Birdsong

Way Back Wednesdays: The Future Sound Of London – ‘My Kingdom’

March 30, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Garry Cobain (Samples/Production) & Brian Dougans (Samples/Production) (Date n/a) (Photo via Clash)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to go ‘retro’ for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you are not sold on the strength of the premise of a diverse tapestry of dystopian, dark-leaning IDM and Electronica with a loose theme of urban dilapidation and urban decay, with a hint of paranoia and a Cyberpunk aesthetic alone, the UK Top 15-charting single of ‘My Kingdom’ may just convince you otherwise. This single was released in 1996 by The Future Sound Of London – an English electronic music duo formed in 1988 by Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain who met in Manchester, ironically – in the build-up to their third studio album ‘Dead Cities’ they released in the same year. The record is an expansion of the ideas they explored on 1994’s ‘Lifeforms’ EP, a more nature-oriented and pastoral record, albeit with a darker variation of sounds. ‘Dead Cities’ also included the duo’s highest-charting single ‘We Have Explosive’, which was licensed as the theme track for the ‘Wipeout’ video game on the original Playstation, and it reached #12 in the UK Singles Chart. ‘Dead Cities’ is personally one of my favourite electronic records of the 90’s because it serves as a road trip of post-apocalyptic Ambient textures, but what really makes ‘Dead Cities’ click together so neatly is the stylistic tweaks which the duo make throughout it. The ballad-style tone and floating Piano chords of tracks like ‘Max’ are very different to the ring tone-style synths of tracks like ‘Antique Toy’ or the insistent drilling of the title track that are more harsh and dissonant in mood, or really feel like they are attacking the listener. Throughout it’s 12 tracks (and a hidden segment that starts around one minute after the final track plays like an MCU-style Post-Credits scene) and a hefty duration of 70 minutes, The FSOL create a varied tapestry of electronic sounds spanning through Psychedelia, Trip Hop, Techno, Dark Ambient, IDM and Dub that are tethered to a connected, if non-singular, vision – and I also feel the record has a softer side to it that can be overlooked in favour of the more crowd-pleasing Claustrophobia of EDM cuts like the more well-known single. ‘My Kingdom’ was the preceding single to ‘We Have Explosive’ and it was given a fairly low-budget looking music video that was animated by Buggy C. Riphead – who designed the graphics of the LP’s physical copies. The CGI is dated by modern standards – but their imagination is still there. Check it out below.

‘Dead Cities’ is an underrated classic which was released on the major label Virgin Records in the UK along with Astralwerks in the US, and many music critics have attributed the album’s mastery to being the reclusive duo’s most accessible work commercially, although it still unmistakably sounds like them. In fact, ‘My Kingdom’ got to #13 in the UK Singles Chart, joining an elite club of bizzare top 40 radio hits like The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Setting Sun’ and The Orb’s ‘Toxygene’ from around it’s then-contemporary times too. The opening of ‘My Kingdom’ carries it’s weight with an Urban Trip-Hop feel as ethereal samples that give the drums an African percussion feel guides us through a gradual lift-off, before the sampled voices of an elusive choir and wistful Asian-style Horn samples that evoke a stop-and-start pace slowly join the fray of the scattered soundscape, with breakbeats and light downtempo ambience separating the structure of the elements to blend them into a more cohesive whole together. The choir section is a highlight, as the duo’s modulation makes their voices feel distant and hollow, conveying the mournful themes of a ‘Dead City’ with expert precision. I also love how the mixture of aggression and percussion on ‘My Kingdom’ has a dark edge to it and takes center stage as the drawing, expansive structure of the piece comes into view. The duo dip their toes into Blade Runner and Ennio Morricone samples specifically here, and they combine the downtempo elements of those original recordings with gloomy, foggy Ambient Electronica sounds neatly here, almost creating an abstract characteristic of a dense forest that could remind you of their prior ‘Lifeforms’ work quite noticeably. ‘My Kingdom’ has the power to give you goosebumps because of it’s darkness and vibrant atmosphere, with a certain doom-and-gloom or woe-is-me tone that is turned into something surprisingly beautiful and hypnotic as the samples stretch along it’s duration progressively and conjure up the power to create it’s own experience that feels a little seperate to ‘Dead Cities’, but is enhanced by the context of the sounds, tones, atmosphere and textures of the album it is from. It is a very well-crafted record which each lover of music should experience.

