Watch: Closer by pecq

Here we are, in 2024, a year that sounds neither like the future, nor the present, and we kick it off with the glitchy electronic pop that is Closer.

pecq is the musical project of duo Nicholas (Nikò) O’Brien and Hannah (Jakes) Jacobs. Vocalist, producer, and songwriter Jakes brings her talents as a classically trained pianist and touring member of Arlo Parks’ live band. Her pursuit of music has been a route to escapism, as well as a path to a sense of identity, as she frequently finds herself impacted by her immune condition. Nikò compliments this with experience working as a producer, multi-instrumentalist and engineer for Cocteau Twins’ vocalist Liz Fraser, among others. Nikò’s aesthetic stems from the psych and prog scene of his French hometown, a commune on the outskirts of Paris, from which the duo derive their name — Le Pecq.

On Closer, pecq have created a restrained piece of electronic pop music. Fuzzy electronic bass tones establish the song’s pulse, overlayed with frequent clattering percussion elements that briefly spark before being clipped harshly back into silence. Jakes’ vocals hover and soar above all this, a wing on the wind, organic sounding and yet filtered and twisted at the same time.

Together, pecq establish a sense of motion and emotion, as Closer gently crawls through me, the tendrils of something winding itself into my mind, before a feeling of release. That creeping sense likely comes from Jakes’ sense of isolation and loneliness, as she describes:

‘Closer is about distance. I’ve been away for most of this year touring. It was so freeing and inspiring to visit places I never thought I’d see, but after a few months I struggled being away from my friends and trying to finish songs with Nikò being in an opposite time zone. I was seeing all these new things, but I couldn’t ever communicate them properly, so they started to feel like a weird dream. So Closer was originally about isolation, but it was finished on the plane trip home so a different mood crept in — getting closer to your besties, coming home full of fresh things to share.’

Check out Closer below.

Watch: Midfall by Kate Schroder

As we slip out the back door of 2023, I feel like someone who has just snuck out of a bad party without saying goodbye, a little relieved to be free. Which is to say that, whilst it won’t register on the scale of 2020, I won’t particularly miss this year.

With that in mind, Kate Schroder’s new single, Midfall, feels like a suitable soundtrack to not just round out 2023, but kick off 2024. The song bristles with an energetic sense of self-reflection, nostalgia, sadness and just a little hope for the future. Describing the Midfall, Kate says:

‘I was inspired to write this song after a string of bad decisions and wrong relationships. Wondering if the attraction to rollercoasters and chaos was a part of me at my core, or just a product of youth?

‘Now, this song has a nostalgic element to me and I also see it as a reflection on all of my past-selves (that often feel like past lives). And trying to accept and love them all.’

The cool synths melodies and Schroder’s vocal in the verse give Midfall a somewhat melancholic opening, which establishes a necessary emotional baseline. In the chorus, bass tones, chunky beats and a soaring vocal performance hint at the acceptance Kate references… Music as a form of healing, exactly the sort of sentiment I carry with me as we enter a new year, the possibilities it holds still unknown.

Here’s to a little balance, and to acceptance.

Listen: Hunting Points by Aves featuring JFDR

This is the kind of song that arrives in such a cloud of beautiful, heart-breaking vulnerability that it stops me in my tracks, instantly planting me in the moment. On Hunting Points, Helsinki-based pop trio Aves have partnered with the Icelandic artist JFDR to create a spectacularly delicate piece of music.

Together, Aves and JFDR have combined the former’s warm instrumental soundscapes with JFDR’s ethereal vocals. JFDR’s performance here is really spellbinding, and I’m impressed with the delicate way Aves have embellished it, without overpowering something so delicate. Gentle melodic keys create a dream-like aesthetic, with loose percussion and layered synths giving the song a cinematic feel.

As we coast into the holiday season, Aves and JFDR have created the kind of record that feels like a warm hug, and I’m here for it.

Listen: Regulate by iVANA

Regulate starts with a bass guitar riff that feels a little like the sort of thing Kim Deal would create… loose, low-slung, melodic. iVANA’s vocal drips in spit, sweat and attitude, as the snarls through the verse before ploughing into the song’s chorus, head on.

A song about the complexity of relationships, Regulate depicts the sense of yearning for a connection whilst feeling constrained and unable to break free. You can sense the tension in iVANA’s performance, particularly as a wall of grunge-y guitars bite in the song’s chorus.

Hailing from the Poconos in Pennsylvania, iVANA started making music during her college years, under a different name and in a different genre. She ultimately found her calling in the uniquely diverse experiences of New York City. Here, iVANA felt free to break free of conformity, liberating her to combine her love of indie rock with diverse styles and collaborators. Taking inspiration from Santigold and Lykke Li, you can clearly hear the eclectic and artistic aesthetic of the former on display here on Regulate. Check it out below:

Listen: Our Potential by Jaya Bremer

Jaya Bremer’s new single, Our Potential, opens with a simple combination of elements. A softly rounded synth picks out a series of slow chords as a looped rhythm establishes a bed for Bremer’s haunted vocal.

As the song hits the chorus, it builds a stride. The contrast reflects a building confidence and assertiveness from Bremer. Born of a growing yearning, her vocal is louder, clearer, and underpinned by more forthright instrumentation. ‘I’m running out of patience’, Bremer sings, ‘the anticipation, of something new’.

Jaya Bremer’s path to this slice of minimal electronic pop is somewhat unusual. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Bremer has been on the Victoria music scene for nearly ten years. Her credentials are diverse — fronting a manouche jazz quintet, a Patsy Cline tribute act, an indie-rock band named Wise Child.

Here on Our Potential, Bremer evokes the dance-floor based emotional vulnerability of Robyn, but blends it with the kind of subtlety portrayed by The Japanese House. I find Our Potential extremely effective — restrained and yet desperately emotive. It tracks down those thrilling moments where a physical intimacy is in the air and captures them, the spaces between two people as notable as the spaces their bodies actually occupy. Like the Miles Davis quote, it’s about the notes you don’t play, this is a song about the physical space not occupied. Describing the song, Bremer says:

‘This song is written about a crush developed outside of a committed relationship. It is about the longing, the fantasy of someone else that you know little about and can project your desires onto. Our Potential was written as an outlet for this desire, as a way of allowing myself to explore that longing without doing something I was likely to regret. This song is about not wanting to compromise, but to have it all, the freedom and fun, as well as the person waiting for me at home.’

As Jaya’s new single slides itself towards a conclusion, rising arpeggios echoing French touch, something is unleashed. ‘I wanna give up nothing’, she whispers, the music shaking free of all that restraint, desire soaring. Someone needs to loop that final 45-second portion into something that fully lets me get lost inside of it. My finger on the rewind button, as Bremer says, ‘I’m running out of patience… How about you?’