OFF THE MAINSTREAM: Obscure’s October Selection

Our first Obscure Agency selection has no conventional sound. There is a Tolkien reinterpretation here, a pop song with a petty streak, and an apocalypse you can dance through in less than thirteen minutes. Some of these artists have spent years on the road. Others are only a few singles into figuring out what they want to say. We chose them for the decisions that make their projects interesting: a strange title, an unexpected reference, a willingness to leave something a little untidy.

Magnet Brain

Last year, Obscure Agency’s inaugural Best Emerging Artist special award went to Magnet Brain at the Berlin Music Video Awards. Her “Soul Mantra” also won the festival’s Best Song category, but the reason she opens this selection has more to do with what she has made since.

The Mongolian artist’s recent work moves between the Y2K-inspired R&B of “Mature Man” and the more meditative conception of “Seven Dipper.” Released in March, “Mature Man” deals with love, trust, and the intimacy between two people. “Seven Dipper,” released last October, takes a much wider view. Its arrangement brings together harp and traditional Mongolian musical elements, drawing on the cultural symbolism of Doloon Burkhan, the Seven Dipper constellation.

That distance between the two songs is worth keeping. There is no need to turn her heritage into a fixed genre or make every release repeat the formula that won an award. Contemporary R&B and Mongolian cosmology can belong to the same artist without an elaborate explanation. Magnet Brain seems comfortable giving each its own space. We want to know where she goes after that.

KYNG

Call a pop song “SCARGAZING” and you’ve already made us love whatever is wrong with you. KYNG‘s May single takes an ordinary romantic image and leaves a mark on it. By July, she had moved on to “SIREN”; October 16 brought “COME BB,” an invitation with considerably less ceremony. For “COME BB,” KYNG also recorded a session with Songs with Strings, adding a full string performance and expanding the world behind the song.

KYNG works in art-pop, combining expressive vocals and bright synthesizers with a queer-feminist perspective on attraction and self-possession. Her presentation is gloriously excessive: pink hair, candy-colored styling, and the kind of visual detail that refuses to sit quietly behind the music. There is room for hurt in this project, but very little interest in looking discreet about it

Since her 2023 debut single, “PYTHON,” she has been building a character whose femininity can be confrontational, funny, or deliberately artificial. The appeal is how much room that gives her. Desire doesn’t have to be tasteful. A bruised feeling doesn’t have to arrive in a stripped-back ballad. With “COME BB” now out, KYNG is making her invitations harder to ignore.

Kate Voegele

Kate Voegele calls “Bad Taste” “petty, unapologetic, and probably one of the most fun songs on the album.” Excellent. Pop has enough songs about taking the high road.

Released October 23, the single is about the satisfaction of realizing that someone who once had power over you no longer does. Voegele goes a step further: you are happy, and the possibility that your happiness annoys them makes it even better. “There are a lot of things in this song that you’re probably not supposed to say out loud,” she explains. That’s a more interesting place to write from than a spotless declaration of personal growth.

“Bad Taste” leads into the forthcoming Age of Alchemy, written entirely by Voegele and reconnecting with the guitar-driven energy of her earlier work. Her history as Mia Catalano on One Tree Hill is familiar territory, but this song gives us a reason to leave nostalgia alone for a minute. The writing has a different priority. Sometimes getting over someone includes enjoying the fact that they haven’t quite gotten over you.

PIA

Twenty minutes to record a vocal. Nearly two years to make the film around it. PIA‘s forthcoming reinterpretation of “Gollum’s Song” has been moving at two very different speeds.

She completed the orchestral arrangement herself and had the track mixed on the day of the vocal session; the visual work involved a longer process, including learning motion capture. Directed by Joe Sill and shot by cinematographer Nico Aguilar, the film takes its concept and creative direction from PIA and Sill together. They have worked in this territory before: Sill directed her music film “Follow the Toad,” which starred PIA alongside Abhay Deol. Her interest in fantasy extends from Tolkien’s writing to video games such as Bloodborne, giving this choice of song some context beyond affection for the films. Originally composed by Howard Shore, with lyrics by Frances Walsh and performed by Emilíana Torrini for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, “Gollum’s Song” already carries a particular sadness. PIA’s stated intention is to preserve the meaning of those lyrics while finding her own approach to the arrangement and imagery. Both the track and film are planned for November 11.

Mark Fernyhough

“The World Was Crying” is a huge title for an acoustic ballad. Mark Fernyhough lets the contrast stand. Recorded in Edinburgh, the song concerns love and the imagined escape of a mountain hideaway, giving a private feeling a rather dramatic horizon.

It is the second track from his Socialites EP, whose title song takes a different route: a full band, cello, and a chorus built on a much larger scale. “Vee” is more personal still, a tribute to his close friend and drummer Vincent, who died in 2023. Moving between those settings gives Fernyhough room to be romantic without making every song behave the same way.

