Jana Horn Falls In and Out of Sleep on ‘The Window Is the Dream’
Jana Horn’s The Window Is the Dream forces the listener to relax and settle into a cozy tedium. It’s an appreciation of the slow.
Jay Honeycomb
Jay Honeycomb is a writer and freelance music journalist from Ireland. Their debut novella "Post-Bliss" was self-published in June 2022. A graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology, they have written for the publications PopMatters, A Closer Listen, and their blog No Transmission. They have lived in many locations across the globe, including France, Vietnam, and the USA.
Deerhoof Endorse Collective Dreaming on ‘Miracle-Level’
Deerhoof’s Miracle-Level explores music’s humanitarian capabilities, expressing a longing for the miraculous and a rejection of the mundane.
Daniel Avery Hosts the Party and the Comedown on ‘Ultra Truth’
Electronic producer Daniel Avery’s Ultra Truth is both a danceable and listenable collection that packs a corporeal punch and a spiritual cleanse.
Pixies’ ‘Doggerel’ Is Solid Folk Rock Out of Step with Modern Trends
Pixies’ Doggerel switches between rock and folk drastically. The crisp production perfectly serves this dynamic, but for foggy ideas and fabricated whimsy.
Junior Brother Speaks His Own Language on ‘The Great Irish Famine’
Junior Brother’s The Great Irish Famine captures the range of feelings we face when learning our place in an increasingly shaky world built on a foundation of tragedy.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Plays Seriously and Seriously Plays on ‘Let’s Turn It Into Sound’
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has created a mirror of our tumultuous modern world in Let’s Turn It Into Sound where we can see our faults and boundless possibilities.
Emotion Propels Jemima Coulter’s ‘Grace After a Party’ to Stunning Depths
Grace After a Party is a bold and confident debut introducing Jemima Coulter as an artist who straddles the line between the experimental and the accessible.
…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead Offer a Phantasmagorical World on ‘XI: Bleed Here Now’
And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead offer a phantasmagorical collection of songs on XI: Bleed Here Now that touch on post-punk, folk, and modern classical.
beabadoobee’s Ascent from Indie Starlet to Pop Queen on ‘Beatopia’ Is Hot and Cold
On Beatopia, beabadoobee seems to be running from the adolescence that gave us 2017’s “Coffee” while simultaneously drawing inspiration from it.
Guided by Voices Are Subversively Uplifting on ‘Tremblers and Goggles by Rank’
Guided by Voices’ lasting power stems from Robert Pollard’s poetic observations, but on Tremblers and Goggles by Rank, the highlight is the hard-hitting and capricious music.
SOAK Explores Their Complicated Past on ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’
SOAK shows on If I Never Know You Like This Again that using uncomfortable past experiences for personal growth doesn’t have to be a drag. It can be a blast.
The Waterboys’ Mike Scott on the Delightfully Strange ‘All Souls Hill’
The Waterboy’s songs are often deemed religious, neopagan, or spiritual. Mike Scott’s inspiration behind 2021’s All Souls Hill might be more earthy.