Spring quarter was rife with showers of new music drops, leaving listeners’ playlists in full bloom. As we transition into the summer months, these releases will ripen and sow the seeds of the artists’ discographies.
“Long Distance Lover”
Mark Van Hoen, the man behind Locust, officially released the single “Long Distance Lover” on May 13. The original instrumentals came from a 2020 collaboration between him and Neil Halstead of Slowdive, who contributed the guitar sounds. The song finally came together a few years later after he joined forces with Natasha Morrow, who pitched the lyrical concept of calls between lovers in a long-distance relationship.
“Late at night I call my long distance lover / Put it your ear and whisper I love you / Twenty three times / Twenty three times,” Morrow sings.
The haunting, ambling and trancelike instrumentals capture the longing and electronic communication between the pair, who can only hear each others’ voices over the phone.
Near the end of the song, there is an echoing series of telephone rings. The series is a bid for connection sent out into the abyss.
“5 Mile Ponytail”
Twins Wyatt and Fletcher Shears of punk band The Garden released their spooky single “5 Mile Ponytail” on May 14. This is the second single from their upcoming album “Bootleg.” The Garden mentioned that the album is a collection of songs that are unrelated and meant to be understood as separate entities.
The official music video for this song is a must-watch. It has a dreamy, nostalgic 80s-era atmosphere and includes clips of a car zooming on a road, dragging a long ponytail and alternating between clips of the twins performing.
“Ghosts, spirits, shades, spectres, apparitions / There is not a corner of the world they do not inhabit,” is the hook that repeatedly anchors the song.
This hook is bolstered by heavy drums that frame and crash a beat around the words. Thematically, this song is a meditation on the world of the unseen.
Interspersed between the heavy, crashing drum beat, the song explodes into an ethereal rainfall of 80s-like synths that eventually conclude the song.
“TATO freestyle”
Electronic duo Maria Manow and Ike Clateman of Bassvictim released their single “TATO freestyle” on May 14. Based on their Instagram post following the release of the song, it seems to be a birthday gift to Manow’s dad, as “tato” is a Polish word to address one’s father.
“Love u tato, this is for u and ur bday, thank u for existing!! TATO freestyle from the new album, music vid on yt,” Bassvictim said in the post.
This sentiment is echoed in the music video, which features figures moving gracefully. The movements are evocative of Tai Chi or similar martial arts styles. While the connection between Manow’s father and martial arts is unclear, the video features middle-aged and elderly men, fitting the theme of celebration of father figures.
In the parts of this song sung in Polish, Manow thanks her father for being present in her life and helping her. This song is more dialed-back than some other Bassvictim songs, although it maintains a strong bassline with occasional electronic warbles. It has a slower vibe that feels like a heartfelt incantation. It is accompanied by Manow’s tender yet strong voice.
“I’m a little girl and I love my Daddy / I’m a little girl and I love my Daddy,” Manow sings.
Manow has previously made music about her loved ones, like her grandma in “Babcia Jadzia” from Bassvictim’s last album.
“charter spec”
Shoegaze band They Are Gutting a Body of Water released their single “charter spec” featuring Horse Jumper of Love on May 19. In an Instagram post announcing the drop of the single, they also announce a mixtape and a tour coming in the fall.
The music video has an on-brand DIY quality, containing trippy, glitchy, hallucinogenic visuals. As a scrapbook-style mismatched face sings, clips of a green-screened, infinite, geometric-shaped pool table loop in the background. Aesthetically, it seems to be a callback to videogames from decades in the past.
The song itself contains a similar sound to the rest of their discography, being guitar, bass and drum heavy — filled with dark, crooning vocals.
“Foreign ceiling / First bird of the morning calls / Swollen feelings / Don’t appear to know the rules,” Doug Dulgarian and Dimitri Giannopoulos sing.
The lyrics of this song are ambiguous and have a television-before-you-fall-asleep gibberish effect. They are dreamlike in their incoherency, but as sharp and grounded in reality as the unwavering guitar that marches the song forward.
The name of the song may be a reference to Charter Spectrum, an internet provider and mass media company. Dulgarian, who is anti-corporation, has a particular interest in artificiality and human connection in the wake of a digital age. For this reason, perhaps this song functions as an ironic commentary on artificial connection.
“Summer love”
Shortly before they closed out their recent tour, the electronic duo Mgna Crrrta released their single “Summer love” on June 5.
In the self-directed and self-edited music video, Farheen Khan and Ginger Scott sing and dance around a wind-blown city. The overall feel of the music video is lighthearted and reminiscent of the 2010s.
“Summer love forever / Tell me I’m the one you’d rewind back / You and I would never / Thinking girls like us wouldn’t bite back,” Khan sings.
The song is tonally very similar to their previous work, cementing their intense yet light style. It is centered on love, freedom and girlhood. The lightness comes from the playful lyrics and whimsical, free-spirited visuals. The intensity is borne from the EDM instrumentation that transcends the song into something otherworldly.
The fruits of their labor paid off; this song — with its combination of hedonistic lyrics and high-energy instrumental — is a perfect precursor for the impending summer season.
From new shoegaze to punk to electronic releases, music lovers have endless songs to queue for any occasion this summer, whether it be yearning for a long-distance lover, ghost-hunting or gallivanting around a city.
Tessa Kang is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at tokang@uci.edu.
Edited by Travis Foley and Geneses Navarro.
