June 2025

In a world where electronic music often lives by structure and precision, few acts manage to let go and truly surrender to the moment like N/UM. Based in New York, this boundary-pushing live trio has built a global reputation by doing exactly that. Their performances are fully improvised, composed and performed in real time using analog synthesizers, modular systems, drum machines, guitar and vocals. With no pre-written material, no fixed arrangements and no overdubs, what you hear is pure intuition made sound.

The trio is made up of Grammy-winning engineer and producer Jeremy Loucas, guitarist Elias Meister, and Danish multi-instrumentalist Emil Bovbjerg. Together, they’ve taken their radical approach to stages worldwide, from Mutek Montréal and Fusion Festival to Robot Heart and Movement Detroit, delivering raw, spontaneous performances that stand apart in today’s electronic landscape.

Their latest release, Fade The Heart, stays true to this uncompromising ethos. Recorded in a single, emotionally charged session, the four-track EP invites listeners on a journey through hypnotic minimalism, rich synthesis and deep, groove-fuelled storytelling. Each track offers a different glimpse into their sonic world — intuitive, evolving and alive in every moment. For fans of electronic music who crave authenticity, unpredictability and pure creative energy, N/UM are a rare find.

Buy/Stream: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/num3/fade-the-heart

There are albums that aim to entertain — and then there are albums that aim to transform. Byrne Elliott Music’s latest instrumental release, Age of Enlightenment, falls firmly into the latter category. More than a collection of tracks, this is a carefully crafted emotional and philosophical arc — a wordless journey through reason, rebellion, reflection, and ultimately, personal awakening.

Drawing inspiration from the historical Enlightenment period, Byrne Elliott has created an album that mirrors that same pursuit of clarity, growth, and inner independence — but through sound rather than ideology. From the very first track, the intent is clear: this is not background music. This is music meant to be felt, processed, and absorbed.

The opening title track, Age of Enlightenment, sets the tone with a sense of grandeur and hope — a kind of musical sunrise. It’s followed by Sunlight, equally luminous, spiritual, and meditative. But just as the listener begins to relax into this calm, Calamity strikes. Raw, forceful, and unrelenting, this track delivers a cinematic jolt. Its orchestral swells and percussive force evoke the chaos of inner and outer upheaval, inspired by moments of personal and collective collapse. Think Game of Thrones but translated into a psychological storm.

Midway through the album, La Seconda Venuta di Cristo pulls us into a more solemn, sacred space. Gregorian chants, pipe organ, and medieval instrumentation conjure the scale and gravity of epic religious cinema. The music is reverent but ominous — a powerful sonic imagining of judgment and salvation.

Tracks like Olympic Destiny and American Revolution continue to push the listener through waves of tension and triumph. But it’s in the later pieces — Hope for the Hopeless, Haunted Love, and Lessons Never Learned — that the emotional depth of the album truly unfolds. These compositions are hauntingly beautiful, tapping into sorrow, reflection, and longing with a vulnerability that’s rare in instrumental work.

The final track, Dance of Life, performed by renowned pianist BoKyung Lee, closes the album with a gentle, mysterious grace. It feels like both a question and an answer — playful, melancholic, and profoundly human. Lee’s performance alone is worth the listen.

What makes Age of Enlightenment truly special isn’t just its musical ambition, but its emotional honesty. Without lyrics, Byrne Elliott manages to say more than many albums full of words. The music doesn’t dictate what to feel — it invites you to feel deeply, in your own way.

This is music for thinkers, seekers, and anyone navigating their own internal chaos or clarity. It’s a rare example of an album that grows with you — offering something different depending on where you are in your own personal journey.

Age of Enlightenment is now streaming on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Whether you approach it as a soundtrack to your introspection or as a piece of sonic art, this is one of 2025’s most ambitious and affecting instrumental releases. Don’t just listen — experience it.

