Stream: Just A Little Longer - SHY Martin

SHY Martin is the pseudonym of Swedish musician Sara Hellstrom, a musical an who has written with established artists like Kygo and The Chainsmokers but is now transitioning into an artist in her own right.

From her debut EP, Overthinking, comes Just A Little Longer. It’s a gentle electronic pop record full of the sort of bubbling excitement that comes with intense feelings of the kind of love that feels hard to give up on. The song itself sees Hellstrom plead for a bit more time and another chance in a relationship that may not have quite found it’s groove but still feels too good to let go.

There is a beautiful urgency to this song that I find hard to resist. The vocals and music building to a determined climax as SHY Martin tries to win us over.

Check out Just A Little Longer below and look out for the EP Overthinking in all the usual places.

Stream: In My Mind - Du Tonc feat. Vania

In My Mind is a surprise end-of-year release from Du Tonc, a collaboration between Matthew Haynes (AKA Mighty Mouse) and Matt Van Schie (of Van She). Whilst they haven’t appeared on these pages with a standalone release since 2015’s Animals, they have been a fairly regular feature of Eskimo Recordings’ long-running colour Collection series (Orange & Yellow, to name two).

Ahead of a planned album release in 2019, Du Tonc have released this collaboration with Vania, who features heavily on the duo’s debut album. Vania wrote her vocals to match the cinematic 80s feel of Du Tonc’s music and they were impressed at just how good the resulting track was:

“It was a pure joy writing with Vania, when we sent her the music we were blown away with what she came back with, and we knew we had to release it.”

The result is a sweeping melancholic love song - alien yet emotionally alive. Check out In My Mind below:

Stream: Ouch! - Sasha

Sometimes you get caught in a moment and something happens and it’s like you just pricked your finger or stubbed your toe. Only the pain you feel isn’t physical, it’s emotional.

Sasha’s new single Ouch! captures that experience perfectly. With a melody that rattles along like a absent minded lover it all comes to a crashing stop at the point where Sasha deadpans the line, “Ouch! That hurt more than it should... Ouch! That hurt more than I thought it would.”

In her own words, Sasha describes the feeling that inspired Ouch!:

“It’s about knowing deep down that a situation is eventually going to hurt you, but seeing things through rose-tinted glasses at the time. And then kicking yourself when everything goes to shit because you saw it coming from the start. Tragic!”

The track manages to recreate that dizzy feeling of getting carried away with something - cinematic synths swirling around beautifully, yet ultimately shown up for their dramatic lack of realism when contrasted to the song’s chorus.

Video: Armadilla - Kitzl

Armadilla is the latest single from Kitzl and on it she creates a weird tripped out piece of frantic pop music that feels like things slipping through your fingers.

Kitzl is focused on creating electronic soundscapes that leverage found sounds - gates, pottery and branches - and weaves them into something akin to pop. The result manages to be instantly infectious and yet weird and woozy. Backwards sounds, hollow drums... its alien and strange, the multiple layers of overdubbed vocals depicting a mind wrestling with multiple divergent thoughts at once.

The video fits the music perfectly - Kitzl somehow perfectly lit by headlights, looking like she is in daylight against a pitch black sky. Backwards footage and weird symbolism provide the visuals whilst she repeats the refrain “I don’t ever wanna see you again”. You have to wonder just what this person did. The result is innocent and yet threatening - perhaps the sound of innocence pushed over the edge.

Video: Stories - Refs

It has been over a years since I last featured Refs on BlackPlastic. Back then it was for the lovely track Fool, but they are back to close out 2018 with new one Stories.

The new track builds on the established Refs sound - soulful, bruised vocals combine with stark rhythms and beautiful melodies to create something that feels emotional and human but mechanical and futuristic.

Paired with a video that gives us the first proper glimpse of the artists themselves, Stories sounds like the pair gearing up for a big 2019. The emotional honesty and musical sophistication on display here are a lovely combination. Stories sounds raw, and yet it also feels like a salve.