MUSIC

Refresh! At The Disco

e llie F isher The soundtrack to the start of any new year – be it annual or academic – is incredibly important. Were you bemused, ashamed, delighted, or downright flummoxed by your Spotify Wrapped? Well, now is just the time to clear out your old music habits! This is my personal soundtrack to get your vibe revamped, refurbished, and refreshed.

1. ‘It’s All So Incredibly Loud’, Glass Animals (2020). Ah yes, Glass Animals. The psychedelic pop band from Oxford whose delicate yet whimsical notes got me through lockdown last year. Not to mention their brilliant Triple J Hottest 100 victory (my condolences, Spacey Jane fans). ‘It’s All So Incredibly Loud’ is one of the quieter songs – from their Dreamland album – which grows in breathless intensity and emotional significance as you listen, whilst also being a bona fide earworm.

2. ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, Lana Del Rey (2021). New Lana? Or same aural aesthetic, same fiery debate revolving around race and feminism? To be honest, it’s too hard to resist her seductive vision of an America that never was, to be too bothered by this.

3. ‘All I Need – Franky Wah Remix’, Jake Bugg/Franky Wah (2021). Bugg is the definition of re/fresh, having altered his style considerably over the past year. This has both delighted and horrified his fans. Is he a sell-out, or is he – in the opening lines of this single – “Cynical, but original / Tryin’ to fit into a world that’s so digital”? Scrolling through the YouTube comments certainly proves that the new Mr. Bugg is a huge hit in South America, if nowhere else.

4. ‘Californian Soil’, London Grammar (2021). The watery notes of this song – paired with frontwoman Hannah Reid’s haunting vocals – send you to a world of cool, refreshing shades and tones. Dive in.

5. ‘Ribs’, Lorde (2013). A fine piece of vintage Lorde. Nothing is more invigorating than injecting a soupçon of her tousle-haired lyricism into your bloodstream. Old soul meets germinal wild child in this youthful lament.

6. ‘Love Is Back’, Celeste (2020). I only recently discovered Celeste over Christmas. Her voice is a wistful mix between powerful and fragile. It transports me to an imaginary life where I’m sitting in a smoky French café in the mid-twentieth century, writing an oblique novel on an old typewriter and drinking coffee.

7. ‘Revolution’, The Beatles (1968). This was a monthsold recommendation from a good friend of mine, who in fact put me onto The Beatles in the first place. I returned to it in the light of Trump’s delicious slide from power. It felt like the perfect vibe; something hopeful, defiant, and refreshing, despite being over fifty years old.

8. ‘Inflorescence’, Retraset (2018). An electronic pick that presented itself serendipitously – from a local WA artist. As the title suggests, a budding, building track that slowly revitalises your brain cells.

9. ‘Cigar’, Tamino (2018). Tamino is the epitome of refreshing old traditions and styles, with Egyptian musical royalty in his blood. His hypnotic tones are the natural successor of Leonard Cohen’s golden voice. I love how this song is a reimagining of van Gogh’s 1885-86 painting, Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette.

10. ‘Black Dog’, Arlo Parks (2020). Arlo Parks is young, black, bi, and wonderfully tender. What more could you ask for?! This track is full of poetic lines and half-silences, narrating a carefully-observed study of depression, delicately told. Bonus pick that circles back to the start of my playlist? Glass Animals’ refresh of ‘Tangerine’ featuring Arlo Parks.