Hazy, melancholic and built for the quiet end of the evening: this week’s dream pop bops are the kind of tracks that make late nights feel intentional rather than accidental.
NUTRI3NT – Mercedes Laments
NUTRI3NT serves up an incredibly special electronic pop track: folk-edged vocals blend beautifully with synth arpeggios and 80s Moog bass
“Mercedes Laments” reunites NUTRI3NT with vocalist Daniella Goldfine for their first full vocal collaboration since “Losing You”. Literally zero surprise that this one was picked up by BBC Introducing, since it’s got a lovely vibe, and is produced like a dream. It kinda sits at a specific intersection: Goldfine’s folk-inflected voice placed over synth arpeggios and an 80s-style Moog bass line, the two elements creating a warm, slightly melancholic texture that sits naturally in the downtempo electronic space. The synth work is great, and the whole thing has a lovely contrast between the organic and the synthetic.
NUTRI3NT is a UK-based electronic music producer whose work centres on emotive, downtempo beats and breaks-based grooves, built around emotional vocals, samples and melodic hooks. Previous tracks “Losing You” and “Cold Outside” both received BBC Introducing support, and “Mercedes Laments” marks the next chapter of a consistently well-received catalogue. This is electronic music with bags of warmth and intimacy, and we can’t get enough of it. We’re very much looking forward to what comes next.
Never Enough In Love – Heart
Never Enough In Love’s “Heart” is a gorgeous piece of atmospheric folk-electronica: praised by Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and Seye Adelekan of Gorillaz, and one of our faves this June
“Heart” is the fourth release from Never Enough In Love’s new EP, and a demo version of the track had already accumulated over 25,000 Spotify streams and featured in multiple Netflix TV productions worldwide before the official recording arrived. We’re not surprised, it’s genuinely beautiful. That combination of textured electronics, delicate piano and intimate vocals – with a touch of the ‘rave-y’ somewhere in the background – really works. Plaudits have arrived from Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and Seye Adelekan of Gorillaz, but it’s this lovely banger itself which impresses the most.
Never Enough In Love is the project of Worthing-based songwriter and producer Neil Durrant, whose music sits between fragility and cinematic depth, built on dreamy AF production and deeply personal writing. The project abandons ego and places empathy at its centre, and the quiet confidence of that approach has definitely won our heart. An essential single this month, it’s fabulous.
Aurealis – Cursed
“Cursed” is a brilliant slice of dark cinematic pop from Aurealis, the sound of unsettling dread set to a standout hook you won’t be able to shake.
Aurealis are back with a wonderful new single, which is definitely on the shadow-y side of dream-pop with just enough lights flickering. Haunting electronic production coils around layered vocals and a melodic hook that soars in the chorus, building a track that feels slightly uneasy but also is loads of fun. It captures that specific dread of feeling doomed before you have even started, every possibility shut down in advance, and then refuses to let that despair win outright. The tension never fully releases, which is why it’s such a compelling track, and it should definitely go on your roadtrip playlist.
Aurealis is a Nashville-based studio project that works through recorded music and immersive visual worlds rather than live performance, building each release around a strong emotional narrative. “Cursed” arrives with an official video that uses mirrors, shadows and a haunting presence to dramatise the song’s psychological world. That focus on the full visual experience is central to the project, an artist who treats each track as the soundtrack to its own short film rather than a standalone single. It’s ambitious stuff, and the results are great. Check it out below.