Listen: Heal Me - FARR

Relationships are an almost entirely subjective experience. To distill the way two people interact and how they feel about one another, to a singular and consistent objective truth, is impossible. We write and re-write our own skewed and biased version of events, over and over, recording, erasing, rewriting, overdubbing and repeating.

Heal Me is the kind of dramatic, cinematic piece that captures that feeling of being lost inside your emotions. It’s the sound of needing someone so much that you lose all perspective - a near religious experience with gospel vocals crying out against a bluesy, cinematic cacophony that captures an overwhelming sense of emotional malady.

The song is the creation of FARR, a transatlantic duo colocated between London and LA, and comprised of vocalist Roméo and producer Linden Jay. The pair originally met in 2016 at a recording session, but ultimately began writing music together despite the geographic distance, relying on voice notes and memos.

New single Heal Me is lifted from FARR’s forthcoming album Weightless, and is all about the feeling of missing those you love. Discussing the song, Romeo says:

"We're so excited for this track to be out. I originally wrote this one with Carl Barat and Olly Burden during the same trip to London that I met Linden on. After a big night out I dragged myself to the studio across London and wrote the song between cold sweats. This was my longest and first trip alone to another country and felt pretty alone in London, so we ended up with this visceral love song about when you're away from someone you love for a long time.”

Check out Heal Me below, and look out for the album, Weightless, set for release on 27 March.

Watch: Roommate - Polly Money

Polly Money’s new single Roommate sweeps in like the warm embrace from a person you’ve missed so hard, a little reprieve from the cold January darkness that meets many of us at this point in the year.

The soft, melodic pop layered with vulnerable lyrics here reminds me of Clairo, one of my favourite artists from last year. Capturing the desperate intimacy of needing to wake up with a certain someone and nothing else mattering, the song describes a feeling that home is another person, not walls and a roof. Talking about the song, Polly says:

“This song is the undeniable need to spend all of your hours lost in the person you love. Their place or yours it doesn’t matter as long as you are waking up next to them. It’s the surprise late night turn ups, it’s the falling head over and it’s wanting to build a home together. This song is for the hopeless romantics.”

Check out the video for Roommate below.

Listen: Craigslist Personals - Wrenn

Craigslist Personals starts with the kind of soft, shoegaze melodies that remind me of an entirely different time... Uncertainty, pensive emotions and delicate vocals combine to give this a mysterious and beautiful feeling. It’s a little bit Daughter, but also a whole lot of 90s indie rock. Think The Sundays, but with a hint of Cocteau Twins

On first listen, Craigslist Personals had me on tenterhooks as I waited to hear whether Wrenn had created a chorus that pays off on that sublime, melancholic quiet verse... And pay off it does, drums and a chugging guitar riff kick into a dreamy, hazy chorus that feels timeless and familiar.

The song itself is a deeply personal (no pun intended) message to an ex, processing the different experiences that we create for ourselves following the breakdown of a relationship. Describing the new song, The 22-year-old Californian native says:

“Craigslist Personals was quite literally a fever dream I had at 3 am. I had the flu, taken too much cough medicine, woke up at 3 am, and found myself in the stairwell of my parents' house admitting to myself that I was still completely in love with my ex-girlfriend. We both were living through delusions at that point, and she absolutely would not examine the false narrative she has constructed in her head. In that sense, the line in the chorus 'if you pretend I'm not around, can you pretend to hear me out' personifies the song in its entirety. I felt like I was just silently begging her to take a step back and view both our faults as partners as honestly as possible in order to grow for ourselves, and our future relationships. Instead, she found more comfort in finding someone new, cutting their hair, dressing them up in my clothes, and using this highly-constructed relationship to shield her from herself. The whole thing was like a poorly veiled personal ad I'm not even sure she knew she was advertising. This song was everything I wish she could have truly heard. I hope everyone else can hear it."

Listen: Intertwined - Frank Mighty’s Hotline

Frank Mighty’s Hotline is the musical solo project of John Traboulsi, who originally started working on music for the project in his bedroom five years ago. The project brings together his diverse musical loves and his classical guitar upbringing. The result is a catchy, relaxed indie pop with an electronic aesthetic to the production, and a sound that has drawn comparison to The War On Drugs, Bon Iver and Glass Animals.

Following an opening slot playing for Said the Whale on their As Long As Your Eyes Are Wide Open tour, John was left considering whether he should pursue a career in music. With a stint living and playing venues in the UK, whilst surrounded and inspired by his affection for Brit Pop, Traboulsi ended up living in Toronto, where he adopted the Frank Mighty’s Hotline moniker.

Intertwined is the first single from Frank Mighty’s Hotline, and it packs a slightly grungy, grimy feel... Guitar melodies fly out like rapid fire, whilst Traboulsi’s vocals boast an earthy, folky feel. The song itself was inspired by a conversation overheard on the subway, with two people talking incredibly openly about sex, money and life without worrying about those around them. Inspired by their lack of inhibition and their connection, Traboulsi says:

“...It inspired me, people talking about these taboo subjects so freely, why shouldn’t everybody? And that just led to more of a trust your gut feeling, do what you want, follow your passion type vibe. And this being my first release under this moniker, being scared to follow music seriously because of societal pressures, trusting my abilities in songwriting, this song is a perfect way to drop into the scene.”

Check out Intertwined below:

Listen: Pull Me Closer - Leonard

Pull Me Closer is the second single from Leonard, and it’s a collaborative effort between pop producer and songwriter Jonny Avery and experimental guitarist Jake Church. The pair wanted to combine Avery’s classical music background with Jonny’s love of beat making, and the result is a sultry, soulful work out.

Whilst the pair come from very different musical backgrounds and both had to explore musical styles that felt unfamiliar, they had a shared desire when it came to the lyrical content and overall message behind the song, as Jonny explains:

“We wanted to write a song that reminded us that when ya’ve got shit going on, go hang with your ‘good people’, cause that will make you feel better - a simple message, but easy to forget in the moment.”

The production on Pull Me Closer has a wonderfully restrained feeling to it - warm bass tones envelope a determined and lovestruck vocal and a loose percussion track gives the track a relaxed, lived-in feeling. The guitar work only gives the track a further human, intimate feeling. With vocals that plead for a little tender love and connection, Pull Me Closer manages to create a feeling of wanting and being wanted, of comfort and release.