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

CHIMA ANYA – The Sun Is Shining (with Nevusside)

Oxford-based Chima Anya is no stranger to the Fresh Faves. This musical medic (for he is a doctor) has had three previous Faves reviews. He has also shared stages with a number of accomplished names including KRS-1, Robert Glasper, Jay Electronica and various others. Here he teams up with Cambridge’s Nevusside aka Steve Smith, himself an upcoming artist and producer with ‘… a passion for crafting feel-good tunes’.

The Sun Is Shining begins by talking about the importance of the sun while an appealing guitar figure plays. When the beat kicks in, we get a rhythmically pleasing rap and lovely falsetto vocals. Shades of De La Soul and Naughty By Nature with the Old Skool Hip Hop vibe, mixing with a breezy jazz-tinged Soul sensibility. This is a track that lives up to its title, truly bringing the sunshine and giving us a glimpse of a summer of beach parties and open air night-time grooving.

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EMILY BREEZE – The Beatniks

Self-styled ‘Disney Villain’, Emily Breeze is an artist I have variously written about for my own Trust The Doc blog. She is also no stranger to being a Fresh Fave. Hailing from Bristol, she fronted Candy Darling, and has worked with producer Stew Jackson who has worked with the likes of Tom Waits, Patti Smith and Massive Attack. She has just completed another tour that took her around the UK and has received support from the PRS Foundation.

The Beatniks is an immediately striking track. A spoken word intro accompanied by staccato synths gives us a quick refresher on the original Beatniks’ ethos before launching into a punchy Punk-Pop powerhouse of a track. Emily’s distinctive vocals ride atop an express train journey of crashing guitar chords, shifts between full and half time tempi, clever rhythmic configurations and a melody that reminds me of everyone from The Killers to Jane Weaver and from Everything Everything to Cate Le Bon. An invigorating example of how to turn a well-written song into a great track.

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IRIS HARLEY – Last Breath

From the West Coast of Scotland comes Iris Harley, an artist who has received support from our own Del Owusu on his Songbird Sessions show on Islington Radio. She has had rave reviews from Music Scene Wales and Del’s PlatinumMind blog as well as jazz journo Sammy Stein.

Last Breath kicks off with a bluesy guitar riff that sets the tone for a mellow Blues-Jazz infused track. Iris’s rich alto voice has the space to captivate as the guitar drops out leaving bass and drums to accompany her before returning to play a few gentle chord strums and then repeating the earlier riff. This is a track that evolves smartly and subtly with the addition of sounds and riffs while the vocals grow in range and intensity and the lead guitar gets more elaborate. Coolly delivered.

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LEROY HORNS – Threshold

Brighton’s Leroy Horns offers no info or links on his Soundcloud page but a bit of digging reveals some social media pages. His Instagram account has a series of pics of Leroy and his saxophone, in which he sets out his musical philosophy in soundbites. His profile summarises his sound as ‘Stacked Saxes, Electronic Beats and bars that have more than four beats in them’.

Threshold mainly does stick within a 4/4 beat as it goes but nonetheless finds room for rhythmic fluidity within that format. The mind-spinning multi-tracked saxes playing in harmony while Leroy also demonstrates his considerable improv skills remind me a little of Denys Baptiste. But then this has an electronic undercurrent too. The musicianship is impressive and the cleverly configured rhythmic shifts and rasping edgy Tenor Sax flourishes make this simply irresistible.

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LOST SIGNAL – Geese

Current collaborator with The Happy Somethings, Lost Signal is the recording moniker of Norwich-based Matt Couchman, and I have written about his music for my Trust The Doc blog in the recent past. He has been patiently building a reputation for his ambient electronic soundscapes and has amassed an impressive 1.2K monthly Spotify streams for his troubles. He was recently included in our Eclectic Picks by my good friend Michael Donoghue, and before that by another guest reviewer Will Farr.

Geese begins with spacey synths, a lower buzzing drone and mellow voice-like synth melody. Spoken word comes and goes along with what may or may not be the sounds of actual geese echoing around the mix. Matt cleverly manages to keep the whole track pivoted on one unfaltering monodrone while events are fluid enough to hold our interest throughout.

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MIRANDA FAUL – Not Much Of A Man

Dublin’s Miranda Faul must be buzzing this week, having had this very track chosen by Ocean FM to be Record Of The Week on their weekend breakfast show. This comes on top of reviews by I’m Music and Void Magazines, and a busy live schedule that includes some of Dublin’s finest venues, and in which she is backed by a new line-up of fellow musicians.

