Round-up Tracks: Beach House, Crystal Castles & More
We pick out the biggest and best new tracks from the last seven days.
Good noole, dear readers, and a happy Friday to you all. As usual, its been a busy week of new music, and despite the surprise heatwave, artists have been releasing new songs left right and centre. We’ve picked out the biggest and best new songs to emerge this week, and there’s plenty to get stuck into. Beach House return with the first preview of their new album ‘Depression Cherry,’ Crystal Castles continue releasing music post-Alice Glass, and that’s just for starters. For everything else out this week head over to the DIY Listening Hub, or hit play on our Essential Playlist.
Beach House — Sparks
Over the years Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally - with the help of their long-time producer Chris Coady - have forged forward with a woozy, echo-drenched production style that instantly smacks of Beach House. ‘Sparks,’ the first preview ahead of the duo’s forthcoming fifth record ‘Depression Cherry’ might be rooted in that same aesthetic, and it might still meander and swoop down the song’s pathway with a leisurely footscuff, but there’s also something more saturated and all-encompassing about Beach House’s latest. The guitars step out from the wings and emerge in a fuzzy, spinning fanfare, and ‘Sparks’ doesn’t so much extinguish as it sizzles away with bold, vibrant organs. “From the spine rising through the mind, You give it up, just like a spark, it’s a gift taken from the lips, you live again,” sings a hypnotic Victoria Legrand, atop walls of sound that sound a little like My Bloody Valentine on valium. If the first ignition of Beach House’s new material is anything to go by, ‘Depression Cherry’ will fly up in magical flames. (El Hunt)
Blood Orange — Do You See My Skin Through The Flames?
Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes is never one to shy away from voicing his opinions; fighting adversity wherever he finds it and journeying inward, reflecting on himself, too. Rarely, however, is anything as deeply personal and thoughtful as ‘Do You See My Skin Through The Flames?’. Touching on everything from race issues and Kanye West, to his own personal heritage and issues surrounding depression, the track feels like an outpouring directly from Hynes’ soul.
Flitting between spoken word and instrumental grandeur ‘Do You See My Skin Through The Flames?’ flows through a number of movements, but never feeling disjointed despite its constant chopping and changing. The music follows suit, delicately underpinning Hynes’ commentary with grooves just funky enough to warrant attention, but never taking away from the issues at play, or diminishing Hynes’ message. Hardly more than a simple, crisp drum-beat or slack bass riff, the backdrop is at times barely there, and yet completely essential. As ‘Do You See My Skin Through The Flames?’ the Blood Orange of past returns to the fore, vocal accompaniments joining the mix while funk and hip-hop-laden beats build. It’s a mark of the careful craftsmanship and thought put into the track, that, clocking in at just over ten minutes, the feeling is that Blood Orange and Hynes himself still have more to give. (Henry Boon)
