Alma Elste

Parisian newcomer Alma Elste is a name to remember, whose track Virtualism sounds like the start of something very promising. Lyrically, the vocals are a little Lana Del Rey but the voice is beautiful and the synths are swirly - all in all it's more than listenable. Hear it for yourself below:

Belgian Fog

This rather endearing/slightly confusing track comes from Seattle's Belgian Fog, a solo project which veers towards the more interesting side of pop; the side that I think deals with mental health issues or something along those lines. Take a listen to the unsettlingly happy Wait for Help below:

Valentina

Valentina featured on one of my favourite tracks of the last couple of years but I've never really gotten a chance to hear her own stuff before. So hearing her beautiful new track Wolves has gotten me super excited. I'm not into that whole Valentine's Day thing, but if I were I'd probably be sipping a glass of wine with this on loop the whole evening. Wolves is out on Greco-Roman now:

Bipolar Sunshine

This is the solo project of former Kid British member, Adio Marchant. The name Bipolar Sunshine fits pretty well as both tracks flutter between upbeat and intense. The idea of being thrown between opposite points of emotion numerous times in such a short space sounds pretty odd, but actually, it works extremely well - stream below:

Jerome LOL

I'm really sad about LOL Boys calling a hiatus. They are without doubt one of my favourite artists from the past couple years and their final release Changes was probably my favourite song of the entire year.

All sad feelings aside, for now at least, Jerome is releasing his own stuff under the name Jerome LOL which kind of softens the blow a little. Below is the very relevantly titled Happy/Sad - it's great, so enjoy:

Feather Beds

Feather Beds is a very new Dublin-based solo project, having only been set up this year, the below track On Your Deathbed is the very first release. It's mellow, it's sad, and it's eerie, basically it's pretty damn good.  Apparently there's a debut set to be released some time next year, which - by example of this - is probably going to be one to look forward to. Stream the track below:

Heavenly Beat

This is actually the solo project of the bassist from Beach Fossils, John Peña. His new project is called Heavenly Beat and It's bloody brilliant. The below track is Tradition, a cut from the Heavenly Beat debut set for release July 24th via Captured Tracks. It sees Peña dancing in synthpop territory, combining the hazy lo-fi he's known for in Beach Fossils with some pretty nice R&B inspired beats. I do like Beach Fossils but I have to say there's potential for enjoying this whole Heavenly Beat thing a whole lot more.

Erika Spring

You may have heard of Erika Spring already, being one part of Au Revoir Simone it comes as no surprise that the first cut from her new solo project is so wonderfully catchy. But this isn't just a nice piece of swirling synthpop accompanied by a pretty voice, production is tight and the track has a denser feel to it than that of previous Au Revoir stuff. I'm excited to hear the rest of this, Erika is set to release her self-titled EP on July 10th via Cascine but for now you can stream/download Hidden below: