Following recent releases I Wish and Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon), the new track offers another glimpse into an album built around the tensions between intimacy, independence and the search for a life that feels authentic. The Hardest Thing arrives with an ambitious one-shot video directed by Danny Cohen, filmed entirely from a helicopter as it winds through the Melbourne skyline.

Julia Jacklin

Julia Jacklin (Izzie Austin)

The Hardest Thing sits at the heart of The Gem, both literally and thematically, appearing as the album’s fourth track. Its arrival follows the previously released I Wish, featuring The Maes, and Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon), continuing Jacklin’s exploration of the emotional contradictions that have shaped the record.

The Gem takes its name from a Melbourne bar that played an important role in Jacklin’s return to music-making. After moving from Sydney to Melbourne in 2017, she discovered the small Collingwood venue, where bands performed in an intimate setting among the tables and patrons. Years later, it became the unlikely home of her fourth album.

Rather than heading into a conventional studio, Jacklin recorded The Gem at Rat Shack, located above the bar, alongside producer and engineer Robert Muinos and a close-knit group of musicians: Jacob Diamond on guitar, Mimi Gilbert on bass and Jess Elwood on drums.

The sessions unfolded over almost a year between December 2024 and December 2025. What initially looked like a project that could be completed within a couple of weeks instead became a process of experimentation and gradual discovery, with the limitations of the space becoming part of the record’s character.

The band could not record late into the night because of the residential setting, while everyday activity around the venue continued to bleed into the sessions. Rather than fighting those imperfections, Jacklin embraced them, allowing the album to develop organically. “I want to love and be loved, but I also want to be free,” Jacklin says. “The tension between those two things has been the central question of my life.”

That tension runs through The Gem, which follows three acclaimed solo albums — 2016’s Don’t Let The Kids Win, 2019’s Crushing and 2022’s PRE PLEASURE. The new record finds Jacklin turning inward, using the process of making music at home in Melbourne as a means of reconnecting with herself.

The album’s title also carries a more literal connection to the recording process. On the final day of the sessions, Jacklin and her bandmates received matching tattoos representing opals, her favourite gemstone. The tattoos were created by one of the bartenders at The Gem, providing a permanent reminder of the community surrounding the album. “The Gem felt like a metaphor for the whole process, because a lot of it did feel like digging,” Jacklin explains. “I felt like I was doing it almost in the dark, just trusting I was going to find something.”

That sense of excavation is reflected in an album that Jacklin describes as a journey back towards herself. Across its ten tracks, The Gem explores the push and pull between connection and freedom, while drawing on the friendships and surroundings that helped shape its creation.

The new single’s cinematic visual treatment provides a striking contrast to the intimate circumstances in which the album was made. Directed by Cohen, the one-shot film was captured from a helicopter, sweeping across Melbourne’s skyline and transforming the city that has become such an important part of Jacklin’s story into the backdrop for the song.

The Gem will be released worldwide on 25th September across digital, CD, cassette and vinyl formats, with special editions available in Turquoise, Green Opal, Ruby and Rose Quartz vinyl.

With the album release approaching, Jacklin will embark on an extensive international tour, beginning in North America in October before heading to the UK, Ireland and Europe in early 2027. She has also rescheduled her Liverpool and Nottingham in-store appearances, with the new dates set for November and December respectively. Existing tickets for the original shows remain valid.

With The Gem marking a new chapter for Julia Jacklin, The Hardest Thing offers another compelling glimpse of an album born from change, uncertainty and the decision to trust where the journey might lead.

Upcoming UK & Ireland Dates:

NOVEMBER 2026
30th – Liverpool, UK – Jacaranda – In-store show & signing

DECEMBER 2026
1st – Nottingham, UK – Rough Trade – In-store show & signing

FEBRUARY 2027
13th – Birmingham, Town Hall
14th – Manchester, Albert Hall
15th – Dublin, National Stadium
17th – Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom
18th – Bristol, Beacon
19th – London, Eventim Apollo

Home Again: The Temper Trap Triumphantly Return To London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town

Following their return in April with THE KING and the subsequent arrival of THE FIRE, the new track takes the band somewhere considerably darker and more unexpected. Driven by a distorted, processed organ and an increasingly imposing bass-heavy arrangement, THE UNDERDOG builds from an unusually vulnerable vocal performance into a towering finale.

De Staat

De Staat (Kees De Klein)

At the centre of the song is a familiar De Staat concern: power and the consequences of its abuse. But while previous material has often examined manipulation, misinformation and political influence from an observational distance, THE UNDERDOG shifts the perspective towards those at the bottom who have finally had enough.

