Jackie Hayes keeps things moving forward. Written over the past year and a half, debut album, ‘Over & Over’ retains the rough around the edges, sparse production and guitar work of previous EPs (‘There’s Always Going to Be Something,’ ‘Take It, Leave It’) while establishing a newfound focus. Produced by Billy Lemos (Omar Apollo, Binki, Dua Saleh, Lava La Rue) and mixed by Henry Stoehr of Slow Pulp, the record is a razor-sharp portal into Hayes’ thought process, while she navigates the fast lane of facing up to every full-bodied experience. Hayes’ tracks are short and compact, brief gut punches steadied by inherent rhythm. Outwardly simple, the melody often seems to collapse inward, with repetition and intonation that sounds like one long vicious cycle. Intuitively fleshing out an instrumental with a melody in mind, she slowly builds song structures that bend until they break, only adding in lyrics later. Singles like “Bite Me” and “Wish It Was” sound like internalized monologues that blur the lines of pop and rock, where Hayes’ vocals sit vulnerably bare. It often feels like she’s putting on a brave face, and ‘Over & Over’ excels in the way that Hayes seems to say, in spite of everything, she’s doing things exactly the way she wants. Hayes admits to being dissatisfied with some of her previous work, often over-editing vocals to acute precision in a desire to achieve perfection. ‘Over and Over’ feels like the real introduction to her music, viscerally physical as she explores what it takes to make music that feels true to her entire being. After playing her first live shows in years in early 2022 (supporting Briston Maroney and Sunflower Bean), Hayes went back and re-recorded many of the songs on the project. The validation of seeing a tangible reaction to her music was a confidence boost: “I forgot that I can sing,” she admits. However, while working on the batch of songs that make up the record, she was dropped by her then-label, and lost her voice from the exhaustion of touring. At the same time, she had to get stitches from a wine glass exploding in her hand at her day job. She drove herself home from the ER, then went back to work after two days, although she couldn’t properly play guitar for a month. ‘Over & Over’ reflects the frustrations of this stop and start pace, and many of the songs feel like collective manifestations of Hayes reasoning with herself to keep going. Hayes believed in herself more than anyone else from a young age, entering county fair talent show competitions where she would cover emo bands like Paramore or Pierce the Veil, while also playing piano in the church choir before she was ousted for her irreligious beliefs. Sneaking out to play DIY shows in and around her hometown of Waukegan, Illinois, her unsupportive parents threatened to kick her out before she moved to Chicago alone at age 19, where she worked various full-time jobs throughout the pandemic to make ends meet while making music. ‘Over & Over’ retains this spirit of stoic independence. Even now, Hayes maintains her extremely hands-on approach to her music, keeping a trusted inner circle that include long-term collaborator Lemos and Michael Penn II, who assisted in co-writing 2021’s ‘There’s Always Going to Be Something’ as well as six tracks on the new record. Hayes’ penchant for insularity is part of what makes ‘Over & Over’ such a rewarding listen. Many of the songs were made in a period of extreme isolation and heightened negativity, and read like a stream of consciousness journal entry that gradually reveals insights through Hayes’ self-discovery in real time. The album is “more about a feeling than a specific experience,” she explains, and it’s difficult not to pick up the uncomfortable anxiety that runs rampant through the 10 tracks, most of which play in rapid motion. Hayes is transparent about her very personal fixations, wrangling with the vulnerability that comes with perception, from struggles with body dysmorphia to the pressures of being a musician in an industry fixated with youth and hype that’s often fleeting at best (“Intro”, “Focus”). “There’s not a single love song” on ‘Over & Over,’ but the record showcases Hayes finding solace in her own spirit. “Me knowing I can stop doing this whenever and completely change course made it easier to keep going,” Hayes explains. In the end, it’s only her own voice that matters. “I told myself / I just have to see this through,” she sings on the singular ballad “Hard to Believe,” but sometimes just being present is enough. It’s a choice she’s determined to stand by.

