beabadoobee, The Rolling Stones, Four Tet, more

Summary

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NPR Music: All Songs Considered

Episode: beabadoobee, The Rolling Stones, Four Tet, more
Date: July 14, 2026
Hosts: Robin Hilton and Sheldon Pearce

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Episode Overview

In this rich and eclectic episode, Robin Hilton and Sheldon Pearce dive into their picks for the best new music of the moment, showcasing standout tracks from genres spanning indie rock, experimental pop, electronic, and classic rock. Their discussion highlights new releases from beabadoobee, Bonobo (with Arooj Aftab), The Rolling Stones, L'Rain, Four Tet (in his mysterious "Wingdings" guise), and Ella Minus with Nick León. The hosts praise artists for growth, experimentation, and longevity—and explore the interplay of nostalgia, innovation, and emotional resonance in modern music.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. beabadoobee – "Switchblade"

[01:33 – 08:55]

• Track Spotlight: "Switchblade" (second single from upcoming album Pylon)
• Hosts' Reaction:
  • Robin is effusive: “Biba Doobie did not need to level up, but really leveling up here, I think, on this one. So 90s, yeah. An era I am always happy to revisit. Love the guitars, nice and gritty.” (05:10)
  • Sheldon highlights a return to form: “This sounds a lot more like the early...the breakout stuff...there's a rawness...vulnerability can be both sides of that coin.” (05:41)
• Song Themes: Managing anxieties, confronting doubts, navigating the fight-or-flight response on the path to self-acceptance.
  • Robin summarizes: “...the path towards self acceptance and happiness...you will get there by first understanding that it's going to be awful. Probably the entire journey. That there will be pain.” (07:06)
• Production: The hosts discuss the blend of '90s garage angst and bedroom pop sensibility, citing the song’s heavy guitars and airy vocals.
• Notable Collaborators on Pylon: Hayley Williams, Matty Healy, Brendan Yates, among others.
• Album Release Date: September 18th.

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2. Bonobo & Arooj Aftab – "Fire on the Water"

[08:55 – 15:21]

• Track Spotlight: "Fire on the Water" from Bonobo's forthcoming Distance in Static (out September 11th)
• Hosts' Reaction:
  • Robin is surprised by the direction: “You said Bonobo. And I was thinking...lots of electronics...but then you name check Arooj Aftab...we're in for something totally different, right?” (12:28)
  • Sheldon: “...this song sounds like him migrating into the night rain space that Arouj Aftab lives in...so atmospheric, almost otherworldly...” (12:46)
• Song Creation: Recorded together at Neil Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch.
• Lyrics & Themes: Drawn from Yasra Rizvi’s poetry, exploring time’s passage and enduring desire—“the lyrics live in that tender place where time keeps moving but desire remains, that there can still be fire on the water.” (14:16)
• Overall Mood: Ethereal, elusive, with a tension between fluidity and lingering heat.

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3. The Rolling Stones – "Ringing Hollow"

[16:45 – 26:55]

• Track Spotlight: "Ringing Hollow" from new album Four in Tongues
• Hosts' Reaction:
  • Robin: “And I think if there's a top level headline, it is the Rolling Stones. Still got it. Yeah, still got it. Which is extraordinary...I mean, it is genuinely great.” (16:54)
• Band Longevity: Celebrates band members in their 80s who are still “locked in” and inspired.
• Song Context: Mick Jagger’s “love letter to America”—a meditation on American culture, nostalgia, and disillusionment.
  • “...this is Mick Jagger's Love Letter to America. So at the top of the song here, when you hear him say, I fell in love with you before we ever met, he's talking about America.” (17:58)
  • On the American Dream: “...a song about sort of a loss of the American dream. They are performing in classic American styles that they built their catalog upon...” (25:11)
• Performance: Remarkable vocal strength from Jagger, classic Rolling Stones sound—bluesy, honky tonk, reflective yet energized.
• Legacy Reflection: “There's something so poetic about a quintessential band like the Rolling Stones still clearly loving being a band, right? ...they love this.” (24:55)

