NME Radio Roundup 26 April 2021: Little Simz, Wolf Alice, CHVRCHES and more

Scottish pop trio CHVRCHES have returned with brand-new single ‘He Said She Said’. The song, which the band have been teasing since the start of April, reflects on vocalist Lauren Mayberry’s experiences as a woman in the music industry. “All the verse lines are tongue-in-cheek or paraphrased versions of things that have actually been said to me by men in my life,” she explained. “Being a woman is fucking exhausting and it felt better to scream it into a pop song than scream it into the void.”

Featuring an upbeat synth-driven production, the song opens with Mayberry recalling the cutting remarks she has received from men throughout her career. “He said, ‘You need to be fеd’ / ‘But keep an eye on your waistline’,” she sings, later adding: “I feel like I’m losin’ my mind.”

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Conor O’Brien’s latest as Villagers is a delightfully warm indie-rock moment that transcends grey realities. On ‘The First Day’, the Dubliner invites you under a comforting blanket of laid-back basslines, roomy drums and triumphant brass, in a mesmerising taste of Villagers’ fifth record, ‘Fever Dreams’, that’ll be released later this year. – JXS

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The Dublin that Kojaque knows isn’t always pretty: “I just got my head kicked in / Tryna buy a bit of smoke / Cause my face didn’t look the way it should have when I paid him,” he grimly opens on ‘Town’s Dead’. But the Irish MC’s latest is far from a downer. Instead he presents a battle against gentrification and a grittily authentic portrait of Dublin, its dealers, bookies and all, as the punk energy of a Girl Band sample collides into jazz-inflected sax runs and thumping beats. – JXS

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The latest from Amsterdam drum & bass producer Lenzman is a bubbling dose of funk goodness. Riding on Lenzman’s shuffling breakbeats and mellow keys, South London crooner Danny Sanchez’s rapid-fire verses pine for all eyes on him; but it’s the soulful hook that’s the real earworm: “Gimme just a second of your time / Show you somethin’ different / Show you somethin’ new / Show you what you been missin’” he soulfully pleads. – JXS

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It’s no secret that Biig Piig has a silky smooth voice – but the musician born Jess Smyth has reached new ASMR levels on latest single ‘Lavender’. Her voice barely rises above a husky bedroom whisper on the seductive track: “Bought some new lace, I’d like you to see it,” she murmurs on the intimate preview of her upcoming EP ‘The Sky Is Bleeding’, out May 21.

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Phoebe Bridgers puts her own spin on Paul McCartney’s ‘Seize The Day’, a cut off Macca’s latest solo album ‘McCartney III’. For her cover, the Californian singer transforms the moving track into something more low-key. The rousing guitars of the original make way for a more haunting and dramatic beat, courtesy of Bridgers’ ‘Punisher’ collaborators Ethan Gruska and Tony Berg; but the song’s optimistic message is still conveyed as she croons on the chorus: “And we’ll wish that we had / Held on to the day / Seize the day.”

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Lucy Dacus has come a long way; and ‘Hot & Heavy’, the lead single of upcoming album ‘Home Video’, takes listeners down memory lane with her. Riding chugging guitars that power her irresistibly catchy indie rock, the boygenius member wrestles with her past conceptions, fighting the tides of change and growth. – JXS

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IDER are readying their second album ‘Shame’ for release this year, and from the sounds of lead single ‘Cross Yourself’, it’ll offer dark, lyrical alt-pop. Over a trip-hop-laced beat, the duo blend religious allusions with 21st century musings, in an exciting glimpse of what’s to come.

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