Birmingham-based Matt Ryder has used his latest track, ‘Soundless Emotion’ to explore the mental health struggles of he and his friends. “A lot of my friends were beginning to feel the full effect of drugs creeping into their life and they could no longer cope without them. Everyone was turning away from innocence and childhood freedom to surrender to mature and toxic thoughts,” he explains. He handles a tough subject with poise and care, allowing lo-fi beats and reverb-soaked guitars to reflect his lyrics, and a nuanced vocal performance to drop catchy melodies non-stop. At the same time, there is a subtle experimentalism that will carry forward into his upcoming EP. -Dan Peeke