Single Reviews 13th June 2022: Alex Crispin, Evening is Youth, Calle 63, Welcome Strawberry, Kritters x FILLY

Posted by Jay Honeycomb on

Photo by Emma Filer


Alex Crispin - Listen & Learn

alternative/jazz

From Norwich, UK, Alex Crispin absolutely delights on this cut from his forthcoming self-titled album. The groovy intro and pensive vocals develop like a child at play, with saxophone and flute, erratic shifts in time, and an unexpected, spacey synth that adds some nice warmth. This track has what the best art has, a sense of irreverence. Blast your speaker up to ten, and take Crispin's advice; "Let your neighbours know."


Evening is Youth - I'm Glad I Left

rock/pop

A slice of summery pie from Zealandia, "Glad I Left" from Evening is Youth ruminates on a summer romance gone wrong with a pop-punk-electro sound that somehow isn't as terrible as it sounds on paper. In fact, it's a great track, with a can-I-hear-it-again? chorus and production so tight you'd think it had Botox. 



Calle 63 - Departure

electronica/ambient

This hypnotic track from Calle 63 sees an electric guitar lick chopped up and looped for three minutes and forty-five seconds of music production mastery.  The riff is given new light and shades of meaning as ethereal, wordless voices merge with unexpected glitches and chilled drums. 


 


shoegaze

I got myself a pair of New Balance runners recently. They're blue and red, and while they oust me as the fading millennial I am, I've just spent two minutes and thirty-eight seconds looking down at them while listening to No One Online by shoegaze outfit Welcome Strawberry. Bending and layered electric guitar, steady drums, and dulcet vocal melodies low in the mix might have sounded like a pastiche of MBV if Welcome Strawberry hadn't brought their rough personality to the sound. From the self-titled debut album out this September. 



Kritters x FILLY - NYNY

pop

Here is some awesome pop by way of Kritters and featuring the elusive FILLY. The production is as smooth as warm butter and, gratefully, not compressed or overblown. The whisper-thin vocals are a testament to FILLY's craft; they're not trying to grab your attention, quite content with nonchalantly enchanting with this catchy love letter to the Big Apple.