Innehållsförteckning för Issue 6 - Jan - March 2026 från Plectrum Magazine

There is a certain tension running through this issue of Plectrum. Not chaos for its own sake, but the kind that comes from artists standing at a threshold. Between comfort and risk. Between silence and truth. Between what they were told they should be and what they have decided to become. Issue 6 is shaped by voices that refuse to dilute themselves. From the widescreen emotional weight of Clinton Belcher, crafting modern country rock with cinematic ambition, to the ritualistic darkness of ENAVE, whose work feels less like a song and more like a confrontation with the self, this issue lives in the space where honesty becomes unavoidable. These are not artists chasing trends. They are responding to something internal and letting the sound follow. Elsewhere, Atomic Youth twist folklore,…

UKRAINE, LVIV There are artists who hand you a melody and hope you hum along. Then there are artists who hand you a mirror and wait to see whether you flinch. ENAVE belongs to the second kind. A project born in the shadows of Lviv, moving between alt rock, dark wave and something close to cinematic confession, ENAVE creates work that doesn’t simply play. It circles you. It studies you. It speaks in low light. “Skeletons” is the latest signal from this world. A five-minute descent into the quiet hallways of memory where the things we bury continue to breathe. ENAVE treats the song not as performance but as ritual. A slow unbinding of whatever we’ve been pretending not to feel. The voice lands like a whisper pulled from the…

ENGLAND, CHEADLE, STOCKPORT Some songs arrive with the confidence of a door swinging open. “Give” does that. There’s a clarity to it, a sense that something internal has finally snapped into focus. This is the band’s Sugarhouse Studio debut, guided by production duo Lee McCarthy and Ady Hall, a team with a reputation for shaping some of the UK’s most exciting indie voices. The track carries the fingerprints of that space. Clean edges. Real weight. No wasted movement. ELEPHANT AND THE RIDER come from Cheadle, Stockport. Four musicians. Pip on vocals and guitar. Tom on bass. James on drums. Carl on guitar and keys. What they create together walks the line between alternative rock and indie pop, but the heart of it is honesty. “Give” is a song built around…

UNITED STATES, LEXINGTON Sometimes an album isn’t written so much as wrestled into existence. The Good Fight (Hard Rock Album Version), released on 5 December 2025, feels exactly like that kind of record. It does not posture. It does not pretend to have answers. It stands where it stands because it had to be made. Perpetuate The Struggle is the solo project of Kevin Daly, an artist based in Lexington, North Carolina, who handles every aspect of the work himself. Lyrics, composition, production decisions and final assembly all come from one place. AI technology is used to generate the music and vocals, but the emotional architecture is entirely human. Every line is rooted in lived experience, grief, memory, and reflection. This album exists because something broke. The death of Daly’s…

IRELAND, DUBLIN Modern Life arrives with a glow that feels cinematic. The kind of eerie light you get from an old television flickering in a dark corner. It carries the synth soaked energy of the eighties and a little of that Stranger Things tension where something familiar suddenly bends into something strange. Strutter take that atmosphere and turn it into a chant for anyone who feels worn thin by the pace of the present. It leans commercial in its sweep but holds tight to its experimental core. Strutter are a four piece alternative rock band from Dublin known for a sound that never settles in one lane. They pull from alternative rock, blues, funk, rap textures and dream pop. The result is music that explores emotion with a tenderness that…

ENGLAND, TEIGNMOUTH Some songs are written from a safe distance. THE PEOPLE is written from the pavement. From nights spent watching humanity move past you without noticing. From the silence that follows when rhetoric stops meaning anything at all. THORN does not frame this single as commentary or protest. He presents it as documentation. What he saw. What he felt. What remained when the city stripped everything else away. Released on 06 December 2025, THE PEOPLE is rooted in lived experience. Written partly while sleeping on the streets of London, the track carries an authenticity that cannot be replicated or imagined. This is not industrial rock borrowing grit for texture. It is grit captured in real time and rebuilt into sound. The listener is not invited to observe comfortably. You…

