A Night Walk in The Underground Forest - March 2026
Welcome to A Night Walk in The Underground Forest - a curated series where I hand-select my favourite new releases.
Featuring: DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, Mel Denisse, Glixen, Daniel Avery, she's green, KiKi Holli & The Remedy, Nevaris, Endearments & Dame Fawn Denier.
This edition features; a song that sounds like it is a previously unreleased song from Avril Lavigne’s 2004 album ‘Under My Skin’ (one of the best albums of all time in my opinion); a song that feels like it could be from an unknown MTV animated series from 1997; a breathtakingly beautiful electronic song that sounds like empty silent spaces existing amidst the concrete technicolor chaos of a sprawling metropolis; a song that features silky smooth vocals floating like Kirsten Dunst in the poster of ‘Melancholia’over a bed of abrasive sonic textures; a song that will remind you of ‘Tell Me’ by Johnny Jewel, a lush electronic song performed by Saoirse Ronan, in the movie ‘Lost River’ and more!
A Night Walk in The Underground Forest 🌙 Synth Pop • Electronic Pop • Alt Pop & Electronic
Glixen - Unwind
Photo Credit: Yulissa Benitez
This feels like it could be from an unknown MTV animated series from 1997 that resurfaced on YouTube years later (for me, this was a show called ‘Downtown’).
This newest song from the Phoenix-based shoegaze band is genuinely unusual; the soundscape is gritty, filled with dissonant and slowly distorting textures, like a hidden entity from somewhere in the shadows contorting itself into a smile, with vocals floating somewhere in the midst. What I love about ‘Unwind’ is that the mix embraces the flawed, knarled, plush, twisting textures that made shoegaze so resonant in the first place, a quality that can get squashed to within an inch of its life in the clean mix wars of commercial audio. I am very excited to hear more from this band.
"'Unwind' is about that feeling of relief when someone comes back to you after they've left," bandleader Aislinn Ritchie explains. "It's human nature to crave that push and pull—a drug weaned off. Blindingly hard to say no, we succumb to willful ignorance. We recorded this song in Los Angeles with Sonny Diperri producing, and it's the first song we incorporated different instrumental elements, and it's a glimpse into our evolution."
Connect with Glixen
Facebook / Bandcamp / X / Instagram
Dame Fawn Denier - Bower Meadow
I came across this on my weekly voyage through the pop section of Bandcamp, and it was like coming across a real diamond in the jewellery bin of a charity shop (my favourite place to be). This is a version of Red Cavalry’s song of the same name, which has an indie/alt-rock vibe to it - Dame Fawn Denier’s version has a shimmering, camp, electro-pop quality that drew me in immediately. The vocal performance is theatrical and rife with melodrama - a quality that I have sorely been missing in commercial music as of late. I do not say this lightly - Dame Fawn Denier has made a fan for life.
Connect with Dame Fawn Denier
Facebook / Instagram / X
Nevaris - Ninth Sun-Live
This is taken from the EP ‘SoundSession’, a series of live performances by Manhattan's ‘Nevaris’ in Orange Sound studio in New Jersey.
This Winter in Ireland has been absolutely brutal, with freezing temperatures and little to no sunlight, which really starts to get you down; however, the moment I put on ‘Ninth Sun-Live’, I felt something reawaken in me, I felt alive again, I felt the soaring sense of joy and hope that comes from hearing musicians perform live together (Peter Apfelbaum on the saxophone is a stand-out in this). ‘Ninth Sun’ is a living, breathing tapestry of sound that will reinvigorate your soul.
On the EP, Nevaris says, "SoundSession is about playing together live without being stressed by ticket sales or venues... Bill Laswell's studio has always been an inspiring place with so much history. From the first notes, we could tell there was something good happening. The recording documents it exactly as it was."
Connect with Nevaris
Bandcamp / Facebook / Website / Instagram / X
Mel Denisse - aiming alone
This could have been a lost demo from Avril Lavigne’s 2004 album ‘Under My Skin’ or a song from the soundtrack of ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’. I absolutely love this - the opening melody of the vocals posses a bit of a ‘Black Hole Sun’ vibe to them, in that they are opaque and bewitching, in that specific way songs from the late 90s and early 00s were.
On the song, the artist says:
" 'aiming alone' details wanting to be understood with urgency, while still feeling sealed off behind glass. On the other side, the world watches and speculates, close enough to see you, never close enough to meet you. That distance becomes the point: the two realities can't be reconciled. The outro carries that into finality – an acceptance of the lone road, and the resolve of aiming alone."
Connect with Mel Denisse
Instagram
Daniel Avery - Neon Pulse (Midnight Version)
This is taken from the artist’s new album ‘Tremor (Midnight Versions)’, which features “deeper, darker reworkings of his latest studio album Tremor” (via Bandcamp).
There is something about the haunted textures of the opening pads in this that made me think of empty hotel bedrooms, of something silent and empty existing amidst the neon technicolor chaos of a sprawling metropolis. The understated quality of the pads and synths, and how they slowly, gradually build, result in a soundscape that is so breathtakingly beautiful it stops you in your tracks.
You can buy the album via Bandcamp here.
Connect with Daniel Avery
Website / Facebook / Instagram
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - HeartsDesires
As I mentioned earlier in this article, the never-ending freezing Winter has really been getting to me, so it felt like someone had opened the door and let in a burst of warm, beachy air when this new DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ song landed in my inbox. This opens with a pounding Chicago house beat, with a swirling milkshake of plush, delicious house chords, with the artist’s signature mashup style vocals floating over the beat. This is a damn good time.
Connect with DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ
Bandcamp / Website / Facebook / X / Instagram
she's green - mettle
Photo Credit: Jaxon Whittington
Silky smooth vocals float like Kirsten Dunst in the poster of ‘Melancholia’over a bed of abrasive sonic textures - ‘mettle’ is the newest release from the Minneapolis band and it is bewitching. The surreal, moss-toned music video set in the forest at night has a mysterious lady of the woods quality to it; the music rises throughout, consuming you like an invasive, yet beautiful, unknown plant species.
On the song, bandleader Zofia Smith explains, “‘mettle’ channels the frustration and discomfort that stem from what often feels like constant bad news, while also being an anthem of resilience and the courage to take action and bring about positive change.”
Connect with she's green
Bandcamp / Instagram / X
KiKi Holli & The Remedy - Running Out Of Time
YouTube autogenerated a mix for this song while I was listening to it, and interestingly, one of the songs was ‘Tell Me’ by Johnny Jewel, a lush electronic song performed by Saoirse Ronan in the dream-like movie ‘Lost River’.
‘Running Out Of Time’ is similarly plush, dark, and quiet; it feels like the artist is singing to herself at night time, in a house that exists in a half-abandoned city next to a concrete industrial site, also abandoned. This gives the synthetic soundscape mystique, with the gentle delivery of the vocals making you lean in, focusing your attention, as it takes you away on a journey.
Connect with KiKi Holli
Website / Instagram
Endearments - Frances Ha
This is taken from the Brooklyn-based band’s newly released debut album, ‘An Always Open Door.’
‘Frances Ha’ is one of the closing songs of the album, the plush synthpop-laced opening bars feel ike the burst of raw euphoria you get when you think of a good memory. The heavenly vocals in this float over the shimmering soundscape, a soundscape that feels like it exists at dusk, under infinite orange skies, when the beauty of this world takes your breath away. The subject matter of the lyrics has a darker tone than the plush dreaminess of the music, the refrain ‘Why do I say goodnight/When we’re falling out?’ running throughout.
Connect with Endearments
Website / Instagram
Spotify Playlist
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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