Listen: Ghost Complex by darkDARK

The latest single from duo darkDARK, Ghost Complex, forms part of the high-concept sci-fi narrative that represented by the album of the same name.

Together, the darkDARK are duo Genevieve Vincent and Chris James, and on their forthcoming album they are imagining:

‘A post-apocalyptic world where, in a last ditch effort, humanity tasks two A.I. generated beings to download a sequential set of songs designed for them by the PETAL program (Planetary Escape Through Artificial Learning) with the intention of starting civilization over.’

Most of the songs are created by humans as fables, intended to tell their stories and teach ‘their human way of thinking and feeling’. This specific song, Ghost Complex, describes the experience of the AI beings, who view themselves as empty vessels, restricted to only mimicking the humanity that created them.

In contrast to Arcade, the darkDARK song I covered back in July, Ghost Complex has a delicate, angelic feel that suits the perspective it is written from. There is a metallic innocence to the song, which contrasts to the crunchy synths of Arcade. Where that song felt like a melding of person and machine, _Ghost Complex_feels purely robotic, an algorithm discovering humanity on its own. I find myself reflecting on Chris Cunningham’s haunting video for Björk’s All Is Full Of Love, a video that imbued a sense of a lonely soul in something that looked pure machine. As I imagine the being behind this song’s voice, I can’t help but think of Björk’s shiny, Apple iPod-like robotic form.

The gentle emotional drama here is beautiful, and created through the use of darkDARK’s deftly applied production and atmospherics. Genevieve’s vocal has a whispery lightness to it, and it contrasts with the sophisticated, crisp lines that surround it. Clean synths and slick bass reverberate with a mechanical sense of movements, as rhythms scroll past like lines of evolving code.

Listen: Thai Milk Tea by RHY

RHY’s new single, Thai Milk Tea, opens with filtered guitars and chunky drums that evoke a 70s radio vibe. The sound has the soulful, eclectic R&B swagger of Haim, combined with some indie authenticity.

Based in Perth/Boorloo, RHY has unveiled Thai Milk Tea just as summer gets going in the Southern Hemisphere. Following on from the joyful About You, featuring Jewel Owusu, Thai Milk Tea is the second song to be lifted from a forthcoming EP, set for release in 2024.

Thai Milk Tea is inspired by RHY’s appreciation of the drink, and is a metaphor, with the artist likening the sweetness of the Thai drink with the qualities that first drew the artist to his wife. Describing the song’s creation, RHY says:

‘My songs rarely begin with lyrics, but I found myself singing the first line of the chorus to myself a while before I nailed down the musical elements, which set the stage for probably my most lyrically driven song. I wanted to capture the feeling of a fresh relationship during the phase of dating, where everything is new and exciting, like a sweet drink that you can’t put down. Of course, I still feel the same way about my now-wife, but it’s always fun to reminisce on those early months.’

My appreciation for RHY’s latest track stems from the way it blends together disparate styles, creating an earnest sense of yearning. There is a lush feel to the instrumentation that RHY conjured from the five-piece band format RHY uses, and the worldly sound feels like a holiday, and a trip into someone else’s mind.

Listen: Sugar by Chris James

Having built up an impressive record that includes a co-writing credit on the BTS Billboard Hot 100 number one song, Life Goes On, Chris James has accumulated a brain-breaking 1.7 billion Spotify streams across his collected work. Here on Sugar, James turns his hand to an indie-folk influenced style of energising pop.

Sugar is the kind of instantly infectious record that you can’t help but move to. The song’s magic is in part in its ability to weave together an authentic, raw vocal together with polished electronic melodies and moments of thoughtful vocal overdubbing. The result feels joyful, uplifting and yet also surprisingly genuine. The rest of the magic is all in a chorus that bubbles with energy, as James delivers the song’s repeated refrain, “The air, it tastes like sugar”.

