Atwood Journal is worked up to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Each week, Mitch will share a set of songs, albums, and artists who’ve caught his ears, eyes, and coronary heart. There may be a lot unimaginable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to pay attention. Via our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a lightweight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of recent and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options Billie Marten, benches, Gatlin, The Glad Suits, BODHI, and shortly, shortly!
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“Feeling”
by Billie Marten
Tright here’s a second simply earlier than nightfall when the world exhales – when the wind stills, the bushes hush, and all the things appears suspended in golden gentle. Billie Marten’s “Feeling” lives in that second. It’s a tune of delicate grace and quiet catharsis, gently unfolding like a whisper within the breeze. One of many sweetest, softest songs I’ve heard all 12 months, “Feeling” stopped me in my tracks the primary time I heard it dwell – simply Marten, her guitar, and a room filled with hearts quietly breaking open inside Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater. She opened her set with it that night time, and two weeks later, I’m nonetheless floating.
Sweep the leaves and reduce the air
Discover a secret hanging there
You might be hiding on the high of the steps
The place you might be alone
Drawing roads into the sand
Falling deep into your arms
Barely grown sufficient to face
And looking out up at you
The second single off Marten’s forthcoming album Canine Eared (out July 18th by way of Fiction Information), “Feeling” is softly beautiful – a dreamy, aching give up that swells with heat and marvel. Each breath, each lyric, each lullaby-like guitar strum feels deeply intentional and deeply felt. The refrain alone – “And also you look so good / And you’re so clear / I’m on my method, hey, hey / I’m barely respiratory” – is sufficient to knock the wind out of you, even because it lifts you up.
And also you look so good
And also you look so clear
I’m on my method, hey, hey
I’m in between feeling
Feeling…
Marten describes “Feeling” as a tapestry of reminiscence and sensory impressions. “I’ve found that I’ve a extremely explicit long-term reminiscence: I’ve particular sensory recollections from once I was two onwards, that I can recall simply now,” she tells Atwood Journal. “One among these is marking out roads in my grandmother’s patterned carpet, for my Dad’s previous 1950/60s toy automobiles to drive on. I used to hint patterns in all the things: material seats on the dentist, carpets, wallpaper and partitions, raindrops on automobile home windows. Every part had a sample to be observed.”
That sensitivity to element – to motion, texture, gentle, and shadow – flows by way of this tune’s each word. “One other robust reminiscence is the sensation of massive, heat arms if you’re a baby and the way comforting and secure that feels,” she continues. “The notion of age being so far-off from you, however you understand it’s a future inevitability, and that you just’re in your method there. The inarticulateness of that ‘feeling’ you’ll be able to’t describe but, however you’re conscious of a push on the earth that you just don’t but perceive.”
We’re oh so evenly right here
Softer than a rabbit ear
Watch me as I disappear
Into the good unknown
It’s this intangible, tender pull that offers “Feeling” its form and soul. That, and the spellbinding guitarwork of Núria Graham (one other former Atwood artist-to-watch), which Marten says “sparks the album into life and actually units a benchmark by way of rhythm.”
“Feeling” is extra than simply an album opener – it’s a mild awakening, a shimmering prelude to no matter’s subsequent. It’s a tune to breathe with, to hum alongside to on hazy summer time nights, to wrap your self in when phrases received’t come. The musical equal of a heat breeze, it drifts by way of the air and lingers lengthy after it’s gone. If this finally ends up on my record of the very best songs of the 12 months, I received’t be in the least shocked – it’s that particular, and with Canine Eared out in only a month’s time, Billie Marten is just simply getting began.
And also you look so good
And you’re so clear
I’m on my method, hey, hey
I’m barely respiratory
Into the sensation
Into the sensation
“Kill the Lights”
by benches
benches’ “Kill the Lights” is an unassuming beast of a tune – the type that creeps beneath your pores and skin, then units your soul on fireplace. From the primary pay attention again in April, it gripped me with its feverish vitality and by no means let go. Two months and numerous performs later, I’m lastly prepared to speak about it – and rattling, what a surprising, sub-three-minute fever dream it’s.