Pictured: Inserted Artwork for ‘Dead Cities’ (CD) (Released in 1996 via Astralwerks/Virgin EMI) (Photo via Eil.com)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another roughly 24 hours period, and thank you for taking a short moment out of your day to support the site and the independent creatives that I, in turn, support here as well. It is back to new music recommendations tomorrow, as we turn our attention towards a new single by a now-duo of Indie Pop and Disco proportions from Brooklyn, New York who previously included Coco’s Dan Molad amongst their line-up. Their albums have also received acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, Paste and The Village Voice too. Their new LP – ‘Second Nature’ – will release on April 8th via Mom + Pop Records.

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Today’s Track: Jon Hopkins (feat. Ram Dass & East Forest) – ‘Sit Around The Fire’

November 4, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Jon Hopkins in a photoshoot for a FACT! Magazine feature (2015) (Photo by Dan Medhurst)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’ve got a relaxing pick for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! You may know the Kingston Upon Thames-born electronic music producer Jon Hopkins from his work on composing the soundtrack for the 2010 cult science fiction drama film ‘Monsters’, or his time playing the keyboard for Imogen Heap on tour. He has also produced or contributed to albums released by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes and others, and he’s taken part in various collaborations with King Creosante and Leo Abrahams. Whether you’ve heard of him or not before, the fact remains that Hopkins has always left exciting projects in his wake. His next album – ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’ – is set for release on November 12th and it promises nothing different than a bold new chapter of his career, exploring genres like Ambient and Electronica in their most blissful forms. The follow-up to 2018’s Mercury Prize-nominated sister projects – ‘Singularity’ and ‘Immunity’ – his next record was inspired by a creative expedition that he took at the Tayos Caves in Ecuador during 2018, and he says, “What grew from this experience is an album with no beats, not one drum sound, something that is closer to a classical symphony than a dance/electronica record”, also adding, “The freedom from traditional rhythmic structures unlocked so much – it felt like I was free to explore a new form of rhythm, one that you discover when you just allow things to flow without letting yourself get in the way”, to his announcement. The lead single, the 8-minute LP closer, is ‘Sit Around The Fire’, that sets a lesser-known talk from ceremony guide Ram Dass, as well as a music video set to scenes from his illustrated book ‘Be Here Now’, to additional production by East Forest. Let’s drift off to it below.

“Music For Psychedelic Therapy is not Ambient, Classical or Drone but has elements of all three. For me, it’s a place as much as it is a sound. It works for the somber mind, but takes on a new dimension entirely when brought into a psychedelic ceremony”, Jon Hopkins notes in a press statement, explaining, “I love this idea of music as something you inhabit, something that works on you energetically. In fact, it was while in that state that the title appeared to me. Psychedelic-assisted therapies are moving into legality across the world, and yet it feels like no one is talking about the music; the music is as important as the medicine”, in his own words. ‘Sit Around The Fire’ is possibly the most accessible track on the LP because it features some fairly conventional lyrics, which are recited in a Spoken Word poem recorded by Ram Dass that was used for a real-life psychedelic ceremony. The first half of the track is dominated by field recordings instead of catchy chords, with some sparse Lo-Fi beats and a motivational speech about presence of being and the source of the light from Dass driving the lyrics forwards. Later, East Forest introduces a calm and plaintive Piano melody to the mixture, which gently complements the ongoing vocal samples. Hopkins brings some melodious chimes into the background, while Dass continues to confront inward vocal tones through to the eight minute mark. The recording feels long, but it never feels overbloated because Hopkins manages to mesh the glitchy elements of Indietronica with the solemn, meditative style of softly building Ambient music to create something that feels more refined and introspective altogether. The lead vocals from the spiritual teacher allows you to feel sand slowly sinking between your fingers, with some calming vocals and some spacious pacing that provides some extra breathing room for the instrumentation to come through clearly. Standouts include lyrics like “You don’t need loneliness/For you couldn’t possibly be alone” that speak about the judgments and opinions of the mind, and vocals like “You don’t need greed/Because you already have it all” that evoke anti-materialism ideas, and later sections like “You don’t need doubt/Because you already know” that speak about finding inner connection and submitting yourself to existence beyond a metaphysical construct. Overall, ‘Sit Around The Fire’ was something very interesting. Far from a conventional single, it is not beat driven at all and is simply built for a different purpose than most other music. It may appear too fanciful at first glance, but the new single is an exemplification of Hopkins’ ideas to arrange music for philosophical commentary. It strengthens Hopkins to be a proper artist because he is not restricting himself to conventionality, and instead chooses to explore broader concepts on his own terms. We could all do with this 8-minute psychological mindfulness in our lives.

