Listen: Differently — Limón Limón

Limón Limón are LA-based future indie duo Jason and Rand, and they take a deliberately difficult-to-pin-down approach to their music. It’s at once accessible, and yet, well… Different.

As demonstrated on Differently, Limón Limón’s sound avoids the trappings of conventional pop, and yet it has the infectious melody and attitude of the best pop music. Live instrumentation combines with both analogue and digital synths to create something that just feels a little new and fresh.

Differently is a song all about the feeling of overwhelming appreciation for the feeling of being in love, following a period without that sense of connection. The vocals here really convey a fresh, energised feeling, with Jason and Rand’s sunny instrumentation providing a crisp, sunny atmosphere. As we continue to ride somewhat of a heatwave in the UK, the bright and joyous melodies of Differently hit perfectly.

Listen: I’m Your Guy — Anna Shoemaker

Fresh off the release of her debut album, Everything Is Fine (I’m Only On Fire), the wonderful and prolific Anna Shoemaker is back with another brand-new track for your aural pleasure.

Following on from the drama of Anna’s more recent releases, I’m Your Guy has a wholesome and reassuring feeling to it. Atop grungy but laid-back instrumentation, Shoemaker lays out a song of commitment and reassurance, singing on the chorus, “Baby if you’ll be my man, I’m your guy”.

I’m Your Guy is about that kind of love, romantic and platonic, where you are there for one another and have each other’s backs. As Anna herself goes on to say:

“It’s been made clear over and over again that people in our country don’t really give a shit about us, so it’s really up to us to protect and be there for each other.”

Check out I’m Your Guy below:

Premiere: Outskirts — Elhel

Elhel is the musical stage name of Argentinian musician and producer Yamil Eljel. Having originally started performing in Spanish, Yamil switched to producing English language music in 2019.

Having signed with Dance Cry Dance towards the end of 2021, Elhel has been working on a forthcoming EP. Outskirts is the first track to be released from that EP, and it seeks to capture the joy of connection and freedom that many of us experience in the summers of our youth.

Opening with analogue synths and a broad, hollow-feeling bass line, Outskirts feels wonderfully nostalgic from the get go. Elhel finds inspiration in the sounds and images in 1980s cinema — something you can both hear and see in the video for Outskirts. The lyrics have a beautiful innocence to them from the first line:

“We live on the outskirts, a quiet place. I love taking pictures of your face.”

And then the chorus drops, and it feels like the rush of your favourite person squeezing your hand. Yamil’s vocal starts to erupt, his real emotions fully on display as he cries out, “Sometimes we take our car, and drive it, at full speed”. And as the layered melodies soar, you feel a moment of recognition — for just a moment, you can exist inside the connection Elhel feels with the other passenger in that car.

Check out Outskirts below:

Watch: Control — Plaster Cast

Control is heavy on the vibes and light on gravity. Scattered melodies cascade gently as a vocal duet winds its way inside my head. The male side of this duet, performed by Cameron Wilson, pulses with a rhythmic flow whilst the female half, from Michaela Lusteg, seemingly calls from afar.

Plaster Cast originally existed across the bedrooms and living spaces inhabited by producer Alex Ask and vocalist Wilson, back in 2011. Their diverse geography saw them create this project within Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwestern Desert and New York City, and you can detect hints of that geography within Plaster Cast’s sound. Over time, the duo grew into something larger — Wilson’s sister, Lusteg joined as second vocalist, and producer and engineer Brah1m rounded out what was now a four-piece.

The song Control comes from Plaster Cast’s forthcoming EP of the same name, due out on 12 August. Referencing peers that include both Chromatics and Yumi Zouma, there is a wonderfully cinematic and atmospheric feeling to their music. Control charts a path into some sort of intersection of Balearic chill wave meets lo-fi bedroom pop. It is beautiful, organic, and restrained.

Control is about the need to relinquish some notion of control in order to find calm and connection. Talking about a common theme of their music, Wilson says:

“The songs are connected by themes of remoteness and looking at relationships as a negotiation of what you get and what you give up. Ultimately, the work of looking at your place in your relationships is worth the pain it can cause, as we are useless alone.”

Check out the video for Control below, and look out for the EP in August.

Watch: Miss You — Kleo

Kleo’s single Miss You floats on buoyant, cotton-soft, melodies with layered instrumentation, providing her fragile vocal with a heartfelt canvas. Drums pump with the kind of momentum found within the krautrock-styled rhythms of War On Drugs, whilst folky piano keys and glittering guitars shine with the kind of brightness found in the polished-yet-earthy pop of Haim and Clairo.

All of which is to say, Kleo has hit upon a sound that feels like it will be as at home on the radio as it is on the pages of Pitchfork. This is pop music made to move, yet produced with a deft hand. The emotional pull here isn’t necessarily particularly complex, but maybe it doesn’t need to be. We all have, and will, miss people, and Kleo’s earnest portrayal captures the very aesthetic of that feeling. The pace and speed of Miss You feels like the rush and excitement when you close down the miles and minutes separating you from the people whose connection you most crave.

I recently spent a week in the US for work, only to discover I had contracted COVID-19 when I got home. I subsequently spent another ten-days isolating from my family (and anyone else, for that matter) at home. There was a point where I found myself a little overwhelmed by the experience of only having my own company. I missed being in a room with someone else, of having the stimulus that comes from sharing space with some separate intelligence. I couldn’t wait for it to end, and Kleo’s eager emotion speaks to my experience.

Kleo’s music typically comes from time spent working behind a piano, where she explores her love of transcendental meditation, Vedic astrology, hyper romance, rock ‘n’ roll and big pop. Check out her beautiful song, Miss You, below.