After putting out their excellent 2014 self-titled debut, the boys returned last month with a new single Khon Nok and here we have its follow-up, E Kah (Night's Watch). Made up of Prachya Compiranont, Sumet Yordkaew, Krit Suwanthada, Vajira Ruthirakanok and Witsawawit Tepa, Chiang Mai's rock quintet Migrate to the Ocean have been on our radar for a while now. Migrate to the Ocean/ E Kah (Night's Watch) If you're partial to minimalistic production and a big sucker for soulful vocals a la James Blake, Justin Vernon or James Vincent McMorrow, Elliot Moss is definitely one to keep an eye out for. Its dancefloor-worthy beats paired with uplifting lyrics about not giving up make for a nice relief from the EP's overall sombre vibes. The EP concludes with the most upbeat number Falling Down and Getting Hurt.
This is followed by the title track, a taciturn offering in which he posits "'Cause it's so much harder to fall in love/ When you've been in love before." The song segues into My Statue Sinking, a sort of orchestral reprise of Closedloop, before sliding into the Auto-tune-dominant Dolly Zoom. "Hide all the keys, and seal our windows/ 'Cause I'm going to war/ Don't hold your breath waiting for me/ 'Cause I may never come home," he intones in layered vocals against the atmospheric electronic backdrop, sparse piano chords and claps. 99 circles back to the theme of escapism with Moss's vocals taking the centre stage. Underpinned by skittering drum programming, Without the Lights finds him stuck in a destructive relationship ("She waltzed her way into the sea/ Baby take me with you please/ I don't know what I'd do if you leave"). "The loop of the waves/ Crashing on my shore got stuck in my head/ And never came out." "I went to a place/ To repair and rest myself/ But I never left," he croons. Closedloop sets the tone of the record with the swelling synths and lyrics about revelling in a slice of escapism. That's no mean feat considering the fact that he's only just burst onto the scene a few years ago.Īfter two years in the making, Moss returns with Boomerang, a seven-track EP that details his struggles "between choosing to face the sometimes-unpleasant realities of the outside world or to withdraw inward to a place of relative safety". This sentiment seeped through the record, especially on Slip, his claim-to-fame cut which has racked up some 30 million plays on Spotify so far. "I'm tired/ I've been waiting for you/ I'm so tired and I need to lay down," Moss sang from the get-go on the title track/opener that recalled the electronica lushness of Imogen Heap. Moss's 2015 self-produced debut studio album Highspeeds, released when he was just 21, did just what Blake's did: exuding world-weary observations of a brooding old soul. Eerie yet sensual, the end result is the kind of music that thrives best in the after-hours. The two share the same musical adroitness that enables them to successfully fuse various textures and soulful vocals with elements of gospel, R&B, electronica as well as jazz. On his new EP, the up-and-coming New York-based singer-songwriter delivers downcast electronic soul ditties about retreating inside oneself.Įverywhere you look, comparisons have been drawn between rising New York singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Elliot Moss and UK post-dubstep poster child James Blake.