Here we are with the latest round-up of the singles that have most caught our eye this week. Of course, we’re starting with this week’s Single Of The Week. This week it comes from Skies Behind. The Cork-based group dropped their infectious new tune, ‘Ghost’ last week and have accelerated the growth of their platform. With nods to their Irish contemporaries, Loath and NewDad, the song features a shimmering indie core. Ghostly vocals emulate the song’s title and gentle guitar lines add further mist, creating a shoegaze-meets-indie rock sound with an undeniable listenability. With the band quickly making a name for themselves in the Irish indie scene, we’re excited to see where they go next.
We don’t often feature covers on the single round-up but the Vivas’ cover of Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ is hard to miss out. The Sheffield-based band are used to making hard-hitting indie anthems and they’ve approached this with the same full-throttle attitude. The bright tones have been replaced by jagged guitars and thrashing drums that give the song a new feeling…sticking with indie sounds, The Empire Police are up next with their new tune ‘Northern Bones’. The tune is the Preston-based band's first release of 2023. The cut is a continuation of their alt-rock sound, and features raucous instrumentation, soaring choruses and spat-out vocals that centre around the desire to escape boredom and monotony, something this song succeeds in doing…next, this week is the new release from the fast-rising Nell Mescal. The singer has quickly become Ireland’s hottest new talent and her new track, ‘In My Head’ adds to the excitement around her. Centring around the search for a lost love, the track captures the painful emotions it portrays with mystifying synths, driven drum machines and vulnerable vocals that put the song in an alt-pop frame…next, this week is the London rock duo, The Pearl Harts, who’ve dropped ‘Hypocritical’. The song, which is taken from their forthcoming album, sees the duo challenging the perceptions of what it means to be a woman in the music industry. Featuring punk sensibilities mixed with hi-octane pop to create another piece of wondrous pop grit. Its parent album, ‘Love, Chaos’ is out next April…next, we’ve got another Irish act in Veron Jane, who have dropped their latest single, ‘Praying 2 Angels’. The tune harkens back to the post-punk scene of the 1990s, featuring Cocteau Twins-indebted instrumentation; complete with gleaming guitar crescendos and incandescently gentle vocals. The song is taken from the Dublin band’s second album, due for release later this year…and finally this week we’ve got another solo artist; Sophie Griffiths. She released her new song, ‘Mother’s Daughter’ last week, which tells the story of the ups and the downs of the relationship the Essex-based singer has had with her mum. Pop sensibilities are expressed throughout, with stripped-back guitars and backing vocals deepening its uplifting feeling.
You can listen to the best in new music here on our updated playlist