JDM Global is on a mission to monopolize your summer playlists. With the release of the Go Easy EP, Josh Mehling, a queer 23-year-old alternative pop producer-turned-artist, is connecting people from all corners of the planet through the JDM Global project. “Go Easy is perfect for the summertime. The production feels warm, citrusy, and playful, but the lyrics are more introspective than my previous work”. After finding his footing producing Claud’s debut “Toast” EP and forming 1/4th of indie supergroup Shelly (alongside Clairo, Claud, and Noa Getzug), Mehling turned his focus to the JDM Global project releasing his first single “Cake”, which grabbed the attention of some of music’s most respected names – plays on BBC Radio 6, landing on Pigeons & Planes’ Best New Artists list and adds to the ever-elusive Lorem & Fresh Finds playlists on Spotify followed.

When Jordan Topf was just seven years old, his father abandoned him in a hotel room in Costa Rica. With the bleary shock of a polaroid flashbulb, Topf pulls the memory into clarity: his dad joining a woman he’d just met on a motorcycle ride, and leaving him behind, alone, for 24 hours. "I remember the sound of the engine roaring and dust flying, sitting at the hotel pool, half submerged as my heart sank," Topf says. "I crawled into a creaky bed in the darkness, alone, more alone than I'd ever felt. Thousands of miles away from home, in a country where I didn't speak the language." That trauma lived in the back of Topf’s mind for years until he found a path forward: writing a song about it called “Abandon”, the lead single from his self-titled debut as Windser (due May 14th). "I had to set myself free from the pain," he says. “I allowed myself to feel openly and truthfully, to write something that could help me understand my father and how I’d suppressed these feelings for so long."    As a veteran of other bands and a former tourmate of the likes of Portugal. The Man and alt-J, Topf has proven himself masterfully capable of translating those deep emotional moments in grand indie rock scale. “Abandon” is powered by an atmospheric, psychedelic groove with Radiohead-esque effected guitars, the verses tumbling out of his mouth. Windsor pairs intensely personal storytelling with sky-cracking hooks, Topf leading listeners through his diary but making them feel like it’s their own. “These are stories I’ve never told, shared in a way I’ve never shared, played in a way I’ve never played,” he says. “The songs deserved a certain level of care, so instead of working in my home studio, we rented John Congleton’s Los Angeles studio, Animal Rites, and invited all my favorite musicians to record.”    On the thrumming “These Days”, Topf turns pained emotions (“I’m so bored/ I’m depressed/ I’m a mess/ These days”) into a carbonated hook as the drums thump out like heavy footfalls on asphalt. For the similarly propulsive “Lose You”, Topf tries to cling onto the last bits of a fading love in a soaring falsetto reminiscent of Band of Horses. Topf co-wrote the track with Day Wave frontman Jackson Phillips, the duo unlocking their best postpunk shuffle.   Through its hard-hitting songwriting and compelling instrumentation, Windser reflects all Topf has been through, holding the mirror up so listeners can explore their own past too. To that end, album highlight “Backyard” works almost like a sequel to “Abandon”; no longer stuck in the moments of his past, Topf can now chart his path forward. Co-written with Morgan Nagler, herself a co-writer of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Kyoto”, the track finds Topf looking out the back window of his home, his mind literally racing from memory to memory. “It’s about realizing you’re a product of your parents, your environment, but also that you get to decide if you’re going to repeat family history or change,” he says. Both in his life leading up to this debut and through the album itself, Topf has learned how to grow into himself—how to face the pain and embrace the beauty. Across Windser, he shares his journey of coming to an understanding of his relationship with his father, of the pain in his past, of becoming more aware of his own emotions. But thankfully it didn’t end there. “I had reached a ceiling and I was cracked wide open, but I also reached the point of finding everlasting love as a means of safety, security, and changing the course of my family history,” he says. The dreamy ballad “Shut Up and Kiss Me” honors that love in an airy falsetto and blocky piano that recalls the Plastic Ono Band. Topf wrote the song for his wife, the pair having freshly married after a decade together. And after the exploration of pain in his past, the track highlights the timeless emotion that only Windser can reach: the freeing power of love, and how the world comes together when it’s right.