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’s 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. By way of our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a light-weight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of recent and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options complete tommy, Park Nationwide, Zzz., Florentenes, mary within the junkyard, & DR DR!
comply with EDITOR’S PICKS on Spotify
“Butterknife”
by complete tommy
Tright here’s a line in complete tommy’s “Butterknife” that looks like a intestine punch wrapped in silk: “Combating with a butterknife / Placing me on trial for my self pity crime.” It’s mushy, nearly candy – after which it slices you open. That’s the magic of complete tommy. Seductive, dreamy, and dramatic, her first launch since 2024’s debut album bruises is an intimate upheaval: A slow-burning unraveling that rises from a murmur to a fever pitch, with Holt’s haunting vocals giving option to a hypnotic swirl of guitars and crushing emotional launch.
Headless, left you by yourself
Sorry for the seconds I’m not dwelling
I wanna waste the time with you
Subsequent week might be higher
Know I stated that again in June
You stated my setback’s costing you a lifetime
Habits from a previous life coming again round like
Circling a avenue mild
Combating with a butterknife
Placing me on trial for my self pity crime
A standout follow-up to certainly one of Atwood Journal’s 2024 Albums of the 12 months, “Butterknife” builds on complete tommy’s popularity for baring all of it – for channeling ache and reflection into songs that ache within the intestine and echo within the soul. “Name me out, I’m egocentric / Hanging off the sting of my very own dying want,” she sings within the refrain, her voice cracking open over a mattress of grungy alt-rock warmth. It’s a self-reckoning, not a plea for sympathy. There’s no try to flee accountability – solely an sincere depiction of inner chaos bleeding into the relationships that matter most, delivered in a storm of searing, spellbinding overdrive.
Name me out I’m egocentric
Hanging off the sting of my very own dying want
Lock jaw, pores and skin crawl, heavy chest
Simply tryna catch my breath
Once you’re calling me out
’trigger I’m so egocentric
“‘Butterknife’ was written a few second I had the place I lastly stopped for a second after an argument with a buddy, and realised I’d been so caught up in my very own stuff that I’d fully missed an enormous factor they have been going via,” Holt tells Atwood Journal. “It actually put every little thing into perspective and made me examine in on my pals extra.”
The metaphor of the butterknife cuts in additional methods than one – a logo of lifeless resistance, of making an attempt to combat however not figuring out how. Holt’s traces “Circling a avenue mild / Combating with a butterknife” recommend a sample of avoidance and misguided effort, of being caught in outdated habits that solely appear to graze the floor of deeper wounds. She isn’t making an attempt to excuse herself; she’s making an attempt to know herself, even when it means acknowledging her personal blind spots and contradictions.
Can solely drive on automated
Make you shift the gears to land it
Burn out like your favorite candle
All the time been too scorching to deal with
Sorry for the best way I’m
I didn’t imply to close you down however
It’s been getting so rattling loud
I’m craving what I’m drowning out
You stated my setback’s costing you a lifetime
Habits from a previous life coming again round like
Circling a avenue mild
Combating with a butterknife
Placing me on trial for my self pity crime
That self-awareness continues in moments like “Sorry for the best way I’m / I didn’t imply to close you down / However it’s been getting so rattling loud / I’m craving what I’m drowning out” – a surprising admission of overstimulation and emotional withdrawal, the place the will to attach is overwhelmed by the noise inside. Holt’s vocal supply right here is breathtaking, teetering on the sting of collapse earlier than bursting vast open.
“‘Butterknife’ was an actual breakthrough songwriting second for me,” she says. “It’s about grappling with feeling egocentric for pursuing what generally is a actually ego-driven artform at occasions and the pressure it places on relationships. Being a musician generally looks like a little bit of a ‘dying want,’ as a result of it’s actually an all-in, live-and-breathe kinda factor. I like what I accomplish that a lot, and it made me notice that the second you begin sharing music with the world and it’s now not only for your self, you’ve gotten a task to play in not simply including to the noise, however doing one thing constructive with it.”
