New songs for October 19th 2026

 "Bobby" by Phoebe Bridgers:  I don't know who Bobby is, but Phoebe doesn't seem pleased with him! Right from the start, the song seems kind of eerie. The guitar seems a bit down-tuned (in a sort of open C sharp tuning), and the uncertain synths that punctuate the background also hint at a feeling of unease! The lyrics accompany the message of the music quite well, too! I had a suspicion that Bobby was not a nice person from the tone, and it seems like he isn't! With lyrics like "this could be the end" (which repeats), as well as the haunting and piercing "Bobby, this could be the end of wanting/I exist only if you're watching," I get the feeling that Bobby was a toxic, draining ex of Phoebe's! If anyone does not want to be in Bobby's world, it's Phoebe! 

"Born Again" by Star Moles:  There's something about Star Moles - probably cleverly named for their lead singer, Emily Moales - that strike me as being older than they sound. Their debut song, "Born Again," sounds almost like a lo-fi, piano-laden, Velvet Underground-ish take on "Beast of Burden." And that title, "Born Again," conjures up religious imagery in my head, and likely for other listeners as well. Though it is not about religion, certain spiritual vocabulary (God, pray, sacred) pops up throughout the song. What it really seems to be about, though, is the ever-growing Gen Z dilemma between parents bringing you up to have a nice job, house, etc., but struggling to get one in the process. Moales even positions herself as "we" throughout the song, perhaps implying that the narrator is the parent(s) speaking to the listener. 

"Calm" by Caroline Rose:  After the wild, relentless, carefree rockabilly influence of "Yip Yip Yow" from earlier this summer, Caroline Rose is getting more "Calm." Well, at least by song title she is. The music sounds a bit like a Franz Ferdinand tune, with its angular guitars and anxious minor key sound. As the contrast between serene title and jagged sound implies, though, "Calm" is not calm! Well, at least not as much as you might think it is. The lyrics are really unhinged, though! A lot of it just seems to be lies Caroline is saying to herself to make her and/or her listeners think she is at peace when she's really at war with her own emotions! And wowzer, about 5 seconds in the middle of this song there's a brief but dissonant blast of guitar that makes it sound like the guitarist's hand just JUMPED there while still somehow staying on key! Caroline says she's the "calmest motherf**ker" in the chorus...she isn't! The ending lines especially make this clear! "I'm so tired I guess I'll sleep/But I was so drunk I forgot to dream/Too bruised to bleed/Too slurred to speak"!! Yikes!! Don't play THIS song right before you go to bed, folks...unless you want nightmares!!

"Rings of Saturn" by Soccer Mommy:  The acoustic intro for this song is stunningly beautiful! It's so shimmery and ethereal! But then that grungy chorus guitar kicks in about a minute into the song and makes it shift gears. It's still a great tune, though! Very '90s alt influenced like a lot of Soccer Mommy's material is, "Rings of Saturn" is a poignant song about looking for hope in times of loss. Given the recent loss of my cat about a month ago during a time when I least expected it, I feel like this song came just in time for me! The song's cosmic title comes from how Sophie Allison (a.k.a Soccer Mommy) would look at outer space through her telescope to relieve her of stress when she wrote this song. 

"Run Away" by Beck:  The E major lonesomeness we heard earlier this year from Beck in "Ride Lonesome" continues in his latest single, "Run Away. Unlike the country-ish leanings "Ride Lonesome" had, "Run Away" seems to be pure acoustic indie folk without any roots-y influences. I don't quite know what the song is about yet, but it seems like it's about a yearning for someone Beck misses. He "watches them run away" during the chorus but begs them not to. He also describes that this is happening on "Desolation Day." I'm not sure what this is a reference to, but the word "desolation" is not good in any context! Makes me pine both for Beck and for the person he's singing the song about!!

