Stellie - "Colours" (premiere)
Photo: Jackson Thornbury / Courtesy of artist
Australia's Stellie is a rising alternative pop singer-songwriter that received more than 700,000 streams of her 2019 single, "Love Me First". That's down to her smart, emotionally engaging songwriting and a lustrous voice capable of conveying layers of meaning. Stellie released her self-titled EP back in August, and now she's sharing the video for "Colours", a track that has "hit" written all over it as the warm vibes lure you into her world. Stellie doesn't want to waste a minute of precious life energy as she bathes those sentiments in nighttime colors.
Stellie tells PopMatters, "When I initially started writing 'Colours', I just had one lyric in mind: 'I'm too old to die young, so I don't want to die at all.' That line is really what kickstarted the whole mood of the song. It's almost that feeling of being too scared to waste any time, because life is too short and you want to make the most of every second. I wanted to emphasise the darkness that this song emulates when it came to creating the visuals. This is why the whole clip was filmed at night time, with my face really only being lit by different coloured neons. I really want the audience to feel the lyrics as much as they can hear them."
The Brooks - "Gameplay"
We already premiered a song by the Budos Band today, but you can never get enough funk in your life. Canada's the Brooks have been bringing the hot electrofunk for the past eight years, and they have a deeply groovy new tune, "Gameplay", on tap. The eight-piece P-funk group add psychedelic synths, slinky guitars, deep plunks of bass guitar to the song that displays their love for artists like Funkadelic and Bootsy Collins. The second half of the song brings in a NOLA brass band vibe. I can only imagine how incredible this song would song live on a huge stage at Montreux Jazz, where the Brooks have previously played.
Maude Latour - "Block Your Number"
Twenty-year-old New Yorker Maude Latour has been raved about in Billboard, The Fader, and others for highly melodic and smart indie-pop. Last year, Latour released Starsick EP and aimed to reveal all her secrets in an attempt at catharsis. Her music is deeply personal and emotionally revealing, but it also has killer hooks, energy, and passion. On "Block Your Number", the singer-songwriter examines heartbreak and pain in a set of clever, stream-of-consciousness lyrics that just click and work perfectly. Latour may be quite young, but she's already fully arrived with her unique spin.
Berne - "Heat"
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
London electropop duo Berne are as deeply committed to environmental issues as they are their music. Last Friday, they released their debut EP, Stay, which contains this beautiful and haunting new song, "Heat". Stay is focused on climate issues and Berne built a 100% solar power-fuelled website to accompany the record. "Heat" is an intoxicating dose of folktronica with delicate synths, warm harmonies topped with gossamer vocals, and deep, serious messages about how we are destroying our planet. The heat comes from the fire that won't stop burning until there is nothing left to burn. So, you're going to get a message with your music, but then this is mind music of the highest order, so it's only fitting.
Berne say that their "debut EP is a reflection of what keeps us up at night. It comes at a time when humans need to work together towards common goals more than ever. We really believe that small changes will collectively make a big impact and that is the common thread in all the songs."