Haim and acclaimed film director Paul Thomas Anderson have become close collaborators in recent years, with Alana Haim notably starring in Anderson’s 2021 film Licorice Pizza. The filmmaker has now worked with the trio to help inspire their song ‘Lost Track’ (more on that shortly), which lands straight on the NME Radio A List this week.
Elsewhere, we welcome Florence + The Machine back with the majestic ‘King’, there’s Blossoms’ tribute to the Big Apple and the latest offering from everyone’s favourite Isle Of Wight duo, Wet Leg. Here’s what we’ve added to NME 1 and 2 this week.
On the A List:
Haim
‘Lost Track’
Paul Thomas Anderson had a hand in Haim’s “collaborative” and “off-the-cuff” ‘Lost Track’. “‘I’ll never get back what I lost track of’. We had that line written for the last year, but could never figure out what to do with it,” Haim explained last week. An opportunity then arose to do “a quick music component” for Anderson’s W Magazine shoot with Alana: “Paul mentioned having the book Appointment In Samarra as a possible direction… [we] were inspired by the scene where the main character throws a drink in someone’s face at a country club. We were inspired by the idea of someone doing something so drastic to get out of a situation they felt uncomfortable in – just to feel something. We finally remembered that lyric and wrote and recorded the song, and shot the whole thing, in a few days!”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
On the B List:
Florence + The Machine
‘King’
“As an artist, I never actually thought about my gender that much. I just got on with it,” Florence Welch said about the bigger picture behind her suitably regal comeback single ‘King’. “I was as good as the men and I just went out there and matched them every time. But now, thinking about being a woman in my 30s and the future… I suddenly feel this tearing of my identity and my desires. That to be a performer, but also to want a family, might not be as simple for me as it is for my male counterparts. I had modelled myself almost exclusively on male performers, and for the first time I felt a wall come down between me and my idols as I have to make decisions they did not.”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Belle and Sebastian
‘Unnecessary Drama’
The spirited ‘Unnecessary Drama’ is the latest preview of the long-running Scottish band’s upcoming new album ‘A Bit Of Previous’ – their first full-length release since 2015’s ‘Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance’. Asked by NME earlier this month about the themes of the record, B&S frontman Stuart Murdoch replied: “My top 10 don’t ever really change. These things are eternal, they just keep going around in my mind: God, sickness, Buddhism, family life, public transport, consolation, just having a general moan about life – and everyday beauty!”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Wet Leg
‘Angelica’
The Wet Leg juggernaut just keeps on rolling. The Isle Of Wight duo are gearing up to release their hotly anticipated self-titled debut album next month, and they’ve got us all excited all over again with their latest woozy single ‘Angelica’. “It’s laced with disenchantment,” Rhian Teasdale cautioned of the song. “Even though the chorus is ‘good times, all the time’. That’s just impossible, isn’t it?”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
The Ninth Wave
‘Hard Not To Hold You’
Glasgow four-piece The Ninth Wave are taking the unusual step of going on hiatus after the release of their second album ‘Heavy Like A Headache’, which is out later this month and is being previewed now by ‘Hard Not To Hold You’. “We are all still best of pals and love what we have created together,” the band said in a statement last month. “However, we’ve been going full pelt for the last six years and we feel like it’s time to give the band a breather… The Ninth Wave has given us some of the best times and we’ve met some of the loveliest people we’ve known throughout it all.”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
On the C List:
Priya Ragu
‘Illuminous’
Rising Swiss-Tamil musician Priya Ragu is still very much proving the hype surrounding her, with the celebratory electro-meets-R&B of ‘Illuminous’ sure to uplift your spirits. “I believe we are all beings of light,” Ragu said of the track. “It’s a journey that starts before we enter this world and continues while we have this human experience, and then remains after we leave this earth. I also believe that we all have this one true unique gift that could bring us back to our true selves. Once you have found that, the light within you shines so bright that you become invincible. This is how I feel at this stage in my life and with this song I want to encourage others to find that one thing. Apart from all that, it’s also a turn up song, so you know what you gotta do!”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Alfie Templeman
‘Broken’
Templeman told NME last month that his relatable single ‘Broken’, taken from his forthcoming debut LP ‘Mellow Moon’, “explores the smaller thoughts and fears that nobody really brings up, because there are bigger things going on in the world right now”. He added: “But really, your mental wellbeing is just as valid as anything else. You’re alive: you deserve to know that everything’s OK.”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Tourist
‘Your Love’
William Phillips – AKA songwriter, producer and composer Tourist – will release his fourth studio album ‘Inside Out’ in May, while he’s also celebrating a decade of releasing music as Tourist in 2022. Time for a dance, then: here’s the vibey-yet-poignant ‘Your Love’, of which Phillips says “it was one of those tracks I feel like I’ve been trying to write my entire life”.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Blossoms
‘Ode To NYC’
Excited for the new Blossoms record, ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’? Us too. To get you in the mood for its release next month, here’s their tribute to New York City (which, last time we checked, is a bit far away from Stockport). “‘Ode To NYC’ is a love letter to my favourite city and is me imagining running around the city with my wife,” frontman Tom Ogden said of the tune. “It also feels like a love letter to her as well.” N’aww.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Coach Party
‘Weird Me Out’
Rivalling Wet Leg for the title of the Isle Of Wight’s Best New Band, island four-piece Coach Party are set to release their third EP ‘Nothing Is Real’ on April 29. “‘Weird Me Out’ is about the desire to change someone (or yourself) to fit that image you have of a perfect relationship, but also stepping back and remembering to stop comparing yourself to manufactured ideals, and put yourself on a well-deserved pedestal,” frontwoman Jess Eastwood sagely said of our final song of this week – check it out below.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
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The post NME Radio Roundup 7 March 2022: Haim, Florence + The Machine, Wet Leg and more appeared first on NME.
