Our Songs of the Week column spotlights the best new tracks from the last — you guessed it — week. This edition, we’re bumping new jams from Arlo Parks, Chat Pile, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and more.
Arlo Parks — “Heaven”
Arlo Parks has followed up the great lead single “2SIDED” with “Heaven,” the latest offering from her upcoming album Ambiguous Desire. “Heaven” is more meditative than its predecessor, with Parks providing tender reflections and searching vocals. Still, like on “2SIDED,” there’s a more active, bustling treatment to the instrumentals, like her thoughts keep racing even as she’s frozen in a moment of desire. With every release, Parks continues to expand her sound while retaining the same hallmarks that made her previous tracks great: palpable emotion, passionate poetry, and unavoidable intimacy. — Paolo Ragusa
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Chat Pile — “Masks”
Chat Pile have linked up with Sub Pop to follow their great Hayden Pedigo collaboration, In the Earth Again, with “Masks,” another sludgy, noisy, pointed ripper from the CoSigned act. Not to be confused with the “Mask,” a cut from their Remove Your Skin Please EP, “Masks” is a blistering three and a half minutes complete with deafening drums, piercing guitar tones, and lyrics that seem to abstractly protest the disgusting actions of ICE (the band even donated to DREAM Action OK alongside the release of the single). It comes accompanied by a cover of the early Nirvana tune “Sifting,” which is every bit as crushing, and a final statement of “FUCK ICE!” I’ll raise my glass to that. — Jonah Krueger
Femtanyl — “HEAD UP”
Don’t let the breakneck pace and blasts of percussions deter you from the beauty crammed into Femtanyl’s latest track “HEAD UP.” The dissonance in their sound is counterbalanced by washes of synths, video game-core accents, and moments of sheer power. Sure, it’s not for the faint of heart, but Femtanyl’s exuberant, over-the-top sound is a perfect pair for the chaotic experience of being alive on the internet (or a dense urban environment) today. If you’re a fan of anything adjacent to hyperpop, acid-fried EDM, chiptune, or 2025 breakouts like Bassvictim and Frost Children, you’ll want to dive right into Femtanyl. — P. Ragusa
Holy Fuck — “Elevate”
In comparison to where we last left Holy Fuck — the punchy, in-your-face, groovy, and saturated “Evie” — “Elevate” sounds like pure bliss. It’s softer, more contemplative, and features vocals that are so washed out you might be able to convince an unsuspecting listener that it’s actually some sort of synthesizer. The rising and surprisingly resonant trajectory of the tune even calls to mind the type of mood that LCD Soundystem drop into on cuts like “Someone Great” or “Home.” Time will only tell what the next Holy Fuck track will sound like, but if the pattern holds, we at least feel confident that it’ll start with the letter “E.” — J. Krueger
Kathryn Mohr — “Property”
Kathryn Mohr has announced that she’s got a brand new album on the way. It’s called Carve and follows her acclaimed LP Waiting Room from last year. As the lead single, “Property” showcases exactly why The Flenser is such a fitting home for the ambient-leaning experimentalist, as the track features droning guitars, haunting vocals, and manipulated feedback. She sounds right at home next to labelmates like Planning for Burial, Drowse, or Midwife, and it’s every bit as compelling as both the work of those acts and the best of Waiting Room. — J. Krueger
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever — “Sunburned in London”
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, jangle pop connoisseurs, are back with their first single in four years, the six-minute odyssey “Sunburned in London.” The song reprises some of the Aussie band’s dreamiest modes, but their chord changes frequently move from serene to bitter and back again; throughout, Tom Russo paints portraits of different cities, tumbling into new parts of the world with the same sentimental attitude. It’s a terrific return from a band who, three albums in, are happy to stay hungry and ambitious. — P. Ragusa