“This album wasn’t planned. It happened fast, loud, and on instinct.” SCAN ME FOR MORE NORWAY, BERGEN Speed changes everything. On Free To Go, Bergen based rock band Electric High abandon the slow burn of their debut and lean fully into momentum. Released on 7 November 2025, the album arrives just over a year after Colorful White Lies, but the contrast between the two records is striking. Where the debut reflected five years of gradual evolution, Free To Go captures a band moving on instinct, writing and recording at breakneck pace and trusting raw energy over refinement. That urgency is felt immediately. From opening track Thick As Thieves, the album moves with purpose, driven by muscular riffs, dual vocal interplay, and a sense that the songs were written to be…

UNITED STATES, PIKEVILLE There are love songs and there are life songs. Until Forever Ends feels like both. It lands like a letter written after the storm has finally passed, when someone has survived themselves long enough to understand what they almost lost. You can hear that in Clinton Belcher’s voice. It carries gravel and gratitude at the same time. Clinton is a writer, singer and producer from Pikeville who has built his own lane in modern Country Rock. Albums like Last Call Blues, Highways & Heartaches and River to Redemption already read like chapters of one long American road story. Until Forever Ends pushes that story into a more cinematic space without losing the dirt on the boots. He calls it a Modern Country Power Ballad. That fits. The…

UNITED STATES, SANTA ROSA Some records arrive politely. Speak for the Dead does not. Released on 10 December 2025, the self titled debut from Santa Rosa’s Speak for the Dead crashes through the door with no interest in compromise. It is loud, volatile, and unapologetically confrontational, the sound of a band that understands punk as both a weapon and a warning. Formed in 2024 by lifelong friends Jordie Hilley and Clay Prieto, also known for their work with California Oi veterans Resilience, Speak for the Dead pulls together a lineup steeped in underground history. With Eric Lundgren on vocals and Nick Parker on guitar, the band draws from decades of hardcore, punk, and metal without sounding trapped by nostalgia. This is not revivalism. It is combustion. The album moves at…

GERMANY, BERLIN Hellkern Warriors arrive like a shadow taking form. An international darkwave and gothic rock project built between Berlin, Tuscany and Ibagué, the group feels less like a band and more like a force gathering weight in the dark. Their debut single “Helkern Warriors” captures the exact moment that force begins to move. The project was born in mid-2025. A spark between Kabal and Mauricio. An idea carried across borders, time zones, and a shared sense that something atmospheric and uncompromising needed to exist. The shift came when vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Tom Radar brought in the first ideas: “Hellkern Warriors”, “Petrol & Water”, and “Endless Road”. His demos carried a very specific energy. Cinematic in shape. Shadowed in mood. Vocals that already sounded half-buried in the world they were…

PORTUGAL, PORTO Some artists arrive with volume. Others arrive with presence. Dean RÖK arrives with both. Falling in the Dark is his opening strike and it carries the kind of weight that belongs to someone who has lived long enough to burn through a few versions of themselves before stepping into the real one. The track moves like a slow ignition. A deep groove pulls you in first. Electric guitars circle the edge of the mix. Then the voice lands. Dean sings with the kind of soulful rock grit that feels carved out of experience rather than imitation. There is a darkness in the delivery, but it is the kind that tells the truth rather than hiding from it. Falling in the Dark breathes with cinematic tension. It sits in…

A New Breed of Heavy Sound Emerges On a summer night at Britain’s massive Download Festival 2025, thousands of fans stood transfixed as Sleep Token – four anonymous figures in cloaks – conjured crushing riffs, gospel-like choruses and even a sultry saxophone solo beneath an onstage waterfall. It was a far cry from the blunt force of yesterday’s metal acts. Instead, this was something fresh in heavy music – a lush fusion of djent-edged guitars with pop and R&B sensibilities, delivered through an aura of mystique and high concept. In industry chatter, a cheeky new label has even gained traction for this globally emerging subgenre: “Baddiecore.” Coined playfully by drummer Craig Reynolds of Stray From The Path, baddiecore denotes “metalcore with enough pop crossover and sex appeal that normie hot…

