Songs of the Week - 28/09/2026

These are the essential tracks you need to check out this week!

Photo Credit: Carianne Older

Maddie Zahm - 'Meryl'

"Meryl is a song about loving older women. When I think back to my straight phase I never thought there was any type of indication that something gay was looming around the corner. But when I think about how I felt seeing Meryl Streep in the Devil wears Prada, I now see I was very VERY wrong"

Maddie on the track

Girl Tones - 'Precious'

“Our Abuelita passed away in 2020, and the song came from experiencing the grief of losing a loved one. She always referred to us as her ‘Precious’. The handwriting on the ['Precious' album] cover is actually from a card she sent to me. We worked on the album for a while, and it’s so precious to us. Around the time we said goodbye to her, I started dating my now-husband. As much as the song is about losing a loved one, it’s also about gaining a new loved one.”

Vocalist Kenzie on the track

Charlie Jeer - 'Jennifer'

"‘Take Away My Problems' isn't just another EP with seven love songs. It's a space away from the chaotic and problematic world we all live in. A journey towards peace, at times love is just a vehicle to that. Each song is really about finding somewhere to exhale, where the burden of life feels a little lighter"

Charlie on the new EP which features 'Jennifer'

BEX - 'fairies'

"'fairies' wasborn out of pain, it is the most heartbreaking song I have ever written. It exposes my story to every degree, to the point I don't need to explain it, 'fairies' speaks for itself. There's no consent when someone is asleep. I wrote fairies at the start of my time off, she has been sitting on my soundcloud for over a year. The truth is, I had to heal, I had to deal with the pain, I had to grieve before I had the strength to unleash my baby into the world. I am ok now, I have battled through the worst of it, so now I want to share, I want to help others, I want to fully escape."

BEX on the track

Rachel Bochner - 'Fault Line'

"In short, ‘I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently’ is a break up album and my dissection of how it happened. As break ups tend to be, the record is complicated and far from concise (very in line with its mouthful of a title). Written after the implosion of my long term relationship with a man, the album orbits my queer identity’s entanglement with insurmountable guilt, revelatory grief, and the start of complex acceptance.”

Rachel on the new album which features 'Fault Line'

Debbie Sings - 'Ocean Breeze'

"Ocean Breeze is a love letter to the ocean, to being in love and to cowbells. The song oscillates between something very simple and the more complex. It’s a post summer look back to days by the beach, kissing in the sand to the sound of the waves."

Debbie on the track

Dogviolet - 'Fig Leaves'

"'Wilting' felt like a fitting metaphor for a collection of songs about not losing hope in the face of adversity. A wilting plant might be a sign of the beginning of the end, but it’s certainly not all over if you provide it with the right conditions. These songs are about being put in conditions that don’t allow you to thrive and reach your full potential, though hope is woven through each track. Our singles Daisy Crowns and Daughter explore this from my personal experiences, whereas Fig Leaves and Black Walnut focus on the state of the world we’re living in. I’ve seen what losing hope does to a person and I don’t want to succumb to the lure of hopelessness."

Lead Vocalist Naz Toorabally on the new EP which features 'Fig Leaves'

Head Cloud - 'Imposter'

“'Imposter' explores imposter syndrome, self-doubt and the feeling that you're not good enough to be where you are. At its centre is the question of whether you can stop hiding behind the version of yourself you think you're supposed to be. It was the first song where we experimented heavily with shouted and screamed backing vocals, using them to intensify the frustration and anxiety behind the lyrics"

Head Cloud on the track

Lydia Reddy - 'This Is How...'

"At the heart of 'This Is How...' is a message about self-belief, individuality and taking control of your own destiny... As the song develops, that sense of resignation gives way to empowerment, drawing on the legend of King Arthur as someone who, despite being young, found the strength to overcome adversity and become a great leader."

Lydia on the track

ferb - 'Lifted'

"This track was born from a riff written not long after attending a gig at the Elephant’s Head in September last year that changed the trajectory of my life. It fuelled me with a wave of excitement and optimism that poured itself into the song when writing, and the rest of the band felt it too, so it all fell into place very rapidly when we first tracked it a few months later. It’s definitely one of the 'poppiest' songs we’ve ever done on a structural, lyrical and melodic front, but also our most rounded aesthetically speaking. It’s got the bold guitar tones of Title Fight, contrasted by the folky midwest emo-inspired playing in the verses, as well as some shoegazey effects and feedback in places."

ferb on the track

Isabel Hudson - 'Thank God'

“I’d been wanting to write a song like this for a while, something that captured the nostalgic feeling of falling in love during my favourite time of year but I was struggling to come up with a melody or lyrics that stuck. Then one night the idea of the hook ‘thank god that you happened’ popped into my head, I loved it, and wrote the whole song in under an hour. When I wrote it, I felt the song had a great energy to it, then I brought it to my band who amplified that energy that I had pictured. To me the song provides the perfect soundtrack to a coming of age love story."

Isabel on the track

DAYLA - 'TV - 90s kid'

"'TV - 90’s kid' is an anthemic ode to the millennials, it's made for anyone who feels let down by what they were promised growing up. It's a "hopecore" sonic sanctuary that transforms modern disillusionment into a fierce rallying cry to reclaim your dreams"

DAYLA on the track

Dean McMullen - 'The Only Thing'

"I wrote these songs over a couple of years. They’re not only about my family's experience with Parkinson’s, but many are and the rest are set within that context. There are lots of people in similar situations so I hope the songs reach them. More than that, I hope the project has a positive impact, raising funds, helping support families and prevent further suffering.

Dad could fix anything - technically minded, endlessly resourceful and creative - he was a problem-solver. Stacked around his garage (which he built himself), were projects and past-times I couldn’t begin to understand. Give him any broken household item and an hour, it would come back working. He built his own drones before drones were commonplace, he even attached cameras to them. If there was a problem, he worked out a solution. “The Only Thing he couldn’t fix, was getting sick.”

Any support you can offer, whether that be by helping share and spread word of the campaign, making a contribution or simply listening to the music, is so greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading."

Dean on the track being in support of Parkinsons UK

Samuel Virgo - 'Slip Away'

"I wanted it to feel intimate with the vocals, guitars and understated production. It's one of the most vulnerable moments on the project overall"

Samuel on the track

Poesie - 'London'

"The chorus melody is one to be sung in the quietude of the loneliest of nights, when pacing home through swirling rubbish after a night out, or when standing in awe, gazing up at one of the countless manmade wonders which we bear witness to in cities all over the world. It explores the beauty and the challenges of existing in today’s world."

Poesie on the track

Marmalade Skyes - 'Aphrodite'

"'Aphrodite’ is a love song to the person who held my hand during that time of learning.This song is for my Aphrodite, the person who made me feel empowered and showed me how vulnerable I can be. The song is set in the beginning of our relationship and is painting the picture of that feeling when everything is sunshine and you could just spend all day basking in their light."

Marmalade on the track

DOG DAYS - 'Starting Again'

"Starting Again was probably the song that came most naturally to me lyric-wise when I was writing it with my acoustic guitar. The main idea is about feeling insecure in yourself, and that feeling bleeding into your interpersonal relationships. That night I sent a voice memo of the acoustic version to the rest of the band, and it came together naturally when we played it with all the instruments, and the bridge being written later on in the process. I never pictured it sounding as big as it does, especially live."

Lead Vocalist Kayleigh on the track