FIFTY3FRIDAYS: MUSIC TO YOUR EARS

I combine writing this weekly tome with listening to the week’s music submissions to Fresh On The Net, the independent music blog founded by Tom Robinson and now helmed by Del Osei-Owusu. I am one of a small team of moderators who nominate our favourite entries from all those submitted that week, resulting in a Listening Post totalling 25 tracks. Readers then lend their own ears and vote for their five favourite tracks. The 10 tunes receiving the most votes become the week’s Fresh Faves.

Fifty3Fridays highlights songs I have come across or been sent, often including FOTN entries that particularly caught my ear. Last week was the first after the Easter break, resulting in a bumper Inbox of almost 200 songs. It was a strong week and so there were many songs that didn’t make the Listening Post but still deserve their place in the sun. To shine light on a selection of them, we have another feature, Alt Picks, which is a kind of companion piece to Fresh Faves.

My first Alt Pick from the latest batch of FOTN entries is from young singer-songwriter Bella Cutts. Now settled in Devon, Bella enjoyed an itinerant childhood living across the world, born in Switzerland and growing up in countries as diverse as Sudan, Myanmar and Türkiye. Travel and experience of different cultures have helped shape her identity as a songwriter and seem to have given her an inner assurance. Bella set out to write a song about reconnecting with who she is and showing the confidence to stay true to that person. That song became her debut single.

“Run Like a Child” is a song about reconnecting with the freedom of childhood, inspired by watching family videos over Christmas which were actually new to Bella and her brothers. Bella brings a certain worldly wisdom to her writing that belies her years, as she explores the contradiction between confidence and self-consciousness. The song is beautifully paced; her words are weighty and are sung with clarity, a soulful edge and quiet emotion. Bella's command of the high register is impressive and this is as good a debut single as I've heard in some time.

My second Alt Pick is courtesy of London’s Grice Peters aka GRICE, accurately described as an art rock musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer; a man of many talents. A veteran of six albums to date, GRICE has chalked up some notable collaborations over this time including with his long-standing friend and mentor Richard Barbieri (Japan, Porcupine Tree), whose ‘solar sonics’ can be heard on the track below. Along the way, GRICE has picked up a number of awards carving a merited niche in progressive art-rock circles.

“Love Me Out” is from the new album, Filter, due out on 29 May. GRICE explains that its inspiration comes from the 'overview effect' – the view of the Earth experienced from space which highlights the fragility of our life-preserving atmosphere, diminishes senseless human conflict and reaffirms that we are all connected - realisations re-ignited by the recent Artemis II mission. It is easy just to lose yourself in all the spacey loveliness of this song but underlying it is something really profound and humbling; the struggle of simply being set against the greater cosmos. Prog fans will be delighted to hear a mellotron in the suite of instrumentation too.

“Love Me Out” is the second single from the new album. As a bonus track, I would also like to draw your ears to the first cut from it which GRICE shared in March. “Judgement Day” shows a different sonic aspect to the artist, chiselling more of a classic rock track while evoking the Doomsday Clock to signal a time to hold to account those who create conflict, disrupt and devalue human life. Great guitar work and, to add to it, more mellotron in the mix!

Next to Fifty3Fridays regulars [The] Music of Sound who clearly have a liking for an erudite song title. After the South London trio treated us to its last single, “Tyche” which took its title from the Greek Goddess of chance and uncertainty, the band has followed it with “Paradigm.” The track follows quite neatly on from the themes explored by GRICE in “Judgement Day.” The band is keen to challenge all forms of prejudice and hate and in particular the notion that such extremes have become assimilated into what might be considered the prevalent public view.

“Paradigm” is delivered with customary grace and flow with Elena Trent’s flute adding soothing textures over piano figures and a relaxed beat while the vocal harmonies add a focal point to the song’s title. Vocalist Sherin brings her dream-like intonations to bear, caressing keyboardist Neil March’s words; the effect seeks an antidote to the noise and hate around us. Love becomes a weapon to fight back against the paradigm that seems to have taken hold in society. That artists like [The] Music of Sound are prepared to call out these wrongs is a positive step away from the abyss.

Photo of Chris Murphy/Seven Crows by Edith Held

Introducing a new name now to these columns in the shape of Los Angeles-based violinist, composer and looping artist Chris Murphy aka Seven Crows. Chris released his second instrumental album, Powers of Observation, last month intermixing ambient, post-rock and experimental soundscapes. Given the range of sounds he conjures, the surprising thing is that the 14-track collection is built entirely from the dynamic voice of the electric violin, aided by effects pedals.

From the album, “Boreal” rises from a slow-build opening as deep, drawn-out tones are sketched out, joined by softly plucked strings which give way to spiralling high notes. The piece grows into almost a piper’s lament, rising from layers of violin loops and underpinned by drones. Everything is exquisitely paced, reaching a high peak and falling back to eventual stillness in an ebbing coda. The track is beautifully immersive in how it draws you in, soundtracking the natural world. It serves as a great introduction to the full album and, indeed, to the quiet wizardry of Seven Crows.

FIFTY3 FRIDAYS SPOTIFY PLAYLIST APRIL 2026

On the first Friday of each month, I publish a Playlist on Spotify which reprises all the songs included in this column over the previous month – all in order, should you wish to check. If you were wretchedly unaware of this monthly discipline, “you should know this by now”, as my old Russian teacher used to say about our grasp of vocabulary in the sixth form.

Our Fifty3 Fridays Spotify Playlist April 2026 includes all 21 songs from the month’s Fifty3 Fridays beginning with the EDM-flavoured “Missing Piece” by City Limits aka Alex Hall and concluding with the classic “Hole In My Shoe” from Traffic to commemorate the sad passing of Dave Mason.

If you are ever feel you've arrived at an aural cul-de-sac, you’ll find 77 of these Playlists on my Spotify page so please follow me @TonyHardy53, make a brew and give the latest one a spin.