2014 wasn’t a particularly fruitful year in music on Pop Culture Monster. Mainly because I spent the year on Spotify listening, instead of writing about it. I tasked myself at the beginning of the new year to collect 365 new songs into a playlist by the end of the year. I started each new month with a fresh new playlist, with little carry over from the month before unless I particularly loved a song, and I went searching. I scoured the artists I had been listening to to see if they’d released anything new. I searched through other people’s playlists, I followed the new releases, and I browsed the genre pages. Anything I could do to find myself some new music to listen to. And I did it. The fruits of which you can follow here. So it goes without saying that I haven’t written one of these posts in a while.
No, I haven’t written one of these posts in a while, yet it felt inevitable when I first heard Robyn Sherwell. I was introduced to her the same way I am with most of my new music these days: Spotify. Islander, with its irresistible, percussive opening grabbed me instantly, cemented by the lush vocals that weave beautifully around it. Her next release, Pale Lung showcases her soothing, laid-back vocals, in a groovy R&B-tinged pop number.
There’s a stunning beauty to her vocals, tinged with pain yet never dreary or sad. She has a serious ear for a drum track, and the pop-sensibility that a number of recent additions to the London music scene are missing. I’m hearing some My Brightest Diamond in there. I’m hearing some Jessie Ware in there. There’s a huge future here, we just need to listen now. This is the real thing.
