Listen: lØve! By Ambergrove featuring Dre Ishmail

lØve! is a chaotic, psychedelic and beautiful collage that recently I have found myself consistently coming back to it.

Originally created to be a b-side by the artist collective Ambergrove, lØve! is a song they have been sat on for some time. Having initially decided not to release it, the group unearthed it again, just as they wrapped up the recording of their debut album.

The song lØve! is actually a riff on an Ambergrove fan favourite, dØves!, taking that earlier song and reversing it. Despite being just two minutes long, dØves! moves through two distinct movements, creating an almost two-act, theatrical feel to the song. lØve! is similar, but arguably more dramatic, extending things by a minute, and adding what feels like a third act.

The crunchy, sample heavy production style clearly owes a debt to Bon Iver’s landmark album 22, A Million. Ambergrove leverage the same contrast between multi-layered electronics combined with the crisp and clean vocal that opens up here at the one-minute mark.

In contrast to dØves!, itself a distinctive and experimental track, lØve! is bolder, the sound of a group of artists pushing confidently into new sounds. This is particularly the case in the way they create the space for UK hip-hop artist Dre Ishmail to deliver a heartfelt, clear eyed vocal as the song draws to its conclusion.

Overall, I found the track affecting, distinctive and original. Check it out below:

Listen: You Wanted This by Jodie Nicholson

It has been almost four years since Newcastle-upon-Tyne musician Jodie Nicholson first appeared on BlackPlastic.co.uk with Move, a sophisticated, dark piece of progressive pop.

Since then, we have also heard from Jodie with her single Why Would You (Go), a song with the drama of far off thunderstorms. The fact that even this song is now almost three-years-old breaks my brain a little. Jodie’s music has stuck with me in a way that means I find myself often coming back to it, and I had no concept of how much time had passed since first hearing of her.

The good news is that she is back with not just a new single, but a whole album. Entitled Safe Hands, the new album opens with this latest single, You Wanted This, making it the perfect (re-)introduction to Jodie’s sound and latest vision.

With gentle-yet-insistent piano chords and a hushed vocal, Nicholson’s latest song unfurls slowly before these initial elements are joined by slow, considered synths and a dubby, heavy four-four beat. Jodie’s vocals take on a filtered effect, creating the intimate feeling of a voice note left on your phone, but also providing remarkable contrast as she opens up on the bridge. As ever, the effect is astounding, both cinematic, and remarkably restrained.

Those hushed vocals are perhaps intended to be the sort of memo you record for yourself, with You Wanted This being a song about the complex feelings Nicholson has about being a musician. The song is an overt reminder of the drive that led Nicholson to make music in the first place, as she describes:

“To me, You Wanted This is about remembering why I fell in love with music in the first place. As a kid, I was obsessed with Avril Lavigne, wished I was one of Roger Waters’ backing vocalists, always searching for cool music that no-one else was listening to, wanting to be on (British TV talent show) Stars In Their Eyes and sitting in the back of the car pretending I was in a music video, singing all moody through the window… It’s thinking back to how I viewed music then and regaining that child-like excitement for the music I make now as an artist. I’d like to think that if I ever have a wobble, this track will serve as a personal reminder of why I love being an artist and what I can be capable of. Unintentional, but it’s a pretty nice feeling.”

You Wanted This is out now, and will be followed by the album, Safe Hands, via Quiet Crown / Absolute on 10 May 2024. You can also see Jodie live in the UK in May and June, with tickets available here:

18 MAY | Glasshouse ICM, Gateshead

04 JUN | Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds

05 JUN | Lower Third, London

06 JUN | Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham

08 JUN | Crofter's Rights, Bristol

09 JUN | Komedia, Brighton

11 JUN | YES (Basement), Manchester

12 JUN | SWG3 Poetry Club, Glasgow

Watch: Round And Round by Primer

Starting with a grimy, robotic synth line, Round And Round quickly establishes itself as a song of contrasts.

Post-intro, the crunchy electronic sounds are swapped for soft instrumentation and slow drums, LA-based musician Primer’s angelic vocals introducing a serene atmosphere. Round And Round is at its best, however, when it brings the robotic and angelic together, in the chorus. The analogue-sounding synths give the song concrete foundations upon which the vocals have the room to explore.

The resulting song has the hallmarks of the glam-rock-channeling work of Goldfrapp, particularly as the song descends into the bridge. Whirling melodies break into a canter, a carousel where the horses have come to life and broken free. Primer’s vocal takes on a more earthly sound in the final run through the chorus, shaking free of their otherworldly sound as we strain against the song’s growing centrifugal force.

Listen: Change Your Life by Just A Leo

Just A Leo are a duo who look to create a sense of nostalgia, with an electronic DIY aesthetic from their bedroom studio. With Kalliope providing vocals, and Andie on drums and bass, the pair share keys and production duties, as they fuse elements of dance, synth and electronic pop, soul, and house.

On new single Change Your Life, Just A Leo have created a deep, synth-led piece of pop music. The song is a tribute to the experience of embarking on life-changing actions and decisions. Inspired by the pair’s planned move from Australia to Europe, the song was created shortly before they moved. Change Your Life is based on the band’s ‘future-active reflection on how important this event would be’. Having now completed their move, the pair say:

‘Since being in Europe — it's been the best thing we've ever done. We've grown as people, had so many new experiences, immersed ourselves in a new culture, grown up, encountered soul-crushing challenges and overcome them. Now we feel fierce, like we can take on anything that this life will throw up to us. Whatever sense of stability you have isn't real. So you might as well take that leap of faith. Is it really that scary to step into the unknown when it's the only place we exist in?’

That sense of taking a step into the unknown, and the fear and excitement that comes with it, is captured perfectly on Change Your Life. The song’s synths and melodic bass tones evoke the sounds of Europe’s Mediterranean coast, and the desire and anticipation is tangible, particularly in the song’s bridge. It is a moment of reflection and peace before the song moves forwards, taking us towards our own change, as the bass and percussion kicks in one last time.

Watch: Wonka by Derek Simpson

Opening with warm, analogue keys and gentle guitars, Wonka feels like the warm afternoon California sun falling through a window, resting on my skin. That west coast sound reflects Derek Simpson’s journey, as an artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who moved from Boston to the music scene of Long Beach in LA.

The sound employed by Simpson on Wonka has a beautiful subtlety and richness. With an ever so slightly cracked vocal style creating a sense of emotional authenticity, Derek’s performance slips between a standard register and a falsetto performance, like someone who inadvertently betrays their emotions with variations in pitch as they talk. The production that surrounds this delivery has a restrained sense of experimentation, a series of glitchy melodies in the song’s bridge creating a textural, IDM and crunchy hip-hop influenced sound.

Overall, Derek Simpson has created something equally tuned into the head and heart — an emotionally resonant song that is also intellectually stimulating. Simpson’s lyrics are an exploration of the vulnerability that comes with love, feeling exposed whilst also compelled, as he describes:

‘It’s an unsafe place you go to when you allow yourself to be in love. You’re putting clothes on and taking clothes off trying to imagine how your beloved will see you. You’re on exhibition all the time. And no matter your choices, you’re exposed. Right before you remember to breathe out & inevitably everything takes care of itself, the magic will disorient you.’