The title observe off the San Diego band’s lately launched EP, “Kill the Lights” is a searing, cinematic indie rock reckoning: Unrelenting, immersive, and emotionally charged. It doesn’t simply really feel like catharsis – it is catharsis. A visceral purge of tension and existential dread, this tune hits like a panic assault in movement, then holds you regular because it crashes into launch. “I nonetheless get that feeling that there’s poison in my coronary heart,” frontman Anson Kelley sings, his voice uncooked and looking. “In one other life, I used to be virtually me / On the coast, close to the angels / The place the sunshine can’t see me.”
I nonetheless get that fantasy that tears me aside
I certain was a fighter once I performed the guitar
These fingers obtained stiff, I took one other sip
And allow you to go
All of the years fade from my thoughts
All of the years fade from my thoughts
All of the years fade from my thoughts
“At its core, the tune is about worry,” Kelley – who performs along with Ethan Bowers (drums), Evan Ojeda (lead guitar), and Charlie Baird (bass) – tells Atwood Journal. “I believe it’s a quite common feeling to be afraid to make the flawed resolution and find yourself residing a life that isn’t according to what you had been hoping for. This tune is like an anxiety-driven play-by-play of a worst-case situation. A life the place you made all of the flawed selections and each time you catch a glimpse of the ghost within the rearview, you drive quicker in the wrong way attempting to flee it.”
“I believe worry and fear and this type of existential dread that’s tied to all of it is a driving think about loads of what I do, and I believe these feelings make for potent songs. Generally after we write, we prefer to try to have a vacation spot in thoughts. And most instances, anxiousness and uncertainty will creep up and bleed into the work. So loads of instances I simply find yourself writing about these all-consuming fears, unintentionally. It’s important to embrace what scares you and face it head on. Often if one thing scares you, there’s one thing necessary there.”
I nonetheless get that feeling that there’s poison in my coronary heart
Jesus was a household good friend, however he by no means despatched me playing cards
Nicely, slightly alcohol for the OCD
In one other life, I used to be virtually me
On the coast, close to the angels
The place the sunshine can’t see me
I attempted to allow you to go
However I do know they nonetheless make enjoyable of me on a regular basis
Can all of the years fade from my thoughts?
There’s no pretense right here – simply uncooked, radiant warmth. The band pour themselves into each second: from the raunchy, distorted guitar tones to the propulsive, driving rhythm part that offers the observe its depth and edge. Kelley’s vocals teeter on the sting of unraveling, and that’s a part of what makes this tune so gut-wrenching. It’s unfiltered, pressing, and painfully human.
“Kill the Lights” doesn’t run from the darkish – it lives in it. And in doing so, it shines.
All of the years fade from my thoughts
All of the years fade from my thoughts
All of the years fade from my thoughts
It’s only a fantasy
It’s only a fantasy
It’s only a fantasy
A silly fantasy
“If She Was a Boy”
by Gatlin
Tright here’s a form of ache that lives in silence – within the issues we don’t say, the wishes we bury, the fears that hold us from talking our truths. Gatlin’s “If She Was a Boy” cracks that silence open with grace, vulnerability, and a dizzying, dreamy magnificence. Her first launch of 2025, and her debut for Dualtone Information, seems like each a reckoning and a launch: a young, aching coming-out tune that’s as candy as it’s sorrowful, as releasing as it’s fraught. It’s brutally sincere and unfiltered, and but there’s one thing wondrous and radiant about it – like daylight breaking by way of clouds.
I caught her like a chilly in August
Is there a tablet to cease the physique aches?
She touched my hand stated
“Wanna be chaotic”
I’ll do my time and pray all of it away
She took all my plans and tossed ‘em
Drew up all my traces and crossed ‘em
Warning, talking to a responsible aware
I don’t actually assume I’m seeing straight
I’ve been a fan of Gatlin’s because the starting – in premiering 2019’s “Curly Hair,” I admired her lyrically-potent, melodically-savvy artistry, praising it as “an artist deep within the technique of discovering herself and coming into her personal as a self-aware mover and shaker in her neighborhood.” 2020’s debut EP Sugarcoated was simply that – a stirring outpouring of vivid and susceptible emotion, all packed into an totally fascinating document on the intersection of the pop, different, and indie people worlds. She has persistently dazzled all through the previous five-plus years, and but, this second seems like a reintroduction – – like she’s entering into a brand new chapter, boldly and unapologetically. “If She Was A Boy” floats on reverb-drenched synths and tender indie-pop textures, nevertheless it hits like a confession that’s been sitting in your chest for years. “If I used to be born one other time, one other state / Would I be torn between somebody you’re keen on and somebody you tolerate?” she sings, her voice trembling on the sting of heartbreak. “But when she was a boy, I’d be in love.”
