Home studios are usually where ambition goes to be politely lowered. Bedroom producers tend to emerge with a few sketches, a fondness for reverb and an apology. Claire Hadidjenar and Matthew Walker, who record as Apple Eyes from a corner of London, have used theirs to make a finished record. "Be" is a single of such assured, glittering pop craftsmanship that its homespun origins feel like a conjuring trick.

There is a particular kind of comeback that announces itself with a press conference, a countdown clock and a tearful interview. Then there is Dia The Libra's, which slips in wearing sunglasses, mutters something about chaos, and proceeds to rearrange the furniture. "INTRODUCTION" is the first single from her forthcoming album *maybe i've always been more comfortable in chaos*, and it is the rare opening gambit that makes you want to see the rest of the hand.

Debut albums usually arrive with a manifesto under one arm. *Cinder of a Fading Dream* arrives with a box of charred keepsakes. Chosen Undead, five musicians from Hainburg who only became a band in 2024, have built their first record from the wreckage of an earlier project and an album that never got to exist. They sifted the ashes, kept what still glowed, and bolted it to new material. The result is gloriously, unapologetically heavy, and more emotionally literate than the genre usually bothers to be.