Premiere: Sun Hands — SANTO + the PPL

This one’s a trip.

Talking about his experience of being an aspiring young musician, SANTO has a way of delivering stories with a sense of wistful romance. Putting us in the shoes of someone confronted with the kinds of opportunities they just don’t know how to respond to, he starts:

“I was in Washington Square Park with my songwriting partner and best friend, busking, playing Beatles songs when a woman and some dudes in leather jackets and sunglasses walked up. She told us she liked our sound, our voices, and she wanted us to perform at her ‘fashion event.’ We were stoned, 16 years old, and had no idea what she was talking about. She gave us a card and walked away. We realized we were just talking with Blondie and she was talking about NYC Fashion Week.”

Kicked out from Selena Gomez’s degassing room, pursued by Disney and then seeing their music video shared by Wiz Khalifa, our artist subsequently moved to Nashville as a part-time studio assistant and farmhand. Yep, farmhand. Road trips, encounters with Ben Folds and Steven Tyler and transcendental experiences in the Grand Canyon follow. Eventually, our artist settles in Utah. It is here that SANTO fully emerges.

Deliberately eclectic in terms of influences, SANTO + the PPL channel their sound from rock, grunge, and pop but also jazz and hip-hop. What struck me with Sun Hands is its dizzy lethargy, evoking the feeling of being a little too hot and too high to move… Warm days spent too comfortable to actually achieve much beyond existing. Jazzy keys twinkle as the lyrics tell the tale of the tug-of-war between mental distraction and presence:

“Sun Hands is inspired by these walks and adventures around Pittsburgh getting lost with my girlfriend and my dog on these backroads, and side streets. I’m distracted, or I'm caught up in my head, I'm venting to her about something and she grabs my hands, and that warmth from her hands in the sun… the way the light comes through the trees and illuminates the city… it brings me back.”

Sun Hands’ production conveys a beautiful sense of chaos and texture, but also place. I can feel the myriad of thoughts, the cacophony of distractions. But I also sense the warmth of another, and the feel of the sun. Nothing emphasises the importance of being present quite like the realisation that we only get this moment with this person once.

Check out Sun Hands below, or find it on Spotify and Apple Music. For the latest news, check out SANTO + the PPL's official site.

SANTO + the PPL · SUN HANDS

Listen: Rabbit Hole (Love Is What You Make It) — Billy Vena

Rabbit Hole shows up with the kind of inclusive approach to aesthetics that recalls Prince. In the first 30 seconds we get an a cappella intro, radio static, grungy bass and soulful R&B vocals, yet they all come together in a way that feels coherent. What struck me with Rabbit Hole is the way Billy Vena has cherry-picked sounds from the past three decades and combined them in a way that feels distinctive and fresh… I find myself longing for more of the roughly hewn soul of En Vogue, Lucy Pearl and Miguel — all artists who carved their sound out of a composite blend of genres and artists, forming something infectious and near-universally appealing.

This stylistic approach is clearly no accident. Billy Vena acknowledges an aspiration to share his love of pop culture by channeling the lessons of the greatest pop stars of all time. By doing this, he hopes to create music fused into something both new and classic. Having made his debut in 2020 with Space Hippie, quickly followed with Disco Maniac and Talking 2 Myself, the Panama-native but Texas-resident musician has already found exposure through Spotify Fresh Finds and a Hype Machine #1.

Rabbit Hole is Vena’s first release of 2021, and with it he hopes to challenge notions of toxic masculinity, opening up a dialogue around sexual expression and exploration. In his words, Billy explains:

“Rabbit Hole is about a sexual awakening and how confusing it can be when you realize it’s happening. I wasn’t necessarily writing about my teenage rejections but my teenage regrets and how the back and forths in my head kept me in a “what if” scenario till this day. We may never know what the other person truly feels but maybe love is what you make it.”

Check out Rabbit Hole below:

fanlink.to/loveiswhatyoumakeit

Listen: 92 — Matti Roots

Matti Roots is a multi-disciplinarian, with experience and talents spanning production, songwriting, performance as well as being a label owner and educator. Having first started exploring music with the piano at as young as three and saxophone at seven, he went on to attend the Royal Academy of Music’s junior school aged just 13.

With a career that takes in So Solid and Miss Dynamite, Def Jam and Jaguar Skills alongside work within the ad industry, Matti’s career demonstrates the impact of that talent. Since the pandemic hit, he has used his free time to work on a catalogue of new solo material, with notable releases in Right There and Don’t Wanna Say Goodbye.