He has opened for Suede, and his photography has earned Best of PhotoVogue selections. He also says he grew up in a haunted English mansion, which makes the combination of music, fashion, and a little theatrical unease seem fairly understandable. We won’t attempt to verify the ghosts. The useful thing is that Fernyhough doesn’t need them to make a song interesting. A mountain, an absent friend, and an unusually large title give him enough to work with.

The Falling Doves

The Falling Doves are in the middle of their EU/UK tour,  carrying a revised lineup and a cause that extends beyond the set. Following changes to the original plan with Aleks Syntek, Christopher Leyva and Katie Harold have continued the run while raising money for Music Support, the UK charity helping people in music affected by mental ill-health and addiction.

Leyva and Harold share lead vocals and collaborate on writing and arrangements. Their guitar-led rock draws on British melody and Los Angeles glam, with the live show central to the band’s identity. In Manchester, the updated October 19 bill placed them alongside Joe Leath and Phil Quinn. The personnel changed; the scheduled date remained.

Syntek will not appear on the current UK and European dates, but remains a supporter of the project, according to the team. The band addressed his absence with a line worth repeating: “Behind every artist is a human being. Health must always come first.” Leyva’s JustGiving fundraiser gives that concern somewhere practical to go. You can support the campaign without buying a ticket, and without asking anyone to turn a private difficulty into a public performance.

PRYMA

An industry insider told PRYMA their singer couldn’t sing. According to the band, he also had opinions about her appearance. “John Doe” is their answer, with a chorus that repeatedly asks him to show himself. The Kent four-piece brings groove-heavy metal and thrash into a sound increasingly shaped by hardcore. Guitarist Max has described the change in practical terms: fewer solos, more riffs, and no lead break included simply because he can play one. Gaby’s clean singing and growls sit at the centre of that approach, while her influences extend beyond the heavier bands in their orbit. She grew up listening to Amy Lee and admires Freddie Mercury’s ability to occupy an entire stage. “I just wing it,” she told after their Download Boardie Takeover appearance. That confidence gives the story behind “John Doe” its bite. Someone objected to her voice, now he is probably regretting that.

BlackJeans

The world is ending. BlackJeans has booked the party.

END OF THE WORLD (Part 1) fits six tracks into twelve minutes and forty-nine seconds, opening a planned four-part series with dance-pop, electronics, punk, and cabaret in the same unruly frame. Co-produced with Adam Thein, the EP gives the New York artist somewhere to develop his interest in clowning as more than a stage outfit.

The jester gets to be ridiculous and still say something uncomfortable. BlackJeans extends that permission to queer listeners, late bloomers, and anybody tired of trying to look like a respectable version of themselves. Self-parody becomes a useful way out of self-consciousness. You can fall on your face without letting it ruin the evening.

His recurring End of the World events take that idea into New York nightlife, with his band The Sick Fucks and guest performers sharing the bill. The songs have a social life beyond the release page, somewhere for all that theatrical excess to meet other people. Three more installments are planned. If the apocalypse is going to take this long, at least somebody is organizing the entertainment.

DISTEYO

DISTEYO‘s rollout has side quests. “KTF” comes with a browser game. “LOST” has a map for listeners’ stories. Before anyone gets too precious about what a music release should look like, he has given people something else to do with it.

The songs arrived in quick succession: “LOST” in August, “KTF” in September, and “COFF N ROSE” on October 23. DISTEYO came through rap battles and built a home studio where writing, recording, mixing, and producing became parts of the same experiment. He writes in French, English, and Spanish, using both rap delivery and melodic vocals rather than treating either as a permanent assignment.

Outside music, he practices mixed martial arts and coaches children at a local sports school. We don’t need to turn that into a motivational speech about discipline. It is an interesting detail about a person whose life is larger than the rollout. With PHX Records supporting the releases, the home-studio project now has a team around it. His official site’s instruction is admirably simple: “Don’t overthink it. Just keep the flow.” The game can wait until after the song.

Sciarra

Sciarra gives “Obsessed” a less solemn assignment than the title might suggest. She describes the electronic-pop single as an upbeat, sassy turn within a catalog that usually leans darker and more cinematic. At just over two minutes, it leaves little room for brooding to become a full-time occupation.

Working between Los Angeles and Nashville, Candace, who releases music as Sciarra, brings the same visual interests into her music and her SCIARRA fashion line. Indie sleaze, late-night dressing, and the memory of 2010s Tumblr all belong to that vocabulary. The clothes are part of how the project takes shape, rather than merchandise waiting for an album campaign.

Sciarra says the past few years have involved rebuilding after losing her home and studio to a fire. That experience matters, but it doesn’t dictate what “Obsessed” has to be about. An EP and more releases are in progress, alongside new designs. For now, the single gives her room to be playful while everything else is still being put back together. There is room for a smirk in all that darkness.

We’ve done the introductions. Follow the playlist OFF THE MAINSTREAM to hear the songs behind our selections and keep up with the artists we feature each month. Skip around, find your favorites, and go further into their catalogs. The best thing this column can do is send you looking for another song.