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4. L’Rain – "Borderline"

[26:59 – 34:21]

• Track Spotlight: "Borderline" from upcoming album Fata Morgana (out August 14th)
• Hosts' Reaction:
  • Robin on the song’s build: “It, like, got a little Radiohead, just kind of. Just towards the end there in a really cool way…” (31:54)
• Artistry: Sheldon calls L’Rain “one of the most fascinating experimental artists of the 2000s.”
• Musical Texture:
  • Sheldon: “There is just so much detail in this one, so much nuance. You kind of get pulled into a riptide early on… then it just explodes into glitchy electronics.” (32:30)
  • Robin likens the experience to “the frog in the pot of boiling water…you suddenly realize, oh, wait a minute. I’m completely on fire right now. It's incredible.” (33:06)
• Theme: The song (and album) is hailed as L’Rain's most intimate yet, with both expansive production and personal lyricism.
• Album Title: Discussion of “Fata Morgana” as an optical illusion—apt for L’Rain’s sound.

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5. Four Tet – [‘Wingdings’ Project] (Track 3)

[35:06 – 42:05]

• Project Spotlight: Four Tet quietly released a full-length album under an unpronounceable, symbol-based pseudonym (“Wingdings” project).
• Song Played: Third track from this album (title and track name in symbols)
• Hosts' Reaction:
  • Robin: “No idea what it's called...I'll just say it is the third track from the album.” (37:45)
  • On sound: “Man, you talk about ear candy. So much going on in that. In all the channels and just flitting all around...” (40:34)
• Analysis: Sheldon breaks down the intricacies:
  • “...it sort of inches along the whole time, those little skittering drums. But man, you want. You'd say there's no drop, but it just rips still…” (41:05)
  • “...he has this great way of. Of sort of turning your brain inside out while at the same time calming you…” (42:05)
• How to Find: Search for “Four Tet Wingdings” on streaming/Bandcamp.

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6. Ella Minus & Nick León – "Esperal"

[42:43 – End]

• Track Spotlight: "Esperal" (first single from upcoming collaborative EP Que La Paso Amis Amigos, out August 7th)
• Artist Background: Ella Minus (Colombian, electronic/dream pop polymath), Nick León (South Florida/Miami club and tropical influences).
• Hosts' Insights:
  • Robin anticipates a more driving sound: “I think of a lot of Ella Minus stuff being a little dreamier maybe, but you're saying this one's got a little more drive to it.” (43:33)
  • Sheldon: “There's a sort of like island pop vibe to the electronic music that he makes. Very clubby, very driving, but also very sort of like muted and mellow as befitting a tropical environment. That stuff really comes forward...and it feels like they are meeting in the middle.” (43:41)
• Closing: Excitement for the EP and collaboration.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On beabadoobee’s artistic evolution:
  “You say leveling up. I think of it as sort of like finding your center...you will get there by first understanding that it's going to be awful. Probably the entire journey. That there will be pain.” — Robin Hilton (06:37)

• On Bonobo & Arooj Aftab:
  “There is an aridness to the song, but also just a lightness...the idea of time continuing to move and desire holding onto desire. There is a clear tension there.” — Sheldon Pearce (14:54)

• On The Rolling Stones’ persistence:
  “When you're still this locked in, there's no reason to take a step back.” — Sheldon Pearce (24:08)
  “But, my God, Keith's still going. If Keith's still going, we all got a chance.” — Robin Hilton (26:55)

• On L’Rain’s sound:
  “There is just so much detail in this one, so much nuance. You kind of get pulled into a riptide early on...then it just explodes into glitchy electronics.” — Sheldon Pearce (32:30)
  “It's sort of like the frog in the pot of boiling water...you realize, oh, wait a minute. I'm completely on fire right now.” — Robin Hilton (33:06)