That duality – of noise and readability, ego and empathy – is the beating coronary heart of “Butterknife.” complete tommy doesn’t faux to have all of it discovered; as a substitute, she provides us the messy fact in its most sincere, unguarded kind. The result’s intoxicating, entrancing, and unforgettable – a confessional anthem that hits like a storm, then leaves you sitting within the quiet, feeling just a bit extra seen.
Name me out I’m egocentric
Hanging off the sting of my very own dying want
Lock jaw, pores and skin crawl, heavy chest
Simply tryna catch my breath
Once you’re calling me out
’trigger I’m so egocentric
“Your Mother’s Home”
by Park Nationwide
Tright here’s a heartbreak that lives within the quietest locations – in backseat recollections, in fading t-shirts, within the nonetheless of a suburban morning while you’re unsure in case you’re awake or nonetheless contained in the dream. Achingly weak and deeply uncovered, “Your Mother’s Home” is a kind of locations – a gut-wrenching glimpse into Park Nationwide’s inside world that churns and charms all of sudden. It’s some of the weak and uncovered songs of his profession – unflinchingly sincere, stripped again, and emotionally naked: A young, aching confession wrapped in Midwest emo textures, the place each line cuts deeper than the final. It’s intimate, it’s uncooked, and it hits like a punch to the chest – not with brute power, however with honesty that lingers.
On the sprint of Grandma’s outdated Corolla
A Radiohead CD
If there was one factor you taught me
It’s how one can disappear fully
Just like the goals I had in highschool
Thought I’d be in your TV
We’ll see
‘Trigger I’m carrying all of my t-shirts
that I believed I outgrew
I didn’t assume I’d really feel so sorry
that issues ended like they did
I used to be only a child, caught in my very own shit
Wasted feelings
Thought I used to be above you
And simply ’trigger I can’t love myself
doesn’t imply I can’t love you
Liam Fagan, the Chicago-born artist behind Park Nationwide, has at all times had a present for turning emotional static into melody. On his sophomore LP You Have To Hold Looking out, that present has sharpened into one thing plain. “You Have To Hold Looking out is an album of transformation,” Fagan shares.
“It basically was created in my effort to seize these heightened moments of emotional readability, fleeting and intense, over a protracted and definitive time in my life. It represents musically the place I’ve been, via sounds which have lengthy drawn me to the craft and bled via in my songs, whereas exploring new territory with my writing and recording. It’s probably the most formidable home made document I’ve ever labored on and my first full-length vinyl launch. It’s been a dream come true to make and share these songs with folks.”
“Your Mother’s Home” is without doubt one of the album’s emotional centerpieces – a music constructed on coming-of-age regrets, self-awareness, and a sort of non secular unraveling. Fagan’s lyrics bleed with sincerity and disgrace, with love that lingers even when it’s now not returned. “I used to be only a child, caught in my very own shit / Wasted feelings / Thought I used to be above you,” he sings within the refrain, his voice breaking below the burden of hindsight. “And simply ‘trigger I can’t love myself doesn’t imply I can’t love you.” It’s a fully devastating realization – one which turns self-loathing into one thing nearly noble. There’s no bravado right here, simply emotional reckoning laid naked.
The music drifts like a reminiscence, shifting via snapshots and sensory fragments: A Radiohead CD on the sprint, 7am drives previous outdated homes, goals you possibly can’t fairly bear in mind, however can’t shake both. The second verse lands like a flashback you didn’t ask for: “Can we decelerate? / We’re going twenty over on a residential avenue / We’re driving previous your mother’s home / And it’s 7 within the morning / And I get up in my bed room from some sort of f*ed up dream.” It’s all blurry, messy, too near dwelling.
Can we decelerate?
We’re going twenty over on a residential avenue
We’re driving previous your mother’s home
And it’s 7 within the morning
And I get up in my bed room
from some sort of f*ed up dream
Can I’m going again to sleep?
‘Trigger I’m carrying all of my t-shirts
that I believed I outgrew
I didn’t assume I’d really feel so sorry
that issues ended like they did
I used to be only a child, caught in my very own shit
Wasted feelings
Thought I used to be above you
And simply ’trigger I can’t love myself
doesn’t imply I can’t love you
By the bridge, Fagan is in movement – bodily, emotionally – making an attempt to depart all of it behind however figuring out he’ll carry the imprint eternally. “Now I’m driving with my recollections within the backseat / And I’m rolling down all of my home windows in try to air this out,” he sings, greedy for closure within the chilly air. “Simply because I hate myself doesn’t imply that I hate you.”
