Hailing from Dundalk, Ireland, Norabelle consists of Ken Clarke (Guitar & Vocals), Shane O’Hanrahan (Guitar, Vocals, and Piano), Stefano Rossi (Bass), and Stephen Ludlow (Drums). The band draws influence from artists such as Sun Kil Moon, Bonnie Prince Billy, and Sufjan Stevens. Norabelle’s debut album, Wren, was out in 2011 and earned widespread acclaim for its poetic storytelling and elegant arrangements. The Sunday Business Post described it as featuring “achingly sweet harmonies, overlaying acoustic guitars, cello and the lightest percussion, but it’s their poetic storytelling that sets their songs apart from the throng.” On the 11th April 2025, after a fourteen years hiatus, the band released their second album entitled The Mountain Blinks. Each track on The Mountain Blinks invites listeners into deeply personal narratives. From the poignant reflection on memory and mourning in She’s Not Here to the tender love song Warm Blood, the album carries a raw emotional weight.

Faith Eliott is a songwriter and visual artist. Born in Minneapolis, they moved to Scotland nearly two decades ago. Through storytelling and world-building, they illustrate intuitive landscapes populated by hagfish, Pleistocene volcanoes, cursed memes, and late-Renaissance apocryphal monsters lurking in the aisles of Asda. Sonically, Eliott grounds themself in a stripped-back, lyric-driven songwriting approach that evolves through the recording process to incorporate orchestral elements—often contributed by frequent collaborator Robyn Dawson—along with electronic textures and found sounds.Their forthcoming album Dryas will be release on Lost Map Records tomorrow, May 30th. This record follows two previous releases, Impossible Bodies (2019, OK Pal Records) and Insects (2016, Song, by Toad Records), both of which received critical acclaim, including coverage from The List and The Scotsman, as well as national radio play on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction, and 6Music.

Exploding Flowers are a Los Angeles quartet who have crafted their own universe of guitar-based pop, with its flourishes of piano, organ, synthesizers, vibraphone and glockenspiel on top of a foundational rhythm section. This music continues a lineage of like-minded melody chasers, from both past and present. Led by Sharif Dumani who has worked with a variety of artists which include Alice Bag, Cody Chesnutt, Sex Stains, the Moon Upstairs, Classics Of Love, Nick Garrie, Jowe Head, Nikki Sudden, Silver Apples and many more, the quartet is comprised of members Josh Mancell (the Moon Upstairs, Cell\Borg), Happy Tsugawa-Banta (Lassie Foundation, Ray Barbee), and Mark Sogomian (the Moon Upstairs). With two previous albums and an ep released, they have been compared to everything from Big Star to the Soft Boys, and L.A.’s Paisley Underground to New Zealand’s 1980s-era Flying Nun Records guitar pop roster (such as the Chills, the Bats, etc.). Exploding Flowers explore some similar territory but expand to occupy their own space in that landscape. Watermelon/Peacock is Exploding Flowers third release packed with analog production, poetic lyricism, and the same strong melodies and hooks we’ve now come to expect from a band that prioritizes its songwriting with smart left turns. Both economic and expansive, they utilize all measures to craft something both beautiful, grand, and driving. Joined on this release by indie veterans Rachel Love of seminal pop legends Dolly Mixture, and Jowe Head of D.I.Y. legends Swell Maps and post-punk/mod/psychedelia legends Television Personalities, this is a release that has something for everyone to enjoy. The album artwork is by artist and musician Jill Emery (Hole, Mazzy Star).