TOP CHILL MUSIC - WEEK 51

Christmas is almost here, and I'm not sure about you, but I'm already coming up in a small set of hives just thinking about The Big Day™. I still haven't finished my gift shopping, let alone began my wrapping – and don't even get me started on the fact that I've not decorated my tree. My to-do list seems to be getting longer and longer by the minute, and quite frankly, the only thing that's stopping me from having a full-on anxiety attack at this point is listening to the latest edition of We Are: The Guard's Top Chill Music. Okay, so maybe there's more productive tasks that I could be doing right now (Rehearsing my holiday ham?! Writing the last of my greeting cards?!), but if it's this or canceling Christmas, then I know which one I'm going to choose! Check out the following tracks from Emma Jensen, Flume, Emmitt Fenn, Lolo Zouaï, GRAACE, and more!

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EMMA JENSEN – SOMEONE TO BREAK YOUR HEART

There's no shortage of songs about loneliness, but Emma Jensen is bringing an entirely unique touch to the topic on “Someone to Break Your Heart.” It's an emotionally stark  ballad for those unable to face another night of sleeping alone, with the lyrics speaking to the desperate pain of searching for someone – anyone – to go back home with. Crushing.

CHET PORTER – SECRETS

Having recently ended his three-year hiatus, Chet Porter is back today with “Secrets.” It's the kind of rapturous, deeply emotive piece of music that sounds like it could take flight at any given moment, with the skyscraping production paired with the lyrical nods to Chet's depression and digital disconnect making for a stirring, if not cognitively dissonant combo.

FLUME – RUSHING BACK (INSTRUMENTAL)

Perhaps it's the Christmas spirit, but “Rushing Back” by Flume is transforming into a gift that keeps on giving. Following on from the recent release of the Vera Blue-featuring cut, the Aussie returns today with the instrumental, with the mix really allowing us to appreciate Harley Streten's subatomic ear for detail in every beautifully twisted synth glitch and flutter.

EMMIT FENN – I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAD YOU

This is devastating. Emmitt Fenn pays tribute to an ex-lover on “I Can't Believe I Had You.” Featured on his recent EP Until We Meet Again, it's a gut-wrenching electronic elegy to a former relationship, with the LA artist drowning in a vessel of sadness as he sings: “I loved it when you smiled/I loved it when you ask and I stay a while/I can't believe I hurt you.” </3.

PLEASE WAIT (FEAT. ALAYNA) – RUSH

Please Wait, a brand new duo comprising of Ta-ku and matt mcwaters, join forces with New Zealand's alayna for “Rush.” It's a spellbinding piece of music that effortlessly moves with the tide, with pianos rising and falling behind alayna as she angelically sings about her failed attempts to save a relationship, before surrendering to a majestic swirl of strings.

ST. VINCENT – DANCING WITH A GHOST (PEARSON SOUND REMIX)

“Dancing With a Ghost,” the 46-second instrumental found toward the end of St. Vincent's Grammy-winning MASSEDUCTION, gets a dark, spectral remix today from Pearson Sound. Listen as the British producer turns it into a phantom force fit for the underground, with shattering drums and growling basslines echoing their way through the clubby cavern.

HAUX & ROSIE CARNEY – EIGHT

It's been a while since we last heard from Haux's Woodson Black, but the Berkshires-based photographer-musician is back today with the stunning “Eight.” A collaboration with Haux's good friend Rosie Carney, it's an intimate, quiet folk serenade, with Woodson and Rosie exchanging harmonies like long-lost Chinese whispers over a lush, gorgeous waltz.

YAS (FEAT. TAYLOR FROM EARTH) – CAROLINE

LA act YAS faces her childhood fears on her latest single “caroline.” “By personifying these traumas, it makes it easier to acknowledge and ultimately forgive those parts of you,” says the classically trained violinist of the tumultuous lullaby, with a rhythm section thudding like a beating heart behind YAS as the song oozes with a palpable sense of tension and dread.

LOLO ZOUAÏ – CHAIN

Lolo Zouaï questions the loyalty of her friends in light of her music success on the Stelios-produced “Chain.” “Can I, can I trust you now?/I could cut the link off this chain,” sings the Paris-born artist on the beatific bilingual bop – which originally appeared in Episode 6 of HBO's Euphoria – with Stelios concluding the cut with an unexpectedly divine string coda.

GRAACE – OVERTHINK

GRAACE closes out her year in cinematically stunning style today with “Overthink.” Written by the 21-year-old in an Airbnb in NYC, “Overthink” is sure to resonate with those who find themselves ruminating to the point of despair over, well, quite frankly everything, with GRAACE climbing to untapped emotional heights over a gorgeously dramatic stringscape.

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Photo by Thought Catalog 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.