BEST NEW SONG: HEARTS & COLORS - LA ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

Gothenburg, Sweden's Hearts & Colors take us into the heart of the City Of Dreams on "L.A. On A Saturday Night."

Los Angeles is a dream factory. Hollywood provides modern day myths and legends for moviegoers all over the world, spelling out glamour, romance, and fabulousness as an aspirational fantasy that wash over spellbound viewers in dimly lit rooms. Musically, L.A. is still the heart and soul of Glam, the essence of rough 'n tumble street culture, the image of fashion and style.

It's hard to resist the spell of Tinseltown, no matter who you are or where you live.

Swedish pop is particularly adept at evoking detached fantasy. ScandiPop feels like you're floating 3" above the permafrost. Maybe it's due to the long, cold nights, shot-through with the Northern Lights, but Swedish Pop makes you feel like you're wrapped in a warm sweater as snowflakes gather on your eyelashes. It's intimate and slightly detached, in equal measure.

HEARTS & COLORS - LA ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

It's the perfect ratio to describe wandering the streets of the City of Angels, looking to make your dreams come true while also acknowledging the disappointment that's likely to follow.

"You know it's true what they say
Nobody can fall in love in LA on a Saturday night
All the boys and the girls on top of the world
In the morning they realise
That it's true what they say
Nobody can fall in love in LA on a Saturday night."

Despite their reservations, and how much they "hate this f**ked up city," they still seem smitten. Smooth, velvety vocals coast over an avenue of mellow beats, calling back to Heart & Colors' indie folk roots while also hinting at their future direction.

Plenty of folks are eager to hear what that direction might be. Hearts & Color have racked up 530,000 followers on Instagram, 15 million views on YouTube, and over 300 million Spotify streams. They have previously worked with the producer Andrelli, who's collaborated with some of the biggest names in Pop like Rihanna and Lady Gaga. That's not bad for a band that hasn't even released a proper album yet! Big things are clearly in store for this indie duo.

It's an apt metaphor for Los Angeles, as a whole. It's the City of Broken Dreams and La La Land at the same time. It's built on intense inequality but is capable of producing the most fantastic reveries humanity has ever imagined. Sometimes it takes a little bit of distance to appreciate that.

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.