This week on Whatson editors bring you the top 5 pieces of music for listening to this week from the month of March. Make sure to add them to your playlist.
Caroline Polachek, “Billions”
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Caroline Polachek, who last popped on our radar in July with “Bunny is a Rider”, one of favorite 2021 tracks. Now, she’s returned to show us that our, patience was worth it with the new single “Billions”. The track begins as what seems like a return to the dreamier electro-pop moments on Pang, by steps apart from what’s expected as it progressed and reaches the final. Otherworldly crescendo with the chant of “I never felt so close to you”, sung in a suited round by a children’s choir. Each piece of sing adds up to something addictive and ethereal in equal measure.
“Jumping” by Doss
Doss made her return to music in 2021after a seven-year silence, releasing her 4 New Hit Songs EP. “Jumping” is her latest endeavor, hopefully hinting at a full-length project in 2022. The single is an intense club banger with slices of diva house, techno, and grimy EDM mixed into one. The ideas all come together for a whiplash-inducing collection of sounds that is a formula for another hit.
“I Love You” by Fontaines D.C.
The second single from the band’s forthcoming Skinty Fia is “the first overtly political song we’ve written”, said frontman Grian Chatten. Chatten unpacks his narrator’s conflicted feelings about his home, including both guilt and self-hatred for having succeeded after leaving it. And his rage and disdain for the country’s sins. It’s another knockout preview of Skinty Fia, our anticipation for which just keeps climbing.
“Thorn” by Pendant
There’s a fearless sort of swagger to “Thorn” that PENDANT is in a unique position to provide. Los Angeles-via-Oakland musician Chris Adams essentially saw his career explode on the launchpad in 2019. Over a shuffling boom-bap beat and switchblade synths, Adam shouts an invitation to “follow[him] down”, exhorting in the choruses, “Waiting for it all to kick in/ spinning out with a grin/ This is my new life to begin”. Between the track’s multi-faceted sound, live-wire energy, and voracious sense of perspective. “Thorn” is an ode to the joy of being reborn. It might as well be PENDANT’s calling card.
“Snake” by Sadurn
The lead track from Philadelphia four-piece Sadurn’s forthcoming full-length debut Radiator, due on May 6th Run for Cover Records, “snake” is a rustic love song whose knots are a delight to untangle. Vocalist, guitarist, and bandleader Genevieve DeGroot’s poignant lyrics trace the ins and outs of a troubled relationship, candidly confronting its accompanying shame and temptation, as well as the ever-looming existential threats that render above all.
