There are some seriously sultry vocals and big space at play here on Body by new artist Elle Watson. The track was written in Stockholm and deals with Stockholm syndrome - influenced by the novel You by Caroline Kepnes, the song comes from the troubled perspective of someone who is stalked and confined only to fall in love with their captor. A dark and troubling but cinematic track.
We Can Talk is the latest release on Belgium's brilliant Eskimo from Satin Jackets. Featuring Emma Brammer on vocals, it's a straight-up house-influenced pop record and it comes with the announcement of the duo's debut album. On the release German producer Time Bernhardt and lead performer Den Ishu said:
"We Can Talk sets the pace for the upcoming album … the album itself will be diverse and versatile. Two years of our heart and soul poured into it so it’s going to be the full listening experience."
The track layers looped piano melodies, string effects and tight percussion together with Brammer's gorgeously infectious vocals. The London-based artist explains the lyrics behind the song as dealing with your first love when things go wrong:
"I was hooked on the track [from] the first time. The lyrics are about the exciting and painful first love maybe it's not so good for you but it feels historical. Loved working with Tim just good vibes and good tunes."
The original is classic Eskimo stuff - sunny and melodic. Packaged up with it in this release is a remix from Munich-resident, Portuguese-native Moullinex. He deconstructs much of the original to create a more-cosmic sounding version with lots of space given over to that vocal. It culminates in a deep, acid-soaked crescendo complete with a cool punk-funk bassline. Finally German producer Larse rounds out the release with a darker dub version.
New York artist Gryffin has just unveiled Heading Home, his debut single featuring Australian vocalist Josef Salvet, coming out via Darkroom/Interscope Records. Griffin has already made a name for himself on the remix scene having racked up 100 million streams in the past year. This marks a new moment for the musician as he focuses on his own material.
Heading Home is itself an epic slice of electronic pop - pumping synths build the record to a climax whilst Salvat's vocals create a huge emotional hook... It's a thrilling start to Gryffin's solo career and to 2016!
Danger_us is the debut single release from Boston musician Johan and it's a sly left-field take on soulful pop that lodges itself in your head and won't let go. Describing the track, Johan says "there's something sexy about total wilderness, you can forget all the societal cages we've drawn around each other and let loose and wild".
Since this is Johan's first track you can expect more soon...
Another fantastic track from Ghost Hours, whose tracks Can't Stop Moving and Fever were both favourites of mine last year. On this one we hear a darker side of the his sound. Here Ghost Hours, real name Ron Fountenberry, describes the sound as like a SBTRKT hamburger with a side of Caribou, which sounds pretty delicious to me!