Helen Keeling-Marston’s piano and violin duet The Ballad of Hope and Despair is about the bittersweet feeling of life in early 2021 UK, check it out on our Modern Classical & Minimal Instrumental 2021 playlist.
Americana roots rock band The Jayplayers take on the traditional blues sound in their new song I Need You. It’s a lilting, crooning song about the fight between head and heart in the process of falling in love, wonderfully text-painted in the push and pull between the two vocalists.
MARSTER from Sweden flexes their range in All I Want. The song comes pretty darn dance floor ready in the Sounds of Eleven remix which features some hard hitting modern (Serum?) synths, a low-passed vocal intros, and an incredibly dramatic chorus. Suddenly I’m reminded that Eurovision is coming up next month…
Somewhere between the world of voice notes and bedroom rap exists Hurt Me by Lil Phoenix from Burlington, North Carolina. The track is decidedly lo-fi in its aesthetic, and although it still has some mileage to go before it’s commercial ready, it’s nonetheless interesting to see the foundations this artist is laying now. Although centred around heartbreak, Lil Phoenix aspires to overcome adversity and change the world for the better, not unlike their namesake.