Bat For Lashes: Kids In The Dark
From her new album Lost Girls—the follow-up to 2016’s The Bride—comes “Kids in the Dark” by Bat For Lashes (aka Natasha Khan). Immediately recognizable as Khan’s mesmerizing, haunting style of dream-pop, “Kids in the Dark” is luminous, and ’80s-inflected. The record (out 6 September on AWAL Recordings) is said to be inspired by and an homage to Los Angeles and childhood in the 1980s.
Mega Bog: Truth in the Wild
A lounge track for the lobby of a passenger ship floating through space, Mega Bog’s “Truth in the Wild” toys with the earthly and the cosmic. Frontwoman and multi-instrumentalist Erin Birgy guides listeners on a mystical adventure. All the while, the Vanessa Haddad-directed video further romanticizes Birgy’s vision through scenes that blend “live-music performances and the science-fiction worlds of Ursula K Leguin.” The track will appear on Mega Bog’s fifth album, Dolphine, out 28 June.
Flume feat. London Grammar: Let You Know
The newest release from Flume (aka Harley Streten), “Let You Know” is an intergalactic track that’s certainly of the producer’s sonic style, but undeniably fresh. Vocals by London Grammar’s Hannah Reid lend to the song’s vibrancy. This is the second single since the release of Streten’s EP, Hi This Is Flume, earlier this year. Flume is also embarking on a world tour beginning 2 August in Montreal.
Slow Hollows: Get Along
From LA-based Slow Hollows’ highly anticipated new album, lead single “Get Along” beguiles with dizzying beauty. An earnest message underscores the lyrics, delivered with quiet wonder by lead singer Austin Anderson. He and Slow Hollows bandmate Daniel Fox produced the track, along with additional composition from Björn Yttling (of Peter Björn and John). The American Millennial-directed music video counterbalances the mundane with the magical—often through split screens.
Janet May: Lessons To Learn
Direct but detailed, Janet May’s debut single “Lessons to Learn” can only be described as rock poetry. Driven by May’s vocals, set over a steady strum of guitar and a developing electronic throb, the track does not shy away from substantial lyrical topics. May spent time as a backup singer for Bombay Bicycle Club, Alex Winston and others. With this song, and the Pete Voelker-directed music video, she lets her full voice be heard.
Jacob Collier: Moon River
Made using hundreds upon hundreds of recordings of his own voice and over 100 more features, Jacob Collier’s “Moon River” is an a cappella rendition of the Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer classic. Inflecting his voice to cover the track’s high, low and more symphonic moments, Collier’s version grows and bellows out into a massive, orchestra-like performance. Herbie Hancock, Daniel Caesar, Ty Dolla $ign, Lianne La Havas and others lend vocals to the first half of the song, but Collier carries it through the end—accompanied by a video that features a kaleidoscope-like ensemble of his recorded takes.
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.