Standout Songs 

• @cadeinthepit
• Grace and Silence

Grace and Silence, "Revelation": "'Revelation' is a big standout for me personally. Although it never has been one of our more listened-to songs, the process of creating that song has always stuck out to me. That song is about faith, religion and struggles within my family, and getting that out of my mind and onto the paper was a really important experience for me. Plus, writing the parts for it and recording it as a group was a whole bunch of fun, we took a lot of inspiration from bands like Lamb Of God and Slipknot."
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Lisa and the Missing Pieces, "Open Your Heart" "Requiem" "Again": "When you ask one band with several members one question you get different answers! We all resonate with the title cut, 'Open Your Heart,' as it asks point blank if we can find a way to connect to each other, even when it seems impossible or too late. There was also a vote for 'Requiem,' as this song has a universal theme of heartbreak—the kind that occurs when one partner is operating independently of the other, greatly affecting the other and not plugging into the damage being done. This vote was for how the dynamics and the lyrics support each other to create what we hope is an emotional moment when the song culminates with the hurting partner pleading to be heard and understood. Here again, there are ways this can reflect what we are living through—hurting each other and not being able to see the how and why of it. The last vote was for 'Again.' I wrote this during the pandemic as an anthem to the sturdiness we all possess—even when we don't think we do. This song feels even more relevant today as it takes a journey from laying in bed, so sad and afraid of the world and how hard it is sometimes to get up and move forward—to doing it anyway and recognizing that the human spirit—regardless of circumstance—is Teflon, incredibly resilient and ultimately ineffable. No matter what we think, we can always find a way to pick ourselves up and try again. We want our music to inspire hope, connection and belief in self and others so it can feel more possible to see the good that absolutely exists."
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Cannibal Queen, "Lonely": '"Lonely,' because it's the first song I wrote as Cannibal Queen. A few years ago, while my old band was gabbing in the kitchen, I found myself sitting in the dark, slowly putting the song together while I heard the sounds of laughter from the other room. Not only was I lonely from my own friendships, but I was deeply enamored [with] someone I would never have. I was able to muster up all this lonely emotion into my first ever animated music video! And that music video is really what I'm the most proud of. It's all hand drawn completely by me."
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Acacia Ridge, "Negative Space": "The song that probably stands out the most for us is 'Negative Space' feat. Cera Gibson. That song came together at the end of the three-year-long development of our second album. We had spent those three years figuring out how we wanted to present our own style, our own voice and our own creative direction. 'Negative Space' is the culmination of all that time and effort. To us, that song represents the first time we felt we had truly achieved the sound we had always been searching for."
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Lucy, "Saint Olga of Kiev and the Drevlian Uprising": "While we each have our own personal favorites, I think our song 'Saint Olga of Kiev and the Drevlian Uprising' sticks out the most. It's a far cry from our other songs, and even calling it a song feels unjust. With a runtime of 17.14 minutes and an amalgamation of samples, we haven't ever been able to play it live. You could almost describe it as an audiobook without any dialogue. It was incredibly fun to make, and even though it's so different from our other songs, it 100% fits our sound."
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The Last Wild Buffalo, "Breakfast in Bed": "One song that stands out to us the most is our song 'Breakfast in Bed' off of our EP Sincerely. It captures a different feeling than any of our other songs. The song has a softer guitar lick and banjo line, as opposed to most of our other stomp-n'-holler rowdy songs. It is our first song that has Ella, our fiddle player, singing. Her voice sounds angelic as her and Isaac trade verses and combine for a beautiful harmony in the chorus. The lyrics sharply change between lighthearted and profound, creating a thought-provoking contrast. We love it a lot and hope you do as well!"
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GLOSSA, "Acacia," "Long Pig": "Every song has its own weight, but if I had to pick the most defining track for GLOSSA, it'd be 'Acacia'—though I gotta throw 'Long Pig' in there too, just because. 'Acacia' kicks off the album and sets the tone for everything that follows. Death Is Not the End is a deep dive into struggle, grief, and loss, and you can feel all of that bleeding through in 'Acacia.' The way it builds—starting with that haunting, slow-burn tension before it explosively unravels after the mid-section—mirrors the emotional weight of the entire album. It's that moment where you realize you're being pulled into something heavy, something that demands to be felt."
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