Listen: Fever Dream — Courtney Paige Nelson

Fever Dream opens with the kind of chugging electronic bass and melodic synths that invokes memories of wishing that my life was soundtracked like the movie Drive. The sound here recalls the lo-fi electronics and 80s-production techniques that became popular again with Electroclash, but applies them to big pop hooks to create something accessible yet emotive. The result is little bit Chvrches, a little bit Italians Do It Better.

In contrast to all-out pop music, the slight edge the production lends to Fever Dream conveys a more authentic sense of emotion. I can’t help but feel that polished pop music can feel like it puts a barrier between the listener and the audience — both literally, in terms of the sound, and metaphorically as a result of the process. A song starts with a feeling and an idea. By allowing more time and more hands to interact with that feeling, does it not begin to become diluted?

With Fever Dream, the title track from Nelson’s forthcoming debut EP, it is as though the emotions can sit at the surface… A little like the way the pixels on our phones appear to have got closer to the surface of the glass in recent years. And yet, the production work is not without embellishments — the instrumental bridge only enhances the emotional core of the song before dropping back away to make space for Courtney’s vocal.

Nelson created the song during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as she wrestled with her ambition at a point where, for many, life seemed to slow down. That ambition feels like a direct result of her upbringing, where she was banned from singing at home and ultimately got kicked out aged-17.

Having moved to LA at 22, Courtney pursued a career in modelling and placed fourth in the final of America’s Next Top Model, but ultimately never really got her big break. Then when visiting Australia she got her first experience singing in front of other people, and was hooked. The fact she came to music later in life has shaped her sound:

“Because I don’t have a musical background, everything I have written and everything that comes out musically is just this raw part of me I hid for so long. And, honestly, music is the only thing that makes sense to me.”

That is audibly on display here on Fever Dream. Discussing the song’s creation, Courtney says:

“I wrote this in relation to how I was feeling during the pandemic. I really focused and hustled all of 2020. I put my head down and made sure I worked my heart out because of how much I wanted to be on top of things after the pandemic. This song is about how I want this so bad, to make it in music, but everyone around me just isn’t being serious or motivated. (...) I felt a bit isolated because I don’t have a plan b. I can’t relax because if I’m not 10 steps ahead, there’s someone who will gladly try to be. I didn't get a lot of security and breaks in my upbringing, so I feel like I must work a lot harder sometimes because I’m my own support system, and I’m my own person to fall back on. It was hard being so focused and having people not understand/drift away from me because of it.”

Check out Fever Dream below:

Listen: On My Mind — Don’t Connect

On My Mind is a track from London-based collective Don’t Connect, and it represents a deliberate choice to eschew expectations and go against mainstream conventions.

With raw production, On My Mind weaves together tight, punchy drums, loose acoustic guitar and synths. Atop this, a lazy drawl delivers a diatribe against money and conformity, and the song’s aesthetic and message converges on a single point: That integrity and experiences trump bragging and self-image.

That message comes to the fore in the closest thing the track has to a chorus, which rejects the value of money and drugs:

“Fuck a bill, take my money any day, wanna feel, shit you can't buy anyway … Fuck a pill, I don't wanna marry Jane, I'm for real, high enough on night and day”

The slightly downbeat yet pacy aesthetic give On My Mind a grunge-meets-hip-hop feel that I can’t get enough of, and I love the honesty of the message. Check it out below:

Listen: Done — Luna Morgenstern

Done is the kind of instantly infectious track that instantly puts a spring in my step and makes me want to be a better person.

Luna Morgenstern’s new song is about finding liberation and independence as a young woman, and being free of the notion of your existence being to provide pleasure to the male gaze. It’s an empowering and important message, and Morgenstern delivers it with exactly the sense of empowerment it deserves.

The 80s-influenced synths in Done’s opening and its background shouts invoke the sounds of Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen, but the stuttering percussion and low bass lend Morgenstern her own aesthetic. The result is determined, unapologetic and as infectious as hell. Pump up the volume and dance.

Listen: In The Night — Soma

Stockholm-based musician Soma last appeared on these pages last year with her effervescent single, Slow, which energetically portrayed the experience of cautiously moving on from someone.

What struck me about Slow was the way it still felt like it hinted at possibility and hope, whilst dealing with a topic that ultimately invokes sadness. In a sense, In The Night picks up where that song left off, in that it shimmers with an excited sense of possibility. Where Slow was about letting go and moving on emotionally, In The Night is a tribute to humanity, and more specifically our bodies. Describing the song, and the significance of its release now, Soma says:

“This is a song I’ve had with me for the past 3 years. It has seen many phases, several different productional styles and finally found its form on the cusp of the pandemic that we’ve all come to know so well. In March 2020, I made the decision to put the release on hold. At a time when the world was, and still is, struggling to cope with deep shock, friends and family members losing their jobs, and some their health and lives, a song that so brutally celebrated the body felt like a sin.

“Today, the same song that started out as a catchy tune with no remarkable depth, is nothing short of a tribute to our magnificent human bodies. Big or small, confined or free to move, in pain or in bliss, our human bodies are the containers and the pure expressions of life-stories. From our nearly unbearable intergenerational trauma to our secret one-night-stands.”

In The Night is the first track Soma has produced herself, and comes in advance of her upcoming EP, Make Me Human. Check it out below:

Listen: 21 — KIND. x Wyldest

With production work from KIND. and lyrics and vocal courtesy of Wyldest, 21 floats on like a daydream, recalling snatched memories from a point in life when you grow and mature. The song depicts the growing self-confidence of being in your early-20s.

KIND. is the moniker of London electronic producer Julian Wharton. Having played with successful dream pop band Dios Mio, Wharton got experience writing music in the group as he played guitar. In 2018, he began to focus on his own sound as KIND., initially producing and engineering for other artists before exploring a solo career that continues to draw on his dream pop roots.

KIND. and Wyldest met when sharing a stage in London’s live music scene, Julian at the time playing with his former band Dios Mio. Together on 21 they have created something contemplative, cinematic and yet also accessible. As it launches into the chorus, 21 conjures a certain sense of self-assured determination and I particularly appreciate how it contrasts with a more reflective sound in other parts of the song.