If I used to be born one other time one other state
Would I be torn between somebody you’re keen on
and somebody you tolerate
I’m too afraid of what you assume and who’s above
But when she was a boy
I’d be in love, I’d be in love
“I wrote this unhealthy boy with two extremely gifted queer girls, Chloe Kraemer and Amanda Cy, whereas working in London,” Gatlin shares. “It was such a particular room to be part of – it’s not usually I’ve gotten to make a observe with all girls. As I used to be packing for my journey to London, I had misplaced my present journal so introduced one from years prior that had some empty pages within the again. The day earlier than we wrote this tune, I used to be flipping by way of the previous pages and again in 2018 I had written about my first time having a crush on a lady. One of many issues I had written was ‘If she was a boy I’d be in love’ – so I introduced that into Chloe and Amanda and it was one of the vital seamless songs written on the album. Humorous sufficient, the lady I had a crush on was from London, large full circle second.”
Perhaps it’s simply trigger she’s obtained a British accent
Perhaps it’s simply trigger I wanna appear to be her
It’s only a section, I’ll brush it off
And I received’t take into consideration her contact or
How her pores and skin and hair and lips would pull me beneath
If I used to be born one other time one other state
Would I be torn between somebody you’re keen on
and somebody you tolerate
I’m too afraid of what you assume and who’s above
But when she was a boy
I’d be in love, I’d be in love
There’s magic in that full circle – in taking a line written years in the past in a diary and turning it right into a shimmering, soul-baring anthem. “If She Was A Boy” is the form of tune that brings artist and listener nearer collectively: It makes area for queerness, confusion, longing, and liberation. Gatlin wraps uncooked emotion in magnificence and lets it breathe. It’s a tune for anybody who’s ever questioned what love is meant to appear to be – and who they’re allowed to like. And if that is only the start of her subsequent period, I can’t wait to listen to what comes subsequent.
If I used to be born one other time one other state
Would I be torn between somebody you’re keen on
and somebody you tolerate
I’m too afraid of what you assume and who’s above
But when she was a boy
I’d be in love, I’d be in love
“Every part You Do”
by The Glad Suits
The Glad Suits’ “Every part You Do” seems like a jolt of pleasure straight to the guts – just like the sonic equal of a confetti cannon exploding midair: A radiant, rambunctious rush of feel-good fervor that hits onerous, quick, and leaves you grinning like an fool. It’s loud, it’s full of life, it’s unabashedly big – the form of cinematic indie rock anthem that fills each inch of a room, lifts the spirit, and reminds you what it feels prefer to be absolutely, really alive.
It is a band I’ve recognized from the very starting – once I featured their debut EP Awfully Apeelin’ again in 2016, I wrote: “Calvin Langman and Ross Monteith are as shocked as anybody else is by the success of their band The Glad Suits’ debut EP, however on reflection, maybe they shouldn’t be…” 9 years, a number of albums, and numerous tour stops later – together with Lollapalooza and different competition levels around the globe – The Glad Suits are nonetheless delivering that very same spark I first heard in “Whereas You Fade Away,” however with much more firepower, polish, and fervour. Their fourth album Lovesick is out September 19th, and “Every part You Do” is its first exuberant, heart-on-sleeve style.
