Trip Hop has a new ambassador in Philly based artist Amélie Swann. In a little over a year Amélie has developed an impressive fanbase following the release of her debut EP Dirty Looks. She is the face of our Women Of Trip Hop Playlist and it’s greatest champion, embracing the other artists in the scene and advocating for their fair representation within the international trip hop community.
The coronation is well deserved. Amélie continues the trend of excellence with her new single Sick of This. The inspired songwriter knows how to write a fire hook. Undeniably sexy both in her music and as an aspiring alternative model, she almost won the recent Maxim Cover Girl contest. Her writing matches the temptation of her photogenic appeal, but the framing of her portraits are more high art than cheap thirst trap.
Her music is delivered within the same framework. Intelligent melodic movements and impressive vocal designs find her carving out her own stylistic worlds. The call and response arrangements are dark and dreamy, as Amelie wrestles with the demons of her conceptual unconscious. It brings an element known to pop into the trip hop aesthetic. In that manner Amélie suggests major crossover potential.
Amélie Swann’s style is somewhere between Moloko and Polica, rooted in the electronic underground, and derived from the lineage of Massive Attack and Portishead.
Dig into Sick Of This now on our Women Of Trip Hop Playlist.
There’s a new kid in town. A princess of the dark pop underworld, London based producer Mariylnka is hauntingly beautiful. Her debut single anima is quickly catching the attention of international trip hop curators and influencers. An intoxicating piercing vocal erupts from the depth of her spirit. Presented within this dark experimental melodic design, Marilynka exudes elegant contrast.
Fans of FKA Twigs, Grimes, and Banks will embrace Marilynka and her marriage of dark pop and experimental aesthetic. Marilynka sounds ready to push the ethos of Trip Hop forward. Embracing the guitar as her primary, she injects elements of grunge into her electronic soundscapes, creating a new fresh perspective. Her vocals are exotic and entrancing. A dark pop siren with an impressive range and a seductive hush, the black haired beauty delivers infectious melodies from her rosy red lips.
Marilynka also connects with dark undergrounds acts embraced in trip hop such as Lamb, Emika, Sevdaliza, and Tricky.
Hear anima by Marilynka now on our Women Of Trip Hop Playlist.
Aniqa Dear is inspired on their reflective wait. A collaboration between songwriter Aniqa Qadir and multi-instrumentalist James Atin-Godden, the impressive arrangements and compositions are diverse but consistent. The 7 song album kicks off with the serene habit. Calm and cooling, it draws you in with it’s chill affect. It settles you into the emotional swings unravelled as the album progresses. The music pauses as a big cosmic sample explodes through your headspace. Aniqa Dear has metaphysical intention.
The dark sonic poetry of right/wrong embraces trip hops distant lineage to jazz. The pomp of the bass drum thumps as a cool urban bass line roams beneath a pianissimo virtuoso. The moment is interrupted by an intense chorus break. The vibe begins to recall Bjork and her experimental progressions.
The marriage of vintage vinyl bred samples and cosmic jazz tinged production continues with boundaries. There’s an element of Regina Spektor and Tori Amos to the theatrical compositional swings. There’s also poppy dance ready breaks packed with layered voices in a style known to Sylvan Esso.
The vibe evolves darker on the deep bass exploration of undo. The songwriter embraces a dark ballad with the subsequent zombies, before steeping into the ambient endless void of waiting, waiting. The album comes to an emphatic climax on the closing wait. Presented in a manner that resolves the collective sentiment, the overall concept feels complete. wait (the album) is a well calculated masterpiece.
Aniqa Dear drops a sneaky “hidden track” at the end. Perhaps to show another side of their compositional palette? The most indie pop leaning moment, it may be foreshadowing their new creative exploration.
We were smitten with wonder on the collective release. The whole album slaps. It’s best received front to back.
Get a sample with right/wrong now on our Women Of Trip Hop Playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 