Today, she has added one final piece to the puzzle with “Sometimes I Rush”. The evanescent song feels light on its feet but slightly distracted, carried by an upbeat rhythm and Fine’s clipped vocals. There is something sweet and absent minded about it too, like getting caught daydreaming about someone while everything else keeps moving around you.

“Sometimes I Rush” also comes with a video directed by Betty Krag and starring Fine alongside Fie Martens Ljungmann inside a church.

And that album is called Jazz Dreams. This is Fine’s sophomore record and it is due October 22 via Escho. It follows a particularly lovely run of singles from 2025, including “I Could”, “Run”, “Portal” and “Moment”. Self produced, recorded and mixed by Fine, Jazz Dreams stretches across thirteen songs that seem to follow dream logic more than any obvious narrative. Scenes, memories and musical ideas melt into one another, with flashes of pop history refracted through her own slightly warped lens, while her intricate melodies hold everything together. “Making records, it is not linear, Something is thrown into a room, and the bizarre is simply accepted, without ever feeling strange, you a surrender to the dream’s own logic. It’s cruel, but it’s also freeing,” Fine explains. Even the artwork came together by chance: it started as a drawing an unknown fan gave her in exchange for entry to a Paris show last year, which feels pretty perfect for a record so interested in accidents, intuition and the strange little connections that end up sticking with us.

The announcement arrives with “Everything in the shade”, another dreamy preview that keeps her soft, languid songwriting drifting over piano, guitar, and subtle details that blur around the edges. Watch the Betty Krag-directed video below

Now, The Crying Nudes are back with DJ, another strangely compact release that appeared with very little warning. Teased on the band’s Instagram only yesterday, the new album features eight tracks packed into less than thirteen minutes. Once again, it arrives through World Music, the elusive London label run by Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland.

Even shorter than their 2024 self titled release, DJ disappears almost as quickly as it begins, and that is definitely part of its charm. These gorgeous songs feel like thoughts or memories caught on tape, blending subtle dream pop melodies with touches of country and folk, all wrapped in a sparse yet beautiful guitar atmosphere. The tracks are simply named after numbers, an approach we already encountered on lucre, Blunt’s collaborative EP with Elias Rønnenfelt. The only exception is the third song, “when i dance i raise the dead”. Naturally, everything is written without capital letters, perfectly in keeping with the band’s understated world. And as always with The Crying Nudes, the result is completely haunting. Stream DJ below.

True to the HighClouds spirit, we’ve once again tried to shine a light on overlooked releases and new or under-the-radar artists alongside some more familiar names. And yes… for the second year the same artist is topping our Best Songs list. At this point, it’s safe to say we’re obsessed. All of the tracks featured here (and many others) are also gathered in our Spotify playlist, that you can find below.

Thank you for reading, listening, and sharing music with us throughout 2025. We wish you a beautiful end of the year, and we’ll be back very soon in 2026 to share even more amazing music with you.

60 Avalon – Harder To Reach Than God
59 Farao – Waiting for You
58 Reggie Devoyage – Down Town
57 Nuovo Testamento – Picture Perfect
56 Yumi Zouma – Drag
55 Boyhood – A Grand Time
54 Danny L Harle; Caroline Polachek – Azimuth
53 Fernette – Lowlands
52 Jouska – Season of Dread
51 Charli xcx – Chains of Love

50 Pearly Drops – End Credits
49 Marina Zispin – Penthouse Samba
48 Boyish – Jumbos
47 Sword II – Sugarcane
46 TOPS – Chlorine
45 Robyn – Dopamine
44 The Deep – KPOP B!TCH
43 Juliana Madrid – Jamie
42 Men I Trust – Come Back Down
41 R. Missing – Telepolartears

40 Jenny Hval – The artist is absent – 89 seconds rewrite
39 Fontaines D.C. – Before You I Just Forget
38 hemlocke springs – the beginning of the end
37 Sea Lemon – Stay
36 Georgie & Joe – Pacemaker
35 Fine – I could
34 Jessy Lanza – Slapped By My Life
33 Arny Margret – Day Old Thoughts
32 Lipsticism – Erased
31 Clara Kimera; notinbed – angel candles

30 Neggy Gemmy – Mysterious Girl
29 Joanne Robertson; Oliver Coates – Always Were
28 Hannah Jadagu – My Love
27 HTRK – Swimming Pool
26 Night Tapes – television
25 Raisa K – Affectionately
24 helen island – hot zone, regular day
23 Dean Blunt; Elias Rønnenfelt – 1
22 Cole Pulice – After the Rain
21 crushed – starburn

20 AMORE – Delirio
19 Oneohtrix Point Never – Rodl Glide
18 Erika de Casier – Delusional
17 Judeline – chica de cristal
16 Dijon – Yamaha
15 Rochelle Jordan – Ladida
14 PinkPantheress – Illegal
13 Maria Somerville – Garden
12 Ethel Cain – Fuck Me Eyes
11 Sophia Stel – Everyone Falls Asleep In Their Own Time

10 Jim Legxacy – ’06 wayne rooney
9 Magdalena Bay – Human Happens
8 snuggle – Woman Lake
7 Addison Rae – Headphones On
6 After – 300 dreams
5 FKA twigs – Striptease
4 james K – Play
3 Nourished by Time – Max Potential
2 Smerz – You got time and I got money
1 Oklou – blade bird

Their new project, Big city life EDITS, just dropped via Escho, reimagining one of our favourite releases of the year, Big city life. Since the original LP came out in May, we’ve been captivated by the way it captures everyday chaos with a kind of hazy, escapist magic. And spoiler: “You got time and I got money” will most likely rank high on our end-of-year list.