Another night time of extra time
Preserve me up on this field with knuckles white
Nicely I’ve obtained payments to pay, and I’ve obtained mouths to feed
I’m so moody, moody, moody
(Moody, moody, moody)
You then caught me without warning with this helpless feeling
Everyone needs to like you
You’re the apple of my eye, what I’m all the time consuming
Everyone needs to like you
Oh, everyone needs to like you
(Everyone needs you)
However I can’t afford to like
“Every part You Do” feels just like the musical manifestation of that electrical, butterflies-in-your-stomach form of love – the type that hits like a freight practice and leaves you breathless, giddy, and alive. From the primary word, it bursts ahead with radiant vitality: Pulsing drums, hovering strings, and Calvin Langman’s signature cello traces exploding into technicolor euphoria. It’s pure serotonin – the form of observe that calls for to be blasted with the home windows down, arms outstretched, coronary heart huge open. And beneath that jubilance lies a thread of craving and vulnerability, grounding the observe in one thing actual and relatable.
For all its bombast and brilliance, “Every part You Do” continues to be a love tune at its core – one bursting on the seams with emotion, longing, and vulnerability. Langman’s lyrics toe the road between pleasure and desperation, capturing the spiraling rush of falling head-over-heels for somebody you are feeling you’ll be able to’t have: “I can’t get my thoughts off loving you / ’Trigger I’m in love with all the things you do / So assist me please from falling quicker / There’s no stopping this catastrophe.” It’s giddy, breathless, and slightly bit unhinged – a heartsick anthem set to a euphoric soundtrack. That pressure between exuberance and emotional chaos is precisely what makes it hit so onerous.
I can’t get my thoughts off loving you
Trigger I’m in love with all the things you do
So assist me please from falling quicker
There’s no stopping this catastrophe
Save me, received’t you say you’re keen on me too?
“I learn someplace that the quantity of married US adults dropped from 67% in 1990 to 53% at this time,” frontman Calvin Langman shares. “On the identical time, over 50% of millennials are taking over a number of jobs and ‘polyworking.’ I’m no information scientist, however why is it so rattling costly to be in a relationship nowadays? Perhaps it’s simply my social circles and algorithm, however there’s a shared feeling amongst the hoi polloi of being overworked, underpaid, and underloved. It’s not that we don’t wish to be in relationships, it’s simply that we merely can’t afford to like. ‘Every part You Do’ is my very own inside battle of combating for my coronary heart vs. being sensible and rational. Understanding me, the guts all the time finds a approach to win…”
Langman continues, “ “For the grand premiere of the larger, higher The Glad Suits 2.0, we knew we needed to present what we do finest: carry out! The video was shot within the basement of the punk-world-famous First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, together with a skeleton crew of men who knew how one can squeeze each ounce of vibe out of that area and into the video. Satirically, we had been kicked out two hours sooner than we anticipated because of an Agnostic group who had rented the area after us, claiming they rented it sooner than it stated on the decision sheet. They appeared fairly certain about this for a bunch of people that aren’t certain about rather a lot. Nonetheless, over 11 hours of taking pictures, we obtained the handfuls of takes wanted for our first performance-based music video ever, and the primary look into the way forward for The Glad Suits.”
I say, you say, “What’s the deal?
It’s a really quick life with no enchantment”
Nicely I’ve obtained time to kill and I’ve obtained drugs to take
I’m so moody, moody, moody
(Moody, moody, moody)
You then caught me without warning with this helpless feeling
Everyone needs to like you
You’re the apple of my eye, what I’m all the time consuming
Everyone needs to like you
Oh, everyone needs to like you
(Everyone needs you)
However I can’t afford to like
I can’t get my thoughts off loving you
Trigger I’m in love with all the things you do
So assist me please from falling quicker
There’s no stopping this catastrophe
Save me, received’t you say you’re keen on me too?
There’s a sure magic to this band’s musical alchemy – the way in which they mix catharsis with pleasure, unfiltered emotion with electrifying hooks. “Every part You Do” is an ideal instance: a tune that wears its coronary heart on its sleeve whereas compelling you to bounce, shout, and sing your lungs out. It’s a testomony to their evolution and their unrelenting sense of enjoyable – the type that’s constructed not simply from expertise, however from belief, chemistry, and years of shared development.
The Glad Suits have all the time been the form of band that makes you are feeling higher simply by urgent play. And now, almost a decade in, they’re not simply nonetheless doing that – they’re doing it greater, louder, and extra fantastically than ever earlier than. “Every part You Do” isn’t only a comeback – it’s a celebration.
