The best new tracks of this week, curated and chosen by Niall.
Phoebe Bridgers
Lost Boys (Fallon versions)
The stature at which this song has grown since it was released three weeks ago, but this week’s Fallon dual-contrast performances in which Bridgers presented the song in a polarity of young and old – the upbeat version accompanied by literal kids playing the song alongside her and the more intimate weary but no less impactful acoustic version where she’s’ accompanied by sold aged musicians like Dan Reader.
Performing the song in these ways underlines the song’s central sentiment about Peter Pan syndrome men left behind or who wilfully dropped out of society – these emotionally immature, commmitment-avoidant dudes are illuminated in these Fallon live performances from the shifting lens of giddy youth and old men reflecting with the weight of years and experience.
There’s also something quietly devastating about the idea of the lost boy that feeds into the sadness left when a man who took his own life. Finding our own meaning in songs is natural, and maybe that is a personal reach but it has made this song much more impactful for me this week to think of that as a meaning of the chorus.
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I haven’t been able to stop playing it.
Bridgers has two shows in Dublin in November.
Nirosta Steel
Boss Trix (Benny’s Song)
If like me, you were wondering what the story was with that sepia-faded Nirosta Steel MY SKYSCRAPER album being bandied about and recommended by people with some connection to Arthur Russell, then wonder no more.
Zara Hedderman was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me in that regard with her recent Bad Arts primer – “Who Is Nirosta Steel, the 69-Year-Old Behind The Album of The Summer?” and I finally hit play.
Nirosta Steel is the recording name of Steven Hall, a Scottish-American singer-songwriter born near Glasgow in 1957, who moved to the US at 15 and eventually settled in New York. He’s best known for his friendship and creative partnership with the late Arthur Russell, singing on some of Russell’s disco tracks including ‘Tell You Today’ and ‘Is It All Over My Face?’.
After Russell’s death, Hall and friends formed Arthur’s Landing to keep playing his music. As Nirosta Steel, Hall has quietly made warm, playful, queer-inflected love songs that blend disco, folk and pop and this MY SKYSCRAPER album is a collection of archival recordings from the ’80s to 2025 that has been garnering acclaim.
The album is a wild and sometimes demo sounding eclectic selection of songs that I will return to in due course – there’s obviously an Arthur Russell influence that may roll two ways.
Track two on the record ‘Boss Trix (Benny’s Song)’ is probably the smoothest jam on the record, and a palatable starter introduction that reminds me of the time of chillwave – Washed Out, Neon Indian etc – except this is disco stringed mellow original source material.
Sloucho, Gemma Dunleavy
Fake
An epically-pitched collaboration between enigmatic Irish producer Sloucho with the unmistakable voice of Dubliner’s Gemma Dunleavy – all fired up with bass pads, claps and grand iced cool synth lines.
It’s from Sloucho’s forthcoming album Broken Spirit which he has been teasing tracks from.
Overmono, John Joseph Holt
King in Shining Prada
![Overmono - Knight In Shining Prada (feat. John Joseph Holt) [Lyric Video]](https://nialler9.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/293999ea23d402716b40f886128be139.jpg)
Overmono take a turn towards gleaming eighties synth Daft Punk electronica on ‘Knight In Shining Prada’ from upcoming album Pure Devotion (August 7th on XL).
British poet John Joseph Holt wrote the lyric, originally via a voice note, inspired by the loss of his brother, the close kinship reflected in Overmono’s brotherly pairing of Tom and Ed.
“My brother Thomas Edward Holt had an incredibly adventurous soul that inspired everyone around him. He was a carpenter, a photographer – an artist in the truest sense. He took his own life on January 10th, 2017, aged 31. To make something so positive out of something so crushing is the greatest gift. May this song remind people of loved ones they have lost and bring them closer to their hearts. If we play it loud enough, do you think they will hear us in heaven?”
Axel Boman
Acid Left And Right (Kasper Bjørke Hu-Hu-Hu remix)
Danish producer Kasper Bjørke tackles two tracks from his Swedish peer Axel Boman’s 2024 Space Drag EP for the latest Studio Barnhus release, and alongside the Acid Dub turns the original’s wavy oddball production into a streamlined neon sucker groove.
Other Songs I also recommend this week:
- Roman Flugel – If You’ll Ever Know
- Julia Jacklin, The Maes – I Wish
- Anish Kumar – Freestyle Battle Weapon
- Cornelius – Twisting & Glistening
- Tomococko – Meteor!
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
