Listen: Take Care - Chloe Tang

Take Care is the third and most recent single from Chloe Tang, a Chinese-American singer/songwriter from Phoenix but now based in LA. Having already built up over half-a-million streams on Spotify with her first two tracks, Lame and Hype, Tang creates an insatiable sounding concoction of pop and R&B that is as hard to categorise as it is to resist.

There is an undeniable confidence here on display for someone so early into their musical career. Chloe’s easy going vulnerability combines with the a knowing hook, allowing Take Care to capture a feeling of breathless love. The vocals bounce back and forth, unable to stand still as Tang fizzes with nervousness as she acknowledges the depth of her feelings, the chorus landing the full weight with a kick drum that knocks you off your feet (a bit like love itself, then).

Watch: Mayflies - The Bergamot

Once upon a time I worked in a job filling shelves in a supermarket on the night shift, and occasionally jumping on a till when someone decided to buy some breakfast cereal at 3am. It was a monotonous experience, the slight increase in the hourly rate provided by working nights nowhere near enough to make up for the fact that by definition, it was a job that made me more lonely.

One of the ways I used to pass the time was trying to construct haikus. The only one I remember was one that stuck with me through that period, and ultimately helped inspire me to quit:

Tick tock goes the clock / The mayfly lives just one day / This has got to stop

Mayflies is the new single from The Bergamot, and it is ultimately a tribute to time, to nature and to love. The band was formed by songwriters and husband and wife duo Nathanial Hoff and Jillian Speece. On this song the group sought to capture the importance of life, and how we spend it. If you only had one day, what would you do? And how many generations of Mayfly are born and die whilst you play out your single life? With insect life on the decline and our environment in state of crisis, The Bergamot have created a song that vibrates with passion and fear and reminds us that we only get one life.

The music here glistens with a 70s Fleetwood Mac feel and a weird, psychedelic energy. Speece dances around the stage, delivering hushed vocals before ultimately transforming into one of those titular mayflies. Check out the video below:

Watch: Closer Than Ever - Aalta feat. Lenachka

Aalta is the LA-based musical project of production and songwriting partnership Daniel Pashman and Rich Jacques. Jacques has a number of musical achievements under his belt, including collaborations with Rashida Jones as well as a Grammy award and three albums with his own band Right The Stars. He and Pashman met during guitar lessons when they were young, and the two of them have collaborated on and off since then.

Inspired by their work together for singer Lenachka, Aalta sees Pashman and Jacques collaborate with a number of vocalists. Lenachka features here on Closer Than Ever, but they have also recorded with Maty Noyes, Desi Valentine, and Ellee Duke.

Lenachka is a German-born but LA-based singer and on Closer Than Ever, in collaboration with Pashman and Jacques, they have created a soft feeling piece of sultry pop music. Lenachka‘ s vocals bounce along the surface of Aalta’s electronic production work, bursting with feeling, as the three musicians conjur a sense of wistful longing... Looking to seize the moment and make the most of the transitory time we sometimes get, in the right place with the right person.

Look out for the debut album from Aalta, due later this year.

Listen: Sense To You - Hugh feat. Bonjay

Long standing BlackPlastic favourites, Joshua Idehen’s Hugh are back with their second song of 2019 in the form of Sense To You. Together with guitarist Martin Kolarides, producer Andy Highmore and Canadian R&B duo Bonjay, Idehen has turned in another one of his trademark deep and emotionally vulnerable electronic soul joints.

If you haven’t heard Hugh before, I suggest you rectify that quickly... Sense To You have the same sense of warm I often experience in the music of Hugh - the effect is like getting a hug from a friend. Bonjay’s Alanna Stuart became involved after meeting Joshua online, him having been a big fan of Bonjay’s music. When the pair said they would be in London, a collaboration seemed obvious, Joshua describing Alanna as “One of the most fun, inspiring and encouraging people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with”.

The song describes the experience of a low-key click with someone - no big drama, but something that just feels right. Describing the track, Joshua says:

“Sometimes you just know. You go out, for a drink, with mates, not really looking, and you lock eyes with someone, and the words you share aren’t particularly clever, or funny, or deep, but everything clicks, and before you know it, she nods towards the exit and you’re saying goodbye to your friends.”

Check out Sense To You below.

Listen: Haunt Me - Outofit

Outofit is a Canada-based collaboration between producer Metronomix and vocalist Meymey. Combining heavy bass and electronics with delicate and ghostly vocals, the result is a dark yet pop inspired sound.

Having released their debut single So Shy last month, Outofit are now back with Haunt Me. Outofit's latest song enters with an aggressive bass and kick drum sound, Meymey’s vocals cleaving herself open emotionally as she descibes being toxically in love with someone.

Describing the record, Outofit say:

“Ever been in love with someone who's not good for you, but let them eat away at you anyway because you'd die for them anyway, kill for them even? Like a dark twisted fantasy, a guilty pleasure? Where they literally intrude your thoughts like a drug that you've come to accept as a part of your identity? We have.”

Haunt Me manages to capture the sense of spinning out-of-control as a result of the emotional pull someone else has over you, Meymey’s vocals seemingly hanging somewhere between her reality and just how dark it can feel sometimes. Haunt Me is desperate, urgent, and unwilling to let go... And yet that is what love sometimes feels like. As Meymey describes midway through when discussing “people talking shit, saying I need help”, the experience of being in love can sometimes actually be incredibly lonely and alienating.

Check out Haunt Me below.