  • Pictured: Cover for ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’ (Available on Nov 12, 2021) (via Domino Records)

Thank you for reading my latest post, and I look forward to delivering yet another ‘New Album Release Fridays’ pick tomorrow as we delve into one of the singles taken from one of the weekend’s most notable album releases. If you were a big fan of Soft Cell or Depeche Mode in the 1980’s, you’re hopefully going to love tomorrow’s post. It comes from a US indie Synth-Rock/Post-Punk band who have previously worked in other side projects including The Static Jacks and Machinegum throughout the years.

  • Pictured: Jon Hopkins performing a live DJ set at Parklife Festival (2018) (Photo by Max Miechowski)

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Lightning Seeds – “Pure”

May 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

I’m going to keep this pure – It’s one of my Dad’s favourite bands! Let’s go Way Back…

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Cloudcuckooland” (LP) (Released on January 29, 1990) (via Ghetto)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to take a moment out of my deadline work-filled day for an in-depth look at one of the seminal sounds of the past that has influenced those of the present, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! For those of you who perhaps don’t listen to much music or radio, you would probably know The Lightning Seeds best from their work with comedian David Baddiel and presenter Frank Skinner on classic UK footie anthem ‘Three Lions’, which has reached the top of the UK Singles Chart on three different occasions since it’s release due to the World Cup. Up to that point, however, the then-emerging Liverpool indie trio experienced commercial success ahead of the Baggy Brit-Pop era of the 1990’s. Case in point is their debut single, ‘Pure’, which was the first track which vocalist Ian Broudie had “completely written and sung, ever” and it reached #16 on the UK Singles Chart. Not too shabby for a first effort, right? At the time, it was mostly a solo project for Broudie, who followed up on his first crossover chart hit with the release of his debut album, ‘Cloudcuckooland’, to US chart success in 1990. Let’s revisit the video for ‘Pure’ below.

It was only when 1994’s ‘Jollification’ was released when Broudie decided to expand his project of The Lightning Seeds to a full-fledged touring band, with the band’s most famous line-up joining him. Before signing to Epic Records, Broudie had his roots set in small Noise-Punk 70’s bands and became better known a producer rather than a musician, contributing to work for acts like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Fall, prior to embarking on the trip of The Lightning Seeds in 1989. ‘Pure’ saw Broudie spring to mainstream radio consciousness for the first time after the initial run of 200 copies of ‘Pure’ on physical formats proved too little for the demand. Mixing catchy pop hooks with a youthful, simple innocence, Broudie made a hit out of a happy pop tune with the appealing instrumentation. The chorus, and the refrain of “Don’t sell the dreams you should be keeping, Pure and simple every time” is very memorable and easy to relate to, with verses that are written from the viewpoint of a burgeoning relationship with the purest of sweet love sentiments, despite our narrator seeming to be in a little state of doubt where nothing seems impossible. His vocals are shaky and veering towards the nervous side, but they add solid effect to the overall performance, where the expressions of the vocals are, you’re going to hate me for this, pure and simple every time. Musically, we’re being treated to slightly psychedelic Horns, the gentle strumming of the bass guitar, and the three-note synth sequences that all do their job and don’t ever overstay their welcome. There’s not a great deal to it instrumentally, but the sum of it’s parts each play out nicely with a pretty, birdsong-like structure. It’s a very radio-friendly tune, but everything is tied together neatly, and there’s a nice twist to the upbeat mood where the lyrics become more of an ode to the beauty that never lasts. Sure, it’s one of my Dad’s rock tunes, but I’d take it over Coldplay any day.

