Sleigh Bells : Champions Of Unrestricted Beauty
So Sleigh Bells actually got a clue and decided that the dude who can’t play guitar for shit should just maybe not actually play guitar, and the result is actually not terrible. Jettisoning their trademark sound is a bold risk, but the new bareness in pop admiration pays off without sounding like a crippling compromise.
Us The Band : And I Will
Concocting a vicious cyclone, Us The Band teeter on the edge of control before nestling into a refrain of, “What you say is that you don’t wanna get in the way” to express who’s in charge on And I Will. It’s a tonal overload on first appearance, but there are riches not too far beneath the surface.
The Gooch Palms : Tiny Insight
The Gooch Palms barrel along in Tiny Insight, hitting cocky stride with the shout-along chorus and a few choice woah-ohs. There’s enough melodic dexterity to retain attention throughout. It’s good fun, and will probably be a whole lot more fun live. New album Introverted Extroverts out June 2016.
Fraser A Gorman : Skyscraper Skyline Blues
In his finest moment yet, Fraser A Gorman dances with an assured cool through touches of piano, relaying detached optimism over energised punches of kick drum. Ella Thompson drops in for a guest back and forth, Gorman responding with charmingly mundane quips and a sense of naivete and wonder. Everything hits the mark. Taken from an upcoming compilation album from the Milk! Records crew.
Single Of The Week
Jess Ribeiro : Hurry Back To Love (Mikey Young Remix)
Well, this is a welcome surprise. The tension of Jess Ribeiro’s Hurry Back To Love is unleashed into a sprawling disco stomper care of Mikey Young – heading into a purer dance territory than that displayed by his most dance-y outlet, Lace Curtain. It almost makes too much sense, masterful in its contextualisation of the original, converging visions between artist and remixer into something new altogether. It’s enough to make you wish for a full-length collaboration, but still cherish it as a standalone outlier.
