NYC Scene Report – h. pruz, August Ponthier, & Lauren Minear

This week’s NYC Scene Report features h. pruz seeing a Red sky at morning, August Ponthier being reintroduced to “Betty,” and Lauren Minear trying to heal from a “Bruise.”

* Earlier this month h. pruz, which is the project of Queens-based artist Hannah Pruzinsky), released their latest album, titled Red sky at morning, and it includes the standout single “After Always.”

A gorgeous indie folk song with Mazzy Star vibes, Pruzinsky explained the inspiration for the song, and accompanying video, saying, “‘After Always’ is a song exploring what comes after the possibility of forever with a person. The video was extremely fun to make. My cousin, Molly Schenkenberger, directed the short going off of a concept we both had dreamt up, largely inspired by The Wicker Man (1973). When I think about finality, I often think about fire, and it was fun to reimagine these masked figures on a final dance and march to a similar type of end.”

A dream inspired video for a dreamy song, click play on “After Always,” and experience the mind and the music of h. pruz.

* Brooklyn, by way of Texas, artist August Ponthier’s debut album, Everywhere Isn’t Texas is due out in February of 2026, and kicking things off is an introduction to “Betty.”

Discussing the single in a statement, Ponthier said, “‘Betty’ is a song inspired by a girl I knew who I’m referring to as Betty because of her retro style like Betty Grable or Bette Davis. She was someone from my days in Texas, someone who wasn’t living as her true self, while I also wasn’t living as myself. We met up, years later after both having moved to Brooklyn. While we were walking around, I told her that I regretted that we couldn’t be safe spaces for each other back then, and she replied with ‘It’s just nice to meet you all over again.’”

An indie pop song about finding oneself, reintroductions, and giving second chances, may we all be open to re-meeting people after they’ve grown, and changed, much like August and Betty.

* Lauren Minear just released her latest album, titled Boxing Day, and it’s a project she’d been working on for the better part of two years.

The writing process began after she left a creative agency she found out had been stealing from her. She says, “I always write my way through intense feelings, but I realized that the anger and shame I was experiencing went deeper than just this one conflict.”

She continued, adding, “These songs allowed me to confront patterns of repressed anger and codependency, and to liberate myself from them in the process.”

This includes the single “Bruise,” which is about loving someone who causes you pain.

“It was painful to write,” she says, “and for a long time, painful to sing. I’m working on that.”

With beautiful vocals, Minear’s “Bruise” has a healing quality to it. Click play, and hear for yourself.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.