New Music Mondays | 02.05.18

Boston Sports fans, console yourselves with our newest Monday playlist #NMM

‘Cute Thing’ – Car Seat Headrest

“Car Seat Headrest are re-imagining Will Toledo’s 2011 album Twin Fantasy and are set to release the new version on February 16th. ‘Cute Thing’ comes as an interesting choice for the third single, given other Twin Fantasy songs’ more legendary statuses among CSH’s discography (See ‘Sober to Death’). This rework however, manages to still capture the emotion of the original with a much more polished sound. The real charm of Will Toledo still shines through when he quotes They Might Be Giants and when he laments not having ‘Frank Ocean’s voice’ (interestingly changed from the original ‘Dan Bejar voice’). ‘Cute Thing’ along with previous singles ‘Beach Life-In-Death’ and “Nervous Young Inhumans’ make me very excited for what Will Toledo and Co. are doing. There was always a doubt that the low-fi charm of older Car Seat Headrest would be lost on more polished production, but the group seem to have preserved what made Will’s early work so amazing.” – Grant Foskett

‘Get Out‘ – CHVRCHES

“The lead single from CHVRCHES’ upcoming third album signals a triumphant return by the Scottish synth-pop trio. “Get Out” opens with an aggressive synth riff backed by a clapping 808-driven beat, immediately demanding attention and paving the way for singer Lauren Mayberry’s opening vocals. The riff segues into a hook that is exactly the kind of bubbly, infectious centerpiece fans would expect from the band. Lyrically, the group takes the hook in a pop-oriented direction; the song’s title repeats several times, anchored by a platitude about the subject’s good intentions being “never good enough.” Nevertheless, the end result is a warm-weather-ready track suitable for singing along in a festival crowd or in a car with the windows down.

While “Get Out” does not deviate too much from the stylistic elements heard on their previous album, it hints at the possibility of the band taking a more mainstream pop approach to their music. CHVRCHES have always occupied a solid position in the alternative pop world but this single shows that they have the potential to bring their sound to the mainstream and join the likes of Paramore as alt-pop radio stars. While it’s uncertain which direction the band will take with this upcoming album, this song is a strong indicator of a release that will appeal to both longtime fans and newcomers alike.” – Cam Corriveau

‘Cool‘ – Soccer Mommy

“Sophie Allison, also known as Soccer Mommy, ups the production value on her latest single, “Cool,” a breezy guitar pop gem about a heartless badass named Mary. The track is a perfect blend of late 90’s slacker rock and modern lo-fi bedroom pop, delivering sugary sweet melodies and fuzzy guitar licks at a slow, easy pace. It’s a sort of warped feminist anthem, describing a girl with a “heart of coal” who’ll treat any boy who gets in her way “like a fucking toy,” and, as the title would suggest, is pretty much the paragon of cool. Anyway, I can’t get the melody out of my head, so here’s me passing this song on to you so that at least we can all suffer/celebrate the heartlessness of Mary together.” – Craig Short

‘Distortion‘ – Mount Eerie

“When I heard the first few lines of Mount Eerie’s new single, I knew I’d heard them somewhere before. At first, I thought he had recycled lines about his late wife from his album, A Crow Looked At Me released last year. Then, after listening some more, I realized that this was the first song that Phil played when he performed in afterHOURS last semester. I was surprised that I remembered the words so vividly because I usually don’t pay much attention to lyrics. However, while sitting on the floor of afterHOURS in complete silence, I could do nothing but listen to Phil’s soft-spoken stories. “Distortion” is a 10-minute series of anecdotes that Phil is trying to make meaning of in the context of the devastating loss that he experienced not too long ago. It is just as quiet as it was when I heard it in afterHOURS but with a few extra moments of aptly included distortion. After hearing the full studio-produced version of the song, I am very excited to hear the rest of his upcoming album, Now Only due March 16.” – Spencer LaChance