Best New Tracks Of The Week: January, 29th, 2023
5. Selfish - Slowthai
On Selfish, Slowthai is lashing out. While he focuses on his internal battles and those he is responsible for the entire world around him calls him selfish, which makes the dramatic and dark instrumental make a lot more sense. Continuing to show off his versatility, Slowthai shines on the song both at his most intense and most reserved. The instrumental journey of the track alone makes it worth hearing.
4. Pray It Away - Chloe
I never really "got" Chloe x Halle they just felt like inessential players in R&B from the moment I first saw them pop up at an award show without ever hearing anybody who knew their music. But if this is what Chloe's new solo album will sound I am all the way it. Even with it being major Beyonce worship she lives up to that comparison with great vocals and a fusion of the sexual with the spiritual that doesn't isolate or favor either side. Great song.
3. Kandy - Fever Ray
The hype for Fever Ray's comeback builds and builds and builds some more with this new single, yet another hit in her run of great tracks leading up to her highly anticipated new album. This track deploys some squelching synths, thumping percussion, and refrains that grew on me very quickly to craft an instantly compelling soundscape around Karin's still-striking vocals. The album has all the potential to be one of the best of the year.
2. Lotus Light - Tim Hecker
One of the most acclaimed voices in modern ambient music is back with the lead single from his highly anticipated new album and it's every bit as haunting and layered as you'd hope. The 8-and-a-half-minute composition is at times chilling but still distinctly moving through seas of distant chords which stack and stack until the song's final moments.
1. LLYLM - Rosalia
Following up last year's spectacular Motomami is going to be a tough task for Rosalia but as soon as I heard the flamenco claps and multi-lingual vocals on this song I was confident she has it in her. Rosalia just continues to grow as an artist incorporating new sounds and pushing her style into new directions, to the point where this mostly standard pop song feels transcendently gorgeous.