You drive me loopy on a regular basis
You spin in circles ’spherical my thoughts
And if the celebrities would all align
Then would you’re keen on me?
Would you be mine?
I can’t get my thoughts off loving you
Trigger I’m in love with all the things you do
So assist me please from falling quicker
There’s no stopping this catastrophe
Save me, received’t you say you’re keen on me too?
“The Little Dove”
by BODHI
Oh how I like an excellent brood – and BODHI’s “This Little Dove” hits that emotional candy spot with beautiful precision. A smoldering, soulful seduction, it’s each soothing and aching: an atmospheric, slow-burning confession that stirs one thing deep inside. Their voice – lovely, daring, and heartbreakingly tender – aches with uncooked vulnerability, turning ache into poetry and burnout into balm. It’s a tune you really feel in your bones, in your breath, within the quiet locations you don’t all the time let others see.
If I’m on the bend, please save me from myself
Set my vices on a fireplace, depart me wadin’ within the water
In case you want me right here I swear pray for my well being
I worry my physique’s getting previous,
I worry I’m losin’ my composure
“This Little Dove” is the third single of the 12 months from the 23-year-old Bridgeport, CT-based artist, and it’s as fascinating as it’s cathartic. BODHI opens with a plea – “If I’m on the bend, please save me from myself” – and from there, the load solely builds. “I’m on fireplace, fireplace! This little dove is drained…” That lyric alone seems like a gut-punch, a whispered cry for assist carried on the wind. Burnout, fatigue, and the desperation to maintain going pulse by way of each concord and each breath, their voice weaving between cinematic swells and tender, aching silences.
I’m on fireplace (fireplace)
Please tear me off the wires
I’m dropping all management now,
you act such as you don’t know
I’m on fireplace (fireplace)
This little dove is drained
I’m working low on hope now,
you act such as you don’t know
I’m on fireplace, fireplace, fireplace (I’m on fireplace), fireplace
“To set the stage for my album of self-reflection, I begin at my lowest second. A second of pure burn out and devastation,” BODHI tells Atwood Journal. “The construct up of instrumentation, harmonies, and quantity is a illustration of the construct up felt inside. This message on this tune is felt universally, and I hope to attract listeners in to listen to and heal with me by way of the remainder of the story.”
That intent radiates by way of each second of this observe. The manufacturing is immersive and restrained, letting every phrase land like a heavy reality. Their vocal efficiency is otherworldly – gripping, ghostly, gorgeously human. It’s the form of tune that doesn’t simply echo your personal exhaustion; it provides a quiet place to take a seat in it, to honor it, and to perhaps begin therapeutic from it.
My momma informed me I run in my sleep
I’ve been runnin’ for ceaselessly, lookin’ ahead to forgettin’
The land I lay the younger, the wild, and free
I’ll write till the chains off, I’m alive till the chains off
I’m on fireplace (fireplace)
Please tear me off the wires
I’m dropping all management now,
you act such as you don’t know
I’m on fireplace (fireplace)
This little dove is drained
I’m working low on hope now,
you act such as you don’t know
BODHI could also be initially of a brand new chapter, now signed to Nettwerk and prepping their debut undertaking, however their voice already carries the load of expertise and the promise of one thing unforgettable. “This Little Dove” is a wide ranging introduction to an artist who isn’t afraid to fulfill the darkness head-on – and who sings with the hope that we’ll come out the opposite facet collectively.
I’m on fireplace (fireplace)
Please tear me off the wires
I’m dropping all management now,
you act such as you don’t know
I’m on fireplace (fireplace)
This little dove is drained
I’m working low on hope now,
you act such as you don’t know
I’m on (fireplace, fireplace, fireplace, fireplace)
“Take It From Me”
by shortly, shortly
quickly, shortly’s “Take It From Me” seems like a secret being whispered proper into your ear – tender and serene, quietly enchanting and deeply comforting. A uncommon and radiant standout off the Portland artist’s fourth studio album I Heard That Noise (launched April 18 by way of Ghostly Worldwide), it glows like a heat, incandescent gentle: all tender acoustics, glistening textures, and hushed emotion. There’s a way of nearness within the music – like Jonson is sitting within the room with us, guitar in hand, singing gently into the quiet.
