Listen: 7.5 Years by Sasha & The Bear

Having already appeared on BlackPlastic’s pages earlier this year and back in 2023, duo Sasha Daniel and Dov Igel are back again, sneaking in just before the hammer falls on 2024 with another introspective piece of melancholic pop.

On their new single, 7.5 Years, Sasha gives voice to the process of grieving that comes with a break-up, and the overwhelming sense of loss. As she lays out in the song’s chorus, the feeling of disconnection results in a painful experience of being lost and directionless… The anchors and plans associated with a long-term relationship suddenly removed, we are adrift, with the sense of a future unwritten. It is overwhelming, cold, and forbidding, the change yet to culminate in any kind of rebirth and possibility.

As is always the case with Sasha & The Bear, the pair have constructed a sophisticated alt-pop aesthetic that lends weight to their new single’s emotional message, without distracting from the feeling conveyed in the vocals and lyrics. There is a refined aesthetic to the sound here that I truly appreciate, as the song itself puts me right in the shoes of a person navigating the painful experience of an emotional severance.

Check out 7.5 Years below:

Listen: Xmas Sox by B. Miles

My holiday song vibe is generally on the more reflective end of the spectrum — Wizzard have their place, but I’m more likely to be quietly playing Joni Mitchell’s River, morosely exploring my sadness, at the happiest time of year. Christmas is a time to think about the connections that are important to us, but I also find myself thinking about those people that we don’t get to share the season with.

The new single from New York musician B. Miles, Xmas Sox, exists in that same headspace. Emotive, delicate vocals hang like baubles in a tree, as soft instrumentation casts a fairy-light-like cast across the song’s message of loss. Inspired by the most innocuous of objects, B. Miles finds herself looking back at a connection that exists in memory now, rather than a direct, living form. Describing the song, Miles says:

‘You know how certain objects can trigger a flood of memories? For me, it’s Christmas socks—specifically, my ex’s Christmas socks. While going through a breakup, I found something of an unlikely metaphor in those socks: they’re an item everyone has, but are often hidden, just like the emotions I kept buried about our relationship. There’s a certain romance in continuing to wear something that once held such comfort and charm, especially around the holidays, even as the meaning has shifted to something more somber.’

The experience of listening to Xmas Sox evokes the memories of those that stay with us in a myriad of tiny ways… Random objects, thoughts that come to mind when we hear about a specific movie, book or celebrity, or even when the clock hits a certain time of day. Not here with us physically, but in our minds. The song gradually builds to an instrumental outro, a layered guitar solo and soft, driving beat briefly flourishing, and then evaporating just like our memories and, sometimes, the connections themselves.

Having picked up coverage from Nylon and Refinery29, B. Miles has accumulated an impressive 28-million Spotify plays, whilst appearing at venues that include the Bowery Ballroom, in her hometown. Check out Xmas Sox below:

Watch: Harmony by Tonia

Combining candid lyrics with fuzzy instrumentation, Liverpool-based artist Tonia has just unveiled her latest single, Harmony. With a sound that leverages melodic harmonies (of course), whilst embracing traditional instrumentation, the result is a bright and authentic take on modern pop music.

With punchy, reverb-heavy drums, and muted, low-slung bass, Harmony displays a kind of sonic high dynamic range… Stacked vocals, piano keys and grungy guitars all ring out at once, yet exist in enough individual space to allow you to pick them out. The crisp, playful drum pattern that forms the brief bridge out of the chorus at the 35-second mark is a moment of energising joy. As the song progresses, it playfully slips between tones, a quiet drawl, a chugging workhorse, a rowdy collision. Harmony is an ambulance of ideas casually slammed together in a single, two-and-a-bit-minute record.

Already garnering support from Spotify, Apple Music, and BBC Radio, Tonia’s latest single sees her poised for further breakthrough success. As she goes through stages of anger and confusion, Tonia ultimately lands in a space of acceptance, having used the Harmony to unpack a friendship in break-up.

Listen: Older Sister by Lenn

Hailing from Hertfordshire in the UK, Lenn grew up in a small town surrounded solely by Christian music. It was only in her teenage years that she began to discover the variety of music out there. This relatively late exposure to popular music has led to her drawing her primary inspiration from contemporary musicians, including Bon Iver, James Blake, Banks, SZA, and FKA Twigs, rather than more historical ones. The result is a musical style that is crisply modern, yet emotionally deep.

Now based in Bristol, and having performed as vocalist on a sold-out UK tour for Icarus, Lenn went on to release her debut EP last year, garnering coverage from BBC Introducing. That attention her EP, Waist Deep, received has at times left Lenn searching for direction and clarity. Here on new single Older Sister, Lenn reflects on what life would have been like with someone from whom to seek counsel.

With warm synths, subtle use of found sounds and reflective lyrics, Older Sister is a nostalgic, introspective record. Low-end bass gives the song a steadying foundation, just as Lenn looks for something to ground herself against. The resulting song is both mature, a modern, electronic folkiness on display, whilst also youthful and vulnerable in its searching, open uncertainty.

Listen: Dramatic by Dirt Flirt

The solo project of London-based multi-instrumentalist Kit Eaton-Kent, Dirt Flirt is a creator of alt pop with an emotive, vulnerable edge. With a focus on exploring both queer themes, the lyrics are reflective and the hooks infectious.

Dirt Flirt’s new single, Dramatic, opens with a propulsive beat and gently processed vocals, conjuring a sound that feels urgent and insistent as Kit begins to unpack her feelings of being your ‘own worst enemy’. As the song swings into its chorus, the instrumentation loosens up, taking on an almost post-modern rock sound, akin to the pumped-up-electronic-stadium sound of Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers.

The vocal hook in the chorus is where Dramatic shines brightest. A raw and self-deprecating swagger hitting as Dirt Flirt knowingly sings, ‘Not to be dramatic, feels like I’m running into traffic’. Rather than potentially being alienated, the honesty here only pulls me further in. The experience of needing to work on yourself is likely familiar to most of us, and her determined processing of her own emotions becomes an inclusive, shared experience.