ifitbeyourwill Podcast #177 • zzzahara

On this episode of ifitbeyourwill, zzzahara talks about the new album Distant Lands — a record shaped by distance, emotional drift, and the search for connection inside everyday uncertainty. The conversation moves through formative musical memories, relationships, identity, and the comfort of making songs that don’t try to hide their bruises. From discovering emotion through the Selena soundtrack to embracing vulnerability in their songwriting, zzzahara reflects on creating music that feels lived-in, intimate, and deeply human. A thoughtful conversation about longing, memory, and finding clarity inside the noise. 

Zzzahara’s latest album came to them in a dream. Despite being born and raised in Los Angeles, Zahara had never really gotten into David Lynch. When he died at the start of 2025, they dove into his archive of films and interviews. “He's so weird,” they laugh. “Always talking about how ‘everything's a dream!’ And you know what? At that moment, I couldn’t remember the last time I dreamed. I thought, that’s fucked up. So I started taking magnesium and shit, trying to see what it was like to dream again.”

Andrew Sa • "Your Whisper” • (Live 2026)

 

Songwriter and Vocalist Andrew Sa has earned the title of Chicago’s premiere queer country crooner. Sa’s career has always been rooted in songwriting that highlights his easy and elegant voice, but when he met mentor and pioneer Patrick Hagerty of Lavender Country, his “Lonesome Andrew” persona was born. Diving headfirst into the catalogs of Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, and other classic songwriters that defined his adolescence as the child of a Karaoke Jockey, Sa easily slipped into this new but familiar persona. It wasn’t long before all of Chicago was seeking out his voice.

Sa quickly became the star of the touring revue Cosmic Country Showcase​, an instant smash hit camp-country revue based out of Chicago. The city provided two important collaborators for Andrew,  One of those was Kelly Hogan (Mavis Staples, Neko Case). Hogan instantly recognized Sa’s abilities and quickly the two were booking gigs across the city as a duo. The young and talented Liam Kazar (Jeff Tweedy, Sam Evian, Kevin Morby) also recruited Sa for a duet on his debut album Due North. Sa also created a stunning film, Andrew in Anotherland, which was a celebration of Chicago’s many voices that accompanied a live revue at the prestigious public amphitheater Millennium Park.

Westside Cowboy • Kick Stones (The Boys) • 2026

https://wscb.lnk.to/kickstones

‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ is a propulsive, heady track that encapsulates the four-piece’s innate ability to hit you in the chest with their transcendent indie. Drummer Paddy Murphy notes that the true crux of the song is “as much about how we made it as the lyrics”.

Houndmouth • Never Gonna Die • 2026

 https://www.houndmouth.com/

It’s just about letting go and seeing things how they are. Accepting that fact that you’re going to die kind of making you feel like you’re gonna live forever.

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Josaleigh Pollett • The Witness • 2026

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“The Witness is a song about knowing that to be seen and held and understood, you must first see and hold and understand. It’s about love, beyond limits and gender, across multiple universes. It’s also a little bit about deleting my Twitter account. This album is an exploration of what it takes to quiet the noise of geographical and emotional distance in order to hear ourselves and the ones who see us.

In true independent DIY fashion and similar to 2023's In The Garden, By The Weeds, If I Let It Quiet is recorded mostly at home between my Salt Lake City makeshift home studio and Jordan's apartment in Japan. The difference this time is that we're bringing in more collaborations. In particular, Andrew Goldring, who in addition to mixing and mastering, brought deeper instrumentation to If I Let It Quiet.” 

– Josaleigh Pollett

ifitbeyourwill Podcast #176 • Sungaze

Cincinnati's Sungaze make the kind of shoegaze where the haze finally lifts. On this episode, married duo Ivory Snow and Ian Hilvert trace the unlikely arc from death-metal speed runs to restraint—the notes you don't play—and the slow build toward a sound with intent. They talk Slowdive and Tame Impala, a homemade guitar gifted for a 26th birthday, and the quiet domestic alchemy of writing as a couple. Their new record, I Am No Longer Afraid of Heights, lands May 22nd, ahead of a June tour through New York and Boston.

https://www.sungazemusic.com/

Slow Leaves • The Ruins of Things Unfinished • 2026

I’m tired of dreaming

I’m tired of believing

I’m tired of this feeling, I’m not good enough

I’m tired of sleeping

I’m tired of retreating

I’m tired of keeping appearances up

I’m tired of acting and overreacting

I’m tired of asking a little too much

I’m tired of thinking

It’s everyone else, it’s everyone else

I’m tired

I’m tired of faking

My heart always breaking

My heart’s always breaking, it’s adding up

I’m tired of guessing

There’s always a lesson

There’s always a lesson

I’m tired

I’m tired of believing in giving up

Charlotte Cornfield • Hurts Like Hell • 2026

charlottecornfield.com

Hurts Like Hell, Charlotte Cornfield’s 2026 Merge Records debut, is Cornfield’s sixth album. It is the first she’s recorded since the birth of her daughter in 2023, an inflection point for her as a person and an artist. The album’s recurrent themes of personal growth and renewal, of love’s perseverance through difficulty and shame and awkwardness, are rooted there.

