Our look at the essential new collections released over the past month.

The Last Dinner Party – ‘From The Pyre’

The Last Dinner Party do not wallow in contemporary heartache. Instead, they have conjured The Pyre: a place where fairytales of sailors, cowboys, and saints carry stories of floods, violence, and apocalypse. This is a space where broken hearts come to burn the past, where passion edges into obsession, and the killer holds you in loving arms. Across ten tracks, the band reimagine the feminine as mythic and the mythic as intimate, wielding violence not as spectacle, but as melody. ‘From The Pyre’ moves with theatrical elegance, yet its vulnerability remains raw. This is not a record that settles for being second best. Violence and femininity crash and coil throughout ‘From The Pyre’, and The Last Dinner Party create a sound where softness and strength are synonymous. (Isabel Kilevold) [Read the full review here]

The Orchestra (For Now) – ‘Plan 76’

Teasingly named like a sequel to the band’s earlier 2025 EP ‘Plan 75’, the latest collection from The Orchestra (For Now) brings out the band’s darker side. Many were initially drawn to their similarity to elder peers Black Country, New Road, easily discernible on ‘Plan 75’. ‘Plan 76’ elucidates something slightly different. It feels heavier, with the band’s expansive instrumentation coming together to create a monstrous whole in contrast to the tightly punctuated dynamism of previous releases. Even the mostly understated closer ‘Deplore You/Farmers Market’, on which the string instruments really sing, the band moving as one as. The song swells and shrinks as sounds come and go, but never loses the loose thread which tugs it along. Recalling more particularly a range of post-rock touchstones, the shifts in this EP’s intensity do have a degree of predictability that often feels inherent to the genre, though this is somewhat mitigated by the unpredictable deployment of such bursts. If not quite a sequel to ‘Plan 75’, ‘Plan 76’ certainly completes a pendant pair that as a whole captures the range of this early period for of one of London’s most absorbing bands. (Lloyd Bolton)

Snõõper – ‘Worldwide’

Snõõper uphold the foundations that made them an underground hot topic with their 2020 EP ‘Music For Spies’, take elements that propelled them to world tours and international acclaim with their 2023 debut album ‘Super Snõõper’, and provides their fans with an evolution that they can truly sink their teeth into. Collaborating with producer John Congleton in LA, the entire concept for ‘Worldwide’ was borne from pressure. The band cites those YouTube videos of random items being placed into hydraulic presses as a direct inspiration. Currently, the video ‘Top 100 Best Hydraulic Press Moments | Satisfying Crushing Compilation’ has over 65 million views, with the cathartic effect of watching something contort, shatter, and release casting a spell on the online population. When your first album rises to such high favour, to contort and shatter seems part of the job, with the immediacy of modern success resulting in back-breaking tour schedules and contractual obligations. Blair Tramel and Connor Cummins translate this whirlwind into ‘Worldwide’, but with all their usual joy and determined unseriousness. As a second album ‘Worldwide’ makes perfect sense, a chaotic but concise tribute to the angst and overwhelm that can contort and shatter us all. I look forward to seeing what new paper-maché puppets they have in store for audiences on their upcoming tour. (Jessie Smith) [Read the full review here]

Web – ‘Web’

Web’s debut EP has everything you want from a band’s first collection. On lead single ‘News’, they sound more cohesive and direct than ever, the track bottling the energy and expansiveness of their longer tracks into a two-minute rocket. Contrasting these more clean-cut moments, there is also room for experimentation and play, as on the slowly unwinding airport jam ‘Terminal’ and on closer ‘Improv’, whose tongue-in-cheek speech inserts juxtapose a scratchy instrumental. These elements can be as important to an early release as the tighter singles, details that make you fall in love with a band and hint at the more ambitious work towards which they aspire. Early Legss feels like a natural comparison in this respect. The band’s bio describes their sound as ‘rock flute’, and while this is a deliberate undersell, ‘Web’ shows just how crucial that sound is to the band, opening up raw, cavernous spaces to add an organic supernatural quality to what started out as an industrial mathy power trio setup. (Lloyd Bolton)

Joyeria – ‘Graceful Degredation’

Exploring the titular theme of ‘Graceful Degredation’, a term for “the ability of a computer, machine, electronic system to maintain limited functionality even when a large portion of it has been destroyed or rendered inoperative”, Joyeria inhabits characters pushed to their extreme by their circumstances. Signature lush instrumentation and clean production establishes a cool veneer that is gleefully violated by the experiences laid out in the lyrics. On ‘Troubled Youth’, a detached, cowboy mouth vocal sets out a plan to win the lottery, while ‘The Swimmer’ approaches the EP’s theme via John Cheever’s short story of suburban madness. This collection is testament to Joyeria’s ability for worldbuilding, its storytelling completed by cinematic, attention-rich soundscapes. (Lloyd Bolton)

Lando Manning – ‘Fragments’

Lando Manning collects together four stirring songs to form his latest EP, ‘Fragments’. Evoking a sense of undisturbed stillness, ‘Fragments’ sways in the wind like a deciduous leaf gently falling towards earth from the canopy of a tall tree as it sheds to conserve for the winter. Recorded in Manning’s home and featuring a cover of Vashti Bunyan as well as a cover of traditional folk song ‘Black Is The Colour’ amongst two original compositions, the EP reveals glimpses into the South London musician’s inspirations and creative processes. Following on from the conception of Manning’s new collaborative project with Mitsy Miller, ‘Fragments’ is another great collection from the current British folk revival, courtesy of one of its most talented songwriters. (Otis Hayes) [Full review here]

