Listen Up
Synth-pop, folk nostalgia, an unexpected mash-up and more in our musical round-up
The Natvral: Home
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart’s Kip Berman—working under the solo moniker The Natvral—dropped a debut solo EP earlier this year. From it, the heartfelt track “Home” now gets a music video, directed by Remy Holwick. From upturned roses and an all-around pink palate, there’s over-the-top folk nostalgia here—and it works with a wink to the audience.
Private Agenda: Instinct
From the four-track EP Affection, Private Agenda‘s “Instinct” layers reverb vocals on top of a synth-heavy tune for a breezy, infectious result. With a languid bass line, the infectious synth-pop tune glides along—sprinkled with disco elements throughout.
Christine and the Queens: Kiss It Better / Wuthering Heights
For her BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge performance, Christine and the Queens (aka Héloïse Letissier) has managed to weave together two important tracks by iconic pop singers, and create something entirely transcendent. Her cover of Rihanna’s “Kiss it Better” contains smatterings of Kate Bush’s 1978 masterpiece “Wuthering Heights,” all in a minimal, funk-inflected package. A mash-up never sounded quite so exquisite.
Ex:Re: Romance
With “Romance,” Elena Tonra—lead singer of acclaimed English indie-folk act Daughter—makes her solo debut as Ex:Re (pronounced ex ray). Tonra’s beautiful vocals, which address the death and finality of romance, move trance-like through the altogether muted track. There’s intimacy to the effort that receives visual support through an Antonia Luxem-directed music video, where Tonra can be found twirling alone through a smokey dance floor. Ex:Re’s debut album releases 30 November.
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel.