• On Four Tet's “Wingdings” music:
  “...turning your brain inside out while at the same time calming you. Like it's so calming and transporting and meditative, but at the same time your brain is just melting…” — Robin Hilton (42:05)

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Important Timestamps

| Segment/Topic | Start | End | |----------------------------------------|----------|----------| | beabadoobee – "Switchblade" | 01:33 | 08:55 | | Bonobo & Arooj Aftab – "Fire on the Water" | 08:55 | 15:21 | | The Rolling Stones – "Ringing Hollow" | 16:45 | 26:55 | | L’Rain – "Borderline" | 26:59 | 34:21 | | Four Tet (Wingdings Project, Track 3) | 35:06 | 42:05 | | Ella Minus & Nick León – "Esperal" | 42:43 | [End] |

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Conclusion

This episode is a testament to the enduring power of great songwriting and sonic exploration, whether from legendary acts embracing their roots, or new artists pushing genre boundaries. Robin and Sheldon’s thoughtful, personal commentary is a guide through the ever-evolving landscape of new releases, making this episode an essential listen for music lovers eager to discover what’s next.

Transcript

[NPR News Announcer]

Your mornings are busy. Make the news simple. Every day on upfirst, we unpack the three biggest stories of the day this week, the final matchups of the 2026 World cup, the latest developments between the US and Iran, and a busy week in Congress with key confirmation hearings after the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham. Stay ahead of the news. Listen every day to up first on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Robin Hilton]

This episode of All Songs Considered comes to you from the NPR Music podcast. Your one stop shop for all things and the music ne verse. You get new episodes of All Songs Considered in this feed every Tuesday, Alt Latino, we've got that every Wednesday. And then we close out every week with New Music Friday. NPR Music Also, where you will find the much better than anything I could ever possibly do, reviews and writings of Sheldon Pierce. Sheldon hello, Robin. This is where this is when you're supposed to say, no, Come on, man. It's actually true, isn't it? Hey, hey.

[Sheldon Pearce]

I don't, I don't want to lie to the people.

[Robin Hilton]

So, Sheldon, we just had, let's see, we did the best songs of the year so far. That was a week or two ago. We did a couple theme shows on Road Trip songs and Wave, but it's been a minute since we just shared some totally new stuff. Yeah, the new songs we're loving. So that's what we're doing on this episode. The best new songs ever out now. And I want to start with a song that just dropped from Biba Doobie.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Okay.

[Robin Hilton]

In fact, this show's going up a little late today because I really wanted to play the song. It is so good. And we couldn't get it until noon Eastern. So that's why the show's going up a little late. It's called Switchblade, and it is the second single from Biba Doobie's upcoming album, Pylon. I've only heard the singles that are out. There's this one and there's one other one called Sun Is Set. But so far, I think this is some of the best stuff she's ever done. Oh, again, the song is called Switchblade. We'll check it out here and we can talk more about it when we come back.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

I'm a switchblade cutting through an open space Need a reminder? Start to feel like a grace Life with blind eyes doesn't seem to fit the pace do you start the fight or take the flight? Feeling upset? Can I choose to find a friend? Growing up just means everything. Up again to My switchblade Self defense is to be brave do you start the fight or take the flight? Is it wrong right to try to either see her with this anger can't control this fever that just takes it out of me Takes it out of me. Feeling one thing Can I learn to trust again? All just seems to break everything that we meant hold the light that covers flicker burn fate do you start the fight or take the fight? Is it wrong or right to try to either Fever with this anger can't control this fever that just takes get out of me he the sheer witness Anger can't control this fever that just takes it out of me Takes it out of me. Sam.

