The Northern Hemisphere has just plunged into Autumn, and summer 2021 is just a memory. He had 26° (79°F) yesterday afternoon and... 9° (48°F) this morning, here in Western Europe! I love this period of the year. Not only because I live in a very touristy area and that we finally regain full possession of our beaches, but also because the landscapes change and are adorned with a thousand colors.

Colorful. This is how we could qualify today's selection. More and more artists are choosing to release their songs on a Thursday, some because they don't want to be drowned in the crowd on Friday and want to pique the curiosity of Spotify's algorithm.

So we thought it would be a great idea to create this new column, called Thursday Releases, to give those artists a chance to stand out!

Whatever the reason, I think that choice should be up to the artists and they are right in not wanting to blend in with conformity. This is also the subject of our first feature of the day, by the incredible Dom Malin.

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Dom Malin - Wake Up

Here is one of the most promising and professional artists that we have met in recent years. Dom Malin always surprises. He had moved us to tears with his previous single "Yesterday's Love", which had a wonderful music video, and here he is back today with a completely different, but just as effective, new single, "Wake Up".

The writing theme has nothing to do with it anymore, we are now in much more pop and danceable atmosphere, and the message is much more direct. The pandemic has been an accelerator for many people. It allowed us to connect with people we didn't know and get out of our shackles. But social networks, for example, are still the same. Our screen time has increased, but the sacredness of popularity is still going strong. People are now desperate to be seen. But would they be happy about all that? The world has changed, and if you still haven't noticed it, it's time to open your eyes, as Dom invites you to do in this new banger:

"This song came to exist from the realization that we can lose ourselves to the pressures of society, and shape which we are based on conformity. Wake Up is about that feeling of being trapped in the repetition of life but subconsciously knowing that if we could break this loop we could reach our potential and achieve our dreams."

And Dom's message is delivered effectively: "Wake up there sugar you're in the real world, it's time to realize it ain’t all, diamonds and pearls" is definitely my favorite line. With his careful writing always on top, and an indisputable sense of rhythm, Dom Malin still treats us, and each new single is a gift. Hey, Christmas is coming earlier this year!

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Luna Keller - Shadows On My Wall

Chance of the calendar, a friend of Dom Malin also chose a Thursday for her comeback. 

The last time you saw Luna Keller as a featured artist on IMC was April 1, her birthday, for the release of "High Low High Low". Suffice to say that the wait is generally quite long between two solo releases because the artist works generously with other singer-songwriters for excellent collabs (with Dominic Romano, for example). Also, because she writes from time to time for us in the "Artist Pick" and "You Should Really Know These Songs" columns. Also because she runs a wonderful podcast called "Why Doesn't Everyone Know Theses Songs" that we're happy to host both on the radio and the podcasts section. And also because she streams on Twitch regularly for more than 5 hours. Not to mention that she saved our radio station by organizing an incredible raid train on Twitch with awesome artists.

In short, you will understand that Luna Keller is an artist who manages to work 40 hours a day and I am still waiting for her to tell me her secret. And yet, she still manages to blow our minds, with a new single being released today "Shadows On My Wall". Perhaps her most introspective and intimate song yet.

And the good news with Luna is that she never does things by halves. She does them fully, or she doesn't. And "Shadows On My Wall" is a deep and intimate introspective journey that amazed us from the first to the last second. And it's just called... authenticity.

If you have doubts, don't always know what to do, and get lost in your thoughts for hours on end, you are bound to recognize yourself in this song. Luna was bullied at school, just like I was, and sometimes those shadows pop up on the walls in difficult times. My favorite line is probably "They are ghosts I create", because it is true that most of the obstacles that we encounter are often those that we create for ourselves.

Luna finally reveals what also makes the life of an artist, with the objective of always appearing smiling even when things are not going well. Always with flawless poetry and elegance, our young 20-year-old artist, freshly installed in Germany, has set the bar very high for this new solo single, which is, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful song of her whole career. Luna is growing up, and I'm proud of what she's slowly becoming. Just hoping she's proud of herself too, cause she can.

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That's all for today folks, we'll have the pleasure to meet again tomorrow for even more stunning releases. And I can even tell you that Thursday Releases will be back next Thursday!

In the meantime, we added these gems to our "Fresh Indie" Spotify playlist, make sure you follow this playlist below to discover incredible new music every day.

Written by Niko.

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