Bored of your boredom, deleted Zoom yet, heard enough jokes about quran-tunes? Our writer Thomas Harvey gives you 10 Songs to help keep you emotionally sane at home.
Innerstate – Zaia
Visualise with me; we’re riding down the motorway windows down, summer is just starting and this song is playing in the car. Zaia is the Atlanta rapper whose slick rhymes and production come across as wide-lens and freeing which I certainly need. I’ve been visualising a lot at the moment – can you blame me?
Bad Friend – Rina Sawayama
Rina Sawayama is hot on everyone’s radar after the release of her self titled album SAWAYAMA on Dirty Hit and this song is an ode to the pop bangers and my favourite on the album. I love pop music and it’s purely for reasons like this song taking my emotions out of the ring for a hot second.
To Be Yang – NOVAA
“It’s cruel to be yang – in a world like this” – these words are vulnerable, honest, and too relatable in a time like this. NOVAA is the Berlin-based pop artist whose writing is raw and whose voice is hypnotic. Contemplate what it means to be young and have a listen.
Are You Feeling Sad? – Little Dragon
Little Dragon has brought along the moves to my music for years and their new album ‘New Me, Same Us’ is no different. Most of us haven’t got a whole lot of space to dance in but don’t let that stop you, it’s just an arm or a leg and trust me it’s worth it.
Flowerbeds – Sfven
Sfven is the emerging English singer-songwriter/bedroom producer and flowerbeds is a melancholic pop banger that reminds me to smile in my moments of forgetfulness. Keep your eyes on him and have a listen to his EP ‘Like I Love You’.
35.31 – Childish Gambino
The new Childish Gambino album is outrageously good and sits somewhere between – pop, jazz, and maybe no genre specified. 35.31 is a playful song that tickles you while it plays – although I may recommend listening to the album the whole way through if you want the end to make sense.
Next2 – Emerson Leif
Emerson Leif is the Australian voice that tucks into a soulful pocket that is magic. This song comes off of his recent EP, ‘Bad Company’, and is another song that is a gasp of air when you need it.
Sober – Aquilo
Some songs have moments of complete fluttering peace and provide a much needed calm moment for you and this song is one of those for me. Aquilo brings out fragile yet electronically driven songs and is one of my favourites for music that fills that void for me.
Rituals – lindsay, Asha Jefferies
The new guitar project from Will Cuming (Lanks, OK Moon) is a beautiful ode to the importance and beauty of a guitar in its simplest form and his impressive vocal range featuring Asha Jefferies is a welcome addition to the beauty of the track and EP ‘ASMR Love Letters’.
Lovely – Toledo
It may feel as though now you’re at home you can relax all the time but being in the same place is anxiety-inducing. ‘Lovely’ by Toledo will undoubtedly calm those nerves and hopefully, contribute to a reduction in those vivid dreams we’ve all been having. It’s calming and it’s needed and I hope it’s another song that can help you find that centre when you need it.