Weekly Roundup: Our Favorite Submissions of the Week
Dancefloor - Knights of Caesar With elements of rock, funk and EDM ‘Dancefloor’ is absolutely nails a refreshing new sound full of catchy riffs and pounding electronic sounds, before leading into one of the catchiest chorus’ I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. Despite the fun of this one, I thoroughly enjoyed how the track represents losing yourself in superficiality and the inability of connecting and creating deeper emotional relationships. It brilliantly perceives many of the negatives of the modern world, with such a fun sound and light lyricism.
Descend - Toren With gentle acoustic guitar strums and plucks, ‘Descend’ beautifully leads into Toren’s gorgeous vocals. The atmosphere of this one is emotional from start to end, with the subtle instrumentals allowing Toren’s lyricism to take centre place in the song. It’s evident that this personal ballad discusses an unhealthy relationship and reminiscing on the better days before things became so complicated. For Toren’s second single, they are already making a profound a name for themselves as an artist.
Stranger - Blanks Blanks’ ‘Stranger’ embodies the most moving elements of songs, with a stripped back instrumental performance of delicate electric guitar strums. The emotion is prominent in the vocals from start to finish, as Blanks’ sings about the difficulties of losing yourself and seeing a stranger in your actions and words, no longer recognising the person looking back at you in the mirror. More instrumentation is introduced as the track plays through, yet still it doesn’t take away from the powerful, heart-wrenching vocals of Blanks.
Colour blind - Lucy Sugerman ‘colour blind’ stood out to me this week with its relatability, as Lucy discusses the realisation she has herself to blame for ignoring many ‘red flags’ and still pursuing unhealthy relationships doomed to end badly. It’s easy to place people we love on pedestals, forgiving toxic behaviour over and over in the hopes someone will change, and Lucy expressed this torment brilliantly in her lyricism. This honest wording paired with the simple instrumentals makes the track undeniably catchy, and Lucy’s enchanting vocal performance mixing spoken and sung elements really tops it off perfectly.
Blue - Luna Bay Filled with infectious indie basslines and syrupy vocals, Luna Bay have written an absolute hit in their new single ‘Blue.’ With lyrics powered by adolescence and heartbreak, this track embodies all the best feel-good releases coated in upbeat, summery vibes. ‘Blue’ is the colour most associated with confidence, harmony, the imagination and sadness, and this track wonderfully encompasses these motifs with their own original spin. If you’re looking for three minutes of high-energy and a sing-along chorus, you’ll find it all here.
Why Do I Do That - Amy Asher In ‘Why Do I Do That’ lo-fi pop artist Amy manages to captivatingly word how many people use sadness to comfort themselves when sad, through watching sad movies, listening to sad songs, and ignoring advice they know would make them feel better:
‘I give advice that I don’t take, why do I do that?’
This track really stood out to me in how atmospherically the instrumentals support the vocals, with a distant guitar strum and soft beat keeping the lyricism the main focus for listeners while adding to the touching nature of the track.
Newbury Park - Lexi Jayde Lexi cathartically words the struggles of one-sided relationships in her newest release ‘Newbury Park’, where she dissects a terrible dating experience of pouring too much time and energy into someone who didn’t reciprocate it. I’m sure we can all relate to dressing up, driving through traffic and spending too much time on somebody who would rather have been anywhere else but on that date. I absolutely loved how the indie instrumentals gave this track such an atmospheric feel, with a super mellow vibe against the heavy lyricism.
Listen to all of these songs and more on our playlist here!
Review by: Tatiana Whybrow-Price