Every Friday, Ears to Feed staffers will be highlighting our favorite tracks of the week.
Editorial Board
Maxwell Cann, Editor-In-Chief
Black Marble – “Somewhere”
Black Marble aka Chris Stewart returns with a melancholic single, “Somewhere” from their upcoming fourth album Fast Idol due out this fall on Sacred Bones. The track is the perfect follow up to his brilliant 2018 album Bigger Than Life. Layered synths with motorik basslines and Stewarts’ reverb drenched vocals occupy a space in your mind that brings up an air of nostalgia or longing to escape. The video, directed by Théo Sixou, is a slice of life portrait of youthful hijinks and rejoicing within the present moment.
Dry Cleaning – “Bug Eggs”
London’s Dry Cleaning delivered one of our favorite albums of the year with their 4AD debut, New Long Leg. Before embarking on their US tour this fall, the band shared a new double A-side single “Bug Eggs b/w Tony Speaks!” Recorded on the same sessions as their debut, “Bug Eggs” finds vocalist Florence Shaw and company weaving their psychedelic yet minimalistic sound around Shaw’s absurdist lyricism.
Grouper – “Unclean Mind”
Liz Harris announces the release of her upcoming album Shade with it’s subdued first single, “Unclean Mind.” The album is a collection of songs recorded over 15 years across the US, from Portland to Astoria. On this track, Harris’ subtle vocals float gently above a saddened acoustic guitar, it has all the makings of a classic Grouper track with a restless atmosphere due to the lack of noise that surrounds it.
Staff Writers
Brooke Jensen
Samia – “As You Are”
This week Samia released her short and sweet four-song EP, Scout. “As You Are” opens the collection with a hazy pop ballad that relaxes the EP into vulnerability. Samia doesn’t need to overproduce here as her voice cups the emotional weight of the song.
The Ophelias – “Sacrificial Lamb”
The Ophelias have a method of capturing specific feelings that are difficult to articulate and bottling them into a catchy pop tune. “Sacrificial Lamb” follows this niche by detailing a party where they felt small and unheard as the night’s events race through their head on their walk home.
Marcos Hassan
The Body and BIG|BRAVE – “Polly Gosford”
Two experimental metal bands try their hand at folk songs and come out with something seldom heard before. Whether “Oh Sinner”—the first preview of the collaborative Leaving None But Small Birds—was a complete surprise, “Polly Gosford” approaches familiar territory for both bands; a murder ballad adorned by electronic noise, guitar feedback, and BIG|BRAVE’s Polly Wattie’s pained vocals.
Information Age – “We Were Alive”
Two metal dudes—Joe Rowland from Pallbearer and Daron Beck from Pinkish Black—get the urge to go out dancing and come out with the perfect soundtrack. “We Were Alive” is prime mid-’80s synthpop-into-Hi-NRG music, with a bit of goth vibes thrown into the mix: pop hooks sung in a baritone voice, early digital synth sounds, steady disco beats. A nocturnal blast.
Tú No Existes – “Data Dios”
For all of us who spend way too much time online, we’re just a bunch of information to be sold by various platforms. Spain’s Tú No Existes puts it bluntly, singing about being an asset of corporate gain; but who says it shouldn’t make for fun music? “Data Dios” is a modern take on synthpop with a slight nod to Stereolab-ish winking detachment. It’s beyond post-modern and a very persistent take on avant-pop.