BEST CHILL MUSIC - WEEK 14

Happy Quarantine, chillheads! There's no doubt about it. The coronavirus pandemic is affecting our day-to-day lives on an unprecedented scale. There are, however, upsides to the collapse of modern society as we know it. With social distancing measures in place across much of the globe, people are getting the chance to pause, think, and reflect in a world that doesn't usually give them the space to do that. As another month of lockdown approaches, then, why not take a moment to slow down this Friday with the latest edition of We Are: The Guard's Best Chill Music? Featuring Yaeji, Alina Baraz, Mokita & Ella Vos, and more, this playlist has something for everybody!

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YAEJI – ‎WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던

Korean-American DJ Yaeji pays tribute to her nearest and dearest on her joyous latest single “WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던.” Featured on her recent EP of the same name, it's a hypnotic swirl of a song that Yaeji describes as being about “sharing love and gratitude with the people you call family,” with the producer's soft, featherlight vocals coming intertwined in a dreamscape of reverberating synths and booming, bapping beats.

P.S. Can we talk about how cute and adorable Yaeji's grandfather is?

PONYBOY FTO – FAST CAR

This is delightful. Summer is a long way off yet (77 days and counting, people), but Ponyboy FTO is still bringing the sunrays on his latest single “Fast Car.” The Bay Area crooner is hitting that sweet spot between breezy and emotional on this charming bedroom-pop number, with Latin-esque guitars backing Ponyboy FTO as he sings about getting his license and driving his lover to the ocean.

KAMAL. – HOMEBODY

Just in time for the quarantine, London artist Kamal. has shared the beautiful, melancholy “homebody.” The song is about being a reclusive introvert and choosing to spend the whole day hiding from the world (not that we have much of a choice right now), with Kamal. pairing his intimately soft voice with a simple bedroom-pop production that'll lull you to a place of complete and utter contentment.

ALINA BARAZ – MORE THAN ENOUGH

If this lockdown has got you in the mood for some baby-making, Alina Baraz has just the song for you in the form of “More Than Enough.” The follow-up to “Morocco” featuring 6LACK is an erotic, nocturnal piece of boudoir-pop that makes for a perfect accompaniment to The Weeknd's recent album After Hours, with Alina's sultry voice twisting like cigar smoke as she sings of a relationship that hits all the right spots: “All that really matters is you keep showing up/Promise I'll remind you that you are more than enough.”

RUBY HAUNT – SUNBELT

Get lost in the sounds of Ruby Haunt. Comprising of childhood friends Victor Pakpour and Wyatt Ininns, the Los Angeles duo are providing a much-needed sanctuary of calm in the form of “Sunbelt.” Stretching over nine-and-a-half atmospheric minutes, it's a sparse listen that sounds like the aural equivalent of driving until you can't drive anymore, with hushed guitars and whisper-soft vocals taking us to distant, desolate lands with little to no signs of civilization.

POSTCARD BOY – DAZED

Life is full of dualities. It's this realization that forms the inspiration behind “Dazed” by Postcard Boy's Garrett Seamans. Originally written about the San Diego musician and photographer's love-hate, push-pull relationship with art, “Dazed” eventually transformed into a study of contradiction in humans as a whole, with Postcard Boy's pitch-shifted vocals coming surrounded by an embrace of glitched-out acoustic strums.

MOKITA & ELLA VOS – TAKE IT BACK

Mokita and Ella Vos is a collaboration I never realized I needed until today. Both singers sound vocally made for each other on “Take It Back.” Opening to an impassioned strum of an acoustic guitar before settling into a heartfelt waltz about the broken promises and shattered dreams left behind by an old relationship, “Take It Back” is a soulful listen from two artists maturing into classic songwriting talents.

BECKY AND THE BIRDS – WONDERING

Becky and the Birds comes to terms with the loss of a loved one on the divinely emotional “Wondering.” Written following the death of her grandmother, a relative the Swedish artist describes as her “best friend,” the song finds Becky questioning the afterlife over scattered samples and jazzy, ripped beats, with Thea Gustafsson sounding nothing short of angelic as she sings in the affecting chorus: “Wondering where you are (Wondering where you are)/What's it gonna be? (What's it gonna be without you?)”

EMERSON LEIF – BAD COMPANY

Emerson Leif's music never fails to go down like a smooth sip of top-tier cognac and his latest single “Bad Company” is no exception. Featured on his recent EP of the same name, it hears the Australian singer-songwriter and his long-time producer Golden Vessel continuing to blend elements soul and electronica into a warmly comforting, Future Classic-style concoction for us all to savor, with the lyrics referencing Emerson's search for forgiveness following the breakdown of a relationship.

ZACHARY KNOWLES – CHERRY WINE

Having recently collaborated with Shallou on “Mutual Love,” Zachary Knowles is making his debut on We Are: The Guard in his own right with “cherry wine.” It's a soft, tender guitar ballad about the all-consuming, obsessive nature of love (although not in a creepy, stalkery way), with Zachary's honeyed falsetto vocal coming placed on full display in the chorus as he sings: “You're sweet like cherry wine/Somethin' so divine/I can't get enough of you/I wish you were mine.”

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Until next time, chillheads, why not follow We Are: The Guard's Weekly Chart for more? x

Photo by Stephanie Renee Cluff 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.