These LITM Rock Picks refuse to play it safe, prioritising feeling over precision. Featuring Secret Treehouse, Tabitha Zu, Barry Walsh, and more!
1. Secret Treehouse – Leave Me in the Dark
Secret Treehouse’s Leave Me in the Dark is immediate and urgent from its opening moments. On the surface, it sounds like what you’d expect from a rock track – complete with dominating guitars and light yet relentless drums in the background, setting the pace for this bright-sounding song – but when you look underneath it all, the song weaves a tale of unhealthy attachment, emotional harm, and toxic dependency. This juxtaposition results in a listen that’s fraught with a push-and-pull tension. Thematically, Leave Me in the Dark stands out because it refuses to become something palatable, something not taken seriously – it means to unsettle you, and it does a fine job of it.
2. Tabitha Zu – Heard It Before
Listening to Tabitha Zu’s music feels like falling through a wormhole and ending up in the early ‘90s – fitting, considering that you’d be listening to a band that shared bills with the likes of Nirvana and Suede. Any music made now trying to emulate this era will inevitably sound nostalgic, and this is where Heard It Before holds its ground – it comes straight from that moment, capturing an essence of controlled chaos that isn’t tinted with what came after. It’s urgent and tense, holding together many identities that clash to produce something beautiful where immediacy means no overthinking, just doing. Fearless and unhesitating to experiment, Tabitha Zu is as current today as it’s ever been – listen here!
3. Barry Walsh – Star Ride
From the moment you hit play on Barry Walsh’s Star Ride, it bursts forth, enveloping you in a sense of euphoria that feels like you’re suspended in mid-air, colours flying around you. Layers of jangly guitars serve as the base for Walsh’s clear and confident vocals, which propel you into space with references to space from across time and culture. There’s a carefree energy to the whole track – it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that makes it nothing short of pure fun to listen to. It encourages you to leave your hesitations behind and just take that one small step (no pun intended) – who knows what may happen?
4. Divergent – I Really Want To Love You (So Bad)
Delicate piano and the lightest drums form the backbone of Divergent’s I Really Want To Love You (So Bad). That, combined with vocals that seem to sit behind a curtain of haze, accompanied by an electric guitar that’s neither too much nor too little, creates an atmosphere that’s as laid-back and chill in its pace as it is drenched in yearning. A closer look at just the title, however, reveals nuance: as passionate as the song may be, it sits in the middle of doubt (“Do you even really know me / even though I see you every day?”), which makes it an interesting listen!
5. Stale Jan – I Don’t Bend
These days, a song is never just about the music, but a cohesive digital experience, and that’s what Stale Jan delivers on I Don’t Bend – a song that, from the title and cover art to its sound and lyrics, exudes defiance and confidence in equal measure. Overall, it doesn’t try to overwhelm you to convey its message: a fairly minimal arrangement of drums and clear female vocals fills up all the space it needs to surround you. The song transitions smoothly from heavy and distorted to calm and reflective throughout, and none of it ever feels abrupt. Check it out here!
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