MI Local: New albums from Metal Bubble Trio, Ahya Simone; Q&A with Drey Skonie + more

By: Jeff Milo

22 January 2025 at 15:15

Millennials will no doubt recall the super catchy 2012 indie-pop single “We Are Young,” from the band known as fun.; Gen Z likely caught on to it, too, when the song briefly went viral on TikTok last year.

While that band went on an indeterminant hiatus in 2015, one of its founding members, Andrew Dost, is a northern Michigan resident who’s continued to make music, and recently unveiled his new band, Metal Bubble Trio. Last Friday, they released their debut album, “Cucumber,” and this week on MI Local, we spun the stylish and poignant new single, “Love, Please Don’t Be Long.”

We also ventured into dreamy and ethereal terrain with the new experimental-orchestral composition from harpist/singer/songwriter Ahya Simone; we listened to “Liminal,” from Simone’s brand new album, “Neptunian Blue,” which also features international electroacoustic musician Tapiwa Svosve.

As always, on MI Local, we spotlighted some upcoming shows that you can catch around the region, including Chris Bathgate at the North Star Lounge in Ann Arbor (Saturday, Feb. 1), and the album release party for Bandeau, at the Outer Limits Lounge (this Saturday, Jan. 25).

We also heard from singer/musician Drey Skonie of the kLOUDs band, recently crowned the Top Voted Act during WDET’s Sounds Like Detroit contest from last summer! Skonie stopped by the studio, live, to chat about the band’s two performances set for this Thursday evening at Cliff Bells.

See the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

MI Local Playlist for Jan. 21, 2024