Alternative rock artist The Quality of Mercury presents his sophomore album The Voyager, an adventurous journey that explores different terrains and sensations: exhilaration, anxiety, longing and introspection, highlighted by focus track ‘Radiate’. Nine years since his debut Transmission album, he is finally back with new music that is both anthemic and accessible, cinematic and catchy – a perfect blend of muscle and melody.
The Quality of Mercury is Pennsylvania-based artist Jeremiah Rouse, who handles everything from writing and performing to engineering. Previewed by the singles ‘Heaven’s Gate’ and ‘Ganymede’, this groovesome, graceful and grand music with space-rock atmospherics speaks to our deep need for connection. His ongoing search for meaning is woven into songs that range from bursts of excitement to moments of quiet reflection.
“The Voyager album is born from a deep place of longing — for connection, for meaning, for something beyond the surface of everyday life. It’s about the desperation we often feel when distance, whether emotional, spiritual, or physical, gets in the way of our need to connect truly,” says Jeremiah Rouse.
“At this point in my life, I’ve realized that relationships, both human and spiritual, are at the center of everything. These songs reflect that realization. They’re part confession, part exploration, part quiet hope. They come from nights of questioning, moments of stillness, and the constant ache for something more meaningful. I made this album in hopes that someone, somewhere, would feel a little less alone in their search for purpose, presence, and peace. If The Voyager helps you feel a little less alone in your search, then it’s done what I hope it would.”
Aural Aggravation 
Watch: ‘Murder White Noise’ by Sword Tongue
Posted: 29 October 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: alt rock, Anxiety, commentary, Murder White Noise, Single, Stream, stress, Sword Tongue, true crime, Video
Oakland alt-rock trio Sword Tongue presents ‘Murder White Noise’, a wry commentary on the state of the world and our attempts to soothe ourselves to get through it. The latest offering from their explosive Bonfire In The Tempest EP – their fourth to date.
In an increasingly stressful world, this song explores how people try to externalize their anxieties by consuming content that allows them to feel better about their own lives. We attempt to cope with the pressure of maintaining equilibrium by coming together to grieve, worry, and comfort each other, often finding that the only way to feel good about our lives is to reflect on others’ misfortunes.
Creating dark music for dark times, Sword Tongue is vocalist Jennifer Wilde and guitarist Gaetano Maleki, a husband and wife who launched this project in the pandemic year of 2020, now joined by renowned drummer-producer Dan Milligan.
“I started consuming true crime content as a way to turn off the thoughts that kept me awake at night and distracted me during the day. One day I told a friend I was a listening to a livestreamed trial where a lady put her husband on a burn pile. She said “WHOAH, what is that, murder white noise?” As I told people about the song, I found many others watch crime stories as a release from their stressful lives. It is important to bring that into the conversation about how we are coping today,” says Jennifer Wilde.
“Finding comfort in tragedy is new for me; during the pandemic and especially in the last year I find myself needing to look for reassurance that whatever I am facing is not as bad as it could be. ‘Murder White Noise’ was written as a way to come to grips that someone else’s pain is that content, and what that says about where we are as a society right now. Gaetano wrote the perfect guitar line that hooks you in to get to the truth of the song.”
On ‘Murder White Noise’, soothing vocals contrast with the song’s macabre lyrical content, while steadily thrumming instrumentation lulls you into a false sense of security. For a moment, the listener feels heard and encouraged, then questions their own motivations, left to wonder whether they are now the tragic victim in this story.
”From a songwriting perspective, this pulled a lot of anxiety out of me,” says Gaetano Maleki. “While writing the guitar and bass lines, I wanted to bring out tension to mirror the vocals, but with some kind of seductive undertones. I feel the instruments really complement the lyrics, like a hard boiled soundtrack.”
AA