Dreaming of Wanderlust - February 2026
We've hand-picked 13 of our favorite new releases. Step in, get lost, and find the quiet.
Featuring Cali Navarro, Park Hills Circle, St.Arnaud, Libby Ember, Julian Taylor, Dylan De Braga, Humm, Greg Boyer, Blue Bayou, Sam Blasucci, paper and noma, Izzie Yardley and Ian Cobiella.
Dreaming of Wanderlust 🌿 Indie Folk · Folktronica · Chamber Pop
Cali Navarro - Without You
Elsa, Texas singer-songwriter Cali Navarro delivers an intimate, stripped-back ballad in Without You, built around an evocative, close-up vocal performance. The arrangement stays gentle and restrained, allowing her storytelling to sit at the center, where longing lingers in the quietest spaces.
It's a tender singer-songwriter offering that feels like a late-night confession, carried by voice and atmosphere rather than embellishment.
Connect with Cali Navarro
Instagram / Spotify / Website
Park Hills Circle - Sight of the Moon
Maris O'Tierney introduces her Americana-leaning indie-folk project Park Hills Circle with Sight of the Moon, a spacious, quietly luminous single. Drawing from her Irish storytelling roots and Alaskan upbringing, the track layers classical guitar, loop pedal textures, and nested harmonies into what she calls "a tender unfolding". A standalone release that previews her debut album All of a Sudden (spring 2026), it feels like a solitary walk in cold night air, where perspective slowly returns.
Connect with Park Hills Circle
Instagram / Spotify / Website
St.Arnaud - Love You (For Real)
Edmonton's St.Arnaud leans into buoyant indie pop on Love You (For Real), balancing romantic sincerity with a wink. Built around a warm, locked-in groove, the track moves with relaxed confidence, letting conversational lyrics land naturally, especially the offhand "This is a new time, a YOU TIME!" moment that became its thesis. The single previews the forthcoming self-titled St.Arnaud (Cordova Bay Records, 2026), the project's third record and first to fully embody the band's playful chemistry.
Connect with St.Arnaud
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / Website
Libby Ember - Let Me Go
Montreal singer-songwriter Libby Ember lingers in the uneasy space between staying and leaving on Let Me Go, a melancholic, dreamy indie-folk single. Delicate flute lines and reversed textures blur around her voice, which remains intentionally imperfect - fragile where it needs to be.
Lines like "Isn't it wrong to love me but act like you don’t" cut straight through the haze. Following her debut EP, I Kill Spiders (2025), this release lets its instrumental outro stretch out like a memory you can’t quite forget.
Connect with Libby Ember
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify
Julian Taylor - Hunger
Photo Credit: Steph Montani
On Hunger, from Anthology Vol. 2, Canadian songwriter Julian Taylor turns a simple word into a towering presence: "Hunger is the king we're living under". Recorded with an emphasis on live musicianship, the track carries the weight of folk storytelling shaped over decades. Its imagery, fields, thunder, and stony ground feel both timeless and immediate, holding resilience close as it imagines a morning when "one day they will wonder what was hunger".
Connect with Julian Taylor
Facebook / Instagram / X / Spotify
Dylan De Braga - Hold the Door
Canadian singer-songwriter Dylan De Braga steps forward with Hold the Door, a vulnerable debut produced by Grammy-winner Chris Sclafani in New York City. Rooted in emotional vulnerability and shaped by turbulent past relationships, the track transforms personal devastation into quiet strength. It's a heartfelt introduction that hints at the emotional terrain of his upcoming debut EP.
Connect with Dylan De Braga
Instagram / Spotify
Humm - Hope Springs Eternal
Contemporary folk duo Humm offer Hope Springs Eternal, a piece from their EP To Keep You Warm. Rooted in myth yet resonant with modern emotional landscapes, the track weaves harmonium drones, intricate finger-style guitar, and ethereal vocals into something grounded but gently otherworldly. There's a sense of the earth telling its own story here, culminating in an expansive outro that feels like stepping beyond the noise of the everyday.
Connect with Humm
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify
Greg Boyer - Perfectly Gone
Greg Boyer's Perfectly Gone unfolds with gorgeous baritone vocals gliding over smooth, atmospheric instrumentation. Reflective but without regret, the song sits comfortably in its own stillness, allowing space for acceptance rather than recrimination. It's a measured, adult meditation on absence; steady, unhurried, and quietly assured.
Connect with Greg Boyer
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify
Blue Bayou - Carousel Song
New wave chamber-pop outfit Blue Bayou shimmer into view with Carousel Song, a tape-tracked single produced by Chris Barker (Willie J. Healey). Parlour guitar opens into a landscape of distant strings and bells, soon joined by bass that subtly shifts the harmonic ground beneath your feet.
Violin, vibraphone, and tape hum swirl together, placing the listener in a familiar yet slightly enchanted world; mid-winter light flickering against memory and loss.
Connect with Blue Bayou
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify
Sam Blasucci - Delicadeza
Photo credit: Jeovanna Perez
Ojai-based singer-songwriter Sam Blasucci shares Delicadeza, an airy Spanish-and-English acoustic tune from his forthcoming double LP Physical Dream (out April 17). Described as a song "with no shoes on," it feels light-footed yet purposeful, a blueprint for escape into a higher kind of romance. The track also gestures toward his EP La Miel (out February 27), bridging Los Angeles and Mexico in a sound that is both soothing and quietly energising.
Connect with Sam Blasucci
Website / Instagram / Spotify
paper and noma - lily
Singaporean ethereal indie-folk artist paper and noma offers lily, a hushed meditation that feels like a lullaby against a harsher world. Softly circling lines, "lily, will you hold me / like hollow holds a tone" float over minimal instrumentation, giving the song a fragile stillness.
Ahead of her debut EP Trace (2026), she crafts a space where shadows gather, but presence itself feels protective.
Connect with paper and noma
Instagram / Spotify
Izzie Yardley - Borderline
With Borderline, Izzie Yardley reveals the emotional cornerstone of her debut album Diving The Unknown (out July 16), produced by Ethan Johns. Recorded live with the full band in one room at Farleigh, the slow-burning track unfolds like "treading the bottom of a murky lake," guitars and drums circling beneath her steady declaration: "If you don't know by now, I won't let you down." It's immersive, instinct-led indie-folk that trusts the moment to find its own ending.
Connect with Izzie Yardley
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / Website
Ian Cobiella - Trial By Fire
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Ian Cobiella blends classical training with folk and alternative influences on Trial By Fire. Declarative yet reflective, the single considers what it means to give everything and accept the outcome without bitterness.
With understated production and emotional honesty at its core, the song feels like standing still after the flames; steady enough to say, simply, I tried my best.
Connect with Ian Cobiella
Instagram / Spotify
Spotify Playlist
Are you an independent artist making music that belongs in Dreaming of Wanderlust? We are always looking for serene, cinematic tracks for our monthly features. Send your submissions to <info+playlists@musicngear.com>
About Eugenia Roditis
Eugenia's passion for music was ignited from an early age as she grew up in a family of musicians. She loves attending concerts and festivals, while constantly seeking fresh and exciting new artists across diverse genres. Eugenia joined the MusicnGear team in 2012.
Contact Eugenia Roditis at eugenia.roditis@kinkl.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
Interested in a music feature, writing a story as a guest or joining the Musicngear team as a Contributing Author? Contact us at info+blog@musicngear.com
