A Sunlit Walk in the Underground Forest - February 2026
Welcome to A Sunlit Walk in the Underground Forest!
Featuring Jontan, ROREY, Tele, KEELEY, Dash Hammerstein, MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Nevaris Project, Ayla Loon & Emily Scott Robinson.
This month's edition features a song that sounds as warm as a Stevie Wonder classic; a shoegaze adjacent song that will inspire a sense of youthful hope and adventure; a song that will remind you of the organic beauty of a live performance; a song about the artist’s first queer relationship; a song that sounds like a dream floating in a snow storm; a song that sounds like if The Sound of Music took place in an enchanted forest and more!
A Sunlit Walk In The Underground Forest ☀️ Light Pop • Folk • Electronica • RnB
Jontan - The Only Man You Need
Taken from the Chicago-based artist’s new album ‘The Yellow House’ (which you can buy via Bandcamp here) - this is a blast of sun-dappled tangerine dancing over your ears. ‘The Only Man You Need’ has the warmth and soulful bliss of a Stevie Wonder song, and will make you feel like there is, in fact, an end in sight to this never-ending Winter. The album was a DIY endeavor, with the songs being written and produced by the artist - you can feel the warmth of human creativity running throughout.
This is a song to listen to in the evenings in summer while the sun sets - it also has a classic soul quality to it - a quality that the mixing by John Trainum preserves.
Connect with Jontan
Bandcamp / Website / Instagram
Nevaris Project - Remedy (Live Studio Version)
This is from Manhattan-based collective NEVARIS; which, from the moment ‘Remedy’ started - I was reminded of the organic magic that comes through when recording things live; the soundscape shimmers and breathes, it has a synapse-like quality, capturing the alchemy that exists in the room between musicians, without compressing and producing it into oblivion (something I am 1000% guilty of).
This has an air of mystery to it, an unknowable quality at its core that makes it all the more bewitching. Put this on and go for a night-time walk through the city streets.
On the song Agustín Nevaris says, "The title 'Remedy' speaks to the power of music to bring healing to our bodies and minds, especially during troubled times like the present. The song was originally written by Bill Laswell and me, and Jonathan Maron does an amazing job of bringing the basslines to life in this version. We all need remedies in this world, and hopefully, the song will have a positive effect on those who hear it."
Connect with Nevaris Project
Bandcamp / Instagram / X / Facebook
ROREY - Temporary Tragedy
Photo credit: Julia Griswold
This new release from NYC-based artist ROREY feels like a bitterly cold Winter's day, the blend of alt-pop guitars and strings giving this a serious early 2000s vibe.
The lyrics ‘Sorry you became/Everything you hate/You know I would stay/ I just don′t feel safe’ will stay with you - the dark musical tapestry it all unfolds on mournful, with a dash of hope.
The music video references Carmen Maria Machado’s ‘In The Dream House’ - a memoir about an abusive queer relationship, which features some of the most hypnotically beautiful writing I have ever read in a non-fiction book.
On the song, the artist says, "The song is about the cost of self abandonment when you grip intimacy and what it means to choose yourself. While the video is rooted in my first queer relationship, its message is universal: sometimes love isn't enough to bridge the gap between hope and reality, when the other person can't meet you there."
Connect with ROREY
Instagram / Facebook
Tele - Snowbird
I came across this on YouTube and was immediately drawn to it as the thumbnail looked like it was a still from a dream.
This sounds like if ‘The Sound of Music’ took place in an enchanted forest in Winter; it feels like being in nature in a snowy folk tale breathing in the cold air - the instruments swirl around your ears, the vocals bewitch you from somewhere beyond - this will both refresh and heal you this Winter.
Connect with Tele
Instagram
Dash Hammerstein - Noise Machine
This is a new song from the songwriter/film composer’s upcoming album ‘Dash Hammerstein’.
‘Noise Machine’ is a gentle, warm song that feels like it is from your favourite childhood movie set in Autumnal Maine - a familiar favourite you return to time and time again. The slight analog quality to this paired with the arrangement style, makes it feel like it could be from the 1960s, and will leave you feeling happier and lighter after listening.
On the song, the artist says it “is a simple song inspired by my reliance on the 'cabin downpour' setting on my white noise app. Sometimes when it is raining outside, I will close the window and play the fake rain sound to fall asleep. The woodwinds (arranged and performed by Michael Sachs) are inspired by White Album-era McCartney and old musical hall records, lending a goofy air to what is a pretty goofy sentiment. Opting for the artificial over the real"
Connect with Dash Hammerstein
Website / Instagram
Ayla Loon - Flying Dream
This is taken from the artist’s upcoming album ‘Melt In Your Hands’ (to be released February 19, 2026). ‘Flying Dream’ opens with disjointed piano chords that feel like they flutter over your head on a swirl of snowflakes; before burying you in a warmly knit bed of sound. This actually does sound like a dream, with plumes of cloud-like textures bursting out from behind the vocals every so often - glorious.
Connect with Ayla Loon
Bandcamp / Instagram
Emily Scott Robinson - Appalachia
The third track from the Tennessee-based artist’s new album ‘Appalachia’ opens with gentle guitars over which ambient ghostly textures twinkle at the very edges of your ears. The vocals soar, reminiscing ‘I dream you in our old life/High up on a hill/Reading poems by the firelight/Looking younger still.’ This is the kind of song that will make you cry in public, and in its beauty, forces you to face the fleeting nature of life and of those around you.
Connect with Emily Scott Robinson
Website / Instagram / X / Facebook
KEELEY - Hungry For The Prize
Photo by @ chrishoggephotography
This is taken from the Anglo-Irish trio’s upcoming album ‘Girl On The Edge Of The World’ (which you can pre-order here), which “takes the perspective of teenage German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser, whose murder in Northern Ireland in April 1988 on her first solo adventure away from her parents, remains unsolved”. Keely has heavily documented this case, via her blog The Keeley Chronicles, making sure that the wonderful Inga Maria Hauser, and the brutal way she was murdered, is not forgotten.
‘Hungry For The Prize’ captures the soaring hope that comes with embarking on an adventure in youth. The plush shoegaze adjacent soundscapes have a nostalgic quality - you could very easily think that this is a previously unreleased song from the 1990s underground music scene. This bursting with life, it is a wonderful listen.
Connect with KEELEY
Website / Instagram / Twitter / Facebook
MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY - Cattle Bells' ft. Sir Alexander McCall Smith
This is taken from the upcoming album ‘In My Mind There's A Photograph’, in which the artist put together a series of lyrical contributions from world-leading authors; where they reflect on ‘a single significant photo of them’.
The above is a photo of writer Sir Alexander McCall Smith (author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) sitting on the top of a hill in Kalahari. There is something about the way the piano and vocals unfold in this that induces an almost overwhelming sense of memory - I found that I had an intense emotional response to this song, kind of like what you experience when looking back through old photos - so I think it is safe to say that the artist managed to fully capture the concept of the album in the music. There is something about this also that will also serve as a reminder to live your life fully, and drink in each moment.
MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY (aka Colin MacIntyre) explains of the track:
"I have loved working with Sandy; he is such a generous and inspirational writer and man, and I am honoured to have this personal story from him of connection with ourselves and where we feel at home as the lead single off the album. The opening line, 'This must be me...', with the intriguing use of the word 'must', strikes me as a line only a novelist could summon. I have always been inspired by Paul Simon and his Gracelands album, and this song allowed me to achieve an ambition of working with the glorious London African Gospel Choir".
Connect with MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Instagram / X / Facebook
Spotify Playlist
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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