TOP CHILL MUSIC - WEEK 48

Season's greetings, readers! Not to alarm you or anything, but did you know that tomorrow is December 1st?! If you're like me and haven't even started on your gift shopping yet (procrastinators unite!), then it's safe to say that the next 25 days or so are going to be VERY busy! It's all good, though, as We Are: The Guard is here to see you through the Christmas chaos with the latest edition of Top Chill Music! Ahead of hitting the mall this weekend for some serious money-spending, then, why not take a moment to sit back and relax this Friday morning with a Gingerbread Latte (the red cups have arrived!) and the following chill vibes from Ex:Re, RY X, Tom Rosenthal, Quincy Mumford, Echos, and more?!

-

EX:RE – ROMANCE

Daughter frontwoman Elena Tonra dances amid the ruins of a relationship on her emotionally intense debut single as Ex:Re. “Romance is dead and done/And it hits between the eyes on this side/The grass is dead and barren/And it hurts between my thighs on this side,” sings the London artist on “Romance,” a poetic, visceral ambient banger that hears Elena sweating out her heartache over a four-on-the-floor basement-club beat.

KIM IN THE SUN – THIS IS WHY

The word “blissful” gets thrown around a lot by music writers (me included!), but I can't think of a better adjective to describe this latest single from Kim in the Sun. The Tel Aviv project – who debuted on the blogosphere earlier this year with “Humor” – live up to their name and then some on “This Is Why,” a dream pop production that dapples like the midday sun over ocean waves, washing all of your cares away.

RY X – YAYAYA

Following on from the announcement that he's set to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London next October, We Are: The Guard favorite RY X has shared “YaYaYa.” The song is an intimate hymn that works particularly well as cold autumn days start to make way for dark winter nights, with a fingerpicked acoustic guitar forming a warmly melodic tapestry around RY X's cascading falsetto voice.

SAENS – TWELVE O'FIVE

Once in a while, an artist comes along who leaves me utterly beguiled. SAENS is one such artist. Having got his start on La Voix, the French-Canadian version of The Voice, the Montreal native has since gone on to find his true calling as SAENS, with his vocal prowess and ear for electronic production uniting in darkly hypnotizing style on “Twelve O'Five” from his recent debut EP of the same name.

TOM ROSENTHAL (FEAT. BILLIE MARTEN) – HUGGING YOU

I'm not crying! You're crying!

BLASKO – JAPANESE HOTEL

Melbourne's Blasko welcomes us to the “Japanese Hotel” on his murky latest single. Inspired by a dream that the producer had about an opium den (as you do!), “Japanese Hotel” blends house, funk, and R&B influences into a three-and-a-half-minute groover that cuts through the fog with its funky basslines and comes finished off by the bleary-eyed vocals of Julian Steel.

MADE – DON'T SPEAK TO ME

I can't even find a biography on Made, which gives you an idea of just how new she is. It doesn't matter, though, as the Adelaide artist is letting the music do the talking on her latest single “Don't Speak to Me,” a song that hears Made looping her moody vocals to almost ominous effect over a brooding electronic production that channels some serious James Blake-circa-“Radio Silence” vibes. Good Thanks EP is out now.

QUINCY MUMFORD – I GOTTA FEELING

It's the end of the week, which means that it's time to pour yourself a big glass of wine, kick off your shoes, and listen to some Quincy Mumford. The Ashbury Park native is delivering the perfect dose of Friday night sounds in the form of “I Gotta Feeling,” a sexy, sultry slice of delectable soul music that Quincy says is about “tapping into your conscience.” He continues: “This song is quite personal and hits home in many ways, how we deal with wanting something we know we can't and shouldn't have.”

ECHOS – REVIVAL

Echos aim straight for the chest with “Revival.” The Portland duo continue to refine their larger-than-life sound on the follow-up to “Saints” and the latest single to be unveiled from their forthcoming album Even Though You're Gone, with Lexi Norton delivering perhaps her most epic vocal performance to date over an anthemic production that doesn't just tug at the heartstrings, but completely rips them out.

SUMNER – PUT IT OUT

Sumner breathe life into that “glass-shattering moment you realize someone is not who you think they are” on their chill latest single. “It is a song about putting all of yourself into something or someone, and the realization that you're not receiving anything for all you've given,” write Chloe Wilson and Jack McLaine of “Put It Out,” which quietly invigorates over its three-minute duration with its blend of pitch-shifted vocals and refreshing electronic arrangements.

-

Don't forget to follow We Are: The Guard's Best Chill Daily! on Spotify for more! x

Photo by Michael Fenton on Unsplash

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.