Ethel Cain dreams of her lover on country-flavoured ballad Nettles

There’s loads of music out there, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up.

Rather than letting the algorithm dictate your music taste, you can listen to Rated by THE FACE – a playlist that’s lovingly curated and updated by our (human) editorial team every week.

George Riley – Forever

Following her features with Sherelle and HiTech, George Riley has dropped her first single as a lead artist – and once again, there are sexy summertime vibes aplenty. It’s also the West London singer’s first collab with Mura Masa, which is arguably a rite of passage for alternative UK pop stars. ​“Forever, forever /​I think I wanna make you mine,” George sings over a sugary dancepop beat, leaning on top of a car cruising at sunset in the Jamaica-shot music video. Bliss. JW

Frost Children – Control

Back in 2023, Frost Children pulled off one hell of a trick: releasing two albums with radically different sounds. While Speed Run was packed with restless hyperpop tracks, it’s follow-up Hearth Room was a breezier indie rock record, and the NYC-based sibling duo managed to perform material from both by splitting their live shows in two halves. For forthcoming album Sister, they’re back in their electronic bag, and lead single Control features bombastic synth drops that could make Skrillex blush. It’s dance music for the moshpit. DR

Feng – Bristol

I’d assumed that the title of Feng’s new tune has something to do with all the Skins nostalgia, since the hyped underground rapper dresses as though he’s spent a Cabot Circus voucher at American Apparel and Urban Outfitters in 2008 (in fact, he was born just two years earlier). But although the beat contains fizzy electrohouse synths, on Bristol, Feng’s chat up lines reference a later era. ​“To me, your Palace and Supreme /​On your body, so 2016,” he raps in his trademark deadpan. To complicate matters, he’s wearing a London Calling T‑shirt in the video. DR

Lauren Duffus – Super

Lauren Duffus has just dropped a six track EP called Can’s Gone Warm, which is a fitting title, considering that so much of it sounds like the wee hours of Sunday morning when you get the feeling you’ve overstayed at the party but your legs are too heavy to carry you home. OnSuper, the London musician’s breathy R&B vocals drift down onto a skittering and glitching baseline as she croons into a mic that sucks her voice into a vacuum, before echoing it back out again. TL

Ethel Cain – Nettles

Back in January, Hayden Anhedönia gave us Perverts, a challenging Ethel Cain EP featuring unsettling soundscapes and eerie ambient tracks. Her unhurried, country-flavoured single Nettles indicates that forthcoming album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You might be a more easygoing affair – well, sonically, at least. For this eight minute ballad, Anhedönia revisits the Ethel Cain character in her younger years, when she’s disturbed dreams of losing her lover Willoughby. It’s dark, it’s tender and it’s intensely romantic. Brace yourself for the album. DR