TOP CHILL MUSIC: THE 10 SONGS YOU NEED THIS WEEK

Photo by Tiago Felipe Ferreira on Unsplash

With only 25 days until the election, it’s important we’re getting out and making our voices heard during this time. This could be in the form of voting, organizing, or simply initiating a dialogue with our friends and families. It’s also important we have our moments of quiet, too. If we don’t rest, after all, we won’t have the energy to stand up and continue the fight. On that note, feel free to take time out to recover this Friday morning with the latest edition of We Are: The Guard’s Top Chill Music, featuring Tycho & rum.gold, Hot Chip, Kasbo, and plenty of others.

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TYCHO & RUM.GOLD – RUN AWAY

Tycho and rum.gold is the collaboration I never realized I needed in my life. Listen as the We Are: The Guard favorites bring their respective talents to “Run Away” – an unapologetic ode to being non-committal in love – with Tycho’s 80s-tinged digi-sunset production making for quite the backdrop to rum.gold’s emotive, soulfully organic croon.

HOT CHIP – WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS

Hot Chip are inviting us into the mystical, neon depths of the night on “Worlds Within Worlds.” Featured on Late Night Tales – a compilation series previously curated by the likes of Four Tet and MGMT – “World Within Worlds” is a glowing secret garden of sound, with Joe Goddard taking the vocal lead beneath a sky of twinkling synthesizers.

KASBO (FEAT. VANCOUVER SLEEP CLINIC) – LUNE

I’m pretty sure if you were to look up the definition of “bliss” in the dictionary, you’d find this song. Kasbo and Vancouver Sleep Clinic come together in tranquil style for “Lune.” Featured on Kasbo’s upcoming album The Making of a Paracosm, it’s a soaring, euphoric cloud-dream, as topped off by Tim Bettinson’s emotionally charged falsetto.

DANIELA ANDRADE – NOTHING MUCH HAS CHANGED, I DON’T FEEL THE SAME

Following on from the release of the sensuous “K.L.F.G.,” Daniela Andrade returns today with “Nothing Much Has Changed, I Don’t Feel the Same.” Lifted from her recent EP of the same name, it’s a dappling, languid slice of lounge-soul that finds Daniela reflecting on transition, with cosmic, psychedelic guitars caressing her as she sings.

ARI LENNOX – CHOCOLATE POMEGRANATE

Everything Ari Lennox touches oozes with sex appeal. Case in point: “Chocolate Pomegranate.” Produced by  Vintage Vandals and Elite, it’s an achingly sultry song that sounds good enough to eat, with Ari singing about a ride-or-die love over the kind of moonlit instrumental I can imagine pouring out the doors of some late-night jazz club.

VICTORIA MONÉT – TOUCH ME (REMIX FEAT. KEHLANI)

Having both written songs about each other over recent months, Victoria Monét and Kehlani are finally coming together as one on this remix of “Touch Me.” It’s a luxuriously sensual listen that hears the two singers – who are rumored to have dated in the past – getting flirty, with their voices intertwining like two naked bodies locked in an embrace.

53 THIEVES – SOUTHSIDE

Disco gets the 53 Thieves treatment on the sticky, sweltering “southside.” “‘southside’ focuses on rejection and desperation. The narrative follows a person who would do or say anything in order to come closer to someone they are infatuated with,” explain 53 Thieves, with house beats bouncing off deep grooves for a funky heater like no other.

LONDIN THOMPSON – WISH IT WOULD RAIN (PIANO VERSION)

She recently won us over with “Wish It Would Rain,” and today, Londin Thompson returns with the crushing piano version. By stripping the song down to its most basic parts, Londin allows the listener to focus in on the sense of desperate isolation behind the lyrics, with the TikTok star’s voice ringing out like a devastatingly intimate diary entry.

SAD ALEX & GNASH – I’M GLAD THAT YOU FOUND SOMEONE

We Are: The Guard favorites sad alex and gnash are sending a big “f*ck you” to their exes on “i’m glad that you found someone.” “This song is for all the people who don’t want to move past the anger stage of a breakup yet,” explains sad alex, who together with gnash delivers an attitude-infused kiss-off that doubles down on the chill vibes.

WA’EL – I LOVE YOU WHY WOULD I EVER LEAVE? (OH RIGHT, AND I’M PRETTY HIGH)

Every so often, a song comes along that makes you feel a serenity like you haven’t felt in a long time. “I Love You Why Would I Ever Leave? (Oh Right, and I'm Pretty High)” by Wa’el is one of those songs. Written about the inner peace that comes with being in love, it’s a tranquil lullaby that sounds like Tame Impala on a dosage of sleeping pills.

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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.