Following on from yesterday's slice of summer, it felt only right to continue the theme, albeit with a more thoughtful, less frenetic, less hedonistic piece.
Pasha is based in New Orleans and emerged from the ashes of the band Joy. 'Cross The Earth' is taken from the album Beacon of Excess, which you can buy on Bandcamp.
This solid summer anthem was released last summer. It's hard not to just bask in the sheer energy of the song, which has a real sense of clubland past and present about it, not to mention evoking holiday euphoria and a real sense of frenetic hot summers that never end. Tremendous.
The second single from De Souza's new album, All of This Will End, 'Smog' is a scuffed indie electro bop that is adorably catchy. Although the self depreciating lyrics invoke terrible insecurity, the melody and excitable beats suggest dance floor and while this can be disconcerting (a duality reflected strongly in the video) it's also highly enjoyable. First single 'Younger And Dumber' garnered a healthy amount of praise and attention (rightly so) but 'Smog' has its own charms and deserves a listen.
A bonus track from last years Giving The World Away album, the uplifting indie pop of 'Rooftops' features the talents of US singer/songwriter Liam Benzvi, whose voice undercuts Harriette Pilbeam's crisply sweet lead vocal perfectly. As with the rest of the album, the track is pop orientated modern shoe gaze, but there's a euphoria and optimism about 'Rooftops' that is particularly infectious. It's jangly guitars and beguiling vocals create a sense that, if you get up high, you'll find a space to breathe.
Heartworms Jojo Orme comes across very much as a young woman who doesn't take any shit. Witness the icy stare in the video to 'Retributions Of An Awful Life', the standout track on her debut EP A Comforting Notion. She also survived a Production and Performance course at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, without being crushed by the naked hostility of her fellow students and has lived on her own since she was 16. When asked to describe her sound in an interview for Fred Perry she opted for "Gothic military fairy?" which feels like as good a summary as any.
'Retributions Of An Awful Life' combines these icy elements with crunchy goth infused industrial sounds, scratchy, choppy guitars and a terrible sense of foreboding. She's signed to Speedy Wunderground, has been playlisted on 6Music, and the future looks bright for such a dark artist. The album, whenever it happens, will be very keenly anticipated.
Taken from a live set at Glasgow's TRNSMT festival in 2018, this rendition by local boy Cinnamon of the always rollocking classic 'Belter' represents a perfect moment of unity between artist and crowd. And it is beautiful.
Debby Friday's debut album Good Luck was released in March, showcasing the Vancouver based artist's journey from DIY releases to arrival on Sub Pop. 'So Hard To Tell' was the first single from the album, and it's perhaps the most obviously commercial track to be taken from the sprawling and experimental electronic soundscape.
With 'So Hard to Tell', you get the sense that Friday is writing a letter to her younger self while at the same time witnessing the same struggles and difficulties in other young women around her.
"Is this heaven or hell?" she asks "When it gets like this, oh it's so hard to tell."
The result is at once eerie and weirdly comforting.
