(via Shutterstock)
Sesame Street is always encouraging us to work with others nicely and in a spirit of fruitful cooperation and it’s heartening to see that many of the artists in this post have taken that to heart.
By combining their hearts, they have given us tracks that are not only musically arresting but which say something quite beautifully profound and meaningful, proof that pop can be both escapistly beautiful but also good for the mind too.
These songs allow you to lose yourself in them in the best possible way; music should always do that to some extent but these songs go that extra mile or so, allowing yourself to sit back (or get up and dance; your call) and soak them and just let yourself go wherever.
It’s bliss, it’s joy and it’s here now for diversionary listening pleasure.
“This Is It (feat. Frida Sundemo)” by Kasbo
(courtesy official Kasbo Facebook page)
Collaboration between musically creative minds often leads to some really special songs.
Three years since they last joined forces, fellow Swedish artists, electronic record producer and DJ Kasbo and singer-songwriter-producer Frida Sundemo give us “This is it”, a track full of atmospherically whispered vocals, emotionally-charged melodic flourishes and lyrics that gloriously celebrate the simple but magnificently wonderful act of being alive (This is it / No walls are surrounding us now / In this moment nothing matters / In this moment I’m alive).
It’s a nuanced and quite lovely celebratory quiet wall of sound that envelops and subsumes you which entreats you, as Scandipop perfectly observes, “to submerge yourself into and allow the bubbling synths to take you on a soul-reviving sonic journey”.
Losing yourself in a track is one of life’s great gifts because who knows where it will take you? In the case of the sublime delights of “This is it”, it’s somewhere quite gorgeous indeed, buoyed by words which celebrate and evoke the very existential bliss you’re feeling.
“Breaking Down” by GusGus
(courtesy official GusGus Instagram account)
Hailing from the gorgeously stark beauty of Iceland, the capital Reykjavík to be exact, GusGus are a trio comprising Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson, Birgir Þórarinsson and Margrét Rán Magnúsdóttir, who initially began life as a film and acting collective.
Happily for music lovers, they branched into electronic music and it’s this that they are mainly known for now, with songs like “Breaking Down”, lifted from their album DanceOrama, exemplifying why their musical output has struck such a chord.
The song kicks are with gloriously discordant, ethereally-tinged music that ushers in a show that is all anticipation and atmosphere that comes ever more vivaciously alive when Margrét pours emotionally evocative voice into a blend of beats and propulsive melodic forward momentum.
It’s wondrously good, a song that soars and surges in equal measure, with “slow build comes to a crescendo of drums and falsetto vocals, flowing on a wave of reverb and delay” (Renowned For Sound), that sweeps you up and has you dancing and meditating all at once.
“Eye of the Untold Her” by Lindsey Stirling
(courtesy official Lindsey Stirling Instagram account)
I love the way life has those moments when a casual mention from a friend about an artist they love leads to a 14 year happy obsession with an artist whose vivacity and warmth infuses every piece of music she creates.
Lindsey Stirling, an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer who hails from Santa Ana, California originally, is the artist in question and her mostly instrumental slices of violin-fuelled upbeat pop joy are the kind of thing that elevates and uplifts, especially on those days when life seems manifestly bereft of those qualities.
One of her newest tracks, “Eye Of The Untold Her” contains everything I love about her – it’s breathlessly, starkly beautiful in the most perfect of ways, its buoyantly alive and it carries an important message about truly believing in yourself and acting on it without hesitation or regret (which is hard to do when you’re criticised right at the start of your career such as by the America’s Got Talent judges whose sampled voices from the fifth season of the show in 2010 when Stirling competed kick things off).
For all of its softer and more graceful moments, there’s a passionate intensity to “Eye Of The Untold Her”, give visual life in the incisively articulate video, which underscores how personal and richly autobiographical this rich and affectingly honest song is on just about every level.
“Matcha” by Maddy O’Neal & COFRESI
(courtesy official Maddy O’Neal Soundcloud account)
Once again, here’s the power of collaboration to give us with a song that’s all playful melody, evocatively distorted vocals and a sense of time and place that feels almost tangible.
“Matcha” comes to us courtesy of Denver-based elctro-soul artist Maddy O’Neal who combined her many talents to resonat effect with Chicagoan COFRESI who has made a name for himself as an electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist.
Described by Acid Stag as a “cross-genre delight”, “Matcha” is, says O’Neal, the kind of song that defines easy pigeonholing which, of course, is always a good thing.
“The main drop vocal says ‘I’m an OG soul in a new school era,’ and that pretty much sums up this song for me. ‘Matcha’ is one of those songs that truly defies genre placement. It’s got a bit of a grimey hip hop vibe, while also being melodic with playful synth elements and a little bit of pop. I love tracks like that, because I feel like they provoke a certain reaction when you hear it… the songs that you can’t quite grasp, but want to listen to again regardless.” (Acid Stag)
“Addicted” (ft. Ink) by Zerb & The Chainsmokers
(courtesy official Imagine Dragons Soundcloud account)
Back on the collaboration wagon – did we ever really leave it? Happily, no – and we’re treated to an exuberantly fun track in the form of “Addicted”.
The combined work of Brazilian DJ and record producer Zerb, American electronic DJ and production duo (Alexander “Alex” Pall and Andrew “Drew” Taggart) and vocalist Ink, “Addicted” features what The Musical Hype rightly calls “a sick groove from the start”.
It’s reasonably chilled at first but after the drop, notes The Musical Hype again, the song “amplifies the ear-catching glory, with the lyrics serving as an extension of the [infectious] chorus”.
It’s a gloriusly fun slice of casually danceable pop that comes armed with a partified clip that elevates this wholly escapist piece of dancefloor pop to somewhere quite deliciously special and yes, suitably addictive.