Soundbites: 5 tracks for a cloudy day
Weather got you down? Here’s a playlist to float you through overcast mornings
Fog, wind, dust and rain all mean one thing — it’s time for a playlist to match the weather. As temperatures continue to yo-yo and overcast days become the new norm, we round up five songs we can’t resist on a grey morning.
1. The Paper Kites - Give Me Your Fire, Give Me Your Rain
Melbourne band the Paper Kites have a nostalgic feel about them — an air of 80s-tinged pop that will send you on a mental voyage to past times. From soft vocals to jangly melodies and an overall thematic innocence, the Paper Kites evoke a different era from the word go. Their folk-inspired 2018 album ‘On the Corner Where You Live’ received mixed reviews, but ‘Give Me Your Fire, Give Me Your Rain’ is our stand-out track.
2. Lauv (ft Julia Michaels) - There’s No Way
Both Lauv and Julia Michaels have mastered the art of making rainy day music on their own. Put them together and nobody stands a chance. ‘There’s No Way’ is all about a love that can’t be escaped. Similarly, Lauv’s wispy vocals and Michael’s penchant for whisper-pop are an inevitable match, which makes it all the more bittersweet that the singer-songwriters, who were once a real-life item, reportedly split up earlier this year.
3. LANY - I Don’t Wanna Love You Anymore
Front man Paul Klein’s break-up album — which came shortly after his split from pop star Dua Lipa — is full of gloomy hits. But ‘I Don’t Wanna Love You Anymore’ is the turning point of the nine-track album, sitting more or less at the centre of it. The track marks the shift from denial and anger to gradual acceptance, expressing the revelatory realisation that you’re tired of holding on.
4. Nassif Zeytoun - Mannou Sharet
There’s a reason the music video for Nassif Zeytoun’s music video has 48 million views at time of writing. Set inside a restaurant, the clip follows several love-struck generations, with the camera bouncing from couple to couple — arguing, slow dancing or in the middle of a proposal. The message of the song: I don’t care if someone out there is more beautiful, it’s you that I want. Cheesy? Of course. Irresistible nonetheless? You be the judge.
5. Trey Songz – Jill (Sumn Real)
If you miss the R’n’B of the 90s and noughties, you’re not alone — Trey Songz is right there with you. On the slow-stretching ‘Jill (Sumn Real)’, Songz get sentimental as he samples Jill Scott’s ‘He Loves Me’ from the 2000 album ‘Who Is Jill Scott?’ Songz’s sincerity gets Scott’s approval here. Taking to Twitter, she wrote: “In the midst of simple minded, affection starved foolishness, this song is actually quite beautiful.”