JASON AYRES - DESIRE This track arrives with a jolly acoustic guitar foundation that feels warm and unforced, then bright electric riffs burst through with a little spark and swagger. Extra strums fill the space and give the whole piece a gentle lift. The vocals sound as though they are smiling, bringing together traces of country character and an old school rock spirit. There are soft touches of pop sensibility in the melody, yet the song is not built for chart pressure. It is simply an easy, enjoyable listen made for open afternoons, long drives and anyone who values pure guitar centred joy. JUNIOR VP-EASY COME, EASY GO There’s an unmistakable early-00s glow to Easy Come, Easy Go, a debut that wears its Jimmy Eat World influences with pride but…

BLUPHORIA “INVINCIBLE” Nashville-based indie outfit Bluphoria return with purpose on their latest single Invincible, released independently on 24 October 2025. Recorded over two intense days at Polychrome Ranch, the track was shaped alongside Jared Corder, frontman of Repeat Repeat, and captures a band recalibrating after stepping away from a major label. Formed on the West Coast and now firmly rooted in Nashville, Bluphoria – Reign LaFreniere, Dakota Landrum, Rex Wolf and Mia Monroe – frame Invincible as both reaction and resistance, reflecting on the wider world while asserting creative autonomy. Sonically, it leans into melodic pop-rock urgency, pairing emotional weight with forward momentum. READ MORE CHALK HANDS “BREAKING WAVES” Brighton’s Chalk Hands have confirmed their return with Breaking Waves, the first single from their forthcoming album The Line That Shapes…

There’s a quiet shift happening beneath the surface of independent guitar music. Not a flashy, plugin-heavy arms race, but a return to feel — aided by smarter, lighter, more human-centred technology. For acoustic players, indie rock bands and guitar-first artists, the latest wave of music tech isn’t about replacing musicianship. It’s about getting out of its way. Below is a curated snapshot of the tools genuinely changing the game right now — practical, affordable, and built for artists who still believe tone comes from fingers first. 1. Compact Recording Rigs That Don’t Kill the Vibe The modern indie setup is no longer about stacking gear — it’s about portability and speed. USB-C audio interfaces have become smaller, cleaner and noticeably warmer, making it easier than ever to capture honest guitar…

ENGLAND, BATTLE There is a certain honesty that only arrives later in life. It is quieter than ambition but heavier than nostalgia. You can hear that honesty running through You’re Alright, the latest single from 23 Fields, a project rooted in folk, Americana and indie songwriting that understands time not as something to chase but something to sit with. 23 Fields describe themselves simply as a group of middle aged musicians trying to break out. That sentence carries more truth than irony. It speaks to lived years, missed turns, second chances and the decision to try again anyway. This is not music driven by urgency or trend. It is driven by presence. By knowing what matters and letting that guide the song. You’re Alright is built around reassurance. Not the…

There’s a certain kind of record that refuses to hide behind polish. It doesn’t perform for the listener. It simply arrives as it is, bruises and all, and trusts you to hear the truth in it. Around This Edge Together feels like one of those. A collection shaped in a small room in Barry where cables, upgraded preamps, and the stubborn will of one person collide to create something louder, heavier, and far more emotionally revealing than the square footage should allow. The7thGatekeeper works alone. Not in a romanticised way but in a practical, this is the only way the music comes out clean way. The rig has changed since the first album. Better hardware. Better signal. Better headspace. But the intention hasn’t moved. He writes because something inside him…

AUSTRALIA, MELBOURNE There is a certain honesty you cannot fake, and WHEN U WERE MINE leans into that truth at every turn. Released on 31 October 2025, the debut album from Melbourne duo Ratfink! feels lived in, imperfect, and emotionally open in a way that only genuine DIY records ever manage. Nothing here is over polished. Nothing feels calculated. That is precisely why it works. Recorded with minimal gear and maximum intent, WHEN U WERE MINE embraces limitation as character rather than obstacle. A cheap microphone, a battered guitar, and a laptop that has survived a beer spill form the backbone of the album’s sound. Instead of dulling the songs, those constraints give them texture. The record breathes. You can hear rooms, moments, and people rather than processes. There is…