Stream: Autopilot - Vök

Vök are an Icelandic electronic dream-pop band and Autopilot is their latest single and their first new material since their debut album Figure, released last year.

With a synth-heavy melodic sound, Autopilot have a blissful and feather light sound that really gives vocalist Margét Rán’s voice the room to shine. A song telling the story of a relationship that is heading in different directions, Autopilot sounds both wistful and hopeful... As if to say sometimes you never know - things can work out.

I really love the sound and melody on display here - the sound is densely layered and yet feels so weightless.

Stream: Elephant Heart - Raindear

Raindear is the musical creation of Swedish artist Rebecca Bergcrantz, and she has just released her single Elephant Heart, a song about love, during a week of pride celebrations.

Elephant Heart is a pulsing record, melodic synths crash against a bedrock of electronic drums and elastic bass lines. The vocals hang above this record with surprisingly lightness - everything musical feels concrete and grounded in earthly distortion. It’s a bit Goldfrapp - a little pop, a little electro, a little weird. Which is to say, it’s a little bit great.

The song’s title is a reference to big hearts, an allusion to the song’s topic of unconditional love and being a romantic. In Bergcrantz’s words:

“The song is a tribute to all of us hopeless romantics who over and over again open our big but fragile hearts, just to let them be filled with darkness once again.”

Check out Elephant Heart below:

Stream: Aftermath - Néonhèart

Following on from their debut EP Awakening, Aftermath is the new single from duo Néonhèart.

Néonhèart have a sound that blends contemplative melancholic vocals with synths and electronic percussion to create a form of electronic pop that sounds very contemporary. The sound has been likened to Ellie Goulding meets Daughter, but this track has more than a little Lorde in it too. Indeed something about the cadence and pattern of Canadian singer/songwriter Christina O’Conner’s vocals sounds similar to the minimal yet emotive pop on Lorde’s Pure Heroine.

Aftermath itself is about the confusing grey-lines that exist between starting afresh and just running away from our problems. Describing the meaning behind the track the duo say:

“We all have that moment in life when we rush to find a new start but fail to realize that we are just running away from the problem. Aftermath is about that feeling when you are stuck in a continuous circle and struggle to break through.”

Check out Aftermath below:

Stream: Riding On Your Misery - Thrill You Kill You

Thrill You Kill You is the one-woman musical project of Fei-Fei. Having previously DJ’d, Fei-Fei swapped her turntables to focus on creating indie, post punk and electronica. The music was written, recorded and produced by Fei-Fei herself, even recording vocals in her bathroom on a cheap microphone.

The result is this passionately lofi slice of melodic aggression. Riding On Your Misery is a song aimed at Fei-Fei’s doubters, as she describes, “Riding On Your Misery is a fuck-you to everyone who said I wasn’t good enough”. It’s a high-octane and emotionally naked assault that is pretty much impossible to turn your back on. On that sense of vulnerability, Fei-Fei says:

“I used to shut out the softer, emotional side of myself. I spent most of my life putting up walls, developing thick skin. This is the first time I’ve been brave enough to just be me.”

Check out Riding On Your Misery below:

Stream: Nebula - LightHouse

Coming from cinematic synth-pop duo LightHouse, Nebula is a cosmic slice of electronic pop. Consisting of Katya Richardson and Logan Nelson, LA-based LightHouse started at to create modern cinematic music combining acoustic sounds and synth-based textures.

Nebula itself feels like it is floating in space - whispered vocals giving way to a psychedelic chorus that attempts to capture the wide open environment. With a vocal hook that swings on big melodies like planets’ orbits, there is something otherworldly about this song and I love it.

Nebula is LightHouse’s third single and it precedes their forthcoming EP, set to be released this autumn.