From Darlington, County Durham
Recommended if you like Blood Orange, Dean Blunt, Elliott Smith
Up next The Dirt Pt 1 EP out now

As the internet spits out underground artists like mouthwash, it’s becoming harder to separate the visionaries from the vibe-hackers. But Pollyfromthedirt’s jagged pastoral pop demands more than just a passing scroll. Released independently this week, the County Durham native’s first EP clashes brass band samples, shuddering Midi strings and awkward acoustic guitar together. There’s a trace of Elliott Smith in his grey-skied songwriting, yet made entirely his own by the crude drum machines, pitched-up vocals and DIY production. At best, like the EP’s weirdest track, Kalm, the music departs from traditional song structure and coalesces into delay-steeped, swirling ambience.

He doesn’t share his real name and often performs masked, channelling a healthy dollop of Dean Blunt in both vibe and sound. His most immediate peers, though, might be his fellow UK vanguards Worldpeace DMT, Westside Cowboy and Aya. His witty realism cuts through in a crowded scene: new song Theres No Such Thing as England subtly riffs on the country’s growing right-wing nationalism as a metaphor for jilted romance and suburban bleakness – “There’s no such thing as England / There’s no such thing as us to me” – while A Weekend in Majorca lets those same feelings dissolve on a classic package holiday: “I’m a lover, I’m a brawler / For a weekend in Majorca.”

His descriptions of cold nights, broken-down cars, weird neighbours and teenage escapism all feel foggily familiar – attempts to reconfigure the frayed edges of memory from nostalgia into something new. Archie Forde

This week’s best new tracks

Hen Ogledd – Scales Will Fall
Featuring a splenetic rap from Dawn Bothwell that decries today’s political leadership as feudal, followed by the heartiest of choruses and a bracing trumpet freakout, this is an invigorating anthem from the UK psych-poppers. BBT

Fine – Moment
“Sometimes I call you up in the moment,” the Dane sings, impetuously – but her slowcore, country-Mazzy Star-ish ballad, made for the final souls on the dancefloor, burns steadier, waiting for them to come to her. LS

Tems – What You Need
The Nigerian star lets the astonishing timbre of her voice sit out front in this ballad as she calls time on a crisis-strewn relationship: “Your love is like an endless sea: it won’t lead me anywhere.” BBT

Lucinda Williams – We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around (ft Norah Jones)
The union of these two powerhouse singers suggests an Americana take on VH1’s old Divas format, as they warble about straying from the path to choogling Hammond organ and stately piano. LS

Converge – Love is Not Enough
The returning metalcore pioneers argue for a more combative, less doveish attitude when dealing with society’s ghouls, but don’t shy from self-examination either: “We must grow to stomach the taste of our own blood”​. BBT

Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover – To Each Their Dot
“And if I look at you and your rage as testicular / Humanity’s best interest is circular,” Heynderickx sings, tempering her rage in this folksy lament about man acting against his best interest. LS

Svalbard – If We Could Still Be Saved
After terrific albums such as The Weight of the Mask and When I Die, Will I Get Better?, this metalcore epic is the Bristol band’s final song. “Think of it as the metal version of Goodbye by the Spice Girls!”, says frontwoman Serena Cherry. BBT

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