Seeing Beyond Sight Perception is often mistaken for certainty. We assume that seeing the world means understanding it, rarely questioning how much of our reality is shaped by habit, expectation or assumption. Yet perspective is never universal. Every person experiences the world differently, and sometimes it is those whose experiences fall outside the majority who reveal how limited our own understanding can be. On This Track 31, Doctor Noize's "Some People See, But I Don't"

Four female artists worth turning up this weekend Four releases by female artists exploring identity, belonging and self-worth This week's On This Track: Weekend Listening 4 brings together four female artists whose music turns inward without losing sight of the world around them. Moving between indie pop, Americana, experimental folk and alternative music, these releases reflect on growing up, conditional love, belonging and the ongoing process of becoming yourself. Rather t

When Losing Your Balance Becomes a Way Back to Yourself Editorial Review | Partner Feature Security often reveals itself as an illusion only after it disappears. We build routines, relationships and ambitions believing they will remain unchanged, until a single moment exposes how fragile those foundations have always been. The challenge is rarely the collapse itself, but deciding what deserves to be rebuilt once certainty is gone. On This Track 30: The Nagual Effect "Dive Awa

Five releases worth spending time with this week. Finding yourself in the spaces between certainty and change Not every journey of self-discovery looks the same. This edition of On This Track: Midweek Listening #2 moves between alternative pop, indie folk, alt-rock and grunge-inspired indie, highlighting five releases that explore identity, healing and emotional growth. Whether through reclaiming autonomy, confronting loss, navigating inner conflict or questioning adulthood,

When Letting Go Means Finding Yourself Again Breakups are often framed as stories about losing another person. Less often are they understood as stories about losing ourselves. Relationships inevitably reshape identity, quietly influencing how people think, behave and see the world until it becomes difficult to separate who they are from who they have been with. When those relationships end, healing is rarely just about moving on. It is also about rediscovering the parts of y

When Bullying Doesn't End With Childhood Bullying is often treated as something people eventually outgrow. It belongs to school playgrounds, childhood memories and awkward teenage years, safely left behind as adulthood promises greater maturity. Reality is rarely that simple. The desire to exclude, belittle or control others frequently survives long after childhood ends, merely adopting more socially acceptable forms. Gossip replaces taunts, prejudice replaces cliques, and mi

Five releases worth spending time with this weekend Five releases questioning the stories we tell ourselves This week's On This Track: Weekend Listening #3 moves between post-punk, indie-pop, art-pop, shoegaze and alternative pop, but each release begins with a familiar assumption before quietly turning it inside out. Whether questioning success, fear, healing, independence or the way songs themselves survive, these five artists remind us that some of the most interesting mus

When Music History Has To Be Recovered Before It Can Be Heard Music history is often told as if influence naturally leads to visibility. The artists who matter are expected to remain present, whether through constant reissues, streaming access, canonisation or the simple fact that their work never fully disappears from public reach. In reality, underground music rarely functions that neatly. Some of the most influential bands in a local scene end up becoming difficult to hear

When Pain Makes You Feel Less Than Human Modern culture still treats emotional suffering as something that should remain legible. Grief is expected to move through recognisable stages, depression is often reduced to a vocabulary of sadness and recovery is framed as a gradual return to normality. But some forms of psychological pain feel far less orderly than that. They can distort a person’s sense of self so completely that the problem is no longer just suffering, but estrang

Five releases worth spending time with this weekend Five releases about identity, expectation and the things we struggle to leave behind With temperatures climbing across much of Europe, On This Track: Weekend Listening #2 offers five releases worth spending time with indoors. Moving between alternative rock, pop and post-punk, this week's selections explore identity, expectation and the things we struggle to leave behind. Nova Twins – "Monsters" Photo courtesy of Marshall Re

Why Happiness Rarely Arrives The Way We Expect Modern life is organized around milestones. We are taught to chase promotions, relationships, achievements, experiences and ambitions, always looking ahead to the next moment that promises fulfillment. Happiness is often imagined as something waiting at the finish line, a reward for persistence, effort and endurance. The problem is that life rarely works that way. Photo credit: Simon Walker On "Avalanche", Embrace challenge this

The Loneliness of Getting What You Wanted Popular culture is full of arrival stories. Work hard enough, travel far enough, achieve enough and eventually everything will click into place. The problem is that reality rarely follows the script. Sometimes the life you've imagined for years finally arrives, only to bring unexpected feelings along with it. Photo by Crich Gilligan Sorcha Richardson's "Illinois Again" lives inside that contradiction. Written from the perspective of s

Isolation as Infrastructure, Freedom as Tension With “Towers”, Vancouver post-punk band DOUR examine a form of isolation that increasingly defines contemporary life. Rather than focusing on loneliness as an individual experience, the song explores how modern social and technological structures encourage people to withdraw into self-contained worlds, transforming comfort and convenience into a subtle form of confinement. Photo by DOUR Released ahead of the band's debut album "

Five releases worth spending time with this week. Finding resilience through uncertainty, connection and change Not every song about struggle sounds the same. This edition of On This Track: Midweek Listening #1 moves between hardcore, punk, alternative rock and pop, highlighting five artists confronting uncertainty from different angles. Whether through personal transformation, burnout, conflict or friendship, these releases explore what it means to keep moving forward when c

Punk as Responsibility, Solidarity as Action With “In Solidarity”, Canadian skatepunk veterans Belvedere reaffirm a long-standing tradition within punk culture: the belief that music can function not only as expression, but as a call to collective responsibility. Released ahead of their upcoming album "Seven Years of Bad Luck", the track examines the consequences of indifference and the importance of defending vulnerable communities before injustice becomes impossible to igno

Catharsis as Practice, Friendship as Survival With “ORANGUTAN”, Dublin trio DIVIL approach songwriting not as reflection after the fact, but as a process unfolding in real time. Released ahead of their debut EP "DIVIL I", the track emerges from a period shaped by grief, illness and uncertainty, transforming personal turmoil into a document of collective survival. DIVIL by Meghan Law The origins of DIVIL are inseparable from the circumstances that brought the band closer toget

Growth as Continuity, Change as Commitment With “Halcyon Blues”, Citizen examine a form of loss that rarely arrives through dramatic rupture. Instead, the song focuses on the slow and often unspoken process through which relationships fade, capturing the uneasy space between recognition and acceptance. Positioned as the title track of the band's forthcoming album, the release reflects not only personal disconnection but also a broader meditation on continuity, change and emot

Empowerment as Ritual, Identity as Reclamation With “The GODDESS in the Room”, Swiss artist Mané approaches pop music as a space for transformation rather than entertainment alone. Positioned at the center of her new album ”The Goddess in the Room”, the track functions as both personal declaration and symbolic invitation, exploring self-reclamation through spirituality, queerness and collective empowerment. Photo by David D’Agostini Blending atmospheric electronic production

Identity as Performance, Authenticity as Question With “All That Matters Now”, Nashville rock collective Sour Ops approach songwriting as a reflection on identity, perception and the stories people construct around themselves. Positioned within the broader context of "Bikers Make Better Lovers", the track balances the band's power pop sensibilities with a sharper examination of personal and social expectations. Photo by Sour Ops Built around driving guitars, memorable melodie

Five releases worth spending time with this weekend Searching for connection through memory, community and shared experience Not every release arrives with the same intention. On This Track Weekend Listening #1 moves between math rock, art-punk, dream-pop, Balkan alternative music and classic power pop, highlighting five artists approaching connection from different angles. Daydream Plus – "Speed Limit" Photo by Daydream Plus Blending math rock precision with city pop warmth