Shura - White Light

If Shura was a superhero, her alter-ego would most likely be named Singles McGee. She’s more than proved her knack when it comes to writing emotional ear-ferrets that burrow straight through into people’s brainy matter in a matter of minutes. With her latest, ‘White Light’, though, Shura’s only gone and pulled a curveball.

An almighty 7 minutes long, ‘White Light’ has been the drawn-out closer of Shura’s live set for quite some time, and she previously sneak-previewed the song in session at Maida Vale late last year, too. At least to start with, it’s punchy, immediate and crisp like a monster-munch sandwich, riding along on a meteorite ring of sparse, bassy bursts, and sprinkled with liberal amounts of production moon-dust. At the end, though, the step away from previous material arrives. Instead of disappearing in a puff of smoke, ‘White Light’ fizzles out into a slow-burning wash of Martian noises and chiming guitars, before thumping back into extraterrestrial life.

The best bit about ‘White Light’ though? Easy. It’s a blimmin’ pop song about space.