It’s not simply the phrases that harm – it’s the areas between them. Fagan doesn’t over-explain or overdramatize; as a substitute, he trusts the burden of a line to do its work. The fast beat of silence after “Can I’m going again to sleep?” hits as exhausting as any refrain, whereas the repeated chorus “Simply ’trigger I can’t love myself doesn’t imply I can’t love you” feels much less like a lyric and extra like a revelation – one thing you whisper to your self when nobody else is listening. In these moments, “Your Mother’s Home” turns into greater than a reminiscence; it turns into a reckoning.
“Your Mother’s Home” doesn’t simply inform a narrative – it opens a wound. However in that rawness, there’s a sort of therapeutic. A sort of fact. A coming-of-age. A second of readability, fleeting and intense, similar to the album it comes from. And that’s Park Nationwide’s energy: He takes the sentiments you buried years in the past and gently, fearlessly brings them to mild.
However now I’m driving
with my recollections within the backseat
And I’m rolling down all of
my home windows in try to air this out
However I see it now
I can simply be robust
Overlook it and transfer on
with you within the rearview
And simply because I hate myself
doesn’t imply that I hate you
And simply ’trigger I can’t love myself
Simply ’trigger I can’t love myself
doesn’t imply I can’t love you
“Any individual Else”
by Zzz.
Zzz. sings like his life relies on it – and possibly, in that second, it does. “Any individual Else” is a full-body ache turned emo-pop anthem: visceral, risky, and loud in all the very best methods. Constructed on crashing drums, surging guitars, and a fully gripping vocal efficiency, that is Zzz. at his boldest – spilling his guts in a method that leaves us shocked and breathless. He holds the top of every refrain line – “someone ellsssee…” – with aching, unfiltered depth, stretching his voice till it shakes with feeling. After which the drums hit, pounding like a racing coronary heart, echoing each beat of longing and desperation.
I’m up within the mountains
and also you’re the world over
the place the golf equipment are the loudest
And I’m chasing my goals
tryna stroll on the clouds generally
I do know that sounds infantile
And I’m at all times anxious
you’ll discover someone else…
So I hope you recognize
that I’m not someone else
Lady I’m not someone else (I’m not, I’m not)
I’m not someone else (I’m not, I’m not)
Written with pop-punk legend John Feldmann (Blink-182, Avril Lavigne), “Any individual Else” aches loudly and proudly in and out. Zzz. doesn’t maintain again as he navigates the friction between love and ambition: “I’m up within the mountains and also you’re the world over the place the golf equipment are the loudest / And I’m chasing my goals tryna stroll on the clouds – generally I do know that sounds infantile.” It’s confessional and conflicted, a burst of honesty wrapped in hooks that lower deep.
“‘Any individual Else’ is a reminder to somebody that you simply love that regardless of who else they seek for, that individual won’t ever be capable of love the identical method you possibly can,” Zzz. tells Atwood Journal. “This can be a private expertise of mine that I consider connects with the world, which is strictly why I wrote this very music. It explains a real-life scenario of mine that different folks can join with. That is certainly one of my favourite songs, in addition to my first launch with certainly one of my favourite producers, John Feldman.”
I really feel such as you’re one thing
even at time while you
really feel such as you’re nothing
I really feel like I’m burning,
possibly I miss you an excessive amount of,
possibly I’m studying
And I’m at all times anxious you’ll discover someone else
So I hope you recognize that I’m not someone else
Lady I’m not someone else (I’m not, I’m not)
I’m not someone else (I’m not, I’m not)
What begins in concern ends in hearth. “Lady, I’m not someone else,” Zzz. repeats like a mantra, a promise, a plea. His voice breaks, the guitars wail, and the entire thing collapses right into a remaining swell of emotion and noise. For all its sonic punch, this music is constructed on vulnerability – and in that vulnerability, Zzz. finds his energy. “Any individual Else” isn’t only a breakup anthem or a late-night cry for reassurance; it’s the sound of an artist laying himself naked and daring you to really feel as a lot as he does.