Chris James’ song is a somewhat therapeutic exercise, and the sense of warm relief that runs through the song somewhat ironically reflects its difficult incubation period, followed by the relief in its conclusion. As James describes:

‘I was going through a little creative rough patch while I was trying to crack Sugar. It‘s funny cause the song itself is really about the feeling you have when coming out of a situation like this, and you finally get to breathe again, so in a way, the song's theme reflects the journey to making it.’

In Sugar’s closing minute, Chris pulls back all that polish and electronic instrumentation to deliver the song’s vocal on a basic microphone, giving the song a naked aesthetic, sounding like something he might record on his phone, in his bedroom. The result is surprisingly emotive, revealing the heart of the song and letting the melody stand tall, free of the production wizardry that embellishes the first two-thirds of its duration.

Listen: Daughter by Darkstates

Just last week, I had a conversation with a friend and fellow parent, who asked me if I sometimes worry about the world we have brought children into. “Of course,” I answered… for who couldn’t? I never regret having my son, even for an instant, but I wish I had more confidence in the world, and his future wellbeing. Our parents and grandparents used to push for their children’s lives to be better, and easier, than their own. Such an aspiration feels difficult right now, and I would settle for a life experience that just resembles the comfort of our generation’s.

On Daughter, North London-based producer, vocalist, and songwriter, Darkstates has created a beautifully heartfelt piece of emotionally impactful electronic music. His inspiration for the record comes from his experience of thinking about the trade-offs of bringing a child into the world, or choosing to forge a path alone out of concern for what their experience could be. The daughter of the song’s title is imaginary – the record sung to the child Darkstates has opted not to have. In his words:

‘I came up with this concept of writing a song to my imaginary daughter – if I had the opportunity to speak to her now, what would I say? I thought about her getting to adulthood and living on an uninhabitable planet. I would want to explain to her that I thought it was best not to bring her into the world, to protect her from all that. I guess it’s a sort of apology to her, really. I hope she would understand and forgive me.’

I find both this description, and the song itself, utterly heartbreaking. The sense of mourning in Daughter is palpable. The haunting vocal sings of warming seas, waste, and air pollution, filled with a sadness about a future potentially denied for all of us. Yet, it is the personal way Darkstates sings about these that resonates most strongly. The lines explicitly for an unborn child — ‘Take you home now, on my shoulders’, for example — that resonate with the most personal loss. That chorus of disastrous environmental impacts hits home precisely because it opens with the line, ‘Though I would have loved you, in the boiling seas’. It is a tribute that can’t help but feel devastating.

Underpinning the heartfelt vocal is a restrained, electronic production style that combines a nagging melodic, melancholic synth and subtle percussion. Darkstates creates a textural and cinematic feel, blending live instrumentation with analogue synths, creating the kind of genre-agnostic music Thom Yorke is known for.

I found Daughter deeply affecting. I may have made a different choice to Darkstates, but I feel and share that heartbreak all the same.

Listen: Whisper All My Secrets by Ella Lockert

With the kind of dramatic, electronic-infused elements synonymous with the music output of the likes of Ariana Grande, Whisper All My Secrets is an emotional powerhouse of a record.

Hailing from Norway, Ella Lockert is an 18-year-old solo musician who has already built up a substantial catalogue of material, including her debut EP, Confusing, released in 2021. Here on Whisper All My Secrets, Lockert depicts the experience of being in love with someone, whilst knowing that person isn’t good for you.

Opening with a gentle piano riff and placing Lockert’s vocal at the song’s centre, it quickly establishes the emotional stakes. As she lays out her confusion and the emotional conflict gently, Whisper All My Secrets really reveals Lockert’s inner turmoil as she sings the line, ‘You have misled me before — this time it’s war’.

It is at this point that Whisper All My Secrets mutates into a bonafide pop banger, chugging bass providing the backing for Ella’s loudness to really break through. On the song’s central hook, she sings, ‘You don’t deserve my love’, and you can’t help but feel buoyed by her empowerment.