Diary captured our hearts at Focus Wales in 2025 so we are excited that these New Yorkers have announced details of their debut LP, Spiral Bound, due out

That's right, it's Focus Wales time. From this Thursday (Wednesday if you're lucky) the best bands and artists you may not have heard of (but we'll do our

For the latest New Music Monthly podcast, Bill Cummings and Jim Auton talk about their favourite new music. Also, what they are working on right now, what

There must have been some sort of arrangement made at a crossroads somewhere and several years ago at that, because FOCUS Wales once again bathed under

For the latest New Music Monthly podcast, Bill Cummings and Jim Auton talk about their favourite new music. Also, what they are working on right now, what

Rising Brooklyn-based indie outfit Diary — Kevin Bendis (vocals, keys), Chris Croarkin (guitar, vocals), High Waisted‘s Jessica Louise Dye (guitar, vocals), Two Man Giant Squid‘s Yan Kogan (bass) and Adam Sachs (drums) — can trace their origins to a shared love of jangle-pop, shoegaze, dream pop and psychedelia.  Last year, the Brooklyn-based outfit released the Speedboat EP, an effort loosely inspired by Renata Adler's novel of the same name that as the band explained is "about living in New York City and the neuroses that come with it." They continue, “We’ve always been an NYC band but never fully explored what that meant to us. Living here and playing music here there’s a ceaseless oscillation between anxiety and anticipation. Even as you sleep and dream about the buildings and the hum of the street." Sonically, the EP's material was inspired by Sister-era Sonic Youth, early Dinosaur Jr, Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Methadrone, Swirlies and Drop Nineteens. “But at the end of the day, we just love big pop songs that run super loud and fuzzy.” "Stevie" is the first bit of new material since last year's Speedboat EP. The new single is a nostalgia-inducing bit of jangle pop that recalls The Smiths and the like, while anchored around deeply introspective and seemingly lived-in lyrics, Bendis' yearning delivery and the band's penchant for razor sharp hooks. "Lyrically, the song drifts through the strange intimacy that can grow through the algorithms—how a face, a stack of books, or a record sleeve glimpsed online can spiral into a fantasy," the band explains. "It's about longing for someone you don’t know and the sweet ache of wanting to believe in a constructed connection." Directed by Jane Burns, the accompanying video, which is shot on film, features the band in at a large estate/mansion goofing off and performing the song in the woods and gardens.

Brooklyn-based quintet Diary -- longtime friends and co-founders Kevin Bendis (vocals) and Chris Croarkin (guitar), along with Adam Sachs (drums), High Waisted's Jessica Dye (vocals, guitar), and Two Man Giant Squid's Yan Kogan (bass) -- have released two critically applauded EPs, 2024's Speedboat and 2022's The Cutting Garden and a list of singles, which they've supported with touring on both sides of the pond. The local outfit's highly-anticipated full-length debut, Spiral Bound is slated for a September 4, 2026 release through their longtime label home, Kanine Records. The album's overall sound sees the quintet incorporating elements of jangle pop, psychedelia, dream pop and Brit Pop to firmly establish a hook and groove-driven, genre-defying sound. Spiral Bound's first single, the Ben Hozie-produced "Keep Comin' Up" draws from Happy Mondays-era Madchester scene, late 80s and early 90s shoegaze and 60s psych rock, while showcasing the band's unerring knack for mind-bending, euphoric grooves and catchy hooks. Directed by Sam Blieden, the accompanying video for "Keep Comin' Up" draws from the 1960s art scene -- and in particular, nods to Andy Warhol's Silver Factory and footage of The Velvet Underground. It captures a scene of folks, who are simply put, cooler and more interesting than you are.