Born Sam Zelaya in Gainesville and now primarily based in Miami, Zzz. has at all times made music from the center – and “Any individual Else” is him at his most uncooked, stressed, and actual.
“Gas for the Flame”
by Florentenes
It begins with a spark – a pair traces of lead guitar – and earlier than lengthy, you’re engulfed. Florentenes’ “Gas for the Flame” is a raging indie rock inferno: Blistering and breathless, explosive and all-consuming, it’s the sort of high-octane anthem that doesn’t simply demand consideration – it grabs you by the collar and roars. Frontman William Smith sings like a hearth’s at his heels, his voice fierce and impassioned over an pressing beat, vicious riffs, and guitar solos that scream skyward. That is music made to be felt within the chest – loud, uncooked, and able to blow.
lets return the place we started,
you by no means stored slight of hand from me,
the visionary,
how come we fought then we danced,
then i’d simply sit when you pranced,
with him, not me,
it was so so so discretionary,
i don’t know you however i such as you,
thought to himself oh what a proper idiot,
you’d by no means guess what got here again to me,
i do know i’m secondary
you’re gonna come method method down
with a heavy load of sobriety within the morning
One of many oldest songs within the Manchester-based band’s catalogue, “Gas for the Flame” holds a particular place in Florentenes’ story – written by Smith when he was simply 16 as a option to course of the emotional chaos of adolescence. “Easy phrases simply can’t fairly describe the melting pot of teenage feelings in the identical method that music can,” he tells Atwood Journal. That depth bleeds into each second of the observe, from its searing instrumental assaults to the palpable launch that comes with every impassioned line.
Florentenes explode within the refrain, turning inner turmoil right into a full-body eruption. “You’ll by no means know, and by no means go the place you wished to / Simply discover one other story to brew…” Smith belts, his voice almost cracking below the pressure. It’s a visceral cry of frustration and disillusionment, answered by pounding drums and hovering guitar traces that churn and burn with righteous abandon. “It comes and goes, simply keep composed / So cease this prepare, or really feel ashamed / My life’s your solely declare – ’trigger you’re simply gas for the flame.” It’s an exciting second of readability and catharsis, when the storm inside lastly breaks free.
you’ll by no means know, and by no means go
the place you wished to,
simply discover one other story to brew,
i really feel it go, and really feel it circulation,
via blood and bones,
it comes and goes, simply keep composed,
so cease this prepare, or really feel ashamed,
my life’s your solely declare,
trigger youre simply gas for the flame
There’s one thing particularly arresting about how unfiltered this music feels – like a stress valve launched at simply the suitable second. You possibly can virtually hear the historical past baked into it: the dorm room demos, the shout-it-til-you-mean-it gigs in sweaty Northern venues, the best way the band have grown round it with out sanding down its edges.
Made up of William Smith (vocals, songwriting), Luke Holding (lead guitar), Harry Stubbs (bass), and Liam Fiddy (drums), Florentenes have carved out their identify throughout the UK via electrifying reside units and a fiery sonic mix that’s equal components attraction, idea, and grit. Their second EP HOMEGROWN captures the total spectrum of their sound – and “Gas for the Flame” stands tall as its emotional ignition level. This isn’t simply one of many first songs they wrote; it’s one of many truest expressions of who they’re.
Name it an anthem. Name it a launch. Both method, “Gas for the Flame” is the sort of observe that reminds you why we flip to music within the first place: To scream after we can’t communicate. To burn off what we’ve buried. To really feel every little thing, all of sudden.
