Occasionally with song titles
I'm stuck in a loop wondering which came first, the title or the song itself? I
know usually the title will come last, the Beatles' "Yesterday"
was famously demoed as "Scrambled
Eggs," but in some cases the music seems tailored to the title. I'm
convinced Built to Spill's Doug Martsch figured out how to get the bands
guitars to echo into infinity after scrawling the title "Randy Described
Eternity" on a piece of paper. The most likely reason for "Anarchy
in the U.K."'s sound is that the mangy Sex Pistols wanted to match the
calamity suggested in the rebellious title.
Brooklyn electronic pop outfit
Lemonade's new song "Come Down Softly" belongs in this category.
"Come Down Softly" suggests a slow, feathery fall onto a mattress and
that's the mood Callan Clendenin and company fashion here. Clendenin's voice
hardly rises above a whisper. Alex Pasternak's drums alternate between thump
and unobtrusive ticking. The group's tropical flavored synthesizers wash
over everything like waves from a lagoon. At a critical juncture Clendenin soulfully murmurs "a place that I know, this time I'm not alone, the hair bangs on your shoulder breaks my fall." There's no gigantic drop-off, just a gentle ride into the sunset.
Lemonade's third LP Minus Tide is out on Cascine September 9.
Electronic pop group Kate Boy sound like they've been
manufactured in a laboratory. Not because the Stockholm based trio lacks a
soul, but because 2013 efforts "In
Your Eyes" and "The
Way We Are" sounded too perfect to be engineered by human hands.
Synthesizers would slither without going off course. Drum machine strikes were
massive, but not overwhelming. Kate Akhurst's hooks could be infectiously
"sweet" and you wouldn't have to worry about a toothache because
there was just the right amount of bitter. Ultimately that's what made Kate
Boy's earliest work sound so "otherworldly," it was "just
right" to the point of being unnerving; wandering around in the valley
of the uncanny.
New single "Self Control" seems trapped in the quicksand of that
uncanny valley. A few shades lighter and the electronic stomps pass for a
rallying Katy Perry track. Backwards whooshes opening "Self Control"
recall Frank Ocean's warm epic "Pyramids"
more than the desolate landscape of Scandinavia. I'm certain the brief stabs
underneath Akhurst's chants of "self-controool," littered countless
80s chart toppers. Everything here seems to be pointing somewhere else. That's
not the case though. Mainstream pop artists rarely have the unflappable cool
Akhurst does when singing about constantly getting something wrong. "In
the end you'll make it right," Akhurst insists in the scaling chorus of
mechanical claps. Kate Boy may not have the natural look of pop stars, but who
cares when the music is this dazzling?
The "Self Control" single is available now through Fiction Records.
On enigmatic producer SOPHIE's
latest track "Lemonade," there's what sounds like a balloon slowly
deflating throughout the song's all too brief two minutes. Considering the
high-pitched double Dutch chants of "Le-le-lemonade" and
"Ca-ca-candy Boys" the U.K. artist overlays, it's a fitting sound. "Lemonade"
is like a kid's birthday party where nothing seems to be going right. The
bouncy house has sprung a leak. The magician is running 20 minutes late.
Parents are arguing in the other room. And one child just bit another one. There's unmistakable playfulness in the air, but the gloomy side of the tracks
is within sight.
In the case of "Lemonade,"
SOPHIE's first effort since last summer's "Bipp," the
sinister and sunny are wrapped up in the same chorus. His influence on the thriving PC Music crew is unmistakable, poppy fluctuations in mood come fast and furiously. "I've got something
to tell you, I hope you understand, I never meant to hurt you, it wasn't in my
plans," a head rushing Chipmunk voice confesses with stuttering
electronics before low-end bass static interrupts. Like one of the hyperactive
kids at that birthday though, the heartbreak is forgotten about in an instant
and its back to Fizzy Lifting Drink hiccups and the familiar deflating sound.
Falling in and out of love is much easier when you're young.
(The Souncloud link to "Lemonade" currently isn't working, but the "Lemonade"/"Hard" single is out August 5 through Numbers.)
I'm not sure if I've ever had to
turn down the volume on a song that could be pegged as "seductive
R&B" because the bass was too loud. Ideally, the bass should be softly
exhaling. Synthesizers need to ebb and flow without overflowing. Drums
(programmed or otherwise) that faintly tick are best. Any guitars in the mix
fit when they have a brittle feeling. The seduction element hinges on silence.
On "Share It All,"
Jessie Ware's second offering from her upcoming sophomore release Tough Love, the
U.K. electronic R&B artist checks off the last three while leaving the
first conspicuously blank. "Share It All"'s synth moves at a glacial
pace under Ware's breathy request "could you it all with me, and I'll
share it all with you?" When she's navigating in a dark room with a
destination in mind, drums are quietly chattering under piles of ripped off bed
sheets. The song's fragile reverberated guitars conjure the xx and sure enough
the London trio's guitarist Romy Madley Croft co-wrote the effort with Ware.
Though previous
collaborator Julio Bashmore produced "Share It All," it’s the
xx's work that informs the track. The idea of cavernous bass in an alluring
number wouldn't be possible without the xx's "Intro"
as a template. In "Share It All," each boom isn't meant to shake you,
but echo the jittery beat of a heart.
It's more than the music though
that makes the xx one of Ware's closest analogues; it's her uncertain romantic
insistence. "Share it all with me," she calmly demands before backing
down to "if you want to." Ware's asking someone else "tell me
what you want me to do;" following instead of leading. Not unlike Croft in
"Angels,"
she knows exactly what love is, but doesn't quite know how to pursue it.
Jessie Ware's Twitter page teases August 3 as a release date for Tough Love's title track. No news yet when the album will appear on Island/Cherrytree.
