Music: 7 of the Best Songs – 31 January 2022

John Preston

John Preston serves up the 7 best tunes of the week.

Amber Mark, ‘Darkside’

The outlier track on Amber Mark’s lush and accomplished long-awaited debut album Three Dimensions Deep, ‘Darkside’ has a rougher feel with vocals which sound as though they were recorded in the room next door. The songwriting and mood is perfectly captured as it is with the remaining and more elegantly presented tracks.

Crystabell, ‘Love My Way’

David Lynch protégé Crystabell has, after a decade of releasing material that embodied her mentor’s signature, gone through a radical musical reinvention, and a surprisingly successful one at that. Electronic dream pop with rich, succulent vocals that will remind you of the best parts of Goldfrapp, ‘Love My Way’, is one of the many highlights from album Midnight Star.

Camden Cox, ‘Over’

The biggest banger of the year so far, Camden Cox has been the rounds as featured on many a dance track over the last couple of years but in ‘Over’ proves that the name on the record should belong to her alone. All manner of genres pile up to a pounding chorus that dancefloors were made for.

RELATED ARTICLE  Hotel spotlight: Iniala Beach House, Natai Beach, Thailand

Tove Lo, ‘How Long’

Tove Lo has never quite established herself in the way that was initially expected; apart from a persistent and self-acknowledged love of sex, there hasn’t been a consistent template of sorts attached to this pop artist. ‘How Long’ is just the next in a succession of brilliantly conceived electro ear-worms that just seem to pop up every once in a while, and those intro synths are mind altering.

Beach House, ‘Masquerade’

Beach House have become more ambitious and confident during the past decade. Prolific and with a sound that clearly identifies them, their upcoming album Once Twice Melody has been drip-released a quarter at a time over the past three months. ‘Masquerade’ is one the duo’s poppiest songs to date, but the mystery and deviance still burns hard.

Kilo Kish ft. Vince Staples, ‘…NEW TRICKS: ART, AESTHETICS, AND MONEY’

Uncompromising and genre hopping, Kilo Kash continues to releases music that challenges, entertains and usually you can dance to it too. With an album around the corner, ‘NT:AA&M’ is a great introduction if one were needed to Kilo Kish’s alternate world of mischief, mockery and deranged glamour.

Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Puoul, ‘Ceci N’est Pas Un Cliché’

Charlotte Adigery makes detailed electronic music with a cheeky and accessible wink that is never too on the nose. ‘This Is Not a Cliché’ uses all of the clichés in the book to address and hold the attention of an object of desire to a backing of sparse and funky disco – wondrous stuff indeed.

About John Preston

South London based music obsessive with strong opinions about most things. Doubts Madonna has another good record in her but would love more than anything to be proved wrong.