New Music Weekly #38 | Laoise, Frankie Cosmos, Half Waif
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: Laoise, Frankie Cosmos, Half Waif & More…
Half Waif ‘Keep It Out’
This synth pop project with a featherweight touch has been many people’s radars for some time now. ‘Keep it Out’ is the first single from Half Waif‘s upcoming debut full length and it’s a promising indicator of things to come. The synthetic bass throbs, the drum machine chatters and her own voice, soft as a plush pillow, hovers above and asserts it’s power over them. Nandi Rose Plunkett is in a relationship where she wants to open up, but is all too aware that being vulnerable means risking the very thing she needs support from. “I’ll keep you out / So you never see me unravelling” she concedes.
Frankie Cosmos ‘Being Alive’
Taking a page out of Car Seat Headrest’s book, Frankie Cosmos has gone back and had another crack at one of her beloved, Bandcamp favourites. ‘Being Alive’ first appeared on 2014’s Affirms Glinting but her second effort here reignites the track. Greta Kline and her band have the uncanny ability to a make sub 3 minute track, full of stops and starts, sound fluid and distinctly fervent. The track is like a gentle punch on the shoulder from a mate, an affectionate burst of light aggression that makes you feel present.
A-Trak & Falcons ‘Ride For Me’ (Feat. Young Thug and 24 Hrs)
Producers A-Trak and Falcons team up to give us a forward-thinking look at trap production. ‘Ride for Me’ is a song that aims to vibrate the dance floors the world over and it mostly succeeds. It pulsates with electrifying sampling and a beat that don’t quit. True to form, Featured artist ‘Young Thug’ gives a vocal performance that’s once again something to behold, his cracked voice is like an erratic unpredictable sermon that’s as transfixing as it is inscrutable.
Laoise ‘Bother’
Galway based Laoise is one of this island’s most exciting purveyors of electronic pop. Latest track ‘Bother’ is breezy slice of buoyant fun. It’s an upbeat stomp that darts about with authority, recalling efforts from the best of Zara Larrson’s back catalogue. Laoise sings about an ex she keeps seeing who won’t take the hint, and the confidence in her delivery suggests maybe he should.
Kraus ‘Reach’
‘Reach’ is the debut single from the noise-pop artist’s upcoming sophomore album Path, and works as a punchy two minute sonic assault. The typical swirls of lovely distorted rhythms are present but Kraus adds an element of much-welcomed urgency to the proceedings. Shoegaze is so often a patient genre, with layers sounds building atop of each other gradually but Kraus cuts to the chase in a track that doesn’t reach so much as it grabs.
U.S Girls ‘Rosebud’
We have already heard a couple singles from U.S Girls’ upcoming album In a Poem Unlimited, with the political showstopper ‘Mad As Hell’ being a particular highlight. ‘Rosebud’ is up to that same standard. It’s a steady as she goes, engrossing piece of piercing pop music. The pace is languid, but Meghan Remy’s high-pitch, heavenly warble of voice continues to be an idiosyncratic presence that elevates almost everything she touches.
Lauren Auder ‘These Broken Limbs Again Into One Body’
The 19-year old(!) French-born London resident is sonic experimenter who makes innovative electronic music well beyond his years. ‘The Broken Limbs…’ is a fascinating blend of trip-hop beats and neon-tinged electro-pop.