  • Pictured: The Lightning Seeds with comedian David Baddiel (1996) (Photo by Alamy/The Irish Sun)

That’s all for now – but I’ll be back tomorrow for more musical musings. Join me then for an in-depth look at some new music from one of Brit-Pop’s most promising modern inventors. The now-duo were formed in Sunderland in 2004, and have a brand new album out now on Memphis Industries. The band have been nominated for the Mercury Prize and, at times, have been joined by members of Maximo Park and The Futureheads in their line-up. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Boards Of Canada – “An Eagle In Your Mind” (1998)

November 3, 2020 — 1 Comment

David Attenborough would be all over this bird of nature! It’s time for a new blog post!

  • Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)
    Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to repay my promise of typing up about your daily track on the blog today, as it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! An interesting classic IDM record that I’ve been listening to over the last few weeks is “Music Has The Right To Children”, an ambient record from 1998 which was self-produced by Boards Of Canada, a Scottish electronic music duo, on the Warp Records label. The piece of material went down as a landmark in electronic music work, and it has appeared on many best-ever lists from music publications like Pitchfork and Mojo. While the bulk of electronic music sprawls from Industrial and futuristic technology from urban environments – the intriguing case of Boards Of Canada is that the duo grew up in a very small urban community in Scotland, where they have since remained very reclusive from their fanbase, hardly ever taking part in any press interviews or live performances. For “Music Has The Right To Children”, the brothers of Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison decided to create experimental sounds from outdated analogue software and samples taken from 1970’s public broadcasting children’s programmes to invoke themes of early childhood, nostalgia and nature. The duo have shrouded themselves in secrecy, and started making music by sending Casettes of their work to their friends and family. Let’s see a fan-made video for “An Eagle In Your Mind” below.

Fan-made videos have played a significant factor in keeping the Boards Of Canada’s fanbase active over the years, with long gaps of years between the subsequent album releases, and the band managed to pull off an elaborate “Easter Egg Hunt” in the highly-anticipated marketing push towards 2013’s “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, but that’s another story for another day. “An Eagle In Your Mind” is the third cut on the track listing for “Music Has The Right To Children”, and it perfectly sums up the basic key elements of the album, for my two cents. As you’ve probably noticed, it’s not really a track that is very accessible from a dancing point-of-view – despite being labelled as an “IDM” release. Instead, we’re given some meditative textures and peculiar sounds that feel rooted in degraded synthesizer hardware and 1970’s-inspired Hip-Hop break-beats. The track begins with a slowly fading synth line that soon washes over the top of a scratching, downtempo turntable beat sample. The sound, although entirely instrumental, manages to feel very rich and fresh because it sounds emotionally mature and hallucinatory, to a degree. Ideas of early childhood memory and adolescent behaviour peek their head in at a midway mark, when the tempo of the Syncopated backing beat increases and a very abrupt vocal sample of “I Love You” cuts into the picture, and it signals for a whistled backing vocal sample and an emerging synth line that comes into full force later on, with a harsh ambience that seems very dense. There may not be very much going on here, melodically – but the lo-fi beats have been layered in a hugely calculated and meticulous manner. The ideas of early childhood memory develops very smoothly, as a result, with cut-off samples and resonating synth work managing to evoke emotions which are ever so slightly strange and peculiar – and – for me – this is what manages to make the record stand out as a truly fascinating and unique project. It feels as if you’re a child, sitting at the TV, watching old advertisements fly by, or like you’re riding a bike with your friends around the countryside as your mind wanders to an imaginative, fantastical place. In a nutshell, it plays out like an adult’s reflection of their nostalgia – as you’re left with fragments of memories at this stage of your life and it’s hard to filter what is real and what is fantasy as a child anyways – and the record is bizarrely accurate in doing so. An album that would take time and perseverance to connect with you, but – depending on your upbringing as I was a strange child myself – it will slowly reward you with a payment of nostalgic, intricate sounds which are unrivalled. Go and listen!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Music Has The Right To Children" (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Music Has The Right To Children” (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for reading my new post! Please feel free to join me tomorrow – where we’ll be making a change of pace with an in-depth look at the latest album from one of the most legendary African-American Hip-Hop groups of all-time, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Fame in 2013, and critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine named them as “The most influential and radical band of their time” for AllMusic in 2017. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Maajo (feat. Ismalia Sané) – “Esukey”

