TOP CHILL MUSIC: 10 SONGS FOR THE WEEKEND

Photo by Ben Eaton on Unsplash

While the Twitter memes were ridiculously funny, did anybody else secretly love The Great Internet Shutdown on Monday? It was kind of nice to finally have an excuse to ignore my feeds and messages and enjoy some Me Time instead. Perhaps we should do it more often? On that note, feel free to have a quiet moment to yourselves this weekend with the latest edition of We Are: The Guard’s Top Chill Music, featuring Wet, cln, Ross From Friends, and plenty of others!

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WET – FAR CRY

Every time I listen to Wet, I feel a beautifully devastating knot forming in my stomach, with the New York City outfit tugging harder than ever on "Far Cry." The latest single to be unveiled from Wet's upcoming third album Letter Blue after "On Your Side," "Larabar," and "Clementine," "Far Cry" is a crystalline thumper about denial at the end of a relationship. "Even if you call my name/Baby, could it be the same?" sighs Kelly Zutrau on the cut – which was produced by Toro y Moi and Joseph Valle.

CLN – IN VAIN

Brisbane's cln reaches out to those who are hurting on the gently soothing "IN VAIN." "I didn't really go into this song trying to write something sad, but I guess that this song probably takes inspiration from the general state of the planet," cln writes in a statement. "Sometimes you just need a loved one or a family member to tell you that things are going to be okay." With his vulnerable voice coming set against a skittering of study beats, "IN VAIN" is the audio equivalent of an unexpected embrace.

ROSS FROM FRIENDS – LOVE DIVIDE

The countdown to Tread – the upcoming sophomore album from Ross From Friends – continues today with the release of "Love Divide." Like "The Daisy," "Love Divide" hears Ross From Friends continuing to utilize Thresho – a plug-in the Colchester artist built for Ableton's Max for Live. With a beautifully emotive, searching vocal sample coming set against a foundation-shaking four-on-the-floor beat, "Love Divide" is another deconstructed dance-floor masterpiece from Felix Clary Weatherall.

LAUFEY & ADAM MELCHOR – LOVE FLEW AWAY

She recently played her first-ever live show opening for Lake Street Drive in Salt Lake City, and today, Laufey is unveiling her latest single "Love Flew Away." A duet with We Are: The Guard favorite Adam Melchor, "Love Flew Away" is a moonlit jazz ballad about a long-distance affair coming to an end. "We whisper among us/For the last time today/As our love flew away," sing Laufey and Adam at one point – their voices intertwining like an Old Hollywood couple against a backdrop of quietly weepy strings.

FLIGHT FACILITIES (FEAT. BROODS) – FOREVER

It's been seven years in the making, but Flight Facilities is finally returning with their sophomore album FOREVER in November. Before all of that, however, the Sydney outfit consisting of Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell has shared the BROODS-featuring title song. With a runtime of almost four minutes, "FOREVER'' is a lush, dappling infinity pool of sound. Pairing Georgia Nott's tender vocals with rippling basslines, "FOREVER" is nothing short of an immersive experience from beginning to end. Dive in.

CKTRL & MEREBA – ZERO

London's cktrl moves through heartache with remarkable elegance on the Mereba-featuring "zero." Lifted from his upcoming EP zero – which also includes a duet with We Are: The Guard favorite anaiis – "zero" is described by cktrl as being about "the most extraordinary love that wasn't ready." Opening to Mereba's stretching voice and mechanical beats, before clarinets bring astounding opulence to the cut, "zero" captures that feeling of a breakup causing the floor to fall out from underneath you.

DHRUV – AIRPLANE THOUGHTS

Having recently gone viral with "double take," London-based artist dhruv continues to send emotional shockwaves ricocheting through the blogosphere with his brand new single "airplane thoughts." "It's about saying goodbye to a lover, with no certainty of when you'll see them next,'' dhruv writes in a press release. Bringing together his Frank Ocean-esque croon and soft, muted bedroom beats, "airplane thoughts" is a melancholy ode to longing that hits different in these post-pandemic times.

BOY-ISH – CLOUD CHASING

Just in time for the weekend, boy-ish's Mark Berg returns today with the perfect Sunday afternoon vibe. As the title suggests, "Cloud Chasing" is the ultimate song to get lost in the clouds too. With calming piano notes coming set against a bed of soft, gentle beats, "Cloud Chasing" immediately puts you in a place of inner peace. It's once the guitar melodics hit, however, that "Cloud Chasing" really comes into its own, with the song practically bringing to life the feeling of cold, damp grass beneath your feet.

SCRUFFPUPPIE – PAINT

Following on from making her debut on the Phoebe Bridgers imprint Saddest Factory Records with "Assignment Song," scruffpuppie returns today with her incredibly moving second offering. "Paint" is an introspective piano ballad that cuts so very deep as scruffpuppie sings about her battle with drug addiction over the years. "Woke up in a pool of sweat/Told me I haven't paid my debt/And Mommy said I shouldn't fret," trembles scruffpuppie, before strings guide the song to its deeply devastating climax.

LANI ROSE – SLEEPWALK

We Are: The Guard regular Lani Rose is not simply tugging at the heartstrings, but fully ripping them out on his pained, poignant latest single "Sleepwalk." According to Lani, "Sleepwalk" was written earlier this year while he was suffering from COVID-19 and seeking to reconnect with his "emotionally unavailable" parents. "I wrote 'Sleepwalk' to my parents as a cry and as a plea to myself to keep going and not give up," Lani explains of the cut – which genuinely brought tears to my eyes. We love you, Lani.

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Jess Grant is a frustrated writer hailing from London, England. When she isn't tasked with disentangling her thoughts from her brain and putting them on paper, Jess can generally be found listening to The Beatles, or cooking vegetarian food.