The Underground Forest - Volume 38
This week's edition features; a hypnotizing art pop song that will allow you to return to who you truly are (with a wonderfully surreal music video to accompany it); a dreamy, yet haunting shoegaze song that blows through the tumbleweeds of an abandoned town; a song that sounds like it could have been in your favorite episode of Gilmore Girls; a song that sounds like introspection in autumnal New York; a song with 1990s grunge influences that Daria would have loved; a fuschia pink electronic pop song that Romy and Michele would have danced to, and more!
Featuring Sparks, Pistol Daisys, Diana McGrane, Sarah Banker, Avery Friedman, Bright Light Bright Light, Donna Lewis, Fake Dad & Orca.
Follow The Underground Forest on Spotify
Do Things My Own Way (Official Video) - Sparks
The first song to be released from the upcoming album MAD! - Sparks are back, and are as fun and creative as ever.
Do Things My Own Way has some rock elements fused with art pop style synths; the song will lull you into a state of hypnosis; in which case I suggest that you allow yourself to be fully drawn in by the beat and the rebellious mantra, tune out the chaos outside, and return to who you truly are. The music video (directed by Ambar Navarro), becomes more and more surreal as the song progresses.
On the song Sparks say: “We hope this video, even in a very small way, finally starts a meaningful dialogue about the dangers of pianos falling out of tall buildings.”
Connect with Sparks
Website / YouTube / Instagram / X / Facebook / Threads
Crying in Marseille - Pistol Daisys
This song is a serious F you to anybody who tries to stifle your creativity, under the guise of ‘knowing what's best for you’, or feels threatened in some way by you expressing yourself.
This was written after a breakup experienced by the band's vocalist Lorna, while they were on tour. This has some seriously fun 1980s alt-pop/rock vibes; put on your most fashionable outfit, turn this song up full blast, and unleash all of your emotions.
On the song Lorna quips “"Sometimes, the best way to deal with heartbreak is to dance through it. And if that fails, there’s always wine!"
Connect with Pistol Daisys
Website / Spotify / Instagram / X / Facebook
the morning after - Diana McGrane
Taken from the new 4-track EP wondering from singer/songwriter Diana Mcgrane; this song floats to your ears like light summer rainfall, filling you with the feeling of warmth that a cup of coffee in a Spanish cafe under a pink morning sky would (think Corinne Bailey Ray and Norah Jones levels of good vibes), as you breathe in, and feel the delight and wonder of being alive.
Diana’s voice is absolutely gorgeous; the guitars in this shimmer with light and joy.
Connect with Diana McGrane
Spotify / Instagram
Friends - Sarah Banker
This sounds like it is from the late 90s/early 00s, and was regularly featured in your favorite TV - show, bringing with it a nostalgic rush of warmth and joy, and most importantly, hope.
This has some lovely chilled vocals, kind of like The Cardigans (specifically Lovefool) and Natalia Imbruglia. This is simultaneously cozy and romantic; with gorgeous strings swelling over your ears, making you feel as if you are at the beach while the sun is setting. Utterly divine.
Connect with Sarah Banker
Website / YouTube / Spotify / Instagram / Facebook
Flowers Fell - Avery Friedman
Gentle, rising guitars, with lofi hummed vocals; this flows over your ears, gradually morphing into a dreamy soundscape with beautiful shoegaze influences.
This has some cool alt 1990s vibes also; the song feels introspective, like you are following someone walking through a large old city, a city what a lot of character, with a lot of old brownstones and old buildings, which is funny, because on the song the artist says the below:
“The opening melody for “Flowers Fell” came to me on a headphone-less walk home one night down Greene Avenue in Brooklyn. I had noticed that the flowers that once lined the branches had been replaced by leaves -- seemingly in the blink of an eye. I was briefly disappointed until I considered that the petals had made way for something more sustainable – and equally full of life. The song became a meditation on the concept of place – how things of our surroundings like ‘sidewalks,’ and ‘balconies’ and ‘trees,’ can act as fixed backdrops upon which we measure our personal evolutions (and the evolutions of our relationships) across the span of many seasons.”
Connect with Avery Friedman
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / YouTube / X
Enjoy Youth (Welsh Version) - Bright Light Bright Light, Donna Lewis
This is a collaboration between the multi-talented and acclaimed LGBTQ+ artist Bright Light Bright Light and the superstar that is Donna Lewis (Harvest Moon being one of my all time favourite songs), with Jon Shave also on production (who you may know from his work on Charli XCX’s ‘Brat), a section of the song being translated into Welsh, by Welsh singer-songwriter Al Lewis.
This song is a warm, euphoric blend of pop and electronics, with divine vocals, that will make you feel like you are out on a summer evening, under an endless sky, the air sparkling with anticipation.
On the song Bright Light Bright Light says: “As a teen growing up in Wales, I fell so absolutely in love with Donna’s voice on ‘I Love You Always Forever’, ‘Without Love’ and ‘Silent World’ from her debut album. When I thought about ways to honour where I’m from, I thought about singing in Welsh and as a deeply 90s child, I immediately heard Donna’s voice on the song. She’s an absolute sweetheart who has kept her ethereal voice somehow exactly the same over the decades. I’m absolutely floored that this artist I’ve loved so long is helping me pay homage to my homeland. It feels so magical.”
Connect with Donna Lewis
YouTube / Spotify / Instagram / X / Facebook
Connect with Bright Light Bright Light
YouTube / Spotify / Instagram / X / Facebook
Machinery - Fake Dad
This new song from NYC-based band Fake Dad is not only sonically 1990s grunge adjacent, it also has the disillusionment that was the beating heart of music from that era.
About this Andrea says the song is “about the pressure for women in music to package themselves as consumable, f*ckable products just to be taken seriously—and how that pits them against each other and themselves. This angry, teeth-grinding rock/pop track was written right after an industry showcase where every girl performing wore the exact same spike-studded bra—too concerned with sizing each other up to actually have a good time. As they eyed each other with loathing and borderline obsession, I stood in the corner feeling really sad that nobody was trying to connect, which is what we were all supposedly there to do. This song was written as a response to the way this kind of woman on woman (or more generally, artist on artist) hate perpetuates these spaces while the real culprits—our sick, sad society governed by narcissistic, billionaire white men—totally fly under the radar. In the end, the man is the real one we're calling out. The one that we're sick and tired of watching get what they want, while we sit back eating from their palm.”
Opening with drums, a synthesised bassline and distorted vocals, this morphs into a wall of rage and catharsis, one that will make you feel less alone, less like there is something wrong with you, and will subsequently allow yourself to feel human again.
I love the chorus on this also, it has a lovely alt-90s earworm quality to it.
Connect with Fake Dad
YouTube / Spotify / Instagram
You Can Try - Orca
A blend of lofi, shoegaze, alt-pop textures; that make this feel like it comes to your ears from an abandoned town where the only thing that remains open is a run down dive bar.
This has entrancing vocals, a lush dream pop background, all blending together to form something vaguely haunting, yet wonderful.
Connect with Orca
Spotify / Instagram / Apple Music / YouTube
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
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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