Frontman Torre Florim explains that the band’s long-standing fascination with power, faith and the boundary between reality and fiction has taken on a new urgency. The title DE STAAT — chosen 25 years after the band first formed — has consequently acquired an unexpected resonance. “As a band, we’ve long explored ideas around power, faith, and the increasingly blurred line between reality and fiction,” Florim explains. “The world we’re living in has pulled us further down that dark path, and suddenly it feels as though the name we chose 25 years ago has taken on a whole new weight – as if everything we’ve made has been unconsciously building towards this moment.”

That sense of accumulated history gives the new album an added significance. De Staat have spent their career refusing to sit comfortably within the conventional boundaries of rock, moving between industrial grooves, heavy riffs, electronic experimentation and pop instincts while using their music to examine the systems and behaviours that shape society. THE UNDERDOG continues that tradition, but does so through a track that is arguably more emotionally exposed than much of the band’s previous work.

The song imagines a coalition of the disaffected — people from radically different backgrounds and political perspectives — finding common ground through their shared frustration with those in power. Its central message is one of collective resistance, asking what happens when the pressure from below becomes impossible to ignore.

Musically, that idea is reflected in the arrangement. The contorted organ gives the track an uneasy, almost surreal quality, while Florim’s falsetto provides an unexpectedly fragile counterpoint. Rather than relying solely on the confrontational force that has characterised some of De Staat’s best-known material, the band allows the tension to accumulate before unleashing a huge, bass-driven climax. The result is a song that manages to sound both theatrical and deeply human.

The themes explored across the album will also inform an ambitious new live production, developed specifically around the DE STAAT concept.For three exclusive conceptual performances, the band have assembled a multidisciplinary creative team including director Floor Houwink ten Cate, audiovisual artist Boris Acket, lighting designer Freek Ros, visual artist Tarik Barri and audio designer Reinier Rietveld.

The collaboration promises to extend De Staat’s long-established reputation for theatrical and visually inventive live performances, with the dystopian world underpinning DE STAAT becoming a central part of the show’s aesthetic. Those conceptual performances begin with two nights at Amsterdam’s Koninklijk Theater Carré in October, before the band take the production and their new material on a wider European and UK tour.

De Staat’s reputation as a live force has been built through years of boundary-pushing performances and appearances at major festivals including Glastonbury, SXSW, Lowlands, Sziget, Boomtown, Pukkelpop and Deichbrand. They have also shared stages with artists including The Rolling Stones, Muse and Biffy Clyro.

That eclectic live history mirrors the band’s musical approach. From the hypnotic rhythms of Witch Doctor to the pointed social commentary of KITTY KITTY, De Staat have consistently used rhythm, spectacle and experimentation to create something that sits somewhere between rock concert, art installation and communal experience. DE STAAT now looks set to push that philosophy further.

The album arrives after the band’s two-year hiatus with a renewed sense of purpose, using the group’s name as both title and statement. Across its tracks, De Staat confronts a world in which political messaging, misinformation and the manipulation of public opinion have become increasingly difficult to separate from everyday life.

THE UNDERDOG provides perhaps the clearest indication yet of how that subject matter will be translated into sound: strange, muscular and confrontational, but with enough vulnerability to prevent the message from becoming one-dimensional.

With DE STAAT arriving in September and a major European and UK tour following, De Staat are returning not simply with a new record, but with a project that feels particularly suited to the uncertain times in which it has been created.

Upcoming UK & Ireland Live Dates

NOVEMBER
9th – Bristol, UK – Thekla
10th – Manchester, UK – Band on the Wall
11th – Dublin, Ireland – The Grand Social
13th – Glasgow, UK – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
14th – Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
15th – London, UK – Scala

Garbage Celebrate Three Decades Of Defiance At London’s Roundhouse

Sarah Louise

Sarah Louise (Michelle Fredericks)

Blending heartfelt storytelling with soulful vocals, acoustic influences and polished modern production, Sarah Louise has developed a sound that places emotional honesty at its centre. Her latest release builds on that foundation while introducing a more expansive and contemporary sonic palette, with warm synths, expressive melodies and organic instrumentation giving the track an uplifting sense of momentum.

At its heart, Different Kind Of Girl is about the unexpected ways another person can alter our perception of ourselves. Rather than presenting a conventional love story, Sarah focuses on the personal transformation that can follow when someone recognises qualities in us that we have struggled to see for ourselves. “Different Kind Of Girl is the moment you realise someone has changed you in ways you didn’t expect,” Sarah explains. “It’s soft, honest, and shaped by real life — the beginning of a new chapter for me.”

The song grew from a period of significant change in Sarah’s life, both personally and creatively. Years of self-doubt and trying to conform to expectations had left her questioning who she really was, until an unexpected connection helped shift her perspective. “I’d spent years doubting myself and trying to fit into what I thought people expected of me,” she says. “Then someone came into my life who saw something in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself.”

That realisation forms the emotional core of the single. For Sarah, the transformation isn’t about changing to please somebody else, but about finding the confidence to uncover the person who was already there. “It wasn’t about becoming someone different for another person; it was about discovering the confidence to become the person I’d always been underneath,” she adds.

