Watch: The Book Of Love — Alex Winston

Image credit Ellyn Jameson

One of my all-time favourite albums is The Magnetic Fields’ gloriously off-the-wall 69 Love Songs. Initially conceptualised as a musical revue, Stephin Merritt’s album is a delightfully eccentric exploration and deconstruction of the concept of love songs. Comprised of three separate discs, it is almost three hours long and takes in a variety of genres and moods and, frankly, if you haven’t ever heard it you should stop reading and go rectify that.

Regardless, the original version of The Book Of Love is one of the better known songs from 69 Love Songs, and has invited numerous covers. Where Merritt’s version is delivered in a somewhat deadpan-if-heartfelt way, Alex Winston’s take is more overtly emotive, particularly when paired with a video the evokes the notion of love’s long-lasting impact, both within our lives and beyond them. Winston’s vocal here soars, overdubbed harmonies creating a wall of melody whilst guitars create a slow building crescendo.

This version of The Book Of Love is taken from Alex Winston’s EP of of love related covers. Including versions of songs by Charli XCX, Daniel Johnston, and Field Medic, Other People’s Love Songs is out now (and just in time for Valentine’s day!). Check out the cover of the Magnetic Fields below:

Listen: Better Be Yours — GRO

Danish musician and producer GRO has just unveiled the single Better Be Yours, a song centred around the complexity of relationships. The song is the title track from a whole album created by GRO, real-name Julie Gro Møller Christiansen, written together with her ex-boyfriend Mads Kinnerup during the period following their break-up.

With a surprising degree of stoicism, Better Be Yours is an optimistic if realistic portrayal of romantic relationships, as the artist explains:

”Better Be Yours is about daring to believe in love, even if it has been beaten up many times and you have been hurt. It is completely natural to have periods when things are not going well in a relationship, and you need a little pep talk to keep the spirit up, so our intention was to make an energetic rave track that invites the listener to keep the courage and patience when things are not working optimally.”

The song itself is a crisp slice of acid pop, wet synths giving emphasis to a clean vocal performance and snappy, minimal drum kicks. GRO’s vocal is deployed in an almost instrument-like fashion – snippets of messages deployed as reassurance to a past, present or future lover, avoiding anything that feels like a formulaic verse-like structure. It makes the slide into Better Be Yours' chorus all the more notable, with a repeated refrain of the song’s title providing the clarity and space that allows some extended instrumental vamping. In particular, the extended chorus and bridge structure that kicks off the song’s second half is an absolute joy. There is a distinct late-90s atmosphere to GRO’s production aesthetic, but it feels fresh here, in part due to its complete embrace of modernism.

Listen: Betrayal — Emco

As a fan of video games, I’ve recently secured myself a Playdate — the intriguing, beautiful and quirky handheld video game system from software developer Panic. The Playdate is quite unlike any other modern games console, firstly because it has a 1-bit, non-backlit, black and white screen (it looks a bit like e-ink), and secondly because it has a crank. The crank is an input device, a way to control games, not a way to charge the device.

One of the initial games that comes with the Playdate is called Whitewater Wipeout, and the concept is simple — you are a surfer, and you use the crank to pull tricks.

Crank!

What you may be thinking at this point is what does any of this have to do with the bit-crunched piece of electronica you find at the bottom of the page. The answer is very little, outside of my own head… But, in my mind, the two things have become intrinsically linked. Whitewater Wipeout actually has its own soundtrack — an 8-bit inspired chugging surf-rock track. But I find myself gravitating towards Emco’s track Betrayal in place of the the game’s actual soundtrack.

There is a combination of beauty and fear in Emco’s Betrayal that feels perfect for my compressed little adventures on the ocean waves. A haunting piano refrain floats like shifting water before a wall of distortion and bass hits you with the force of a rip tide. When I’m pulling triple-360s and racking up combos it feels just right, and then when I smash face-first into the water or get consumed by the advancing wave, it is still perfect.

Betrayal itself was inspired by a time when Emco felt betrayed and left alone — as such it depicts a sense of helplessness, and a story of resilience. Both feel relevant to adventures on the waves, a beautiful and terrifying balance between control and the loss of control.

Listen: Katie Boeck — Over Again

Over Again is the latest song from Nashville-based musician, singer-songwriter, and actor, Katie Boeck. What drew me to her latest song is just how simple the performance and production is — Boeck’s vocal is sat atop a simple strummed guitar, gentle keys and, well, very little else… It creates a simplicity that reminds me of the early-00s trend of acoustic chill-out music.

The star of the show here is, undoubtedly, Boeck’s overdubbed vocal harmonies. The restrained delivery of her vocals are a depiction of coming to terms with the past, and it is a delightfully restrained performance. The few moments that reflect that Over Again is the product of a recording studio rather than a live performance are so subtle they could almost be missed, if they didn’t add just a touch of emotional emphasis. This is the sound of an artist at peace.

Check out Over Again below, and look out for Katie Boeck’s forthcoming album, Calico, due in April 2023.

Listen: Everytime I Go To Bed — Nicolás

Nicolás is a music producer whose work tracks a vein of nostalgic melancholy. Describing his experience of the world, he notes the apparent tension between the fact that his may be part of Gen Z, but Nicolas has an affection for the world his parents grew-up in. For all the utility modern technology provides us, it can leave us forgetting the things that aren’t instantly accessible. We can immerse ourselves in the digitised experiences we recorded, but none of it conveys the emotions or sensations we had at the time.

Single Everytime I Go To Bed is an exploration of those overwhelming emotions — the feeling of being consumed by a desire or passion for something or someone. A yearning vocal depicts a sense of isolation as it slides across clattering jungle-styled drum and bass. The overall experience is beautiful, and yet haunting at the same time.

That sense of loneliness and isolation comes from the experience of being trapped inside yourself, and your emotion, as Nicolás describes:

“We all had a moment in our lives where passion was too strong, you want to get out, but you just can’t, your head is becoming a big loop where you feel lost and stuck.”

Listen to Everytime I Go To Bed below.