Long Fling – ‘Long Fling’

The king and queen of Dutch indie — Willem Smit of Personal Trainer and Pip Blom of (you’ll never guess) Pip Blom — come together for an album of hook-fuelled indie rock and scraggy post-punk. Their two main projects have built a reputation for reliable indie rock following the lead of ’90s greats such as Pixies, Pavement, and Guided By Voices. Tastefully overdriven chords, four-note guitar melodies, and barked hooks — the kind of thing Radio 6 dads and their sons can all enjoy playing happily in the background over breakfast. As a supergroup, the two push the envelope a few centimetres further, delving into frantic motorik beats, touches of electropunk, and guitar tones that wouldn’t sound out of place on a latter-day CAN album. But for an album written by two artists who have been in a relationship for ten years, it can come across surprisingly icy. And at a time when indie music is becoming more sincere and emotional, that sense of detachment feels out of step with the zeitgeist. At its worst, this record recalls the third wave of post-Brexit bands like FEET or Hotel Lux, playing catch-up with the trending sound of the South London scene. At its best, however, Long Fling peeps behind the curtain, offering flashes of vulnerability and intensity that shine through the veil, glimmering just beneath the surface. (Magnus Crawshaw) [Full review here]

The Plan – ‘Mountain View’

The latest album from Southend punk group The Plan is packed with unique ideas and instant hooks, a case made undeniably clear on opener ‘Patterns’. The abrasive and driving quality that pushes most of the songs along recalls most particularly The Cool Greenhouse, and more generally brings to mind years of listening to Marc Riley on 6 Music. At the same time, the songs push beyond conventional punk/post-punk parameters. Melodic bursts create flashes of psychedelia and folk, or simply transmit the joy of doing something unexpected for its own sake – as ‘Human Bird’ in particular demonstrates. The middle of the album slows down a little as the band take time to build some more stirring atmospheres, as on ‘Lie on the Ground’. This lull comes to serve as an exploratory respite before the energy once more coalesces on the hook-driven closing pair of ‘So Long, Euphoria!’ and ‘On The Radio’. (Lloyd Bolton)

Alex Lukashevsky – ‘ooooh’

Released via Tin Angel Records, Alex Lukashevsky’s new album is a brilliant collection packed with surprising, unique detail. Opener ‘that musician that’s dead’ is a manically winding piece which, after a little scene setting, grabs the listener by the throat and drags them through its disassembly of artistic genius and the idealisation of memory. Over six songs, Lukashevsky veers between styles, often mutating entirely within the space of a single track. ‘last herald’ warps like some of the best Aksak Maboul songs, while ‘mo’real’ feels a little like John Lee Hooker taken to an experimental extreme evocative of Pere Ubu and Bingo Fury, if only for its similar disregard for the unwritten rules of song composition. The album’s knowing winks to the audience can feel laboured at times, but it does befit the exploration of what being a songwriter can mean today. Lukashevsky explores these possibilities s with a rewarding disavowal of convention. (Lloyd Bolton)

Jaffro – ‘visitors’

‘visitors’ is an immersive and intimate new collection from Jaffro, aka Wil Pritchard who also plays with Kissing Gate, Kasper Hauser and Docklands Light Railway, some of South London’s foremost experimental indie groups. In contrast to those projects, which thrive on collective musicianship and improvisation, this album feels more guided by Pritchard’s hand, coming out singular and idiosyncratic. Warm keys and clicking drum machines abound, and highlight ‘six’ has something of ‘English Riviera’/’Love Letters’ era Metronomy to its expansive build. Elsewhere, pop artifice plays off against DIY sincerity, lending the collection a humbly modern quality that feels particularly vital on ‘move’ and ‘forgot about a birthday’. (Lloyd Bolton)

The Glowworms – ‘W.O.D.’

The Glowworms have a knack for sweetly affecting melodies that have made their name at live shows across electric and stripped acoustic band lineups. The band are based in London, but songwriter Dov Sikowitz’ American roots give the band a distinctly transatlantic character, allowing them to tap closely into the influence of artists like Elliot Smith, Big Thief and Pavement. New EP ‘W.O.D.’ – which some light music detective work suggests stands for ‘Worm Or Die’ – leans more into the band’s electric side, ‘east bay (ships in the)’ and ‘trenchcoat’ feeling like instant modern day classics of the indie rock form. Closer ‘you do not matter’ hints at the band’s ambition with acoustic arrangement, perhaps teasing a sound they will elaborate on coming recordings as it forms a perfect, emotionally beat conclusion to this sweet little collection. (Lloyd Bolton)

Omam Dawn – ‘Near from Goose Town’

Floating between soft folk songs about Dawn’s hometown Gosport (aka Goose Port), haunting tales of faraway shores and more demanding pieces tackling political subjects, the debut charts a storied journey as mood and music switch and change like a gently flowing river turning suddenly rapid and then back again. There is an emotional vulnerability on show and it is not only relatable but also therapeutic for the listener. To assume making the music is therapeutic for Dawn, it has of the same effect for the audience as you connect with the art which the singer-songwriter creates. Across this record, Dawn’s instinct for articulate writing strikes deeper than the surface enjoyment of listening. (Otis Hayes) [Full review here]