There is no doubt about the following. We live in gothic times, where the most surreal of universes seems to have replaced reality. With everything around us in a state of complete fragmentation, we must portray these ills in an appropriate manner. We live in a fantastical, enchanted, marvellous, sick, rotten world.

The Canadian singer Ora Cogan has been writing songs for a long time (her first album dates back to 2004), but it is our own fault that we have only recently taken notice of her voice. The excellent ‘Formless’, from 2023, is a lovely introduction to the artist’s discography, a necessary step towards finding a new home for her work at the renowned Sacred Bones label. And the result of this partnership is a beautiful, ghostly record entitled ‘Hard Hearted Women’.

Country tinged with gothic, a complete homage to the early days of the Cocteau Twins and the dazzling works of Weyes Blood, Ora’s voice soars (and reveals itself) amidst gliding guitars and chimerical wails that echo the macabre great plains of southern goth. In these gothic times, perhaps this is the kind of musician that we – and the world – need.

MR

Mt. Roshi’s sound is deliberately versatile: it draws on alternative rock, but spans genres ranging from post-hardcore to shoegaze, from emo to indie pop and psychedelic.

In 2024, they released their debut album ‘Não Vá o Diabo Apetecê-las’, the result of a collective creative process that oscillates between weariness and euphoria, with influences from hip-hop, indie rock, punk and jazz. The album was critically acclaimed, and the single ‘Advogados do Diabo’ was included on the compilation ‘Novos Talentos Fnac 2024’.

At the end of 2027, they will release their second studio album, ‘Boca a Boca’, an album that seeks to ‘revive and breathe new life into others’, and in which each track is filled with the contradictions and uncertainties of everyday life.