25 New Songs to Listen to Today: Yaya Bey, Madeline Kenney, and More


There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Wednesday, April 23, 2025.


Yaya Bey – ‘dream girl’ and ‘wake up b*tch’

Yaya Bey has announced the follow-up to last year’s Ten Fold, which is called do it afraid, with the songs ‘dream girl’ and ‘wake up b*tch’. The former, which draws from dance music as much as R&B and soul, is about “escaping to the party for a little while” and “really tapping into your desires – knowing there’s a million heavy things that need your attention but also leaving room for fantasy,” according to Bey. Opening track ‘wake up b*tch’, meanwhile, also presents the album’s emotional thesis. “There’s so much to be angry about right now and though I’m not someone who likes to sit in anger for too long, I do think it’s important to acknowledge it,” she explained. “Especially if you want to move on to other emotions. You’ve gotta acknowledge the elephant in the room.”

Madeline Kenney – ‘All I Need’

Madeline Kenney has announced Kiss from the Balcony, the follow-up to 2023’s A New Reality Mind, which is set for release on July 18. It’s led by the single ‘All I Need’, a stirring song that definitely echoes the Radiohead track of the same name. “This was an Imagined Love song – trying to create something perfect and soft and yet realistic; the feeling of falling into someone after a long day, an imagined cheek so soft you could live there,” Kenney reflected. “I think a good love song has to include something about feeling like the only ones in the world who ‘get it’. I like to think of the Kiss from the Balcony as the totally wild and foolhardy desire to love, to blow a kiss to the universe, despite it all.”

Buscabulla – ‘El Camino’

Buscabulla have announced a new album, Se Amaba Así, due June 13 via Domino. The flashy lead single ‘El Camino’ “is a dramatic disco guitar track about coming to a crossroads in a relationship and getting lost traveling through the uncharted, dark territories of life,” Raquel Berrios explained in a statement. “We wanted to achieve a cinematic sound to open up the movie that is our new record.” She added: “We took the decided approach to turn inward, to ourselves, and explore the struggles of not only our own romantic relationship but romantic relationships in general. Wrestling between traditional versus modern ideas of love, Se Amaba Así is a cathartic, self-reflective journey of songs influenced by Latin and tropical genres of the past seen through a contemporary lens.”

Miki Berenyi Trio x Lol Tolhurst x Gray – ‘Stranger’

Miki Berenyi Trio have teamed up with Lol Tolhurst and his son Gray for a gauzy, mellifluous new single called ‘Stranger’. “Stranger arrived as a demo from Lol/Gray, with guitar, synth and drums, with loads of room to develop riffs, hooks and melodies,” MB3’s Oliver Cherer, who produced track, explained. “I liked the insistent repetition of the long outro and was instantly minded to explore a Talk Talk approach, which is where the piano line with the Ashes to Ashes flanger wobble came from. The outro was extended to make a virtue of the repeated progression and the strings synths were added to help swell that into a wall of crescendo. Miki then took over adding lyrics and the gorgeous vocal melodies. Moose added layers of shimmering guitars and a rough mix was sent to Lol who added drum parts, recorded by Martin Fleischmann in Los Angeles, before it all came back to St Leonards for a mix where I also sneaked in a nice fat, squelchy Moog part. It developed quite naturally and easily, with each person’s contribution making the song bigger and more beautiful at every turn.”

Miki Berenyi added: “The lyrics are about being a friend to a long-term couple splitting. The tragedy at the centre is the people actually breaking up, but the repercussions ripple outward.”

Fine – ‘I could’

Fine is back with ‘I Could’, the Copenhagen artist’s first release since last year’s Rocky Top Ballads. We loved that album, but with its rattling guitars, thick bassline, and hypnotic drums, the new track hints at a significant level-up. Hopefully it’s part of something bigger.

This Is Lorelei – ‘Two Legs (Snail Mail Version)’

After working with MJ Lenderman for ‘Dancing in the Club’, This Is Lorelei has enlisted Snail Mail for a new take on ‘Two Legs’, which brims with a different kind of organic warmth. “When the idea of a deluxe edition with covers/collabs first came up the literal first thought I had was ‘I gotta get Lindsey to sing Two Legs,’” Nate Amos said. “I’ve loved Snail Mail ever since Water From Your Eyes had a chance to tour with them so it was a joy to hear Lindsey bless the song like this.” Lindsey Jordan added: “Within the last few years, following Nate’s projects, I have come to the conclusion he is the best songwriter of our generation as well as a great guy. Getting to do vocals on this was such a treat because I got to listen to it over and over again.”