General Chaos • Can't Please 'Em All • 2026

Montreal’s General Chaos are sixteen years old, and they’re about to release one of the most dialed-in punk records to come out of the city in years. Their second full-length album, Can’t Please ’Em All, arrives May 8 on Stomp Records, and it doesn’t sound like a stepping stone. It sounds like a band that already knows what it’s doing. The kind of band you catch after midnight off Saint-Laurent, ears ringing, snow melting into grey slush at your feet, neon buzzing overhead. Across thirteen tracks, General Chaos lock into a style that balances speed, weight, and melody without overplaying any of it. You hear it right away. Rancid’s punch, Descendents’ discipline, Social Distortion’s structure, early Green Day’s snap, and the sharper political edge of Propagandhi. The guitars stay tight and efficient. The bass sits forward and drives. The drums are steady and controlled. Songs move quick when they need to, then settle into something heavier when it counts. Lead singles “Busted” and “The Idiots Have Taken Over” map that range, while focus track “Zipco” cuts through with a rawer, street-level narrative. “He drank and drank and drank until he was passed out on the floor,” Blondy sings, sketching out a character that feels pulled straight from real life, not dressed up for effect. 

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ifitbeyourwill Podcast #175 • After Ours

Blending dream-pop haze, indie folk intimacy, and jazz-inflected songwriting, After Ours creates music that feels suspended between memory and late-night confession. On Imaginary Friend, Kayla Janowitz folds soft textures, diaristic lyrics, and understated hooks into songs that linger long after they end. In this conversation, she reflects on learning jazz standards with her brother, navigating perfectionism in studio, and the emotional residue that shapes her writing. What emerges is a thoughtful discussion about nostalgia, identity, and the strange beauty of becoming someone new while still carrying older versions of yourself forward. A great listen for all aspiring musicians.

 

https://www.instagram.com/afteroursxx/

Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament • The Violence (Expanded Edition) • 2026

On June 12th, Darren Hayman (Hefner / New Starts / The French) launches a series of re-issues and releases with ‘The Violence’ (Expanded Edition), a highly ambitious and beautifully layered Folk album about the 17th-century English Civil Wars and the East Anglian Witch Trials. Tragically still relevant in how society vilifies marginalised people, the original 2012 release was praised by The Quietus, Stewart Lee (The Sunday Times), The Line of Best Fit, Q Magazine, Mojo, NME, The Skinny, Drowned in Sound, Uncut, KLOF Mag, the BBC, and many more outlets.  As part of a wider effort to fill the gaps in his missing catalogue, this expanded album is accompanied by its companion EP, ‘The Four Queens,’ also made available again digitally for the first time in years.

zzzahara • I Can Be Yours feat. Winter • 2026

Plenty of people come to Los Angeles looking to make their California dreams a reality. But zzzahara has always been here, turning reality into a dream. Born and raised in Highland Park, where they still reside, zzzahara (the solo moniker of Eyedress/Simps/U.S. Velvet guitarist Zahara Jaime).

CHINESE AMERICAN BEAR • Dim Sum & Then Some • 2026

 

The sounds on the LP are more musically dense and exploratory, marking an evolution for the duo. The band finds themselves delving much further into experimental territory, while also incorporating more traditional pop elements than they ever have. There's a mix of sonics on this album, featuring warbly guitars, hints of psychedelia, pop, disco, and strings, while also incorporating synth driven, electronic, sounds, as well as droney, hypnotic elements. The LP is a true reflection of the Chinese American Bear ethos: open, curious, and lighthearted. 

ifitbeyourwill Podcast #174 • Michael Feuerstack

A wide-ranging conversation with Michael Feuerstack that traces the arc from Snail House bedroom recordings to a decades-long solo practice shaped by collaboration and quiet persistence. He reflects on how songs emerge—sometimes as fragments, sometimes as loops you can’t shake—and what it means to stay open enough to follow them. Moving through Montréal’s indie community and his own shifting identity as an artist, the episode lands on a simple throughline: make the work, finish it, and put it into the world.

https://michaelfeuerstack.com/

“a national treasure.” – Globe & Mail

“heaving and gorgeous…anguishing and contemplative.” – Stereogum

“one of this country’s most talented songwriters.” – Exclaim!

“simultaneously heartfelt and apathetic, sacred and profane.” – CBC Music

“slow, gentle songs of love and truth and unforgettable regrets.” – NOW Toronto

“Beautiful and patient, this record is the result of years Mike spent practicing his craft and being forced to question if the struggle is worth it. It’s written for love of art and life, a back porch whisper that could float in the wind.” – Hero Hill

Freschard and Stanley Brinks • Hotel Berlin / Pole Fitness • 2026

fikarecordings.com

Touch Girl Apple Blossom • Graceful • 2026

Maisy Owen • Dark on a Sunny Day • 2026

“There’s more to her than crystalline acoustic picking, her darkly poetic songs stand out from the throng. The sparse, melancholic purity of “On My Way Down” and “Letters” and the surging folk-rock of the title track are a testament to her versatility.” – UNCUT

knitting • Here Comes • 2026

“While their debut leaned into a hazy, grungy cohesion, this record expands their sound — introducing more experimentation with texture, synths, and structure while keeping that introspective core intact.” — EXCLAIM

“Souvenir sees knitting expand on the slacker rock sound established on Some Kind of Heaven with more depth, having drawn inspiration from the diversity of Montreal's DIY scene.”

— THE LINE OF BEST FIT

“We named knitting a Band To Watch back in 2024, coinciding with the release of their excellent debut full-length Some Kind Of Heaven. Today the Montreal indie rockers have announced its follow-up Souvenir, which they're teasing with the brooding, lightly grungy lead single ‘I Want To Remember Everything.’”

— STEREOGUM 

 

Nina Winder-Lind • “This is Our Life” • 2026

 

Brighton-based, Swedish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nina Winder-Lind, best known as a member of the electrifying “Hagstone rock” band The New Eves, releases a new solo single and video, “This is Our Life,” today via Transgressive. Blending folk-pop warmth with an upbeat, driving pulse, the song showcases Winder-Lind’s magnetic vocal vibrato and instinct for melody. It balances intimacy with exuberance, capturing a sense of joy and immediacy that runs through much of her work.

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