Now Hear This: New music from Little Mix, Jelani Blackman, Bree Runway and Tia Carys, plus spotlight artist Larry Pink the Human

Given there’s so much else going on in the world, I’m going to keep it brief.

We reviewed two big pop albums this week. I was a fan of Little Mix’s new LP Confetti, which is their first studio album since splitting from Simon Cowell’s label, Syco. It might not offer anything groundbreaking, but it does show how the group are determined to present a new, cohesive sound – one heavily influenced by the Nineties and Noughties pop/R&B sounds its members grew up on. Meanwhile, our chief album critic Helen Brown enjoyed Kylie Minogue’s new record, DISCO, which she describes as “a glitterball pop album that reminds us of being alive”. Read the full review here.

There are a bunch of great new rap tracks, which I’ve piled up high at the top of the playlist. The brilliant Jelani Blackman, one of the most original voices in UK rap, has dropped “Foolish”, a collaboration with a ghostly L3 of London’s Essie Gang. Bree Runway, an east-London rapper I’m very excited about, just dropped her debut mixtape 2000AND4EVA, which includes team-ups with Missy Elliot (“ATM”) and Yung Baby Tate (“DAMN DANIEL”). Ms Banks sounds great on “Late Night Text” with British-Congolese rapper ZieZie (love the English-to-French flow) and Kwengface. Tia Carys, yet another rising star, has released her new single “Reflect in Mirrors”.

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Elsewhere, Welsh artist Novo Amor has released his beautiful new album, Cannot Be, Whatsoever – read our interview with him here. “Turned to Gold” is a bristling new track from Bitch Falcon, “Back to Life” from Scottish artist Be Charlotte tackles apathy and feeling stuck in the past. There’s also a big arrival from System of a Down with “Protect the Land”, their first new song in 15 years (!!!). You should also check out the long-lost (now found) video for Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “Lady D’Arbanville” from 1970, which now has newly remastered audio.

My spotlight artist this week is Larry Pink the Human, a new project from Laurie Vincent (Slaves) and producer/songwriter Jolyon Thomas. Their new single “Wasted Days (Inbetweens)” features guest vocals from Idles frontman Joe Talbot, and it’s great. Read my Q&A below:

Tell me about how LARRY PINK THE HUMAN started.

Laurie: I challenged myself to start writing my own songs, something I believed I couldn't do. There was a batch of five or six songs and I reached out to Jolyon to help me record. Not having huge amounts of confidence in the songs or my voice I trusted Jolyon to be honest and help me get the best out of the music.

Jolyon: Laurie and I have made some records together and we formed a solid working relationship. In fact it wasn’t always easy, in that we challenged each other in the studio, pushing each other to do better. I was always encouraging Laurie to sing more, bring his painting aesthetic into the music etc.

So it sort of came full circle. Laurie came to me with some skeleton demos and asked me if I’d like to record them. We spent a day together listening, talking about the music and visuals that we wanted to make. By the end of the day our vision had gotten a bit larger than life and we had started the band. Laurie wanted to have the alter ego ‘Larry Pink’…. so I became ’The Human’!

What themes drive the single “WASTED DAYS [INBETWEENS]”?

Jolyon: The lyrics are fortuitous and I guess they also will be for the listener. No-one knows what’s going to happen next; we all spend our days doing what may seem like mundane things, but really this is our life and we are living every moment of it right now. So it's a celebration of these ‘Wasted Days’… it’s bittersweet.

Laurie: Exactly what Jolyon said. Specifically for me they represented the feelings I experienced when having children. I really took for granted those days of boredom, no plans and no place to be. Then before you know it those days evaporate and you long to be back there with your new found wisdom.

It sounds as though you guys have been listening to a fair bit of classic synth-pop?

Laurie: Definitely. I love the 80s. I was keen to enjoy the freedom of exploring all sorts of sounds and instruments. No restrictions. Nothing of the table. Movie soundtrack music.

Jolyon: Always! When we conceptualised the band we wanted it to have an acoustic-guitar-singer-songwriter core. I think that’s still the backbone of our songs. However, we love synth pop and mad sounds and all the rest of it. We’d be missing a trick not to get the synths out! I’m pretty sure we’ll make a record one day just as a band, straight up. But right now the oscillators are out and I’m loving it.

Where do you plan on taking this project in the future?

Jolyon: As above we’re up for trying different things, and the band is evolving. But for now we’ve got a lot of songs to get out. We are hoping that by the time we play live there will be a good bunch of releases that people will know. We’re buzzing to put a show together.

Laurie: Around the world and to the top of the pyramid stage. I want to take it as far as it can go and further.

How are you going to spend the rest of 2020?

Jolyon: We’re going to be building a new studio here in Kent. The hope is we’ll be able to give ourselves the time and space to make our record. We also want to collaborate more and so having a cool spot to bring fellow artists/producers/photographers/whatever down is a dream.

Laurie: Two studios! We're building one each. Maximum output. I'm also going to be mastering the stir fry, taking lots of leisurely Kentish walks and inhaling that sweet fresh country air. It’s a reset we didn't ask for but maybe we needed it.