Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update – we’ve got fresh cuts fm Yoshika Colwell, The Fades, MOSES & many more. If you like what you hear please follow and share this playlist, it helps us keep doing our thing by getting the algorithms on our side. Also please support the artists featured in any way you can!
Until next week
Helen (Futureproof) x
Arooj Aftab – Raat Ki Rani
Grammy-winning Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab has shared a haunting new single from her new LP Night Reign and states: “Raat Ki Rani is about a person whose allure, magnetism, and charisma floats through a beautiful evening garden party.” Aftab’s vocals, shrouded in reverb, are accompanied by gently pulsing piano and percussion and a Celtic harp solo. Raat Ki Rani means “the queen of the night” in Urdu and is also the name of the night-blooming jasmine flower. What a beautiful, melodic track – put your feet up, close your eyes and float away!
Yoshika Colwell – Please
Singer-songwriter Yoshika Colwell has dropped the new single Please from her upcoming album There’s a Time. “Please is a song about relinquishing your need to control outcomes,” Colwell states, “even if that means the end of a relationship existing, or existing in a certain way. It looks to free two people from a dynamic that’s become unhealthy and painful but is seemingly impossible to leave.” A full band featuring Ben Reed (Frank Ocean, David Byrne, Sampha) and Joe Harris and Liam Hutton of Gotts Street Park bring this to life, offering a sound subtle yet vivid and rooted in the classics of the folk genre. A beautiful, heartfelt track about change & recalibration – fantastic vocals and songwriting.
Bess Atwell – Something Now
Brighton based Bess Atwell has shared her heartfelt new single Something Now from upcoming album Light Sleeper. She explains: “This track is a celebration of feeling, written in a moment of empowerment when I was tapering off antidepressants. I’m not anti-medication, but I realized I’d become frightened of my feelings and it signaled a change in me that I was prepared to feel a broader spectrum of emotion.” Produced by Aaron Dessner of The National, Light Sleeper is described by Atwell as an album about the “willingness to feel.” Captivating and emotional – what a beautiful song from the distinctive Bess Atwell.
Orlando Weeks – Dig (ft. Rhian Teasdale)
Ex-Maccabees frontman Orlando Weeks recently dropped new single Dig featuring Rhian Teasdale of Wet Leg, taken from his upcoming album LOJA. The track, with its repetitive riffs and persistent percussion, is laced with a sense of urgency, the monotonous beat signifies the action of the pickaxe, a necessary and violent collision. Dig forwards, pass through the momentarily indestructible barrier, keep going along through the journey, even in moments of weary desperation – when reconciliation and continuation appear absurd. It’s a conversation between partners with one character promising things will change, while his partner reels off veiled snipes and sly digs, stating, “I’ll believe it when I see it”. A great collaboration – love it!
MOSES – Guilty
London based alt rock outfit MOSES are back after a spell of being out of the limelight with Guilty – a fresh new single and a taste of what’s to come from their 3rd album due out later this year. With its glam-rock infused intro riff, Guilty pulls you in from the start, before lead vocalist Victor M. Moses tells a tale of frustrations felt when trying to achieve in life. “Always something keeps me well behind” he sings in the chorus, only to conclude in the outro somewhat angrily that “in my mind YOU’RE guilty”. Is he talking about himself or others – who knows but his full vocal delivery in that oh so familiar higher register recalls the band’s iconic signature sound – something I’ve not heard for a while. Great energy, great band – bring it on!
Slate – Shade in Me
Slate recently dropped compassionate new single Shade in Me, from debut EP Deathless, and vocalist Jack Shephard stated: “When someone needs refuge, you can offer them your shade. The song itself, ended up gentler in sound compared what we have been used to writing. Sentimental songs like this one can make you feel vulnerable. But perhaps that is appropriate for a song about opening up yourself for someone.” Crashing guitars, towering vocals and a catharsis of explosive percussion – what’s not to like?! Recorded in one take, the narrative across the EP’s six tracks takes place within a single room – or, perhaps, one mind. It begins with what the band feel is some of the darkest material they will ever write, to reaching, in its second half, a place of transformation and epiphany.
The Fades – Looking for Keanu
South London garage rockers The Fades are back with their infectious new single Looking for Keanu, a 90’s inspired slice of slacker indie rock that features the band at their most reflective and self-effacing. We’ve all been there at times – losing faith in life, questioning who to turn to for solace and meaning. The naked honesty in the verse lyric is plain to see but even in the darkest moments there’s always hope to guide us through to better times and then comes the chorus: it’s powerful, catchy and you can’t help but be lifted up by its energy. There’s the video too, jam packed with ‘Easter eggs’ from Keanu’s various films, all shot around the area where he was filming in South London when vocalist Dave Lightfoot came up with the song.
Nihilists – Back Seat Drops
Nihilists have dropped anthemic new single Back Seat Drops, full of sweeping film soundtrack noir which builds into a soaring crescendo of dark noise and guitars. James Mudriczki (Puressence) and John Patterson call it a “soaring friction-fiction spark of longing fired into the very centre of a world-weary society uncertain of where the next sliver of happiness may come from, or even if it ever will.” Haunting synths, fantastic melodies, and Mudriczki’s splendid vocals, ready to stir up lost emotions – what a banger!
Imogen and the Knife – Mother of God
Imogen says of this debut single: “The images were already there: the boat-shaped house, the knife with my initials on it, the mosaic of faces. ‘Mother of God! This can’t be the only one’ is a waking realization that unless addressed, the dream, and the pain, won’t leave. Which is apt because after it was written, the recurring dream at least, did.” An inward look at a failing relationship, it’s an entrancing immersion into the world of Imogen and the Knife. Weaving together sombre, guitar-laden verses with brash horn sections during the chorus, there’s a dynamic intensity that prevails throughout the record. A powerful piece of songwriting.
She Drew The Gun – Howl
Singer-songwriter She Drew The Gun (aka Louisa Roach) has shared honest new single Howl and states: “To me my howl is the thing I do to release emotions and connect, the howl as art form, song, poem, it makes the now, the present moment alive when I share that with those present with me. It’s also about the staggering amount of things that led to ones existence, how part of me, the things that make up my body were there at the beginning of time, the atoms, the elements of our bodies were formed in the hearts of long dead stars over billions of years.” The track opens with an undulating bassline, setting the tone for a direct and politically-charged musical journey. Roach’s adept lyricism and diverse musical influences are on full display, reflecting her passion for poetry and wordplay.
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