A Night Walk in The Underground Forest: New Synth Pop, Alt Pop + Electronic Music We Loved
Welcome to A Night Walk in The Underground Forest - a curated series where I hand-select my favourite new releases.
Featuring Art Simone, Kid Distance, Lord Phobos, Kenny Ueda, STM, The Scumfrog, Studio Object, ARK IDENTITY, K-LONE and Jam City.
This edition features: a song reminiscent of ‘Plantasia’, the opening song to Mort Garson’s ‘Mother Earth's Plantasia’; a song that has a dreamy, seafoam-pink quality; an off-kilter electronic song that sounds like a tiny alien spacecraft had landing on the lawn; an electronic song that has elements reminiscent of The Shapeshifters’ 2004 hit ‘Lola’s Theme’ and Moloko’s ‘Sing It Back’; a witchy, cybernetic trance song; a song with the campest music video of 2026 that made me feel the same way the talking club scene in ‘Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar’ did; a song so smooth it sounds like it is laced in 1970s velour; a song with a groove so epic that if you put this on in the car and told everyone it was a a hit from the 1980s they would believe you; and more!
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A Night Walk in The Underground Forest 🌙 Synth Pop • Electronic Pop • Alt Pop & Electronic
Lord Phobos - Dreaming of Pie
Photo by Evie Mayne
We are kicking things off this week with a bit more of a chilled-out vibe with ‘Dreaming of Pie ’(taken from ‘Lounge Music & Other Delights Vol 1’).
This reminded me of ‘Plantasia’, the opening song of Mort Garson’s 1976 album ‘Mother Earth's Plantasia’, which piqued my interest immediately.
‘Dreaming of Pie’ sounds like the kind of song you would listen to in the evenings, while lying on the ground surrounded by your houseplants, sinking into a state of blissful relaxation for the night ahead. It sounds like letting your mind wander, like the kind of dreaming you do at home, inducing a feeling of wonder in the listener.
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Kenny Ueda - Fountain
This is taken from the upcoming album ‘Soft Suburbia ’, which you can pre-order here.
The seafoam pink of the collaged artwork combined with the surrealness of the lo-fi electronics opened a door within my imagination; a door I hadn’t realized was closed. Good art does this, stimulating your imagination and leaving the world a slightly more magical place from there on out.
‘Fountain’ feels like you are walking through the landscape of a dream, everything shimmering ever so slightly in your peripheral vision; the seafoam pink skies woven into the soundscape. This is surreal and truly wonderful.
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K-LONE - eerhT owT enO
I was watching a video by Zhade Lang over the weekend, where she knits the pink 1990s Chanel suit Marge wore in The Simpsons. She said something during the video that had a profound effect on:
“A lot, if not most people, like to believe that hard work is a good thing, consciously or subconsciously. But, the more I thought about everything, the less this seemed to be the actual case. As in, hard work may be respectable, but is it aspirational? Are we simply conflating the two? Surely, most people aspire to live a more effortless life filled with abundance, provided that it's also fulfilling. Not a life of more hard work.”
This caused an epiphany: I had chained myself to the belief that I was going to work myself into the ground, and the more miserable I was, the higher the rewards would be (despite never having seen any evidence for this). After hearing this, it felt like something within me was set free. Needless to say, this new EP from Brighton producer K-LONE ‘Have a few days off ’, found me at the perfect time.
‘erhT owT enO’ is the strangest piece from the album, merging dream-like electronic textures over strange, off-kilter sounds. It sounds like you went out into the back garden during your few days off, to find that a tiny alien spacecraft had landed on the lawn. You sit there, watching reality bend and refract before your eyes, not sure if you are really seeing what you are seeing. ‘erhT owT enO’ is beautifully weird and slightly off in a way that makes it thoroughly fascinating to listen to.
Take a few days off and let your mind wander with this.
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Jam City - My World (feat. Aidan, Bawo & Ox Eye)
Now this is just something else.
I came across this while scrolling through the ‘house’ tag on Bandcamp (I highly recommend finding new music this way, as it frees you from the algorithm and allows you to immerse yourself inside rich tapestry of music that awaits you out there).
‘My World’ opens in with a wave of funklicous velveteen sounds, straight 1970s velour, drawing you in and seducing you. I haven’t heard smoothness quite like this since Kendrick lamar’s ‘These Walls’ (from 2015’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’), praise I do not dole out lightly. The vocals are woven from silk, the production impeccable; unpredictable in the fashion where you can’t fully tell what lies ahead, a quality that makes you want more and more and more, never getting enough.
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BINGO - Art Simone
This is a new song from Australian drag artist Art Simone. There is something about the music video that made me feel the same way a beloved British TV sitcom would, and the same way the talking club scene in ‘Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar’ did (the cross stitch wooden cabin crafting vibe).
‘BINGO’ is, without a doubt, the campest, most fun music video of 2026, taking place between a bingo hall and a wonderland. I love the vocal delivery, the euphoric house chords that weave their way in as it gets closer towards the chorus. A fantastic time from start to finish.
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STM - afterglow
This is a bonus track from the deluxe edition of the artist's 2025 album ‘ULTRAVIOLET’.
This embodies the witchy, cybernetic quality that makes STM’s music (which she writes, produces and engineers herself) so entrancing. The vocals add an angelic, ethereal streak, like humanity’s siren call soaring through the indifferent, steely technology that surrounds them, technology that threatens to engulf and extinguish humanity’s very existence in a dystopian landscape, lending the song a rich visual dimension.
I would totally watch an animated TV show set in the world of STM’s music.
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Studio Object - All Around Me (Zubin FC Remix)
This sounds like the kind of remix that would have taken over the UK club scene in the 2010s, the kind of song blared from cars racing through the concrete cityscape.
The bassline is ominous and all-consuming, the drums urgent, accompanying you as you venture out into the darkness of night. This is a remix of the fantastic new single from London-based artist Studio Object, which you can listen to here.
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ARK IDENTITY - SIT
Press Photo by Pablo Rincon
If you put this on in the car and told everyone it was a hit from the 1980s they had simply not been aware of, they would believe you. The opening to this blows you off your feet with an infectious groove and hypnotic vocals, both inviting you to tune out all the noise of the modern world and just sit and take a moment.
“Sit down, breathe out
Don't lose your head now
Reach out, shut down
Find out and fuck around”
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The Scumfrog - Made You Forget
This induced the burst of euphoria I associate with electronic music I found on the ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ series, (a place where I discovered some of my favourite electronic music, as a lot of these songs would not have been on Irish radio, also this would have been prior to internet being widely available).
The opening reminded me of The Shapeshifters’ 2004 hit ‘Lola’s Theme’, as the song progressed some funk touches reminiscent of Moloko’s ‘Sing It Back’ entered, all flowing over warm pads inducing a sense of pure and total elation. This has all the most joyous elements of house music and I just loved every second of it.
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Kid Distance - Carry Me (Away)
I randomly came across this on Instagram, and became addicted immediately. The house chords and strings induce a feeling of a mid-00s summer, the emotions you feel at a music festival, and of driving into the blood-red sunset on summer holiday somewhere in Europe.
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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
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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