New Audio: Tricky Returns with Brooding and Atmospheric “Because I Don’t Know”

Trip hop pioneer Tricky will be releasing his 15th studio album, Different When It’s Silent July 17, 2026 through his own label, False Idols. The new album is the first full-length effort from the legendary and influential artist and producer under his own name in six years. 

Different When It’s Silent came about during a rather prolific period of activity. Since 2020’s Fall to Pieces, Tricky has released material under several different guises including, Lonely Guest‘s 2021 self-titled effort, a collaboration with Mike Theis, called Theis Thaws, which released 2024’s Fifteen Days and last year’s collaborative album with Marta ZłakowskaOut The Way

Returning to releasing an album under his own name took on a different shape. Recored between Tricky’s home in France and sessions in Bristol, the album is reportedly a direct, focused batch of material that reconnects with the distinct sonic language that has defined the legendary artist and producer’s work since 1995’s iconic Maxinquaye. And he does by drawing deeply on the musical community that has shaped him and his work. Central to the album’s sound is Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders, whose soulful falsetto is featured through such of the album’s songs. Their deep connection reflects a shared musical background and an instinctive chemistry between the pair. 

“In my mind it was another side project” Tricky explains. But after hearing the material, his manager Alan McGee felt the songs clearly belonged to a Tricky record.

The 14-song Different When It’s Silent sonically sees Tricky blending skeletal blues, brooding electronics, distorted guitars and stark hip-hop rhythms into a sound that’s simultaneously stripped-back and expansive. The album moves fluidly across different styles while rooted in the restless experimentation that has long defined Tricky’s work over the past three-plus decades. 

“I just love making music” Tricky says. “I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to live this life and keep creating.”

The album will include the previously released “Out of Place,” feat. Marta Złakowska and the album’s second and latest single, “Because I Don’t Know.” Featuring Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders’ yearning falsetto delivering the haunting refrain “Can you feel my pain? Do you feel the same? Just let me know” over a pulsing and shadowy synth figure and blasts of scorching guitars. Tricky’s murmured vocal lurk in the background. The song is a tense, uneasy and probing examination of vulnerability, heartache and menace.

New Audio: French Nancy Shares Broodingly Chilly “The Guarantee”

Hackney, London-based post-punk duo French Nancy — Jack Gooding and Joel Friel — features former members of Bear Muda and Paris, Texas. Drawing from Motorama, Black Marble, Topographies, The Cure, Joy Division and New Order, the London-based duo’s sound pairs post punk urgency with krautrock-inspired rhythms and introspective lyricism.

The duo’s latest single “The Guarantee” is anchored around a similar krautrock-like motorik pulse and reverb-soaked guitar attack as their previously released “The Vow” and “The Lovers” but while arguably being one of the broodingly chillier songs they’ve released to date with the single seemingly nodding at the likes of Soft Kill, Molchat Doma, PLOHO, Sei Still, Whispering Sons and others. “It’s a song about staying inside a negative feeling rather than trying to fix it, and the production matches: opening cold and lean, with each layer adding to its final angry crescendo,” the duo explain.

Written and recorded at Hackney-based Gun Factory Studios by the duo, “The Guarantee” makes the start of the band’s most prolific stretch to date, with the band planning to release a batch of singles over the next five months, ahead of a forthcoming UK tour later this year.

New Audio: Bel Cardin Shares Introspective “Trust”

22-year old Bel Cardin is an emerging, Raleigh-born and-based singer/songwriter. Coming from a family of music lovers, the young North Carolinian can trace the origins of their music career to when they picked up the guitar at 13. Raised on Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and Elliott Smith, Cardin later fell in love with a collection of artists that emerged in the 2010s, drawing from those artists’ penchant for melodic and crisp guitar, slightly ambiguous song structures and meticulous lyrical imagery.

Cardin’s debut, 2023’s 10-song Petrify was a melancholy, guitar-driven batch of songs recorded at their college campus’ music studio.

The North Carolinian’s latest single “Trust” is the first single since the release of Petrify. Beginning with a lengthy, dreamily atmospheric introduction featuring strummed guitar and Cardin’s heartbreakingly tender delivery, “Trust” slowly builds into a thunderous climax and gentle fadeout. Seemingly drawing from the likes of Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail and others the new single thematically touches upon previously established themes of human nature, vices, loneliness and what it means to connect with the people around them.

Sonically, the new single sees Cardin taking a bold step forward in production and songwriting while retaining elements of her previously released material. It also marks the first track from a forthcoming sophomore album.