These Fresh Faves were picked by our readers over the weekend – and reviewed by Fresh On The Net’s JFlames this week. You can hear all these tracks in a single Soundcloud playlist here.

After spending most of the day listening to Skepta and Johnny Cash back 2 back (I sh*it you not, I actually appreciate all genres) now is the right time for me to get into the top 10! Chosen by you the listeners…

ATHENS – Sometimes

Beautiful track by Athens dealing with insecurities and not fully knowing where you stand in this world.

With lyrics like “every now and then I get a little more bitter” the lead singer is really taking you down a spiral of emotions and self-doubt, which we all face day-to-day. The instrumentation on this amazing record is absolutely polished — as I am sitting in my dining room going through the top 10, my housemates were shocked to find out Athens are not a chart-topping band. This will change very soon, I’m sure of it.

Athens, from Coventry – UK, are a soaring indie rock band with a gritty edge. Combining powerful vocals, deep tones and atmospheric guitars, Athens aspires to wow the audience with every show. Taking inspiration from almost every genre and style, Athens writes music with an open mind and is dedicated to making good honest British rock music.

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter

EMERGER – Nomadic Love

Epic beginning to a real spine-tingling track from Emerger, this is a journey through beautiful chord changes and angelic vocals from the female lead singer.

Nomadic Love is simply a beautiful song, and with a slight computer game feel that reminds me of the Sonic 2 soundtrack. With uplifting lyrics and a breathtaking hook, this is the type of song you keep on for repeat for at least 15 minutes.

Emma de Goede (lead vocals / piano) and Gerrit Matthee (producer / multi-instrumentalist) formed Emerger while studying music together at the University of Cape Town. Before their recently released debut mini-album, Bloom, the two have been in the music scene as successful individual performers and also as members of other groups. However, Emerger is the first time where Emma and Gerrit have been able to take full creative control and put their artistic stamp on a body of work. Together, the duo’s abilities fuse to create a truly captivating sound.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp

GLOVE COMPARTMENT – Ed.U.Cated-Crook

“There is one thing I know for sure, I’m the man.” If that’s not the best way to start a song, then I don’t know what is…

Glove Compartment hit us with a musical of a song right here, cheerful fast pace boogie-down electric groove.

This is that one song you put on when you need a pick me up from a drowsy day… I LOVE IT! THANKS LADS…

Glove Compartment is the piano laden solo project from The Candle Thieves’ songwriter and keyboard wizard The Glock, aka Anthony Shiels. Debut album The Art Of Pretending is now available worldwide.

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter

I THINK I BROKE SOMETHING – Cyanide

Cyanide is insanity at its finest, this hard hitting beat is an advertiser’s dream, the type of song you hear in the background of an Audi advert.

The mixture of digital synths and hard hitting electronic drums make this track a neck breaker, you will find yourself nodding along at extreme fast tempos.

Fire up the BBQ in this minus 2º weather, call the lads round and have a loud reunion while Cyanide serenades your ear drums.

I Think I Broke Something, or ITIBS for short, combines an intense electronic sound with strong influences from metal and punk. At its core, ITIBS is a duo featuring JT and MST. Live, ITIBS combines a DJ set with live vocals, drums and keyboards.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp

LAURAN HIBBERD – Sugardaddy

Lauran Hibberd deliver a punk rock happy-go-lucky track that oozes flavour from its core.

Sugardaddy is clearly a song about what it says on the tin, with lyrics like “you write me a cheque, its like you never care if I’m upset” brings out the humour in this feisty hit of a record. Lauran you are onto something here, I love it!!!

The Isle of Wight-raised, fuzzed up Indie/Rock artist claims: “Don’t tell me stories, I’ll write songs about them”

Listed by BBC Radio One’s Huw Stephens as ‘One to Watch’ in 2019, and supported by BBC Introducing, after picking up track of the week with Call Shotgun.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

LOVEDAY – Breathless (Like This)

The opening synth on Loveday’s Breathless is simply breathtaking, this is a tropical house banger of a track, the type of song you play in the background as the sun sets on a beach somewhere in Ibiza.

The lead vocals on Breathless are vulnerable but confident at the same time, tracks like this make the world a much more beautiful place.

Definitely my personal favourite of the week…

There’s not much info on Loveday, but what I do know is she is a singer and a producer hailing from Warwickshire.

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

MALMØ – Frostbite

A melody containing an endless pursuit of attention!

What a truly wonder of a track by Malmø, I found myself giving this song a couple rewinds just to fully grasps every character of the sound.

The lead vocals on Frostbite take you, the listener, down a rabbit hole of wonder and mystery. I could imagine this as the backing song to a Game Of Thrones season teaser. With epic tracks like this those big song placement deals are only around the corner.

Hailing from Aarhus on the east coast of Denmark, Malmø features the unique voice and song-writing of Maria Malmø. EP & single releases and immersive live performances in their homeland have seen Maria likened to Björk, Eivør, Oh Land and Agnes Obel – but there’s a unique musical identity and integrity to her work that defies comparison. To Maria Malmø, it’s all about the art and meeting the listener within it.

Official | Soundcloud (Integrity Records) | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

MESADORM – The Joy It Joins Us Up

A very touching and relatable song about inner joy and finding happiness.

Mesadorm serenade us with a piano solo containing powerful hair standing on the back of your neck vocals.

The writing style leaves a lot to the imagination and can be interpreted differently by each listener, and personally this is my favourite writing style.

Magnificent song!!!!!

Formed in Bristol in 2015 by 5 long term friends, Mesadorm is the new collaborative project of Blythe Pepino formerly of London Art Pop trio Vaults. Each member of Mesadorm is a high calibre performer and writer, facilitating an array of musical concepts and timbres within the emotional landscape of Pepino’s lyrics. This song is taken from upcoming album Epicadus to be released in April 2019.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

TALKING CURE – The Old Actor

Splendidly pieced together!

This song is simply a masterpiece, with the opening minute and a half playing a classical piano number when the beat finally came in I was pleasantly surprised and shocked.

Talking Cure take us deep in the middle of heartbreak and pain, this song could easily be a musical… AMAZING

Again not much information is known on the band, but I’ve gathered they hail from France.

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

WHITE ROOM – Bleeding

A musical mess that somehow works and is pure genius!

The first couple of second of Bleeding I had no idea what direction the song was going to go in, then out of space this funky drum beat comes in and I’m like “OH SH*T”.

The lead vocals are very quirky and energy filled, you cannot stay still while listening to this song, its virtually impossible.

I LOVE IT LADS!!!!!

White Room are Jake Smallwood (vocals/mellotron) Jacob Newman (guitar/bvs) Tristan Sava (synth/organ/guitar) Josie McNamara (bass/bvs), and Hen Sava (drums).

The latter half of 2017 saw Brighton quintet White Room release their conceptually-charged double EP Eight to much acclaim, and play the double EP in its entirety to sold out crowds across the UK, followed by their biggest headline shows to date in spring 2018, which cemented their reputation for visceral, energetic and theatrical live performances.

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

PS from TR: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t been picked for the Listening Post, our team has definitely listened to it and there’s no need to send it again: feel free to send us an even stronger track another week. The same goes if you were picked for the Listening Post but didn’t feature in our Fresh Faves.

But if we’ve recently featured you in our Fresh Faves – or on my BBC Introducing Mixtape – please wait three months before sending us another track, so we have space to help other deserving artists… For more info see Robinson Has A Good Old Moan.