THE PLAYLIST
Polycat / The Flowers Chiang Mai’s synth-pop trio Polycat have just dropped a Japaneselanguage EP, Doyobi No Terebi, and we must admit that it’s probably one of the best decisions the band has ever made. Lead single The Flowers pairs Polycat’s retro-loving vibe with endearing lyrics about making someone you love feel good (“Everything that you want/ I’ll give it to you/ You are my, my, my girl”). And with flute, saxophone and trombone added to the mix, the whole thing just screams old-school J-pop.
Alice Glass / Without Love
Alice Glass, former frontwoman of punky electronic act Crystal Castles, has just dropped a new solo number in the form of Without Love. Compared to her 2015 gnarly, noise-rocking debut single Stillbirth, the song is surprisingly a much tamer offering that relies on wobbly synths. “How are you gonna lie about me now?/ I see you watching me from underground/ Quasi-Strangers waiting to be found/ How are you gonna lie? Got to be without love,” she sings in the spectral voice that recalls Purity Ring’s Megan James. Speaking about her forthcoming album, Glass said that “some songs sound more like being eaten by fire ants and some songs are like being slowly consumed by a snake”. This one definitely belongs in the latter camp.
Mogwai / Party In The Dark Mogwai’s new album, Every Country’s Sun, is imminent (as imminent as early next month, in fact), and here we get to hear Party In The Dark, a follow-up to lead single Coolverine. The track, complete with a conventional song structure (yes, vocals, hook, lyrics and all!), marks the band’s most accessible material to date. Who would have thought these Scottish post-rockers could rustle up a catchy indierock jam that could easily rival what’s on today’s radio.
Pink / What About Us
Mogwai is not the only band with a new record on the horizon — pop songstress Pink is set to release hers shortly after. Titled Beautiful Trauma, the seventh LP arrives five years following the release of 2012’s The Truth About Love. First single What About Us sees the singer delivering an impassioned message about hope and defiance. “We are searchlights, we can see in the dark/ We are rockets, pointed up at the stars,” she begins alongside the soft piano chords and then breaks into an anthemic chorus. “What about us?/ What about all the times you said you had the answers?/ What about us?/ What about all the broken happy ever afters?”
The Horrors / Something To Remember Me By Something To Remember Me By is the latest taste of The Horrors’ forthcoming fifth record V. Clocking in at six minutes and 39 seconds, the song unfolds in a decidedly danceable fashion over a vibrant synth-pop groove. Frontman Faris Badwan has never sounded so wistful here either, singing about “the fear of letting go” and “the arrow of acceptance”. We especially dig the moment when the track comes to a brief halt and starts to build up all over again before eventually fading into silence.