I walked in, lined my ears
You stated, “Don’t come”, however I’m already right here
I do know you’re pissed off from working the present
I used to be simply attempting to lighten the load
You parked down a few blocks
Close to a campsite, buying and selling cash for rocks
I unlocked your passenger door
And also you stated, “I can’t dwell with this anymore”
Take it from me…
“This was a type of melodies that I simply had in my head for some time earlier than I recorded it,” Jonson tells Atwood Journal. “After I lastly did put it down it was cool however didn’t stand out sufficient so I let it sit for just a few months. After I got here again to it, I fully restructured the tune to suit extra within the universe of the others on the album. There are two separate tales on this tune – the primary verse is a lived expertise of a damaged relationship, and the second a extra inward look upon myself. Each finish within the resignation of ‘take it from me’ as a blind plea for some form of change.”
There’s one thing deeply cathartic about the way in which “Take It From Me” unfolds – in the way it holds pressure after which releases it with the softest of sighs. “I walked in, lined my ears / You stated, ‘Don’t come,’ however I’m already right here” – the scene is about in quiet chaos, filled with harm and miscommunication. Jonson paints intimate portraits of heartbreak and unraveling: “You parked down a few blocks / Close to a campsite, buying and selling cash for rocks… I unlocked your passenger door / And also you stated, ‘I can’t dwell with this anymore.’” The lyrics ache with unstated grief, with loneliness, and with resignation.
“Take it from me,” he repeats like a plea – one half give up, one half quiet energy. “An amazing storm is coming over the hill / I hope it don’t hit, however I do know that it’s going to / It’ll cut up me from my coronary heart and my pores and skin / It’s not if, however a matter of when.” That imagery lingers lengthy after the music fades. Jonson captures the delicate great thing about vulnerability – the form of uncooked honesty that offers you chills. “I’m not happy with who I’ve turn out to be / I’m alone, however so is everybody. Take it from me…” That mantra-like chorus lands like a tender reassurance in the dead of night – a reminder that ache is rarely ours alone to bear.
An amazing storm is coming over the hill
I hope it don’t hit, however I do know that it’s going to
It’ll cut up me from my coronary heart and my pores and skin
It’s not if, however a matter of when
I’m not good (Not good)
A pair issues beneath my hood
I’m not happy with who I’ve turn out to be
I’m alone, however so is everybody
Take it from me…
As Jonson explains, “‘Take It From Me’ was written throughout a tough a part of my life. I wished to discover the concept of the 2 meanings – as in taking a burden off of any person, and as in a shared expertise.”
Like a lot of I Heard That Noise, the tune is autobiographical and emotionally open-ended. “It was all form of written throughout the identical a part of my life,” Jonson says. “So loads of the songs are related themes of affection and loss and anxious attachment. They’re additionally autobiographical, and ‘Take It From Me’ isn’t any totally different.”
There’s additionally a deep humility and quiet confidence to Jonson’s course of. “I believe it’s actually necessary for songs – particularly autobiographical songs like this – to be obscure sufficient so the listener can join with no matter that means they wish to it,” he displays. “After I make music, I are likely to disassociate from the precise lyrical content material of the tune and it feels prefer it wasn’t even written by me. So, I get to create that means in that as effectively.”
For these simply discovering shortly, shortly now, that is the right entry level – a mild invitation right into a undertaking outlined by subtlety, heat, experimentation, and emotional honesty. “I like to make music!!! It’s actually the one factor I’m good at,” Jonson provides. “I’m tremendous fortunate to play music with a few of my finest pals. We even have matching tattoos of a roadrunner.”
His undertaking could also be named shortly, shortly, however this tune envelops the soul slowly, slowly – and I wouldn’t have it every other method. If that is what it sounds prefer to dwell along with your coronary heart in your sleeve, I hope Graham Jonson by no means places it away. “Take It From Me” is a quiet triumph – a stunningly soul-soothing second of reflection that leaves you feeling slightly extra understood, and rather less alone.
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