UKNY for August 9

Full confession — tonight's "UKNY" at 7 p.m. was prerecorded when I was isolated at home in a feverish Covid fog — but if music can heal, that's definitely true of Scottish singer Brooke Combe. Her two most recent singles, including "Tears Won't Lie," are soul-splashed sunlight, even if steeped in romantic melancholy (and I'll get to another one of her rousing new songs later this month).

Family Stereo's Blake Watt definitely carries some mighty music-angled DNA — his parents are Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl. Blake's strong new folk-rock album The Thread, which took close to a year to record, leans into a pensive beauty, not unlike a couple of his other influences, Adrianne Lenker and Elliott Smith.

Seoul's rowdy Sailor Honeymoon enchanted me back 2024 with their caustic, funny single "Cockroach," and now the trio is on the brink of releasing their debut album, The Worst of Sailor Honeymoon this Friday, 8/14, a fun-fest of biting, pulverizing punk.

Additionally in tonight's mix, more from London's mary in the junkyard, who've released their debut album, Role Model Hermit, and the title track of Scrimshire's Bring Our Light to Every Corner, plus lovely songs from Fenne Lily, Anaiis, and Georgia Ruyi, who is part of Sunderland's Young Musicians Project.

That's "UKNY," Sundays 7-8 p.m., on 90.7FM, streaming online, and in the Archives after broadcast.