Sunny Intervals combines indiepop, folk and light electronica, as put together in London by Andy, formerly of the band Pocketbooks. Active from 2012 to 2016, when he released three delicious albums, Rooftops (2012), Step Into Spring (2014) and Sunrise (2016), Sunny Intervals returned, after almost ten years, with Swept Away. It is “a late night whisper,” written over the course of a decade, and recorded as lightly and naturally as possible at home, mostly in Andy’s kitchen at night while the neighbourhood was sleeping, with acoustic guitars, light percussion, keyboards and soft synthesisers. A soft mix of indiepop, folk and light electronica, Swept Away was released in April 2025, and re-released as a deluxe Bandcamp version including the original 10-track album and the five-track Almost Imperceptibly EP (and a sort of disco remix of Electromagnetic) in November 2025.
Theory Of Ghosts take their name from a song by the self-proclaimed Anglo-French “ghost-rock” group, Piano Magic who, between 1996 and 2016, crafted a cinematic, melancholic and richly emotional sound, at once fragile and immersive. Led by ex-Piano Magic founder, Glen Johnson and long-time guitarist, Franck Alba, Theory Of Ghosts make no less evocative music, weaving a very romantic, European sophisti-pop that echoes the dreamier moments of The Blue Nile and The Durutti Column. Originally a three-piece on their debut extended players, succinctly labelled EP1 and EP2, Johnson and Alba retreated to their rehearsal space as a duo and began utilising a complaisant drum-machine for their minimal backbeats. The songs, driven by Alba’s fluid Fender VI six-string bass and Johnson’s sparse, unfussy guitar, were spacious, lyrical, vivid. In Summer 2024, Johnson suffered a life-threatening brain haemorrhage but miraculously, by early 2025, felt healthy enough to continue with the production of an album. The foundation of new songs was laid by Johnson at his home studio in Crystal Palace and in July 2025, the duo filled their car with guitars and set off to record with Julian Tardo at his Church Road Studio in Hove on the East Sussex coast. Johnson had been a huge fan of Tardo’s own duo, Insides, since their debut album, ‘Euphoria’ came out on 4AD subsidiary, Guernica, in 1993 and to work with not only Julian but his partner, Kirsty Yates, was something of a granted wish. Yates guests on ‘No Contact,’ a bittersweet song about that very modern strategy of disassociation in a bid to protect the self. The Sulphur And The Grey, Theory Of Ghost’s debut album, with a cover designed by Maria Makripoulias, recorded and mastered by Julian Tardo at Church Road Studio, is out today on Second Language Music.
Would-Be-Goods made a profound impact on the emergence and evolution of the twee pop scene with their stunning debut album, The Camera Loves Me, released in 1988 on the iconic él label. Originally conceived as one of Mike Alway’s deliberately “artificial” él projects, built around the striking, glamorous image of Jessica Griffin and her sister Miranda, it quickly became evident that Jessica Griffin was an exceptionally gifted songwriter. Her compositions are distinctive and refined, combining keen observation, elegance, and cultural awareness with beautifully crafted melodies. After more than ten years of silence, in October 2020, during lockdown, Jessica Griffin embarked on a new creative venture: composing one song each day, each with a title supplied nightly by her partner and bandmate Peter Momtchiloff. The Night Life, released in June 2023, collected twenty tracks from this “song-a-day” project. Tears Before Bedtime is the band’s forthcoming album and is scheduled for release via Skep Wax Records on February 13.
The Lovely Sparrows – Multiple Lives (video still)
The Lovely Sparrows are an American indie rock band formed in Austin, Texas in 2005 by singer-songwriter Shawn Jones. Initially releasing a self-issued 7″ single Take Your Hats Off You Godless Bastards, they quickly established themselves on the local scene with a rotating lineup of collaborators. In 2006, the band issued their debut EP, Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint, via Abandoned Love Records, and, their first full-length album, Bury the Cynics, arrived in 2008. In 2011, they issued a new EP, Tall Cedars of Lebanon, and in 2016 revisited material on Hermetic Recordings: Songs 2004-2016. After a long hiatus, the band released the album Shake the Shadow in 2018, reflecting new creative directions after Jones’ personal and geographic changes.I still picture you running, their third album, will be out on limited vinyl from Abandoned Love Records, on January 16th, 2026 and today we have the honor of letting you listen to the preview of the new single from the album, Multiple Lives.
Hirta is the solo project of Scottish – American multi instrumentalist Alistair Paxton, well known for his guitar work with Shilpa Ray and for touring and working in recording studios with multiple other artists. His debut album is called Soft Peaks. Soft Peaks finds solace in the natural world and comforts through an intriguing map of familiar trailheads and newly chartered terrain. It casts a windswept and lonely spell, yet retains an air of optimism across its ten warm and desolate tracks. This album was self produced and recorded in 2025 in sessions split between the Hudson Valley town of Nyack, NY and rural Bovina in the Western Catskill mountains culminating in both vinyl and digital releases under Paxton’s own imprint, Half Painted Door. Soft Peaks reveals layers of intricate acoustic fingerstyle guitar and plaintive drums under sparse and tasteful contemporary textures. A subtle and evocative blend of traditional folk voicings and indie rock charm which conjures fleeting nostalgia and offers some hopeful light in a dark time. Through songwriting that crafts propulsive repetition and embraces the power of restraint and economy, Paxton’s vocal harmonies remain unadorned and carry a poetic honesty while delivering elegiacal verses both timeless and universal.
Indie Sunset in Rome 