Spotlight!: Emei

/ James Fenney

Authenticity in music has become somewhat synonymous with introspection. There’s seen to be more heart, more feeling, in a song that’s been stripped back to the bare essentials. Big arrangements, fun hooks, flashy production – they’re a distraction, a barrier between artist and audience, one that blocks them from truly pouring their heart out. It’s not always that simple though. Some emotions are too intense to be confined to a demure, confessional moment of quiet. Sometimes properly expressing and releasing all your pent up personal drama requires just that: Drama! Vent your ire into some incendiary, capture the mess that is your life in art that’s equally messy. Our lives are complex and not all the pieces suit introspection, there needs to be an outlet for all the eclectic, polarising excess too. Be chalant, take big swings, be your entire, unapologetic self.

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Top Tracks: Leaena – Come, Come Child

/ James Fenney

Some stories stay with us forever. I don’t think I’ve ever opened a wardrobe some small part of me thinking “Maybe this is the one? Maybe this is the way to Narnia?“. There’s just something so enchanting about the image of fur coats giving way to fir trees, stepping from wooden boards into forever winter. It feels so enticing, the promise of a solitary faun waiting under an icy lamp-post to take you by the hand and show you a world beyond imagining. Yet the trick with Narnia is that you only get whisked away there when you least expect it. Pressing play on ‘Come, Come Child’, the new single from singer/songwriter Leaena, is like taking that first unexpected frosty footstep beyond the spare room. Opening with the quiet haunting allure of the unknown, the stillness of virgin snow, it soon grows into something far grander. A deep tribal drum beat, as ancient and unknowable as the deep magic, enchanting vocals that leave you falling under their spell, and sweeping cinematic strings that hint at an adventure yet to come.

Top Tracks: Similar Kind – The Curtain

/ James Fenney

Though modern life has always had its flaws, to my mind these days it feels more rotten than ever. There are plenty of ways in which society is crumbling, plenty of equally valid directions to point the blame, but one of the most frustrating plagues poisoning our culture is the sudden tidal wave of AI slop. I can’t type anything into Google without having to scroll past some completely inaccurate AI summary. Every time I walk down the street I see a dozen businesses being promoted with the most garish and hideous AI posters. It’s all so infuriatingly mindless; no care for truth or beauty. I am at least heartened to find kindred spirits in my favourite funk pop outfit Similar Kind, as their savvy new single ‘The Curtain’ offers a shrewd and scathing takedown of the whole affair. Though the deliciously groovy arrangement of deep synths and snazzy sax is everything I’ve come to expect from the band, their lyricism is on another level here. Not only do the band astutely dissect the inane key-jingling nature of AI itself (“don’t waste your time on reality, you’ll find I’m everything you need“), but also take aim at the ulterior motives of the tech giants pulling the strings (“please pay no attention to the man behind the curtain“).

Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Love You To Death

/ James Fenney

Our favourite independent pop powerhouse Cristina Hart has been going from strength to strength lately, with this latest track proving to be her biggest single release to date. After months of teasers and steadily growing buzz, ‘Love You To Death’ really lives up to expectations. Capturing how obsessive and all-consuming love can feel when you find that right person, it’s a perfectly pitched slice of alt pop. Moreover it’s arrived at just the right time to act as the ideal companion piece to the new Olivia Rodrigo record – exploring the same themes found on Pretty Sad of a love so potent it distorts who we are as a person, while incorporating all the pop punk edge and venom of earlier records. Keeping pace with with one of the biggest names in pop is no mean feat, and if she keeps up this quality and moment it’s only a matter of time until Cristina has her own name up in lights.

Top Tracks: Alba Marin – Memory

/ James Fenney

We all need a little escape now and then. I don’t think I’m alone in having my own little dream world to disappear into to each night. When your head hits the pillow and you drift off to another world your mind has curated, one where all your hopes and desires have come to fruition. ‘Memory’ finds Swiss artist Alba Marin revelling in her own idyllic dream of a romance just out of reach. It’s an endearing earworm all about escaping from a world of missed connections, and “right person, wrong time”, to a happy ending playing on repeat in your dreams. One that you know deep down is only a few unspoken words from becoming reality. Alba imbues this latest single with all the shimmering joyful energy one would expect to feel rushing through you when daydreaming of the perfect life. Its funky synthpop arrangement perfect for dancing the night away, the killer sax solo bursting out of nowhere to provide an eruption of euphoria, and Alba’s gorgeous vocals every bit as entrancing as the promise of a dream come true.