#MusicMonday Review - July 2026

[osornios]

#MusicMonday is the hashtag I've been using for quite a while to share music recommendations from up-and-coming artists. Always fresh, and always different, trying to look for trends before they become one. You can check June's review for more music.

It this issue we let music help us explore dark themes like unhealthy infatuation, addiction, and existential experiences, with the glowing positivity of every version of you. Give them a listen, with a word from the artists themselves. 🎧

Suns of Rest – Overflow

Trust your gut
Fill up on your own cup
Let them fall
In love with the overflow

We begin our travels in Coventry, England, with a shoegazey Post-Rock track about not waiting for something that might not ever happen. Band member Daz explains:

"The track started when our bass player came up with this bass line. It was an unusual bass line for him because he normally plays moody bass lines but this one seemed more positive. 😂 Then our drummer, Sean Carroll, started banging away with this almost tribal beat and then both myself and the guitarist, Sean Cunningham, joined in with melody and guitar lead.

It had this positive feel to it and needed the words to be positive. Weirdly that night I went home and just was scrolling through my phone and this picture appeared of this big jug being filled up and spilling over the side with this caption just saying "fill your own cup first and let the world benefit from your overflow" and was like "yes!!" That's it!! Positivity!! And I jumped up put the bedroom light on, and wrote the song in about 10mins. Next practice I put the words to the melody and the song was pretty much done and dusted, and it felt naturally done, like no more was needed to be added.

So basically it's a song about positivity, loving life, loving yourself, filling up on your own cup to the top and letting the others enjoy your overflow. 🩵"

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Patchwork Dots – Blurry Eyed

Ignore your instincts,

Keep me up all night

I want you face to face,

Til I’m blurry eyed

Own your image

Switch from frame to frame

You choose whichever filter makes you feel ok

Ain't no reason to apologize

you do you,

the way you do

till your satisfied

Let's travel north to Sheffield, for a Lo Fi Alternative Rock track about finding a way to a place that's meant for you in your own terms, somehow, someway:

"It’s written about addictions and getting lost in your addictions to the point where it becomes routine, but however “routine” it becomes there’s always a way out with other distractions or friends to help if you can recognize that it’s an addiction."

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Souls in Rhythm – Gaslight

The first spark was when I saw her getting down in the second row
A smoke show

so hot her pants were literally on fire
She caught my eye

he was the only one clapping on the 1&3
After I called her out she claimed the drummer dropped the beat (...yeah right)

Burn it up. Blow my mind. Steal the air. Waste my time. Crazy. (Silly conversations)
Her tongue is hot. Working me. Smoke & mirrors. Wear me down. It’s hazy. (An insane situation)
A five-alarm inferno. Truth verses a pyromaniac. Hey!

We fly now to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for an 80s infused Classic Funk and Soul track about falling for the wrong person, and getting burned for it:

"I was really looking for something fast with a funk groove and a little bit of a rock edge... So I jammed a bunch of riffs until I came up with the main bass line/riff... then lyrically yeah, you called it... the whole gaslight concept came from a past relationship I had where this person would gaslight me about little insignificant things... really strange, unusual and manipulative behavior for no good reason. It wasn't a long relationship haha. I ended it pretty quickly, but man it messes with your head when someone repeatedly gaslights you about things you see or hear with your own eyes!"

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Vulture Twin – Messorem

I've died a thousand times
Raise me up now
Harvester of dreams
Smoke to sky

I know where shadows lie
Cells breaking down
They don't say what they mean
They don't know why or how

Let's go now to Chapel Hill, NC. for an Alternative Rock track that brings surrealistic images up front, and makes you see the unseen with open eyes.  Band member Elizabeth explains:

"We like for theme to be open for interpretation by the listener, so we’re interested to hear what could come up for others and how things resonate differently from person to person.

I feel like most people have probably experienced at least one “dark night of the soul” in their lifetime, brought on by any number of internal or external influences. I personally have had a few, and Messorem is like an existential meditation that emerged from that place.

The way Eddie and I create together really inspires me. I’m able to bring forward something deeply personal and vulnerable, messy or weird or whatever, and there is space for all of it. I don’t have to shrink or contort myself or my ideas in order for him to pick up whatever it is I’m putting down. We do that for each other, and it makes the creative process really fun, cathartic, and interesting."

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Nina D. – Dear Younger Me

I know you're staring at the ceiling
thinking you were always one step behind
trying so hard to be what they needed
just to feel like you were enough

you're counting every little failure
like they're written into stone
you don't know it yet but one day
you'll stop searching for somewhere to belong

Our travels end up in Østfold, Norway with an acoustic Emotional Pop track that serves as a reminder that life may not carry on as expected, but you will always find your way:

"Dear Younger Me was inspired by the idea of writing a letter to my younger self. It reflects on mistakes, growth, and learning to show yourself the kindness you needed all along. It’s deeply personal, basically straight from my diary. 🌼"

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Listen to them and much more on the complete playlist

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See you next time!