Listen: Young Strangers — Be Good

Starting up with a wavering synth line and some deep bass, Young Strangers has a crisp and initially slightly clinical feel. In contrast to this sound, the track centres on a hurt but hopeful vocal, performed by four-piece Be Good’s singer, Ash Cooke. The sound of Cooke’s vocals, contrasted as they are against a clean yet unfussy electronic backing, evoke the sound of early Hot Chip… Those pre-The Warning tracks that benefitted from a rawness that always tends to rub away with commercial success. It grants Young Strangers an authenticity that is hard to buy.

This is a song about a breakup - the period where two people try to unpick and tease out the edges of their own identity. Sometimes that is carried out slowly and cautiously, sometimes rapidly and dramatically, and occasionally one then the other. Regardless of how it happens, it always happens - thoughts and feelings that were shared become private once more, and with that comes a sense of loss.

That feeling of loss is perfectly conveyed here - the bruising, the feeling of lost perspective both still fresh. But that loss also comes with the weird sense of gratitude, and even hope, inspired by the fact a connection was created in the first place. There is a beautiful line where Cooke references stealing a picture that hints at the complexities in what we feel as things fall apart. The thing that initially sticks out is the hurt felt, and implicitly shared (the picture will be identified as missing). And yet, that action comes from a love that still hums in the background, behind a breakup, particularly those played out more cautiously.

Ash described that feeling as he talked about the creation of the song:

“Some of the lyrics and melodies for Young Strangers had been floating around various voice memos and recording sessions for a while, but they didn't really feel like they had found a home until we paired them with this simple synth bass pattern. (Drummer) Charlie and I spent a few evenings delving into stories from each other’s past relationships to find vignettes to capture in the song. We tried to convey the ambivalence of a certain type of heartbreak where two people are still in love but know they aren't good for each other.”

Young Strangers is taken from Be Good’s forthcoming sophomore EP. Check it out below:

Everything's Alright In The Evening EP out now https://BEGOOD.lnk.to/EverythingsAlrightInTheEveningSo

Listen: Pandora’s Box — MOUI

Pandora’s Box is the new song from Chinese-German singer-songwriter MOUI. Something about this sounds a little perfect for this time of year, and MOUI acknowledges that herself, describing the song’s arrival in “the slumber of this winter season”. The song starts with a delicate sounding vocal that suggests walks outside in the crisp December air — there is something a little frost-like about the sound.

Things change gear as the song hits the drop, however. Big, crunchy bass enrobes that vocal with something that feels like a warm, magical coat. Deep, glitchy electronics establish a solid foundation for what previously felt insecure — the stabilising force for what originally felt fragile.

Describing Pandora’s Box, MOUI said:

“I like to think of it as a calming lullaby that makes you hover above the ground. Like dancing on a soft cloud and setting aside the duties that tie you to this world. But here comes the reality check, it's a temporary escape as we're not done yet, we face the somewhat dull reality of now, and we deal with our fears that were suppressed and locked like in the myth of Pandora. This feeling of flying and falling is manifested into the bubbly and glitchy future-bass instrumental.”

Check out Pandora’s Box by MOUI below.

Long time no see. Here's my death lullaby! Follow me on IG! @moui.moui.moui Artwork by Hanna Vortmüller Producing by Chris Trumpf Mixing & Mastering by Jannik Kleber

Listen: Gently Brutal — Lyhre

It’s not often that I hear a song that is as perfectly summed up by its title as Gently Brutal. Whilst the production work moves softly, it broods and menaces in equal measures, sinister exactly because it seethes as opposed to rages.

Gently Brutal is the second song to be released from Sad Cyborg, the debut EP from Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter Lyhre. The EP is an exploration of identity, gender and humanity — envisioning the cyborg as post-gender figure for the future. Lyhre sees this as the inevitable solution in order to “smash patriarchal structures and consistently asymmetrical power relations”.

If it all sounds a little Westworld on the page, you wouldn’t be a million miles away from the existential dread that Lyhre constructs in the ear. Soft piano keys weave their melodies like a web, Lyhre’s haunting vocal manoeuvring like a spider in your mind, drums shuffling like the threat of plucked silk. It’s both beautiful and terrifying, particularly when she hits her repeated, breathless chorus, vocals leveraged like another instrument in Lyhre’s arsenal, both human and somehow… something else.

stream on your favorite platform 👉https://lyhre.lnk.to/GentlyBrutal my Debut EP will be released very soon 18.12 @modularfield 🖤 This is the second single I share with you, which is an honour for me. I have the desire to say, without getting pathetic, that this EP is for you. As an unknown artist I have the privilege to read all your words to me and my music. And I am deeply touched by you and the sometimes really hard shit you are going through. I see your enormous resilience, the pain, your strength and your courage to fragility and empathy. I feel humbled by such a diverse audience and I feel deeply connected to every single one of you. Sad cyborg is for you who cross the borders, for you who think and create new worlds beyond terminologies, for you who face systemic injustice and social inequality and oppose social and political inscriptions in our bodies. This is for you.

