Friday Fresh: The week's biggest tracks

Things are a little darker and more introspective this week on Friday Fresh. While we have all the summer anthems the heart could desire, this week also sees the release of tracks digging into toxic relationships, boundaries, autonomy, empathy and the human condition. Heavy on the wordplay and loaded with glitzy co-productions, this week's tracks are a cross-section of some of the best UK talent on offer. 

Poppy Ajudha – NO!

Poppy Ajudha’s NO! is a healthy reminder of boundaries and personal autonomy. Written and co-produced with Jungle, NO! is a defiant and propulsive track that pushes back against a world that takes any opportunity to tear people down.  

Rex Orange County – Threat

Rex Orange County has said that Threat is a standalone single for the summer, so we’d better make the most of it. Built around a sun-drenched groove, Threat is a bop designed for hot August days and long nights. 

PinkPantheress and Sam Gellaitry - Picture in my mind 

Sleek and shiny, Picture in my mind is a summer bop that stretches and snaps like bright pink bubblegum. Co-produced with Sam Gellaitry, the track captures PinkPantheress’s talent for addictive hooks and canny collaboration.

lotusbliss – Dust

The second single from their upcoming EP An Aching Sea, on Dust lotusbliss create an imagined narrative about contemplation and the idea that we are much more than 'dust'. Hazy, laidback and hopeful, Dust is an enticing snapshot of things to come. 

Four Tet – Mango Feedback

Dropping today as part of a double single alongside Watersynth, Four Tet’s Mango Feedback is dreamy and danceable. Keeping things gentle, Mango Feedback drifts between synths and plucked strings to form a calming and comforting musical landscape.

Loyle Carner – Georgetown

Bracketed by John Agard’s poem Half-Caste, Loyle Carner’s Georgetown speaks of his growing self-confidence. Produced by Madlib, Georgetown spirals around Loyle’s wordplay and finds beauty in the places between easy definitions. 

The Streets and Jazz Morley – Brexit at Tiffany’s

The title track from The Streets’ new EP Brexit at Tiffany’s explores the end of a dying relationship. Blending Mike Skinner’s spoken wordplay with Jazz Morley’s soaring vocals, Brexit at Tiffany’s is a a beautifully textured track about the ways in which we do not belong to each other. 

CoN&KwAkE - One In Three

The party is over for CoN&KwAkE on One in Three. Written after the second COVID lockdown, the track captures the jazz duo’s feelings on the way people have been treated as disposable across politics and industries.

Black Honey – Charlie Bronson

Fighting back against societal expectations, Black Honey enter the boxing ring on Charlie Bronson. The track captures the rage of being surpressed and put into a box, and rises up to embrace neurodiversity, individuality and strength

High Vis – Trauma Bonds

Written after the suicide of one of the band’s friends during lockdown, Trauma Bonds is High Vis reflecting on toxic coping mechanisms and the deaths of young people. Hopeful and empathetic despite its subject matter, the track sets out an alternative path for dealing with the darkness. 

Pale Waves – Clean

Taken from their third album Unwanted which drops today, Clean shows Pale Waves entering a new and darker era. Dealing with the descent into a tangled relationship, Clean speaks to addiction and loss of control against a pop-punk backdrop. 

Gia Ford – A Car Crash for Two

Gia Ford’s A Car Crash for Two draws the fine lines between pleasure and pain, love and hate. As lush and lilting as Lana del Rey, Gia’s latest is an atmospheric exercise in 60s-tinged dark pop and a sonic coming of age.