Smerz’s Big city life EDITS invites an impressive lineup of artists, including luminaries Astrid Sonne, Erika de Casier, Clairo, Molina, Fine, Fousheé, ML Buch, Haloplus+, and more, to reinterpret the songs they love. The duo describes the project as a way to “let the music pass through people you admire,” transforming it into a living mirror, full of new textures and emotions.

In the meantime, the pair continue their sold-out world tour across Europe and the UK. And one piece of advice: catch them if you can.

Her latest track, “Portal”, feels like stepping into a humid, dreamlike landscape. A warm, weighty bass and reverberating guitars hover in the mix, while her voice drifts somewhere between reality and magic. She seems to be addressing someone else, or perhaps her own inner self, in a song that balances freedom with melancholy.

Fine’s new music arrives alongside a busy run of shows: she’s playing sold-out dates across Europe this fall and will make her North American debut with a group performance at New York’s Knockdown Center, alongside the amazing Erika de Casier, Smerz, and urika’s bedroom. Looking ahead, she’s already announced a special show at Earth Hackney in February 2026.

Fine- LIVE DATES
10/13/2025 – Berlin, DE @ 8mm Bar (sold out)
10/14/2025 – Berlin, DE @ 8mm Bar (sold out)
10/15/2025 – Amsterdam, NL @ Cinetol
10/16/2025 – Paris, FR @ Supersonic Records
10/17/2025 – London, UK @ St Matthias Church (sold out)
10/18/2025 – London, UK @ The Ivy House (sold out)
10/24/2025 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knockdown Centre w/ Erika de Casier, Smerz,
urika’s bedroom
10/30/2025 – Los Angeles, CA @ Brain Dead Studios (sold out)
11/15/2025 – Copenhagen, DK @ Alice
2/17/2026 – London, UK @ EartH Hackney

Now, Fine returns with “Run,” a captivating new single she wrote and produced herself. The song drifts through a romantic soundscape of chopped guitars and hypnotic beats, unfolding like a sonic collage. Lyrically, it dances between introspection, imagined conversations, and surreal fantasy.

This October, Fine hits the road for a string of European shows before heading stateside. She’ll make her U.S. debut at New York’s Knockdown Center, joining the amazing Erika de Casier, Smerz, and Ulrika’s Bedroom for a special one-night event.

LIVE DATES
6/28 – Barcelona, ES @ Casa Montjuïc
6/30 – Lisbon, PT @ ZDB
7/6 – Parma, IT @ Lost Festival
8/16 – St Malo, FR @ La Route du Rock
10/13 – Berlin, DE @ 8mm Bar (extra)
10/14 – Berlin, DE @ 8mm Bar
10/15 – Amsterdam, NL @ Cinetol
10/16 – Paris, FR @ Supersonic Records
10/17 – London, UK @ St Matthias Church
10/24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knockdown Centre w/ Erika de Casier, Smerz, Ulrika’s Bedroom
10/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Brain Dead Studios
11/15 – Copenhagen, DK @ Alice

Who is in the band The Crying Nudes?

The mystery only deepened with the release of The Crying Nudes, a self-titled EP that arrived in September 2024 – and that made our Best Projects of 2024 end-of-year list. While the project initially maintained an air of secrecy, songwriting credits quietly revealed a collaboration between Blunt and Fine Glindvad Jensen — better known simply as Fine, a Danish artist whose voice feels both haunting and intimate. The EP delivered a sonic world that was hard to define and harder to forget — a hazy blend of short acoustic fragments, moody textures, and emotionally charged vocals that drift between presence and disappearance. 9 songs in 15 minutes : it was an album that asked to be felt more than understood.

Now, with the arrival of their new single “iber3ft,” The Crying Nudes continue to weave their strange, melancholic magic. Released yesterday in total discretion, the track leans into the band’s signature tension between vulnerability and detachment. The lyrics float like fragments of a half-remembered dream: “It’s so hard to say no / It’s so hard to let go / I’m still breathing the air around them…”

Over a minimal, looping rhythm, Fine’s voice once again feels like a guide through emotional shadows — tender, unsure, and eerily calm. The repetition of lines like “You never really listened” underscores a sense of betrayal, while the refrain “the breeze has come to get me” hints at a kind of surrender. In true Crying Nudes fashion, the track feels like the translation of a fleeting thought, lasting just 1 minute and 37 seconds. “iber3ft” doesn’t offer easy resolution. Like the group behind it, this song about emotional disorientation slips through definition — but lingers, unmistakably, in the atmosphere it leaves behind.