NME Radio Roundup 31 January 2022: Charli XCX & Rina Sawayama, Years & Years and more

‘Night Call’ is a celebration of pleasure-seeking and hedonism. “No, sir, I do not have a guilty conscience,” Olly Alexander declares. “Let’s see what loving you can do.” It’s a bite-sized bop that captures the essence of the latest Years and Years album, also titled ‘Night Call’. “I realised that I wanted the album to be about sex, but also just to have this, like, freedom of expression,” Alexander told NME for a recent cover story. “I wanted to express myself in a way that maybe I hadn’t expressed myself before.” – Karen Gwee

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“This is the label executive decision song,” Grimes recently said of latest single ‘Shinigami Eyes’ on Apple Music 1. Don’t let that put you off the track, though – it’s a sleek, sinuous collaboration between Claire Boucher and Illangelo, who was inspired by the iconic anime Death Note. ‘Shinigami Eyes’ is also the first taste of Grimes’ new ‘Fairies Cum First’ EP, which is a prelude to an album titled ‘Book 1’. – KG

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Two of the UK’s best in avant pop, Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama, have teamed up for ‘Beg For You’. All about yearning for a lover who comes and goes as they please, this single from Charli’s upcoming album ‘CRASH’ – which samples September’s Europop classic ‘Cry For You’ – is perfect for a cathartic cry on the dancefloor. – KG

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If you’ve ever felt isolated in a big, foreign city, Holly Humberstone’s ‘London Is Lonely’ will resonate with you. Over piano chords, the singer-songwriter processes her own sadness at leaving loved ones behind for an unfeeling new environment. “It’s funny now listening to the song almost two years on, post-pandemic, and feeling like nothing much has changed at all,” she said in a statement. “I’m still trying to find my place here and make it my home and so it felt right to put this song out into the world right now, when so many other people are probably feeling lost right now too.”– KG

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On ‘Chocolate Hills’ Leon Bridges’ voice floats over Khruangbin’s deep, less-is-more bass groove and faraway guitar, in the latest sweet taste of their second collaborative EP ‘Texas Moon’ out in February. – KG

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German guitarist and producer RIP Swirl teams up with Danish vocalist and producer Ydegirl on woozy new single ‘Pass Out’. The influence of slowcore band Duster is palpable here, Swirl pairing guitar loops with hypnotic textures and gauzy vocals. Keep an ear out for Swirl’s debut album ‘Blurry’ out next month. – KG

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On this “playfully erotic stoner’s anthem”, as he put it, Atlanta-raised, Brooklyn-based rapper Jordan W. Carter hopscotches over a trap beat distinguished by a distant harp. It’s one of six songs that make up his ‘Mr. Fun & Games’ project that dropped last year. – KG

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Leftfield lo-fi rapper Navy Blue brings his clear-eyed energy to Babeheaven’s shoegazey soundscapes on ‘Make Me Wanna’. When the band dropped this song last week, they also announced their new album ‘Sink Into Me’, with member Jamie Travis saying: “We’re not trying to write hits. We’re trying to write good songs that people can connect with.” ‘Make Me Wanna’ is proof of that. – KG

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Sofia Kourtesis returns after her breakout EP ‘Fresia Magdalena’ with ‘Estación Esperanza’, a song about hope. It opens with snatches of shouting from a Peruvian protest against homophobia and features a guest spot from Latin alternative pioneer Manu Chao. “To me Manu Chao has always represented hope, his lyrics were like a bible to me growing up. This song is for him, my mother and all those activists working hard to make this world better.. never lose hope!” Kourtesis said in a statement. – KG

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Just one of three songs Gretel Hänlyn has released so far, ‘Motorbike’ is a head-turner. “Clean up your shit, I don’t want it here,” the 19-year-old London native sings on this post-breakup song, distaste mingling with nonchalance in her voice. Co-produced with Mura Masa, the euphoric earworm is an exciting glimpse of Hänlyn’s upcoming EP, out later this year. – KG

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Nilüfer Yanya’s ‘Midnight Sun’ is greater than the sum of its parts. From the Radiohead-styled guitar chords to Yanya’s multi-tracked chorus and the eventual, sizzling distortion that propels the song to its conclusion, it’s a stunning track. The latest preview of second album ‘Painless’, it’s “a song about recognising what it feels like to be pushed down but wanting to resist”, Yanya said in a statement. “If I could pick what people saw and heard it would be: seeing the beauty of confrontation and the necessity of rebellion.”– KG

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‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’ is the title track of Blossoms’ fourth studio album out in April. Over sauntering percussion and cheery “hoo hoo”s in the background, Tom Ogden delivers elliptical lyrics about embracing the good amid the approaching darkness – the ribbon around the bomb, if you will. “She said life gets no better and no worse / ’Cause where we came from, they tell you it’s a curse / Hiding places lonely as she does / Their smiling faces, no, they don’t need us tonight,” he sings. – KG

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“Sonically, it’s more at the silky dance floor end of what the band is about,” Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos told NME of new single ‘Curious’. And this track, taken from the band’s upcoming greatest hits compilation, does sound like the bridge between ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ and ‘Tonight’. Franz’s ‘best of’ comp ‘Hits To The Head’ is out in March. – KG

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