The best singles of the month

Sparks – “JanSport Backpack”

Just a few months after the release of their twenty-sixth studio album, Sparks strike again with “JanSport Backpack”, the second single from “MAD!”, due out May 23rd on the newly founded Transgressive Records. The track follows the duo's unmistakable aesthetic: a perfect blend of irony, melodic sophistication and bittersweet pop attitude, this time inspired by a love adrift, symbolized by a JanSport backpack now reduced to a melancholy sentimental keepsake.

Mumford & Sons – “Malibu”

Mumford & Sons share the second single, titled “Malibu”, taken from their upcoming fifth album, “Rushmere”. The record will be released on March 28th and will be available on physical formats including standard CD and LP, an Amazon-exclusive LP, an EGEA-exclusive LP, and an LP/CD Zine exclusive to the Universal Music Italy store. Marcus Mumford on the new single: “Malibu was the first song we wrote when we got back together in Los Angeles in January 2023. The song reflected us straight away, and the recording process with Dave [Cobb] captured it on record in a way that made us feel it had to become the album opener. We love it”.

King Hannah – “Leftovers”

Ahead of their US tour (which will then continue in Europe), King Hannah share a new song. It's called “Leftovers”, one of the tracks recorded for the album “Big Swimmer” that didn't make the final tracklist and now sees the light of day after Hannah Merrick and Craig White's band reworked the lyrics.

It's a track in which Hannah modulates her inimitable voice into a kind of spoken word, while Craig's guitars weave phrasings that grow increasingly acidic and psychedelic, true to the trademark of the Liverpool-based duo. All of it topped off (quite literally, given the visuals) with a video showing Hannah as a young housewife.

Swans – “I Am A Tower”

The new Swans album, “Birthing” (preorder here), is on its way, set for release on May 30th, 2025 via Mute on triple vinyl, double CD and digital format. The first pressings of the triple vinyl and CD editions will come with a bonus DVD featuring “Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar”, a film directed by Marco Porsia documenting a live show from the Swans' latest US tour, along with Christopher Nicholson's documentary about Michael Gira's 2022 solo tour, titled “I Wonder If I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me To Sing”.

Previewing the album is the new track from Michael Gira and co., titled “I Am A Tower”. “The material on this album was largely developed over the course of an annual Swans tour, between 2023 and 2024, and was then recorded and further orchestrated and reworked in the studio – explains Gira in a post on his social media – Two songs were created and performed directly in the studio. In every case, the music began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what these songs would become. I'm lucky to have an extraordinary group of musicians to work with live. Through improvisation, endless revisions and intense focus in performance (not to mention physical endurance), over time the music turned into what you can hear on this collection”.

Listen below to the first track from the album, “I Am A Tower”.

Skunk Anansie – “Cheers”

The Skunk Anansie have announced their new album, “The Painful Truth”, the seventh studio work by the British rock band and their first in nine years. It will be released on May 23 via FLG and will also include the recent single “An Artist Is An Artist”. Skunk Anansie will also be in Italy for numerous dates, with the first – on March 7 at the Alcatraz in Milan – already sold out for months. To celebrate the release, the band will play a very special show on the day the album comes out, just outside Bristol. Skunk Anansie have also released the second track lifted from “The Painful Truth”, the new single “Cheers”.

A surprise comeback release from Bryan Ferry. The former Roxy Music frontman has announced a new album made with British performer, writer and painter Amelia Barratt. The record, titled “Loose Talk”, will be released on March 28 through the label of the 79-year-old English musician, Dene Jesmond.

Trailing the album is the single “Orchestra”, released alongside a video directed and shot by Ferry himself (watch it below).

Fontaines Dc – “It’s Amazing To Be Young”

The Fontaines Dc have released their new single, “It’s Amazing To Be Young”. Produced by James Ford, who also helmed their latest album “Romance” (2024), the track is set to be the soundtrack to a huge year of touring for the Irish band. The single comes with a video directed by Luna Carmoon (“Hoard”, “Shagbands”), already a Bafta winner and director of the clips for “Here’s The Thing” and “In The Modern World”. “It’s Amazing To Be Young” completes the cinematic trilogy, reuniting Martin from “In The Modern World” (Ewan Mitchell) and Spider from “Here’s The Thing” (Grace Collender) in a gloriously surreal love story.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

17/04/2026

Share on

This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Mattia Fumarola, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition