To introduce the album, Hyd has also shared the first single, “Angel”, an irresistibly bouncy pop track with retro, sparkling touches, produced by Hudson Mohawke. Beneath its bright, dance ready energy lies a heartfelt story. In the song, Hyd reflects on the first time their father met SOPHIE and imagines her presence as something protective and spiritual. It is an emotional tribute wrapped in shimmering pop production, which feels both tender and uplifting. The track arrives alongside a video directed by Tourmaline, that you can watch below.

The accompanying music video reflects this duality, as Usbeck drifts freely one moment and becomes entangled the next. Following the lush dreamscapes of Amparo and the 80s-infused explorations of Envejeciendo, Naturaleza urges listeners to rekindle their connection with the natural world.

The video is awash with those whimsical, homespun qualities that characterise Usbeck’s impressive catalogue as a multi-disciplinary artist. Depicting her walking through New York dressed like a Manta Ray, it’s a lovely watch; one bound to place at least the smallest of grins on your face and inspired, the artist says, by a trip to an Ecuadorian island…

“I remember walking along the beach on Floreana Island, the sound of the waves surrounding me,” says Usbeck. “As I watched, manta rays emerged and disappeared with the current, their graceful movements captivating. It was a rare moment of perfect harmony, and there are few times I’ve felt so at peace.

The single itself, “Mantarraya,” exemplifies that balance of sincerity and synthy experimentalism which has made Maria a favoured artist of HighClouds over the years. Through the song, she sings in Spanish about the titular animal, delivering concise, simple and infinitely sweet lyrics about manta rays move through the ocean “without any problem”, like “jewels of the sea,” over a wash of synths that make the track sound like a warm bath or a cosy hug.

“Mantarraya” is the first release from Naturaleza: a record that, like her previous, sticks with a concept, this time focusing in on nature and our relationship to it.

“Each song on my new album, Naturaleza, tells a layered story of moments in nature, reflecting on the contrast between how we live and how we should,” she explains, adding, “And, of course, it touches on the usual existential dread. Are humans the true invasive species? How can we cultivate a more symbiotic relationship with our ecosystem?”

Maria Usbeck has always been a boundary-less and shapeshifting kind of artist, influenced both by the Brooklyn electronic pop scene and her Latin American background. After fronting the New Wave band Selebrities, she recorded her debut Amparo in 2016 with her friend, alt-pop royalty Caroline Polacheck, and followed it up with Envejeciendo, a highly conceptual, meditation on aging. Out in April, Naturaleza will definitely be an exciting new chapter in her journey…

I don’t know anyone who feels caught up with music right now. And just as much as fans feel the pressure to consume, artists wobble under the pressure to create. While we live in an incredible time of technological innovation and social communication, it’s lately felt like some of the care, thoughtfulness, and joy of music making and listening has taken a backseat role.

It’s refreshing, then, to listen to a release like Jensen Sportag‘s A New Anthology, slated to come out early next month. The record is 12 tracks, handpicked from a treasure trove of 150 homemade, unpublished demos by Cascine owner Jeff Bratton. If you can’t quite place Jensen Sportag, that’s because they’ve been on a hiatus since 2013, following a flurry of critical success, performances with the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Girl Talk, and their debut LP Stealth of Days. The group– composed of old high school friends turned longtime and prolific collaborators—took a step back to pause, all while recording music to form this impressive and mighty glut of unreleased material.

Wilkinson and Craig grew up together in Tennessee, and there’s a sense of love and familiarity that only comes from friends messing around that emanates from every Jensen Sportag release. When compounding this dynamic with the curation expertise of Bratton, the resulting album is just plain good. It’s a triumphant return—no, a homecoming—from a group that is constantly surprising and delighting without feeding into riffraff or gimmicks.

This makes it all seem sober and serious, but A New Anthology is as fun, funky, and fresh as Jensen Sportag‘s previous releases. “Beige,” the latest single from the project, premiering today exclusively on HighClouds, is a prime example of everything that makes Jensen Sportag worth dancing to. The track makes this clear from its first sputters, opening with a soft knocking and glimmery synth which quickly collides into the bouncing beat, smooth guitar, and grooving keys that form the body of “Beige.”

