you don’t owe me a damn thing don’t you worry
don’t hold me like that
—Zoe Watson
With Rose, Zoé Watson has written a great slow, shoegaze meets dream pop track that would make an artist like the Chromatics proud. I love how the bass synth slides between notes in the intro, and the artist’s almost lackadaisical vocal tone that emotes a sort of melancholic indifference that echoes lines like “I know it’s not real but my body doesn’t care.” Check Rose out on Soundcloud below.
you don’t owe me a damn thing don’t you worry / don’t hold me like that / my head’s saying now but my heart’s looking back
Zoé Watson
Carpet River by Green City Trees has the kind of whispery vocals, undistorted 3-note guitar riffs, and whole note organ sounds that remind of the early(ish?) days of indie rock where artist like Electrelane reigned supreme. The artist reveals that the organ is in fact a broken-down synth, and the song is about the death of a mentor at a young age.
There are two things that blow me away about this track: first the artist is only 14 and it sounds pretty darn polished, and second how seamlessly the artist incorporated traditional Indian instruments into this pop-EDM track about the love of the titular Indian state, Goa. Well crafted and optimistic, although I don’t have a playlist for this one, I saved it to my personal library.
Velar Prana from Vienna give us Headlights, a synth-wave-y song about the moment of euphoria one experiences as they approach a festival stage and feel the energy of the music come alive. The song expresses this well with it’s uplifting and summery vibe. Check it out on Spotify below.