FEATURE: Tracks of the Week - 26/1/14

*Originally published for The Line of Best Fit (26/1/14)

What a quick week it’s been, and with it came a whole host of great new music. Here’s our pick of the best tunes from the past seven days.

Mysterious Parish bunch ANTHEMS brought breezy pan pipes, golden synths and daydream vocals to take us a million miles away from Blue Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, heck, all week. Doused in tropical sounds, “Up In Mine” is musical escapism at its finest.

Swapping the exotic for the chilly climes of Norway, new ambient/electronic soloist Sea Change presented the breathtaking “Let’s Dance” and we fell instantly in love. Beats creep, synths shatter and Ellen Sunde’s husky vocal cuts through lush, downbeat layers. Last year’s debut “Bursting” was a welcome introduction to Ms Sunde’s writing, but “Let’s Dance” is Sea Change, well, changing and growing in sound.

In sharp juxtaposition, Danish songstress MØ repudiated any suggestion of flailing one’s limbs in new pop killer, “Don’t Wanna Dance”. Admittedly, it lacks the edge of previous tracks like “XXX 88″, but it shows MØ’s determination in hitting the mainstream via bright and creative pop music.

Funk lines, cloudy harmonies and glassy synths combined to impress us on Fever Kids' new track, “Holding Grass”. Hailing from the Greece capital, the pair known only as Σtella and Alex seem to have a firm grip on how to pen tunes with groove and melody. Surely that’s the best kind.

Finally, London’s Years & Years dished out their latest ode to electro-soul, handled by rising produced Lxury (of affiliated Disclosure fame). Replete with a soaring chorus, audacious bass throbs, solid vocals and vivacious percussion, “Real” is ready to hit radio speakers.

Listen to our selection of the week’s best new music below:

LISTEN/WATCH: Sea Change, Pillar Point, Dustin Tebbutt

Sea Change - "Let's Dance"

Dreamy Nordic electropop artist Sea Change has unveiled her new single, the brooding and delicate, “Let’s Dance”. 

It’s another cold chill down the back of your neck. Building upon debut single “Bursting”‘s icy electronica, “Let’s Dance” already embodies a maturer sound from Ellen Sunde, who moved from Norway to Berlin to help develop her music. Whilst there’s a hint of wider influences, there’s still something intrinsically Scandinavian in its sound with spacious synths, tip-toeing beats and Sunde’s crisp husk.

The track builds slowly with the added appearance of gentle piano taps and forlorn synths, coming to a head in a thousand layers. Stunning.

 “Let’s Dance” is available as a limited 7” vinyl or can be sourced digitally via her website.
 


Pillar Point - "Cherry"

Shedding the skin of alt-pop act Throw Me The Statue, San Francisco’s Scott Reitherman returns under the guise of Pillar Point – this time armed with the shimmering “Cherry”. 

Set against a backdrop of scuffling beats, Krautrock bleeps and sunshine synths, “Cherry” has all the right ingredients for an assured summer hit. But Reitherman’s mournful, nostalgic vocal bites against any inferences of a joyful sound, resulting in an unnerving and attractive type of dozy electronica that’s oddly fitting for this time of year.

Following on from 2013’s “Eyeballs”, “Cherry” is the second track taken from Pillar Point’s self-titled debut full-length, released on 3 March via Polyvinyl Records.





Dustin Tebbutt - "White Lines"

Taken from his debut EP release, Australian artist Dustin Tebbutt premieres the hypnotic new video for “White Lines” on Best Fit. 

Two years ago, Tebbutt crossed the seas from down under to Scandinavia to write music. The results are four comforting, emotive songs best suited to warm colder months – more so the case than ever on “White Lines”.

The brainchild of Tebbutt and video editor Marcus Coblyn, “White Lines” sees minimalist stop-motion images loop just behind the track’s tender beating heart and aching synths, working to lull you into a rhythmic trap. It perfectly accompanies the audio – patterned melodies that slowly climb atop each other – if only to bed itself amongst these sounds than divert attention away from them. 

The Breach is out now and Tebbutt plays Servant Jazz Quarters, London on 25 February.