It's a spacious, driving anthem and it sounds like classic Samiam.

BODY TYPE - "MISS THE WORLD"

Australian band Body Type have announced their second album, Expired Candy, due out June 2 via Posion City Records, and shared the single, garage punk track "Miss The World." "On face value this is a COVID song," lead vocalist and guitarist Sophie McComish says. "But more than that, it's an ode to the realisations, personal and collective, that occurred during that time. Realisations about society, culture, values, the things that matter, the parts we play. At the end of the day, the world is totally absurd and many things make very little sense when you think about them too hard. But we gotta squeeze these little brains of ours and do the thinking, realise the realisations. Complacency is dangerous, passion is contagious."

PALMS (DEFTONES, ISIS) - "OPENING TITLES" / "END CREDITS"

Palms--the post-metal supergroup featuring Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno and three members of Isis--released their sole album 10 years ago, and in honor of the anniversary, they've shared two previously unreleased tracks. They're soaring, towering songs, and they sound great.

GAL PAL - "MIRROR"

Los Angeles trio Gal Pal's new single "Mirror" mixes dreamy vocals with wiry post-punk theatrics for a compelling listen. Vocalist Emelia Austin says the song "formed from Nico playing cyclical guitar riffs over and over again. It helped me form the theme of being stuck in a pattern. I then wrote lyrics that were cut-off sentences, repeating again and again to express that feeling. For me, ‘Mirror’ is about the ways we allow our identities to be misshaped by people in our lives, how we are used as reflections for others, and the anxiety over being able to control it or not.”

OVERMONO - "CALLING OUT"

UK electronic duo Overmono's long-awaited debut album Good Lies arrives in May via XL, and latest single "Calling Out" is a suspenseful track that builds and builds but never relies on a cheap-thrills payoff.

LUCINDA CHUA - "AN OCEAN"

London singer/songwriter (and former Felix vocalist) Lucinda Chua will release her debut solo album Yian in March via 4AD, and new single "An Ocean" is a blissful, atmospheric pop song that falls somewhere in the orbit of Y2K-era Tori Amos, Radiohead, and Björk.

NANNA - "CRYBABY"

Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, lead vocalist of Of Monsters and Men, announced her debut solo album as Nanna, How To Start a Garden, due out May 5 via Republic Records. She produced it with Aaron Dessner and Josh Kaufman, and she's shared a new single from it, "Crybaby." "I wrote the song in my cabin," she says. "I had gone there to spend some time alone, and I remember lying on my floor playing the guitar and feeling sorry for myself. It felt dramatic and a bit funny, so I called the song ‘Crybaby’ as a way of making fun of myself. This influenced a lot of the record, this thing of not taking yourself so seriously when you feel very serious.”

BABYGIRL - "SORE EYES"

Toronto duo Babygirl announced a new EP, Be Still My Heart, due out April 14 via Sandlot Records. New single "Sore Eyes" is a dose of wistful dream pop.

KATIE GATELY - "CLEAVE"

Experimental electronic pop musician Katie Gately has shared another taste of her upcoming album Fawn / Brute, and it finds her applying her twisting synths and unique voice atop a stadium-sized stomp.

THE BLESSED MADONNA - "SHADES OF LOVE" FT. THE JOY

“Shades of Love is about the one thing that we all truly share in common as humans," says Marea Stamper, aka The Blessed Madonna, of her jubilant new single featuring South African artist The Joy. "We need to be loved. That might be a different kind of love for every person but it's still love and it's what ties us together.”

ADANOWSKY - "WHEN THE ANGEL COMES" FT. KAREN O

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O adds vocals to a dreamy new track from actor, director, and producer Adán Jodorowsky, from his new solo album, The Fool

DEATH VALLEY GIRLS - "ISLANDS IN THE SKY"

Death Valley Girls release new album Islands in the Sky this week and here's the title track. Says bandleader Bonnie Bloomgarden: "We wrote 'Islands in the Sky 'for our future selves, hoping that if we can share the secrets we have learned from this life, and all our past lives, we wouldn’t have to suffer or feel alone again in our next carnations!"

ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS - "NOBODY TELLS YOU WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG"

"'Nobody Tells You When You’re Young' is about how the most important lessons in life are often unteachable," Andrew McMahon says of his new ballad, from his new album Tilt At The Wind No More. "Despite the best intentions of those who go before us, many of life’s most profound, thrilling, and heartbreaking moments cannot be explained or prepared for. Encountering some of life’s great milestones - fatherhood and marriage, grief and loss, success and failure - I’ve often been struck by the notion that someone should have paved the way for me, only to realize they had, and I just wasn’t listening. That’s what this song is about. It’s not an indictment of youth or maturity, it’s just a simple realization that some things you have to see for yourself.”

FRUIT BATS - "IT ALL COMES BACK"

Here's another sublime track from Fruit Bats' upcoming River Running to Your Heart that's out on April 14 via Merge Records.

MURRAY A. LIGHTBURN (THE DEARS) - "ONCE UPON A TIME IN MONTREAL"

The Dears bandleader Murray Lightburn will release new solo album Once Upon a Time in Montreal at the end of March and he's just shared its title track. The city's Francophone spirit runs through this one, and you could imagine it playing on the banks of the Sienne in springtime.

SHANA CLEVELAND (LA LUZ) - "WALKING THROUGH MORNING DEW"

La Luz's Shana Cleveland has a breathy voice that is even better suited to psych-folk than it is her band's dreamy surf, as you can hear on this lovely track from her upcoming solo album, Manzanita. “This is a song about Spring and rebirth," says Shana. "In California, Spring is the season when nature comes inside. The house is suddenly full of weird bugs. A line from this song encapsulates the album: ‘Everything is blindingly in bloom.’”

EASY STAR ALL-STARS FT NAOMI COWAN - "MOONAGE DAYDREAM" (DAVID BOWIE COVER)

Easy Star All-Stars, who have done superior dub reggae tributes to Radiohead, Pink Floyd, The Beatles and more over the last two decades, next turn their attention to David Bowie with Ziggy Stardub which is out in April and features guest vocals from Fishbone, Macy and more. Naomi Cowan guests on their sunny version of "Moonage Daydream."

SERRATION - "A SUICIDE NOTE IN MIDI FORMAT" (ft. DYING WISH'S EMMA BOSTER)

Canadian metalcore band Serration are gearing up to release the Simulations of Hell LP later this year via DAZE, and lead single "A Suicide Note in Midi Format" is a collaboration with Emma Boster of Dying Wish, who Serration released a split with back in 2018. It's a melodic metalcore rager that pairs Serration vocalist Cody Dewald's harsh shrieks with a soaring, clean-sung chorus from Emma.

JOSIENNE CLARKE - "THE BIRDS"

British folk singer Josienne Clarke has shared a new version of her song "The Birds," which will appear on her upcoming album Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity), due April 14 via Corduroy Punk Records. "This version features a specific blurry guitar part, I wrote it like that to mirror the blurry movement of the birds in their weird patterns, in and out of time and sync in strange shapes and formations," Josienne says. "I also play piano on this track which is pretty rare for me."

WAYFARER - "NIGHT SHIFT" (SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES COVER)

As Denver black metal band Wayfarer gear up for their anticipated new album, they've shared a cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ 1981 classic “Night Shift.” Guitarist/vocalist Shane McCarthy embraces a gothy baritone for the cover, and says, "We saw the opportunity to do something out-of-the-box with this Flexi single, as our favorites of these often are, so we dug back pretty far to an artist that has not only been an influence on us, but also, to many of the artists that formed after SATB, and later become some of our foremost influences themselves."

DOWNFALL OF GAIA - "EXISTENCE OF AWE"

German crust-punk-turned-post-black-metal band Downfall of Gaia have shared the second single off upcoming LP Silhouettes Of Disgust. "Existence of Awe" is as evil as it is catchy, and it's another great taste of this LP.

