Based between Philadelphia and New York, Bernardo Ochoa aka Panther Hollow carves out sunny, distorted lo-fi. It makes sense then, that he should pair up with Charlotte Rose Benjamin, an indie pop gem who he regularly produces with. This is exactly what happens on “Louis Pt. 2,” the laid back, guitar led jewel that closes Charlotte Rose Benjamin‘s freshly released debut album, Dreamtina. The sun drenched crooner of a track oozes slacker goodness, with fuzzy vocals and clean, jangling guitars swirling.

Panther Hollow said of the track: “This is my first time performing almost every element of a track. I played drums, bass, guitar, mandolin, and synthesizers on this song. I made most of the instrumental recording all at once, but I was having trouble coming up with a melody. Around the same time, I was working with Charlotte Rose Benjamin on a song called “Louis”, and for the life of me I could not get the chorus out of my head — even though this song is pretty different from “Louis”. Eventually I gave up running away from the melody and showed Charlotte the instrumental and asked if she’d like to collaborate on the track.”

Boasting tenderly yet sombre plucked guitars and a softly stoic drum beat, Charlotte Rose Benjamin and Panther Hollow’s “Louis Pt. 2” feels like a rowing boat pushed gently off the beach, a Chinese lantern released into an inky sky, the end of a bittersweet summer as the season turns to autumn. It’s ultimately a track dripping in comfort, possessing a soothing energy that waves the listener fondly on their way after listening to Dreamtina in full, something that is highly recommended.

Like any pretentious music nerd, many of my favorite songs are deep cuts. I feel closer to these songs than I do to my favorite radio hits. It’s one thing to love a song everyone loves, it’s quite another to find something precious that most people don’t see. Charlotte Rose Benjamin’s new song “Deep Cut” is about a love like that – intimate, particular, a love not everyone would understand. “From the outside it didn’t make sense,” she says, “and there were a lot of reasons it didn’t work out. If it were a song it definitely wouldn’t have gotten a lot of radio play.” Loving a deep cut can be a jealous thing. You find yourself scorning fans of a band’s mainstream hits, clinging your special, underappreciated B-side to your chest. Your love with a deep cut can be all yours, but as such, it can also be lonely – there’s no crowd to sing along with you, flashlights waving overhead. You can’t wheel it out at karaoke night. There’s some of that in “Deep Cut” too – “living is lonely with or without you,” Benjamin sings.

“Deep Cut” is a fluid, hypotonic dance of waltzing guitars and warm, surefooted bass. It has some of the eyes closed, ethereal, float-away feel of shoegaze song, but gets there without all the feedback. Charlotte Rose Benjamin’s beautifully produced vocal is a diamond sharp shard of light amidst all that soft spinning sound. It feels right beside you, squeezed close by the ebb and flow of the instrumental, almost painfully intimate. The music video is the same – a vintage camcorder presses in close on Benjamin‘s eyes as she lies in a hotel bathtub, clad in a mint green slip dress. It’s as private as anyone’s relationship with their favorite song.