May 2025 (Part 2)

Hey how's it going, here are seven songs I heard for the first time last month and liked a lot. This is the second of a three part series featuring track-by-track thoughts on the playlist I made in May 2025, here's Part 1 if you missed it the first time around!

Florry - “Truck Flipped Over ’19”
That blown the hell out guitar lead is one of the most thrilling openings to a song I’ve heard in ages, and as someone who imprinted early on Broken Social Scene, I can't resist the maximalist, everything-might-fall-apart-at-any-moment energy to the rest of the track. The very good new Florry album, Sounds Like… (recorded by Horse Combinations favorite Colin Miller), is full of barnburners like this one.

 

U.e - “Drawing of Me”
Ulla Straus has released a string of really solid ambient albums over the last few years; 2022’s hazy, glitched out Foam is a particular fav in my home. Their new record Hometown Girl is the debut of a new pseudonym and a newfound interest in more traditional songwriting. “Drawing of Me” stood out to me on first listen, their voice accompanied by a quiet assortment of woodwinds, horns, even drums, pretty straightforward stuff that still maintains the focus on atmospherics and texture of their more experimental work.

John Galm - “Into the Fire”
An absolutely gutting track from the excellent new John Galm record. I really love the sudden moment of violent rupture midway through the song, and then when the noise all falls away? Goosebumps every time!

Mei Semones - “Tora Moyo”
This is a great encapsulation of what makes Mei Semones’ Animaru so charming: a lovesick bossa nova song sung in a mix of Japanese and English that manages to cover a ton of stylistic ground in less than three minutes. It's virtuosic without being annoying or show-offy, cute without being saccharine. 

Moontype - “Four Hands ii”
I will listen to anything and everything Chicago’s Orindal Records releases. They put the new Moontype album, I Let The Wind Push Down On Me, out last month and it’s been on regular rotation ever since. There’s a lot to love on the record, but “Four Hands ii” is, at least for now, my favorite song of the bunch.

Forth Wanderers - “7 Months”
Really nice to see a new track from Forth Wanderers! Ava Trilling’s openness about how her personal mental health struggles are incompatible with basically every aspect of life as a person in an up-and-coming indie rock band is necessary and heartbreaking. Hearing perspectives like hers always gets me thinking about how much great art never gets made simply because people are too exhausted, too broke, or otherwise unable to engage with the extraneous bullshit expected of artists trying to find an audience. Not enough people get to devote their lives to their craft the way they deserve to and every cool new song is a miracle!

James Blackshaw - “Why Keep Still?”
After nearly 10 years away, Jimmy Black is back from hiatus! Welcome back James, I’m glad you’re going crazy with it fingerstyle-wise again.

I'll be back soon with thoughts on the final chunk of the May 2025 mix, which you can listen to below: