Real Friends "Torn In Two (Pure Noise)"
Real Friends‘ Torn In Two was produced by Andrew Wade, who has worked on albums for punk bands A DAY TO REMEMBER and NECK DEEP, as well as Mike Green, who has co-written and produced on projects for SUM 41, NEW FOUND GLORY, and THE ACES. This new EP incorporates a recurring motif of the torn-ness and separation we have recently experienced in our everyday lives, as vocalist Cody Muraro elaborates. “I really liked how we were able to incorporate the Torn In Two theme throughout. The album artwork being people separated. The five main songs on one side and five alternates on the other. I think the past year has left a lot of us feeling torn, scrambling to reconnect with a sense of familiarity.”
Mono "Pilgrimage of the Soul (Rough Trade Publishing)"
Pilgrimage of the Soul is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends, MONO. Recorded and mixed – cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically – during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Pilgrimage of the Soul is aptly named as it not only represents the peaks and valleys where MONO are now as they enter their third decade, but also charts their long, steady journey to this time and place.
Lydia Hol "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream (Rough Trade Publishing)"
Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream, Lydia Hol’s newest record, captures the strange paradox of Hollywood, and the illusion of utopian happiness. Societal fragmentation and darkness underneath the gloss are key themes of the record, with each of the nine songs offering a distinct lens to peer inside of, encapsulating the artificiality of the California dream.
Hawthorne Heights "The Rain Just Follows Me (Pure Noise)"
The Rain Just Follows Me, the eighth album from Ohio emo champs Hawthorne Heights, is a comfortable addition to their catalogue, one in which they create carefully calibrated mix of soft and heavy. The songs blend clean vocals and bright melodies with screams and brutal guitars seamlessly, like on Thunder In Our Hearts, which has a heavy opening, sparse verses and builds from there to a bouncy post-chorus.