[Robin Hilton]

So good. I. Biba Doobie did not need to level up, but really leveling up here, I think, on this one. So 90s, yeah. An era I am always happy to revisit. Love the guitars, nice and gritty. There's like an urgency, a drive in this song and in the other single, I think that I've not quite heard in any of her earlier work. Just like a slightly sharper edge. I mean, this isn't an entirely new sound for Biba Doobie, but the last couple records definitely leaned more pop.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah. Yeah. This sounds a lot more like the early.

[NPR News Announcer]

Like the.

[Sheldon Pearce]

The breakout stuff.

[Song Vocals]

Yeah.

[Sheldon Pearce]

In terms of its almost grunginess. There's a scuzzy quality to this song that has. She has sort of distanced herself recently. You say leveling up. I think of it as sort of like finding your center. It feels more like moving directly inward and having a greater understanding of what your music does and reaching your full potential that way. There is some quality to this song that feels inherent to all of her best music. And like, she is tapping directly into that. The balance of sort of light and dark. The way the vocals sort of hover in the air. Air. But the guitars are so heavy and they're just a little dirty. Right. There's a. There's a rawness to it and it plays with the idea that, like, vulnerability can be both sides of that coin.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. I mean, that's what the song is about in. In some ways, Biba Doobie has said that, you know, it's about trying to find your way in the world. And like, you know, when you're up against something, do you run or do you fight? How do you manage your anxieties and your doubts? You know, do you just live with blinders on? Or do you acknowledge what you see around you and maybe try to do something about it? And at the end of it all. It's about understanding that, you know, the path towards self acceptance and happiness and, you know, self actualization, whatever, you will get there by first understanding that it's going to be awful. Probably the entire journey. That there will be pain.

[Song Vocals]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

You know, there will be grief, there will be suffering and doubt and all that. And that's okay. It's part of this.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah. That kind of thing does feel inherent to her music. I think it's probably the core appeal of Biba Doobie, if you're a longtime listener. What's interesting to me about this is it's funny because they say that the reason why we have fewer rock bands is because there are less garages for people to play out of. And that's why we have so much bedroom pop, because the young musicians are having to play in their bedroom and they can't get loud in their garages.

[Robin Hilton]

I've never heard that before. I can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing that theory. Count me in. I'm gonna sign onto that.

[Sheldon Pearce]

But to me, this song feels like it's trying to marry those two different realities. There's an aspect of this that feels very of the 90s era. Right. Very angsty, very let's go to the garage and play loud and get our feelings out. But there is also still the bedroom pop sensibility of the other stuff that she does, where it very. In your own head, maybe in your closet, sort of playing quietly to yourself and trying to self actualize in a compressed space.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, so an impressive list of collaborators on this album. Again, the album's called Pylon. You got Haley Williams, Matty Healy.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Wow.

[Robin Hilton]

Brendan Yates, Turn Styles, frontman Brendan Yates, a bunch of others. Pylon. The album is out on September 18th. And that song again is called Switchblade. Really love the direction she's taking.

[Sheldon Pearce]

I'm gonna take it a little bit of a different direction. Bonobo, the English musician, producer and DJ who's now based in Los Angeles, has a new record coming out called Distance in Static this fall. There are two singles out, Me and you and Drift. But alongside Drift, he released sort of the centerpiece of this record and a song that sounds a little bit different than a lot of the stuff he's done. It's a collabor with the Pakistani American artist Arooj Aftab. It's called Fire on the Water.

[NPR News Announcer]

D.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

Jazz.

[Robin Hilton]

That is so nice. Yeah, not at all. You said Bonobo. And I was thinking, that's right. I was like, okay, so this is Gonna lots of electronics. Some of his music can be pretty frenetic, always moving, but then I guess you name checkarouge off top and then say, okay, well we're in for something totally different, right?

[Sheldon Pearce]

That's why I sort of had to lead with hey, if you know what Bonobo stuff normally sounds like, this does not sound a lot like that. I mean, he's had more forays into jazz in recent years than in the past. He started out doing a lot more trip hoppy stuff and he's embraced world music. He does have a very expansive catalog. But to me, this song sounds like him migrating into the night rain space that Arouj Aftab lives in this sort of atmospheric, almost otherworldly realm that her vocals sort of live in. There's a disembodied quality to them that is just so ethereal that he really builds a world around in this song.

[Robin Hilton]

I mean, that's the thing with her voice. You want to make anything more wondrous and mysterious and just gorgeous. Just add a rouge altar to the mix and it's instantly better. Do you know? So have you heard the rest of the record or the other singles? Like this is an outlier or no.

[Sheldon Pearce]

He has said that they came and they recorded this song together in Neil Young's Broken Arrow Ranch studio. And after he heard it, he had an idea for the record. So it is sort of more muted in color, a little bit softer, less frenetic, as you said, but nothing sort of as spectral as this.

[Robin Hilton]

So she's singing in her. Dude, do you know what the song's about?

[Sheldon Pearce]

She has said that she took the lyrics from poetry written by her friend Yasra Rizvi, and that the lyrics live in that tender place where time keeps moving but desire remains, that there can still be fire on the water. I think you do get this sense of heat and fluidity existing in the same space. There is an aridness to the song, but also just a lightness. And I think something.

[Robin Hilton]

Also the sense of something slipping away, just like you can't quite. You're trying to hold on to whatever it is and it's always like evaporating in your hands.

[Sheldon Pearce]

There's an elusiveness to it. I think the idea of time continuing to move and desire holding onto desire. There is a clear tension there. The idea that even though everything is sort of ephemeral in a certain sense, there is an aspect of everything that stays with you. And I think that is the tension in the title and in the way that the song sort of plays well,

[Robin Hilton]

I totally miss that. Bonobo has a new record coming out. So again, it's called Distance and static. Yes. Yeah. And it looks like it is out on September 11th.

[NPR News Announcer]

The last phase of the World cup is underway, and the NPR network has been there since the first whistle.

[Robin Hilton]

Cape Verde is a small African island nation that surprised everyone. By making it to the World Cup.

[Sponsor Message Announcer]

Ronaldo did something no man or woman has done before.

[Sheldon Pearce]

He scored goals in six different World

[Robin Hilton]

Cups for a total of.

[NPR News Announcer]

As we enter the final matches of

[Interjection / Affirmation Speaker]

the tournament, head to the NPR app for all things World cup from the NPR network. Hi, it's me, Peter Sagal, host of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. It's summer. And if you want to turn your pool party into a nerdfest, check out our news quiz. We got comedians, we got celebrities, we got games to help you laugh about the week's news. Yeah, that news. It'll be just like we're all hanging out at your backyard barbecue. Listen every week to Wait, Wait, don't tell me on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcast. On this season of Planet Money Summer School, we follow the money and not just the dollars. We're following the yuan, the naira, the krona and more. Every Wednesday this summer, we're taking you on a world tour to meet the people trying new solutions to old economic problems. Planet Money Summer School. Grab some friends, pack your bags, and don't forget the sunscreen. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Robin Hilton]

So I want to talk about the Rolling Stones.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Oh, okay. Do you?

[Robin Hilton]

I do. They just dropped a new album called Foreign Tongues. I'm sure you already know that.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

And I think if there's a top level headline, it is the Rolling Stones. Still got it. Yeah, still got it. Which is extraordinary. And Mick Jagger, Keith richards, they're both 82 years old. Ronnie Wood, Amir Puppet, 79. And when I say they still got it, I'm not saying that they still got it for being in their 80s or I'm not just giving them a buy because they're the Rolling Stones. And we'll listen to anything that the Rolling Stones and just conclude by default that it's amazing. I mean, it is genuinely great. You listen to this album again. It's called Four in Tongues. I think it stands up against anything that they've done in the last, you know, in their 60 years putting out music. So the Stones, you know, they've tried lots of different things, everything from reggae to disco, Right. This album, Four in Tongues, maybe in the band's most classic lane, the most classic sound, very bluesy, honky tonk kind of mix of rockers and ballads. I want to play one of the more ballady, slower songs. It's called Ringing Hollow. And have you heard, have you listened to the album?

