Friday Fresh: The week's biggest tracks

Our first Friday Fresh of the summer is here, and there are plenty of tracks to get you through the heatwave. From eagerly-awaited returns to vibey collaborations and motivational bangers, this week's playlist really does have something for everyone. 

FKA Twigs - Killer

A dark meditation on heartbreak and finding solace in shadow, FKA twigs wasn’t kidding when she said that Killer was a song ‘for baddies with a tear in their eye.’ It’s another powerful track from a songwriter whose formidable output just keeps delivering. 

DJ Frass and Stefflon Don - Sweet Bounce

There’s no doubt about it, summer is well and truly here. And at just over a minute and half, the Steffon Don and DJ Frass collaboration Sweet Bounce is just the energiser shot to get the season underway. As the title might suggest, this is bouncy, sugary, and packed with dancehall energy. Get the iced lollies out and add it to the playlist. 

Katy J Pearson – Float

As much as we like to think that British summer is a time solely for sunshine and vibes, it isn’t always smooth sailing. Thankfully, Katy J Peason has the flipside covered. Float is deeply atmospheric, all pebble beaches and nostalgia as it reflects on the pain of instability and a search for solid ground. A perfect track for those blue-washed evenings. 

Hercules & Love Affair – Dissociation

Featuring an incredible vocal from Icelandic singer Elin Ey, the latest single to be released from Hercules & Love Affair’s new album In Amber is cinematic to say the least. Building strings wash in and out, as Ey’s vocal highlights a longing for relationships in the face of an increasingly bleak reality. Imbued with vulnerability and openness, Dissociation is a moving offering. 

Biig Piig – FUN 

It’s been a few months since we’ve had the privilege of a new Biig Piig single, and FUN is certainly a welcome return. Leaning into electronic production, Biig Piig sings of childish relationship spats in a smoky soul-pop vocal. This is a comeback track well worth the wait. 

JOCKSTRAP – Glasgow 

Jockstrap are coming of age on Glasgow. A sweet, layered song, the climbing acoustic guitar and soaring strings bring to mind rolling wheels and forward motion. This is driving off into the morning mist, on to the next chapter. As the band’s Taylor Skye so succinctly put it, Glasgow is Jockstrap’s ‘ long-distance, travelling, beautiful bosk, wonderful thicket song.’

beabadoobee – 10:36 

beababoobee has delivered another 90s-infused indie rock banger with 10:36, the latest single off her upcoming album Beatopia. 10:36 unpacks Bea’s personal relationships, as she sings about depending on human contact to fall asleep and needing another body around. An exciting glimpse of what promises to be a powerful second album. 

Sports Team – Cool It Kid

It might seem like the premature post-mortem of a finishing romance, but Cool It Kid is actually born from the period Sports Team spent living in each other’s pockets in a Camberwell house share, with all the love and frustration and humour that involves. Also mixed in is the unmistakable voice of Sorry singer Asha Lorenz, whose vocal simultaneously tangles with and acts as counterpoint to Alex Rice’s stylings. Cool is the only word for it.

ABISHA – Say Wherever

Say Wherever comes from a happy place. ABISHA’s pop-tinged R&B is always powerful, sensitive, but there’s something about this track being so infused with joy that makes it different. Capturing the love and longing of a long-distance relationship, Say Wherever is an ideal soundtrack for your summer romance. 

Bessie Turner - It Was Nothing

From the sounds of things, Bessie Turner knows a little something about over-thinking. Introspective indie-rock offering It Was Nothing is about reading into situations that can’t be reasoned through, and the attempt to accept that trait in yourself. Bessie says of the track, ‘I still haven’t found complete peace but at least I’ve made a little ditty’ – and we’re grateful to have that. 

Nova Twins – Choose Your Fighter

Remember Street Fighter? It seems like Nova Twins do. Choose Your Fighter is a hypercharged banger, spinning like Chun-Li’s Bird Kick. It harnesses the adrenaline of that moment before everything kicks off, a motivational track about powering through despite the obstacles that may stand in your way. 

TV Priest – It Was A Gift

Taken from their brand new second album My Other People, TV Priest’s It Was A Gift sets its sights on England. Holding history up to the light, It Was A Gift races along on top of a trundling bass riff and questions the truth of the narratives we tell about nations. Filtered through an emotional vulnerability and introspection,  this is an affecting glimpse at both the personal and political.