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Essential new singles also including Oral Habit, Bone China, Aki Oke, ELIKSA and Restless Taxis. |
| Above: Smerz | Words: Isabel Kilevold, Hazel Blacher, Brad Sked, Elvis Thirlwell |
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Smerz craft a strain of electronic-pop that feels both vivid and tactile, teetering between sensuality and a wry dryness. The Norwegian duo – formed of Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt – work with an intentional sense of restraint, allowing negative space to shape the track as much as sound itself. On ‘Spring Summer’, that minimalism feels quietly evocative of Oslo as spring slips into summer—light stretching late into the evening, air that feels still but charged, a kind of softness that never fully settles. Beneath their signature deadpan delivery, glassy synths flicker over a downtempo rhythm, each element placed with deliberate precision. The repetition becomes hypnotic, drawing the listener into an intimate orbit. “Baby, you don’t even know how bad this is” lands with quiet weight, its understatement cutting deeper than any dramatic swell. There is a tension in how the track withholds release, never fully resolving, but lingering in a suspended, almost breathless space. In this balance between control and vulnerability, Smerz create something quietly disarming: a sound that feels at once distant and internal, where softness is never quite comforting, and detachment becomes its own form of intensity. (Isabel Kilevold) |
big long sun – ‘heavy (on your mind)’ |
There are lots of reasons why a musician might be drawn to their craft: unburdening their innermost thoughts, the adrenaline rush of shredding a meaty solo under the sticky lights, swooshing their long, luscious hair and being swooned over by the hotties. For an artist like Jamie Broughton, the band leader of Brighton’s big long sun, it seems like making music was an inevitability, ingrained into every fibre of his spiritual identity. The eccentric eight-piece release their new album this week ‘love songs and spiritual recollections’ via state51 – big long sun’s third studio album in under 2 years (and that doesn’t include the motley of other projects Broughton has been involved in, either). Final single from the album, ‘heavy (on your mind)’, balances timeless, twangy lo-fi production with hooky choruses that coil around your brain and have you mellifluously regurgitating lines as you blearily stir your morning porridge. Hybridising the delightful weirdness of artists like Cindy Lee or Alex G, their music feels less like it was written and more like it materialised in a dream, radioed into their consciousness by some faceless deity watching over all of the strange, quirky kids finding their place in this world. (Hazel Blacher) |
Oral Habit – ‘Surface Breaker’ |
Brighton psychedelic-garage force Oral Habit are back with ‘Surface Breaker’, a snappy, sub-2-minute single released via Falmouth based imprint Krautrpop Records. The band have also shared news of their debut album ‘A Broken Chord’, due for release in June. Galloping garage-rock ripper ‘Surface Breaker’ sees the coastal psychonauts lay down fleeting, frenzied guitar riffs, more turbulent than the garish overstimulation of an arcade when you’ve run out of change and are down to your last life. A gnarly, murky affair, the track feels reminiscent of early Ty Segall or Charles Moothart. If the early singles are anything to go by, the debut LP from the Brighton rippers could be a very special addition to the modern day garage-rock canon. (Brad Sked)
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Bone China – ‘Heaven Now’ |
Purveyors of some of the most exciting emerging grassroots outfits around, London independent label Blitzcat Records (ashnymph, Flip Top Head, C Turtle) have kept their ears firmly to the ground of the capital. This week they shared ‘Heaven Now’, the debut single from London newcomers Bone China – a duo formed of Luke Lovekin and Ben Anthony. In the midst of its lo-fi and grunge sensibilities, ‘Heaven Now’ ultimately stands a scuzz-loaded fuzz-pop fever dream, coalescing both the anthemic and the emotive. Lovekin’s candied croon meanders with a saccharine-sweetness, blended gloriously with a blistering Pixies and Nirvana-esque crunch. There’s a melancholy to it all that feels so invigorating. Very exciting stuff from the brand-new outfit. Here’s to more Bone China. Please. (Brad Sked) |
Looking to capture that feeling of tranquility as a happy-go-lucky ‘young person’ – aka when you’re pumping out tunes at semi-obnoxious volume from a bluetooth speaker in a public green space, surrounded by tinnies at various stages of consumption (“when everyone around you is on the same frequency. When London rents feel worth the price”, says Aki Oke) – listening to ‘C’MON’ during this spell of gorgeous spring weather makes it hard for it not to feel like the best motive of all time. The third teaser from upcoming EP ‘lifewillneverbethesame’, due 5th June, ‘C’MON’ is a hazy, house-pop bliss-out, couched in bittersweet melody and gentle nostalgia. Yeating out releases at a fair pace of late, the London indie-dance project are locking themselves down in that halcyon, hedonistic intersection of club beats and naughty sleaze. With all the genre-dexterity of recent breakouts Fcukers, Aki Oke’s work is imbued with an undeniably cheeky sense of ‘Britishness’ too, and this latest release is no exception. (Elvis Thirlwell) |
ELIKSA’s ‘Never Enough’ possesses an ineffable magic that whisks you back to one of those bygone, rose-tinted summers sprawling out seemingly forever – cerulean-skied days buoyed with coming-of-age promise. The new Brighton outfit’s debut single arrives this week via local label Crafting Room, a stalwart of the city’s bustling grassroots scene (with Ellis D and Maximilian also forming part of their roster). Recorded as part of a live session at the historic Falmer Court estate in East Sussex, spindly slacker guitars bristle around a raw, impassioned vocal duet, “capturing the push and pull between desire and distance”. Recalling lo-fi contemporaries like C Turtle (RIP), ‘Never Enough’ is a charming, infectious debut that will no doubt be mercilessly replayed in the sunny days ahead. (Hazel Blacher) |
Restless Taxis – ‘Don’t call it cute’ |
London DIY outfit Restless Taxis do things their own way. Adhering to no one, the exciting rising noisemakers take on a refreshing approach in an industry built on so-called ‘release norms’. Through word of mouth, the group have been building a cult following with their cacophonous live show, and in their DIY approach, their output has been somewhat prolific in recent months. Their newest self-released offering ‘Don’t call it cute’ builds with jangled, Cocteau Twins-esque dream pop guitar licks, revelling in the somnolent splendor of My Bloody Valentine in a way that could induce hypnagogia itself. Here Restless Taxis put aside their more cacophony filled wall-of-noise for something much more tender and ethereal. Excellent as ever. (Brad Sked) |
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