New Music Weekly #12 | Fleet Foxes, The National & Rejjie Snow
New Music Weekly is your one stop shop for new releases in the world of music each and every week. From the best of the best, to some of the rest, Mark Conroy is here to give you the low down on what you might have missed. This week; Rejjie Snow, The National and Fleet Foxes
Rejjie Snow ‘Purple Tuesday (Feat. Joey Badass & Jesse Boykins III)’
While we still wait for his proper debut, Rejjie Snow instead releases a track that will feature on an upcoming free mix tape entitled The Moon & You, alongside fellow prestigious rap talent Joey Badass. ‘Purple Tuesday’ is smooth as silk, a groovy gem that would soundtrack a dimly lit bedroom in the late 1990’s. While sonically there’s nary a rough edge in sight, lyrically it’s charged with the turbulent nature of the lives of young black men. Badass’ verse is particularly tempestuous, fretting at the depressing fact that monetary value trumps the value of human life on the streets: “It’s this money that /Determines and divides, that’s insuring our lives/Even causing homicides on the streets of NY”.
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Hazel English ‘That Thing’
Hazel English has been consistently dropping hazy pop gems that will wash over with you a wave of ambient fuzz for a while now. Her latest ‘That Thing’ is a tad bit more crisp but no less endearing. It’s the kind of track that might nuzzle its way into the charts into the mid 1980’s or failing that, show up on the soundtrack to a Nicolas Winding Refn film 30 years later . “I Love when you do that thing to me” English sings with a flutter. You don’t need to know that ‘that thing’ is, because we’ve all had one and we’ve all had someone to do it for us.
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The National ‘The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness’
The title of The National’s first new track in almost four years sounds like an ominous assessment of the Trump administration as well as dire prediction for the longevity the new ‘global’ norm. Lead vocalist Matt Berninger is singing Thom York-ian, paranoid proclamations about the world’s current state of being, almost sounding defeated as concludes he “can’t explain it any other way”. Still ,true to form, Bernigner’s lyrics continue find pockets of light in the darkest corners. The track moves in that subtle momentum that only The National can achieve, one generated by locomotive drumming and the low registering power of the vocals. The system may be in “Total Darkness’, but Berninger also knows that’s the closest point before the dawn.
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Now, Now ‘SGL’
Electro pop outfit Now,Now’s first bit of fresh material in almost five years is simply crafted, but deeply felt. ‘SGL’ stands for shotgun lover, who is the songs narrator and someone giving their non-committed crush an ultimatum. Vocalist KC Dangler is left restless on nights when she thinking about a lover who’s only available to her on a part time basis: “I’ve got a bed, yet I’m not sleeping / And every time I hear her name my heart is breaking”. Dangler knows she’s getting the raw end of the deal, but its better to her than no deal at all. The guitar is crisp, the track is punchy and the emotions run deep.
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Big Thief ‘Shark Smile’
After already releasing the excellent lead single ‘Mythological Beauty’, Big Thief’s follow up single off their upcoming capacity came out this week and it’s yet another showcase for Adrianne Lenker’s macabre, storytelling ability. ‘Shark Smile’ is like the love song that Thelma would sing to Louise if they ever became a couple. It’s the story of a car accident in which one dies and one lives” Lenker said in an interview with NPR.
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Cymbals ‘Decay’
‘Decay’ is the lead single off of Cymbal’s upcoming Light In Your Mind, released on 25th August. It’s a post-punk toe tapper, danceable and disquieting in equal measure. Stay tuned for that extended outro, which has the track’s melancholy gliding into a territory of glistening giddiness
Fleet Foxes ‘Fool’s Errand’
Robin Peckold is romantic to a fault, but he knows it. On the latest single off his band’s upcoming Crack-up, the title says it all. Whatever, or more likely whomever the Fleet Foxes frontman was chasing, he knew it was a wild goose well before he wanted to admit it. ‘Fool’s Errand’ isn’t a disconsolate swipe at a fruitless endeavour, rather it’s on ode to keeping calm and carrying on in matters of the heart. The Track’s folksy ambiance is pure fleet foxes and they do it best because no one else is allowed be them. Even if “blind love couldn’t win” as our singer admits, he’ll continue to ‘chase after the wind’ because it’s better to look for something that may never be than stay inert and hope for something that you know will never come.
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Wovoka Gentle ‘They Mostly Come at Night Mostly’
Without doubt the best song of the year with an Aliens quote for a title. Wovoka Gentle make big, expressive electronic pop with enough subversive flourishes to give them an idiosyncratic edge. ‘They Mostly Come Come at Night Mostly’ Is a charged to the point of near total overload, a gleefully impactful floor filler that treats drastic left turns and sweet hooks as equal partner . The London trio all offer their voices to give the synthesised sounds a human touch. The music video is also all sorts of wonderful madness .
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