September 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

The band representing “a rare tropical breeze from the cold north”. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Maajo (Jon Thureson, Juhani Lammi, Thomas Lammi, Jussi Laitinen, Janne Melanen and Mitja Virikko) in a publicity shoot to promote “Tropic Of Tulli” (in 2016) (via TheRansomNote.com)

Good Morning! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as always, I’m typing up about your daily track on the blog, since it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s theme has seemingly become a case of catching up with releases which I had missed during the chaos of the kick-started COVID-19 pandemic in the early Spring, such as Nicolas Jaar’s “Cenizas” and Porridge Radio’s “Every Bad” earlier in the week. Last, but by no means least, we have “Kuru Kuru”, the second album from Finnish World-Funk collective, Maajo. This is a lesser-known band, and I first caught wind of “Esukey” by a recent episode of KEXP’s Song Of The Day podcast. Although Maajo had formed in Finland, they have taken a large amount of influence for their chord progression and lyrical devices from traditional African music, while combining these passions with electronic sources. “Kuru Kuru” is the group’s second album to be released by the Queen Nanny record label and it was released in April. The band have previously released music on the Permanent Vacation label, and another branch of their portfolio includes a remixed soundtrack for the 1920’s silent film, “Lost World”, along with receiving remix treatments from Luke Vibert and Call Super themselves. “Esukey” features the Senegalsese lyricist Ismaila Sané, who started his career in the 1970’s as a percussionist, and as a solo dancer/choreographer of African ballet, before he relocated to Finland in the late-1990’s. Most notably, Sané won the “Citizen Of The Year” prize in 2003, which marked the first time an emigrant received the award knowingly. Let’s take a listen to their work on “Esukey” below. Make sure you stay tuned after the track ends to hear a translation from Sané on the lyrics which he sung.

I hope that you stayed until the end! Maajo describe themselves as “a rare tropical breeze from the cold north” in each of their press releases, and it’s a marketing tagline that seems rather unquestionable, to make for a refreshing change of pace. “Esukey” has a very far-reaching sound globally, with a wide range of African and Bollywood appeal, and further influences that come across as more Balearic and Funk-oriented. Elements of Birdsong and lyrics (translated, obviously) refer to enjoying the nature around us on the planet and connecting with wildlife across our borders. It’s difficult to recognise the electronic sequences within the track, as it instead places a much larger emphasis on a percussive, groove-driven sound. Unfortunately, I am unable to understand many of the lyrics and I’m mostly in exactly the same boat as you when it comes down to the vocal aspects, but the language of percussive instrumentals and nostalgic Afrobeat undertones thankfully skew far more universally. There is a gentle R&B-tinge established from the outset, with a mellow keyboard section giving off the introductions. Shortly after, we’re greeted to straightforwadly upbeat Senglanese lyrics from Sané, who connects these dots together with an involving voice and an optimistic mood. Kalimbas rattle along and Balafons riffs tick along to create a joyous, percussive groove that creates a lively bassline to communicate an organic and natural quality that can resonate with an English-speaking audience. It skips along with a quick pace, with reggae sensibilities due to the drum beats and a slightly-skewing electronic fusion created by the keyboard melodies, to add some more harmonization to the mix. The track is all over and done with rather quickly, and I think it would take a few listens for you to fully grasp the sonic concepts being explored. Yet, it never feels frantic and too chaotic for it’s own good, instead evoking a decent sense of warmth and joy, with calming vocal textures and punchy guitar melodies. Overall, it makes for something that feels easy and rewarding to listen to, despite the foreign lyrics themselves – with a fruity flavour.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Kuru Kuru” (Album/LP) (Released on April 10th, 2020) (via Queen Nanny)

