Dreaming of Wanderlust - April 2026
A selection of recent releases that feel like stepping into a fresh landscape, unhurried, sun-drenched and completely free 🌿
Featuring Boy In Space, Mathis Akengin, The Riptide Movement, Ó hEaráin, hey sunny, Eugene McGuinness, Kevin Laughlin, John Muirhead, Jon and Roy, Haylie Davis, Simone White, Sons of Town Hall, The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Essence Martins, Teagan Johnston, Malia Rogers, Ella Clayton, McKayla-Jane, Empty Melon, Libby Ember, and Taylor Dallas Vidic.
Dreaming of Wanderlust 🌿 Indie Folk · Folktronica · Chamber Pop
Boy In Space - The Man Who Lost It All
Photo credit: Jesper Smeding
Built around violin, pedal steel, and guitar, this cinematic pop anthem unfolds like a quiet reckoning with the future. Robin Lundbäck traces the uneasy space between who we are and who we fear becoming, where "what-ifs" gather at the edge of the road ahead.
There's vulnerability in its questions, but also movement forward; choosing the path before it fades behind you.
Connect with Boy In Space
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Mathis Akengin - Mute Love
Photo credit: Hugo Horsin
A piano line unfolds like something half-said, carrying the weight of words that never quite find their way out. Mute Love leans into organic, percussive textures - taps and rhythms born from everyday objects - mirroring the hesitations and distance at its core.
It's an intimate, genre-blurring piece that feels suspended between classical sensitivity and experimental minimalism, offering a glimpse into Akengin's upcoming debut album.
Connect with Mathis Akengin
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The Riptide Movement - 800 Years
Photo credit: Credit Mark Nixon
Stretching across eight cinematic minutes, 800 Years moves slowly from reflection into a rising, chant-like chorus that feels shaped by generations of memory. The song lingers on how history continues to echo through identity and place, asking what we still carry forward from the past.
Connect with The Riptide Movement
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Ó hEaráin - On My Mind
Rooted in folk with touches of traditional Irish and Americana, On My Mind moves with a gentle, unhurried grace. Acoustic guitar and soft slide melodies cradle a reflection on love and parting, seen through the lens of a life nearing its close.
There's a warmth in its stillness; less about goodbye, more about the enduring presence of love beyond it.
Connect with Ó hEaráin
Instagram / Spotify
hey sunny - Sunshine
With its indie pop-folk ease, Sunshine feels like a soft breeze through an open window. Built around simple, heartfelt lines, "a little bit of sunshine in my soul", the song leans into optimism without force, balancing lightness with a need for calm and solitude.
It's a gentle reminder that even small glimmers of joy can shift the atmosphere within.
Connect with hey sunny
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Eugene McGuinness - Icarus
Drawn from the upcoming album Eugene McGuinness Versus the Universe (out April 24), Icarus swells with layered harmonies, vintage guitars, and sweeping strings. The song reimagines the myth through a personal lens, tracing the fragile line between ambition and overreach.
There's a cinematic quality to its indie pop/rock palette, as if the story slowly spirals upward before drifting back down.
Connect with Eugene McGuinness
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Kevin Laughlin - Play It Cool
In this folk-pop debut, Kevin Laughlin settles into warm, melodic songwriting shaped by reflection and acceptance. Play It Cool captures that moment when certainty slips away, replacing rigid plans with something more fluid. Its sincerity lies in its simplicity, learning to move forward without needing all the answers, carried by a sound that feels both grounded and open-hearted.
Connect with Kevin Laughlin
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John Muirhead - Loved You Well
This indie-folk piece lingers in the soft glow of what almost was. Muirhead sketches fleeting moments - a train ride, a shared bottle, a morning that slips too quickly into afternoon - before they fade into memory. There's a tenderness in the refrain, an acknowledgment that sometimes love exists most vividly in hindsight.
Connect with John Muirhead
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Jon and Roy - Maywell
Photo credit: Sara Spectrum
With their signature indie folk-rock warmth, Jon and Roy continue to evoke movement: roads unfolding, time stretching under open skies. Maywell carries that easygoing rhythm they've honed over years of touring, where melody and momentum meet. It feels less like a destination and more like the gentle pull of the journey itself.
Connect with Jon and Roy
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Haylie Davis - Wandering Star
Photo Credit: Sarah Ward
The title track from her upcoming debut album Wandering Star (out June 5), this piano-led ballad drifts through themes of self-discovery and resilience. Rooted in folk-pop and cosmic Americana textures, the song reflects on finding direction while feeling unmoored.
There's a soft glow to it, like tracing your path by starlight, even when the way forward isn't entirely clear.