[Sheldon Pearce]

I have not listened to it yet.

[Robin Hilton]

So this one's called Ringing Hollow. And just for some context going into it, this is Mick Jagger's Love Letter to America. So at the top of the song here, when you hear him say, I fell in love with you before we ever met, he's talking about America, right? Again, it's called Ringing Hollow.

[Song Vocals]

I was madly in love with you before we ever met. I saw all your movies I smoked a cigarette. I drove down the highway and to the mountain top. I spent all my money putting quarterly in your old jukebox it's ringing hollow it's raining deep it's ringing loud

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

and

[Song Vocals]

there's always a scoundrel trying to whip up the crowd. What do you think about that? The cops never gonna turn back Lady Lavina looks so good when she's wearing a frown. And I wonder the city and I hit all the bars. I drove to the suburb and a lounge in the mall. Let the dreamers get the dream they want my favorite Joe. So pass around the fantastic Pass around the cor this ring out it's rain deep Ezra laugh and there's always a king trying to pick up the crowd. But why you think about that? That chocolate mat lady laid her look so good when there's a tear in her go Sam. The desert leather dust in my face Man, I lived outside of Dallas Run down shack of a place. I was handcuffed and arrested and I don't make no sense. Went to the White House shook hands with the President. When it's ringing hollow it's ringing deep it's ringing loud. When voices are stifled I want to scream out loud yeah, Lily isn't looking too well. She's got another crack and a bell Lady Levy looks so good when she's wearing a scar. Yeah.

[Interjection / Affirmation Speaker]

Yeah.

[Song Vocals]

Why have you think about that? Yeah. Why am about that?

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

Yeah.

[Song Vocals]

That's not fine and bad.

[Robin Hilton]

I'm getting a little bit of like, just waiting on a friend. They've got a song called Faraway Eyes from the album. Some girls, it kind of shuffles along like this.

[Song Vocals]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Even a touch of like at the end there. Just a little bit of. You can't always get what you want that side of the Stones. Yeah, but can we talk about Mick Jagger's voice. Oh, my God. Incredible. I will say, apart from the falsetto he had kind of at the end there, he's keeping it in a slightly lower register for him. But I hear this, and I think it sounds like he could record Beast of Burden right now. It sounds like he could do Honky Tonk Woman or even start me up.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Clearly not retiring anytime soon. Right. When you're still this locked in, there's no reason to take a step back.

[Robin Hilton]

That's it in and still so inspired. You know, like, I. I saw these guys. I went to this album launch party a couple months ago up in New York, and the band was there, and just the energy level that they had coming out on stage and joking with everybody and having. Having fun with each other. Yeah, it was like they were 25 years old and just starting out. Just the energy level was incredible and so inspiring. But, I mean, that's what keeps them going. Obviously, they haven't had anything that they've needed to prove to anybody for decades, of course, but they still have that drive, they still want to create.

[Sheldon Pearce]

There's something so poetic about a quintessential band like the Rolling Stones still clearly loving being a band, Right? Like, you listen to this song and you're like, these are guys who love to play together. That's why they have no intention of stopping. And they love this. And that is what is radiating out of this song for me. First and foremost, the fact that these guys not just have it, but want to do it and want to do it because they love being together. But then you go another layer deep. You talk about how this sounds like classic Rolling Stones stuff. You listen to the message of the song and you're like, you couldn't do it any other way. Right. This is a song about sort of like a loss of the American dream. Essentially. They are performing in classic American styles that they built their catalog upon. And you hear it in the way that this song plays out. There was a love of the culture, of what America meant from across the pond. Right. They embraced that with their music. And then to see what it's become, you can hear the shift to perform in those styles, to do it so well, and then to levy this critique against the ways in which the nation has changed since they started. It feels like so many things are aligning with this song in just perfect synchronization.