i don’t know you however i such as you,
thought to himself oh what a proper idiot,
you’d by no means guess what got here again to me,
i do know i’m secondary
youre gonna come method method down
with a heavy load of sobriety within the morning
you’ll by no means know, and by no means go
the place you wished to,
simply discover one other story to brew,
i really feel it go, and really feel it circulation,
via blood and bones,
it comes and goes, simply keep composed,
so cease this prepare, or really feel ashamed,
my life’s your solely declare,
trigger youre simply gas for the flame
“drains”
by mary within the junkyard
Slipping down the drain by no means sounded so intimate – or so alive. mary within the junkyard’s newest single is a fragile, ferocious fever dream: A tough-hitting different outpouring constructed on hypnotic guitars, primal rhythms, and Clari Freeman-Taylor’s effervescent, emotionally searing voice. She sings scorching on the mic in a sort of spellbound state – each breath quivering, each line teetering between confessional and cathartic. “drains” is intense. It’s uncooked. It’s rugged. It’s every little thing that makes mary within the junkyard one of many UK’s most enjoyable bands proper now – a title they proceed to earn, not chase.
I’ve been wanting throughout for you
In all the drains of the town
I’ve been in search of phrases to explain you
I don’t even know what you might be to me
You’re a brilliant mild,
a white noise, a protracted hall
A purple moth in my room flying at my head
A sensible girl on the bar crying, quiet
A delicate riot
Launched as their first single of the yr, “drains” finds the London-based trio of Freeman-Taylor (vocals, guitar), Saya Barbaglia (bass, viola), and David Addison (drums) digging deep – actually and figuratively. “I’m curious concerning the bowels of the town,” Freeman-Taylor tells Atwood Journal. “All the rain and the waste in London goes into mysterious sources, we have now a beautiful array of pipes and underground networks under our ft! You get rained on and it disappears via the bottom, we by no means see our piss and shit and garbage ever once more which is wonderful! We don’t see what’s under however there are lots of pipes and caves, and my buddy as soon as stated, ‘If you happen to bury your self, I’ll dig you out once more.’ I wished to immortalize it as a result of it made me really feel so heat.” That evocative phrase turns into the music’s haunting, heartfelt bridge – a second of promise wrapped in anguish, vulnerability, and unconditional love: “If you happen to bury your self, I’ll dig you out once more / That’s what lovers do.”
Without delay visceral and poetic, “drains” captures the overwhelming flood of metropolis life and the quiet ache of eager for connection. “This music is probably the most comparable lyrically to our first music ‘Tuesday,’” Freeman-Taylor explains, “as a result of it was written at the same time, once I had simply moved to London and was fairly affronted with the tempo of life – making an attempt to remain afloat in an enormous ocean of individuals. You discover your method someway and it’s great to be a part of. However it may be draining – possibly our power falls out of us and goes down all the pipes too.”
However I solely got here right here to really feel my physique
I’m a ghost, the place are my bones?
How are you going to blame me for not being sorry?
My birthday card received misplaced within the publish
And it’s a brilliant mild, a white noise, a protracted hall
A purple moth in my room flying at my head
A sensible girl on the bar crying, quiet
A delicate riot
There’s an nearly sacred weight to the imagery she conjures: “You’re a brilliant mild, a white noise, a protracted hall / A purple moth in my room flying at my head / A sensible girl on the bar crying, quiet / A delicate riot.” It’s cryptic and kaleidoscopic – half love letter, half identification disaster, half existential scream.
“Quite a lot of the lyrics are addressed to a mysterious and hidden somebody – it’s, I take into consideration the seek for reference to others,” Freeman-Taylor muses. “We are able to go one another by so quick someday that actual friendship is so so valuable. I actually worth my conversations with folks I like, and that may be exhausting to search out good pals particularly at first while you transfer someplace. A lot like to the kindred spirits.”
And sure, there’s a scream – an actual, guttural one – ready on the finish of the observe. “I believe it’s fairly a cathartic rocky tune,” Freeman-Taylor says. “I hope folks discover it cathartic and enjoyable and groovy and benefit from the scream on the finish.”
