Browsing Tag melancholic
Wernerās Weekly (week 19)
This is Wernerās Weekly, your compass to new music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Florence & The Machine – Free
(Wildcard this week)
- Donohue – Solo
(Wildcard last week)
- Anna Sofia – Cruel World
- Leah Kate – 10 Things I Hate About You
- Liss – Heartbreaker
- Lutzie – I Love You
- The Fratellis – Alive
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerās Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Arcade Fire, Ava Max, Suggs & Paul Weller, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Lutzie – I Love You
*SONG SNACK*
Beautiful piano song by 19-year-old Lucia Opalka. As simple, sweet and delicate as the title itself.
Follow Lutzie on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Molly Burman – Pretty Girl
20-year-old Molly Burman is an up and coming singer-songwriter from North London. She comes from a very musical family and is about to extend their legacy with her relatable songs. New single Pretty Girl will appeal to anyone whoās ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin, or less attractive than those around them.
In her own words: āI wrote Pretty Girl a few years ago desperately trying to become what I thought was āperfectā. (ā¦) Over time I started to realise that I could only truly be pretty when I felt it; when I was doing things that I loved, wearing colourful clothes and not trying to be someone else. This song is about being completely yourself and feeling absolutely beautiful while doing it.ā
Pretty Girl opens with just Burmanās Kate Nash-like voice over nothing more than a piano. Vulnerable and touching, she couldnāt be more exposed. However, the song slowly but surely builds up with strings and acoustic guitars. A reflection of her need to be seen becoming more powerful.
Follow Molly Burman on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Christon – The Story About A Boy Who Jumped Off A Cliff And Landed Softly
Itās been some time since Christon released music under his own name. He hasnāt exactly sat still though, writing and producing for other artists. International ones like Aloe Blacc, Ziggy Marley, Lost Frequencies and Mathieu Koss, as well as Dutch colleagues such as Guus Meeuwis, Ronnie Flex and Ellen ten Damme. Also, heās currently presenting the TV programme āDe Troubadoursā, in which he writes a song in a day with fellow artists, based on their personal stories. And then of course, there are his other musical projects with names like Sir Notch and North [Sic].
Christonās new single is called The Story About A Boy Who Jumped Off A Cliff And Landed Softly. This stripped down track is the title song of āDe Jongen Die Van De Klif Sprong En Zacht Terechtkwamā, the debut novel of Dutch journalist Stefan Raatgever. This book deals with the coming of age and coming out of a 19-year-old boy. The book cover contains a sticker with the Spotify code of the song.
Raatgever interviewed Christon multiple times during his career as part of the band XYP, as front man of Rigby and as a solo artist. He became a fan and asked the singer to write a theme song for his book. This challenge was accepted.
āTo me, Christon is one of the best songwriters in the Netherlandsā, Raatgever explains. āHe often deploys his talents for others, but Iām happy he sang this song himself. Iām proud of the beautiful way he put the theme of my first book to music. Itās a wonderful, Johnny Cash-like track.ā
Christon, who already produced a soundtrack to his own debut thriller, āAdamā, adds he tried to stick as much to Raatgeverās story as possible. āI recorded this song in an intimate, acoustic setting. It incorporates both the struggle and the acceptance of the main character.ā
Recommended as well:
Closer To A New Day
Younger Than Before
Where Do We Go From Here
Perfect World (feat. Maxime Barlag)
Follow Christon on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Montgomery – Close To Being Apart
If you like your synth-pop dreamy, make sure you check Close To Being Apart by Montgomery. The Melbourne-based singer, songwriter and producer (real name: Phoebe Parkinson) describes her tunes as āpop music to cry toā. Anyway, this is a beautifully lush track with shimmering vocals. Danceable on the one hand, but melancholic on the other.
In fact, this apparent contradiction is the core of the song. Montgomery explains: “I wrote Close To Being Apart last year after moving house. There’s a mix of emotion when you’re packing up and moving on to a new place that holds no memories. I found myself reminiscing, holding on to sentiment, while another part of me was desperate to start a new chapter. Close To Being Apart acknowledges that tension of wanting to move forward or change direction, while still clinging to old memories. Even those I’d proudly thought I’d already let go of.”
