Listen: Joy by LO’99 & Ray Foxx

LO’99 is known for producing house music, but doing so whilst infusing his music with tech and warehouse sounds. Joy is his new single, and comes off the back of remix work for everyone from Fatboy Slim, Röyksopp, Kaskade, and Moby, through to AlunaGeorge.

On the new single, LO’99 teams up with DJ and producer Ray Foxx to create a 90s tinged piece of rave-y house. Warm synth strings wrap around a loved-up vocal refrain, repeatedly calling out to ‘Bring me joy, bring me happiness’. The overall feeling evokes late sweaty nights in the company of friends and loved ones, the sun coming up whilst you aren’t quite ready to let go yet.

Joy plunges into broken beats and darkness before resurfacing for a glorious, hands-in-the-air moment, those warm melodies and some savage sub-bass combining to create something beautiful and uplifting. What LO’99 and Ray Foxx have created here may not be subtle, but what it lacks there is more than made up for in raw feeling. It takes me back to the dance floor in my head, and the opportunities for human connection we all seek.

Listen: Ouchie by Willoh

Following on from last month’s single, Buckshot, 19-year-old Missouri artist Willoh is back with another new single, Ouchie.

Buckshot was a piece on the nature of finding acceptance and giving yourself permission to let go and move on. Wrapped in broken beats and layered vocals, it was introspective and a little resigned. In contrast, Ouchie is more clear eyed, and whilst Willoh continues to leverage overdubbed vocals to great effect, here they have a greater level of processing. Processed vocals can often rob a song of some of its humanity and emotion, but the application on Ouchie is handled delicately. The result is insistent but still human and, as Willoh wrestles with whether to fight or give up, she has a building determination in those vocals.

The tension at play in Ouchie’s slow-moving instrumentation, but assertive vocal performance reflects Willoh’s desire to capture the feeling of holding things in until you can’t any more. She describes the song as ‘the breaking point that comes when you can’t anymore. It’s the sound of that explosion.’

Check out Ouchie below:

Listen: Girls Who Don’t Like Girls by Raine

I have a long-standing affection for songs by girls who don’t like boys, and therefore Girls Who Don’t Like Girls, a new piece of emotive folk-pop by London-based musician Raine, feels very appropriate. Taking inspiration from artists like Ethel Cain and beabadoobee, the combination of delicate production and vulnerability reminds me of the work of Clairo, but Raine undoubtedly establishes her own style here.

An ethereal piece that nonetheless feels anchored in its emotion, Raine’s single sees her overdubbed vocals act as a through line as guitar melodies sketch out a melody cautiously. Girls Who Don’t Like Girls leverages lyrical narrative with effect, as Raine describes the painful experience of falling for someone who ultimately reverts to a preference for a heterosexual relationship.

The overall effect of Raine’s performance is heartbreaking, depicting traded kisses even as she gets her heart broken. Raine explores the relationship without judgement, delivering the line ‘And she tells me she likes boys, but only when they take their clothes off, keep their mouths shut’ with resignation rather than frustration. The subsequent chorus, where Raine sings ‘I’ll be your drug, if you’ll be my love’, is all the more potent as a result — sometimes unrequited love feels like the purest form of love.

The song builds to a gentle crescendo as layered vocals repeat the song’s title, ‘I like girls who don’t like girls, who don’t like girls’. The result is a lesson in economy — proof that a song can do so much with restraint.

Listen: I’m Alone by Nathaniel Earl

Based in Austin, Nathaniel Earl is a composer, artist, and producer focused on creating art-pop soundscapes ‘rooted in emotional rupture and renewal’. Coming ahead of his forthcoming debut LP, What Follows What Remains, his new single I’m Alone is a soaring piece of electronic synth-pop. At the same time, the song retains an earthiness, with the kind of folk influence you could expect from a collaboration between M83 and Bon Iver.

In the artist’s own words, _I’m Alone_depicts the period of ‘quiet acceptance that follows heartbreak, the moment you stop reaching for someone who’s already gone’. The sense of loneliness and introspection runs deep through the song as Earl wrestles with the conflicting emotions that bubble over in the song’s chorus. ‘Maybe someday I will find you waiting outside my front door, maybe I’ll realize one morning that I don’t miss you anymore’, he sings, seemingly cleaved down the middle between longing and healing.

Overall, Nathaniel’s song leverages this contrasting sense of quiet resignation and soaring emotion to great effect. Each verse depicts vocals hovering among strings and ambience, before the chorus introduces pulsing bass and energising percussion, a reflection of the possibilities that exist in moving on.

In I’m Alone’s final third, we witness the song veer into more theatrical territory, as Earl envisages a future when his departed lover will trigger a wistful smile rather than pain. It’s a moment that has just a dash of the pomp of the Pet Shop Boys, yet it is quickly replaced with a hymn-like climax, layered vocals and electronics capping Nathaniel Earl’s transformative experience. It is a transcendent experience, hearing and feeling someone’s pain and healing so vividly. I’m Alone leaves me with a quiet piano refrain, and goosebumps.

Listen: Rat Race by Reality Distortion

Opening with the kind of low-slung bass guitar Kim Deal would be proud of, Rat Race ricochets across styles and genres, as Reality Distortion weave together a tapestry of dream-pop, grunge and post-punk.

Inspired by a desire to drop out of the mundanity of day-to-day work, the new single acts as an invitation to embrace the possibilities of an alternative existence. With the talent on display here, Rat Race is both a reflection of Reality Distortion’s own experiences, and a call to arms for others to leave the safety of conventional careers behind, and see where their passion can take them. Crisp percussion underpins vocals that invite the listener to dream bigger, ethereal melodies acting as a rejection of the earthly mundanity of working for a conventional salary.

Reality Distortion are a sister-brother duo who have been making music together for almost ten years. Describing the inspiration for Rat Race, they said:

‘We all get wrapped up in the mundane, daily routines sometimes, and forget to pursue what is really important to us. We want people to listen to Rat Race and think about what leaving the rat race means for them. For us, leaving the rat race means continuing to pursue this crazy dream of making music. It is the thing in our life that makes the most sense, and consistently brings the most joy, so we're still doing it!’

The overall sound created by Reality Distortion blends together lightness and darkness to create something appropriately thrilling, as the song soundtracks the jump into the unknown that comes with embracing your passion.