Sylas
Shore (Aesop)
“Sylas” sounds like what you might affectionately call a farmer whose name you’d forgotten, and indeed much mystery surrounds this south London duo. Apparently they’re proteges of Brian Eno, who grew them in a test tube until they were old enough to be wet-nursed by a mermaid, or however it is Brian Eno does things. This three-minute swoon is meticulously crafted, fluid with warm crackle and haunting murmurs. It’s enigmatic, aquatic, a deep interiority snapped into relief by a beat that swims in like an electric eel, and gorgeous, soulful vocal. Eno’s what he’s doing, that bald wizard.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Kiesza
No Enemiesz (Island)
No enemies, except people with dyslexia who may suspect she’s taking the piss. It took me six Googles to figure out how to spell her name or this track. Cracked it eventually. “Everybody getting crunk, crunk, boys trynna touch my junk”: no, hang on, that’s Ke$ha. “Heaven and hell exist to satisfy the vanity of God”: no, that’s Nietzsche. Instead, Kiesza is a pedlar of loved-up 90s house retreads which, like this, sound ripped straight from a Now 29 compilation. Which is no bad thing, as that may well be the best album ever released.
Stylo G
Call Mi A Leader (3Beat/All Around The World)
Rerelease of a British dancehall banger, with added studio polish, by which I mean they’ve sampled Bob Marley. The song’s original title is Call Mi A Yardie, so the fact they’ve called it something else is a bit ironic. The renaming is probably to avoid a controversial sociopolitical term, but I like to think it’s to prevent B&Q using this to soundtrack adverts of people buying garden equipment to fix up their backyards. “Prices are low, put your hands on a hoe!” that sort of thing. Disgusting. The song’s fine, though.
Sleaford Mods
Tiswas (Harbinger Sound)
The single most subversive thing you can do in pop culture is not be young. Which is how two middle-aged Midlands punks taking potshots at every banal facet of modern Britain (including nostalgia for Chris Tarrant’s Saturday morning TV show) makes everyone else sound obscenely irrelevant. “Cameron’s hairdresser got an MBE/ I said to my wife you’d better shoot me,” snarls Jason Williamson over a relentless bassline picked at like a scab. The sound of being buttonholed by a cantankerous drunk who drops your iPhone in a pint. Brilliant.
Ed Sheeran
Thinking Out Loud (Asylum/Warner)
In which Ed comes on like a Bluewater Marvin Gaye, all “meal deal for two” and a Spotify seduction playlist. People with diabetes beware: this sappy ballad contains more sugar than a Kit Kat Caramel. Ed’s described it as “a song to walk up the aisle to” which is fitting, as I’m sure you’ll be hearing it on heavy supermarket rotation for the next three months.