That message gives Different Kind Of Girl a sense of optimism without losing the vulnerability that runs through Sarah’s songwriting. The track acknowledges the uncertainty that accompanies personal growth while ultimately celebrating the freedom that comes with becoming more comfortable in your own identity.

Sarah Louise

Sarah Louise (Michelle Fredericks)

Produced by Neal Handforth, the single combines Sarah’s soulful vocal delivery with a richer contemporary pop production. Warm synthesiser textures sit alongside organic instrumentation, while memorable hooks give the track an accessible, uplifting quality. The result is a natural progression for an artist whose work has consistently balanced personal storytelling with an inviting melodic sensibility.

The release also builds on a growing catalogue that has already earned Sarah an international audience. She has secured multiple UK and European iTunes No.1 singles, while her song Sunflower has accumulated more than 22 million views on Instagram, helping introduce her music to listeners well beyond the UK.

Her live career has similarly taken her music further afield. Sarah has performed at the legendary Bluebird Café in Nashville, as well as festivals, theatres and venues across the UK, developing a reputation for engaging performances that allow the emotional character of her songwriting to come to the fore.

Sarah Louise

Sarah Louise (Michelle Fredericks)

With Different Kind Of Girl, Sarah Louise brings those experiences together in a release that feels both familiar and forward-looking. The song retains the heartfelt storytelling and powerful vocals that have defined her work while embracing a brighter, more polished pop sound.

More than simply another single, Different Kind Of Girl represents a statement of intent: an artist becoming more confident in her voice, her identity and the direction she wants to take her music. For Sarah Louise, the next chapter has begun.

Janet Devlin Brings The Heat To London’s 21Soho

Rachel Bochner

Rachel Bochner (Smiles Meyer)

Built around a steady, tension-filled progression and crunchy guitar textures, Collar captures the uneasy chemistry between its narrator and someone who is already unavailable. Rather than offering easy answers, Bochner embraces the moral ambiguity at the heart of the situation, creating a song that lives in the space between fantasy and reality.

At its centre is a question that is both intimate and deliberately provocative: does he know what I do for you? The result is a track about wanting something that perhaps shouldn’t be wanted, and the increasingly obsessive internal debate that follows when attraction collides with boundaries.

Rachel Bochner

Rachel Bochner (Smiles Meyer)

Bochner has established her voice through candid songwriting that refuses to shy away from the complicated edges of relationships, identity and self-discovery. On Collar, that approach takes a particularly visceral turn, transforming a potentially messy situation into a portrait of yearning and uncertainty.

The single offers an early glimpse of Bochner’s forthcoming album, which expands considerably beyond the immediate tensions of Collar. The record was shaped in the aftermath of the end of a long-term relationship and explores the difficult process of figuring out who you are when the life you have spent years constructing no longer feels like your own.

For Bochner, that process became inseparable from her understanding of her own queer identity. She says she did not realise she was queer until her mid-20s, by which point she had already built a life that increasingly felt disconnected from who she was becoming. “I didn’t realize I was queer until my mid 20s,” Bochner explains. “Despite my best efforts, the life I’d spent years building no longer felt like home—it became a hand-built prison.”

Recognising that reality ultimately meant confronting the painful necessity of walking away from it. “Accepting that meant facing I had no choice but to leave it behind,” she adds.

That sense of rupture provides the emotional backdrop for the forthcoming album, which moves through grief, guilt, identity and acceptance. Rather than presenting self-discovery as a clean or straightforward process, Bochner documents the contradictions that accompany it: the simultaneous relief and sadness of recognising that something has to change, the loss involved in leaving a familiar life behind, and the uncertainty of working out what comes next.

Collar approaches those themes from a different angle, narrowing the focus to the intoxicating and potentially destructive pull of desire. Its protagonist knows there is a boundary, understands the complications of crossing it, and yet remains fascinated by the possibility.

Musically, the song mirrors that psychological tension. The measured waltz-like rhythm creates a feeling of restraint, while the increasingly prominent guitars introduce an underlying urgency. The arrangement allows the track to build rather than explode immediately, reflecting the way an intrusive thought can gradually become impossible to ignore.

Rachel Bochner

Rachel Bochner (Smiles Meyer)

That combination of direct songwriting and musical tension has become central to Bochner’s work. Her songs are rooted in personal experience but are broad enough to capture the emotional contradictions familiar to anyone who has questioned a relationship, wrestled with their identity or found themselves wanting something they know could have consequences.

With Collar, Bochner isn’t interested in making desire neat or morally uncomplicated. Instead, she gives voice to the messy middle ground where attraction, guilt and imagination coexist.

