Listen: Take My Picture by future.exboyfriend

Take My Picture is the first collaborative effort from future.exboyfriend and previous BlackPlastic featured artist Bad Heather. Here together, the pair channel a sleazy, tongue-in-cheek aesthetic. _Take My Picture_is partly riffing on the sounds of LCD Soundsystem and MGMT, but with an extra dose of modernist pop.

Beyond collaborators, Bad Heather and future.exboyfriend are friends and room-mates. Together, they were inspired to make Take My Picture based on their ‘shared experiences and candid talks about the music industry's competitive edge and local scene challenges’.

What draws me to this song is the way it plays with styles in a way that manages to keep introducing surprising elements through to the end. The initial clipped bass and snarky vocals are very noughties post-punk, but the bridge drops in rave-y synths and distorted drums, like a kid gorging themselves in a music-candy-shop. More than anything, it is the sound of playful confidence. The chants of ‘get a good look’ that follow the chorus are so distinctive and in-your-face — it feels like the culmination of the song. And yet somehow it holds one final surprise back, a final surge of snarky aggression as the vocals resolve into a near scream and the instrumentation descends into a drum and bass cacophony.

Listen: Orbit by JW Francis

JW Francis is an intriguing individual. Born in Oklahoma, raised in Paris and now based in New York, he was once the assistant to someone who won a Nobel Prize, is a licensed NYC tour guide and owns a murder mystery business. His scratchy, lo-fi indie-alt-pop has a similarly eclectic feel to it, taking inspiration from the city Francis now calls home.

Taking inspiration from The Velvet Underground and the music of New York over the decades, JW Francis sounds a little like a three-minute distillation of Meet Me In The Bathroom, Lizzy Goodman’s oral history of New York’s post-2001 music scene. There’s a little Vampire Weekend in here, and a whole lot of the Strokes.

First things first, though: Three-minutes is short. Orbit is brief, but bubbling over with energy and ideas. It is a lesson in the value in leaving people wanting more… The ideas JW Francis employs here barely stick around long enough for you to really wrap your head around them, let alone long enough for them to get old. I find myself reaching to scrub backwards before the song has even reached its conclusion, looking to just taste a little bit more of the sunshine Francis has captured here.

And that’s because this is a bright, beautiful, heartfelt record about falling in love. Inspired by his feelings in meeting his partner, Milla, Orbit is so unselfconscious and earnest, and so in tune with the bright, adrenaline-fuelled instrumentation Francis employs. In listening to it, I can’t help but feel the love and affection that drove him to make this song, as he describes here:

‘There are many things that have changed about my life since I wrote my last album, and one of those has been falling in love. I wrote Orbit after falling in love with my partner, Milla. I was awe-struck, dumb founded, blinded by the light, however you want to call it. I could not believe my luck, and I wanted to write a song about it. I wanted the song to race fast like a heartbeat, and to get up in your face like feelings. The music video is about finding harmony with all the different parts of yourself.’

The whole song is restless and excited and difficult to keep up with. As JW Francis hits the bridge, calling out, “I want you… I want you, I want you, I want you, I want you”, he reminds me of Tom Cruise, sofa-bound, in love and losing his mind. Whereas Cruise felt unhinged, however, JW Francis sounds genuinely besotted.

Listen: Let Me Out by Meg Chandler

Meg Chandler is a 23-year-old singer-songwriter hailing from the British countryside of Shropshire. Growing up in a home of music lovers, the impact of her parents playing music impacted her, and the sound she now channels through her music making.

That sound sees Meg marrying elements of folk, together with Indie and pop. The result, on display here on new single Let Me Out, has a textured, earthy feel to the production and instrumentation. This only helps to further accentuate the dream-like quality of Chandler’s vocal performance, with layering that creates a sense of separation, both in the mix and the listener’s experience. Let Me Out has the feel of an internal monologue, as Meg reflects on her experience of growing up in a small place, yearning for a bigger space to define herself against… She feels distanced from the world around her. Chandler describes how this experience informed her latest song:

‘I’ve often felt while growing up that escaping to the city was the only way to make something notable of myself, that perhaps my dreams were too big for the tiny village I grew up in. This song embodies my complex thoughts of trusting there’s a whole new, exciting world waiting for me, but being too scared to take that leap and leave my comfortable life back home. Ultimately, I realise that no matter where in the world I end up, I’ll always have a deep adoration for the place that made me into the person I am!’

As someone that definitely felt trapped in my own small-town upbringing, at times, there is definitely a feeling here that resonates for me. Meg brings it to life with a beautiful sense of honesty, as she reflects on her experience.

Watch: As It Goes by Operator Music Band

As It Goes is a song born out of physical trauma. Whilst working with new producers Mike Bloom (of XL Recordings) and Noah Prebish (of Brooklyn outfit Psymon Spine), Operator Music Band’s Jared Hiller was the victim of an accident. The result saw him fall a terrifying 20 feet through a warehouse skylight, tumbling directly into Rough Trade’s warehouse. What followed was an extended period of recuperation, as Hiller set about recovering from two broken wrists, six broken ribs and fractal fractures that led to permanent hearing loss.

Now mostly back on form, Operator Music Band are back with this new single, As It Goes, a dark and twisted acid house track. With a deep, looping bass line and crisp electronic drums, the new single throbs with the visceral feel of electronic body music. Alien, robotic vocals simmer atop of the song’s techno backing, as the bass and drums come to a rolling boil.

It is in As It Goes’ final third that things really let loose, however. Amidst tweaking acid, a roll of clattering, live percussion lets loose. It’s a thrilling, psychedelic trip with bags of attitude, and I’m here for it. Check it out below:

Watch: I’m Not Alone (I’m Lonely) by Courtney Farren

SF-born, LA-based musician and BlackPlastic regular, Courtney Farren is back again. Her new single, I’m Not Alone (I’m Lonely) follows on from previous releases that include the Rabbit King EP, and its preceding singe, White Rabbit. This new song comes as the lead single from Farren’s debut album, expected to launch in Q2 of 2024.

In contrast to those releases, I’m Not Alone (I’m Lonely) has both a greater sense of polish, the crunchy drums and lo-fi sound of White Rabbit entirely absent. In their place we have a style that evokes long California road trips, with synth melodies, strummed guitars and the occasional drum roll creating a widescreen aesthetic. The way Farren lands this all with such finesse just underlines the versatility of a truly impressive artist.

Beyond the song’s instrumentation and production, what strikes me with I’m Not Alone (I’m Lonely) is just how emotionally confident it is. Courtney steps her way through a verse that sees her paint a picture of growing alienation, as she gradually lays out frustration, and a building sense of disconnection. By the time she hits the chorus, where Farren’s vocal begins to take on a Stevie Nicks-like quality, floating in the wind, she lands the song’s title with such conviction that we are already right there with her: feeling her loneliness and yearning for change, and realisation that it’s on her to make that happen.