While every publication and music nerd is crafting their Best on 2022 list, we’re keeping our eye towards the future, tracking of all the great new music being released by artists here in Jacksonville, even as everyone else is looking back on the year that was. The last few months of the year is often a pretty quiet time for new music, but these three local artists are keeping the flame alive, from dreamy shoegaze to moody goth rock to shimmering bedroom pop, there’s a little bit of everything here for this month’s roundup. 

Lost Club “Apathy”

Recalling the early 2010s glory days of chillwave, Lost Club’s dreamy, sun-bleached new single is a romantic, new wave influenced bit of bedroom pop. The track is the latest in a string of one-off singles released this year, which follow his solid 2021 EP “Saudade.” A steady drum machine beat provides a backdrop to a wall of shimmering guitars, as songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Garcia adopts the mindset of a character whose walled himself off from all emotion. He explains that the song is “a rumination on the results of Western culture’s insistence on the denigration of emotions… The song details the apathetic mindset, where emotions are void and discarded.” The song’s blissful, pleading chorus finds the character attempting to break free of these constrains, as we swoon along with him. @lostclubband

Batavia “Ann D Us”

Local goth/industrial duo Batavia’s new single somehow manages to be both dreamy and mournful, two of the guiding emotions in the goth handbook. Built around a stellar, emotive performance from vocalist Terri Cripps, we bet this self-described “smoky, 60s R&B” influenced track would fit right in as background music at Twin Peaks’ Roadhouse. The track’s lush instrumentation, full of shoegazey guitars, programmed beats, and synth textures is a perfect canvas for Cripps’ dynamic performance. Check their Bandcamp for a bonus “Fancy Mix” remix of the song, which has a more propulsive, synthwave feel, conjuring a whole different set of emotions while retaining key elements of the original version. batavia.bandcamp.com // @officialbatavia

Leaving Time “Head Down”

Released as a part of a three-way split with Texas’ Glare and All Under Heaven from New Jersey, local alt rockers Leaving Time’s latest single “Head Down” is a killer bit of heavy shoegaze, with guitars reminiscent of everyone from old school icons like Sonic Youth and Swervedriver to modern acts like Nothing and Cloakroom. We’re loving the thunderous drums and haunted vocal performance from lead singer Reed Cothren, whose pensive songwriting helps the band stand out in an increasingly crowded landscape. The track is a meditation on solitude, with a reflective, austere chorus where Cothren, drenched in reverb, croons “Daydream/Sleeping/Only/Thinking,” capturing the sort of minimalist melancholy that makes it feel like an instant classic in the genre.  leavingtime.bandcamp.com // @leavingtimeband