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Laura Williams – Ready to be Found
Laura Williams Finds Her Voice In The Quiet Glow Of *Ready To Be Found*
Nottingham singer-songwriter Laura Williams arrives with Ready to Be Found, a debut that feels lived-in from the first note. Built in a kitchen studio with producer Dom Navarra, the album leans on warm acoustic textures and plainspoken honesty, tracing love, loneliness, self-discovery and second chances with the patience of someone who knows timing matters.
Its lead single, “Coming Home,” is the emotional hinge: a tender reflection on reconnecting years after an earlier spark had faded, and on the strange mercy of finding the right person when the moment finally opens. Williams, who balances music with teaching and motherhood, writes with the quiet authority of folk’s best confessional voices — intimate, observant, never overwrought. Tracks like “Dusty Heart” deepen that sense of earned vulnerability. The result is a record that doesn’t announce itself loudly; it settles in, then stays.
Simone Engel – YES
Simone Engel Turns Mixed Signals Into A Warm, Wry Debut
With “YES,” Simone Engel steps in like a songwriter who trusts a quiet detail more than a grand gesture. Her debut single leans into Americana and modern country storytelling, but keeps its focus on the human tangle at the center: honesty, mixed signals, and the uneasy gap between words and actions. The production feels warm and unforced, letting the lyrics sit up front where they can breathe and sting a little.
As a Dutch singer-songwriter, Engel brings a fresh perspective to familiar terrain, writing with a clear eye for the moments that shape us. “YES” doesn’t hand out answers; it leaves space for listeners to hear their own story in the cracks. That restraint gives the song its pull. It sounds like someone learning how to name a feeling without flattening it, and that’s a promising place to begin.
Eternal Mourning – Father Shoes
Eternal Mourning Walks in “Father Shoes” with Emotion and Elegance
Eternal Mourning, the creative vessel of Montreal artist Philippe Mourani, thrives in the tension between tenderness and weight. On “Father Shoes,” folk intimacy, baroque-pop detail, rock muscle, and traces of grunge gather around a song shaped by memory. Fragile melodies sit against fuller, more forceful arrangements, allowing light and shadow to move through the track without cancelling each other out.
Mourani’s lyrical focus gives the song its centre, while the band’s intricate musicianship deepens its emotional pull. “This isn’t just music; it’s a shared journey,” Mourani says, and “Father Shoes” carries that sense of collective reflection. Rather than treating remembrance as something static, the song lets it unfold through shifting textures and restrained intensity, leaving its emotional echoes suspended after the final note.
Southbank – Decide
Southbank’s “Decide” Captures the Sweet Agony of Uncertain Moments
Southbank, the Austin-based project led by Jeff Neely, finds its centre in the uneasy space between waiting and choosing. On “Decide,” alt-country swagger meets pop-rock brightness, turning the suspense of an uncertain job search into a broader song about fate, hesitation, and romantic possibility. Jangling guitars and a punchy rhythm section keep the track moving even as the lyrics circle the tension of not knowing what comes next.
That balance between restlessness and control carries into the recording. Southbank tracked the live foundation at Austin’s Waveform, then layered overdubs in Neely’s home studio, giving the song both communal energy and close-up detail. With Tony Lynch, Amanda Thomas, Sean Heffernan, and Sam Favata completing the lineup, the band draws on the wiry momentum of Old 97’s and the melodic precision of Fountains of Wayne without settling into imitation. “Decide” captures uncertainty not as paralysis, but as motion waiting for direction.
Erik Rabasca – Foolin’ Yourself
Erik Rabasca Turns Protest Into A Weathered Folk Confession
On “Foolin’ Yourself,” Stamford singer-songwriter Erik Rabasca writes like he’s got one eye on the highway and the other on the end of the world. The song folds John Prine and Townes Van Zandt into a modern-day sermon, all slide guitar shimmer, plainspoken bite, and the kind of melody that sneaks up while the lyric lands hard. Rabasca handles the guitars, vocals, production, and engineering himself at Highest Frequency Studio, where the no-click, one-take approach keeps the performance breathing like a live room confession.
JP Geoghagen’s drumming and Bobo Lavorgna’s bass give the track its steady pulse, but the real charge is Rabasca’s refusal to soften the message: mortality should sharpen your focus, not your ego. It’s a protest song dressed as a porch-side folk tune, and it rewards repeat listens by revealing more grit, grace, and heat each time.
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