We’re slowly approaching the astounding 200th edition. But before we arrive there, let’s hope we don’t get completely lost in today’s selection.
It all starts with a siren’s call, surrender disguised as escape. Fontaines D.C. set the cathedral tone before NP York risks it all anyway, Doom! Noo Yelbek blow the hinges off, and BLUAI find the strength to walk away. End credits belong to 15-year-old Matilda Noe, whose quiet cupboard confession proves the smallest songs carry the heaviest weight. Five tracks, one spiral inward.
Fontaines D.C. – Marianne
With the opulence of a gothic cathedral, Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. announce their upcoming album Dopamine Chamber. But underneath Marianne’s velvety veneer and cinematic scale, the walls bittersweetly crumble: How much do we surrender to escapism’s pull to avoid the catastrophic reality? Somewhere between the deceptive song of a siren and a desperate preacher’s sermon, Grian Chatten pleads: „This year, you should come and stay here / You can follow my lead / I can help you disappear.“ Yet it’s never quite clear if we’re moving from the all-devouring abyss—or towards it.
NP York – As bold as a heart
There’s a strange sensation pouring from As bold as a heart. It seems like there’s a constant rhythm of acceleration and deceleration, just a hint of hesitation in this rousing indie rock hymn. Danish songwriter NP York celebrates courage: the willing gamble of risking it all, even when it might shatter you to pieces. But peel back the familiar ingredients of a gripping anthem, and you’ll find a dense, quirky composition that feels at once weighty and weightless.
Doom! Noo Yelbek – Balkon II
It’s bloody hard to write anything about Balkon II without resorting to mediocre metaphors about a galactic drug trip. Swiss quartet Doom! Noo Yelbek staggers through the laboratory, concocting an absurd explosive brew of psychedelic force from drastic changes in tempo, jarring contrasts, and instrumental virtuosity. At times down-to-earth and melancholic with Serbian vocals, at others completely unmoored from reality, then detonating into thunderous roars.
BLUAI – It's Gotta Be Me
Pain sounds beautiful. Delicately picked guitars and a soft arrangement drawn from Americana and folk traditions open the track, as Belgian trio BLUAI sing: “If anyone goes, it's gotta be me.” The line captures the gut-wrenching realisation that a relationship has reached the end of the road—and that walking away is the only thing left to do. It’s Gotta Be Me is neither angry nor simply sad: it hits precisely the note of bittersweet ache and heartbroken solace.
Matilda Noe – Circle Line
“Nothing I say tells the things I want to, it’s a circle line.” Zurich-based singer-songwriter Matilda Noe reveals a piercing vulnerability with her debut single. Circle Line is a confession; a sort of unvarnished realisation that expressing herself properly seems impossible. Built on three simple chords, with vocals recorded in a cupboard, Circle Line nevertheless weighs as heavy as a tonne. A remarkably promising impression from an artist who is only fifteen.
