Listen: New Moon (Riptide) — Aaron Title

Hailing from DC, Aaron Title is a singer, songwriter, and producer focused on combining lo-fi indie pop, R&B, and electronic into immersive soundscapes.

New Moon (Riptide) opens with lightly filtered vocals, atmospheric synth notes and crisp drums, but the song is quickly propelled forwards by chunky, bubbling low-end bass. The result is an introspective, optimistic sound that takes cues from progressive house and electro, with lyrics that depict the experience of picking yourself up amidst turbulent time.

I found the energy and mood of Title’s song addictive, and the song has the kind of production that demands to be heard on the best sound system you have. Check it out below:

Watch: Troy Creeps — Laveda

Drenched in atmosphere, Laveda’s Troy Creeps seeps into your ears with glittering acoustics married to bruised and cracked vocals.

You can hear Laveda’s influences, which include the Sundays, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, in the slow beauty that gradually unfurls here. Layered guitars and pounding drums build to the song’s wall-of-noise shoegaze dream-pop climax.

Founded by duo Ali Genevich (vocals/guitar) and Jake Brooks (vocals/guitar/synths), Laveda released their debut album, What Happens After, in 2020. Through the summer and autumn of 2021, Genevich and Brooks spent most of their time in Los Angeles, working with producer Dylan Herman on Laveda’s second album. The pair have looked to leverage a level of lyrical vulnerability that will be familiar to fans of artists like Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy. Together with their full live band, appearing on this album for the first time, Laveda combine their lyrics with the expansive soundscapes on display here, on Troy Creeps.

Troy Creeps is the perfect vehicle to show off Ali Genevich’s vocal abilities, and she describes the song as embodying “a long night spent alone with your thoughts”. On the song’s unusual title (which I struggle to not read as “Tory creeps”), Brooks says:

“When I made this demo I had just moved to a small apartment in Troy, NY. You could always hear everyone’s conversations if they were outside on that street. People were screaming at each other about something while I was recording, so the name stuck.”

Check out Troy Creeps below, and look out for Laveda’s forthcoming sophomore album, A Place You Grew Up in, due 14 April on PaperCup Music.

Watch: So Far (Poem) — Dámi Sule

Dámì Sule is the musical project of Nigerian-born, Manchester-baserd singer and rapper Emmanuel Damilare Sule. Leveraging the inspiration he finds in poetry, and artists such as George the Poet, Dámì seeks purpose through a blend of meaningful words and music.

The resulting music is hard to categorise - there are elements of rap and hip hop here, but the scope of Dámì’s sound feels much wider. Having started in music in 2017, Sule has since garnered major industry support with features from the likes of Complex, DMY and GUAP, and airplay from Worldwide FM, BBC Introduce and BBC 1Xtra and spots on Apple Music featured playlists.

Dámì’s forthcoming EP, So Far, Still Going, is a reflecting and introspective collection of songs featuring a combination of restrained, tasteful production and emotive lyricism and poetry.

So Far (Poem), taken from the EP and featured below, goes back to Dámì’s roots of spoken word poetry, here layered on a carefully constructed combination of keys and strings. The piece provides insight into the Sule’s determination, ambition and yet also reveals elements of doubt and fear. Reflecting the EP’s title, the song ends with a vulnerable reflection of Sule’s own uncertainty: “So please don’t ask me if I’m there yet, if I’ve signed a record deal yet (...) Every goal has a process, so... so far I’m still going.”

Elsewhere, the EP has a snappier, more percussive sound, yet it retains and eclectic aesthetic in the combination of sounds Dámì leverages. EP opener Rolling Deep has muted snares and hi hats, as Sule raps over a wandering guitar melody. Hide and Seek layers vocals, keys and snappy drums to create something that feels timeless, drawing on vintage soul whilst leveraging contemporary production techniques.

Check out So Far (Poem) below and check out the full EP, So Far, Still Going, here.

Listen: Fake My Feelings — Ponette feat. Torine

Having made their name producing dark and catchy pop, Ponette have built a reputation and level of critical claim on the Scandinavian indie-pop scene. Their cover of t.A.T.u.’s All The Things She Said has picked up over 3 million plays on Spotify, and their beautifully bruised single Losing Me was highlighted by Norway’s biggest radio station, NRK P3.

With a new EP in the wings, Ponette have teamed up with Norwegian artist Torine on Fake My Feelings. The song has a kind of breathless feel to it, like getting busted when you are secretly crushing on someone instead of doing something productive. Warm bass tones, muted guitars and energetic vocals create an emotive, glossy feeling.

Describing the inspiration of the song, Ponette said:

“Fake My Feelings is a result of the introspection most people probably go through after a break-up. You need distance from the relationship before you’re able to see things clearly. The song is about realising you’ve lived for one person, without paying much attention to what you need yourself or who you want to be.”

Fake My Feelings is out now via Toothfairy — check it out below:

Listen: Runner’s High — Olivia Reid

Runner’s High is the new single from NYC-based musician Olivia Reid, who “blends indie acoustics with exploratory electronic pop soundscapes”. Which basically means her music strikes a beautiful mid-point between pop and folk, akin to those Taylor Swift and Justin Vernon collaborations, but in one tastefully cohesive individual.

Here on Reid’s new single, the running is as much a metaphor as anything — a depiction of the necessary struggle in achievement… As an artist, she reflects on the fact the race isn’t about the competition, but the feeling, as she sings, “All this time, I was a runner, searchin' for that runner's high.” Describing that inspirational feeling, Reid says:

“Runner’s High describes the way I’ve conditioned myself to be a workhorse… A product of growing up in America, I guess.”

Olivia’s vocal performance stands out as clear-eyed and determined, as piano keys play out a series of relaxed chords. Chunky-yet-loose percussion grants Runner’s High its necessary feeling of pace and movement, the four-four beat of the chorus slapping like feet on the pavement. In the song’s final minute we get a bit more of a left-field outro, luscious instrumentation evoking some of that Vernon experimentation as the whole song shimmers and then, ultimately, evaporates. This is the kind of record I love — it is pop, but intelligent, sophisticated, and emotive pop.

The outro was a key jumping off point for the song’s creation, which was developed with co-producers Ry Jones and Bastian Testori. Jones shared the track with Olivia through Instagram, noting that the saxophone at the end felt like a perfect callback to Reid’s 2018 single Organic Bloom:

“When I heard the early version, I was so inspired. I immediately asked if they wanted to collaborate on it. The concept for Runner’s High came so quickly. This song feels like that moment when I’m sprinting, and my legs finally seem to move faster than my thoughts. My mind is free. At that point, the high, the bliss – feels earned – and it’s most definitely addicting.”