THE PLAYLIST
Mattnimare/ Kwam Rak (Venus)
On their latest offering Kwam Rak (Venus), Thai indie-rock quartet Mattnimare are doing what they do best: crafting an evocative pop-rock ballad designed to tug at your heartstrings. Here, vocalist Pree Asvaraksha questions the notion of kwam rak (love), lamenting “The more I’m invested in it/ The more tears I’m shedding.” Nothing to write home about, really (plus we think the song ran two minutes too long).
Taylor Swift/ …Ready For It? T-Swizzle returned, all guns blazing, earlier this month with lead single Look What You Made Me Do. After endless think pieces trying to decode the symbolism of its accompanying video, she’s now unveiling its follow-up, …Ready For It? Taken from her upcoming new album, Reputation, the Max Martinproduced track is sonically reminiscent of Kanye West’s I Am God. “Knew he was a killer/ First time that I saw him/ Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted,” she rattles off the syllables over burbling synths as if she was trying channel her inner Rihanna. Then the bridge hits and we get that ubiquitous The Chainsmokers-esque melody. It’s all a bit confusing to be honest.
Sales/ Talk A Lot
Floridian duo Sales, aka Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih, serve up a slice of infectious indie lo-fi goodness in the form of Talk A Lot. Lyrically, the pair tell a mundane story of going to a supermarket with a bunch of chatty friends (“Your friends they seem to talk a lot/ You know I’m not that type/ Just pull up in your shopping cart/ Just throw it all in there, it’s fine”). Musically, though, there’s a winsome quality embedded in its flowing, buoyant groove that simply begs for a replay.
Ibeyi (feat. Kamasi Washington)/ Deathless French-Cuban twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Díaz have been making intriguing music under Ibeyi since 2015. Following their self-titled debut, the duo is back with a new cut Deathless. Featuring saxophonist Kamasi Washington, the song is based on an actual incident when Lisa-Kaindé was wrongfully arrested for dealing drugs. “He said/ Do you smoke?/ What’s your name?/ Do you know why I’m here?/ She was/ Innocent/ Sweet sixteen/ Frozen with fear,” the opening verse starts off like a riveting short story. Refusing to be grinded down, the pair cry in defiance “Whatever happens/ We are deathless!”, making it one of the most empowering choruses we’ve heard this year.
Charlotte Gainsbourg/ Rest
Seasoned actress/singer-songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg is back with the promise of her first new solo LP, Rest, since 2011’s Stage Whisper. Produced and co-written by one half of Daft Punk, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the lead single/title track finds her intoning in French over mesmerising, lullaby-like synth loop. Slated for a release in November, Rest marks Gainsbourg’s first record in six years (as well as her fourth solo LP), and will feature collaborations with an eclectic array of artists from SebastiAn and Paul McCartney to Connan Mockasin and Owen Pallett.