Our velveteen electronica and soul faves, HONNE, has been rolling out some spectacular collaborations lately whilst teasing us with rumors of a new album. The London outfit last linked up with dashing Tom Misch to give us Me & You ◑. And now they’ve teamed up with edgy UK artist and drummer Georgia, whom you might recall we were championing quite a lot a year ago after falling hard for her dark fidgeting, gritty bristling electronic pop. We haven’t heard from Georgia since, so we’re glad to come across her unexpected cameo (and lovely voice) on HONNE’s Location Unknown ◐, a beautifully moving, swanky stirring, and luxuriantly affecting infusion of their smooth rolling, snug melting electro-soul sound. HONNE has also shared another divine new track named 306 ◑, which you can stream below. Location Unknown ◐ is available, here, while
306 ◑ is available, here. Though we still don’t have any additional information to share regarding HONNE’s next album, a world tour has been announced for later this year. Details can be found, here.
Scarlet Pleasure has without a doubt been our favorite Danish upstart since the trio first swooned us with their satiny twisting R&B pop on Deja Vu last year. The breakout project has since captured hearts aplenty with their 2017 EP Lagune, and they’ve finally unveiled their first new music of 2018 in slick romping, whimsically capering Mind, which you can stream via its music video above, as well as a sultry simmering jam named Let Go, which can be previewed via Soundcloud below. Mind is a sleek cruising treat that showcases Emil Goll’s silky crooning and the band’s innovative pop, ever so gently checkered with balmy sweltering R&B, funk, and soul. It’s a smooth lurcher of a luscious bop whose video was directed by Scarlet Pleasure themselves, alongside Stine
Thorbøll and DolceRocca. Their new songs are out now on Copenhagen Records.
Molly Moore’s new EP Third Eye High has been out for well over a week, but we want to make sure you haven’t missed out on the four track release which showcases the Los Angeles based artist’s stunning evolution. Take for example, EP track Catch and Release which sees the captivating chanteuse venture into soulful R&B pop territory, complete with jazzy horns and much smoky, slinky allure. It’s a laid back groover of a sensual yet frisky pop. She easily catches our hearts once again, and we never want to be released. Catch and Release is a sumptuous development for the singer songwriter, whom we’ve been ardent fans of through her earlier pop releases and her collaborations with progressive soul talent Brandyn Burnette (including their electronic pop project together, Cosmos & Creature). Third Eye High can be streamed in full via all major services, here.
Camille Trust’s voice is ridiculously good on her new single Move On, which made its premiere on Billboard earlier this week. It’s beautifully captivating yet smoky raw, encapsulated in the sparse soundscape of the bluesy soulful ballad. The artist from NYC sings about heartbreak and loss on the single from her debut EP, No Other Way, which will be released on May 25th. She’ll be celebrating its release with a sure to be stunning album release show on May 26th at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.
Move Onwas written following the separation of an extremely influential person in her life, the song reflects the feelings that were unfamiliar to Trust. “I’m the type of person that would rather have a raw and real relationship than waste time with quick satisfactions,” she reflects on the breakup. “Making the smart decision isn’t always easy and I didn’t know if I could see out to the other side. It’s important to feel and breathe through that pain. During that time, it was difficult for me to speak my mind out loud in conversation, but when this song was created I tapped into a new wave inside of me.” Camille gained a loyal following with her first two singles, No Matter and Lose You earlier this year. Her stage presence and her soulful ambiance have been compared to both Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse. Move On can also be streamed via Spotify, here.
It really doesn’t get much better than Me & You ◑. I mean, seriously…. HONNE and Tom Misch, on one song together? I think my life is fulfilled now that the two UK projects have united to give us a delectably grooving swathe of velveteen electro-soul and jazzy strings. We celebrated when HONNE returned last month with two new tunes after spending much of the past couple of years working quietly on their next album. And now, this?! My heart can’t take it! HONNE even offers up a fabulous music video to go with the song, featuring a dance troupe in what looks to be South Korea. Dashing Tom Misch turns in molten guitars on the uptempo swooner. HONNE’s next album Love Me/ Love Me Not will be out sometime this summer. Our eyes are peeled for a release date and pre-order details.
