Now Hear This: New music from Ghetts, Collard, Ruger, Master Peace and Normandie, plus spotlight artist Requin Chagrin

There’s a glumness pervading social media right now, which I’m going to blame on lockdown, the weather, and the fact that James Newman just got announced to represent the UK for Eurovision. Again. It’s especially upsetting when we have a whole United Kingdolls available. To quote a Welsh queen: “The cheek, the nerve, the audacity, the gall and the gumption.”

Anyway, hopefully this week’s playlist might be able to perk you up a bit – there’s a lot of good stuff just released. I’ve been really moved by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s album, New Fragility. It has a vulnerability to it, but also a euphoria that makes me think of those eternal moments spent in festival fields, singing into the night with friends and strangers. Sorry, I did say this would be a column to cheer you up so…

There’s also Ghetts, with his superb fourth album (first on a major label), Conflict of Interest. My favourite rising star Collard is back with “Supercharged”, emulating Prince with that astonishing falsetto. There are some great Afrobeats tracks out this week: Nigerian artist Ruger is bringing his Lagos energy to the world with his self-titled single, while Falana continues her slick fusion of Afrobeats with R&B on the empowering “Joy”. Australian artist Genesis Owusu dropped the mesmerising funk-influenced number “Gold Chains”, and west-London artist Lava La Rue released new EP Butter-fly, which is full of lush textures.

Another new favourite, Jeshi (one of my spotlight artists at the end of last year), has teamed up with rapper Vegyn for the ambitious “I See You Sometimes”, which sets out to explore the deepest corners of the human psyche. Genre-blurring artist Master Peace has the indie-orientated “Overdrive”, a fascinating step away from his earlier flirtations with grime. I love the up-tempo “Right Now” from Sheffield’s own future pop stars Sophie and the Giants, about the desire to just unleash all your pent-up frustrations on the world. English-Italian artist Valentina addresses denial over the end of a relationship on the ethereal “Don’t Say It”, and Swedish rock band Normandie have come through with a fantastic debut, the rousing Dark & Beautiful Secrets. Australia’s Hayley Mary has dropped the propulsive, punk-rock jam “Would You Throw a Diamond?”, while Amsterdam’s Cero Ismael unveiled his contemplative EP, Blue Man.

Subscribe to the Now Hear This playlist

My spotlight artist this week is French artist Requin Chagrin. It’s the moniker of Marion Brunetto, who sounds on the verge of a breakthrough with her forthcoming third album, BYE BYE BABY, out in April. You should definitely check out her new single “Déjà vu” and accompanying video. Check out my Q&A with her below:

– Bonjour Marion, how is your 2021 so far?

Like all my fellow musicians, and the entertainment world in general, I am affected by this pandemic but I remain hopeful for the rest of the year. Still I am very excited about what is happening and what we have prepared for this album release.

– Tell me something about your new music

With this new song, I wanted to explore new sounds, make more frank and powerful nostalgic and melancholic dream pop than I have done before. To make keyboards sound like Beach House, to have dreamlike melodies supported by an assertive bass line and drums. For the lyrics I wanted to tell the wishes we make every year in the night of the Perseids, it gives me a feeling of déjà vu.

– What was the inspiration behind the very stylish music video for ‘Déja Vu’?

I was very inspired by the aesthetics of Jean Marie Perier’s photos. I really like this Sixties French universe and her photos of Francoise Hardy for example. In the music video, I wanted to mix this reference to something so cosmic in the decor, glitter in the clothes and finally a little bit of Seventies in the microphone. The video was directed by Antoine Carlier who worked for Savages, François and the Atlas Mountain and many other cool artists.

– What else do you have planned for this year?

This year, I am very happy to present new songs from a new album as well as upcoming music videos. I would love to be able to perform on stage very soon and it would be a dream to be able to play in England!