Now Listening: This Week's Tracks
The Hails - “"Fake A Frown”
Tapping into pop music’s current fascination with a certain genre-nostalgia, the five-piece band The Hails has returned with their latest single “Fake a Frown/Till I See You Again”. “Fake a Frown” unabashedly fuses groove-driven guitar with a Nile Rodgers-esque sensibility with aptly placed slapped bass and the final product is a lush and dreamy ode to disco and electro-funk. “Till I See You Again” is a more laid-back psychedelic culmination of 80s synths that design an ethereal listening experience. The double-single points to a different sonic direction for The Hails and is quite a departure from their debut EP He Seems Upset. Along with their upcoming EP, the band is set to perform at Wonderstruck this summer. The Hails are definitely one to watch and for them, this is only the beginning.
Argonaut & Wasp - “Dog Days”
“Dog Days” is an electrifying track off of the debut album STARLIGHT 99 by band Argonaut & Wasp. Released with an accompanying music video that transcends the very meaning of nostalgia, the track itself draws on musical inspiration across decades - 70s rock n roll, 80s synths, 90s-2000's house. Argonaut & Wasp consists of members Trey Schibli (Guitar, Lead Vocal) and Theo Klein (Keyboard, Lead Vocal) with Alec Donkin (Bass) and Chris Corsico (Drums), who designed and wrote the album during lockdown in NYC. They named the album STARLIGHT 99 as it draws inspiration from “looking up and seeing beyond your world; to not only see the bigger picture but to become a part of it.” The album serves as a source of comfort to their listeners, helping to provide a little perspective on the unprecedented future to come. “Dog Days” pays tribute to the warmth of the summer, days before quarantine, and letting yourself find light amongst the chaos.
spill tab - “Anybody Else”
Vulnerability is a tricky pool to get out of once you are in. You need to navigate, not only its waters, but how to enter into its vastness. “Anybody Else” by the multi-talented Claire Chicha - known as playing through your headphones as spill tab - shows her making a cautious pace around this pool before deciding how to exactly dive in, especially since someone else is waiting for her in it. The moment the vocals begin, I’m taken back to the first time I heard Hayley Williams blaring her lungs on “Ain’t it Fun.” On this track, the same emotion is being used to drive the meaning of the song home, but the emotions on both songs have a different catalyst. spill tab has someone adding a pulse to her life. Her outward emotion doesn’t give into the whirlwind of color exploding from within her - choosing to keep real intentions away from the present moment. Each lyric shows her edging closer to vulnerability’s waters yet finding a way to still have its waves in her sights while remaining unphased by the party going on inside of her as love seems to be telling her to dive in. When those three words are spoken, we all are compromised, in a sense, something spill tab isn’t quite ready to give into. The best part of the song is how she is letting her gut guide her words and the production of it. Even if she can’t say those three words, the song is all she needs to play for the person waiting for her in that sacred pool. Once she does, they will know right away that she has already dived in - full of every bit and piece of the colorful person that she is. If you need to break through vulnerability’s shores, spill tab just created the song for you.
NAYAD - “Red Carpet Sands”
"Psych-melancholic feel-good dream pop," is how Swedish duo NAYAD describes their music, and their latest single “Red Carpet Sands'' perfectly encapsulates this. Consisting of Pernilla as the vocalist and Erik on both vocals and instrumentals, the Stockholm-based pair has been releasing music since March of 2020. With the help of Swedish Red Elephant as their mixer and producer, “Red Carpet Sands'' an airy and practically spellbinding track that showcases all of NAYAD’s best qualities. From the delicate vocals to the production which balances the radiance of dream-pop traits with the textured cassette tape warmth of lo-fi pop, NAYAD is the kind of duo you need to add to your library.
Fran Lusty - “You Don’t Know Me”
People have the tendency to place labels on various things or people that are still growing. Fran Lusty is a folk singer that is aided by a pop sensibility through her production - and this new track, “You Don’t Know Me,” opens your eyes to how true of a sound this lends her voice. The words roaring honestly through your ears seem ripped right from an anger-infused diary entry Fran believed needed some contrary sonics behind it. Fran is an artist, but she is a human being before anything else. Any person needs to explore their passions, their dislikes, and emotions before they can declare anything concrete about who they are - and they don’t need outside eyes telling them who they are either. The great insight from this honest track are the words around love and knowing someone. No matter if you and another share a bed, or a few thousand memories, each of you are still getting to know one another. Behind the honest and intense lyrics is a philosophy lesson for all of our 21st-century appetites and their needs to consume things while not honoring who or what they truly are. The 6-foot singer/songwriter has gained a new fan, and I know you will become a Fran Lusty stan once you hear this track too.
Pink Skies - “Santa Barbara Fireflies”
“Santa Barbara Fireflies” is the latest single from LA-based, psychedelic-pop musician Arieh Berl, serving as the first track of an arsenal of new music soon to come. “Pink Skies” is a genre-bending mix of psychedelic rock, pop, R&B, 70’s, electronic, hip/hop and chill-wave - a unique blend that is purely California. The song serves as a vulnerable landmark for the songwriter - dripping with nostalgia and fond memories, it is a tribute song to love and time spent with someone close to you. Named after the town in which the singer once inhabited, it combines the feelings of truly knowing that you never entirely move on from somebody, but allowing you the space to move on from the physical space.
Charlie Houston - “19”
The latest single from emerging Canadian artist Charlie Houston explores the loneliness and complexities of feeling misunderstood at 19. Lyrically, the track harbours raw honesty - detailing the singer’s use of self-sabotage as escapism. The personal struggles woven into Houston’s lyrics seem to find peace with the soft indie-pop melody.
Houston’s vocals are warm and airy with an androgynous feel that is reminscent of singers like King Princess. This smooth tone meshes with the repetition of a woozy guitar riff in the slow tempo. The short instrumentation is calming and its effortlessness is meditative, perhaps a way for the singer to work through her challenges. The youthful sound epitomises what being 19 means to Houston, and is laced with authenticity to provide a calming atmosphere. “19” features on Houston’s debut EP, I Hate Spring, out now via Arts & Crafts.
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From Pavietra 🕊️ https://t.co/BXVgWlZud8 -
slowthai by Rosie Matheson 🤩 https://t.co/z7SDfFQ5iF
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg
