To hold a guitar pick, you must lay it on the side of your curled index finger and secure it with your thumb, leaving about a centimeter of the tip sticking out. To write, you must resiliently fasten ink to a quill or lead to a pencil. Allowing your hand to caress the paper while your mind goes yonder. To breathe: you must purse your nostrils, decisively inhale, and let go. The best things come from daydreaming.

The season of chattering bones has officially ended. Today, March 20th, marks the astronomical start of spring. While we were sleeping, the lullied sun crossed directly over the Earth’s equator. Resulting in back-to-work ballet flats and 12 hours of daylight.

While there is impending precipitation, hope remains to bud in the garden of young musicians ahead. Here is what V has been listening to.

GIRL SCOUT BRINK

After months of anticipation, the Swedish band Girl Scout officially released their debut album, Brink. As the unknown looms and nostalgia clashes with nervous excitement for the future, Girl Scout turns to creative liberty. Composed of Emma Jansson (guitar, vocals), Per Lindberg (drums), and Kevin Hamring (guitar/bass), Girl Scout originated as a group of friends studying jazz in Stockholm who connected through a shared penchant for the garage rock and Brit-pop sounds of the 80s and 90s.

The album of 13 singles is caught between apocalyptic anxiety and wistful escapism, the common crossroads of stagnacy and restlessness, while balancing on the edge of something great.

Kelsey Lu ‘Running to Pain’

After a seven-year hiatus, songwriter, singer, and composer Kelsey Lu has donned again: this time in collaboration with generational pop producer Jack Antonoff and Yves Rothman. It marks a striking shift for an artist who built her reputation on Blood (2019), a slow, orchestral debut.

“Running to Pain” arrives with a soaring synth hook and a drum machine beat: the swell times perfectly to the chorus, with production that knows exactly where to push. Whether that precision liberates Lu or quietly contains her is a question the song leaves open. With a pop pivot that acts as a provocation, testing how much of herself will survive the mainstream gravity she is destined to behold.

Grace Ives Girlfriend

Three years later, Grace Ives returns with Girlfriend, her most deliberate and constructed record to date. Produced alongside Ariel Rechtshaid and John Debold, it marks a subtle shift for an artist whose charm has always been nonchalance.

Self-described withdrawal, blackouts, and a near retirement. Ives’ freshest body of work takes place between eleven songs and thirty-six minutes. A bold setup that pushes her to balance intimacy and electronic energy 

Created during a period of profound personal change, the album documents a life in flux: moving from chaos toward clarity, isolation toward connection. All while ushering in the most expansive and ambitious sound of her career.

People I’ve Met ‘Loving One’

‘Loving one‘, the latest release from rising alt-rock band People I’ve Met.  The New York-based trio of Mosses Martin (lead vocals and guitar), Orlando Wiltshire (percussion), and Andrew Suster (bass) — melancholically dwell between the pain of remembrance and the desire for acceptance.

In conversation with its emotional landscape, the song opens with bare boned intimacy anchored in gnawing harmonies of tender acoustic guitar. Building to an all-consuming cathartic plea in its final minute. Fueled by explosive drumming and lavishly layered guitar work, the result is a prime showcase for People I’ve Met’s inventive musicality.