The lyrics are casually lovelorn, portraying a relationship that has just never been able to find solid footing. This story is told through vocals that unfurl like a fan, sometimes presenting as one tone and other times expressed through a chorus of voices. Like their prior releases, Jensen Sportag sounds like a Scandinavian version of Cut Copy or a more chilled out Hot Chip—Made even funnier by the fact that the music is made by two guys from Southern America. Take it from us, “Beige” is a true delight, and just one track from the album that is certain to be your chill & groove go-to for months to come.

Listen to the previously released single “Zaeta” below.

Hailing from Helsinki, the innovative duo known as Pearly Drops crafts softly blurred pop music, where modern and vintage sonic landscapes intertwine. After the release of their LP, A Little Disaster, earlier this year, Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin are back with some exciting news. They’ve recently announced their Haunted Expansion Pack EP, set to drop soon through our good friends at Cascine.

The project features two brand new songs, “Haunted” and “Heather,” as well as two remixes from the album. So far, we already heard the Dream, Ivory‘s rendition of “I Cry While You Sleep” and today, we’re thrilled to be premiering the Nourished by Time version of “Take Me Down.”

In the hands of the Baltimore singer-songwriter and producer Nourished by Time (whose real name is Marcus Brown), the pulsating synth-pop of “Take Me Down” ventures into uncharted musical territories. In line with Pearly Drops’ style, Nourished by Time often injects retro sounds into their forward-thinking music [as exemplified in their exceptional album, Erotic Probiotic 2, which has earned a spot as one of our top favorites in 2023]. Guided by a DIY ethos and a punk freedom, their reimagination of “Take Me Down” takes on a grainy and gritty quality. It doesn’t seek to erase or replace the original but rather serves as a harmonious extension, akin to a collaboration that has always been meant to be. Echoing Tervonen‘s ethereal and icy singing, Brown‘s croon anchors the title to the ground, or rather, to the underground. Listen below.

After “Get Well,” Pearly Drops (Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin) returned today with another nostalgic and melancholy single. “It’s about the chronic heartaches and deep-rooted fears we inevitably endure – and even sometimes have a morbid appetite for. Human behavior is confounding,” the Finnish duo stated about the song, which should be featured in their sophomore album, dropping sometime in 2023.

Watch the self-directed visualizer and support the track via Bandcamp below.

Soothing bird call opens the latest single “Mystery” by Fauness (performance name of Cora Gilroy-Ware). It is a serene beginning for a track that soon bounds into an ethereal electro-pop disco, complete with processed drums and sumptuous 80s indebted synth chord progressions. And still, a curious duality lies at the heart of the track, the first to be shared from her upcoming Jam City-produced debut LP. Its propulsive nature and perfectly formed vocal melodies radiate positivity, but it is streaked with an aching sadness that is hard to pin-down. It is a song of multitudes that reflects the ever competing elements of our own psyche, and something only the magic combination of words and music can express.

As synthesised squalls echo the first sounds of birdsong in the outro, we are left happy to have heard it, and to have experienced the myriad of emotions it evokes. “Mystery” and its many layers is proof that London’s Fauness is a creator of smart pop. Songs of immediacy that will last long in your memory.

Watch the self-directed video and pre-order The Golden Ass via Bandcamp below.

After their successful debut album Call For Help released back in 2020, Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin, better known as duo Pearly Drops, have dropped a first taste of what’s to come next.

“Get Well” marries Tervonen’s dreamy, ethereal vocals with an hypnotic synth line, completed by an entrancing drum beat. The track has a deceptive simplicity that comes from an extremely tight production and singular vision, a sound that seems effortlessly plucked at first listen, before unveiling more nuances and depth with each repetition.

Much like Pearly Drops previous endeavours, “Get Well” sounds simultaneously current and nostalgic, leaning on formulaic 80’s synths and fusing them with a fresh, skipping beat. The track would fit just as well in a John Hughes movie as it would in a 2022 Netflix original limited series, you know, the good kind of Netflix original.

“Get Well” sounds like elongated nights that stretch out, like the endless purples, oranges and blues that explode across the sky at dusk in summertime. It feels like a warm breeze hitting your skin as you cruise with the top down on coastal roads and the kind of impassioned, summer romance that only happens when you’re 16 years old.

Once again, Pearly Drops transport us to somewhere that can’t quite be pinned down; neither the past nor present. Wherever or whenever it is, I’m just happy to be here with “Get Well” acting as the soundtrack.