Listen Up

Languid R&B, upbeat indie-pop, self-reflective pool rock and more new music this week

Monophonics: Last One Standing California-based band Monophonics makes music that sounds plucked from another era, with tinges of Curtis Mayfield and Al Green. There’s a timelessness to their releases and their newest single, “Last One Standing,” is no exception. The seven-minute song ebbs and flows: there are groovy, cinematic cuts carried by drums, a bass guitar and horns, and crescendoing choruses built around vocalist Kelly …

Kacy Hill feat. Francis and the Lights: I Believe In You

Pretty and powerful, “I Believe In You” from Kacy Hill’s forthcoming album, Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again, grapples with doubt and the repetition of everyday life. Ultimately, however, the song offers thoughtful affirmation. Halfway through, the break’s distorted vocals contrast Hill’s otherwise airy crooning. The silken tune’s hopeful subject matter reflects a real-life “coming to” moment for Hill, as she explains in a …

Premiere: “Mind High” By DOV

Textured, tantalizing R&B melodies from the Brooklyn-based, Tel Aviv-born alt-pop producer and multi-instrumentalist

To access, understand or simply cope with the influence of anxiety on one’s mind, DOV (aka Dov Eagle) found that various substances lead to a quieting of the noise that makes it all so oppressive. This may be the surface subject matter of the queer pop artist and producer’s latest track, “Mind High,” premiering here. But his first release of 2020 carries so much more—antagonized …