The Predatory Wasp
This is taken from Under a Familiar Sun, the new album from The Vernon Spring and the solo project of British composer and producer Sam Beste. Over twelve elegant songs, Beste’s beautiful, expansive compositions centre around a graceful and deliberate approach to piano, accented by vocal collaborations, spoken word, and a gently compelling mix of electronic and acoustic instrumentation.
https://thevernonspring.bandcamp.com/album/under-a-familiar-sun
Rainy Miller’s Joseph, What Have You Done? is a stark, atmospheric dive into fractured memories and Northern Gothic landscapes. Rooted in Lancashire’s grit, Miller blurs grime, ambient, and spoken word with raw, confessional storytelling while voice notes and field recordings trace threads of trauma, estrangement, and resilience. It’s by turns sad, bleak, furious and nihilistic, but never less than completely engaging.
https://rainymiller.bandcamp.com/album/joseph-what-have-you-done
I’m really enjoying Kara-Lis Coverdale’s new album From Where You Came, although starting your bio with the line “Kara-Lis Coverdale creates music that transcends reality” is a bit much tbh. It’s a minor gripe when the music is this engaging though, especially Offload Flip which has just the right amount of low end wallop to perfectly offset all the dreamy, spectral synths.
https://kara-liscoverdale.bandcamp.com/album/from-where-you-came-2
Xenia Reaper’s new album Gambling had me at “a requiem to noughties trance-euphoria”, scratching an itch that only 36’s Cold Ecstasy had previously been able to reach.
Ludicrous amounts of fun stuff out this week which I’ll be highlighting in the coming days, starting with Sibel Koçer’aka JakoJako’s new LP Tết 41, her debut for Mute. Recorded during a trip to Vietnam and bookended by field recordings from Tết Lunar New Year celebrations, the album is a sonic nod to Koçer’s heritage, with the melodic palette breaking away from traditional Western scales, drawing instead from the tonal intricacies of the Vietnamese language, inspired by overheard conversations. Produced with a minimalist setup consisting of a Eurorack and Waldorf Iridium Core, Tết 41 reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core.
Penelope Trappes doesn’t so much write songs as she carves out little underwater worlds to sit and stare at your feelings in. Anchor us To The Seabed Floor from her new album A Requiem is synths that start soft and end up ragged, hushed vocals, and heavy emotional fog. It’s slow, it’s sad, it’s very beautiful. Let it wash over you and maybe cry a bit. Or don’t. It’ll still haunt you either way.
Stonefly is the third single from Maria Somerville’s upcoming album Luster, due out April 25 via 4AD . It’s a slow, minimal track built around soft synth loops and Somerville’s low-key vocal delivery. There’s not much in the way of hooks, but it’s easy to get drawn into its atmosphere after a couple of listens. The track also comes with a video directed by Daniel Swan, which fits the mood without overdoing it
Barke’s new album Stochastic Drift is absolutely brilliant, and if it’s not in my top 10 of 2025 at the end of the I will be amazed. It’s not really fair to pick out a single track as you should really just dive in in its entirety, but The Remembering Self is the one that really stopped me in my tracks: probably the most purely ambient track Barker has ever produced, and achingly beautiful.
OK EG and Priori team up for a four-tracker that keeps things fast and focused without ever going full throttle, recorded from sessions at Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio. Stand out Serpentine 1 plays like a set of finely tuned sketches and there’s a definite Dozzy-like touch to the rhythms: slightly disorientating, never dull.
The Predatory Wasp 