Connect with Haylie Davis
Instagram / Spotify
Simone White - Blueprint
A baroque-pop meditation wrapped in neoclassical minimalism, Blueprint feels like wandering through a city both familiar and strange. String arrangements weave around White's airy vocal as she questions the structures, physical and existential, that shape daily life.
Taken from Letter To The Last Generation (out May 1), it's a piece that lingers in thought, asking more than it answers.
Connect with Simone White
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Sons of Town Hall - Antarctica
Photo Credit: Sjoske Buursink
From the beautifully imagined world of Of Ghosts and Gods, Antarctica begins in stillness before rising into something vast and luminous. Gentle folk fingerpicking gives way to swelling strings and brass, the duo's harmonies moving in tandem like shifting tides.
I loved the entire album - its storytelling spirit and rich sonic detail make it feel like a journey in itself, with Antarctica standing as one of its most striking moments.
Connect with Sons of Town Hall
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The Reds, Pinks & Purples - Worthy of Love
Photo Credit: Samara Dun
A soft, chiming piece of indie pop, Worthy of Love carries a sense of renewal. Beneath its melodic shimmer lies a movement away from heavy memories toward something lighter, more present. Taken from Acknowledge Kindness (out April 24), it feels like stepping into a familiar place with a slightly different light; gentler, and a little more forgiving.
Connect with The Reds, Pinks & Purples
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Essence Martins - Please, Don't Wake Me
Photo credit: Christian Sayers
A hush of fingerpicked guitar carries this alt-pop confession, where longing lingers in that fragile space between hope and heartbreak. Essence Martins leans into vulnerability without resistance, tracing the pain of wanting something that might not last.
Dreamlike yet grounded, it feels like holding onto a moment just before morning pulls it apart.
Connect with Essence Martins
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Teagan Johnston - My Luck
Blending alt-country and indie-pop textures, My Luck drifts through uncertainty with a steady, introspective gaze. Teagan Johnston captures the strange gravity of feeling out of sync with the world - where chance and choice merge into one.
It lingers in that in-between space, where nothing resolves, but everything is quietly understood.
Connect with Teagan Johnston
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Malia Rogers - Sunlight (A Good Death)
Photo Credit: Brennan Rogers
With roots in folk, bluegrass, and Celtic influences, this tender piece honours a life through the soft glow of memory. Sunlight (A Good Death) moves gently between grief and gratitude, where sunlight on a winter day becomes a final, peaceful frame.
Rogers' storytelling feels like sitting close, listening, and carrying something meaningful away.
Connect with Malia Rogers
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Ella Clayton - Dolomites
Photo by: Amy Lauffer
Taken from Could It Be You? (out April 24), Dolomites is a playful yet introspective moment shaped by soulful folk storytelling. Wonky time signatures and soft synths give it an off-kilter charm, echoing the desire to step away and be alone.
Beneath its lightness, there's a quiet process of self-understanding unfolding.
Connect with Ella Clayton
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McKayla-Jane - Dundalk
Dundalk feels like a small stage opening into something much wider, where a single voice carries far beyond its starting point. With its folk warmth and unpolished sincerity, the song celebrates the simple act of singing; for yourself, for others, for the moment.
It's less about arrival, more about the courage to stand and share.
Connect with McKayla-Jane
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Empty Melon - Hoping to Find
Floating between ambient folk and experimental textures, Hoping to Find exists in that hazy space between sleep and waking. Gentle, cinematic, and deeply introspective, it unfolds like a half-remembered dream, fragile but vivid.
There's a quiet sense of renewal, as if something lost is slowly finding its way back.
Connect with Empty Melon
Instagram / Spotify
Libby Ember - News at the Party
An indie-pop track that moves with bright, kinetic energy while holding something heavier underneath. News at the Party captures the dissonance of heartbreak in a crowded room - smiles on the surface, everything unraveling within.
Its layered arrangement mirrors that emotional split, where celebration and solitude exist side by side.
Connect with Libby Ember
Instagram / Spotify
Taylor Dallas Vidic - Muse
Taken from her upcoming debut album Cat & Mouse (out April 24), Muse lingers in the fleeting intensity of a connection shaped by distance and time. Blending jazz and Americana influences, Taylor Dallas Vidic captures the feeling of loving someone in a place where departures are inevitable and nothing stretches too far beyond tonight. It's a celebration of moments that exist beautifully because they cannot last.
Connect with Taylor Dallas Vidic
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Spotify Playlist
About Eugenia Roditis
Eugenia's passion for music was ignited from an early age as she grew up in a family of musicians. She loves attending concerts and festivals, while constantly seeking fresh and exciting new artists across diverse genres. Eugenia joined the MusicnGear team in 2012.
Contact Eugenia Roditis at eugenia.roditis@kinkl.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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