From Hastings, UK
Recommended if you like Mary Margaret O\u2019Hara, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple
Up next Old Feelings EP out now, album to follow later in 2026<\/p>\n
The first time listening to Luki feels like a miraculous discovery of something timeless and true, as though they\u2019ve been waiting patiently to be discovered in the noisy maelstrom of contemporary pop music. The collaborative alias of singer\/composer Lucy Duncan and producer Niac, Luki write off-kilter showtunes performed as baroque art songs, embodying a seemingly contradictory combination of grand melodrama and nuanced emotional character.<\/p>\n
Luki\u2019s debut album Wisps<\/a> was released by the excellent Glasgow-based tape label GLARC in 2018, followed by a sporadic string of singles over subsequent years. With the new EP Old Feelings<\/a>, the project appears to be building up to something more substantial. The title track feels like a climactic ballad from a lost, late-period Sondheim musical by way of 90s Celine Dion: all rolling pianos and wry regrets, with synth lines lingering like dry ice. Strong, direct and rich with character, Duncan\u2019s voice shares the wisdom and fallibility that the great Mary Margaret O\u2019Hara has in spades.<\/p>\n Elsewhere on the EP, Luki\u2019s take on Such a Small Love imagines Scott Walker remade by Sensual World-era Kate Bush. The eight minute long I Think I Know is tricksier, akin to the experimental edges of Tori Amos or Fiona Apple, meandering through sections of spoken word and textural electronics. Old Feelings is both a tantalising taster of a forthcoming album \u2013 due to feature collaborations with Robbie Ellen, AKA art-pop songwriter Personnel<\/a> \u2013 and a genuinely remarkable set of songs in its own right. Claire Biddles<\/p>\n This week\u2019s best new tracks On heavy form \u2026 Dis Fig. Photograph: Camille Blake<\/p>\n Dis Fig \u2013 The Account (ft the Wind Between) Blonde Redhead \u2013 Blood Spilled Jae Stephens \u2013 Sugar Trap Prodigal \u2013 The Door 163Margs \u2013 Clock It Kade Young \u2013 Metallic Essence Martins \u2013 Red Velvet Subscribe to the Guardian\u2019s rolling Add to Playlist selections on Spotify \u2013 or transfer it to Apple<\/a>, Tidal<\/a> or other services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Hastings, UKRecommended if you like Mary Margaret O\u2019Hara, Tori Amos, Fiona AppleUp next Old Feelings EP out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-568556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
We loved her thunderous collab album with the Body, and Felicia Chen is on equally heavy form here, singing trip-hop vox and letting off bassy depth charges under the Wind Between\u2019s rapped existential screed.<\/p>\n
The art-rockers\u2019 one-off single is no casual interstitial release, but a genuine epic, expanding across six minutes like a hot air balloon in burnt-sunset hues that keeps filling and floating away: astoundingly beautiful.<\/p>\n
Already a fave among pop musos, the US artist feels as if she\u2019s one step away from proper stardom thanks to high-tempo, dancefloor-flirtation snappers like this, full of strutting, mane-tossing energy.<\/p>\n
Blending Deftones-style seriousness with the kind of sicko riffage that compels your tongue out of your mouth, this majestic moshpit detonator demonstrates that this new UK band are the real deal.<\/p>\n
This MC is one of the most sprightly in London\u2019s post-drill marketplace \u2013 check 2024\u2019s Superstar if you haven\u2019t heard it \u2013 and here he dances his flow through dreamy flutes and strings.<\/p>\n
Make sure any glassware is away from the edges of shelves if you stick on the Baltimore producer\u2019s maximally vibrational, awesomely designed sub-bass, topped here with footwork-ish chopped-up vox.<\/p>\n
Named after the type of cake loved by her ex, this track sees the UK singer-songwriter \u2013 admired by SZA \u2013 reflect on heartbreak, but the swell of beautiful Coldplay-ish sound suggests she\u2019s being carried to a new chapter. Ben Beaumont-Thomas<\/p>\n