Listen: Thinking About You - Zachariah

Coming from LA-based R&B artist Zachariah, Thinking About You is the kind of song that bristles with emotional gravity... The sort of record that sounds like someone lost in the throws of what they feel.

With hushed, whispered vocals, loose elastic bass and a stop-start-will-they-won’t-they rhythm, everything about this record feels like it’s about bubble over. It’s the overwhelming uncertainty that comes with a really intense form of love - that constant feeling of “If I feel this strongly about you, how can you possibly feel anything comparable about me”. In some ways, this is the feeling of becoming incredibly close to someone... And yet as Zachariah pleads, “Can’t you stop thinking about me too?”, you sense the loneliness, the seeming impossibility of fulfilment and release.

Describing the track, Zachariah says:

“Thinking About You is about the beginning of a relationship - and the uncertainty of it all. It's the possibility of someone thinking of you and just that being the most exciting thing. Early parts of love are the best-- you're kind of in a fever dream of sorts. It feels like everything- the night, seasons, music, exist only for the two of you. I wanted to capture that feeling in this song.”

Check out Thinking About You below.

produced by David burris written by Zachariah, David Burris, Brooke Tomlinson woke up still drunk on feelings I'm thinking about your stone cut eyes my swimming pool im thinking about you remember the first time? meltdowns and cold nights took off my t shirt said you were mine don't wanna call you just wanna kiss you can't resist you summer's meant for lovers just like you and me I'm picking every petal for you baby can you start thinking about me too? I'm thinking about you put on your favorite music and think about our star crossed lust young in my car I'll think about you summer's meant for lovers just like you and me im picking every petal for you baby can you start thinking about me too? I'm thinking about you summer's meant for lovers just like you and me im picking every petal for you summer's meant for us, honey don't you see it I'm writing every word for you baby can you start thinking about me too? I'm thinking about you

Listen: Regrets - Ayelle feat. Akacia

Ayelle is a Swedish-Iranian musician and songwriter who grew up in Sweden and Spain before moving to London. Having received a PRS Women Make Music grant, Ayelle has focused on creating music the explores power dynamics in relationships, self-referection and challenging the status quo.

Regrets captures a sense of a desire to move forwards and be more accepting of what we are now. The tension we feel when we lack security - the need to project a sense of normality and confidence, when inside what we feel is often very different. Describing the motivation behind the record, and her collaboration with Akacia, Ayelle says:

“Regrets is about the anxiety involved in keeping up appearances and longing for something more. Akacia and I started working on the track remotely last year and brought it to BB who's production really brought it to life.”

The result is a track that feels raw and emotional, yet brims with a growing sense of self-confidence and vulnerability. Synths gently pan and bass rumbles as Ayelle’s cut-up vocals perform a form of melodic gymnastics between a series of verses that feel soothing in the simplicity. Regrets is both minimal, and also sophisticated in its application of detail.

written by @akacia & @ayelle produced, mixed and mastered by @bbviiv I'm sorry I said it Be sure to regret it Do you sometimes wish you could unsay Shouldn't have said it Do you get sick of pretending Everything is always okay Sometimes I wonder what it feels like To lose your mind And I wanted to try it Just one time To let my heart say what's really on my mind I didn't wanna have regrets this time I'm sorry I did it I already regret it I sometimes feel like I'm not safe I'm sorry I said it I get so sick of pretending Everything is always okay Sometimes I wonder what it feels like To lose your mind And I wanted to try it Just one time To let my heart say what's really on my mind I didn't wanna have regrets this time

Listen: Lovely - Taught Abroad

Sometimes a track has the ability to capture a feeling through the subtlest of details. Taught Abroad is the musical creation of Chicago multi-instrumentalist Chris Sadek, who plays and performs every instrument, vocal and sound in his music.

You need to keep listening. Because Lovely starts with a relatively minimal aesthetic - a slightly bruised sounding vocal, an almost-too-simply four-four beat, a touch of organ, some synths, but then something happens. The first couple of minutes feel loving, but not transcendent. And then, at two-minutes-and-twenty-seconds, it all changes. A touch of echo consumes the vocal, the instrumentation takes on a sense of weightlessness, and in doing so Lovely suddenly begins to feel less like a moment and a little more like forever. It’s a moment that reminds me of the similarly beautiful takeoff that gradually unfolds on Junior Boys’ Banana Ripple, one of my all time favourite songs.

That transcendent moment somehow creates a whole new feeling. In one moment, Sadek seemingly goes from being there, with us, to existing on a different plane. His love is no longer momentary and tied to a point in time - it’s scope feels expanded, omnipresent, endless and timeless. It’s the sound of a person telling you they will always love you, and you really believing it, of deriving security from that endless feeling. Chris goes from being a musician in a room to a feeling in the atmosphere. It’s impressive and touching and I can’t help but feel a little bit more love in the world when this sound exists... And whilst I wish the final two minutes of this record went on for longer, the beauty of music is that once it exists, it is almost impossible to lose. Just like the feeling Lovely evokes, the love captured by Taught Abroad here is now caught in amber, and it won’t ever leave us. Take some security from that.

Taught Abroad's second part of the 2 part EP series creating two contrasting views of life and love. The first EP entitled Foreigner, was released at the end of 2018.

Premiere: Wash Out - Brunette

Brunette are a Brooklyn based duo (that’s New York City, fact fans!), comprised of Sho and Adrien Epsy. Apparently they also need to drink more water, and call their moms (that’s mums, English people and anglophiles)! Brunette also make music inspired by the likes of D’Angelo, Jai Paul and Kaytranada, which puts them firmly in my wheelhouse.

Their song Wash Out is an exploration of the uncertain yet thrilling experience that comes from existing in a ‘vaguely defined’ romantic relationship... Living with the pressure of something that could either be a brief fling, or a life-defining experience.

What struck me about Wash Out is the way it takes a really stripped back musical production and layers it with a vocal performance that feels both effortless yet impassioned. It is yearning and yet somehow carries it with swagger. Snatched vocals combine to create brief harmonies that give this a real feeling of power, the stripped back electronic bass lines and sharp drum hits only emphasising that.

Listen: Gold - JacobNeverhill

Back in March, I announced that one of the artists I longlisted for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition was JacobNeverhill, who impressed me with his emotionally vulnerable and sophisticated sounding R&B.

At the time, the track I based my judging on wasn’t released. Thankfully Jacob has now released that track, Gold, and I wanted to share it with you. What strikes me with this song is how it combines the delicate sound of the guitar work with Jacob’s vocals to create something that feels beautifully put together. The warm bass notes that ride along beneath the surface of this record to give it a real sense of momentum, and the whole thing comes together to create the sense of being a little bit separate from the humdrum every day reality of the world... It gives you the feeling of being so wrapped up in someone that nothing else feels real any more.

Discussing his inspiration, Jacob talks of the impact of being in love with someone and the experience of just focusing on the good in people:

“I wrote this song about loving someone fighting depression, how over time I learnt every detail about them, all the “dark sides” that they don’t show the rest of the world, but through all of that I only ever saw the “Gold”. It’s a mantra that I want to walk with across all encounters with people: only seeing the Gold. So I’m releasing this song hoping that it can really connect with people dealing with similar issues.”

Mental health is something that touches most of us at one time or another, and I certainly know the experience of both seeing the gold, and hoping others do the same.

Scheduled for release on 24th April