RIC WILSON, CHROMEO & A-TRAK - "PAY IT NO MIND"

Ric Wilson, Chromeo, and A-Trak have teamed up for a dose of retro-meets-modern synth-funk.

COVET - "FIREBIRD"

Covet, the Bay Area math rock trio led by Yvette Young, will release their new album catharsis on April 7 via Triple Crown. Lead single "firebird" is equal parts tech-y and catchy.

KNIFE CLUB - "REPEAT, REPEAT"

UK punk band Knife Club are sort of a supergroup with members of Nosebleed, Faintest Idea, and other bands on the TNSrecords roster, and they're set to release their sophomore album on April 7 via TNS. Its first single is the gritty, catchy "Repeat, Repeat."

OHHMS - "BLOOD FEAST"

UK sludge metallers OHHMS have shared another track off their upcoming LP Rot, due 3/31 via Church Road Records, and it's full of tasty riffage and roared hooks.

CROWNING / EYELET - SPLIT

Screamo bands Crowning and Eyelet have teamed up for a split with two killer new tracks from each band, out now via Zegema Beach Records.

LOST UNDER HEAVEN - "SHADOWBOXING"

Lost Under Heaven, the duo of former WU LYF singer Ellery James Roberts and Ebony Hoorn, have announced their third album and shared this lead single. Read about it here.

PUBLIC OPINION - "HEAVEN SENT" & "DRY CLEAN ONLY"

Denver punks Public Opinion have shared two new songs, and you can read about them here.

HANNAH JADAGU - "WHAT YOU DID"

"Every track on this album, except for 'Admit It,' was written first on guitar, which is an instrumental throughline," Hannah Jadagu says of her just-announced album Aperture, off of which she shared "What You Did" today. "But the blanket of synths I use throughout helps me move between sensibilities. There's rock Hannah, there's hip-hop Hannah, and so on. I didn't want any of the songs to sound too alike." Read more about it here.

BRUISER AND BICYCLE - "1000 ENGINES"

"1000 Engines" is the lead single off Bruiser and Bicycle's newly announced album Holy Red Wagon. "'1000 Engines' was musically inspired by the cacophony of early Mercury Rev, and the texture of the Caribbean band, Exuma," explains band member Nick Whittemore.

ANGEL BAT DAWID - "RECORDARE - RECALL THE JOY"

Angel Bat Dawid announced her new album, Requiem For Jazz, today with single (and the suite's sixth movement) "RECORDARE - Recall the Joy." It's an expansive composition featuring striking vocal harmony and clattering horns, clarinet, piano, and drums. Read more about it here.

MADISON MCFERRIN - "(PLEASE DON'T) LEAVE ME NOW"

"Being able to walk away from a near-death experience without physical harm is one of the greatest blessings I've received in this life. It reaffirmed my purpose as an artist. Writing '(Please Don't) Leave Me Now' became an incredibly therapeutic and cathartic experience. Being able to express that kind of fear while still creating a fun environment was key to making this song," Madison McFerrin said of "(Please Don't) Leave Me Now," the lead single off her debut album. Read more about it here.

MISS TINY - "THE SOUND"

Dan Carey, Speedy Wunderground label founder and in-demand producer whose credits include Wet Leg, Squid, black midi, Kae Tempest and more, has formed a new duo, Miss Tiny, with vocalist/drummer Benjamin Romans-Hopcraft (Childhood, Warmduscher). Miss Tiny have just released their debut single, "The Sound," a nagging, chugging, churning song that worms its way into your psyche.

CINDY - "TRUMPET ON THE HILLSIDE"

“Some of these songs were first recorded as demos alone in my basement," says Cindy singer Karina Gill of their upcoming fourth album. "I think that process set the tone for the record...Maybe it set up a kind of starkness,” she says. Stark is a descriptor for first single "Trumpet on the Hillside," but beautiful is another. Gently strummed guitars, mournful keyboards and Gill's breathy voice all swirl together into a twilight-tinted mist.

Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.

Comments

36 New Songs Out Today