Refs waxes poignantly reflective on gooey melting new tune, Roots, the latest fine single from a NYC based electronic pop duo we’ve been featuring for three prolific years. We indulge in the jazzy, snazzy, creamy, and buttery alongside Refs on their electro-soul styled track. All of a sudden, all I want to do is close my eyes and slow-waltz around the room to their satin crooning and the luxuriantly simmering song, of which Refs states:
‘A side effect of love stories that never fully play out is a looming sense of “if-only”. Roots is about all the meandering semi-truths and ill-advised solutions we lean into and learn from, in the absence of that bloom.’ The tenderly heartrending, gently aching sonnet can also be streamed via Spotify, here.
When I think of honey, I think of sweet, sticky, and thick. salute’s honey is far from gluey and viscous. It’s a spectacularly constructed composition with intoxicating loops and springy beats, much too graceful and nimble to befit the syrupy quality of honey. Soon enough, it’s obvious that the prismatic “honey” that the UK producer might be alluding to isn’t of the physical, literal kind, but more a reference to the sort of sweet, youthful affection experienced between lovers, or perhaps, between moving music and our hearts. It’s what I’m feeling, right here, right now, as we lose ourselves in salute’s soulful dance track, a genre defying blend of garage and house, part Kaytranada, part Jamie xx, and part Flight Facilities (in the vein of Clair De Lune). In the shimmer of salute’s honey, or in your lover’s adoring gaze, our own reflections take on a beauty we may have never noticed before. honey is lifted from salut’s forthcoming EP, Condition I. Stream/download this burst of pure joy, here.
I’m not sure how you’re supposed to pronounce rx Soul’s name, but the “rx” in the moniker tends to remind me of pharmacy prescriptions. Perhaps that’s what the LA based artist was going for… prescription soul, or aural balm the heart needs to get over the anguish of heartbreak and longing. rx Soul first offered up such an elixir when he made their debut with All The Way There earlier this year. And now the blooming talent is back with his fourth single, Pilldreams, a stunnin collaboration with hip hop artist INDICA. Pilldreams’ nebulous atmosphere and slow simmering R&B soul is punctuated with swanky guitar curls. It’s a woozy swooning sonic medication that seemingly alternates between The Weeknd’s dark sensual R&B and Opia’s torrid simmering R&B funk, all shrouded in a sea of thick purling haze. rx Soul states of the track: “I wrote this song for all the times I’ve found myself tempted to "take a pill” to solve a problem instead of investigating and addressing the root of the issue. Self-medication can mean a lot of different things for me, and whatever shape it comes in it can be hard to recognize, much less fight off. Pilldreams is just two sides of that same fight.“ Pilldreams can also be streamed via Spotify, here.
We were swift addicts to Louis Baker’s creamy crooning and plush R&B soul when the New Zealand artist released his song Addict last year. And now we’re also obsessed with the songwriter’s latest single, a vintage soul groover named Black Crow which comes accompanied by a dapper music video featuring an adorable kid suavely adulting with pure confidence. Raw yet smooth, warm and sooty Black Crow is a molten melter. The song was written and produced in Sydney in six hours. The song, deceptively simple yet deeply organic, is about exorcising your demons, leaving the past behind, and gaining wisdom through experience. It’s velvety veneer is like Leon Bridges, while its sleek step and swanky guitars carry The Black Keys’
bluesy soulfulness. Speaking about the inspiration behind Black Crow, Louis Baker says: “The idea of bathing one’s hands in indigo came about through an old Japanese proverb I read. I was fascinated with its idea that a piece of fabric gets a deeper and richer colour tone if you repeatedly dye it. The proverb has a number of different meanings, but to me it is a metaphor about life, experience and growing wise with age.” Download/stream Black Crow, here.
Let’s cozy up “real close” to this fleecy drifting tune from newcomer HUME, a singer songwriter from the UK. He takes us into a surreal, shadowy world of steamy sensuality on Real Close, his debut release. With a gravelly voice that caresses us softly, HUME serenades us with his R&B soul. Real Close’s tactile palette of gently winding electronica envelopes us in weightless warmth. It’s almost as if HONNE has gone future R&B as HUME sings about infatuation and conflicting feelings. He states that Real Close is about: “…
all those confused, conflicting feelings and not being able to truly tell if it will be something short-lived, or something a little longer.” Real Close can also be streamed/downloaded, here.
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