Denver-based indie rock band Mainland Break have returned with their first instance of new music for 2025. A double A-side encasing tracks ‘I Give In’ and ‘Endlessly’, the bewitching new release was produced and engineered by Mark Anderson (Sylvan Esso), mixed by Joey Oaxaca (White Reaper, twen, Mamalarky), and mastered by Nick Townsend (Cheap Trick, Weezer, Frankie And The Witch Fingers).

Having embarked upon their first trip down under in 2024 with the One Way Ticket To Midnight Tour, building connections and memories which would establish Australia as something of a second home outside of Colorado for them, Mainland Break are long-time fans of the local music scene in Oz.  

Honouring this long-standing love for the country’s music by taking influence from an array of Aussie acts both big and small, their personal brand of gritty yet melancholic indie rock has drawn comparisons to the likes of Floodlights, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and RVG.  

The first of the new singles, ‘I Give In’, is a bittersweet anthem unveiling the eternal inner conflict between resignation and resistance in our day-to-day lives. Capturing the melancholic, floating energy of these commonplace struggles detailed in the song, Mainland Break expand;

“‘I Give In’ is about experiencing warring emotions and feeling unable to change the process or eventual outcome. It’s about taking the path of least resistance and losing an internal struggle. The wave crashes over you, but also propels you. You love, but you hold yourself back from loving. Tension builds, but tension fades. You’re emotionally nimble, but emotionally shackled. You feel mobile, but you are stuck.”  MAINLAND BREAK

The second of the singles, ‘Endlessly’, was inspired by the concept that all individuals die twice; once in the corporeal sense, and again when that person’s name is spoken aloud for the final time. Delving into this philosophy with a charming and healthy dose of anxious pondering, the band unravel the concept further:

“This idea clumsily opens the door for a multitude of other deaths that I now feel the need to generate and contemplate. What about the last time someone looks at a photograph of me? Or the last time someone looks at a photograph I took? Or the last time a telemarketer updates their list upon realizing someone else now owns my old phone number?”  MAINLAND BREAK

Expanding on the song which emerged from this thought exercise, the band said:

“‘Endlessly’ criticizes societal obsession with legacy while embracing the inherent impact of one’s existence on the universe. Many people desperately wish to control how they are remembered, frantically trying to delay their “second death,” while statues and monuments of those like them are perpetually erected and demolished. They fear that their lives will pass imperceptibly, like a drop of water falling into an ocean. Then again, how can you possibly undo the effect of a water droplet falling into the ocean? The resulting ripples, no matter how small, have forever changed the surface of the sea. Even our smallest actions change the course of history. We may put a name on a building or mountain to honor someone’s legacy, but that isn’t their true legacy. Your true legacy is your existence itself. Every breath and every footstep you’ve ever taken is carved permanently into the universe, and it will never stop speaking your name.”  MAINLAND BREAK

PRAISE

“Sun-drenched indie rock at its finest.”

BEAT MAGAZINE

“One Way Ticket To Midnight delivers infectious pop-rock melodies and captivating songwriting.”

HAPPY MAG

“Featuring sweet crisp guitars, buoyant melodies and a driving beat, there is much to love here. The story telling and harmonies, coupled with a beautifully balanced production gives way to a listening experience that sweetly washes over.”

AU REVIEW

“Denver-based band Mainland Break tout and energised rock immediacy throughout their new album One Way Ticket to Midnight, meshing nostalgic guitar tones in the vein of R.E.M. with more modern indie-rock shimmering, at points compared to The Shins and The New Pornographers.”

OBSCURE SOUND

Mainland Break: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp

Toronto-based songwriter and musician Jon Stancer makes a compelling return this fall with his first full-length release since 2022’s In Light Of EP. Setting the tone is the luminous new single, “I Don’t Mind The White Noise”—a sonically rich track that offers an exciting glimpse into what’s ahead. The album promises a sweeping, textured sound that’s both adventurous and deeply personal. This forthcoming 11-track collection was co-produced by Stancer and celebrated producer Jean Martin (D.D. Jackson, Jesse Zubot), and features vibrant contributions from drummer Joshua Van Tassel (Great Lake Swimmers, Rose Cousins) and violinist Drew Jurecka (Metric, Alvvays). Most of the record was built from the ground up by Stancer in his home studio throughout 2024. Come January, he followed a creative instinct and reached out to Martin—someone he had never worked with before. Their connection was immediate, fueled by a shared desire to push the songs into bold, new territory.

