The world stopped and put everyone in isolation. The searching for culture in all its forms increased as this became the easiest way to find comfort and company. A lot of artists used this past weeks (maybe months) to create new repertoire and here we are to present some of the most exciting songs to listen during quarantine.
Kate Tucker – A Little Bit of Love
Making the most out of the quarantine period, Kate Tucker will be releasing a song each month for the next months. The first is already a shiner. A Little Bit of Love is the first one, and the perfect mix of pop with some lo-fi funk elements. Sarcastic lyrically, or just honest and clever, the track flows from punchy vocals in the chorus, to a contagious beat in the back, to an overall dreamy vibe. Remembers us in a way of acts like Dead Club and at others even Madonna. Very good. Kate says “the track felt like my twenties twenties living in Brooklyn living in Brooklyn, walking across the Williamsburg Bridge in the summertime to go see my friends’ band on the Lower East Side, that sense of anticipation when the city lights come on across the water and everything is just about to happen”. Since it was released the song started a dancing trend that finished raising about 1k dollars for United Way COVID Relief.
Bathe Alone – Calm Down
Two months ago, Bathe Alone released her 4th single out off her forthcoming LP Last Looks and it became so accurate for these strange moments we’re all facing. Bathe Alone is Bailey Crone, a multi-instrumentalist from Atlanta, who showcases in this single a faster side of her work, experiencing panic attacks and metaphorically representing them through music. The lyrics and the highs and lows on drums and guitar solos are examples of that. The fact is that everything combines a coherent and consistent dream-pop song which intents to calm down everyone who listens to it. More recently she released Champagne, a more chilled song, although that won’t stop her from create a fresh and upbeat build-up. Cheers to that!
Ditch Days – Andy Kaufman
Coming directly from Lisbon, the young trio create a schizophrenic sonority hardly forgettable. Ditch Days are already one of the most promising Portuguese bands for 2020 and it’s easy to understand why: waving from New Order to Dinosaur Jr. mixing dreamy vocals and colourful melodies. Andy Kaufman is an excellent introduction to Ditch Days’ music as it is the first single off of their EP Office Space, which will be out soon. The second single, Baltimore, sounds more dreamy and less shoegaze, sounds more like summer breeze at the end of the day instead of the same summer breeze starting the day facing the beach. Both songs are very summery, and it seems like they complement each other. Your days will be so much easier to deal if you spend them in the company of Guilherme José and Luís.
Recently performed at WtMM #AtYourHome and you can watch their performance and many others here.
Julliana Joy – Nevermind
Six months ago, Julliana Joy filled our hearts with a gorgeous indie pop nuanced track entitled Nevermind. She sung she was not the one, and we couldn’t quite understand how. Catchy and creating good feelings this track was also the epilog to the now recent 2020 EP entitled Cherries. Gorgeous pop with indie elements all around we keep finding ourselves right in the middle of the EP every time we listen to it. And that is probably the best thing we can say about modern pop songs.
Big Society – Feel
Manchester always presented us great bands, so here’s another one: Big Society is a quartet who’s already making their path in the Brit Pop scenario. After performing in some incredible fests like Great Escape, Live At Leeds and even sharing stage with Bob Dylan and Neil Yong in their British Summer Time show, the band has just released Feel, following two singles released in the end of 2019, Marine Club Party and Give Me My Name. Feel is undeniably a vibrant and joyful song yet nostalgic, that can put a smile in everyone’s face while dancing like nobody’s watching. By the time the drums and guitars mark the pace in a somehow-70’s-relatable sonority, the vocals play a game we want to be part of. Also, how accurate is to be listening to a band called Big Society while our society struggles to live as one?
GEISTE – Dither
There are a lot of recent acts trying to do music like the ones from Woodkid, Lorde or AURORA. But not many feel it and are capable of innovating. Geiste is one of the most exciting recent acts we had the pleasure to listen to, because it feels genuine and overwhelming. Dither has been raising positions on our private play count because of its power and the way it breaks boundaries. But also because it sounds everlasting, and somehow it is still a secret to most. So, make way for it:
Al Pride – Spruce (EP)
Sad songs have the power to bond more naturally. AL Pride first song we heard was Sober By Tomorrow. We took several zips of the track for the last months. This is a song that merges a beautiful and engaging folk base, with gentle vocals and a very interesting evolution. They keep reinventing the track, and it sounds like a journey every time we listen to it. This April they released a four-track EP entitled Spruce. So mandatory for all of you to listen to it. Soundtrack of a creative quarantine, the EP still founds new ways to touch us. Thanks to false paced like songs like Hunger, Kalif Onya II, and Another Vibe and the multiple ways they reminds us of acts like The XX, Vampire Weekend and even Glass Animals. All in all, folky, paced, and meaningful. Favorite over here.
Graace feat. I.E. – Hard To Say
Hard To Say was technically released before this quarantine period. But was one of the first songs we heard while confining to our homes. Graace first song of the year was written about a close friend she lost recently, and is also a song that is very difficult not to relate to. Lyrically very deep and heart-felt, Hard To Say is also a great pop song, catchy for itself. And takes the best of modern genres and merges into a tremendous pop song.
Wes Reeve – Flowers In My Hair
Let us all receive the Flower Power again with our arms wide open and eyes wide shut. Flowers In My Hair is a modern version of a 60’s folk song which have it all: the angelical voice, the harp, the vocal canons, the flute, the birds and the flower crowns. This is a soul-warming song, it’s almost a prayer sounding repetitive but always reinventive. Wes Reeve is a young singer-songwriter from LA, already compared with Fiona Apple, Reeve releases Flower In My Hair as her first single off of her debut album Rainbeam which will be out later this year. The uplifting melody and lyrics give us high expectations on what may comes next as Wes intentionally mixes modern pop sonorities with experimental indie vibes and always reminding the classics, as can be heard in her most recent releases My Heart My Heart, In The Rain and In The Beginning.
Wild Rivers – Do or Die
Wild Rivers are probably the best kept secret (or maybe not that well-kept). The Toronto quartet has been making folky songs and being compared with The Lumineers and Bahamas, but their pop-folk is as different as catchy, the vocal harmonies sound always on point and since 2016, with their self-titled LP, they’ve hardly made something that doesn’t sound great. Do or Die is part of the EP Song To Break Up To, and it is just one of those songs they nailed once again and even though the song remains slow it is full of emotion and intensity. It’s a song about a breakout but they make it sound hopeful and instead of bringing us down in emotions, they lift us up as they raise their voices, showing us an option, a second chance: is do or die.
Vicente – Reflexo
Some arts are nothing but the mixing of many other forms of art. And sometimes that’s the reason why it sounds or looks extremely amazing and distinct. Vicente is the alter ego, or a self-portrait, of Francisco Vicente, and as a self-portrait he reunites everything he consumed during his young live of 26 years old; but as an alter ego, he explodes on everything he sees, touches and listen, making some sort of a firework of sonorities. Reflexo is a contemporary jazz composition, but saying it like this sounds easy to define what it sounds like, which is not: The poetry behind the complex instrumental, the vocal arrangement of an acapella choir formed only by Vicente, and finally his delicate voice that travels between beautiful places we don’t even knew they exist. This is his most recent single, being said, we highly recommend Metamorfose, to also light up your days during quarantine.