Thank you very much for reading this post! Don’t forget that, as usual, it will be time for a brand new weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series tomorrow, which, if you are new to the blog, is the time of the week where we take a look back at an Emo-Rock or a Pop-Punk relic which was released between the late-1990’s and the early-2000’s, to see if it can hold up to it’s qualities in the present day! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – “Los Angeles”

August 5, 2020 — 1 Comment

A here-and-now project which is anything BUT prehistoric. It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “I Can Hear The Birds” (EP) (Released on May 27th, 2020) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing up your daily post on the blog, just like always, because it’s still my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! With a slightly amusing real name of Orlando Higginbottom, his pseudonym of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs takes things up to a further extreme, a name he chose to inject some colour into the British club scene. He has only ever released one album, “Trouble”, a dance record that reached #34 on the UK Albums Chart in 2012. However, Higginbottom has become one of my favourite artists for his seamless abilities in shifting between vibrant dance tones and atmospheric, distinctively British bleakness at ease. “I Can Hear The Birds” is a five-track EP that marks a bold departure from the Club-oriented sounds of his previous material, a project that he self-produced and self-released during the lockdown period. The EP was created by real-life snippets of bird sounds sent to him by a group of his friends living in Australia, Canary Islands, Los Angeles, and London. He posted on social media: “Working on my existing musical projects was proving difficult and so this pattern of receiving bird recordings from friends and sending them back as songs emerged as a welcome practice.” Let’s listen to the second track “Los Angeles” below!

Birdsong is often seen as a meditative and relaxing genre of music, so it’s a nice change of pace to hear something quite different from an EDM producer who would usually probably prefer to DJ in exotic clubs across the globe. Higginbottom loops a light synth pad melody with a soft, twinkling Piano section to create a mellow intro, as the gentle Keyboard riff gradually increases the tempo of the track, and a reverberated rumble of Bass quickly proceeds a contemplative, deeply textured synth line. This isn’t entirely electronic, with the glimmering piano score remaining audible, forming a repeated fragment of a hopeful, but somewhat downbeat, quality. The field recordings of bird sounds also help in bringing the ambient textures to life. I wouldn’t say that it’s minimalist, due to the fragmented effects in various play, but it’s raw and mellow, while the Synthesizer loop adds more involvement. What really impresses me about this track is that it has a very enigmatic presence. The Synth textures feel downbeat and contemplative, but they are melodic enough to offer a reassuring feeling of warmth, hope and comfort. There is also a light evocation of Sci-Fi, due to the evocative nature of the electronic instrumentation, it makes me think of Ready Player One or Blade Runner. The textures also feel personal and affecting, and another interpretation of the vibe could be reminiscing over a failing relationship, and giving a fresh start to a former romantic partner. In any case, the main point is how the track feels very pure and natural, as a bustling Los Angeles night scene can also be pictured in my mind, with many different interpretations to relax your mind to. In short, this is unmissable! He is a very underrated artist, and I am a massive fan of him.

Pictured: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (Orlando Higginbottom) in a photoshoot (2020) (Photo by Pia Riverola)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth listen to a recent single taken off a brand new album from a New Zealand-based Indie Punk band who met each other while studying at The University Of Auckland, starting out by performing Jazz and Swing as each of the band members performed under various monikers throughout the tenure. They are still well-known for their use of vocal harmonies. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime