Emerging from London’s underground music scene, The Sick Man Of Europe is distinctly monochrome in its outlook. Each note counts in this climate – economical but played with absolute precision and conviction. Propelled forward by machines and seeking solace in repetition. The same fears. Looking for answers or something to believe in, but finding more questions in an age of absolutes. The Sick Man Of Europe demo tape arrived in a brown manila envelope accompanied by a short typewritten letter. Information was limited but what was clear, from the name, the imagery and typography, right through to the music – the project arrived almost fully formed. Minimal, but with a strong eye for the right detail. On the eponymous debut album, out now on The Leaf Label, that eye is focussed firmly on the battle between the internal and the external; the tensions between human identity, technological advancement and the pursuit of meaning in the modern world. The Sick Man Of Europe name connects the current post-Brexit landscape to the austerity of Thatcherite Britain and the social conditions that shaped the likes of Bauhaus and Joy Division. These are touchstones for TSMOE, but the influence and discipline of Neu!, Suicide and Swans are just as intrinsic to the sound. Produced as a reaction to previous musical projects, TSMOE was looking for clarity and complete control in its creative endeavours. It’s consciously anti-rock in its recorded approach – no low-end bass guitar, minimal effects and no live drums. Dedication to the craft of focussed song writing rather than attempting to follow current production trends.

Producer and genre-melting songwriter Christopher Hatfield fifth Love Axe’s album, Optimism Paranoia Desperation Abolition was released on June 19th. Love Axe’s early releases (Phenomenomenons, 2011, and South Dakota, 2015) were peppered with indie rock and power pop influences, The Food (2021) was a sort of funky, Prince-meets-Weezer album, while the instrumental Linear Valley (2022) was dominated by futuristic synths. The new album is something more intimate: a softly strummed nylon-string guitar and carefully placed adornments (clarinet, piano, pedal steel, some bass and drums here and there) lead the way, making room for Hatfield’s baritone to be front and center, allowing his wary words to wash over listeners with the kind of vulnerability heard on records by Bill Callahan, David Berman, and Nick Drake. “I wrote this record as a way of processing and grieving all of the terrible things I learned about what humanity and this country are capable of during the first Trump administration. And I could only really do that because it was over with – I don’t think you’re really able to process trauma and grief without the benefit of time or psychological distance,” Hatifield said. But it’s 2025, and here we are, once again, in the clutches of fascist billionaires, hellbent on revenge and destroying the planet. Hatifeld continues, “So this now feels, very sadly, much more relevant to our world than it did when I finished it.” OPDA is a record that is delivered in four parts: quite literally, it considers the trajectory from optimism to paranoia to desperation to abolition.

Brian Bilston is one of the UK’s most popular poets. He has teamed up with Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey and Ian Button of The Catenary Wires to release an album Sounds Made by Humans on Skep Wax Records. A couple of years ago, word reached Rob and Amelia that Brian had been spotted wearing a t-shirt of their other bands (Heavenly) at one of his shows, and was a big fan of their music. Given that they, in turn, were fans of Brian’s poetry, introductions were made, friendships were formed, and Sounds Made By Humans took shape. The album isn’t a set of readings with musical backdrops: it’s a collection of songs, where words and music have become completely intertwined. There are verses, and there are choruses.  There is no ‘riffing’, no improvisation. In many ways, Brian’s poems are already like pop songs: brief, direct, and witty; sometimes poignant, sometimes biting and political; but always economical, and always accessible. Rob took thirteen of Brian’s poems and created melodies and arrangements, which are then played by a full band, with Ian Button on drums and Fay Hallam on keyboard. Sometimes the words of the poems are sung by Amelia or Rob. Sometimes they are spoken by Brian. Sometimes both these things happen at once. This is a pop record where the poetry and the music are equal partners: sounds made by humans in perfect artistic alignment. Brian Bilston and The Catenary Wires will be performing song-poems at selected UK venues in November 2025.

Adult Matters is the solo project of Luigi Bussotti. 90’s guitars, honest and brutal lyrics. Their music is the secret diary of a queer non-binary person. Luigi grew up with 90’s indie rock, Elliott Smith, and American singer-songwriters, influences that deeply shaped their artistic journey and gave them the opportunity to express their emotions without filters. They started writing from a very young age to escape from small-town reality and later taught themself how to play guitar: “I learned to play guitar by watching live shows of my favorite bands on KEXP.” In 2016, they recorded their first album, Endings, in a home studio. This album, which they toured across Italy with a power trio, allowed them to carve out a small space for themself in the Italian bedroom-pop scene. In 2021, they released Flare Up, their second album, a lofi work that they performed non-stop on tour for two years, with over 50 shows across Italy. Their third album, A Modern Witch was released on February 21, 2025, via Costello’s Records and Wires Records.