Listen: Breathless (Like This) - Loveday x PYNGU

PYNGU is a new electronic pop project from Germany product Kyco. Collaborating here with 18-year-old UK based singer Loveday, the pair have created Breathless (Like This).

Relatively straight up electronic pop, what made this standout for me is the combination of Loveday’s comparatively raw and emotive vocal with touches of polish in the product. In particular the section around halfway through, when melodic scales weave their way around the vocal, creating a sense of being wrapped up in the emotional core of this record.

Check out Breathless (Like This) below:

Stream everywhere: https://awal.lnk.to/breathlesslikethis Follow Loveday https://instagram.com/thisisloveday https://twitter.com/thisisloveday https://facebook.com/thisisloveday https://soundcloud.com/thisisloveday Follow PYNGU https://instagram.com/pynguparty https://twitter.com/pynguparty https://facebook.com/pynguparty https://soundcloud.com/pynguparty

Listen: That Breeze - MMBLR

Despite actually hailing from New York, there’s a hazy Californian feel about MMBLR’s track That Breeze. And it reminds me a little bit of what Tame Impala might sound like if they made a record with Miguel... Which is pretty excellent.

MMBLR is the name for an experimental solo project from Alex Beckmann, the drummer with the indie rock band Snowmine. That Breeze is the record he created on what he describes as “a perfect spring day after meeting the woman who would soon become my wife”. You can feel a sense of both easy contentment and optimism here as Beckmann gently lets his falsetto vocals flow amidst a swirling dreamlike wave of sound created by simple drum beats, old guitars, ageing synths and bottles and cans.

I love how easy and introspective this sounds whilst portraying something exciting and thrilling... The desire to pursue someone who feels just right.

Produced by MMBLR Mixed by Derek Muro and Zach Abramson at YouTooCanWoo Studio Mastered by Chris Gehringer

Listen: Not Enough Kyler Slater

Not Enough is the new dark-pop indie track from LA based musician Kyler Slater, and it rides like a gloomy swoon of overwhelming desperation that somehow manages to capture something thrilling and sexual. It is an insight into a moment in which a person can feel like they somehow aren’t worthy... A feeling that you might not be enough.

Describing the song, Slater is openly vulnerably about how he feels. I’m going to go ahead and quote the full thing, because it feels important context for what is a dark but important record:

“I actually do believe that I am not enough, and thats a shame. Although I am trying to shed that and move on, I still write about it. Feelings of being inadequate in any relationship hurt, especially so when that relationship is also with yourself. I wasn’t raised to handle any healthy relationships, my childhood was filled with witnessing my mothers addiction and my fathers domestic abuse. I have had to completely fight to rebuild the mindset I’ve carried from youth. Not Enough is an attempt at taking these feelings and putting the less pleasant ones down to paper so that I can work though them and hopefully be a voice for others who struggle with similar issues.”

Full disclosure: I haven’t been through an upbringing that contained the challenging things Slater’s did. My parents divorced, but otherwise I was the product of a loving family (and we continue to love and respect each other). Still, I recognise what Slater is talking about here. The sense of shame, inadequacy and of being undeserving. It can creep up on you and make it feel easier to self-sabotage, or choose options that restrict your ability to feel things so you don’t have to risk feeling sad. Maybe we all feel this sometimes, I’m not sure... But I know I have. And this record makes me feel a little less alone.

Not Enough is a song that feels like the demons on your back. The gentle guitar, those haunting vocal harmonies, that grimey, grungy feel. It’s a sublime, vulnerable tribute to the toxicity we sometimes allow to flow inside us. It’s a brave record, one that makes it feel a little less lonely sometimes feeling bad.

Check out Not Enough below, or keep scrolling for the video.

Listen: Different Story - INTRN

Different Story is the latest track from LA-based musician Jake Messig, whose name reflects the fact he is attempting to break into the music industry from the position of an intern.

Different Story portrays the breakdown of a relationship that felt destined for a different ending, with gentle, bruised guitar work echoing the xx as Messig’s emotionally exposed vocals contrast with the dubstep-influenced production work. You can feel the longing here, the desire to wind back the clock and rewrite what happened, and the result is a little haunting.

Check out Different Story below:

Listen: Pretty Sure - Kita Menari

This new track from Kita Menari grabs me exceptionally early... Those first drum snaps feel like a playful slap to the face, an encouragement to wake up, followed by the loose tickle of a muted guitar line.

Kita Menari is the musical project of artist Micha de Jonge, who came up with the name following a near death experience whilst scuba diving in Malaysia. His air tank stopped working, leaving him fighting to reach the surface in time to snatch some air. Having blown off steam by partying the night away in celebration of life, Micha woke with a piece of paper in his pocket - on that paper were the words ‘Kita Menari’, which he later found out is Malay for ‘we dance’. He took it as a sign and set about making music from a different, more reflective perspective.

Pretty Sure’s vocal has a high gloss 80s feel to it that really shines. In combination with the backing track the the result is something that feels like unwrapping something new and still perfect. The record bounces along with its unfazable falsetto vocal before exploding into a crescendo of colour at around two-minutes-forty... It feels like someone letting a barrel full of coloured baubles fall from a great height onto the floor - the result is fractured and chaotic but beautiful.

That moment in the record is actually a pivotal one. The song itself is describing the pressure the artist feels in creation - the simultaneous desire to create weighed against the feeling it might not be good enough. That explosive moment is the point where fear is abandoned. Talking about the song Micha says:

“The song revolves about a common conversation I have with myself: whether or not what I’m doing creatively is good enough, and the fear of letting that feeling go. Having big ambitions and dreams can sometimes have a negative effect on the process of achieving them. It’s like having an angel on one shoulder telling you to go for it while a demon sits on the other telling you it’s not good enough. I wanted there to be a sonic build throughout the song that would erupt after the second chorus, as a sign of letting that fear go and having creativity burst free.”

instagram.com/kitamenari facebook.com/kitamenarimusic Management: lee@thisisjustmusic.com Live Agent: p.feith@friendly-fire.nl PR: lewis@supercatpr.co.uk 'Pretty Sure' 03:33 ISRC: NL1HH1800001 Written by Micha de Jonge, Tom Meijer