Premiere: I’m On Fire — NRVS LVRS

Having originally featured on BlackPlastic.co.uk back in January, before the world went crazy, husband and wife duo Bevin Fernandez and Andrew Gomez are back with a new version of an old song. In a period that has triggered self reflection for many of us, NRVS LVRS have looked back at the oeuvre of Bruce Springsteen and pulled out his 1984 track from Born In The U.S.A., I’m On Fire, for a contemporary take rooted firmly in retrospection.

Recorded during lockdown from their home studio, NRVS LVRS take the percussive, momentum filled original and retain it’s quiet, contemplative sound whilst emphasising the dreamlike quality through the use of synthesisers, present in the original but given centre stage here. The result is a take that sounds more of the era the song was born in than even Springsteen’s original.

The last NRVS LVRS track I featured, Only Human, buzzed with a nervous energy. In contrast, I’m On Fire sounds slow, dramatic and haunted. Both songs sound a little reminiscent of Au Revoir Simone, innocent vocals surrounded in a feeling of nostalgia. But where Only Human felt like it could have been on the soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides, I’m On Fire is pure Twin Peaks, and would have easily found a place in the show’s weird, beautiful third season. It is a stark, haunting piece of music, drenched in drama and atmospheric.

Talking to Andrew, he acknowledged the fact that both he and Bevin love Twin Peaks and recently rewatched the series. Given it is one of the couple’s favourite shows, he isn’t surprised that I can hear David Lynch’s influence here. Indeed, Andrew mentioned the fact that he regularly watches Angelo Badalamenti’s explanation for how he wrote Laura Palmer’s Theme. If you haven’t ever watched the video and you have any interest in TV and film scores, it’s worth five minutes of your time.

I’m On Fire is a song that NRVS LVRS have always been drawn to, and Bevin explains what led them to release it now:

“We've always admired the song 'I'm On Fire' because it captures the feeling of intense longing and how difficult it is to cope with it. We played with this cover years ago when we were first starting as a two piece, and with so much time on our hands due to quarantine, we ended up recording this version of the song to see how our approach had changed. Soon after, most of California was on fire, and the song seemed to ring in our heads and rhyme with everything we were seeing around us. In fact, Andrew shot the cover photo of the red sky when we were up at my parents' place as fires were raging a couple miles away. We ended up having to evacuate a week later not knowing if we'd ever see their home again.

“Lyrically, the song captures our feelings of the moment well. Between existential and literal threats to life as we have known it, most of us are trying to cope and do our best as we are stuck inside going stir crazy & longing for a better time or just another person to help weather the storm with.”

I can’t help but feeling this version of I’m On Fire is a little bit perfect for the weird, dramatic and otherworldly year that has been 2020. Check it out below:

Watch: Only Breathing — I Was Love

I Was Love are an electronic duo based in Manchester. Working with visual artist Charles Leek, they are making distinctive, atmospheric electronic music with an emotive edge.

Previous single Hands Open combined a crisp and stark production sound with deep bass and innocent vocals. Here, I Was Love deliver a duet, a male vocal recalling the work of Factory Records luminaries New Order as it graces Only Breathing’s opening. The other half of that duet comes from those same angelic female vocals as Hands Open, only here they shimmer in the contrast of a second voice.

Only Breathing feels remarkably physical, bass flows like syrup, percussion rattles as it echoes around my head. I Was Love have brought together a lot here — the track feels fat and heavy, full of detail. Synths bite, chords ooze and rhythms snap.

Lyrically, Only Breathing delivers what feel like half-thoughts snatched from your mind as you navigate a deepening relationship. With a focus on the human experience of relationships, the opaque nature of the words here feel like a metaphor for the experience of what we can only ever know from our own perspective. Describing the inspiration for the song, I Was Love said:

“Only Breathing is a song about relationships romantic but also interpersonal. It explores the idea of whether it is possible to ever truly know anyone, and what that means for those trying to navigate that which cannot be known. When you give such a large portion of yourself to someone else: what does the hidden quantity mean for yourself and them?”

This is a riveting, beautiful and thrilling record, and I want more. Check out the video below, or find it on your preferred streaming service here.