A Night Walk in The Underground Forest - April 2026
New synthpop, alt pop + electronic music we loved!
Featuring mary in the junkyard, The Aces, lowsunday, Jump Source, Billy Woods, Allegories, About You, Cherry Bomb, ISTA, Monster Rally & Public Circuit.
This edition features a song that has Janelle Monae ‘Make Me Feel’ levels of deathly smooth funk; a song that has the steely harshness of 1990s technology as depicted in science fiction movies; a hypnotizing song that sounds like it plays over the landscape of an apocalypse; a palm tree-soaked balmy soundscape that is reminiscent of 2010s Frank Ocean; a song that invites you to relinquish control that sounds like it could be from a psychedelic 1970s summer; a song that feels like existential dread in sonic form and more!
A Night Walk in The Underground Forest 🌙 Synth Pop • Electronic Pop • Alt Pop & Electronic
mary in the junkyard - Crash Landing
This came up as a recommendation, and I was immediately intrigued by the name. This sounds like it takes place in the strange and twisted landscape of a dystopia; the organ that opens the song coming to your ears through a harsh, blackened landmass, floating past the twisted skeletal structures of previously occupied structures abandoned. This is eerie and hauntingly beautiful - I love what they are doing here.
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The Aces - Jealous
Press photo by Dana Trippe
I will be filing a lawsuit against the music industry at large if this is not the song of the Spring/Summer. Taken from their debut album ‘Gold Star Baby: After Hours’, this has Janelle Monae ‘Make Me Feel’ levels of funk, with a deathly smooth Prince-worthy chorus.
On the deluxe album as a whole, the band shared, "We felt like we wanted to keep the 'Gold Star Baby' party going. We had so much fun touring this record and the culture we built with the fans and wanted one last hurrah. So, we decided to share some of our unreleased favs from the era. Little bit of heartbreak, a lot of disco. That's GSB."
Connect with The Aces
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Lowsunday - Nevver
This is taken from the duo’s EP ‘Low Sunday Ghost Machine - White EP’. ‘Nevver’ begins with a deeply hypnotizing bassline and drums, with industrial, disintegrating sounds blowing in like the fumes from a chemical landfill outside the window. This will take you on a delightfully dark journey - made all the more mesmerizing by something at its centre, that sounds joyful and funk adjacent - like a radio in the distance in an apocalypse.
On the song, Shane Sahene says, "This is one of my favorite songs on the White EP. These lyrics are related to an increasing sense of apathy in the world - how it feels like even love isn't enough sometimes and yet, the only fate worse is to let go of it. The feeling that happiness can be delicate and unhappiness can be so determined to take its place.This song touches on very early influences and the recording captured some of the most unique guitar tones we've ever used. What's unusual is that, separately, Bobby had been working on a bass line and I had been playing this guitar part. It was serendipitous in how well they went together to form this song"
Bobby Spell shares, "Nevver was enjoyable for the two of us to compose. I had been playing with this menacing bass line that happened to be a perfect match for a guitar part Shane had been working on. It gave us an opportunity to explore darker tones and indicated the need for a more sparce production. The almost plodding tempo made this song more challenging and fun, imbuing it with a combination of creepy darkness with a dash of humor."
Connect with lowsunday
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Allegories - Horrible Wonder (Official VHS)
This is a new song from experimental duo Allegories. There is an undercurrent of dread running through this; in the pulsating electronic soundscape and vocals, it feels like existential dread in sonic form. The song invites you to give into the chaos - I really appreciate how Allegories can communicate the subliminal elements of the concept to the listener immediately, something easier said than done.
Connect with Allegories
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Jump Source - Empty Bars ft. billy woods
I love songs that entice you into their world; that trust the listener. On this subject, I rail against and constantly disagree with the advice that every song has to have either no intro, or it has to be under a certain amount of time, because “the listener will not be interested!! The listener is busy!!” - as it is so easily disprovable (e.g Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’), and I generally find that this idea approaches songs like they are ads, which they are not.