This single is the first taste from Montgomeryās next EP, which is due out later in the year.
Follow Montgomery on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wernerās Weekly (week 31)
This is Wernerās Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Torres – Thirstier (Wildcard this week)
- Baby Queen – You Shaped Hole (Wildcard last week)
- Bloom de Wilde – Garden Of The Sun
- Connie Constance – Prim And Propa
- Lime Garden – Pulp
- Troi Irons – She Loves Me Notl
- Varley – One Two Three
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerās Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: The Allergies, Jungle, L Devine, Royal Republic, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Varley – One Two Three
I like my songs up-tempo here at Carte Blanche Music headquarters. Not often do I need to apply the tag āmelancholicā to tracks I recommend. But every now and then, a slower tune stands out. This is one of thoseā¦
Varley are a Berlin-based indie-pop trio, centred around the mesmerising vocals of Dublin-native Claire-Ann Varley. Her band mates, multi-instrumentalists Joschka Bender and Matthias Heising, are Germans. They cite artists like Bon Iver, Fleetwood Mac, The Cardigans and Phoebe Bridgers as their main influences. Put these in the Varley blender and a London Grammar-like sound comes out. Honest and vulnerable, with fragile vocals embedded in a soft instrumental backdrop.
The trio says about their new single: āWe wrote One Two Three about the unachievable beauty standard we are surrounded by in today’s society, and how people’s lives online can seem so perfect, and how it becomes harder not to compare yourself or your life to everything you see online. It talks about the feeling of being stuck in a big machine that’s trying to change us, but also has the realization that if we apologize for being ourselves then we will be lost forever.ā
Iām looking forward to the bandās debut album Smalltalk And DMCs, due out on 17 September!
Follow Varley on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Emily Burns – Iām So Happy
Remember Pain Is So Close To Pleasure by Queen? UKĀ popĀ star on the riseĀ Emily BurnsĀ has come to the same conclusion. She says about her new single Iām So Happy: āI clearly remember the day I wrote Iām So Happy. I went into the studio and was in the best mood ever. I said to the guys about how good I was feeling, and how everything was going right in my life that day (ā¦) We started talking about the fear that comes hand-in-hand with overwhelming happiness, the worry that something is bound to go wrong, even when it might never. Thatās where the idea of āIām so happy, itās a problemā came from. The idea that sometimes happiness can be painful, because you feel like youāve got so much to lose. Itās like being on a tightrope and knowing that one wrong move could cause the end of it all.”
Burns was born in Scotland and raised in Warwickshire. She developed an honest, captivating and accessible song-writing style, reaching 50 millions streams on Spotify alone.
Follow Emily Burns on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wernerās Weekly (week 16)
This is Wernerās Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Yelle – Noir (Wildcard this week)
- Who – Hey! Get Out The Way (Wildcard last week)
- Ashe – Iām Fine
- Carla de Coignac – Danse
- Glades – Limbo
- Jan-Marten Block – Never Not Try
- The Vain Travail – Do You See The Sun?
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerās Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Barenaked Ladies, Fickle Friends, Pale Waves, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Amy Shark – Amy Shark
Naming a song after yourself can only mean two things: utter narcissism or utter vulnerability. You can leave it to Amy Shark to choose for the second option.
This raw self-titled track is the sixth to be released ahead of the artistās upcoming album Cry Forever (30 April). The highly personal song will close the long-player. Amy clarifies: āItās track 13 because in a way this album closes so many chapters for me.ā She adds: āThis song is my story.ā
Amy SharkĀ is about a person who wasnāt there when she needed them. As a result, she has painful memories from her childhood, which she lays bare painstakingly in this song. Although she recalls it all vividly, she feels itās a thing of the past. As Amy explains: āIām not mad but I remember everything and some people just werenāt there when I needed them and unfortunately itās just too late to start giving a fuck about me now.ā
Recommended as well:
Amy Shark – Baby Steps
Follow Amy Shark on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.