Best New Tracks Of The Week: August 13th, 2023
5. the slab - Slowdive
The often-teased third single from Slowdive's new album opens with an arrangement of glittery jangly guitars that fans of shoegaze acts molded in their original image will be familiar with. While the instrumental of the song is wonderfully cloudy I will say I think the vocals could be improved. "Impact" often isn't the point of the singing on a shoegaze song and yet on this track is takes a while for them to have any real presence in the song either.
4. Wait For Me - Stillblue
I haven't talked about Stillblue since last years Flora EP but that hasn't stopped the band from continuing to export their melancholic indie folk. Even now on a single which has a newfound and quite definitive jangle to it, the haze of sweet guitar tones and romantic desperation in the lyrics give the song a distinctly somber presentation. In a week dominated by good new indie folk songs they couldn't be left out.
3. Summer Windows - Slaughter Beach, Dog
Just in time for the post-summer malaise to hit, SBD returned with another languid indie folk number full of familiar motifs and immeasurable charm. Where it really shows up is on the lyrical front sounding more interesting than their contemporaries and matching their instrumental wanderings with the authentic ramblings of the aesthetic they've taking part it. It's another solid outing from the group.
2. Kansas -Whitney
Earlier this year Whitney impressed me with a single that felt like a throwback to their sophomore album. With this new single that is just starting to feel like an entirely stylistic morph to the band at their most naturalistic and I'm still enjoying it. They continue to be great songwriters setting up compelling refrains on the hook of this song as usual. But it also just has a beautiful tone from the vocal performance that is overwrought in just the right way and the instrumental that manages to feel both ornate and warmly simple.
This track is a return to the fiery pop-punk attitude that I loved on Olivia's best track to date brutal. The tongue and cheek song about hanging out with an ex again while pretending you're not actually doing what you're doing. She brings a hilariously charming attitude to the track which compliments it with driving guitar riffs and instrumental eruptions at just the right moment. Not to mention the best part of any Olivia song, the quotables. This is a great second single for Guts.