‘Jump Source’ is an example of a song that trusts the listener with its dark, sparse, and eerie electronic soundscape, enchanting you from the word go, with Billy Wood’s razor-sharp bars coming in: “it snows, but it never sticks anymore/I step out to smoke/white women think I’m working the door.” In my mind, this song takes place in the metropolis of 1990s NYC, and even though it exists in a heaving city, it is contemplative, and in the midst of all the chaos, in this song, you find stillness. A masterpiece.
Connect with Jump Source
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Holiday Haze (feat. LEISURE) - Monster Rally
This is taken from the artist's new album ‘Echoes of the Emerald Sands’, which allows you to take a tropical holiday no matter where you are. The vocal melody in this is utterly divine, enticing you into this shimmering, palm tree-covered world. This reminds me of 2010s Frank Ocean, and I love it.
On the song Monster Rally says, “I first met the guys from LEISURE a few years ago when I was doing support on their first US tour. It was really inspiring to see the six of them each night pulling off all their silky vocals and smooth guitar riffs so seamlessly. ‘Holiday Haze’ started off with this cool, kind of laid back groove I wrote and after the song started to take shape, I immediately thought about LEISURE for the collab — luckily they were feeling it too. When I first got their demo back it was pretty surreal. Their songs have been stuck in my head since our tour three years ago and now this one is too. The track ended up having this really cool, hazy, almost sunset vibe that felt like the perfect soundtrack to a slow evening somewhere warm.”
Connect with Monster Rally
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Cherry Bomb - Digital Girl
Photo credit: Matty Vogel
I was immediately curious to see what this was. This pays homage to Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ (on a side note, I have been on a binge through Madonna’s discography, which began on a rewatch of The Devil Wears Prada, when the song ‘Jump’ came on) - the results being a shimmering, Y2k pop-flavoured soundscape with production that is reminiscent of Lady Gaga.
On the song, the artist says, “‘Digital Girl' asks how far are you willing to go for your dreams and at what cost? In this Information Age where the pressures of perfection and an unsustainable quantity over quality are constantly burning out not just artists but everyone who is plugged in, it’s impossible to not romanticize unplugging entirely." She continues, “Remembering a time when you could tour without social media to adapting to social media now becoming an algorithmic gatekeeper for musicians, while the charts are riddled with AI-generated songs leaves you at a crossroads of having to partake in the systems you hate for the sake of what you love."
I think it is important to think critically about these subjects, like Cherry Bomb is doing, as art is supposed to question what we have somehow decided is the ‘norm.’ I hope more people in the music industry do the same.
Connect with Cherry Bomb
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ISTA - Up To Chance
Photo Credit: Bob Greco
The music video for this was filmed in NYC and directed by performance artist/filmmaker Alexandra Reisberg. This is a thoroughly fun time - if someone told you that ‘Up To Chance’ was from a psychedelic summer of the 1970s, you would believe it. I love the kitsch quality to all of this - on the music video, director Alexandra Reisberg says, “We really gave it up to Chance and got more than we hoped for. Central to our concept was channeling The Fool tarot card: Leaping into the unknown and embracing whatever comes your way.”
Hopefully this will provide you with a catharsis, allowing you to unclench and let it all flow.
Connect with ISTA
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Public Circuit - Damager - r//mix
Press photo by Sydney Tate
This exists in the concrete subterranean halls of the 1998 movie Blade and/or ‘The Matrix’. There is something about this that has the flavour and harshness of 1990s technology as depicted in science fiction. This is a remix that the band did themselves, which I love, and it is taken from an upcoming remix album of their 2025 album ‘Modern Church.’
Connect with Public Circuit
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About You - What if I Could (Live at Modern Electric)
Photo credit: James Kang
This was recorded live at Modern Electric Sound Recorders in Dallas, Texas, and is taken from the band’s debut album ‘The Lighthouse, The Storm.’
This rendition of ‘What if I Could’ is hypnotic, bewitching you into the shadows; the energy palpable throughout. The strength and power of About You's bandleader Max Poscente’s vocals are something to behold.
On the live sessions, Max shares, “We wanted to capture what it was like to record live in the studio where we made the album, in Modern Electric Sound Recorders. I think there’s a sense of return in these videos, recording live-takes of these songs we worked years crafting. The recordings are intricate but at the heart of them are songs we really believe in, and this live performance showcases their potency."
Connect with About You
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About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
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