Not Much Of A Man is a song about frustration, a woman stuck in an abusive relationship but struggling to speak up or act. It begins with just soft-toned voice and acoustic guitar chords but that quickly gives way to reverberant multi-tracked harmonies that bring a mystical vibe, while the guitars expand and stretch out and other sounds permeate the mix. Eargrabbing, spacious Folk-Pop with thought-provoking lyrics.

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RUBBERBAND GIRL – Taller

East London-based Rubberband Girl has precious little by way of information or links on her Soundcloud page but, if you click on the Instagram link, a series of striking and visually similar images will lead through some of her story and tell you about memories that have inspired her lyrics. I don’t know whether she took her name from the Kate Bush song, but I like to think it was a factor. Clearly releasing Taller represents an important moment, and hopefully one that will lead to bigger things soon. It has already been reviewed in Analogue Trash and Hype Machine.

Taller is inspired by memories of sitting with her mum watching her brother at play without the knowledge of ‘… how the passage of time would change it all’. Picked acoustic guitar and loudly produced percussion mete out a triplet time rhythm, while Rubberband Girl’s vocals are haunting and expressive. The contrast between the translucent verse with its notably Eastern element and the more cinematic chorus is especially impactful. Shades of Laura Marling in a mash with The Staves at the folkier end of their spectrum. This is a track that grows with each listen.

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SANSHA – Never Been Better

Francesca Lewis aka Sansha is an artist I have had the pleasure of putting on at several gigs since 2021. The multi-instrumentalist (and also talented stand-up comic) is a fellow alumnus of Goldsmiths University, and the only person I have ever met whose main instruments include both violin and trumpet. Last time I saw her she was living in South East London, but I read that she had returned to the Home Counties. However, judging by her recent Instagram posts, I think she is back in London which is good news if it means I can get her to come and play another live show soon! She is an outstanding live performer. In the meantime, she has picked up so many plaudits from various media. High Llamas/Microdisney’s Sean O’Hagan, an occasional attendee at my live events, still talks about her performance at AMP Studios! So, all things considered, it is no surprise that she is currently enjoying over 1.6K monthly Spotify streams.

Never Been Better is Sansha’s ‘horny heartbreak song’ inspired by a break-up she says was ‘weirdly enthralling’! It has a light-textured fast-paced funkiness and the prominent use of her violin in classic Disco style is especially exquisite. The bassline has echoes of Loose Ends playing alongside her trademark bright synths and cool chord changes. The biggest surprise is an unexpectedly dreamy mid-section with just voice and floating synth chords before the violin leads the line in reinstating the funky feel and more of Sansha’s multi-tracked harmonies. So many nuances at play. Too many to list here but this, like all her work, is of such a high standard.

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SLOW BONES – Hiro

Scotland-based Slow Bones makes ‘… instrumental music, taking influence from Electronic, Jazz, Funk, Hip-Hop, Alternative and more’. Slow Bones has already had support from BBC Introducing in Scotland, and from Emily Pilbeam standing in for our Tom on BBC Radio 6 Music. Hopefully this momentum can be a springboard for wider success and recognition in 2024.

Hiro finds Slow Bones in playful mood. A child’s telephone call to a parent (at work as far as I can tell), opens proceedings and then we get tremolo chords and melodies playing against a syncopated beat and busy bassline. This is followed by a percussive synth melody playing unassumingly over a sparse backdrop with the occasional ‘hello’ from the aforementioned telephone conversation between adult and child. It is an unusual little piece, almost like an interlude. Intriguing and sweet but with the sense of something unsettling behind it too.

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YODASHE – FAM

London-based artist, composer and producer Yodashe is a major fan of the classic Wasp Synthesizer and appears to own several of them. She has previously cited David Lynch’s dark atmospheric works in relation to a track and she talks about mixing up the genres. Her music is reaching fans across the world including Japan and Mexico. She also generously uses her Instagram account to post reviews of other upcoming artists.

FAM was the track that most jumped out at me at the moderation stage. It is filled with production ideas and contrasts, reminding me of Prince at his intense best, perhaps in a jam with NZCA Lines while Shygirl brings chops. Tribal drums, wobbly effects and bendy synths all contribute to a joyful explosion of sound mixing with innate melodic sensibilities. Added to this are cool sweep tones repeating a three-note figure and Yodahe’s distinctive, expressive vocals (plus French spoken word). FAM definitely lives up to what Yodashe says about mixing up the genre references. Powerful Pop packed with ideas and exuding cinematic colour.

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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.

Yodashe photo by Abi Sinclair