As a first taste of her forthcoming album, it also suggests a record willing to confront uncomfortable truths rather than smooth them over. If Collar is an indication of what lies ahead, Rachel Bochner’s next chapter promises to be her most personal and revealing yet.

Sofia Isella Captivates London’s Roundhouse On Emotional Tour Finale

Already shaping up as a major moment for the band, Keeping Up With The Joneses has been previewed by three singles, including Miss Behavin’, Girl Behind The Bar and What’s The Worst That Can Happen?. Now Put The World To Rights arrives as the fourth and final single ahead of the album, delivering the kind of huge, hook-driven chorus that has become central to The Lilacs’ rapidly expanding live following.

The Lilacs

The Lilacs (Niall Lea)

Built for a crowd to shout back at full volume, the track captures the band’s knack for combining insistent melodies with an infectious, high-energy indie sound. Following the more recently released What’s The Worst That Can Happen?, recorded between Manchester and Paris, the new single finds The Lilacs leaning fully into the communal energy that has defined their summer festival appearances.

The band themselves consider it a particular highlight from the album. “Arguably our favourite track on the record, Put The World To Rights is the 4th and last single of our debut album and we think the fans are going to love it,” they say. “Releasing music is always a nervous time for the band, but there’s a genuine feel of excitement on this one. With it being the last single, it also means the album release is fast approaching!!!”

That anticipation has been building for several years. Formed by vocalist Ollie Anglesea and guitarist Sam Birchall, with Matt Johnson on bass and Dave Gomersall on drums, The Lilacs first emerged in 2019 with Vicarage Road. The band steadily expanded their audience, with 2023 single Grace providing another breakthrough before their The 395 (To Forever) EP reached the Top 10 of the Independent Albums Chart in 2025.

Their rise has been driven as much by the stage as the studio. The Lilacs have shared stages with The Lottery Winners and The Lathums while appearing at festivals including the Isle of Wight and Truck festivals. Their growing headline reputation culminated in a sold-out 2,700-capacity Manchester show, demonstrating the scale of the audience now following the Wigan quartet.

This summer has seen that momentum accelerate further. After appearing at Rock For People in the Czech Republic, the band returned to the UK for major festival sets at Kendal Calling, Tramlines and Latitude, before making their first appearance at Leeds Festival later this month.

With Put The World To Rights designed for precisely those kinds of large-scale gatherings, the band’s latest single arrives at a fitting point in their evolution: a straightforward, energetic anthem that feels ready to move from festival fields to increasingly large headline venues.

The next stage of that journey is already mapped out, with The Lilacs announcing their biggest headline tour to date for February and March 2027. The run will take them across the UK and Ireland before culminating in a major hometown-area show at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse on 3rd April.

The tour includes dates at Belfast’s Voodoo and Dublin’s Academy 2, as well as shows in Hull, Newcastle, Glasgow, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, Southampton, London, Brighton, Bristol, Norwich and Lincoln. The scale of the forthcoming shows represents another significant step up for a band that has continued to grow organically, with their increasingly ambitious live performances now matching the size of their following.

There has also been a deeply personal chapter behind the scenes. Guitarist Sam Birchall recently received the all-clear following a year of cancer treatment. The journey has been documented publicly, but with the debut album now approaching and the band’s live schedule continuing to expand, The Lilacs are firmly looking ahead.

Keeping Up With The Joneses will be available in a range of physical formats, including CD, cream vinyl and a signed lilac galaxy vinyl with alternative black artwork through the band’s official store. Selected independent record shops will also stock an exclusive red Cornetto vinyl edition with alternate red artwork.

With Put The World To Rights completing the album’s run of pre-release singles, the wait is almost over. For The Lilacs, a band that has spent the past several years turning packed rooms and festival crowds into communal celebrations, their debut LP represents the next logical step — and potentially their biggest one yet.

Upcoming UK Live Dates:

AUGUST 2026
21st August – Winter Gardens, Blackpool (with The Fratellis)
29th August – Tileyard North, Wakefield (with Ocean Colour Scene)
30th August – Leeds Festival, Leeds

Headline Tour:

FEBRUARY 2027
26th – Voodoo, Belfast, Ireland
27th – Academy 2, Dublin, Ireland

MARCH 2027
4th – The Welly Club, Hull
5th – Digital, Newcastle upon Tyne
6th – Warehouse SWG3, Glasgow
11th – Octagon Centre, Sheffield
12th – O2 Institute, Birmingham
13th – The Level, Nottingham
17th – The 1865, Southampton
18th – Islington Assembly Hall, London
19th – Concorde 2, Brighton
20th – Thekla, Bristol

APRIL 2027
1st – The Waterfront, Norwich
2nd – Engine Shed, Lincoln
3rd – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

Latitude Festival 2026 Day Three: Lewis Capaldi’s Emotional Return Brings The Curtain Down As Latitude Celebrates Twenty Years