The Swell Season – ‘Stuck in Reverse’

“It felt right to title the record Forward because it’s a reunion of sorts, but we’re not going backwards,” Markéta Irglová said of the Swell Season’s first album in 16 years. “Both of us have grown and changed; we’re in different places and getting to know each other again as the new people we’ve become.” Yet the new single ‘Stuck in Reverse’ is all about wanting nothing but to go back. “After our whirlwind that led up to the Oscars and after, we were so busy and with that came a pressure that neither of us particularly wanted, and ultimately we kind of drifted in the middle of all of that hard work and celebration,” Hansard said. “We remained good friends, helping on each other’s records, keeping up with each other’s families. While touring my last record, I realized I just missed her. I remember calling Markéta and saying, ‘Do you feel like doing some gigs?’ From there the idea was to do a little recording and not put any pressure on it, just see what happens, and suddenly we found ourselves making a record.”

S. G. Goodman – ‘Satellite’

S. G. Goodman has shared ‘Satellite’, a propulsive, slow-burning single off her forthcoming album Planting by the Signs. “The whole premise behind the practice of Planting by the Signs, is that we can look to nature to understand when would be the best time to do something to get the best results,” Goodman explained. “I am interested in how man is obstructing nature and its ancient knowledge, while the human condition remains the same: that to survive we must be in harmony with nature and each other.”

Squid – ‘The Hearth and Circle Round Fire’

Squid have released ‘The Hearth and Circle Round Fire’, a twitchy, ferocious outtake from their latest album Coward. “‘The Hearth And Circle Round Fire’ is a punky tune that came together quite easily but we felt dissatisfied with that ease and decided to record it as a 15 minute jam, rip it apart and tape it back together,” vocalist and drummer Ollie Judge said. “Lyrically, it was inspired by the dystopian worlds of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Kay Dick’s They, worlds which everyday people succumb to mass censorship and propaganda with only a small amount of people willing to fight against it.”

Florence Road – ‘Caterpillar’

Florence Road, the Irish band currently working with Olivia Rodrigo/Chappell Roan collaborator Dan Nigro, have followed up their debut single ‘Heavy’ with a heartfelt new song called ‘Caterpillar’. It comes paired with a lo-fi live video where the four childhood friends perform the song in a bathroom, which underlines just how lush the studio version sounds.

Common Holly – ‘Enough’

Montreal-based singer-songwriter Brigitte Naggar, aka Common Holly, has dropped a new single from her forthcoming album Anything glass. ‘Enough’, which follows ‘Aegean blue’, gnaws at questions of worth and ambition just enough to throw its shiny veneer off balance. “This track represents a spikier part of the record,” Naggar explained. “It pokes out with sharper edges and a bit of noise. It speaks to the process of imagining that there could be such a thing as ‘enough-ness’, and asks us to answer—enough for who? And for what?”

Osmium – ‘OSMIUM 1’

Osmium is a new experimental supergroup made up of Icelandic composer and cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir, engineer and producer James Ginzburg, Senyawa vocalist Rully Shabara, and sound designer and producer Sam Slater. Their eponymous debut album arrives on June 20, and the first single ‘OSMIUM 1’ is as bone-chilling as it is enchanting. “When we recorded this track, Rully was completely in a trance — he went somewhere and then came back,” Slater recalled. “Likewise when we play this track live, every time I look up from the drums I see the audience totally locked in to Rully, pushed and pulled by the waves and intensity.”

Cut Copy – ‘Solid’ and ‘A Decade Long Sunset’

Australian synth pop band Cut Copy are back with a new single, ‘Solid’, which is out today along with its B-side, ‘A Decade Long Sunset’. “I wrote the song as a reminder to myself that things will be ok, even when life gets turned on its head and it feels like there’s no way forward,” frontman Dan Whitford said of the glistening track. “I hope in some small way it gives other people a little nudge forward in the direction of their dreams. Hang in there… we’ll be solid.”

Dream, Ivory – ‘Solar Eclipse’

Los Angeles duo Dream, Ivory cite anime and J-pop as inspirations for their new LP, When You Come Back I Have So Much To Tell You, which is now set for release on July 18. Lead single ‘Solar Eclipse’ sounds as celestial as the title suggests. “’Solar Eclipse’ is a song that tells the story of two lovers destined to reconnect,” the band’s Louie Baello explained. “We wanted to explore a concept from nature as they find their way back to each other, using the idea of an eclipse to capture that emotional journey.”

Bleach Lab – ‘Feel Something’

Bleach Lab have announced their new EP, Close to the Flame, with the luscious ‘Feel Something’. “Feel something is about being locked in a slowly dying relationship, where you’re heavily dependent on another,” frontwoman Jenna Kyle said. “They impact you negatively, but you’re trapped in the cycle.”

Keep – ‘Hurt a Fly’

“‘Hurt A Fly’ is my attempt to reflect on the person I was when we first started Keep,” the band said of their new single, which is taken from their upcoming record Almost Static. “It’s pretty surreal to begin something when you’re 17 years old and to still be doing it over ten years later. I was very hard on myself when I was younger and I think I made a lot of things worse than they needed to be. While it was definitely warranted at times, I think a lot of my struggle could have been avoided if I had known how to deal with my feelings in a productive way. I guess in summation, the song is about learning to give yourself grace every so often.”

