Neu Bulletin The Neu Bulletin (FIZZ, Miso Extra, Swim School and more!)

The debut single from the supergroup headed up by Orla Gartland and dodie, ‘High In Brighton’ is an unashamedly maximalist offering that sounds plucked from a West End musical stage rather than a meeting of minds on the indie-pop touring circuit. Big, multi-part choruses and rollocking piano tumbles abound as FIZZ run giddily around the streets of the Kent coast; there’s even a quiet solo moment before the action crashes back in again with a key change. It’s totally OTT, deeply uncool and sounds a bit like a lost scene from Matilda the Musical. It’s great. (Lisa Wright)

Laden with lavish, otherworldly beats and a vocal performance that flows and fizzes, Miso Extra’s latest offering is a tight teaser for what her upcoming EP ‘MSG’ is set to bring. Deftly arranged, with bright production and excitable, exuberant textures, ‘Space Junk’ is Miso Extra’s abstract version of a breakup song: instead of overtly bluesy lyrics or minor chords, Miso crafts a mood with her sinking synths and nods to classic R&B rhythms, in a future-facing package. (Ims Taylor)

Following on from their recently-released ‘Duality’ EP, the latest offering from Edinburgh’s swim school is a scuzzy but biting delight. Continuing the narrative theme of previous track ‘Delirious’ - which saw the band’s Alice Johnson square up to the misogyny she’s faced within the music industry - ‘Bored’ is a defiant shutdown (“Do I intimidate you, are you telling the truth? / Please waste your time, I’ve got nothing to prove”) of a track with powerful sonics to match. (Sarah Jamieson)

STONE are channelling all their rollicking frustrations and agitations into the burst of gloomy noise that is ‘I Gotta Feeling’. Black Eyed Peas feel-good tune this is not, as it rumbles to life with an Oasis-ready rock and roll riff, and vocalist Fin Power starts to reel off everything currently pissing him off. He takes aim at toxic masculinity, culminating in a defeated grumble of “shout out to the writers of Peaky Blinders… you inspired the new ages of wankers”. A leap around chorus, an irate siren of a whoop, and a hissing breakdown later, STONE are done for the minute. But not for long, you expect… (Ims Taylor)

There’s a certain thing that Lorde does very well - going from hushed, innocuous beginnings into an explosion of a gigantic chorus in one fell swoop - that you sense Dusseldorf’s Pablo Brooks has probably been studying quite intently. He’s clearly a top set student too; taking the problematic phrasing of its title and throwing it back into a rotten ex’s face, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is like if ‘Solar Power’ swapped its chill beach spirit for some hot pop revenge. (Lisa Wright)

Tags: Eaves Wilder, FIZZ, Miso Extra, STONE, swim school, Listen, Features, Neu, Neu Bulletin