However in case you bury your self, I’ll dig you out once more
That’s what lovers do
If you happen to harm your self, I’ll take you below my wing
I’m your lover and I’m loving you
If you happen to bury your self, I’ll dig you out once more
That’s what lovers do
If you happen to harm your self, I’ll take you below my wing
I’m your lover and I’m loving you
I’m your lover and I’m…
mary within the junkyard proceed to defy straightforward categorization, embracing contradiction and curiosity as core tenets of their artistry. “I believe all of us are actually interested by a lot music,” she displays. “Now we have the rock trio setup normally, however we like to play quite a lot of totally different genres. I believe that’s actually going to return via on our album. Saya and I come from classical string musician backgrounds, however we actually additionally love digital music. On our upcoming EP, we’ve received a viola/cello/very sparse drums observe concerning the River Thames. I’d name our sound ‘playful and scratchy and emotional’ or ‘doing no matter we really feel like on the time.’”
That freedom – so unapologetic and unfiltered – is a part of what makes “drains” hit so exhausting – not simply sonically, however spiritually. It’s a music about being misplaced and being discovered. About sinking and surviving. About friendship, meals, metropolis pipes, and the quiet rituals of care that tether us to one another. It’s messy and human and totally magnetic. Come for the chaos; keep for the scream.
Tryna keep properly fed nevertheless it’s exhausting
When nothing I do is from feeling
I really feel like this each weekend
However I’ll recover from it, I’ll recover from it
I’m tryna keep properly fed
however I’ve been slipping down the drain
And I’m speaking to you now
however I don’t really feel sane
I really feel like this day by day
However I’ll recover from it, I’ll
aaarrrtggggghhhh
Tright here’s a degree while you cease chasing the group and begin seeing clearly – not simply who’s round you, however who’s actually there. “Vultures” hits that second like a lightning strike to the chest. Manchester’s DR DR ship a fiery reckoning via searing guitars, pounding drums, and frontman Fred Farrell’s unrelenting vocal howl – a mixture of rage, launch, and radiant self-ownership. It’s the sort of music that scorches and soothes without delay, heavy with ache however alive with function.
Name off the canines
I’ve been working for days
And I can’t maintain this up
You killed me as soon as
Why kill me twice
Oblivion…
The place have been you when
the partitions have been falling down
And the lights
Have been going out
All this sweet time
We’re losing
A standout off the band’s new VULTURES EP, “Vultures” channels inside turmoil into uncooked, unfiltered sound. Farrell wrote the observe within the aftermath of a private low level – a time when his world collapsed and people he thought have been pals vanished into the shadows.
“The music is reflection on a really tough time in my life,” he tells Atwood Journal. “The realisation that you simply don’t have as many pals as you thought is a really unhappy feeling. Realizing you wasted time and power on the incorrect folks – all this candy time we’re losing. After battling with psychological well being issues for a very long time, I began to note that quite a lot of ‘pals’ have been solely there for me within the good occasions and once they wanted one thing. These ‘pals’ would take and take, however once I was damaged, most in want of assist, ‘the place have been you when the vultures got here round?’
That line, delivered in a storm of lead guitar wails, rings out like a shot to the chest. “The place have been you when the vultures got here round?” Farrell cries within the refrain, his voice teetering between accusation and devastation. “I used to be laying on the bottom / All this candy time we’re losing.” That repeated chorus is each a lament and a intestine punch – the readability that comes when the mud settles and also you’re left counting the price of misplaced belief.
“The music is turning into snug with what you’ve gotten,” Farrell explains. “It’s being content material together with your circumstances. We will not be wealthy (but), and we could every have a handful of shut pals, however we’re at a degree in our lives the place that’s what’s most essential to us – the individuals who care about us, not the thought of who we might be.”
There’s power in that shift – in letting go of the efficiency and embracing the actual. For DR DR, “Vultures” is greater than catharsis; it’s a reclamation of identification and intention. “Enjoying this music collectively makes us really feel attractive and highly effective,” Farrell says. “We personal who we’re, and we all know who we need to proceed to be regardless of the place this journey takes us. We’re in it collectively.”
Hovering and scorched, “Vultures” doesn’t flinch from the darkish – it roars via it. DR DR have delivered a second of explosive, heavy different rock that hits exhausting and leaves an enduring scar. It’s charged, it’s churning, it’s vicious, and it’s weak. They aren’t right here to play good – they’re right here to burn down the phantasm and stroll out of the wreckage with their heads held excessive.
DR DR have screamed their fact, scorched the silence, and now emerge stronger. “Vultures” is their battle cry.
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