These LITM Pop Picks come to you from artists like NIEVES, Whale Talk, olivia brown and more!
1. NIEVES – Fear and Control
“You can be best friends with everyone, or you can be good to yourself.”
Fear and Control’s opening line sets the tone for the rest of the melancholic yet upbeat track. NIEVES – an alt-indie band from Glasgow – explores feelings of loss, grief, and the accompanying loneliness. Juxtaposing raw, vulnerable vocal delivery with a drum layer that lies low, yet explodes with energy, the song is beautifully layered, allowing all the nuances of heavy emotional complexity to shine. NIEVES’ sound on the track leaves you with a certain weight in your stomach, but it’s the comfortable kind: the kind that assures you that hope is never too far off.
2. Whale Talk – Triggered
Whale Talk’s new release, Triggered, is a jazzy, mellow track, with a beat that’ll make it impossible for you to resist swaying along to it. Opening with bright beats and soothing harmonies, the band dives into the feeling of falling in love at breakneck pace, falling out of it equally as fast, and the confusing aftermath of this whole ordeal. Triggered keeps things interesting through its almost 4-minute runtime, with many funky embellishments and bits of flair adding – there’s no better word for it – oomph to the whole thing. With gorgeous, clear vocals, instrumentals that flow alongside each other without ever clashing, and an arrangement that elevates the whole listening experience, this is a must-listen!
3. Olivia Brown – found
In collaboration with The Sleep Dealers and Reverie Winters, Olivia Brown releases found, a stunningly innovative track that blends dreampop’s sound with electronic textures, creating an expansive atmosphere, yet one that creeps into every crevice. Each element of the track has been carefully thought through and played with: the vocals are almost electronic, featuring an autotune that feels far removed from its conventional uses, the synth is glittery across the whole track, and the piano is gentle, grounding the song, giving it a layer of warmth that infuses itself throughout. It’s superbly produced, and ethereal even through the electronica – experience it here.
4. MOLTENO – Treading Water
Treading Water is hauntingly beautiful, submerging you in a sound that feels like it’s coming to you from underwater. When the first waves of delicate distortion hit you, lulling you into a trancelike state, MOLTENO’s angelic vocals surround you, making it easy to forget everything except what’s playing. The track draws comparisons between the feeling of treading water and trying to keep afloat in a relationship that falls apart, beautifully capturing the fragility of such a situation. Shimmering notes provide a backdrop for the track’s deceptively complex production, perfectly toeing the line between soothing and sinister – give it a listen!
5. Quarter Short – It Keeps
It Keeps explores the suffocation of living within the constraints of societal expectations as just another brick in the wall, so to speak. Through a fuzz that envelopes the whole track and a bass that reverberates through your body, Quarter Short’s raspy, yet clear, voice comes to you, cutting through it all with a heaviness that comes only from raw emotion. “Now I’m not saying all the freedom is forgotten / It’s sitting in my mind, getting closer to the bottom,” she sings, encapsulating the feeling of drowning in all the complications that come with simply living. Listen to it here!
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