"Sensational" by Wishy:  The shoegazy yet catchy "Lovesick" from Wishy became a somewhat big hit on adult alt radio over the summer of this year. Come the fall, we have "Sensational," which also uses '80s/'90s alt influences, but in a bit more of a funky/psychedelic kind of way! The opening bass line even sound a bit like "Devils Haircut" by Beck! Apparently, groups like The Breeders and St. Etienne were the real influences on this song, and that doesn't surprise, especially the Breeders influence it has. For such an "alternative" song, the lyrics are mostly uplifting, albeit in a somewhat defiant way ("kiss the ashes/f**k the rest"). This song also has some cool African-influenced drumming before the bass kicks in!

"Stone Fruit" by Blondshell:  And now we have yet another song sung by a woman with a significant '90s alt influence to it! It starts with a quaint yet somewhat disquieting "1, 2; 1, 2" piano rhythm, but once those grungy guitars kick in, "Stone Fruit" reveals its true colors! Perhaps you're wondering what a "stone fruit" even is?! In real life, it describes fruits like peaches that have pits in the middle, but in the song "Stone Fruit," it refers to raw aggression. There's a bit of a sexual charge in this song that doesn't attempt to hide itself ("Just biting down through the center and through clothes"). So it's...kind of a love song...but not really. Almost seems like a song where sex and love are two different things, as though Sabrina Teitelbaum just wants to go for the gusto and...you know...get it on! 

"Sweet Forever" by Mondo Cozmo:  Mondo Cozmo have had minor hits on adult alt radio throughout their career, but none have ever touched me like their debut release - the bittersweet, folk-rock-y "Shine." A lot of their other stuff seems a bit more electronic influenced. "Sweet Forever" seems to mark the point in their career where they realized just what an impact "Shine" had on people. It seems to be replicating "Shine's" folk-y sound, albeit with a bit of a "Lean on Me" influenced soul factor as well. "Sweet Forever," fitting to its title, is also the longest entry on this week's list, clocking in at a little over 5 minutes. The lyrics are probably about someone Josh Ostrander knew who died at the time he wrote the song. Aside from the song's title, lyrics like "until we meet again," "hallelujah 'til the end," and "I pulled myself to the river's edge/And was looking for some sweet relief" make me think it's about someone who passed away. Also, the folk-rock-y sound of the song...it only lasts for so long. Midway through the song, it goes all Jimi Hendrix on us, with a piercing, psychedelic guitar solo guides the last parts of it! With "Sweet Forever" being (more than likely) about the departure of a dear friend, starting quiet, and ending loud, do you think maybe "Freebird" was a subtle influence on the song? It checks all those boxes!

"The Better Part of Bravery" by The Decemberists:  Folk-rock-y Decemberists are the best kind (though their pivots into electronic territory, like "Severed," aren't bad). But Colin Meloy and his indie-folk ensemble deliver folk-rock of the best kind on their latest tune, "The Better Part of Bravery." There's probably a reason the song sounds as buoyant as it does. Believe it or not, it's part of the soundtrack of a children's movie based on a book that Colin from The Decemberists himself wrote called Wildwood. The concept of the movie plays out like Jim Henson's Labyrinth adapted for an indie-folk audience! In Wildwood, a girl named Prue discovers her baby brother, Mac, has been abducted by a murder of crows, and she attempts to rescue him. This sort of fits with the main theme of the song, too, as Colin claims in the chorus that "The better part of bravery is in the letting go." 

"Write Me a Letter" by beabadoobee:  beabadoobee has given us a lot of sides to her music this year! In spring, we had the dreamy "All I Did Was Dream of You," and around mid to late summer, the surprisingly hard rocking and uncompromising "Sun Has Set." "Write Me a Letter" seems like singer/songwriter indie-folk (albeit a bit post-grunge-y in some parts), kind of like what she normally does. It's probably the most bittersweet of the three, and the most soul-baring as well! There's a lyric that struck me midway through the song where beabadoobee literally states she's bipolar. I'm not sure whether that's a "narrator" lyric or if beabadoobee is confirmed bipolar, but the fact that the first verse of the song centers around fear and the second around confusion, I would not be surprised if she actually is. She also seems to express something that's halfway between dependence and insecurity in the song. I am not bipolar myself (though I am autistic), so I can't say whether this truly checks the boxes, but it seems like she's talking about some sort of mood disorder(s). Whatever she's talking about, though, I feel like I can sympathize!