WHEW I love Flyte. They're a three-piece British band with my heart in their hands. Their debut record The Loved Ones felt like a secret I kept between me and the band, an Easter egg in an 8-bit video game I revisited again and again, continually charmed and surprised. It's a gorgeous, passionate, musically beautiful album, which rounds out with an acapella cover of "Archie, Marry Me" by Alvvays. I think about it all the time. It's desperate and haunting. It's one of those covers that hops in your bones. But enough about their LP (but for real, open your window and listen to it), I'm here to tell you about "Easy Tiger." 

"Easy Tiger" is a break-up track. It's a predator with a thorn in its paw. It's brought low, it's humble, it's sad. It's brilliant for all of that. Will Taylor has a giant vocal register, but he is so subdued on this track, the emotionalism is totally carried by the instrumentation. The music is anxious in "Easy Tiger," while the melody is steady, rhythmic and calm. It's the embodiment of trying to keep your cool while you see an ex at a party: on the surface, you're collected, inside you are an ocean. 

Give Flyte the love they deserve today. I reckon a new record will be dropping soon from them, so listen to The Loved Ones and their 2019 EP White Roses after you give "Easy Tiger" a spin.

If it wasn’t blatantly obvious from his previous work, the guitar mastermind and accomplished producer Blake Mills has a way with words, too. Mutable Set, Mills’ newest LP, is an intricately intimate album that sounds gentle but packs a lyrically gut-wrenching punch.

In “Window Facing A Window,” we are moved through an empty house, to a bare garden, then to a lacking bedroom, where Mills traces just where the vivid memories and past meanings from a relationship go. A slight line change in the chorus from “Are you upset?” to the latter “Are you all set?" shows the development—or rather, the deterioration—of a relationship, set to a sparingly played guitar and gentle piano sounds.

Mills’ humble voice makes his lyrics more raw and relatable, allowing him to capture a sound of longing that feels like waking up next to a warm body and knowing that it will be for the last time. All that is left is Mills, crafting poignant sounds in combination with desolate imagery that makes the song sorrowful, yet entirely comfortable. Almost like it was made in a bedroom, “with a bed that isn’t there anymore.”

As she proved with her 2015 single “Hypnotic,” 25-year-old Zella Day has some experience with delivering engaging and ‘hypnotic’ pop with a groove. Five years later, Zella is still producing hypnotic pop, but she is slowing things down a bit with her new single “People Are Strangers.” 

Like many of us, Zella seems to have loads of extra time on her hands to get introspective, and the dream-like state of “People Are Strangers” reflects on her deepest thoughts; you can almost hear her moving from one thought to another. In a time where the world is relying on human connection more and more, Zella ponders human interaction over a melody which sounds reminiscent of the dreamy sun-kissed pop produced in 1970’s California. Zella gets confessional as she sings about wanting to push people away, and insecurity over wanting to maintain relationships while being acutely aware of the negative aspects of getting to know someone and forming a new bond. Zella candidly admits of her habits, “People are strangers / I’m getting stranger / The moment they wanna get closer I push them further.”

Zella seems to open up more as the song progresses on its dreamy legs, almost writing off the idea of meeting anyone new altogether, while she sings “People are danger / It’s human nature.” It sounds like she would rather be safer than sorry because she holds an awareness that many don’t: Humans are more alike than we realize.

Zella Day plans to release an EP sometime in 2020. Look out for Where Does The Devil Hide.

Hazel English steps outside for a breath of fresh air on "Five and Dime," the latest single from the Oakland-based Australian crooner. Confessing her need for space, English couldn't be blunter: "I was running free 'til you called me up...Gotta get away / 'Cause you're taking up all of my time." Bright vocals animate the track's shoegaze essence with a neo-psychedelic nostalgia. The idea for the song came from a trip she took to Oakland to find space from an increasingly hectic LA. English explains, "'Five and Dime’ is actually an old slang term for the area code 510 which covers the East Bay, so I thought it would be a fun way to refer to the place that once used to be my home.” As we brace ourselves through uncertain times, the story of this breezy track is a glint of sunshine for us social distancers who might be finding our own metaphorical "five and dime" to escape to. "Five and Dime" is the latest of singles from her debut album Wake UP!, released on April 24 via Marathon/Polyvinyl.

Renée Reed takes us through a haunted daydream in her debut single “Out Loud.” It’s a hazy and stripped-down folk offering that is mesmerizing in its simplicity. The Lafayette folk gaze artist has an undertone of Cajun influence that bleeds into her delicately plucked acoustic guitar that rises and falls rhythmically. She entrances us with echoing warbled vocals—singing, “I could be daydreaming / hanging out / deep in the corner I tell all your secrets out loud.” It feels like something between a warning and a promise. Reed is a strange marriage between Mazzy Star and Adrianne Lenker. The track is foggy and disorienting with moments of brightness that fade as quickly as they come. With such an oddly satisfying debut released via Austin label Keeled Scales, I am inclined to believe her when she sings, “who am I? / you’re about to find out.”

Indie-pop group Wet continues to quietly release singles, and the latest release of “Come to You” is heartening in a time when it’s so easy to feel defeated and isolated. Kelly Zutrau creates a waterfall of vocals that echo the sentiment, “I will come to you wherever you are / I will comfort you no matter how hard.” This track is produced by DJ Dahi, perhaps best known for his credits with Kendrick Lamar and Drake, but more recently credited with production on Father of the Bride with Ezra of Vampire Weekend. Production is kept open on this track to allow for Zutrau’s spilling vocals, but the chiming synths and staggered percussion set the tone for a thoughtful reprise. This song serves as a comforting reminder that, although we may not be able to see our loved ones, we can still be there for them if only by way of words. Selfishly, I am hoping that “This Fog” and “Come to You” are the promise of an upcoming album or EP.

Max Bloom has released his first solo album, Perfume after eight years as part of the band Yuck. On the track “Cold Hard Light” his guitar serves as a centerpiece and guide, leading you through a journey of post-break-up sentiment and internal crisis. Though upbeat and tonally bright, Bloom’s guitar line is able to communicate a sense of regret, most notably in the cascading riff which precedes both the first and second verses. It feels like a false smile and juxtaposes beautifully with the lyrics that are draped around it. The ending guitar solo expertly does what a solo is meant to do, and carries the emotional message further on past where lyrics leave off. The last lyric before the solo is “..that’s all we’ll ever be,” and the guitar picks up right there, capturing both the melancholic idea that the best times have already come and gone, as well as a sense of resiliency to move forward anyway.