Watch: Jaguar by Blumi

Entering with the kind of bass line that threatens to chin you, Jaguar is Blumi’s first release for Capitane Records, and provides a preview into her forthcoming debut LP, Steady Heart.

The tension at Jaguar’s core is concerned with the dichotomy between the individual and society — our need for space and solitude, combined with the desire for connection. That cool bass line is complimented by a percussion section that feels like a pan about to boil over. Together, they underpin the verse, which forms the portion of Blumi’s song concerned with herself — time alone, contemplating, reflecting. It evokes a kind of rhythm and blues that suddenly shifts gear into a psychedelic Day-Glo kaleidoscope of a chorus. Blumi declares, ‘People make me happy… People make me happier!’, a series of bright chords underlining her sense of connection.

Blumi’s song code switches between these collective and individualistic moments throughout the song, much as we do in our day-to-day lives. As someone right in the middle, with equal preference for introversion and extroversion, I recognise this back-and-forth. Time alone creates a yearning for connection, which initially provides and then depletes energy, requiring time alone to recharge.

As someone who seeks salvation in her time alone, Blumi created Jaguar as a tribute to the beauty and chaos that comes from connection — here depicted as the large speckled cat, something we run from but, in the case of friendship and connection, for no real reason. Describing her inspiration, Blumi says:

‘I used to think, with great drama and hand-on-forehead-flapping, that what I needed the most was solitude. If only everyone would leave me be — leave me tranquil, as we say in French.’

Blumi is the musical project of French-British singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist Emma Broughton. Having left her position as a political sociology researcher, she established Blumi, creating a musical universe shaped by everything from folk, to jazz, and classical music. Since then, she has collaborated with artists that include Bon Iver, Feist, and The National. Here on Jaguar, we experience a kind of avant-pop, as she performs a video imbued with an Art Nouveau aesthetic. The drama here flows all the way through to Jaguar’s fantastically type-faced closing credits. The result is artful, yet accessible.

Check out Jaguar below, and look out for the album Steady Heart in early 2027.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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Listen: Truth by Frau

Coming from Nashville-born, Brooklyn-based alt pop newcomer Frau, Truth is the second single taken from her forthcoming debut album, Flutter.

Anchored around a dream-like vocal, Truth leverages glitchy vocal techniques to accentuate Frau’s extended overdubbed harmonies, her vocal pulsing as they mutate into additional layers of instrumentation. Synth pads surround those vocals, splashes of cool blue and warm yellow atop Frau’s clean robotic soundscape. The overall effect invokes the surprisingly human electronic experimentation of both Caroline Polachek and Imogen Heap.

Produced by Michael Deano (SZA and Remi Wolf) and brand0, Truth reflects an urge to be a light for someone, drawing them in, and embracing that vulnerability. As Frau sings on the track, ‘I’m okay with losing and that’s the truth’. Describing the track, Frau says:

‘I don’t usually write about my relationship, but the words came before the thought. I remember tracking vocals next to the soft beat of a moth colliding with our kitchen lamp and that became the premise of the song. The desire to always be close to light.

Check out Truth below, and look out for Flutter, which is due out on 4 September 2026.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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Listen: See Me by Maddie Regent

Toronto-native but LA-based, Maddie Regents is an indie pop artist, crafting songs at the intersection of romance, anxiety, fantasy, and heartbreak. Here on new single See Me, she explores the sense of vulnerability and connection that comes from opening up and being fully known by someone else.

Opening with crisp synths and gentle guitar, See Me evokes the kind of clear-eyed storytelling style Taylor Swift is well known for. The gentle, buoyant melody provides a perfect to Regent’s vocal delivery. Throughout the song, she lays out the story of a pair of lovers separated by poor timing and a departing train — a sliding doors like romantic dichotomy.

See Me’s opening half is a relatively straightforward slice of synth pop, but things come alive in the song’s second half. A bridge sees Maddie’s vocal delivery accelerate, much like a train leaving the station. It is an emotive moment, as hopes and fears tumble from her mouth, asking herself ‘If I made the train, would I be your wife?’

Behind the song, Regent’s song was written together with her creative partner and fiancé, producer and songwriter Cade Hoppe. You can’t help but wonder how much of the song is autobiographical. She describes as follows:

‘See Me is about how the last piece of yourself to show someone is the side that gets cold feet and leaves them at the train station with your bag. Now suddenly this stranger knows you better than anyone else, and I don’t think there’s anything more romantic than that.’

Maddie starting songwriting at just 12, before taking up music more seriously during her college years. Following her 2021 debut, she has released two EPs, Miss Regent and Girl of Your Dreams, and a debut album, On the Phone With my Mom, last year. Check out See Me below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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Listen: Crave by Aaron Title

Hailing from Washington DC, Aaron Title is a singer-songwriter, focused on creating lo-fi alt pop, R&B and electronic music. Aaron previously appeared on BlackPlastic back in 2023, with his song New Moon (Riptide). Here on Crave he has a piece of music, written and produced in his bedroom, that combines introspection and an upbeat feeling of momentum.

Crave stands out for its clean synth stabs and crisp percussion, which evoke the kind of sounds produced by Fred Again.., Roosevelt and SG Lewis. Title’s vocals come together with this instrumentation to create a kind of melancholic yearning. Disoriented lyrics fall in on themselves, like glimpses of someone on the dance-floor — a fleeting moment of desire, never to be realised. Gentle metallophone-like chimes give the song an organic feeling of warmth, remaining just a beat after the song reaches its conclusion.

At just over two-minutes long, Aaron Title has created a slight yet compelling piece of electronic pop. Check it out below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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Watch: Maybe Tokyo by Billet Doux

Hailing from France, Billet Doux take their name from the 17th-century expression, meaning ‘secret love letter’. The duo apply that emotionally charged feeling into their music, creating a tender intensity.

The latest single from their forthcoming album Superbloom is Here Again, Maybe Tokyo is a song about escape and uncertainty. Opening with a strummed guitar and tight clipped drums, the pair’s male-female duet creates a playful sense of excitement, amplified by moments of drama — a sudden burst of reverb, for example. Joyous synths lead you into the song’s chorus, and the whole thing has a dreamy mid-00s vibe.

Billet Doux are Kaycie and Pierre, and together they are partners not just in music, but in life. Maybe Tokyo comes off the back of the success of their prior single, Two Scorpios, which received prominent placement on curated playlists by both Spotify and Apple Music. On their latest single, they envisage a woman trapped in a cult in a remote American town, inspired to leave but uncertain where to go. The uncharted world of Tokyo holds appeal — promising precisely because it is unknowable.

Check out Maybe Tokyo below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

Apple Music

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