[Robin Hilton]

You know, the funny thing about them, too, is 30 years ago, we were saying, just so, so lucky to still have them.

[Sponsor Message Announcer]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Here we are 30 years later.

[Interjection / Affirmation Speaker]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Still like. Or I remember a friend of mine telling me during one of their tours, I want to say it was like May in the very early 2000s. Like, gosh, got to see him while you still can, man.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

And here we are.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Well, I mean, you know. You know, with.

[Sponsor Message Announcer]

With.

[Sheldon Pearce]

With classic rockers, you can't take any amount of time for granted. No.

[Robin Hilton]

But, my God, Keith's still going. If Keith's still going, we all got a chance.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Truly. I'm. I'm gonna go a bit younger, you know? All right, a little bit younger. And I want to play something by Lorraine. That's L apostrophe R A I N. She's a Brooklyn multi instrumentalist and composer who, to me, has become one of the most fascinating experimental artists of the 2000s. She's got a new album coming out called Fata Morgana, and I want to hear Borderline.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

We do it daily Just like breathing. If you still counting. Clim like mountain with high heart sweater Sam.

[Interjection / Affirmation Speaker]

Sa.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

Of. Sa. Sam. It. Sa.

[Robin Hilton]

That's incredible. I mean, that build at the end there, I just like, what are you doing? And then it kind of. It, like, got a little Radiohead, just kind of. Just towards the end there in a really cool way. So when the first single from the Soulless Cycle came out, we played that on the show a while back, and. And that song's really, like. That just grabs you by the throat.

[Interjection / Affirmation Speaker]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Throws you to the ground, that song.

[Interjection / Affirmation Speaker]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

And I had read that that this is maybe Lorraine's most intimate album yet. And I heard Soul Cycle, I was like, really? Is it? I'm hearing it a little bit more on this one.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it.

[Robin Hilton]

It gets big, but it is a little bit more of that intimacy.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah. I think this song, to me, is Lorraine at her psychedelic best. There is just so much detail in this one, so much nuance. You kind of get pulled into a riptide early on in this song, and you hear her faintly in the background as all of this, like, shimmering music is happening, like, right in front of your face. But then to your point, it, like, just explodes into, like, these glitchy electronics and then just crazy, like.

[Robin Hilton]

But it's happening in this way. It's sort of like the frog in the pot of boiling water where you're in it, and then you suddenly realize, oh, wait a minute. I'm completely on fire right now. It's incredible.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah, it's. It's just an unbelievable sort of disorienting kind of experience. It's like, what are the. What do they call those pictures where it's like there's a hidden. There's supposed to be a hidden image.

[Robin Hilton]

Magic. Magic image magic.

[Sheldon Pearce]

There's like a hidden. You're supposed to like focus really closely on a pattern and you'll see the image emerge.

[Robin Hilton]

Magic eye or something like that.

[Sheldon Pearce]

It's kind of like that where you can feel your eyes trying to focus in on the. Wherever this image is. And then by the time you lock out of that, you are so disoriented.

[Robin Hilton]

I would say as different as the two singles are, what I'm hearing in Lorraine's music, the direction that she's taking here is they're both incredibly expansive songs.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah, the scale of this one does feel a bit grander than the previous ones. It's one of my favorite records of the year so far. I'm really looking forward to people hearing it.

[Robin Hilton]

And that album, Fata Morgana. So that's out August 14th, I think Fata Morgana is. Yeah, great album title too, I think. Isn't that the illusion where it looks like things are floating, like over the. Over the sea? Some optical illusion. Very cool.

