Three different angles on pop this week – orchestral depth from a Dundee composer, upbeat bedroom pop from Denmark, and a proper love letter to the dancefloor from a Hastings DJ. Brilliant stuff. ✨
Marley Davidson – Fragile
Marley Davidson delivers wonderfully atmospheric cinematic pop with a story that’s impossible not to root for.
Fragile is a genuinely stunning piece of music: orchestral, atmospheric, and deeply personal. Marley Davidson is a neurodiverse (ASD) composer and singer from Dundee who writes songs that “penetrate deeply into the heart and soul,” and that’s not just press-release hyperbole. Fragile was recorded at Gardyne Studios and mastered at Abbey Road London with Andy Walter, and that craft shows in every layer. It’s not your typical pop song. It’s richer and stranger than that, which is precisely what makes it memorable. And having grown up in the North East of Scotland, I can tell you this isn’t typical of most musical output in the region.
Marley Davidson’s background is extraordinary. She’s recently been touring with The Korgis (of “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” fame), co-wrote a track for their new album, and has previously supported Justin Hawkins, Blossoms, and Russ Ballard. Her debut single reached the top ten of the worldwide heritage charts. She describes her music as “not for people with the attention span of a steakbake,” which is both accurate and the best bio line we’ve read this year. More of this please, Marley.
LaNyna – You Drive Me Crayze
LaNyna makes brilliant bedroom pop with a real story behind it, written in the hardest of circumstances and it shows in the best way.
You Drive Me Crayze is a bright, danceable pop track from LaNyna, a Cuban-Spanish singer based in Aalborg, Denmark. The song is upbeat and catchy in the way that only songs written from a deeply personal place can be. There’s something genuine underneath the groove that you can feel even if you don’t know the backstory.
And the backstory is one worth knowing. LaNyna started recording in 2022 after transforming her living room into a home studio. She was going through one of the hardest periods of her life. Her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and music was the one thing that brought her any happiness. “The only things in that moment make me happy was to start creating my own music,” she says. That kind of honesty in an origin story has a way of coming through in the music itself.
Harry P – Hey Mr DJ
Harry P delivers a proper love letter to the dancefloor and the people who run it, pure good vibes energy.
Hey Mr DJ is exactly what it sounds like: a celebration of music, of DJs, of the transformative power of the right track played at the right moment. Harry P is a Hastings-based electronic artist and working DJ who understands intimately what it takes to move a room, and that knowledge is baked into every second of this production. Born from the constant requests he receives to play people’s favourite songs, the track is essentially a love letter to the relationship between artist and listener.
The production is interesting. Harry worked with Dan Radcliffe to blend AI-generated vocals with sample beats, synthesised music, and layered bass sampling. Inspired by trance and electronic pioneers like Armin Van Buuren, Sash, and Faithless, Harry has been quietly developing a signature sound in his home studio that’s built specifically around those moments when the music, atmosphere, and lighting all align perfectly. This one’s a real heater, and we love it.