Planning for Burial – ‘You Think’

Planning for Burial continue to impress with ‘You Think’, the ruthless, evocative second single from the forthcoming album It’s Closeness, It’s Easy. “‘You Think’ is the oldest song on the record, as it has already been a live staple for a number of years and the only one to survive the first attempt at making the album,” Thom Wasluck explained, continuing:

The lyrics evolved a few times over the years, but the core of it is about making sense of everything after coming out of the blur of a years long self-destruction party. My problems were of my own doing, and now I have to work to keep from falling back into the same pitfalls.

Musically, I wanted to push the idea of what I thought Planning For Burial could be. I wanted to have songs with more movement, upping the tempo and utilizing my voice a bit more than usual while also trying to retain the smeared textured of guitars and synths.

The ‘Mats were adverse to the idea of self-promotion in the video age; they just wanted to be a band. There’s parallels to that in todays music business where it’s often not good enough to be an artist; you now have to play the roll of content creator/influencer to appease the great algorithm just to get your music in front of people. It often feels anti-art.

I worked with Alana Wool to come up with a concept that pulls from the ‘Mats, complete middle-finger attitude that was also a piece of art that to me really encompasses the feeling of angsty boredom with my own memory of late nights drinking alone, shuffling around the house watching the hours/days/weeks/etc peel away.

Rival Consoles – ‘Known Shape’

Rival Consoles has previewed his ninth studio album, Landscape from Memory, with a fluid, searching new track called ‘Known Shape. “I’ve always been obsessed by controls on machines because they produce beautiful sounds and they have their own rhythms,” Ryan Lee West shared in a press release. “The drums are made from rotating switches and the synths are set in motion by invisible mechanical rhythms. Machines have a special connection to the human spirit, which is both good and bad but above all restless. There is a constant searching in ‘Known Shape’ for some kind of answer or emotion.”

CIVIC – ‘The Hogg’

CIVIC have a filthy new song out called ‘The Hogg’, lifted from their forthcoming LP Chrome Dreams. The track is about “staring into the abyss and seeing nothing but its pure beauty,” according to the band. “Surface level pleasure with sinister undertones. A porcelain dancer draped in flesh, pirouetting to the infinite beat. ‘The Hogg’ is my reality. ‘The Hogg’ is my destiny.”

Subsonic Eye – ‘Aku Cemas’

Singapore indie rockers Subsonic Eye have announced their fifth album, Singapore Dreaming, which arrives on June 11 via Topshelf. It’s led by the infectious and gauzy ‘Aku Cemas’, of which vocalist Nur Wahidah said: “When I was unemployed for a couple of months, I was feeling this restless feeling. I couldn’t sit still but it felt like I had to. I would apply for 20 jobs a day and go back to watching movies on my laptop. It was a funny feeling – I finally had the time to do whatever I wanted. I could read, knit, craft, cycle. Like when I was employed, I looked forward to doing my favorite things during my free time. But this feeling of doom and uselessness just clouded over everything. I didn’t have the appetite to do things I loved because of the overwhelming anxiety over being unemployed. I didn’t want to be free again, I just wanted a job.”

spill tab – ‘Hold Me’

spill tab has dropped ‘Hold Me’, an earnest, laid-back tune that serves as the final preview of her debut album ANGIE. “‘Hold Me’ was one of those special songs that poured out the day it was written,” she explained. “Sometimes songs take months or years to feel finished, I’m such an editor when it comes to my music, I love to cut and replace and add new parts here and there, or rewrite whole verses. But this one is really precious because it’s an honest snapshot of how I was feeling that day. I was sad and so lonely, and was processing a difficult breakup at that point. And so I love this song because it feels like a little world within a crystal, very honestly captured and well preserved.”

Natalie Bergman – ‘Gunslinger’

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, and producer Natalie Bergman has announced her sophomore record, My Home Is Not In This World – out July 18 via Third Man Records – with the nostalgic ‘Gunslinger’. “The title is an acknowledgement of my longing for this place over yonder,” Bergman commented “It represents my desire to not be a part of what’s going on digitally. I was trying to be the antithesis of a lot of modern music. There are some earthy sounds and many of the songs are about love. At the same time, it’s about finding my place on earth—even though I’ve never truly felt like I belonged here.”

Gordi – ‘Cutting Room Floor’

Gordi has shared a propulsive new single, ‘Cutting Room Floor’, from her upcoming LP Like Plasticine. “‘Cutting Room Floor’ is a song about growing pains, about the slow splintering that happens between people,” she shared. “I took the song to Durham in North Carolina to work on with my friend Brad Cook. Matt McCaughan came over and played drums, and Brad and I filled in the rest.” She added, “It was one of those songs that seemed to expand to fit any idea, and it was a real joy to work on. Jared Frieder and I shot the video in a carpark in Dallas as the sun was setting in the middle of a sweltering heatwave. I ate a whole pack of Twizzlers when we finished in an effort to abate my delirium.”

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