“Jon sent me some rough mixes and I was immediately intrigued,” Martin recalls. “The songs were strong, the arrangements were inventive, and the vocal stacks were really striking—some didn’t even have a traditional lead vocal, which gave me serious Beach Boys or CSN vibes. He really has a unique voice, both literally and creatively.” Martin, who also mixed and mastered the record, admits he’s still revisiting the final mixes. “It’s rare that I keep spinning something I’ve spent months working on,” he says. “But this one has a lasting pull. The rhythms are distinctive, the orchestral moments are stunning, and the writing has a real emotional depth.”

Toronto-based tour photographer-turned-musician Evie Maynes, who records under the moniker evvvie, is steadily building a sonic world that feels both intimately personal and strikingly universal. Drawing on the emotional rollercoaster of her twenties, evvvie’s music captures the late-night spirals, the tentative steps toward self-acceptance, and the bittersweet clarity that often follows. Her sound lives somewhere between the shimmer of early-2000s pop and the gauzy haze of dream-pop, but it’s her lyrical honesty that gives it gravity.

Her latest single, “Better Than Mine,” feels like flipping through a diary filled with half-finished thoughts and too-honest confessions. It leans into the quiet sting of comparison—particularly the kind that thrives in the curated chaos of social media. “It’s so easy to look at the people around you and wonder why they have something and you don’t, when in reality they’re probably feeling the same way about you,” evvvie shares. The verses trace those restless, looping thoughts, while the chorus gently breaks the cycle with a jolt of awareness. By the bridge, she lands on a painfully real truth: “this state of mind is no one’s problem but my own.”

What’s more impressive? The track was written in under three hours during her very first session with producer Elliott Isaac. “It’s not often that you creatively click with someone like that,” she recalls. “I think our energy from that day really made its way into the song.” The result is a track that feels effortless but cuts deep—anchored in vulnerability but buoyed by pop instincts.

“Better Than Mine” follows “Make You Mine” (produced by Luna Li), a delicate, emotionally rich track that unfolds like a love letter backed by lush strings and gentle acoustic guitar. With each new release, evvvie continues to refine her voice, blending reflection and melody in a way that’s wholly her own. Her debut EP, due out in Fall 2025, promises more of the heartfelt, softly cinematic storytelling that’s turning quiet listeners into devoted fans.

Shay Wolf is an alt-pop dream weaver—spinning vibrant, cinematic soundscapes that shimmer with emotion and imagination. Hailing from the wide-open prairies and now rooted in Winnipeg, she brings haunting vocals and a luminous stage presence that pull you into a world where reality and reverie effortlessly intertwine. A classically trained pianist turned singer-songwriter, Shay blends sweeping pop melodies with introspective vulnerability and flashes of joyful defiance. Think Charlotte Cardin meets AURORA with a touch of Lana Del Rey—but always grounded in the wild beauty of her prairie roots.

Her music is all about embracing the tender chaos of being human—grappling with loss, leaning into transformation, and finding hope in unexpected places. There’s a quiet magic to her sound, an invitation to wander through the in-between and come out feeling just a little more seen. Following the release of her debut Stay EP in 2023, Shay is stepping into a new chapter with Sunny Days—a radiant, feel-good anthem about renewal and joy. “As thoughts of what a sunny day meant to me swirled through my head,” she shares, “I was reminded of ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles. A perfectly arranged song that is sweet, hopeful, and simple. I was inspired by The Beatles’ use of lyrics and arrangement as I was writing ‘Sunny Days.”