I’d argue that one of the best phases of summer comes before the season officially starts. As spring winds down, the air becomes thick with the anticipation of high temperatures and vacation time. Bugs haven’t yet bogged down parks, and our fresh new summer wear is still crisp from purchase. Big-name pop stars are on their first or second attempts at releasing this year’s biggest summer anthems, while indie darlings are on their final tours before festival season kicks into full gear. It’s a good time to release some new music, and it’s an even better time to listen to it.
Big Thief – “Mary”
“Mary,” the penultimate track from Big Thief’s sophomore release Capacity, brought me to a new level of appreciation for the band. It’s already impressive that their second album is coming out barely a year after their first, but Capacity is such a marvelous record that I feel foolish for taking this long to let myself fall for them. At times both nimble and pensive, “Mary” is instrumental to the album’s pacing through staging a final lilt before the brief full-band number “Black Diamonds” sees the record to its finish. These two songs form a winning album-closing diptych which subtly encourages a flip from side B back to A. Big Thief visits the High Noon Saloon on July 3.
Cornelius – “If You’re Here”
For me, the true highlight of last year’s Eaux Claires festival came immediately after Bon Iver’s debut live performance of 22, A Million. While the vast majority of fest-goers departed back to their campsites or dorms, I curiously ambled over to a late-night set from an act I’d never heard of. I was plunged into a deep and very wild performance of Cornelius’s 1997 album Fantasma. This month, we saw the first single from Cornelius’ first album in a decade, and it is absolutely terrific. Citing contemporary touchstones feels funny here considering the decades of experience under the belt of bandleader Keigo Oyamada. That said, there’s a prominent thread in “If You’re Here” of hesitantly paced expressionism that recalls some of the best moments of the Dirty Projectors’ most focused material. If previous Cornelius albums are any indication, the atmosphere of this single may belie a great variety of moods that fill the upcoming Mellow Waves, which is scheduled for U.S. release on July 21.
Bad Gyal feat. Dubbel Dutch – “Jacaranda”
The newest from Catalan hotshot Bad Gyal continues her short-tenured but successful tradition of pop that’s deeply indebted to Jamaican dancehall, this time with L.A.’s Dubbel Dutch on production. The fruits of this collaboration make for more of a late-night club tune than a windows-down Summer Car Song. It might be only a little more authentic than Mura Masa’s steel drums or Justin Bieber’s “Despacito,” but it’s an undeniably fashionable move by an artist poised for an American crossover.
Selena Gomez – “Bad Liar”
I liked this song quite a bit the first few times I heard it, but I recently realized that — though much has been made of it having been constructed over a sample of the “Psycho Killer” bass line — this entire song is LCD Soundsystem’s “I Can Change.” I feel confident that if someone laid the two songs over one another and pressed play, it’d be hard to even notice a difference. Don’t get me wrong; I still think it’s a great song — a promising comeback release from a A-list star who could really have gone anywhere with this record. It’s just hard for me to listen to this without hearing James Murphy singing in the background.
Carly Rae Jepsen – “Cut to the Feeling”
The internet has had a lot to say about this one, so I’ll keep this brief. People, Carly Rae Jepsen is no joke. Like the best car commercial songs, “Cut to the Feeling” sounds like it was made to soundtrack a movie preview spot. Of course, that’s how it was released (Leap!, coming to theaters Aug. 30). As far as transcendency through marketing goes, it’s perfect.
The War on Drugs – “Holding On”
Warbly guitar dudes The War on Drugs have released yet another track from their upcoming album A Deeper Understanding, and it wouldn’t sound out of place on a December “Holiday Classics” FM radio station. Here, the grandiose stuff this band does best is morphed into a shuffle that recalls Future Islands as much as anything your parents like listening to. This should be a pretty fun record.
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