Casha Mour – Toluca
I wrote about London’s Casha Mour (real name Daniel Alan Smith) a couple of years ago. The song I featured then had this wonderful, drunken, meandering quality to it; I remarked at the time that under that comforting tilt seemed to be lurking something sorrowful. In the time since, getting to know Casha Mour’s music, that sorrow rises to the surface. The first of these two new singles he sent over a few weeks ago, “Toluca” reminds less of the pleasant warmth of the first brown shot descending through your esophagus than it does the long, unfocused stare of someone considering a transformation into a barley-mood. (I always assume the mean drunks are actually the ones with deep-seated repressed sadness.) It’s no worse for it; the song is sparse and strict, but nonetheless deeply hypnotizing in a shoegazing kind of way. The second single, “thirteen” is a warmer, yearning, tune; this time it’s taking home the charming and handsome sad drunk, but finding he really just wants a bosom on which to rest his head. Both of these are available on bandcamp and on the streamers, but Smith was also kind enough to let me post the mp3s here.
Casha Mour – “Toluca”
Casha Mour – “thirteen”
Ocean Hope – Τώρα Δε Με Νοιάζει
Sublime modern pop from Ocean Hope, Greek brother-sister duo Angeliki Tsotsoni and Serafim Tsotsonis. “Τώρα Δε Με Νοιάζει” (translated to “Now I Don’t Care”) is a view over the Corinthian coast at dusk–the last group of kids running around; relaxed in their joy, eager to get in as much play as possible before being called home for dinner. Where much of Ocean Hope’s previous work resides somewhere in the periphery of synthpop (and what they refer to as “chamber pop”), this song integrates Angeliki’s near-naive and leisurely vocal style into deeper electronic territory. Serafim also sent over a recent solo piece, a magnificently ambitious 14min+ ambient voyage; a score to a film that lives only in his occipital lobe. Both songs are exquisite. Grab the Ocean Hope single below or on bandcamp, and Serafim’s solo piece below, or on bandcamp as well.
Ocean Hope – “Τώρα Δε Με Νοιάζει” (Now I Don’t Care)
Serafim Tsotsonis – “Waves Unseen”
Drifting in Silence – Moving Forward Into
Finally, tonight is a dulcet piece of ambient by Drifting in Silence, the longstanding ambient project from composer Derrick Stembridge, out of Raleigh, NC. This captures the moment of serenity when you slip into a warm bath; it would be a perfectly fine replacement for Epsom salts and magnesium to calm one’s nerves. Everything in this song is round–even the rimshot–there’s not a sharp edge in sight, just curves and waves and temperatures just a touch below body temp. Not much more needs to be said about this; just have a dip. Grab this on bandcamp or find it for streaming all over.
Drifting in Silence – “Moving Forward Into”