92 is Matti Roots’ first release of 2021, and it instantly hits the ground running — an infectious keyboard refrain propelling a sharp drum beat that has the feel of feet slapping on the pavement. There is an effervescent atmosphere to 92 — a song about that someone who you don’t just want now, but always… “Until we’re 92”. I love the unbridled joy and positivity on display here — the optimism on display in the lyrics perfectly reflected in the crisp modernism of a production style that evokes something like Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out, only dressed in a crisp new suit.

Release date 12.04.2021Stream on Spotifycopen.spotify.com/track/26etk4r72BicWxrPNGIPK6?si=-kYmxvSeRqqQveVmclGTmwFollow on Instahttps://www.instagram.com/matt...

Watch: Car Freshener Aftershave — Pizzagirl

I’ve been somewhat caught up in the magic of Liverpool musician Pizzagirl, real name Liam Brown, ever since first hearing his dreamy sound on the John Hughes-esque Highschool back in 2018. Whilst I haven’t written about it, I also went through an extended period of being utterly obsessed with the song Dennis, which has a feeling that nails the intersection of insatiable sexual frustration and lethargy that is, quite simply, chef’s kiss.

The beauty of Pizzagirl is the way Brown manages to combine a production style that feels purposeful and defined without it feeling like it has been sweated over. The sound feels effortless, yet I’m sure it isn’t. What that brings to the music is a sense of honesty. On Dennis, Brown sounds like he has just rounded the corner after bumping into his ex on the arm of another dude. What follows is a stream-of-consciousness — his raw emotions exposed without the polish that is applied when someone is worried about what an audience thinks. It’s not a single, it’s just his feelings… and yet boy, is it a single.

Car Freshener Aftershave comes alongside the announcement of Pizzagirl’s forthcoming album, Softcore Mourn. Whilst the new album doesn’t arrive until mid-July, this new single does plenty to whet my appetite. The usual lo-fi production aesthetic is in place, but applied to a slightly more upbeat and electronic sound. The sound of Car Freshener Aftershave is not a million miles from the post-Wolfgang sound ploughed by Phoenix — electronic but with an organic feeling finish, obtuse and opaque lyrics and just so much mood.

I just love this. There is a moment at two-minutes-fifty where the bass drops out to expose Brown’s earnest vocal before kicking in with even more energy. I guarantee that one day, when Pizzagirl gets to perform this live, people are going to lose their pretty minds to the moment when the bass drops back in at three-minutes-twenty.

Mr Brown, you are a rock star and I salute you.

Listen: Dating A Drug Dealer — The Sunshine State

The Sunshine State is a musical project from songwriter Skyler Stonestreet. Having created hits for artists that include such luminaries as Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, Due Lipa, The Chainsmokers, and Hailee Steinfeld, Stonestreet has released a number of singles under her own name. With The Sunshine State, she brings her talents to a hazy, indie sound whilst letting the alt-pop melodies shine. It’s infectious without feeling overly polished.

Appropriately, Dating A Drug Dealer positively hums with the promise of Californian sun and busy sidewalks — the feeling of a bike ride as the sun starts to come down, or a lazy skateboard to cap a long day. The song itself feels like a tribute to embracing the moment and wilfully choosing to insulate yourself from a messy reality, as Stonestreet explains:

“Well the song title is pretty self-explanatory... but this song is about a romance that was fleeting and ultimately destructed itself. But for a moment, I was very in the moment with someone who had a lot of secrets that I was ok with him keeping.”

The result is a track that is dripping with atmosphere, making me long for big skies, hopeful dreams and maybe just a dash of danger. Stick on some sunglassed and check out Dating A Drug Dealer below:

The Sunshine State - Dating A Drug Dealer Written by Skyler Stonestreet, Hayley Penner & Nick Monson LYRICS I woke up Swayin' On the ocean Somewhere off the coast I was laughing You were joking The first to go and boast Something expensive Something pretentious Oh Best not to question How did you get that gold The less I know The less I know the better Ever since I met ya The more I wanna let you love me Love me Don’t wanna know Don’t even gotta mention How you got your mansion It’s okay just come and love me Love me I wake up You’re making me breakfast My place fits in this room We in Brentwood or in Venice? I’m getting used to Something expensive Something pretentious Oh Best not to question How do you make that dough