5 Favourite Songs | April 2018

This month I've been listening to a lot of glittery synth and indie pop stuff that somehow feels like the audio equivalent of liminal spaces, so there'll be a lot of that here, and I think it fits the strange leap into and out of mega sunshine that we've been experiencing in the UK lately pretty well. Please dive into all the songs with me.

1. Fickle Friends - Glue

This song is like magic. It feels like glitter tumbling past you while you ride a bath on wheels with your feet dangling over the edge. I know that doesn't make any sense, but it also makes perfect sense. There's such a nice blend of percussion and synth, lots of sounds phasing in and out to create that inebriated house party feel, and a beautiful lilting cry for the chorus. This one has been on repeat a lot.

Links: YouTube | Spotify

2. COIN - Talk Too Much

I love the bouncy guitar on this and the way the chorus blasts into the song. This is a 'jumping around' song, without a doubt, with a nice little hint of surf and distortion that emphasises the overall tight feel of the song. It's good.

Links: YouTube | Spotify

3. GIRLI - Can I Say Baby

I love the smooth and almost sensual feeling this song manages to drive home through rusty, degraded synths and lots of wandering, energetic blips. The vulnerability of the lyrics blends beautifully with the confident, funky sound, and I particularly love the line, "all your friends have jobs and BFs". Perfunctory, but soft in all the right places, and so real.

Links: YouTube | Spotify

4. The Aces - Volcanic Love

This is a big, dreamy song, filled with build-up and longing. The video is really fun. It has them emulating Heathers with big, colourful blazers and some oddly ominous and distant shots. The song to listen to if you want to be emotional in a meadow.

Links: YouTube | Spotify

5. Charli XCX - ILY2

Charli XCX is a master of understated emotive vocal performance and songs that feel like they are situated somehow around a house party and a glitter graphics website simultaneously. What I like a lot about this song is the juxtaposition of the almost peppy, carefree, repeated declaration "I love you too" and the visceral intensity of the entire song's emotional landscape. Also it's just really cute. I love that it's titled "ILY2" because I feel like there's a particular intimacy to saying "ily" to someone. It's different from saying "I love you" somehow.

Links: YouTube | Spotify

♬

Bonus mentions go to Lemon Demon for the incredible "Touch-Tone Telephone", Billie Marten for the haunting "Bird", as well as the very sweet and heartfelt "Take Me Dancing" by Will Joseph Cook, and the playful "Fifteen Minutes" by Mike Krol (thanks Henry for sending me this one!). What will I be listening to in May? Jazz? The soundtrack to Oliver & Company? Yes, probably.