Indie folk bops of the week, it’s the kind of music that’s going to get the heart pumping and emotions flowing. So let’s dive in ✨
Nemesis Uncle – The Sword
Nemesis Uncle makes “The Sword” a superb piece of alt-folk: shadowy, spaghetti-western strange, and impossible to forget.
“The Sword” follows a disillusioned pilgrim through a landscape built from acoustic dark matter: sparse, deliberately unhurried, all negative space and creeping atmosphere. It sits somewhere between Delta Blues and a 1960s Ennio Morricone score, and the tension between those two poles is exactly where the track lives. Definitely not the typical tune we get over here at BOPS, but all the better for it. It’s one of the most-streamed songs on the album “Songs Of Judas”, and has a brooding beauty that’s hard to resist.
Darren Purvis records and produces everything solo from a studio bunker in the Forest of Dean, and before this project he was fronting Germinal, a Welsh alt-rock band whose album “From Hibernation” built a real following. The move to Nemesis Uncle is a complete reset: existential literature, and experimental folk colliding in a way that owes nothing to current trends. Whatever button was pressed, the result is genuinely stunning and we’re eager to hear more. A great single.
Mark Andrew Hansen – You Come to Me
Mark Andrew Hansen’s “You Come to Me” is a stunning orchestral folk ballad, one of the most emotionally complete singles you’ll hear this year.
“You Come to Me” was recorded in a single sitting: lead vocals and acoustic guitar captured in one take at 10:30pm, orchestral arrangements finished by 3:30am. That’s far better than my work rate, but the compressed timeline has built something very special here. The song begins with just Hansen’s voice over guitar, then opens outward through a full orchestra, a harp solo cutting through the centre at a point where most pop productions would reach for a key change. The build is huge, emotions running high and the cinematic feel takes the track to a really compelling place.
Hansen is a Sydney-based pianist and composer whose instrumental piano music has accumulated over 100 million streams across Spotify and YouTube, earning awards in both Australia and the United States and appearing in advertising campaigns across Europe and the UK. He plays keyboard, guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, violin and cajon, and draws his songwriting instincts from Chopin through to Elton John and James Taylor. “You Come to Me,” written about a lost creative partner who appeared in a dream, is a genuinely stunning moment and you should definitely check it out below.
Devan – Wyatt Earp
Devan’s “Wyatt Earp” is a brilliant debut: wonderfully raw Americana with a voice that earns every comparison thrown at it.
“Wyatt Earp” arrives as the lead single from Devan’s debut EP, written in collaboration with Patchwork Music, an award-winning songwriting team he teamed up with in August 2025. It messes literally no time in getting into a pretty hefty country rock groove, and carries the weight of a first proper statement of intent. Vocally is clearly where Devan shines, but when his abilities are wrapped around such a well-written, well-produced banger, things genuinely get exciting.
Devan grew up third-generation on farmland in March, Cambridgeshire, singing country folk songs with his grandfather, a shepherd well-known in the local community. That upbringing runs visibly through his songwriting, which focuses on his grandfather’s life, leaving home, and growing up in the countryside. ‘Wyatt Earp” is his first released song, and as well as introducing a genuinely distinctive voice in UK Americana, it absolutely rocks. Exciting stuff.
seeTrees – Easy Times
seeTrees’ “Easy Times” is a gorgeous piece of West Coast Americana: warm, unhurried, and one of the most satisfying listens on any folk-rock playlist this month.
“Easy Times” sits happily in the lineage of Tom Petty and Wilco: mid-tempo, melodic, built on the kind of chord progressions that feels lovely and familiar. These lads are definitely in their own lane though; musically this one’s a genuinely beautiful track, with the kind of chorus that sort of tumbles in without fanfare, but grabs your heart al the same. Analogue synthesisers fill out the texture alongside the guitars without crowding them, and even before the lovely piano-led outro, these guys have definitely got themselves a new fan. Minus points for the fade out, because fade outs are awful, but aside from that – it’s a real stunner.
seeTrees formed in 2024 when Drew Lawrence, formerly of Americana band The Dales, connected with Los Angeles-based drummer and producer Luke Adams. The duo played 50 West Coast shows in 2025, running from San Diego to Seattle, occasionally opening for The White Buffalo. “Easy Times” is the lead single from their second album, and we can’t wait for it. Essential stuff.
Jason Lenyer Buchanan – Gus Gus
Jason Lenyer Buchanan’s “Gus Gus” is a stunning piece of piano-forward Americana: an ensemble performance of real warmth and quality
“Gus Gus” was recorded at Dead Aunt Thelma’s in Portland with engineer Andy Jones, and brings back the full band from Buchanan’s previous EP: Scott Mulvahill on upright bass, Nate Leath on fiddle, and Jacob Schrodt on drums. It’s a cast that builds something genuinely compelling here, with a whole lot of craft, a touch of knowing humour, not to mention some beautiful performances. The standout is the unlikely narrative here though, and the ‘mouse searching for some cheese‘ lyric puts this single firmly into banger territory.
Buchanan is a Portland-based singer-songwriter, originally from Cheyenne, with a baritone rooted in Texas country and songwriting that pulls from the wide-open Midwest. His previous EP, Under a Thumbnail Moon, established the ensemble he works with, and “Gus Gus” is his first release since leaving Cheyenne. In 2026 he was selected as an Easyfolk Featured Artist, recognition that reflects the growing audience for the kind of unhurried, ensemble-driven Americana he makes. A brilliant single, and we can’t wait for the album.