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[Robin Hilton]

Well, I've got something that I think is going to fit perfectly with the Lorraine song. Did you see that Fortet very quietly released a new album? I mean, it's not. Okay, so Fortet, it's technically not under the Fortet name. Forte is the project of Kieran Hebden. I think it's fair to call him one of the most influential and revered electronic artists of the past 25 years or so. And he's released music under a bunch of different names, including one that nobody can pronounce because it's written, you know, entirely of a made up font. People called it the Wingdings font. It's technically not Wingdings, but it looks a lot like it. Just all these little symbols. And that's what this new project has been released under the Wingdings name. I guess you would call it the album also in that font. All the songs in that font. If you look at it like a picture of it, you look online, it just Makes your eyes cross. You talk about an optical. You're trying to like lock in and see something. It's. Seeing it all laid out like that mushed together is just completely disorienting. But anyway, in June he very quietly released a vinyl only edition of this album and it's the first ever full length album under the Wingdings name. Almost nobody figured out that the album was even out there, that it had been released on vinyl. But it's out now on streaming services. Just put it out on streaming services. It's pretty awesome. No idea what it's called. No idea what this song is actually called. I'll just say it is the third track from the album.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

It. It's. It.

[Robin Hilton]

Man, you talk about ear candy. So much going on in that. In all the channels and just flitting all around and. And there are so many fake outs in this song too. Like where you think some massive drop's about to come or it's going to turn in a certain direction and then he'll like completely pull back or yank the rug out from under you while you're listening. And just such a gift for infusing mystery in all of the music and wonder and just not knowing where anything. And surprised, genuinely not knowing where anything's gonna go.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah, it's interesting because it sort of inches along the whole time, those little skittering drums. But man, you want. You'd say there's no drop, but it just rips still, man, I hear that there's a real undercurrent to it that is just throbbing the whole time. Even as it draws your ear in all these little directions. There's sort of like the figure 8 pattern of like Simon Tiles that go off in the background at certain phases. There are the little chimes that seem to just tinker around the edges and sometimes it bottoms out, right, and he brings it back into focus. But you never lose that undercurrent. No matter which direct. However far out he ventures, he'll always slowly draw you back into that little.

[Robin Hilton]

I mean, that's the thing he does so well. He has this great way of. Of sort of turning your brain inside out while at the same time calming you. Like it's so calming and transporting and meditative, but at the same time your brain is just melting listening to all the incredible sounds that he has going on. And the mix is just next level too. But you're probably saying, but Robin, how can I find this thing if you don't know what it's called or what the album's called or even how to pronounce the band name. If you just search for fortet and wingdings, you'll find it. I bought it on Bandcamp. Sheldon, you've got one more thing you want to play.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah, I want to stay in electronic music, and I want to go out on a heater. It's from Ella Minus and Nick Leone, and they've got a new collaborative EP that's coming out in August. It's called Que La Paso Amis Amigos. What Happened to My Friends? Minus is a Colombian polymath, probably one of the most interesting artists in electronic music right now. Leon not far behind her, formerly a South Florida producer, now based in New York. Both released great albums last year, DF or Minus, a tropical entropy for Lyon. They've come together, they're longtime friends, and they're releasing this EP and the first single called Esperal. It just hits you so hard.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, I haven't heard this song yet. I think of a lot of of Alaminus stuff being a little dreamier maybe, but you're saying this one's got a little more drive to it.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah. This is a balance between her sound and Nick Leone's sound, which he is a Miami guy. There's a sort of like island pop vibe to the electronic music that he makes. Very clubby, very driving, but also very sort of like muted and mellow as befitting sort of like a tropical environment. That stuff really comes forward on his record that he released last year, and it feels like they are meeting in the middle on this record.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, we'll go out on this again. It's called Esperal. And remind me of the EP again,

[Sheldon Pearce]

Que La Paso Amis Amigos.

[Robin Hilton]

And that is out August 7th. All right, thanks, Sheldon. Always a great hang.

[Sheldon Pearce]

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

[Robin Hilton]

And you're listening to All Songs Considered from NPR Music.

[Song Lyrics / Music Vocals]

Sam.

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