THE PLAYLIST
Polycat/ Mun Pen Krai (Alright) So few bands have made ’80s throwback music more convincingly than pop-rock five-piece Polycat. After releasing a trilogy of hugely successful singles last year, the boys return with Mun Pen Krai (Alright), which continues to draw its wistful inspiration from the bygone era, plus elements of ’90s R&B that includes a spoken word intro, choir, saxophone breakdown, as well as throwaway fillers like “alright” and “oh babe”. If you’re a fan of Polycat’s previous releases, this one should be another delightful treat for you.
David Bowie/ Blackstar David Bowie is once again poised for an interstellar expedition as he’s announced the forthcoming release of Blackstar, his 25th studio LP. The album’s title track and first single is a sprawling 10-minute number crammed with outlandish elements covering jazz, funk, avant-garde and Gregorian chant. As far as the lyrics go, they’re equally puzzling — with references (or are they riddles?) to fictitious places like “the villa of Ormen”, macabre imagery (“on the day of execution, only women kneel and smile”) and how he wants “eagles in [his] daydreams, diamonds in [his] eyes”.
Coldplay (featuring Gwyneth Paltrow)/ Everglow Everglow is the second cut from Coldplay’s just released seventh studio album, A Head Full of Dreams. Musing about all the positive memories that linger following the departure of a loved one, frontman Chris Martin has fittingly enlisted his ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow to sing, albeit very faintly, backing vocals. “And though you might be gone/And the world may not know/Still I see you’re celestial,” he croons over a twinkling piano. “There’s a light that you give me/When I’m in shadows/It’s a feeling within me, everglow.” It’s a bit like Fix You, but less depressing.
MIA/ Borders Not one to shy away from being unabashedly political, MIA has shared Borders, a single dedicated to the European refugee crisis. “Politics, what’s up with that?/Police shots, what’s up with that?/Identities, what’s up with that?/Your privilege, what’s up with that?” she quizzes alongside a lilting woodwind and hip hop beat. Then, in the second verse, she touches on today’s pop culture, firing off a string of some of this year’s most hashtagged buzzwords (“slaying it”, “being bae”, “breaking internet”, “love wins” and “living it”), repeatedly asking, “what’s up with that?”
The Corrs/ Bring On the Night It’s been a decade since we’ve heard new music from The Corrs, the Irish sibling quartet whose hits What Can I Do? and All the Love in the World still haunt restaurants and cafes in Thailand today. Now they’re back with their sixth studio album, White Light, and Bring On the Night is the lead single from it. Musically, the song relies on the very sound that had made them a household name from in the ’90s. You know the sound we’re talking about — a collection of rather beige, uninspired love songs with an occasional whiff of traditional Irish folk.